Business View Magazine | September 2020

233 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 VAN BUREN TOWNSHI P , MI CHIGAN southeast Michigan.” BVM: How are you addressing property improvements? McNamara: “In the past each neighborhood had well-kept houses and a few that were blight. We discovered that the people who lived there were elderly or needed help keeping up with their homes. We then realized the State Laws were mean spirited. The solution of fining these residents just didn’t work for our community, so we created ones that helped out and it’s worked. The quality component of building in our community has gone up drastically. We’ve changed all the ordinances in our township so they are extremely explicit but they are now local ordinances that allow us to go out and give people warnings, and take them to local judges if they don’t accept these warnings. So they become compassionate ordinances that allow us to get compliance without having to constantly fine people. And it’s made a big difference. Our ordinance officers are saying, ‘How can we help 800.456.3824 fishbeck.com We are here to make your project easier. With engineering, architectural, infrastructure, and environmental services in-house and 14 offices for local attention, Fishbeck is your all-in-one solutions provider.