Middlebury Township Board Minutes Draft Minutes Approved Middlebury Township Board Regular Meeting 01/12/11 Middlebury Township Hall 7627 W. M-21 Ovid, Michigan 48866 Minutes Supervisor Anthony Sinicropi called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm Call To Order with a Pledge to the Flag and a prayer led by Richard Semans. Members Present: Supervisor Anthony Sinicropi, Clerk Susan Roll Call Tomasek-Swan, Treasurer Carolyn Stevens, Trustee Erin Dutton and Trustee Paul Dutton. Guest Present: 15 Guests: Michael Herendeen,Lynn & Rich Givens,Bill Sloat, Bill Kline Diane Dowler, Mike Dowler, Mark Cooley, Bob Dennison, Doug Krebiehl, Dick Semans, John Tribfelner, Dan Stewart, Arlene Pesik, and Steve Potts. Scheduled Comments: Scheduled Comments Dan Stewart stated that since the last board meeting, the county only had an organizational meeting. The county was having meetings twice a month and now has decided to decrease to one meeting per month to save money. Dan was against the decision because there is a need for more communication. He suggested having the meeting but not charging for it and was turned down. He compromised by adding extra meetings in the evening. Other items the county board addressed were having chairpersons vote on a sub committee and adding more public comment time to the meetings. Mr. Stewart continued by listing the boards which he had been appointed. Erin asked Dan about the dead deer removal issue and suggested giving the dead animals to a wild animal farm as food. Public Comments Richard Givens commented on how nice the township hall looked. Opened 7:02pm Closed 7:20pm Bill Kline brought up excessive plowing of the roads when there was not much snow. Kline stated that he contacted the road commission and Mr. Latunski stated it was the drivers discretion as to when the road should be plowed. Mr. Kline was concerned about excessive plowing digging into the pavement when there was not enough snow. Bob Dennison wanted to discuss crack sealing. He discussed not going with the cheaper bid due to getting an inferior service. Bob would like to address the road commission regarding this issue. Moved by P. Dutton, seconded by E. Dutton, to approve the agenda Motion to Approve Agenda with the addition of (f) tree removal and (g) road commission proposals under new business. AYE: All NO: none CARRIED AGENDA APPROVED Moved by E. Dutton, seconded by Stevens to approve the minutes Minutes Approved from December 9, 2010 regular township board meeting with Kriger corrected to Kiger. March 12,2009 AYE: All NO: none CARRIED Moved by P. Dutton and seconded by Tomasek-Swan to approve the Treasurer's report as presented. Treasurer's Report Approved AYE: All NO: none CARRIED Moved by P. Dutton and seconded by Stevens to pay bills in with Bills Payment Approved checks numbered 2743-2768 & ETFP in an amount of $8,015.18. AYE: All NO: none CARRIED None Communications None Unfinished Business New Business Sinicropi discussed keeping board member salaries at the same rate but changing mileage to the IRS rate. Dutton made a motion to adopt a resolution 2011-03 to follow the federal guidelines for business mileage reimbursement. Sinicropi supported the resolution. Resolution 2011-03 Mileage Rate AYE: Tomasek-Swan, Stevens, E. Dutton, P. Dutton, Sinicropi NO: none CARRIED Resolution 2011-01 Diane Dowler explained the poverty exemption for the Board of Review. Poverty Level Stevens made a motion to adopt the resolution 2011-01 to set the poverty guidelines. E. Dutton supported the resolution. AYE: Tomasek-Swan, Stevens, E. Dutton, P. Dutton, Sinicropi NO: none CARRIED Tomasek-Swan made a motion to adopt the resolution 2011-02 to change the Board of Review start date to the second Tuesday of March instead of the second Monday due to scheduling conflicts. The motion of the resolution was supported by Sinicropi. Resolution 2011-02 AYE: Tomasek-Swan, Stevens, E. Dutton, P. Dutton, Sinicropi Start date of Board of Review NO: none CARRIED Tomasek-Swan discussed the need for a new copier. The present printer has been used for the last five years and is showing its age. She also expressed the need to upgrade the laptop to windows 7 to replace the Vista operating system. Planning Committee: Meeting dates are as follows: 1st Thursday of the month @ 7:30 pm in February, April, Sept, December at the Middlebury township hall. Planning Commission The board asked if the planning committee needed any further resources or materials to help with the master plan. Sinicropi read a letter from the county of trees around the front of the Township's property. The letter outlined how the township should go about removing the trees and what cost are the township responsibility. Liability insurance is a main concern. The board needs to find out what trees can be cut out an take bids on the job. Sinicropi would like to see someone from the township get the work. Tree Removal Paul Dutton made a motion to get bids for tree removal after the deciding on which trees to be removed E. Dutton supported the motion. AYE: All NO: none CARRIED The Road Commission proposed $139,640.21 in road projects. Sinicropi was hoping to stay around $110,000.00 to $115,000.00. He stated that maybe a couple of roads could wait. Baldwin road repair is being shared with Owosso Twp. An opinion was expressed that Supervisor of Owosso twp., Dan Miller wants to use their road money for the subdivision roads. Sinicropi read and reviewed the list of roads that the road commission would like to work on this year. Final Comments Bill Kline asked about the M-21 repair work going on between Middlebury Twp. And Owosso but it was told that it had been canceled. Opened 8:24pm Closed 8:31pm Dick updated the board about OMESA. They hired a new fire (assistance) chief and working with the other municipality boards to sign an emergency service contract. Bill Kline talked about the depression that is located on Warren Rd. south of M-21 which floods over during heavy rains or thaws. He called the road commission and asked about repairs. He suggests the area needs to be raised up due to soil settling. The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 pm Moved by P. Dutton and ADJOURNED seconded by Stevens. AYE: All NO: none CARRIED Minutes prepared by ___________________________________________________________ Susan Tomasek-Swan Susan Tomasek-Swan, Middlebury Township Clerk Clerk