MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - “We welcome all people, it doesn’t matter the person you are. We welcome all people.” On Tuesday January 17th Meridian Township Treasurer Julie Brixie said this and the Township Board supported the statement, by passing the Adopted Welcoming Community Resolution Amendment.

“I move that the Board of the Township of Meridian adopts the Welcoming Community Resolution and respect Meridian pledge as amended to include persons with disabilities,” Brixie said.

The motion was seconded by Township Trustee Kathy Ann Sundland.

A few years ago, Meridian joined organizations Welcoming America and Welcoming Michigan

The organization is centered and began in the Detroit, recognizing hate speech and incidents toward anti-muslim actions.

Brixie said that the Township felt that since they have such a high international population in the community, they wanted to make sure everyone knew that Meridian Township Welcomes all types of individuals.

“During the recent elections there were quite a bit of incidents and hate speech regarding persons with LGBTQA status,” Brixie said. “Since we had already passed a Human Relations ordinance in the township, we felt that was a good match to this welcoming pledge. And we readopted our Welcoming Resolution with this new Board.”

However, it was brought to the Board’s attention by the public that they felt “slighted” that it did not include persons with disabilities. Brixie said persons with disabilities was included in the memo but was left out of the resolution.

The Township Board passed the amendment unanimously.