Dorr Township Trustee Terri Rios has decided to challenge Township Supervisor Jeff Miling for the four-year position in the Aug. 4 Republican primary.
Rios, a nurse, is finishing her first four-year term on the Township Board. She often has been at loggerheads with Miling on local issues.
It’s not the first time Miling has faced a challenge. After his appointment in 2013, he was opposed by Trustees John Tuinstra and Patty Senneker, defeating them handily. Senneker ran against him again in 2016, but Miling prevailed by a wide margin.
The Aug. 4 ballot in Dorr Township otherwise will include two millage renewal proposals and all candidates running without opposition, though three are newcomers.
Clerk Debbie Sewers will run unopposed for her second term. Though Josh Otto and Rios won’t seek another term as trustees, newcomers Patrick Champion and Chandler Stanton will join incumbents Dan Weber and Tuinstra for the non-contests for four seats on the board.
The other newcomer will be Myrna Marr, who was appointed deputy treasurer in March and will succeed Jim Martin, who is retiring after being appointed and then elected in 2016.
The Dorr Township Fire Department will seek a renewal of a half mill, rolled back to 0.4863 mill because of the Headlee Amendment, for four years. The money, if approved, will be used to purchase and upgrade equipment.
The other proposal will be a request of a renewal of slightly less than three mills for eight years to fund road improvements and construction, as recommended by a special citizens’ road committee chaired by Carolyn Sandel.
But before the August primary takes place, there will be a special election by the Hopkins Public Schools Tuesday, May 5, in Dorr Precinct No. 1. Sewers said she hopes citizens take advantage of voting by mail, but those who show up at the polls will need to follow health safety protocol and use an absentee ballot.
“It’s going to be the most unusual election ever,” she declared.
She added that thus far she had received 481 requests for absentee ballots and only 235 had come in.
No one filed for an open slot on the Parks Commission, prompting Miling to suggest that after the November general election, it might be a good time to petition to have that group appointed rather than elected, just like the Planning Commission.
Sewers said that might be a daunting task because 450 signatures would be required on the petition.
