Township Board Minutes

MINUTES OF THE CASCADE CHARTER TOWNSHIP
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
7:00 P.M.

Article 1. Supervisor Julien called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Supervisor Julien, Trustees Goldberg, Fox, Koessel, Beahan, Treasurer Carpenter, and Clerk Goodyke.
Absent: None
Also Present: Manager Cousins, Planning Director Peterson, Chief Sigg, Lt. Rowland, and those listed on Supplement #1.

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

Article 3. Motion was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Beahan to approve the submitted agenda. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 4. Approval of Consent Agenda
a. Receive and File Various Meeting Minutes
1. Regular Board Meeting Minutes of 12/12/07, 01/09/08, 01/23/08, and 02/06/08.
2. Kent County Road Commission Meeting Minutes of 01/08/08.
b. Receive and File Communications
1. Letter from Comcast - re: Pricing adjustments beginning March 1, 2008.
2. Letter from Kent County Department of Aeronautics - re: 2007 Highlights at Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
3. Letter from Board of County Road Commissioners of the County of Kent - re: Act 50 of 1999 Reporting.
4. Letter from Michigan Community Blood Centers - re: Thank you for Hosting the Cascade Community Blood Drive on 1/28/08.
5. Memo from Charles and Sara Homeyer - re: The Open Space/Natural Features Taskforce.
c. Receive and File Various Reports
1. Building Department Report - re: January 2008 Month End Report
d. Education Requests
1. Oxana Sourine - Michigan Municipal Treasurers Institute, April 20 - 25, 2008, Mt. Pleasant, MI.
Motion was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Clerk Goodyke to approve the Consent Agenda.
Treasurer Carpenter questioned the minutes of January 9th regarding Article 4a. 1. Treasurer Carpenter asked Trustee Koessel if the minutes were accurate to what the discussion was in regards to the agenda item in changing the MERS Benefits. Trustee Koessel took a minute to read the submitted minutes. Trustee Koessel stated that it was accurate. Treasurer Carpenter proceeded to ask for clarification on two items: 1) no cost to employees currently in the MERS Plan. Trustee Koessel stated per MERS that this change in no way affects anybody's contribution currently or in the future to the plan. This is a one time purchase of 4 years of vesting. 2) everyone within our organization be treated the same way, is it consistent among all the employees. Treasurer Carpenter wanted to make a note that the wording "any contributions that he had made…" should be changed to "any contributions that the Township had made for his benefit…"
Trustee Goldberg amended his motion to approve the consent agenda with the above change to the January 9, 2008 minutes. Clerk Goodyke supported. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 5. Financial Actions
a. Consider Approval of January 2008 Payables, Payroll, and Transfers.
Motion was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Clerk Goodyke to approve the January 2008 Payables, Payroll and Transfers. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 6. Public Actions (None)

Article 7. Public Comments
Supervisor Julien introduced Ken Yonker who is a member of the Caledonia School Board, who is a candidate for State Representative in the August Primary.

Article 8. Unfinished Business

Article 9. New Business

016-2008 Consider Approval of a Policy for Cascade Township Open Space Fund.
Trustee Beahan reviewed the Policy for the Board. Felt that it would be a good basis for the Board to have an idea and a direction on using the Homeyer Fund on any further acquisitions. This policy enables the fund to also keep some of it intact for future acquisitions and also for maintenance of a property once it is acquired. Discussion followed. Motion was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Clerk Goodyke to approve the Policy for Cascade Township Open Space Fund. Motion carried unanimously.

017-2008 Consider the Hiring of a Consultant to Complete the Recreation Plan Update.
Planning Director Peterson reviewed the criteria for the Recreation Plan. Discussion followed.
Motion was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Beahan to approve the Hiring of Fleis and Vandenbrink in the amount of $4,500 to Complete the Recreation Plan Update. Motion carried unanimously.

018-2008 Consider Video Service Local Franchise Agreement for AT&T Michigan.
Supervisor Julien presented a Resolution that our outside counsel suggest that we pass, in conjunction with approving the agreement. The principle reason for the Resolution is that we are explicitly and on the record stating that we are NOT agreeing that we are giving up any of our normal powers to regulate this. Discussion followed. Motion was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Goldberg that we do not find the AT&T application complete and therefore move this item to re-appear on the agenda of February 27, 2008 with Legal Council and AT&T Representative present so that we can ask specific questions related to the application. Motion carried unanimously.

019-2008 Consider Petition of Cascade Charter Township Treasurer to Strike Personal Property Taxes from the Rolls.
Treasurer Carpenter reviewed the petition. Cascade Township's portion of the tax year of 2002 that we are asking to have written off is $1,704.53. The total that is being asked to be written off is $24,939.49; this is including all the taxing authorities. Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Beahan to approve the Petition of Cascade Charter Township Treasurer to Strike Personal Property Taxes from the 2002 Rolls. Motion carried unanimously.

020-2008 Consider Recommendation of FDAC for Fire/Police Millages.
Supervisor stated that we had a 20 year projection of both the Fire Fund Millage with a renewal of the .2272 mills included in the projection. It also includes over the 20 years a renewal of the .51 mills from the 1994 millage and a renewal of the 2004 millage of the .58 mills, this is a renewal of all three of the millages. The Fire Fund Balance over this projection begins at $1,113,000 and goes up to a peak of $1,383,000 and then begins declining in the later years in the projection so when you get out to the final 2 years (2026-2027) it goes to negative $431,000 and a negative $656,000. Nevertheless, there is some concern that we are projecting wage increases in here that are beyond our ability to pay because we have an expectation from the employees that those wage increases will be forthcoming. Finally, we do not have 3 percent growth in our tax base projected in this…discussion followed. Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Koessel to accept the recommendation from FDAC for Fire and Police Millages with Fire at the same revenue stream of .2272 mills and reduce the projection on salaries for Fire from 3 percent to 2 percent and that the Police would be renewed at a reduced rate of .21 rather than the current level of .2272. Motion carried unanimously.

021-2008 Consider Adoption of 2008 Township Board Goals.
Motion was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Beahan to adopt the 2008 Township Board Goals with a change in wording in Goal #2 from "deepen" to "enhance". Motion carried unanimously.

Article 10. Manager's Comments
a. Burton St. Sewer Construction Summary
Manager Cousins submitted a summary of the Burton St. Sewer project to date. Discussion followed.
Manager Cousins offered the following:
" The Fire fighting crews have been very good about cooperating and helping B&G. They have been taking over all of the snow plowing of parking lots at the Township offices and at Station 2. Including hand shoveling of sidewalks as necessary. The fire department have been willing and able to respond in Township Hall to maintenance issues after hours. Which in one case saved us quite a bit of money from having to call a plumber on a Saturday night.
" B&G have been working very hard to keep up with all the snow as far as cleaning pathways. Also have had some equipment problems, but they have been very diligent about getting things fixed and getting out and getting pathways as clean as they can.
" The MTA is having a Capitol Conference to meet with the legislators. This is set for March 11th at the Radisson at Lansing. If anyone would like to go, a response is necessary by February 26th. This is a day long event.
" Transit Luncheon on March 5th that I will be attending.
" Community Blood Center has issued a Certificate of Thanks.
" Received a notification of a renewal of a Natural Gas Contract that we signed up 2 years ago with a company that purchase our natural gas for us. We still pay DTE…but this other company has intervened as far as setting rates for us. Today we are paying about 40% more than if we were buying thru DTE. I would recommend that we NOT renew the contract and take the benefit of the lower rates.

Article 11. Board Member Comments
Trustee Goldberg offered the following:
" Wants to commend FDAC for their hard work regarding the Millage question.
Trustee Fox offered the following:
" Attended her first Metro Council last week and was sworn in. At that meeting the Metro Council adopted a new agency to foster called Algro (lower Grand River Watershed Group) An agency within Metro Council that is going to monitor water quality from Portland west and they are going to be requesting membership of organizations. No rate structure
Clerk Goodyke offered the following:
" In 1988 when we voted on Fire it passed 62% to 38%. The Police passed by a smaller margin 59% to 41%. We support Fire in this community.
" Acceptance Facility rates for passports were reduced from $30 to $25.
Treasurer Carpenter offered the following:
" Due date for taxes is tomorrow. We have 7.7% left to collect (a little over 4 million dollars)
Trustee Koessel offered the following:
" CDBG Funds….allowed to make a contribution to Habitat. Manager Cousins passed out information regarding the use of CDBG Funds and explained that Habitat was unfortunately not allowed to use CDBG Funds for…due to Federal Regulations.
" Thanked Bill for weekly updates.
Trustee Beahan offered the following:
" Commented on the way the pathways have been cleared and parking lots in both fire stations…great job.
" Cascade Community Foundation on Monday, February 18th is sponsoring a movie night for kids at 6:00 p.m. at the Wisner Center.
Supervisor Julien offered the following:
" If we are projecting little or no growth in our revenues, then how many years can we continue to give wage increases to your employees with no growth in revenue. He asked the Board to carefully consider this because if there is no growth in revenues or very little growth and you compound even a 3% salary increase over a short as six or seven years we will be running at a substantial deficient each year; thereby using up the Township savings account. The answer is to foster growth…economic development. Two other answers are that there are no salary increases for our employees (or very low increases) if you want to maintain the same number of employees or you do what the cities are already doing…and cut the number of employees. I think this is a very serious matter and one that this and prior Boards in Cascade have never had to face.

Article 12. Adjournment
Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Treasurer Carpenter to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Denise M. Biegalle
Deputy Clerk

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