Parks commissioner submits resignation

Sherry Sirko being sworn in as a Laketown Township Parks and Recreation Commission member in 2024. She submitted her resignation on June 12, 2026.

Laketown Township Parks and Recreation Commissioner Sherry Sirko submitted her resignation on Friday, June 12, 2026, effective immediately.

Sirko’s resignation will go before the Laketown Township Board of Trustees at the Wednesday, July 1, 2026, workshop meeting. The meeting is at 5 p.m. at the township hall, 4338 Beeline Road.

If the board of trustees accepts the resignation, the board has 45 days to appoint a replacement.

Sirko’s resignation came as the parks commission was to consider a motion to censure her at the June 17 meeting. That motion was removed from the agenda at the meeting and not discussed.

The proposed resolution included in the board’s meeting packet stated Sirko and her husband “confronted” workers from Alpha Nurseries who were gathering seeds at Huyser Farm Park on May 20. The company had prior township approval for the work.

A censure is a formal expression of disapproval of an action by a commissioner.

Sirko was elected to the parks commission on Nov. 5, 2024. Commissioners serve 4-year terms.

Recent resignations, appointments

Resignations and subsequent appointments have occurred on the parks commission several times.

In 2023, after the resignation of Parks Chairperson Tom Shuff, who moved out of the township, the board of trustees appointed a committee to seek applicants and make a recommendation for a replacement. The board’s choice was Brad Laninga, who served until the 2024 election when he was elected. Laninga is now parks chairperson.

In January 2024, the board of trustees appointed Tom Hoekman to an opening on the commission after the resignation of Jeremy Van Hoven in December 2023. Van Hoven was appointed to the board in 2021 and elected in 2022. Hoekman served until the election in November 2024 when he was elected to a 4-year term and is now vice chairperson of the parks commission.

The parks commission “seeks to enhance the quality of life and the environment, to acquire, conserve and protect natural resources, and to provide quality leisure time opportunities for the benefit of the community,” the commission’s mission statement says.