The Daily News provided questionnaires to candidates in Montcalm County and surrounding area for contested races only.

The election filing deadline has passed and the candidates are finalized for Ionia and Montcalm counties. The filing deadline was May 15 via the county clerk’s office.

Anyone wishing to file for August and November elections in Montcalm County has about two weeks left to do so. All Montcalm County offices will be up for election, as well as city and township offices.

Montcalm County sheriff’s officials were in a somber mood Tuesday night as a law enforcement millage was narrowly shot down by voters. A 1 mill property tax increase request lost 4,205 to 4,085 – a difference of only 120 votes. The millage passed in Belvidere, Cato, Eureka, Home and Sidney townships, the city of Carson City, the city of Stanton and three of four precincts in the city of Greenville. The millage failed in Bloomer, Bushnell, Crystal, Douglass, Fairplains, Ferris, Maple Valley, Montcalm, Pierson, Pine, Reynolds, Richland and Winfield townships. The millage passed in one Evergreen Township precinct and failed in another. It tied in Day Township.

Montcalm County Brownfield Authority members are preparing to meet and review engineering firm documents one week from today after several members failed to properly do so last month. Montcalm County was awarded a $400,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Cooperative Assistance Agreement grant last year to assess local Brownfield sites for hazardous substances and petroleum. Six statements of qualification to administer the assessment were submitted to the county.

The Montcalm County Transportation Authority is more than $11,000 in debt and local officials are worried the needed funds don’t exist. A proposed countywide public transportation system millage vote failed Nov. 8. Three months later, the Transportation Authority still hasn’t paid for election costs.

Michael Huckleberry announced his candidacy Saturday with support from local government officials and Sen. Carl Levin. Huckleberry, 63, said he would be running for State Representative in Michigan’s 70th District.

During last week’s State of the State address, Gov. Rick Snyder placed a heavy focus on the unemployment rate for veterans in Michigan. During Monday’s Legislative Luncheon at Montcalm Community College, local legislators kept focus on the issue. “Our veterans do not have access to the opportunities that are available to them,” State Sen. Judy Emmons said. “We are last in the country for our veterans in Michigan accessing the programs that they have earned, that they have sacrificed for and we have to improve that.”

Gov. Rick Snyder centered his second State of the State address Wednesday night on building on the successes of 2011 and continuing to improve in 2012. Speaking in an upbeat manner, Snyder did not announce any major changes for the upcoming year and kept his topics on issues from 2011, stating he wants to instead focus on finishing “what we started.”

A report from the Dec. 8 Belvidere Township Board meeting.