YES for Brandon Bond
Dear Editor,
We live in Brandon and have two children who recently graduated from Brandon High School and two more still attending Brandon schools. Brandon is a special district with much to offer students and the community. Brandon offers a wide variety of academic and extracurricular opportunities; and yet is able to keep the feeling of a small, close-knit district. Brandon students are not just a “number”; they are able to develop personal relationships with their teachers and district staff. Extracurricular opportunities are abundant. If a student has the interest and desire, they have a great chance to… make the team, be in the band/choir, participate in drama productions, and/or be a key member in other organizations they are passionate about.
Brandon educators are top-notch, and our kids deserve facilities that are equally matched. Just like our homes need updates and repairs, so do school facilities, and our help is needed. Interest rates are extremely low so we will get a great return on our investment with the passing of this bond. This bond does not cover exorbitant things, but rather covers necessary repairs and upgrades and keeps us competitive with neighboring districts.
We will be SUPPORTING the Brandon Bond by voting YES and hope you will join us.
Jeff and Keri Hickmott
GTFD Update
Dear Editor,
There may be some uncounted tree-down runs, but the overall FACTS are these. In 2013, we did 2245 runs. In 2019, even if you add 100 downed trees, we did 1045, or 47 percent of what we did in 2013 with the exact same staffing. If you remove the 200 runs that are not even in Groveland Township, you are at 38%. When we have excessive, extra capacity we become other (neighboring) wealthier communities’ easy answer to not handling their own additional staffing requirements.
Our taxes for fire service are not a bit higher. They are the 2nd highest in the county and 9th highest in the whole state of over 200 departments.
Here are the reasons we do not support a 1 mill tax increase to become the most expensive in the county and whole state. It’s hard to justify a tax increase when you have the capacity to do at least 62 percent more runs already. Our 2020 taxes will go up because the state COLA factor this year is 1.9 percent (average home increase $69), the school is proposing a bond millage increase of .83 mills (average home increase $104), the new county executive has said the RTA is a goal. Last time the RTA was proposed it was 1.2-1.5 mills with a 5 mills cap. Let’s hope it’s only 1.2 mills (average home increase $150). If we raise the fire millage 1 mill it is $125 increase for the average home, not $85 per year.
Both the GTFD and NOCFA proposals keep station 2, are very similar in design and are being reviewed. Both fire departments are ISO 3.
In conclusion, all the DATA presented has come from four sources… The township auditor (unmodified), the 911 Dispatch Center (unmodified), the Medical Control for Oakland County (unmodified), and the monthly fire run reports from GTFD (confirmed by our chief).
If you have other questions, feel free to call the township office at 248-634-4152 or watch the videos found on our website, grovelandtownship.net.
Robert DePalma
Groveland Township Supervisor
(In response to, NOCF should be on the ballot, The Citizen, Jan. 25, page 10)
Vote on NOCF
Dear Editor,
Your letter in the 25 Jan. 2020 is absolutely right on!
I totally agree that such an important decision as us residents in Groveland Township on whether we give up on our great GTFD should not be up to Bob DePalma and his so called board of “yes” men. I sat in the December meeting and there was no doubt in my mind that the majority of residents that were there were not in favor of giving up on our fire department! As DePalma was elected by many of these citizens, it is clear that he is not acting in our best interest.

This should be a decision made my putting it on the ballot in November as I have no doubt that this November we will have a record turn out of Groveland Township residents that will vote to keep our fire department! I would also like to make sure that the township board is aware that the citizens of this township are all highly educated and will take whatever legal action necessary to ensure that we get this important issue on that ballot. I was also appalled in the December meeting that the board quickly approved that DePalma have the final approval on any articles that appear in this paper before it goes to press regarding our fine township, What is going on in these meetings?? My wife and I moved here from a Detroit area suburb almost five years ago now to enjoy living here, which we do, but I am not at all pleased with how this township is managed! I hold my tongue on anything else before I get myself in trouble.
I am asking our citizens to get together to start a petition to get this extremely issue on the November ballot!
Ed Irvine
A caring Groveland Township resident as well!!
(In response to “Honor you oath,” a letter by Dale Bond, The Citizen, Dec. 28, page 6)
We need to listen
Dear Editor,
Bravo to Mr. Dale Bond for his December 28, 2019 Letter to the Editor, “Honor Your Oath.” In this brief missive, Mr. Bond, a Korean War Veteran, expresses his concern for our country and urges Senators McConnell and Graham to honor their oath to our Constitution, as Mr. Bond did when a young man in the 1950’s.
We owe Mr. Bond and his generation much. Along with the WWII generation, these men and women fought for America and her ideals, then came home to build the greatest economy the world has ever seen.
We need to listen to Mr. Bond. We need to listen to each other. If we disagree, we can do so without name calling, without references to another writer’s “meds” and without deliberate misquotes.
Bonnie Beltramo