THE ELECTION IS THIS TUESDAY

We would like to remind everyone to vote on Tuesday November 4th.

Thank you for your support during the primary election back in August. With your help, six of the eight candidates that were endorsed by Friends of the Belle River are now on the ballot this Tuesday. Our goal remains the same. We support those candidates that have shown or expressed their concern for the issues we know are important to all of us. This includes: River Conservation, our Rural Character and a Commitment to use the resources of Riley Township for the good of all of its citizens.
RIVER CONSERVATION
As an organization, we would like to have the River Conservation District expanded for additional protection, or at the least have the new district adopted as proposed by the Planning Commission. Any plan to reduce or eliminate the areas of protection would be unacceptable. Some on our current board did not support this additional protection for the Belle River. This proposal has been tabled for more than a year while some on the board have continued to ignore the issue. Our state representative Phil Pavlov has expressed an interest in coming here and discussing the State Water Compact as passed by the legislature.
RURAL CHARACTER
In order to maintain the rural character of our Township, we believe that there were two ordinances proposed by the Planning Commission that would help. The first was a road ordinance that would have regulated how and where a road could be built. This was changed by a 3 vs. 2 vote to accommodate builders and developers before passing. The second was a topography ordinance that would regulate the building process by maintaining elevations and ensuring that there would be proper water run off, protecting all of the current property owners. This was also defeated by a 3 vs. 2 vote. These need to be in place as originally proposed. We would also like to see Riley Township participate in Farm Preservation. This topic has now been ignored for four years.
RESOURCE COMMITMENT
Although we realize that there are limited resources (funds) in our Township, we also believe that the needs of the residents are paramount. This would include the proper maintenance of all our roads, ditching where necessary, and working within the community to establish a “Neighbor Helping Neighbor” group. This would be coordinated by volunteers to help our neighbors that need temporary assistance and could be accomplished with minimal help from the Township offices. Many of our candidate recommendations have already proven their commitment to Neighbors helping Neighbors by donating time and money to our schools.
FRIENDS OF THE BELLE RIVER is a bi-partisan group of township residents. As such, we recommend that two of the current board members are re-elected. We support Linda Waddy (D) for clerk and Linda Belesky (D) for trustee. We also support and endorse the following new candidates for election: Kitty Slamka (D) for supervisor, Lou Angeli (D) for trustee and either Jennifer Baranowski (D) or Nancy Dudek (R) for treasurer. Both Jennifer and Nancy have the background and the integrity needed for the position.