Sumpter to give candy at township hall instead of holding fire dept. party

Sumpter Township trick or treaters are invited to stop at each office inside township hall on Halloween for their treats. That is Monday, Oct. 31.
This will be instead of the annual children’s Halloween party at the fire hall where police would check trick or treat bags for dangerous treats.
Public Safety Director Luke said times are not what they used to be and the hand-held wand used by police just checks for metal. He told those at the Sept. 27 regular board meeting that there are lots of chemicals out there now.
In other business at the Sept. 27 work shop and regular meetings, the board:
• Held a moment of silence in memory of Tyrone Borden who died Sept. 13 and had served on the planning commission for 19 years;
• Approved on a 5-2 vote a proposal submitted by CTI to replace/upgrade the PEG Video System for a total cost of $67,050 and an associated four-year service agreement at a separate total cost of $15,l090.56. Voting no were Trustees Don LaPorte and Peggy Morgan;
• Approved the amended agreement with Friends of Michigan Animal Rescue, which among other services takes care of strays brought in by Sumpter police. It was explained that with the leaving of Pete and Marcie LaFramboise there is a new process in the building and the price has gone up from $40 to $50 per dog;
• Approved a request by the Sumpter Township Fire Department to hold an open house on Saturday, Oct. 15, from noon to 3 p.m. to mark National Fire Protection Week;
• Approved directing the employment committee to review the proposed assignment of the part-time treasury department employee to a full-time position of accounts payable clerk with the AFSCME benefits and wage of $23.41;
• Approved the request of Township Manager Anthony Burdick to move forward with publishing the township’s fall newsletter with content from the newsletter committee. Some of the information, such as that on the election, is time-sensitive;
• Approved a clerk in the treasurer’s office to work additional hours for up to 90 days to perform accounts payable as approved by the union;
• During the one-hour-and-24-minutes workshop session, heard Manager Burdick and vendors explain the $125,990 WCA contract over four years for assessing services, including sketching/pictures, and tax mapping; the CTI proposal ($67,050 plus service agreement of $15,090.56 over four years) for AV system replacement; a Preferred Vendor Program; a Hybrid Role Assignment; the Strategic Planning meeting set for the Oct. 11 workshop, which will include the spending of federal ARPA funds; and the fall newsletter that needs to be put out as soon as possible;
• Heard Corey Blue, candidate for county commissioner, said he was against make-work projects like the county is doing when the county is underwater financially. He also asked the township to make its bidding projects more transparent;
• Heard Mary Ban say the brush along the roads is still bad and obstructs visibility. She said people are not happy with Comcast service in the community. Ban also said she talked to Van Buren Township Treasurer Sharry Budd about the museum being closed and she said Budd told her they do not have a date for reopening it. She also criticized the county for letting go of their own engineering staff and making individual municipalities pay for the property assessing. She said it will be just like Russia, where they determine how big your house is and how many people should live there. “We have private property in this country,” Ban said; and
• Heard Sharon Pokerwinski say she agreed with Ban on the roads. She said the grant she got from the county to fix the dock at Sherwood Pond, which was later demolished, can be resubmitted for another purpose for the park. She said the township supervisor said he would hire a manager for the parks and hire a person to do all the events. She said they had volunteers in the past and if he doesn’t want them, that’s fine. She said he also spoke of getting rid of parks & recreation commission.