Allendale Elementary School, 3201 Oakwood Blvd., is one of the school benefiting from passage of the Melvindale-Northern Allen Park operating millage renewal May 2.
Mel-NAP, Lincoln Park pass school millage renewals
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
The Lincoln Park and the Melvindale-Northern Allen Park school districts renewed operating millages May 2, while Wyandotte residents re-elected Mayor Joseph Peterson and changed the composition of the city council.
Peterson won re-election with 80 percent of the vote (3,133 to 808), defeating former City Councilwoman Sheri Sutherby-Fricke, who was term-limited and not eligible to run for another term on the council.
On the city council, incumbents Leonard Sabuda (1,744 votes, good for second) and Don Schultz (1,524, fifth) were re-elected, with incumbents Daniel Galeski and Kevin Van Boxell losing re-election bids. Galeski finished seventh with 1,370 votes, 87 behind sixth place, and Kevin Van Boxell finished eighth, 138 votes out.
Newcomers on the council, joining Sabuda and Schultz, are Robert DeSana, a past councilman and the top vote-getter with 1,956 votes; Megan Maiani, third, 1,532; Chris Calvin, fourth, 1,530; and Robert Alderman, sixth, 1,457.
Galeski said he may ask for a recount. He said his opposition to the McKinley School re-purposing project may have impacted his reelection bid.
“Losing is OK, as long as it is a fair loss,” he said. “I have every right to question the process.”
Incumbent Councilman Ted Miciura Jr., who ran for city assessor, finished fourth with 495 votes, finishing behind winner Theodore Galeski (1,261), Patrick Miller (977) and Tom Dudus (880).
City Clerk Lawrence Stec and Treasurer Todd Browning ran unopposed and were re-elected.
Mel-NAP voters renewed an 18 mill non-homestead operating levy of 18 mills for 10 years by a 63 percent margin, 465-277. In Allen Park precincts 1, 2 and 3, where 400 of the votes were cast, 67 percent were in favor of the millage, with 58 percent of the 345 voters casting ballots in Melvindale voting to renew the millage.
Sarah Khan, who works in the district’s finance office, said at the May 3 city council meeting that she is very happy that the millage was renewed.
“Our schools need all the help, and the teachers, principals are doing a wonderful job,” Khan said. “Dr. (Kimberly) Sorrano, our superintendent, is wonderful. We are getting all these students from out of the city coming to our district. I am very happy.”
Lincoln Park voters renewed the city’s non-homestead operating school millage levy from 17.97 mills to 18.25 mills for 23 years by a 53 percent margin, 815-731. The renewal and increase, needed to accommodate for a decrease in property values, represents about 10 percent of the school district’s annual budget.
(Sue Suchyta can be reached at [email protected].)