After months without any noticeable improvements, Donni Steele says she’s discouraged.
As chair of the Orion Township Safety Path Committee, Steele attended a recent township board meeting to voice her frustration over the committee’s inability to act.
‘We’re at a standstill,? she said. ‘We need someone with authority to loosen up the purse strings. We’re all starting to loose heart and hope and faith.?
Steele said she joined the committee about two years ago hoping she could help get the path’winding some 37 miles through the township at last published count’improved, rather than just complaining about it.
‘The frustrating thing is we actually have money to spend,? she said.
According to the township clerk’s office, the Safety Path fund, paid for from a voter-approved millage, had a balance of $1,935,209.41 as of Dec. 31, 2008.
But with changes in township administration, Steele said, projects can’t get approved because only the supervisor currently has authority to expend the funds.
A former township employee had the responsibility, and most agree he did a good job in the role.
But since his departure, one liaison to the Safety Path didn’t have any authority, and another was recently laid off.
?(Township Supervisor Matt Gibb) wants to be in complete charge of any expenditures,? she said. ‘He’s the ultimate decision maker. If the liaison doesn’t have any power to say ‘yes, do it? or ‘no, don’t do it,? and everything has to go back to the supervisor for ultimate approval, what’s the point of having a liaison??
But Steele also said she understood where part of the problem was rooted.
‘I have to give him some slack; he’s new and wants to see what’s going on before spending the money,? she said. ‘But people like to see stuff happening. In this economy, people are out using the safety path, riding their bike, walking their dog. It’s a good form of recreation without having to spend any money.?
She wants to see some action.
‘I’m begging you to put a good person on our committee,? she told Gibb and the township board at the meeting.
Gibb, in turn, asked the committee to be patient, and said a recently approved job description for a supervisor’s assistant should solve the liaison issue.
The big stumbling block, he said, is a lack of communication.
‘That’s my fault,? Gibb said. ‘Over the past few years we’ve had no specific point person.?
But, he said, the township can’t just appoint anyone to the task’the person must be a township employee.
But Gibb disagreed about an idea suggesting he ‘wants to be in complete charge of any expenditures.?
He also disagrees with those who say there’s been no progress.
‘We’ve moved forward this year more than the past three years,? he said. ‘We’ve got crews out working this week.?
Recent work, he said, includes the purchase of a piece of property on M-24 near Buffalo Wild Wings, and combined drain projects’one on Miller one on Orion Road.
Several bridges have also been repaired and replaced, he noted, and the township’s done substantial investigation into the possibilities for the Safety Path on Maybee Road.
Soil conditions make path construction cost prohibitive in some spots on Maybee, he said, but others are ready for building.
In the future, Gibb said, he’ll be asking more of the Safety Path Committee, such as documenting brush and trees that need to be trimmed or removed, and repairs that need to be made.