STANTON TOWNSHIP – After two terms as Stanton Township’s clerk, John Botto would like to be elected as supervisor.

Botto is one of three candidates for supervisor, along with Marv Heinonen and David Sakari. Botto decided to run after former Supervisor David Chard became ineligible after moving to a home outside the township, and interim Supervisor Jamie Markham declined to run.

“Somebody had to do it, and I think I have more than enough experience to do the job,” he said.

Botto said one of his priorities will be wrapping up some of Chard’s projects, such as Coles Creek Road, on which the township used several years of road millage, he said.

“That’s not complete,” he said. “I’d like to make sure that it is.”

The township also recently purchased a former general store building for use as a township hall. Botto said he believes he will be able to help settle the legal problems the township has encountered in selling the previous hall. The township is also working on an expansion to the Township Fire Hall.

More attention also needs to be paid to the township’s recreational facilities, Botto said, including Agate Beach, the North Canal Park, Oskar Dome and the Redridge Dam.

“I believe that that can be a positive for the township,” Botto said of the dam. “You can take your kids out there, and you can actually catch something, perch or whatever. They’re the areas that I see as being built on … I don’t intend to establish anything new, but I think they can be made better.”

In addition to being on the board, Botto has been on the Stanton Township Fire Department for more than 30 years and was tax assessor for the township for 11 years. He also had three children go through kindergarten through eighth grades at E.B. Holman School.

“I’ve got some roots in there as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

Botto said voters should choose him based on his years of experience, as well as the variety of roles he has had.

“I believe I have had more experience in a broader sense for the township,” he said.