Sumpter Township board rejects all bids on property sales

All bids and proposals to purchase three sites owned by Sumpter Township were rejected by the board of trustees at its March 8 meeting because they were too low.
This was as recommended by the Bid Committee at its Feb. 24 meeting. The committee was made up of Supervisor Tim Bowman and Trustees Matt Oddy and Tim Rush, with township attorney Rob Young and Deputy Clerk Anthony Burdick in attendance. There were two people in the audience, bidder Torres and resident Randy Miller.
The ten bidders on the Arkona Road and the five bidders on the Martinsville Road properties were invited to submit revised bids within seven days. Trustees Peggy Morgan and Don LaPorte voted no on that.
The properties were appraised at $140,000 and $146,000 and the bids came in at $86,000, Trustee Oddy said.
The lone bid for $42,000 on the Sumpter Road property was rejected and bidding on that property opened up to everyone with a minimum bid of $80,000, the appraised value. Casting the lone no vote on that was Trustee LaPorte, who lives next to the site, which is near the vacant medical clinic.
It was explained by Trustee Oddy that in December the bidding deadline came before the township received the appraisals on the properties.
Supervisor Bowman said he was in favor of auctioning off the properties. Resident Randy Miller suggested hiring a Realtor.
In other business at the more than two-hour meeting, the board:
• Held a public hearing on the budget, with Finance Director Scott Holtz saying he was concerned because they are spending everything they are taking in from landfill royalty funds for the first time. He also was concerned about the pension liability funds and presented four options on how to handle it. He said at the next meeting an investment advisor will speak on where to invest the American Rescue Act Funds. Sumpter is getting $943,000 of those funds, the first half was Dec. 21, 2021 and the second half will be Dec. 22, 2022 and they will have four years to spend it, Holtz said;
• Heard Clerk Esther Hurst say that Burnham & Flower submitted the only bid for general and property insurance. She also said the township needs to get rid of ADT because there are a lot of issues with it and its contract expires at the end of July. She also announced that Dawn Hadyniak is the first certified clerk Sumpter Township has ever had. Toni Clark contested that statement, saying Clerk Clarence Hoffman was the first and she was the second, as they went to training together. She also said Hoffman was the first black male certified as clerk. Hurst said that this certification is “completely different”;
• Approved the second, and final, reading of the ordinance amendment to allow medical marijuana grows in industrial zoning;
• Approved hiring Eric Joseph Powell as a paid-on-call fire fighter, contingent on his passing a physical and drug test;
• Approved hiring Samantha Herman as full-time clerk’s office assistant effective March 14 at the current (90-day) American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME-CB) rate of pay. Trustee LaPorte abstained from the vote because he said he was related;
• Removed from the agenda the assigning of AFSCME employee Dawn Hadyniak to the full-time responsibilities of payroll clerk/elections specialist in the clerk’s office, effective immediately at the current AFSCME-CBA rate of pay. It was explained that the clerk doesn’t need the permission of the board to assign duties to employees in her office;
• Approved the at-will contract for Chris Brinkmeier as contracted building inspector and consultant effective immediately, for non-inspection-related, specific incremental services billed as incurred. He will earn $50 an hour in 15-minute increments, plus expenses;
• Approved paying not to exceed $1,274 for Deputy Treasurer Erica Campbell to attend the Michigan Municipal Treasurers’ Association basic institute training, April 24-29 in Mt. Pleasant;
• Approved the third-quarter budget adjustments;
• Approved Diversified Excavating bid of $9,368 to demolish township-owned buildings at 24985 Sumpter Rd. There were three bids;
• Heard resident Randy Miller warn that with spring coming, so are the weeds that grow up along the roadways that hide the signs and intersections and cause accidents. He proposed ways to solve the problem that he has been working on for three years and he is “beyond frustrated”;
• Heard resident Mary Sherwood ask about snow shoveling for seniors and she was told that seniors can call the supervisor’s office to sign up and the DPW has 68 or 70 on the list and the snow clearing was done three times this season;
• Heard resident Mary Ban complain about the roads that will be impassable with the thaw. She also asked when the museum would reopen and how many people would use the $6.5 million bike path. Ban also said since abortion was ruled on by the Supreme Court in 1973, 63 million people are not here because they were aborted and those people could have been filling the jobs that need workers. She said she hopes the Supreme Court will get rid of Roe vs. Wade;
• Heard Cory Blue say he represents six families who don’t want a commercial development next to their homes behind the closed medical clinic on Sumpter Road. He said Trustee LaPorte lives in that area, too, but he hasn’t asked him how he feels about it. He said several property owners asked to buy the property or to split it up, but they were denied and the township said they could bid and had to have a plan and start work immediately. He said he is an engineer and coming up with a plan is no problem. The $42,000 bidder said he couldn’t start within three to five years. Bowman chastised him for moving to a place that was next to commercial zoning and Blue could put up a berm with trees and make it go away. “It’s all about money,” Blue said and left the podium; and
• Heard Trustee Rush remind everyone that Skywarn training is at 6 p.m., April 7, at Fire Station #1 and the public is invited. Huron Township is invited and those who took it before are urged to come again because new information is available.