The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
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Petitions due soon
Committee trying to save sheriff's road patrols through vote
By Steve Ricci, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: September 22, 2005
A grassroots committee of township officials, residents and sheriff's deputies is pressing on, trying to bring a controversial county plan to eliminate subsidies for Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office patrols by 2008 to a public vote.
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While Chuck Ream, a spokesman for the Citizens to Save our Sheriff's Department, or S.O.S. Committee, initially said the committee could reach its goal in one day, he admitted last week that success is not guaranteed.
The committee is attempting to obtain 15,000 signatures by Sept. 26 to bring the county plan to a public vote.
The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted 7-4 Sept. 7 to eliminate sheriff's subsidies by 2008 to free up money for construction of a new county jail and courthouse.
County officials devised the plan after voters last February resoundingly defeated a $314 million millage proposal to fund the projects.
The board approved a $30 million bond issue last month to pay for the projects, which will be funded, in part, by approximately $5 million supplied by the cuts.
According to state law, such bonding issues can go before public referendum if at least 15,000 registered voters sign petitions within 45 days of declaration of intent to issue bonds.
Sept. 25 is technically 45 days after the bond was publicized Aug. 11, although Derrick Jackson, director of elections at the Washtenaw County Clerk's office, said last week that the committee has until 5 p.m. Sept. 26 to turn in petitions because Sept. 25 falls on a Sunday.
Jackson said if the group is successful, the referendum could appear on the Feb. 28 ballot, the next election date under the state's new election consolidation law.
Ream said the S.O.S. Committee plans to garner a majority of signatures through the work of volunteers, instead of through paid petition circulators, who will gather fewer than 50 percent of the signatures.
Washtenaw County Sheriff's Deputy Harry Valentine, president of the county deputies' union, pledged at an S.O.S. Committee meeting Sept. 2 that 220 people in the union would collect signatures.
Valentine did not return calls from the newspaper last week about the status of that effort.
Ream said efforts from sheriff's deputies are crucial.
"If (sheriff's deputies) don't walk the streets with this petition, it will be a big, hard job," Ream said. "If the deputies (don't participate), it's going to come down to getting 20 or 30 sheets on our own, and it's not going to pass.
"All we needed from one weekend is for those people to get two sheets each."
Ream said the committee has gathered about 9,000 confirmed signatures as of Monday morning.
Ypsilanti Township Clerk Brenda Stumbo said last week that the group has circulated about 4,000 petitions, which equates to 40,000 signatures.
Stumbo said most of the signature-getters she oversees are unpaid.
"People in eastern Washtenaw County are doing it that care about the community," she said, adding that the committee has only 10 paid circulators on board.
Stumbo is taking two weeks off from her township job to circulate petitions.
She said residents have approached the committee.
"It's a good sign that people are calling and asking to help," she said.
"They're very offended that (the county) floated bonds for capital improvements, but the public hasn't had an opportunity to vote on it."
Stumbo said the committee wants to gather about 5,000 extra signatures as a cushion because all signers must be registered voters in the county.
Sept. 21 is the group's deadline for sheriff's deputies and townships to turn in petitions, she said, so that the committee can assess how to direct its final push.
Stumbo also said the committee is displeased that the county has a $14 million capital improvement fund that is not being touched for the a new jail and courthouse.
"(County Administrator) Bob Guenzel did not answer what (the capital improvement funds would be used for) at a public meeting," she said. "And we have county commissioners who are not answering that."
County Commissioner Mark Ouimet, R-District 1, was the only person on the 11-member board to vote against the funding cuts at an Aug. 3 meeting.
County Commissioners Ronnie Peterson, Rolland Sizemore and Board Chairman Wesley Prater reversed their prior votes, and joined Ouimet's opposition to the plan at the Sept. 7 meeting.
Ream said some commissioners reversed their votes to save themselves from political recall.
Ouimet said last week that he does not think the board would approve using any of the $14 million capital improvement fund to pay for the jail and courthouse, adding that county officials have not said publicly what that money would be used for.
"The die has already been cast," he said.
Ouimet said townships and villages would probably have to work with cities in the county to find policing alternatives, although he said some municipalities would be "challenged" to find new police funding.
Ouimet said he went door-to-door, meeting with his constituents before and after the county votes to cut sheriff's patrols.
"It was overwhelming that people felt strongly about police contracts, and that it wasn't a subsidy but it was a core service," he said.
"A lot of people felt (sheriff's patrols) should be a top priority. This is about what they want, and not so much about what they don't want."
To sign the petition, call Ream at 761-5869 or Stumbo at 255-6302.
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