Editorial Comment – I recently told someone this was an easy process. I guess it is for me, having done it hundreds of times. In reality, it is not so easy at first. But if you really care to know what is coming up for discussion or vote, you must learn this process and you must check EVERY DAY to see if a meeting has been added that interests you.
Bob Yager
Editor – Oakland Township Sentinel
See the pdf below for detailed instructions
How to find out about meetings and agendas
The Board voted 6/1, without reviewing details of impact on the budget (as suggested by Treasurer Langlois) to approve Township Manager Dale Stewart’s proposal to appoint Lou Danek to this reinstated full-time combined position. Maintenance of the township buildings has suffered somewhat since this position was unfilled when Paul Strelchuk was promoted from this position to Fire Chief in early 2013 to replace Bill Benoit. Maintenance and repair was done on an ad-hoc basis by various township employees (including Lou) or contractors. Prior to this appointment Lou has been Assistant Fire Chief as a Paid-on-Call member. He has been a member of OTFD since at least 1991 with a current Medical First Responder License and firefighting qualifications.
If a Michigan gravel road has no posted speed limit the legal speed limit is 55 MPH. Rochester Hills had a traffic speed study of actual driver speeds done and recommended that Oakland Township join them in posting 40 MPH speed limit signs. Our Oakland Township Board of Trustees rejected that and voted for a counterproposal of 30 MPH. They felt that posting 40 MPH would likely cause an unsafe increase in speeds. I think this conclusion was sound and based on time spent (without pay) of the Board subcommittee’s (Buxar, Reilly, Ferriolo) and other Board members studying the issue thoroughly. See video of Board of Trustees meeting 10/24, Chapter 6 – Agenda 8/2 to see the discussion (about 20 minutes). The speeds that cars actually travelled during the study can be seen in the board packet.
For a $25 – $35 fee and a 4-hour time investment on a Saturday, Oakland Township residents can get excellent American Heart Association Heartsaver CPR/AED/Choking/First Aid training. The courses are delivered by an Oakland Township Paramedics and/or EMT’s. The $25 the course is delivered without the first aid component. The next courses are scheduled for Station #2 at 1888 North Rochester Rd as follows –
For registration please email: PElder@OaklandTownship.org with the following information: -Your first and last name -Your Phone # (for any needed communication with you about class) -Your email address (to send your certification card after class) -Class date you would like to attend
See complete details on the Township website at his link:
http://www.oaklandtownship.org/township_departments/fire_department/index.php
I attended Heartsaver CPR/AED/Choking today (October 21, 2017) with 7 other residents. This course was presented by Paid-on-Call (POC) Oakland Township Fire Department member Josef Lewandowski (Firefighter / EMT) with assistance of new Paid-on-Call member Kelly Ondersma
POC Kelly Ondersma, Mr. Schomer, POC Josef Lewandowski
Half of the eight course attendees were four members of the Schomer family, a large family including some married children. Mr. Schomer is considering applying for a Paid-on-Call position.
Part of the Schomer family at CPR training
I took this same course in 2014 at Crittenton. Today I learned that much has changed to improve and simplify CPR since then. Much of this improvement came from the work of the Seattle Fire Department.
Bob Yager
Oakland Township Sentinel just received this press release from Oakland Township Fire Chief Paul Strelchuk,
Press Release from Oakland Township Fire Department – 10-19-17
October is Fire Prevention Month. This is a good time to check / review your smoke detectors, escape plans, flammables storage, heat sources, matches, smoking and wiring.
Section 2.11”Fires” of the FEMA manual “Are You Ready?” does a great job of telling you how to do these things. A pdf of the entire manual is at this link. areyouready_full
A free hard copy of the entire manual can be had by calling FEMA at 1-800-480-2520 and asking for the free manual “Are You Ready?”
Note some of the of the causes of recent serious fires in Oakland Township that caused total losses or very significant property losses were:
Oakland Township Sentinel 