The good news from the May 2nd election is that the 18 mill renewal operating expense millage did pass by a vote of 717 Yes votes to 385 No votes. Sadly the 3 mill sinking fund proposal failed. The vote was 532 Yes to 570 No. I am not sure why the sinking fund lost by just 38 votes. Are people just tired of all the taxes they have to pay and thought this was unnecessary? The sinking fund proposal wasn't an extravagant wish list, it was for needed repairs and upgrades. I was looking at the unofficial precinct reports from the Saginaw County website and found the results interesting. The 18 mill proposal passed in all 5 of the Bridgeport precincts and both of Buena Vista's precincts. The sinking fund proposal passed in both of Buena Vista's precincts and 3 of the 5 Bridgeport precincts, but lost in Bridgeport precincts 3 & 5. The most surprising result was from Spaulding Township. They have 1 precinct and that precinct voted down both proposals.
I know it is not unusual to have a low voter turnout on special elections that just have local items on the ballot but it was sad to see how low that turnout was here. The Bridgeport Spualding School District will try again this fall to pass the 3 mill Sinking Fund proposal. Hopefully they will be able to get the word out to help inform the public and get it passed this year.
Here are the precinct results for anyone that may be interested in seeing how the vote went.
For those that do not attend these meetings and don't watch the full video, the meetings are always started with a prayer from one of our local pastors. I find them usually insightful and inspiring and hope people take the time to listen. I only list the starting times for the agenda items in these videos that I think the public would be most interested in listening to, but I hope that the public will take the time to listen to the full meetings.
First up was a speaker during the public comment period that was in favor of medical marijuana and facilities. He spoke about what he feels are the benefits of this but he did not mention the crime that it brings into the communities. There is a lot that could be discussed about medical marijuana and the benefits or problems that go along with it all, but I am not going to get into that on my blog.
The Township Supervisor discussed their reasons for not approving the licensing of facilities etc... during the vote on the MMFLA. He does have a valid point in that the law here in Michigan was poorly written and implemented, and it all is still being litigated in the courts at the taxpayers expense. They should be publishing the full ordinance on their website. If anyone is interested in reading it you can check there or contact the township offices. https://www.bridgeportmi.org/
Township Manager Rose Licht always has updates and information on things going on in the township during the board member comments at the end of the meetings.
Sorry I am so late in posting this meeting. I was planning on reviewing the full discussion on the partnership agreement with the Michigan Department of Education before writing my blog post, but I have not gotten that done. It was an hour long and very informative discussion and is worth the time to listen to.
Just a reminder that if you are looking for a meeting video and it is not up on my blog here yet, look on my YouTube account - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9CDuA3sJJPg8uWmmwZHLKA/feed
or on my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/citizencarla/
