Incumbents hold on in Macomb Township elections, new trustee joins board candidates

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — The makeup of the Macomb Township Board of Trustees will change very little as a result of the Aug. 6 Republican primary election. All contested incumbents will be on the ballot for the general election in November.

Frank Viviano will remain as the Republican Party’s pick for township supervisor, winning out over challenger Mark Grabow with 6,187 votes to Grabow’s 2,445 votes. The flower magnate’s win with 71.55% of the vote marks the first successful defense of his political career, which began in 2020 after another primary win over Grabow for supervisor.

“The results speak for themselves,” Viviano said shortly after results came in. “I don’t think they’re only a reflection on the job that I’ve done, but I think it’s a reflection on the job our entire board did over the last four years. Things have been going really well in the township and obviously the very heavy majority of the voters agree with that direction. … I’m very grateful that the community supports me and supports my vision for the township, and I am just as committed to doing the right thing for our community as I was four years ago.”

Further down the ticket, three of the current four trustee incumbents were elected to represent the GOP in November. Trustees Peter Lucido III, Frank Cusumano and Charlie Oliver won with 5,923 votes, 5,561 votes and 4,789 votes respectively. Ronald Papa Jr., an Oakland University adjunct professor, rounded out the party’s four trustee candidates for the general election with 3,971 votes.

“It’s just been this roller coaster of campaigning and the highs and lows, and to finally be done and be successful, I’m just super excited,” Papa said.

Papa first ran in the 2020 Republican primary for trustee, placing eighth out of 18 candidates with 2,716 votes. Papa’s win can seem like an upset of sorts considering fifth-place finisher Terri Kowal appeared in ads alongside the three incumbents and Viviano. Kowal was Viviano’s deputy supervisor from November 2020 to September 2022 but was unable to translate her time in township hall into a trustee seat.

“As somebody who has been on the Macomb Township Board of Ethics, I know this board,” Papa said. “I know this board. I’m familiar with these folks, so it’s not like I’m working with total strangers or anybody who I haven’t (worked with) in the past, so it’s good from that point of view. I totally expect this to be very collaborative. I appreciated the manner in which this board has governed over the past four years, and I don’t look to be any sort of disruption to that, but I am my own person and will bring my own ideas and opinions and things like that to certain issues.”

Papa entered the campaign believing standing out in a field dominated by incumbents was the most important approach. Bridging the name recognition gap required putting himself out there by attending community events and meetings, going door to door and promoting himself wherever possible. Papa’s campaign signage, which parody the Dr. Pepper brand of soda while making reference to his doctorate in management information systems, could be found throughout the township.

“I was always confident that our three incumbents were going to return, and I figured that the last spot would be a very close race between Terri Kowal and Ron Papa and that proved to be the case,” Viviano said. “Ron worked really hard. He had a very strong ground game, and he came out on top in that race. It’ll be great to get to know him better as a board member and we’re looking forward to adding some new blood to our group.”

Kowal fell short with 3,429 votes, joining fellow dashed hopefuls John Parkinson and Daniel Hickson. Parkinson received 2,211 votes while Hickson received 1,665 votes. Trustee Nancy Nevers did not run for reelection.

Primary elections determine which candidates the Republican and Democratic parties put forth in the general election, but the electoral history of Macomb Township means the Republican primary essentially decides the election for local offices. Macomb Township has not voted a Democrat into local office since 2008 when Grabow beat John Brennan by around 1,500 votes. Alyssia Diebolt, chair of the Macomb County Democratic Committee, said the party does not plan on fielding write-in candidates for November as of Aug. 8.

In the absence of any opposition and a history of electing Republicans, it is likely to assume Viviano will be supervisor, Kristi Pozzi will be clerk, Leon Drolet will be treasurer and the trustees will be Lucido, Cusumano, Oliver and Papa.

“I think Macomb Township has proven that conservative governance works,” Viviano said. “I think that we’re the only community, certainly in the region and probably in the state, that has lowered taxes each of the last four years, and we’ve done that by sticking to conservative financial principles.”

With the next four years of government likely ahead of them, Viviano says time will be spent building upon the current government’s work.

“The first year — the first couple years, really — our board spent a lot of time and energy restructuring the township’s operation, cleaning up old messes and really raising the standard at which we operate as a local government,” Viviano said. “I think we started to see the results in the last year, finally. We got a new park built, we have a lot of road projects, we sought new funding sources and what I see in the next four years is, now that we have a very solid base to operate from, we’re going to continue to make even more improvements. I think there will be a lot of very positive changes in the next four years.”

Democrat Deneen Brewer and Republican incumbent Joe Sabatini faced no opposition in their Macomb County Board of Commissioners District 4 primary elections, while Edlira Sako secured the Democratic nomination over Frank Borsellino to face Republican incumbent James Perna in the District 7 county commissioner race.

Incumbent Doug Wozniak defeated challenger Jean Zott for the state House of Representatives District 59 Republican primary to challenge Democrat Jason Pulaski in November. House District 60 contained two uncontested primaries, setting the stage for a November faceoff between Republican incumbent Joe Aragona and Democrat Shelly Fraley.

Democrat Carl Marlinga will have a rematch with incumbent Republican John James for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing District 10. Marlinga faced three challengers and one write-in competitor in the primary while the Republican primary was uncontested. Only 585 votes — 0.2% of all ballots cast — separated Marlinga and James in 2022.

 

Millages approved
Township residents voted overwhelmingly to support a millage for the Fire Department with 12,406 voting in favor and 3,322 voting against.

The millage authorizes the township to levy up to 2 mills ($2 per $1,000 of taxable value) with only 1.9 mills being levied normally and the remaining 0.1 mills only coming into effect to recover tax revenue lost in a Headlee Amendment tax rate reduction.

The Chippewa Valley Schools non-homestead operating millage passed with 12,212 votes for and 6,717 votes against.

The millage allows the district to levy 18 mills on non-homestead properties with an option to go up in 19 mills in case of a Headlee Amendment tax rate reduction.