[0:01] I didn't want us to have 800,000 .

[0:04] Right.

[0:07] All right. I am now calling to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the

[0:11] Hamburg Township Board of Trustees, set for today, Tuesday, August 18th at

[0:15] 7:00 PM.

[0:16] Would everybody present please rise and join me in the pledge to the flag?

[0:21] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and

[0:25] to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God,

[0:29] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:33] Thank you.

[0:34] Michael, would you once again please call the roll?

[0:37] Anybody sneak out on us?

[0:39] Looks like we're here.

[0:40] Supervisor Negri?

[0:41] Present.

[0:42] Clerk Dolan is present. Treasurer Daniels?

[0:44] Here.

[0:45] Trustee

[0:46] Carter-Sieve?

[0:47] Here.

[0:47] Trustee Hughes?

[0:49] Present.

[0:49] Trustee Menzies?

[0:49] Here.

[0:50] Trustee Miller?

[0:51] Here.

[0:51] All right. Full board.

[0:55] Thanks everyone for coming out tonight.

[1:00] First, we will have our opening call to the public, but there ain't nobody here,

[1:03] so there will be no opening call to the public.

[1:07] Moving on to our consent agenda. We have our regular meeting minutes from our board

[1:11] meeting on August 6th, our work study minutes from

[1:15] that same date, August 6th, the DPW monthly report for the month of

[1:19] July, our approved MUC minutes for July 14th,

[1:23] bills list dated today,

[1:25] and one additional bill for bills list,

[1:28] which is from Huron Lake Weed Control.

[1:32] Do I have any action on the consent agenda as posted?

[1:37] I move as presented.

[1:38] All right.

[1:40] I'll second.

[1:41] Moved by Dolan, seconded by Menzies, to approve the consent agenda as

[1:44] presented.

[1:46] Any discussion?

[1:49] All in favor?

[1:50] Aye.

[1:51] Aye.

[1:51] Aye. Any opposed? All right, we're good.

[1:54] We have some changes to the agenda.

[1:56] I'll make a motion that we approve tonight's agenda as published with

[2:00] three additions,

[2:02] two of them being invoices, and then a second closed

[2:06] session regarding police contract negotiations.

[2:10] The second one for property acquisitions that we-

[2:11] Oh, yeah. That one's already on there.

[2:13] Right.

[2:13] Second one for

[2:15] property acquisitions that got moved over from our 6:30 meeting.

[2:19] I'll second.

[2:20] Sorry about that.

[2:21] I'll second it.

[2:21] All right. Moved by Dolan, seconded by Miller.

[2:23] Any other changes, additions, deletions?

[2:26] All in favor?

[2:27] Aye.

[2:28] Aye.

[2:29] Aye.

[2:29] All right.

[2:31] No unfinished business. Freedom River Fall Festival.

[2:36] Fourth annual.

[2:38] All right.

[2:38] Scheduled for October 17th. So

[2:42] Freedom River is requesting a permit to hang

[2:46] the end of the road banner as we've done every other year,

[2:49] beginning September 1st through the end of October.

[2:54] The township has to make the request through the Livingston County Road Commission.

[2:59] So

[3:01] that's why it's before us.

[3:04] Okay.

[3:04] Make a motion to support the recommendation to

[3:08] the county, is that correct?

[3:11] Yeah.

[3:11] For the approval of the banner for the Freedom

[3:15] River-

[3:18] Fall Fest

[3:19] ... Fall Fest, sorry. Fall Fest.

[3:20] All right. I'll second that. Moved by Miller, seconded by Negri, to support the

[3:24] petition to the County Road Commission for the banner.

[3:27] Any discussion on this?

[3:29] All in favor?

[3:30] Aye.

[3:30] Aye. Any opposed?

[3:32] All right. Motion carries. Let me just add that to my calendar.

[3:35] Saturday, October 17th.

[3:42] We can just get one festival done.

[3:46] Yeah.

[3:48] You just can't get enough of it.

[3:49] I know. Yeah.

[3:51] All right. Very good.

[3:53] Next up, we have the two bills lists, bills that were added to

[3:57] tonight. The first one is the MERS invoice, which I think we all would like to

[4:01] skip, but we knew this was coming. This is the

[4:04] invoice from MERS pursuant to the

[4:07] negotiations with patrol regarding benefit

[4:11] enhancement

[4:14] for $413,000.

[4:17] Motion to pre-payment to MERS for

[4:18] $413,884.

[4:24] Second for some discussion.

[4:25] Yes.

[4:25] All right. Moved by Dolan, seconded by Miller. Discussion.

[4:29] Where's the money coming from?

[4:31] That's what we're going to discuss.

[4:33] Yeah.

[4:33] It's coded to the police fund right now.

[4:39] So

[4:40] I attached on your fourth quarter amendment that

[4:44] we already approved.

[4:47] We did these back in July.

[4:49] We are moving money out of general

[4:53] fund,

[4:55] 101 general fund, into 207 police

[4:58] operations. That particular

[5:01] general ledger number is the MERS funding deficiency line

[5:05] item.

[5:11] The question is,

[5:16] are we going to

[5:23] require

[5:24] that money to be paid back to the general fund from the

[5:28] police fund once they get actual cash

[5:33] from the December tax collection?

[5:35] That's

[5:37] really what's before us.

[5:44] We have, if you don't

[5:48] require that,

[5:51] we have a policy of 125%

[5:57] funding reserves,

[5:59] undesignated reserves of 125% of the previous year's

[6:02] expenditures

[6:05] Before that, I don't have it with me.

[6:06] Does anybody have their

[6:09] budget with them?

[6:10] No.

[6:11] We have monies

[6:13] set aside, such as in this current budget year, $300,000 for

[6:17] parking lot, future parking lot repair,

[6:20] $100,000 for future-

[6:23] 200,000.

[6:23] What's that?

[6:24] 200,000 for the parking lot.

[6:26] Parking lot. 100,000 for elections.

[6:28] Is this the paper?

[6:30] Yeah. Yes. Did I hand that to you, or is it yours?

[6:33] No, it's mine.

[6:33] Oh. It's mine now.

[6:35] No, it isn't.

[6:38] We have approximately $500,000 in reserve funds,

[6:43] specific reserve funds, election equipment,

[6:46] regular equipment,

[6:48] vehicle purchase,

[6:50] parking lot,

[6:52] weed harvesting.

[6:53] And then that leaves us, after the 125%,

[6:57] leaves us a balance of

[7:01] just under $100,000.

[7:04] So we would, if we're not going to

[7:08] recapture these funds in December,

[7:13] we would need to eliminate

[7:17] the reserve funds of about 500,000.

[7:20] We would have to eliminate 415,000 and then less

[7:24] $97,000, or else we're violating our own policy and we'll go below the

[7:28] 125.

[7:29] Mike, we knew going into this that we had that outstanding.

[7:32] This board approved it to come out of the general fund when

[7:37] we first looked at it.

[7:39] We knew we had it going in.

[7:42] How did it not get included? In fact, I believe at

[7:46] the

[7:47] strategic planning, we talked about that that was outstanding,

[7:51] as

[7:53] was the

[7:55] IRS issue,

[7:57] those monies, and those would hit the general fund. We discussed it.

[8:02] We can't now, because the police millage got passed,

[8:06] change our mind and go to them and say, "Okay.

[8:09] It was originally going to come out of the general fund, but now it's not.

[8:11] It's got to come out of the police fund."

[8:14] I strongly disagree with that. I think it needs to come

[8:18] from where we intended it to come from.

[8:21] There was a lot more involved in that, not just the police

[8:25] contract when we made that decision to go forward with that

[8:29] plan. So,

[8:32] I don't think we can change our mind now because-

[8:34] I don't recall that conversation at all.

[8:38] I went back and

[8:39] I did a little bit of research because I was-

[8:42] Yeah. Go ahead

[8:42] ... taken aback at our last meeting-

[8:44] Yep

[8:44] ... discussion. And actually, it was you who brought it up

[8:48] at the strategic planning and said, "We have these two

[8:52] items coming out-"

[8:52] We need to address it.

[8:53] "... general fund," when we were talking about the percentage

[8:57] that we needed to set aside. So,

[9:00] I just feel that we can't just change our mind now because the millage was

[9:04] passed.

[9:06] Well, thankfully, we have a little bit of money that we were going to transfer into

[9:10] the police budget this upcoming year that we don't need to anymore.

[9:13] Well, there was also a discussion about that, Jason.

[9:16] Now, you're getting into a second point.

[9:18] It's $555,000-

[9:20] It's $555,000

[9:20] ... that we transferred.

[9:22] We transferred, and

[9:25] Nick was pretty strong on this, that that money would be a

[9:29] good cushion to

[9:33] allow us to go the 10 years.

[9:34] Mm-hmm.

[9:35] If the millage passed, having that 555 in the

[9:39] police budget would be a good cushion going into this

[9:43] next 10 years. And we discussed that as well.

[9:51] Okay. So the police is going to bring in, what is it, more than

[9:55] $800,000 than what they're budgeted for.

[10:01] Just this summer.

[10:04] The budget that's already passed is not contemplated on the millage passing.

[10:07] 100%. That's correct.

[10:09] Mm-hmm.

[10:09] And if that number is correct, you are right, because it's a-

[10:13] Well, half a mil brings in $753,000.

[10:16] Okay.

[10:17] They were two and a half, less the rollback.

[10:20] I think they were at two three something.

[10:22] 2.6.

[10:23] 2.6, and they're now at three, so-

[10:25] That's like a-

[10:26] ... six and

[10:28] a half or whatever, 0.6 and a half.

[10:29] Mm-hmm.

[10:30] Half a mil brings in 753, so somewhere north of 800,000, I would

[10:34] imagine. I don't know the exact number.

[10:36] So, but that's the way you make a 10-year

[10:40] millage work is that first year, you invest all that money.

[10:45] That's

[10:47] how come at the end of that, you have a little bit of monies

[10:50] left to do that, right? And we've been doing this for a

[10:54] long time. If you probably go back and look at all of our

[10:58] first-year millages, that's how we did that, because we budget with the

[11:02] understanding that it doesn't pass, and we know that when we collect that money in

[11:06] December, in essence, it gives us a little bit of a savings,

[11:11] right? To allow us year eight, nine, and ten to have the monies we

[11:15] need.

[11:17] That's been our past practice in this organization for the last

[11:22] 20 years that I can think of.

[11:28] We knew this 400,000 was coming, and we thought it was going to

[11:32] come out of last budget year. And just reading this document you gave us, it talks

[11:35] about fourth quarter police fund.

[11:37] What is that referencing, fourth quarter,

[11:40] on the second page of that? It just says fourth quarter.

[11:45] Just make sure we're talking, that you pulled this out of this year's,

[11:49] not last year's.

[11:50] This was-

[11:51] Fourth quarter from last year.

[11:53] Fourth quarter in last fiscal year.

[11:55] Mike is-

[11:55] The board already approved this in July.

[11:57] Yeah. Okay, so isn't this

[12:01] money already earmarked somewhere?

[12:03] No, it was not journalized or dealt with because

[12:06] no invoice actually came

[12:09] So it will be journalized. We don't need to change any

[12:13] amendments. This amendment is still valid from last year.

[12:16] This invoice is from last fiscal year.

[12:19] This is going to be billed back to last fiscal year,

[12:22] journalized for last fiscal year, but in

[12:25] reality, our starting

[12:29] projected fund balance of 63027, which is

[12:33] 8.13,

[12:35] is not realizing the reduction of this 415.

[12:40] So our starting projected

[12:42] less 415 changes your

[12:46] remaining fund balance.

[12:50] All right. So

[12:52] just to be clear, this invoice is dated today, so you're

[12:56] going to get them to change the invoice date to June 30th?

[13:00] No, this

[13:02] payment is from action that occurred January

[13:06] 1st, 2026.

[13:07] I get it, right? That we've been asking for months for this document-

[13:11] You're right

[13:12] ... so we could take care of it.

[13:13] Right.

[13:14] But I don't know how you go back to last fiscal year.

[13:17] This is invoiced. This invoice then isn't good.

[13:22] It is good. The bills list you just approved,

[13:27] a large number of those that are dated

[13:31] after June 30th are being paid. They're earmarked from

[13:35] last fiscal year.

[13:41] I know that...

[13:42] Okay.

[13:45] So the date of August 18th is not a problem?

[13:47] No, not a problem.

[13:52] If it were a problem, would MERS change the date on that invoice?

[13:59] Well, it took six months to get this one.

[14:02] I know.

[14:04] All right. So this fourth quarter budget amendment that we already did-

[14:08] Mm-hmm

[14:08] ... transferred 413 and change

[14:12] from our general fund to the police fund.

[14:15] Is that what this is telling me?

[14:16] That's

[14:17] what the action was,

[14:20] but-

[14:21] But it didn't happen

[14:22] It didn't happen. It was never journalized because we were waiting for the invoice.

[14:25] We didn't know what was. Right.

[14:30] So how did the books balance at the end then?

[14:33] If there's a journal entry that says we moved-

[14:35] We haven't audited yet

[14:36] ... 413, well, we moved $413,000-

[14:39] There is no journal entry yet.

[14:41] There's no journal entry.

[14:41] There was no journal entry made.

[14:42] So this document you got from, is from what?

[14:46] This second page you gave us that says that-

[14:49] This is from the board packet back in July.

[14:51] If you guys remember, we had two or

[14:55] three pages of budget amendments.

[14:56] I only attached one because it has to do with this particular invoice.

[15:00] We did all these budget amendments back in July, prepared by

[15:04] Michelle Lewis.

[15:15] If it makes you all feel comfortable,

[15:18] you seem to be questioning my knowledge here.

[15:22] I did discuss every bit of this with Michelle Lewis at

[15:26] about 5:30 this afternoon,

[15:28] and I assure you everything that I'm sharing with you was discussed in

[15:32] our conversation, and we simply have a decision to make.

[15:35] Where do you want the money to come from?

[15:39] Excuse me. We've already made the action.

[15:43] It's already a done deal. It's coming from general fund.

[15:46] Right.

[15:47] That's done.

[15:49] Are we going to insist that it's paid back in December from the police fund?

[15:54] If not, then we have a policy to address.

[15:59] Because the loss of this 413,000-

[16:01] That's going below

[16:02] ... is going to set us below our policy of 125%.

[16:05] Yes.

[16:06] Given these earmarks we've already got.

[16:08] Unless we eliminate the earmarks.

[16:09] Unless we eliminate the earmarks or get the money from somewhere else.

[16:12] Or-

[16:12] Like the 525 we were going to give to the police this year.

[16:14] Well, the 555-

[16:16] 555

[16:16] ... 555

[16:18] is contemplated in the budget we already passed.

[16:21] Mm-hmm.

[16:23] And I believe his remaining fund balance is

[16:27] under 1,000 bucks, like 500 bucks.

[16:28] Oh, boy.

[16:31] He doesn't carry a fund balance.

[16:33] If you look at the budget that we passed, his department budget

[16:37] for the police

[16:40] with the 555 transfer-

[16:42] Mm-hmm

[16:42] ... leaves

[16:44] very tight budget.

[16:45] Exactly.

[16:46] Now they're going to draw in these additional monies.

[16:50] Yes. Yep, to the tune of 800,000. Which means-

[16:53] That's it

[16:53] ... even if we

[16:55] take this 413, they're still going to be 400,000 in the hole.

[16:58] Yes, they are.

[16:59] Is there any way to have them pay it back over a number of years

[17:03] and still give you enough to-

[17:06] Thank you.

[17:07] ... save your reserve for the general fund issue?

[17:11] We could do that, sure.

[17:12] So the-

[17:12] We would still need to

[17:15] amend this document though, because-

[17:17] We don't because the 125%, all it

[17:21] states is Jason has to present a plan.

[17:25] That's all it states. We don't have to modify the document.

[17:27] If it's less than 125% but greater than 100%, if I remember correctly

[17:31] how we worded that-

[17:32] Mm-hmm

[17:33] ... then the supervisor presents a plan-

[17:36] Correct

[17:36] ... on how we're going to get back to the 125%.

[17:39] Mm-hmm.

[17:40] And over the next five years, we are going to decrease our

[17:43] spending, right, or whatever, to get us back to the

[17:47] 125%.

[17:49] I'm going off of memory here. I've pulled that, but I'm pretty sure-

[17:53] Sure. Yeah

[17:53] ... I'm pretty sure that's how that's worded.

[17:56] Was there a timeline?

[17:57] No, it's just a plan.

[17:58] To get back to 125? Okay.

[18:00] Because you don't want to put that on there, because if all of a sudden something

[18:02] major catastrophic happens-

[18:04] Yeah

[18:04] ... right, and we've got to spend $500,000 in the police, right, that drops

[18:08] us down, how do we recover that in a year, right? That's not possible.

[18:12] So we didn't put a timeline on it. We just said-

[18:15] And unexpected catastrophic expenses are precisely why we have reserves.

[18:18] Exactly.

[18:19] That's why.

[18:19] It's why we're sitting there.

[18:21] Mm-hmm.

[18:22] I guess what I'd like to do is probably need to review the policy.

[18:25] I guess I'd really like to get the exact budget with all these

[18:28] adjustments to see where exactly what our undesignated reserves

[18:32] are across the board, if we're this tight where we need to

[18:36] be. So before I would make any decision on needing to

[18:40] be reimbursed, I guess I'd want to see hard numbers, like the factual numbers for

[18:44] each one for undesignated stuff. And then let's look at that policy, because

[18:48] I'm pretty sure it was worded between 100 and 125%, the

[18:51] supervisor just has to make a recommendation. It's not a policy change.

[18:55] We're going to follow the policy. We're going to come up with that plan, and if the

[18:59] plan that he presents after he sits down with his leadership

[19:03] team and you guys come back and say,

[19:05] "Okay, over the next 10 years, they're going to give us

[19:08] $50,000." Right? Or eight years, right?

[19:11] Make the number work or whatever, right? That's the plan.

[19:15] If that's how we want to do it.

[19:18] But-

[19:20] Or we reduce spending

[19:22] ... or reduce spending or not ask for it back.

[19:23] There's different-

[19:25] In my opinion, I would only support two things.

[19:28] One, removing the line items on the

[19:31] designated reserves, parking lot, what have you, that have to be kicked down the

[19:35] road to another time, or police

[19:39] reimburse us, because it is 100% a police expense.

[19:42] Police matter.

[19:48] It was a police expense because this board made it a

[19:52] necessity to save these residents

[19:57] a decent amount of money.

[19:59] Over time.

[19:59] Over time . Right? We did this-

[20:02] But we knew it was going to be a hit right now

[20:03] ... we knew we did this because every new hire that's

[20:07] in a union right now, in the future, has a fixed cost to us now.

[20:11] Mm-hmm.

[20:12] And instead of this continually being a problem, this board,

[20:15] before a few of us sat here at the table, you guys all committed just over a

[20:19] million bucks, right, into this fund to try to

[20:24] make it equal, and then come to find out we're still $400,000 short.

[20:28] That's not happening anymore.

[20:29] Joanna brought a

[20:32] reminder and clarity

[20:35] that

[20:37] all the way up until strategic planning, the board had already made the

[20:40] decision in closed session, contract negotiations on this

[20:44] IV-13. We did not discuss it then. That's why I felt it was important for

[20:47] us to remind ourselves during strategic planning,

[20:52] don't forget about this. Those bills coming due.

[20:54] We need to decide where it's coming from.

[20:57] So.

[20:57] What

[21:00] fiscal budget year is Tony really wanting to

[21:03] repave

[21:05] the parking lot?

[21:08] He has not

[21:10] identified a specific year.

[21:13] He just want us to set the money aside, because at some point in the next-

[21:17] It's going to happen

[21:17] ... six or seven years, it will need to happen-

[21:19] And we'll be able-

[21:20] ... based upon the deterioration.

[21:21] And we want to keep paying cash for things.

[21:22] Yes.

[21:23] Can't we, as we go through the next five

[21:27] budget cycles,

[21:29] make sure he's giving enough-

[21:32] Quite a few bucks aside

[21:32] ... to get him back to where he is today?

[21:35] We can, sure. Knowing that that big expense is coming down the pipe-

[21:38] I think that's the best idea

[21:39] ... yes, we will have to do that.

[21:41] And-

[21:42] The discussion that we had at strategic planning was that,

[21:46] Jason had originally recommended, or Tony or whoever,

[21:50] $100,000.

[21:52] Mm-hmm.

[21:52] And

[21:53] Jason then requested that we-

[21:56] Audible

[21:56] An additional 100 because we could afford it at the time.

[21:58] Right, that we increase it. And my question was about

[22:02] Julie's

[22:03] goals and objectives included the engineering review or plan

[22:07] or whatever. And we had just received,

[22:12] apparently, a quote for that. It was $5,000 to get that done.

[22:17] So

[22:18] that 200,000, I wouldn't want to see it all go away, but I

[22:22] think that we could push that off

[22:26] to help

[22:27] cover the costs.

[22:27] And come the end of our fiscal year, if we're just very responsible-

[22:31] Right

[22:31] ... throughout the next 10 months-

[22:33] Mm-hmm

[22:34] ... then if we don't do projects or they come in under budget, hopefully in

[22:37] different spots, then those extra funds, then we balance this thing back out.

[22:41] We return funds, unused funds every year.

[22:46] We return funds every year.

[22:47] Right.

[22:48] And we also budget very conservatively on our revenue side.

[22:51] Right.

[22:52] So.

[22:53] And if those apartments go through, we're going to have a lot more money, some of

[22:57] it in sewer funds, but some in water tap fees that we were not planning on having.

[23:01] That's-

[23:02] So-

[23:02] ... a good source of revenue

[23:03] ... I would be in support of keeping this as a status quo, that we do

[23:07] our budget transfer as initially planned, and then I'll let the

[23:11] executive team talk a little bit more about it,

[23:14] but I don't see us getting under our 125% till the end of the fiscal year

[23:18] because those reserve funds that we're going to designate.

[23:22] And then we might just have to amend that budget at that point to, if

[23:26] we budget at 300 and we only get to do 150, right?

[23:29] Those are things that we can look at then, but at this point,

[23:33] I think that those monies,

[23:37] I'm comfortable leaving where they were. So currently are.

[23:42] All right.

[23:43] Your motion, Mike, was just to pay the bill?

[23:46] Approve payment, yeah.

[23:47] Okay.

[23:50] Because nothing else is needed because we've already done this.

[23:52] Because we've already done this.

[23:53] Yep.

[23:53] We've already done it in the budget amendment.

[23:55] Yep.

[23:58] All right. Was your motion seconded, by Miller?

[24:01] Yes, I did.

[24:01] Discussion.

[24:02] So we still have time to discuss where we're-

[24:05] We got the entire fiscal year to decide.

[24:07] Yeah.

[24:07] No, seriously, we have the entire fiscal year.

[24:08] I don't want to drag it out like that, but-

[24:10] But we could,

[24:11] and it might-

[24:11] Yeah

[24:11] ... very well come towards the end.

[24:13] We might sit there-

[24:13] Right

[24:13] ... and have to say, "Okay, police," and right?

[24:16] Mm-hmm.

[24:17] Give a little bit. Maybe it's a split. Maybe it's a 75/25, right?

[24:21] Whatever type thing, but-

[24:25] You guys picked through that a little bit and how you're going to keep us at-

[24:27] Yeah. We'll have to-

[24:28] How you're going to keep us at 125%.

[24:31] Right?

[24:31] By removing the

[24:33] designated reserve money, eliminating the projects.

[24:36] Right.

[24:36] They can be added on at the end of the fiscal year.

[24:38] Sure.

[24:39] But in the meantime,

[24:41] we need to show

[24:43] staying north of 125 and that-

[24:44] Well, that money, is it already moved on July 1?

[24:48] The

[24:50] parking lot project, I was going to call it the Tony project, but the parking lot

[24:53] project, are those funds already designated,

[24:57] or is that at end of the fiscal year that they become designated?

[24:59] They're designated- I think they're designated ... for the sake of our...

[25:02] For the general fund. They're designated as our

[25:06] fund. They're somewhere off in la-la land collecting interest wherever

[25:10] Jen has them.

[25:10] That's right. They've invested.

[25:12] Lots of interest.

[25:13] So can you bring us-

[25:14] That's my plan, by the way, is for Jen to just make more interest for us.

[25:17] That's what I'm talking about.

[25:18] Can you bring a good financial report to us that

[25:24] spells out our reserves, designated, undesignated?

[25:27] Because I know for years we thought we were putting things in certain designated

[25:30] areas, and we had just found out that that wasn't actually

[25:33] happening.

[25:34] Yes.

[25:34] Right? We were earmarking money in places, and they weren't actually getting marked

[25:38] that way.

[25:38] The parking lot is actually a perfect example because we had put $100,000 towards

[25:42] that parking lot in previous years.

[25:44] And it's-

[25:44] Or the previous year,

[25:45] and it wasn't showing up anywhere.

[25:47] Because we weren't actually-

[25:49] Doing it

[25:49] ... doing it correctly in the background.

[25:50] Now we're doing it, so yes.

[25:51] So.

[25:51] Even though last year I asked for an additional 100, that actually brings us up to

[25:54] 3 because we found that 100 was there.

[25:58] We realized that we had already earmarked that-

[26:00] Yeah

[26:00] ... original 100-

[26:01] Yeah

[26:01] ... plus the 200 last year.

[26:02] Yeah.

[26:03] So we've got 300 right now sitting there.

[26:04] Yeah, that-

[26:05] That we marked

[26:05] ... document you have, Joanna-

[26:06] It just shows-

[26:07] It's not...

[26:08] So that's an old one, yeah. Oh, it is. Yeah.

[26:11] Next meeting, could you present this if you can?

[26:14] Yes, I will try to do that.

[26:15] With updated-

[26:16] Yeah.

[26:16] I don't know, between the two of you.

[26:17] It kind of comes out of your-

[26:18] Accountant?

[26:19] Your accounting.

[26:21] He can have accounting.

[26:22] But I look at your report, I look-

[26:23] No, I don't.

[26:23] I look at him because he's the-

[26:25] You are blessed

[26:25] ... he's the one that brings us the budget, and that's my apologies.

[26:28] I'm not trying to be disrespectful.

[26:29] We understand what you want.

[26:31] So

[26:33] the executive team-

[26:35] We locked his own payment out or...?

[26:36] Woo.

[26:36] Well, it's a good discussion.

[26:37] There we go. All right. Anything else on this?

[26:41] All in favor? Aye.

[26:42] Aye.

[26:43] Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[26:45] Okay.

[26:46] Go ahead and pay MERS.

[26:48] Well, if you control, please.

[26:50] We'll talk later.

[26:54] And then the second one is just a contractor wanted to get paid.

[26:57] This is a budgeted item from the wall sign

[27:01] project down at the corner. Just a reminder, it's the township board

[27:05] funded, partially funded. The library,

[27:08] the

[27:10] Pinckney, Putnam, Hamburg, Kal, Chamber of Commerce, and then there's been some

[27:14] donations as well. So motion to approve the payment to Cody

[27:18] Ford for $6,000

[27:21] for masonry work.

[27:23] Will there be more coming after this wave soon?

[27:26] Invoices? Well, yeah, but-

[27:29] I'll second it for you.

[27:30] Yeah, we got to- Move by Dolan, second by Miller. We just discussed it today.

[27:33] We got to-

[27:34] Right

[27:34] ... we have to invoice the library and-

[27:36] Right

[27:36] ... the chamber to-

[27:37] Yes

[27:37] ... bring their money to us. Is he done

[27:40] with his work? He will be done in the next day, day and a

[27:44] half, so he doesn't get his check until he's done. Yeah.

[27:46] I know some of the pretty stuff went, a little section of that went.

[27:50] Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, he anticipates a day and a half.

[27:53] So you said the library's contributing to this?

[27:55] $5,000. Really?

[27:57] I don't remember-

[27:57] And how much is the chamber?

[27:58] ... hearing that.

[27:58] Yeah. That's nice.

[27:59] I mean, that's great, but-

[28:01] Yeah

[28:01] ... communication.

[28:02] So the

[28:04] design work was donated by Bruce Donovan, Donovan Construction.

[28:08] The engineer, he works closely with out of Novi.

[28:12] The design work was required to be stamped by an engineer for the Livingston

[28:16] County Building Department. That engineer donated his

[28:21] time and the stamp.

[28:24] 5,000 from the library, 17,000 from the Chamber of Commerce.

[28:29] And then is the library funds and the chamber funds coming

[28:33] to us, or are they just going to pay for their sections percent?

[28:36] Well, I discussed it with the accounting team today, and the chamber was

[28:40] up for it. They were like, "We don't care how many checks-

[28:42] We've got a check

[28:43] ... we cut or whatever."

[28:43] So-

[28:44] But to-

[28:45] They'll take chaos

[28:45] ... keep the project all billed out under our books,

[28:49] we're going to send them invoices asking for their full.

[28:52] Okay.

[28:52] We'll make the project positive.

[28:54] So this is going to come out of the sign-

[28:57] Yes

[28:57] ... fund budget, and it's going to get funded by-

[28:59] We're going to get Michelle, we already created a general ledger account for the

[29:02] sign-

[29:02] Well, okay

[29:03] ... project.

[29:03] So what's the total amount, Guy? Do we know the total amount?

[29:06] The what? The total amount.

[29:07] The total amount.

[29:08] Was it 30- In here

[29:08] ... 35,000?

[29:09] I don't know. I presented a budget. We approved the budget.

[29:12] Whatever it is, it's still on budget.

[29:13] It's not-

[29:14] It was like 30 or 35,000 total.

[29:16] Yeah.

[29:16] Sounds about-

[29:17] Low 30s is what I remember.

[29:18] Yeah. So.

[29:20] So Mike, we're within budget? Yeah, it's not over budget.

[29:23] So far, every line item has come in on budget.

[29:25] Okay. So we're staying under budget, and we got additional funds that we weren't

[29:29] aware of when we approved this, so it's actually costing us less than we initially

[29:32] planned.

[29:33] I don't remember... The library wasn't-

[29:34] No, it wasn't part of our discussion.

[29:36] No. Mm-mm.

[29:37] So it's good stuff.

[29:38] Yeah.

[29:38] That's good news. More donations are welcome.

[29:41] Yeah. Yeah.

[29:42] Did we vote?

[29:44] Not yet.

[29:44] All right.

[29:44] Any further discussion?

[29:45] No.

[29:47] All in favor?

[29:48] Aye. Aye.

[29:48] Aye.

[29:48] Aye. Aye.

[29:49] Any opposed?

[29:50] Okay.

[29:51] Thank you.

[29:54] All right.

[29:54] I'll make a motion that we go into closed session to

[29:57] discuss two items, one being property acquisition,

[30:02] and the second one being police contract negotiations. I'll second.

[30:06] Because

[30:08] of their-

[30:09] Financial

[30:10] ... potential financial impact on the township, that it would be-

[30:12] Oh, that's a John-

[30:13] ... deleterious

[30:13] ... Brady at all thing. I don't buy into that, but go ahead. Okay, that's fine.

[30:17] Per MCL. Okay. All right. Moved by Dolan, seconded by Daniels.

[30:21] Roll call vote, please.

[30:22] Yes.

[30:22] Negri?

[30:23] Yes.

[30:23] Dolan, yes. Daniels? Yes. Hardesty?

[30:25] Yes.

[30:26] Hughes? Yes. Menzies?

[30:27] Yes.

[30:27] Miller?

[30:28] Yes.

[30:28] All right.

[30:29] We used to be called trustee or treasurer

[30:33] or supervisor.

[30:34] Yeah. No, now it's just last names.

[30:36] Well.

[30:36] So we're all equals at this table.

[30:38] I guess. Okay. Would you like my rationale? Yeah.

[30:40] Okay.

[30:41] No? There's rationale behind it. Yeah. What is it?

[30:43] Love it.

[30:43] So one, we-

08/18/2026 Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

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