politics

Resident and 2-Year Old Daughter Inform Parks Commission About off-leash Dog Dangers in Fox Nature Preserve

Bob Yager , , , , ,

Resident Stephen Eich, 2 year township resident, of 1261 Lake George lives with Fox Nature Preserve bordering his property. His 2-year old daughter plays outside. Mr. Eich has 15 years’ experience as a Firefighter / Paramedic, 5 years in mid-Michigan and then 10 years in Detroit areas. He is now, as he told me, “a full-time dad to raise my daughter and focus on my family and health.”

At the November 12, 2025 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, Mr. Eich read his well-thought out remarks on safety problems in Fox Nature Preserve including gun-fire. He felt that off-leash dogs were the top problem. It is worth watching this segment on the meeting video https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/KGL-y_dHhCluQTy7c6YoVBzzQ5eHj7Lr/media/987037starting at minute 11:30.

Mr. Eich made suggestions about improved signage placement (at entrance to trails and on trail paths) and design (pictorial in addition to words).

This led to the PRC immediately adding Mr. Eich’s issue informally to their agenda and discussing it. Director Ben McCloskey who was aware, in general, in advance, of what Mr. Eich was going to say had already scheduled a meeting for the next morning with Township Manager Joe Merucci to discuss this issue.

I commented that in addition to better signs, strong patrolling and enforcement is essential to correcting this problem. How well are 60 MPH speed-limit signs heeded in I-75 construction zones? We need to issue tickets leading to $500 fines or 90 days in jail for both, as I think our ordinances provide as penalties. (See below).

On Thursday Stephen and I received this email from Parks Director Ben McCloskey

“Afternoon Stephen & Bob,

I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to attend last night’s PRC Meeting.

I spoke with Lieutenant Dooley this morning who has agreed to increase patrol at FNP during early morning and after work hours.

My team and I have started to work on custom signage for helping to enforce the primary concerns of FNP neighbors. I thought your suggestions for signage language last night were very on point – Would you mind sharing your thoughts articulating: 1) private residence within park 2) children at play 3) no dogs off-leash?

Lastly, given the lack of specifics within current state and local ordinance, I’ve spoken with Township Manager, Joe Merucci, and asked to consult OT counsel and the Board of Trustees to potentially create its own ordinance that enforces fees and other penalties to effectively address this issue.

Thanks again for your time and concern in the general safety of our community. Please feel free to reach out to myself or the police department should you need any immediate support on this matter.

Sincerely,

Ben McLoskey”

The township has “The Code of The Charter Township of Oakland”, that organizes all of our ordinances https://ecode360.com/OA3183. There are physical copies at Township Hall outside the windows in a binder.

Code Section 299-27-12 prohibits off-leash dogs in parks

“All persons walking or exercising pets in a park are required to clean up all debris resulting from the pets with the exception of leader, guide, hearing and service animals. Pets must be on a leash not exceeding 10 feet in length and under control at all times.”

Code Section 1-2 D Defines penalties for violation of above – $500 plus costs or 90 days in jail or both.

“Except as specifically provided otherwise by state law or Township ordinance, all violations of this Code are misdemeanors. Except as otherwise provided by law or ordinance, a person convicted of a violation of this Code that is a misdemeanor shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500, and costs of prosecution, or by imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. However, unless otherwise provided by law, a person convicted of a violation of this Code which substantially corresponds to a violation of state law that is a misdemeanor for which the maximum period of imprisonment is 93 days shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500, and costs of prosecution, or by imprisonment for a period of not more than 93 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”

(Section 45-3C gives the Manager / Superintendent (Joe Merucci) this responsibility
“To see that all laws and Township ordinances are enforced.” This is taken from our Ordinance #97, from 2002.)

Location of 1261 Lake George –

It is tax ID 10-09-100-018 in below from Oakland County Property Gateway https://gis.oakgov.com/PropertyGateway/Home.mvc

10-09-100-024 to the right (east) is Fox Nature Preserve park. Left is Clam Lake.

See excellent detailed boundary map (below) from meeting packet of 6/8/21 BOT page 80. https://ecode360.com/OA3183/document/606320958.pdf

1261 Lake George is inside small box to right of Clam Lake (faint blue dotted line) along with two other private residents. They gain access via an easement granted through the park shown in dotted green. All of Fox Nature Preserve (shown as Lost Lake Acquisition on this map) and two of the three residents were part of Bill Fox (deceased auto dealer) estate. Parks bought it with a grant from MNRTF with temporary “emergency” funding from Township Board and then sold the two former Bill Fox houses. Fox Heirs were getting ready to sell it to developers. The Township Board insisted it had authority to name the park. Otherwise it would have been an expansion of Lost Lake Park with no separate name. The legal authorities of Township Board vs. separately elected Parks Commission are in state law but unclear. https://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(wehjt2552zy5bl551r0iep55))/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-act-157-of-1905.pdf

For example, the law says the Township Board approves the Parks Commission budget. A few years ago they removed the line for some legal expenses from the Parks budget. That left them unable to contest the Board. Is that what the law really intended?, to remove line items or just to pass judgement on the total budget amount in the days of no defined millages for specific purposes, just one big money pot, as the City of Rochester still operates.

Two Paint Creek Cider Mill Concessionaire Proposals Reviewed with Board of Trustees 1/9/25

Bob Yager , , , ,

Edited 1/10/25 – correct attendance names; remove statement that I will render opinion on choice

Edited 1/11/25 – add statement at end encouraging comments on this website as means to communicate with Township Board

Edited 1/12/25 – add pastry photos

This item will likely be on the Tuesday 1/14/25 Board agenda, possibly for a decision or more likely, I predict, a Board member will propose a subcommittee to study this further.

I attended the 10 AM session today 1/9/25 where the two food service company owners reviewed the written proposals they had submitted to the township in the RFP (Request for proposal) process. Board members asked questions. The four members of the public present were allowed to ask questions and comment. Present were Trustees Jeanne Langlois, Emily Campbell and John Casadei, Treasurer John Giannangeli, and Clerk Dave Mabry. Board members Trustee Jack Elder and Supervisor Robin Buxar were not present. Also present was Parks and Recreation Director, Ben McLoskey, Parks Commissioner Cathy Rooney and Deputy Clerk Meggan Brown.

The proposals are attached here. I obtained copies via FOIA from the Township Clerk immediately after the meeting and scanned them to these PDF files.

Silver Shamrock ProposalDownload
Cannelle ProposalDownload

Not mentioned in the Cannelle proposal, but discussed at this meeting with the drawing below is their proposal to remove the north wall in the existing space and take over the small room. (The one with paneling and a fireplace.) This would provide additional restaurant seating for 36 people as shown in this drawing which I slightly modified to show the wall to be removed and clairfy the orientation.

Cannelle Proposed LayoutDownload

Photos below of sample French pastries brought to meeting by owner Matt Knio of Cannelles.

If you comment on this post it is an easy way to communicate your thoughts to neighbors and our Board of Trustees, who usually read these posts. In this format one must click on “comments” to see them. As I write this there is one comment below. Unsigned anonymous comments; comments with personal attacks or with known errors of fact, won’t be approved for posting.

Republican House Member Joseph Aragona (Macomb County) proposes HB-6019 Stripping Townships of Power to control Sand and Gravel Mining

Bob Yager , , , ,

Donni Steele (Oakland Township house representative to the Michigan legislature for the far southwest 1/16 th of our Township, Lake Orion and other parts of Oakland County) put an excellent editorial in the December 18th Record Newspaper, page 11, alerting us primarily to HB-6019 which proposes eliminating sand and gravel mining as things that our township can regulate via our zoning ordinance.  About Donni Steele | Michigan House Republicans

HB-6019, introduced 11/14/24 by Republican Joseph Aragona of District 60 (much of Macomb County) About Joseph Aragona | Michigan House Republicans proposes to modify the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act. HB-6019 IS in the Regulatory Reform  committee Michigan House – Regulatory Reform for consideration as shown here at these two links-2024-HIB-6109.pdf, House Bill 6109 of 2024 – Michigan Legislature.

If you sign up for notifications of this committee’s activities Committee Meeting Notifications – Michigan Legislature you will receive emails that show when they meet to discuss this. You then can thrn potentially go to Lansing and comment on this bill when, if ever, they discuss it.

A Possible Vision for Continuously Improved Township Government thru an Oakland Township Citizens Advisory Board

Bob Yager , , , ,

Original post 11/13/24; updated 12/18/24 – revised headline and name of organization; corrected Board Officer salaries; minor errors; 9/8/25 – revert to the original proposed name of the proposed organization; some minor editing; ad idea of one current Board of Trustees member being on this Board.

What is wrong with what we have now?

Simply, our Board of Trustees has too much to do.

In the next paragraph is a partial list of issues in Oakland Township that our various Boards and committees must deal with. Most of this is ultimately the legal responsibility of our seven-member Board of Trustees. The items over which other Boards have some or complete authority beyond just making recommendations to our Board of Trustees are in bold italics.

Budget, Building Inspection, Communication, Emergency Management, Historic Preservation, Law Enforcement, Library, Monitoring state law proposed changes for effect on township, Older Persons Commission, Ordinance Enforcement, Parks and Recreation, Planning and Zoning, Roads, Safety Paths, Sewers, Taxes Assessment, Traffic Safety, Water, Wireless communications facilities, Zoning Variances

(Note: There is considerable disagreement about the relative authority of the Board of Trustees and Parks and Recreation Commission (also elected). This stems from a poorly written and very old law.)

It is my opinion, based on my attempts over an 11-year period to understand Township issues, that our seven-member “part-time” underpaid Board of Trustees simply cannot rationally put in the number of person-hours needed to study all the issues adequately, unless they are willing to spend all waking hours on Township issues and ignore their families. Trustees are paid $300 per quarter plus $100 per meeting. In 2023 there were 24 meetings. Supervisor, Clerk and Treasurer make a flat $13,000, $9,000 and $9,000 per year regardless of number of meetings. They need our organized help.

A Township Manager cannot be an expert in all of these areas.

The issues to deal with in our modern township are too many and too complex for an 1846 (Township Act) or 1947(Charter Township Act) small township government. In the change from the old system of annual township meetings of all voters to a small 7-member Board of Trustees we are now asking too much of too few. Perhaps 7 people was enough in 1846 or 1947, but not in today’s complex world.

I suggest this:

  • provide high quality, comprehensive advice from residents to our elected and appointed officials through a new non-profit Oakland Township Citizen Advisory Board

The essence of my concept is a large (1% of voters), very well-informed, volunteer, unpaid, well-organized, trained, Oakland Township Citizen Advisory Board with such high credibility with voters that their advice is taken very seriously by elected and appointed officials and residents. Members would specialize in a subject of their choosing. Subjects could be very narrow. Perhaps one or two people would be experts on stop signs, for example.

We do not need to elect different people to our Board of Trustees in order to get better government. That is a futile approach. Our current Board members will do just fine, if properly informed by our Oakland Township Citizen Advisory Board. If there is a truly unqualified member, we can always remove them by recall in their second through 3rd year, but not first and last.

The missions of Oakland Township Citizen Advisory Board would be:

  1. Create comprehensive, accurate, complete, easily understandable (by all) reports of information on current and future issues.
  2. Create an “encyclopedia” of comprehensive, accurate, complete, easily understandable (by all) reports of essential, useful information about all key township topics. Which include but are not limited to the topics listed at the beginning of this posting.
  3. Make recommendations to our elected Board of Trustees. Parks and Recreation Commission, Library Board, and appointed Planning Commission, Safety Paths and Trails Committee and Zoning Board of Appeals and Township Manager.
  4. Be a source of future Board of Trustee candidates.
  5. Create a resident “concern resolution system”. We would assist a resident with a concern to get it resolved to their satisfaction or tell them they are “all-wet”, whichever applies.
  6. Work on and champion improvement projects
  7. Help the Township create comprehensive plans and goals for all departments such as Fire, Police, Building, etc.
  8. Help the Township Board create a managing system so they know what is going on and are not surprised (Think – Cider Mill Contract issues that were apparently unknown to them).
  9. Consider what elements of the Michigan Township Association, “Township of Excellence” program would be a priority to pursue.

How would Oakland Township Citizen Advisory Board do this? A starting point list of principles would be:

  1. Create by-laws governing all activities
  2. Form expert subcommittees for subject areas.
  3. Elect a governing board to deal with #1 and other issues that might arise.
  4. Use disciplined thinking processes (Kepner-Tregoe) to prioritize issues, uncover all facts, and compare all possible alternatives in a disciplined manner.
  5. Conduct lots of resident surveys using Survey Monkey
  6. Gain a high level of support from other residents for any advice
  7. Provide “minority reports” for recommendations that have less than 100% support.
  8. Allow any Oakland Township registered voter to volunteer and participate
  9. Find volunteer lawyers to assist
  10. Maximize transparency
  11. Study Oakland Township Association, Inc. (1970-1982) actions for advice
  12. Strive to find people who disagree on future actions to take; but are willing to find and summarize all relevant factual information.
  13. Maintain a list of projects being worked on.
  14. Maintain a website for communication

If you are interested in being involved in starting up Oakland Township Citizens Advisory Board, contact me at yagerra@comcast.net and I will set up a meeting of those interested to decide the first steps. I think the first steps will be to find an up to twenty members willing to serve on the governing board and create the comprehensive plan for this organization, including priorities, by-laws, etc. We may want to invite one Township Board Member to be on this Board.

    Michigan Township Planning Recommendations for Oakland Township

    Bob Yager , , , ,

    The Michigan Township Association has a “Township of Excellence” program described in their brochure at this link:

    Click to access toe_application_brochure_form_resolution_checklist_dec_2017.pdf

    At one time former Trustee Maureen Thalmann suggested that we pursue this. Clerk Reilly suggested that pursuing it might result in no real improvements but just trying to get the award. I am unable to locate the minutes or video with their comments, so you will have to trust my memory, I will admit that that is what happens in some industrial quality certifications. One can fake compliance without substantial improvements.

    However the items suggested make a lot of sense to me, especially this paragraph.’

    I am unable to locate any information on strategic planning on the MTA website, but retired local resident Marty McQuade is an expert from his time as Vice-President and General Manager of Dupont Automotive Products. He put together a format and starting point draft for an Oakland Township Fire Department Strategic Plan in about 2017. His efforts were an offshoot of his help to Chief Paul Strelchuk in formulating a long-term capital budget at a time when we were between Township Managers and the Board was critical of Chief Strelchuk for unbudgeted large capital requests for expensive equipment. A Board subcommittee was formed to study Mr. McQuade’s proposals and it died there. The subcommittee was eventually disbanded. Perhaps Mr. McQuade could be persuaded to help.