Ortonville – On March 8, village residents will be asked to choose four out of five candidates, to fill four seats on the village council.
Village President Sue Bess, has served as council president for more than 14 years and will be running to secure another two year term as Village President.
As a council member Bess said she is excited and proud of being a part of the community which worked so hard to bring the reconstruction of the South Street Bridge to its final states, and hopes for the community to maintain that hometown quality which other communities envy.
‘The whole community proved that if we work together we can accomplish our goals.?
Bess feels the council’s budget plan has held up well against this year’s state revenue sharing cuts and the future looks bright for the village with several new employees that work well together as a team.
‘We are all coming together just grandly,? she said.
Harold Batten (photo unavailable) will be running to fill his four year seat, which he was appointed into two years ago.
Being a representative of the street committee, as well as the council, Batten says he is proud to have been a part of the process to impel the South Street Bridge nearing reconstruction, and is hoping the village can focus on resurfacing South Street as a future project.
‘We are pretty much headed in the right direction (in terms of a budget),? said Batten. ‘Now it’s a matter of seeing that funds in Lansing are released and heading on the right track.?
‘We’ve accomplished handling budget cuts so far and have eliminated the least priority items.?
Batten is most concerned with representing fellow residents and seeing that their concerns are looked after.
Batten invites residents to contact him at any time to share any concerns they may have.
Bob Flath is a 27-year resident and business owner, who has previously been a member of the village planning commission, a past township trustee, fire board member, and appointee as a Brandon representative to the Oakland County Solid Waste Advisory Board.
Flath says he hopes to make a fiscally responsible impact on the community by making sure the residents are getting the best for their tax dollar.
‘It will be a learning process for me before I can make a decision on where taxes could be better spent,? Flath said.
Hoping he can offer his extensive community experience combined with new ideas, Flath said he wants to be a council member that will keep an active dialog of discussions on the table.
‘I want to be the devil’s advocate because every board should have one,? he said.
Kay Green, (photo unavailable) long -time village resident has served on the council for 14 years, serving 10 as the President ProTem and will be running for another four year term on the council.. Green will have to rely on council for a reappointment to maintain the President ProTem standing.
Green says she wants to contribute in finding ways to balance keeping the village a quaint place to live and do business while progressively drawing businesses into the downtown area through exploration of accessing sewers for the village.
‘While there will be growth in the village we still have to keep the quaintness in mind,? Green said.
Green says currently the village has an excellent mix of board members who each have something different to bring to the table and move forward with and is excited about planning future projects in the same progressive fashion that was done with the South Street Bridge.
‘I think it’s exemplary community effort including the chamber, the township, fire department, the council, and village officials all working together for the betterment of the entire area that gets things accomplished,? she said.
Tom Peters is also completing a four year term that he was appointed into, two years ago.
Peters said the proudest accomplishment he has been a part of on the council is getting Mill Street paved, as well as collaborating with Brandon Recreation to have the skate park in the downtown area.
Peters says he hopes within his next four years the village will be able to find a way to attract more businesses downtown by bringing sewers in the village as well as paving South Street.
‘Hopefully we can keep our budget on track so that we are not kept from doing major projects like South Street, which is in need of repaving.? Peters said.
Gina Joy Roemer is another incumbent appointed to council. Roemer was appointed in June 2003 after Carrie Fisher resigned due, to personal reasons.
Because Fisher’s term would not have expired in the spring, Roemer must rerun to win the remaining two years of the term.
According to village officials, an appointed council member must run for the seat on the first election subsequent to the appointment.
Roemer says she is looking forward to working on resolving issues in regards to revenue cuts. She says she believes that, as she has witnessed in the months she has served on council, the combined efforts of team work within community agencies, will resolve budget constraints.
‘I don’t see us failing anywhere, but we do need to ride some of the cuts out,? say Roemer.
‘If the federal and state levels can do it, we can make combined efforts to overcome.?