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Ypsilanti Township. Current public or community service: American Legion Post No. 282; Fourth of July Parade committee member; Washtenaw 100 Club; Washtenaw; Success by 6 for Children; United Way; and Alzheimer’s Southeastern Chapter volunteer. Key issues *Washtenaw County fiscal control and reform. *Creating “middle class” jobs in Washtenaw County. How will you address each of these issues: *Fiscal reform includes two major steps. Transparency -- now in the process of being accomplished -- by posting all checks written from the general ledger on the county website by August. And, secondly, an internal audit to validate that the expenditures are in accordance with the budget and county policy. *Creating jobs means economic development to maintain the tax base to attract technology and new green industries. Tax abatements, credits and Brownfield incentives can be used to achieve this goal. Personal: 76 years old; married to Barbara Ann; son, Greg; three stepsons, D.J., Jack and Tim.
RICK ROE Office sought: Washtenaw County Commissioner, District 4. Political affiliation: Democrat. Occupation: Secretarytreasurer, UAW Local 898, Ford Rawsonville Plant. Education: Associate’s degree, Washtenaw Community College; graduate, Lincoln Consolidated Schools. Previous elected office: Ypsilanti District Library Board. Current public or community service: YpsilantiWillow Run NAACP member, Community Driven Credit Union, supervisory committee; Antioch Baptist Church, member; Gideon Camp, president; Girls varsity basketball coach and Calvary Christian Academy. Key issues *Jobs! Jobs! Retention and attraction of businesses to employ Washtenaw County residents is the No. 1 issue in this campaign. Every problem we currently face -- foreclosures, reduction of police on our streets, lack of revenue for roads, schools and our juvenile issues -- will go away completely or be severely reduced by the creation of new jobs and retention of current jobs in Washtenaw County for our families and youth. *Public safety and the commitment of Washtenaw County to a long-term solution to increase the number of police officers serving our residents is a top priority of our seniors, taxpayers, homeowners and businesses. Our future is directly tied to our ability to maintain a safe community. We will be destroyed if the trend of reducing officers continues and crime rises. How will you address each of these issues: *As a new County Commissioner I will work to push jobs to the forefront of the county budget. *We must cut spending on all unnecessary services and increase our funds for job creation and police protection. We must work as hard as every other county in southeast Michigan to attract new businesses. Jobs currently are not a priority of our budget. The same is true for putting more police officers to work in Washtenaw County. It must be at the top of the budget priorities. *I will bring new energy and new priorities to the Washtenaw County Board and work tirelessly for Milan, Augusta, York and Ypsilanti township residents. Personal: 55 years old, married 35 years to Karen Lovejoy Roe; and proud father of five, Richard, Jessie, Rachel, Sarah and Hannah.
BOB VAN BEMMELEN Office sought: County Commissioner, District 4. Political affiliation: Republican. Occupation: Pharmacist.
Thursday, July 1, 2010 • HERITAGE NEWSPAPERS/WESTERN REGION
Education: Bachelor’s degree of pharmacy, University of Michigan. Key issues *Health and safety. How will you address each of these issues: *In both of these issues, I want to encourage individuals to take personal responsibility to get informed as to what local health and safety concerns might or could be. I will try to make it a priority to disseminate as much critical information as possible, but that information needs to be appropriated and responded to by each citizen of the county, in a manner that brings them into the process and allows their views to be heard. I support a strong county Sheriff ’s Department, working in conjunction with other local law enforcement agencies to minimize duplication wherever possible and keeping costs down . Personal: Father of four grown daughters. I have lived in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area since 1967 when I first attended U of M and graduated in 1972.
ROLAND SIZEMORE JR. Office sought: County Commissioner, District 5. Political affiliation: Democrat Occupation: Retired at the end of May as a project manager from the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority. Education: Graduated from Willow Run schools in 1969; received an associate’s degree from Washtenaw Community College. Previous elected office: First elected to Washtenaw County Board in 2001. Before that, I was on the Ypsilanti
District Library Board and the Ypsilanti Township Parks Commission. Current public or community service: I currently sit on the Ypsilanti School District Foundation Board; Aerotropolis Board; County parks and recreation; Citizens Action Board; and the Water Resources Board, formerly the Drain Commission.
Political affiliation: Republican. Occupation: Former teacher, athletic director and basketball and soccer coach (high school and college levels). Education: Bachelor’s degree in physical education, John Brown University (1977); master’s degree in physical education from the University of Northern Colorado (1983).
Key issues *Basically, on the east side of Washtenaw County, we have been hit over as bad as anybody as far as job loss. One of my goals is to create more job opportunities on the eastern portion of the county. *I think we could really do something worthwhile with the Aerotropilis project by piggybacking with Wayne County, and that feeds into projects that we are working on currently at Willow Run Airport, as we are trying to expand runways over there, add hangars that would bring in revenue and bringing in more training. *I am working with Commissioner Ronnie Peterson on bringing back the land bank, which will provide more opportunities for families hit hard by the economy. *I feel that in Washtenaw County, we bring a degree of quality of life that people may not be able to get from anywhere else. I have people coming to me from other counties, saying how impressed they are with what we have to offer by way of programs, parks and different amenities. Personal: 60 years old; married with one son who is a lawyer in Ypsilanti. I also have grandkids.
Key issues *Funding cuts and reduction of police services to the Ypsilanti Township and Washtenaw County District 5 communities.
DANIEL BENEFIEL Office sought: County Commissioner, District 5.
*Providing leadership to make difficult decisions to make Washtenaw County “business friendly.” How will you address each of these issues: *I believe the difficult choices will involve freezing county funds for unfunded mandates and some social programs reallocating those funds to keep cars and officers on the streets. I will fight to allocate enough to re-open the police post at Harris and Holmes Avenue to decrease police response times and giving the public a sense of their presence in the community to contribute to public safety. These will be tough decisions. I am willing to make them. *For the second point, it will take a mindset change from the governor’s office, state Legislature and local government to make the necessary tax cuts and change the way we make Michigan open to new businesses. We have to attract business by creating an atmosphere that encourages the profit motive and free enterprise investments. We can reduce or eliminate things such as the 22 percent Michigan business tax, stop the
handpicking process and give tax breaks to all businesses who wish to come to Michigan. We also can review capital gains tax issues, as well. Is Michigan, really able to make the hard decisions to restore our tax base? We will see. In issues that come before the commission, I will take a tough stance to give tax relief, cut spending and create a positive business climate where business can develop and prosper. Personal: 65 years old; married to my first and only wife, Carylyn, for 43 years. We have three children; 11 grandchildren; a great-grandson and another on the way.
BILL EMMERICH Office sought: County Commissioner , District 5. Political affiliation: Republican. Occupation: Information technology manager. Education: University of Michigan, bachelor’s degree, industrial and operations engineering; Eastern Michigan University, master’s of business administration courses. Key issues *Jobs, jobs, jobs -- private sector jobs. *Government spending effi-
ciency. How will you address each of these issues: *Jobs: By reducing taxes on businesses; leverage new hires by reducing tax burden for first few years for the new employees; encourage internships; also reduce taxes on equipment. *Government spending should be exposed with value for our tax dollars goals. Programs getting tax dollars should have ratings established to measure their effectiveness and publicly available to be monitored as they reach their goals. Efficient programs get priority. Personal: Energetic 50s; married with dogs.
MARK NAMATEVS Office sought: County Commissioner, District 6. Political affiliation: Democrat. Occupation: Manufacturers representative. Education: Attended Kalamazoo College and University of Michigan. Current public or community service: Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority, Board of Commissioners, vice PLEASE SEE PRIMARY/10-A
D E N TA L GENERAL DENTISTRY G. THOMAS POIRIER, D.D.S. • 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE 132 SOUTH INDUSTRIAL DRIVE, SALINE, MI 48176 (734) 944-7400 • FAX: (734) 944-2669 HOURS: T-W-T H -F 9-5; E/O S AT . 8-1