The Austin Township Board Meeting was called to order on December 8, 2009 at 7:50 p.m. by Supervisor Kenneth Vredenburg at the Township  Hall at 14132 Pierce Road, Stanwood, MI, 49346.

Present were Kenneth Vredenburg, John Brockway, Elizabeth G. Carr, Carolyn Towsley, and John Conforte. There were 5 guests present.

Public Comment: Commissioner Ray Steinke-the county budget is around 13 million. The animal control officer will be retiring the end of the year. The EMS director is conducting free classes in the area for the First Responders. This cuts on costs and helps keep their certifications up-to-date. The tires are all cleaned up at the 5 Mile site near Remus. I would really like to publicly thank Bill Schuitte and Dave Camp for their assistance with that project.  Candidate Morris Langworthy addressed his positions in his run for Darwin Booher’s seat in the House. 1. Local government needs to be reinforced not cut. 2. Out state government must cut their budget, not raise taxes. We need a budget that can set costs and keep them. He believes that user- based taxes were a mistake. Mr. Langworthy will be using his website as the main way to communicate with the public instead of mailings.

Moved by John Conforte, supported by John Brockway to approve the minutes. Motion carried.

The General, Fire, First Responder, and Cemetery Funds report was given. The Independent Bank CD is coming due this month-renew for a year.  Two First Bank CD’s will be coming due in April-renew for two years. Moved by John Brockway, supported by John Conforte to accept the report. Motion carried subject to audit.

Payment of the bills: Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Conforte to pay the bills. Motion carried.

Fire Department Report: The funds have been received from Ice Mountain and Trans Canada. The ISO Report that was sent to the Fire Department was missing a Fifty-two page dump report. This report is finished and mailed. The Fire Department would like to get a credit card with a $200.00 limit for purchases that would be made on-line or over the phone. The township is not in favor of this as they feel that most things can be invoiced and as many purchases as possible should be make locally. Also the person who signs for the credit card is liable if there were ever any problems. The firemen are still checking on the legality of paying the new trainees, while they are on probation, $4.00 less per hour. There was no interest in starting a community wide battery exchange when Marv attended the County Fire Chief’s meeting. We handed out 44 batteries to people outside our township, 11 to people who were in our township, and one to someone outside our area. We have one new firefighter.

Supervisor/Assessor Report: The Board of Review will meet Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 7 p.m. Ellen Schwartz has given notice that she will no longer be able to clean the hall after January. They will be moving. We will need to find someone else to take her place. We are looking at getting the internet as soon as possible. It is too expensive to have cable run here from the closest end point. Charter would charge $6.00/ft totaling around $30,000.00. We need to make a decision between satellite or a wireless broadband device. We will have firm prices to vote on by the next board meeting.

Treasurer’s Report: 18% of the taxes were paid in the first 10 days. I have received the resolution from the Chip Hills School District to collect their 2010 summer taxes. It is the same as before. Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Brockway to collect the summer taxes for the Chip Hills School District for 2010. Motion carried.

Clerk’s Report: I received a phone call from Great Lakes saying they will be doing tree work along Polk Road. There is also a flyer from MTA about the next available BOR training. I am somewhat interested in attending training on the 2010 Census. There is no cost to go, but the closest training site is in Jeffersonville, IN in January. The cost would be gas and probably one night’s lodging. Kenn-we just need to keep an eye on the new Tulleymore development so it is probably not necessary to attend. Please get me your new W-4 and I-9 forms.

Roads: 180^th is completed. Canadian Lakes applied for overages costs and settled with the County Road Commission for $12,000.00. We received an invoice for $27,844.79 for our share of the Pierce Road project. Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Brockway to pay our 20% share of the project for a total of $27,844.79. Motion carried. We were also billed for a third brining this fall. Moved by Kenn Vredenburg, supported by Elizabeth G. Carr to pay $2,900.00 for the third brining. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Elizabeth G. Carr

Austin Township Clerk