| Springport Township Board Minutes The regular meeting of the Springport Township Board was called to order at 7:00pm at the Springport Township Hall by Supervisor Mitchell. Members present were Betz, Travioli, Mitchell, Rybicki and Wilson. They were 12 visitors present. Wilson stated the meeting being recorded to assist with the minutes. Once approved the tape will be destroyed. Country Commisioner Cliff Herl spoke on various issues. Including the Farmland Preservation Ordinance, County Budget and Address Ordinance. Also the county Buildings Energy Management on all county Buildings. Guest introductions: The following people all wanted to talk in regards to Police Protection: Mary Ward, Martha McCleanen, Rosie Terping, Beverly Sims, Dan Merritt, Lisa and Jeff Mitchell. Lisa also wanted to talk about Homestead Bank. Motion by Wilson to accept the minutes as presented. Supported by Betz, motion carried. Rybicki moved to accept and file the Treasures Report. $69, 753.03 in Savings and $1,1145.82 in Checking. Supported by Travioli. Motion Carried. Motion by Rybicki to pay the Township bills in the amount of $11,142.94. Supported by Betz. Motion carried. Motion by Rybicki to pay the Police bills in the amount of $13,382.17. Supported by Wilson. Motion carried. Motion by Betz to pay $9000.00 now and the remaining $10,500.00 when CD comes due on 6-28. Supported by Rybicki Motion carried. Police Report was given by Police Chief Speese. Liquor inspections were completed. Currently following up on last months Junk Vehicle and Violations. Chief Speese wanted to remind everyone to call 911 in emergency. Do not leave messages at the Police Department. Also the Open House for the Bank/Police Department has been postponed. Travioli reported there was no new business at the Planning Commission Meeting. Fire Board did not meet. Rybicki reported on the Police Board.. Officer Berstien is willing to do the zoning and Ordinance enforcement. Discussion followed. The Zoning Officer in paid out of the General Fund. The Police Department will bill the Township for Mileage on the Police car. Rybicki stated pay mileage and wage set up by Mike and then pay balance to Police Department so there is no cost to the Police Department. Discussion followed. Motion by Rybicki to hire Officer Berstien to do Zoning and Ordinance Enforcement Officer. Supported by Wilson 3aye and 2 nay. Motion carried. Lance still needs to contact Carl on the road proposals. Still have nothing back on the Land Split for David Ticknor. Lance sees no Structure changes on the trailer at Pope Church and Brown. He is Cleaning the place up. Lance stopped at the Trailer on Brown Rd. He spoke to a young kid. Lance was told a guy stays there 3-4 nights a week. Discussion followed. Lance will follow through. So will Officer Berstien. Betz reported that the cost to buy Boomers old property is $10,000. Tom is not sure of liability with what was there. Discussion followed. Dan Merritt suggested contacting the Downtown Development Authority. The purpose of the DDA is to improve the village. The first meeting is June 19 for the DDA. Tabled to talk with the DDA. Rybicki stated the Bank has made a verbal offer to purchase the building. The Bank is offering $60,000 with 3 years free rent to the Police with offer to buy back the building if it doesn’t work out. The bank wants the building as of 1-1-07. Discussion followed. Rybicki suggested we pay off the loan at Citizens Bank. Motion by Rybicki to pay off the Bank at the best time with the CD’s for Tom. Discussion followed. Motion died due to lack of support. Motion by Wilson to have Rybicki contact Jeff Bell on behalf of the Board to let him know we are interested but also have concerns about the pay off. Supported by Rybicki. Motion carried. Rybicki stated we do have a No Alcohol policy. There is
no alcohol allowed in the building. Discussion followed on having some
kind of agreement that is signed by the people renting. Wilson will
contact JoAnn and report back next month. Mitchell received a letter
from Bodwin and Fuziak Attorneys asking us to consider them. It was
the consensus of the Board that we are not interested due to out being
of the county. Motion by Travioli to refund the money to Michelle Jones
and Kathleen Boylan minus expenses occurred. Supported by Betz. Motion
carried. Wilson asked the board about a bill received for the fence post by the police department. Discussion followed. Lance will contact Perry Yoder and discuss bill and get back with the Board. Rybicki stated the people of the Township would like to find a way to fund the Police department without having to keep coming back for a millage. Several are here tonight in support. Rybicki contacted MTA. They suggested a Special Assessment. It works off of real properties. You can also work off of exempt properties. We would have to show a budget every year. The mills can go up and down as needed. This is not affected by the Headlee override. It would take care of the department as we currently are running it. Rybicki also stated we can’t have a millage and special assessment at the same time. Discussion followed. Tom asked the Board if they wanted to send a newsletter with the tax bills. Wilson stated the Board needed to get information to her as soon as possible. Lance said that Rod Thurow contacted him and asked for $5.00 more for phone bill. Discussion followed as to if that was a one time thing or once a month. Lance will find out more and report back next month. Public comment. Mary Ward asked about the wording of the
proposal for the police millage and if it stated it was for Springport
Township only. Wilson went to get the proposal language. Discussion
followed. She is also in favor of the special assessment. She also supports
the Police Department. Martha M. feels the same way that Mary does.
She doesn’t want to lose the department. She also doesn’t
feel the officers should have to worry about if they have a job or not.
Rosie T. supports the department. She feels it is so much better having
the local department verses the county. She doesn’t want to see
it go back to the county. Beverly agrees and supports the Police department.
Lisa M. supports the department and likes the idea that we are looking
to have a plan B in place. She likes having the department here. Jeff
M. thinks this is the best department we have had in a long time. Dan
M. this is a Security issue. Lisa M. likes the idea of having a small
bank in town. She would like to encourage the Motion by Wilson to adjourned the meeting. Supported by
Betz. Motion carried. |