Residents Weigh In On Shelby Township Supervisor, Treasurer Recall

As petitioners make themselves more visible in the community, more and more Shelby Township residents are being made aware of the to oust township Supervisor Richard Stathakis and Treasurer Paul Viar, and are voicing their opinions.

On Sunday, signs saying "Recall Stathakis and Viar" were on several busy intersections on Van Dyke Avenue, and petitioners manned the corner of 22 Mile Road and Van Dyke asking for drivers to pull over and sign a recall petition against the two politicians.

Shelby Township resident Tom Delise, who filed the recall petitions against Stathakis and Viar, was one of three men on the corner flagging down vehicles.

Delise repeatedly filed recall petitions against Viar, Stathakis and other trustees before finally getting the language approved by the Macomb County Elections Commission against Viar and Stathakis.

Delise’s recall efforts against both trustees stems from their vote on the rezoning of two properties. Delise, a resident of Shelby Woods condominium complex, is upset that the men voted in favor of allowing a developer to forgo construction of another phase of the complex he lives in, and instead permitted the builder to develop apartments on the property. Also, the men voted in favor of rezoning a parcel of property on 24 Mile and Schoenherr roads from office to residential in 2009.

Delise also claims Stathakis intentionally left residents out of the voting process by prohibiting public comments on the rezoning issue and held the vote during an un-televised Board of Trustees work session meeting.

Delise said on Sunday that he had not tallied up the signatures yet, but he claimed to have at least half of the necessary 6,000-plus signatures needed to put the recall to a vote.