The New Face of Union Township

by Jason Antoniewicz

Union Township's new elected officials were sworn into office Thursday at noon, immediately tackling the issue of a suspended superintendent during an organizational meeting that evening.

New Union Township supervisor John Barker assumed the administrative duties once held by township superintendent Gwen Plowman, while Treasurer Pam Stovak will handle the financial director tasks - both on an interim basis.

Barker, a Democrat, won his seat with fifty-four percent of the vote on November 4th.

"I ran for office because I wanted to try to be part of bringing Union Township into the 21st century," Barker said. "I saw a township in need of change. And I was not alone."

Voters made Union Township overwhelmingly Democrat this past election. Democrat John Verwey was retained to the Board of Trustees, joined by Democrats Phil Mikus, John Dinse and Tim Lannen, with Democrat Peter Gallinat in the clerk's position.

"The students played an overwhelming part," Gallinat said. "I knew it was going to be a close election the whole time."

Gallinat defeated former clerk Margie Henry by only 29 votes.

"I hope to open up the Union Township government, making it more transparent," he said.

Transparency of procedure may be a reality, as the meeting also discussed the prospect of airing meetings on local television in the near future.

New board member Phil Mikus wants to see some long-standing issues addressed during his time in office, including the expansion of recycling options for Union residents.

"The county can provide and is willing to provide curbside collection of recyclables," he said.

Mikus also discussed expanding drop off depots for recyclables, which had previously been mired in issues of trash contracts with private companies.

"It's not necessary to have a township trash contract with one private company in order to have curbside recycling from the county," Mikus said. "There's just no connection between the two."

Township clerk Gallinat and trustee member Mikus both support expanding sidewalks to make bike and foot travel safer in Union.

"Pedestrian traffic over on Bluegass Road is dangerous," Mikus said. "When we can walk or bicycle, it's a healthy thing and it reduces pollution and I'm all for that."

The new board streamlined the process of approving payroll and utility bills for the township, and assigned trustee members to committees. Money for training from the Michigan Townships Association was also approved.

Supervisor Barker hopes to make Union better than ever.

"The township has changed dramatically over the past 10 years," Barker said. "The township government has not changed adequately to meet that growth."

On his own dime, Barker plans to travel to other communities for ideas on how to better organize Union Township. Big Rapids Township, a community surrounding a school with many parallels to Union, is near the top of his list.

"We're going to be looking at options," Barker said. "Look at how townships our size are managed, and come up with what works for us today."

A former executive at Detroit Edison with governmental experience in Baltimore, Barker also vowed to optimize taxpayer dollars.

"Our goal is to make Union Township the best managed and best run township in Michigan," he said.