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OGDEN — Last Tuesday evening the Ogden Township board held a regular monthly meeting, at which it defended its interim board appointments, reviewed its legal fees relating to industrial wind energy regulation, discontinued rental of the municipal building, approved maintenance of the Ogden cemetery and changed its policy on public comment. Representatives of developer Exelon Wind also announced a potential added benefit of the proposed Blissfield Wind Energy Project.

OGDEN — It was a full house at the Ogden Township Municipal Hall the evening of Jan. 24. Ogden area residents, the Ogden Township Board and representatives of Exelon Wind crowded into the hall to discuss Exelon’s plans to install turbines in the surrounding area.

Blissfield Village Council chooses Randy Kelley over Jae Guetschow and Gary Sullivan to fill vacant council position during the Jan. 10 regular meeting.

This week, we asked the village council candidates questions about Downtown Blissfield, the DDA, Michigan Main Street and the local retail and services economy. Presidential candidates Jae Guetschow and Mike Gunter, and Trustee candidates A. Ray Jones, Mark Burgermeister, Art Weeber and Andrea Cueto all took time from their schedules to answer these questions.

Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow will face a challenge from Trustee Mike Gunter in the November election.

Guetschow, who was elected to the position in 2008 after two years away from the office, and Gunter, who has is currently the longest continually serving member of council.

They are running for a two-year term.

Win or lose, Gunter would remain on council, as his current term expires in 2012.

Four people have filed to run for the three open seats on Blissfield Village Council, including incumbents Art Weeber, Mark Burgermeister and A. Ray Jones. Andrea Cueto has also filed to run for one of the four-year seats on council.

Clerk Laura Neuman and Treasurer Margaret "Peggy" Nieman are unopposed.

Mary Gregg and Lauri Reinhardt were the only people to file for the four library board seats up for election. Gregg is currently chair of the library board and Reinhardt is also an incumbent. Rob Holman is the other library board member whose term is expiring. He did not file for re-election.

For more on the village election ballot, see the Aug. 18 edition of The Advance.

The grades are in and Jim Wonacott made the dean’s list. Wonacott, in his 16h year as village administrator, scored high grades in the annual evaluation conducted by members of Blissfield Village Council and tabulated by Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow.

Using a five-point scale, with one being unsatisfactory and five being outstanding, each council member was asked to grade Wonacott in nine areas, ranging from profession skills to residential relations. When all the votes were tabulated, Wonacott received an average score of 4.6, which puts him a little closer to outstanding (a five rating) than above average (a four rating).

Wonacott’s top rating came in fiscal management, where he scored a 4.8 rating.
“(Wonacott) makes the best possible use of available funds (and he is) conscious of the need to operate the village efficiently and effectively,” wrote one of the council members, in the evaluation.

Blissfield will have full control of the Home Canning property if its partners agree to execute the property acquisition and demolition agreement approved by village council Monday night.

Council voted 5=1 to pass a draft agreement which states that the village shall be “solely responsible for the pricing, marketing, and sale" of the 35-acre purchased for $150,000 at an auction April 9. Trustee Mark Burgermeister, who voted against the motion to bid on the property, was the lone dissenter.

    Blissfield Village is now the owner of the 35-acre Home Canning property at 119 E. Jefferson St.
    After Friday’s auction, Village Council President Jae Guetschow, who was authorized by council to do the village’s bidding, said the village hoped to use the property for an industrial park.
    “Our primary interest is that we believe we are going to need more industrial park,” Guetschow said. “Especially when you consider some of the development, with BioDri and the spinoff industry, that’s coming in. I think we need to be in a position to attract those businesses here because they have nowhere else to go (in the village).”
    The village was the high bidder, at $150,000, at an onsite auction held Friday afternoon.