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CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Meeting for its last scheduled time in July 2025, the Clinton Township Board of Trustees took on an agenda with its usual mix of business and bluster July 28.
On the matter of the abandoned township-owned residential property at 21229 Vermander Avenue, trustees voted to reject a $23,300 bid to demolish the structure. The township acquired the home in January from the estate of John Brune, who died in the home during a fire, with the goal of getting the building demolished. This goal has not changed, but Building Department Superintendent Barry Miller believes the demolition costs can be brought under $20,000
“The house needs to come down,” Clinton Township Building Department Superintendent Barry Miller said. “It’s in a bad way inside. It’s on (a) half-crawl, half-piers. It’s just not a good product to begin with. (The cost of) $23,000 to take out a house with no basement in it is absurd, so I think I can get that number down.”
With the current bid rejected and Miller determined to find a lower bid, the board has directed the department to find three bids from companies to demolish the home. Trustee Dan Kress mentioned he knew someone who was interested in purchasing the property; Supervisor Paul Gieleghem asked him to get the interested party connected with the Building Department.
Chipping update
With the township’s contracted waste hauler the subject of recent discussion, Kress used time on the board to discuss reported missed pickups of wood from township residences. The wood pickups are handled by the Clinton Township Department of Public Works as part of its branch chipping service.
DPW Director Mary Bednar answered the questions raised by Kress, stating that the DPW has a single two-person crew assigned to chipping and that weather events had led to some delays in the service.
“We actually, during the storm events that we had in June, we actually put two crews out to catch up,” Bednar said. “Those storms put us about a week and a half behind — I wouldn’t say behind; it was just that much more chipping. We’ve compared our services from last year to this year and they are very comparable.”
The branch chipping service operates on a seasonal basis from May 1 through Sept. 30. A DPW crew rotates between township neighborhoods and will chip branches gathered and left out per the DPW’s specifications. Go to clintontownship.com/553/Branch-Chipping-Service for more information about the program.
Park reservation discussion
After around an hour of debate, trustees approved the Save Our Sons and Save Our Sisters mentoring programs to use Joy, Normandy and Prince Drewry parks until October at no cost. Both organizations aim to provide peer mentoring programs for teenage boys and girls, respectively.
What kept the board from moving swiftly on the item was the question of the group’s organizer, Thomas Barnes. Known for his work in Macomb County recreation and mentoring as the executive director of the TCB Youth Mentoring organization, Barnes was charged with child abuse and domestic violence offenses in December 2023 for allegedly abusing his daughter through corporal punishment. Earlier on July 28, Barnes entered into a domestic violence guilty plea and agreed to participate in an intervention program in exchange for having the child abuse charge dropped, according to court records. Barnes was not present at the meeting. His attorney, Saima Khalil, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Barnes’ charges were brought up by Clinton Township Clerk Kim Meltzer as her reason for opposing the programs operating at the township parks. While members of the board were initially receptive to allowing the program to move forward as-is as long as Barnes was not present at the parks for the events, the board opted to subject whoever would be leading the groups at the park in Barnes’ place to a background check. Trustee Shannon King said he would be at the parks for the events, and the board voted 5-2 to allow the groups to reserve park space at no cost. Meltzer was joined by Treasurer Mike Aiello in opposition.
Save Our Sons and Save Our Sisters will be at Joy Park on Saturdays from 6-8 p.m. until the end of October, with the groups operating out of Prince Drewry Park on Normandy Park on Aug. 16.
