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A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
4
September 6, 2018
City and township settle pension cost dispute
Road millage on ballot
N
ORTHVILLE
- P
LYMOUTH
TO PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD CALL 734-467-1900
Classified
A longstanding dispute
between the City of Plymouth
and Plymouth Township was
finally resolved last week.
City officials presented a
check for $1.1 million to the
township as the final payment of
pension obligations arising from
the dissolution of the joint
city/township fire department in
2012.
Officials from both communi-
ties expressed their satisfaction
with the agreed-upon settlement
and considered the payment a
successful conclusion to the
longstanding issue.
“This is a historic day for the
city and township,” said
Township Supervisor Kurt Heise
on receipt of the payment. “Our
current township board inherit-
ed this issue from the previous
administration and we were
committed to resolving it without
time-consuming and costly litiga-
tion that would have only bene-
fitted lawyers and not taxpay-
ers.”
Heise was referring to the
decision of the former township
administration to end the joint
Fire Department in 2012 citing a
variety of financial, contractual,
and political reasons. The disso-
lution included financial obliga-
tions for pensions and health-
care costs owed by the city to the
township at the time of the can-
cellation of the intergovernmen-
tal agreement. City and township
representatives were able to
resolve the payment of the
retiree healthcare obligations in
late 2016, but the issue of pen-
sion payments remained a stick-
ing point between the parties.
“The people of Plymouth
elected us to solve problems, not
make them worse,” said City
Mayor Oliver Wolcott. “We are
turning the page on the past, and
building upon our positive and
professional relationship with
the township.”
Wolcott also thanked former
Mayor Dan Dwyer for his leader-
ship in the settlement discus-
sions with the township that
began in early 2017.
“We've had a great team from
the city and township working
many hours to resolve this
issue,” he added, “and we are all
happy to get this behindus.”
When Northville voters cast their bal-
lot in the Nov. 6 election, they'll be asked
to decide on a 0.98 millage for the
issuance of a $3,050,000 Street
Improvement Bond to fund street
repairs and upgrades for the next 10
years.
The millage is needed, officials said,
the amount of funds budgeted annually
for road repair and replacement,
approximately $550,000 per year, is not
sufficient to keep pace with the rate at
which roads are deteriorating.
At present, 46.5 percent of Northville
roads have a “poor” rating … which
means that the city is repairing roads
closer to the “replacement” condition.
Engineers have cautioned that this is an
expensive way to maintain roads and
also results in people driving on roads
that are more likely to develop potholes
and crumbling conditions.
City officials have a priority plan for
road repair and replacement deter-
minedby practicality and traffic flow.
The process of evaluation and analy-
sis starts with rating roads using the
Pavement Surface Evaluation and
Rating (PASER) system, an industry-
standard assessment in which trained
analysts drive each segment of road
(from intersection to intersection) and
score it from one (the worst) to 10 (a new
road). Roads rated 7 or 8 may require
routinemaintenance, such as crack seal-
ing or minor patching. Roads rated 4-6
are considered to be in “fair” condition
and may need preventive maintenance,
such as an overlay or joint repairs.
Roads rated less than 4 are candidates
for extensive repairs or reconstruction.
An assessment of city streets revealed
in a 2016-17 report by the engineering
firm Spalding DeDecker reported that
46.5 percent were in “poor” condition
and 20.8 percent were in “fair” condi-
tion. Engineers estimate at the end of 10
years, the bond program would increase
the number of streets rated as “good”
from 32.7 percent to 63.1 percent and
streets rated as “poor” would decrease
from46.5 percent to 34.1 percent.
wide-ranging and on-going bribery and
public corruption investigation centered in
Macomb County involving convicted trash
contractor Chuck Rizzo of Rizzo
Environmental and other municipal con-
tractors. The case in Plymouth was
referred to the FBI in an effort to avoid any
appearance of a conflict of interest, town-
ship officials said. The theft was discovered
during a routine inventory of township
equipment.
Mitchell, who is now a resident of
Rockford, Il, was a political appointee and
colleague of former Wayne County
Commissioner Shannon Price. Price creat-
ed the $63,277 Plymouth Township position
for Mitchell immediately after his appoint-
ment as township supervisor in 2016. The
political relationship betweenMitchell and
Price and his immediate employment after
Price took office in 2016 was publicly criti-
cized for what many described as a patron-
age job and political favor. Mitchell served
as chairman of the 11th District
Republican Party and was a well-known
political party operative. Price worked in
the department of constituent relations for
Michigan Republican State Attorney
General Bill Schuette from 2011 until 2015.
Schuette conducted fundraisers and pro-
vided political endorsements for Price dur-
ing his campaigns for 11th District Wayne
County Commissioner and Plymouth
Township supervisor. Mitchell abandoned
his job and left the area immediately after
Price was defeated in a primary election
by current SupervisorKurtHeise.
Mitchell's sentencing hearing is sched-
uled for Jan. 17.
Had Mitchell not pleaded guilty,
Tiderington said, authorities were pre-
pared to come forward with evidence of
other crimes, including time-card fraud
amounting tomore than $16,000.
“There's a lot of discrepancy on when
Mitchell actually left the township,” said
Heise.
Heise called the Mitchell case “shame-
ful” and said blame lies with Price and his
supporters on the Board of Trustees. Two
of Price's key supporters, Nancy
Conzelman, then the township clerk, and
Ron Edwards, the longtime treasurer, lost
their re-election bids in the 2016
Republicanprimary.
“I think this speaks volumes about the
judgment of ShannonPrice, his leadership,
and the people who appointed Shannon to
run the township,”Heise said.
Mitchell
FROM PAGE 1
to move out when they are done includ-
ing breaking down all their equipment
so that the Noon Rotary Club members
can begin bringing in conveyor belts, a
huge boiler, three semi-truck loads of
food and the equipment to build the
huge barbeque pits in the parking lot in
the rear.
“Seriously, they have it down, they
have been doing this so long,” Joy said of
the groups. “We do have to watch the
schedules to make sure things don't
overlap, but it is sort of second-nature
now. These club volunteers have been
doing this formany years.”
The stage entertainment is handled
by James Geitzen of JAG Entertainment,
who hires the live entertainment and
helps schedule the stage along with
ensuring that the sound equipment is
perfect for the event participants.
Joy advised participants to arrive in
Plymouthwith an appetite as the festival
begins at 6Friday night with the Civitans
Taste Fest at 885 Restaurant in Old
Village. This year, he said, there will be
beer and wine samples at the event, in
addition tomore than 20 restaurants.
That is followed early Saturdaymorn-
ing by the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast at
The Gathering which has crowds from 7
a.m. until nearly noon. Then the
Plymouth Rotary Club A.M. begins to
serve the Spaghetti Dinner behind E.G.
Nick's at 4 p.m. where they have an
Italian party going on. Sunday, of course,
is the day for the Chicken Barbeque,
which nobody ever wants to miss. They
serve 10,500 chicken dinners starting at
11 a.m. and continueuntil they sell out.
In between all these events, Joy said,
there are food booths up and downMain
Street with roasted almonds, lemonade,
the usual festival food and Polish treats
fromthePolishdancers kitchen.
Joy said he is also proud of the con-
duct of visitors to theFall Festival.
“We have not had an incident in
years,” he said. “We are fortunate that
the police and EMTs have so little to do
during the event. People are safe here
and that is due to the community and to
the real spirit of these volunteers and
the civic groups.”
A special guide to Fall Festival activi-
ties and entertainment is included in this
edition of TheEagle.
Festival
FROM PAGE 1
THE CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF PLYMOUTH
PUBLIC NOTICE
Beginning 09/04/2018, the Charter Township of Plymouth Department of Public Works (DPW) will start its fire hydrant winter-
ization program. You may notice a temporary discoloration of your water. This should only be for a short period of time. Any
prolonged problems should be reported to the DPW by calling 734-354-3270 x3. See the complete notice at:
Publish: September 6, 2018
Jerry Vorva,
Clerk
Charter Township of Plymouth
PT0204 - 090618 2.5 x 1.755
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