Dexter Wrestles with Park Preservation Language Under the Shadow of a New Fire Station

Dexter’s new fire station just can’t avoid controversy, even when it's about the park next door.

At the December 11th Dexter City Council meeting, tensions surfaced once again over the future of Mill Creek Park North and the proposed new construction/expansion of the fire station at 8140 Main Street.

The controversy concerns a citizen-led petition to put the preservation of the park next to the 8140 Main Street property before city voters in the November 2023 election. If voters had passed the charter amendment to preserve the park in perpetuity, it would have blocked construction of the new fire station at that location. The group gained the required signatures, and the question will be on the ballot at the next general election in November 2024. Per state law and the city attorney's opinion, petition-initiated charter amendments are to be placed on the next general (not special or primary) election held in the city.

The tension between Dexter City Council members stems directly from the preservation initiative, which is now citizen-led but was initiated by council members Griffin and Michels last winter after the council’s vote on the location of the new station didn’t go their way. Some council members saw the move as a strategy to subvert the council’s decision.

The group’s website (https://www.friendsofmillcreekpark.org/) describes the preservation as a strategic move to force the new construction to another location, most probably the city-owned property on the corner of Ann Arbor Street and Meadow View Drive that Griffin, Michels, and petitioners favor, and which had a sign for several years announcing, “Proposed Future Home of the Dexter Fire Station.” In November 2022, Dexter voters approved funding for the new station, which did not dictate its location.

So where does that leave things now? As it stands, if plans proceed according to schedule, the new fire station will be several months into construction by November, when voters will be asked whether or not to preserve the park. But with the strategy to relocate the fire station seemingly failing, the council has no choice but to finalize the ballot language and submit it to the state for voters.

As of now, the ballot question reads, “Shall the Dexter City Charter be amended to insert language relating to the City-owned land bounded by Alpine Street, Main Street, Mill Creek, and the railroad to retain the land in public ownership, in perpetuity, and devote the land to active recreation, passive recreation, or both?”

During the discussion, Mayor Keough asked if the ballot question could be withdrawn.

City Manager Breyer, who is also the City Clerk, explained, “There is no withdrawal of the petition…Because once the petitions have been submitted, it's not any one person's petition. It is the collective set of signatories’ petition.”

In response to a question from Mayor Keough, Breyer explained the deadline to submit the ballot question would be in early July, prompting Councilmember Michels to pose the question as to what would happen if the council didn’t meet the deadline for the ballot language.

Breyer replied that he didn’t know exactly but thought that “typically in this situation, someone enacts legal action to compel compliance, or at least that is my understanding of these types of situations that have occurred in other communities.”

Frustration momentarily surfaced with Councilmember Griffin asking, “Is there something people are waiting for on this item? Is, like, the language you're going to support and the resolution going to be different the next time we see this? Or are you just trying to play a calendar game?”

Earlier, Councilmember Griffin moved to adopt the ballot language. When no one supported the motion, the topic was relegated to a discussion item.

When Councilmember Semifero asked what the hurry was, Griffin replied, “It’s a waste of time to have it on the agenda if we’re not actually going to do something about it.” And after Breyer confirmed the ballot language was in order, Griffin added, “I guess I'm not here to play games. I'm here to conduct city business. And this feels like a game.”

The council was short-handed at the December 11th
meeting, with council members Schlaff and Hubbard absent. Mayor Keough ended the discussion by advocating for a postponement of further consideration until the first council meeting in February when all members will be present.