Township weighs in on cityhood investigation
On Tuesday June 4, the Village’s Citizens Advisory Committee investigating cityhood held what they believed to be their second to last meeting. The purpose of this specific meeting was to determine what the effect the Village becoming a city would have on Manchester Township. To this end, the entire Manchester Township board was invited to participate and the meeting was moved from the Village Council chambers across the hall to the Village Room, where the Township and cityhood committee could be seated at long tables facing each other, perpendicular to the public in attendance.
Gene DeRossett, Manchester Township supervisor spoke first. He listed the many great things the community has going for it and things the township is responsible for. He listed things that wouldn’t change if the village became a city and things that would change, like the village would need to run their own elections and have their own accessor. He talked about the Fire Department. He concluded by saying to the city hood committee, “It is your decision. Whatever you decide to do and whatever the Village decides to do, we will continue to work together.”
Township Deputy Supervisor, Ron Mann endeavored to list the effects the village becoming a city would have on the township. He explained that while the population is split almost evenly between the village and non-village parts of the township, the property value is weighted toward the non-village areas of the Township, with 69% of the property value outside the village and 31% in the village. The township would lose about 1/3 of its budget or about $200,000–although some of that may be made up for by the solution worked out for the Fire Department. Mann stated that it was hard to tell how that would translate in impact to the township. He said that they would need to cut down on the clerk and treasurer’s hours as they would be serving only half the number of people, but they also serve as the office staff so it was unclear how much their hours would be cut. DeRossett had noted earlier that their hours and salaries couldn’t be changed until the next election, so the township would not be able to balance their hours to the actual need, whatever that would be, right away.
Many of the Township board members who spoke, mentioned that the Township would have to move out of the their current office on South Macomb which is in the Village limits; they may initially rent office space in the township and eventually might build a new township hall. The township officials asserted that the township records are required by law to be kept inside the township boundaries.
What will happen to the Fire Department if the village becomes a city was brought up multiple times. Possible solutions were listed including the Township controlling the Fire Department and the city contracting with them, the city controlling the Fire Department and the Township contracting with them, and all of the townships and the city coming together to form a fire authority that would jointly control the Fire Department. Some speakers, including DeRossett, felt that what would happen to the Fire Department needs to be worked out before the village makes a decision whether or not to pursue cityhood, and others like Ron Mann felt that because no entities involved in the Fire Department were out to fleece the others and everyone paid their fair share, it would be worked out and shouldn’t be worried about or discussed until after the cityhood process. Township treasurer, Laurie Carey expressed concern that the possible need of one entity to buy out the other entity from the Fire Department could result in bankrupting that entity.
Other Township board members took the opportunity to talk about their feelings toward the process itself. Township trustee, Lisa Moutinho talked about how divisive and adversarial the process of investigating city hood has been. Township treasurer, Laurie Carey, who is also a village resident, asked “why now” and expressed concern that cityhood does not appear to be citizen driven and most residents aren’t aware it is being considered or why. She stated that these should be red flags. She also stated that if cityhood moves ahead, a lot of money will be spent on lawyers for mediation by both the village and township. Trustee Ron Milkey views this issue as a wedge dividing the community.
Sharon Township clerk Chelsea Mikel was present in the audience and was asked by the committee to speak on behalf Sharon Township. She spoke both as a resident of Sharon Township and as a board member. As a resident she echoed the view that the issue is a wedge in the community and that the general public does not understand why cityhood is being investigated. As a board member she expressed the same concerns Sharon Township Supervisor Peter Psarouthakis related a few days before to the Mirror. Psarouthakis explained their concern that the village and township have not yet discussed the Fire Department, with which Sharon Township contracts for fire coverage, and that although there is no threat of annexation from the current village board or village administrators, as a city, Manchester would have an easier time annexing property from Sharon Township sometime in the future if it decided to do so.
The talk of annexation opened a discussion between Ron Milkey and Village Manager Jeff Wallace, who was in the audience. Wallace noted that during a recent annexation of a property to the village, the township and village just worked together to make happen. He pointed out that the village already can annex property and the only difference as a city is that the county doesn’t get involved. Milkey stated that the State looks more favorably on cities annexing property than villages, which Wallace dismissed as hearsay. Wallace stated that the State recently rejected two attempts of annexation by the City of Saline. Mikel stated that in any case, Sharon Township’s attorney advised them that they should be concerned.
Village Council member Marty Way was present in the audience and also spoke during public comment. He stated that it is great that everyone keeps expressing that they want to get along and work together; the Village just wants to do it as an equal partner, highlighting the equal footing as a municipality becoming a city would give the village as opposed to its current status as a subordinate municipality to the township.
At the end of the meeting, committee members stated that they had hoped the township would provide more quantifiable negative impacts on which to base their decision. The township’s presentation did not seem to provide the committee with the level of detail the committee had hoped for. Although originally the committee planned to wrap up and decide on a recommendation at the next meeting, they instead decided they definitely needed more meetings and to extend the committee into the summer.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 18th at 7 pm in the Village Council chambers.
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