Twp. will not use millage money, Supervisor says

By Jim Newell

Review Editor

Orion Township’s parks and recreation millage garnered the most controversy this past election, with some folks in the community claiming there was an ulterior motive to the request.

Resident Don Hickmott has said at board meetings and in a letter to The Lake Orion Review that the township wanted to pass a parks and recreation millage just so it could then divert funds to building a new township hall.

“My personal feeling is that the township is trying to raise money under the parks and rec. guise to set aside enough funds to build a new township hall,” Hickmott wrote. “My hope is that the parks and rec. millage gets voted down in the August primary, and gets put back on the November ballot and called the New Township Hall Millage.”

Supervisor Chris Barnett said that was never the intention behind the millage request and that discussion on building a new township hall would have happened with or without the parks and recreation millage.

“We have been talking about renovating, adding on and/or building a new township hall for about the same amount of time. Actually longer. Even before I was here we had a study done in 2002 and another done in 2009 that talked about our needs for growing here (in township hall).”

Barnett said the township does have a committee exploring the feasibility of building a new township hall and would make a recommendation to the board of trustees.

“That is a discussion that the board will be having as well. Last year in our last budget cycle we put $2.5 million aside for this project – it’s going to be a lot more money than that.

“But it wasn’t like, if we pass the parks millage we’re going to be talking about building a new township hall. We’re going to be talking about building a new township hall and it’s really nothing to do with parks millage.

The current township hall was built in the early 1970s and has outlived its useful life in the current form. The township’s needs – and space requirements –have outgrown the more than 40-year-old building.

“We’re out of space, completely. All departments are out of space, but the sheriff’s (substation) is the most critical need. We have a woman’s locker in the actual women’s shower. So, if they want to use the shower, they have to wheel the locker out of the shower to use the shower and then wheel the locker back in.”

“The building is safe, but we have tons of water leaks,” Barnett said, adding that, after it had rained, water was seeping through the wall in the boardroom. “This building needs a lot of attention. It’s a 40-plus year-old building that’s been worked really hard.”

The township has hired Lake Orion architect Steve Auger of Auger Klein Aller Architects, Inc. to begin reviewing the previous needs assessments studies, to look at the building in its current form and develop a needs assessment list.

“The board will be considering options as it relates to that,” Barnett said.