Sumpter Twp. Board appoints Eric Luke as new police chief

Sumpter Township’s Police Captain Eric Luke has been promoted to police chief.
At the regular Feb. 23 meeting of the board of trustees, Capt. Luke was unanimously named chief to fill the position left vacant when Chief James Pierce, Jr. resigned Feb. 9.
Township attorney Rob Young said Chief Luke’s official contract will be presented at the next meeting. He said Chief Luke will get a slight increase in pay. He will be leaving his captain’s post and will be given a two-year slide-back arrangement and can go back to captain, if desired, during that time.
Also, the Michigan Employment Retirement System (MERS) has approved him remaining in its pension program.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for 21 years,” said Supervisor John Morgan of Luke’s promotion to chief.
Then, 34th District Court Judge Tina Brooks Green swore in Luke to his new position and Luke’s wife Trully pinned on his new badge.
Judge Green said Luke was hired in 1994 and she was elected judge in 1995, so their tenures have been pretty much together. Chief Luke said, with a smile, that he has seniority.
Wearing his new badge, Chief Luke addressed the board and audience. He said it is an honor and privilege to be police chief of Sumpter Township.
He thanked Chief Clinton Brown who hired him as a 23-year-old in the summer of 1994. And, he thanked former Chief Pierce.
And, of course, he thanked his wife. “It’s not easy being a police officer’s spouse.”
He also thanked the Sumpter Police Department who “make it a pleasure coming into work in the morning.”
It seemed all of his department was present for the occasion, crowding into the board meeting room, along with his parents, grandfather, and his sons. After the meeting those assembled ate cupcakes to celebrate the event.
In other business at the Feb. 23 meeting, the board:
• Approved purchase of ten, 30-year SCBA bottles from West Shore Fire for $13,900 to replace the 15-year bottles going out of service. Trustee Don LaPorte, who is also a fire fighter, said these are the bottles fire fighters wear on their backs into a fire so they can breathe. The new bottles can last an hour; the old ones would last a half hour, he said;
• Approved the letter of retirement from Deputy Clerk Esther Hurst effective March 1 and appointed Janet Hoffmann to that position with the same compensation and benefits, effective March 1;
• Approved switching phones and systems, including the fire department, to Telnet Worldwide at a savings of $500 per month, contingent on Young’s review of the contract;
• Approved the Parks and Recreation Commission holding Sumpter Country Fest 2016 over Memorial Day week end with funds from its budget;
• Was informed Parks and Recreation is holding its annual Easter Party for children at Graham Park at noon on Saturday, March 19. Also, the Parks and Recreation budget for the next fiscal year will be turned into Financial Officer James Glahn that evening;
• Approved paying warrants totaling $3,031,834.22;
• Learned an updated Animal Control Ordinance, concerning vicious dogs, has been prepared by Matt Ban and Sherry Olds and will be discussed by the township board at its 6 p.m., April 12 work/study session;
• Heard attorney Young say the fire department millage and the police department millages are all up for renewal and will be put on the August primary election. If the police 2-mill tax of many years is combined with the 1 mill added a few years back, the 3 mills would have to be labeled a new tax. Young suggested the 2 mill and 1 mill be presented separately as renewals. The fire tax of 1 mill is also a renewal. Young will have the wording ready for the township board’s next meeting. It has to be turned into the county by late April or early May, he said;
• Heard Young say the township is done negotiating contracts for COAM (Command Officers Association of Michigan) and MAFF (Michigan Association of Fire Fighters) and now the POAM (Police Officers Association of Michigan) is finalized, but needs some of the paperwork turned in; and
• Heard Trustee Matthew Oddy ask the board to direct the planning commission to officially put medical marijuana in Industrial zoning as it is in the ordinance. Trustee Oddy explained the current ordinance allows care givers to grow marijuana in their house for their five patients as written in the Medical Marijuana Act, but for those growing in a commercial area it can only be in Industrial zoning. Oddy said the township has a moratorium on dispensaries, but he said attorney Young said that is not necessary since dispensaries are not allowed by the State, anyway.