COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP BOARD MEETING MINUTES

The Regular Meeting of the Columbia Township Board was called to order by Supervisor Beckwith. Present were Beckwith, Burgett, May, Harrington, and Hurley. In attendance were 45 individuals.

Consent Agenda: October 17, 2000, regular meeting. November expenses through November 21, 2000.

Beckwith moved to approve the consent agenda, seconded by May. Carried unanimously.

Clerk's Report: Invoices received after preparing the consent agenda.

General Fund:

General Fund

Check # To: For: Amount:

Michigan Townships Asso. 2000 Dues $ 20.00

Ikon Office Solutions Copier Maintenance $275.08

Ted Hartride Voting Machine Prep $640.00

Fire Fund

First Bancard Center Credit Card $559.10

West Shore Fire, Inc. Misc. Equipment $ 6.34

Richardson Oil, Co. Oil $ 91.20

Moses Fore Equipment, Inc. Misc. Equipment $ 27.01

Century Tel Cell Phone $ 69.82

Burgett moved to approve the additional invoices for payment, seconded by May. Carried unanimously.

Additions to Agenda: Motion by Beckwith to add Numbers 4-8 to new business, seconded by Hurley. Carried unanimously.

Public Comment:

Query: What is expense for sheriff on monthly expenses? Answered by May: Deputy sheriff paid for out of C.O.P.S. grant, for 20 hour week. New C.O.P.S. grant in the works for 40 hour deputy.

Query: At what time will the people have the right to vote to spend money? Do you have unlimited authority to spend money? Answered by Beckwith, has to be in a budget that was approved by board at public hearings. Then approved again when the check is written.

Query: Fire in Bangor Township, several fire departments responded. Columbia went in on standby basis, went in with sirens blaring, coming close to reckless endangerment of life.

Answered by Beckwith: Thank you.

Query: Ron Bus sent correspondence he would like answered.

Answered by Beck with: It is on agenda, will be answered later in meeting.

Sheriff: 83 complaints were answered during October. Columbia Township has lower calls, for Breaking and Entering, compared to other townships.

Query: The people should be able to review 911 reports.

Answered by Beckwith. We have the fire calls & we should be able to obtain the ambulance calls.

County Commissioner: A new sheriff deputy will be stationed in Bangor.

Fire Chief: 12 fire calls in October. 70 burn permits issued in October. Since 1/1/00 over 400 burn permits have been issued. This has resulted in no damage or out of control fires. Advised residents to clean chimneys and have working smoke detectors. Christmas trees are on sale at the station for $15.

Planning Commission: Working on the revision of the Master Plan. A questionnaire will be sent out with the tax bills.

Book Station: Meetings are the first Monday of every month. Classes, by Bim Willow, in Willow Sculpting will be held in the spring. Written report.

Hospital: Internal medicine has a new physician that will start 12/4/00. Written report.

Recreation: We need ideas for the 40 acre parkland. The jail work crews have cut brush & trees at the cemeteries & the new land for the fire station.

Correspondence: Letter from Ron Bus, raising questions about the advertisement submitted by Harold Johnson. The board is not prepared to answer at this time. Motion by Harrington to publish answers to the letter, seconded by May. Carried unanimously.

Proposal from attorney-James Ray property, Lower Jephtha lake access.

Motion by May for Supervisor to continue negotiations for 2 rods wide, in exchange for 1 rod x 40 rods that township owns, similar to where it is now. If he agrees to that, than I further move to authorize survey for this, seconded by Hurley. Beckwith, Burgett, May, & Hurley, aye—Harrington opposed.

1. Motion by Beckwith to nominate Burgett for FOIA Officer, seconded by May. Carried unanimously.
2. Motion by Harrington for the survey of the Thompson Cemetery & Latchaw property between cemetery & Latchaw cabins, seconded by Hurley. Carried unanimously.
3. Grant applications for generators for hall & fire station need to be filled out.
4. Motion by May to adopt the Emergency Housing Repair Program as written, seconded by Beckwith. Carried unanimously.
5. Banking Transactions Resolution, motion by May, seconded by Hurley. Roll call vote, Beckwith aye, Burgett aye, May Aye, Harrington aye, Hurley aye. Resolution adopted 11/21/00.
6. Exterior doors & clerks office locks to be rekeyed. Motion by Hurley, seconded by Harrington. Carried unanimously.
7. Re-cycling fees need to be established for recycled materials at transfer site. Motion by Harrington for$1.00 for any amount of recycling materials, seconded by Hurley. A motion to amend was made by May to charge ½ current amount (2 bags for 1 punch). Amendment died for lack of support. Original motion carried unanimously.
8. Need to look into township wide pickup. 8. Motion by Beckwith to send up to 5 board members to the December MTA board training at $75.00 each, not to exceed $375.00, seconded by Harrington. Carried unanimously.

Query: When is fire insurance going to go down?

Answered by Beckwith: Second station to cover township

Query: What will it take to get ISO rating reduced?

Answered by Beckwith: Good response time & nearby response

Adjourned: 8:50 PM

Mary Burgett
Columbia Township Clerk