11-04-2025 1:44am

The Saline Post's View on Tuesday's Vote

Tuesday is election day, even if more than 600 people have voted thus far in the City of Saline.

I am Tran Longmoore, owner of The Saline Post. I have covered city council since 2010 and lived in the city since 2017.

Saline City Council

Citizens registered to vote in the city can vote for 3 candidates. The top three vote getters will serve three-year terms. The candidates are Jenn Harmount, Jim Dell'Orco, Matthew Aungst, Tramane Halsch, Miri Weider, and Bret Pollington. All are liberals on social issues. But 95 percent of Saline City Council issues don't follow those cultural fault lines.

I've interviewed all of the candidates at least twice. Since the first interview, I've flip-flopped several times, and five of the six candidates have been on my mental ballot in the last week. The sixth could be a fine member of council, too.

In the end, I'm voting for Jenn Harmount, Jim Dell'Orco and Bret Pollington.

It's hard to believe Harmount, the only incumbent, has not been on council for two full years yet. Late last year, when she served on the committee to help determine if the Kinley downtown space was feasible, she began being a more vocal member of council. She was also a positive voice for change when the city manager search became a needlessly ugly controversy. She's a thinker. An analyst. She answered our questions well. I don't agree with her more or less than I do with the other candidates, but I appreciate the thinking. I also appreciate that she's adopted more of a watchdog role on city issues.

Dell'Orco is not a stranger to council. He was an essential voice on city council when he served last. He asked important questions on water/sewer pricing. He was the lone no-vote on outsourcing local police dispatch jobs. He helped prevent developers from overbuilding the South Monroe Street development. He's considerate of many angles when he makes a decision - and that's all you can ask for.

Pollington would be new to council. For one, I think council would be well-served by having parents serve. There were many good, thoughtful answers given by all of the candidates during the recent set of interviews, but what impressed me about Pollington was not only his vigorous, door-to-door campaigning but also the way his opinions were shaped by what he heard. He heard a lot of concern about taxes and the cost of living in Saline, and he spoke earnestly about those issues.

AMENDMENT TO SALINE CITY CHARTER SECTION 7.4 REGARDING BALLOT INITIATIVES

Sometimes, a charter amendment is real reform. This is more about cleaning up language so the charter is in accordance with state law. Vote Yes.

The current language says an election must be held within 60 days of the city receiving a petition for a vote. But that does not align with the election dates set by the state.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SALINE CITY CHARTER SECTION 7.9 REGARDING REFERENDUM PROCEDURES

Similar to the last issue, this is more about modernizing the charter. Vote Yes.

STREET MILLAGE RENEWAL PROPOSAL

This would be a three-year renewal of the one-mill levy to fund road improvements. This is a sensible solution. The only surprise here is that it's only for three years.

WASHTENAW INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT AREA CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROPOSAL

The WISD is proposing a 1-mill levy to raise $25 million in year one of the 10-year tax for career technical program.

I am not sure, as of 1:50 Tuesday morning, how I'll vote on this.

I like the idea of investing in career and technical education. I don't like the idea of giving 40 percent of that money back to the districts without any guarantee that they'll increase or even maintain current levels of funding for career and technical education. It's easy to get cynical about a millage that, on its face, should help provide important training for kids who might not be on a college track, when it might just backfill the budget of Ann Arbor Public Schools, one of the richest districts in the state that just plain failed to budget properly.

What do you think?