ECKFORD TOWNSHIP of
CALHOUN COUNTY
July 21, 2008
Supervisor Rapp called the Eckford Township Board to order at 8:00 p.m.
Others in attendance were W. Cornell, W. Thomas, K. Hinkley, T. Baylis, R. & L.
Dunn, R. Buskirk, D. Masternak, F. Butters, S. Baldwin and P. Egnatuk.
ABSENT: NONE
Supervisor Rapp led the group in the pledge and T. Baylis gave the invocation.
A motion was made to accept the minutes of the June 16, 2008 Regular Monthly and
Fiscal Budget meeting and the June 30, 2008 Election Commission Meeting by T.
Baylis and supported by W. Cornell. CARRIED
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
T. Baylis, Treasurer gave the financial statement with:
RECEIPTS for
June of $ 18205.34
DISBURSEMENTS
of $ 23688.87
BILLS TO PAY
$ 13166.98
T. Baylis stated that we needed to change the Internet purchase from the
Miscellaneous Account to the Capital Account.
W. Cornell made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report and pay all the bills.
W. Thomas seconded the motion. CARRIED
HOMER FIRE BOARD REPORT
Given by W. Thomas, there was a short meeting last month with the Chief absent
at the meeting. The bills were discussed and paid. The next meeting
the Chief K. Swope will be there with a proposal to buy a new small truck to use
for medical runs. W. Cornell asked if there was money in the budget for
this purpose? W. Thomas stated that there was. The HF board is still
working on the new fire agreements with new language giving an equal voice to
all interested parties. T. Baylis asked if we will be able to change the
percentages in this new contract and W. Thomas stated that it could be worked
on.
MARSHALL FIREFIGHTERS AMBULANCE REPORT
Given by W. Thomas, the new ambulance has arrived and the MFFA is looking into
bids for a computer that will be installed on the ambulance for medical
insurance reasons. There were 4 runs in May and 6 in June.
ZONING REPORT
Given by R. Buskirk, there have been 2 permits for this month.
F. Butters – deck
D. Kiessling - deck
R. Buskirk gave each board member present an updated copy of a proposed Zoning
Ordinance Complaint Procedure. R. Buskirk will see if she can get an
opinion on it from the MTA Attorney and she will share the results next month.
The township board will look over the changes and wait to her the opinion of the
attorney before they act. A letter was sent to residents on Maple Street about
their newspapers and they were given a time limit to clean them up and they have
done so. A letter was sent to property owners on parcel # 1309-152-0003-00
about mowing their lawn and they have complied. R. Dunn and R. Buskirk
will be attending an MTA workshop on August 12, 2008 about Ordinance
Enforcement. As of Sept. 1, 2008 under the new Michigan Planning Enabling
Act an employee is no longer able to serve on the Planning Commission. R.
Buskirk has asked the board to determine where they would have her best serve
the community.
PLANNING COMMISSION
Given by R. Dunn, the commission is continuing work on the Blight Ordinance
defining different areas of blight and how much should be allowed in each
district. They will be putting this all together and looking over it to
see how they like what they have done so far and then continue from there before
the process is over and ready to come to the township board
LIBRARY REPORT
Given by L. Dunn, there are many activities going on at the Library as well as
the Summer Reading Program. There is still time to get in on the fun.
CITIZENS COMMENTS
Susan Baldwin a candidate for the 62nd State Representative passed out
information to each person attending the township meeting and stated her
qualifications for the job she is running for.
COMMUNICATIONS
A list of communications were distributed and attached to the monthly minutes.
OLD BUSINESS
Proposed Zoning Ordinance Complaint Procedure tabled until next month.
K. Hinkley has purchased high Speed Internet Service for the township for the
township from Alltel. The cost was $399.98 for the equipment with a
$100.00 rebate coming back to the township for a total cost of 299.98. K.
Hinkley contacted our computer specialist Don Pierce to hook up the service and
he updated the hardware, firewall and spyware for our computers. W. Thomas
asked about someone’s capabilities to hack into our computer. K. Hinkley
stated she was sure every precaution has been taken by the updates but she will
contact D. Pierce again just to make sure. The new highspeed Internet
service has been so very fast and K. Hinkley is very please so far with the
service the township is getting.
Township website was debuted by Dawn Masternak for the board’s approval.
She handed out packets of what the website looks like for each board member and
she went over it on her laptop to show the board how it will look and work.
D. Masternak stated that she should have it up and running on the Internet by
July 31, 2008. Each board member is happy with the way it looks and we
look forward to seeing how many people start using it.
NEW BUSINESS
Wayne Cornell contacted the Clerk, K. Hinkley about cemetery plots for his
brother who had previously lived in the township for 16 years as a taxpaying
resident and also has an immediate family member buried at the West Eckford
Cemetery. According to the new Cemetery Ordinance the Clerk is given
authority to grant such a request. Since Wayne Cornell is a Trustee for
Eckford Township K. Hinkley wanted to bring it before the board so that no
partiality was shown. The Supervisor, B. Rapp asked if anyone had any
objections or comments and there were none.
K. Hinkley brought up having the townhall cleaned. With the upcoming
August Primary the town hall needs a powerwashing from all the bugs and
spiderwebs that are covering it on the outside. K. Hinkley would like
approval to have this done. W. Thomas stated that Pete Mauer from Homer
does a good job. B. Rapp stated that he had Kings from Jackson do his and
they did a really good job also. K. Hinkley will call both and get a quote
and she will hire the cheapest one to do the job.
Will Reyer has been appointed by B. Rapp to the Planning Commission to fill D.
Malloch’s position. W. Cornell made a motion to accept the appointment of
Will Reyer to the Eckford Township Planning Commission. K. Hinkley
seconded the motion. CARRIED
Rae Buskirk can no longer serve on the Planning Commission and be Zoning
Administrator so she has asked the board to decide which position she should
continue to serve as. B. Rapp stated that he would like to see her stay on
as the Zoning Administrator. The rest of the board agreed as well.
B. Rapp stated that we will need to fill her vacancy on the Planning Comm. and
if anyone has any ideas to please let him know.
Resolution 2008-6 Eckford Township Fire Operating Millage Request was
ready by B. Rapp. T. Baylis stated that we should change the proposal to
say ‘up to’ so that we don’t have to collect the whole 1.0 mil if we do not need
it. W. Thomas stated that he would like to see that as well. W.
Thomas made a motion to accept Resolution 2008-6 as read with the change of ‘up
to’ added. T. Baylis seconded the motion. CARRIED
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made to adjourn by W. Thomas at 8:44 p.m. and seconded by K.
Hinkley. CARRIED
It was brought to our attention immediately upon adjourning by Deputy Clerk, L.
Dunn that we needed to pass the Resolution by roll call vote as was stated in
the Resolution. It was inadvertedly overlooked. B. Rapp called the
meeting back to order at 8:45 p.m. and a roll call vote was taken for Resolution
2008-6:
AYE—W.
Thomas, W. Cornell, T. Baylis,
K. Hinkley and B. Rapp
NAY—NONE
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made to adjourn a second time by K. Hinkley at 8:46 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Kimberly Hinkley
Eckford Township Clerk