VBT approves budgets for 2025, honors Commissioner Haidous

The Van Buren Township Board of Trustees which has been working on its 2025 budgets since April, held the required public hearings at the last meeting, and finally on Oct. 15, unanimously approved the documents.
This included approval of the amended 2024 and proposed general fund budget with a 2025 salary schedule; the amended 2024 special revenue funds and 2025 special revenue funds budget; and the amended water sewer fund budget and the proposed 2025 water sewer fund budget, with a fee schedule.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said the general fund budget of $24 million is balanced, as required.
He said the township has the second-lowest water rates in the region and in 2025 there will be a zero rate increase for water and sewer. He said the township is having a rate raise from DWLS, but won’t raise the township rates since they had a little surplus.
Before the board dealt with its brief agenda, which held mostly the budget approvals, it welcomed State Rep. Reggie Miller, D-Van Buren Township, who brought a framed tribute from the State Legislature honoring Wayne County Commissioner Al Haidous.
She said Commissioner Haidous will retire from the county commission at the end of the year. She read a long list of his accomplishments.
Supervisor McNamara pointed out the Van Buren Township board honored Haidous a few months earlier. But, “He’s been a pretty good egg to Van Buren Township and we want to celebrate that.”
Haidous was invited to say a few words and his comments ended with, “Thank God for the USA where a story like mine could exist.”
Officials from the city of Wayne, Romulus, and Belleville were present, along with the Assistant Wayne County Executive, other county officials, along with Commissioner-elect Allen Wilson and Haidous’ family members.
The assistant county executive said he is related to Haidous and “his son-in-law is my first cousin.” He said Haidous was an Arab-American elected mayor of Wayne, just after 9-11. He was the only Arab in the city and showed others that they could make it here.
Van Buren Police Chief Jason Wright said Haidous was his mayor when he served in Wayne. Chief Wright said he came to Wayne in 1993 as a 23-year-old patrol officer and Haidous taught him the art of compromise. He pointed out other police officers in the audience that were a part of that team in Wayne.
Romulus councilwoman Tina Talley read a proclamation from the Mayor of Romulus Robert McCraight, who could not be present.
Belleville Mayor Ken Voigt told Haidous, “The city of Belleville loves you.”
VBT Clerk Leon Wright said 16-18 years ago he met Haidous going door to door as a candidate in Wright’s front yard and he’s known him ever since.
VBT Treasurer Sharry Budd said she’s known Haidous since serving on the community block grant board with him in 1998. She said his story is when he and his wife were looking for a place to move in Michigan, they ended up in Wayne because of a flat tire. People came out and helped them and they decided that was the place for them. She said if it weren’t for that flat tire, they could be residents of Van Buren Township.
Trustee Kevin Martin said he has known him for 10 years and he has been an exemplary commissioner.
Supervisor McNamara ended the comments with his story of his father telling him to go sit on Al Haidous’ stool in his party store and talk to him if he wanted the answer to a particular question. He didn’t want to sit on a stool and then someone else told him to go sit on the stool and eventually he did. He said Haidous use to talk politics for hours with people sitting on his stool while he waited on customers.
In other business at the Oct. 15 meeting, the board:
• Heard Jeneen Rippey of Van Buren Township and Therese Antonelli of Belleville support the township’s legal action against the radioactive waste coming into Wayne Disposal. Rippey said they are in a group with more than 750 residents gathering information on this;
• Heard Reg Ion say there wasn’t a fuss at the time when the landfill started taking toxic waste. He said some of those on the board have taken money from the landfill company. “You let us down, bigtime,” he said, adding that now there is quite a battle, and he can’t imagine fighting a battle with the mafia. He also said the township still hasn’t put up the deer-crossing signs it promised and the fence along the south Ecorse Service Drive was taken down and never put back up. He repeated, “The board sold us out and now you guys can fix it.” (McNamara said the township has the deer signs and is waiting for permission from Wayne County to put them up);
• Heard Ms. Stevens say she has not a lot of faith in government, but she asked them to stop the radioactive waste and send it somewhere else;
• Heard John Williams of Van Buren Township since 1998 who said he served in the Marines and is a cancer survivor from Camp Lejuene. Now his cancer has stirred back up. “I don’t trust government, don’t trust big money,” he said. “I hope the big money doesn’t win out”;
• Heard the president of Robinson River Park Homeowners Association implore the board to do everything it can to stop the radioactive waste;
• Heard McNamara say he stopped by the Denton Road Bridge earlier that day and DTE has bored the hole underneath the lake and reported the clay was very strong. They have to reem it out and make it bigger and then they have to put the pipe in and it will take weeks to put in valves and other things;
• Heard McNamara also say that the court case against Wayne Disposal was due in circuit court Oct. 16, but it has been moved to federal court at the request of Wayne Disposal. He said since the township is in litigation, along with the cities of Wayne, Romulus, and Belleville and Canton Township, he is not permitted to talk about the case; and
• Heard Clerk Wright say it was 25 days before the election and early voting begins Oct. 26 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. He said 7,895 absentee ballots were out and 2,151 back so far. Election day voting could have long lines, he said, urging everyone to make a plan to vote.