Q. 2008-08-12 August 12th 2008 Twp RegularA. TOWNSHIP BOARD
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
AUGUST 12, 2008
The Almena Township Board met at the Township Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Supervisor Stiles.
Roll call: Marv Flick, Jim Rickli, Jim Manning, Jo Burns, Wayne Nelson, Jerry Lentz, and Doug Stiles. Attorney Kelly Page was also in attendance.
AGENDA APPROVAL:
MOTION: Motion by Doug Stiles to approve the agenda, second by Marv Flick. Motion approved.
MEETING MINUTE APPROVAL:
MOTION: Motion by Jim Rickli to approve the meeting minutes of July 8, 2008 as presented, second by Jim Manning. Motion approved.
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION: Motion by Jerry Lentz to approve the special meeting minutes of July 30, 2008 as presented, second by Jim Manning. Motion approved.
PRESENTATION/APPROVAL OF BILLS:
MOTION: Motion by Wayne Nelson to approve bills from 7/9/08 to 8/12/08 in the amount of $62,415.20, second by Jim Manning. Motion approved.
CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-
The PC has planned an open house for Monday, September 8, 2008 at 6:00, the community is invited to attend and take part in the zoning ordinance rewrite process. There is a MTA district meeting Wed September 17; those attending are urged to contact the Clerk to take advantage of early rate fees. There is a Township Governance Academy seminar being offered for board members interested. The Clerk has distributed/mailed I-9 forms to all employees of the township, which must be returned with verification of US residence, possibly two forms needed, if a passport is not presented.
REPORTS:
Sheriff’s Dept: Deputy Stickels presented his report; there were 116 calls for service in July with 173 units responding. Some residents in attendance made complaint to him of extremely fast motorcycles traveling down CR375/CR653; a red and a blue color bike; they are going to cause serious injury.
LIMITED PUBLIC COMMENT
Scott Perkio, 37920 22nd St. expressed his complaint of the SW MI Gun Club, of which he lives across the street. He feels their hours of shooting are much too long from 8am until dark everyday, including Sundays, and all holidays. He was hoping they could make a compromise with the amount of days down to five and possibly not before noon on Sunday, and maybe no shooting after 9:00 pm? It was answered by the Attorney that this has been addressed numerous times in the past and the township cannot specify hours for them, they are completely in their right with their special use permit which was issued in the 70's, which limited the amount of hours, this is out of our hands, you may want to talk with the gun club independently. He explained that he left a message for them and nobody called him back. The Clerk will locate the special use permit and give copies to the board members for brief future discussion.
Denise Massey, in attendance, as she is running for Democratic 3rd District County Commissioner She grew up in Almena Township and was previously with Pine Grove as Chair of PC and Zoning Administrator.
John Schneider, 32184 Fish Hatchery, encouraged the township to take advantage of the Master Gardeners, who do free landscaping work for non-profit or government agencies, instead of paying someone independently. The Master Gardeners must do a set amount of donated community hours each year to remain certified.
Jim McGruder, 32nd St., again requested that the township obtain, from the Road Commission, the MSDS sheet for the road applications. Supervisor Stiles explained he will call Larry Hummel of the Road Commission for the contact names for him to call. It has been explained that the Road Commission is not required to have that information, in essence, he will have to research this on his own. Attorney Kelly Page explained that he will find his answers in Lansing.
Jeanne DeRyke, CR 375, explained to Mr. Schneider that she does the landscaping for the township, and she is also a Master Gardener. She does share her knowledge and information of gardening, as required, and also completes her 15 hrs/year to maintain her certification, but as a Master Gardener she is not required to donate all of her landscaping/gardening work after the 15 hrs. She was hired by the township for landscaping and is a side job after meeting her yearly Master Gardener certification requirement.
REPORTS:
Treasurer: Wayne Nelson explained that the written financial reports speak for themselves.
Planning Commission: Marv Flick, PC liaison, invited everyone to attend the open house on Monday, September 8, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.
Parks and Recreation: Doug Stiles explained that there is a rental of the Historic Township Hall on August 24th and there is hope to have the slide installed before then.
Attorney: Kelly Page shared that another appeal from the court of appeals has received an answer already, which was filed after the appeal by Almena. He hopes this means it will be heard soon.
Supervisor: Doug Stiles brought up the laptop computer quotes originally obtained. He will contact the company to inquire if they will honor their original quote from last March. The AGS contract has been signed and agreed to by the township board. He again brought up the cleaning of the township, he has been approached by another cleaning outfit, local, that has been in the business for many years and has provided references. She is willing to clean the entire hall for the same price as we currently pay, $345/wk, she will furnish her own cleaners, vacuum, etc. Her name is Ann Wawra, and is a resident of Almena Township. Marv Flick suggested following through on feedback to Carol Hahn from Classic Cleaners (current company), and if still not happy, then change. It was shared that it is probably a good idea to change every 2-3 years, as they may become too comfortable in their efforts.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Paving the Cemetery Roads - Clerk Jo Burns reported the Cemetery Board recently met, there was discussion as to possible paving of the roads. It was explained that the two deep treads present a problem for snowplow trucks. This was last discussed 3-16-92. There are also three headstones located in a bad position, which need to be moved back from the driveway. Jo brought to the boards attention that in the 80's the Almena Woods was logged off and many remember those funds were to be designated to the cemetery only. She is researching previous records to find proof of the monies being designated for cemetery, but is not finding the documentation of decisions she remembers the cemetery board making. There appears to be no reference for fund balance whatsoever. Wayne Nelson reported he has also researched this after being approached by Jo regarding such; and the records do not exist in the financials (audit reports). The amount was $100,000 which is a very substantial amount. Wayne stated that he believes the $100,000 was transferred to the general fund because the township’s revenue was not exceeding its expenses, and was needed to cover costs. Jo will call another meeting of the cemetery board to review this situation and will report back to the board.
2. Reappoint Mike Spring to Zoning Board of appeals (3-yr term) -
MOTION: Motion by Wayne Nelson for approval by the board to reappoint Mike Spring to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a three year term, second by Jim Manning. Motion passed.
3. Resolution to place Township millage renewals on the November ballot:
MOTION: Motion by Wayne Nelson to approve the Resolution to Submit Ballot Question to the Township Electors, Township Proposal 2008-1 - Road Millage Renewal, second by Jim Manning.
Roll call vote: Marv Flick - yes Wayne Nelson - yes
Jim Rickli - yes Jerry Lentz - yes
Jim Manning - yes Doug Stiles - yes
Jo Burns - yes
Motion approved. To be renewed at .9418 mill
MOTION: Motion by Wayne Nelson to approve the Resolution to Submit Ballot Question to the Township Electors, Township Proposal 2008-2 - Fire Millage Renewal, second by Jim Manning.
Roll call vote: Marv Flick - yes Wayne Nelson - yes
Jim Rickli - yes Jerry Lentz - yes
Jim Manning - yes Doug Stiles - yes
Jo Burns - yes
Motion approved. To be renewed at .9418 mill.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Reimbursement pay for office girls (added by Jim Manning) - Jim Manning feels that the office girls that attended election training during regular work hours should be reimbursed for not being paid their regular rate of pay. Jo Burns shared that the girls were told in advance that they would be paid election pay only for the hours they attended the training.
MOTION: Motion by Jim Manning to reimburse the two office girls (Jenny Parish and Sandra Rickli) the difference in wages they would have made when attending the election training, second by Marv Flick. Motion passed by a 5-1 margin, Jo Burns was opposed and Jim Rickli abstained.
OPEN PUBLIC COMMENT:
Mark Roman, 29505 42nd Ave, found the financial reports to be very helpful. He also inquired about getting a copy, on disk, of the zoning ordinance draft. The secretary will call him with information.
John Schneider, 32184 Fish Hatchery, is questioning how fire protection is figured as to which fire department responds to which area. He recently found, even though he lives closer to Oshtemo Township, that Paw Paw Fire Department would respond to an emergency at his house, he has a problem with it being too far away to make it in time for emergency/fire. He feels the primary concern should be safety (the fastest responder). It was answered that Almena Township is a partner with the Paw Paw Fire Department, they have an ownership stake, as such. There is a fire board meeting this week, and the responding fire department boundaries should be reviewed again. Supervisor Stiles will respond to this request.
ADJOURNMENT:
MOTION: Motion to adjourn by Jim Manning, second by Jerry Lentz. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:39 p.m.
