By Jessica Mathews/News@whmi.com


The Hartland Township Board met virtually Tuesday night and the main order of business was a resolution to Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature to re-open the economy.

The resolution was in response to the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-42 restricting and prohibiting significant segments of personal and commercial activities. The resolution was read aloud, which states the global COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the state into a public health emergency that requires bold actions and the state also faces an economic crisis, requiring a similarly healthy response. The resolution (posted below) states the "restraints of Executive Order 2020-42 exceed clear guidance developed by health experts through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to mitigate the transmission of the virus...and national health experts are now beginning to offer further criteria and guidelines, based on data and science, for phased openings on a county-by-county basis." It goes on to state that "many businesses can follow such guidance and further mitigation practices while still avoiding activities that jeopardize the health of their employees and customers." The resolution further affirmed that Hartland Township supports coordinated public health directives proportional to differing regional conditions and urges Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature to work tirelessly to safely reopen the economy.

Whitmer has acknowledged the restrictions are some of the toughest in the nation, but insists they have saved lives by drastically reducing the transmission of the virus. On Wednesday, the Governor announced that she may have to extend some provisions of the stay at home order past April 30th, saying that while the state is seeing a decline it is important to prevent a second spike in cases. Whitmer says Michigan has seen a 15 percent reduction in the number of daily COVID-19 cases reported and that the state is no longer in the top five when it comes to COVID-19 positive cases, but it is still in the top five for the number of deaths. As of Wednesday, coronavirus cases in Michigan stood at 33,966 with 2,813 deaths.

The board voted to approve the resolution unanimously with two members absent. No members made any comments on the resolution when given the opportunity. A copy of the resolution, which is attached, will be distributed to Governor Whitmer, State Senator Lana Theis, State Representative Hank Vaupel and the Michigan Townships Association.

The board also noted the large item cleanup day in May has been canceled but they’ll look to potentially reschedule in the fall. Larger planning measures are ramping up though. Wickman said there’s still not clear guidance for organizations such as Hartland Township, but by looking at CDC guidelines and other sources they can start to piece together some scenarios and plans and they want to be prepared.

Wickman said he doesn’t know that they’ll necessarily be re-opening the township hall as normal on the first Monday in May but they could be moving the direction of doing something like that or something similar to what was in place before the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order. Wickman says they’re working through things and there will be more to come on plans as things move forward.

Wickman added that he and Supervisor Bill Fountain participated in a conference call on Monday with all of the township managers and supervisors in the county talking about the issue. He noted a number of municipalities across the county are looking at some pretty major decisions when it comes to things like keeping township halls closed, keeping half the workforce working remotely, limiting people by appointment and putting up plexiglass at counters. Wickman said he doesn’t know what will make sense for Hartland and there are a lot of different ideas out there but they’ll wade through it.