Banks Township Board

Monday, April 24, 2006

  1. Supervisor Thomas Mann called the Regular meeting of the Banks Township Board to order at 7:30 PM at the Township Hall. The meeting was rescheduled from April 17 due to scheduling conflicts. Present were Supervisor Mann, Clerk Donna Heeres, Treasurer Katy Postmus, Trustee Marvin Rubingh and Trustee Mark DeKorne. Also present: State Representative Kevin Elsenheimer, Joni & Jamie Wieland, David Heeres, Andy Veenstra, and Steve Kloosterman of the Antrim County News. John Hastings arrived at 8:10 PM. Judy VanderArk arrived at 8:35 PM.
  2. The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. Trustee Rubingh offered prayer.
  3. The minutes of the March 27 regular Board meeting were read. MOTION Rubingh, DeKorne, CARRIED to approve the minutes as presented, noting correction of the date in the heading from "17" to "27".
  4. The Treasurer’s report of incomes and balances was given. General Fund: $229,691.44; Fire Fund: $126,388.51; Liquor Fund: $1,536.27; Roads Fund: $28,415.83. Grand Total: $386,032.05.
  5. Public Comment: Representative Elsenheimer addressed the Board and expressed his sadness for the death of our former Supervisor Dan Wieland. He noted the history of his relationship with Banks Township as our legal counsel. He then read a tribute to Dan, signed by himself, Senator Jason Allen, and Governor Jennifer Granholm, and presented the framed tribute to Dan’s wife Joni.
  6. Public Comment: Andy Veenstra expressed his interest in the Zoning Administrator position. His application was submitted today.
  7. Cemeteries: DeKorne outlined the plans for the memorial at Atwood Cemetery. He has met with Pete VanderArk. He is coordinating the work with Phil Edwards, Mark Groenink, Pete and himself to get the flag pole installed and the memorial underway by Memorial Day. Postmus expressed willingness to assist with garden/shrubs as needed and desired. Will plan to wait to order the plaque for the rock until the rock has settled in its spot.
  8. Fire Board: Met tonight. Two of the SCBA tanks failed testing and others are ancient. The Fire Board recommends purchase of 6 new air tanks at a cost of $1967.70 plus S&H. MOTION Heeres, Mann, CARRIED to approve this purchase.
  9. Planning Commission: Rubingh reported that the Landmark Business Group/Antrim Dells Development has not yet submitted the escrow funds. The Planning Commission is reluctant to set dates for a work meeting to review the documents in detail with the Planning Consultant and Attorney until the funds have been deposited. The Clerk will contact the legal counsel for the applicants tomorrow to investigate why this has not yet been paid. A Citizen Planner Workshop is scheduled this spring. It consists of 7 sessions, costs $385 total or $75 per session. A workshop entitled Form Based Zoning is scheduled for May 19 in Traverse City. Cost is $25. Rubingh plans to attend. Workshops are being presented at various locations by the MSU Cooperative extension on the new Zoning Enabling Act. Cost is $100. Will encourage some members of the Planning Commission to attend some of these sessions.
  10. Memorial Gazebo: Clerk presented pictures and cost estimates for 20’, 24’and 30’ structures, including options available. Discussion on placement, need for electrical service, use was held. The Board will continue to research these ideas and then develop a specification list.
  11. Township Hall: Discussed maintenance needs for the building. Will ask the cemetery/park workers to do some of the work such as painting, etc, after Memorial Day. Will plan to develop a list of needs and prioritize to get them done.
  12. Cemetery Equipment Needs: Judy VanderArk addressed the board and requested purchase of a new riding mower John Deere X304 for $2834.19 on the government contract with John Deere. Also, a John Deere T-105CLE weed whip for $219.99 from Work ‘N Play Shop. MOTION Heeres, Mann, CARRIED to approve these purchases and authorize the Clerk to sign required paperwork. Judy & Pete recommend disposal of 4 push mowers, 2 riding mowers and 2 weed whips for parts as none are working and are taking up valuable storage space. Also, the topper for the pickup truck and an old, small trailer that are not used should be disposed of. Discussed placing them out during the Clean Up Day and asking for bids for the items. If not sold, they can be disposed of after that. Judy will provide a detailed list to the clerk so bid sheets can be prepared. Supervisor will put notice on the website of the items that will be available. Hastings reported that the shingles on the Cemetery Vault building are loose and some are damaged. Clerk will contact Dave Heeres to inspect and repair as he had installed them. VanderArk requested the Clerk contact the new owners of the Atwood Hardware to set up a charge account.
  13. Info Items: MTA County Chapter meeting is April 25 at 7:30 PM at Elk Rapids Township Hall. MTA Spring District Meeting May 10 in Bellaire. A caucus will be held for election of a new District 6 Director for MTA to replace Kim Schmidt at 10 AM during the district meeting. Clerk noted the Antrim County Board of Commissioners adopted a disclaimer to be placed on the web site and recommends that the Township consider such a disclaimer for our site.
  14. Village Street Lights Grant: Clerk was contacted by Mary Campbell to request support from the Township Board for the Village of Ellsworth’s grant application for decorative street lights. MOTION Heeres, Mann, CARRIED to send a letter of support for this project.
  15. Roads: Letter was received from Burt Thompson of the Antrim County Road Commission to inform that the estimate previously given for the Sinclair Road paving project was in error. Rather than $8,724 that was first given, the cost to the Township will be $9,900 for the 425ft extension. Contract for this and paving of Hillman Road was presented. MOTION Postmus, Rubingh, CARRIED to authorize the supervisor to sign the contract for the paving of Sinclair and Hillman Roads and to authorize the clerk to pay the 50% deposit at this time.
  16. Salaries: Clerk reports the Cemetery/Park workers’ last wage increase was 2 years ago. Recommends increase to $10, $12 & $14 per hour based upon experience and responsibility level. MOTION Mann, Postmus, CARRIED to adopt the above wage scale for Cemetery/Park workers. Clerk reports the Election Workers’ last wage increase was 5-6 years ago. MOTION Heeres, Postmus, CARRIED to increase the hourly wage for election workers to $11 and $13 for the chairman. MOTION Rubingh, DeKorne, CARRIED to increase the hourly wage for the Planning Commission secretary to $14 per hour and Deputy Clerk & Treasurer to $13 per hour.
  17. Non-Sufficient Fund checks: Postmus reports that the Bank is now charging us when a check written to us has non-sufficient funds. Postmus will research procedure for establishing a fee for those who write NSF checks to us.
  18. Lakeshore Drive Survey: Results have been tabulated and were reviewed. The Board decided to contact the County Road Commission to increase maintenance of this road with additional gravel, grading and dust layer. Supervisor will draft letter to the property owners about the survey results, our plans for increased maintenance, and invite the property owners to a meeting sometime in August to obtain more input. This meeting will be especially for all property owners on Lakeshore Drive to give their opinions and hopefully build some consensus for future surfacing of the road.
  19. Zoning Administrator: Supervisor announced the resignation of Doris Pearl effective April 30, 2006. Doris has been Banks Township Zoning Administrator since 1990. Advertisements have been placed in several newspapers and 13 applications have been submitted thus far. Set Thursday, April 27, 2006, at 7:30 PM for a special Board meeting to review the applications and determine which candidates to interview for the position. MOTION Mann, DeKorne, CARRIED to appoint Donna Heeres and Mark DeKorne as interim co-administrators, effective May 1, 2006.
  20. Bills represented by the attached list were presented for approval for payment. MOTION Rubingh, Postmus, CARRIED to pay the bills as presented.
  21. The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Donna L. Heeres

Banks Township Clerk