[0:06] Please

[0:12] stand of America and to the republic for it stands for one nation under God,

[0:18] indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[0:29] We have a roll call. >> Yes. Kyle or

[0:34] » Joel Quin. >> Penny Georgovich here. Mary Pitcher

[0:38] » here. >> Maryannne Goodman

[0:40] » here.

[0:45] On the agenda entertain a motion to approve.

[0:50] » Make the motion we approve. Uh August it's the agenda.

[0:55] for mine. Any discussion? Yes, I want to add something to it. Okay. It does need

[1:01] to get voted. Hold on.

[1:06] Um and with the other new business, it's simply an update of um signers on our

[1:11] bank accounts,

[1:15] please. Okay.

[1:18] Anything else? So,

[1:23] the agenda has been amended. All in favor of the say I

[1:29] » I motioned.

[1:39] We have the minutes of the July 2nd meeting.

[1:45] Entertain a motion to approve. Making a motion we approve the July 2nd

[1:51] monthly meeting minutes second by any discussion.

[2:00] » All in favor say I. >> I opposed.

[2:04] » Motion carries. >> Minutes.

[2:07] » Did you? >> No, no, no. Do you have the piece of

[2:09] paper with the bank sign or things on it? Did I give that to you?

[2:13] » That's okay. I think it's I think it's on

[2:16] » just looking. >> I think it's on the desk.

[2:18] » It'll be fine. Wait until we get um financial reports. Mary

[2:28] Okay. Sorry. I will slow down and breathe for a second. Okay. Oh. Uh

[2:35] financial reports relief township for the month ending July 31st, 2026.

[2:41] The fire fund. Um, general fund checking is at $74,57786.

[2:48] General fund money market account has 90,353.79.

[2:54] Um, CD29 has $34,967.94.

[3:01] CD51 is at $17,32326.

[3:07] CD44 is at $54,967.33.

[3:12] CD11 is at $110,65368.

[3:18] Petty cash has $100 in it. Our Michigan class account is at $36,71054.

[3:26] And an IC account with Honor Bank is at $11,625.94.

[3:33] Lake Township money market account at West Shore has $33,1804

[3:39] and the tax account has $100 of the general fund money for a total in Lake

[3:44] Township's general fund of $914,560.38.

[3:53] » Go for it. >> I make a motion that we approve the

[3:56] general fund as presented. [laughter] with that motion by turned by Maryanne.

[4:05] Oh, roll call, please. >> Kyle or

[4:08] » hi >> Mary Pitcher.

[4:10] » Hi. >> Mary and Goodman.

[4:11] » Hi. >> Joel Quin.

[4:13] » Hi. >> Penny George. I

[4:17] » We could put all those into one big account. Maybe.

[4:20] » Okay. Lake Township's fire fund for the month ending July 31st, 2026. Fire fund

[4:26] um CD number 37. 63,829.13.

[4:32] The money market account is $17,91.96.

[4:38] Fire funds Michigan class account is at $131,40023

[4:44] for a total in Lake Township's fire fund at $33,131.32.

[4:52] like to make a motion that we approve that financial report for the fire on

[4:55] treasure small reported

[5:00] by or any discussion. That'll be roll call.

[5:05] » Maryian Goodman. >> Hi.

[5:07] » Joel Quin. >> Hi.

[5:08] » Penny Georgovich. >> I Kyle or

[5:11] » Hi. >> Mary Pitcher. Hi.

[5:22] We on the clerk's report. >> Yeah, we need the clerk's report. How

[5:26] much you speak for this? Would you all hand?

[5:30] » Yes. And I'd like to make a motion that we approve $41,750.50

[5:36] for the payment of township accounts from the general fund.

[5:42] » All second Georgia supported by Goodman. Any

[5:46] questions or discussion? You all looked at the bills in advance.

[5:53] We'll be roll call. >> Joel Kine.

[5:56] » Hi. >> Marian Goodman.

[5:59] » Hi. >> Mary Pitcher.

[6:01] » Hi. >> Kyle Ore.

[6:03] » Hi. >> Penny George.

[6:04] » I.

[6:10] And I'd like to make a motion that we approve $2,742.65

[6:14] 65 cents from the fire fund for the payment of utilities and repairs.

[6:18] » Seconds.

[6:22] Any discussion? Roll

[6:25] » call. >> Kyle or

[6:28] » Joel Quine. >> Hi.

[6:29] » Maryanne Goodman. >> Hi.

[6:31] » Mary Pitcher. >> Hi.

[6:33] » Henny Verovich. I

[6:40] » That's it. >> Okay. This time we'll open public input.

[6:44] We're accepting input on any of the items that are on the agenda. There will

[6:48] be a second public input at the end of the meeting for general comments.

[6:53] Anybody have anything to say about items on the agenda?

[7:00] Hearing none, public input is closed. And we have a guest Joe Netto is with

[7:06] the Benzy County Road Commission and he's going to talk to us about I don't

[7:10] think the word is cost share, is it? Anyway, funds available to the township

[7:14] for road repair and other things.

[7:25] » I could take you guys if you would please just take a copy and past.

[7:30] » Sure.

[7:37] » My name is Joe. I'm the finance director to the board of the county road

[7:42] commission. Uh Troy asked me to stop in but he had a very important call

[7:46] tonight. So I got into this um um I want to also Troy isn't as versed

[7:54] in the local road matching program like you know so which I maintain and

[7:58] present. So I want to kind of go over the townships a little bit to give you a

[8:01] general idea of how the program works. Several years ago, our board decided

[8:07] that we want to uh elicit fellowship participations in various road projects

[8:13] and they in turn earmarked Michigan transportation fund dollars on the side

[8:20] for this first of all 12 townships. If you look at the first sheet that I gave

[8:25] you, it shows that distribution in various

[8:30] buckets, three years worth. The policy the board came up with is you can carry

[8:34] a three-year average balance of accumulated funds. If not used, they

[8:40] basically revert back into the general fund. Now, think of these as coupons

[8:45] with an expiration date. Not really money, but a pledge, if you will, to

[8:50] spend the dollars that are earmarked for your township. So Lake Township has

[8:56] presently $36,577

[9:00] available for matching any kind of project you may want to do. What I mean

[9:04] by matching it can be paving projects, culvert replacement, signage,

[9:11] raveling. Um except for the brine. The brine

[9:15] already take care of 50/50 with you without affecting this program. So the

[9:21] idea is to elicit their township to participate in maintaining the roads

[9:25] within their various distribution into districts.

[9:29] So this is a tool if you will at your disposal.

[9:35] Now normally we ask you give any kind of projects you may have planned for the

[9:39] coming year by December 1st the coming year so that way we can bid it out and

[9:44] get the best prices possible. Um several townships like Crystal Lake, um Elmyra

[9:51] and Benzonia have been using this program pretty significantly over the

[9:55] years and Crystal Crystal Lake is probably the best one because they

[10:01] reliably every year have road projects that they want but they have a

[10:04] millillage as well help that situation. So again this is a tool at your

[10:09] disposal. Now question is how can you upgrade your roads within your

[10:14] territory? There are two factors you can use. This

[10:17] is one of them. Matching fund here we talked about. And if you go to the next

[10:23] sheet after that, there's a program called the local road committee.

[10:27] And what that is, it's the annual millage that we get. We get about

[10:31] a,400,000 per year from the millillage from the

[10:35] road dish uh proines. All that amount we earmark half of that are used for

[10:41] upgrading local roads. And the other half is for the numbered or primary

[10:46] those. One year we did Destream Road. Um last year we kind of bore centered in

[10:52] areas because again better price for the dollar if you get all your projects in

[10:56] one area and you command a better price. So last year you'll see that Fowler

[11:01] Road, Grace, Eden Hill, Warden and Ballard Road. Those are the projects for

[11:07] this year. Now on this list you can participate and we ask the townships to

[11:12] come to our meeting every January. We asked all the townships to show up with

[11:17] their staff and this is where you can add projects or delay projects. Only

[11:21] thing you have to be careful of is these roadways have to be through through

[11:26] routes not end destinations. So subdivisions called the acts they

[11:31] wouldn't qualify. through road

[11:35] and we add two items to the list and the committee decides which project based on

[11:40] our engineers recommendations that they want to do. We have a list A and a list

[11:44] B. So the the ones in gray were the projects that were introduced and plan A

[11:52] we did that one for a million dollars and we had also an alternate plan B. Now

[11:58] next year plan B will become plan A. We'll put more projects for

[12:03] consideration. We try to get the projects to match the

[12:06] budget. Okay, so far so good. Okay, so

[12:12] participation is the key. U having people show up and go over what they

[12:17] would like to see happen is huge. Um we send out normally a blanket email of

[12:23] sometime in December, notify November, December that hey this is the meeting

[12:27] coming up any projects let us know. we can go ahead and give you an estimate

[12:31] what it cost. Um there are some townships that have a lot of paved roads

[12:37] and some that don't want to gravel roads.

[12:41] We recommend this is a good program as far as the little cost share the first

[12:46] uh sweetener. We want to sweeten the gravel up in your road. So when you

[12:49] apply brine it'll last longer. You put brine in and sand what happens

[12:54] evaporates right through. It doesn't last very long. So you get a road base

[12:58] of road gravel and uh clay. It holds the brine much better. It's less dusty. So

[13:05] again, we asked for consideration. We asked for your recommendation. What

[13:09] would you like to see? This is what your participation is really all about.

[13:15] Now I also the last page is our policy for local local road program.

[13:21] The only thing that we don't participate in is cleaving of a gravel road.

[13:27] That would be up to the township to provide 100% of the funding for that.

[13:32] But it's already paid. We'll match you dollar for dollar on

[13:35] this local road fund. So if you have $36,000 here mark, we'll put in $36,000

[13:42] of our own. Now you can go over that if you want, but our max contribution will

[13:47] be $36,500. You can put as much money in as you

[13:50] would like. Okay. Now, the buckets here 2024,

[13:57] 25, and 26. When we get to September 30th, the 2024

[14:02] bucket goes away, and the new bucket for 2027 will be added. So, essentially,

[14:08] you're going to have the same balance. Some townships who use it, well, of

[14:12] course, will get replenished their money. Some don't. The reason why we ask

[14:17] you give us an idea what you want now for next year is financial planning.

[14:21] Obviously, we're doing a new facility building and I'm trying to pinch pennies

[14:26] the best I can to keep make sure everything goes according to plan, but

[14:29] we do have a detailed plan on how we want to spend our paving dollars. And

[14:33] the millage money of course is separate. That goes wherever the committee agrees

[14:37] we want to go to. Any questions so far?

[14:43] » I have one. >> Sure.

[14:45] » Did I understand you're right when you said like participation is key? like if

[14:49] we can't make it to that meeting because Lake Township isn't on any of these.

[14:55] Yeah. We gave you like $340,000. But so if we're not if we can't be at

[15:00] the meeting, you're not going to our road.

[15:04] » You gave us $340,000. >> Tax money. Yes. That's what we Lake

[15:07] Township paid to the road commission. >> In what way?

[15:11] » Tax dollars. It goes >> You talk with millage.

[15:14] » Yeah. >> Okay. So mill money again. Again, we

[15:18] have a list of programs and if you we they send invitations out and

[15:23] » and if we can't make it, you don't don't look at any of our roads. I mean, is

[15:28] that >> we always look at the roads, but we need

[15:30] to have an idea. If you have an idea what you want to have done, you can send

[15:32] an email or ask her to meet with Troy or our staff members. I'd be glad to come

[15:36] out >> talking to different things. Okay.

[15:40] » Well, if you can't come to the actual if you talk about the December meeting.

[15:44] » Yes. >> Okay. Can you give an alternative? Maybe

[15:47] who can tell? >> Well, last year I attended but we hadn't

[15:51] chosen any projects and at that point it was too late because we hadn't chosen.

[15:56] That was my understanding. >> Okay. You can always add any project you

[15:59] so you know again what we encourage you if we township do is if you have a

[16:03] project you would like to see done contact our staff members and say hey

[16:07] we'd like to see flat road being done for example. How do we get about we'd

[16:11] like to see from point A to point B paid? What would you give me an idea

[16:15] what that would cost? Is that something you can put on the list? It would be put

[16:18] on the list. >> I think that that's why we invited you

[16:22] here today so that we can understand so that we're ready to submit something

[16:26] before December 1st. >> That's my understanding.

[16:30] » My question I mean I know there's this this paser,

[16:34] » right? >> Okay.

[16:36] » Okay. So, was there ever a case when you guys

[16:39] say, "Hey, you really need to look at this road, this road, this road, or you

[16:43] wanting us to evaluate >> kind of describing Bonia Township." Um,

[16:50] kind [clears throat] of got into that with that because their roads are all

[16:52] their roads are bad and we encourage them, hey, we like to see this road

[16:56] before it completely falls apart. The key in a road, normally a road last you

[16:59] about 20 years and we try to seal coat them at year eight or nine because

[17:04] that'll give you additional 14 years of service. But the minute they start

[17:08] crumbling, it's pretty hard to save them. And of course, our funding is very

[17:13] limited what we can voluntarily do from our general budget from driven roads. So

[17:19] if you have Okay, granted, let's start now. If you got a bunch of roads you'd

[17:25] like to see done, I'm sure I know I talked to Troy before the meeting.

[17:29] Please get a hold of him. Come if you ask invite him to take a tour with you.

[17:33] He can go over with you what roads they would recommend that you or two might

[17:36] want to do. >> That I mean that's where I

[17:40] would be on this list. >> Yeah. Both.

[17:43] » That's this exactly. >> We can pay for it. I know. But what

[17:47] about it coming from the county? You know, the month come from

[17:51] » again this the top one here. This is the anyone you want. Anything you want to do

[17:57] paving this for sure the township money that that the cost 5050

[18:01] » anything you want to represent right >> the millillage money is based upon input

[18:05] this is the road we'd like to see done we add them to the list and as money

[18:09] comes available year by year we add what fit best fits obviously there's some

[18:13] roads here that are pretty expensive like a half a million dollars to redo

[18:17] but if they have smaller road for example we can make it fit based upon

[18:20] the condition of the road the traffic pattern and everything else

[18:25] » so as money allows, you're also doing repairs above and beyond what we're

[18:31] sharing with. >> It doesn't include on this seal coating.

[18:33] We do that on our own, >> right?

[18:35] » We don't do patchwork. We don't do we don't charge you for that. We do our own

[18:38] thing. Um we don't paving, I'm sorry, plowing, uh grow shoulders, for example,

[18:46] mowing the side of the road. That's something we do in our own.

[18:50] And every year I give you a financial statement that tells you the different

[18:54] activities we do by your township. I don't know if you remember receiving

[18:57] that from me. Would have been probably about two months ago. It breaks it down

[19:01] by township, mowing, plowing, uh, uh, highway painting, grading, all the

[19:09] different activities. You see how we spend our regular routine money in the

[19:11] township. >> I know that we have to come to you on

[19:15] when we want we think this road is bad. What about things like like culverts

[19:19] though? I mean, I don't know if a culvert is bad. Would you guys come to

[19:23] us if you knew there was an issue and said, "Hey, you should consider this

[19:26] » failing culvert." Yes. >> Thank you.

[19:30] » A deteriorating culvert. That's a different story. Benzy County, if you

[19:33] notice, is probably river capital of Michigan. There are rivers and streams

[19:38] everywhere with culvert. So, we have right now we're working in a couple to

[19:41] get replaced. >> So, we just people complain.

[19:44] » Well, we actually got our patrol. But we notice if this happens a lot is over

[19:48] time the actual the uh galvanized material brick will get a hole in the

[19:52] pavement and going uh oh what's going on here? Well over time

[19:56] » again we also can tell based upon u silt that builds up and they plug or

[20:04] there's any kind of flooding involved. Again, we do have an inventory of a

[20:09] colors we started about three or four years ago. And by getting either Tyler

[20:13] or uh Scott or Troy over here, he can go over all these things with you that he

[20:18] would recommend that you would want to consider doing, whether it be culverts

[20:22] or sand replacements or graveling a road or overlaying a road that's cut to

[20:27] crumble. He can make that recommendation based upon what you have here. We would

[20:31] love to have that. We are going. Yes. Okay. We're going to try to let you

[20:35] finish your presentation then. >> Keep going.

[20:38] » Questions. We'll >> keep asking.

[20:40] » What question you got? >> No, I'm good for now.

[20:43] » Did you have more to present? >> Well, yes. The last one I have is the

[20:46] actual policy. I don't know if I didn't see we have all this information, by the

[20:50] way, on our web page. www.bcdcrc.org. [clears throat]

[20:57] All this information there. of this right here.

[21:02] Well, then have it. Why don't you have my copy here?

[21:07] » Missing it. Thank you very much. >> No, I'm fine.

[21:13] » Here's an extra >> part of our policies is just to go over

[21:17] and define what we actually request, how we actually maintain these things and

[21:22] that lays out the whole process of local road systems for you. So use as a

[21:26] template that uh policy is online at our web page how that goes about how you can

[21:31] go about petitioning the road commission to make improvements. But I think the

[21:35] real thing what needs to happen is to start is calling Troy and ask hey can we

[21:39] set a little appointment with you to go over what you think we should do for

[21:43] different areas of culverts road paving. What would you like us to see?

[21:48] Okay, that's a start. What level you want to go to is totally up to you, but

[21:53] he can give you an idea, an outline what items you want to let you look at. Um,

[22:01] most township townships don't because again, they just don't have the money.

[22:06] Some of them do. Some have a lot of road projects, some don't. We just recently

[22:11] did some uh signage improvements, a couple of our key intersections, the

[22:16] flashing lights, you notice, that sort of thing. We again, once something's

[22:21] identified to us, we act on them. Our board is very conscious about safety.

[22:27] They're very conscious about responding to public requests and things like that.

[22:31] So again, we don't we can't read the minds of the town. We need your input

[22:36] any way we can. And if you can't, let's say make the meeting, there's no reason

[22:41] why you can't introduce a project now. Not at all. If you have something you

[22:46] might want to put the look for the village again, long as it's not a dead

[22:50] end or subdivision street, it's a through street, they can be added to

[22:55] that list, a mill list and Troy can develop estimate for you. We can put you

[23:00] don't have to be at the meeting to put it on, but you just let them know you

[23:02] want to have that done. >> So, you mentioned signs. Um, and Troy's

[23:08] list mentioned signs as well. Can you give us an example of what kind of

[23:12] signs? >> Every year the actual standards, Astro

[23:16] standards for signs change. The size of the sign, the stop signs for example,

[23:20] changes. Some of the signage faded, hard to look at, posts are kind of bent over,

[23:26] things like that. If you want to go ahead and make improve your signage for

[23:30] bigger size, more safety, you know what a lollipop is by chance. your sign. It's

[23:34] a stop sign with a red reflective post that we put into it. It's more

[23:39] visibility that way. So, if you have an intersection, it's kind of a problem

[23:43] area. It raises the driver's awareness. There's a stop sign ahead. You can do

[23:48] things like stop ahead. You can do uh rumble strips if you want to. That'll

[23:53] get bumpified. Want to replace the sign, all the stop sign, old signs in your

[23:58] township with newer, more efficient, bigger signs, you can even do that.

[24:02] » Could you see that? description. >> That be on a state road. No,

[24:07] » that could be anywhere. >> Depending on where it is.

[24:12] » Now, we all number save center road. Remember that little thing?

[24:16] » Yeah. >> Yeah. That was fun. Um

[24:19] » and that would be one of the cost share things.

[24:22] » Yes. >> Yeah.

[24:24] If you feel the need is important. I'll grant it. We have to make sure that it's

[24:28] allowable under the stand-to standards. So if it's allowable, there's no reason

[24:32] why it couldn't unless you want it to be.

[24:35] » And the people that live there have no choice in it.

[24:38] » We ask for all and prove. Again, we work with the township boards because you are

[24:42] the body closer to the people's. So we rely on you to be your eyes and ears

[24:47] » and we would be the ones to say yes, they want.

[24:49] » You bet.

[24:54] » Normally we put them in high traffic areas. Normally numbered roads or

[24:58] primary roads. There are some areas though like Bendon Road. We put a rumble

[25:01] strip on and if they got them seriously chipped off to put it back on again.

[25:06] » Intersection. Yeah. >> Again, it depends. If you have an area

[25:09] that would be warning drivers and it's a bad stopped area, you look good or you

[25:14] have traffic uh if it's a traffic accident history. It' be a

[25:19] consideration. [clears throat] >> Joel, you've been pretty quiet. Do you

[25:22] have any questions? >> No. My mind is thinking where you're

[25:26] thinking. [laughter] Any questions?

[25:29] » No. No. I've got a lot of some good information, but yeah, definitely we

[25:33] need to set up some of >> you have $36,000, but we'd match up to

[25:38] that amount and you're going to drop off 12,000 this year or didn't even get

[25:42] used, >> but we'll add 12,000, right?

[25:45] » Yeah. >> Yeah. Do that because right now it's too

[25:47] late to add a project and our fiscal year is September 30th,

[25:49] » right? >> But for next year,

[25:52] » totally up to you how you want to go about it.

[25:55] » We'd love to see you come to the table. We'd love to see you have give us a

[25:57] project list you'd like to see done. So, >> thank you.

[26:01] » Any more questions? >> I do. I have a couple of like different

[26:03] kind of topics. >> Just quick and yeah. Um, any word on

[26:07] moving Sutter Road? >> Nope.

[26:09] » Okay. >> Um, M22, remind me of the timeline for

[26:14] any got a timeline on red fixing this road or redoing. Do you know?

[26:17] » I tell you to call M dot. >> I've been talking to M dot. We're not

[26:20] even on the fiveyear plan. I told seriously for a couple years

[26:26] in Land about that. They're doing 204 22 between SS Bay and Gorilla working that

[26:33] get his account. >> I mentioned that a few meetings ago. Um

[26:36] I can't remember the guy's name in ter city but um

[26:38] » Dan Wagner. >> Yes. He was thinking there might be some

[26:41] extra money this year and he could squeeze out an extra project and then

[26:44] there wasn't. So now I'm just lobbying to get in a five-year plan as soon as

[26:48] possible. >> I worked with Dan at Leeleno. He was my

[26:52] boss when I was at the finest director of Leela. So Dan went from being manager

[26:56] at lew

[27:00] ways but um you know the stuff and Dan and he he's really good about getting

[27:05] back to things about your fate request but unfortunately MDOT like everyone

[27:09] else had a bad winter last year. Obviously the costs were a lot higher

[27:13] than we anticipated and they're not broke but they don't have extra money a

[27:17] lot of extra money and normally I've been through this cycle for quite a few

[27:21] years. MDOT gives us money with a 30-day of the year end. So August 1, they go,

[27:27] "Oh, we have X number of dollars to per project." We're going, "Uh uh,

[27:31] [clears throat] you know, how do you spend it?" So this year though, I'm

[27:34] getting to wonder if you even have the money. But of course, they got a lot of

[27:37] it tied up in the roundabouts. >> They're concentrating right now on the

[27:41] roundabout at Interlock in. That's been a fun project. I'm sure now they're

[27:46] doing the bypasses and um again don't ask if they can't say can't say yes we

[27:53] don't ask. So >> but we don't have that ability. That's

[27:56] not us. >> Wish we could but we don't. We just

[27:59] maintain it for them now by confident. >> Marian more.

[28:02] » Yeah, I got one more for you. >> Okay. So this this came to mind because

[28:07] of the the um election and the the mill vote and everything. Somebody said to me

[28:12] they said well they voted no for the county village. They said because you

[28:16] know what? We told the road commission no twice and then they found the money.

[28:19] So they think the county is going to find money if they tell them no. So my

[28:23] question to you is maybe they start thinking the money you got it it wasn't

[28:28] a gift I take it. It was some kind of a grant or a bond. Right.

[28:31] » Let me give you this. >> Okay. So how are you going to make the

[28:34] payments on that? >> Okay.

[28:37] » Glad Arts here did on this one. Um, just so you know what happened was we went to

[28:42] the first millillage and we got defeated by a couple hundred votes. While we

[28:47] filed for the second goound, the funding package in Lancing, which always every

[28:52] year dies and whatever, I actually went through

[28:56] » which gave more money to the road commission

[29:00] » gift. No, it's through the Michigan transportation funds, the allocation

[29:04] process, how they actually put the actual dollars generated from the

[29:06] revenues and how they chunk it through and how they disperse it out. A bigger

[29:10] share was given to the actual counties finally because at any given time we've

[29:16] got $20 million of repair that needs to be done and only get a million dollars

[29:20] allocated to us to do that. So in this particular case, we realized two things.

[29:24] We were able to pay our M's obligation off. As of last December, we were 100%

[29:30] funded on our first funding. So our divine benefit. So we were putting extra

[29:35] money in every year up to almost a million dollars extra per year before

[29:39] that to get that paid down. So now with that being made, we have an additional

[29:44] $600,000 available in this process. But we knew that wasn't enough for the bond

[29:49] we need to do. So coupled with that savings from the merge program and with

[29:54] the additional money coming in that's starting to come in now through the MTF

[29:58] distribution we have enough money for the actual bond repayment of million2

[30:02] per year. >> Okay.

[30:03] » And how asked a certain thing they only wanted us to put three years worth of

[30:07] bond repayment in as a reserve of cash and that's part of the stipulation that

[30:12] we did when we actually did this particular project. So won't be

[30:16] insolveny involved. The road commission has never been a situation where we

[30:19] couldn't pay the lastly I've been there. That'll plan out to be in the future

[30:23] either. So we do have avenues built into our budget. We're going to pay that sort

[30:27] of next year by year and additional revenues stream has been fairly stable.

[30:33] There are a few things involved with the marijuana tax and the corporate income

[30:36] tax. are still being tussled down lancing the lawyers but right now

[30:40] there's no no but we're going to see nothing for sure in October whether that

[30:44] that's going to be come to fruition or not even without it you have enough to

[30:48] make the payment and not lose services to the residents

[30:52] » I'm worried they're not going to get like weekend plowing because you have to

[30:56] pay these bills and >> you got to remember

[30:59] » got to figure it out right >> that's what the mill is for millillage

[31:02] remember I told you we have that village we have separate money where we're able

[31:05] to give you guarantee weekend and nighttime patrol of primary roads.

[31:11] » Thank you. >> So you have we have two drivers on

[31:15] sorry a total of four on during the winter time that covers that particular

[31:19] road. So we get 24 hours of coverage on the high volume roads and they say trunk

[31:22] line. So that's done through the millage proceeds not through the other stuff.

[31:26] » Thank you. I'll remember to tell them that because we're going to have to

[31:30] start pushing again and letting everybody know we're out of money. Thank

[31:33] you. >> And I realized too, it's been a hard

[31:36] struggle. We realized the residents of Benzy, they don't have a lot of money.

[31:39] We realized that and we took that message for we found we found a way to

[31:44] make it work. Unfortunately, when that re before the second election took

[31:48] place, we had that the whole thing in the works at Lancing. And when the

[31:52] millage failed that same week, the funding package was

[31:57] approved. At that point, we realized, you know what? The longer we wait, the

[32:01] more it's going to cost. Okay? So, when we first looked at this

[32:05] thing four years ago, the cost was earmarked at 12 million. Then, two years

[32:09] ago, it went to 16 million. Now, it's at 20 million. That's what we committed to.

[32:16] But we have enough money with the bond we sold and internal savings we had, we

[32:21] had squirreling money away. We have enough to cover.

[32:25] So by hopefully next next fall we'll be in the facilities.

[32:29] » Thank you. >> Back to snow plowing for a second. You

[32:31] probably hear it too. Um I hear compliments about the snow plowing all

[32:35] the time. It's like people say they go to you know an adjacent county and you

[32:39] can tell when you hit the county line because the roads aren't as good. So

[32:42] » well I was Leela's fun instructor for almost 20 years and used to be Leela had

[32:48] the reputation that Benty was kind of hurting but that has not been the case.

[32:52] We found out over the years we have a staff who takes it to heart and they've

[32:57] really made a huge difference in strides. I'm proud of them. They've done

[33:01] a wonderful job of keeping this update. We had during that snowstorm we had this

[33:05] March, we had guys sleep over in the building because they couldn't go home

[33:09] and they had to put in 12-hour days, took a eight hour nap and went back out

[33:12] again to make sure the roads were opened up. So,

[33:16] » everybody appreciates it >> and we again we're proud of them. They

[33:19] really stepped up. Any other questions for Joe? I'm done. Thank you very much.

[33:25] » Can I add just a couple comments to about the building? If I could sure just

[33:30] add some quick detail. Um, when the ballots were already sent out, it was

[33:36] only after they were sent out, as Joe said, that they found out additional

[33:40] funding would take place. We spent over a series of a number of

[33:45] discussions with the road commission and elected representatives on Lancing to

[33:50] talk about and try to understand the reliability of the new revenue coming

[33:55] from Lancing. Joe has mentioned the fact that there are two sources of revenue

[34:00] that aren't even being considered. But by the way, the marijuana tax is already

[34:04] being collected but not dispersed. But what happened is at the gas pump

[34:10] they went from, and Joe correct me if I'm wrong, like 6 cents or 6% to 24

[34:17] cents, which dramatically increased the amount of revenue that they could get

[34:22] shared then to local road commissions. We lost some of that uh formula. We lost

[34:27] some of that funding when transportation. So they took away and

[34:31] they added 24 cents as an addition, but they took away 8 cents a gallon from the

[34:36] old funding. So, we saw a shortfall this spring before the two synced up. So,

[34:42] right now we're seeing the gains of the distributions uh starting last month.

[34:47] We're starting to see that additional funding. So, um we would have done this

[34:51] if we weren't positive we can make it work.

[34:53] » Very well. >> Thank you so much. Really appreciate

[34:56] you. >> You're welcome. Thank you very much.

[35:05] » Okay. On to committee resort. >> Um, do you have anything on the park?

[35:15] » Um, planning commission. Do you want me to talk about the meeting first or you

[35:20] want to start? >> Um,

[35:23] no. Why don't you go ahead? >> So, you all got tonight a proposed

[35:29] calendar that McKenna sent for the Bapton ordinance. It's really

[35:33] aggressive. Um, we found that we need to do an update to

[35:38] the master plan prior to adopting the final version of zoning ordinance. So,

[35:43] there's going to be a bit of an extra charge for that. As part of that, um, we

[35:48] have to publish for 63 days a future land use map. So, this is a draft future

[35:55] land use map that Beckett and Raider put together. none of us could access it um

[36:01] once they were no longer working for us. Um but John Rothar had downloaded a copy

[36:07] so I got that from him. Um the request is could this board please have a

[36:13] special meeting on Wednesday August 19th to authorize the distribution of this

[36:21] map for 63 days. Um, and then there's other steps, but

[36:27] the first step to adopting a future land use map is the 63-day distribution. Um,

[36:34] then the planning commission would have a special hearing on the future land use

[36:38] map on October 30th and then it would be adopt

[36:45] board introduces amendment. Um, it would come before us again on November 5th.

[36:53] Um, so again, the master plan everybody probably knows is a visionary document.

[36:59] This is like is this what we want our township to look like? Um, they don't

[37:05] the master plan map and the zoning ordinance map don't always um they're

[37:10] not always the same. In this situation um where we're adopting a new zoning

[37:15] ordinance as well, the maps will probably match in the beginning

[37:20] the mass future land use map and the zoning map. Do you agree, Josh?

[37:24] » Well, if we're making some zoning map changes, you I would recommend you put

[37:28] it on the future zoning map and then >> Oh, so that reminded me of one other

[37:33] thing. Um Josh has recommended an additional change to what you see here,

[37:39] a very minor change, and that will get explained. Um

[37:45] do we need we need to have that change made before our August 19th meeting when

[37:50] we authorize distribution, don't we? >> Well, if if we're going to make a zoning

[37:54] map change in the new zoning ordinance, it it for me it makes sense it goes on

[37:59] that master plan document. So, we have to ask McKenna to make that one other

[38:04] change. Correct. >> What What's the change?

[38:07] » The change in chimney already did. She's going to do it.

[38:11] » She's going to do that. Okay. Y >> and can we have that you think by August

[38:15] 19th? >> Oh, definitely.

[38:16] » Okay. >> Yeah. In fact, I think she's like I

[38:18] didn't check my email, but I think she said it supposed to be today.

[38:22] » She's revising this. So, because I the commercial reserve district on

[38:25] Deadstream, the the Plat Lake side is still there.

[38:30] And then it looks like >> I don't think it was reduced as much as

[38:33] we talked about. >> It did. We did reduce some of it. We

[38:37] did, right? >> Yeah, we did.

[38:40] » You did on the lake. >> Yeah. And then around and then around

[38:44] Riverside that's supposed to remain, which that looks like that's gone.

[38:50] » That's where are you?

[38:55] There's red by

[38:59] » Lake Michigan Road. There's one little dot.

[39:01] » All right. >> All right. We're gonna leave that.

[39:05] » So, we're leaving half of most of Deadstream Commercial Resort.

[39:09] » You think we need to double check that? I recall that the planning commission

[39:13] wanted more of a reduction on the south side of Deadstream Road, a reduction in

[39:18] the commercial, >> but that's for the new zoning. This

[39:21] should be like our master, right? Hold on a second. Yeah, that that

[39:25] map is from Becca Greater. >> So, that wasn't even discussed when that

[39:30] map was made. But our Andrea has a new mallet that I called in um chimney

[39:37] corners change and a change on our on dead stream. So, that map should be

[39:43] there. >> So, she got a copy of what Becket and

[39:46] Raider had done, >> right? but she's changing it to what you

[39:50] already discussed and and I called in that um the change that Josh um made

[39:57] with with the property tax ID number. So it the the map should be by well

[40:03] actually by the 13th that map we're going to have to um the planning

[40:07] commission is going to have to look at that map

[40:09] » and that's what our meeting is going to be about on the 13th.

[40:12] » Okay. So that said, are you all willing to have a special meeting on August

[40:17] 19th? Just >> think it's 20th, you know, right?

[40:21] » I do know, but um the 20th is not good for Joel.

[40:26] » Okay. >> And on the 19th, I could do afternoon or

[40:29] evening. I just can't do between 4:45 and 6:45.

[40:36] I work that day. So during day is tricky, too. title.

[40:45] » So, it's afternoon again. >> After somewhere,

[40:49] » what about 3:00 when we're done? >> Three. No.

[40:54] » Have to go to the bank and and stuff like that, too. That's That's not good

[40:57] for me. >> So, you would

[41:02] » four o'clock be good? >> I'm walking out of here at 4:45.

[41:05] » Oh, yeah. >> It should be really quick.

[41:08] » August 19th. I leave the Well, no, I'm not leaving the 20th. I leave the 21st.

[41:12] It's okay. >> Are you sure? Friday's the 21st.

[41:15] » Yeah, I do. >> Okay. If need be. Or um it might just be

[41:19] It's okay. I'm call. Okay. So, let's do whatever time you want.

[41:23] » Wednesday the 19th. >> You need three.

[41:27] » How about should we go 3:30? >> Let's go three. Let's Let's give

[41:32] yourself time. Okay. >> You know, if if we're going to have

[41:34] somebody here to help, let's just >> All right. I mean, you certainly don't

[41:38] want to be like, "Oh, you know, we we didn't do it. Didn't have time."

[41:41] » So, that does not require a vote. It actually does not um have to be

[41:45] published in the paper, but we'll put on the bulletin board of the website,

[41:48] Penny. >> Yep.

[41:51] » Okay. >> For that, maybe. And can I actually get

[41:53] a copy of the one that we're going to look at? I really like what I'm hearing.

[41:59] » Shouldn't Shouldn't this not be what is in our master plan, not what we're going

[42:03] to change it to? Why would it be It is. >> It's not a future land map. It's like a

[42:09] change. >> Can we discuss that

[42:12] » when we get the map? >> We can.

[42:14] » That's just probably save time in our meeting.

[42:16] » Okay. Um, very well. >> Let me make sure.

[42:19] » Anything else on the level? >> Yeah. Okay. So, uh, we have a a new

[42:27] revised zilling ordinance bill preliminary out

[42:32] in the office. Um, Andrea did meet with both lake

[42:37] associations after our last meeting the next day

[42:41] » at their expense. >> At their expense. Okay. Um, and I just a

[42:46] little bit I I got back from her. She thought it was a very productive

[42:48] meeting. I haven't we haven't seen anything yet

[42:52] from her that will probably be at our August 13th meeting, but we also have

[42:55] some stuff to gosh to deal with in the August 13th meetings. We do have an

[43:00] aggressive schedule. There's no doubt about it. This may this map

[43:05] may slow us down, but our what our plan is, what we're hoping for.

[43:11] We have a meeting on August 13th at 6:30 and then we also will have a a special

[43:18] meeting for 400 p.m. August 28th.

[43:25] that the August 13th meeting, we are hoping to have a draft that we're ready

[43:30] to present to the public fully and then they will have till August 28th to

[43:36] digest all that and then they can bring their comments in August 28th at 4.

[43:41] » That that's a public hearing. >> Yep. Public hearing

[43:44] » on the zoning ordinance.

[43:50] » September 3rd is when we would bring it to the

[43:55] township board and then we proposed September 10th

[44:01] special meeting of the township board to approve

[44:07] the new zoning ordinance. Now this map throws us

[44:13] » on this calendar it says >> October 1st. This is what we I mean

[44:19] maybe maybe Andrea but these were the four dates that we have that we had at

[44:25] our last planning commission meeting the 13th. Oh, the 10th would have a special

[44:28] meeting. >> The 10th would be the the 10th would be

[44:30] a special meeting. If that's what the planning comm now, I didn't know about

[44:35] the map that the 63 days and all this and that

[44:39] » if we could I Josh, can we approve zoning without this or do we have to

[44:45] wait till November?

[44:49] » I mean, if you said those two things were going to go concurrently,

[44:52] » I Yeah, >> there was no mention of 63 days. We're

[44:55] not going to go to master plan jail, right? But in the grand scheme of

[45:00] planning, you you know, if you're going to make zoning map changes, you you

[45:03] typically will do it through the master plan process.

[45:07] And I I, you know, recommend that your your your future zoning map and your

[45:13] zoning ordinance map match if if you're happy with it, right? You know, because

[45:18] you've done it. You're fulfilling your your master plan dream and your zoning

[45:22] ordinance. But in the grand scheme of things, you would normally if you're

[45:26] going to make any zoning or map changes, you would you do that through a future

[45:29] land use map in the manage plan. But you're you're basically doing that

[45:34] » backwards. >> I just did about a September 10th

[45:38] special. That's the planning division meeting, right?

[45:40] » No, no, that's the special township board. Remember remember I ran that by

[45:44] you at that meeting? You said I think that would be really nice to give the

[45:48] board a week to review the zoning. September like we present it to the

[45:53] board September 3rd gives everybody another week

[45:58] us to review and say I like it don't like it.

[46:02] » Well, yeah. If we come back and say we don't like it, then just

[46:05] » Well, Mary, >> that put me in jail.

[46:08] » I >> I just So, this calendar from Andrea

[46:12] says Thursday, October.

[46:17] » May I say about Mark? Um, >> thank you.

[46:22] » August ahead of time. >> August 28th is our um is a public

[46:28] hearing to review the zoning ordinance, the text force on the zoning ordinance.

[46:35] So once so and what Kyle was um was bringing up at our meetings is that it

[46:42] gives the people who are here a chance to actually comment and have input into

[46:47] our zoning ordinance. So, um, that that's the important meeting as far as

[46:53] what the public's doing. Maryanne, you're asking what if you don't like it.

[46:57] Well, the thing is if there's tweaks or something that we can do, then have to

[47:01] do that because if the board's going to have to either approve it or not approve

[47:04] it, and you might approve it with tweaks, but I think the important thing

[47:08] is on the 28th is that the public is able to say what they have to say and

[47:13] get their input in on what we're what we have. I I mean I don't know as much as

[47:18] we beat this thing to death uh for the last two years. Um I think that we got a

[47:24] pretty decent document. I mean not everybody's happy with everything that's

[47:28] going into it, but it's it's pretty good. It's it's um it strengthens a lot

[47:33] of things. Um it it it u addresses things that people were bringing up

[47:39] about um you know development and lot size and things like that. So I think um

[47:44] you know but I think the important thing is that public is able to comment on it

[47:49] once it's in the board's hands if it gets delayed and you push it off I don't

[47:53] see a problem but I think it stop stops is whether Josh is going to implement it

[47:59] that's all that's all I can see that's it's going to stop you know and if we

[48:04] and if we are good with McKenna's role >> right I mean if the board wants to push

[48:08] it down the road but we are Well, then it's done and it's done and and then we

[48:14] write the check and then it's going to be

[48:18] » debate over issue here, issue there. >> Well, and we're going to

[48:26] » live within that document and and we're going to notice things like, okay, maybe

[48:30] that wasn't what we really thought. We can compile an amendment list, too.

[48:35] » Right. Well, and I'm doing that same with the STR. Yeah. I mean, you know, we

[48:39] came out with a ordinance and now we're finding out what's working, what's not.

[48:43] We're tweaking a little bit here, a little bit there. But, uh, I think

[48:46] overall, I think we've we've covered a lot of good stuff and and we have a lot,

[48:51] you know, there's a tremendous amount of mind power that went into this thing.

[48:56] So, I don't think we should pull it right off the bat.

[48:59] » Okay. So, Maryanne, your question, um, on August 31st, transmit zoning text to

[49:04] board and county. That actually should say transmit zoning text to townships

[49:08] and county. We're required to send a text to any township that's contiguous

[49:13] to us and to the county even though they don't have a planning commission. And

[49:17] then the surrounding townships and the county have until September 30th to

[49:24] why we can't approve it until after that. We can't we have to wait till

[49:28] that. Right. And that and that's possibly could be Andrea digesting

[49:32] » because we were throwing a lot of dates and she was like I think I need to keep

[49:35] this timeline but I'll I haven't seen this calendar. That's why she

[49:41] was because that expires on the

[49:46] » please

[49:49] order. Um Josh, I'm now confused and I thought I was

[49:56] really clear on this. September, you probably don't have this calendar in

[49:59] front of you, do you? Well, so September 10th, we did schedule

[50:03] a ZVA hearing at 5:00 p.m. >> and that's in my report.

[50:09] » Okay. Oh, >> so this says September 3rd, board

[50:12] introduces zoning text. And then it says October 1st, board

[50:18] adopts zoning tax. And I think that's for R.

[50:26] It all depends on when you want to adopt the zoning ordinance and how it relates

[50:30] to that master plan. >> I feel like we're doing them

[50:34] simultaneously. >> Yes,

[50:37] » that was what was discussed at planning, but it almost sounds like the adoption

[50:42] of the zoning orders is going to come a month earlier than the master plan

[50:46] adoption. >> Not on this calendar.

[50:50] This calendar has adoption of the future land use map which is the master plan

[50:55] one on November 5th. >> Okay.

[50:57] » And adoption of the zoning ordinance map on December 1st.

[51:02] » Okay. So what were your introduction meetings then? You were going to

[51:05] introduce the draft m or the draft zoning ordinance

[51:10] » on August 19th. Authorize the 63day distribution of this. Yeah. So,

[51:16] » putting it out in the public for 63 days.

[51:20] » So, that's the master plan now. >> Okay. But then I I thought I heard there

[51:27] was going to be an introduction to the zoning board on it some date in

[51:31] September. Did you say that? >> August this on here. It's September 3rd.

[51:37] » And then >> introduce it. And then

[51:39] » second meeting >> on the 10th. out of 10

[51:41] » was when we were we were hoping to have a special meeting with the township

[51:46] board to approve the zoning the new zoning or

[51:49] » then the zoning ordinance is >> but this shows October 1st, right?

[51:53] » This shows October 1st, >> but you're not adopting it.

[51:56] » Our hope was that we would September 12th.

[51:58] » Okay. Well, >> that was our hope at our last planning

[52:00] commission. >> Won't have had it for 30 days was our

[52:03] timeline. They have to have it available to them first. Yeah,

[52:06] » that is why I think they had I think it's October and that's maybe Andrew did

[52:10] some more digging. I have not seen the scale.

[52:13] » I I think we could probably go to October.

[52:17] » I think we can go to October 1st and not do the September 10th.

[52:22] » Um, >> do we still have that?

[52:25] » I think that clears it off. >> Do we still have Do we still have the

[52:27] August 28th? >> Oh, definitely.

[52:30] » Okay. So, we just eliminate We just eliminate the separate time. The 28th

[52:34] meeting is actually the public period. >> Yeah. Right.

[52:37] » Okay. >> On on the text.

[52:39] » So, we are for sure having a special meeting at 3:00 on August 19th. And

[52:44] sounds like we're going to be following this calendar, but the planning

[52:47] commission will continue to

[52:56] » just to make it clear for everybody, the planning commission will be meeting

[52:59] August 13th at 6:30 p.m. That's correct. >> Yes. and we'll discuss

[53:05] probably the map probably the changes she made pretty overlay because she met

[53:09] with the lake associations and uh Elden Miller

[53:14] » you you want to put that on the agenda to talk about

[53:17] » I thought he was chomping at the bid I thought we

[53:20] » he he is Elton >> the I think Josh and Mark need to talk

[53:25] about that um Elden Miller is the >> the We're really getting down.

[53:32] » Let's go play develop. >> I think between the two of you just

[53:36] figure out when Elden Miller is going to be in.

[53:39] » Okay. >> Okay. Are we good?

[53:45] » I got it. >> For now, we can.

[53:49] » Okay. On to the website committee. Michelle is still here. We

[53:55] are um next week They don't use the word uploading, but

[54:00] essentially we're uploading all of our stuff. Michelle's going to help with the

[54:05] fingers crossed. Michelle's going to help with an intermediary

[54:09] um location

[54:13] and um that's happening early next week, we hope.

[54:19] And okay, >> which means like after that it works.

[54:23] » Well, no, revise then we're closer. However, however long revice takes then

[54:28] to create it, they have all over

[54:35] um staff reports. Did we get anything from that? I don't see anything.

[54:40] » No. Okay. >> Moving on to code enforcement officer

[54:46] Mark Janesco. Is there anything you want to highlight?

[54:48] » Yeah, I was uh Bay Lake City report. Um, pretty busy month in July.

[54:57] Uh, the short-term rentals. I received one complaint about people camping on

[55:01] the property with their STR and we'll address this in the fall when I get my

[55:06] final report for the year um for the short-term rentals. Um, I know that the

[55:12] owner and resolved the issue, however, has suggested that we include an

[55:15] amendment to the STR cannot allow campers on STR properties because of the

[55:20] difficulty to regulate. and he's correct about that. So, um I also have two uh

[55:26] short-term rental applications with all the information except payment and looks

[55:30] like I'm just gotten payment today on one. I'm working with contact people to

[55:35] secure the payments. Uh I went to two firework ordinance complaints. Notices

[55:40] were given and uh just for the public's and for the boards, you can con you can

[55:46] call me anytime any time of the night. just call me, let me know that there's

[55:51] something going on and I'll I'll respond. Okay. So, um that was part of

[55:56] the the job I think when I was um brought on. So, um the dock issue

[56:03] brought to the township by Kim Simons at 7932 Astro has not been resolved.

[56:09] Currently, we are seeking legal counsel due to the fact that the Simons don't

[56:14] recognize our amendment to the dock ordinance portion of our zoning

[56:18] ordinance as legal. Meanwhile, the neighbors dock is in 100% compliance

[56:23] with our ordinance and repairing water lines. The Simons, meanwhile, are in

[56:28] violation of our dock ordinance being too close 5T away from the prop

[56:32] neighbor's property line as it extends into the water, which is what our

[56:37] amendment to our ordinance says. We are waiting on an answer from our

[56:41] attorney. I turned uh a blight case at 8036

[56:47] Deadstream Road. I've been getting a lot of calls on that. People are asking

[56:51] what's going on with that. I turned it over to the magistrate's office for

[56:54] legal action. >> Is that the one on the corner of

[56:56] Pickory? >> That's correct.

[56:58] » You have a name on that one? >> Uh that's Tucker, Dave Tucker.

[57:05] » The trash cans at the park have been full most days during July. Penny

[57:08] ordered another garbage can ring uh the surround and that's in the garage. I

[57:13] need to assemble that. Um I replaced two grill bottoms with steel plates and

[57:18] they're working really really well. Saving us some money on grills. I

[57:22] remember a couple three years ago I got those um steel plates made up and I put

[57:27] two of them in. I have to replace put two more in and they're working

[57:30] fantastic. >> Are you really going to read this whole

[57:33] report? [laughter] >> Crossing words off. I'm almost

[57:38] » okay. Um, okay. Someone defecated on the side of the Thompson call during the

[57:43] voting and used a towel. I use a towel. They use a towel for the cleanup. I

[57:48] threw the towel in the trash. Henry viewed the camera videos to see if we

[57:52] could catch the person that did the deed.

[57:56] » We We can only see the parking lot and it's not easy to scan. Um, we did see a

[58:02] white 4erunner pass through the parking lot, but

[58:06] » it did not stop after >> it didn't stop. It didn't stop.

[58:09] [laughter]

[58:13] » Well, the reason why that's important is because it was during boating and you

[58:17] see weird objects on the side of the building and stuff like that. We just

[58:21] got to take precautions. >> Anyways, our two traffic uh speed signs

[58:25] are up and running. They worked well. I don't know if you saw them. And as

[58:29] always, if anybody has any questions or complaints, feel free to contact me

[58:32] anytime. >> Couple of things. Where are the speed

[58:35] signs roughly? What roads? >> Uh Dead Stream and Crystal Drive.

[58:39] » Thank you. And I would like to pass on a compliment that we got. I was talking to

[58:43] someone on the phone the other day and they said, "Oh, Mark, oh my god, he was

[58:46] so wonderful and helpful and they they really you were just what they needed

[58:50] and they had short-term rentals. They >> do they have the last name? [laughter]

[58:55] » They still have to pay. I I do have one one question.

[59:01] » Uh with the with the the bands that were playing on the Sandbar last Sunday,

[59:07] » were there any complaints, any feedback, anything?

[59:11] » No. Um no, there I didn't receive any complaints. They were short.

[59:15] » It didn't last very long. And so I think that sort of boils down. People are

[59:19] saying, "Well," and then they don't do anything because they they cut the music

[59:23] off. >> Okay.

[59:25] » Yes.

[59:28] River two pontoons kind of hooked together

[59:36] were given. >> Huh?

[59:38] » Traffic tickets given >> by who? The sheriff's department.

[59:41] » State police. >> But that there was a saturation patrol

[59:44] on Sunday as well. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just I

[59:48] » because I'm getting all kinds of complaints because we don't have

[59:51] » marine patrol out but that's another story. Um, all set.

[59:56] » Thank you. >> Um, Josh Mills, we have your report.

[1:00:02] What would you like to >> Well, excuse me.

[1:00:05] » Did issue I'll go verbal. >> Okay.

[1:00:10] » Um, issued seven landing permits in about July. Two of them were brand new

[1:00:14] homes. Uh, one was a deck, one was a solar array, and the others were

[1:00:19] accessory structures. I uh did attend the July 9th and July

[1:00:25] 23rd planning commission meeting. Been spending some time reviewing the

[1:00:28] ordinances. Thank you for me in on email exchange. That's great. Thank you.

[1:00:34] » Sorry it took so long. There was miscommunication.

[1:00:37] » No, no problem. I found it on the website so I was able to stay in touch

[1:00:42] with what's going on. Um busy month coming that that we just experienced and

[1:00:46] coming up for for variances. We did have a a variance hearing on July 2nd for a

[1:00:52] front yard setback variance for a detached accessory structure. Uh the

[1:00:56] zoning board of appeals did approve that front yard setback variance after

[1:00:59] determining a practical difficulty existed um predominantly with the septic

[1:01:04] system being located where it was. Um during that month we also received

[1:01:09] scheduled and attended another variance hearing for a sideyard setback. Uh it

[1:01:13] was about 2.55 foot deviation into the sideyard setback.

[1:01:20] Sideyard setback is 10 feet. So it was just a little bit uh under 8 ft. And

[1:01:27] there was an existing deck and the proposal was to remove the deck, expand

[1:01:30] the kitchen. Um zoning board appeals uh her testimony went through the binds of

[1:01:36] fact. real strong support group with the neighborhood, which is, you know, always

[1:01:40] good for the zoning board of appeals to have that. But again, the zoning board

[1:01:44] appeals uh went through the bindings of facts and made a determination that

[1:01:49] practical difficulty did exist and they approved a 2.55 foot sideyard setback

[1:01:54] variance. Um I received two other dimensional variants for requests. We're

[1:01:59] going to have that hearing on September 10th at 5:00. That might be a busy day,

[1:02:05] sounds like. So, >> we'll just cancel ours.

[1:02:08] » Okay. Um, one of the variances deals with uh

[1:02:15] it's a long bowling alley type lot over over on the downstream area. Very

[1:02:22] typical. They're they're legally substandard in today's world. Uh the

[1:02:27] applicant or the owner of the property wants to split them and and from a

[1:02:32] zoning standpoint, the southern portion is zoned R1. the northern portion zoned

[1:02:36] R2 the R1 lot perfect makes it more conforming the R2 lot because it's a

[1:02:43] platted it's existing it doesn't meet the 150 foot width but it meets the area

[1:02:48] requirements um so the zoning board of appeals will review whether or not they

[1:02:52] want to approve that that division at the road to create an R1 R2 it actually

[1:02:57] is it becomes a more conforming situation because it reduces the length

[1:03:01] of where on both lots um but that'll be an interesting one to hear. And the

[1:03:05] other one is a good old front yard setback on Crystal Drive.

[1:03:11] » So on the upland side of the lake, so similar to some of the other ones we've

[1:03:16] seen in the past. Um I will be here tomorrow for office hours. I officially

[1:03:22] started a twoe vacation from my city of Franker job today. Um, on the 10th I'm

[1:03:28] going to Indiana, drop my youngest son off to football camp

[1:03:33] and we are driving back at 13. So, I'm going to do my best to be here by 6:30.

[1:03:39] I'm going to be hauling in a trailer. Um, we're going to try that out. My wife

[1:03:43] and I just bought this. We're all new and empty nesters.

[1:03:48] So, uh, our partnership is going to change back into a marriage. So,

[1:03:54] » thank you for sharing that. But uh I'll do my best to get back for

[1:04:00] for the 6:30 p.m. But I'll probably be running a little bit hot on that. But

[1:04:04] I'll review the ordinance um and I'll talk to Mark um about Mr. Miller's

[1:04:09] project and and what we want to do with that. Um

[1:04:14] any questions for me? >> Walker Wind Coupe. I assume that was a

[1:04:18] vacant lot. >> Yeah. So the that family uh went and

[1:04:23] worked with Gunner on a land division. So their their parcel got split up into

[1:04:28] some multiple lots. So this is the first parcel out of that that's going to be

[1:04:33] developed. Um 30 foot by 30 foot dwelling with a

[1:04:38] » dot. Find out what the fence is.

[1:04:42] » I need to do that tomorrow. I need to see what's going on. Um, I've been

[1:04:47] getting my feelers out there and nobody's talking. For whatever reason, I

[1:04:51] still think it's tied to the the yach club and too, but it's in, isn't it? It

[1:04:56] is, but >> the fence they Yeah. You know, that's

[1:04:59] questionable whether about the gravel, you know, I think if we call it a

[1:05:03] parking lot. Yeah. But I don't I'll get a letter out to them. We'll go from

[1:05:08] there and see how we want to deal with it.

[1:05:09] » I'd love to see. >> I haven't seen much activity lately, but

[1:05:13] it's definitely improved. Um,

[1:05:17] switch gears briefly and put on my city of Frankfurt hat. Iron Man would like to

[1:05:22] do three more years. So, you're going to be getting an email.

[1:05:28] You're going to be getting an email that I drafted today that's going to be

[1:05:32] technically from myself and the mayor uh requesting your input and or attendance

[1:05:39] at a meeting tentatively scheduled for September 1st. Are we going to get um

[1:05:44] administrative money? >> Um that needs to be discussed and that

[1:05:49] was discussed today with a meeting that was held with Iron Man when they

[1:05:53] officially announced it to us. >> I'm going to fight for that.

[1:05:58] » Yeah, you should. So, all of our medical first responders countywide are getting

[1:06:04] paid. So,

[1:06:08] but uh the city will not make a decision till it hears from its partners

[1:06:14] which are our townships village and the county board of commissioners will be a

[1:06:18] part of that as well. >> So,

[1:06:21] say for example, Plat Township says no, then they just have to reroute it.

[1:06:25] » Reroute it. >> Um any question for Josh?

[1:06:30] » Um no.

[1:06:34] » No. I did request my assistant at Frankfurt

[1:06:39] to email it to every member of every township village in county. So, not

[1:06:45] just, you know, the supervisor, the clerk. I mean, everybody. That's the

[1:06:49] instruction. So, >> just the one that's fighting for admin

[1:06:52] money. >> Well, everybody just just so everybody's

[1:06:54] aware. >> Thank you.

[1:06:56] » All right. Thank you. >> Is it okay if I if I leave?

[1:07:00] » It sure is. I'm gonna let Sally Casey ask a quick question. Yes,

[1:07:04] » we did okay the variance, but we had seven conditions

[1:07:11] » added to that variance that they have to >> adhere to.

[1:07:16] » Is that the sadderly? Which one? >> We have a couple conditions with

[1:07:19] Saturday, but it's the Placio. >> Um, we're requiring roof runners all

[1:07:24] around the house. >> Yes. The pesio the two and a half side

[1:07:28] up. >> Yeah.

[1:07:29] » Okay. >> Yeah. several several conditions to to

[1:07:32] enhance the situation. >> We're doing that if that happens.

[1:07:36] » Be the one to make sure they follow the patients.

[1:07:38] » Yes. >> Yeah. And it really boils down to

[1:07:40] surface water and how we deal with it. >> You know, you've been working hard for

[1:07:44] us. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. I'll see you at

[1:07:47] tomorrow. >> Thank you. Thank you.

[1:07:50] » Enjoy your I'll >> um skipped my own report. Sorry. Um, and

[1:07:57] I'm not going to read it to you. Just since I wrote this, we got another

[1:08:01] application for the ZBA. So, we currently have three and we just posted

[1:08:05] it basically. Um, you know, about the cleaning one

[1:08:10] C lamprey. Oh, um, one thing that I didn't put on my report, you asked me to

[1:08:15] look into the possibility of power plan giving us some reimbursement for this

[1:08:20] radar speed signs and um, they did not do that. It kind of makes sense. They're

[1:08:27] our insurance liability company. So, they're only granting money for things

[1:08:32] that we would be liable for. If somebody speeding down the road and hits a kid,

[1:08:38] that's not our liability. But I was glad I asked. Any questions

[1:08:43] for me?

[1:08:48] » Maline. Maline. Sure. Sorry.

[1:08:58] Um, fire report. Chief Cedarholm, you're up. And we've got the letter intent down

[1:09:05] below. I I think we'll wait for that part under new business. Okay.

[1:09:10] » Sure. Um, all of you have a copy of my report.

[1:09:15] I highlight a couple of things. Um, the reminder of the fire advisory committee

[1:09:19] will meet on Thursday, August 27th, 2 p.m. with the agreement. Um, one of the

[1:09:24] good things is that it's going to be a pretty crowded meeting. It is an open

[1:09:28] meeting as we are meeting with NZMS and the chap meeting with NZMS to form a

[1:09:34] group uh partnership together to try to work on next one of their spare

[1:09:39] ambulances at our station work back and forth. Um,

[1:09:43] we're working on staffing and the details. They're going to have their EMS

[1:09:47] people there. our firefighters will be at that meeting along with all the

[1:09:51] entities that are pretty much involved in the fire advisory committee. So the

[1:09:55] reason I have their input also I've invited um [clears throat] Christy

[1:09:59] Johnson from the hospital and uh her staff Dr. Ray

[1:10:06] once again um her head nurse is also coming there as

[1:10:11] well. So we're going to talk about service and delivery is going to be our

[1:10:15] our topic. how can we provide the best service to our fle

[1:10:22] um for marine was added to the department we purchased a small boat um

[1:10:27] that we after we got hauled out to over here in the lake with two teenagers

[1:10:33] floundering the water we pulled up started to deploy our banana boat and

[1:10:37] said you know it's too windy but they want getting somebody else another boat

[1:10:42] they have area that got them you know it would be nice to have a small boat we

[1:10:46] can get on out be happy to because you've got Ash Lake, you've got, you

[1:10:50] know, the two lakes here. Although we could not go to rough two rough seas

[1:10:54] even the national park service was the one on Sunday was getting swamped on

[1:10:58] that one because of the the waves that are out there. The Coast Guard called

[1:11:02] the helicopter. We set up a loading landing zone over at Little Lake uh 200

[1:11:07] by 200 in order to drop it. But this is the fifth water call we've had so far

[1:11:11] this summer. It's been crazy. So >> I guess obviously that's just for

[1:11:16] emergency situations. I'm not out patrolling.

[1:11:18] » Do that's only get somebody in the water to give.

[1:11:23] » Um so again touch a little bit on ongoing

[1:11:27] communication with Ben's EMS and Frankfurt department. We're going to try

[1:11:29] to continue to grow. We started uh this meeting back late last month and we met

[1:11:35] again on the third Tom and I did and we're just continuing to grow to try to

[1:11:39] get this uh move forward. overall positive and kind of way to working

[1:11:44] relationship make it happen. Anybody have any questions?

[1:11:49] » Thank you very much. Thanks. >> You're going to stick around, right?

[1:11:53] Yep. Please. >> Yep. Thank you.

[1:11:56] » Okay, moving on to commissioner updates. It's actually Christy Trigg's month to

[1:12:00] be here. Um I thought we might have questions for Arjun, so I invited him

[1:12:05] too. But Christina, you like to sort of

[1:12:17] » Yeah. Um things are happening county. Um we are still looking for a Benzone

[1:12:26] Township location for our um recycled bins.

[1:12:31] Um we are doing um an upgrade at the animal shelter. We're going to put some

[1:12:37] cameras in. Um there there are cameras now. It's these cameras um won't be so

[1:12:44] localized and so um like administration can see what's going on at um the animal

[1:12:52] shelter. Um we are embroiled in our budgeting for

[1:12:57] the next fiscal year which is not affected. So this coming fiscal year um

[1:13:02] 26 27 is not affected by the millillage and so we are working on that right now.

[1:13:09] So the millage would affect the next scenario.

[1:13:17] » Um um so I think you've all heard about um

[1:13:23] our administrator um she uh uh resigned and is going back

[1:13:30] to um her hometown um which is um good for her, sad for us.

[1:13:37] In the meantime, we are having Leslie Bilby. She is our deputy administrator.

[1:13:43] She is going to be our interim uh administrator. Uh we'll be we will be

[1:13:51] paying her um in kind for that. um as we look for an a new administrator and um

[1:14:01] Rhonda is going to be tasked with um being in charge of that R&D.

[1:14:10] » We also were told at the last meeting that um

[1:14:17] Tammy Bowers is retiring. Um so she is going to be retiring and so

[1:14:24] there are going to be more changes at the county. We are losing a lot of um

[1:14:30] history but um we will do what we can. >> Does her deputy move up or how does that

[1:14:36] work? >> So what will happen is that the um judge

[1:14:39] will appoint a um a replacement and of course Tammy will have some input. We'll

[1:14:47] have a probably have a conversation with the judge about that.

[1:14:53] But that's the process. The judge appoints somebody.

[1:14:59] » Anything else? >> Any more questions for Christie?

[1:15:06] » Um, we're we're saving the uh Yes, we are for art. Well, um, you're I'm glad

[1:15:15] you're both here. Art, did you want to We got your written report. Did you want

[1:15:18] to highlight anything on that? >> Unless you have questions on my report.

[1:15:22] You should have had that in advance. >> Yep, we did. So, thank you. Thanks to

[1:15:26] both of you for being here. Um, all right. New business, letter of intent

[1:15:32] for fire equipment grant program. Chief Cedar, do you want to say anything

[1:15:39] about this? State of Michigan is offering $50,000 per community. Um that

[1:15:45] includes uh townships, villages, cities, everybody get within our jurisdiction

[1:15:51] that totals our entire response area that we cover. But uh the grant is

[1:15:58] basically is one that they had before somewhere 2023. When we purchase

[1:16:03] something, they will reimburse us up to that. and we need desperately about

[1:16:08] $146,000 worth of self-contained breathing apparatus equipment. And uh

[1:16:14] the way that I think the grant reads and I'm going to get into it is first of all

[1:16:18] we have to apply for put our name on it. Okay. And then as we're warning we're

[1:16:22] allowed we have up to 20 2030 to pay it you know to get everything within that

[1:16:27] grant. So this gives us I guess an extended period of time in order to

[1:16:31] purchase the $146,000 worth of equipments.

[1:16:35] Okay. So, if the board members are interested, we just need a motion to

[1:16:42] um approve this letter of intent that was in your packet.

[1:16:46] » I'll make a motion. I approve this letter of intent for the Frankfurt Fire

[1:16:50] Department. >> Motion by Good Me for Vickle. Any

[1:16:54] questions for the chief or any discussion?

[1:16:59] » Pretty straightforward. Okay. Um let's have a roll call.

[1:17:05] Marian Goodman. >> Hi.

[1:17:06] » Mary Pitcher. >> Hi.

[1:17:08] » Annie Georgovich. I >> Joel Quin.

[1:17:11] » Hi. >> Kyle or

[1:17:13] » hi.

[1:17:16] » Motion carried. >> Okay. Now the biggie township operating

[1:17:21] millillage. Um Marian I believe is going to take the

[1:17:25] lead on this. I just wanted to mention that um

[1:17:29] we got I contacted MTA's attorney yesterday and was told that yes the

[1:17:35] townships can do their own operating millage which is I think which how we

[1:17:40] were already thinking and then apparently the county has had

[1:17:43] conflicting legal opinions as to that. Um

[1:17:48] so I'm going to turn it over. >> Okay. Yeah. as far as the um

[1:17:56] the operating mill. >> I'm sorry, one more thing. This is

[1:17:58] because the um the millillage went down by nine votes that had the override. So,

[1:18:05] » um sorry far as the township operating millage, I think if we were to put

[1:18:09] something on the ballot, we need to put an extra voted millage, not an operating

[1:18:14] mill per se, which I believe we can legally do.

[1:18:19] So yeah, what we have, you know, the the what we have would have to be rewarded

[1:18:23] to extra voted millage instead of um township operating millage.

[1:18:28] You know, the the township treasures have had, you know, ongoing emails

[1:18:33] through this process. What are we going to do if this doesn't work? Because this

[1:18:36] is our townships too. Um some have not been a part of conversations, other ones

[1:18:43] have. Um there's there's a handful. My guess is for if we were to do

[1:18:50] something that I know of that would want to put something on the ballot in

[1:18:54] November sort of as a backup measure, you know, because if if it were to fail

[1:19:00] again, then we're at zero,

[1:19:04] I think. Although that was very confusing because this is everybody's

[1:19:09] thinking. So, this is why you have that wording in front of you. And I also

[1:19:14] picked around some numbers. Oh, yeah. My my thinking on this is if we wanted to

[1:19:20] do this um we had the one in front of you if everybody still has this says six

[1:19:25] years. I really think we should reconsider it and go two years and that

[1:19:30] lets our residents know this is just sort of a little stop gap thing until

[1:19:33] things get figured out. You know they they are not at risk of people double

[1:19:37] dipping for six years. They have to trust us for two that we would only levy

[1:19:42] it if we needed to. Um the amount of the millillage um I put this on here uh Mary

[1:19:49] and I talked and we decided 0 53 which is very rough numbers on what we we will

[1:19:54] be getting currently. Um I gave you another sheet that has

[1:20:00] other options on it. It was like um 3 is what the proposed language is that

[1:20:06] gives us 197 change,000 and change half a mill would be 186 6.6 six would be

[1:20:13] 223. Um, our current 2026 rate is 0.524,

[1:20:20] which brings us 195,500. Um,

[1:20:26] I am not really good. And this was like a 10-minute quicky thing. Um, a

[1:20:31] 10-minute quicky thing the other day on what we might be getting on our 2027,

[1:20:37] next year's taxes. And that would I'm thinking maybe be 0.5197 which would get

[1:20:42] us $193,000.

[1:20:46] All that being said um you know this township can can I would say easily we

[1:20:53] can last one year without that money after that. You just don't know. We have

[1:20:58] a pretty hefty expense category too depending if we're going to do roads

[1:21:02] because I know that was pretty much our invention. I don't know how financially

[1:21:06] responsible it is to just not do anything for two years and dig a hole

[1:21:11] that then you have to climb out of. Um,

[1:21:17] so, oh, the bad news on this, from what I'm hearing, language would have to be

[1:21:21] in if you want this on a November ballot, language has to be in like

[1:21:25] either the 11th or the 13th. Like >> 4 p.m. on the 11th.

[1:21:30] » Has to be to our clerk or to the county clerk. I believe it's the county clerk.

[1:21:34] » Okay. See, and I I've been hearing conflict conflicts there too, but very

[1:21:38] soon. So, >> you'd want to confirm that.

[1:21:40] » Yeah. Thank you. So, that's why I was >> Everybody feels like they're under the

[1:21:45] gun here. >> I was hoping we could wait till our

[1:21:47] special meeting. >> I you know, I hope you're not going to

[1:21:50] do any of it. >> Okay. So, I just came in this like right

[1:21:53] before the meeting. I looked at my email thread from the local treasures and this

[1:21:58] is a quote from the equalization director because he was asked about some

[1:22:04] of this stuff too. And he said um well I don't know the exact question the

[1:22:09] specifics of that possibility are coming into focus as we continue to gather

[1:22:13] information but I will do my best below. He said, "Speaking plainly, the worstc

[1:22:18] case scenario for the township in the event we are forced into a county

[1:22:22] allocation board would be a pretty headly reduction of from 1.21 mills to

[1:22:30] 1.0 mills, which is the minimum allowed by law. But then it goes on to say,

[1:22:35] however, from the cumul from there, the cumulative headly roll back would apply

[1:22:40] in the case of that other township that would result in a reduction of to around

[1:22:45] 0.53 which is what we were talking. So I'm really confused on that. If if it

[1:22:52] got approved at 0.1 it would automatically reduce to see I thought

[1:22:57] that sounded weird too but it's all last minute so I don't know what to do. I

[1:23:02] don't have to research it. >> I just wish we had more time.

[1:23:05] » I do too. I mean I don't make special needs I have one month. You know the

[1:23:10] millage language you have was was from our attorney.

[1:23:15] » If we wanted to tweak it, we would certainly change the year

[1:23:19] » and the up to >> up

[1:23:22] like up to levy up to that amount. Certainly we have enough and we all know

[1:23:28] we would >> if if it goes on the ballot in November,

[1:23:33] the county one and it passes >> and this passes, we're not levying it.

[1:23:38] We only need the one or the other. Trust us. This

[1:23:43] » Well, we would have to give that out to our residents, which, you know, I don't

[1:23:46] think would be terrible in this township. I really don't. But that's

[1:23:51] that's my opinion. Um, this is from Richard Wilson. Yes. So, clearly our

[1:23:56] attorney thinks that we can do this. Um, like we talked there was mis there were

[1:24:02] um mixed opinions on that, but obviously our attorney thinks we can do that. Um,

[1:24:07] my big concern, I mean, it lost by nine votes. Um, I think there's a good chance

[1:24:14] it could pass in November. And I don't want

[1:24:18] » our individual village to jeopardize the county. I think

[1:24:21] » that's

[1:24:24] kind of >> because ultimately the county, it's

[1:24:28] going to be resolved at the county level. We're all in trouble anyway.

[1:24:34] » I agree. That's my concern.

[1:24:37] It >> just feels fiscally irresponsible to

[1:24:40] say, "Oh, you're getting no operating money." So that's why we started all

[1:24:44] this. >> How much does a special election cost?

[1:24:48] » It's um the one that we had for Frankfurt, Alberta was just shy of

[1:24:51] 3,000.

[1:24:56] » Because everybody Well, that's only Frankfurt, Alberta school. So too,

[1:24:58] that's a very small section of our township.

[1:25:01] » That's [laughter]

[1:25:05] Yeah. I don't

[1:25:10] Is the county going forward again? >> Um,

[1:25:12] » yes, >> we believe so.

[1:25:14] » Actually, yes. Do you want to talk about the tax allocation board meeting?

[1:25:18] » Tax allocation board met yesterday and at the end of that meeting, they they

[1:25:24] came up with what they recommend, what they believe they're going to recommend

[1:25:28] to the board of commissioners to approve. And I have notes in my phone.

[1:25:32] I'm sorry. >> Just for clarification, it's an advisory

[1:25:35] board, not an allocation board. >> There you go. Thank you.

[1:25:38] » There's a difference. >> Okay, that's where I heard too. It has

[1:25:41] to be called an extra voting mill, not an operating our planet. Okay, so what

[1:25:47] they what they said at the end that they they agreed that they were going to

[1:25:50] present to the commissioners that they are going to

[1:25:54] take off the extra millages that they had were going to roll in and and get

[1:25:59] that out of the way. Two of them will have to be on the ballot standalone on

[1:26:03] by themsel because they are expired. That's the animal control and the drug

[1:26:06] enforcement will have to be on the ballot by themsel. The other one I

[1:26:10] believe is the TNT officer one. That one still has another year to go. So we're

[1:26:14] leaving that one for them. But that will lower what they need to ask for and they

[1:26:17] can decide on those standalone. >> That's school resource officer Marian.

[1:26:22] » No, school resource officer was not touched.

[1:26:25] » That's what I'm saying. >> Right.

[1:26:26] » I thought you just said that it goes another year. TNT. drug and

[1:26:30] » the TNT is different than the school resource officer. Yes.

[1:26:33] » Never. >> Okay.

[1:26:35] » Go ahead. >> Got it. Okay. Um they're going to

[1:26:39] instead of 1.21 for the townships, they're going to put that at one, which

[1:26:43] is fine with us. We don't collect that much anyway. We don't want that much.

[1:26:47] Okay. The county is going to be at 3.77. Can't remember what theirs was before

[1:26:52] that, but if in November, they're going to say that much for the county. I don't

[1:26:56] remember what it was for the schools, but the total for all three will be 4.93

[1:27:00] mills, which they plan to put on the ballot in

[1:27:04] November. Like vote for that for the two years, and it's going to mean the county

[1:27:09] at 377, the townships at one, and the rest of it for the ISD.

[1:27:13] » What was just voted down was that with the middle

[1:27:17] » 1.21 for the townships, that's all I remember.

[1:27:19] » Okay. >> But but they're back to the two-year

[1:27:22] rather than the fix. They're >> they had it was two years this time

[1:27:27] » and I people just didn't realize two years ago they started this by taking

[1:27:31] that word away. It's like this was our two years. We have to vote on it. People

[1:27:36] didn't realize it affected townships. They

[1:27:39] » really didn't though.

[1:27:43] » You voted to to do this two years ago. You said you were going to do this and

[1:27:48] now you're freaking out. Sorry. >> The county was 4.4399.

[1:27:53] Okay. Now 3.7 >> the county was on the ballot was 4.4399

[1:28:01] » but that's that was including the mill. >> No that was just for the county part

[1:28:05] » but the standalone >> there a couple of things.

[1:28:09] » Right. So that's lower right.

[1:28:14] » So they're you know that was they're they're saying let's change it up a

[1:28:17] little. Let's lower it. Let's try to you know get people to stay together. Ohio.

[1:28:22] » I feel really strongly that I don't want to dilute the vote and to the point that

[1:28:27] it might be worth holding a special election if it fails in November. That's

[1:28:31] my opinion.

[1:28:36] » It's it's it's it's a tough decision because our money.

[1:28:41] » Oh, well, it's not that >> right.

[1:28:45] » Right. >> Yeah. It's not that. It's just Yes.

[1:28:48] Don't want to pull anything away from that vote.

[1:28:50] » It does. there was already confusion as to you know I think adding this I mean I

[1:28:57] think it's well-intentioned but I think there needs to be a little more

[1:29:01] explanation as you said you know people did not know I think there's more

[1:29:05] education out there then but I think adding this to people are going well

[1:29:08] what and then there's that element of trust and yeah we can take it we don't

[1:29:13] have to take it >> and trust the township not the county

[1:29:17] » so I I would agree with you Mary that it would

[1:29:20] Yeah.

[1:29:31] » Given the surplus that we have, I think you can I think you it was it

[1:29:37] was cultural than I thought. Um and if it's given some more time for people to

[1:29:44] truly digest it. I would still like to see Canard. I

[1:29:48] don't know how you do this. I don't know if it's even legal, but like, you know,

[1:29:53] in the in the social media world, I mean, can the county engage

[1:29:59] a firm to respond basically to the ignorance, right? I

[1:30:06] mean, some I don't know if the county can do it, but can the county engage

[1:30:10] someone to say, "No, you are 100% wrong on this, and this is this is what we're

[1:30:17] asking. an outside lobbyist because you I mean I

[1:30:23] thought I thought very what I I mean all the comments that I read like this thing

[1:30:27] doesn't have a chance thankful it's only nine votes but people did not understand

[1:30:33] even the ballot language

[1:30:38] » it was horrible >> votes but there wasn't a lot of voters

[1:30:41] in November there's going to be a lot more voters right yeah is that going to

[1:30:44] be helpful or hurtful we don't really know either

[1:30:48] or do you have an answer to Kyle's question?

[1:30:50] » Yeah, I do. I would never spend taxpayer money to advocate for the county

[1:30:55] village. Not only is it illegal, but it's immoral to use the taxpayers money

[1:30:59] to do that. Yes.

[1:31:01] » But to to answer your question, um last year, early this year, um I was

[1:31:08] able to encourage the Benzy County Chamber to advocate, consider it like

[1:31:14] they did at the busing gra the busing authority, be friends of of the county.

[1:31:20] So, they're the ones that have been reaching out and it's been an anonymous

[1:31:24] donor that's been paying for it for yard signs, ads, etc. Would we continue that?

[1:31:31] I had a conversation just as recently as this morning and they're ready to go um

[1:31:36] to support this again. The county's millage ask if you strip

[1:31:42] away the special millages was 3.98. >> Okay.

[1:31:47] » The reason why we landed at 3.77, it's the same reduction as what we're

[1:31:54] asking of the townships. Townships are going down by 0.21. 21

[1:32:00] counties going down by 0.21. So, we're trying to share in the pain.

[1:32:05] I I got to tell you that the need hasn't changed.

[1:32:10] There was a there was way too much conversation for me on this subject over

[1:32:14] the last couple of weeks, but the reality of it is this is that there was

[1:32:18] some discussion about just asking for a renewal. Quite frankly, I would have

[1:32:22] gone to the voters and asked for additional money if we didn't need it.

[1:32:25] And if I come back to them without making that request, I can tell you that

[1:32:30] if I'm on the outside of that conversation, I would say, why did you

[1:32:34] ask for the money to begin with? >> There's still a need. What's happened

[1:32:37] was is there's been a lot of discussions, hours of it just in the

[1:32:42] last 24 to 48 hours is that we're changing

[1:32:48] from a long-term vision for the county to a short-term vision.

[1:32:53] And when we can prove the trust issue, you know, 2 years from now, maybe we can

[1:32:59] prove to the voters and the taxpayers that we're being responsible. Then maybe

[1:33:04] they'd be willing to fund a longer term vision. But we're just shortening the

[1:33:08] vision down by reducing the amount of money that's

[1:33:18] » Honey, you didn't totally weigh in on this.

[1:33:23] Don't go away. That's okay. >> I mean, I I just I I

[1:33:27] see the importance that to be fiscally responsible,

[1:33:32] having it on the ballot would be beneficial, but there's a downside

[1:33:37] because with both of them being on the ballot, it can take attention away. And

[1:33:43] I'm I'm half yes and half no. You know

[1:33:48] that's >> trying to be there for the county but

[1:33:50] right being there for the county actually hurts the county

[1:33:55] » then it'll hurt then be fighters

[1:34:02] think it should be discussion >> okay the ballot language

[1:34:07] » legal council >> oh they did a happy job

[1:34:10] » well if you look at ballot language in the counties

[1:34:14] » it all looks the same about that blame blame the state for

[1:34:18] that. >> Don't blame the the legal council.

[1:34:22] » We have to tell them what it really means.

[1:34:24] » I guess what I just want to say is everybody that I had talked to said, "Oh

[1:34:28] my god, nobody wants to especially election. They're really really

[1:34:30] expensive. >> That's not that expensive."

[1:34:34] » No, that's I I looked and again that was that was the Frankfurt, Alberta. And it

[1:34:38] was because I had easy access to that. [laughter] But it cost us $10,000.

[1:34:43] Really, when we're talking about a couple hundred thousand or potentially

[1:34:46] taking away votes, >> I would say no. Let's not do it. I'm

[1:34:51] with you. >> So, you'd be okay with that?

[1:34:52] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[1:34:53] » I I don't want to do it. I just want to us to be smart. But but that's all it

[1:34:58] would cost us to to go at it later if >> it that's the reason I looked it up is

[1:35:04] just Well, what are we talking? So if we have consensus, we don't even need a

[1:35:10] motion. Good. That was just onational. Christie Art, thank you for being here.

[1:35:18] » Made sense for what you're doing. I know this is, you know, we just sense

[1:35:23] » and Marian, thanks for a lot of the work that you put in in gathering this down

[1:35:27] the road. Who knows? But >> Oh, yeah. We're not passing into this.

[1:35:32] Okay. Marian Cers.

[1:35:37] » Yes. Um I oversight on on um the office part. We have a new employee and I do

[1:35:45] not believe we have updated our bank signature people and we have a new

[1:35:49] deputy who needs to be one of the signers.

[1:35:52] » So pretty much it's it's um the banks need to see in our minutes that we have

[1:35:56] who we have approved to be. So I'm going to read my motion here. And

[1:35:59] » can you tell us who currently are the signers?

[1:36:02] Uh, currently currently it's everybody I'm reading except it's Jane because she

[1:36:08] was the last deputy clerk. We have a new deputy clerk. So taking Jane off. Yes.

[1:36:12] Well, that's not how it works. We're just saying these are

[1:36:15] » this is what we want. >> This is what the banks got. Okay. Okay.

[1:36:17] So, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the following people as um

[1:36:22] official signers on Lake Township bank accounts um except for the tax account

[1:36:28] which I'll get to. Um the four people would be Maryanne Goodman, Maline Bitsen

[1:36:32] Powell, Penny Georgovich, Jennifer Wilkins, and also we would have

[1:36:37] authorized signers on the Lake Township tax account of Maryanne Goodman and

[1:36:41] Maline Bits and Powell. It's a different type of account and we're the only ones

[1:36:45] that need to sign it. >> Um there's support for

[1:36:47] » I would support that. >> Thank you.

[1:36:49] » By Goodman, supported by George. Anything else? Um, it needs to be in the

[1:36:57] minutes so I can take a copy to the bank and get to roll it. All in favor say I.

[1:37:03] I >> opposed. Motion carried.

[1:37:06] » Thank you, Mayor Ann. >> All right. Unfinished business. I don't

[1:37:10] see anything any correspondence. >> Um,

[1:37:17] conservation district had sent us an update of some of the events that they

[1:37:21] have coming uh coming up in the month of August.

[1:37:25] Um, one of which I'll be telling you about a little bit later. We had uh the

[1:37:30] Darcy Library, the Benzy Shores District Library send their newsletters. Um,

[1:37:38] we got an update from the Plat River Fish Hatchery,

[1:37:42] Benzy Senior Resource, and the Benzonia Public Library.

[1:37:48] All are incoming, and we had nothing outgoing.

[1:37:53] » Thank you. All right, we're on to announcements and general board

[1:37:57] discussion. Um Joel,

[1:38:02] » Saturday is the last clean up day trash of the year. Yes. Thank you. No

[1:38:09] more there. >> Yeah. So, we have a we should be good

[1:38:14] with volunteers, but if anybody um is interested,

[1:38:20] please you're welcome. Anything else?

[1:38:26] » Thanks for all the work you're doing on >> clean.

[1:38:32] » I think we've covered [laughter] going to stay accurate on the

[1:38:36] planning commission level. Um, I'm going to I I would request that if

[1:38:42] someone can give me a written articulated

[1:38:47] exactly why we need this village so when people come to me I can say

[1:38:53] » the headline the the county. >> Yes. Yes. I need it.

[1:38:57] » Sure. >> I need plain and simple and I will do my

[1:39:02] part. I will do my part. our commissioners that

[1:39:08] » um I thought maybe we should do a quick touch on Iron Man as a board because

[1:39:12] that meeting is before we meet again. >> You know, are we all yay? Nay, don't

[1:39:18] care. You know, >> this one we're committed to, but it

[1:39:21] sound like they're going to ask us to commit to three more years.

[1:39:23] » Yeah, that's what he said. And he said they're meeting like September 1st.

[1:39:27] » I mean, maybe they don't need an okay. Wait, did they need an okay then? We

[1:39:30] haven't really seen this, but we weren't seeing it either.

[1:39:35] » Um, they're having the meeting, I think, to find out. I'm not sure if we respond

[1:39:41] before. Yeah. >> Well, and that would be good to know

[1:39:44] what other townships are thinking. Um, Crystal Lake is, I think, hesitant, but

[1:39:52] I'm going to just said, let's take a year or two, Bob. Let us rest and then

[1:39:57] come back again, you know.

[1:40:02] I get complaints for sure. >> Probably have a lot more at stake than a

[1:40:06] lot of us in this. Any opinion one way or the other?

[1:40:09] » I will hold the same opinion that I've had from the start. If it's if it's good

[1:40:13] for Benzy County, I can stand down for one day.

[1:40:20] Uh I'm not sure it's as good for Beny County as as we thought.

[1:40:26] And that's and I know it's very popular. Um it's I believe it's the most popular

[1:40:31] race in North America for the for the short half um

[1:40:38] » for profit reasons. >> Yes.

[1:40:41] » See how >> and I and I would say if if if any

[1:40:45] township drops out from what I've heard the state police will not move the route

[1:40:50] the route is the route. So I there's I think there's two

[1:40:56] townships that are considering

[1:41:00] » I guess as long as they don't need a a commitment from us on September 1st then

[1:41:04] we can just kind of feel our way through. I was under the impression that

[1:41:07] maybe they really wanted an answer and I should talk about

[1:41:11] » I'll go to the meeting but I won't make a commitment one way or the other. So

[1:41:14] » yeah, sounds like we're all ready to the meeting too but yeah.

[1:41:18] » Okay. You want to go in my plate? >> No. Anything else?

[1:41:24] » Do you have anything? >> No. Iron Man will show anything I had

[1:41:27] written down. Thank you. >> Annie, do you have any?

[1:41:30] » I do. Um, the Benzy Conservation District had uh given a call on August

[1:41:35] 28th. One of the events that they're having is to train about education. They

[1:41:39] are starting off at Riverside. Riverside is contributing 50% for that. Um they

[1:41:45] have asked because let's see they're going to paddle down. They will stop at

[1:41:50] the wear and possibly a couple other places talk about conservation and water

[1:41:54] quality and things like that. They want to set up a couple tables down at the

[1:41:57] park um for where they end up. They 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. is what they've

[1:42:04] asked for. >> And I just I

[1:42:09] » Pardon. >> What day of the week? Uh

[1:42:14] » Wednesday's the 28th. >> It is a Friday.

[1:42:19] » Friday. >> It's not going to involve any parking,

[1:42:21] right? >> No, because all all they've asked for is

[1:42:24] two tables. >> The tables are going to the correct

[1:42:27] parking lot, >> right? By

[1:42:29] » right take action on that. >> No, no, it was just I I more or less

[1:42:33] wanted to because as I I told her I didn't see that there would be any

[1:42:37] problem. I says, "But just let me just run it past the board. make make sure

[1:42:40] that there's not something that I'm not thinking about,

[1:42:42] » especially if it's a good cause. >> Yeah. Um I do have one other thing.

[1:42:46] » We give the person a heads up though >> that that's going to happen that so they

[1:42:51] don't kind of give them a hard time. >> Oh, good point. I know that.

[1:42:56] Um, I have been in conversation with the government teacher at Frankfurt, Alberta

[1:43:02] schools about doing election education and taking a look at calendar and things

[1:43:08] like that. And I had heard about this from the Traverse City Schools that they

[1:43:14] are doing that for educating the the seniors on what it's like to go in

[1:43:19] voting. They actually take election equipment and um election source

[1:43:24] provides a kit that has programming and fake ballots, you know, uh with, you

[1:43:30] know, some famous people or things like that so the kids can actually go through

[1:43:33] the voting process. And

[1:43:37] through my conversation, I thought, you know what, I probably need to see is

[1:43:42] there is there any reason that we wouldn't want to participate with this?

[1:43:46] I I have a potential of um Benzy Central down the road and it's just I

[1:43:53] is would it be okay to do that? >> Sounds like it would just be you.

[1:43:58] » It would be me. Um I have some other clerks that would be interested in

[1:44:01] participating. So it wouldn't just be me, but

[1:44:03] » the township goes >> as far as the township goes. Yeah. But

[1:44:06] it would be also Lake Township equipment.

[1:44:09] » Yeah. I would I would take a tabulator and an e full book and um so

[1:44:14] » you're going to get it there. >> But they're just we have one that's

[1:44:18] collapsible. It's just a it's almost like t taking a really heavy laptop and

[1:44:23] [laughter] the the bin folds up.

[1:44:28] » When was that? or you just don't know you're just thinking

[1:44:31] » actually for the for the government teacher the timing that we were thinking

[1:44:34] about because through conversation I had mentioned that as of the 20th of

[1:44:39] September things cannot leave the township and he was thinking that he

[1:44:43] might be able to do it within the first couple weeks of school.

[1:44:47] So it would possib potentially be Septemberish.

[1:44:52] So, >> if you're willing to do it, it sounds

[1:44:56] like a great idea. Like a one day thing. >> One day thing.

[1:44:59] » Yeah. I'm I'm just a little leer of like during election time.

[1:45:02] » Well, that's that's I I knew that once once the ballots once the ballots we do

[1:45:06] a preliminary once they're potentially here, they can't leave because they're

[1:45:11] sealed >> and it has programming for our stuff is

[1:45:14] all sealed in there. So, I says that's a time that it can't be done. So

[1:45:19] » that's right as opposed to in the midst of

[1:45:25] it's up to you. >> Okay. I just I just wanted to again is

[1:45:30] there something that I'm not thinking of and if you have no objections on the

[1:45:35] regard [laughter]

[1:45:41] » the opportunity comes off.

[1:45:47] » [laughter] >> Okay. Anything else? Yeah,

[1:45:50] » that's it. >> Okay. At this time, we will open public

[1:45:55] again. A quick question. Has anyone checked

[1:45:59] with the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce to see how much income actually comes

[1:46:04] into Ben County? Iron Man. >> I don't trust those numbers personally

[1:46:10] because it's like you've got restaurants, you've got this. I mean,

[1:46:13] it's like the restaurant's not recording what they're making income

[1:46:17] » from working in restaurants in the midst of the event.

[1:46:23] Most people really eat their own food because they're afraid to eat something.

[1:46:30] They're on a diet for, you know, the event and they don't, you know, they're

[1:46:35] not going to have a beer. >> But that would be the racers, not

[1:46:39] necessarily the family members that come to support. Right. Being in a

[1:46:43] restaurant, the locals completely stay away from

[1:46:46] » they Yeah. So, and I noticed that the business falls off now. Now, Ed Carella

[1:46:52] from um Vabella does the sandwiches at the end.

[1:46:58] » You know, that might be something, but really there's not.

[1:47:01] » So, we don't see a big influx of money in the area.

[1:47:05] » The answer is we don't really know. But my opinion is we don't.

[1:47:08] » And again, years don't. And I was court there. I asked that Trevor or whatever

[1:47:12] is >> how much money do you guys bring in?

[1:47:15] They would never answer. They would never tell us how much do they make.

[1:47:18] » I saved my emails. They were so unresponsive.

[1:47:23] » And I actually, you know, they have volunteers and the um the volunteers

[1:47:28] come from different organizations and and then the organization gets a

[1:47:33] donation because of the volunteers. So I finally did get a list of the

[1:47:37] organizations. Very few of them are in Benzy County. They're like CalCasta,

[1:47:41] Dorian Travers, Wexford, none in um there was none in Lake Township.

[1:47:47] I fought hard and we got points to be decisions, but even that money isn't

[1:47:52] coming to us.

[1:47:57] » For our township, it's a half a day of >> Yeah. All right. Sorry, I was It's your

[1:48:02] time, not our time. >> But yet because according to the news

[1:48:06] earlier this year, Grand Travers wanted them back. I was surprised to hear that

[1:48:12] they can have their go. >> Okay. Any other public input?

[1:48:19] Okay. Hearing none, public input is closed. I entertain a motion to adjurnn.

[1:48:26] » Second by I think it was good second. All in favor?

[1:48:31] » I are adjourned.

2026 08 06 Board Meeting

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