8/7/2019 The Chelsea Standard Front Page April 21, 2011

1/1

PLEASE SEE JUDGMENT/3-A

Printed

on

recycled

paper

NEWSTIP

HOTLINE:

475-1371

Editorial Page 6-A

Calendar Page 5-C

Deaths Page 10-A

Sports Page 1-B

Community Page 1-C

INDEX

Fundraiser to benefitschool bands

Page 16-A

INSIDEStudents presentartwork at CCA

Page 1-C

INSIDE

VOL. 138, NO. 16 THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 201175Chelsea Standard

Weave the Web:Make sure to click

on www.heritage.comaround the clock for themost in-depth coverageof Washtenaw County.Our Most Viewed storythis week is The ChelseaStandard Front Page.

Check out our video: Ypsilanti Marshmallow

Drop Milan Easter Egg Hunt Milan City Council and

Veterans Wall of Honor 2ForU

Connect withHotJobs by Monster:

Click on the jobs tabon the home page of ourwebsite or go directly tohttp://jobs.heritage.com.

Join us on Twitter:Become a Chelsea

Standard follower. Click onthe Twitter tab on the homepage of our website or godirectly to http://twitter.com/ChelseaDexter.

Join us on Facebook:We already have 313 fans

on Facebook. Click on theFacebook tab on the homepage of our website orsearch for us on Facebook.

The Marketplace:Local ads are just a hop

away at the MIcentral.commarketplace. While you arethere, you can check outall the special supplementsof Journal Register Co.newspapers in Michigan.

Click on marketplaceon the home page of our

website or go directly to www.marketplace.micentral.com/

Baby animals visit

Page1-C

INSIDE

Citys police station plans move forward

By Sean DaltonHeritage Media

The Chelsea City Councilbegan moving funds into anewly created Judgment Bondpayment fund months afterapproving the $3 million judg-ment bond issuance earlierthis year.

The city must pay the judg-ment after losing its appealin a lawsuit filed by ChelseaInvestment Group, LLC in2006 alleging that the city andformer City Manager MikeSteklac breached a contractwhere water and sewer capac-ity were promised for theHeritage Pointe subdivision.The development is located onDexter-Chelsea Road.

The money will come outof the account to make inter-est-only payments due nextNovember and in May of thefollowing year.

Chelseas administrativedirector characterized themotion to set the funds asidea year in advance, which wasunanimously approved by thefull City Council, as a proac-tive move.

The $2 million, 10-yearbonds first payment totals

in at $74,407 for the 2011-2012fiscal year. The money cominginto the judgment bond fundis coming from the electric,general, water, wastewater,solid-waste and storm-waterfunds.

Each fund will bear a spe-cific percentage of the bruntof filling the judgment bondaccount, to the tune of 46 per-cent for electric, 28 percent forgeneral fund, 12 percent forwater, 10 percent for wastewa-ter and 3 percent for the solidwaste fund.

This amounts to $34,200from electric, $21,000 fromgeneral, $9,000 from water,$7,400 from wastewater and$740 from solid waste.

There is an additional $1million that will be funded bythe citys electric and generalfund in addition to the $2 mil-lion.

Councilshufflesmoney

for bondpayment

LitWalk a hit

Photo by Erica McClain

Author Jeff Kass shares a poem at the Chelsea River Gallery during the Midwest Literary Walk, while fellow author and poet ScottBeal watches.

By Sean DaltonHeritage Media

Chelseas third annualLiterary Walk or LitWalkas most people called it was ahuge success with only one bigproblem: there wasnt enoughseating and some of the ven-ues were cramped.

Thats the kind of problemwe like to have, said SaraWedell, one of the events orga-nizers and a Chelsea DistrictLibrary employee.

Attendance was up fromlast year across the board ...my only regret is that it got alittle too tight on space.

This year several notableMichigan-based authorsspoke at the li brary, the RiverGallery and Just ImagineBookstore.

Laura Kasischke and Keith

Taylor spoke at the library.Jeff Kass and Scott Bealspoke at the gallery. BonnieJo Campbell and Zilka Josephspoke at Just Imagine MLLiebler and Bonnie Rose

Marcus also gave readings andspoke at th e gallery.

These authors could make

a significant figurative pileout of the renown and honorstheyve garnered, includingGuggenheim Fellowships,National Endowment forthe arts and National BookAwards, to name a few.

Attendee Jean Ross said she

traveled to Chelsea to hearCampbell read some of herworks.

Its wonderful having theauthor of writing that youenjoy so much right there infront of you, let alone readingtheir own material, she said.

She was one of dozens of

folks listening to Campbell andJoseph during their 3 p.m. pre-sentation which drew such a

crowd that people were stand-ing halfway through the storelistening to the readings.

Just Imagine owner WilliamHarris said he was more thanhappy to help host authors forthe Litwalk. In previous yearsCranesbill Books helped host

authors, but the store closeddown last year. Harris openedJust Imagine this year.

Were proud to be a part ofthis event, Harris said frombehind his counter during thereadings.

Harris said that he didntexpect the event to directly

boost his business, but saidthat he just wanted to helpthe event for the communitys

sake.Wedell said that the openmic portion of the event wasstunning.

Its astounding to seehow much talent we have inChelsea ... we have people herewho have this inner artistinside of them, she said.

If the third LitWalk was anyindication, Wedell says thatthe public can expect a fourthnext year for sure.

She said that this yearswas kept as Michigan aspossible with the furthesttraveling author coming fromKalamazoo.

Every year its gotten bet-ter and I have no doubt that wecan top ourselves yet again,Wedell said of next years

event.She thanked the Chelsea

Center for the Arts and theRiver Gallery for being inte-gral to making the LiteratureWalk happen.

Chelseas new 6,600-squarefoot police building projet isanother step closer to beingfully funded now that the CityCouncil has taken initial stepsto issue $2.5 million in bonds.

The new structure will beerected on three city lots atSouth Main and East Summit

next to Chelsea State Bank.City Manager John Hanifan

verbalized what he includedin the council meeting packet:This is not the final approvalof the bonds, a final commit-ment to issue the bonds and/orto use the process.

The council voted to issue

a preliminary resolution ofintent that outlines the bondterms. Further council actionwill be required along the wayto issuing the bonds outrightand putting the city on the hookfor their repayment,

The resolution passed with afive-to-two vote. Rod Anderson

and Bill Holmberg stoodtogether in voting against theresolution.

Anderson has maintainedcontinued resistance to movingforward with the project as itstands with its current locationand cost.

After the meeting he reiter-

ated the position that he hastaken time and time again: Thelocation is wrong, the designis wrong and the timing iswrong.

Anderson says that thereare better options for loca-tion - options that the cityalready owns that havent been

adequately considered, and headded that the $3 million judg-ment that the city began payingat the very same meeting atwhich the police station bondswere approved is reason enoughto halt the process and beginreevaluating the current course.

Holmberg echoed Andersons

concerns over the citys finan-cial position in light of theChelsea Investment Group, LLClawsuit judgment.

In other council news:The Chelsea Farmers

Market, which has been shiftingaround over the past several

years, will remain at parking lotNo. 3 on Park Street.

The farmers market isopened for seven months eachyear and is sponsored by theChelsea Area Chamber ofCommerce.

The market will open May 7and operate from 8 a.m. to noon

each Saturday.Hanifan said in his commu-

nications to council that longterm options like the PalmerFord lot or even the Longworthbuilding as part of a redevel-opment project could be goodoptions. He said that movingthe market is a good long-term

option.The farmers market is cur-

rently only allowed on publicproperty or closed streets,Hanifan added.

Bob Pierce, executive direc-tor of the chamber, agreed thatfinding a permanent home forthe market is a good idea.

Its wonderful having the author ofwriting that you enjoy so much

right there in front of you, let alonereading their own material.

Welcome Home!26 Secure Alzheimers Apartments Legacy Assisted Living & Legends Alzheimers Center

JUST 15 MINUTES FROM CHELSEA LOCATED RIGHT OFF I-94 NO ENTRANCE FEE

Prices starting at $2,895 per month Licensed registered nurse on-site Planned activities

24-hour emergency call system Medication administration State-Licensed Assisted Living

5025 ANN ARBOR ROAD, JACKSON, MI gantonretirement.com 517-764-2000 for your tour of this state-of-the-art center