Sumpter Twp. Board corrects base salaries stated at last meeting

The base salaries of elected board members, announced in its Nov. 12 meeting, were corrected by action of the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees at its regular meeting Nov. 26.
The corrections submitted by Treasurer Ken Bednark are:
• Supervisor: incorrect was $22,418.70
correct is $22,642.88
• Treasurer/Clerk: incorrect $18,830.68
correct is $19,018.99
• Trustee: incorrect was $8,322.44
correct is $8,405.66.
The salaries were set in conjunction with the board action that removed eligibilty and reimbursement for medical benefits for elected officials.
Trustee Matt Oddy also asked for an amendment to the Nov. 12 minutes, since they did not state the motion that eliminated medical reimbursement also was to eliminate eligibility for medical coverage. This was passed and the minutes will be corrected.
Trustee Oddy also added an item to the agenda that the action on the medical coverage eligibility for board members in the Nov. 12 meeting be delayed until township attorney Rob Young can assure the board it is appropriate. This passed unanimously by those present.
Absent from the meeting were Trustees Don LaPorte and Don Swinson.
Oddy said a court added cash in lieu of benefits to the base salary to determine overtime and there are questions on how to address pay for elected officials.
He wanted the attorney “to make sure we weren’t doing anything illegal.”
Young said he would have an answer at the next meeting.
“I thought it was very clear and unambiguous,” Young said. Later he said he would give them what he had at the next meeting, but “it may not be definitive.”
Oddy handed out paperwork to the audience on what township people were paid, saying a statement saying 225% at that meeting was in error by about 104% and the paperwork should show that.
Oddy said for 20 years the board has used cash in lieu of coverage.
In other business at the Nov. 26 meeting, the board:
• Approved a Class C License for Zino Sumpter, LLC, be recommended to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. Final approval is pending site approval of the site plan for the Italian restaurant by the building department;
• Approved a one-year contract with Constellation, after review by attorney Young. Constellation is a third-party natural gas provider that leases from DTE and provides services based on marketplace demand and usage matrix pricing. An annual estimated savings is $7,527.41. Constellation’s customers include Romulus and Huron Township;
• Accepted the bid from C&S Construction Management Inc. of Wyandotte for senior center masonry repair in the amount of $72,405, plus $5,000 additional if necessary repairs are required for the radiant heat system, to be paid out of federal Community Development Block Grant funds and must be used by the end of the year and only for bricks and mortar for senior wing;
• Reaffirmed that Roberts Rules of Order is the parliamentary way Sumpter Township Board meetings will be conducted;
• Approved the Guardian Alarm Security proposal of $340 for installation of a burglar alarm and $41.20 a month for monitoring the Parks and Recreation building, paid with Parks and Recreation funds;
• Approved expanding Expert Technologies service contract from the police department to include the township hall and naming corresponding oversight for administration’s IT functions. In the paperwork presented to the board Expert Technologies notes that under the contract with I.T. Right, there have been several security breaches, double billing on invoices and incorrect installations;
• Approved buying 20 new grinder pumps at $2,000 each instead of rebuilt grinder pumps. DPW Director Ken Kunka said there are 520 sewer accounts in the township and 500 or so are on grinder pumps. The township started installing them in 2006 and now they are deteriorating to the point they can’t repair. They should last 20 years and the township is running out of pumps. Kunka said they need to look into a way to start replacing those pumps. There have been 96 callouts since last January and repaired pumps have been installed, but they are failing. “We’re trying to eliminate this from becoming a catastrophe,” Kunka said. Financial Director Elle Cole said she is putting a five-year plan in the budget;
• Approved installation of a new streetlight in the parking of the library branch at a cost of $1,034.57, to be paid out of library funds;
• Approved a new format for the water department report, as recommended by the financial director;
• Approved a moratorium on new hiring, except for police and fire, and a directive to the Human Resource Director to get started on performance appraisals, as requested by Treasurer Bednark; and
• Approved going into closed-door session to discuss the Futernick vs. Sumpter Township lawsuit, with attorney Young promising the executive session would be about five minutes long.