The Argus Press

Chesaning approves library funding

Following passage of the millage, residents will pay 1 mil for 10 years.

In March, the Chesaning Public Library became the River Rapids District Library. As the Chesaning Public Library, village and township residents had voted in 1 mil of operating funds in perpetuity, beginning in 1970. The new millage replaces that in funding the library’s operations and residents of those areas will see no change in their taxes.

Library director Erin Schmandt previously told The Argus-Press that the change to a district library format was an attempt to allow more area townships to elect to use the library’s services.

Because Chesaning Township, which includes the village, was the only municipality funding the former Chesaning Public Library, the library board voted in late 2009 to discontinue allowing use by patrons from five surrounding townships — Saginaw County’s Albee, Brady, Chapin, Maple Grove townships and Shiawassee County’s New Haven Township — after those township boards decided not to allow a vote that would fund a millage. Residents in those areas previously had access to services without any fees or taxes.

Of the 7,000-plus people who were using the Chesaning Public Library resources in 2009, more than half were non-Chesaning residents.

In May 2010, services were cut off to anyone outside Chesaning Township, the village of Chesaning and members of the White Pine Library Cooperative, which has a reciprocal borrowing agreement.

This past March, Chesaning Township and the village of Chesaning agreed to create a district format with just those two municipalities — even though the communities are currently the only ones that fund, and have access to, the library.

The idea, Schmandt explained, is once a district library is formed any township interested can join by placing the measure on its own ballot.

With previous approaches, every township surrounding Chesaning needed to place a district-wide proposal on the ballot. Schmandt said some township officials were concerned the votes within Chesaning Township — in which a majority of the population resides — would overshadow what residents in their communities really wanted.

With the new option, she said, each individual township could make its own decision about whether or not to allow its residents to vote to join the district library or not.

New construction along M-21 will bring auto parts ... - The Argus-Press

CALEDONIA TWP. — O’Reilly Auto Parts plans to hire seven full- and part-time employees at the $1 million store it is building on M-21 near Gould Street, next to Walgreens.

A representative of O’Reilly, one of the three top auto parts chains in the country, said people can apply at the store when it opens in late August or early September, or apply now at the company’s website, www.oreillyautoparts.com .

“We’re going to need parts professionals for the counter, stockers and delivery drivers,” said Mark Merz of O’Reilly, based in Missouri.

Merz said the company — which boasts 3,613 stores nationwide and $5.4 billion in total sales in 2010 — has been growing in Michigan during the past several years, including by buying up old Murray’s Discount Auto stores.

The M-21 location will be the 65th O’Reilly Auto Parts store in the state, and the first in Shiawassee County.

“We always look forward to opening in new markets, and we pride ourselves on being the friendliest auto parts store in town,” Merz said. “We hope people will come to us to take care of all their car needs.”

Construction crews overseen by general contractor G.M. Northrop, based in Minnesota, currently are erecting the 7,200-square-foot building on a nearly one-acre site — located directly across the street from Advance Auto Parts.

There are at least four auto parts stores along M-21, but Merz said O’Reilly Auto Parts looks at such market factors as demographics, vehicle population and the general “competitive landscape” in determining if an area can support another auto parts store.

“These merchants know where to set their tents up,” said Caledonia Township Supervisor Joe DeCaire. “We’re glad to see this is coming in.”

The O’Reilly Auto Parts property, vacant for several years, was slated for a shopping center with a coffee shop or fast-food restaurant drive-thru in 2008, but plans fell through when the economy tanked, said Doug Piggott of Rowe, Inc., Caledonia Township’s zoning and planning official.

Piggott said Walgreens — built around the same time the shopping center’s plans were approved — installed a rear retention pond large enough to accommodate drainage from both its property and the adjacent shopping center’s.

O’Reilly Auto Parts will now share Walgreen’s drainage system.

“That’s a good thing for the township,” Piggott said. “You’ve got multiple tenants sharing responsibility, and it’s economical.

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