By: Dean Vaglia | Macomb Chronicle | Published July 31, 2024
MACOMB TOWNSHIP — When state Sen. Veronica Klinefelt brought her first big piece of road funding to Macomb Township, she left with a new nickname — “The Road Warrior” — and a gift befitting the title: a copy of the “Mad Max 2” movie poster with her face imposed over actor Mel Gibson’s.
On July 24, Klinefelt was awarded flowers in a traffic cone and the gratitude of the Macomb Township Board of Trustees for securing $3 million in Michigan’s fiscal year 2024-25 budget to overhaul the intersection at 21 Mile and Heydenreich roads.
According to a July 3 Facebook post from the township, planned changes to the intersection include extending the center left turn lanes along Heydenreich and 21 Mile, adding right turn lanes to all four ends of the intersection and installing modernized traffic and crossing signals at 21 Mile and Heydenreich, at 21 Mile and Dakota Drive and at Heydenreich and Cougar Drive. Plans are still being developed between the county and the township, the primary idea behind the project being to make the intersection safer for pedestrians — particularly the students attending the numerous Chippewa Valley Schools in the area — through better traffic control.
“I actually had to go up there for an event just as school was getting out … and it was just a nightmare for the kids that were trying to get across the street,” Klinefelt said. “I couldn’t believe the setup.”
Trustees thanked Klinefelt for working for them to include the $3 million earmark in the state budget, specifically in the $23 million education budget signed by the governor earlier that day. It was also not lost on trustees that Klinefelt, a Democrat, would be unlikely to see electoral gains for the $8 million in road projects she secured for the Republican-leaning-and-led township over the past two years. Klinefelt secured $5 million in the state’s FY 2023-24 budget for the Broughton Road extension and boulevard project.
“I think what she has done for us is a great example of what elected officials, regardless of party, should do once they are serving,” Township Supervisor Frank Viviano said. “They have a job to do. Partisanship might be good for the campaign trail, but it is not the job that we do. It is not what we do here. Up here, we manage the business of the township, and Sen. Klinefelt recognizes that her constituency extends to Macomb Township, which maybe she’s not going to win in an election, but she recognizes our needs and has done her earnest best to deliver for us. That is what every elected official should always strive to do, deliver for their constituency regardless of their politics. I think that is a fine example of what she’s done for us.”
Township funds were already set aside to support the project at the local level, but the state budget earmark has allowed the township to reallocate $250,000 for the purchase of accessible playground equipment for Waldenburg Park.
“Our request to Sen. Klinefelt and her very hard work securing that $3 million is a double win for the township,” Viviano said. “We get to improve a very difficult area of our township, and we also get to nearly double the capacity of what we originally allocated to do for Waldenburg Park. That’s the kind of thing when one of our senators or congressional representatives goes to bat for us, that’s what it allows us to do.”
Township officials are pursuing federal Transportation Improvement Program funding for the 21 Mile and Heydenreich intersection project. If successful, the township hopes to expand its budget for the project from $3 million to $7.5 million.
Collection bin ordinance update, amendments
Earlier in 2024, the board passed an ordinance requiring clothes collection bins to be registered with the township. After the implementation of the ordinance, 47 of the 48 bins identified in the township have since been removed, with two of the removed bins having pending applications for approval.
On July 24, trustees approved amendments to the ordinance in order to clarify details about the approval process and where approved bins can be placed.
Firefighter hired
Trustees also approved the hiring of Ron Tremonti as the township’s newest full-time firefighter.
Tremonti has worked with the Macomb Township Fire Department for 15 years as a paid-on-call firefighter.