Voters across metro Detroit made key decisions on school funding, local government changes, and city leadership in the May 6 special election.

To learn more about this special election visit the “Michigan special elections: What metro Detroiters should know before May 6” published on May 2, 2025

Ferndale voters approved both a school improvement bond (70% yes) and a Headlee override millage (58% yes).

Redford Union School District passed a $44 million bond proposal with 54% support.

Southgate Community Schools saw all three of its funding proposals pass.

Mount Clemens voters rejected a $91.8 million bond proposal for school upgrades, with 67% voting no.

Lamphere Schools in Madison Heights also failed to secure an $85 million bond, with 58% opposed.

Clawson voters turned down two charter amendments related to city council size and term lengths.

In Wyandotte, Mayor Robert DeSana was reelected with 79% of the vote. Six city council members were also elected, and three administrative offices were uncontested.

For full details, visit the Detroit Free Press election coverage.

Know your rights

Michigan’s primary election will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. Check back for updates to WDET’s Voter Guide as the election gets closer.

Communities across Michigan — including several in metro Detroit — will be holding special elections on Tuesday, May 6, for a range of local ballot measures and races.

Check if you’re registered, find your polling place, or view a sample ballot here.

Macomb County

Mount Clemens

Voters in the Mount Clemens Community School District will have a $91.8 million bond proposal and millage reduction on their ballots.

The district says the funding would be used to renovate and revitalize its historic buildings, make critical infrastructure improvements, create modern learning spaces, and address safety and security needs.

Find more information about the bond proposal at mtcps.org.

Oakland County

Ferndale

In Oakland County, voters in Ferndale will see another Headlee override operating millage proposal on their ballot.

Ferndale voters rejected a previous iteration of the Headlee override in November, with roughly 54% of residents voting against it. City council members voted in January to include an adapted proposal on the May 6 ballot that aims to address some of the concerns cited by residents during town halls and listening sessions. If passed, the millage would take effect on residents’ Summer 2026 tax bills.

More information about the proposal, including the changes that were made and its potential cost impact on residents, can be viewed at ferndalemi.gov.

Additionally, voters in the Ferndale School District — which includes portions of Pleasant Ridge, Oak Park and Royal Oak Township — will have a school improvement bond on their ballot.

The $114.8 million bond proposal would not increase voters’ tax rates, according to the district, and would enable “transformational improvements” at its middle and high school buildings. Among the updates would be a new academic wing, modernized classrooms, updated fine arts spaces, safer school entry points, and improved student services.

For more information about the school bond proposal, visit ferndaleschools.org.

Clawson

Voters in Clawson will have two charter amendment proposals on the ballot.

The first is asking voters to determine the size of city council. A “yes” vote would maintain the city’s four-member council — excluding the mayor — rather than expand the council by two additional members, as adopted by council in 2023.

The second charter amendment relates to the council members’ term limits, and can only be passed in conjunction with the first amendment.

The full proposals can be viewed at cityofclawson.com.

Madison Heights

Residents in the Lamphere School District will see an $85 million, 30-year school improvement bond proposal on the ballot.

The district says the funding is needed to enhance school safety and security, expand learning opportunities, and update school infrastructure. If passed, the cost to homeowners would be 4.15 mills ($4.15 per $1,000 of taxable property value).

For more specifics on what the bond funding would be used for, visit lamphereschools.com/bond2025.

Proposals 2 and 3 — a non-homestead operating millage renewal and 2-mill hedge — would maintain the current millage rate if passed, allowing the district to retain $5 million for staffing, instructional and extracurricular programming, maintenance and operations.

Residential tax rates on primary residences would not increase if any of these initiatives pass, according to the district. However, the millage rate would decline over the next few years if the bond proposal is rejected.

Know your rights

Michigan’s primary election will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. Check back for updates to WDET’s Voter Guide as the election gets closer.

A heavy rainstorm on April 2, 2025 filled Macomb County’s Red Run Drain with more than one million gallons of raw sewage from Oakland County.

Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller described the murky mess she found in the drain the next day.

“It looks like chocolate pudding,” Miller says.

The fetid water came from a sewer pipe that empties into the drain, festooning it with some not-so-festive decorations.

“It almost looks like Christmas trees, because they’re all covered with sanitary wipes, sewer wipes, and some things that are too gross to discuss,” Miller said. “It’s sickening.”

Miller’s counterpart, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash, confirms the foul water came from one of his department’s sewer lines, the Dequindre Interceptor.

Normally what flows through that pipe goes to the Great Lakes Water Authority for treatment. But when too much rain fills the system, Nash says an emergency relief valve inside the pipe keeps raw sewage out of people’s basements.

“The only alternative, if we had closed off that valve, would have been to flood — we estimate — 700 to 800 homes in that area with pure sewage,” he said.

To prevent that, Nash said it was necessary to divert the water into the Red Run Drain after the storm.

The argument goes back years

But Miller says this is not a new problem, as Oakland County has a history of releasing not only raw sewage, but treated sewage mixed with stormwater into her communities. The technical term is a combined sewage overflow. Miller says enough is enough.

“We’d like Oakland County to try to do something about their combined sewer overflows,” she said.

Miller and Nash have been squabbling for years over a facility in Oakland County called the George W. Kuhn Retention Basin. It’s a huge operation that can hold up to 150 million gallons of combined sewage and stormwater. 

“The water comes in, it goes through a screen; we have the biggest screening facility in the country,” Nash said. “Anything over a half an inch is screened out. It’s raked into a trough and then sent to Detroit for cleaning. It gets past that, and then it goes into these large chambers that hold millions of gallons.”

Nash says after the solids settle, the county treats them with chlorine to kill harmful bacteria such as E. coli. 

“When it comes out of our facility, it’s extremely clean,” he said. 

Updating infrastructure takes time and money

The Kuhn basin was built in the 1970s, and Nash says it’s been expanded and updated several times since then. Before its construction, Oakland County averaged almost 60 combined sewage overflows a year. Nash says the basin has helped reduce that number to eight or nine.

That’s too much for Candice Miller. A week after the storm she wrote a letter to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) accusing Oakland County of violating its state permit to operate the Kuhn basin. A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers has offered legislation requiring EGLE to put tougher restrictions on the facility.

Miller is also asking for a law requiring counties to ask permission before releasing any sewage into another county — treated or not.

Nash denies violating any permits and says Kuhn operated as it’s designed to after the April 2 rainfall. He adds it’s not the only source flowing into the Red Run Drain.

“There’s five separate storm water drains that come into that area in the same place,” he said. 

Nash says some of that is coming from Macomb County, which also experiences combined sewage overflows. Miller says her department has reduced CSOs by 80% since she took office in 2017 and spent millions of dollars expanding and improving its own retention basins.

She says Oakland County either needs to build bigger basins — which it has — or separate its stormwater and sewage. Jim Nash says the cost of that would be enormous.

“The estimates currently are about $3 billion to $4 billion dollars and would take 20 or 30 years for it to happen.,” he said.

Both counties explore natural drainage options

Nash says a better solution would be building green infrastructure to absorb water from more frequent heavy rainstorms fueled by climate change.

“We have to find ways like rain gardens, rain barrels, even planting more trees in urban areas,” he said. “All those things help with storm water, help absorb it.”

Nash said Oakland County offers up to $2,000 rebates for people to put rain barrels, trees, or rain gardens on their property.

Macomb County has also invested in green infrastructure. One example is the Sterling Relief Drain between 15 and 16 Mile roads. Workers removed tons of concrete from the drain and replaced it with grass, plants, and other natural features to soak up water and prevent basement backups.

Related: Could Detroit’s buried streams see the light of day?

Candice Miller admits such projects take time and money.

“You can’t do it overnight because it’s very expensive and it takes time to improve and upgrade old, antiquated infrastructure,” she said. “Everybody’s dealing with, it’s not just us or Oakland or Wayne.”

In the meantime, Miller says she’ll keep pushing Nash and Oakland County on behalf of her constituents to reduce CSOs flowing into Macomb County.

“They say all the time, ‘sue Oakland County,'” she said. “I don’t want to do that; I’d like him to try to do something.”

Nash says he is doing something, and that Miller should focus on Macomb County. Either way, it’s a dispute that’s not ending anytime soon.