Ousted Salem Township supervisor files recall petition against his replacement

Roperti, who was supervisor from 2000 to 2008, contends Heyl had “hidden agendas” during the campaign for supervisor. Among them, he said in an interview, was the firing of township attorney Doug Winters, who was dismissed last November by the township board. 

Roperti also said Heyl is now trying to get rid of Salem Fire Department Chief Mark Hamilton and is attempting to force the local post office from township-owned property.

“I can only guess, but it has to do with personalities,” Roperti said.

Heyl was tied up in Board of Review meetings when contacted by AnnArbor.com, but authorized Treasurer Paul Uherek to speak on his behalf.

Uherek called Roperti “a serial slanderer” and said the written statement was “a total outrage.”

“Lawyers are looking at that, I’m sure,” Uherek said of the statement. “Mr. Roperti has, in my opinion, and apparently, too, our current attorneys’, libeled our attorneys.”

The recall demand will receive a clarity hearing at 3 p.m. on April 1. The hearing will be held in the lower-level conference room at the Washtenaw County Building, 200 N. Main St. Presiding will be Kestenbaum, County Treasurer Catherine McClary, and a judge to be named.

When the petition’s language is approved, Roperti and his supporters will have 180 days to gather the necessary signatures. The number is calculated according to a formula based on the percentage of Salem Township voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. Some 25 percent of those voters need to sign the petition.

In addition to the firing of Winters, whose services were replaced by the Farmington Hills firm of Johnson and Rosati, recent upheavals in Salem have included the settling of a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against Roperti and the township after events in 2008.

Recent events have taken a whole new tack, and Roperti said he was especially alarmed after Winters was let go by the board.

“Salem Township is what we are today - I attribute that mostly to him,” Roperti said.

Roperti also objected to the township board’s special meetings “to consider kind of sensitive issues, things that had to do with the fire department.”

Regular board meetings are the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The board met at 10 a.m. last Dec. 23 and again on Dec. 28.

At the Dec. 28 meeting, the board approved $12,285 in payment for arbitration services related to the development of Salem Springs, a proposed retail complex at M-14 and Gotfredson Road. Roperti blames Heyl for increasing the township’s liability in a bond issue tied to the project.

On Jan. 15, three days after the regular monthly meeting, a 9 a.m. session addressed harassment complaints by township firefighters.

Roperti, 78, denies that resentment over the lost election led him to pursue the recall.

“I could have walked away from this and gone to Florida and spent my money going to Florida on vacation," he said. "But I cannot put up with this kind of stuff, can’t tolerate it. And I can’t live with myself.

“And I know what they’re going to say. This is vindictiveness and that. You think I’m the only one that’s upset about this?”

Ronald Ahrens is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.