Present were Kenneth Vredenburg, Elizabeth G. Carr, Carolyn Towsley, John Brockway, and John Conforte.

There was one guest.

Public Comment: Commissioner Ray Steinke was present and commented on the hospital merger. All of the paperwork is in. The Commissioners will vote on the merger at their next Commission Meeting.

Minutes: Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Conforte to approve the October 9, 2012 regular Township Minutes and the November 6, 2012 Election Commission Minutes as printed. Motion carried.

Financial Report: There are no significant deposits to report. All accounts stand as presented. Moved by John Conforte, supported by Kenn Vredenburg to approve the Financial Report. Carried subject to audit.

Payment of the Bills: Moved by John Brockway, supported by Carolyn Towsley to pay the bills. Presented for payment were: Township-check #’s 7856-7879 and Cemetery-check # 1456. Presented for review were: Fire Department-check #’s 4670-4678 and First Responder-check #’s 1315-1326. To be included is the bill from Dough Wohlberg for the audit. Motion carried.

Unfinished Business:

1. Fire Department and First Responder Reports: The 6x6 is still out of commission. All of the parts for the pump are in except for the shaft. Two bids were received for the repair of the roof vent. The Fire Board accepted the bid from The Building Business General Contractor of $560.00 for both vents. This is the company that installed the original vents. The Fire Board made a motion that the Mecosta Austin Fire Department Policy will be to not sell or distribute water. There were 3 Ayes and 2 Nays. The motion carried.

2. Assessor/Supervisor’s Report: The junk complaint was resolved. There is a new complaint I am working on now. The Federal part of the Canadian Lakes Road Project was not finished right. Some intersections are worse. There is no visibility. The County Road Commission went $40,000.00 over budget. The State has not paid out any funds on the project yet. The Canadian Lakes Association is looking at ways to cut the banks back at the intersections to increase visibility.

3. Treasurer’s Report: The tax money is slowly coming in. Elizabeth Carr and I completed ICS 300-400 on November 8-9, 2012.

4. Clerk’s Report: Election Day was very busy but it went well. We had people waiting in line 20 minutes before the polls opened. There were people waiting in line until around 10 a.m. We had a total of 630 voters, with 164 Absent Ballots issued. We had on discrepancy at closing. One of the absent voters brought his un-voted ballot to the election and decided to vote in the polls. That ballot should have been voided and he should have voted a ballot issued in the polls that day. His ballot was recording in both the AV side of the program and Election Day portion of the program. My inspectors were great. We finally finished and went home at 2:45 a.m.

5. Road Commission Meeting: The Road Commission is not looking at opening the Morley garage at this time. They are planning on keeping the Weigh-Master program going. The Road Commission will be doing a spring ride-around. The local administrations are interested in riding with the Road Commission as they come through their jurisdictions.

New Business:

1. Phones: The office phones will not keep a charge. We will need to purchase a new phone system.

2. The refrigerator was malfunctioning and would not keep a cool temperature. A new Kenmore was purchased from Sears and installed on November 9, 2012.

3. Foreclosed Properties: Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Brockway to not accept the foreclosed properties that have been returned to Austin Township and to send them back to the State of Michigan. Motion carried.

4. Roads: We received the Road Commission estimate for proposed road work for 2013. Austin Township is not planning any road projects for 2013. We will consider putting gravel down on some of our roads if necessary.

5. Oaths of office: The Supervisor and Clerk administered the Oath of Office to the Austin Township Board.

Adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Elizabeth G. Carr

Austin Township Clerk