Buckhorn resident William Wilsher said he was pleasantly surprised when he was chosen as the newest member of the Orion Township Board of Trustees on Aug. 4.
Wilsher was sworn in immediately following the meeting to fill the vacancy left by Eric Wilson, who resigned from the board in June to become Oakland County Commissioner for Orion Township.
Wilsher will serve on the board until Wilson’s term expires on Nov. 20, 2004. He said he is excited to get started.
“I always talked about doing it and helped on a few campaigns over the years,” said Wilsher, 40. “I was into the Teenage Republicans when I was in school, and I think I only missed voting in two or three elections my whole life.”
Wilsher became involved in Orion Township government after the Troy native moved here and learned there was going to be a gas station built on the corner of M-24 and Clarkston Road.
“My well went bad,” he said. “I live on Buckhorn Lake, so I started going to planning meetings. I met a lot of people…and with the soccer league I was always the spokesman.”
Wilsher served as the Under 12 Division representative for the Orion/Oxford Soccer League for seven years, a position he recently stepped down from although he continues to coach.
“I miss that, I met a lot of great people,” he said.
Wilsher also served as a precinct delegate for eight years for Precinct 11 in Orion Township, and said the experience taught him a lot about the way local government works.
“That was fun…I went to county conventions, state conventions,” he said. “I saw how the whole process works. I think everyone should do that.”
Wilsher was considering running for the township board in 2000 but between his job and traveling he was working 65-hour weeks.
“If I do something, I want to do it all the way,” he said. “I feel I’m just an average person…I feel I can relate to the vast majority of people out there.”
Wilsher has lived with his wife Laura in Orion Township for 14 years, and the couple have a daughter, Heather, in the eighth grade at Scripps Middle School; and a son, Shawn, a senior cross country, track and Robotics Team member at Lake Orion High School.
“I recently started my own manufacturing representative company, called Buckhorn Industrial,” said Wilsher. “I also work as a general manager at a machine shop in Roseville.”
Asked what his top three issues for the township as a board member will be, Wilsher said the budget would be at the top.
“The budget’s the most important right now,” he said. “We want to try to keep all our services and get the biggest bang for our buck. I also think we need to have a relationship with the village…maybe some services can be shared there.
“Communication is really important,” Wilsher said. “Both entities should be working together and not apart.”
Since Wilsher lives on a lake himself, water quality is also of great concern to him.
“That and Eagle Valley,” he said. “I am a member of the Solid Waste and Recycling Committee for the township…I think we need more recycling in the township. That’s something we’ll have to plan for in the future if Eagle Valley shuts down.”
Wilsher believes the water quality issue and Eagle Valley “go hand in hand.”
“I think we should also look into adding another solid waste recycling day, if we can,” he added.
Wilsher is anxious to get started and knows the job replacing Wilson will be challenging.
“Eric Wilson was there for a long time…they’re some big shoes to fill,” he said. “But everyone from Michael Fetzer to Jerry Dywasuk has told me ‘if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us.'”
When he has some free time, Wilsher likes to take his Wave Runner out on the lake, and is a self-proclaimed “collector of junk.”
“As a kid, I was the only boy in a family with four sisters,” he said. “So I kept to myself a lot and started collecting things. I have a license plate collection and a stamp collection I haven’t worked on in years.”
Wilsher also likes to garden and do yard work, and spend time with his family.
“My wife has been very supportive,” he said.