[0:00] I to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for it
[0:06] stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all.
[0:13] » God bless America.
>> Remain standing for prayer. Father we
[0:17] thank thee for this evening. We thank
thee for Salem Township. We thank thee
[0:21] for those that have
been in positions of leadership. We pray
[0:27] for our leaders. We pray for our
country. We pray for our neighbors. We
[0:32] pray that we uh love one another and
care for one another. And we know we
[0:37] have a lot of elderly people in our
township. We pray for them. We know a
[0:41] lot of them are hurting. We lift them up
tonight. We just thank these so much for
[0:46] how much you love us and how much you
care for us. And we again we ask that uh
[0:50] you would bless our community, bless our
families, draw us close together. Thank
[0:55] you for all you've done in Jesus name.
Amen.
[1:02] Okay, welcome again everybody.
Hopefully you got something to drink or
[1:08] eat back there. Help us out.
So
[1:15] make sure your mics are on so we can
hear you
[1:20] and uh roll call tonight. Everybody's
present.
[1:25] The agenda's before us. Do we have any
additions or deletions at this time?
[1:34] All right. So, the agenda stands as
approved. We have a few presentations
[1:39] tonight. So, please be patient with with
us. I I appreciate it. So, tonight first
[1:44] we're going to have our our annual
audit. We have Matt with us from uh
[1:49] Cambridge and uh we're going to give you
the floor now.
[1:53] Just tell us how much money we're making
[1:59] while
[2:03] I have a draft in front of you.
Mic on right now.
[2:09] » Is the mic on right now?
>> Push the green button.
[2:12] » Oh, yeah.
>> So, I believe you all have should have a
[2:16] draft in front of you. Uh, paper copy of
the report. Uh what we always like to
[2:20] point out first is on page one of our
physical page. This is the opinion the
[2:24] town should receive. You receive an
unmodified opinion. Doesn't actually
[2:28] explicitly use those words, but that's
what you guys should expect to receive
[2:31] every year. Um it's my guarantee. So
congratulations on that. Um mainly it's
[2:36] you can rely on that the financial
receipt are accurate.
[2:42] So next I'd like to go to page seven.
This is a comparative statement in net
[2:45] position showing how the balance sheet
years depended year-over-year the last
[2:49] two years. Um
overall no real major change of changes
[2:55] this year uh for current assets uh
current liabilities
[2:59] assets long-term assets are increasing
largely in part to the infrastructure
[3:04] streetscape project that was going on
and the finalization of the water and
[3:08] sewer plan. You can also see the um
long-term and short-term liabilities.
[3:13] Really no major change there.
Page nine
[3:18] comparative state of activities showing
the income.
[3:26] So there we see no real major changes uh
besides operating grants and
[3:29] contributions and capital grants just
with all the funding of a couple of
[3:33] those projects were ongoing and the
finalization of most water and sewer
[3:39] projects that have been going on.
And then expenditure is also saying
[3:43] fairly steady. This is on the full
approval side. So it doesn't really
[3:46] recognize that one time expenditure of
the street safe project which we'll talk
[3:50] about in a little bit. So we go to page
17.
[3:56] This is the balance sheet or the fund
statement for the general fund which you
[4:00] can see at the most recent year end with
a unassigned fund balance of roughly
[4:03] $19.5 million. Uh so that's for the
current year 308% of your annualized
[4:08] expenditures. Meaning if you spent like
this past year you'd be able to go
[4:12] through three years. Obviously you did
have that kind of onetime expenditure
[4:15] this year with the streetscape
project going on. Uh so if you remove
[4:20] that it's actually closer to 900% to
your average annual insurance probably
[4:24] $2.1.2 million. So meaning you can go 9
years without receiving any revenue.
[4:30] That's a very healthy fund balance.
Obviously Salem is in a different
[4:34] position than a lot of townships where
you don't need that operating tax
[4:37] royalties. It's kind of a different ball
game than a lot of townships. So
[4:43] page 19. This is a just a change in in
fund balance per year for the general
[4:48] fund. Really again just pointing out
that that public works is $4.5 million
[4:53] this year. That's that's not a normal
number one time, but that's why you had
[4:57] an abruptly $700,000
decrease in fund balance.
[5:02] All the past few years, it's always been
abruptly $2.5 million increase. Okay,
[5:07] it's kind of a change this year, but
still very fun balance and one time
[5:14] page 22 and page 23
are the income and cash flow statements
[5:19] for the water and super fun enterprise
funds which are accounted for slightly
[5:22] different than governmental funds and
general funship.
[5:26] Um you can see the operating income
income loss operating losses for the
[5:32] water and sewer fund. Uh it's kind of a
standard with the depreciation of
[5:35] non-cash transactions ongoing there. Um
that will obviously increase
[5:39] significantly as those two projects come
fully on.
[5:44] Um we also see the charges for services
increasing as well hopefully. So next is
[5:49] next page is the cash flow statement. So
this is something I'd always just
[5:52] monitoring in the future. Obviously the
system just being built you don't really
[5:55] have hopefully a lot of infrastructure
build up that's needed after that for a
[5:59] while. But it is something to monitor
long term with those projects if you
[6:04] want to self fun with cash you got out
of hand versus uh doing debt financing
[6:08] which is what a lot of cities and
buildings end up doing. So that's always
[6:12] something to pay attention to in the
future but kind of long term in there.
[6:17] Then next page page 44 big jump to the
budget in between there is just the
[6:22] footnotes a lot of talking about
what represents cash how cash is made up
[6:28] and other assets liabilities so it's
very exciting read that future uh so for
[6:35] the budget segment I always love to be
able to point out that you guys have no
[6:38] budget exceptions so not going to get
any love letters from the states saying
[6:42] budget how are you going to fix this in
the future so obviously you guys are
[6:45] reviewing and amending that is necessary
so always great to see as well. Um,
[6:49] besides that, we had no findings on the
report on internal control. So, uh,
[6:54] no control deficiencies that we noted,
no
[6:58] major issues that we saw with the
financial information we received coming
[7:03] in to what we used to generate the
report. So, it's always a great feel to
[7:07] say as well. Thanks to the staff
controversy
[7:16] any questions for the auditor board
members.
[7:20] » How when you do your benchmarking
township to township? How do we
[7:27] » So like I said you guys are kind of in
that special situation which is nice. Uh
[7:31] you have that landfill running.
As far as most townships you are on the
[7:36] very high end for fund balance
in terms of fiscal health I would say
[7:42] top
you might want to look at a different
[7:46] way
down is not quite the way it work but
[7:50] that kind of thought process of at some
point building there is exist
[7:59] for capacity and DQ or agility or
whatever named that here um isn't going
[8:05] to approve a permit or something. Maybe
they will maybe they'll keep doing
[8:09] perpetuity, but at some point if you do
it where you don't have tax, that's
[8:13] always probably the best use of
resources for
[8:17] resources
[8:22] and kind of be good stewards, right? So
far,
[8:29] » I think u Joe, your uh the owner of
whatever the company, they've always
[8:34] said, "You need to spend some money, you
know." So, we finally
[8:39] » did a project out here finally and it's
taken forever, but uh we're kind of
[8:44] winding down on it. So,
>> that is kind of answer that question.
[8:48] You do have to take that back where it
is. You have too much, right? probably
[8:52] if you're not signing more tax but can't
go lower than zero.
[8:59] » Any other questions for the auditor?
Anybody?
[9:05] If not, thanks Matt. We appreciate it.
>> Yeah, thank you for your time.
[9:08] » Appreciate that. You and Lori and all
work together and uh appreciate Lori and
[9:13] everybody started working the office
getting stuff together and getting what
[9:17] you need to make it complete. So, thanks
again. Appreciate you.
[9:23] All right,
moving down to the next presentation is
[9:28] uh speaking of the uh landfill
GFL.
[9:35] You all know Mr. Seager, general manager
and he's got somebody with him tonight.
[9:42] » Welcome.
>> I'm Tammy Craig. I'm the area landfill
[9:46] director for GFL. I'm just going to grab
my computer.
[9:51] got a slideshow for you.
[10:03] » Yes.
>> Do we get to turn our lights on?
[10:21] HDMI 2.
[10:38] » Why didn't we have popcorn tonight?
[10:52] Just wanted to present this to the board
and to the township uh folks so kind of
[10:57] aware of what's going on at the
landfill. Uh make sure you're informed.
[11:02] Um so that's kind of why we decided to
do this tonight. Um try to keep you in
[11:08] the loop, right, of what's going on.
[11:19] Yeah.
[11:32] » Remember Dave, our meetings are no more
than 45 minutes.
[11:38] as good as there's left. So knock out 45
minutes.
[11:43] » All right. I will try to make it quick
for you. Um
[11:49] we are also presenting at the county MMP
meeting uh tomorrow and again next
[11:56] month. Tomorrow is
uh focused on sighting criteria.
[12:02] Next month will be uh more compliance
focused and they're hoping to have some
[12:08] folks from Eagle there to
speak on our behalf,
[12:14] you know, uh yay or nay on whether they
believe what we're saying, but we've got
[12:21] a pretty good relationship, so I'm
confident it's going to go well. Um
[12:26] we've got the 2026 aerial photo. Uh you
can see the current landfill right there
[12:32] in the center. Our proposed expansion
would be north of 6 Mile Road. It's
[12:40] going to be about 90.5 acres.
[12:47] Um right now we've got our core parcel
where the landfill is now. We have a
[12:54] south area uh which houses
a gas to energy plant, a gas to RNG
[13:04] facility.
We have a MURF and we also have the uh
[13:11] household hazardous waste collection.
Um on the east on the east side of
[13:17] Napier,
it's a buffer between us and the
[13:21] community. There's a wetland out there.
um some gradient wells and then the
[13:26] north area where we propose to expand
that is where our compost operations are
[13:33] currently happening in our borrow area.
Um with the expansion we currently meet
[13:40] all of the county sighting criteria
um with the exception of the wetland
[13:48] permit which we have applied for. Um
it's common
[13:54] uh to mitigate wetlands for landfill
expansions. As far as the state
[14:02] regulators and the EPA, it is
a more accepted a better practice than
[14:12] citing a green field landfill in another
location.
[14:18] So Arbor Hills has been in operation for
50 years. Um
[14:24] we manage close to 50% of the waste
generated in Washington County and we
[14:31] also manage um about 25% of the waste
overall in southeast Michigan.
[14:39] Um GFL acquired the landfill in 2020
um within days of the attorney general
[14:49] filing
a lawsuit against the previous operators
[14:54] for environmental compliance issues. Um,
we like to think, uh, Dave came on board
[15:02] at that time and it was pivotal and
there has been much progress since then.
[15:09] We're we're both very proud to work
there and very proud of the things that
[15:12] we do every day. Um,
as far as the design and compliance,
[15:21] uh, thoughts for our neighbors, we are
designing it with a planned thousand ft
[15:27] setback from Napier Road
to preserve that buffer. um the steeple
[15:37] chase which will be the closest
subdivision,
[15:40] it nearly doubles the distance between
the current landfill and the nearest
[15:45] neighborhood steeple chase
and what it will be at that time. Um
[15:57] so these are some of the items on
county's list of sighting criteria.
[16:04] um distance from designated historical
sites, flood planes, water speeches. Um
[16:11] the parcel that we proposed to site the
landfill expansion meets all of those
[16:16] criteria.
It's
[16:21] well outside of that distance. Here you
can see the outline for the proposed
[16:25] footprint for the landfill. Um as you
see
[16:30] the eastern border of it intersects the
center of the current compost
[16:36] operations.
Um we are proposing to find a new
[16:41] location
for the compost operations and actually
[16:46] invest in and create
a better operation to manage odors. It's
[16:52] called a bore system. Everything's
covered. It's got irerration. um
[16:59] that those type of systems are also used
to manage food waste and avoid odors. So
[17:06] we feel that that would be a plus to the
community and the county as a whole.
[17:14] » So the 91 acre expansion
at current waste intake rates would
[17:20] provide about 10 years of additional
waste capacity.
[17:25] Um, in discussions with the county, you
know, at the beginning there was a lot
[17:33] of hesitation regarding an expansion at
Arbor Hills Landfill due to the record
[17:39] prior to our acquisition.
Uh, permitting it for 10 years
[17:46] shows an end date. You know, we're not
asking for a hundred years and we get it
[17:52] and things fall back the way they were.
That's not going to happen.
[17:59] So, sighting and regulatory, we meet all
the sighting regulatory requirements. We
[18:05] actually had a pre-application meeting
with Eagle last month. Uh, show them all
[18:12] of our hydrog work for the post
expansion.
[18:16] um they were happy about it. They didn't
ask for any changes. So they plan to uh
[18:24] begin reviewing the draft of the
hydrogel here soon.
[18:33] Uh as you can see here, this is the
distance to the neighboring
[18:37] neighborhoods
which I was talking about. Currently,
[18:42] we're just under 1,500 ft from
steeplechase. We're going to be over
[18:48] 2100 ft with the expansion. We're
backing away.
[18:56] We had uh one of our engineering
consultants do a line of sight
[19:01] projection for Northville.
Um, we have three different points
[19:08] within the county that I brought with me
today. Um, one of them is the park over
[19:16] on uh, Beck Road.
We've got some viewpoints from
[19:21] Steeplechase subdivision from the one
south of
[19:26] 6 mile. And
um because of the smaller footprint, it
[19:32] restricts the elevation, the final
elevation of the landfill. And at final
[19:37] buildout,
there's one home in the subdivision
[19:41] south of 6 mile that will barely see the
crest of the landfill over the trees
[19:48] from their second story window. So,
we're thinking of our neighbors.
[20:05] So, this just talks about our commitment
to environmental compliance. Uh, as far
[20:12] as the enhanced monitoring and
maintenance that goes on the landfill
[20:17] currently,
um, not only because we have been trying
[20:23] to improve it, but
there are requirements from the consent
[20:27] judgment that was signed, negotiated as
part of the settlement of the AG's
[20:33] lawsuit, but we have already committed
to the AG to continue the requirements
[20:39] of consent judgment in the expansion
area.
[20:44] Um the
current landfill, one of the things that
[20:50] we've always posted about was the liner
system of the landfill and we use
[20:55] utilize a double composite liner system.
We're going to continue that in the
[21:01] expansion
um system integration.
[21:06] The leech and the gas
will be connected to the current systems
[21:12] so that the leech gets the same
pre-treatment before it goes to yaka
[21:18] and the local sewer system and the gas
will go to the R&D facility.
[21:27] Uh this is a summary of our
environmental monitoring. You know,
[21:33] these are several that of the things.
I'm not going to go through all of them
[21:36] because I know that's a quick meeting,
but we've got copies.
[21:41] I mean these are a lot but definitely
not all-encompassing of the things that
[21:48] we do daily, monthly, quarterly land
very small.
[22:01] Um, as far as air quality, if you look
at this slide, um, this slide actually
[22:06] came from CTI consultants who Northville
contracted
[22:14] last year to evaluate our air compliance
at the landfill.
[22:20] Uh if you look at the methane plume
above Arbor Hills landfill,
[22:27] uh 31 I believe it's kilograms per hour
compared to all of the other large sites
[22:36] in southeast Michigan. Um we have this
demonstrates that we have a lot better
[22:43] control on our gas collection and
control system.
[22:52] Uh
continuing on with our landfill gas
[22:56] collection. Um upon acquisition, one of
the things that we negotiated with the
[23:05] gas developer
for the RNG plant is for us to regain
[23:11] control of the landfill wellfield, the
gas well field. Uh previously under
[23:18] advanced disposals ownership the
developer maintained the wellfield
[23:25] um
which it was about profit not
[23:29] compliance. So it was our stipulation in
that contract that we regain control of
[23:36] the wealth field. We maintain it for
compliance.
[23:41] Um every day we've got at least eight
people
[23:46] monitoring, tuning, repairing things in
the wall field. Um the last three cells
[23:54] that were built on that northeast
corner, um there were protections in
[24:01] place as part of the CJ for earlier gas
collection
[24:07] and also odor control.
We implemented those
[24:13] um with each cell. We got better. Um the
first two
[24:20] odor complaints rose when we started
putting waste in those cells. With this
[24:26] last one, we
implemented um bond collection in the
[24:34] cell, a very robust series of horizontal
collectors. And when we began placing
[24:41] waste in that cell,
odor complaints went down.
[24:48] We feel like we're on to something. And
we've actually GFL as a company, we have
[24:53] implemented that same system at all of
our other landfills in Michigan that
[24:57] we've constructed new year.
[25:06] Uh this is the air quality compliance
record. Um last 6 years under previous
[25:14] ownership they've had 32
air quality compliance violations mostly
[25:21] related to odors. Um since we have
acquired it they immediately drop.
[25:29] Um, we've had 12 total in the last 6
years. And unfortunately, the one that
[25:36] we just received recently was
administrative.
[25:42] When we acquired the landfill and put
all of the
[25:47] uh compliance deadlines into our
tracking system, the stack testing for
[25:53] the flare was missed. It should have
been done in 2024.
[25:58] Um,
as soon as we discovered it and Eagle
[26:03] discovered it, uh, we had it scheduled
before we even received the violation
[26:10] and it was completed before our response
was due and both of those players
[26:16] passed with right around half the
allowable admissions. So it was
[26:23] unfortunate but
it was a good outcome if there is one um
[26:29] perimeter and school monitoring. We have
continuous
[26:33] uh methane and H2S testing
um at the north and east sides of the
[26:40] current landfill. We will install more
around the expansion area. Um those help
[26:49] us detect problems on the hill. They're
very uh they've got a low threshold
[26:56] alarm. Um as far as emissions on the
hill, 500 parts per million is an
[27:03] exceedence on a surface emissions
inspection right on the landfill cover.
[27:08] These detect methane at 40 parts per
million at the perimeter of the
[27:13] property. Um,
we have voluntary third-party monitoring
[27:22] uh for odors
around the landfill and throughout the
[27:26] community. They monitor monitor about 40
different points
[27:32] around the landfill and the community
every morning and every evening. and we
[27:38] immediately receive those reports so
that you know we know if there's a
[27:43] problem.
Um that is something completely
[27:46] voluntary.
[27:50] Um we also have a continuous H2S monitor
at Ridgewood Elementary
[27:58] uh that was installed a little over 5
years ago as a result of uh consent
[28:05] order. However, that monitoring
requirement expired last December
[28:13] and we reached out to Ridgewood
Elementary and offered to extend it for
[28:18] an additional 5 years. It has never
registered
[28:23] uh and exceeds
[28:33] uh legacy environmental issues.
uh that we inherited.
[28:38] There was a fire at the MURF in 2016.
Several fire departments responded about
[28:46] the fire with HF
Aqua's film fighting foam uh which has
[28:52] since then been banned for use due to
POS.
[28:58] We have cleaned up storm water ponds. Uh
the remaining PAS due to that incident
[29:06] is in a protected wetland on the site.
We had a third party consultant do a
[29:14] short-term water characterization study
for the site and the recommendations
[29:19] that they gave the site Eagle was to
sequester it leave it in place. Well,
[29:28] we have since discovered that it is
seeping under the railroad bed
[29:35] into our storm water pond and we reached
out we reached out to several
[29:41] departments with Eagle had a meeting
early this year. Uh we are waiting on
[29:47] approval of permits from both the
wetland department. And it has to go to
[29:52] the EPA too because of the number of
acres, but we are waiting for them to
[29:57] let us clean this up.
Um,
[30:03] so that's where that is. We we can't
touch it until they let us. We even
[30:09] reached out to see if they would let us
lower the levels in the wetland while
[30:16] we're waiting for the permit, and they
still have not responded. I don't think
[30:20] they know who can make that decision
right now. Um, with the last three cells
[30:28] that were built, we relocated waste
which was pre- subtitle D. It was
[30:34] outside of liner.
So that's an environmental protection
[30:40] for the community. Get that within a
line cell where we're not going to have
[30:44] the risk.
um and Wayne County road permits.
[30:49] Uh we do pay permits and bonds to both
Washington and Wayne County. And
[30:57] uh we perform, we contract and pay for
repairs to the road that the county
[31:04] determines are due to the truck traffic
coming to the landfill.
[31:12] uh our community stewardship. I think
most of you already see what Dave does
[31:18] for the community. Um we are happy to
support. We enjoy it. Um anything from
[31:26] cleanup, sponsorships,
you name it. Dave has a hard time saying
[31:30] no.
[31:34] Uh, Arbor Hills Landfell,
besides
[31:40] your auditor's report, um, Arbor Hills
Landfill actually has a $40 million
[31:46] annual impact
throughout the state and the local
[31:51] communities. Uh, not only for
we employ
[31:57] I believe it's over 40 people at the
site. uh many of which are union
[32:03] operators.
Um the rest goes to community support,
[32:10] uh local goods and services and our
hosts and permit fees.
[32:19] Uh Arbor Hills Energy, the electric
plant, uh that was the primary
[32:26] gas energy plant for the site. uh it now
operates on demand. They have a contract
[32:33] with DTE that uh they send there and
create electricity to support the grid
[32:39] in times of peak electricity usage.
[32:46] Emerald RNG the new RNG plant uh
capacity is about 10,000 SCFM. It is
[32:53] large enough to handle the gas generated
in the proposed expansion area. Gas
[33:00] generation once we close the current
landfill hill will begin to go down.
[33:06] Gaps will go up. So it should stay
pretty steady. Um, the plant creates
[33:14] enough clean renewable fuel power uh to
fuel the equivalent of 11, 1100 CNG
[33:22] trucks or to heat about 22,000 homes.
[33:31] I'm not sure what these green headers
are up there, but citizen convenience
[33:36] area that we provide for the community.
Um, San Township residents can bring
[33:42] waste and recycling in for free. Uh,
other areas of the local community can
[33:49] bring recycling in for free. Uh, but
there's a standard fee for waste drop
[33:54] off.
Um,
[33:57] we process about 4,500 tons of waste
through that citizen area and it's it's
[34:03] a safer alternative than sending small
vehicles up the hill.
[34:09] It's quick and easy access. Um the
household hazardous waste. Uh this was a
[34:16] facility that Dave actually negotiated
during the consent judgment. rather than
[34:23] pay a huge amount of fines to the state
that no one will ever see locally,
[34:30] they took the initiative to
uh
[34:35] offer ideas that would directly impact
the community. So, this was done in a
[34:40] partnership with Washington County. Um,
we built and totally fund all the
[34:48] operations there along with
uh the proper disposal of household
[34:54] hazardous waste and the facility is
operated by county.
[35:04] The leech pre-treatment facility uh has
been in place for several years now. Um
[35:12] treating the leech prior to it going to
yucka. Um last year we received reduced
[35:20] limits for PAS arsenic ammonia.
So we have been working with Yaka and
[35:29] engineers to
uh upgrade the facility.
[35:34] We found that we are able to get the PAS
close, you know, where it needs to be,
[35:41] not completely consistently,
but we're having a hard time with the
[35:47] species of arsenic that we're seeing.
So,
[35:52] the original plan was to upgrade the uh
granular activated carbon system that we
[35:58] have and we've now learned that we're
going to have to re-engineer it and move
[36:03] to reverse osmosis so that we can make
that
[36:11] uh I already talked about the compost
operations. Um,
[36:17] I believe that's actually supposed to be
90,000 yards of leaves, uh, grass
[36:23] clippings from local residents,
landscape contractors, residential
[36:27] subscription haulers. Um, you know, we
want to move that and convert to a
[36:33] better system that will help support the
county and local communities
[36:38] sustainability goals. The materials
recovery facility processes about 20,000
[36:45] tons per year. Uh was recently
expanded and they have also installed uh
[36:54] new shredding equip equipment to
uh increase the capacity and they are
[37:00] also looking to diversify the types of
materials that they can process there.
[37:10] So continue capital investment. I think
that you know a lot of that I've already
[37:15] talked about as far as uh mitigating the
PAS impacted areas
[37:22] uh improvements to the lease system, the
gas collection system,
[37:29] uh site and operations
[37:34] postclosure uses. Uh that's one thing
that the county has wanted to talk
[37:40] about. However, it's still an active
site. It's a little premature. Um upon
[37:47] final closure, you know,
we will still be responsible for many
[37:53] years of care and maintenance, a minimum
of 30. And we carry financial assurance
[38:00] bonds to make sure that that is taken
care of. Mhm.
[38:04] » Um
the and when it is finally closed, I
[38:11] mean, we look forward to working with
the community and the county to
[38:17] uh find a better use that works for you.
Um,
[38:26] one of the things I'll touch on very
quickly, you can see it in the back
[38:30] because I know we're getting long here,
but um, disposal capacity in Southeast
[38:36] Michigan, the
maps that you have there
[38:43] demonstrates the landfills that are
going to be closing, they're currently
[38:47] open and are going to be closing in
southeast Michigan.
[38:51] Um,
if you go to the next,
[38:57] this is 5 years from now, and this does
not take into account
[39:03] diversion from any of the landfills that
will be closed by then, including Harbor
[39:08] Hills. And then 10 years from now, still
not redirecting any of the waste from
[39:16] those landfills that are closing,
we're going to be left with two
[39:20] landfills in southeast Michigan uh able
to accept waste. Um
[39:28] it's
it's pretty concerning reality. I mean,
[39:34] » you know, the farther you have to go,
the more trucks you have on the road,
[39:39] the more emissions. You know, the longer
a driver's on the road, the more risk.
[39:47] I think it's very important to know
because there's some misinformation out
[39:51] there. We post a bond for the landfill
go bankrupt tomorrow. We turn the bond
[39:57] in, there's money there to take care of
the landfill. It's not you only got a
[40:02] $3,500 bond. It's enough in that bond
that we'd have to call the bond in or
[40:08] state would call a bond in and collect
all the money to close the site. So
[40:13] people have given numbers that are
nowhere close to what that bond is for,
[40:17] but that bond is reviewed every year to
make sure it would cover if we all
[40:22] packed our bags and took off tomorrow.
Um, so it's important that this this
[40:27] landfill has two liners. Most landfills
only have one is a double composite
[40:31] liner which is kind of unusual. Um it's
just an extra safeguard for the
[40:36] landfill. I think that's very important.
Again, there's things we do because of
[40:40] the consent judgment. Um but we go we we
want to be above compliance right at all
[40:47] times. All you know uh I say it every
day to my employees and they know we go
[40:52] to work every day to do the right thing,
right? It works out in the long run.
[40:55] That's been my model for 40 years. It's
worked very well for
[41:00] so we run a very good landfill. We run a
great landfill. Uh we just kind of want
[41:06] to get everybody give you some
information. There's a lot of
[41:09] misinformation out there which is very
uh misleading and very uh
[41:15] um
it's not right that long reach out
[41:20] there. Um, we see a lot of it. But
again, you can check with Eagle, call
[41:25] Eagle, uh, and ask where we're at. Uh,
folks will talk to you. I think it's
[41:32] it's, uh, it's too bad that people are
kind of using fear to put fear in the
[41:37] neighborhoods and fear, you know, in in
local residents um, by misleading
[41:42] information. I don't believe that's
right.
[41:47] » Thank you very much.
>> All right. Do we have any questions?
[41:52] Yes.
>> The actual distance from uh the landfill
[41:57] to the power line,
>> the landfill to the power line, uh about
[42:01] the same as what it is now.
>> No, no, I don't have that measurement.
[42:05] » Yeah, it's actually further away.
There's a zone in there where there's
[42:09] some infrastructure, uh maintenance
building and all that. So, there's quite
[42:13] uh a distance on that side, too. I can't
remember. Right off the top of
[42:16] » the village kind of right next to Kelly
there. So, it'll be a ways away from
[42:21] Italy's there's a power line and I can't
I don't have the distance right off the
[42:26] top of my head. There's a maintenance
facility. There's some infrastructure
[42:29] that'll be in that. It'll be a lot like
the other side. We're not going property
[42:33] line to property line. Right. So,
>> there'll be no BM or anything that
[42:38] you'll put on the on the west.
[42:43] » Hey,
and just a couple quick questions. uh
[42:48] third party monitor that you folks
utilize. Who is that company and I
[42:52] assume it's computerized in some way,
shape or form that they are able to
[42:56] track 40 different locations?
>> Actually, no. They get in a car and they
[43:01] drive to them locations every morning
and every afternoon at random times and
[43:06] they use a good old sniffer or nose.
They smell something. Um, they have what
[43:11] they call nasal ranger that they stick
up their nose and then I think it's like
[43:15] one to five or something and they turn
it up, you know, they start at five and
[43:20] turn it down so they can smell it. Um,
and then it's it's a rated on one
[43:24] through five. Uh, they can smell
something.
[43:27] » Is that how they uh do their checks at
the elementary school as well?
[43:31] » No, that's that's a that's an air
monitor that's computerized that's live.
[43:36] Um, and again there that's been in place
70 probably when I first got here 2020
[43:42] right before that that was installed.
Um, it's never had a hit above that
[43:46] ground and that's all computerized
>> that and the perimeter monitors
[43:54] along
our property line. Those are all 24-hour
[44:00] monitoring
and those go to a publicly facing
[44:04] website that anybody can access.
>> It's a computerized system that takes
[44:08] all the wind, the parametric pressure.
It takes a lot of things into account.
[44:12] It gives us a back trajectory to where
possibly that odor could be coming from.
[44:16] It kind of ges out on it. You look at on
the computer, it gives you
[44:21] pretty good stuff. Pretty good.
Do you have any uh projections on future
[44:29] road improvements for five mile road
east of Napier going toward Ridge?
[44:35] » All of the future development that's
occurring, the new meer that's going to
[44:38] open up. U there's already two new
businesses that have got situated uh
[44:45] North Lumber and
something that's happening on the
[44:50] » That's a good question. So there's a lot
of truck traffic that's complained about
[44:53] from the landfill. There's the
warehouses which means the goods will be
[44:56] trucked in trucked out company trucked
in trucked outer truck in truck out and
[45:02] then the new cable company adding more
trucks to that. But what I've done uh
[45:06] since I've been here was before I got
here was we spent u a minimum of
[45:11] $150,000 a year on any improvements as
part of our road bond from Napier to
[45:18] M14. that's back the five mile to nap.
Um any improvements that are needed on
[45:23] that I meet with the county every year
and they give me a list of things they
[45:28] want done. So 3 years ago, four years
ago, I spent $450,000
[45:34] on the clover just north of the railroad
tracks was put in in 1920s 1930s was
[45:40] disintegrating. So I replaced that with
a box culver this year. Actually Friday
[45:45] we sent bids out. We're going to repair
the whole intersection at five mile an
[45:50] acre. So that's we uh the county I met
with the county. We talked about it. Uh
[45:58] » so I talked to the county about it. They
gave me all the uh the requirements. Uh
[46:03] we built the blueprints and they were
sent out Friday. So, I'm rushing to get
[46:07] the uh the uh bids back and get it going
as quick as possible because it's
[46:12] Michigan and it's going to get cold and
I want to get it done uh this year. So,
[46:17] um
next year we could probably go north to
[46:20] the other intersection.
>> Yay.
[46:24] with that area being designated by the
state for you know economic development.
[46:30] Uh is the state willing to belly up to
the bar and help with uh reconstructing
[46:37] that section of five mile between Napier
and Ridge or is everybody looking to you
[46:43] good folks to bite the bite the apple
>> TV? So, I'm not sure um I'm not sure
[46:51] what's happening with that along in
there. Um I can't answer that question
[46:56] other than
>> they fixed Plymouth did get some grant
[47:00] both sides. So, they are going to put
that money towards that level.
[47:04] » I hope so. It'd be great. I am going to
fix the intersection. I know it's been
[47:07] bad for a long time and kind of been
going back and forth about that, but um
[47:14] » it's coming. So, coming sooner than
later.
[47:17] » Thank you. appreciate the response.
>> No, I think it's important that we talk
[47:21] about that the wetland relocation and
we've seen that on the blogs. Um, we
[47:26] bought a nice piece of property, uh, the
Bot Farm on Curry Road, 5 mile north and
[47:31] south of 6 mile. We have a design for
that. There's going to be walking paths
[47:35] in there, a parking lot, a pavilion.
It's going to be turned into a park uh
[47:40] for the community which you probably
read on some blogs that you guys get the
[47:45] park and um you know we're moving
wetlands and it's two to one so for
[47:52] everyone we make two more um so it's a
huge improvement more wetlands we're
[47:57] going to get a beautiful park again talk
about the construction on five pile what
[48:02] have we got for that have we
has any is anybody replacing that with
[48:07] all that habitat that was in there for
that wildlife that's now destroyed. I
[48:11] highly doubt it. But we're doing the
right thing.
[48:16] » Good to know on the wetland that we are
creating on the box property that will
[48:23] carry a 50year
uh conservation ement where it can't be.
[48:36] Just one other question about the
>> POS
[48:39] » project that you're doing.
>> Is did you say that that's leaking from
[48:44] somewhere or is this from was it from
the fire? So I'm getting that mixed up
[48:49] from the fire.
>> Yeah. So there if you when you go to the
[48:51] citizens area to drop off, you see like
the little above the BMB and there's the
[48:55] trees there. That's a wetland in there
and it's federally protected. Right. So
[48:59] the pond next to it had PAS in it
because that's where all the storm water
[49:03] uh drained from the murf and then it
went from there and drained into the
[49:06] wetlands. Uh so we cut off cut it off so
nothing could drain anywhere anymore.
[49:11] But it had already happened, right? So I
went in and cleaned the big pond up that
[49:15] you see next to the blue tanks. We went
in there and cleaned that up because we
[49:18] could. Um our next step is is the
wetland area and that's why we got to
[49:22] relocate it. We we originally decided
okay just let's leave it in place but we
[49:27] did find out that it is is drained
through the ground right to our storm
[49:31] water pump. So you see that
uh on certain things that the landfills
[49:38] uh discharging POS it's not actually the
landfill it's from that wet land right
[49:43] so um we we figured that out that it's
it's going through the ground so we want
[49:49] to clean that wetlands up and we'll make
it so it doesn't do that anymore they
[49:53] have to get all these there's a lot that
goes into a lot of agencies a lot of
[49:58] permits uh we got to just wait for them
to They go ahead and as soon as they
[50:03] give us a green light, we'll vote for
it. So, uh, that'll stop that.
[50:08] » Beautiful. Any other questions?
All right. Appreciate you guys.
[50:14] » Thank you.
>> Appreciate everything you do for the
[50:16] township.
[50:20] » All right. So, moving on down to public
comments.
[50:25] » Remember, our public I know some new
people here. We get three minutes and uh
[50:30] so keep it short. Yes, Jay.
>> Thank you for the smooth road.
[50:41] » Okay. Anyone else?
>> Yes.
[50:44] » Um I have a question regarding the board
meeting minutes. Um the online are only
[50:49] available.
I wonder why that is. And
[50:56] I'll check on that.
[51:06] » I didn't check it.
[51:11] » All right. Thank you. All right.
Anybody? Yes.
[51:14] » Hi. Uh, my name is Rochelle. I am the
manager and president of Midwest Private
[51:19] Rescue. Um, currently we're in Plymouth,
but we have to leave Plymouth. We've
[51:24] been there for 21 years. Um, every
municipality within Michigan knows who
[51:30] we are. Calls upon us if they find a
domestic rabbit running their yard. We
[51:35] are licensed with the Department of
Agriculture and get inspections every
[51:38] year. We wanted to move to Salem, Salem
Township, specifically uh 5 mile and
[51:45] eight trail. There's been uh a building
that's been vacant for over a year. Um
[51:51] it was perfect in my vision of what we
would love, what we would need. Um these
[51:58] are indoor animals only. They don't run
around loose. We don't have we don't
[52:01] they're not supposed to be in a barn. Um
we give them spay and neutered. We adopt
[52:05] them out. Um I also do programs with the
National Honor Society, with the
[52:11] schools, uh with the colleges for
volunteer.
[52:14] um haven't done it in a little bit
because of COVID, but we also work with
[52:18] the court system. So, someone may have
to do community service
[52:22] volunteer.
So, we would love to move into Salem. Um
[52:26] by doing so, I have at least 15 to 30
volunteers that come out every day to
[52:31] help clean and do all of that. And uh so
that would also bring y'all if you have
[52:36] small businesses. Volunteers would
frequent those businesses and spend
[52:41] money. So,
um I don't know what is involved to get
[52:46] it approved for us to move in. Uh there
is a cemetery right next door, so I know
[52:51] they're not going to complain.
Not enough, you know, pretty far away
[52:56] from anybody. I mean, currently we are
in downtown Plymouth. That is where
[53:00] we've been for 21 years. Um haven't had
any complaints. Everybody loves us. Um,
[53:05] but with the ordinances in Salem, I'm
not I'm kind I clearly don't understand
[53:11] uh because there's horses right down the
street, regular horses.
[53:16] » Sure.
>> So,
[53:18] » okay. Well, thank you. Just if I can use
this public comment, I'm not supposed to
[53:23] talk, but if if you would just uh call
the office here and uh make an
[53:29] appointment with uh our planner. He's
here Tuesday from uh 9 till noon. Okay.
[53:36] And make an appointment with him and
come on in and uh we'll get all the
[53:40] information and help you out.
>> Yeah, we'd love to be a part of
[53:46] » No, it sounds interesting.
>> Is that the uh Is that the Is that the
[53:50] Brownie? Is that the Brownie sign
building
[53:54] » something we're talking about? Yeah.
>> All right. Well, thank you very much.
[53:59] » I have a vision. Sure.
[54:03] » Really pretty.
[54:06] » Sounds good.
>> Thank you for being here tonight.
[54:10] » Okay. Who's next?
[54:15] » Okay. If not, we're going to go down.
Oh, I'm sorry.
[54:21] » I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand.
>> That's okay. I was keeping it really
[54:24] discreet.
>> Hi everybody. I'm Davey. I'm a Salem
[54:29] precinct delegate. We've got some other
Salem precinct delegates in the room.
[54:32] Would you please raise your hand?
>> Yay. Um, just to let you know that we
[54:38] meet monthly to bring our neighbors
together so we can just talk about
[54:42] what's going on locally
in Michigan and nationally. We start
[54:47] with snacks and chat and pledge and
prayer and then we just kind of hash
[54:52] things out. We share information. The
next meeting is September 24th.
[54:57] And we are being hosted by Three
Seaters. Um, so come on down. Uh, I'm
[55:05] sure we'll get some donuts inside.
>> Thanks, Three.
[55:11] » So, um, there's some little leaflets on
the back. Please take one and join us. I
[55:16] also want to give an update
on the citizens only vote amendment.
[55:26] Um, our board of elections and Michigan
board of canvasers, in my opinion, have
[55:31] failed
the voters it serves.
[55:37] Over 79,000
voters signed petitions to get the
[55:44] amendment on the ballot.
That's 79,000
[55:50] voters
who are now disenfranchised.
[55:56] This is an 8020 issue. This is
nonpartisan.
[56:02] Over 80% of Michigan,
82% of Michigan voters want only
[56:09] citizens to vote.
84 to 87 of Americans want only citizens
[56:16] to vote. And yet this amendment failed
in the process.
[56:25] Petitions were turned in in March and
then they were slowwalked for five
[56:31] months,
leaving the sponsors only a few days to
[56:37] support any challenges that were made.
The board of canvasers comprises of two
[56:46] Democrats and two Republicans
and the vote at the end of the day was
[56:53] along party lines.
This is not a political
[56:59] issue. It shouldn't be a political
issue,
[57:03] but we've been failed.
I also have personal concerns. So, I've
[57:10] been involved and embedded in this
petition process for all of these
[57:15] people.
I've sat through a 7-hour board of
[57:20] canvaser meeting where they quibbled
over does this signature match this
[57:26] signature?
And the sponsors provided affidavit
[57:31] where signatures were challenged.
The sponsors provided affidavit of
[57:37] people saying I, you know, Joe Smith
attest under penalty of perjury that
[57:44] yes, I signed my name to that petition.
And yet, not all four of the board of
[57:51] counselors accepted that. It's a
travesty. It's a travesty for all of
[57:56] Michigan. People who only want citizens
to vote.
[58:01] My personal concerns are around the
process.
[58:05] Um, the process was supposed to select
out of that 700,000 signatures,
[58:13] select a random
1,000 signatures to be held. And yet the
[58:21] algorithm and the computer program that
selected those random signatures are not
[58:27] trans.
[58:33] There was no fair play.
About three weeks prior to this citizens
[58:40] only vote petition process, another
Michigan money out of politics amendment
[58:49] sailed through. And when
when the attorney had to get involved
[58:55] and they looked at what standards were
being used for Michigan out of politics
[59:00] and the standards for rejection for
citizens only vote, they were miles
[59:05] apart. That's not fair.
[59:13] The transparency
of what goes on behind the scenes is
[59:20] going to be investigated.
It's too late to get the petition on the
[59:26] ballot for 2026.
[59:31] I just hope that you think deeply how
elections matter and elections have
[59:39] consequences
and this is one of those consequences.
[59:45] That's it.
>> Thanks.
[59:47] » Thanks.
>> Thanks.
[59:50] » All right. Nobody else? If not, we're
going to the consent agenda for Wel.
[59:58] » Very good. I move that Salem Township
approve the following consent agenda
[1:00:02] items.
We have dispersements for um August of
[1:00:07] out of the general fund of 493,656
[1:00:13] and52
payroll of $57,246
[1:00:20] escrow fund $4,530
sewer fund $23,96549
[1:00:30] and uh the MEC water fund $1,557.87.
[1:00:38] Now for the invoices for the month of
September out of the general fund,
[1:00:44] $529,83.97.
[1:00:48] Escrow fund $11,9158.
[1:00:53] Sewer fund $10,228.19.
[1:00:57] Water fund $1,557.87.
[1:01:02] And lastly, uh, invoices for the MEEDC
fund, $93,4168.
[1:01:11] Do we have a second on all these?
I'll second.
[1:01:16] » Okay, John. Any other questions for
members on the consent agenda?
[1:01:24] If not, all those in favor say I. Any
oppose?
[1:01:29] Consent agenda is
Yes.
[1:01:34] All right. Moving down to uh
business items is the conditional land
[1:01:40] use for key capture energy project at
6709
[1:01:45] East Joy Road.
So, I have a motion here and I move that
[1:01:50] Salem Township approve or deny the
conditional land use permit and primary
[1:01:56] site plan to allow construction of a
battery battery energy storage system by
[1:02:04] Key Capture Energy on the parcel located
at 6709 East Troy Road, West of Curtis,
[1:02:12] as known as tax ID A0132
400.
[1:02:17] -002
subject to and conditioned upon the
[1:02:21] applicant agreeing to and meeting the
conditions on the use is recommended by
[1:02:26] the Salem Township Planning Commission
on July the 20th, 2026 and the
[1:02:31] conditions for approval as described in
detail in the attached exhibit A.
[1:02:41] So we have um several of these in the
that are listed
[1:02:47] uh is is in the exhibit is the emergency
operation plan safety sound and the
[1:02:55] security repair minor site plan
amendments and host community agreement.
[1:03:03] um hazardous substance.
Um
[1:03:10] and then um the last one was added the
uh the township the application for the
[1:03:17] renewal ready for the communities awards
and uh that have been talked about as
[1:03:24] far as uh
the um
[1:03:30] grants and everything that are out there
to receive. So that's uh number eight.
[1:03:35] So, we have them listed here. I think
most of you might have seen them. I
[1:03:38] think most of you know that the planning
commission has dealt with this for
[1:03:42] several years and u and uh they had as
we said on the 20th or what date was it?
[1:03:51] Yeah, July 20th that uh they passed it 5
to2 in favor of uh passing it on to the
[1:03:58] board and now we're here addressing it.
I know we had talked about this at our
[1:04:03] last meeting and um we did have a a good
uh meeting with a lot of people. We
[1:04:12] invited a lot of the public and we
invited board members, planning
[1:04:16] commission members to go with a facility
up with to co cold water, Michigan to
[1:04:21] visit a plant there to see firsthand and
listen to some of the uh operations that
[1:04:28] go on there. and uh
everybody came away with a positive re
[1:04:35] positive uh outcome of what we had seen.
Um
[1:04:41] I know we had I think a couple things we
had talked about as we went up there we
[1:04:45] noticed that they did have fire
hydrants. We've asked Key Capture to
[1:04:50] consider putting in a well for us at
that facility. And it just I mean not
[1:04:58] not to worry about all the details, but
as far as if these batteries catch on
[1:05:03] fire, we know about batteries with cars
that you do have to let them burn out.
[1:05:07] Um and um but the main thing is to keep
the others cool during the time so that
[1:05:13] they don't ignite and start on fire. So
uh I believe we have a a storage
[1:05:20] facility of tank of is it 30,000 gallons
of Jim along with um providing a well
[1:05:27] that provides
u 60
[1:05:33] » per minute and uh so anyway kind of
twofold if you ever been around with
[1:05:39] fires around here because we don't have
public utilities
[1:05:43] um it's good to have that kind of
facility in an area where even if a
[1:05:49] house meets and we need to fill the
trucks up more with water, we have
[1:05:53] something that's close in that town. So,
it helps not only with this facility
[1:05:57] that's going there, but also um other,
you know, things that might happen with
[1:06:05] house fires and different stuff in the
area. So, um
[1:06:10] what else? Any other questions? Go
ahead, John.
[1:06:14] » Yeah. In regards to the batteries, how
are they cool or are they?
[1:06:19] » Yeah.
>> Water involved.
[1:06:22] » You mean if they're
>> just keeping the batteries?
[1:06:25] » Yeah. Now, the the company's here
tonight, so Brian, you're more than
[1:06:29] welcome to come on up here. We can fire
questions at you.
[1:06:35] » Absolutely.
Uh thank you. So the uh the batteries
[1:06:40] are cooled um with a uh uh glycol
ethylene glycol water mixture. Um and so
[1:06:47] it's uh it's
it's enclosed within the battery units
[1:06:52] themselves. Uh they're little uh tubes
that run through the um the actual
[1:06:58] container and help cool down the
batteries during operation. So it's a
[1:07:02] closed loop system.
>> Correct. Yes.
[1:07:06] Any
other questions?
[1:07:12] I'll ask one
a little on the subject. Um, in the
[1:07:19] materials that I review
that this battery storage system that
[1:07:26] would be in our township would help
stabilizing the grid and provide backup
[1:07:31] electricity.
Does our community actually benefit from
[1:07:35] such a system if Hollywood is out like
lots of homes?
[1:07:43] » Uh well the the benefits of the facility
um would be more regional. Um so while
[1:07:53] Salem Township would have some benefit
because facilities like battery energy
[1:07:57] storage projects uh help stabilize the
grid by releasing power when uh when
[1:08:04] there's excess uh demand and storing
power when there's uh excess supply. Uh
[1:08:10] it helps regulate the the overall
stability of the grid. So, uh, that
[1:08:15] ability in your own backyard to have
that source of power would help
[1:08:20] regulate, um, uh, power flow and power
supply, uh, and and potentially help
[1:08:27] with preventing, uh, a blackout or or
brown out, but I couldn't guarantee that
[1:08:31] the facility itself would um, be able
to, you know, on its own prevent a major
[1:08:38] issue or disruption with the grid at
large. All
[1:08:44] right. If I can add
just separate the transmission lines if
[1:08:50] they're broken through the weather
batteries won't help anybody help us
[1:08:56] wire back in. So that part of it can't
help but but the rest of it you talked
[1:09:01] about
browns and all kinds of
[1:09:06] those things regional will be good.
[1:09:12] But it won't work as a backup.
[1:09:18] » Well, uh, no. But
>> so I mean getting into sort of the
[1:09:25] concept of the grid and how does, uh,
energy get generated and then consumed.
[1:09:31] So one particular battery energy storage
project as a 100 megawatt facility like
[1:09:36] us um you know that would be enough
electricity to power
[1:09:42] um you know thousands of homes but uh
but it it it couldn't offset a major
[1:09:49] grid disruption that um you know to to
Bruce's point if a major 500 KV or or uh
[1:09:57] 325 KV line went down that is a a much
broader and bigger issue than our
[1:10:04] project could uh help mitigate.
[1:10:12] » Okay. And um yeah, where does the power
come to charge these batteries? Where
[1:10:17] did that come from? You got to charge
battery. How do you how do you charge
[1:10:20] your battery?
>> Yeah. So, the power comes uh from any
[1:10:24] number of sources that are uh generating
electricity at the specific time the
[1:10:29] battery is charging. So it's energy
agnostic. It could be from wind. It
[1:10:33] could be from solar. It could be from
coal. Could be from natural gas. We just
[1:10:38] absorb the excess power.
If BT
[1:10:43] uses all our power, you'll get to charge
your batteries basically. Uh yes, that's
[1:10:48] right.
So who's who's
[1:10:53] cross the road?
I just
[1:10:57] need to power.
>> Well, that's a complicated answer, but
[1:11:01] yes.
>> Yeah. You're going to have a big wire
[1:11:03] from their big wire go your battery and
you're going to charge it and
[1:11:06] everybody's power is on it.
>> Yeah.
[1:11:10] » How much acreage is this battery storage
facility going to be located?
[1:11:16] » Uh roughly 10 acres.
[1:11:20] » Okay. The actual footprint of the
facility would be smaller than that. is
[1:11:24] probably about eight. But um our our
lease area from our land land owner is
[1:11:30] about 10 acres. Um and our land owner,
just uh for context, he owns about 134
[1:11:37] acres there. Um and so 116 of that will
remain a perpetual farmland conservation
[1:11:46] unit. Um and so the balance of the
property will be protected. Um and this
[1:11:53] little 10acre uh set aside will enable
uh him to keep the property in his
[1:12:00] in his family.
>> How many batteries are included in this
[1:12:04] project?
>> 132 at full buildout. 110 at initial. Uh
[1:12:10] so um just like your phone battery
starts to lose its um ability to charge
[1:12:18] over time uh we have to augment the
facility roughly every 5 years with a
[1:12:23] couple additional batteries. So um so
it's 110 at initial and then 132 planned
[1:12:30] at uh the end of the project life.
[1:12:38] Yep.
>> Just real quick, I know back to the
[1:12:40] safety issue and fire issue. We're 100%
relying on water to put these out or or
[1:12:45] to contain them. Is you see more and
more of these fire blankets? Some I
[1:12:50] missed it. Are there any fire blankets
that would constantly drape over these
[1:12:55] batteries and if there were a fire that
they would drop on them and help slow it
[1:13:00] down or contain it?
>> Uh I'm not aware of any uh type of
[1:13:04] blanket technology. I think the the
recommended uh response from our our
[1:13:09] fire uh protection engineers is to let
the let the battery burn. Um and the the
[1:13:17] water is there to uh help cool any
adjacent uh containers so that it
[1:13:22] doesn't spread. Um which has not
happened uh uh at any any facility uh to
[1:13:29] date. Um so so really the objective
would be to isolate that container, let
[1:13:36] it burn. Uh would take you know roughly
um 20 hours or so for it to probably uh
[1:13:43] fully extinguish um and uh and then just
keep the the adjacent batteries cool.
[1:13:51] » Thank you.
>> Yes.
[1:13:56] Um can we expect in the event of a
unfortunate fire can we also expect
[1:14:02] toxic fumes to be circulating in the air
and what measures would counter that?
[1:14:11] » Yes. So uh we prepared a plume study uh
which evaluated uh a worst case
[1:14:17] situation where all of the modules uh
contained within one of the containers
[1:14:24] were on fire. Um and uh we worked with
uh Chief Rockwell and his consultants at
[1:14:31] Stan uh to evaluate what the
constituents are um that would be
[1:14:37] generated and how far those would uh
would travel off the site. Um
[1:14:45] maybe you can help me out. I don't have
the final number but right off the top
[1:14:48] my head. Yeah. So, so it's obviously
weather depending and storing, but the
[1:14:53] biggest
[1:14:57] consistency of the direction and the
evacuation distances with the setbacks
[1:15:02] were all modeled in the planning
commission and talked in depth. So, this
[1:15:06] is talk a little while around this.
Suffice it to say that it has been
[1:15:11] studied. It has been looked at. Um
obviously anytime bring any industry
[1:15:16] into a into a residential area have
impacts but I'm confident to say with
[1:15:22] what we looked at there would be enough
time to either shelter through place or
[1:15:26] evacuate and the expectation is that um
the way the designs are we don't have
[1:15:32] the final design because they don't have
their permit and technology changes
[1:15:36] daily that we're comfortable that with
the added water and some of the
[1:15:42] consensus that they made for wells that
uh the supervisor talked about would
[1:15:46] allocate some protection against the
residents and as also believe that this
[1:15:51] is a relatively rural area with 165
acres. So a lot of that you're asking me
[1:15:58] can it hit a a resident? Yes, but it
depends on the wind conditions
[1:16:01] everything
would have alignment and then you're
[1:16:06] looking at possible evacuation depending
what the meters would tell us. We would
[1:16:12] do real time on
[1:16:19] » um Brian if you want to uh you know one
of the things that I had asked is if you
[1:16:23] want to just elaborate a little bit
about on site during the day like who's
[1:16:30] monitoring this or was going to monitor
it
[1:16:34] if you want to talk a little bit about
that.
[1:16:37] » Yes. So the facility is uh remotely
monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a
[1:16:42] week. Um
and additionally we would have uh staff
[1:16:48] on site uh one plant operator um who
would be there during traditional
[1:16:54] business hours say 8 to 5 Monday through
Friday. Um and uh supplementing that we
[1:17:01] probably have technicians. Um you can
imagine a specialist being on site to do
[1:17:07] some specific work um maybe two or three
um twice a week. Uh but but it would be
[1:17:16] continuously there would be a plant
manager on site Monday through Friday
[1:17:20] and then additionally uh remotely
monitored um to the uh get information
[1:17:27] um collection system that uh uh trans
transponds information um like frequency
[1:17:36] uh temperature uh gas data information.
Um so someone is is sitting at a
[1:17:43] computer um at a at a remote location
monitoring that to make sure you know uh
[1:17:50] that the facility is is operating within
uh normal limits and uh can dispatch you
[1:17:57] know additional um assistance if if
something looks off to come out and uh
[1:18:03] do the emergency type work.
Okay.
[1:18:08] Question. Um, how many of these sites
are around the country for your that you
[1:18:13] control and key capture?
>> Yeah, Key Capture operates uh 11
[1:18:18] projects in Texas and three in New York.
Um, those are all operating facilities.
[1:18:24] We have a number of projects also in
development stage. Um uh so similar to
[1:18:29] here in Michigan um we have another
project in Michigan that just uh
[1:18:35] recently got an approval and uh another
one that's in active active as well.
[1:18:43] D if I could um I'm going to Seline
Township in October to look at their
[1:18:49] battery storage.
So is it your key cash? No, it's a
[1:18:56] different company, but still battery the
same.
[1:18:59] » Yes.
>> BSS storage. So that's supposed to be
[1:19:02] operational. We need this month and in
October we're supposed to get a tour. So
[1:19:07] we're going to have one in Washington
County in your backyard. So if you're
[1:19:11] interested in there, we can probably set
you up with the one lot closer.
[1:19:18] » Okay. If no more questions. Yes. Um, as
far as like breadth of the I'll call it
[1:19:24] a plant for lack of a better word, is
there a certain threshold that requires
[1:19:28] like an on-site fire facility or water
truck something and like all that you
[1:19:34] have in Texas New York so on and so
forth?
[1:19:36] » No. uh there's no no specific water
requirement and in fact uh you know the
[1:19:42] recommendation again is is not to fight
any uh any fire associated with a
[1:19:48] battery incident um with water.
So on the rare occasion as Supervisor
[1:19:55] Whitaker mentioned, the Cold Water
Township uh happened to have hydrants
[1:20:00] nearby and so that was you know uh
permitted a couple years ago and um and
[1:20:07] so they made use of that proximity. But
um it having water on site I think is
[1:20:13] something that makes people feel better
but it is not a requirement or um
[1:20:21] you know something that I think actually
you know probably benefits that much.
[1:20:26] » So basically like it having someone
there regardless of water whatever the
[1:20:31] the
um solution would be it's just going to
[1:20:35] burn it doesn't matter.
>> Yes.
[1:20:37] » Okay.
And the fire chief is going to make the
[1:20:41] the decision and part of the one
condition we didn't mention is that the
[1:20:45] developer works with the chief to create
a emergency operations plan so that he's
[1:20:49] got it all locked up and provide any
training that the department needs. Um
[1:20:53] but it's a case
[1:20:57] district I believe
we do have fire blankets around those
[1:21:02] now they're more practical vehicle
been some recent studies out of UL
[1:21:10] so that has limited use more for
exposure protection and that's probably
[1:21:14] what we use more than that practical the
goal is is to minimize you limit it to
[1:21:20] that one device They protect all the
other devices to prevent them from
[1:21:26] » going into a thermal because once that
device is gone, they're writing it off
[1:21:30] themselves.
[1:21:34] » Okay. Uh, any other questions?
So, we do have a motion on the table. Do
[1:21:40] we have a second on this?
>> Yes.
[1:21:42] » Could you clarify the motion? Cuz when
you read the motion, you said approve or
[1:21:47] deny.
[1:21:50] » Just clarify it. So, we're we're making
a motion to approve.
[1:21:54] » Okay.
[1:21:58] All
>> Daniel Seconds and we'll need a roll
[1:22:03] call vote. Mr. Winsel.
>> All right. We have um a roll call vote.
[1:22:12] John Daniel.
>> Yes.
[1:22:17] Luca,
>> yes.
[1:22:19] » Alo,
>> yes.
[1:22:21] three. Yes.
>> Trent,
[1:22:24] » yes.
>> Winsley, yes. And
[1:22:28] » yes.
>> So, uh, I'd like to, um, just make a
[1:22:33] little comment about Key Capture and the
folks that are here tonight. Um, first
[1:22:38] of all, I has it been three has it been
three years since we've been dealing
[1:22:42] with this close to it.
>> Yeah. So, and I have to tell you that
[1:22:47] when you first came in here, and I think
we talked a little bit about this, but I
[1:22:50] want the public to know, make this
public record, that
[1:22:53] » I was one for alls, totally against it.
And um just maybe the way I don't know
[1:22:59] if you had some other people come in
here, the way they handled it, I was at
[1:23:02] the planning commission meeting and
we're just ready to say, "Hey, we'll
[1:23:06] take us on." Now, we know the state has
taken the rights away from local
[1:23:10] jurisdiction and we uh formed an
ordinance. um everything went that way,
[1:23:16] but we were determined to say you guys
need to go away. We tried to figure out
[1:23:21] different location and you worked with
us. Um and again, people don't
[1:23:26] understand that what the township would
lose on this would be um
[1:23:33] you know, we would basically get
nothing. The state's taking it out of
[1:23:36] our hands and basically we have uh
really some good firming that they're
[1:23:40] proposing to put in. Um uh we created or
negotiated a host agreement. It's
[1:23:48] 100,000 a year and I want to say the
grants are um that are be is a half a
[1:23:55] million or is it's
about half a million dollars uh that
[1:24:01] will be uh the township will receive. So
again, and the residents that live close
[1:24:08] by, um I mean not they're quite a ways
from it, but every one of them have come
[1:24:14] in. I want to thank our planning
commission. They went through this thing
[1:24:18] uh night and day. people have done a
great job and your company has done a
[1:24:22] great job and talking to the residents
and giving them as much information and
[1:24:28] uh so I couldn't ask for better people
to help uh uh get our community
[1:24:33] comfortable with this and uh to see the
outcome. I I think it's uh it's a great
[1:24:39] thing. So we want to thank you and we're
look forward for great uh uh partners
[1:24:44] and maybe give us more money down the
road.
[1:24:48] No, we do. We do appreciate it. So,
thank you. Um, all right. So, we're uh
[1:24:55] done with that and we got the
financials. We're down to reports. Chief
[1:24:59] Rock,
>> thank you, Mr. Supervisor. Just uh real
[1:25:01] briefly, it's been a long meeting. Uh
obviously, we had the storms over the
[1:25:05] holidays. Uh um we had a number of
residents, kind of isolated residents
[1:25:11] that got wires down. You'll notice a
couple wires down, which fires in the
[1:25:15] area. the wires. There's not a lot we
can do. Um so, um just stay away 20 ft
[1:25:21] and get those into DC.
I also want to thank the road
[1:25:26] commission. A lot of times you guys
don't see the road commissions. They're
[1:25:29] out there pulling a lot of these big
trees off the roads and stuff like that
[1:25:32] today, especially our rural roads with
um some of them very lined with trees,
[1:25:36] the dirt roads. So, uh they certainly we
certainly with uh our firefighters cut
[1:25:41] smaller trees, but they can come up with
big uh big equipment. We had one on sale
[1:25:45] road that um they just uh helped pull
down and make sure the roads open up
[1:25:49] quickly and safely. So um thank the road
commission. A lot of times we you you
[1:25:54] don't really see all the work that they
do. So they did a great job. Um our
[1:25:57] brush 96 is finally labeled, marked,
lighted. The only thing we have yet to
[1:26:03] put in there is the uh watermission
package and it'll be fully functional.
[1:26:08] So it's it's about 90% there. Um, it's
been a journey to say the least, but uh,
[1:26:14] thank you board and uh, soon as it's all
done, I'll bring it by
[1:26:21] over it. Mr. Paris loves it, so I don't
know if he'll get it out of his hands,
[1:26:25] but
>> thank you for that support. All right,
[1:26:28] chief. Thank you.
>> Okay, down to just some board
[1:26:32] discussion. So, um, heard Jay mention
about the road. So, I hate to inform
[1:26:37] everybody, but the the road is not done
right. And um I can't believe that uh
[1:26:44] we're going after all the meetings that
we have had with uh the contractor and
[1:26:51] uh and sure they're devastated about it.
But if you if you uh ever get you're
[1:26:56] driving through the hamlet, if you go
down by the Bible church there and just
[1:27:01] park on the north side and look on the
as people are coming to the west, you'll
[1:27:07] see the road just uh dipping. I mean,
it's a lot better than it was, but it's
[1:27:12] not right. And I I I just we I I don't
think we can live with that. And I think
[1:27:18] we've got to get this thing done right.
And so, we had uh the road commission
[1:27:23] out there. We've had our engineers out
there and uh they've all said, so
[1:27:27] they're doing some testing on the ground
seeing why is it doing what it's doing
[1:27:31] or uh because we have pictures.
Thankfully, we took pictures uh before
[1:27:36] and after and the road was a lot better
than it is now. I mean, it uh especially
[1:27:42] that end. So, what I'm what we're
looking at is doing um um we're at least
[1:27:48] coming up to Salem Road going west. So,
it's about 500 ft. We're thinking that
[1:27:53] that just needs to be grinded out again
and redone. So, I hate to be the spirit.
[1:28:00] I mean, some of the neighbors are not
going to be happy cuz we, you know, you
[1:28:03] got to have the road shut down a little
bit. People go to work early in the
[1:28:07] morning. So, anyway, it's um we're just
doing the best best we can on it, but we
[1:28:12] want to get it right. U the other thing
if you notice coming in tonight, um Dick
[1:28:19] Dickerson Street here has been finally
we've got the new curbing alongside
[1:28:24] there and now there's going to be brick
that's going to be put in. Um It's about
[1:28:30] uh is it 7 and 1/2 ft? Is it? I can't
remember.
[1:28:34] » 8
foot six on both sides of the road going
[1:28:38] down to the driveways down here. That
will improve this road here. You can see
[1:28:43] we've got the new drains in there now.
So, now we're getting quotes on uh the
[1:28:50] more brick. There's a lot of brick going
in. We're going to re-brick uh in front
[1:28:54] of the Roroff's house there, that spot
there that needs to be done to complete
[1:28:58] it. Uh and then we cut this little angle
off in front of the general store. Made
[1:29:03] that one. So that that's been taken out
that's going to be replaced. And what
[1:29:08] else are we doing? We got a few other
few other projects. So, uh this new
[1:29:16] brick that's coming in that we're doing
is not into the budget. So, we're
[1:29:19] getting quotes on that now. and we're
going to uh finally get this thing done
[1:29:24] behind us. So, and then we're, like I
said, uh we'll know more about when
[1:29:29] they're going to redo do the road.
Um so, that's about that. As far as the
[1:29:36] USD, no new news. We don't have any
updates. Of course, they're doing the
[1:29:40] engineering still on that. So, um, we're
just waiting for them to get back to us
[1:29:45] and Eagle to agree with some of the
proposal of that 11 mile pipe that's
[1:29:50] going to be going in um through
Plymouth, Canton, and Van Beer and
[1:29:55] Township. Um,
what else?
[1:30:01] Any other questions? Any questions about
the any projects going on or concerns,
[1:30:07] please?
Yes. Thank you.
[1:30:11] Um I I would just like to make a
comment. Yeah. I'm delighted that Key
[1:30:16] Capture and Salem Township have been
able to work together on this project
[1:30:21] and that is all, you know, pathetic.
But it's just a reminder that the reason
[1:30:28] that this three-year negotiation had to
take place is because our local
[1:30:33] townships lost their authority to manage
themselves.
[1:30:38] And that is another consequence of
elections. So elections have
[1:30:43] consequences.
Be pay attention. Know who you're voting
[1:30:48] for and why you're voting because it
affects all of us on a dayto-day. Thank
[1:30:55] you.
>> Okay.
[1:30:57] » All right. So um another um
uh before we go to public comment before
[1:31:03] we close uh I got an announcement. So,
our
[1:31:09] ex uh treasurer, Mr. Dale Convers, the
back here is getting married. You want
[1:31:14] to stand up, Dale? You're
[1:31:20] for many years. Him and I were uh
running uh together years ago and uh I
[1:31:27] don't know how many years you've been
gone from us here, but uh you left me
[1:31:31] and now, you know, I'm I'm still stuck
here. So,
[1:31:37] I appreciate the congratulations.
>> Congratulations. Be praying for you too.
[1:31:41] And I happen to know uh the gal you're
marrying, so she's a good gal. So
[1:31:47] hopefully everything goes fine.
Congratulations.
[1:31:51] All right. Um
All right. Public comment. Anybody else?
[1:31:59] If not, uh
[1:32:03] » sorry, Mr. Just a quick question. We
used to get reports from the Washington
[1:32:08] County Sheriff.
>> Yes.
[1:32:09] » Kind of curious what's going on.
>> I just uh got one.
[1:32:12] » Okay.
>> So, they're putting a new form. This is
[1:32:15] Northfield Township,
>> right?
[1:32:17] » And uh I just got one. Um
and then what we're going to do is print
[1:32:23] them and then everybody will get it.
We'll try to get it in the board packet
[1:32:26] before the
>> before the meeting. But we had like 222
[1:32:30] calls last month.
>> Really?
[1:32:33] ICO everywhere.
>> Yeah. And uh we uh and then uh I get a
[1:32:39] few call few calls from the truckers and
uh so they're not uh real happy with
[1:32:46] that. But what we did is just so you
know cuz I don't want it. It's on social
[1:32:51] media and everybody talks about it. I
don't I'm not on social media but other
[1:32:55] people send it and it's just ridiculous.
and and basically the the people know
[1:33:01] it. So what we did is we sent a letter
out to all of our trucking companies on
[1:33:05] Chub Road and let them know that enough
is enough. You know, we've been trying
[1:33:11] to let them know we really haven't had u
the enforcement because I can't stop
[1:33:18] trucks and I've chased the trucks and
got in trouble for doing it. But it's
[1:33:23] it's uh you get so aggravated and I know
the people are aggravated. People get
[1:33:28] very um upset about it and and once
again not to
[1:33:35] keep giving Dave I don't want to get you
know we just want money Dave on you. We
[1:33:39] don't want you to pay that.
No, but Dave, uh, Landfill, I mean, the
[1:33:44] the stretch between, uh, Napier Road,
between u, uh, North Territorial and
[1:33:51] Five Mile, it's like I it it is it is
just the people are so happy because I
[1:33:58] can they can text me, I let Dave know,
he catches them at the scales are going
[1:34:03] in there and they just like they got
people are watching. So, we got a
[1:34:07] communication and it's helping people
over there to settle down and they got
[1:34:11] other streets. So, we still got the same
problem, but now they're enforcing it
[1:34:15] and people are calling and saying, "Hey,
can you help us out?" Well, you've been
[1:34:19] warned. You've got letters on it and so
we have to enforce it. So, just so you
[1:34:24] know. So, watch your speed and um any
other public comments before we close.
[1:34:32] All right. Thanks for being here
tonight. We got plenty of food. There's
[1:34:34] extra bags here if you want to take some
donuts home. Um, but we appreciate you
[1:34:39] being here. Sorry for a long meeting and
just really our meetings sometimes
[1:34:43] they're only a half hour. So, sorry for
the long