Board appoints ad-hoc committee to investigate, make a recommendation

By Jim Newell

Review Editor

Orion Township may be the place ‘Where Living is a Vacation’ but those recreational activities, parks and open spaces also carry a significant cost.

In fact, parks and recreation and community programs make up 28 percent of the township’s budget, according to the 2018 fiscal year budget approved on Dec. 18.

Now, the township is exploring the idea of presenting the community with a dedicated parks and recreation millage to help support parks upkeep, recreational amenities and community programs.

The township board voted unanimously at its last meeting to form a parks and recreation millage ad-hoc committee to research the issue and present the board with a recommendation.

The board would have to make a decision before April 24 – the deadline for getting ballot language approved for the August election.

The parks and recreation ad-hoc committee members are: Brian Birney, Chris Barnett, Jeff Stout, Aaron Whatley, Taylor Reynolds, Michele Arquette-Palermo, Kevin Gorman, Lee Smith, Leo Trayner, George Sinnott and George Hanley.

“The township has placed a high priority on parks and open space because we are the township ‘Where living is a vacation,’” said Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett. “The problem is we don’t have unlimited resources. Things need to be fixed. Things need to be maintained.”

The township budgeted $1.98 million of this year’s $7 million budget for parks and recreation and is projecting more than $2 million in costs for 2019.

“Like we discussed at our last meeting, we really are at a decision-making point as a board to either drastically cut expenses or look to some sort of parks millage,” Barnett said.

In July, the township conducted a community survey asking residents’ input on several areas, including parks and recreation. Survey results included:

40 percent of residents moved to Orion Twp. because of the parks, lakes and open spaces.

76 percent of residents do at least half of their recreation in Orion.

38 percent would like more recreation added.

37 percent use the parks on a weekly basis.

58 percent said they would support a parks millage with the fire millage expiring and no additional increase in taxes.

The fire millage is 0.5834 mills and expires Dec. 31, 2018.

The township’s parks are Camp Agawam, with 140 acres; Friendship Park, 134.97 acres; Civic Center Park, 78.86 acres; and Jesse Decker Park, 24.65 acres. The township also maintains the Orion Center, Wildwood Amphitheater and owns 76 acres of undeveloped land off Joslyn Road, north of township hall, that is designated for future recreation or open space use.

Parks and Recreation Director Aaron Whatley said the department would use a millage to operate the parks, continue services, maintain the open green spaces and continue or expand programs.

“We are solely funded from the general fund. There’s a need in our community for recreation and green space. We just need to make sure that we have the funding necessary. I think a millage would be good all around,” Whatley said.

“We do a really good job and the township is really fiscally responsible. We operate very lean in our parks and recreation department. Everybody does multiple jobs.

The department has 14 fulltime employees year-round, but picks up in the summer time.

“During our busy months we’re looking at just under 30 employees. I think we do a really good job with what we have,” Whatley said. “We don’t want to be people heavy with light work.”