EDITOR:

At recent Escanaba Township and Cornell Township board meetings many residents from both townships voiced their strong opposition to the annexation proposal (as recently published in the Daily Press) and promoted and supported by Delta County Board Commissioner Robert Barron.

In fact, both township boards are opposed to that proposal. Additionally, over 130 residents who originally signed the petition (proposal) have now requested, in writing, to have their names removed because most feel that the extent of the proposal (removing nearly 50%, 19,000 acres from Escanaba Township and adding it to Cornell Township) and all of the negative impacts of such an annexation were not fully explained to them by the individual(s) circulating the petition over a two year period.

Some of those negative impacts include; increased taxation, volunteer fire department coverage (and its impact on safety and even on the cost of house insurance), funding of township operations and services with a potential 50% reduction in state quarterly payments, disenfranchisement of residents to vote on such a massive change, and even changing the make-up of those residents currently serving on the Escanaba Township Board.

Additionally, over 70 individuals listed on the proposal are not land owners as is required. As a result the remaining number of Escanaba Township residents on the published proposal is 13% of the total residents of the township. Certainly substantially less than the 20% required by the governing law.

It is abundantly clear that a large majority of Escanaba Township residents are opposed to the annexation proposal. Despite that fact one commissioner continues to promote and support the proposal, simply choosing to ignore those residents.

That lack of moral integrity for an elected official is reprehensible. The residents of Escanaba and Cornell Townships can only hope that the remaining four commissioners choose to maintain their moral integrity and decline to even vote on the annexation proposal at their May 16 meeting. If they do choose to put the proposal to a vote all four should “do the right thing” and cast no votes to reject this selfish attempt by a very limited number of residents to essentially destroy a township which has been in existence for 160 years.

Wayne Seibert

47 year

Escanaba Township

resident