By Jim Newell

Review Editor

Orion Township now has a friend 3,810 miles away in the City of San Borja, Peru.

Alcalde Dr. Alberto Tejada Noriega, the mayor of San Borja, Peru, and his delegation of Public Health Manager Diego Venegas and Secretary General Leydith Valverde visited the township and Rochester Hills on Thursday as part of a diplomatic and goodwill trip.

Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett, Clerk Penny Shults, Treasurer Donni Steele, Trustee Julia Dalrymple, Trustee Kim Urbanowski, Parks & Recreation Director Aaron Whatley and Samantha Timko, chief assistant to the supervisor, welcomed Noriega and his dignitaries on behalf of the residents of Orion Township.

Independence Township Trustee Jose Aliaga, who is Peruvian and now lives in Oakland County, served as translator. Also joining the Peruvian contingent was Jose Aliaga senior, who is a retired officer from the Peruvian version of the FBI.

“They’re really interested in our COVID response. They really don’t have the same means and infrastructure, so they’re really interested in how we served our citizens,” Barnett said.

In March, Barnett and his brother, Bryan Barnett, mayor of Rochester Hills, took a trip to Peru and met with the mayors of cities of Lima, Cusco and the Machu Picchu District, the chief justice of the Peruvian Supreme Court, the vice-president of Congress of the Republic of Peru, the director of the Peruvian FBI, a general in the Peruvian Army and they visited two universities and met with the presidents of those institutions.

“My brother and I made presentations to the universities. And Cusco and Machu Picchu are just incredible historical cities,” Barnett said, adding that the trip was self-funded. “The township did not pay anything for it, I paid my own way for everything.”

Orion Township officials showed the Peruvian delegation a video highlighting special features in the township, such as the GM Orion Plant, which employs about 2,500 people and is building all electric vehicles.

“The future of General Motors is happening right here,” said Barnett, who gave Noriega a die-cast model of a Chevy Bolt, among other gifts.

They also discussed the township’s COVID-19 response, including setting up a food bank at the Orion Center, the Forgotten Harvest mobile food pantry, the township’s COVID community collaboration team (churches, community groups, government, non-profits, etc.) that partnered to meet residents’ needs during the pandemic, the parks and recreation department’s daily phone calls to Orion’s senior citizens and Orion’s Snowcation, to give residents ways to stay engaged while staying home and staying safe, such as car bingo.

“We really took a proactive approach to supporting our residents and found creative ways to engage with people,” Barnett told the Peruvian delegation. “We rely on our team and took all of our best ideas and implemented them.”

Barnett said the Peruvian delegation was interested in learning about Orion Township’s pandemic response and government in general.

“They love America. They love Americans. They love to see our ingenuity, to see how we get things done, especially as it relates to COVID. Their country is still really struggling and they’re interested to see how local leaders in America are responding and serving our residents during the pandemic,” Barnett said.

Noriega is a three-term alcade in San Borja and has visited Michigan before. In 1994, Noriega was a referee in the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament hosted by the United States. He is also the former Secretary of Health for Peru.

San Borja, established as a separate district in June 1983, is a district of the Lima Province in Peru, and one of the upscale districts in the area. It is mostly a middle to upper class residential area with many parks and gardens.

The population of San Borja is around 130,000 people, Noreiga said.