ELECTION EDITION – CANDIDATES
There are seven candidates running for four seats on the Barton Hills Village Board of Trustees for four-year terms. The nine-member Board of Trustees is the governing body of the Village.
Following, in alphabetical order, are the statements the candidates submitted about who they are and why they would like to serve on the Board.
LINDA BENSON (Incumbent) – 505 Barton North Dr. I have resided in Barton Hills Village with my husband Ronald and three children, now grown, since 1978. I ran for my first election as trustee in 2009. Since that time I have helped implement changes that make our village a unique community and a special place to live.
In 2010, as head of the activities committee, I initiated the Halloween Trolley Ride and Pizza Party for the youngsters living in the Village. It grew out of a tradition established by former superintendent Walter Esch’s hay wagon ride. This has become a major event for the young families in our village.
It was important for our village to establish our roads as “private roads” to comply with Michigan law—that taxpayers’ money cannot be used to pay for private roads. This was a challenging issue that took several years and much legal advice to work out. Ultimately, the board found the solution by establishing a roads maintenance agreement and our joint roads committee.
In the 21st century, security is as important to our residents as tranquility. I am proud to be part of our board’s position on this issue: installing security cameras at our entrances so we can keep our roads unencumbered by gates and guards.
Last I want to emphasize our successful relationships with Jeff Hnatow, our superintendent for the past 8 years, and now, with his son, Joe Hnatow, who took over these duties in June, 2022. This position carries major responsibilities that keep our village afloat. The board did due diligence in hiring these men, and I, as the board’s current president, am committed to making this transition a seamless one.
These highlight some key issues during my time on the board, but there are many others that I see for the future: better recycling methods for our trash, maintaining our pond shoreline, our parks, and our aging infrastructure, more opportunity for residents to communicate within the village, and being fiscally responsible with our budgets and needs. That is why I choose to run for the board of trustees for another term and ask for your vote.
MARCUS DARDEN – 40 Barton North Dr. As a father of young children (8 and 5 years old), husband of a retiring village trustee (Andrea Darden), your neighbor, a member of Barton Hills Country Club (BHCC), and a professor at the University of Michigan, I have a connection with a broad range of our village population. Being a resident for 3 years, and a visitor and guest for over a decade, through BHCC, has privileged me with many relationships in the Village including those with our newer families and our more established residents. As a representative of those of us who live in the Village, I plan to champion more active community involvement in our governance, gathering and using input from as many households as possible. Combining this with recent efforts to increase transparency in how the Village is run, I hope to help the Board move forward on the issues that matter to all of us: security, privacy, safety, infrastructure (chiefly roads and water), environmental conditions, and other concerns. “It’s Our Village,” and I am anxious to work both for you and with you to improve our quality of life and the village we all adore.
MOSTAFA HAITAM (Incumbent) – 100 Barton North Dr. My wife, Laura Weingartner, and I have lived in Barton Hills for 22 years. I am fortunate to have met many of you on my daily walks and at Barton Hills Country Club where we are golfing members. I am the current Village Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee.
Taking morning walks in the Village brings back memories of my strolls in the Parc de L’Orangerie in Strasbourg, France, where I studied at the university. The Village is a place of unique beauty, and I would endeavor to keep it that way as your trustee.
Early in my career, I worked as a computer programmer, systems analyst, and project leader with teams that built computer applications to solve business and engineering problems to reduce cost, improve performance, drive growth and business transformations. More recently, I have built and managed companies as an investor/entrepreneur, learning many lessons along the way. In the course of my work, I have developed strategic alliances with leading multinational companies in several industries, while dealing with turnkey projects and technologies that spanned solar infrastructure, power storage, control systems, satellite communications, remote sensing, fiber optic backbone, broadcast infrastructures, imaging and collaboration, security, and analytics. On the Village board, I would apply this background to develop smart solutions for managing our community.
As your Village Treasurer, I have worked to establish reasonable budget priorities, made fiscally responsible and balanced budgets.
As your representative, it is my duty to act in the best interest of the residents, in accordance with the Village Charter, and will continue to work to preserve and improve the characteristics that first attracted me to this unique community:
- Fiscal prudence so that you will see real value for your tax dollars
- Increased resident participation in Barton Hills Village affairs
- Privacy, security for our homes and safety on our private roads
- Transparency
My fellow neighbors, I ask for your vote and the opportunity to continue serving as your representative on the Village Board of Trustees. In the meantime, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and concerns at mosty500@hotmail.com.
ROBERT HENSINGER (Incumbent) – 261 Corrie Rd. I’ve been a resident of the Village of Barton Hills since 1986. My wife Barbara and I have five children. I am currently retired, having previously worked as section head of pediatric orthopaedics and subsequently chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics at Michigan Medicine.
I have served on the Barton Hills Village Board of Trustees for the past four years. My focus is to provide a congenial, effective government to expeditiously manage issues important to residents of Barton Hills Village. In my capacity as the chairman of the Environment Committee, I have created several subcommittees, involving many Village residents in working to improve our community and shape board decisions. These include recycling, climate resilience, and environmental impact. In my role as a member of the Planning Commission, I have led the committee’s revision of the Barton Hills Master Plan. I have instituted initiatives for a landmark tree protection plan and a strategy for addressing steep slopes.
I am the Trustee liaison to Barton Hills Country Club and work to maintain and strengthen collaboration between the two organizations. Importantly, I am a strong proponent of enhancing security in the Village and aggressively support infrastructure improvements with particular attention to our road and water needs.
ROB MALAN – 325 Barton Shore Dr. As a 12-year resident of Barton Hills, I am running for the Board of Trustees to give back to my community and to help preserve the wonderful environment and character of the village. My family and I live at an important crossroads — at the intersection of Underdown Road and Barton Shore Drive — and we love the people, privacy, and the natural setting of the village. We have lived in or around Ann Arbor since the early 90s when I came to the University to pursue my advanced degree. We liked the area so much that we stayed after graduation — I have started venture-backed high tech companies based in Ann Arbor ever since.
When the pandemic hit, I volunteered to set up and attend the monthly Trustee meetings as the Zoom host for over a year and half (from June 2020 through January 2022). During those many hours of board meetings I came to appreciate all of the hard work and dedication the trustees put in to keep the village running. I also saw firsthand the importance of good and effective governance.
As a founder of multiple startups, I have served on corporate boards for over fifteen years; I have also volunteered and served on the board of a local non-profit. I would bring my years of hands-on experience, plus my background in using data to drive effective decisions within the Trustees. I hope this information about how I will apply my governance experience to preserve the character and privacy of our Village can give you some assurance that I would serve and represent you well.
RANDY PERRY – 2475 Whitmore Lake Rd. I’ve been a Village resident for 22 years and am dedicated to preserving its character for the benefit of all residents. In the 2000s, I served on the Village Board of Trustees, and after leaving that position I served as the Village Zoning Administrator for 15 years. I’m currently a member of the Village Water, Climate Resilience, Long-Range Planning, and Charter Revision Committees. In addition to my work in the Village, I have served as an Ann Arbor Township Trustee and currently serve on the Township’s Planning Commission. Those positions have enabled me to help foster a closer relationship between the Village and Township. I care deeply about the Village and have worked in a collegial manner to achieve positive outcomes for our residents.
I’m running for Trustee to preserve the Village’s long-standing commitments to privacy, natural beauty, and efficient and effective administration. I support the current arrangements between the Village and the Barton Hills Maintenance Corporation under which the BHMC owns the roads, the Village maintains them, and the roads are private. I will work to continue that ownership and assure the privacy of the roads.
I also support efforts to assure the financial stability of the Village water system. The water system is the Village’s single largest infrastructure expense, and the delivery of safe drinking water to its residents is perhaps Village government’s most important service. We know that required improvements to our water system over the next few years will be expensive. I will work to assure that those improvements are made responsibly and cost-effectively.
Finally, I support the work by the Climate Resilience and Long-Range Planning Committees to move the Village toward a greener, more sustainable future in a fiscally-responsible manner. I favor making smart decisions to retain the stability of the Village’s many beautiful steep slopes and canyons. I will work to encourage sustainable measures, such as solar power and the use of rain gardens to reduce erosion and harmful stormwater runoff. And I will always keep in mind that we are all neighbors in this wonderful community.
TREVOR WILD – 625 Spring Valley Rd. When the opportunity became available for me and my wife Samantha to buy a home in Barton Hills it was a dream come true. Growing up off of Newport Road, and as a member of Barton Hills Country Club, the Barton Hills community has been a significant part of my life. There is no better place in Michigan to live that offers natural beauty, safety, and security equal to Barton Hills. As your representative, I will ensure that these important virtues are strongly preserved while focusing on prudent financial management and fiscal controls. As a trustee of the village, I believe it is critical that all decisions are made with a commonsense approach, and first and foremost are laser focused on the safety and security of our present neighbors, and preservation of the village for generations to come.
After graduating from the University of Michigan with an undergraduate degree in Economics, I began my career at Ford Motor Company. While working for Ford, I earned an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of business. Throughout my career I have held Finance positions in organizations ranging from private businesses to large publicly traded manufacturing companies. I look forward to the opportunity to apply my professional background to ensure that the village can provide the best community for our neighbors in a financially responsible way.
All election information for BHV is available from Ann Arbor Charter Township
3792 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor MI 48105
Website: aatwp.org, (choose elections tab) Phone: 734-663-3418