Kalamazoo County commissioners also worked on building plans and agreed to create a task force to review the Veterans Service Office when they met Tuesday.
Support for legislation
Kalamazoo County has narrowly agreed to go on record in support of legislation that would permit undocumented residents to get driver’s licenses and state ID cards.
The vote Tuesday night split on party lines, with the Board’s six Democrats voting in favor, and five Republicans voting against.
Advocates for House Bills 5940 and 5941 say they would make the roads safer and lift a burden from people who can’t avoid driving but also can’t legally get a license. Opponents on the Board said it was not the county’s role to consider the issue and said immigration needs attention beyond driver’s licenses and IDs.
Several people spoke in favor of the bills at a commission meeting Tuesday. Adrian Vasques of the Hispanic American Council says a change in the law would make a difference for undocumented families in Kalamazoo.
“Those children go through their daily school activities constantly worrying about whether their parents will be getting stopped. Parents who are unable to obtain a driver’s license,” he said.
Commissioner Roger Tuinier said he understands why people want to be licensed. But he also said he couldn’t support the proposal without other action on immigration status.
“I think we need to go steps further to make these people legal – document them,” he said.
Commissioner Dale Shugars, who also voted against the resolution, said it was not the board’s place to consider the issue.
The bills have been sent to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Facilities Master Plan
The county appears likely to drop plans to build new when it moves its health department. The county had considered building on a brownfield in the City of Kalamazoo. But the board recently learned that project would cost more than it thought.
On Tuesday commissioners voted to look at other options, including renting space in a building not far from where it had planned to build. It’ll also consider making room for Health and Community Services in the county administration building. The board is expected to formally decide at its next meeting whether to end its bid for a new building for HCS.
The county also plans to look into buying more land along Kalamazoo Avenue. It’s interested in a vacant lot two blocks west of the county administration building. On Tuesday the board gave the go-ahead to begin talks on a purchase. The county might also seek to build a parking ramp between the administration building and the vacant lot, and to sell some of the land the county owns immediately south of the administration building.
Veterans Task Force
The issue of how well Kalamazoo County serves its veterans will get more study. On Tuesday the Board of Commissioners agreed to create a task force on its Veterans Service Office. Some commissioners and community members say that office is understaffed. The task force will consider whether the county pays its veterans’ staff a competitive salary. It will also look at the job description for veteran services officers. If the job has grown more complex since that description was created, that could be grounds for raising the pay.
