Leighton Twp. falls within new 79th House District

Though much of Allegan County is located within the newly redrawn 43^rd State Representative District, Leighton Township in the next 10 years will be represented in Lansing by the candidate who wins the GOP primary for the 79^th District.

The Leighton Township Board Thursday night was introduced to Angela Rigas of Caledonia, who already has filed for the office.

Rigas said the new 79^th District will include Leighton Township in Allegan County, Caledonia, Gaines and Byron townships in Kent County, and Thornapple, Irving and Rutland townships in Barry County.

In what mostly was the 72^nd District with Steven Johnson, the news district was redrawn after the 2020 census reflected population changes over the past 10 years, a practice that occurs every 10 years. The old 72^nd included Gaines Township, the City of Kentwood, Dorr, Leighton and Wayland townships and the City of Wayland.

Johnson prevailed by comfortable, but increasingly smaller margins between 2016 and 2020 before being term limited.

Rigas, a mother of four boys, is an unabashed supporter of former President Donald Trump and her literature quotes him as referring to Gretchen Whitmer as a “disgraced shutdown governor” and Dana Nessel as a “crazed attorney general.”

Some political observers believe the new 79^th District will be more conservative than the 72^nd.

In other business at Thursday evening’s meeting, the Leighton Township Board:

• Approved 5.9 percent salary increases for members. Clerk Rachel Fennema and Treasurer Jacie Bultsma were awarded $30,217 each annually, Supervisor Steve Wolbrink will get $19,206 and Trustees John Hooker and Brian Bonnema will receive $3,381 apiece.

• Signed a proposed agreement for road usage for GVL Excavating’s gravel mining operation.

• Approved the Planning Commission’s recommendation for erection of a commercial builsing at Dykehouse Corporation at 4714 Electron Court in the industrial park.

• Scheduled a public hearing on the 2022-23 fiscal year budget for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at the township hall.

• Decided to purchase three new desktop computers from IT Right for use in the township office.

• Gave final plat approval for the Paris Ridge Subdivision project.

• Approved payments of $650 to Fennema and $550 to Bultsma for training workshops later this year.

• Granted approval of payment of $1,425 to Total Fire Protection for repair of the sprinkler system.

“I don’t see how we have much choice with this,” commented Wolbrink.

• Decided to purchase the Sheriff’s Department’s old cruiser for use as a squad vehicle for the Leighton Fire Department at a total cost of $7,340.

• Upgraded the ceiling of $500 to $1,000 the township office’s maximum for purchases that don’t have to be voted on the board.