The Austin Township Board Meeting was called to order on July 14, 2009 at 7:35 p.m. by Supervisor Kenneth Vredenburg at the Township Hall at 14132 Pierce Rd. Stanwood, MI, 49346.

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

Public Comment: Ray Steinke-The “Goode” felony trial is sill underway and very expensive. The animal control officer will not be retiring quite yet, maybe December. Discussion of Building codes and fairness of evaluations.

Minutes: Moved by John Conforte, supported by Carolyn Towsley to accept the minutes as presented. Motion carried.

The General, Fire, and Cemetery Funds report was given. Chemical Bank CD #6422130648 was closed and reopened as Chemical Bank CD #6422131729 as a three month CD. It earned $1516.06 in interest and the new CD will expire October 9, 2009. There is a discrepancy with the Fire Department and First Responders reports. The First Responder per run money, $679.12, was accidently deposited in the Fire Department. The money will be transferred back to the First Responders. Moved by Elizabeth G. Carr, supported by John Brockway to accept the financial report subject to audit. The motion carried.

Payment of the bills: Clerk needs to move the purchase of the external hard drives from Legislative Expenses to Capitol Outlay and take the mileage and conference expenses from the clerk and treasurer’s individual budgets.  Moved by John Brockway, supported by Carolyn Towsley to pay the bills. The motion carried.

Fire Department Report: The next Fire Board meeting is tomorrow night, July 15, 2009.

Assessor’s and Supervisor Reports: The blacktop projects with the County Road

Commission will be done. Board of Review will meet July 21, 2009 at 7P.M.

Treasurer’s Report: The taxes are coming in. I have received 264 payments  with approximately $79,000.00 collected. Taxes are due September 24, 2009.

Clerk’s Report: We received a ballot from the Michigan Municipal League-do we want to participate?- No. We received a letter of introduction from the firm of Baird, Cotter,and Bishop, P.C.-CPA’s. It will be filed for future reference. The MTA Accounting and Payroll seminar was very interesting. Carolyn and I will be working together to implement some better checks and balances in the office to keep up with the increase in industry standards on accountability.

Roads: The DEQ permits are in and ready to post. The locations have been accepted for the culverts. The Road Commission hopes to start our road projects on September 7^th and finish by the end of the month. Scheduled maintenance projects-sealcoating- 130^th to  6 Mile and 170^th to 8 Mile. The preliminary bid papers are signed. Work continues to progress on M-20.

New Business:

1.Moved by John Brockway, supported by Carolyn Towsley to take $300.00 from 750-751 Parks and Recreations and put it in 750-790 Library. Motion carried.

2.Moved by John Brockway, supported by Kenn Vredenburg for Carolyn to load the QuikBooks program on her computer and use the same system as the clerk. Motion carried.

3.Moved by Carolyn Towsley, supported by John Conforte, to pay the Township utility bills as they arrive to avoid late fees. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Elizabeth G. Carr

Clerk