By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN TWP. – Buchanan Township Supervisor Malinda Cole-Crocker has been honored by the Michigan Townships Association. She has been appointed to the association’s executive committee and is on schedule to be the association president in the next few years.
Cole-Crocker has served as the District 22 representative on the MTA Board of Directors for five years. District 22 encompasses Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties. The association held its first in-person conference in late April since before the pandemic.
Cole-Crocker said in addition to being appointed to serve another term on the MTA board, she was also appointed by the board to be the next “executive at large” committee member. “As a member of the Executive Committee, I will move up each year until becoming President,” she said.
When that happens, she will follow in the footsteps of Pokagon Township Supervisor Linda Preston who was elected to a one year term in 2015. Preston continues to be an active supporter of the MTA and was honored with a Lifetime Member award at the April conference.
Cole-Crocker said she considers Preston her mentor. “Linda has encouraged me from the beginning to be a part of MTA,” she said. “She was an amazing president and continues to be an active supporter … She is an outstanding lady.”
She said she has been a member of the board since 2017 when she was elected by district 22 members. “You must be a township official to be on the MTA Board of Directors,” she said.
Cole-Crocker was appointed township supervisor in 2014 after Jane Mitchell resigned and has been elected to new terms since then. She is a Buchanan native and also works for the city of Buchanan as the assessor in addition to her township duties.
In other Buchanan Township news, Cole-Crocker reported that the township board has voted to become a charter township which is available for all townships with a population of 2,000 or more. As part of becoming a charter township, township board membership has also increased from from five to seven.
“Buchanan Township is now a Charter Township,” Supervisor Malinda Cole-Crocker said last week. “We met the population requirement after the completion of the last census … A charter township does require a seven member board. A general law township only requires a five member board. We are excited to have two additional members serve.”
Increasing the board membership from five to seven means that township voters will be voting in August and November on who to elect to the two new trustee seats. Four people have filed as Republicans for the two seats and the top two vote-getters will face no official opposition in November.
Those running in the August primary are Adam Byrdak, Gerald Di Pietro, Thomas Gordon and Mark Heyliger. Clerk Wendi Heyliger is running unopposed for the remaining two years of the clerk term. The two new trustees will also serve a partial two year term.
While becoming a charter township allows a township to hire a superintendent or manager and levy additional millage, Cole-Crocker said there are no plans to do either. “The township has no plans to hire a superintendent/manager at this time,” she said. “We also do not plan to levy any additional millage at this time.”
She reported that the township is still working to apply to the county for a share of its $6 million pot of American Rescue Plan Act funds set aside for broadband projects. “I have been working with the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission and GEO Partners Data Software to try and determine a cost for broadband infrastructure in Buchanan Township before we make a formal request for funds,” she said.
Other area township boards having elections this year include Galien Township where Gerald Mast and Sheila Koudelka who are running unopposed for partial two year terms as supervisor and trustee respectively. Mast was a trustee and was appointed supervisor when Bruce Williams died last year. Koudelka was appointed to fill Mast’s trustee seat.
Other townships having local elections this year are Bainbridge, Baroda, Bertrand, Lake and Pipestone. Most are filling vacancies for partial terms.
In addition, municipalities having proposals on the August ballot are Watervliet City, Coloma City as well as Bainbridge, Baroda, Chikaming, Coloma, Galien, Hagar, Lincoln, New Buffalo, Oronoko, Pipestone, Three Oaks, Watervliet and Weesaw Townships.
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