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Things are looking up for General Motors, and that means things are looking up for the City of Romulus.

Officials from the automaker announced plans Monday night to invest $392 million in the General Motors Powertrain plant on EcorseRoad.

The company is seeking a tax abatement for the investment, which John Blanchard, director of local government relations for General Motors, said would begin in 2012 andbe complete by 2014.

The abatement was approved unani-mously.

“General Motors is the single largest gen-eral fund taxpayer in the city,” said Timothy Keyes, director of economic development for the city. “We wanted to make sure we could dowhat we could to keep themhere.” The plant churns out V-6 and V-8 engines

for the many Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and trucks produced by General Motors-including the 2011 Silverado, which was the Truck of the Year. The plant produces about 500,000 engines every year.

With an average annual payroll of $70mil-lion, the plant is one of the largest employers in the city. There are at least 43 workers who live in the city, said Blanchard, and 700 retirees that live in the community as well. The investment will allow the company to retain 395 jobs there.

“Any time you can retain or bring jobs into a community, it's a blessing,” said Romulus Councilman JohnBarden.

Council president Leroy Burcroff agreed. “This is awin-win relationship for us.” The tax abatement will allow the automaker to pay on 50 percent of the new personal property taxes.

The favored site for a new tri-community area library appears to be owned by the state Department of Natural Resources, located northof BellevilleBridge.

Following a closed session meeting of the members of the library board last week to con-sider acquisition of a site for the new facility, the favored location appeared to be at Belleville and Quirk roads, following a vote of those in attendance at a meeting of the library board of directors recently.

The site, while the apparent choice,, was not favored by everyone, however. Reports indicated that members of the community and some business owners are circulating peti-tions seeking a downtown site for the new facility. The petitions apparently suggest that it would be more convenient for both senior citi-zens and students to have the new library

located at the current site. The petitions also claim that this would help promote and pre-serve the downtown area of Belleville by drawing visitors to the library, and would ben-efit the historical museum if the two were located in close proximity.

JohnDay, the attorney for the library board, indicated that the sitewould be determined by voters when the issue is placed on a ballot requesting necessary funding for the new facil-ity.

The two other sites considered by the board were a downtown sitemight include the vacat-ing Fourth Street, including residents and businesses to Third, and a business block from LakeviewTavern toFifthStreet in the city. Board members initially considered 16 sites, and a board member said the goal is to have the issue on theNovember, 2012 ballot.

The record-breaking high temperatures didn't keep crowds from the annual air show last weekend, featuring the Blue Angels and their precision jet flying. Record crowds attended the event, benefiting the Yankee Air Museum, and watched as the jets soared overhead and several air battles were reenacted. Photos by Ken Garner