No. 44
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
November 9 – 15, 2017
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
St. Mary Catholic School
will host a free pancake
breakfast and open house
from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Nov.
12.
See page 4.
Twenty four Northville
businesses will have their
front windows dressed to
depict a popular holiday
story with narration by local
celebrities.
See page 5.
Vol. 132, No. 44
Vol. 70, No. 44
Vol. 70, No. 44
Vol. 17, No. 44
More than 100 students
from Romulus attended the
Women of Color STEM
Conference last month in
downtownDetroit.
See page 2.
Vol. 132, No. 44
Vol. 70, No. 44
Vol. 70, No. 44
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Jennifer Nagy of the
American Cancer Society
spoke to members of the
Westland Rotary Club last
month about the importance
of human papilloma vacci-
nations.
See page 4.
This year, Canton Leisure
Services will again be partic-
ipating in Giving Tuesday, a
global day of giving fueled by
the power of social media
and collaboration onNov. 28.
See page 3.
Vol. 17, No. 44
A homicide suspect was
shot and killed by an Inkster
police officer when he
opened fire at officers last
week.
See page 2.
Plymouth's
favorite
Bernese Mountain Dog,
Stella, will appear at the
Plymouth District Library
for a book launch from 2-4
p.m. Sunday.
See page 5.
Judges selected the win-
ners from more than 100
entries in the 8th Annual
Belleville Area Council for
the Arts exhibition last
month
See page 3.
Westland has reduced legacy
costs in the city by more than
$27 million during the past
seven years, according to offi-
cial reports.
The Other Post-Employment
Benefits (OPEB) costs facing the
city, also known as legacy costs,
for funding retiree healthcare
benefits, have been reduced
through several steps, officials
said. OPEB refers to the bene-
fits employees receive in retire-
ment including healthcare, den-
tal, optical coverage and life
insurance.
Since 2010, Westland officials
have taken a methodical and
steady approach to reducing
retiree costs including downsiz-
ing staff through attrition and
retirement incentives that
reduced the city workforce from
a high of 405 full-time employ-
ees in 2009 to 320 employees in
2017.
Changes have also been
negotiated with the city union
bargaining units to retiree bene-
fits including: Eliminating
healthcare in retirement for
new hires in some employee
groups; offering other new hires
health care savings plans as
their retiree “healthcare.”
These plans provide funding
the future retiree may use to
purchase healthcare or pay for
unreimbursed medical expens-
es and eliminating retiree
healthcare at age 65 for all cur-
rent employees hired prior to
2010.
At age 65, these retirees will
instead receive a health reim-
bursement account. Funds may
be used to purchase Medicare
Advantage plans or otherwise
pay for unreimbursed medical
expenses.
Beginning in 2016, 220 exist-
ing retirees, roughly half the
current city retirees and those
over age 65, were transitioned
from the city PPO health plans
to customized Medicare
Advantage plans. These plans
mirrored the coverage these
Medicare-eligible retirees had
been receiving but with less
costly plans that better coordi-
nate with Medicare, officials
said. Today, this change alone
saves the city roughly $600,000
See
Costs,
page 4
Romulus
land sale
means
100 jobs
More than 100 new jobs are
expected at the planned first-
phase of a multi-tenant industri-
al park inRomulus.
Revitalizing
Auto
Communities Environmental
Response Trust (RACER) offi-
cials announced last week that
69.5 acres off Ecorse Road in
Romulus had been sold to
Ecorse Commons LLC. The
company plans to develop the
land, which is located adjacent
to the GM Romulus Powertrain
plant, into an industrial park
with a focus on transportation,
warehousing anddistribution.
The development is expected
to include $1.5 million in infra-
structure improvements, a
416,000-square-foot building to
be designed for air cargo, logis-
tics distribution, freight forward-
ing and manufacturing along
with a 23,000-square-foot build-
ing.
"We are excited to welcome
Ecorse Commons to our home of
opportunity and thank RACER
Trust for working collaboratively
to make it possible,” said
Romulus Mayor LeRoy Burcroff.
“This development will bring
new jobs to a former industrial
site and provide a boost to the
surrounding area. My teamand I
are committed to the success of
the project and we look forward
tohelping bring it to fruition.”
Elliott Laws, administrative
trustee of the trust, said the
property is well-positioned to
capture significant investment
and jobs for both Romulus and
Today, I am proud of the
collective effort undertaken
by so many to reduce this
liability here in the All American City.
”
Legacy costs cut by $27 million
Attention
Annual Salute to Service set in Canton
2 schools removed from ‘priority’ list
Canton will once again
honor area service men and
women in a special “Salute to
Service” ceremony Saturday,
Nov. 11, at The Village Theater
at Cherry Hill, located 50400
CherryHill Road.
This special Veterans Day
celebration will recognize mili-
tary personnel currently in
active duty in the Army, Navy,
Air Force, Marines, Coast
Guard, National Guard, and
Reserves, as well as veterans of
the armed services for their
exceptional commitment and
dedication.
The free event is open to the
public and is presented by
Canton Commission for
Culture, Arts, and Heritage and
The Village Theater at Cherry
Hill. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
for the public to view military
memorabilia displays and a
cookie and punch pre-show
reception. The formal stage
presentationwill begin at 7 p.m.
Featured speaker will be
Richard Keenan, a local advo-
cate and supporter of the
Wounded Warrior Project. For
many years, Keenan has
worked to raise funds and
awareness for the Wounded
Warrior Project, which serves
veterans and service members
who incurred a physical or
mental injury, illness, orwound,
co-incident to their military
service on or after Sept. 11,
2001.
Keenan also helps share and
promote the organizational mis-
sion of honoring and empower-
ing Wounded Warriors through
a variety of programs and serv-
ices which serve individuals
with every type of injury - from
the physical to the invisible
wounds of war. Keenan's
Annual Old Glory Golf Outings,
Yoga in the Park Programs fea-
turing Dan Nevins, and other
philanthropic efforts have
helped raise tens of thousands
of dollars to benefit injured vet-
erans through the Wounded
Warrior Project.
The program will also fea-
ture musical tributes by the
Canton Concert Band, under
the direction of JimBlough.
In addition to the formal
presentation, items for service
men and women will be collect-
ed by the Michigan Military
Moms, including individual size
or travel size: disposable hand
and foot warmers; Beef Jerky;
new socks and monetary dona-
tions to offset postage. Please
note that all items must be
small enough to fit a 12-inch by
12-inch by 8-inch U.S. Priority
box.
For more information about
the free event at The Village
Theater at Cherry Hill, call
(734) 394-5300 or visit
-
tonvillagetheater.org.
Hoover Elementary School
in Wayne and American
International Academy, an ele-
mentary charter school with
buildings in both Inkster and
Westland, are among those
rated as some of the worst per-
forming in the state.
The Michigan Department
of Education identified the
schools last week and the
Superintendent of Michigan
Schools Brian Whiston will
negotiate partnership agree-
ments with the schools to help
improve grades and student
learning at the schools.
The Wayne Westland dis-
trict also received good news
last week when Superinten-
dent of Schools Dr. Shelly Holt
was notified that both Hicks
Elementary School in
Westland and Hamilton
Elementary School in Inkster
have been released fromprior-
ity school status.
Holt was notified that the
performance of the two
schools had been upgraded
with a personal phone call
fromWhiston.
The upgrade and removal
from priority school status is
based on increases in student
achievement at the two facili-
ties. The schools, both in the
Wayne-Westland district, were
notified of the achievement on
Oct. 27. The only school in the
Wayne Westland district to
remain on priority status is
Hoover Elementary School in
Wayne.
“Our district focus for all
buildings is social emotional
learning support, redefining
climate and culture in our edu-
cational environment, provid-
ing a balanced literacy
See
Schools,
page 4
See
Land,
page 2
