Newly-elected township trustee has progressive agenda for Oshtemo

By Fritz Klug
Western Herald

Scott McCormick

Thousands of Western Michigan University students reside in Oshtemo Charter  Township and do not even realize it.

Everything located west of Drake is Oshtemo: The Pointe, Copper Beach, Meijer, Target, Kalamazoo 10, Apple  orchards, blueberry patches and Amish farms.

Oshtemo Township is a part of Kalamazoo County but not the City of Kalamazoo; Oshtemo has its own fire departments, sheriff and government.

It is in Concord Apartments, just off KL Avenue, in the fifth voting  precinct, where newly elected Oshtemo Township Trustee  Scott McCormick lives.

Now the youngest township official in Kalamazoo County, at 36, he uncomfortably wears a suit.

“Normally I wear  a shirt and blue jeans, you can’t get down to work in a suit,” he said.

McCormick ran a unique campaign this fall, spending “zero dollars and zero cents.”

“Scott signed a waver in the beginning of his campaign that said he  would spend no more than $1,000 and he stayed true to that,” said David Pawloski, chair of the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party.
So how did he get 5,378 votes?

“7-Eleven campaigning,” McCormick said, “I would stand outside the 7-Eleven on  Drake and KL and talk with people. I would go door to door at my apartment building and talk to people, tell them I am on the ballot.”

Before the November election, the four member Trustee board was entirely Republican and now it is split.
“I told people to vote a straight Democrat ticket,” McCormick said. And it worked.

Of the four Oshtemo Charter Township Trustee board members, Democrats claimed the top two spots on Election Day.

Grace Borgfjord led the overall tally with 5,790 votes,  McCormick in second with 5,378, and the two Republicans, Dave Bushouse  and James E. Grace, received 4,925 and 4,747 votes respectively.

McCormick  was born in Plainwell, Mich., a small farming and mill town north of Kalamazoo.

In high school, McCormick said he was “the shortest kid with the longest hair,” and after graduation he immediately moved out of the house.

McCormick then attended Kalamazoo Valley Community College and earned a degree in Occupational and Technical Studies.

“I’m the only truck driver you will meet who has a college degree,” he said, jokingly.

Coincidentally, the biggest issue currently facing Oshtemo Township is the Truck Route Lawsuit.
Aggregate Industries, based in the United Kingdom, recently bought a gravel pit north of G Avenue in Alamo Township and wants to transport gravel through Oshtemo.

But the  roads from the gravel pit to M-43 and to U.S. 131, G Avenue and 10th Street, are not designed to hold the weight of the trucks and  McCormick, a truck driver by profession, knows the damage that trucks  can inflict on the roads.

“The constant driving on our roads would turn them into one giant pot hole within a year,” McCormick said.
The Trustee board has offered alternative routes for the trucks that would not disturb the roads or residential areas.

“It would only take the trucks a mile or two out of their way. Oshtemo has the right under state law to dictate truck routes, this is nothing unreasonable,” McCormick said.

But Aggregate does not agree and has sued Oshtemo Township for $10 million. If Oshtemo loses the lawsuit, property taxes would increase by $15 million and affect the funding for many public services.

McCormick sees the Gravel Pit problem to continue in the future.

Kalamazoo County has an enormous gravel deposit and it is possible that the area may be strip mined.
“The potential damage to our neighborhoods and environment is disastrous,” McCormick said.

Another issue that McCormick sees as vital to Oshtemo is policing.

The Kalamazoo Police Department does not cross Drake Road unless it is an ongoing problem or an emergency.

“Right now there are three to five Sheriff’s deputies on duty for all of Kalamazoo County after midnight,” McCormick said.

“That is not enough when it takes two officers to respond to a call.”

Oshtemo Township has a land area of 36.1 square miles, which can make it difficult for the police officers when responding to calls.

The new cast of Oshtemo Democrats are joined by a new Democratic sheriff, Rick Fuller. Fuller plans to rearrange some of the scheduling to have more officers at peak times.

“Rick is a great guy; he believes in spending money on solutions rather than caging people,” McCormick said.
Inspired by politicians like Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich and Consumer Advocate and four time
presidential candidate Ralph Nader, McCormick has some big dreams for Oshtemo.

“I’m looking to get a grant and tax credits so Oshtemo can get a wind turbine installed on township property,” he said.

McCormick also hopes to start using local labor and businesses to give Oshtemo’s economy a jump start.

There is also the people of Concord apartments who helped him get elected.

“Hundreds of people have trouble getting to KVCC and Wal-Mart, vital places. I want to help them get there,” McCormick said.

McCormick is excited about the possibilities of his four year term as Township Trustee.
“If there is room for Kucinich, there is room for me,” he said.