Change is in the air for Sashabaw improvement funding.
Independence Township Board voted 4-3, Feb. 16, to ‘start, but not end” the process to exclude funds from Independence Township Library and police millages for the Sashabaw Corridor Improvement Authority.
Supervisor Dave Wagner, Treasurer Curt Carson, and Trustee Mark Petterson voted ‘no.?
‘I don’t want to put this library millage at risk whatsoever,? said Trustee Larry Rosso. “I would be in favor of allowing the millage to be stand alone strictly for the library, so that may have a better opportunity to pass.?
Rosso noted the CIA was ‘extremely important for long-range development? of the community, and believes in 3-4 years they’ll pull out of the ‘morass of a depressed economy.?
‘We have to plan for the future,? he said. We got to have a certain amount of money.?
It is ‘unbelievable? the community would turn down a police millage, he said.
‘I don’t think a community of this nature would allow us to eliminate our police department, so I believe with or without the CIA attached to the police millage, it’s viable, but the library, I’m not so sure,? he said.
Trustee Neil Wallace said ‘plenty of people? had voted against the police millage in the past. ‘Fortunately it has not been a majority,? he said.
Petterson noted if the CIA fails, the Sashabaw corridor will fail.
‘We sunk a lot of money into that Sashabaw corridor and if you let this CIA fail, guess what, McLaren is not coming here,? he said. ‘You’re not going to have your hospital, you’re not going to have your medical jobs, and believe me, passers by are just going to drive on up I-75 and they’re going to find themselves a job up in Grand Blanc.?
Wallace said their back was against the wall, and they put them further against the wall by not giving themselves options.
‘You’ve talked this down where you’re putting the library at risk over an expressway interchange that’s not going to happen until 2015,? he said. ‘That’s going to be on your head.?
Sashabaw Road is already significantly improved, he said.
‘For all the demagoguery about Sashabaw, if you’ve been here long enough, you’d remember when we would have been sitting in a gravel pit, not far away from here,? Wallace said. ‘Sashabaw looks a heck of a lot better than it did 20 years ago.?
Petterson said ‘it didn’t make sense to make a motion? on anything and wanted to wait to hear back from the county.
Carson agreed they were ‘ahead of the game.?
‘We’re only squeezed if we believe we have to have this for August. The fact is, I talked to a number of people who were involved in the CIA process,? he said. ‘I’, almost sure if we go to the county for an amendment, the whole thing is going to be shot.?
Carson still believes they should do everything they can to encourage business and ‘enhance the atmosphere to create jobs in the community.?
‘If we don’t have jobs, we can’t stabilize our tax roll, which means people are not moving in, we’re not creating new businesses that fill up all the spaces that are empty in the community,? he said. ‘We’re not talking about building out Troy here. We’re just talking about creating stability here in Independence Township.?
Lohmeier said his disagreement with Carson concerning jobs was an ‘interesting contradiction?
‘One the biggest contributors to employment right now is the library, that’s where people are finding jobs, so close the library down and you’ll have a huge impact on unemployment in this town,? Lohmeier said. ‘That is the way it is.?
Independence Township created the corridor improvement authority in May 2006, and approved it $3.8 million plan in June 2008. The 0.6910 library millage vote is this August.