CALHOUN COUNTY
Supervisor Rapp called the regular meeting of the Eckford Township Board to order at 8:16 pm. Others in attendance were T. Baylis, K. Lawrence, W. Cornell, K. Hinkley, D. Masternak, L. Blight, R. Buskirk, S. Hinkley, S. Hinkley Jr.
Supervisor Rapp led the group in the pledge and T. Baylis gave the invocation.
A motion was made by W. Cornell to accept the Clerk’s
minutes of the May 18, 2009 meeting with corrections made.
K. Lawrence seconded the motion.
CARRIED
FINANCIAL
STATEMENT
T. Baylis, Treasurer gave the financial statement for May with
RECEIPTS $ 4697.40
DISBURSEMENTS $14147.32
BILLS TO PAY $31413.66
K. Hinkley made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report
and pay the bills. W. Cornell
seconded the motion.
CARRIED
T. Baylis stated that twelve accounts needed to be adjusted in the budget. They were Inspections, Planning Commission, Fredonia Fire Protection, Advertising, Conventions, Cemetery Expense, Attorney Fees Election Expenses, Miscellaneous, Capital, Service Charges and Zoning Enforcer.
W. Cornell made a motion to take $2619 from Capital, $300
from Zoning Enforcer,$4000 from Inspections, $11 from Service Charge to Fredonia
Fire dept. $4000. Attorney
Fees, $161 from Election Expenses, $864, Cemetery Expense, $647 and $680 from
conventions, $267 from Advertising, $300 from Miscellaneous and $11 from
Planning Commission . K. Hinkley
seconded the motion.
CARRIED
HOMER FIRE BOARD
REPORT
Given by B. Rapp, the Homer Fire Board has $106,717.63 in the General Fund and $49060.46 in the Truck fund. Other members of the Homer Fire Board suggested to B. Rapp that the township put an assessment on its residents to support its fire departments. B. Rapp explained to them that we have tried to separate millages to support our fire departments and they were both voted down. There was discussion to possibly put on a full-time fire chief for the department. There were 17 firemen who attended a smoke class for training. W. Cornell made the statement that we have never had to move so much money from our capital fund before in our budget year.
MARSHALL
FIREFIGHTERS AMBULANCE REPORT
Given by W. Cornell, the new budget has been passed. The MFFA has to have $678,000 in their cash reserves account to help with the bad debt that the MFFA can occur during the year because of the economy. T. Baylis asked if they would be collecting their full millage and W. Cornell replied, yes. A copy of the new fiscal budget will be in their file. Eckford had 1 run in April and 3 runs in May. Runs so far for 2009 are 1304 down from 1411 in 2008. W. Cornell shared that they are looking into changing their health care provider to save some money.
ZONING
ADMINISTRATORS REPORT
Given by R. Buskirk, there were 2 building reports for this month: 1 for David Dornton for a pole barn and 1 for Richard Murphy for a pole barn. R. Buskirk shared that she has received her Zoning Administrator Certificate from the Planning and Zoning Center from MSU. Good Job, Rae! R. Buskirk under direction from Supervisor Rapp has contacted the Calhoun County Environmental Health Dept. about the Robert Farmer property at 110 Ogden Street. They are not continuing any investigation because (1) there are no children involved (2) it would leave Mr. Farmer homeless (3) there are no funds available for prosecution. COE Farmer will be directed to start enforcement of the Junk Vehicle Ordinance. And Starting in July B. Rapp will include land divisions on the monthly zoning report.
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER REPORT
Given by R. Buskirk for M. Farmer, the property of Don
Nelson seems to be vacant and he has found no semi on the property when he
visited several times. Jason Blackburn proper on J. Drive S., there is a
complaint about the junk vehicles on his property.
M. Farmer is waiting for the Junk Vehicle Ordinance to come into effect
and to have direction from R. Buskirk to pursue this complaint. David Wilson
property which is adjacent to 114 Dayton Street there is a complaint to junk and
trash that has been dumped on the property of Mr. Wilson’s.
M. Farmer is investigating this and will determine the best course of
action for this complaint. The G. Tompkins property is in foreclosure and he is
contacting the bank to have them clean it up.
Frank Hitz came to the last board meeting and the board gave direction to
Mr. Hitz to have the trailer inspected and to show proof of compliance with the
board’s stipulations. (NOTE:
F. Hitz came and talked to B. Rapp and stated that the trailer was in the
name of his son and that his son would be removing the trailer. The Mull barn is
supposed to be down and taken care of by the June 15th meeting per
Brian Mull. G. Newsome property has
made tremendous change in the look of the property.
Much has been done and a few more things need to be done and they will be
in compliance. Property tax
collection of delinquent taxes has been started on Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Canfield
and Mr. Dale Freed Jr. Contact will
be made each weekend until compliance is met.
PLANNING
COMMISSION
Given by D. Masternak, the PC had a short meeting in which discussion was held on the Zoning Ordinance proposed changes. They went over the possibility of broadening a list of home in the AG. District. Several members will be attending a zoning conference in June. Robert Dunn has attended his last meeting as a Planning Commission member. R. Dunn has decided to retire from the PC. R. Dunn has done a fantastic job as chairman of the board and he has been a valuable asset for many years in his service to the township of Eckford. R. Dunn will be greatly missed. B. Rapp has asked Martha Frohm to accept an appointment to the Planning Commission and she has accepted..
LIBRARY REPORT
Given by K. Hinkley for L. Dunn, the libraries fiscal year end is June 30, 2009 and in this last year without counting June the library has broken its circulation record of items used at the library. There have been more than 6000 items circulated so far through the month of May at the library.
Given by S. Hinkley, the WCCC had a meeting on June 10th and appointed people to several committees. There will be a work day on June 27 at 8 a.m. They are ordering a dumpster to get rid of the junk and trash that has accumulated. The club took a loss on the Primitive shoot they had in May. They are looking at changing some things for the next shoot. Someone is looking at restoring the monuments on the grounds and making them more accessible for people to look at and enjoy the history of Wilder Creek. The township and WCCC have extended their contract talks for another 60 days and they will be meeting together on June 22 at 6:30 to continue working on negotiations. B. Rapp shared that he called the attorney to see if the township could use another insurance company to cover Wilder Creek. The attorney stated that we could have more than one insurance company. K. Hinkley stated that she was not in favor of having another insurance company just because they wouldn’t have the stipulations on getting the buildings and grounds up to code. She stated that we are still a government entity and she is concerned that our liability and accountability will not change just because we have a different insurance company.
CITIZENS COMMENTS
Le Anne Blight wanted clarification from last months meeting about how the Code Enforcement officer would be handling complaints. Would he be seeking out things on his own or is he directed by the township? K. Lawrence stated that he would be directed by the township through R. Buskirk. K. Hinkley stated that the confusion might have come from the discussion on whether it is ethical to just do complaint only or if some ‘policing’ should be done as well to fair and balanced. At this time his contract states that he is directed by the township.
OLD BUSINESS
NONE
NEW BUSINESS
Fredonia Fire Department Contract, the township board met with the Eckford Township board on Tuesday, June 9, 2209 at 6:30 to discuss the 2009-2010 Contract. The two boards agreed on $16000 for fire service and $6000 for the truck fund.
T. Baylis made a motion to accept the Fredonia Fire Department contract as read. W. Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED
Cemetery Ordinance updates proposed are the following: Section 2: DEFINITIONS
(A) An adult burial space shall consist of a land area of three point fifty-five (3.55) feet wide and six point five (6.5) feet in length in the East Eckford Cemetery and three point fifty-five (3.55) feet wide and seven (7) feet in length at the West Eckford Cemetery.
Section 3 SALE OF BURIAL SPACES OR LOTS second paragraph;
and Clerk shall execute such form.
ADDED--This sale shall be final and no refund will be made to the
purchaser. Resolution 2009-12 was
offered up by W. Cornell to approve the proposed changes to the Cemetery
Ordinance. K. Lawrence seconded the
motion.
W. Cornell—YEA K. Lawrence--YEA
T. Baylis—YEA B. Rapp—YEA
K. Hinkley—YEA
Resolution 2009-11 Mileage Reimbursement read by B. Rapp is a resolution to set the reimbursement rates at the same rate as established by the IRS for mileage reimbursement. T. Baylis made a motion to accept Resolution 2009-11 Mileage Reimbursement. W. Cornell seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken as follows:
T. Baylis—YEA W. Cornell—YEA K. Hinkley—YEA
B. Rapp—YEA K. Lawrence—YEA
Rotation on boards—to even out and not over-extend everyone who serves on boards the Supervisor B. Rapp made the following adjustments: K. Lawrence will be appointed to the Planning Commission, W. Cornell to the Zoning Board of Appeals, T. Baylis will fill in when needed on the ZBA and the Ambulance board, B. Rapp is on the Homer Fire Board and K. Hinkley is serving on the County MTA and the Calhoun County Municipal Clerks Assoc.
B. Rapp would like to appoint Martha Frohm to the Planning Commission to take the place of Robert Dunn who retired as of June of 2009. K. Lawrence made a motion to accept the appointment of Martha Frohm to the Planning Commission effective July 2009. W. Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED
A motion was made to accept the dates for the 2009-2010 Fiscal year for Eckford Township by K. Lawrence and seconded by W. Cornell. CARRIED
A copy of the Principles of Governance given to the townships by the MTA for each board member to sign was given out to read over and we will sign next month.
ADJOURNMENT
B. Rapp made a motion to adjourn at 9:44 pm. Seconded by K. Hinkley. CARRIED
Respectfully submitted by,
Kimberly Hinkley Bruce Rapp
Eckford Township Clerk Eckford Township Supervisor