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Politics & Government

New Trustee Joins Chesterfield Board

Gerald (Jerry) Alexie officially began his new role as a Chesterfield Township trustee at the Monday night Board of Trustees meeting.

Gerald (Jerry) Alexie officially joined the Chesterfield Township Board of Trustees after taking the oath of office during Monday night’s board meeting.

Township Clerk Jan Uglis administered the oath of office to Alexie at the beginning of the meeting, which took place Aug. 1 at the on Sugarbush Road.

“I would just like to thank everyone for the warm welcome and hope I can prove to you that you made the right decision by placing me on the Chesterfield Township Board of Trustees,” Alexie said during the meeting. “I promise to work hard and do my part as a trustee.”

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Alexie will serve on the board through the November 2012 election.

The board voted to appoint Alexie on Monday, July 25 after a second round of interviews took place. An initial pool of 15 candidates applied for the trustee position, which was vacated by Cheryl Printz in June.

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interested in the position were held in the Township Board Room on July 19 and July 25. All but two board members voted to appoint Alexie to complete the vacant term.

Trustee Christine Bell, who cast one of the dissenting votes on Alexie’s appointment, declined to explain the reason behind her vote, but said she believes he’ll be a good representative for the township.

“I think he’ll do a fine job,” Bell said prior to Monday’s meeting. “I don’t have any concerns about working with him at all. He seems very qualified.”

Recycling authority to form

The board adopted a resolution Monday night that places the township in the beginning stages of forming the Macomb County Resource and Recycling Authority, or MCRRA.

The authority would deal with waste and recycling hauling and disposal agreements. The township hopes to work with nearby municipalities to consolidate services and get lower service rates for residents.

The township “is mindful of budget and revenue concerns to identify and explore the consolidation of services with other local governments to seek lower costs with equivalent services to its citizens,” according to the resolution.

“At this time, it’s communities trying to band together,” Supervisor Mike Lovelock said during the meeting. “We’re trying to come up with better pricing through one authority instead of having several people out there bidding. We’re going to have one regional authority hopefully when we’re done.

“There’s no charge. We’re just in the beginning stages; this is only to say that we’d like to try to put it together.”

Police department request approved

Board members also approved a request from the police department, allowing a renewal of the department’s membership with Macomb Community College Criminal Justice Training Center for the next year at a cost of nearly $5,500.

“Macomb provides excellent training for our officers in a variety of areas–things from accident investigation, drug investigations, speed judgment, like radar and laser training, photography—a whole assortment of training we have to do,” Police Chief Bruce Smith told board members.

“After looking at our budget last year, we spent approximately $14,000 in training with the department. By belonging to this membership it allows us to get it at a reduced rate. That training would have cost us probably close to $30,000. We saved about $16,000 for this investment and I think it’s well worth it," Smith said.

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