Monday night Barb and I attended a meeting hosted by the village council of to allow a public forum regarding the proposed annexation of properties on the southwest side of Lakeview, Michigan into the village. Village Manager Jake Eckholm made a very nice presentation of the proposed annexation. The majority of people at this meeting were opposed to this change in the structure of the Village. Almost all the opposition had to do with personal financial concerns about the increase in taxes and cost of water and sewer.

 

Everyone was in agreement that this town is a great place to live and raise a family. But why is this a great place to live? It is because it feels good to live here. It is safe. We have state, county and village police presence. We have an excellent fire department; we enjoy amazing stores and businesses. The downtown has not looked this good in many, many years. The bottom line is we love this town and we are proud of it.

 

Looking around, we can see many smaller towns slowly deteriorating. Why is that? How do we prevent that from happening in Lakeview? One gentleman stated it very clearly: we need jobs so people can buy homes and support the local service businesses. On that we all agree.

 

How does that happen? We have to have depth of vision. What does that mean? Someone once gave me an acorn and said, “What do you see?” “I quickly said, “Squirrel food”. Then he asked, “What else to you see?” Thinking a bit now, I said, “If you planted it you could have a tree and lots of squirrel food.” “What else?” he coaxed. “If you planted some of those acorns you would have an oak forest”, proud of my insight. “What else?” he asked again. Now I could see further. Lumber for fire wood, furniture, housing, industry, a village, a city. Suddenly expanding my vision I saw that this acorn could become anything I wanted it to be.

 

I would say that the village council has depth of vision. They can see that we need to bring business and industry into this town to keep it alive and growing. That is what they have been doing. Rich DeVos of Amway Corporation spoke at my daughter’s high school graduation. He said the garbage man was one of the most important people in his life. That man made it easy for him to get rid of his waste. We all need to get rid of our personal waste. This is why we have garbage service and septic systems and sewer systems. One of the most important services that business and industry require when they are looking for building locations is how they can get rid of their wastes. Kelsey Hospital, Parker Hannafin, Byrne Electric, Lakeview Terrace, Bell Tower, The Alley Cat, Wesco, McDonalds and all the downtown business would not be in this town if they did not have adequate water supply, sewer and waste water treatment. Lakeview would not exist if we did not have these services of water and sewer.

 

So how do we grow new business and industry to provide jobs, to pay for our nice homes, support our schools, and local service business? First, we must provide them with assurances that we can handle their wastes. The village council has a depth of vision that is broader than the individual home owner who is only able to see the acorn which in this case is the increase in his personal taxes and costs. As stated at the meeting this cost increase to those families living in that area of the proposed annexation would be on average about $530 per year or less than $50 per month. My guess is that most of those homes spend more than that on their TV and internet service.

 

Please understand that I am not discounting the impact this would have on some families. I do not like to pay taxes any more than the rest of world, but we must have a deeper vision. What are we going to leave for the younger people? How are we going to provide them with jobs and a great place to raise their families? It is important to understand that this is not a money grab on the part of the village.

The new taxes would only raise revenue to the village of less than $75,000 per year. This is a very small number compared to the total budget. This is about expanding the water and sewer system into the south western part of Lakeview to make development of new industry more attractive. New jobs are not going to come to Lakeview unless potential new businesses have a way to get water and handle their wastes.

 

I have been a member of the planning commission and the village council for nearly 20 years. I love this town. I have been here for 40 years and plan to be here for 40 more years. Annexation has been considered for at least 20 years, but nothing has happened. It is time to expand our horizons, to build instead of deteriorate. Become a builder, a producer, and activist for growing your community because it is an amazing place to live.

 

Please note these are my views and do not reflect the official opinion of the village council of Lakeview, Michigan.

 

Bob Huttinga PA-C

Co-owner of The Healing Center

Resident of Lakeview, Michigan