Candidates for Scio Township Trustee Respond to STN Questions

“What is your favorite part of living in Scio Township that you hope to preserve, and what is one thing you think is ready to change?”

The Sun Times News is committed to providing balanced, unbiased, and useful reporting about candidates running in local elections. STN sent a short set of questions to each of the candidates running for Scio Township Trustee in the August 4th primary election.  Those candidates, all running as Democrats, are Mark Altomare, Mary Gillis, and David S. Read.

Limited to 200 words per answer, below are the responses. 

STN: If elected, how will your party’s core values influence your approach to serving Scio Township constituents? 

Altomare: As a lifelong Democrat I will govern in Scio Township with the same values espoused by the party, and also the values I have developed over my lifetime. 

First, a Trustee must be a fiduciary, a good care taker of the Township’s financial health and well-being. As a corporate executive I successfully developed and executed multi-million-dollar budgets. As a trustee I will collaborate with the Treasurer and Finance Director to ensure that we have Common Sense budgeting, long-term planning, prudent spending, and elimination of waste including costs driven by employee turnover, overuse of contractors, and lack of accountability. 

Open and honest communication is essential for good governance. I will institute old-style “Town Halls” to get direct feedback from our residents and facilitate accountability for the Board. Personal Integrity. Listening and responding fairly and consistently. 

The Township is also an employer. I will support a partnership with the new Union to make Scio a safe and rewarding environment for our staff. Teamwork.

I will support policies that promote inclusion and diversity in our government and our community. I will support development and growth of our economy, while ensuring the preservation of affordable housing, parks and preserves, and our environment. High Standards.

Gillis: More than ever before, the Democratic Party is the party of democracy. Rarely in our history have our civil rights—the right to vote, the right to the sanctity of your own home, the right to peacefully protest—been so attacked. As a former deputy clerk of this Township, I know what goes into running an election, and have faith in the security inherent in the American, and indeed, the Michigan, way of running elections. So I take the undermining of confidence in our elections as a dangerous tendency on the part of this federal administration. I’m proud to attend protests, write letters, and donate to campaigns and candidates that demand a return to the values embedded in our Constitution. At the Board table, where partisanship rarely emerges, the Democratic Party’s historic stances on environmental protection, equality, and creating solutions that lift up the many, are rarely controversial. As a longtime public servant, I believe that dedication to serving the people of Scio Township can bring diverse factions together to create strategies to improve affordability and accessibility for all. Working together for the common good is the essence of public service and a core Democratic value I firmly believe in. 

Read: My core values are respect for others regardless of affiliation (political, social, or religious), sustainable development, land preservation, and listening to Scio’s residents. 

STN: What is your favorite part of living in Scio Township that you hope to preserve, and what is one thing you think is ready to change? 

Read: I have lived in Scio for over 30 years. In that time, I have seen it nearly double in population but it has managed to maintain much of its rural character. At one time it was said that Scio’s residents could enjoy rural living while being within 10-15 minutes of urban conveniences (Ann Arbor). That is no longer true. The development of the Jackson Road corridor has brought most of those conveniences to the Township. Medical facilities, rock climbing, fine dining, shopping, pickleball, fitness facilities, little theater, senior living – Scio has it all while still maintaining its rural character. These are some of the main attractions of Scio Township, many of which I enjoy and use frequently. I will work to preserve the urban/rural duality while improving the infrastructure needed to serve our residents such as improved transportation options, sustainable building practices, safety for pedestrians and bikers, EV charging options, affordable housing, and public recreation areas. 

Gillis: Scio Township has many faces, with winding dirt roads and active farmland, buses booming down Jackson Road, and areas of pure suburbia, with kids playing in the streets and barbecue smoke floating out from the backyards. I especially like the neighborhoods with dirt roads, where every bike rider, jogger, or dog walker has a wave and a smile. We are too big to be a small town, but Scio can still exhibit the best qualities of a small town that way. You see this in Township Hall as well, where the staff is so small, you always get the same person when you’re talking to the assessor or paying your taxes or water bill. One area that has seen positive changes in recent years is the Jackson Road corridor, which has added some small businesses dedicated to group activities such as sports and live music. These have the potential to become anchor businesses, as the movie theater once was. I believe Scio deserves to be a destination rather than a pass-through from Ann Arbor to Dexter. 

Altomare: Caroline and I moved to Scio Township in 2014 after having met, married, and lived in California; moved to Maryland; moved to Dexter Township; and moved to Texas. We live at the end of a dead-end street near the tracks, and also near the Huron river. We are on unpaved roads and walking distance to the Delhi Metro Park, which I do daily with my dog Jazzy. 

Our street is mostly houses that were built in the 50’s. Many of the residents are sons and daughters of the original owners, their parents. Others are young parents with small children under the age of six. Everyone feels very safe on our street. 

Just up one road, there are communities living in $Million homes. Up the other road there are multiple horse farms. 

And within a couple of miles is the Scio Downtown district on Jackson. Nearby dining, shopping, and recreation. We love this complex mix of old and new, urban and rural, commercial growth and fierce preservation of natural resources, parks, and preserves. 

What needs to change is the battle between developers and those fighting to preserve their long-time lifestyle. Compromise must be reached. A sensible path forward must be forged.

STN: The Scio Township Board and leadership have been rife with division and conflict for the past several years. What will you do to bring sides together and return the focus to governing?

Gillis: I think the words “division and conflict” make good headlines but do not adequately represent the Scio Township Board. Superficial conflict at the Board table has not interfered with important accomplishments that support the residents and businesses of our Township, with much of that work done outside the board room. Some examples are: improving pathways between neighborhoods, building a second fire station to improve emergency response times, and opening a children’s playground behind Township Hall. As the mother of two, I especially appreciate the care that the Township is showing towards families and children, improving safety with pathways and creating opportunities with playgrounds and trails. These improvements represent long-term commitments and funding by a Board unafraid to spend money in non-sexy ways in order to preserve, and sometimes to enable, good civic life for our taxpayers. While I don’t deny there have been tensions at the Board table, I pride myself on my equilibrium and ability to see an issue from more than one side. My experience as deputy clerk and Township newsletter editor attest to this. I am well known to everyone on the current Board and look forward to working together for the betterment of all Scio. 

Altomare: There are many reasons I decided to run for Trustee. Ending the division and conflict on the Board is definitely one of them. This conflict prevents the Board from good governance and fulfilling their oaths of office. It must end. I cannot promise that I will be successful in bringing sides together. The divide is wide and deep. I can promise what I will do to bring this dysfunction to an end. 

First, I will not “pick a side.” My north star will what I believe is in the best interests of Scio residents and Township staff. I am not in this for personal gain or alignment with one side or the other. 

Second, I will be a role model of the behavior that I hope will prevail. I will reach out to both sides of the table to build coalitions based on the issues rather than prearranged political alliances. I will champion honesty, transparency, and accountability. I will be disruptive to the status quo.

Finally, I will govern by my four pillars of organizational success: Personal Integrity. High

Standards. Teamwork. Common Sense. I will be fearless and resolute. I am not in this for personal gain, power, or prestige.

Read: This is a difficult situation because it deals with diverse personalities with strong opinions. Personalities cannot be legislated and are difficult if impossible to change. Opinions can be changed but it takes time. Improvement to Scio’s processes and procedures has been hampered over the last 5 or so years due to animosity and squabbling among the board members. This has to stop. We spend too much time bickering when we should be working to improve our operations. I believe we all want to work together for the betterment of the Township and its residents but we have different opinions of how that is to be done. Trustee Reiser and I have worked to convince the board to engage a firm that will perform a comprehensive assessment of the working culture of the Township employees (including elected) and report its findings to the board. This assessment is expected to take between 2 and 3 months and will begin once we have a contract in place and a mutually agreeable schedule – presumably within the next 4 to 6 weeks.