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CLINTON TOWNSHIP — During the Oct. 20 meeting of the Clinton Township Board of Trustees, new policies and approaches for the enforcement of township ordnance code violations were given a unanimous first approval.
The changes to the code enforcement procedures come after discussions between trustees, Building Department Superintendent Barry Miller and Chief Judge Sebastian Lucido of the 41B District Court. They intend to bring Clinton Township in line with how other communities handle the severity of such issues.
Prior to Oct. 20, Clinton Township handled code violations as criminal misdemeanors similar to Mount Clemens’ approach. Harrison Township, however, handles code violations as civil infractions.
“(The ordinance) would convert us from misdemeanors and decriminalize what we do and make them civil infractions instead, and hopefully speed up the process,” Miller said.
Miller said the township’s primary goal for code enforcement is seeking compliance on an issue as quickly as possible. Making ordinance violations civil infractions removes the need for lengthy criminal court proceedings and allows township staff to directly work with affected community members. Miller expects compliance can be achieved in 50-90 days under the civil infraction system with its fines and direct involvement with township staff, versus 90-180 days under the misdemeanor model.
“Rather than the court giving someone a conviction to a misdemeanor, the courts could rather order that the township fix the problem and then (the) resident winds up having to pay for that (fix) and the property would be liened if they didn’t pay it,” Township Supervisor Paul Gieleghem said.
The first reading passed with a 6-0 vote among those present. Treasurer Mike Aiello was absent from the meeting.
Public safety budget amendments
Both the Clinton Township fire and police departments saw budget amendments approved by the board on Oct. 20
The Police Department budget saw an increase of $34,800 to cover the overage costs of the police millage renewal election in August. Chief of Police Preston Susalla requested the amendment be made to accurately reflect expenditures related to the election.
“Payroll was the bigger cost, but then there were costs that we wouldn’t normally spend; that was for the ballot and envelope costs,” Township Clerk Kim Meltzer said. “Those normally wouldn’t be entailed. This was a special election so there was only one thing on the ballot, so that was why the cost was higher … If I had been invited to the table in January when they discussed it, then we probably would have been in a better position to estimate those (costs).”
Trustee Dan Kress was the lone vote against the budget amendment.
For the Fire Department, its budget amendment request called for the $210,000 bathroom remodeling projects at Station No. 2 and Station No. 3 to be shifted from the fiscal year 2024-25 capital outlay to the fiscal year 2025-26. The financial housekeeping move for the recently completed project was granted with unanimous approval.
Background check brouhaha
The meeting began with two appointments being made to township committees, but the process was greatly delayed as trustees debated whether the applicants were supposed to be subjected to background checks prior to their appointment.
While James Hungerford was reappointed to a three-year term on the Arboretum Committee and Bryant Goodreau was appointed to a two-year term on the Prince Drewry Park Advisory Committee, trustees voted to “waive” a check of Hungerford while Goodreau volunteered to undergo a check.
Neither the Arboretum Committee or the Prince Drewry Park Advisory Committee were part of the nine boards and committees affected by the background check requirement approved on Aug. 25.
