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VOL. 142, NO. 31

DEXTER LEADER
75
THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012
Weave the Web:
Make sure to click on www.heritage.com around the clock for coverage of Washtenaw County. Our most viewed story this week is CHELSEA: Crime briefs: Man tells police his ex-wife tried to run him over; teen arrested, held for failing to appear in court.

THE

Group seeks cityhood vote

By Erica McClain
Heritage Media

NEWSPAPER LAUNCHES SERIES ON SHRINKING GOVERNMENT

A number of residents are hoping to have the option to vote soon on the village of Dexters future as a city. Petitioners began canvassing the neighborhood last weekend in an effort to get a referendum, or direct vote, on whether residents think Dexter should be incorporated as city. The group has a deadline of Aug. 27 and will need at least 137 signatures, or 5 percent of the population, as Scio and Webster townships have a registered voter population of 2,738. Although residents will get the chance to vote yes or no on cityhood after a city charter is drawn up, petitioners and Dexter Village Councilmember Jim Smith said the idea behind the referendum is simply to give people the option to vote before more effort is made. If we vote now and the majority say we dont want to become a city, then its done, Smith said. But if the majority say, Yes, go ahead and write a charter and show us what you have planned for us. Then we get to vote on the charter, but this referendum is about whether we want to spend the time and effort to go through the process. Although Smith has been on the record as against cityhood, he said the petitioners are not heading out to knock on doors and discuss the politics of the decision. We feel that right now is not the time to argue the pros and cons of it; were neutral on it. Smith said there is no way of knowing off hand which election the vote could be on as it would be out of their hands at that point. He explained that the petition would go to the State Boundary Commission, which would then contact the Webster and Scio township clerks and ask them to validate signatures before heading back to the commission. From there, the commission would decide whether a referendum is needed. The director would then sign off on the referendum, at which point the township clerks would decide when to schedule the vote. Its hard to say how quickly things will go, Smith said. Weve seen how slowly the process of going through the boundary commission has proceeded
PLEASE SEE PETITION/3-A

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Sylvan Townships Board of Trustees is dealing with a more than $13 million bond for a water and sewer system development that was OKd with the thought that housing developments would increase.

Taxpayers holding the bag after housing bubble bursts

By Erica McClain
Heritage Media

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oughly 10 years ago, housing in Michigan was just on the precipice of bursting its burgeoning bubble. Urban sprawl had paid off for counties neighboring Wayne County and housing developments had never looked better. There was a mindset back then that this growth was going to go on forever, said Rob Turner, a western Washtenaw County commissioner.

So, when a developer wanted to build, many municipalities didnt blink, and when it came down to water and sewer systems, growth was so confidently forecasted that municipalities like Sylvan Township

in Washtenaw County and Handy and Howell townships in Livingston County sought large bonds backed by county credit. In Sylvan Township, a water treatment plant with a planned capacity of 620,000 gallons per day was built with the assumption that a local developer would need the additional Residential Equivalent Units, or REUs, along with the installation of two new water wells and a 500,000gallon water tower in 2000.
PLEASE SEE TAXPAYERS/13-A

Online chat kicks off series on size, scope of government

By Jerry Wolffe
Joiurnal Register News Service

Local ads are just a hop away at the MIcentral. com marketplace. While you are there, you can check out all the special supplements of Journal Register Co. newspapers in Michigan. Click on marketplace on the home page of our website or go directly to www.marketplace.micentral. com/ROP/Categories.aspx.

The Marketplace:

INDEX
Editorial Calendar Page 6-A Page 3-C

P
State Rep. Jeff Irwin

Death Notices Page 13-A

The participants let their views be known on problems facing our society faces in the dawn of the 21st century, where citizens are finding the past ways of doing business no longer work in a time of declining property tax revenue,
PLEASE SEE CHAT/9-A

olitical and business leaders discussed issues ranging from setting up health exchanges to implement the Affordable Care Act to consolidating government to provide services, to the role of an emergency manager during live chat, How Much Government? hosted on the Heritage Media website at www.heritage. com.

Sports Community

Page 1-B Page 1-C

News Tip Hotline: 475-1371

More coverage inside

What gets cut? Looking at severe nancial stress in a city and how it was solved, 4-A.

Whats the right size for local government? 4-A. County treasury squares off against new nancial reality, 8-A. Counties struggle to pay for court system, look at creative solutions, 13-A.

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