Ford Road/I-275 interchange condition progress

As many of you know, a Senate Transportation Hearing was held at Summit on the Park on November 1st. The Senate Transportation Committee conducted the hearing to learn about the condition of the Ford Road/I-275 interchange. The focus was on the need for improvement in that area, and to obtain support for a grant available through the United States Department of Transportation. The grant dollars would fund a solution to the congestion in that area. The result of the hearing was that the committee passed a resolution to memorialize Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation to approve a grant for a project at the I-275 and Ford Road interchange under the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Discretionary Grant program. The concurrent Resolution passed the full Senate on Tuesday, 11/8/11. It will now move on to the House of Representatives. We will keep you informed on the progress of the Resolution.

Our new trustee, Greg Demopoulos, was sworn in at the October 28th board meeting. Greg comes to us with an abundance of community service experience, including the Merit Commission, Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Canton Soccer Club Board of Directors. We are excited to welcome Greg to the Board of Trustees.

We are making good progress with the budget. All of the cuts and concessions that were made in the last year have put us on track to weather the decline in taxable value and loss of state shared revenue. We will continue with our furlough days for 2012, and our budget is currently being prepared through 2014.

We have finished compiling our focus group data related to our measurables (tangible data that gives the community a clear snapshot of how tax dollars are spent, how services are maintained, and where we stand in comparison to other communities). The information is now available online at www.canton-mi.org on the Supervisor’s page. If you have any questions about the information, feel free to email or call the Supervisor’s office at 734-394-5188.

Make sure to take advantage of the Harvest Market on November 20th from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Preservation Park. Pick up items for your Thanksgiving meal along with all your Market favorites. Also, don’t forget to kick off the holiday season on November 30th with the annual Township Tree Lighting Event! The “official” tree will be lit in front of the Summit on the Park at 6:30 p.m. The event runs from 6 – 8:30 p.m.

There is nothing like the holiday season in Canton. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to visit one of our many wonderful restaurants for a warm bowl of soup, get your Christmas shopping done within our great selection of stores, or take in a show at the beautiful Village Theater. Happy Holidays!

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