By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- At the regular meeting on Monday night, the township board voted 6-0 in to reappoint three planning commission members, Dick Lowthian, Joseph Dean and Mark Evans.
There was also a motion that failed 4-2 to include Donna Ferrara in the reappointments. Supervisor Kathy Thurman and Clerk Candee Allen voted in favor. Trustee Kris Kordella was absent with notice.
“Donna has been a long time resident of Brandon Township, but she is no longer,” said Lotwhian, the chairman of the planning commission. “She now resides in Groveland. I’m sure that you all know that Michigan Compiled Law 125.8315, which is part of Act 33 of 2008, the Michigan Planning Enabling Act, allows one person on the planning commission to be appointed that is not a resident. Legally, there is no issue with her appointment.”
Ferrara has served on the planning commission for 20 years and moved around the time of her last reappointment in 2016.
“Donna is the most senior member of the planning commission,” said Lowthian. “I know that as chair, I can always count on Donna to propose those often necessary and very complicated motions that have to be made on issues before the PC. Other members on the PC will often defer to her expertise and knowledge to tackle those issues.”
Board members raised questions about Ferrara not being a township resident.
“Donna’s always done an outstanding job, but it seems to me if we have a resident that’s interested in maybe taking a position on the planning commission, and being involved in the governance of the township, I have a tendency to want to say we should give them the upper hand because they are a resident,” said trustee Bob Marshall. “And nothing against Donna, but I think we should look at residents first.”
Thurman told the board that she does take applications, and she reviewed them, but didn’t feel there was a candidate as qualified as Ferrara.
The three planning commissioners’ new terms will run Jan. 1, 2020-Dec. 31, 2022. Anyone interested in a planning commission seat can contact the supervisor at 248-627-4918