No. 40
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
October 6 – 12, 2016
w w w . a s s o c i a t e d n e w s p a p e r s . n e t
Wayne officials have
unanimously agreed to a
new, four-year contract to
retain the services of City
Manager Lisa Nocerini at a
cost of $120,000 annually.
See page 5.
Northville students per-
formed well overall on the
spring, 2016 Michigan
Student Test of Educational
Progress (M-STEP) and
exceptionally well on the
PSAT/SAT in grades 8-11.
See page 2.
Vol. 131, No. 40
Vol. 69, No. 40
Vol. 69, No. 40
Vol. 16, No. 40
Local parents looking to
save as much as $10,000 in
college tuition are expected
at a meeting planned at
Romulus High School this
month.
See page 3.
Vol. 131, No. 40
Vol. 69, No. 40
Vol. 69, No. 40
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
State Superintendent of
Schools Brian Whiston visit-
ed
Wayne-Westland
Community Schools last
week and stopped by several
classrooms.
See page 5.
Secretary of State Ruth
Johnson awarded Ronald
Hawkins
of
Canton
Township with a Shining
Star Award at the West
WayneCountyPLUSoffice.
See page 2.
Vol. 16, No. 40
The Inkster Legends
organization needs help in
providing the gift of
Christmas to 100 families in
need through sales of holi-
day raffle tickets.
See page 3.
Plymouth Township offi-
cials have not yet complied
with recommendations from
the Department of Justice
agreed to following a federal
audit last year.
See page 4.
Belleville City Council
members took no action on a
request to close Main Street
in the downtown area for
Halloween trick or treaters
Oct. 31.
See page 3.
Members of the Plymouth
Township Board of Trustees
approved a motion to file legal
action against the City of
Plymouth in an effort to recoup
an alleged $3.7 million in retire-
ment costs accrued by the now
defunct joint fire department.
After much discussion, the
measure was approved by a 4-3
vote during the regular board
meeting last week. Supporting
the suit were Supervisor
Shannon Price, Clerk Nancy
Conzelman, Treasurer Ron
Edwards and Trustee Mike
Kelly, all of whomwere defeated
in their bids for re-election in
the Aug. 2 primary vote.
Trustees Steve Mann, Chuck
Curmi and Bob Doroshewitz
abstained fromthe vote.
Township residents packed
the meeting room last Tuesday
in response to a published agen-
da which included the proposal
by Kelly to file suit against the
city. Other agenda items during
one of the most contentious
meetings in recent weeks
included changes in compensa-
tion and pension benefits, a
trash collection contract and
recreation.
“This has to stop-they're the
ones not living up to their agree-
ment, we thought we had it set-
tled then they said no,” Edwards
said.
“I move to approve filing
legal action against the City of
Plymouth to enforce the city's
contractual obligations to pay
for its share of the retiree med-
ical and pension costs of fire-
fighters pursuant to the former
joint fire services agreement,”
Kelly said.
The retirement costs stem
from the tumultuous dissolution
of the 15-year community fire
department in February 2012.
The township subsequently
closed fire stations and reduced
department staffing by nearly
half while the City of Plymouth
entered an agreement with the
City of Northville to provide on-
call fire services. Public safety
in both communities has been a
controversial issue since the dis-
See
Lawsuit,
page 4
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Valuable lessons
Officials laud Champions program
as benefit to entire community
One of the busiest and most
accident-prone intersections in
Wayne County and the State of
Michigan will become even
busier late next year.
Canton Township officials
have approved the site plan for
a new Art Van flagship store to
be located on Ford Road, near
the IKEA at the intersection of
HaggertyRoad.
Art Van representatives said
the new 71,333 square-foot
building would be a flagship of
the furniture retailer and that
this is the first new store the
company has built from the
groundup in 15 years.
Construction on the new
store will begin early next year
and will open, representatives
said, late in 2017. About 60
employees will be at the loca-
tion. Approval of the plan came
at the regular meeting of the
Canton Board of Trustees last
week.
The planned footprint of the
new building will require the
demolition of a current medical
office building and a vacant for-
mer racquetball facility.
Traffic concerns should be
addressed by the conversion of
the traffic light on Ford Road
nearHaggerty a full-time signal,
officials said in response to con-
cerns of residents about the
possible increase in traffic con-
gestion at Haggerty and along
FordRoad.
The new store will include
the features found in other Art
Van facilities, including Scott-
Shuptrine Interiors, a mattress
department, a flooring depart-
ment and a clearance center,
officials said.
If Plymouth Township
Treasurer Ron Edwards has his
way, he and other officials
defeated in the Aug. 2 primary
will walk away with a very
attractive retirement settlement
Nov. 20.
During the regular meeting
of the board of trustees last
week, Edwards proposed
changes to the township
Governmental Non-ERISA
Retirement Plan that would
lower the retirement age and
change the current vesting peri-
od. Township officials currently
participating in the defined con-
tribution plan have a 5-year
vesting period. An employee
with 5 years seniority is consid-
ered 100 percent vested, or eligi-
ble for full pension benefits, cal-
culated on salary contributions
during their employment.
Edwards proposed a resolu-
tion with no vesting period and
called for amendments to the
plan that would permit employ-
ees with vested retirement ben-
efits to immediately retire with-
out waiting. He claimed this
was in accordance with a cur-
rent trend to make retirement
benefits “portable.”
“In today's age everyone's
making benefits portable.”
Edwards explained.
Edwards said the Municipal
Employees Retirement System
(MERS) Defined Benefit Plan
has a 10-year vesting schedule.
“The difference is that an indi-
vidual in MERS can leave after
six years find employment at
another MERS (job). Members
work four years and have 10
years of service and not forfeit
any retirement benefits.”
Edwards' proposal would
reduce the retirement age in
the township to 60 from 65 and
early retirement would be per-
mitted
at
age
55.
Commencement date for retire-
ment would be the employees'
anniversary date after working
12 consecutivemonths.
Under the current pension
contribution formula, the town-
ship contributes 15 percent of
the employee's compensation
each pay period and the
employee contributes 5 percent.
New Art Van planned for Ford Road
One of the most important
aspects of any community is
the viability and effectiveness
of the school district.
That information, presented
to a crowd of local business
owners and operators at
Westland City Hall last week,
came from a man who should
know.
Glenn Shaw, owner of WCA,
a professional appraisal com-
panywhich contracts withmul-
tiple local communities to eval-
uate the value of residential
and business property, spoke to
the audience about the impor-
tance of good schools to the
value of property in any com-
munity.
When prospective home
buyers seek to relocate, the
reputation of the school district
is an important factor in their
decision and that information
is readily available to them
nowon the internet, Shawsaid.
More home buyers translates
into more customers for local
businesses and services, more
residents paying property
taxes which means more rev-
enue for the city. That should
then translate to improved city
services making the communi-
ty even more attractive to
prospective buyers, he said.
Shaw, along with Westland
Mayor William Wild and
Superintendent of the Wayne
Westland Community School
DistrictMicheleHarmala invit-
ed the business community for
lunch and a few lessons in the
economic reality of promoting
and helping the local schools
last week.
“The schools affect every
other service and are crucial to
building a strong community,”
Shaw told the assembled
crowd.
Wild spoke to the audience
about the accomplishments
and growth in Westland during
the past decade citing the mul-
tiple awards and improved
reputation and services in the
city. Harmala, too, cited the
growth in the school district
which now educates 11,000 stu-
dents in 19 buildings.
The discussion centered,
however, on the unique
Champions program in the two
high schools.
“Students in the Champions
program at Wayne High School
become better human beings,”
said Bill Gray, who is involved
with the Wayne program. His
praise was seconded by Sean
Galvin who leads the
Champions of Wayne program.
Galvin, who did his doctoral
thesis on the effectiveness of
the programsaidhe has empir-
ical evidence and research
proving how well it works and
the benefit to students.
Shaw and his wife, Patty,
started the Champions of John
Glenn Shaw speaks to the assembled audience of business
owners as Mayor Bill Wild and Superintendent of Wayne
Westland Schools Michele Harmala look on.
The complaint is
ready and can be
filed immediately.
”
Defeated officials OK suit against city
See
Champions,
page 5
Edwards' proposal would reduce the retirement
age in the township to 60 from 65 and early
retirement would be permitted at age 55.
”
See
Exit,
page 4
Exit could be ‘cash cow’ for officials
Don Howard
Staff Writer
