PLEASANT PLAINS TOWNSHIP PO BOX N. MICHIGAN AVE. Baldwin, MI 49304

Transcription

1 PLEASANT PLAINS TOWNSHIP PO BOX N. MICHIGAN AVE. Baldwin, MI MONTHLY BOARD MEETING MINUTES APRIL 24, 2017 Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Trustee Clint Jackson-present, Trustee Deb Russell-present, Treasurer Ronette Hanna-present, Clerk Elizabeth Knight-present, Supervisor Tammy Ghentpresent. Supervisor Ghent added a report from Nordlund and Associates to new business on the agenda. REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES, March 2017: A draft copy of the March meeting minutes has been presented to the board. Motion was made by Trustee Russell to approve the board meeting minutes, seconded by Supervisor Ghent. All in favor: None opposed. Motion carried. Mrs. Kyles expressed dismay that Supervisor Ghent had not placed an ad in the newspaper for the Deputy Supervisor position. Supervisor Ghent reminded her that she had stated at the previous meeting that she would not be running an ad in the paper and that the opening had been posted on the website. REPORTS CLERK S REPORT: Clerk Knight presented the following bills to be paid. CUSTOMER DESCRIPTION AMOUNT Bloom, Sluggett, Morgan General Services Bloom, Sluggett, Morgan Ordinance Enforcement Motion made by Treasurer Hanna to pay the presented bills, seconded by Clerk Knight. Roll call vote: Trustee Jackson-yes, Trustee Russell-yes, Treasurer Hannayes, Clerk Knight-yes, Supervisor Ghent-yes. Motion carried. Clerk Knight presented the idea of direct deposit of employee wages and direct debit of recurring monthly bills to potentially save money in postage and checks.

2 Kathy Oostemeyer asked if that would also be an option for the library. Clerk Knight said that would be up to the library to decide. Supervisor Ghent asked if there would be any charges incurred for switching to direct deposit. Clerk Knight said that she would do more research and present it to the board at the next meeting now that she knew there was interest. A copy of the check register for the month of March was presented and signed by the board. TREASURER S FINANCIAL REPORT: Treasurer Hanna presented a hard copy of the Township funds to the board. She reported that she had a meeting set up at LOSB on the upcoming Friday to discuss the cemetery CDs. She also reported that her deputy had changed her hours to be in the office to Tuesday and Wednesday only. Supervisor Ghent said she would make the change to the website. Treasurer Hanna said that the newsletter she sent out with the next tax statements would include the new hours as well as the new office address. Mr. Sanders spoke in place of Mrs. Robinson on the subject of the school bond proposal. He said that the school started with a wish list and a need list. There were three possibilities to go with on the proposal ranging from $9 million to $24 million. The $9 million that they decided to put on the ballot is the no frills basic needs of the school district including updating the science lab. He also stated that the school board had saved the tax payers $730,000 by refinancing the existing bond. A discussion followed about brochures that were placed at various businesses around town detailing the proposal so that people could see what the money would be used for before they vote. COMMISSIONER S REPORT: Commissioner Balulis was not present. SUPERVISOR S REPORT: Supervisor Ghent introduced Tim Smith as her new deputy. Mr. Smith said that the position was new to him and he would learn as he goes. He encouraged anybody with questions to feel free to contact him. His hours had not been established yet but he will have office hours. He stated that he is willing to help in any way he can and that he is ready to do some good. Supervisor Ghent stated that filling this position had been a very hard decision to make as each person who had applied brought a lot to the table and she was thankful to everyone who had expressed interest in the job. Supervisor Ghent presented a certified letter that she had received from the Geo Group stating that they would be closing and laying off all of their current employees. The letter stated that June 20, 2017 would be the last day of employment and as the employees were not part of a union they would have no bumping rights. A discussion followed about the fact that if the prison was used to house ICE prisoners only federal employees could be used to staff the facility.

3 Supervisor Ghent acknowledged that there are some issues with documents on the website not being protected from being downloaded and altered. A brief discussion followed about ways to resolve the problem which Supervisor Ghent said she would continue to work on. TRUSTEE REPORTS: Trustee Russell presented the board with an invitation to the Lake County Township Officers Association spring meeting. She has been looking into the fact that part of the Pleasant Plains Cemetery has been assessed with the Webber Township Cemetery and will continue to work on changing that. She is also working to change street names in the future. She also called Great Lakes Energy to request a map of the lights as some of the payments should not be coming from the general fund. Trustee Jackson has been discussing the millage with residents. ZONING REPORT: BOB SANDERS: Mr. Sanders provided the board with a hard copy of his report. He stated that this month saw the most land use permits being issued in some time. He also issued some temporary permits for camping. There was some discussion about the Wash King property in regards to Right of Refusal and demolition of the property. ASSESSING REPORT: MARK BARNETT: A hard copy of the report was provided to the Board. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT: KEVIN BRADDY: The planning commission has been working on camp use permits. They have also been working on the medical marijuana issue. There was a discussion about what feedback the resident were providing. Residents are being encouraged to attend their next meeting. Sue Eling also shared that a Citizen Advisory Committee has been formed but they had not yet met yet. There was discussion about consulting with the other townships to see where they stand on the issue. They were advised to communicate with Deputy Supervisor Smith to pass information to the board as needed. Volunteers for the CAC should also call Mr. Smith. The Capital Improvements Committee is also being revived and is in need of volunteers to join. CEMETERY CARETAKER S REPORT: GREG NICHOLS: Mr. Nichols provided the board with a hard copy of his report. The surveyor did come in and Oceana Irrigation will be coming to get the sprinkler system going. FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT: MARTY WALKER: The fire department responded to one structure fire and to a call for lines down. Township residents within the village need to call to obtain a burn permit from the state. The DNR will issue tickets to residents without a permit. Supervisor Ghent stated

4 that she would put that information on the website and Treasurer Hanna stated that she would include it in the next newsletter along with the number to A1 Services. OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: Finance Committee: Supervisor Ghent would like to see a finance committee formed to figure out where the township is headed. Sue Eling stated that would fall under the Planning Commission s Capital Improvement Committee. Fire Department Committee: The contract with the Village ends this year. Mr. Braddy volunteered to lead the Fire Department Committee. He would like to hold an organizational kick off meeting tentatively May 13 th, 2017 at 10 a.m. at the Baldwin Business Center and anybody who is interested in joining is encouraged to attend. Nordlund and Associates: Jim Nordlund provided a detailed report of his inspection of the Town Hall which is attached. In summary he estimated that it would cost between $36,000 and $50,000 to get the building useable. There was considerable discussion between Mr. Nordlund, the board, and the public about what that amount would include which was just the bare bones repairs. He stated that he could easily estimate the cost of total repair of the building at $95,000 or more. Supervisor Ghent requested an official copy of the report so that the information could be made available to the public. Supervisor Ghent expressed her gratitude to everyone who made the inspection possible. There was very brief discussion about the fact that the board needs to make a decision about how to move forward with this information. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Bonnie Povilaitis inquired about the marijuana laws and what the County Commissioners thoughts on the subject were. Mr. Sanders stated that the County was not involved in the decision making process but that he had reached out to Harold Nichols at the Sheriff s department. Supervisor Ghent set up a Special Meeting for May 1 st at 6 p.m. to finish the budget amendments for the budget and requested that it be posted. Mr. Braddy presented some research that he had done into moving the CDs that the township currently holds. He stated that the township should not hold more than $250,000 in one bank as that is the limit for FDIC insurance. There was also some discussion about a building permit from June 2012 that had been paid for but never finalized and that none of the work had ever been done.

5 Mrs. Kyles inquired if the fire department performed home safety inspections, Mr. Walker stated that this was not something they did as there would be too much liability. Mrs. Kyles stated that she was talking about outside assessments of things like weeds too close to the house, etc. Mr. Walker stated that this was not something they had ever done. Sue Eling stated that the Planning Commission was not yet ready to have meetings about the medical marijuana laws. Mrs. Povilaitis stated that she would like to commend the members of the board for keeping their heads above water with everything that is going on and still taking care of her and the library. ADJOUNMENT: Motion made by Supervisor Ghent, seconded by Treasurer Hanna. All in favor, none opposed. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Disclaimer: The monthly board meeting can be heard in its entirety in the Clerk s office for up to 30 days after the meeting was held. Meeting minutes approved by: X Elizabeth Knight Clerk X Tammy Ghent Supervisor