VBT approves ordinance banning coal tar driveway sealant

“Christmas came early for me this year,” said Dr. David Wilson on Dec. 15 after the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the second and final reading of an ordinance prohibiting the use of coal tar products in the township.
“Thank you very, very much,” Dr. Wilson said.
Trustee Jeff Jahr called Dr. Wilson and Rebecca Esselman up to the microphone to recognize the efforts the two had put into enacting the ordinance.
Esselman, of the Huron River Watershed Council, had alerted Wilson to the carcinogenic properties of PAHs in coal tar. Wilson, a member of VBT’s Environmental Commission, got to work to promote an ordinance to save local children, especially, from the cancer-causing substance in driveway sealants.
“We hope to get your neighbors on board,” Esselman said to the VBT Board. When asked to tell briefly what the Huron River Watershed Council was she said it is a group tasked with the health or the river that goes through Belleville Lake.
Wilson and Esselman said they believe the use of coal tar products as sealants would be banned across the country eventually.
In other business at the 38-minute meeting on Dec. 15, the board:
• Removed from the agenda proposed Stormwater Maintenance Agreements with Costco Wholesale and Belleview Commercial (Starbucks location) because of an ongoing conflict with the county over the legality of the required process;
• Approved Supervisor Linda Combs appointment of John Delaney to the Local Development Finance Authority with a term to expire Aug. 12, 2017. The vote was 5-1 with Trustee Brenda McClanahan voting no and Supervisor Combs absent. Trustee Reggie Miller said she talked to Combs and, “Linda wanted this on the agenda and wanted John approved.” Trustee Phil Hart said he, too, spoke with Combs and she said Delaney attends most of the LDFA meetings and is an asset to the group;
• Heard Clerk Leon Wright announce the clerk’s office and township hall will be closed beginning Dec. 24 through Jan. 3 for the holidays. He also said in an attempt to increase morale in the township the previous week they had had employee appreciation activities paid for by donations from department heads and the insurance company. The “massage” item on the voucher list had brought many comments at the work/study session on Dec. 14. Clerk Wright thanked Nicole Sumpter, who is doing HR work, for putting this on and collecting more than $500 in donations. He said Trustee Hart bought hot dogs for the Friday event;
• Heard Clerk Wright give a political speech after a bill he didn’t like passed the state Senate. He asked residents to call their elected state representatives to head off the passage of the bill in the House. It had to do with not being able to vote straight party tickets and he stated, “In 70% of past Presidential elections, Democrats voted straight party tickets.” Wright is a Democrat. He also said he was afraid the bill he supported to allow absentee ballots for no reason would be detached from the other bill. He opposed having to present an ID for a first-time vote since his son is at Central Michigan University and would have to come back to VBT to vote. He said next year’s ballot might be 3-4 pages long and there could be long lines of voters at the polls;
• Heard Clerk Sharry Budd announce that when the township hall is closed people will be able to drop their tax payments in the drop box in the Public Safety Department, the outdoor drop box at the front of the township hall, or mail it in. Postmarks w ill be honored and taxes in the drop boxes when they get back in January will be counted as paid by the end of the year;
• Heard Clerk Wright said he missed a 5:14 a.m. call from the Public Safety Department the previous Sunday and around 8 a.m. checked his phone and learned about the house fire. He went there immediately. He said fire fighter John Henderson is a hero and he deserves something special from the township.
• Heard Trustee Hart wish the best to Supervisor Combs and her family as they tend to Combs’ gravely ill husband;
• Heard Police Officer Adam Byrd list places people could send donations for survivors of the house fire. He said they will be putting out jars at different businesses to collect donations;
• Heard Don Schoenberger, who has been an outspoken and fearless resident, say this is the last time he’ll talk at a meeting because he is going to be selling his house in May so he doesn’t have to pay the township’s legacy costs. He referred to the board as a “bunch of mannequins sitting in your seats” and noted he was sorry the supervisor is going through a lot with her family. He then referred to a speaker who is “self-absorbed in his own ignorance … and acts like a genius.” He said somebody talks about taxes and is criticized for not being on the tax rolls, but that doesn’t mean the person isn’t paying property taxes. “If I’ve offended anybody over the years, that’s too bad,” he concluded and left the meeting room; and
• Heard Delaney agree that the Stormwater Maintenance Agreement process should be opposed. He also thanked Combs for the nomination and thanked those who voted yes for him to be on the LDFA, which he said “was for the good of the township.”