Holly honors longtime veteran, hears petition and community-service updates at council meeting

The Village of Holly presented its 'Key to the Village' to Joe Mishler during the Jan. 13 council meeting in recognition of long-standing service to veterans and local historic preservation efforts.

Village leaders praised Mishler’s military service and community work. The president cited Mishler’s service in the U.S. Army (1966–1968) and his role co-founding the Veterans Resource Center, work on moving and preserving the Union Depot, and leadership on local veterans’ organizations and the township library board. Mishler thanked volunteers and singled out local grant writers who helped secure funding for the depot project: “It takes more than one person… Katie Golden and Nick Climpmp wrote grants and got hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.

During public comment, a resident identifying herself as Regina (affiliated with 7‑Eleven on South Broad Street) said she had collected signatures for a legal lake-level petition, reporting that 46 of 66 parcels had been committed and that she was preparing to submit the verified signatures to village offices and then to Oakland County and the Water Resources Commission.

Ellen Peas promoted a community blood drive scheduled for Jan. 24 and provided a web resource for schedules; she described community need for donations. Angela Wallace spoke on behalf of the Holly Police Department food pantry, thanking the community for record donations during leadership changes and urges continued support.

Council members also recognized several recent community deaths and observed a moment of silence before moving to closed session.