Township Board Minutes

MINUTES CASCADE CHARTER TOWNSHIP
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
7:00 P.M.

Article 1. Supervisor Julien called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Supervisor Julien, Treasurer Carpenter, Clerk Goodyke, Trustees Fox, Goldberg, Koessel and Beahan.
Absent: None
Also Present: Manager Cravens, Planning Director Petersen, Deputy Clerk Biegalle, Building Inspections Manager Visser, and those listed on Supplement #1.

Article 2. Supervisor Julien led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Article 3. The Agenda was revised to include the following:
· Article 9. 014-2007 - Approve Statement of Attempt to Collect Delinquent Personal Property Taxes.
Motion to approve the revised agenda was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Koessel. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 4. Approval of Consent Agenda
a. Receive and File Various Reports
1. Treasurer's Department Bank Balances/Investment Analysis December 2006.
b. Receive and File Communications
1. Letter from Ruth Gordon re: Fire Department
2. Letter from Cascade Engineering re: Health Fair.
3. Letter from A.C.C.E.S.S. re: Funding
4. Letter from Mayor George Hartwell re: Wireless Broadband Update.
5. Letter from Kathleen Allen re: Recycle Area
6. Letter from Alpine Township re: Inspection Agreement
7. Memo from Manager Cravens re: DDA Fund and Its Capture of Kent County Taxes
8. Memo from Eric R. DeLong, City of Grand Rapids re: Resolution of Matter with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
c. Receive and File Various Meeting Minutes
1. Kent County Road Commission Meeting Minutes of 1/9/07.
2. Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of 12/18/06.
d. Approval of Township Board Minutes
1. Regular Meeting Minutes for 01/10/07
e. Education Requests
1. Fire Fighter Jim Walker - Rope Class / Grand Rapids Fire Department Training Center.
f. Receive and File Various Reports
1. Building Department Month End Reports for December, 2006
and January, 2007.
2. Kent County Sheriff Department East Precinct 2006 Year End
Report.
Motion to approve the Consent Agenda was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 5. Financial Actions
a. Consider Approval of Special Funds for December 2006.
Motion to approve the Special Funds for December 2006 was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Clerk Goodyke. Motion carried unanimously.
b. Consider Approval of Bills, Transfers and Payroll for January, 2006.
Motion to approve the Bills, Transfers and Payroll for January, 2006 was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously.
c. Consider Approval of Public Utilities Funds for December 2006.
Motion to approve the Public Utilities Funds for December 2006 was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Clerk Goodyke. Motion carried unanimously.
d. Consider Resolution to Approve Amending the 2007 Fire Fund
Budget.
Motion to approve the Resolution Amending the 2007 Fire Fund Budget was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Fox. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

Article 6. Public Actions
a. Public Hearing - Consider Resolution for the proposed Centennial
Park Special Assessment District #30.
Motion to open the Public Hearing was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously.
Planning Director Petersen reviewed the purpose of the hearing was to hear objections to the assessments and to correct any errors. The first Public Hearing was held on January 10, 2007 to hear objections to creating the district and the necessity of the improvement.
There was no public input.
Motion to close Public Hearing was made by Trustee Goodyke and supported by Trustee Goldberg. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 7. Public Comments

Article 8. Unfinished Business (None)

Article 9. New Business
006-2007 Consider Resolution for the proposed Centennial
Park Special Assessment District #30.
Motion to approve the Resolution for the proposed Centennial Park Special Assessment District # 30 was made by Treasurer Carpenter and supported by Trustee Koessel. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

007-2007 Consider Fire - Inspection Service Agreement with Grand Rapids Charter Township.
Manager Cravens reviewed the Agreement. Manager Cravens felt this was an opportunity to get important non-residential spaces inspected at a relatively low cost. Discussion followed. Motion to table the consideration of the Inspection Service Agreement with Grand Rapids Charter Township was made by Treasurer Carpenter and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously.

008-007 Consider Purchase of Two Warning Sirens and Support Equipment
Manager Cravens reviewed the Township Board goal to investigate the practicality or necessity of installing additional warning sirens within the township. Manager Cravens presented a recommendation of the Fire Department Advisory Committee (FDAC). The committee decided that the installation of two - three warning signals a year was financially prudent.
The committee had the opportunity to meet with Westshore Fire Services to determine the phasing of the warning siren installations. The recommendation was to install two warning sirens. One siren would be placed at Cascade Recreation Park and the other would be placed at Buttrick Fire Station. These locations were suggested because of their close proximity to population concentrations and the locations being Township-owned property.
Consensus among the Board members was to have Manager Cravens seek an additional proposal for the purchase of (2) additional sirens and bring it back to the Board at the next regular scheduled meeting.

009-2007 Consider Resolution for the Installation of Streetlights at Thornapple Center Condos (behind Family Fare)
Motion to approve the Resolution for the Installation of Streetlights at Thornapple Center Condos was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

010-2007 Final Approval for the Vickery at Beard Farm.
Planning Director Petersen reviewed the approval process. Motion for final approval for the Vickery at Beard Farm was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously.

011-2007 Consider an Exception from the Private Street Ordinance to allow a split on the Private Street portion of Cascade Springs Road.
Planning Director Petersen reviewed the request for an exception from the Private Street regulations in order to split the property at 2315 Cascade Springs. The private road exception is required because the road does not meet the Townships current standards for a private street and the applicant does not plan to fully upgrade the road to meet those standards. Planning Director Petersen stated the applicant has submitted a maintenance agreement on the road to the Board for approval. The issue was the residents who do not use the road but their side yards abut the road have not been asked to sign the agreement. Planning Director Petersen stated that everyone on the map in front of the Board would be considered "all" residents. Discussion followed.
Motion by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Beahan to approve the Private Road Ordinance Exception to allow for the split of the property of Cascade Springs Drive with the addition of maintenance agreements from (3) residents (Leddick, Keyser and Wolters). Motion carried unanimously.

012-2007 Discussion on Various Township Board Committees
Supervisor Julien appointed the following:
-Budget Committee
Mary Carpenter, Fred Goldberg, Jim Koessel
-Personnel Committee
Jim Koessel, Rob Beahan, Mike Julien (with Mary Carpenter and Ron Goodyke to serve as advisors as needed).
-Fire Department Advisory Committee (FDAC)
Rob Beahan, Ron Goodyke, Cindy Fox
-Utility Committee
Fred Goldberg, Mike Julien, Rob Beahan
-Gun Discharge Committee
Cindy Fox, Rob Beahan, Mike Julien
-Buildings & Grounds Committee
Cindy Fox, Jim Koessel, Mary Carpenter

013-2007 Consider Resolution for Precinct Consolidation for School Election May, 2007.
Motion to approve the Resolution for Precinct Consolidation for the School Election on May 8, 2007 was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Treasurer Carpenter. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

014-2007 Consider Approval of Statement of Attempt to Collect Delinquent Personal Property Taxes.
Motion to approve the Statement of Attempt to Collect Delinquent Personal Property Taxes was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Goldberg. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 10. Manager's Comments
Manager Cravens offered the following:
· The Municipal League (MML) is ready to give the final report, but wanted to know if the Board had any recommendations since we had received the draft. Manager Cravens asked for any changes within the next two weeks and then have the MML here in a month.
· Manager Cravens needs to meet with the Personnel Committee regarding the Assessing and Accounting vacancies within the Township Offices.
· Open House Forum on March 1st at 7:00 p.m., dealing with 28th St. reconstruction/sewer. This is in partnership with the Road Commission.
· A letter is being sent out to residents on Burton St. and the subdivisions that are off of Burton St. dealing with the Sewer. There need to be some test wells.
Article 11. Board Member Comments
Trustee Beahan offered the following:
· Amending the Burning Ordinance
Treasurer Carpenter offered the following:
· Would like to have some input on the Accountant and Assessor as she works closely with both departments.
· Last day of tax collections:
Tax Roll this year is $53,702,000.00; we collected 95% of the roll as of today.
· Goals meeting on the 13th looks like it is the best day for everyone, Treasurer Carpenter will be out of town and will give her input prior to the meeting.

Motion to go into closed session was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Beahan. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

Closed Session opened at 8:50 p.m.

Article 12. Closed Session - Woods Harassment Investigation

Motion to close the closed session and reconvene into regular session. Motion carried unanimously.

Reconvene into Regular Session at 10:15.

Article 13. Adjournment
Motion by Trustee Koessel and supported by Treasurer Carpenter to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Denise M. Biegalle
Deputy Clerk

Government ~ Departments ~ Community
Business ~ Reference Desk ~ What's Happening
Help ~ Home ~ Search ~ Site Map

Comments? Feedback? Questions? Click here to send an email.

Site Use Policy

Site Design/Development by