January 15, 2021 - Issue #36

New Faces at Township Hall

On Nov. 3, Delhi Township voters elected a new Treasurer and two new Trustees to serve the community for the next four years.

Tom Lenard was elected Township Treasurer, and Matt Lincoln and TyJuan Thirdgill were elected to serve as Trustees. While some faces may have changed, Delhi Township remains committed to serving its residents and ensuring the township remains a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About Tom Lenard

Tom Lenard was elected Treasurer after serving four years as a Trustee. Once sworn-in as Treasurer, Tom took immediate action to educate residents on safe alternatives to pay tax and utility bills during the COVID-19 pandemic. His “Pay Safe, Stay Safe” campaign has already proven popular with residents, avoiding COVID-19 exposure and long wait times. During his time as a Trustee, he advocated for trail and infrastructure improvements while supporting a strong ethics policy for elected officials and employees.

About Matt Lincoln

Matt Lincoln won his first election to the Board. In 2013, Matt moved from Lansing to Delhi Township, attracted by the community’s diversity, excellent schools and natural attributes. An outdoor enthusiast, Matt is also park planner for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Division. After moving to Delhi Township, Matt served on the Planning Commission before running for the Board. Matt’s goals on the Board include making it easier for residents to participate in local government, supporting the Holt Public Schools, improving trails and sidewalks and reducing the Township’s carbon footprint.

About TyJuan Thirdgill

TyJuan Thirdgill is serving his first term on the Board of Trustees. TyJuan, a Chicago native and the Board’s first African American Trustee, set his sights on public service to provide a fresh perspective to the Township Board. His top goal is to provide solutions to the many challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in our community. He also wants to ensure Board members are fully accessible to residents and increase awareness of Township government in the community.

Tom, Matt and TyJuan join re-elected Supervisor John Hayhoe, Clerk Evan Hope and Trustees DiAnne Warfield and Patrick Brown.

Supervisor John Hayhoe

Clerk Evan Hope

Trustee DiAnne Warfield

Trustee Patrick Brown

Clean Elections Audit

Delhi Township, led by Clerk Evan Hope, received a clean audit of its Nov. 3 election. This was no small feat given record mail-in ballot and in-person voter turnout in one of the most contentious elections in recent history.

The independent audit, conducted by the Ingham County Clerks’ Office, evaluated these key areas:

Testing vote tabulators prior to Election Day
Training poll workers
Providing a balance of Republican and Democratic poll workers
Ensuring voter applications match the number of cast ballots
Matching the physical number of ballots to the number of voters

To test election accuracy, the Michigan Secretary of State chooses one race to be hand-counted in post-election audits. This election cycle, Michigan’s U.S. Senate election was selected. In Delhi Township, the hand count for the U.S. Senate race perfectly matched Election Day results from the tabulators for both precinct and absentee ballots. Anticipating record turnout on Nov. 3, the township made several key investments to tabulate ballots on Election Day. The Township Board unanimously supported the purchase of additional high-speed scanners to process absentee ballots, which enabled Hope and his team to tabulate all absentee ballots by just after 8 p.m. on Election Day. Hope also obtained a grant that paid for part-time help to process absentee ballots.