STPD Chief’s contract renewed for a single year to the disappointment of the public
Last week the Shelby Township Board met for a scheduled public meeting, on the agenda was Police Chief Leman’s contract. Much to the dismay of the vast majority present for the meeting, who wanted to see the Chief offered a longer duration, the Board approved a single year extension. Many spoke openly to the board trying to convince to the Board to approve a longer term while trying to understand why the Chief, who has been offered 3 year contracts in the past, was only being offered a single year. Supervisor Stathakis basically stated that if Chief Leman saves one million budget dollars, he will get offered a longer contract, “much like the Fire Chief’s.”
This argument for giving the PD Chief a contract like this would make sense if he had not been on the job for over 9 years and had not saved the Township $13 million dollars in his 9 year span as our Township’s #1 Cop. Some will argue that this $13 million that he saved was a windfall for him and it wasn’t really his efforts, but yet he was in charge and it was his budget that saved the cash – savings do not occur by accident in a world where budget surpluses are easily squandered. It is quite clear that all that matters to the Shelby Township Board is politics. The Township should be ashamed of the way the Supervisor, Treasurer and Trustee Flynn acted. It is truly amazing that they act this way, so full of themselves they can’t see past their puffed up chests. Flynn rolled his eyes during public comment, Viar attacked the Clerk for reading a letter from the public, while Stathakis couldn’t control the room, and it was really a sight to see. Ok – enough of the Board bashing…
While this issue isn’t straight forward and simple, as budget dollars do need to be saved, it seems to me that finding another Police Chief and expecting that new Police Chief to save this one million dollars required, would do nothing more than cost more money and time, especially since one year (the granted extension) would have already passed by. The Police and Fire Departments in Shelby Township do have real issues that require a sound plan in order to maintain the great service that we as citizens have come to expect, it’s my opinion you need someone with experience and a good track record to keep the PD (or any department for that matter) running lean. Where in the world do they think they will find a better candidate than the person who has already proven he knows what he’s doing?
Viar is quick to point out how the budget will hypothetically look down the road, because the tax base is decreasing, yet this board has no plan to address this declining tax base other than to accept the decline as something that is permanent. What are they doing while companies, such as JAC, which already have a presence in Shelby Township, take their expansion of jobs to Ann Arbor? It seems to me that this Board is waiting for jobs to get dropped in their lap, so to speak. This Board should be focusing on how to make Shelby Township a driving force in making this area a destination for business expansion. That is the only way to replace the tax revenue lost due to declining property values and loss of residents.
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