Sumpter board honors POW, MIA at special ceremony at meeting

Sumpter Township Manager Anthony Burdick, a Korean War veteran, and LeRoy Paige, a Sumpter resident who is a Vietnam vet, led a five-minute Day of Remembrance ceremony during the township board’s workshop session on Sept. 26.
The event spilled over into the regular meeting, when military veterans present introduced themselves and Planning Commissioner Vince Warren presented the township with a POW/MIA flag and asked it to fly it on the third Friday in September which is the Day of Remembrance.
Burdick asked the board to pledge the flag at the beginning of the workshop, which isn’t usually done, and then asked everyone to remember the Prisoners of War and Missing in Action and those missing from all five services, plus public safety and emergency responders.
He said the Day of Remembrance started with the Vietnam War.
A special display was set up at the front of the meeting room that included a small round table with a white tablecloth, a single red rose, slice of lemon, pinch of salt, Bible, inverted drinking glass and an empty chair. Each item represented something and the empty chair said “they are missing,” Burdick said.
“We will not forget,” Burdick said.
Near the end of the meeting, Paige rose in response to Trustee Matthew Oddy’s remarks about the MIA/POW ceremony.
Paige said 82,000 veterans are still unaccounted for since World War II. He introduced a psychotherapist from the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration hospital.
He told them of Paul Cowen, who had served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He said he was one of the first medics to hit the beach during World War II and the medics were charged with determining who they could save and who they couldn’t. He said they gave shots of morphine to those suffering pain and had to turn their backs and go away from the soldiers that were too badly injured to save. And, what happened, “haunts me every day.” He said people never know what scars are inside people who “fought for the freedom we enjoy each and every day.”
After Warren presented the flag and the board voted to fly it as requested, Trustee Tim Rush noted that this is a ceremonial flag and the township will have to purchase a weatherized flag to fly in the future.
In other business in the one-hour-and-35-minute workshop/regular meeting, the board:
• Removed two items from the agenda – Consider directing Cari Ford to complete an internal audit review of the Community Center and Police Department” and “Consider approval of the findings and recommendations for the Treasurer’s office internal control review,” both put on the agenda by Burdick. A discussion was held on how they would like to see two board members, who are elected by the people, sign off on agenda items instead of having employees make those decisions. The board directed township attorney Rob Young to check out the contract with Burdick to see if he was given this power and, if so, to alter that. It will be discussed again in the future;
• Approved the price quote of $7,900 for the fence and overhead signage at Martinsville Cemetery as proposed by township resident and contractor, Eric Partridge;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Vincent Warren to the planning commission with a term to expire Sept. 23, 2026;
• Approved, on a 4-2 vote, purchase of a smaller replacement mower for mowing / leaf collection at the Martinsville Cemetery, at a cost not to exceed $11,362, using Martinsville Cemetery federal ARPA funds. Trustees Don LaPorte and Matt Oddy voted no;
• Approved Republic Waste’s sale of the residential waste pickup contract to Priority Waste to the year 2030 using the same obligations, routes, and times as Republic had in its contract with Sumpter. “What choice to we have?” asked attorney Young, who met with representatives of Republic and Priority, along with the township manager and financial director;
• Heard resident Mary Ban say most of the township roads are still “in the jungle” and the county is ignoring Sumpter. “I don’t care what Commissioner Haidous says,” she added. On another matter, she asked why they couldn’t use Google Earth to assess properties, rather than coming onto properties in person. Trustee Oddy said a lot of times Google Earth pictures are not up to date, you can’t see what is beneath the trees and need boots on the ground. Ban also said people are still very upset about the way the museum is being handled;
• Heard Trustee Tim Rush give the Parks & Recreation report, saying a Chili BBQ cookout is coming up, there has been discussion about the size of the pier replacement, the Turkey Shoot is not going to happen, and quarterly instead of monthly meetings will be held for the Parks and Recreation Committee. Rush said they won’t need quorums for committee meetings on specific events. Burdick said the 30’ wide, 20’ deep pier suggested by Supervisor Tim Bowman is expensive to do and, “It appears we have champagne taste” and it is expensive to do. He said they may have to have a bit of a hybrid and they will find a solution; and
• Heard Water/Sewer Director John Danci report he would be going to a drain committee meeting later that week to find out more about the township pipe that is in the wrong place. He said the pipe runs southeast along Rawsonville Road, south of Willis and north of Judd.
Clerk Esther Hurst was absent and excused from the board meeting.