Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A joint meeting regarding police services between Putnam Township and the Village of Pinckney has been moved out until after the November election.

It was initially scheduled for today but the Putnam Township Board met last week and approved a motion to move it out to shortly after the November General Election. However, that wasn’t without debate and some back and forth amongst members.

Township Clerk Valerie Niemiec has been working to initiate a meeting with the Village Council to open up dialogue about the possibility of joint policing and have some general conversations.

The township currently contracts with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office.

The Village has its own department but it’s been grappling with severe budget issues and cuts, and the future of the police department was somewhat being questioned. Council eventually decided to place a 2.5-mill proposal for police services on the ballot but didn’t do it as quickly as some residents had hoped. It was anticipated by many that it would be on the May ballot but Council missed that deadline and later approved it for November. That means, if the millage passes, any revenue wouldn’t be realized until around next September. The millage proposal is for three years and would generate approximately $248,100 annually.

Niemiec asserted the idea is that the Village is spending an exorbitant amount of their budget on policing and the township spends a much lower amount, later stating “I personally don’t understand the rift between the township and the village”. Niemiec said as much as they don’t get complaints from residents that they don’t have enough policing, they do get comments about response times and non-contract time.

Niemiec was earlier one of the people designated to talk with Village President Jeff Buerman to further investigate options for some sort of joint policing activity. She did so with DDA member Jim Jensen and Putnam Fire Chief Curt Ruf. Then another meeting was held that included Treasurer Pat Carney. She said no decisions were made and there are all kinds of aspects and pros and cons to consider, no obvious solutions, and it was just agreeing to put a committee together to find an optimal policing situation that saves the most money and provides the most coverage.

Supervisor Tom Chambers said he doesn’t personally share that opinion of a rift and when it comes to police coverage, he hasn’t heard anything negative from residents. He said “the reality is were not lacking, we don’t need a meeting. We’ve had meetings. This is also in the face of an election in the Village. I’d like to see what happens with the election before we even go down any kind of path. I don’t think going down a path is needed right now, I think they’ve got to work out their business and then if there’s something that can come from that, after they work out their business maybe we can assist them, maybe they can assist us – I don’t know. I’ve heard no complaints from township residents on our coverage. Zero. It’s a way for the Village to lighten the burden on their residents, and greater the burden on township residents. That’s how it plays out. Very obviously…The facts are we are at 40 hours of coverage - we are not getting any cheaper than that. It will be more expensive, whether a millage or the general fund.”

Chambers added there are also way bigger priorities for him over police coverage, like the budget and roads, and suggested doing committees for those instead.

Niemec said discussion at prior informal meetings was that there would be no additional cost to Putnam residents and “we have a lot of redundancies”. She expressed a desire to work more closely with the Village, saying they represent them as well. Village residents and businesses pay Township taxes, and the township also administers their elections. She stressed it’s not a bail out for the Village but looking at how to provides better coverage for both communities in the long-term future and what that might look like - staying separate, or merging etc. Niemiec said she also wasn’t opposed to rescheduling the meeting until after the results of the November millage are known – but she wanted to make sure one gets scheduled.

Treasurer Pat Carney commented he felt it would be a good way to put it out there to see how residents feel and talk with the Village – saying “It’s no commitment on our part, other than working together to see if there’s a better way”.

Some other members also felt there would be more productive discussion after the election but talking doesn’t hurt and the township doesn’t have to commit to anything.

Chambers and Niemiec disagreed on the way things are being organized and handled.

Niemiec wanted a formal motion and roll call to officially move the meeting date from August 26th to after the November election and let the Village know they would not be participating but assert that they want to work with the them. It passed, with Chambers opposed.

Chambers pointed out the only motion ever approved by their board was only to set the date for a joint meeting between the board and the village, and there were basically secret meetings taking place. He said “I’m not sure how the committee meeting got going, but you guys got it going”, adding he has concerns about how the next committee meeting will be chosen and how it’s going to go.

Niemiec defended that any trustee can have any meeting they want with any one they want so long as the Open Meetings Act isn’t violated. She said they only talked about what the joint meeting would be about and what the agenda would look like, and it was presented to the board.

Chambers took issue with a letter from Buerman and the meeting agenda set for the township hall being put in front of the board five minutes before their meeting. He said “if you wanna talk about working with another municipality, you don’t do it that way. I don’t like that. He did it again tonight, five minutes before a meeting. And you (Niemiec) said we were going to have a meeting here and we didn’t even have a choice. Just depending on what date we were going to have it. That’s wild to me”.

Chambers went on to say “the meeting got scheduled unbeknownst to anyone on the board. That’s a problem. He (Buerman) scheduled a meeting for the township hall that included two trustees. That is a problem. I think we should approve that before any meeting is scheduled. You gotta understand it’s a little bit frustrating to get that type of letter five minutes before a meeting. That’s not good business in my opinion”. Niemiec relayed she had received it just that afternoon.

The original proposed agenda and letter in debate is attached.

An email Buerman provided WHMI is also attached.