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Township supervisor urges Gratiot County to fix gaps in blight enforcement
Summary
Robert Baxter, Follam Township supervisor, told the Gratiot County Board the county’s blight enforcement reports stopped eight months ago and urged commissioners to ensure township funding yields visible enforcement and results.
Robert Baxter, newly appointed supervisor for Follam Township, told the Gratiot County Board of Commissioners that his township has two properties he described as clearly blighted and that township residents expect action. “If the county’s gonna take our money and promise us to enforce the ordinance, we should expect some something,” Baxter said during the public-comment period.
Baxter said the township turned blight complaints over to the county under an intergovernmental contract and that monthly reports stopped about eight months ago. He described local residents “screaming” for action and asked the board to review what the county is doing and to show townships the enforcement steps being taken.
Commissioners acknowledged the complaint in public remarks and described several reasons why the program has not produced consistent results, including staffing and process bottlenecks. An administrator present said the county had budgeted funds for blight enforcement (the administrator mentioned roughly $15,000 in a related blight line item) and that staffing changes were imminent. Commissioners discussed possibilities including revising the county’s process, increasing funding, or allowing townships to reinstate their own ordinances if county enforcement cannot produce results.
The clerk and multiple commissioners said the county will follow up with the townships and review the existing intergovernmental agreements. No formal motion about changes to the enforcement program was made at the meeting; the board’s response was a commitment to examine options and improve reporting back to participating townships.
Next steps: Commissioners asked staff to revisit the enforcement process and report back; townships may be contacted for additional documentation of outstanding problem properties.
