Voters defeated the proposed six-year Ontwa Township public safety proposal Tuesday.

The millage, which was to pay for hiring two additional officers and fund the construction of a new police station for the Ontwa Township-Edwardsburg Police Department, was defeated 559 to 375.

Only about 20 percent of the township’s 4,705 registered voters participated in the election.

“I would not call it a disappointment,” chief Tim Kozal said Tuesday night. “We need to learn from it. I went into it cautiously optimistic. I think it was a good turnout. It was almost 300 voters more than the last time we went for an increase. There are a lot of people thinking about it in the community.”

At a community meeting held at the Ontwa Township Hall Oct. 27, Kozal laid out the proposal for those in attendance and got the sense that the vote would come down to one thing.

“They weren’t upset with the substance of the police department,” he said. “This was all about the money. We will need to retool or rethink how we can go about doing this and keep providing the best service we can.”

Kozal said he believes that you always have to keep reinventing what you are doing.

“We cannot stay status quo in our customer service,” he said. “We have to keep working to get better, but at the same time, I have to re-examine our budget, where I want to get to and how I can get there. It could be some other avenue.”

Kozal is already thinking about getting more public input before deciding how to move forward.

“Let’s get more people involved like the constituents said,” he said. “Let’s get more people involved, throw some ideas against the wall and see what sticks, if that makes sense. See what people might think are more viable options.”

Kozal, along with the Village of Edwardsburg and Ontwa Township officials, has a lot to think about before deciding how to proceed.

The chief said he does not want to keep running proposal after proposal at the voters and is concerned about putting another proposal up for vote in November 2016 when his department will already have a renewal on the ballot.

The earliest Edwardsburg and Ontwa officials could place a proposal on the ballot would be May.