Sumpter Township ups Zoning Board of Appeals fee to $675

At its regular meeting on March 12, the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to hike the fee for a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing to $675, from the previous $500 cost.
Trustee Matthew Oddy, who sits on the ZBA, said they had a $373 shortfall on hearings and they are only raising it $200.
Clerk Esther Hurst said they want to try this to see how this goes. She said they may not have as many ZBA requests now that the new accessory building ordinance is going into effect.
Oddy asked them to approve the whole Development Fee Schedule, although the ZBA fee is the only change.
Trustee Tim Rush said some building department permits need to be looked at because the township is losing money on them.
Supervisor John Morgan told Trustee Rush to make a recommendation for changes and give it to the board for consideration.
In other business at the March 12 meeting, the board:
• Heard Scott Cabauatan, Republic Waste’s Municipal Manager for Southern Michigan and Northern Ohio, explain the problems they have had with trash pick up in the township and give his commitment to do better;
• Approved warrants totaling $1,215,717.70, which includes the $7,900 payment to Elan for the cable equipment in township hall, which was tabled at the last meeting. It had been incorrectly listed as final payment, but Trustee Tim Rush said the final payment would be $32,000. Trustee Oddy said the board would like to have a representative from Elan come to a meeting to explain the delay;
• Tabled approval to pay $23,415 to SCADA for control panel disconnects for the Willis / Sumpter Road sewer lift station repair;
• Approved setting a special workshop for 6 p.m., March 21, to discuss fiscal year budget 2020 and the 2019-20 insurance policy renewal. A presentation will be given by Jon Johnson of Burnham & Flower;
• Tabled the second readings and adoptions of two amendments to the township zoning ordinance that adds yard waste (and also should add plowed snow) to the ordinance as what is not allowed to be dumped in the public and private right-of-ways;
• Approved the second reading and final approval of a zoning ordinance amendment that provides for larger accessory structures;
• Approved Oddy’s request to have the Water Department give a presentation at the April 9 meeting detailing the water bill collection procedure including any payment arrangement or payment options offered to the resident. “Documented process to be provided to the board for review,” Oddy noted. Treasurer Bednark said the presenter should be the head of that department, Ken Kunka;
• Approved hiring Rachel Scott as a fire fighter with the understanding she must pass her physical;
• Heard Public Safety Director/Police Chief Eric Luke give his monthly police report, noting in February there were only three Part 1 Crimes: one aggravated assault and two burglaries. “Another quiet night on the Western Wayne County front,” he said. Former Treasurer Peggy Morgan asked for an update on the police officer that was arrested for drunk driving. Chief Luke said the officer had strong, internal discipline and he is working;
• Heard Treasurer Bednark report his office came through a pretty rough patch and they worked over the week end to get things settled. He said the delinquent tax roll has been sent to the county. He introduced the new deputy clerk, who is a resident of Sumpter Township;
• Heard Supervisor Morgan announce that Clerk Hurst has been renamed the liaison to the Senior Department. She had been liaison the seniors and then Morgan reshuffled his appointments;
• Heard township attorney Rob Young announce there are proposals to talk over with Nationwide by the end of the week. He referred to the problems with township pension payouts;
• Heard Bednark ask attorney Young if he could give reports in the future, including how many law suits have been filed against the township? How many other lawyers are involved? How many settlements and what are the judgments? “It would be nice to have quantitative reports,” Bednark said. Young replied that any settlements are approved by this board and he tries not to bore people with long reports. He said, right now, the township has outside counsel, recommended by the insurance company, to work on the Futernick case. He said that firm has worked with Sumpter before. Young said there is a status conference in May on the case and, “We’ve analyzed the complaints … Some have been litigated by him in the past… I don’t mind talking about this. It’s what I do. I will do that going forward”;
• Heard Trustee Don LaPorte announce that fire fighters now will come on medical emergency runs with IDs around their necks. He said Fire Chief Joe Januszyk had the idea. The IDs will have personal information on them and the tags should go to the hospital with any fire fighter injured. Also, the previous Saturday the fire department had training in propane emergency, with other participants from Belleville, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor. He said the State of Michigan put on the training with a reduced rate because Sumpter Lt. Jamie Good was the instructor. Trustee LaPorte also announced that National Emergency Management training is coming for the police and fire departments;
• Heard Antoinette Oddy say to the board from the audience, “We look very silly to the public when we can’t get along with each other… There is so much hatred and animosity in the township.” She asked Rush to put announcements on cable. “And, I do miss seeing what the seniors do”;
• Eric Partridge said the township purchasing policy requires three competitive bids for projects between $6,000 and $9,999 and that was not carried out for the boardroom table. Attorney Young said two bids were received and if they don’t get three, it’s part of the policy, you can waive the third bid. Partridge said there are over 15 pages of licensed contractors in the 48111 zip code and they couldn’t get three bids. “This whole boardroom table issue reeks of cronyism… The father is doing the job that his son got the contract for and the money is going through the son to the father so the father doesn’t have to mess up his disability payments.” Now, Partridge said, there is the detail of granite inserts added apart from the original quote. “It doesn’t seem transparent or fair,” he said, asking the board to rework their permit policy. He said there are lots of carpenters in the community and, “You’d get a better product”;
• Heard Adrian Slaughter thank the workers in the treasurer’s department for getting things resolved with the property taxes;
• Heard Mary Ban say she called County Commissioner Al Haidous’ office to ask about Sumpter Road, between Hull and Bemis, that is separating and making the roadway hazardous. She hopes the commissioner will get crews out there as soon as possible. She said she also called Van Buren Township since the bad part of the road is in its township;
• Heard Peggy Morgan ask about putting the meetings on cable, with Rush responding they will be on cable 10 a.m., 3 p.m., and 8 p.m. every day until the next board meeting. Morgan asked if there weren’t any at night, for the workers that get home late, and Rush said, “Everybody’s got a DVR”; and
• Heard new Deputy Treasurer Wendy Snook get up and introduce herself. She was to begin work on March 18, since she gave two weeks’ notice to the City of Wayne where she had worked for 25 years. She worked the previous Saturday in Sumpter with Anna Winter and Erica Campbell to get things done in the treasurer’s office. She said she had been doing water billings in Wayne and is experienced with that. She said she has been a Sumpter Township resident for 17 years and, in fact, she was a dispatcher for Sumpter for a while.