Sumpter Twp. spends $61,874 to upgrade cable system, board room

Deputy Supervisor Karen Armatis told the Sumpter Township Board that approval of spending $61,874 would allow upgrade of the township’s Channel 12 equipment and improve sound in the board room. It also would get 65-inch monitors on the wall for presentations and obstruction-free microphones flat on the table.
Elan Engineering’s proposal was for $31,874, with the total cost being $61,874, Deputy Armatis said.
At its regular meeting on April 24, Deputy Armatis said that the township gets about $120,000 from Comcast every year from fees paid by users, and the township wants to reinvest the money in new equipment for Channel 12. She said the equipment is 15 years old.
Channel 12 has not been working right for some time and, “Now, the cable is totally down,” Armatis said.
She said the allocation would also pay for training in use of the equipment.
Treasurer Peggy Morgan asked who would be trained and Armatis said the equipment will be in the supervisor’s office and she would be the one getting the training.
Treasurer Morgan recommended that others should also be trained as backup.
“It will be on my computer,” Armatis said.
“It would be wise to have others,” Morgan stressed.
“It’s a good idea to have a backup,” Armatis conceded.
Morgan said financial director Scott Holtz said the money is in the budget for the expenditure.
Attorney Rob Young said he is looking over the contract and any approval should stipulate that the attorney finalize the contract.
The board voted unanimously to approve the proposal, with Young’s finalization of the contract.
In other business at the April 24 meeting, the board:
• Approved a four-year equipment maintenance agreement from Cummins to service the fire station generator, at a total cost of $1,472.86. Public Safety Director/ Police Chief Eric Luke said Huron Township, which provides emergency dispatch services for Sumpter, had the battery fail on its generator after the recent storm. Chief Luke said the fire department’s generator was wired a long time ago and it will be rewired to serve all of the fire hall. “In my opinion, now it’s being wasted. It’s big enough to do the whole building,” Luke said. He said the generator ran for almost three days after the storm the previous week. He said Huron Township’s failure caused chaos, but Sgt. Beth Egerer and the fire department made communications work;
• Approved purchasing a one-year subscription to Fire Rescue 1 Academy online training for the fire department, at a cost of $2,054. Chief Luke said the police department has been using the online training for three years. He said they put policies and procedures on there and officers go over one or more a month. He said it is a good supplement to hands-on training;
• Approved the purchase of two Ford Interceptor Utilities (Explorers) from Atchinson Ford at a total cost of $64,844.16. Trustee Don Swinson abstained from the vote because he works at Atchinson Ford. The fully marked police vehicles should be ready by August. Chief Luke said they will replace the 2006 Explorers that were never intended as pursuit vehicles. He said Atchinson matches the state bid price;
• Approved the purchase of a backup storage server for the police department from CDW-G using funds from the forfeiture account, at a cost of $4,461.12;
• Approved the resignation, with regrets, of Ronald Barnette from the fire department. It was explained he can’t make the minimum fire runs required each month because he took a job with 12 hour work days;
• Declared May as Honor and Remember Month in Sumpter and presented a proclamation to Leroy Paige. The board also took turns reading a list of Hometown Heroes that served in the military. Mary Sherwood’s brother-in-law who had a Willis mailing address but lived in Sumpter was not included in the list. She was assured Foster Sherwood would be added to the list in the future. Paige also asked Sumpter to fly the Honor and Remember flag from its flagpole for the month of May;
• Accepted two changes regarding long-term disability and retiree insurance benefits with AFSCME Local 1882 in an effort to align existing benefits with the law and IRS rules. Young said the changes deal with the consolidation of their years of service for two unions for Randy Lynch and Sue Dufrane;
• Reminded everyone the next board meeting on May 8 has been cancelled because of the Airport School election;
• Heard Trustee Swinson report Parks and Rec is working on the upcoming festival and the Parks and Rec building looks real good now that the outside building work is done. He reported that Menards in Van Buren Township is putting the new mezzanine in and cutting windows into the new walls;
• Heard Young report the previous Thursday there was a meeting on the library lease of the hexagon building. A Hennessey engineer will inspect the building and be able to provide oversight on the project. “He’ll do enough work to keep things going and then come to the board” with recommendations, the potential cost, and the bidding process;
• Heard Treasurer Morgan said she would like to see the financial director’s approval of expenditures on the agenda. Supervisor John Morgan said expenditures are run by Holtz before they go on the agenda, but Treasurer Morgan said she had to go to Holtz to run everything by him from this agenda. Clerk Hurst said in the future Holtz will get agendas to review;
• Heard Trustee Sheena Barnes, who had been on the township’s medical marijuana committee, ask about the large packet of information just given to board members concerning “Colorado Rules.” Young said a study was undertaken by Colorado to get information on increase in crimes, auto related matters and marijuana, property values, and other matters. He said he is continuing to gather information. Barnes reminded him, “We opted out…I’m confused. We didn’t get any of this during the committee work. I am a caregiver. What are we telling them on the overage for the caregivers?” Young said 12 plants per patient, 72 total. “That’s what you’re allowed under Medical Marijuana Act. You have no legal right to sell it.” Barnes said the overages can be sold to a dispensary even though the township has opted out. She said she has been doing research and 12 plants per patient produces a lot of marijuana. It’s impossible to not grow over, she said. “One plant yields more than three or four pounds of marijuana,” she said. Barnes said when the industry comes in to grow marijuana, “What is the plan to protect the caregivers?” Chief Luke said under the MMA, there is no way to sell to dispensaries. “We need to follow state law.” Barnes asked what are the caregivers going to do with their extra marijuana. Chief Luke replied: “State law dictates what MMA caregivers can do and I’m in no position to change the law”;
• Heard Trustee Don LaPorte report that a state contractor has cleaned up the northwest corner of Willis and Sumpter roads and removed 350 tons of contaminated soil. He said there had been a gas station at the site at one time and under the cement slab they discovered and removed an old storage tank. He said there had been a strong odor of gas there and the DEQ and State of Michigan contracted with DELZ to do the work. He said they will leave it reclaimed so it is like there never was a gas station there;
• Also heard LaPorte report that a few months ago the board approved sending two old brush trucks to auction. He said they got a total of $11,450 for the two and they will buy training props for the fire department. He said they bought those two trucks in the 1990s and sold them in 2018;
• Heard LaPorte report that the fire department got 16 calls on Easter Sunday. He asked the residents to please do no open burning. He said Sumpter recently was called to assist Huron Township Fire Department. A man in Huron lost his barn and all the contents from a neighbor burning leaves;
• Heard Karen Mickens announce that her project this year is to collect a new pair of pajamas or night gown for each of the 115 residents at Cedar Creek assisted living in Van Buren Township. She asked people to drop them off at the senior center. Mickens said this is a good time to shop for nightwear because it’s on sale now;
• Heard Mary Ban ask about the blight on Sherwood Road near Banotai Park. She said junk cars and debris is a problem there. She asked if the ordinance department could check out there. Chief Luke said she would get faster service if she would just call it in. “We may have it on the radar already,” he said; and
• Heard Ban again plead with the board to pass a resolution asking Van Buren Township to fix the 48111 problem that has led to many people in Sumpter getting identified automatically as living in Van Buren Township. When she tries to get her address changed back to Belleville, officials say they can’t overrun the system. People in the city of Belleville also are being labeled Van Buren Township. After much discussion, attorney Young said he would look into the problem and may write a resolution for the board to consider.