For more than two decades, Susan Bellairs fought for the rights of Oxford taxpayers and was a staunch advocate for common sense in local government.

She was opinionated. She was a tireless worker. She wasn’t afraid to ask tough questions, challenge the status quo and tackle the elephants in the room.

Bellairs didn’t let anyone or anything silence her.

On Saturday, March 18, 2017, the feisty and tenacious public watchdog lost her battle with cancer and passed away at the age of 68.

In local government circles, Bellairs was well-known as an outspoken critic of anything she perceived to be unfair, dishonest, burdensome or wasteful. She kept a close eye on the powers that be as both a private citizen sitting in the audience at meetings and as a public official making decisions at the big table.

“She was a great watchdog,” said Oxford resident Helen Barwig, a close friend and longtime partner in monitoring and challenging local government.

“You could trust her. She cared. She would spend hours looking up things, going to the law library, reading papers and filing FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to make sure what we told people was correct. She had a lot of integrity. Facts meant a lot to both of us.”

She was elected four times as a trustee on the Oxford Township Board. She served from 1996 to 2000 and again, from 2004-16.

“I learned more from her than any other public official,” said township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who’s served since 1999. “She really did her homework. She took the emotions out of decisions and just did what was right. She was a good example for all of us.”

During her time in office, she served on other boards including the Polly Ann Trail Management Council, zoning board of appeals and the now-defunct Oxford Police Fire and EMS Commission. She also volunteered her time putting on the township’s annual spring cleanup.

Her involvement in local government started many years ago with her attending a township board meeting to oppose paving the Clear Lake subdivision via a special assessment district.

“She always felt this (community) was rural and she wanted to keep it that way,” Barwig said. “She didn’t want the city brought out here.”

While at that meeting, Bellairs learned the township was considering having a single trash hauler and she didn’t agree with that, either.

One issue after another came up and that soon spawned a lengthy career of activism and community involvement.

“If the average person knew what was going on at these meetings, it wouldn’t be going on – and they wouldn’t believe it,” Bellairs told the Leader in a 1995 interview.

She was especially unhappy with what she saw as Oxford officials’ propensity to cover things up.

“If it’s something that’s not nice, it’s just swept under the rug,” Bellairs said in 1995.

Case in point, the old Oxford Police Department under former Chief Gary Ford.

Bellairs is best known for the instrumental role she and Barwig played in the 1990s exposing the problems, cover-ups, wrongdoing and waste in the joint township-village police agency that closed in January 2000.

Together, Bellairs and Barwig spent long hours attending public meetings, pouring through thousands of pages of government documents, conducting their own investigations, writing letters to newspapers and sharing their findings with their fellow citizens.

Barwig noted Bellairs always made sure to keep her two roles – government watchdog and elected official – completely separate.

“Because she was a board member, she really couldn’t be that involved in certain things like passing out fliers and putting up signs,” Barwig said. “That’s where her honesty came in. She made sure she did not cross the line.”

Their detective work and dogged pursuit of the truth ultimately helped bring about Ford’s downfall and convinced voters to stop funding the costly police department that had expanded under his administration.

Over the years, Bellairs ruffled some feathers and rubbed more than one person the wrong way, but everything she said and did was always rooted in what she felt was in the public’s best interest.

While serving on boards, she was frequently the dissenting voice and vote. She didn’t care if she was part of the majority. She didn’t care if she was popular. She only cared about doing what she thought was right and best for the residents she represented.

“She tried her best to serve the people of Oxford, but she was only one vote,” Barwig said.

“I disagreed with her from time to time, but I always respected her. I really did,” Dunn said. “You had to. She didn’t flip-flop on issues. Once she made up her mind, she stuck with it. She was always solid about her position.”

Bellairs definitely wasn’t one of those officials who come to meetings unprepared, don’t say much, then vote. She read her packets, gathered additional information, asked pertinent questions and made informed decisions. She took her job very seriously.

As an advocate for the taxpayers, Bellairs didn’t believe in frivolous, extravagant or wasteful spending. To her, every tax dollar requested or expended had to be justified because residents work hard for their money and government has a responsibility to use it wisely.

A perfect example occurred in 2006, when the Polly Ann Trail Management Council was asked to pay $1,439 for six, chrome-plated ceremonial shovels used as part of a ground-breaking ceremony.

Bellairs was very vocal in her opposition. She described the request as “awful” and deemed it “unnecessary” and “unacceptable.”

“There’s people that can’t pay their heating bills,” she said.

“Money that goes to this trail should be used on the trail, not for six ceremonial shovels,” Bellairs noted.

Although Bellairs spent a lot of her time fighting for what she believed in, which led to clashes with other officials and citizens, she never became bitter or mean.

“Sue was as tough a person as I ever met, but she still had a soft side,” Dunn said. “She had a good sense of humor and knew how to have a good time.”

Oxford Township Deputy Supervisor Deanna (Burns) Cushing, who was a close friend of Bellairs, took to Facebook to eulogize her.

“This beautiful woman, inside and out, was a wonderful friend to me, supporting me for over 20 years with her gentle and caring nature,” she wrote. “One of her beliefs in life was the importance of being authentic with people, saying what needs to be said because it’s good for the relationship and for the soul . . . I always admired how she never judged or forced her opinions on anyone, but offered valuable and truthful advice that I will surely miss.”

Bellairs was the beloved wife of the late William E. Bellairs Jr.; loving mother of Pamela Bellairs and Aimee (Eric) Hurtado; loving grandmother of Zachary, Alyssa, Tobey, Dustin and Megan; and dear sister of Paul (Kathie) Oswald and the late Robert Oswald.

Bellairs was very involved with the Young Marines. She was a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend, who in her free time loved gardening, sewing and spending time with her bingo group.

A funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, March 23 at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lake Orion. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, March 22 from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at Sparks-Griffin Funeral Home in Lake Orion. Memorials may be made to the Young Marines. Reflections may be shared by visiting www.sparksgriffin.com.