CALHOUN COUNTY
Supervisor Rapp called the Eckford Township Board to order at 8:00 p.m.
Others in attendance were K. Lawrence, K. Hinkley, T. Baylis, W. Cornell, R. DeJong, R. Buskirk, D. Masternak, R. & L. Dunn and Mike Nofs. 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 November 17,
2008 regular Monthly meeting by W. Cornell and supported by T. Baylis.
CARRIED
T. Baylis, Treasurer gave the financial statement with:
RECEIPTS for October of $ 846.02
DISBURSEMENTS of $ 9691.54
BILLS TO PAY $ 8519.66
W. Cornell made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report
and pay all the bills. K. Hinkley
seconded the motion.
CARRIED
T. Baylis stated that we needed to amend the budget in the Deputy Clerk account. K. Lawrence made a motion to transfer $300 from the Capital account to the Deputy Clerk account. K. Hinkley seconded the motion. CARRIED
Given by B. Rapp, there are 2 CD’s with County National in Homer with Eckford’s Tax-ID number and the paperwork is in our Eckford Township safe. The Homer Fire Dept. has decided on the truck that they want to purchase. They will need to take out about $43,000 out of the truck fund account to pay for it and they are asking for approval of the Eckford Township Board to take not more than $45,000 out of their truck fund for the purchase of this vehicle. B. Rapp also stated that he will be taking over in December as Chair of the Homer Fire Dept. in place of W. Thomas. They have also discussed whether or not to continue to do run on tree down calls and Eckford Township supports the move to no longer run on tree down calls.
K. Hinkley made a motion to grant the Homer Fire Dept.
the authority to take out up to $45,000 for the purchase of the new SUV for the
Homer Fire Dept. K. Lawrence
seconded the motion.
CARRIED
Given by W. Cornell, they will be donating their old computers to a MAC’s family. They will be buying a new engine chassis for an ambulance that has had a lot of maintenance issues. There will be no December meeting.
Given by R. Buskirk, there has been 1 permit for this month for a house for Tucker Builders/Tim Harinck.
There has been no compliance yet on the Mull Barn. J. Drive and the Maple Street blight have been on hold pending the hiring of a Zoning Enforcement officer. A Conditional Use permit will not be needed for a dog grooming business on Division Dr. since this is permitted under Section 11.02 F Ag District in our Zoning Ordinance. R. Buskirk has also submitted a Zoning section on our township website.
PLANNING COMMISSION
Given by R. Dunn, the PC approved the Conditional Use Permits for 2009. They also adopted a set of terms for bylaws for the PC. At the January 2009 meeting they will begin a revision of the Zoning Ord. and they will also elect officers. They are still looking for direction on the Blight Ordinance.
B. Rapp will contact the Law office of Mika, Meyers, Beckett and Jones and ask them to review our Blight Ordinance. If this law office meets with approval the Eckford Township Board may look into the hire of this law office.
B. Rapp made a motion to send the Blight Ordinance to Law office of Mika, Meyers, Beckett and Jones for review. W. Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED
LIBRARY REPORT
Given by L. Dunn, the MDL has received many new requests for library cards this year and a great bulk of them have been from Eckford Township. Keep up the good work!
CITIZENS
COMMENTS
Mike Nofs came to thank us for his opportunity to serve us with his many terms as a State Representative for District 62. Because of term limits he will no longer be serving District 62 in this capacity.
COMMUNICATIONS
A list of communications were distributed and attached to the monthly minutes.
OLD BUSINESS
Resolution 2008-14 Eckford Township Revised Planning Commission Ordinance
Was read by B. Rapp and a roll call vote was taken:
K. Lawrence—YEA T. Baylis—YEA
K. Hinkley—YEA W. Cornell—YEA
B. Rapp—YEA
T. Baylis made a motion to accept the Resolution 2008-14
Eckford Township Revised Planning Commission Ordinance.
W. Cornell seconded the motion.
CARRIED
General Fund update from T. Baylis, she called Bank of America and they can switch our funds to a treasury fund and earn 1% or a risk free CD for 2% where you can withdraw money from it 1 time every 6 days. Teresa could put $100,000 into this fund and keep the balance in our checking account so at least that part could be earning a better interest rate. T. Baylis will also check out the rates at Chemical bank as well.
NEW BUSINESS
Conditional Use Permits for 2009
Dwight Dunn Conditional Use Permit for a trailer to house farm help that works approximately 16 hours a week.
K. Hinkley made a motion to accept the Conditional Use
Permit for Dwight Dunn’s trailer. K.
Lawrence seconded the motion. CARRIED
Lisa Cunkle Conditional Use Permit for a daycare in her home. Her State of MI license is good for 2 years.
K. Lawrence a motion to accept the Conditional Use Permit
for Lisa Cunkle’s daycare. W.
Cornell seconded the motion.
CARRIED
Holloo Farms Conditional Use Permit for 2 trailers on their property for their farm workers.
T. Baylis made a motion to accept the Conditional Use Permit for Holloo Farms 2 trailers. K. Hinkley seconded the motion. CARRIED
Board of Review given by B. Rapp, TEQ Leasing/Eaton’s something needed to change in their paperwork.
Pete Ragusa has been granted exempt status for his property taxes that his house and barn sets on since he is a 100% disabled American Veteran.
Ordinance Enforcement Officer, Mike Farmer has been contacted by Bruce to see about doing our Zoning Enforcement for the township. He would like to do a 2 year contract at $275 a month but our township board with the economy and revenue sharing uncertain for the next year or two we are apprehensive to enter into 2 year contract. Eckford Township would like to do a 1 year contract at $250 a month on a complaint only basis since we did budget $1500 for this fiscal budget year 2008-2009. Bruce will contact him and see what he says and Mike Farmer will probably be at our January 2009 meeting.
Audit Renewal for 2010 & 2012 has been received from the auditors. B. Rapp made a motion to accept the Audit renewal for the 2010 & 2012. K. Lawrence seconded the motion. CARRIED
K. Hinkley shared with the board that she might be incurring some extra expenses for the Optech voting machine battery, warranty charge and possibly the memory pack.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made to adjourn by K. Lawrence at 9:00 p.m.
and seconded by K. Hinkley.
CARRIED
Respectfully submitted by,
Kimberly Hinkley
Eckford Township Clerk