Minutes of the Clay Township Regular Board Meeting Held ...



Minutes of the Clay Township Regular Board Meeting Held Monday, August 15, 2011 at the Harsens Island Lion’s Hall, 230 LaCroix Rd, Harsens Island, Clay Township, Michigan.

Supervisor Krueger opened the meeting at 7:35 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance

ROLL CALL

PRESENT: Supervisor Tom Krueger, Clerk Lisa White, Treasurer Connie Turner, Trustee Karen Straffon, Trustee Tom Fetter, Trustee John Horvath, Trustee Joanne Shirkey

ABSENT: None

Citizens: Thirty-six

VENICE RD REPAIR/MAINTENANCE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING

Motion by Krueger, supported by White, to open the Venice Rd Public Hearing at 7:36 p.m.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

R. Frazier, 7388 Venice: In favor of it, questioned what would be done on this project. Questioned dust prevention and private road signage. Who would be in charge and who is the contractor?

Supervisor Krueger: Discussed special assessment process and process to appeal to tax tribunal.

Motion by Turner, supported by Shirkey, to close the Venice Rd Public Hearing.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

GOODRICH HWY REPAIR/MAINTENANCE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT PUBLIC HEARING

Motion by Krueger, supported by White, to open the Goodrich Hwy Public Hearing at 7:43.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

J. Suykerbuyk, 7290 South Channel: Questioned if the type of assessment is similar to Venice Rd and

The length of road it will cover.

Motion by Fetter, supported by Turner, to close the Goodrich Hwy Public Hearing

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

POLICE AND FIRE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT MILLAGE PUBLIC HEARING

Motion by Krueger, supported by White, to open the Police/Fire millage Public Hearing at 7:45pm

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

Supervisor Krueger explained the police millage rate is 4.35 and the fire millage rate is 1.125. We are

allowed up to five mills but have kept the rate the same for many years. The fire millage was lowered

a few years ago.

Motion by Horvath, supported by Straffon, to close the police/fire millage public hearing.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

BILLS PAYABLE

Motion by Turner, supported by Shirkey, to pay the bills in the amount of $103,233.09. $6,518.94 is

from budget year 2010/2011 and $96,714.15 is from the current 2011/2012 budget year.

Shirkey: Inquired about reasoning for separate budget year bills. Questioned why fire dept.vehicle

Maintenance line is over budget. Questioned bill from Foster Oil for fuel management system.

Chief DuPage: Explained work done on newly purchased trucks, money is there in fund balance.

White: Explained about the fuel system and initial cost was approved at previous meeting.

Straffon: Questioned if we bid out items like pest control.

ROLL CALL:

AYES: Krueger, Turner, Fetter, Shirkey, White, Straffon, Horvath

NAYES: None

ABSENT: None

MOTION CARRIED

Minutes of the Clay Township Regular Board Meeting Held Monday, August 15, 2011

Page 2

CONSENT AGENDA

Motion by Shirkey, supported by Horvath, to approve the Consent Agenda.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

None

PUBLIC COMMENTS RELATING TO ANY NEW BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

1. ZBA Resignation

Krueger: Karen Straffon was appointed to the Board of Trustee’s and needs to officially resign from the ZBA. This will create another opening in addition to the two Planning Commission vacancies and one DDA vacancy.

Shirkey: Interested parties should submit an application.

Motion by Turner, supported by Shirkey, to accept the ZBA resignation from Karen Straffon.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

2. Resolution #2 Goodrich Hwy Repair Maintenance Special Assessment

Motion by Turner, supported by Fetter, to accept the resolution to proceed with the Goodrich Hwy special assessment.

ROLL CALL VOTE

AYES: Fetter, Krueger, Turner, Horvath, Shirkey, White, Straffon

NAYES: None

ABSENT: None

MOTION CARRIED

3. Resolution #3 to Set 2nd Public Hearing for Goodrich Hwy Special Assessment

Motion by Turner, supported by Straffon, to set the second public hearing for Goodrich Hwy special assessment for Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 7:30pm.

ROLL CALL VOTE

AYES: Straffon, White, Turner, Fetter, Horvath, Krueger, Shirkey

NAYES: None

ABSENT: None

MOTION CARRIED

4. Resolution #4 to Confirm the Roll for Venice Rd Special Assessment

Motion by Horvath, supported by Shirkey, to confirm the special assessment roll for Venice Rd.

ROLL CALL VOTE

AYES: Turner, Fetter, Straffon, Horvath, Krueger, Shirkey, White

NAYES: None

ABSENT: None

MOTION CARRIED

5. Resolution Setting Police Millage Special Assessment

Motion by Turner, supported by Straffon, to set the 2011 police millage rate at 4.35 mills with

estimated revenue of $1,760,313.00.

ROLL CALL VOTE

AYES: Fetter, Krueger, Shirkey, Straffon, Horvath, Turner, White

NAYES: None

ABSENT: None

MOTION CARRIED

Minutes of the Clay Township Regular Board Meeting Held Monday, August 15, 2011

Page 3

6. Resolution Setting Fire Millage Special Assessment

Motion by Straffon, supported by Turner, to set the 2011 fire millage rate at 1.125 mills with a

estimated revenue of $445,253.00.

ROLL CALL VOTE

AYES: Fetter, Horvath, White, Shirkey, Straffon, Krueger, Turner

NAYES: None

ABSENT: None

MOTION CARRIED

7. Fire Dept. Request to Sell Boat

Krueger: In the past we had a request to sell our fire boat to Marine City, they backed out but are now interested again.

Chief DuPage: Last year Marine City was interested in purchasing our 24’ Zodiac. They stored it for us last winter and actually used it on a mutual aid call with us. A $25,000 price was negotiated but Marine City put things on hold because they were possibly eligible to receive a boat through a grant but that never happened. They have again approached us to purchase the boat. At this time they are able to pay $12,500 up front and the remaining $12,500 in July 2012. They would like to take possession of the boat immediately and be responsible for storing, maintaining and insuring the boat. We could hold onto the title until they paid the balance in 2012. I told them I would bring it to my board.

Horvath: Questioned where the boat currently is and what would happen if they took possession and damaged it before the balance was paid.

Fetter: Do we have any use for the boat?

Chief DuPage: We don’t need it. We have enough boats. This boat has an air collar and it deflates with the fluctuating temperatures and can be difficult to deal with.

Shirkey: I think we could have Krueger draft some kind of contract or agreement with Marine City.

Krueger: My opinion is that we sell it to them outright and execute a financial contract for the balance. Get the boat out of our name.

Horvath: Give them the boat upon getting the $12,500 and then if it is damaged it is theirs and our name isn’t on it.

Krueger: A promissory note executed by our attorney would work fine.

Motion by Krueger, supported by Turner, to approve the sale of the 24’ Zodiac to Marine City for a price of $25,000 with $12,500 down payment upon delivery and the execution of a promissory note for $12,500 to be paid by July 31, 2012.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

8. Fire Dept. Request for Joint Truck Purchase

Kruger: A few months ago we had a request from the fire dept. to purchase a ladder truck. At the time we turned it down. Now Ira Township’s fire chief has indicated his board of trustee’s may be receptive to a joint purchase of a ladder truck.

Chief DuPage: Ira Twp’s chief Holt came to me last week after we had worked a mutual aid barn structure together. We had used New Baltimore’s ladder truck on that fire and it worked really well and we discussed maybe going in together on a piece of equipment like this. We could possibly draw up a contract and share all expenses such as maintenance. The truck we were looking at would have to be housed at their station because of the height. Ira is automatic mutual aid for us and that would be the truck they would bring. I wanted feedback from our board if there was interest, if not I have found a few trucks that would fit in our station.

Horvath: What year and how long is the truck?

Chief DuPage: The truck is a 1992, 71,000 miles and 43’ long. The problem is the height is 12’4” and we have 10’1” doors. The two trucks we just bought from Chesterfield were 1993 and 1995. They are very good trucks. Ladder trucks are hard to find but I found two that would fit our station. One in Pennsylvania that doesn’t have a pump and has 63,000 miles and is 9’11” high. The second one is a 1989 and in Texas. It has a 85 ft ladder, 1500 gpm pump and is under 10’ high and is $35,000. Those are the only ones that were under $100,000. New ladder trucks average $700,000 to $800,000.

Turner: It says to “make offer” on the ad for the truck. How much could we get it for?

Chief DuPage: I have talked to them and originally when I came to the board a few months ago the price was $75,000, they dropped it to $65,000.

Horvath: I have difficulty with a truck being out of our jurisdiction.

Chief DuPage: We were very closely with Ira and there could be a contract to make everything fair and even.

Straffon: What buildings do we have that would need this equipment?

Minutes of the Clay Township Regular Board Meeting Held Monday, August 15, 2011

Page 4

Chief DuPage: We have quite a few. There are all the schools and marinas, the bowling alley, grocery store, as well as the Tashmoo condos and the new AFC home at the Great Lakes Inn. It is also much safer to have a man in a bucket than on an extension ladder trying to get on a second story roof to ventilate or perform a rescue. The ladders we have are 35’. A lot of times we need the elevated streams to effectively fight fire. New Baltimore has a 100’ ladder truck and Marine City has a 65’ ladder truck. The barn fire we had last week, Ira, New Baltimore and Clay Twp were all dispatched simultaneously and it took New Baltimore 35 minutes to get there with the ladder truck. I think with the loss of the one engine last year we got the insurance money and bought two very good used engines with about $190,000 left over. I think this would be a good investment.

Fetter: Do we still have the old damaged truck?

Chief DuPage: Yes we have it we have been parting it out. We are down to the trans and the engine.

Fetter: How do we determine the shared costs, who insures it, etc. The truck has 71,000 miles on it. Why are they selling it? Is there any warranty?

Chief DuPage: The fire department that is selling it is doing a merger with another municipality and –selling their station and excess equipment and buying new. There is no warranty and the mileage is not bad for this type of truck. This truck would last a long time.

Straffon: Over the past few years when has there been a need for this kind of truck.

Chief DuPage: I believe there has always been a need. If we acquire this type of equipment we can probably lower the ISO rating and save citizens money on their homeowner’s insurance.

Krueger: Spoke to Ira Supervisor Bob McCoy and he would not be opposed to consider jointly purchasing a ladder truck depending on finances. We are currently in talks with Algonac about a fire authority and there are housing one of our trucks but they haven’t really stepped up to the plate regarding working together. It would be nice to have an authority in place before we buy any new equipment. I don’t have a problem buying a ladder truck but we might a problem with determining how to structure the agreement and all the details. I am meeting with supervisors from Algonac, Marine City, Cotterville and Ira and we will discuss sharing of services and how they feel. Ira has consistently had interest.

Motion by Shirkey, supported by White, to move forward with discussions with Ira Township regarding the possibility of a joint ladder truck purchase.

Straffon: If we purchase truck with Ira what happens if we form an authority with Algonac.

White: Maybe it will motivate Ira.

Krueger: Don’t know but it starts the ball rolling.

Horvath: Is the board going to be in on the discussion with Ira or will DuPage handle it.

Krueger: I will send a letter to Ira Supervisor Bob McCoy.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

9. Master Plan Draft Review

Krueger: This is the result of many months work by the Planning Commission, the review committee and our planner. It is a very nice document.

Horvath: Can we postpone this. It is a very large document and will take a while to review.

Krueger: We don’t officially approve the plan at this meeting. All we are supposed to do is approve it to be distributed to the public for review for 63 days. Then neighboring communities and the citizens can offer any feedback, comments, input or suggestions. The county is normally the only ones that offer any suggestions. This is only a draft not the final copy.

Horvath: I only want to know what’s in it before I send it to somebody else.

Motion by Shirkey, supported by Fetter, to approve releasing the Master Plan for distribution per the planner’s guidelines.

AYES: Six

NAYES: One

MOTION CARRIED

PUBLIC COMMENTS

A. Bryson: Commented on warning sirens, only three in the township, would like DDA to look into purchasing more for the entire township.

BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

Krueger: The DDA is discussing expanding the DDA district to include downtown Sans Souci.

Shirkey: Commented on the busy weekend with Bluegrass festival and Trail Sale.

Horvath: BlueGrass was successful

Straffon: Heard complaint about the lack of parking at the park for people who rented the pavilion during the trail sale.

Minutes of the Clay Township Regular Board Meeting Held Monday, August 15, 2011

Page 5

ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Shirkey, supported by Straffon, to adjourn at 8:45 p.m.

AYES: All

NAYES: None

MOTION CARRIED

Lisa M. White

Clay Township Clerk

Prepared by

Lisa M. White

Clerk

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