The Chelsea Standard
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Petition drive aims to save Washtenaw County road patrols
Committee wants to get plan for cuts on ballot for voters to decide
By Steve Ricci, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: September 8, 2005
Scio Township Trustee Chuck Ream is spearheading an effort to bring a controversial county plan to eliminate subsidies for sheriff's patrols to a public vote.
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Ream is a spokesman for the Citizens to Save Our Sheriff's Department, or S.O.S. Committee, which is attempting to gather 15,000 signatures by Sept. 25, the deadline for the committee to turn in a petition to put the issue on a ballot.
The S.O.S. Committee also comprises residents and township officials from across the county, and has the backing of some officials in the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office.
The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners was expected to approve a plan yesterday to eliminate subsidies funding sheriff's patrols to local municipalities contracting for services by 2008.
Under the plan, money saved by elimination of the subsidies would be earmarked to build a new county jail and court.
County officials devised the plan after voters overwhelmingly defeated a $314 million proposal last February to fund a new jail and courthouse.
The decision expected yesterday to approve the plan could be nullified by voters, however, if the S.O.S. Committee can gather the signatures on time.
The county published Aug. 11 its plan to issue capital improvement bonds to fund the construction projects.
Bond initiatives can be put through public referendum if at least 15,000 registered voters sign the petition within 45 days of the publication, Derrick Jackson, director of elections at the Washtenaw County Clerk's Office, said Tuesday.
"Only certain issues in state statutes can go to referendums, and bonding is one of those issues," Jackson said.
The Sept. 25 deadline provides the S.O.S. Committee the 45-day period.
If the committee gathers the signatures, county voters would not see the referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot.
A 60-day period is required to verify signatures, Jackson said, meaning the earliest the referendum could go before voters would be Feb. 28.
The 45-day window to collect signatures gives the committee a tall task, but Ream said last week that it would meet the challenge.
"We will gather the signatures to get the bonding to a vote, and we will defeat it," Ream said. "We could (get all the signatures) in one day."
Ream is no stranger to petition drives.
He successfully led a petition drive to decriminalize medical marijuana in Ann Arbor, putting the issue on last November's ballot.
This time, four township supervisors and Washtenaw County Sheriff's Deputy Harry Valentine, the president of the county deputies' union, are on board to collect signatures.
At a Sept. 2 press conference at Scio Township Hall, Ream said county officials are ignoring the will of the people.
"Voters resoundingly said no to the huge jail proposal last February, but the Board of Commissioners repeatedly demonstrates that there is some part of the world 'no' they don't understand," Ream said in a prepared statement. "They now plan to float $30 million in bonds to be repaid over a 20-year period."
Ream said voters who denied last February's millage proposal were not voting to lose sheriff's patrols.
"Every township, village and city in Washtenaw County depends on these core services," Ream said, adding that the committee would need to raise about $20,000 to accomplish its task; most of it spent trying to obtain signatures.
Mike Radzik, a retired sheriff's deputy and a member of the S.O.S. Committee, said a Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department presence is needed because it provides essential services, such as Special Weapons and Tactics teams, a detective bureau, and underwater search and recovery teams.
Pittsfield Township Supervisor James Walter said the township has lost more than $1 million in revenue sharing during the last few years, and that it could not afford to hire officers with a local police department.
"It is my hope (the petition drive) will get the attention of (county officials), and that they will come up with a reasonable way to finance the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department," Walter said.
Augusta Township Supervisor Kathleen Jackson said the county is not giving municipalities enough time to adjust to the cuts.
"This police contract is like a tenant signing a lease and then finding out five months later what the rent is," Jackson said.
Valentine pledged his support for the committee at the meeting.
"I'm going to push this issue," he said. "(County officials) want to throw your family and my family to the wolves to get their buildings built.
"I will pledge my 220 people to see that (the petition drive) is successful."
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