For the first time since former supervisor Mike Kowall left for the state Senate in January, all seven seats on the White Lake Township Board of Trustees soon will be occupied. David Lewsley will fill the final vacancy after the township board unanimously decided to appoint him as the newest trustee at a special board meeting today, Thursday, Feb. 24. The appointment came after White Lake’s governing body finished interviewing the top candidates for the [...]

The state House of Representatives passed legislation last week that offers retailers a reprieve from what some consider to be stringent consumer pricing laws. House Bill (HB) 4158, which will now be considered by the state Senate, would repeal the state’s 1976 Consumer Item Pricing Act, which generally requires that the total price of a consumer item be stamped or affixed to each one. The bill would put into place the proposed Shopping Reform and [...]

White Lake Township Board of Trustees members have narrowed down their choice of candidates for a vacant trustee position from 11 to three people. Rik Kowall, Bill Pierson, and David Lewsley have all been invited to interview for the trustee position left empty by Greg Baroni’s appointment to supervisor. Interviews will take place tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 24 at 4, 4:30, and 5 p.m. Pierson also applied and interviewed for the supervisor position and gained the [...]

The Drayton Plains Drain stormwater flooding along Williams Lake Road in Waterford Township has worsened over the years to the point where emergency repairs must be facilitated at a cost to all those impacted. Upon investigation, the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office (WRC) has determined that it will be necessary to construct approximately 300 lineal feet of concrete pipe and clean out about 530 lineal feet within the Drayton Plains Drain in the area [...]

Controversy has again started to swirl around negotiations between the West Bloomfield School District and its teachers union, after three dozen West Bloomfield High School teachers were reported absent on Tuesday, Feb. 15. “We had an inordinately high number that didn’t report,” said Pamela Zajac, the district’s public relations and marketing coordinator. “Thirty-six didn’t come on Tuesday. Usually we would have an average of 12 absent. We anticipated issues along these lines.” When reached for [...]

After almost a year of negotiating, Commerce Township and the Commerce Township firefighters have reached an agreement on a new contract. The previous contract was set to expire on March 31. The contract, signed at the last township board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 8, covers three years and includes a number of “minor things to try to make it work better for the township and employees,” according to Supervisor Tom Zoner. “The contract went well. [...]

Huron Valley Schools held a public forum last week to inform residents that if the Board of Education opts for a fifth-through-eighth-grade middle school configuration, Brooks Elementary School would be offered up as the sacrificial lamb. The school board is still deliberating on the other option of possibly closing either Muir or Highland middle schools and changing the dynamic from four to three middle schools. Board trustees already voted to reject the possibility of two [...]

Gov. Rick Snyder told Michigan residents during his campaign against Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero that there would be shared sacrifice needed in order to get the state’s fiscal house in order, and the sacrifices that various constituencies may have to take have been laid out for Michiganders to see — and criticize — in the new governor’s proposed $45.9-billion state budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. “This is a comprehensive plan to lay a new, [...]

The Milford Township Board of Trustees listened Wednesday, Feb. 16 to presentations from representatives of Huron Valley Ambulance (HVA) and Community EMS regarding the township allowing the Milford Fire Department to provide basic life support (BLS) transport services. The presentations were given by Dale Berry, president and CEO of HVA; and Chuck Kearns, vice president and chief operating officer of Community EMS. “HVA talked about their service and that they operate at a loss,” said [...]

The state Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) recently received good news in the fight against Asian carp, as new test results were negative for environmental DNA (eDNA) for either Bighead or silver carp in waters located in southwest Michigan. eDNA is a genetics tool developed by researchers at Notre Dame and the Nature Conservancy which detects the presence or absence of species-specific DNA in an aquatic environment, such as the cells shed by [...]