Sumpter resident vows to work against new slaughterhouse on Bemis

“I’ll be working against it,” said Denise Adkins of Sumpter Township at the July 24 regular township board meeting, referring to the proposed slaughterhouse that was on that night’s agenda.
“I saw it in the paper last week,” she said, adding that was the first she knew about it. “I’m against it. Whatever steps Dawn tells me to take, I’ll do,” she said referring to Deputy Clerk Dawn Hadyniak.
She said the former Pet Resort that is being turned into a slaughterhouse is within a half mile of her home.
She said that 9.51-acre parcel isn’t big enough and a slaughterhouse needs 50 acres.
She said she will be going door to door along Bemis, Lohr, and Sully and down Davenport Drive, which is behind the slaughterhouse.
“I have horses,” she said. “On a hot day, I can smell my horses.”
“They need a lot more acreage,” Adkins said. “We don’t want to be known as a Slaughter Town.”
Earlier in the meeting, an agenda item to approve the special exception use permit for a slaughterhouse at 50425 Bemis, as recommended by the planning commission, was removed from the agenda by a unanimous vote and sent back to the planning commission for clarification.
The planning commission motion had stated that the applicant had to make the necessary changes but did not specify the changes.
The item is expected to be back on the planning commission agenda on Aug. 9.
In other business at the July 24 meeting, the township board:
• Approved first-quarter budget adjustments as recommended by Finance Director Scott Holtz. The adjustments included creation of the Parks and Rec fund to separate their cash and activity from the general fund to present a true balance for the general fund; general clean up of the budget to clean up variances between two salary accounts; grossing up of revenues to reflect additional dollars coming into the township; and grossing up of expenditures to reflect what extra expenditures were approved by the budget (Willis Road Sewer Repairs, HVAC, Board Room Upgrades) and give an accurate picture of additional approved expenses;
• Approved a private fireworks display at 9:30 p.m., Aug. 11, at the home of trustee candidate Tim Rush, 28941 Martinsville Rd., New Boston, provided by Angry Tiger Fireworks, LLC. Police and fire have been notified;
• Approved the resignation of Officer Michael Lezotte from the police department with regrets. Officer Lezotte, who had served on the Rockwood Police Department, was hired in March to fill the vacancy created when Officer Danielle Buccellato was fired;
• Approved promoting Fire Lieutenant Walt Thompson to Captain and Fire Fighters Jamie Krushlin and Jamie Goode to Lieutenants. Lt. Goode’s grandmother, a longtime Sumpter resident, pinned the new badge on her grandson;
• Heard Clerk Esther Hurst announce that absentee ballots for the Aug. 7 primary election are now available. She reminded voters that Precinct #5, previously at Bessie Hoffman School, is now at the community center. Also, there are openings for election inspectors at a pay of $10 per hour;
• Heard Toni Clark report on her efforts to get more information on the FAA’s change in air routes over Sumpter Township that is making the township noisier. She said she talked to a lady in Washington, D.C. and is expecting a call back from a federal government assessment person. She said 335 Sumpter residents are impacted. She said she had hydraulic fluid all over her deck four years ago and two people from Willow Run Airport came over to look at it. They said there was no way to identify the plane. They told her a plane may have to drop something to get to the airport safely. She said Sumpter is not only affected by noise, but by this falling out of the sky. Clark said they told her public officials were informed of the FAA proposed changes and they will send her names of those who came to meetings on the FAA changes, which started in 2015. “I will be diligent on this,” Clark said. She said she was alerted to the change in routes by a story in the July 5 Independent;
• Heard 40-year Sumpter resident Joyce Phillips ask about the township seeking a parks grant for a dog park. “I was sucked in by a little puppy in February,” she said. “I had just put down my little Corgi.” Supervisor John Morgan asked, “What’s a dog park? I don’t know what it is.” Phillips said it’s not a new thing and she has heard about it for years. She said people who don’t have fenced yards, like her, take their dogs to a fenced-in area where they can run and play with other dogs. Supervisor Morgan asked her to leave her telephone number so the township can look into it. “It’s a growing thing. I’ve seen it in several communities,” Phillips said;
• Heard Ronald Barrington Robinson say he hopes new people are elected to the board who will cancel the opt-out insurance scam, with board members getting from $100 to $1,200 a month for opting out of insurance. “This is not political,” he said. He said allegedly tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars are being misappropriated. “Why are so many families packing up and moving away?” he asked. “There is blight everywhere,” he said, demanding that Supervisor Morgan resign immediately for the sake of the township;
• Heard Lydia Graber talk about a green-colored letter she held up that she got in her mailbox. She said around election time someone is making up lies. She said the letter said Jay Bardell is a horrible person and Ron Robinson lives in a trailer. “What’s wrong with that?” she asked. “Try to get along.” She said the letter said the John Morgan Team is wonderful. Graber said she has lived next door to Jay Bardell and his wife for many years and they are wonderful people and Jay helps remove their snow. “May the best man win.” Graber, who uses a wheelchair, asked if the senior buses are accessible to wheelchairs and she was told they were;
• Heard Mary Herring say that if the slaughterhouse is not appropriate for the proposed piece of property on Bemis, they should get in touch with the Summers Ranch on Willow Road, which might have a more appropriate site. Herring also said that ditches are becoming more and more overgrown with trees and weeds. She said years ago the Wayne County Road Commission would mow with sickle arms that got into the ditches themselves. She said now the cutting gives it “a lick and a promise on the gravel shoulder.” She said Pampas grass is 10′ tall in many places. She said she is fastidious about cleaning her ditches. She said the ditches are overgrown in Van Buren Township, as well. “I like living in the country, but it’s getting to be a jungle”;
• Heard Karitha Murry Hannible remind everyone of the Sumpter Progressive Civic League back-to-school gathering at Graham Park from 2-5 p.m. on Aug. 18 when Sumpter students will get backpacks filled with school supplies. Last year they gave out more than 140 backpacks. The students need to register in advance;
• Heard Mary Ban report that she attended the FAA presentation in the community center in September or October where the FAA fully described what they intended to do. Ban said the Finance Director’s part of the recent Sumpter Times newsletter, on page 10, was excellent. She said the township has an audit each year and the result goes to the state. Any suspected corruption is investigated, she said. Ban said young people, millennials, don’t know anything about the constitution. “Young people need to serve the community,” Ban said;
• Heard Treasurer Peggy Morgan call upon Finance Director Scott Holtz to come forward to address charges of misappropriation of funds. “Are you taking him seriously?” Supervisor Morgan said to Treasurer Morgan of Robinson’s charges. “Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!” he said. Holtz said the auditors just left and he said, “I told them our weaknesses to check.” He said knowing any problems will help the township make improvements;
• Heard Adrian Slaughter address attorney Rob Young, saying she had asked him at a recent meeting about negotiations with Republic on dump charges and he said there was a meeting that Friday and he would bring the results to the board. There was nothing on that night’s agenda and Young gave no attorney’s report that evening. Young said he continues to negotiate and there are more discussions coming. He said they are looking for a time when Republic, Finance Director Holtz, Deputy Supervisor Karen Armatis, Supervisor Morgan, and himself can all meet together. He said the agreement they come up with will be to last another 10 years; and
• Heard Treasurer Morgan make a motion to adjourn since all those signed up to speak under public comment had spoken. Supervisor Morgan turned to her and put up his hand as if to slap her. “It’s mine,” he said, apparently referring to control of the meeting. Then he asked for a motion to adjourn and Treasurer Morgan made the motion and the meeting was adjourned.