The Austin Township Board Meeting was called to order on July 12, 2011 at 7:35 p.m. by Supervisor Kenneth Vredenburg at the Township Hall at 14132 Pierce Road, Stanwood, MI, 49346.
Present were: Kenneth Vredenburg, Elizabeth G. Carr, Carolyn Towsley, John Brockway, and John Conforte. There were no guests present.
Minutes: Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Conforte to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Reports: The reports stand as presented.
Payment of the Bills: Moved by John Brockway, supported by Carolyn Towsley to approve the payment of the Township bills check numbers 7552-7564, and to present for review the Fire Department check numbers 4480-4483, First Responders check numbers1228-1238, and Cemetery check numbers1420-1423. Motion carried.
Unfinished Business:
1. Fire Department and First Responder Report: The Kaiser truck is sold for $4,500.00. We will remove the tank and keep the hoses, pump, nozzles, and lights. The truck we received from the DNR is being made ready for service. The townships would like to be kept aware of what is happening with capitol purchases and sales.
2. Supervisor and Assessor’s Report: I will have my Assessor’s Audit on Monday, July 25, 2011. The Township will make a decision in September about whether to collect the other ¼ mil available to them this year or stick with just 1 mil in taxes. The difference is about $15,000.00.
3. Treasurer’s Report: There have been 232 taxes collected in the last 12 days. That is about 12% of the taxpayers and 5% of the money. We did get an increase in Revenue Sharing due to a rise in our population.
4. Clerk’s Report: We received a notice to post from the USDA to Hispanic and /or Women Farmers and Ranchers on discrimination. We also received a ballot from MML on election of Board members. The new printer and office supplies were ordered online from Staples. They did not have what we wanted on stock in the store. Carolyn made the order.
5. Roads: Our free county brining is almost done. We will be setting up our second brining with MCS. We will coordinate the second brining with the county to get the roads plowed before the second application. The gravel has been applied to Polk Road and 180th Avenue.
6. Holton’s Contract: We will be price shopping with different companies to try to get a better rate. Most of the companies have not released their budget plans yet. They are all hoping the prices will go down so they can offer a better rate. We will make a decision next month.
7. The supervisor has been contacted by Verizon again and they are looking at putting up three towers again in this area. The other tower site was sold to AT&T.
Adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Elizabeth G. Carr
Austin Township Clerk