Decisive township meeting Saturday

Retired Plymouth Township Police Chief Carl Berry

Mar. 20, 2015  PLYMOUTH VOICE.

Plymouth Michigan News

WATCH VIDEO OF REPUBLICAN PARTY MEETING

OPINION

The monumental question of who should be the next Plymouth Township Supervisor will come before the board of trustees in special meeting tomorrow morning when they vote to select a replacement for Richard Reaume who resigned last week.

One hopeful who has strongly indicated his seething ambition for the $111,000 job is retired police chief Carl Berry who chairs one of the several Wayne County Republican Party districts.

In a meeting Thursday evening in Livonia, Berry said he had no political aspirations for 2016, the date when a permanent replacement will be selected by voters, but would like “stabilize the township,” and strongly urged his fellow party delegates to choose him for the job for which he blithely stated he would “never ever run.”

How could anyone consider appointment a person to an elected position who blatantly states they would never allow themselves to be evaluated by voters for the job?

Standing members the Wayne 11th Congressional District group believe they have a voice in who will replace Reaume as interim supervisor.  They have mentioned recently re-elected Wayne County Commissioner Shannon Price who reportedly also wants to fill the vacant position. Price is the choice of Township Treasurer Ron Edwards who also has controlled Reaume, Clerk Nancy Conzelman and Trustee Kay Arnold for the past several years.

It has been reported that Edwards pre-selected Price as Reaume’s replacement after a meeting last November with Price and a Republican Party representative at a Plymouth bar. The party representative is also Price’s aide at the county commission.

It is obvious that the gossip and conjecture that those in the political in-crowd have planned Reaume’s departure for many months was absolutely on target. This clique of political “insiders” obviously feels entitled to decide who will run the community and control the taxpayers’ money without allowing a vote and without regard for any concerns of residents.

Outspoken and informed citizens say they would prefer to have the Wayne County Clerk schedule an election after the required 45-day waiting period than have another political flunky foisted on them. They hope to alert as many residents as possible to attend the meeting tomorrow and urge them to speak out for the chance for a public referendum, something that has been denied residents in Plymouth Township for several years by a block of four officials who consistently make foolish, expensive and critical unilateral decisions.

Plymouth Voice