Shelby Township’s Notable News of 2011

What made the top headlines in Shelby Township this year? Supervisor Richard Stathakis sat down with Patch to discuss the Township’s top accomplishments for 2011.

A new. Construction was started on a new, 18,000 square-foot police department building in March. The building will be a stand-alone structure and will house police operations on the grounds of the on 24 Mile Road and Van Dyke.  The existing police building will be renovated and repurposed for department uses after the new building is complete in 2012. “We are going to be moving them in the spring to a new building and while they are there we are going to convert the (existing) 7,000-square foot structure into conference rooms, etc. for them to use. So they’ll have a combined $25,000 square feet, which is what they needed,” Stathakis said.

Shelby signs first with Rochester Hills in March. The two cities agreed to share Building Department Services; if one inspector is sick or on vacation, an employee from Rochester Hills will fill-in and vice/versa. Stathakis said this is the first shared services agreement, but certainly not the last. Shelby Township Fire Chief Chief Gene Shepherd is negotiating with neighboring communities to do the same. Look for more on that in 2012.

The Board of Trustees approved the DDA’s (Downtown Development Authority) longtime sanitary sewer project in November. A new sewer line, to be installed along Van Dyke between 22 Mile and Utica roads, will enhance property values, and, hopefully, attract new business to the area.

In January, the Township Board of Trustees entered into a contract with Vintage Tech Recyclers, Inc. to start an Electronics Recycling Program at no charge. The monthly program, sponsored by the Solid Waste and Recycling Committee, gives residents the chance to drop off used electronics at the municipal grounds the last Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The collections run from January through November. The Solid Waste and Recycling Committee reports that they’ve had 2,964 vehicles drop off 500,524 pounds of electronics.

settled. In December, the township and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reached a $77,000 settlement on the Soccer City site on 23 Mile Road. The Michigan DNR filed a lawsuit against the township for damage to wetlands. The property will be used in the future by the parks and recreation department.

one step closer to voters. Also in December, the Board of Trustees agreed on ballot language allowing voters to decide if the township should fund construction of a new district court building. The existing building is 33 years old. The question should go before voters in February.

Finances. The township continues to progress fiscally, marking their third year of surplus. Stathakis reports that the township contributed almost $3 million to the general fund through cost-cutting, including the reduction of staff by attrition. While the fire department is $300,000 in the black, the same cannot be said for the police department, which is operating at a $1.3 million deficit. “The police department will be our No. 1 challenge and changes will be made,” Stathakis said. “We are going to deliver to the Board of Trustees some cost-cutting initiatives that will get us closer to the objective that we are trying so hard to reach, which is being, if not in the black, more of the expenditures being in line with the revenues.”