Township Board - Regular Meeting

We're going to get after it tonight, guys. Rock and roll. We're going to get after. Here we go. I I mean, I

We're going to call the meeting to order at this time and see you board members. Also, good to see our public here tonight. Appreciate you being here on a beautiful evening, beautiful Monday evening. And Kelly, would you be willing to open us in prayer tonight? I will. Thanks. If you'll bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we are here tonight as a board elected to serve this community. And we come before you acknowledging that we fall short in many ways, but we ask that you be with us tonight to help us uh with those shortcomings. Help us to be um the best decision makers that we are able to be. help us to use our talents and our experience uh that you have given us to make the decisions that work uh in favor of this community and in favor of you. We ask that you uh be with all of the public here tonight and be with the residents at large. We also ask that you be with uh our first responders, fire, police, uh EMTs, and anybody who's out there serving our our residents uh in a a very real way. We also just want to thank you for the beautiful weather and the coming of spring. And we ask that you bless this meeting tonight. Uh we pray all this in your son's name. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. All rise if you would. Our pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May be seated. I'll turn back to Kelly again for the acknowledgement of the role. They're all present. Excellent. Not such a night. Five. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Some move. Support. Any comments? All in favor say I.

I. Oppos. The agenda is approved. Received communication letters and reports and reviewed those. You always providing those to us. Item seven. Then we're going to go right into public comments for the items that are on the agenda this evening. So, does anyone here from the public wish to address one or more of our topics for the evening? They're welcome to do so at this time.

Welcome plowman,

6877 Creek Ridge Court. Just a couple items um on your on the planning commission which is 6.2 two on your agenda on the river edge estate. I know this is preliminary, but I just want to bring it to your attention at least uh get you thinking about it with the Filillmore Cottonwood the in and out of Georgetown. That road should be thought about as minimum a third three-lane road. I tried to read through it. I didn't know if it was decided yet. Um and with things growing in that direction, we should have a four-lane road going that direction since Cottonwood already is. And this is the first development going up on that section. I think we Gary, since you sit on the commission, um we really need to look at that. Just an idea that I thought I'd throw out there at least for consideration. The other thing is, um on the finance committee, which is 3 6.3 on your agenda, um we're looking at purchasing additional land. I think a good idea would be to now set aside funds to purchase those lands. If you want to add to parks or maybe you're going to have a park up towards the Grand Valley area, it's going to be expensive. I think you should put those aside. I heard before from Kelly that maybe we should set aside funds just for the maintenance of our parks, which I thought was a good idea. I think we should set monies aside for buying and purchasing of land as well. Um the other thing is the professional code inspectors that you're looking at the increases on the same finance meeting. Um we talk about affordability in just a 20,000 foot view. It appears that's going to be a 30 to 50% increase. Um and um Justin told us that it was going hasn't been increased since 2006. I'm thinking why not increase it in 2016? Why not last year? I mean, why do we have to increase increase it that much?

It hasn't been an issue for all these years. I think a better strategy since you want to show sensitivity to affordability is maybe incrementally increase it and revisit it and say 2 years. Um cuz, you know, is essentially putting additional tax on our residents. You call it a fee, but it's essentially tax. anybody wants to put an addition on, redo their windows, put new furnace in, put a deck on, not to mention the rebuilds that are h or the new construction that will happen. And since Georgetown gets 10% of that fee, I think you could show some sensitivity and maybe reduce the 10% that you take from those fees to 5%. Just an idea. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else? All right, seeing none, we'll move to item eight tonight, the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve our consent agenda? So move support. Okay, it sounds like uh Amy beat John to it. So first and second. Any comments? Anybody wish to address our consent agenda? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I.

Opposed is approved. Item nine is not really so much for a motion and and decision, but just an acknowledgement and a review here related to the audit, our annual audit. I trust you've all read through that. We're appreciative of um really of of our whole staff for being so um I don't know f following accounting principles so carefully that uh we get these glowing reviews every year. I know part of that is due to Christy Hackne which I just want to mention publicly tonight. Christiey's retiring I think officially October. Do I have that right? Or is it this summer? Hard cut off. Yeah. Could come sooner.

Yes. So when you see her, keep uh calling her part-timer or what? No, it's a quitter. That's what Robbie used to say. Quitter. Yeah. No. Um thank her. She she is a quiet, steady, hardworking uh just the kind of individual you need there who wants to make sure everything is done right. And so to see that audit review, we get kind of used to it. But that's not true everywhere. And we should be thankful every year when we see that to go, yes, that's part of our accountability to the public. as part of our credibility with the public. So, she will be missed. Oh, yeah. She's always got a smile. She is. She does.

She wants to uh her husband's retiring and they want to do a little bit of traveling together and a little bit of ministry. So, and take care of grandkids, she said, too. Yeah. So, anybody else wish to add anything or Justin, I give you a chance if you want to say anything. Otherwise, we all read the the audit. Appreciate that.

Yeah. just the 20,000 foot view is we allocated the rest and spent the rest of our ARPER dollars. So in 2026, we'll not have uh those types of federal funds to spend and use to offset our budget. Um this year should be okay. As we traverse the next couple years, it will be a little bit problematic. Um I just want to thank I guess Rob Blitch, too. He's the one that set our budget for 2025. And when we look at um income versus expenses and how the dust settled um our assigned fund balance or rain fund, we took uh roughly $60,000 to make our budget work on a um $18 million budget. So it's phenomenal. So

Mhm. All right. Uh moving on to item number 10. Is there a motion tonight to approve this preliminary plat as sent to us by the planning commission? Okay. Discussion information anyone wishes to share beyond what we've already reviewed and seen. This was not affected by our moratorium. This was already in the pipeline so to speak in case you wonder. Um and I suppose to the extent that Filillmore needs to be widened, that's something that the plan commission would ultimately probably uh make inquiry of the road commission, right? They would have to be

Yeah, the road commission has to approve the plat. They have to approve the egress. So they've approved this plat. I mean to make the road wider, it's really on the road commission. Yeah. Yeah. It's coming though. You can Oh, I'm not tonight. it wouldn't be bad idea, but I also know the road commission's out of money this year, so they've spent everything they got, and that's the problem. Everything is in the millions. So, yep. Yep. All right. Any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed.

Item 11, introduction, first reading of ordinance number 202605, sidewalk revision ordinance, which came to us out of finance. Is there a motion to approve this introduction in first reading? Some support. All right. So, you all read that. See the addition being made. We're really trying to work on connectivity. It's one of those ideas that you wish maybe had been implemented 20 years ago, right? Um but we're doing it now. So, questions, comments, concerns, hearing none. This is one that's going to require a roll call vote. I ask our clerk to assist us with that. Yes. Kelly,

yes. Yes. Velink. Yes. Pipers, yes. Grassman, yes. And Wearing, yes. All in favor.

All right, that passes. Item 12, introduction, first reading of ordinance number 202607, utilities revision ordinance. Uh here again, just so you know, you we're going to see some ordinance changes or updates coming at you um periodically over these months because part of what we said with our moratorium was it was time to to address those policies and procedures and ordinances which uh affect our interest in seeing that utilities and uh infrastructure and so on is adequate for the growth that we continue to experience as we go forward. So don't be surprised that you see this and others. Is there a motion as it relates to this particular first reading? Move.

Support. Moved and supported. Any comments or additional information among the board. All right. Hearing nothing further, offer another roll call vote. Okay. Grassman? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Beldink. Yes. Schwam, yes. Det. Yes. Piper is a no. Wearing yes. That is six in favor. One.

Six in one. All right. Thank you. Just want to say too here before we go to the next one. I appreciate each of you doing your homework and making inquiry and because I'll run into people I'm talking to and say, "Yeah, I talked to one of your fellow board members about XYZ. So, thank you for coming uh prepared." Item 13, water usage resolution. Uh interesting one. Here's our motion to adopt the resolution regarding the existence of a water emergency which would have some odd even watering up through June 15, 2026. So moved. Support.

Moved and supported. This was something as the board well knows we were contemplating on possibly a voluntary basis. Um but then in the meantime, a mandate came down uh through the city of Wyoming. Yep.

Which under our ordinance therefore becomes a requirement, not an option to us to to uh to acknowledge that water emergency. And we have to follow uh what has been um essentially handed down. Sounds odd because it's another municipality. It's not the state of Michigan. It's not the federal government, but it is our neighbor and we're the one that we're the one from whom we get our water, right? And so when they issue u uh you know a water emergency, we have to follow suit. I think this had to do with the replacement of a valve that was pretty involved, right? Um maybe you want to shed a little light on that unless everyone is familiar and has asked. I know you know Gary and Yeah, I guess there's a valve that has been back order as ready.

Yeah, it's a 54 in pipeline. So those valves aren't on a shelf someplace. Yeah, that's my understanding they've been waiting for that. Yeah, I do have a question though. Um, the resolution right now is tied to the Wyoming water emergency, but technically we looked at an odd even watering for the entire summer.

I would recommend uh not a mandate, but it's recommended that um as users are using and adjusting their schedules to meet this six to seven week time period, they'll continue on for the rest of the year. Um and that would be um phenomenal for our needs and our peak demand usage in the summertime in Georgetown. So this I guess my point is that we have to understand that this is coming from Wyoming. Y but our own Georgetown water system. We'd like to see a voluntary aud. So correct.

This doesn't mean when this is done that a evening is going to be done in the township. We still would like to see that respected through the whole summer. And I think that motion we made previously sort of reflects that because the motion we made one or two meetings ago, we all agreed upon the recommended for the entirety of the season, right? But it's a good reminder. I'm just trying to inform people myself when I come across like, yeah, we got this mortorium. It's only till June 15th. like technically no it's a moratorium June 15 because it's Wyoming enforced but as a township we still would like to see volunteer out even for the whole summer. It's really important because quite honestly this is driven by a valve and not by dry weather.

The actual dry weather will be coming after June 15 when people would be more likely to use large quantities of water, you know. So just just so we're all clear when people ask the question that this is this is because of Wyoming, but the Georgetown water system still has stress on it. Does Wyoming have clarity that they'll get the valve in time by June 15th or is it just a question here and completed by June 15? there's a, you know, we come to June and it's not done, then we'll come back to this committee and or this this board and and extend it, you know, we just hope it's done. Yeah.

It was supposed to be done in January. So, fully respective, this isn't like, oh, we missed the mark by two weeks. Like, this is multiple months that it gets pushed back. There's this there wasn't an intent to get to this point with this valve. Justin, I like the signs put up in neighborhoods. Uh, that was a quick reaction to something we were forced to do. They look professional and I've never seen that. That was uh and we tied them down too so they don't get feedback. I want to commend our residents, too, because honestly uh there haven't been very many complaints at all. I mean, I think people are being cooperative. So,

that's what I was going to ask. What has the have you received complaints of non-compliance? Very I think Rich has had two. Okay. Joel has had a few questions because condo associations can be very large and their watering meter can be in a different side or different odd even and they're looking for clarity. So we have a system which uh if we have unusual addresses or unique situations that Rich Joel we all know and then we use BSNA to log it so that we're not you know penalizing people that are trying to follow the rules.

So so far it's been very I guess receptive. Rich's people skills are exceptional. I think he gets over 900 a year and it's unusual if it goes beyond him. Usually he's able to in in a very positive way get people to comply and they feel good about it. I think we need to get a certain color flag that if you have a well that you're sprinkling with that you can stick that in your front yard saying I have a well. Yeah. Right. The comments on Facebook Facebook or something about Fair Haven sprinkling the other day. Well,

I'm sure they pump out of their big old pond that they have there. So it's like and there's other people that were even on planning commission said I got city water but I sprinkle with a well and they're sitting in the subdivision. Right. So people are going to start asking but right yep it it like that situation it's very apparent when I go home at 5:15 all the sprinklers are blazing and they're going into Baldwin. It's like not me, not Township property. All right. If there's no further comment there, then I'll ask our clerk to call the role, please.

Yes. Kypers, yes. Grassman, yes. Belink, yes. Bomb, yes. Wit, yes. Kelly, yes. All in favor? Thank you. Item 14. It's about this time of year that we set budget meeting schedule for coming August and September. And you see one proposed there. Is there a motion to approve that post scheduling for those budget meetings? So move. Support. I moved and supported. We kick off there on August 3 in the finance committee and it's four uh consecutive board meetings that will be addressing the budget. So that'll be important. All right. Any issues with those dates?

Just depressing. You're setting dates into the fall already. Yeah. Enjoy summer first. I'm going to try. I was in a I don't get very often into a store for shopping. I was the other day and I saw winter coats being placed out. I thought, you have got to be kidding me. Come on now. All right. 15. Uh, did we vote? I'm sorry. No. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And it's carried. Item 15, revised bylaws of the Jensen Historical Association. Is there a motion to adopt those revisions to the bylaws? Some move. Support.

Gene. We appreciate your representation there at the historical uh association and your good words about those who are dedicated there who are passionate about it and want to see that torch passed along. And I know you admonished us uh in finance that you want us to get the word out that younger people who love not just this township but the history of the township would uh would find ways to get involved and and begin to integrate themselves into that otherwise somewhat aging, you know, core group of people.

Yeah, it's um the biggest thing I mean they've had bylaws. The biggest thing is they um have not seen new people or younger people get involved. And so in doing that, they thought they ought to at least have something to and that's the bottom part of the of the bylaws about if this would happen to flow, which they hope it doesn't. But the money has someplace to go and it's legal and everything else. In saying that, um, we do have, uh, two or three young girls from high school or just graduating that have come in. Um, another middle-aged mother has decided to join. So, we have gotten a few um, new people. So, that's good.

Like to keep that going. I think they're talking about putting the table up at the Memorial Day thing on Friday or Saturday to just draw some interest and see if uh you know some people might have some interest in the because they're almost getting to the phase now where they're going into the next set of hundred years or whatever if you want to say it that way. You know what about putting a table at the um on Monday nights at the farmers market the whatever. Yeah, it's possible. I mean maybe or maybe not everyone but every other one. I think this week Saturday is an open house that they're that they're having again for a couple hours. So um and they don't charge anything which is really good of them to volunteer all their time.

There's usually six or eight people that take all the different floors and they're knowledgeable and everything that's there and they just ask for some donations when you walk out the door. So um it's an awesome tour. It is a nice really I mean more people should go. They really do work hard. I appreciate you bring that up, Jim. Okay. Well, we we're going to approve these, I think, but we hope not to need to use them. I like that. Yeah, that's right. Y All right. All in favor say I. I. The opposed. Passed. Item 16, the PCI fee structure change their motion to amend the contract with PCI for their updated fee schedule.

Support. Move. Supported. I know Kelly and Gary probably deal quite a bit more than the rest of us with PCI and understand I I understand they hadn't raised their rates for 20 years. Um unlike if we didn't do so in a c certain area. This doesn't somehow put us behind or them behind with us. It means they missed out on the chance frankly to have raised more fees along the way, right? Um they're not just merely catching up and going beyond. In fact, I think by comparison's sake, they're still on the low side of what we could do it for or if we could find anyone else to do it for. So, um, but again, you guys are the professionals in this area.

No, I think that's a pretty succinct way to say it. I don't think we could do it for any cheaper and I asked around some of the just construction team and our permitting team and the the fees are all in line with what other municipalities and other areas charge. So it it didn't feel egregious in my opinion. It felt pretty standard. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah.

They they do a good job and you know, as far as the 10% the township gets. Um Ryan does a lot of work up front before that permit goes over to PCI. So I don't see that's out of out of range because I know how much Ryan puts in before it gets sent over there so it doesn't get kicked back. So I can't I I think we do we do they go above and beyond due diligence in the township. I pull out our permits too but it's pretty stringent. That's okay. H

years ago when this was in house, it was uh controversial and um I've heard no complaints since they've taken over and all I've heard is positives, but what you're doing is more or less privatizing what was a township responsibility I think saves us a tremendous amount of money. And here they have not raised their rates since 2006. But they're and that's up to them. But if we would have had someone or others hired that we had to pay benefits to, um, it'd be incredibly expensive for us. Mhm.

So, I I think this is an incredible win for us. I'm glad I'm glad the change was made years ago. All right. Ready to vote? Okay. All in favor say I. I. I any opposed and that fee structure change is approved. Item 17, Disability Network Lakeshore Youth Summer Work Program. Yes, welcome this evening. We appreciate you coming. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about this program.

So, my name is Camille Morris and I'm actually with Michigan Rehabilitation Services. We partner with Disability Network to provide summer employment opportunities to students with disabilities. So we uh Michigan rehabilitation services offers um workplace readiness skills uh and post-secondary options training to students in Ottawa County, well all over the state of Michigan. We cover Ottawa and Alagan County in my office. And we provide uh summer workplace um experiences for these students that have an IEP or a 504. so they can learn how to be on a job site, how to complete tasks, how to communicate with supervisors, all those soft skills that will ensure that they have transferable skills when they get into the real world of work. This is a paid position that we fund and we pay them minimum wage um but with the security of a job coach that is provided by Disability Network um so that they can have that that job experience without the fear of being fired. they can work through their their anxiety, their issues, their need for accommodations with somebody there on site at all times. Um we are hoping to have a site this year with Georgetown Township. Um our students can provide a variety of services, anything from landscaping to custodial to um some light build uh building maintenance. Um we paint, stain wood, uh stain decks. We've done um uh window washing, filing, document shredding. We do a variety of tasks um and we work with uh the the site um uh liaison to determine what's appropriate, what is um the order they would like the jobs done in and then we take that back with our to our students and ensure the job is done correctly.

Great. So you have an alleazon and you also said in finance that you're willing to handle all the liability. So the liability responsibilities the liability is handled by um our employer of record which would be disability network. Yes. So, it would be up to the township to assign tasks. That's all we need you to do is assign tasks things to do. I thought it sounded like a win-win. Incredibly positive. Great program um that it's one of my favorite programs that I get to organize every year. And um the value that these students get out of this program is is more than just a landscaping task. It is a true um life-changing moment to build confidence and build these skills to where they will be successful in their future.

And you handle the wages and the big thing and the liability. The liability and workers comp. And workman's comp. Yep. Liability is one thing. Workers comp is another. Uh yes. The that's all handled by Disability Network, the employer of record. Okay. Yeah. And who is handling their job assignments at the township? It's going to be a coordinated effort between department heads Andy and myself. So, okay. Group effort. That's male and female. Male and female. And so, does that mean we probably are going to have to split jobs for male and female? I mean, what the males can do and what the females can do that might have to have them in two different places or where you going to try to keep them all together?

Usually stay all together. What What type of jobs are you referring to there? You know, maybe some can do better at at the landscaping rather than let the girls do the sorry say that the windows, you know, or something like that. To whack you once in a while. Um, okay, take that back. Um I I think that uh job tasks are are equally divided amongst the students because we have all levels of ability. Um whether that be male or female, we do have levels of ability within our within our student population and that is handled appropriately with our job coach. Okay.

Yeah. We know these students going into the situation. I've usually worked with them at least for one or two years. Um, so we have a lot of knowledge about what what is uh feasible for each of the students and we would not put them in a situation that was um not going to be successful for either party involved. So you understood what I meant. I knew what you meant. Yes. Job shadow you. Yeah.

So would you vet the right person for the right job or how does that work? Like so Justin says, "Hey, I need somebody to do landscaping around the outside of the building." Do you then find students that you would be think would be good for that job or do we just are you my fear is you're going to drop kids off like we got find something for do and maybe that's not they're not capable or whatever that's why I'm asking the question right so um I and I can understand the fear because you don't know you don't know our students um these students may not have had opportunities to do certain tasks okay

this is our opportunity to help them learn how to do those tasks in an success successful way that is advantageous to you as the the uh work site and to our students. Will they have um first day or first task um mistakes? Absolutely. That's why our job coach is there to help train them and to help ensure that that task is done correctly. I'm just asking I'm a 45year-old employer. Yeah. I've been employing for a long time. So it's always how you're going to fit that all in. So when I say I know we know our students, we know which students would be successful on a job site to learn those tasks. Okay? I have students that I would not put on a job site. They're not ready.

Um we have students that um with mobility issues. Not going to be the site for them. Um we we screen we we hold our interviews um to ensure that we have the right group together to ensure that we have good good employees. Yes. Were you thinking three, four, five, six or more? Or what number? Up to six. Up to six. Up to six. And Andy and and Justin, you guys feel comfortable with this? In case they're efficient at what they do and we run out of stuff, um, reach out to them and maybe we can go over there, work with them.

Absolutely. Yeah, just so you know, we've had sites at um uh Hudsonville Department of Public Works and Chapel Point, and both of those um uh sites this year had new uh new staff and just couldn't couldn't take us on again this year. But Department of Public Works in Hudsonville, we've worked there for probably 10 plus years. Oh, wow.

Um so we've done lots of park maintenance, lots of outside projects, moving limbs, landscaping, cleaning. Um these are these are not um positions that are hey I think we want to go to work for Georgetown. These are well thought out and um we have success at several different sites. We have goodwill sites. We have um two DNR programs at Holland State Park and Grand Haven State Park that have run very successfully for the past 15 years. Great. What is the age range of your students?

The age range of the students is 14 to 26. So, anybody that can be in the public school covered under the public school um ISDs. Uh the average age for our student employment is that 16 to 18 mark. What schools are we are we for this site? Yeah. From this side of the From this site, it will primarily be Jennison High School with a few Hudsonville students. Okay. Which is very exciting because Jennison High School has been wanting a a closer work site for their students. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Thank you so much for being here and for the opportunity. I appreciate the the opportunity. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. All right. Any other comments among the board? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? It's approved. And thank you. I didn't capture the motion and second. I don't think there was one. Oh, you didn't. You came right up. That's right. Is there a motion? Motion to have the township um added as a site for disability networks. So moved. Support. All right. Now, all in favor say I. I. It's passed. Thank you. Doesn't have to stay. Yeah, by all means, if you'd like to excuse, you can stay or go. It's up to you. Thanks. Thank you. You bet.

Yeah, appreciate it. Number 18, website and social media use policy. This is one where I thought we had one, but uh indeed we don't. And I know Rob from our library was good enough to put together a draft basically codifying what we do and ran it past uh legal. So that's the version you received and reviewed. Is there a motion to adopt that uh policy? Move. Support. All right. Comments among the board hearing none. All in favor say I.

I. Any opposed? It passes. Item 19, valve turner purchase. Fascinating what we learned about valves from you guys out of buildings committee. That'll wear you out. There a motion to purchase a hydraulic valve turner. So move support. Okay. For the amount of $41,532. This is the one with the trailer, right? Mhm. Just to be clear because there were two two different ones in there. One was a hitch mount, the other was a trailer mount. I think the suggestion was a trailer. Yeah. When when Joel explained how difficult this was,

it was how in the world did they get to this point without having one before, that's what I thought, too. And it it's it's a um incredibly difficult to do. So, I it it's it's amazing we got to this point without having one of these. This is anecdotal, but um a story was shared with a couple of board members of a local municipality where a guy who did this all the time ended up having four major surgeries on his shoulder and the amount of money it cost that city uh would exceed working smarter, I guess you'd say, right? So,

well, the other thing it does too, I don't if explained here, but if if you close that valve, this machine will it's going to G because we have the GPS system, we can GPS and it'll tell you how many turns it took to close it. And then when you open it up, you ain't going to worry about out spinning it. So if some of these take, you know, 60 turns down, it'll remember it took 60 turns to close and then open up 60 turns. And the reason is is that it has that memory, you don't want to overturn it either, right? So you go down 60. We don't want to go 64 and strip something. So that's why you have this. So because we GPS all our stuff, we can hook this into our GPS, too. And then we know we have to open or close if the water man breaks or fire hydrant or whatever we got to do.

Awesome. Mhm. So there's it's it's a technology that connects with what we have already. So all these things are going to be better. That's great. All right. Anybody else? Okay. Motion's been made and seconded. No further comments. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. is carried. Item number 20, 48th Avenue sewer payback agreement. Is there a motion to approve this agreement? So move

support. Okay. Concerns just one house there. H oil would like a payback agreement, thoughts, concerns, questions, right? Motion have been made. No further comments. All in favor say I. I opposed. And it carries. Item number 21, Haggar Park sidewalk connection. Is there a motion to approve this sidewalk installation on 28th and B Road? I move support. Okay. I just want to say the utilities appreciate you coming forward with something bold. We're trying to target one significant connector every year. They're not cheap.

Yeah. So, probably count as two goals being accomplished from our goal meetings. So, we're good for two years. Okay. Justin really worked on this and did a lot of negotiating, a lot of detail and um I I wish this was done before, right? But we couldn't even get things started. It was, as Jim knows, it was difficult enough to get that sidewalk just to go up to the park itself. That was incredibly controversial. Remember that? Yeah.

And now to go through the park and there's an area where there'll have to be a small bridge made. Um, I think it opens things up dramatically and something that's sorely needed. Um, as people have said, well, people can go through the park itself and wander their way through. But, um, as that area develops, especially how it's exploded across the street, there needs to be a sidewalk. This is a smart idea. And people run and walk and bike and they're active in our township. So that's nice that we can, you know, give them more reasons to get out there. Yeah. Kelly is our park lady. What do you think?

Yeah. I mean, it's incredible. Actually, I the other weekend was trying to plan a route to run from my old house to my new house. And the reason I couldn't take this way was because of this section of missing sidewalk. So, I was going to have to go all the way up to 20th and then around because this was a pretty critical section along that structured road. So, I just think it's really important. And it keeps people safe. It connects people to our parks. And you know, not everybody I mean, I realize that we live in such a car centric society, but when you have as many parks as we do and they're as amazing as they are, the idea of just being able to ride your bike to a park safely, I think is really important in our community. So, yeah.

All right. Further comments? All right, the motion's before you. All in favor say I. I.

Opposed? It's carried. You getting utilities and thank you Justin Andy for working on this. Took a while. Uh item number 22, letter of understanding Wyoming connections. Uh this came out of finance of which I'm part of that committee. Um, since this meeting, I haven't had a chance to talk to the other finance committee members either, but since this meeting, um, I think last week we received a the version of the agreement that's being looked at between Ottawa County and the city of Wyoming over water. And I know that's something that's going to be discussed or at least begun to be discussed in utilities tonight. We thought, you know what, let's not get the cart in front of the horse. This is a a small adjunct aspect of the larger hole, if you will, of of agreements that are going to need to be approved and signed related to water in the city of Wyoming. And I I think it would be just as well to just table it.

Sure. And take it up at a time when the larger issues are being tackled. Why give something uh why put something, you know, in the pot, so to speak, until we're we're satisfied that we're getting what we want on on the, you know, the larger concerns. So, I agree. All that to say, I just don't I don't think we need to act yet. You know, if you motion to table, I will I All right, I'll move to table this item. Yeah, I will support that, too. Comments? All right. I mean, generally speaking, it's not that big of a deal, but I think we hold back. All right. All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Okay. The item is tabled, and we have not set a time when it'll be resurrected because it's kind of dependent upon uh the timeline for the the more main agreement, if you will. Uh 23 then second public comment period for our public tonight. If you wish to address the board on either any of these items or other things on your mind, we welcome you. Welcome.

Hi, my name is Kevin Hzinger, 2669 Tamarak Drive in Jennison. Um, I just wanted to bring to light that on item 12, the ordinance 2026-07 regarding um, utilities and kind of the additional requirements for water and sewer um, as it comes to capacity. Um, I just thought it was interesting that uh, given Clerk Kyper's employment um, she was involved in that conversation and she also happened to be the only no votes about that. All right. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes. Pete Plowman, 6877 Creek Ridge Court, Pudsonville. Uh just a couple quick points on the Wyoming stuff. I I see that you tabled that. I'm concerned that uh our relationship with Wyoming might be changing in that they're probably taking precedent over Georgetown somewhat. And I don't want us to give away our sovereignty as a township to Wyoming just because I could foresee maybe something happening down the road where they call an emergency. It's borderline emergency and then we have to cut back or something like that. I hope we're not giving away any of our sovereignty as a township to Wyoming. And I think it was good to table that one. I think that can wait and to see how negotiations go. The other point I wanted to make is once again on the tiered pricing for our water and sewer. We have a tiered system now, but we tier it at the bottom end. So those people who use little water are still build water and sewer are still build for 12 units. You don't give them a chance to save money and you bill them for something

they do not use. So, as I stated before, you should have a tiered system at the high end since those folks who are heavy users, 25% I think is what Justin said, we should tar it for their their side of it because they affect everybody. If you're not going to do that, then you should at least get rid of the 12 unit minimums that we have on our billing now and give really the retirees a chance to save some money. So, that's what I'm hoping for. If they cut back on their sprinkling or cut back on their usage, let them save some money. So, I wish you'd revisit that. The other question I have is on Sunrise and Waterford um for our emergency services. They are a nonprofit organization. They do not pay property taxes. Um they don't pay taxes to run this township. So, I think any emergency services, we need to have a billing structure designed just for them. As we run services there, we need to bill them for those services. I'm sure we build them for water and sewer. This would be another service that we should bill for for those folks that use our services but do not pay for them currently. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, seeing no one else, we'll close the second public comment period. Go to item 24, discussion and general information among the board. Any board member wish to bring something to our attention? The only thing I just want to bring up is I don't want to lose sight of this conversation I think about a potential tiered system. I think it's an important thing that we

keep our eyes on for the future. And to me, I think it's I don't necessarily need to bring it up every meeting, but I've sort of come to the conclusion that maybe I will just pop it in as the discussion item after every meeting because I think the squeaky wheel is going to get the grease here and I think we are going to need to seriously consider it. The amount of stories I have heard in the last month alone of some of our elderly citizens telling me that they it is cheaper for them to get a gym membership than to pay their water bill and they are choosing to go get a gym membership and they do all of their basically public hygiene at the gym so as to avoid using their own public utilities at home is that that's heartbreaking. So I think it's important that we look to this because right now the the smallest users of the system are still being in my opinion unfairly burdened when we have identified a group of people who I think we should be incentivizing or disincentivizing through a a tiered rate.

I agree because I've talked to young homeowners that don't use the minimum and yet they have to pay for it. So they complain to me. Yeah. So I see it too. Yeah, I do. I find that interesting cuz I use four units. So my water bill is like 145 bucks for 3 months. There's something wrong. If they're using that much water, something wrong.

I think they're just worried about going over that minimum rate. So they're choosing to then just use as little at home as possible to make sure it stays the minimum. Anyone else? No. All right. Hearing none, we'll move on. At this time, it' be a closed session for superintendent's evaluation for the public's sake. Um, every year we uh evaluate our superintendent and we do so under the open meetings act in closed session um as permitted by that act and specifically you can see there MCL 15.268 section 8A. Um Justin has asked to be excluded from that meeting. I think probably join us long enough to be in there and then we'll excuse you and then call you back uh after we've had some discussion. join you in the meeting for a time and then um we will come back out of close session for the sake of the public. There won't be uh any actions taken. There won't be any any votes taken uh thereafter. That will be the end of the meeting. We'll simply come back on the record to adjourn. So any questions board members about that before we make a motion go into close session? Right. Dustin looking at me. Anything? All right. Thumbs up. Okay. All right. Is there a motion to go into close session for this evaluation?

Supported. Roll call vote, please. Kelly, yes. Belink, yes. Grassman, yes. Laringa, yes. Pipers, yes. Det, yes. Yes. Thank you. All right, we're going to head to the small conference room here. Join you there in a minute if you need the restroom. support. Okay. Roll call votes, please. Just a sec. Yep. Yes. Yes. We wearing yes. Grassman. Yes. Felding. Yes. Kelly, yes.

All right, we're back in session. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Move. Support. All in favor say I. I. And we are journ. Thank you.