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CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Three new members of the Clinton Township Board of Trustees sat in for their first meeting on Nov. 25.
Township Treasurer Mike Aiello, Trustee Shannon King and Trustee Bruce Wade joined the board in a ceremony on Nov. 20. The November election shifted the board to a Republican majority with victories by Wade, Aiello, Township Clerk Kim Meltzer and Trustee Dan Kress. King is joined on the board by two fellow Democrats: Trustee Julie Matuzak and Supervisor Paul Gieleghem.
While longtime Township Supervisor Bob Cannon was replaced by Gieleghem, one familiar name stayed in the supervisor’s office. Dan O’Leary was retained as the deputy supervisor.
O’Leary stays on
O’Leary has served in the deputy position since 2021 and was previously Washington Township’s supervisor for 12 years. Prior to that, he held a director-level position at DTE Energy.
“I’m looking forward to continuing progress and to new adventures,” O’Leary said after the announcement. “We have a new board, new perspective, fresh minds and it’ll be interesting to see where they take us.”
O’Leary said he’s worked at the township level with Gieleghem for three years but has known him for about 10-15 years.
“I think we’ll work well together and get a lot of things done,” O’Leary said.
In a statement, Gieleghem said O’Leary will help keep the township fiscally responsible and help make improvements as it transitions from an “outer-ring suburb to an inner-ring suburb.”
“Leadership is about finding people who might not always agree with you and challenge you to look at problems and issues in different ways and hopefully end up with better solutions,” Gieleghem said.
In an interview following the release, he added that keeping O’Leary on will help bring some continuity to the office.
“Helping people embrace change is a good thing and can be made better with some consistent voices,” Gieleghem said.
Trustees dig in
The meeting itself wasn’t a marathon three-hour affair like the last one. Most of the items sailed by without much debate.
Trustees approved the township’s part in a road improvement project with Macomb County. The county will cover 75% of repairs with the remainder being picked up by the township.
Roads in three areas will get improvements: Ingleside Farms connector roads and Rudgate Way; Fierz Place from Harper Avenue to King Drive; and Hilldale, Prevost, Sargent, Emery and Hampton streets.
Matuzak said the project would benefit those in large subdivisions, providing improvements to roads that feed into larger roads.
“I think this is an incredibly important project,” Matuzak said.
Department of Public Services Director Mary Bednar noted that the roads were selected for the program based on their Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating score. The township also took into consideration the difficulty of creating a Special Assessment District for improvements to certain roads.
“This program is not a complete rehab program of roads,” Bednar said. “This is literally just a capping of roads themselves. They’ll do some basic maintenance on it and cap it. Typically, it lasts five years, plus or minus.”
A portion of Moravian Drive, from Cass to Harrington, could be in line for federal funding. Kress asked if a stretch of Moravian Drive between Harrington Street and 16 Mile Road was in line to get funding for improvements. Bednar said it was not but said it could be in the next round of submissions. The township is able to submit three roads every three years for the funding.
Resident Paul Schorsch has commented at multiple township meetings about the condition of Moravian Drive between Harrington Street and 16 Mile Road.
“I’ve got some good news. (County Commissioner) Jim Perna said Moravian is scheduled to be fixed,” Schorsch said. “When, I don’t know, but I guess that’s how politicians talk.”
Following the meeting, Perna, R-District 7, said he’s aware of Schorsch’s concern.
“It is being addressed,” Perna said. “I can’t give him a certain date, but I will be talking with our (Macomb County) Director of Roads Brian Santo and try to encourage him to do some temporary repairs, so there are no accidents and no hazards.”
Resident Dana Dugger advocated for improvements on Union Lake Road and said improvements beyond capping were needed for Wendell Street.
King recommended a town hall meeting to explain the PASER ratings for which roads are selected. Gieleghem pointed to the township’s website for this information. It can be found by hovering over the “community” tab at the top of the page and selecting “about roads.”
Other business
Trustees at the meeting also unanimously voted to make a correctly filed application for a Class C liquor license transferrable.
In this scenario, if the township denied an applicant one of their licenses allocated by the state, they could seek out a new one on the open market. This would be available for applicants for a year and would save them $1,850 if they were made to reapply, according to Meltzer. All the information on the application must be similar to the original.
“This is a very business-friendly policy,” Meltzer said.
Also on Nov. 25, the International Transmission Company’s proposed 80-acre overhead powerline project along 19 Mile Road, which was tabled at the Nov. 12 meeting, was deleted from the Nov. 25 agenda. The item did not appear on the board’s Dec. 2 meeting agenda.
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