By: Gena Johnson | West Bloomfield Beacon | Published October 25, 2025
WEST BLOOMFIELD — At a special meeting of the West Bloomfield Board of Trustees Oct. 15, various funds were received and filed. The funds included the Parks and Recreation Construction Fund, the Special Assessment Districts Funds, capital project funds and more.
Trustees Debbie Binder, Teri Weingarden, Jonathan Warshay and Michael Patton voted 4-0 to receive and file them. Absent were trustees Jim Manna, Diane Rosenfeld Swimmer and Vincent Kirkwood.
Binder, who serves as township clerk, explained that receiving and filing is not approval, but rather a way to gather information. A formal hearing will be held in December to decide whether to include or exclude each item in the final budget.
The Parks and Recreation Fund appropriated the remaining balance of $25 million for 2026, which came to approximately $500,000. Special assessment districts were also reviewed, including projects such as streetlights, roadways, bridges and stormwater work in areas such as Aero View Beach, Autumn Ridge, Crystal Beach, Bloomfield Knoll, Long Lake Estates, Union Scotch, Twin Beach, Chimney Hill and Willow Farm.
“We have had three SAD (special assessment districts) funds that have closed and are going through the auditing close-out process in 2025,” said Allison Broihier, budget and pension manager for West Bloomfield.
Those include fund 337 Aldingbrooke Roadway, fund 418 Stonebridge Roadway and fund 421Rutledge Parkway Roadway, making them the three funds to appropriate in 2026.
“As the funds close, any over-collection is redistributed back to the residences in each individual fund. Under-payment would be reflected in a transfer to fund 445 — the improvement revolving fund,” Broihier said. “If there is uncollected revenue, it has to be made up from somewhere, and the improvement revolving would be the place.”
The township’s Capital Improvement Plan identifies projects that are estimated to cost $25,000 or more in non-recurring expenses over the next five fiscal years. In 2026, such work will account for more than $15 million, which includes the renovations at Fire Station No. 1.
“The leadership team has worked really hard to identify and think about the full five-year planning window, looking hard at that because we need to be balancing our funds and thinking strategically on how we’re going to fund these projects,” Broihier said.
Binder said officials are trying to be strategic and spread projects across the five years.
For the police department, there are plans for a new dispatch phone system, the purchase of more drones, and a new mobile command vehicle.
The Oakland County 911 system is changing to a new provider and software system. Everyone within its jurisdiction is required to switch, which will take place sometime next year.
In the interim, the police department will have to renew with its current provider, Motorola, for at least another year, depending on how quickly the changeover takes place.
The new contract would be five years with Carbyne. With the initial cost of equipment, installation and software, the cost comes to nearly $270,000.
West Bloomfield resident Amber Baker asked questions during the public address portion of the meeting. She said she knew of a couple times when the West Bloomfield 911 service was not working. She asked if the new contract would prevent this from happening again.
“Technology is wonderful when it works,” replied Dale Young, the police chief. “Unfortunately, there is no way to predict that from time to time we wouldn’t have some outages.”
Young also addressed how many drones would be purchased.
“The (police) department has an existing fleet of drones used for missing people and high-risk situations,” the chief said. “This (capital improvement) project is for discussion purposes. In public safety, we’re trying to decide how we can best use them — not just for now but scaling them in the future.”
The Police Department also has a plan to replace its mobile command vehicle, which was purchased from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $20,000 in 2020, after FEMA had been using it since 2008. The new vehicle is $300,000 and has a lifespan of at least 20 years.
Baker asked if the lifespan estimate is accurate, and Young responded that there are many variables involved, but improvements to technology make it likely to last.
“Like Clerk Binder mentioned, we’re methodically going through a purchase like this and projecting out decades, not just five or 10 years,” Young said.
Baker was lauded for her interest in the budget.
“Thank you for your questions and your interest,” said Jonathan Warshay, the township supervisor. “You might be the first member of the public in my tenure (of nine years) that has come in with so many questions about the budget. That’s good.”