Mayor William R. Wild is proud to announce that the promotion of several police personnel in the City of Westland including Chief Greg Angelosanto. Chief Angelosanto was sworn in on May 5, 2011 and has been with the Westland Police Department since May 7, 1990. His previous experience includes serving as Deputy Chief since August 2010, numerous high level positions as Lieutenant including the commander of the Detective Bureau, the Special Investigations Unit and the Metro Street Enforcement Team, a multi-jurisdictional crime task force. Chief Angelosanto has earned 34 Departmental Awards during his career and is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy Associates School of Leadership and the Eastern Michigan University School of Police Staff and Command.

Other recent promotions included Lt. Collier to Deputy Chiefin charge of the Uniform Division, Sgt. Michael Harhold to Lieutenant, Officer Mark Cholak to Sergeant, Officer Steve Ewing to Sergeant and Officer Norm Brooks to Sergeant.

In April, nearly 80 employees, representing all City departments, took advantage of conflict resolution training offered through the Michigan Municipal League.  This included a number of department directors, part-time employees and staff from the Supervisory, Court and AFSCME employee groups.  The City's cost for the training was a bargain at just under $1,700 (roughly $21.25 per employee).  Two half-day training sessions were held with Nancy Ohle of the MML serving as trainer/facilitator.  All employees who participated in this training will earn continuing education credits through the MML.  More importantly, employees had an opportunity to learn new techniques for addressing the conflict they may experience in their professional and personal lives.

This training provided tips on recognizing sources of conflict, the emotions people display that sometimes cause conflict, how to think constructively about conflict such as striving to better understand the other person and how to problem solve.  Employees spoke candidly about the stressors they experience, techniques they've learned to cope with conflict and how to better respond to tough situations or how to avoid conflict altogether.

In addition, members of the Mayor's executive staff recently attended Leadership Training hosted by Northville Township.  John Santomauro, the well regarded former Township Director and Public Safety Director of Canton Township, facilitated this training that centered on leadership in the public sector.  Mr. Santomauro spoke about the importance of understanding an entity's culture, the art of influencing, inspiring and directing others and the art of finding common ground and forecasting problems before they occur.  Mr. Santomauro donated his services thus there was no cost to attend this valuable training. 

The Mayor's goal in making such training opportunities available to City employees is so these public servants are better able to serve you, our residents and business owners, as they go about their day performing valuable and needed municipal services.

Summer is fast approaching and many people are planning for their summer events.  Picnics at one of our Westland Parks and Recreation Park Pavilions are excellent for a family reunion, child's birthday, graduation party or church picnic. Tattan Park, home of the Play Planet Playstation and the H2O Zone, provides an ideal place for events with lots of children. Jaycee Park and Corrado Park have play equipment for children; as well as large grassy areas for a game of Frisbee or soccer.  Every pavilion will accommodate groups of 50 comfortably. Reservations for the summer of 2011 have already begun and weekend dates are going fast. For more information contact the Bailey Center at 734-722-7620.