2024, August 12 Township Board Meeting Minutes
BERLIN TOWNSHIP BOARD MEETING
August 12, 2024
Meeting called to order at 7:30pm by Supervisor, Bill Winn. Pledge of Allegiance recited.
Introduction of board members: Treasurer, Madeline Parks; Clerk, Karen Klos; Supervisor, Bill Winn; Trustee Robert Christian and Trustee, Mark Wittstock. Thirty-one audience members.
Motion to approve the July 8th board meeting minutes as presented made by Treasurer Parks and 2nd by Supervisor Winn. All in favor, 5 ayes – motion passed.
Treasurer’s report given by Treasurer Parks and accepted as read.
Fire Department report given by Chief Kirkum: his first order of business was to present a plaque to Morgan Riebel for life-saving efforts when, on June 16th, she performed CPR on a resident (saving her life) while at Church at St. John’s – there were 9 Firefighters present at this meeting (along with the resident who was saved and her husband as well as family members and friends of Morgan Riebel) to see her receive her award. Firefighters responded to 17 runs in July and were also thanked for helping at the boat race in St. Clair; further, they thanked the Auxiliary for the purchase of the new LED sign out front of the station. Chief Kirkum requested funds be approved for a new computer system for the trucks (County is switching over to this program; and, it will give them same time information when responding on runs along with formats for reports – making it easier to do reports and track inventory) and new pagers/batteries for firefighters who do not have them at this time. After discussion, motion to purchase the Emergency Networking program for initial cost of $4845 ($3595 after the first year) plus necessary ipads made by Clerk Klos and 2nd by Trustee Christian. Roll call vote, 5 ayes – motion passed. After further discussion, motion to purchase 5 new pagers, 10 desktop chargers and 15 new batteries at a cost from Digicom of $4672.25 made by Clerk Klos and 2nd by Trustee Wittstock. Roll call vote, 5 ayes – motion passed.
Planning Commission report given by Trustee Wittstock: they had nothing that required any action, but had questions and gave answers for the audience members to move forward on possible splits.
Zoning Board of Appeals report given by Trustee Christian: they had 2 meetings last month: on 7/9, they approved a property owner to build a home behind an existing barn and pond on their property and on 7/16, they approved a property owner to put a shed on their property that needed approval due to small lot size.
Senior report: Exercise every Monday at 11am and cards every Tuesday at noon. Next potluck is 8/27 and their semi-annual pancake breakfast will be 9/10 from 10am – noon. .
Park report: the new playground equipment has been ordered and the playground section of the park will be shut down after Labor Day so that old equipment can be removed and the area can be prepared for the new equipment when it arrives.
Next, Supervisor Winn mentioned that the board needs to approve monies to be set aside for match monies from the Road Commission for the 2025 season. Last year, $50k was set aside – the consensus of the board was to set aside the same amount again for 2025 ($50k is the maximum allowed). Supervisor Winn needs to turn in a plan by the end of September.
Next, Supervisor Winn mentioned that the board needs to decide what to do with the remaining ARPA monies – he needs to turn in plans for the remainder by the end of the calendar year. Mention was made for upgrading the basketball courts (possibly to include pickle-ball on the same surface) and addition to the storage room at the township hall.
Next, Supervisor Winn mentioned that he received communication from the County with regard to “solid waste management” at the township. He is not sure what they are trying to have us do, so he will be contacting them for clarification. The township is supposed to have a plan for whatever it is by 9/19.
BOARD MEMBERS:
Christian: The street light on Hough Road is still not working.
Wittstock: Nothing further.
Parks: Nothing further.
Klos: Mentioned that there were only 52 voters who voted during the 9 days of early voting – 3 or 4 of them actually only processed their absentee ballots.
Winn: Mentioned that the burned house in Berville has been taken down, but we are waiting for DTE for the cut-off notice. He also mentioned that the road ends that we contracted to have paved are in process now of being done.
Audience: Question about what is going on with the diesel shop was answered that the attorneys are working together to get things done correctly.
Motion to pay the bills made by Trustee Wittstock and 2nd by Supervisor Winn. Roll call vote, 5 ayes – motion passed.
Motion to adjourn the August board meeting made by Clerk Klos and 2nd by Treasurer Parks. All in favor, 5 ayes – motion passed. Meeting adjourned 8:20pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen A. Klos, Clerk