Supervisors dedicated to their families

Cischke and Bowman step away from township work

TRI-CITY AREA — Ron Cischke and Paul Bowman have been friends for years. They have plenty in common, including leading their respective townships and most of all, knowing the importance of family.

The two men, who will step away from serving as Supervisor for their respective townships, Goodland and Almont, say it doesn’t matter if it is their direct family, or those they have worked with.

The community leaders both stressed the importance of family, at home and at the office.

“When we started, we had the full support of our families,” Bowman stated for both men. Added Cischke, “they’ve been supportive of what we have been doing and that means alot.”

He added, “I consider our township board family too. When I walk in the door at the township hall, I’m home with my township family. When I get back home, I’m there with my family.”

Bowman, who is 76, added, “really, it’s all about the people. We’ve both met some great people along the way. We’ve both had good people to work alongside of. They are the ones who made it all work.”

The two men will oversee their final meeting this month before stepping away from their roles as Supervisor on November 20.

“Paul and I have been friends a long time, Cischke said. “We’ve been able to bounce ideas off each other, share information back and forth. Paul is a great guy and has been good for Almont Township.

Bowman returned the accolades, “Ron has been there and done that,” with his more than five decades of service. “I think he’s pretty much done everything there is to do, at one point or another.”

Cischke, who is 86-years old and a former dairy farmer, has seen plenty of change in his time.

“While I was there, we’ve been able to get a new township hall built and started our own fire department,” he said. “There’s been a lot of good things happen.”

The Goodland Twp. Supervisor sold his dairy cows in 1975, shortly after being appointed Supervisor. During his stint of public service, Cischke also served as the township tax assessor, for 55 years.

Along with those duties, Cischke has served on dozens of committees and boards, both locally and in the county. He has also been named to boards at the state level.

Bowman, who was born and raised in Almont and a 1971 graduate of what now is known as Saginaw Valley State University, has given his time as a public servant for the Almont Twp. board and served as a school board member multiple times.

He too, has served on a variety of boards including the Zoning Board of Appeals and enjoyed working with election officials on election day, when he was not on the ballot.

“It’s really about the people for me, and come election time when I was working, it was great to see folks and talk with them,” Bowman said.

The Almont Twp. Supervisor has served in his position for 20 years. He put in another 25 years on the school board, serving various terms.
He still is serving as Vice-President of the Lapeer County Intermediate School District and has been involved with the Lapeer County Community Foundation, Family Literacy and the Economic Club.

In helping run their respective townships, both men said the federal funding assistance, known as ARPA, was a help to both communities.

They said unexpected boosts in revenue sharing for the townships was always a welcome addition to the budget as well.

Bowman recalled, “We were able to use some of the ARPA money to build a sidewalk on Kidder Rd, near Orchard Primary, to help keep the walking students safer. Vehicles go down that road so fast, it was something the board felt strongly about doing.”

Almont Twp. received $450,000 in ARPA funding while Goodland Twp. received $180,000. Entities have until the end of this year to spend their money.

“We used up the last bit we had left to put into the old schoolhouse renovation project,” Cischke said. “I really wanted to see that project get done and with the ARPA money and fundraising money as well, we were able to see it happen.”

While Bowman said he couldn’t recall any real challenges during his years on the board, Cischke said he had his share of issues, including the Michigan Militia.

“They’d come to our meetings, with weapons either in vehicles or with them and just make comments to me. Not really threats. More like intimidation kind of stuff,” Cischke said.

He also oversaw the effects of a major flood in the township in 1996. The high water levels caused extensive damage, washed out a portion of the highway and ruined farmer’s crops, he said.

Cischke was a member of township boards that received grants to dispose of 4,000 tires from the township, worked on another grant, requesting federal funding, to update two miles of Shaw Rd. and
a third grant for repairs to a bridge on Bohms Rd.

Both men agree, they had great staff to work with in the respective township halls.

“We’ve been blessed,” Bowman said. “We have some experienced people there and we all sit down and discuss things in different departments. It’s time to let the younger ones step in and take care of it.”

Cischke echoed the comments. “Over the years, I’ve worked with some great people. Mavis (Roy, longtime Clerk) comes to mind.,” he said. “She was a wonderful person. Served her township until the day she passed.”

While the men are looking forward to passing the torch to other leadership, they admit they will miss the people they encountered, and township business, to some extent.

“We’ve been with family for a lot of years,” Bowman said. “Our township families,” Cischke quickly added.

They agreed, now, it’s time to go home to their real families and spend less time tending to township business.

“It’s been a great run,” Cischke said. “I might miss it some. I certainly will miss the people. But, I plan to stay active and busy with other things. Stay home a little bit more.”

Bowman said his family will keep him busy, especially his 10 grandchildren.

“We’ll travel around to the grandkids activities, that sort of thing,” he said. “I’d like to do some traveling as well.”

Both men feel it’s important to get the younger generations involved in government.

Bowman said he has had opportunity to speak to government classes in high school, explaining what townships are and how they operate.

They say they will be available by phone to help new township officials.

If you need Ron, he may be at the Lapeer Country Club golf course where he has worked part-time, for 25 years. He’ll get back to you, eventually.

And Paul, he’ll be traveling. Leave a message and he’ll get back to you, eventually.

Congratulations to both men for their decades-long service to their townships, and on their retirements.