Election 2012: Pat Williams, Canton Township Trustee Candidate

Patrick Williams, candidate for Canton Township Trustee

Age: 51

Party affiliation: Republican

Spouse/kids: Family: Married 30 Years - 3 adult children who were all graduates of Plymouth Canton Community Schools.  

Length of residency: Canton Township resident for 27 years this fall.

Prior public sector experience:

Elected Canton Township Trustee: 2008 - Present

Appointed - Monroe/Wayne County Work Force Development: former private sector representative Board Member

Appointed - Canton Township: former Citizens Tax Board of Review

Prior professional experience: Current Canton Township Trustee, also a commercial sales manager for a Tier I automotive supplier and a partner in EZ-Groom a Michigan-based manufacturer of pet cleaning products.

What made you decide to seek re-election?

I am absolutely passionate about maintaining Canton Township as a great place to live and do business.  We have made tremendous progress – however – we have not completed getting all of our long term legacy costs in line with our revenues.

What issues do you see affecting the township?:

• Public Safety 
• Long term financial viability 
• Quality of future Board of Trustee decisions 
• I-275 and Ford Road Interchange as well as seeking collaboration opportunities to reduce overall cost of governance in Canton Township.

What is your plan to address those issues?:

• I will continue to ensure that Public Safety – Police and Fire departments continue to protect our citizens in an efficient manner. I will ensure funding is in place to maintain the best teams and employ the latest proven technologies.
• I will continue to only support budget and expenditure decisions that are fiscally sound.  I will provide transparency of township spending to ensure that tax payer’s hard earned dollars are put to best use. I will promote viable long term plans that will not require tax increases.
• I will continue to only support township Board actions that are taken on behalf of our citizens that will preserve or improve our property values, quality of life and the attractiveness of Canton as a place to work and live.
• I will continue to promote working with our state, county and neighboring city, township governments, and local school districts to produce positive results for Canton.

Examples: We have already joined forces with surrounding communities in a several areas such as storm water management with Westland and Canton has several other inter-governmental agreements for HAZMAT, Public Safety Mutual Aid, SWAT, Western Townships Utilities Authority to name a few. We are always looking for other areas to combine resources and reduce costs. The next major collaboration will most likely be 911 Services. Each deal reached must be proven to be financially beneficial to Canton Township before engagement. Consolidation will continue to occur when it makes sense for the long term health of Canton.  We very recently through working with Wayne County Roads Management - were successful at having the State of Michigan convert nearly 12 miles of Canton roads to now be reclassified from secondary roads to primary roads which will mean improved funding and maintenance for these Wayne County roads. 

Education:

• Material Science Associate of Applied Science - Schoolcraft College

• Bachelor of Science Business Administration - Lawrence Technological University
• Master of Business Administration - Lawrence Technological University.

Other information:

• Canton Lions Club – Current Board Member
• Partnership for the Arts and Humanities – Current Board member
• Commission for Culture, Arts & Heritage – Current Board member
• Canton Good fellows - Supporter, Volunteer, Committee member 2011
• Recipient of the Canton Township Community Supporter Award in 2006
• Canton Chamber of Commerce – Current member, Past President and former Education Chair
• Wayne 11the Congressional District Republican - Past Committee Member serving western Wayne County
• Leadership Canton Program – Graduate of 1995 (Inaugural) class
• Buckingham Place Subdivision - Past President and former Board Member as well as Transition Team Member and Architectural Review Committee
• Pickwick Village – Past Board Member (key participant in Parks rehabilitation project)
• Plymouth-Canton Community Schools - Participant in 3 Superintendent Searches, Long Range Planning and Parent’s Day Planning Committees
• International Exchange Student Programs – Former Area Rep, Host Family, and Student 
• PCEP-Field of Dreams Soccer Project – Team Leader – New soccer field and facilities

Campaign website:

www.patrickjohnwilliams.com