No new faces on Macomb Township Board of Trustees

By Erin McClary
C & G Staff Writer

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — The Aug. 5 primary election whittled down a six-person race for Macomb Township trustee, leaving the four Republican incumbents to return to their seats.

The four incumbents — Dino Bucci, Janet Dunn, Roger Krzeminski and Nancy Nevers — had two Republican opponents to beat, but went uncontested in partisan races. No Democrats had filed for the four, four-year trustee seats up for election this year, which means Bucci, Dunn, Krzeminski and Nevers will remain on the board.

Nevers was the top vote-getter of the six trustee candidates Aug. 5, taking 2,089 votes, or 21.8 percent. Dunn was right behind her with 1,854 votes, or 19.3 percent. Krzeminski took 1,786 votes, or 18. 6 percent, and Bucci took 1,722 votes, a solid 18 percent.

“Our whole board was voted back in,” Nevers said. “I’m happy about that.”

But she said the primary’s numbers actually surprised her. When she found out she’d taken the most votes, she was “blown away.”

Nevers was first encouraged to run for trustee in 2004 after running for county commission and losing to Keith Rengert two years prior.

“That was my novice run,” she said about her run for county commissioner. “I really worked hard – door-knocked from May to August — but didn’t win.”

She said running against Rengert back then was a pleasant learning experience for her because “he ran a very excellent campaign.”

Now Nevers can be proud of her own campaign, which, for the second time, has landed her a seat on what she calls a “fiscally sound” board.

“I really believe that John Brennan, that our clerk and all our trustees, are doing a great job at keeping this a top-notch township,” Nevers said. “I’m proud to be a part of it, I really am.”

Macomb Township Supervisor John Brennan will face Democratic candidate Mark Grabow in November, as both men went unopposed in the partisan race Aug. 5.

Macomb Township Treasurer Marie Malburg didn’t have to beat any candidates in the Aug. 5 partisan race either, and will face Kenneth Paul Jenkins, the sole Democrat running against her, in November.

Macomb Township Clerk Michael Koehs will remain in his seat, as he is running unopposed for the position of clerk this year.

Nevers has plenty of ideas in store for the township and called this period the “giving-back stage” of her life.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about township government but wanted to help,” she said about running back in 2004. “Four years later, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve gotten much more involved, locally.”

The two opposing trustee candidates — Matthew Thomas and Clifford Freitas — finished within about 2 percent of each other, but didn’t make the cut for trustee. Thomas took 1,169 votes, or 12.2 percent, and Freitas took 973, 10.1 percent.

Only 15.4 percent of registered voters in Macomb Township cast their votes in this year’s primary, a small fraction of the county’s 8.5 percent of registered voters that hit the polls Aug. 5.

You can reach Staff Writer Erin McClary at emcclary@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1118.