Sumpter Township attorney Rob Young addressed the township board about how it needed to appoint a new clerk within 45 days or the county clerk would set an election.
This was at the July 25 work/study meeting of the township board, which is held directly before the regular meeting.
Attorney Young said due to the untimely death of Clerk Clarence Hoffman on July 14, there needed to be an appointment.
He recommended the supervisor get suggestions from board members, discuss those suggested, and then make an appointment.
Young said an election is coming up, there is new election equipment, and Deputy Clerk Janet Hoffman, Clarence Hoffman’s daughter, has been handling the clerk’s office while her father was off and is trained on the new equipment.
As the regular meeting opened, Supervisor John Morgan said he had lost a longtime comrade, who he had known for 40 years, and Hoffman was more than just a board member. He and Hoffman worked in the community together before they were on the board.
“Clarence was always there. He never stopped working together. He was always there,” Supervisor Morgan said. “We sometimes were on other teams at election time, but we worked together.”
He said Hoffman worked to change a wilderness into Sherwood Park.
“When people had problems, they went to the clerk’s office,” Supervisor Morgan said. “We’re going to move on without him.”
“I will make my recommendation tonight,” Supervisor Morgan announced, telling the board they don’t have to take his recommendation, but, “We need somebody in here for the election.”
He referred to the Aug. 8 school election for the two precincts in the Huron School District.
He then asked for a moment of silence in memory of Clerk Hoffman and then went on with the meeting.
When they got to Item C under New Business, Supervisor Morgan suggested Trustee Esther Hurst, who had been appointed trustee in January to fill the seat of the Trustee Peggy Morgan who had been promoted to Treasurer after the death of Alan Bates.
“She has 35 years of service in the clerk’s office and tons of experience in dealing with the public,” Supervisor Morgan said.
Hurst had served as deputy clerk under Hoffman and then, after she retired, ran against Hoffman for clerk on the Morgan Team in the 2016 election. Hoffman was on no team, but voters reelected him clerk.
“I absolutely agree she is the most qualified and experienced,” said Trustee Matthew Oddy, who made the motion to accept Supervisor Morgan’s appointment of Hurst. Treasurer Peggy Morgan seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously to appoint Hurst.
34th District Court Judge David Parrott came out of the back room in his robe ready to do the swearing in, but attorney Young said she can’t be sworn into a new position until she resigns as trustee, first.
Hurst verbally resigned as trustee and then was sworn in as clerk. Supervisor Morgan kissed her on the back of the neck in approval.
Clerk Hurst picked up her papers and moved to the clerk’s place next to the supervisor at the board table.
No mention was made of who would fill the vacant trustee position, but the board has 45 days.
Deputy Clerk Janet Hoffman served as secretary to the board meeting as usual that evening and sent approved minutes for publication to the Independent the next day. When the Independent asked her if she would be staying on as deputy clerk, she said the new clerk has told her she wouldn’t.
In other business at the July 25 meeting, the board:
• Approved Fast Track Landfill Agreement #3 and a resolution authorizing Republic Waste to proceed to Wayne County for its permission to start its metal reclamation project at the landfill. Sumpter is expected to get about $50,000 more a year in tipping fees;
• Accepted the resignation of Gabriel Akans from the fire department;
• Accepted bids on 12 township-owned properties for a total of $30,551. Karen Armatis, who serves as both deputy supervisor and deputy treasurer, said these are all landlocked, small, not-buildable parcels and were bought by property owners next door;
• Approved the 2018 SMART Municipal Credit and Community Credit Contract;
• Approved purchasing of 25 suits of Wildland Fire Gear from West Shore Fire for $6,549.75. Trustee Don LaPorte, a fire fighter, said his department just got grant money for the gear, which is a lighter jump suit for brush fires. The suits are fire retardant and allow fire fighters to move more nimbly without fatigue and chance of heat stroke;
• Approved Safety and Compliance Training to train fire fighters in ICS 300 and ICS 400 at a cost of $2,000. Trustee LaPorte said this is for management of national emergencies. The fire fighters must be compliant. The two courses are 20 hours and 24 hours in length and, eventually, the township board members will have to take this training, as well;
• Approved paying $10,583 to Priority One to install emergency lighting on the two, F-350 brush/grass trucks recently purchased and also approved waiver of the purchase policy because there was only one bidder. LaPorte said they thought the 25-year-old equipment from the old trucks could be transferred to the new, but they couldn’t. Fire Chief Joe Januszyk said it would take about a month for the lights to be installed;
• Heard Tim Rush say everybody on Martinsville Road thanks the board for demolishing the partially burned house, owned by the township, in their area;
• Heard LaPorte report that Chief Januszyk and Fire Fighter Jamie Goode got the DEA out to the fire station July 20 and eight other departments attended to get up-to-date information on fentanyl and other drugs. Fentanyl is lethal in tiny quantities and emergency crews can get the powder on their hands and collapse. LaPorte said there are 50,000 lethal doses on the tip of a knife. “It was good information,” he said, adding they showed pictures of drugs confiscated in Novi during the past two weeks. Representatives attending the session were from Sumpter Township Police and Fire Departments, Huron Valley Ambulance, Washtenaw County and Western Wayne Hazmat, Augusta Township, City of Belleville, Ash Township, and Airport;
• Heard Mary Ban tell of all her efforts to get information on the closed Waltz Road Bridge over the Huron River in New Boston that may be closed for a year. She said it is a public safety issue and she called the governor, State Rep. Bellino, Supervisor Glaab at Huron Township, and Wayne County Commissioner Al Haidous. “People living there are livid and it is hurting business,” Ban said, besides public safety concerns. She says she won’t give up on the bridge;
• Heard Ban also complain about little notes in mailboxes with false, malicious accusations, and false reports;
• Heard Karitha Hanible announce the Back to School Family Fun Day at Graham Park from 2 to 5 p.m., Aug. 19, put on by the Progressive League. She also thanked the police and fire department for their help when her father passed away at her home on Oakville Waltz;
• Heard Toni Clark give a presentation on Atomic Veterans and show her framed Michigan Senate Resolution #72 passed on June 8 naming July 16, 2017 as Atomic Veterans Day in Michigan. Her father was one of the Atomic Veterans that served during the years 1945-62 and were exposed to radiation. They signed an agreement of secrecy not to tell about the tests and they couldn’t go to the VA for medical care. She said there were birth defects from this and, “We have to go further because children are suffering.” Clark said she wrote to every senator and Senator Hopgood was the only one who called her back and he got the resolution passed that Clark had written;
• Heard Ronald Barrington Robinson say he was very against Esther Hurst being named clerk because a Wayne County Circuit Court law suit said she was a KKK member and a racist. Attorney Young said those were only claims in a lawsuit. Supervisor Morgan tried to shut his comments down, but Robinson voluntarily left the microphone; and
• Went into closed-door session to discuss the Po vs. Sumpter Township case where Po is trying to get about $1 million worth of personal belongings back that were confiscated by civil forfeiture accompanying his arrest for growing too much marijuana.
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