The Sun and News, Saturday, September 10, 2022/ Page 3Middleville planners call for planning,
zoning administrator search
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Middleville planning
commissioners say that
the village should contin-
ue to maintain planning
and zoning functions
inside Village Hall and
move ahead with finding a
person to fill those respon-
sibilities.
Commissioners by con-
sensus Tuesday agreed that
the village should start the
process of finding a
replacement for Brian
Urquhart, who resigned as
assistant village manager
and planning and zoning
administrator, effective
June 7, to take a planning
position with the city of
Grand Haven.
“If you start the ball
(rolling) now, we’re going
to be three to four months
down the road before you
get somebody in a posi-
tion,” Commissioner Troy
Newman said. “If we wait
three months before we
start that process, then
we’re six to eight months
out.”
Fellow commissioner
Bruce Farrell expressed
reservations about starting
the process now since the
village has not yet hired a
new manager. Three candi-
dates are to interview with
the Village Council for the
manager position on Sept.
24.
“(The new manager is)going to want to have some
say, I would think, in who
he’s going to work with ...
whoever that person is
needs to be part of the pro-
cess,” Farrell said.
Co-interim Village
Manager Duane Weeks
didn’t see a problem with
starting the search now.
“I would say most likely
we would have that village
manager position filled
prior to interviewing and
hiring (the planning and
zoning administrator),”
Weeks said.
Weeks said he would
bring the commissioners’
recommendation to the
Village Council for their
consideration.
“(We’re going to) tell
them this is what we think
would be best,” he said.
“They’re going to kick it
around and have some dis-
cussions about it. We get
an agreement on that, and
hopefully we will try to set
the timing up so that we
can put it out there and
start collecting applicants
at the time that we’re
bringing a new manager in,
and then (if) we have a
manager in here, he can
filter those (applications)
through.”Commissioners were
asked to consider whether
the planning and zoning
functions should be out-
sourced. No one supported
the idea.
Mike Cramer, the village
council’s liaison to the
planning commission, said
the role of the planning and
zoning administrator in his
eight years on the commis-
sion has been “pretty cru-
cial” to the community’s
development. He pointed
out Urquhart’s work on
reviewing details of project
site plans, the update to the
village zoning ordinance
and Middleville’s certifica-
tion with the state as a
Redevelopment Ready
Community as examples of
the position’s value.
“We just reviewed our
fourth free project from the
RRC certification that we
have,” Cramer said. “We’re
seeing the dividends – I hate
to use Brian’s terminology- of all the hard work that
we put in, reviewing and
updating our master plan,
working on joint planning
with (Thornapple)
Township. I feel like there’s
a lot of work left to do.”
Farrell favored adding
code enforcement respon-
sibilities to the position.
The village currently has a
part-time code enforce-
ment officer, but Farrell
said that not enough time is
being spent addressing vio-
lations.
“This code enforcement
thing, to me, there’s a long
way to go in this village to
get that handled,” Farrell
said. “There’s a number of
things that I see every day
that is code enforcement
that’s just not being
addressed at all. It’s all fine
and dandy to put a code
together or put a resolution
together and say this is
something you don’t want
happening in the village,
but if nobody enforces it,
what difference does it
make?”
Weeks agreed on the
code enforcement concerns.
“A greater hand being
involved in that and over-
seeing that, I think, is high-
ly beneficial,” Weeks said.
“Also, I think it’s a necessi-
ty in that you need that
higher administrative per-
son to take, not necessarily
a strong hand, but a fairly
even hand in making sure
you’re following the rules
and making sure everyone
is treated fairly.”40
9980 Cherry Valley, Caledonia 49316On the corner of M-37 and 100th Street
Mon-Fri. 8:30am-5:30pm and Sat. 8:30am-2pmnamed director of the
In-Home Services Bureau
within the MDHHS
Children’s Services Agency.
Bair has been child wel-
fare program manager for
Barry and Allegan counties
since 2016, when she moved
to Middleville. Because of
her professional experience
in the child welfare system
and as a foster parent, she
can offer insight to those
who might be interested in
foster parenting but have
concerns that might keep
them from moving ahead.
“It’s very easy to identify
some of the barriers to
becoming licensed. One of
our major initiatives right
now with the state is to
recruit more placement
options, to focus on home
environments for children
instead of congregate care,”
Bair said.
“My own experience
allows me to say ‘what are
some of the barriers (that
keep people from becoming
foster parents). Is finding
daycare a barrier? How can
we help those (facing that
challenge)? I can identify
barriers, look for ways we
can improve (that situation).”
Anyone interested in
becoming a foster parent can
call 1-855-MICH-KIDS,
Bair said.
Bair, 45, has been with
MDHHS for the past 17
years, starting in children’s
protective services in Ionia
County, then working her
way up to be a child welfare
supervisor in Kent and Ionia
counties. In her role as child
welfare program manager,
she supervised managers and
analysts in several Children’s
Services Agency programs in
Barry and Allegan counties.
Bair also wants to promote
and grow relationships with
other community organiza-
tions. For example, the local
MDHHS office will be
involved in next Thursday’s
United Way Day of Caring.
The department will also be
involved in United Way’s
Fresh Food Initiative, a local
food distribution program to
assist families in need, she
said.
“My focus has been to
enhance our partnerships
with agencies, and grow
those relationships, so that
we can have greater impact,”
Bair said.
Bair and her husband, who
is a children’s protective ser-
vices supervisor in Kent
County, were recently
awarded Foster Care Parent
Hero of the Month and Foster
Care Parent Excellence
awards by Samaritas, a
Michigan-based non-profitorganization that provides a
variety of social services.
Bair said her experience as
an adoptive child and having
adoptive siblings led her to
pursue a career in the human
services field. She earned a
bachelor’s degree in sociolo-
gy from the University of
Michigan in 2003.
“I really saw this as the
practical application of my
studies,” Bair said. “When
you take a look at sociology
and all that theory, how can I
get my hands in there? How
can I take that and apply it?”
Bair specialized in social
welfare and social institu-
tions in her studies at U-M
and received honors in social
justice and advocacy. She
holds a master’s degree from
Grand Valley State
University, where she also
serves as an adjunct profes-
sor for the university’s mas-
ter of social work program.
The local MDHHS office
also oversees the operation
and regulatory compliance of
Thornapple Manor, which is
Barry County’s medical care
facility. A four-member
board oversees the local
office, and meets the fourth
Wednesday of every month
at 1 p.m., alternating between
Thornapple Manor and the
Barry County Department of
Health and Human Services.BAIR, continued from page 1
KCSO: No alcohol
or drugs involved in
Gaines Township
fatal crash
James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
The Kent County
Sheriff’s Office said the
driver who caused a fatal
head-on crash in Gaines
Township on June 29 did
not have alcohol or drugs
in his system at the time.
“Drugs nor alcohol were
a factor,” the KCSO wrote
in an email reply for this
article, adding that an inves-
tigation revealed Robert
Peter Antecki was the
at-fault driver in the crash on
Kalamazoo Avenue.
Police say his south-
bound Chevy Trailblazer
crossed over the center
turn lane near Crystal
Springs Boulevard,between 68th and 76th
streets, and struck a north-
bound GMC Terrain. The
driver of that vehicle, a
29-year-old man from
Alto, was seriously injured.
The crash occurred
around 8:30 p.m. The driv-
ers were the only people in
their respective vehicles,
so no one else was injured.
“Why the at-fault vehicle
crossed the centerline is still
unknown to investigators,”
the sheriff’s office said.
The KCSO, the
Cutlerville Fire
Department, American
Medical Response (AMR),
and the Kent County Road
Commission were the
responding agencies.Police say Robert Peter Antecki’s Chevy
Trailblazer crossed over the center turn lane near
Crystal Springs Blvd. and hit another SUV head-
on. (Photo from KCSC)