Sumpter Twp. board turns down final benefits bank time for Danci

An agenda item calling for the payout of final benefits banked time for John Danci, who retired as Department of Public Services Director as of Aug. 6, was turned down on a 5-1 vote by the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees at its regular meeting on Aug. 27.
The agenda item called for a payout of $11,197.98, but township manager Tony Burdick said he made a mistake and the amount needed was 24 hours less than stated for paid time off. He said the actual figure should be $10,213.64.
Treasurer Bart Patterson was the only vote in favor of the payout. Trustee Peggy Morgan was absent and excused from the meeting.
In another vote, where the whole board voted no, an agenda item called for acceptance of an unsolicited offer by D. Peeper of $30,000 to purchase a five-acre parcel of vacant land on Sumpter Road owned by the township, identified as 81-109-99-0005-003.
Treasurer Patterson, a realtor, said the township got three different valuations of the two, ten-acre lots available and they all were over $100,000. He said Peeper is offering $30,000 for five acres of one of 10-acre plots and he would be voting no.
Trustee Matt Oddy said it wasn’t clear which part of the parcel Peeper wanted. He said the property came to the township from the DNR as a jigsaw puzzle. He said the exact land being purchased needs to be shown and the property lines have to be cleaned up.
Trustee Oddy suggested they let the township attorney square up the five-acre split. There would have to be a survey and Patterson said the buyer should pay for the survey.
Board members agreed they should have the attorney work it out and all voted against accepting the offer.
In other business at the one-hour-four-minute Aug. 27 meeting, the board:
• Removed from the agenda a presentation by Rana Emmons from Post, Smythe, Lutz, and Ziel because she did not get to the meeting. Financial director Scott Holtz suggested it was because of the storm raging outside;
• Approved unanimously the planning commission’s recommendation to approve an ordinance text amendment to move Class II and III animals from Section 4.6.2, special land uses, to Section 4.6.3, accessory land uses, without explanation;
• Approved Scott Holtz, the employee delegate, to attend the 2024 MERS (Michigan Employees Retirement System) annual conference at a cost not to exceed $1,200;
• Approved Rachel Scott of the DPW to attend the MRWA math training at a cost not to exceed $650;
• Approved on a 5-1 vote, paying $12,700 to Diversified Excavation for emergency sinkhole repairs at 50350 Willis Rd. Trustee LaPorte voted no because he wanted more details. Township manager Tony Burdick said the sewer lining project on Willis between Rawsonville and Holiday West was thought to be completed, but it wasn’t. When they went out to complete it, they found a couple areas of water intrusion which separated the line from the pipe. The engineer looked at it and it will take about $10,000 to fix. Trustee Oddy asked who signed off on the project and Burdick said it was former DPW Director Danci. The project wasn’t complete, but Danci signed off for the warrant, Burdick said. When asked about a warranty, Burdick said this is not a township issue and, “We will see where the facts lead us”;
• Approved the unsolicited offer by G. Brown of $25,000 for parcel 81-114-99-0014-712 for vacant land on Willow Road adjoining Brown’s property. The motion stipulated that the two parcels be combined;
• Approved Holtz and an additional employee, Ashley Harris, to attend the 2024 BS&A conference at a cost not to exceed $4,000;
• Approved posting and approval of bids for tree removal and/or trimming at Graham Park;
• Approved Resolution 2024-07, authorizing the fire assessment of 1.5 mills on the property taxes;
• Approved paying $248 for seven yards of gravel for the installation of the floating dock and canoe/kayak launch area using federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds;
• Heard Holtz report the landfill royalties are down 4.44% this year from a year ago at this time. He said they have added two new line items: overtime and vacation trackouts. He also reported he and Deputy Clerk Karen Armatis went to Kalamazoo for a meeting on old tombstones, paid for by themselves. He said 100 people attended. He said there is a Cemetery Camp in Frankenmuth. He said they plan to find out the best place for the columbarium to be placed at Martinsville Cemetery;
• Heard Deputy Clerk Armatis announce that Holtz was nominated to a seat on the board of directors of the Michigan Association of Municipal Cemeteries;
• Heard Trustee Tim Rush report the Primary Election’s early voting cost the township $8,779.74 and there were 126 early voters, so that cost $69.68 per voter. “That’s a lot of money to spend”;
• Heard Burdick report that a couple of rails were left to install at the floating dock at Sherwood Pond in Banotai Park, but by and large the new dock is done. He also reported a couple of roofers have been checking in for the damage to the film on the township hall roof and specifications are being prepared. He said the Willow Road water main had two breaks between Rawsonville and Martinsville this year and there is a study on how to fix the holes in the lines. He said there are two interviews for DPW director set, one virtual and one in person on Aug. 29. Also, he said Richard and Sharon Pokerwinski want to retire from Parks and Rec leadership, although they wish to continue to help. He said they will put together a new recreation committee and have those who would like to be involved;
• Heard a man, who said he was among those who had complained at the last meeting, ask if the board members had anything to report, since at that meeting they said they would look into their charges of illegal slaughtering going on in their neighborhood on Elwell Road. Township attorney Rob Young told them it was in 34th District Court and they could find out when the case would be heard by going on the court’s website. He said he couldn’t talk about it because in a court case a lot goes on “behind closed doors”;
• Heard resident David Elrod say he is getting different reports on the slaughtering and he asked if the neighbors were supposed to be the township’s detectives. Young said there will be an ultimate resolution to this by the court and, “If you want to be a detective, that’s up to you.” He said the ordinance violations are scheduled for Oct. 10 [8:30 a.m.] at court;
• Heard another resident say Karen Woodington in the supervisor’s office, asked if they have pictures. “She said you need to have pictures,” he said, noting you can’t just walk in the yard because you’d get shot. He said neighbor Ted Hall does have pictures of a dead animal in their garage. Treasurer Patterson responded that the township is not asking anyone to trespass and now there is another place under investigation and the ordinance officer snapped a couple of pictures;
• Heard a speaker who identified himself only as Ali say he lived at 21890 Elwell, the address they are complaining about. He said there have been 10 complaints to the township about them and half are false. For example, he said, the dumpster had its lid left open by the company that picks up the waste and no one was home to take care of the smell, so it’s the dumpster company’s fault. He said they are pulling a permit for the barn they put up and how many animals they have on their property will be determined when the ordinance officer comes to count them later in the week. He said their animals went on somebody else’s property a year ago and the property owner threatened to shoot the animals, like someone threatening to shoot your dog. Treasurer Patterson said the board is not the jury. Allegations were made, ordinance officers investigated, and Ali is making a rebuttal, but the board doesn’t have any say in this, he said. Ali said people are driving by slowly to look at them and some pull into their driveway. Patterson said to call the police if they feel threatened;
• Heard neighbor Ted Hall try to speak in rebuttal, but Supervisor Tim Bowman said since he didn’t sign in to speak on the required sign-in sheet, he couldn’t speak;
• Heard a woman, who did not identify herself except to say she lives at 21890 Elwell, say her son didn’t mention a lot of things, like they have been targeted since 2021 because they are Arab Americans. She said she has five kids and most of things the neighbors are saying are not true. She said the raccoons they complain about are attracted to the area by the food the neighbors put out for the neighbor’s dog that is tied up outside. She said she has told her kids not to go up to cars that drive into the yard, trying to protect the children. She said she moved to Sumpter for the quiet and she could have moved elsewhere if she wanted drama. Some neighbors are very nice, she said, and the niece who reportedly couldn’t stand the smell comes over to her house to eat snacks with her daughter. She got emotional as she reported that her husband served the U.S. in the Army for their country and her religious rights are being violated; and
• Heard Mary Ban say people who have Comcast say local channel 12 is dissatisfactory and is hard to see. Trustee Tim Rush said he and the township manager have started an investigation of Comcast and are trying to get to the bottom of this. “We are on top of it, big time,” Rush said. Ban also invited all first responders to come to the River of Life Church, 16650 Sumpter Rd., on Sept. 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to eat lunch, or take lunch to go, to celebrate Patriots Day.