Petition Circulating to Shift Management of Township Parks

There’s a petition currently circulating to change the way our Peninsula Township parks are managed. Instead of the current elected Park Commission, the parks would fall under the Peninsula Township Board, who would appoint three or four people to help manage the parks.

Ginger Schultz, manager of Mission Point Lighthouse, is one of several people who are collecting signatures. The petition is only to bring the issue to the November ballot, where Peninsula Township voters will get the final say.

Feel free to call Schultz, (231) 645-0759, or Dave Murphy, (231) 421-8409, to find out how you can sign the petition. The deadline is fast approaching – the petitions need to be delivered to the township clerk by Monday, July 23.

According to Schultz, Murphy and others circulating the petitions, this change would be a good thing for Peninsula Township. Their reasons include:

• The Township has outgrown a part-time Park Commission. During the past 20 years, the parks have grown enormously in size, scope of management, asset valuation and time commitment to run.
• The Township Board and staff already field most of the informational calls, complaints and requests about the parks, because immediate responses are needed with the high usage of the parks.
• The Township Board and Park Commission must coordinate budgets, and there are structural and efficiency problems with one board going to the other looking for approval and not being available for the day-to-day operations.
• Greater accountability will be achieved if the elected Township Board takes responsibility for the parks.
• Elected park commissions are not the norm, and there is no legal requirement to have an elected parks commission.