By Kristyne E. Demske
C & G Staff Writer

MOUNT CLEMENS — All seven recall petitions against Shelby Township Supervisor Richard Stathakis and Treasurer Paul Viar were declared “not clear” by the Macomb County Election Commission, which met Oct. 20 to review the petitions’ language.

In each case, Macomb County Treasurer Ted Wahby made a motion, supported by County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh, that the language was not clear in the petitions. Wahby and Sabaugh are part of the three-member panel completed by Acting Chief Probate Judge Kenneth Sanborn.

Shelby Township resident Noel Nightingale — part of the family that owns Nightingale Standard Service, the township’s current towing company — filed the petitions, which allege that Viar and Stathakis accepted money from companies and individuals that were later awarded contracts or favorable votes by the Board of Trustees.

Wahby said they were not checking any of the facts alleged in the petitions, just the language.

“It’s strictly the clarity of the language,” he said.

Even if someone were to testify at the language hearing that the facts were patently false, “we can’t even take that into consideration,” he said.

Sabaugh agreed that they were very limited in what the commission could consider in its ruling.

“Just the clarity, that’s what we’re charged with,” she said.

The four recall petitions filed against Stathakis allege that Utica Van Dyke Service, United Lawnscape, Fazal Khan and Associates, and the petitioner in a rezoning request at the southwest corner of Schoenherr and 24 Mile roads, Michael Torres, all contributed to his bid for election in 2008 and then were subsequently awarded bids or rezoning petitions by the Board of Trustees.

Three recall petitions against Treasurer Paul Viar allege that contributions from Fazal Khan and Associates, United Lawnscape and Michael Torres also led to granted bids and petitions.

Campaign finance reports verified that contributions were made by all of the aforementioned but Torres, who was not listed on documents under Stathakis’ or Viar’s names. Many other businesses, community groups, elected officials and residents also contributed to each campaign.

The petitioner, or anyone else, may re-file with new language, Sabaugh said, and begin the process again.

Nightingale said he had “no idea” if he would try to pursue the matter and didn’t want to comment further. Neither Viar nor Stathakis attended the hearing.

After 51 years of service in the township, Nightingale Standard Service recently was not awarded a new contract for towing. The Board of Trustees is still researching towing bids after throwing out the company, Utica Van Dyke Service, that was first awarded the new contract. The board voted 4-3 to hire that company, but now the bid is up in the air again after Utica Van Dyke was found to not meet township specifications and was disqualified. Presently, Nightingale still has the contract.

When he heard of the results, Viar said he simply wanted to continue the business of the township.

“The panel met, voted and now we have to get back to the business of trying to balance our budget,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll get through it and get on to better things.”

Stathakis said he had no other comment on the matter other than to reiterate that he felt the recall petition filings were “emotional, political nonsense.”