Richardville: secretary of state office to remain open
LANSING – Sen. Randy Richardville today announced that the secretary of state office in Temperance will remain open instead of closing on March 11 as previously planned by the Michigan Department of State.
Richardville met with Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land on Thursday to discuss keeping the branch office open. He has been working closely with the Secretary of State and her staff for the past few months to find solutions to retain this branch office.
“I am pleased that Secretary Land has decided not to close the Temperance branch office,” said Richardville. “Thousands of area residents visit the office to conduct business there. More details will be forthcoming as we continue to negotiate the details and terms of the office staying open.”
At a local press conference last week, Richardville distributed petitions to area residents to ensure their voice was heard in Lansing.
“Closing the office would have been a tremendous inconvenience for the residents of Bedford, Erie, Whiteford, Summerfield, LaSalle, and Ida townships and the cities of Luna Pier and Petersburg, and all the surrounding areas,” Richardville said. “We are pleased to reach a compromise.”
Land pointed out that a number of factors played into this decision, including new information concerning the inability of the department to renew a lease for a branch office in Oakland County. Land is going to address this issue by consolidating the Royal Oak office with the Troy office to form the East Oakland County PLUS office in Troy.
“Sen. Richardville presented me with some workable ideas, that in concert with the situation in Oakland County allowed us to preserve the Temperance office,” said Land. “To serve the customers of that area, we intend to install a self-service station in that office and move some resources to the Monroe office. In the end, I am confident that the customers in that region will be well served.”
Residents in Bedford Township and the surrounding south county areas would have had to drive 30 to 60 miles round-trip to either of the nearest offices if the Temperance office closed.
“Bedford Township Supervisor Walt Wilburn and many other local officials should be commended for their work on this issue as well. I’m happy that we were able to work together for the people we represent,” Richardville said.
The department first announced plans to close the office in November 2009.
Posted: Friday, March 05, 2010
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