GRANT TOWNSHIP REGULAR BOARD MEETINGHeld at the Grant Township Hall 230 Gratiot Street Copper Harbor, Michigan 49918 Minutes for Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
Call to OrderSupervisor Meg Vivian called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. and led the assembly in the pledge of allegiance. Roll CallPresent were Supervisor Meg Vivian, Clerk Kelly Coltas, Treasurer Karen Karl, and Trustee Gary Barker. Trustee Roxann Smith was absent.
Trustee Roxann Smith present as of 6:06 p.m.
Supervisor’s Remarks and Correspondence § Remarks No remarks § Correspondence No CorrespondenceMonthly ReportsTreasurer’s ReportTreasurer Karen Karl read the Treasurers Report. § Motion to accept the Treasurers Report as given put forth by Coltas/Smith, all were in favor, motion carried.
Utility Board UB met 6/19/07, approved the minutes of last meeting. The water tank inspection went well, the tank should be good for another few years. Discussed leak detection but as several substantial leaks were found felt that would be unnecessary. Water Quality tests are in and posted. DDA Did not meet, no report.
Public Safety CH Fire Dept. No fire call outs. Monthly meeting moved to Wednesday July 11th, because of the 4th of July. The 4th was active, with parade, Brat and Hot Dog sales in the park during the kid’s games and firing off the fire works that night. At the mid month meeting, 7 present discussed the Spaghetti Dinner, which was a success, the upcoming spring clean up and the 4th. Then exercised the trucks and ran drafting protocol at the park boat ramp. LLB Fire Dept No fire call outs. One service call. Monthly meeting postponed due to holiday and other conflicts, rescheduled for July 17th, at 6:00 pm. Monthly training, June 28th, 5 present, trained with pumper and brush truck. DNR grant reimbursement paper work submitted to Lansing for skid unit. Mailed 07/09/07, 2 members attended the CC Firefighters Tournament in Calumet.
1st Responders Two call outs on the north end, none on the south.
911 No meeting.
Planning CommissionTom O’Callaghan gave the Planning Commission Report, and the EDC report. Two notes of interest were that MHG Septic Lagoon is operational, and is open to all county residents to use. The fees are currently half of what Houghton County Septic fees are. Also Aaron Rogers presented a report on work done to date on the silent sports trails in conjunction with CHIA and the Parks Board. Keweenaw County has presently 25 miles of usable mountain bike and hiking trails. The goal is to reach approximately 100 miles of trail while avoiding GMO property. While snowmobile trails and ATV trails should also be encouraged, non motorized trail riders have a greater economic impact on the County because the nature of the sport requires participants to stay in the area rather than returning to Houghton or Baraga at night. The EDC passed a motion to donate $5,000. to the Countywide Trail Committee for materials used in repairing, upgrading and expanding the non-motorized trail system, with the stipulation that the trails do not encroach on GMO property.Old Business Hunter’s Point: Presentation to MNRTF Board on June 20th, in Lansing, was well received. Only Tree questions of a general nature were asked. We are expecting to receive the preliminary scoring this month as well as a visit by a representative of the staff to inspect the site.Sharon Powers read some of the letters that have been received with donations to the Hunter’s Point Phase 2 project. The letters show the great interest and support of the project. LLB Dumpster: Supervisor Vivian and Mr. Powers met with representatives from Waste Management on 6/27/07. The meeting was productive and they discussed the ozone treatment system and the possibility of doing more pulls during the summer months. The cost of additional pulls is $466. Per pull the land fill charge would be the same regardless. The dumpster will be pulled every two weeks during the summer months as to the every six to eight weeks it is presently been done. To purchase and install the ozone treatment system is approximately $5000.00 with no promise of all odors being eliminated, but with an estimate of possibly 85%. It could not be installed sooner than August, which is almost the end of the season. So the Board is looking into the possibility of leasing the equipment and also going to a facility were there is one working so it can be examined to see if it actually works. There are three steps to controlling odor. 1. The boxes have to come back clean. 2. More pulls (get rid of garbage on a more regular basis) 3. Ozone to lengthen the time between pulls (cost saving measure) If the inspection of the ozone comes back positive The Board will put it in the Budget for the next fiscal year and it will be installed in a timely fashion before the next season’s warmth kicks in. The LLB residents asked if The Phoenix store could be approached to sell the Township Garbage bags, as they do not have a station available anymore in the LLB area with the closing of the Seasons restaurant. The Board had no objections.
New BusinessHaven Park: Almost complete, they had a good turn out of volunteers to help build it. Everyone was please with the comradery that this project has fostered. The Road Commission will take over the maintenance of the shelter once it is completed for around, $1000. although there is no solid agreement yet. The project will be finished for under$10,000. New Township Truck- review bids The Board opened the three bids and felt they were very comparable with just a few questions that needed to be answered. The Supervisor was going to go see the two dealerships to ask them the questions that the Board has and we will make our decision on the answers that we receive. Digital Projector There have been several requests and needs of a digital projector to give various presentations. In the past we were able to borrow one but that is no longer possible and given our location to the local school system that has one occasionally available it has been decided that the township should purchase one of their own. It could be available to rent with the building when it is used for conferences.
All were in favor but Trustee Smith. Motion carried 4-1. Resolution 19-2007: Pension partial surrender. Supervisor Vivian and Treasurer Karl have requested a partial surrender of their pension plan.
CommentsThere has been some odor from the sewage plant, there are steps that can be taken to help this and the UB will be dealing with it at their next meeting on July 17th.
Meeting adjourned at 7:43 p.m.
Meg Vivian Kelly Coltas Grant Township Supervisor Grant Township Clerk |
