Board - Regular Meeting

I'll just keep it going and go back and forth. Sci-fi movie. Cool. Thanks, Bob. I'm sorry. Which one you looking at?

Oh, you didn't get this.

Thanks, Chris. What's [laughter] a kind of from here. Long time

mics are high. Okay.

Is that her in the F-S series pickup truck? She has a a Flex. So, we'll we'll start up. Okay. Okay. [sighs] Call to order. Charter Township of Plymouth Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 6 33 p.m. Roll call. Trusty Buckley here. Trusty Clinton here. Supervisor Kermy

here. Treasurer Chevitz here. Trusty Stewart here. Clerk Vorva here. Um, Miss Growth is I think is on our way. So, we have a quorum. All right. Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance 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. Approval of the agenda for October 28th, 2025. Mr. Supervisor, I move for the approval of the agenda for Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. Second. Second by Clinton. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Approval of the consent agenda.

Mr. Supervisor, I move for the approval of the consent agenda. Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. And there's a couple of uh resolutions, so this will require a roll call. Do I have a second? Second. Second. Okay. By Toro. Um, Clerk Forva, yes. Trusty Stewart, yes. Treasure Dorchitz, yes. Trusty Kermy, yes. Trusty Clinton, yes. Trusty Buckley, yes. Motion carries. Okay. Uh, approval of the bills. We do that separate, right? Well, no. Just you need to say that someone checked them. And I believe it was uh Who was it?

Trusty Stewart. John, did you check the bills? Yes. All right. Okay. Good. All right. So, we can go to [snorts] public comment now. Yes. Mhm.

All right. Public comment. Anything you want to talk about that's not on the agenda? You have three minutes. Be civil and concise. Any takers. No. Going, going, gone. All right. Um, item F, which is new business. And we have the first item is uh seeking approval for replacement of network data switches at four townships locations. Uh our director of information services, Bob Jensen, will give us the pitch

or use the use the gooseeneck, please. Okay. You got to turn it. Green light.

There we go. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Supervisor and members of the board. Um, I'm here to request your approval for replacing uh network data switches at four township locations. This to include new Cisco hardware, licensing, smart net tech support, maintenance, uh, other related items and installation. uh the new switch breakdown. We're going to have five uh switches replaced at Township Hall, three in the police department, one at fire station one, and one at the DPW building. So, these switches uh this switch replacements were planned for and are included in the 2025 budget. Um, for those of you who do not know what a switch is, um, it's a a network hardware device that connects devices within a local area network that enables the devices to communicate and share resources. Basically it uh controls the network traffic across the network and they are the backbone of the uh of the network. So the current Cisco data switches are uh at these four locations are all 8 years old or older. Um, and as of uh this Friday, October 31st, 2025, Cisco is no longer going to support these switches um and going to consider them end of life. [cough] So, this means Cisco will no longer provide hardware support

or software remedy for security vulnerabilities. Um, as of that date, the new switches will be supported by Cisco. Uh, I'll be happy to answer any questions, uh, you may have, Bob. So, that's as of 31 of this month. Yes. Friday. So, are we going to have this in place in time to have that protection? Yeah. No. No. It's it it's not going to be there before Friday. No. Okay. We have to order them. It's going to be like a 30-day um, you know, before we get them.

So, is there any kind of things that anybody needs to do in the township to avoid any kind of problems? No, there's there's nothing that needs to be done. We're just going to um, you know, if if approved, we'll just proceed with Okay. placing the order, getting them, and then scheduling. So, there's no precautions that the that any of the employees have to take? No. In order to protect the system. Okay. Any question? No. Any questions from the audience? Any questions from the board? No.

Make a motion. Uh, I move to approve resolution 2025-10-28-85 authorizing the capital expenditure of $139,364 for the purchase and installation of new network switches to maintain the security and operational integrity of township networks. Second. Second. Okay, this is going to require a roll call. Um, Trusty Buckley. Yes. Trusty Clinton. Yes. Supervisor Kermy. Yes. Treasure Davitz. Yes. Trusty Growth. Yes. Trusty Stewart. Yes. Clerk Corvette.

Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Item two is a public hearing on the 2026 budget. Uh Carol Rashawn will lead this. Uh Jerry, we have to uh open a public hearing. That is correct, right? Yes. Uh Mr. Supervisor, this has been appropriately published as required by law. And uh I move that we open the public hearing for the 2026 budget at uh 6:40. Second. Second by um Trustee Growth.

And this requires a roll call. Uh clerk Forva. Yes. Trusty Stewart, yes. Trusty Growth, yes. Treasure D Evans, yes. Supervisor Kermy, yes. Trusty Clinton, yes. Trusty Buckley. Motion carries. Okay. And now, members of the public, this is the time to speak about the budget. Do we have anyone that any comments? It's an important thing. Sets the pace for the entire township for a year. Guess it's not like the old days where we used to have a lot of comments from the uh audience. So um

this is everything we've been presented in the last several meetings all culminating right here and we're going to approve it. We're not approving the budget. We're just a public hearing. Public hearing. Okay. The approval will be next month. All right. Do you want to should we close it? Uh Mr. Supervisor, I move that we close the public hearing for the 2026 budget at 6:41 p.m. Second by Growth. This requires a roll call. Trusty Buckley, yes. Trusty Clinton, yes. Supervisor Kermy, yes. Treasure Dor Chevitz, yes. Trusty [clears throat] Growth, yes. Trusty Stewart, yes.

And clerk Borba. Motion carries. Thank you. Now, we don't Carol, do we need any discussion on this budget here at the board right now? No. No. All right. So, we'll move to the next item, which is fiscal 2025 this year, budget amendments, and Carol Rashawn, finance director, will take us through these uh changes in revenue and expenses for 2025 since we have to make sure that our funds do not fall to a deficit. Um and we're maintaining good vigilance. All right. Go ahead.

Okay. So, these are our third quarter budget amendments. Um uh I'll go through the the list um on the one worksheet. Uh so, the supervisor's office, we need to amend budget for an additional $500 for um additional training that was taken over what we had budgeted for 2026. Um the dispatch area had two retirements. So we need to amend the vacation slicktime payout for $5,300 and then uh the retiree medical and healthc care insurance would need to be also increased due to those um retirements. Uh, fire had um

we're on page excuse me, Carol, we're on page 122. Okay. Of 177, right? Gotcha. That looks like it there.

So, uh, the workers compensation needs to be increased for the fire. It was, uh, came in higher than budgeted due to, um, an annual payroll audit from the, uh, insurance company. uh we need to increase the professional and contractual services for fire. Uh we uh paid an individual to prepare the safer grant and then uh there were some refunds for over over um payment of transportation costs that we need to amend the budget um $2,000 for that. Township Park um needs the utilities. It's for the water and sewer increase by $20,000. And this is for the the sprayscape. The new um change to how the the water is discharged is now going into the sewer. So, we need to increase that $20,000.

That means we're paying for sewage disposal of the water instead of previously going in the creek for free. And then um we need to pay back the drug fund uh $9,200. So we had um a speed radar trailer that um was disposed of. It didn't get disposed of in 2024. It finally uh got all wrapped up in 2025. And when we had received the funds from the insurance company, they went into the general fund. When we got when I got the form for the disposal of it, it technically was a drug fund asset. So, the cleanest and easiest way to take care of that was we just paid the drug fund back there $9,200. Um, moving on to the brownfield. Um, the professional and contractual services for Pine Road uh was not budgeted in the the brownfield there. It was budgeted over in the DDA because they were going to front the funds, but that was an incorrect way to have put it in the budget. So, we need to um put the $500,000 in the the brownfield for the DDA advance. And then there also is um a long-term note payable that goes with that in the brownfield. And then Spalding Ducker has been doing some sanitary model updates in the MITC. So, um, I need to increase that approximately $100,000. It might be a little bit on the high side, but just to make sure we have enough budgeted in there for the year, um, I decided $100,000 was the amount we needed. The DDA appropriations, um, water and sewer, the utilities, uh, needs to increase $8,000. there was a water leak that wasn't reported in a timely manner and

it um was $8,000 worth of leakage that we need to now cover in the budget. And then the capital outlay in in the DDA will be decreased because we had budgeted the loan to Brownfield as capital outlay instead of it will be a note receivable. Did you say note receivable?

Yes. So, the the DDA will have a receivable and the brownfield will have a payable. Water and sewer. Um, their medical insurance. I have to adjust the budget by $8,000. Um, I'm not quite sure if there was a change in benefits or if it was just the way it was budgeted. So, hey, Carol, on that last point, then um that means the money would flow through the DDA to the brownfield, right? the loan being paid back.

I'm not quite sure how you do it on your end. The 500,000. Yeah. The it would, I believe, go into the brownfield and then you would send it over to the DDA. I'm not sure how your C tax capture works. I think we're other way around, isn't it? The DDA paid the funds out so they have a receivable. Okay. And they paid it on behalf of the brownfield. So they have a payable, right? So, the brownfield now owes DDA $500,000, right? Okay. Which you will get in tax capture, right? This is the road that goes through Plymouth Walk, the former Elks property.

Okay. We do also have revenue that we need to um increase uh in the general fund. The first one is um law enforcement distribution PA302 and this is reimbursement for certain training and we need to increase the budget $4,600. Um the Metro Act public act 48 we received an additional $13,700 and then um the election last year funds came in for reimbursement this year. So, we had uh $1,400 in April for the early voting and then we got another $833 for um election security. We had um funds budgeted uh for a grant from Bosch for Township Park. They gave us an additional $2,400 and this has to do with the pond over at Township Park. We had some um payment in lie of sidewalks. The the largest amount was uh from JS big construction project and that was $11,400. Um the police department sold a 2021 Ford interceptor. So we had a sale of a capital asset for $7,300. The building department has been doing u more inspections and more permits than we had budgeted for. So, the building inspection permits um is 280,000. The plumbing permits is 20,700. The electrical permits are $41,100. The refrigerator permits are $1,400. And then we closed out the ARPA fund and we moved those funds that were left into the general fund. So, that was $21,100. So that's a total revenue increase for

the general fund of $418,500. Now, a lot of those electrical um permits were part of the Bradberry Condo Association where they were required to make major upgrades into their electrical system for their insurance purposes. That's the Pushmatic. Yes. Right. Deletion. Deletion. Right.

Okay. Then, uh, moving on to the federal drug drug fund, um, there was an additional $600 in, um, revenue payments that came through April of 2025. We also sold another, um, a Ford Taurus and an Expedition, so there was a sale of capital assets for an increase of $17,700. And then again, the um, speed trailer. This is the $9,200 where the general fund is paying them back. Uh the drug law enforcement fund or the the state drug fund as we call it sold a 2022 Ford interceptor. So there was a 68 $6,800 increase to revenue there. And the water and sewer fund um charges for services um on several accounts were up. Uh the water benefit charge had more activity than anticipated had a million498 and it's my understanding this is a charge for new buildings and it depends on the size of the building and the type of business that's going to be in there what the fee is. Um, we had charge for service water construction fee of $20,100 and then water meter sales of 13,800. And then there was a HUD draw number one of 80% of the cost build through February of 2025 was $68,100. So a total revenue for the water and sewer fund of $1,599,900. So all funds together had total revenue of $2,52,700.

Carol, the the final one, the [snorts] HUD housing and urban development draw number one. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? The 68,000. I don't have a lot of deal on detail on that. Um Bob, do you know a little bit more about that? Nothing. Okay. God, it almost sounds like something in MITC with HUD, but I don't know. So, I can go back and get you some more detail on that tomorrow.

All right. All right. Any questions from the public? Any questions from the board? Mr. Supervisor, I move that the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees hereby adopt resolution 2025-10-28-86 authorizing the various fiscal year 2025 budget amendments as outlined in the attached. Second. Second by Clinton. Clerk Vorba. Yes. Supervisor Kermy. Yes. Trusty Buckley. Yes. Trusty Grove. Yes. Treasure Davitz.

Yes. Trusty Stewart. Yes. Trusty Clinton. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Next item is approving the final contract uh from Mayflower Towing. You recall that we went out for bids at the request of the police department earlier in the year, probably about May, June, and we now have a contract. And this is uh Assistant Chief Daniel Kudro will give us some more details.

Thank you, Mr. Supervisor. Um members of the board, back on May 16th, 2025, we posted invitations to bid uh for uh towing services for the township. On August 12th, 2015, this township board selected Mayflower Towing as the winner of that bidding process. um that was contingent upon putting together final contract language and then having the township attorney review said contract language and then we had to come back for the board for approval. That's why we're here tonight. Uh the contract is uploaded into the board packet that has been reviewed and signed off on by the township attorney. Um and it's a three-year contract with the option for a three-year extension with Mayflower Towing. Um I will say that, you know, I've been here for over 25 years. Mayflower Towing has been our tow company for the majority of that time. We had a stint back in the early 2000s where we had gardener Towing, which I don't think is even around anymore. Um, but we've been very satisfied with Mayflower Towing. They're very responsive when we do have uh complaints from customers or folks who've had their cars towed. Uh, I have a direct line to uh Louie over there who helps us out with any issues. So, uh, I'm asking the board to approve the contract language, uh, that's in the packet and then authorize the township clerk and the township supervisor to sign the contract.

Question. Um, I noticed that there uh there's an option for township residents to take advantage of some of the services and uh like lockout service at half price. Um, how do they how do residents know that or do they do they call dispatch or

so if they call dispatch they'll they'll send the police officer and we will get into their car for free. So we're going to we're going to undercut Mayflower Towing on that one. Um, now it's entirely possible cuz you know we we get make them tell us on video that the township's not going to be held liable for any damages we cause to their car when we get in. So, there is the possibility that they may say, "Well, if you might damage my car, I'd feel more comfortable having a tow company do it." They can certainly do that. Um, I would imagine in that instance, uh, that's not something that's necessarily widely advertised that township residents are going to get a 50% discount on that service. However, when they get their bill, they'll notice that it's 50% lighter than what they might have otherwise anticipated. So, you'll uh provide a lockout service for free, but uh if my wife locks me out of the house, you that that's not included.

We will get you in your house for free also, Bob. We we do that as well. It's called a foot. Provided you can give us ID that shows you actually live there. We don't want to help you commit a home invasion. Tell her to do it once.

Do we have Does Mayflower want to make any comments? I would just um to your question, it's um pretty simple. It's all going to be in our system. When a customer calls for like certain services, it'll automatically our dispatch will ask them if they're a resident of Plymouth or anything like that. And then if it's a child in the car, it's free lockouts. We do that for a lot of departments. But everything's going to go right in the system and it'll be just exactly how it's stated. And you're going to treat people properly when their vehicle is impounded. Absolutely. Absolutely. They all should get

not asked them for the title in exchange for the exorbitant bill. No, no, they all get a uh very good deal. Um we do get the title in a lot of situations where people want we wave their fees and we do get titles for cars. Generally, that actually happens a lot in Plymouth cuz once the cars crash, most people, a lot of people have the older cars for their kids with no insurance and they'll just sign over the title. So, that does happen quite a bit. PLDD. Yeah. All right. They have insurance. They only have PLPD. Yes. [snorts]

One way. And they usually just say, "Hey, can I sign over the title? We wave the fees and it's all set." But it's not something where we're being uh forceful about it or it's their option to do it. And if they do pick up the car, it's all by the contracted rates. Um the residents do get uh two free days of storage. That's going to be automatic. Um as soon as they hand us their license, we put we click a button that says resident and it'll automatically do the two free days also for storage. And all the rates, the way they're set up is everything's geared towards the um PLPD um ordinance toll violations, parking violations. All those people that are going to be affected that are paid out of their pocket are all going to be very well taken care of. So, you'll have no issues.

Where are you guys located? Uh, we're right on Starkweather on Plymouth in Plymouth, right on the uh border of Plymouth City and Plymouth uh uh township. They actually haven't figured out which one I'm in yet. It's right across the street from Willox Lake. Yeah, you'll know when you get your tax bill which Yeah, it's very small. I appreciate it. Wilox Lake. Wilcox Lake is right at the border of uh Plymouth Township. It's a dark weather and Hines Drive, Northville, Northville Road, Stark Weather come together. Yeah.

Well, you'll be getting a little bit of public I can't say publicity because I usually do like a little summary after some of our meetings if there's anything important. So, I definitely want the residents to know that they if they they lock a child in the car that they can call on you to help. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. We we help out. Yeah. We help out with a lot of um anytime there's events, anything like that, we're always there. We do the uh trunk or treat some, you know, in any neighborhoods or that we're invited to. We give back all the time. So, we do a lot of things for the community. And what what is your name? I'm sorry. My name is Lee. Lee Lee. Lee Hussein. Yes, sir. Lee Hussein. Okay. You're one of the owners of the company.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. And Glenn uh Glenn's also still here. He's He actually cut a real good deal, but he'll be here for a long time. Sandy, Senator, go ahead. I have two questions. Yes, ma'am. The contract refers [clears throat] to the liability insurance um the certificate of insurance and it says that that will be provided before the um implementation of the contract. So, I want to make sure that we will be receiving that. We currently have uh insurance all covered and Plymouth Township is an additional insured and it's just going to that actually got renewed in July and it's for a whole year rolled over.

Yeah, it's always rolled over and there is I think a bond that we'll have to get. That's my next question. I I want to ask about the $50,000 bond and I want to know um clerk does your office maintain the insurance certificate for Tony? Okay. Thank you. Yeah. How does the bond work? They put up $50,000 cash. It's however you guys want insurance. Yeah, we could write a cashier check for $50,000 or I think you could do it through your insurance company where the insurance covers our 50,000. So, who administers that Bob in the in the township that $50,000 bond it's a performance bond. Performance bond.

It would be a bonding company that would issue a a performance bond to ensure that maintain performs under the contract. They buy the bond from the Yes. [clears throat] If they fail to perform, then we make a claim on the bond. So that that certificate is on file at the clerk's department. Clerk's department. Yes. All right. And that's something um Assistant Chief Kudra that you would be um discussing with the clerk if something were to a problem were to occur.

Yes, I would certainly uh let the clerk know if we had any issues. Like I said, we've we've been I've been here over 25 years. the majority of that time Mayflower has been our tow company and we really have not had any issues. And then to speak to your prior question about those certificates of insurance, those were all included in their bid packet. So we do have those on file. I have them sitting on my desk actually. Just want to be sure the clerk has them. Yes, we do. And every year as it renews, it'll automatically come to the comes to us automatically. Automatically come because performance bonds are subject to the statute of frauds that have to be in writing and signed. So make sure we do have the performance bond. All right,

Mr. Supervisor, I move to approve the contract between the Charter Township of Plymouth and Mayflower Enterprises LLC doing business as Mayflower Toyang and to authorize the township supervisor and clerk to sign the contract. Second. Second by Growth. Clerk Forba, yes. Trusty Growth, yes. Trusty Stewart, yes. Trusty Clinton, yes. Trusty Buckley, yes. Supervisor Kermy, yes. Yes. Treasuritz. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much, board. And we will not disappoint you. Thank you. Try to be very good tomorrow. Go ahead. Thank you. Who supported that? Growth. I did. Trusty growth. Thank you.

So item five is the BSNA software agreement to switch from uh servers, I think it's called.net, net to cloud-based U. Bob Dorchitz, [snorts] the treasurer, will give us uh a summary on this. And we also have online the uh sales representative from BSNA to ask questions or answer questions. Dominic, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Can you hear me? Okay, it's pretty good. Oh, uh barely hear you. We can barely hear you. Let me see. Was it muted? Promote to participant. Try it again.

On mute. Oh, he'll be uh He's connected. Hello. Can you hear me? Okay. Barely. Speak louder. Can you guys hear me? Okay. Pretty weak for some reason. Just be patient. We'll see if we can work through some of these technical difficulties. Riches. I promoted him. Yeah, you promoted. All right. Is he just voice? Yeah. Is this Teams or Zoom? Zoom. See, sorry.

[music]

Dominic, can you say something? Yes. Is this better? Sounds like it's coming through. Hold on. It's coming through here. Maybe that's cuz of the guy that was here today doing evaluation. Disconnect something. [clears throat]

That's what I'm worried about. Yeah. Dominic, continue speaking. Yes. Can you guys hear me? Okay. No change, though. You'll have to sing a song or something. I'm not good at that.

Do you want him to maybe dial in by phone? Yeah, we got time. It, you know, we've only been working here seven a half an hour. I won't know what to do with a meeting this short. Go home. What? I'm glad I didn't put much makeup on under when he was searching there was audio settings. Did you see that? That's That's for send. Okay. This [snorts] one here. That's what

Yeah, you got it set right now. Very low. Uh Did he he just dialed back in by phone?

Is this better? I can't It's not your It's not your fault. It's not on your end. It's on our end. Uh let's see. This seems like one of the speakers is not working or they something is [clears throat] wonder if they got turned down when he was testing stuff. Probably has something to do with that.

Huh. That's a bummer. I don't see any other setting is dialed up. Well, we may not have any questions, but yeah, that's that's the first point is does anybody have any questions? [laughter] Well, he can listen in and then we can interpret the we can relay the questions.

We we can hear them. We just can't hear them uh with any volume. Um, so this is the uh followup to the uh presentation that I provided a couple months ago when we talked about the upgrade of our uh ERP system which is BSNA. BSNA is used throughout the organization. Um it's our financial system, our tax administration system, our assessing, uh our purchase orders, our utility billing, uh our building, um what else? What have I missed? Our purchase order system, our general ledger. It basically it runs the uh administrative functions of the of the uh the township and uh five four four years ago or so BSNA began to BSNA is a Michigan-based company that um is uh used by the vast majority of municipalities in Michigan as for their ERP system. It's purpose-built, so it's designed for the kind of the special needs and requirements of um of of government. Um and we've been on the onrem ornet platform since what 2017.

Yes.

Um and they came out with a cloud-based version uh four years ago. Um so it's reached a point of maturity. Um and I think it's time to for us to migrate to the cloud version. What that'll give us is that it'll give us some increased functionality um better reporting. The uh the current system is uh was built over time as individual modules. Uh so it's a bunch of databases that are linked together. this becomes one centralized database because when they they rebuilt it from the ground up excuse me sorry um so uh Dominic Schneider is on the phone. and I've been working with him since about June on uh working through um some of the pricing and um uh some of the details and I'm here to present it to the board for approval.

Where will the money come from for this? Yeah, from various funds uh mostly the general fund uh but the users will contribute too. So every department has a a cost. [clears throat] It'll be distributed but I will have to look for some cost reductions to pay for this. This is this is an added starter that we didn't originally budget for, right? Or plan for. So it's not coming from fund balance. It's well it might some of it. Okay. We'll have to see. And the clerk's office is it's not listed here. Was part of the reviewed and recommended for approval? Yes.

Does this have anything to do with.gov that we're switching to? It saidnet. So not related. that is uh it's an uh architecture a framework for uh database uh uh for software basic basically this will be more secure potentially in case the building burns down or something else access uh you can get to it from any web browser um and the systems are going to be much more integrated they they will speak better [snorts] to each other when you're doing reports s they they fill in

cuz even in you know my day-to-day job I've got to hop across from tax to assessing and h I got to keep hopping around different uh applications and it's really you know uh it's just more timeconuming it's time consuming and I used um I use software and technology basically my whole life this BSNA was absolutely fantastic I mean it it's just a great great job. I would I would highly recommend it. Anybody have any questions for Dominic?

Sounds good. Domin, are you Dominic, are you working to ensure that any of the software glitches or bugs have been or will be worked out so that we don't end up being overly burdened by the uh software issues during implementation? Absolutely. Hey,

absolutely. Yep. um our implementation uh had has vastly increased in regards to our survey results back and for satisfaction. Um we made sure we added user acceptance testing testing to your guys' as well. Um I if you have any questions like references I know like the city of Northville, Northville, Charter Township, um city of Plymouth, they're all currently on our cloud platform and they all mention they'd be happy to speak with you guys too on that. I think I think Canton is and Leavonia. Um, pretty much there's many many within. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, it's okay. So, the go live date is approximately when

we're targeting for October, I believe. Yep. I believe we're looking for October of 26. So that 91,655 that's in invoiced at the start of the initial subscription period is that the same amount that will be build every year for that to continue this. So in other words, is that the maintenance? That's the uh annual subscription uh cost. Okay. Today it's about 65,000 uh I think. So,

so this is an increase with quite a bit could be close to 50% increase. Is that is that right, Dominic from the net?

Yes. So there yes, there's obviously many factors that go into it. Um there's no need for VPNs or remote desktops. There's no need for servers anymore, buying a server or maintaining a server and all that those costs. Um there's different functionalities that come along with things in the cloud like for example W2s. They're able to be sent electronically now. you don't have to worry about using printer to format them and then mail them all in the mail. Um, accounts pay table for invoices. We have ways to auto read them and autopop populate the information so you're not hand entering and running the risk of transposing numbers. Um, there's many different things for added functionalities. Um, as well as a little bit of cost savings for different things, not sitting here trying to say it it cancels itself out, but there's things in the back end there where you're getting rid of some cost as well by going to the cloud. So that hidden cost is if you paid if you had a provided on a local server and you know you depreciated that over five years uh that's a hidden cost to the current system that

right uh uh goes away. Okay. Any more questions from the board? Any more questions from the public? Mr. Supervisor, I move um to approve resolution 2025-10-28-87 approving the BSNA software customer agreement authorizing Plymouth Charter Township to enter to a one-year renewable subscription for the hosted ERP service. Approve total expenditures not to exceed $21,000 for implementation and firstear cost and authorize the township supervisor and clerk to execute the agreement and related documents.

Second. Second by Dor Chevitz. Clerk Forba. Yes. Trustee Supervisor Kermy. Yes. Trusty Buckley. Yes. Trusty Clinton. Yes. Treasure Dorchevitz. Yes. Trusty Stewart. Yes. Trusty Growth. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Dominic, is the contract and the form ready to be signed this week or do we Yeah, I have it on It was sent to me on uh Docyign, so I'm I'm going to have to send it get it sent over to you guys. Do you have any Has the attorney looked at it? Yeah, Kevin. All right. Uh quite some time ago. So, we're going to use Docu Sign to uh No, he'll print it off. I think he'll print it off. Okay.

Next item. Oh, we had the vote, right? Yeah. Next item is dog license fee increase. Dog licenses are required by state law for way back when 150 years ago when rabies were prevalent uh and many people died. So it required dogs to be licensed. Our dog license fee has not been increased since about the 1970s. It's been the same $5. So, we're planning to increase it to 10 and allow people to buy three-year licenses and there'll be a $5 um uh late fee. So, if you don't buy by the May 31, $2.

It's up. It's being raised to five.

So, by May 31, then you'll have to pay 15. Uh there's probably five. My seat of the pants says there's 5,000 dogs in this township. We sell fewer fewer than a thousand dog licenses. We may if if it can be worked out, we may have people sell them at the veterinarian. I don't know how we would do it, but potentially this is in line with most of the other uh communities. Uh there's a table in here uh that tells you what other people are doing. page 177 of 177 and it looks, you know, cities like Canton or townships like Canton, Garden City, Detroit, we're right in line. Some people are still as low as five and others are uh 10 or above. So, I recommend that we do this. It's a round number. It's easy to do the math,

but it's only it's only $3,500 a year, correct? Uh, yeah. The BSNA charges us $1,700 just for the module each year. Yeah, the animal license module. I just approved the bill today. It I think it was about $1,700 line item uh to maintain that software uh in covering cost.

Yeah. So, we're barely covering cost. So, we need to uh be sure we continue, but we want to encourage people to Plymouth Township people are very responsible and they vaccinate their dogs. Um, so this is a little redundant, but it still provides some protection against people who maybe lax or uh with the wild animals in your yard, it there's a decent chance a dog could contract rabies from raccoons and possums and squirrels and things like that. We don't have packs of feral dogs, though. Fortunately, [clears throat]

my point is it's only it's only $3,500. So, why what's what's the big deal? I mean, why can't we just keep it at $5? You're only going to charge an extra an extra $500 or $3,500 a year. Why, you know, it just updates the fee. I just covers our cost. Just the principle that it's been 50 years or so. Yeah. Almost 50 years. So, yeah, but if you look at the other places is basically still the same. It's like $5. You got to do it. So, they said, "Okay, fine. We'll charge you." I don't know. I just I would vote no on this one. I think it's kind of

okay. Canton is $10. Detroit is 10, 15 if they're not spayed. Garden City is 10. Leavonia is eight. 11 if they're spayed or not [clears throat] spayed. Northville is five. Um Northville is a very complex system. Plymouth City is five. Plymouth Township, we're five. West land is seven 13 if it's not neutered. I recommend doing it. It's a round number. Um if we get it in the um veterinarians maybe we'll sell double. Don't know. So any questions or comments from the public? Speak up into the mic. Speak loud.

I was up at the courthouse and there was a lady didn't have her dog license. I must have bit somebody or something. She got a pretty hefty fine. Do you know what that might have been? It was like $500 or something. Generally for misdemeanors, the total fines and costs are $575. So you could get fined that much for not having a dog license in theoretically. Yes. That's I think it happened when I was up there one day. So, just something to think about. Thank you. Okay, we have a mo. Does anyone want to make a motion?

I'll make the motion. I move that the board approve resolution 2025-10-28-88 authorizing the Plymouth Township dog license fee to be adjusted to $10 per license with a late fee of $5 applied to licenses renewed or purchased after May 31st. and the optional purchase of a three-year license for $30 or $35 after May 31st, which is only applicable to dogs within their first year of a three-year rabies vaccination. Second, uh, Treasure Dorvitz, yes. Trusty Clinton, pardon.

They can't speak for the dogs, so I'll say no. Okay. [laughter] Trusty Buckley, yes. Supervisor Kermy. Yes. Trusty Stewart. No. Yes. Clerk Vorba. Yes. Motion carries. Nope. You didn't ask me. I didn't ask you. No. I thought I did. No, I I put your Okay. Because I made the motion. You made the motion. That's fine. Go ahead. Trusty growth. Yes. Okay. Motion carries.

All right. Uh Okay. Uh any uh comments from Well, excuse me. This is what you can make public comments. Three minutes. Anybody can talk about anything? Nobody? No takers? All right, let's uh go to board comments. Anything on the board from Let's start from

Sandy Growth. I apologize for being late to the meeting. I have been in Frankenmuth at the um trustees um educational forum and I found it very enlightening and informative. We talked about meeting minutes and uh which which to me was very interesting. Uh we talked about open meetings act. We talked about a lot of different things and I will prepare a report that I can submit to the board just as a brief review of what we covered, but I did find it very much worthwhile. Good. John Stewart, no comment. No comment. Jerry Vorva, no comment.

Bob Davis, nothing. All set. Happy National First Responders Day.

Yay. Uh so we have Veterans Day coming up right uh before our next meeting. So we're having that day is a holiday for Plymouth Township and most of the country. Uh that's why the next board meeting remember is November 13 which is a Thursday. Thursday, not a Tuesday because it is a holiday at Plymouth Township. Thank you.

So, it'll be a little unusual. I expect a lot of confusion. Uh and then the next day, a lot of people want to go for Michigan Firearms Hunting that starts on Saturday. So, everybody will be able to get in place on Friday. We at that meeting we're going to approve the budget which uh we're working diligently on to try to reduce even more because we have some uh additional surprises. State shared revenue is going to be down by 75,000 to 100,000. Um and BSNA and there's a couple of other small things. So, we're looking for any ideas for cost reductions. Um, it's uh we want to get the the budget revenues and expenditures as close as we possibly can. The current status is a $500,000 deficit. So, uh we want to improve that. Um, we are in negotiations with uh the technical um uh and clerical office workers. Um we've had two meetings. Uh we're getting closer. Um so um hopefully we'll be able to settle that uh well before the contract expires, which is December 31. Settled and signed. Um,

will the position of um, senior transportation director be added to the union contract? Never heard of that. Well, she is a township employee. She's paid by the township. Oh. Oh, you mean I'm talking about Kim Kim Boy. I'm talking about Kim Boyce who works full-time and um, she should be a member of the union along with all the other bargaining unit members. I think she's a management, isn't she? Yeah, she's she manages somebody. She manages no one. She manages a building, the bus driver. Um, yeah, but it's not all right. I I understand your suggestion. I've heard it. Okay.

I know you've heard it, but my question is, are we going to look at it? I will discuss it, but we did we did discuss that today and the conclusion was to leave it as is. who's we the attorney HR me. So we we talked about that but it present plan uh we're pretty far along in the negotiations is to leave it the way it is. I I don't I just want to say I don't agree with that. She's an employee. She should be entitled to the same things that all other township employees are entitled to. She's not a member of the union. Yeah. But you don't have to be a member of a union.

Yes. But the union dictates wages. It dictates um increases and [snorts] she does not have any of that. So I think it's important that we I [clears throat] think that it uh was a mistake for her not to be and I think that she should be a member of the bargaining unit along with everyone else that works out of the offices in the township.

Okay. I've heard you. Um, what else do I have to tell you? Anything exciting? Uh, building is still aggressively going on with some projects. We are done with the east lawn project. Uh, the sidewalks. Uh, thanks to Bob and Spalding to Decker, they did invoice uh several hundred,000 for sidewalks. And as usual, we have some issues with the quality of work that was done by the contractor. Uh next year, we're going to re-evaluate whether we should actually take the lowest bid. It's a balance. Uh we got a very good price. Uh but we have to deal with some engineering um issues that then they drive up the engineering cost because inspection days are $825 a day. So when the engineering company has to send people out there to babysit uh contractors uh that costs money. So we have to we have to look at all of that. Um yeah

looking at also u how we would handle the date. Uh, I want to make the job done by September 1 to allow time to sort out any sprinkler issues and proper invoicing so that we don't carry any more of the debt than we have to. It gives people to pay the invoice easily within 30 days. uh and then Bob in the treasur's office would make the decision on what goes on the tax roll by November approximately November 15th. So he would be in a better position. So uh that's what's going on. Um I have a small handout here for you uh which is a little comparison of millage rates just for your own edification and de delight uh of what other communities are doing and what we are doing. Uh we're doing very well. Uh some people may say we need to do better. In other words, raise taxes, but um

people won't say that. Uh thank you. Thank you. So just for your edification and delight. All right. I don't have anything else. Does do you have anything for me? Have you uh given any thought yet to uh looking into the issue of short-term rentals and whether we uh regulate them. Yeah.

Um thought about it. Uh want to wait and see if we get where the complaints are going. We really don't have any data on complaints. A lot of people have said they don't like it, but others have said, "Well, yeah, they were they were there, but uh they made noise one night and what? We don't have a lot of good data." Yeah. What do you What do you think we should do? Uh I don't know, but I'm we I think we need to discuss it. Um I I've gotten some complaints from people I know in Green Meadows. There's one in there that I guess is the police have had to go to. Um, so I don't know. This is recent or this is the stuff from one year ago.

Kevin, you look like you want to say something.

Oh, looks are deceiving. [laughter] Um, I would have to check. I know cities can control rentals. East Lancing has an ordinance that restricts rentals. Not just uh requires registration, it also restricts them. Um the court of appeals in an unpublished opinion has upheld that uh zoning ordinance provision that restricts the rentals. Um I would need to check Michigan township law a little more closely to see if um townships have that power the way the cities do. I know that townships in Northern Michigan are regulating short-term rentals with licensing of $250 and other uh an inspection every three years requiring inspections.

Yeah, in some cases um and then they're restricting the number u but I am hesitant right now. I need to I I don't like to regulate property. Um, we have never regulated rentals of any kind in Plymouth Township and it has worked well for us. Our surrounding communities have highly regulated rentals. I'm talking about conventional long-term lease rentals and it doesn't seem to have done any benefit and neighborhoods have continued to decline. Uh Plymouth Township has a cadre of owners who take care of their property generally and seek appreciation and uh are satisfied with what's going on. So it's a balance of private property rights versus uh neighborhood harmony and all of those kinds of things. I want to work with these landlords. Amazingly, in Plymouth, which is a good thing from what I hear, most of these short-term rentals are owned by residents of Plymouth.

Uh, in many places around Michigan, they're owned by non-residents who have um a manager in the area and are not connected to the community. So maybe we'll have to talk to some of the short-term owners and see if we can get them to um if we're having a problem be more willing to control their renters. On another subject, but realizing that we're wrapping things up. That's okay. Wait, you know, it's 7:30.

Fire status of the firefighter grants plural. Wandot announced a homeland security grant for another firefighter and $67,000. Homeland Security, right? Yeah. Do we have somebody applying? We already applied. We applied for six, right? What's the status? Status is no feedback. The shutdown has been 29 days. So, [snorts] some are um we will have a challenge. There is no money in the budget to hire six people right now. Right. Um

you'll be able to hopefully enlighten I well enlighten us by November 13. Lord knows that the shutdown's going to be Yeah. If we get any information uh you can see here we we paid to have a consultant file the paperwork. It was in the budget amendments today. Right. So uh no news. Uh the fire chief has not heard. I spoke with him a couple days ago. No information. Okay. Is Is he on? Excuse me. Uh, no. I told him he didn't have to come today because we weren't going to be talking about anything that relates to him. If we if you want him to come in the future.

I do have some questions I'd like to ask. Okay. So, um, he asked to if he had to come. I thought he would didn't have anything to say, so I said don't come. But if you want me to change that in the future, you tell me. Sorry, I missed cuz we were dealing with the sneeze over here. Oh, I'm sorry. We're talking about why the fire chief isn't here, it's because I said that he didn't have to be. Oh, okay. Um, and I said I have questions for him. So, I would appreciate that. Decision. Well, I'm I'm open to uh if you guys want me to require certain department heads to be here, I'll do it. For example, I told Spalding to Decker not to come today. Now, we pay them and Laura Hall, we pay them.

Yeah. Um, so our fire chief, we pay him, but we don't pay him by the hour, right? It's just he he presents a monthly report and it's got a lot of data in it and I have questions about some of that data and I so I just was wondering why he hasn't been here because I wanted to ask him some of those questions. All right. So, we'll uh I will tell him tomorrow and then we'll um we'll make some adjustments. Okay. All right.

You said something I emailed you um about the couple that came in with concerns about the pool situation. You said something about HOA. It was discussed at HOA. was the though HOA told us they discussed it and they did not want to change their requirements for no fences. So they did not have a solution and were not willing to create one for these people. That's their neighbors the HOA uh country called village HOA. Yes,

they were. So the option that was available to us was to pro potentially look at an ordinance that would dictate how that would be. I know we can't do anything about the one that exists. I know expose but well the build the building uh chief building official says that it is not easy and he does not recommend deviating from the the code that is used in the state and internationally for pools. I understand that but we have residents who are incredibly concerned incredibly concerned about the potential for drowning with children and I don't think we can just ignore that. So I just like

I don't know I don't know what the answer is. We don't there is no and for the for these particular people there is no answer because it is you can't force them to go backwards for a new a new u code I just there were a lot of people who came to the meeting to address that and it's just an issue that I think we need to either say yes we're going to try to do something about it or we're not going to do something about it because it is a safety issue

right for Now the consensus from the building community and the legal community is do nothing. It's sufficiently covered in the ordinance. And the HOA, they have decided to do nothing. They could they could provide an exception. It would be tough to allow the neighbor who does not have the pool to put up a fence, but they said here in this a homeowners association president's meeting that they decided they don't want to do that. Their uh covenants stay as presently codified in their u deed restrictions. homeowners association u documents bylaws.

That does sound like a a decent option to be allowed to put up a fence next. Yeah, it's a it's a conundrum. You can put up a fence. Uh in country club, you're allow you're only allowed to put up a fence if you have a pool. And my next door neighbor has a pool and it's fenced in. But this is the flip opposite of that. Protect yourself. I mean, it does seem like a decent option. It's a real conundrum. I mean, I wouldn't put in a built-in pool without putting up a fence, but um I'm not planning on putting in a built-in pool anytime soon.

Although, one person in the HOA pointed out that, you know, there's detention ponds, retention ponds that have water in them. There are lakes and they're not fenced and they're not covered. ditches. There's ditches that easily I can remember as a youth falling into a ditch in the going through the ice and it went over my head. So stuff like that can happen. Um I saw that in a movie. You did? It's a wonderful light. It's a wonderful Well, similarly, if you have a pool and it has a gate, you know, they were talking about leaving the the cover off. You could also leave the door open to the I mean it goes [clears throat] even with the

if it didn't self close. Yeah, it didn't self. I understand it. I I guess I wish neighbors would confer with each other before they do things to try to get to a consensus that provides a a good solution. But there is not that spirit in this community in a big way. And uh um uh if you've seen the the kind of neighborhood disputes that have come to my office, you'd be shocked. I'm not. No. Very bizarre behavior. So, uh I don't know. It's don't know what the solution is. Are you ready for a motion to adjourn? Yes. Yes.

So moved. Second. All in favor? I motion successful.