The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Saline's Top 5 Stories of 2007
The past year in Saline was one of discord, development and good news.
Stories compiled by Brian Cox and Sue G. Collins, Staff Writers
PUBLISHED: January 3, 2008
1. Discord in the district
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For the second year in a row, discord in the Saline Area School District tops the past year's stories.
Only 18 months into Beverley Geltner's tenure as superintendent, the Saline school board put her on paid administrative leave following a controversy that enflamed the community.
The board initiated the leave following Geltner's reinstatement to the freshman football team of a ninth-grade player who allegedly swore at coaches. In protest of the reinstatement and accusations of failing to follow hydration guidelines, the four freshman coaches resigned, leading to the cancellation of the freshman football season and an outcry from the community.
The board named Community Education Director Scot Graden interim superintendent while it prepared an investigation into other allegations against Geltner that were brought to light.
The embattled superintendent submitted her resignation effective June 30, 2008, under an agreement prepared by her attorney and the district's legal counsel.
Until then, Geltner will receive her full compensation package of $134,600.
The deal ended the board's investigation.
Board members said the separation agreement allowed the district to move beyond the cloud of controversy that rose up around Geltner after she was put on paid administrative leave Oct. 8.
The board initiated a search for Geltner's replacement, contracting with the Michigan Association of School Boards to conduct the search.
The new superintendent will take office July 1 and will face the challenge of stabilizing a district that has undergone years of turmoil while wrangling with a shrinking budget.
2. Township and developer agree
It was years in the making, and will be many more years in the realization, but 2007 marked the end of a controversial disagreement between Saline Township and a developer anxious to build thousands of homes that could transform the township's landscape.
Saline Township and Biltmore Holdings, LLC signed a consent agreement after years of political and legal wrangling that will allow the developer to construct up to 1,200 residences, including multi-family apartments, townhomes, duplexes and multi-family condominiums on approximately 421 acres.
The agreement also allows for the creation of a utility service district north of Johnson Road.
Behind the creation of the utility services district are plans to enter into an Act 425 agreement with the city of Saline, which would then provide water and sewer service to the northern property.
The city may provide the infrastructure to serve the larger residential area through a 425 annexation agreement, similar to those currently in place with Sauk Trail Industrial Park, the Saline Recreation Center in Pittsfield Township and Huntington Woods in Saline Township.
Biltmore sued the township in August 2005 after the board unanimously rejected the Troy-based developer's request to rezone about 1,060 acres of land to accommodate a development of some 3,000 homes.
The township responded by passing a special millage to create a legal "war chest" and prepared to continue battling in court.
The agreement reached in September halted the suit, effectively ending years of dispute over the development.
3. Saline plant finds buyer
A full week before Thanksgiving, Saline city officials got news to be cautiously thankful for and a welcome harbinger for 2008.
Automotive Components Holdings LLC announced Nov. 15 that it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Johnson Controls outlining the framework for the sale of ACH's interiors business and the Saline plant on Michigan Avenue.
The company provides about 9 percent of the city's tax base.
City leaders had been bracing and preparing for the contingency of the plant's closure and the loss of its tax revenue for more than a year.
The plant has been in Saline for more than 40 years. The facility opened in Saline in 1966 as a Ford Motor Co. plant before it was spun off in 2000 to become Visteon. At its peak, the plant employed almost 2,500 workers. It now employs closer to 1,100.
While the news was promising, officials cautioned that any finalization of a sale could still be a ways off.
Still, the news brought hope that 2008 might bring a more secure future for the plant and the city.
"It's definitely a big step in the right direction," said Mayor Gretchen Driskell at the time. "It's a good sign. I'm just relieved things are moving forward."
4.Local soldier home to heal
Saline welcomed home a war hero in 2007 and rallied around a young Marine severely injured in Iraq.
During the Memorial Day parade, at the head of the column of marching bands, troops of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, poppy queens, fire trucks and the Army truck was the parade's grand marshal, Marine Cpl. John Lockwood.
Lockwood, a former Saline police officer and now a Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputy, was wounded by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Iraq at the close of 2006.
Lockwood was the Memorial Day keynote speaker.
"I'm just going to talk about how important everyone back home is," Lockwood said of his speech.
Lockwood, a 1998 Saline High School graduate, was injured Nov. 19, 2006, in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded near the Humvee in which he was traveling. Lockwood's injuries were extensive and he spent the first several months of 2007 at the Bethesda hospital undergoing physical therapy and numerous surgeries.
Lockwood's fellow law enforcement officers rallied to his cause. During the Saline Holiday Parade, officers sold 50/50 raffle tickets to raise money for the Lockwoods and organized a benefit dinner that was held Jan. 21 at the Washtenaw County Farm Council Grounds.
The community turnout was overwhelming. Thousands attended the dinner and auction.
Lockwood and his wife Lisa spent the year concentrating on his rehabilitation.
The explosion that took part of Lockwood's left leg Nov. 19 during a mission to flush out insurgents in Fallujah also took his left eye. It broke both his feet and legs, fractured his pelvis, cracked two vertebrae, broke bones in both hands, and crushed his nose.
In addition to speaking at the parade, Lockwood threw out the first pitch the opening day of Little League Baseball and continued to make time to talk with friends and well-wishers.
"I've never heard of a community that came together like this before," he said during his keynote speech.
Lockwood, while still continuing physical therapy, is now driving a car and hopes to return to the sheriff's department in 2008.
5.City manager abruptly resigns
Saline lost its city manager in October when Larry Stoever resigned after more than nine years at the city's helm. Mayor Gretchen Driskell has been acting city manager since then, working from City Hall without further compensation while a replacement is sought. Two short-listed candidates were scheduled for second interviews on Wednesday.
In what seemed to many as a sudden move, Stoever's decision in November left city council members in a position to either accept the resignation and a six month severance package in excess of $50,000 or face possible litigation.
Council members voted unanimously to accept, "with regret," Stover's letter but discussed at length, the compensation package drawn up by city attorney Allan Grossman and signed by Stoever. The agreement called for six months salary, plus payment for all unused vacation time, compensatory time and benefits. Stoever was earning an annual salary of $104,651.
Grossman said that if the council didn't accept the resignation and the severance agreement at the same time, the city would be open to a lawsuit.
Since then, city business has continued as usual while council members interviewed 12 applicants December 8 and 15. Two short-listed candidates were asked to return for second interviews next week.
Michigan Municipal League executive search facilitator Bill Richards is heading up the process, hired by the City of Saline for about $10,000.
Richards said he has helped communities in Michigan fill 37 vacancies at this level and he has never seen such a qualified pool of candidates. "It's because Saline is a well-run community with a reputation as a highly desirable place to live and work, nationally recognized by the CNN/Money Magazine poll."
Both short-listed candidates are presently working as assistant city managers in municipalities similar to Saline. Todd Campbell has nine years experience in Michigan city management including working as village manager in Homer, assistant city manager in Greenville and interim city manager in Sturgis before becoming assistant city manager there in May 2003. Sturgis has a population of 11,285 and is located in southeast Michigan near the Ohio border. Campbell, 38, is married with three children ages 3, 5 and 8 and earned his bachelor's degree from Hope College and a master's from Central Michigan University.He said he believes that collaboration is important in problem solving and would "bring all sorts of people to the table because you never know where that one great idea will come from."
Bryan Gruesbeck, 38, worked as community service coordinator with the city of East Grand Rapids, as a planning and research associate with the United Way and as village manager for Middleville, Mich. before joining the city of Greenville, population 8,400, coincidentally filling the vacancy when Campbell left. He holds his bachelor's and master's degrees from Central Michigan University and is married with two daughters in fourth and seventh grades. Gruesbeck said if hired he would look at the services offered to residents, check in with visioning documents and follow through with blueprint research.
The Saline city manager job pays between $80,432 - $104,561 plus a comprehensive benefit package.
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