Sumpter OKs $6,534.93 repair to lift station generator

Sumpter Township Public Works Director John Danci told the township board at its regular meeting on Dec. 12 that a backup generator for a lift station at the corner of Willis and Rawsonville roads was leaking coolant and needs to be repaired.
He presented a proposal for $6,534.93 from Cummins, the company that installed it in 2004 and maintains it. He said $2,600 is for labor and $2,500 for actual parts. They will have to remove about 30 to 40 bolts to get to the inside and can’t just swap out parts, he said.
It will take about a week or two to repair it, he said. He said it only has 590 engine hours on it.
Director Danci said this backup generator services the last pump station out of the township that sends the sewage to Ypsilanti. He said if there is a power outage in that area, and the backup generator turns on, it will leak coolant all over the Red Rooster parking lot. He said it turns itself on a for a 10-minute test each Wednesday morning, but they have turned it off completely because it leaks coolant all over the place.
He said it is a large task to take out the the backup generator on a trailer that they have and the way it has to be at the site is dangerous. He said a car nearly hit it on Thanksgiving night.
Danci said he didn’t even ask about the price of a new backup generator because he knows it is very expensive and that it will take a long time to get.
Trustee Don LaPorte said maybe the township should look at other companies and he wants to make sure the process is cost-effective.
“I would consider this critical,” said Trustee Tim Rush, recommending it be put on that night’s agenda for action. He said with just 590 hours on it, the cost for repair is a drop in the bucket.
Danci said this pump station is larger than the other pump stations in the township and if it goes down it affects a lot of people.
He said in early November Cummins did its preventive maintenance check on the generator and it passed everything. He said it was all bolted and the coolant put in and an hour or so later, the coolant was gone.
The repair cost was put on the agenda and unanimously approved by the board.
In other action at the one-hour workshop and regular board meeting, the board:
• Approved a resolution approving three 2024 Wayne County permits, A-24044, A-24099, and A-24133;
• Approved a five-year Axon agreement at a total cost of $15,292.80 to outfit the additional patrol unit with an Axon Fleet 3 camera system;
• Approved posting and hiring a non-union, temporary, 90-day DPW employee at the hourly rate of $16.04 with the hour not exceeding 29 per week for the months of January, February, and March;
• Approved the ratified Michigan Association of Fire Fighters local agreement for July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2027, with Trustee Don LaPorte abstaining because he is a fire fighter;
• Heard township attorney Rob Young say Freedom of Information Act requests were submitted to Wayne and Washtenaw counties concerning the misplaced water line on Rawsonville Road and they had little to no response from the counties. He is focusing on attorneys at the county and drain commission. A claim may be filed concerning who made the mistake on that water line. He has taken this action since the special board meeting on Dec. 6, he said. “We’re full-court-pressing as of today,” he said;
• Heard Township Manager Anthony Burdick report that the required ARPA (American Recovery Plan Act) document was filed and will be filed again in March, trash recycling has resumed, the township hall door is secure after the alarm was set off Dec. 9 by someone trying to open it, the first interment in Martinsville Cemetery since 2015 was to take place Dec. 23, and he is asking department heads to decide what they want in the upcoming budget;
• Heard Mary Ban speak during public comment saying people have taken offense to what she said at the Nov. 28 meeting about communication with the residents. She said the quarterly newsletter is very nice, but it is not sufficient to tell the people what’s going on. “People would like more,” she said. “I would like to have everyday comments.” She also said the roads are absolutely atrocious and they are just potholes. She said residents got their tax bills and wonder what Wayne County does for them for those taxes. She said she went to the open house at the museum and said it was very nice to see the big murals on the wall. She did not go upstairs, but someone took pictures for her so she could see her relative’s uniform displayed upstairs. She said there is a nice lady who is a docent and will help people. She said Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara said “all the stuff is here” referring to donations and things loaned to the museum. He said it is in the former fireall behind the museum;
• Heard Trustee Tim Rush say he was at the last meeting of the Council of Western Wayne and learned the Great Lakes Water Authority will be reimbursing communities 100% for the overages they had to pay for water for Highland Park over the last ten years. He said Sumpter is not involved with the sewer payments. He said CWW is paying $140,000 for audits of all the CWW communities for use of coordinated air space in Southeastern Michigan. Doing the audit will be Air Space Link, a FAA contractor who has been attending CWW meetings. He said drones are coming, with drones making deliveries, taking pictures of private citizens, and if the air space is not coordinated your drone won’t leave the ground. “We’re covered,” he said referring to drones used by him and Treasurer Bart Patterson;
• Heard Trustee Peggy Morgan say she agrees with Ban and she realizes the board doesn’t care for the Independent, but the township had more volunteers and more bids when the township used the Independent. “You may not agree with what she writes,” she said. “It’s a hard copy. In the new year maybe we can switch back to the Independent.” Rush cut in to ask why the Independent isn’t writing about township events and, “You need to talk to her.” He said he remembers what the editor has done to individual board members. “It’s sad,” Morgan said to Ban. “All you can do is try”; and
• Heard LaPorte say he’ll be out on medical in January and will be absent from the January meetings.