Township Information, Forms & Ordinances
Homestead Township Board of Trustees
Homestead Township Hall
11508 Honor Highway
Honor, MI 49640
HOMESTEAD TOWNSHIP
REGULAR MEETING
November 2, 2009
A regular meeting of the Homestead Township Board was called to order at 7:00 p.m., by Chair, Cathy Demitroff.
Present by Roll Call: Cathy Demitroff, Shelley Rosa, Mary Geetings, Carol Moore and Matt Miller.
Also present: Mary Miller, Paul Beechraft, Jeff Morse, Bill Hutchins, Cindra Moore, Sherry Taylor, Virginia Anton, Frank Walterhouse, Pamm Laing and Denis Rokicki.
The entire audience participated in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVE AGENDA : Motion by Rosa to approve the agenda as amended, with the addition of Poinsettia sale for the, Benzie / Frankfort ski team and Marlene Zylstra Recycling Coordinator Benzie County. Support Miller with addition. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
APPROVAL OF THE OCT 5 th MINUTES : Motion by Rosa to accept the Oct 5 th minutes with corrections. Support under Restroom Accessories was made by Demitroff and under Concession Stand change word from lead to leak. Support with corrections by Moore. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
APPROVAL OF THE OCT 9th MINUTES : Motion by Moore to accept the Oct 9 th minutes as presented. Support Rosa. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
REPORTS: - Treasurers's - Motion by Geetings to accept the Treasurer's report as amended. Change date to November 2, 2009 and Fire Improvement Fund to $71,632.71. Support Geetings. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Clerk's : Motion by Rosa to accept the Clerk's Reports as presented. Support Moore. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Zoning and Supervisor's Report - Motion by Rosa to accept the Zoning and Supervisors Reports as presented. Support Miller. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
APPROVAL OF BILLS : General- Motion by Rosa to pay the General Fund Bills. Support Miller. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Fire Mileage - Motion by Rosa to pay the Fire Department Bills. Support Miller. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Park and Rec : Motion by Moore to pay the Park and Rec Bills. Support Rosa. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
CORRESPONDENCE: Inland Twp - request to have all zoning and land use fees connected with their quest for a new fire barn waived.
Motion by Demitroff to waive all zoning and land use fees connected with the purchase of a building to house the newly formed Fire Department for Inland Twp. Support Miller. Roll Call. Demitroff - Yes, Moore - No, Miller - Yes, Rosa - No and Geetings - Yes
Benzie County Rd Commission - Announcement Dec 16, meeting for Transportation Asset Mng Workshop.
MI Twp Participating Plan - Acknowledgment of Fire Department's compliance for driving records on all of our firemen.
Benzie -Leelanau District Health Depart - Non Smoking Policy
Dates in 2010 for collections provided by the Benzie Recycling Program
Benzie Housing Council Request to include information with tax bills.
Motion by Demitroff to allow a flyer from the Benzie Housing Council to be sent out with tax notices. Support Miller. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Letter of Resignation from Carol Moore regarding the management of our Township Park Maintenance Person.
Motion by Rosa to accept Carol Moore letter of resignation with regrets, regarding the management of our Township Park Maintenance Person. Support Miller. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Carol Moore - Spring Clean Up -Carol distributed to the board more information she received from Northern Disposal regarding Spring Clean Up Day
Motion by Rosa to place Spring Clean Up on next months agenda, and to get the compiled information from Carol Moore and Sherry Taylor back to board member for review for next month's meeting.
PUBLIC INPUT : Paul Beechraft - When do you put your packets together? Are you thinking of going smoke free?
Mary Miller - How do you pay your bills if they come in late?
Lee Anton - The Health Department is doing their job, regarding on keeping a certain place in the township cleaned.
Bill Hutchins - I think Spring Clean-up is important to our woods and forest. Are we enforcing our clean -up policies? Was the board not happy with my snowplowing job last year?
Cindra Moore - How are we suppose to know what the Zoning and Supervisors reports are about? I also feel clean up day is important to keep the woods clean from garbage. We would be finding old tires in the woods if we did not have clean-up day.
NEW BUSINESS: Marlene Zylstra - Benzie County Recycling Coordinator - Distributed to the board, and the public, information on the recycling program. She wants to be present at our clean up day. She feels it is very beneficial to the environment, and she would like to put out a notice with our newsletter about the recycling program.
Recommendations from Park Advisory - Dennis Rokicki and Pamm Laing - We as a committee are recommending that instead of have Park Rules, that we would have Park Guidelines. We do not want to turn people off with the Rules.
People have inquired about the Pavilion, do we have a phone # that they can call, if they want to use it?
We have identified the road erosion as a problem, and recommend that we have someone research and review the situation and figure out how we can fix the problem.
Right now we are an advisory board, we want by-laws / guidelines. Maybe we could use the Counties to fashion ours by.
Our next meeting in Monday, November 9 th . Then we will return to the 3 rd Monday of each month.
Thoughts from Trustee Moore Regarding Twp Park - Should we develop a 5 year site plan? Our Park Committee could use it. Another thought, is maybe our Park Committee could review our candidate for positions like the Park Maintenance Position, and come back with their recommendations to the board.
Poinsettia's - Benzie / Frankfort Schools- Motion by Geetings to allow the Benzie / Frankfort Schools the use of the Township Hall free of charge, for the sell of their Poinsettias for the ski program on Dec 2, and to be out of the hall by 4:00 p.m. on Dec 3 rd . Support Demitroff. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Park Budget - A new budget was presented to the board for the Park, because construction of the Park Restrooms has started. Additional changes needed to be made to the budget, and it will be presented next month.
The Park is over budgeted in 2 areas. Motion by Rosa to move $500 from Contracted Services into the Equipment Supply Account, and to move $3,000.00 from Contracted Services into the Repair Maintenance Account. Support Miller. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Motion by Demitroff to move $39,000 from General Fund into the Park Capital Outlay Account to cover the cost of the Restroom, and the Electricity to the pole building at the Park. Support Rosa. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Electricity to the Park Garage : Motion by Demitroff to approve a trench dug, and to supply electricity to the pole barn for the cost of $1,047.00. Support Miller. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Benzie County Park and Recreation Master Plan - Letters of support from other townships are being sent in support of the Master Plan. The board will tabled until they can review the Master Plan.
OLD BUSINESS : Park Maintenance Job Description - Motion by Rosa to approve the Park Maintenance Position Job Description with correction: "to present a monthly report either written or verbal to the Twp Board while the park is open." Support Moore. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Fire Dept Physicals - Tentatively set for November 23, 2009. Cost is $295.00 x 17 (firemen) = $5,015.00. To be paid for from the Fire Mileage Account. Support Moore. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion carried.
Park Report - Everything is taken care and completed for the winter.
Lyle Crist wants a key to the gate and would like extra keys made to give to the other contractor, that are working on the park restroom.
Fire Department - Coats and Pants - Firemen - 3 bids for 20 suits.
Brooks Equip Co. $30,439.60
Chief Supply Co. $24,000.00
Law Enforcement Supply Co. $31,599.60
Motion by Rosa to accept Chief Supply Company's bid for pants and coats for 17 firemen at the cost of $1,200 per suit. Support Demitroff. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Recommendations from Fire Department :
Motion to appoint Tim Markey to the Homestead Fire Dept., pending his driver's background check. Support Moore. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
Motion by Demitroff to appoint Rick Frederick as the Asst. Maintenance Helper at the cost of $100.00 per month. Support Miller. Roll Call. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
9 runs for October - 61 total runs for the year.
Joint Planning - The Joint Planning approved the miner site plan for the Inland Twp Fire Dept. Benzie Bus presented their plans for the Heller Sign Building. The next meeting is Jan 19 th at Inland.
Public Input - Bill Hutchins - Is the Park Maintenance Person Done?
Bob Rosa - The Chain Link Fence that was put on over the batting cages, should be removed for the winter, it will be damaged by the heavy snow. Cathy to research and contact the board.
Paul Beechraft - I want to thank the Homestead Board, for waiving the fees for our Fire Building, and to Frank and Jeff for allowing and setting up the Firemen Classes.
Bill Hutchins - Has Inland Twp thought about the pay periods for their firemen? Can Homestead Twp reconsider their pay cycle, possible once a month.
Anything Else to Come Before the Board - Trustee Moore - The Web Page, can we have it updated, it still has the former Trustee on it. We should be using it to promote the Coho Festival, the Ball Tournament, we could use it to advertise the job posting. We could show the Park and the building of the Park Restroom. If we are not going to update it, then we should not be paying for it. The minutes on the web site are from 2008. Cathy to get this corrected.
ADJOURN : Motion by Miller, support Moore to Adjourn. All Ayes. Motion Carried. Adjourned at 8:45.
Respectfully submitted
Mary Geetings, Clerk Cathy Demitroff, Supervisor
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