After three years of dissing Dorr Township Trustee Terri Rios, it’s time for yours truly to acknowledge something she has done that was indeed the right thing, against the tide of wrong-thinking people.
Yet in the end, she was still inexplicably sporting and unpredictable in terms of her vote.
Earlier this year, the Dorr Township Planning Commission was considering updating the master plan, which hadn’t been amended since 2007. The consensus was to let the firm Dorr uses for zoning enforcement, Professional Code Inspections, perform the task of overseeing the process.
Rios rightly would have none of that. Though often accused of being an obstructionist, she had the proper attitude when she said the planning contract should be bid out to at least three firms.
I was among those who misread her intentions as throwing unnecessary hurdles in front of PCI. Yet I later came to the understanding that it’s just good policy to bid out public services that cost at least $5,000.
I was wrong. Rios was right.
Because of her tough stance and because she was willing to do the legwork herself, the Planning Commission wound up sitting through interviews with three bidders. One was the most prolific master plan services in Michigan, but for $22,000. Another was the planner for neighboring Leighton Township, who was recommended by PCI’s Kirk Scharphorn, though he was the third of three bidders.
The Planning Commission and later the Township Board finally decided to hire planner Andy Moore and Williams & Works to do the necessary job for between $9,000 and $13,000. It passed the common sense test.
So Dorr Township appears to be poised to do the right thing in properly updating its master plan at a reasonable, yet professional price.
The irony, as usual, was that Rios cast the only vote against it, the best public policy decision she ever made.
