Sumpter changes Parks & Rec from commission to committee

At its regular meeting Sept. 13, the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees unanimously changed the designation of its Parks and Recreation group from a commission to a committee.
Clerk Esther Hurst and Trustee Tim Rush were both absent and excused.
Trustee Peggy Morgan questioned the proposal and township attorney Rob Young said the planners want it that way in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan now being updated.
The agenda item said the action was being taken “… pursuant to MCL 41.426 and support required for the Parks & Recreation Master Plan development.”
Trustee Don LaPorte asked the item be removed from the agenda. He objected and said, “When we start mentioning MCL and putting people on the hook for paying…”
Young said that was to give some oversight by the board, but right now the board approves commission actions.
When the motion was made to approve the agenda, Trustee Matt Oddy amended that item to delete the part on MCL that Trustee LaPorte objected to.
In other business at the Sept. 13 meeting, the board:
• During the workshop heard Township Manager Anthony Burdick report that Finance Director Scott Holtz was at a conference, the restroom project is progressing, the federal ARPA funds through the county have different rules, the fence-line and fairgrounds project is progressing, a parttime employee in the treasurer’s department would fill a huge gap if she were made full time, and the Great Lakes Water Authority had a 1.34% hike in rates for Sumpter and this was already billed in July;
• Heard Burdick also report that the payment for three contractors in the restroom project was not included in the $207,000 in the warrants for approval that evening and the total should be $289,220.75. When Trustee Morgan said they had not seen the invoices and she objected to paying for the warrants without the invoices, Burdick said they were not on the table but he would provide them. “The checks won’t be cut until Supervisor Bowman and I go through them and say, ‘done,’” Burdick said;
• Heard Public Safety Director/Police Chief Eric Luke introduce Police Officer Nelson Hammons who was hired at the last meeting but couldn’t attend because he was off getting married. Chief Luke said he was 33 years old and Officer Hammons said he grew up in the Belleville area and looks forward to serving the community;
• Heard Trustee Morgan ask about the election signs being taken down after the primary election. She said the ones who were still on the ballot always got to keep theirs up until after the general election. Chief Luke said that is not true. He said the ordinance is clear that signs can be placed no more than 30 days before an election and must be removed by five days after the election. He said if the township wants to change the ordinance, it can. Corey Blue, a candidate in the November election, said ballots will be mailed out later that week and maybe they should change the time. Trustee Oddy said Sumpter’s absentee ballots won’t go out until the end of the month. Burdick agreed that it will be a number of weeks before they are out;
• Approved the resignation of fire fighter Laura Bratby, effective Nov. 24, 2019. She had moved from the township;
• Approved the final payout of Police Officer Jeffery Benedict at $1,516.02;
• Passed, on a 4-1 vote with Morgan voting no, a motion to “extend the Township Manager the courtesy of submitting agenda items directly to the board table for consideration, effective immediately”;
• Approved to begin posting quarterly financial summaries to the township website on the Agenda & Minutes page, effective third quarter, October 2022;
• Passed, on a 4-1 vote with Morgan voting no, a motion to appoint Treasurer Vincent Warren as the Board Development Project Liaison, work with the township manager for the Sumpter Township fairgrounds and initial study of Banotai Park Reclamation and Improvements projects. Morgan had made a motion that died for lack of support for Warren to have the position only through Nov. 20, when he leaves office;
• Approved, on a 4-1 vote with Morgan voting no, the purchase offer of $92,000 from Marco Gutierrez Vasquez of Lincoln Park for the property identified as Wear Road parcel #81-080-99-0016-000, 9.75 acres, with a planned closing date of Oct. 31 through Moving the Mitten real estate group. Morgan opposed the sale after she learned the township was told the property was worth $100,000;
• Tabled a proposal submitted by CTI to replace/upgrade the four-and-a-half-year PEG video system for a total cost of $67,050 and an associated four-year service agreement at a separate total cost of $15,090.56. Burdick said it won’t enhance the TV channel. Board members wanted more information on whether Comcast could make improvements to channel 12 transmissions;
• Approved posting a Posting of Interest for exploration of hybrid role assignments, posting effective Sept. 14-28 and to advise AFSCME of the activity;
• Recognized former township Clerk Joan Oddy, mother of present Trustee Matthew Oddy, who was present in the audience during the workshop part of the agenda;
• During public comment, heard Corey Blue question spending county money when the county is $4.7 billion in debt during inflation. He said this is “robbing our children”;
• Heard Eric Partridge claim Davenport is putting up a lower grade fence than bidders bid on for the specifications of the fairgrounds fence. He said Supervisor Bowman tore down 320 feet of fencing that belonged to the Hoffman property and the supervisor should pay the township $10,000 for what he tore down. It would have cost $8,400 if low-bidder Allied Fencing would have got the bid. He gave each board member a document with details on the situation and Supervisor Bowman flipped his copy onto the floor where it stayed for the rest of the meeting. Partridge said they were, “disrespecting my tax dollars”;
• Heard Mary Ban asked again if taxpayers are still paying on the 30-year bond taken out by the county to build a new jail across from the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. Burdick said he is waiting for a reply on the question. Ban also complained about the brush along the township roadways which is interfering with people getting in and out of their properties. She also noted that the community has a museum that is not operating and she wondered if the supervisor had heard anything about it. Bowman said Supervisor McNamara has not contacted him whatsoever on the subject.