Voters to decide on public safety building issues

Bloomfield Township voters in the November 3 general election this year will be deciding the fate of a proposed bond issue for construction of a new police station and rebuilding fire station number 3 on Maple Road, bringing to a close discussions and study by township officials and contracted building experts since the fall of 2023 to address public safety needs in the township.

Township officials in September of 2023 contracted with Redstone Architects to look at the needs of the police department as well as the needs at the current fire station number 3. In September of 2025 the township board hired the Smith Group to offer designs for the township campus.

At the meeting Monday, August 10, two proposals were placed before board members who spent two hours reviewing what each proposal offered and the accompanying costs residents who would be taxed to retire bond issues.

The first proposal, put forth by Bloomfield Township Treasurer Michael Schostak, basically called for the construction of one larger building that would house the police department and other departments of the township administration, along with moving the communications and community affairs offices into the new building, along with the renovation of the cable television building into an animal shelter.

This proposal would be funded by about $30 million from a reserve officials have built up over the last six years along with a millage running for 25 years to repay $60 million in bonds. The total project cost in debt repayments over 25 years would be $104,875,590 with an averge tax over the life of the bonds of .4522 mills.

The second proposal, offered by Bloomfield Township Supervisor Mike McCready, entailed constructing the new fire station and a building to house the police department, thereby creating considerable space in the current 90-year-old township hall for other departments. Bonds would be issued for a 20-year debt retirement schedule.

The total repayment cost for the McCready proposal, funded by $50 million in bond issues, would carry an average tax rate of .4380 mills. The McCready plan would also tap the capital reserve fund for possibly $23 million, although McCready told Downtown that he would prefer to leave $6-8 million in that fund if possilbe

There seemed to be agreement among the trustees for support of either both of the proposals or a specific plan, with the exception of trustee Mark Antakli who stated he did not support taking on debt to pay for a new police station. He said the new building plans should be paid for out of the annual budget, suggesting that the past ability to create a reserve capital project fund should underwrite new construction, although Schostak countered that repeating the success of past years on the reserve fund was unlikely to be accomplished.

The debate between the two proposals centered for the most part around whether the current town hall should be replaced, with McCready telling trustees that the old building had been well maintained and would not require major construction to accommodate an expansion of administrative staff once the police department moved out.

On a motion to determine support for the $60 million proposal, board members favoring the Schostak plan were clerk Martin Brook, Chris Kolinski and Schostak, while the other four board members voted against it.

On the McCready $50 million plan, in support were Brook, McCready, Valerie Murray and Neal Barnett, making that the issue facing voters this fall.