Middlebury Township PO Box 622, Ovid, Michigan 48866 Draft Regular Meeting 7627 W. M-21, Ovid, MI Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 7:00 pm REGULAR MEETING Call to Order: Supervisor Herendeen called the meeting to order at 7:02pm. Board Members Present: Supervisor Michael Herendeen, Clerk Susan Tomasek Swan, Treasurer Carolyn Stevens, Trustee Jeff Swan, and Trustee Gene Ruess Guests Present: 12 Guests were present: Colleen Ruess, Deputy Clerk, Jill Ruess, Deputy Treasurer, Mark Holley, Assessor, Marlene Webster, Commissioner, Dick Semans, Mark and Kimberly Darling, Carl Chalker, Gary Kiger, Jennings West, and 2 other guests. Scheduled Comments: Marlene Webster-Commissioner: Discusses the board of commissioners and their actions about the ARPA money distribution. There are meetings next week to discuss the money and future distributions. Encourages people to attend those meetings. Marlene has ideas about bringing the BOC meetings to 7 etc so more people can attend the hearing because it is later. Discussion about Boggs being let go, she is in favor of letting him go. Public Comments: Opened at 7:18pm Closed at 7:23pm Mark and Kim Darling talking about the cemetery. Overgrown to the west, wondering if that can be cleaned up and tree work that needs to be done. Board will talk to Sexton about that and get it taken care of. Mark and Kim offered to clean it up as well. Trees and weeds need to be trimmed. Mark and Kim have a person who does the trimming for them and they will give the board the name and number of the client. Front oak tree is low as well. Motion to Approve Agenda: Carolyn Stevens made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Gene Ruess seconded the motion. Voice Vote: Ayes: All Nays None Carried Motion to Approve Minutes: Jeff Swan made a motion to approve the July 13, 2021 minutes as presented. Carolyn Stevens seconded the motion. Approved Gene Ruess has question about page 3, Jeremy McAllister. He is the new grave digger proposal. Voice Vote: Ayes: All Nays: None Carried Motion to approve Bills Carolyn Stevens made a motion to approve bills from General Funds in the amount of $16,722.99 with checks #5527-5559 and 2 EFTS; from the Road Fund, ck 1071 in an amount of $23,797.36 and the Emergency Fund, ck 1041 in an amount of $1,132.50 for a total of $41, 652.85 from all funds. Susan Swan seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Ayes: Supervisor Michael Herendeen, Clerk Susan Tomasek Swan, Treasurer Carolyn Stevens, Trustee Jeff Swan, and Trustee Gene Ruess Nays: None Carried Communications: MTA- was supposed to be Shia-Town Park, thunderstorms, moved to Caldonia Township Hall. Discussion was about the happenings in the county and the Board of Commissioners. One of the issues is attendance and the attendees are not necessarily board members from townships. Dues have not been collected in several years. Someone has found the by-laws and they will probably need to be redone. Library. Susan Swan presents the minutes and an updated meeting schedule. The meetings will be on the 3rd Wednesday of the month now instead of the 2nd Wednesday. Notified at the end of August that the Director will retire and will not be returning from her unpaid leave. The new roof has damage from the hail storm. There is $250 deductible. The roof was on 3 weeks or so when the hail storm came through. Library is back to regular hours. OMESA- Ovid township supervisor has resigned. Jennings West was appointed supervisor. The parking lot needs to be paved. Has to decide on how to get the parking to paved. Clerk- There is a conference in October at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth. Different retreats are broken down into each office spread out the entire month of October. They are all day events. Assessor- Mark is here to introduce Jennings West at the Ovid Township Supervisor. Equalization office needs an updated L4029 tax rate form. Signed by the supervisor. The poverty exemption was passed and they had representation to support them. Someone bought the seed plant and they have approached the assessor about being a tax-exempt business and have asked about an abatement. Little to no inspections for the month of October due to no building in the township. Driveway- Gene Ruess has it cleaned up and working on the stumps. There is gas line that is close. Playing phone tag with the state about the permit and how to file/fill it out. Out front is cleaned up and ready for regular mowing. Business 1. Resolution 2021-04 Federal Procurement Conflict of Interest Policy- Susan Swan made motion to approve policy. Carolyn Stevens seconded motion. Roll Call Vote: Ayes: Supervisor Michael Herendeen, Clerk Susan Tomasek Swan, Treasurer Carolyn Stevens, Trustee Jeff Swan, and Trustee Gene Ruess Nays: None Carried 2. Cemetery pricing- Clerk put together a list of all the cemeteries that McAllister’s takes care of. He is taking over most of them in the area. Board discusses upping the Plot costs to $400 for residents and $550 for non-residents. Resolution for immediate effect of new pricing for cemetery fees. Susan Swan offers up resolution on the resolution. Gene Ruess seconded. Roll Call Vote: Ayes: Supervisor Michael Herendeen, Clerk Susan Tomasek Swan, Treasurer Carolyn Stevens, Trustee Jeff Swan, and Trustee Gene Ruess Nays: None Carried 3. CLFEF (Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund)- no funds have been received; it is still pending approval. They will contact township if there are any issues. No contract from anyone has happened yet. 4. Gene Ruess/Jeff Swan Time Compensation they need to be compensated for their time working on the township hall. 30 hours for Gene Ruess. Carolyn Stevens made motion to pay Gene Ruess $25 per hour for 30 hours’ time Jeff $15 per hour for 5 hours of time that has been done so far. Susan Swan seconded motion. Roll Call Vote: Ayes: Supervisor Michael Herendeen, Clerk Susan Tomasek Swan, Treasurer Carolyn Stevens, Trustee Jeff Swan, and Trustee Gene Ruess Nays: None Carried 5. Daystarr Update Jeff met with Mark from Daystarr and they are working on getting the hall connection right now. They also talked about the possibility of bring Daystarr to the entire township. Discounts for every household that signs up. Working together to find most dense population areas and make the most out of bringing the internet to the area. Brochures available. Jeff will talk to charter about what they have to offer, if people want TV, then charter would be their option. Daystarr does not offer TV. 6. B Rewerts Headstone family contacted board and asked about moving the headstone. Sexton put it where they always put them. Past family member headstone was at the head of the grave. They want them all the same in the family plots. No one asked the family where they wanted it. How much would it cost and who is responsible for moving it? In the future, the family should be asked where they would like the headstone. Gene Ruess made motion headstone to the head of the grave and the township to cover the cost to move it. Mike Herendeen seconded motion. Voice Vote: Ayes: All Nays: None Carried Final Comments: Opened at 9:38pm Closed at 9:46pm Winter plowing and who is going to do it? Board will look into options. Questions for board from Gary Kiger, why is Dick Semans is on the board and what he has to do with it if he does not live in the township? It is not required for the deputies to live in the township. Why does Gene Ruess charge $1400 and get paid that? Gene Ruess showed receipts for everything that was paid and charged. Motion to adjourn the meeting: Adjourned at 9:46pm Supervisor Herendeen motions to adjourn the meeting. Susan Swan seconded the motion. Voice Vote: Ayes: All Nays: None Carried Without objection the Supervisor Herendeen adjourned the meeting at 9:46pm. Next meeting October 12, 2021 at 7:00pm X Colleen Ruess Deputy Clerk