Sumpter Twp. board approves 3rd amendment to landfill agreement

Republic Services landfill wants to reclaim metal from the ash already in its Carleton Farms landfill cells and needed an amendment to its Fast Track Agreement so it could get approval from the state.
At its regular meeting on May 23, the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the agreement’s Amendment #3.
Township attorney Rob Young had been meeting with landfill officials and he explained the agreement he recommended.
He said the agreement requires the landfill to come before the planning commission before it starts construction and to follow reasonable township ordinances and hours of operation.
Young said the township will get paid 25 cents a ton for the existing ash being reclaimed. There will be township oversight for noise, hours of operation, and litter, he said.
Republic said it thinks the metal reclamation project will help it get back the contract with Detroit for ash that it lost recently after many years.
“If they get the bid on the new contract, the township will get the $1.25 per ton plus the 25 cents per ton,” Young said.
Young said the township currently gets $50,000 to $60,000 from the ash.
The board also approved Resolution #2017-06 endorsing Republic Services Metal Reclamation Processing Facility. This will be sent to the state showing local support for the project.
In other business at the May 23 meeting, the board:
• Approved accepting $11,000 in park grant funds from Wayne County for use to upgrade the outside of the Recreation Building at Graham Park. The Parks and Recreation Commission holds all its meetings there and stores its equipment. They will put up new siding, windows, and gutters. The inside of the building has already been spruced up. Sharon Pokerwinski is grant administrator for Parks & Rec;
• Approved a resolution adopting the Wayne County Park Grant Funding Agreement for the above grant;
• Approved awarding demolition bids to Busch & Son for demolitions of 24053 Bohn Rd., 29200 Martinsville Rd., and 24101 Sumpter Rd.;
• Tabled the item to consider the hiring of Laura Bratby as a fire fighter with the condition she passes her physical;
• Approved purchasing two new 2017 Ford F-350 crew cab 4×4 pickups for the fire department to use as brush trucks at a cost of $63,822.24. The trucks will need additional lights and lettering and one will have a winch put on it. The current trucks are 1990 and 1997 models and have rusted bodies and mechanical issues. Trustee Don Swinson abstained from the vote because of his job at Atchinson Ford and his work on the bid;
• Approved police having keys to the township hall and offices, but not the door code, for emergencies only. Treasurer Peggy Morgan said there are times police have to enter in an emergency when alarms are going off. This way they won’t have to damage a door;
• Approved Deputy Treasurer / Supervisor Karen Armatis’ request to send letters to adjoining property owners with offers to sell small properties next door owned by the township. Armatis had put together a booklet of township-owned properties to prepare for selling some. She said the township board will look at the responses;
• Heard Treasurer Morgan say that 1,077 tires were turned in at the recent tire collection and she is glad those tires are out of the Sumpter community;
• Heard Trustee Don LaPorte say the Wayne County Mental Health Board is encouraging police to be trained in the use of naloxone, a fast-acting medication that reverses opioid overdose. Sumpter’s fire department started using naloxone in November 2015. Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara, recently named to the mental health board, asked Sumpter to join VBT and Belleville to be trained together in June under a grant to get training and kits for police cars. It will cost the township nothing except the salaries of the police officers;
• Heard Virginia Belinski report that Ace Hardware provided items for the new cardio drumming class at the senior center, starting June 1, 9:45 to 10:15 a.m. She said the sessions are senior friendly and there is no charge to senior citizen members;
• Heard Jay Bardell note that the treasurer’s office is open during board meetings. He asked if people who work there during meeting time get paid. Supervisor John Morgan said yes, they do get paid. Bardell said Supervisor Morgan had said they wouldn’t get paid in a published document last year and Morgan said he didn’t and that Bardell’s time was up. Bardell replied he gets as much time as Supervisor Morgan allows speaker Mary Ban, which is unlimited. Morgan started slamming his gavel on the board table and shouting, “Your time is up”;
• Heard Gina Stewart, chairwoman of Western Wayne County NAACP, invite residents to join them at meetings the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Christian Faith Ministry Church in Garden City;
• Heard Ronald Barrington Robinson ask who fills an opening on the board and Supervisor Morgan said the board fills such vacancies. Robinson said he is continuing his offer of a $5,000 reward for the person who poisoned his horses during the 2016 election. He also asked about the policy for inappropriate alcohol use for elected or appointed officials and Supervisor Morgan said elected officials are elected by the public and the public has the power over them; and
• Went into closed-door session to discuss police negotiations and “seniority matters.”