A proposed amendment to the way the township sells water to the village was shot down by the Orion Township Board of Trustees at their regular meeting July 20.
The board voted 6-1 to receive and file the opinion from the township attorney on the matter and take no further action.
The lone dissenting vote came from former Lake Orion Village Manager and current Orion Township Trustee JoAnn Van Tassel, who brought the issue before the board at the July 6 meeting.
At that meeting, Van Tassel said, ‘The issue is fairness and fairness alone,? in regards to the water agreement the township and village have.
The motion was then tabled until the meeting on July 20.
Currently, the township is a water customer of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD). The township then sells water to residents, large facilities like the General Motors plant and the Village of Lake Orion.
Van Tassel contends the village should be treated not as a retail customer, but a wholesale customer. That way, they’d get a better shake.
According to Van Tassel, even though the village received no services from the township department of public works, it paid for those services through the mark-up the township added to the DWSD charge.
‘For years, the village overpaid. The township does not supply any additional services to the village other than reading the meters and issuing the bill,? said Van Tassel. ‘The Village of Lake Orion is not a retail customer.?
Van Tassel acknowledged the village pays the same as the township’s other customers, but said a change to reflect its unique position was needed.
Director of public works Bill Ireland disagreed.
‘I would suggest nothing needs to be done at this point. We are charging less than what we actually pay for the water,? he said.
The rest of the board also didn’t see any reason to try and amend the intergovernmental agreement.
‘We’ve got two legal opinions that say we shouldn’t do this. I just don’t know the urgency of why we need to amend the water contract,? said Supervisor Matt Gibb.