Advertisement

"The turnout by registered voters has been fantastic," said petition drive organizer Dennis Reid of Sandusky.

Reid said they will be collecting signatures at Sandusky Walmart again this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting.

The County Board of Commissioners has voted to sell $16.6 million in bonds to build a 200-bed jail and remodel the existing jail. They plan to pay off the debt by renting more beds to federal prisoners. The federal marshals now pays $79 per day per prisoner, which currently provides $1 million per year to the sheriff department.

Petition drive supporters have until Sept. 14 to collect signatures from 10% of the registered Sanilac County voters who voted in the last election, which is almost 3000 signatures. The deadline is 45 days from Aug. 1, which is the date the county published its intent to issue limited general obligation bonds in the Sanilac County News.

Reid said 901 signatures have been collected by five of the 50 to 60 people who are circulating at least 600 petitions.

"At this point 637 signatures have been verified against the voter rolls, which is a slow process. In addition, the lady verifying signatures is on vacation this week, so we cannot obtain a verified total of signatures from the (County) Clerk's office until some time next week," Reid added.

He is asking all circulators to turn in the signed petitions they have by the end of August to the clerk's office so they know where they are at that point. However, they should keep collecting signatures until Sept. 14.