At its regular meeting on Nov. 14, the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a new, two-year animal shelter agreement with Brownstown Township. The agreement is dated Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2025.
Clerk Esther Hurst was absent from the meeting.
Public Safety Director/Police Chief Eric Luke explained the situation during the township’s workshop session before the regular meeting.
Director Luke said the township has an agreement with Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue, based in Sumpter, but FMAR is having some stress in dealing with the township strays and to help, he reached out to Brownstown.
He said Brownstown won’t be able to take all the pets because it also services Huron Township. He said he has set up a meeting with officials at the Romulus Animal Shelter to see what they can do to help.
Luke said the township is still trying to work with issues with FMAR.
He said the township has a sound animal shelter it used in the past, but it is no longer licensed. He said the question was who actually runs it. He said when the ordinance department closed years ago, the certified police officers took over caring for the animals and cleaning up the areas and he didn’t think that was a good use of certified officers’ time.
Luke said at that time they had talks with Pete and Marcy LaFamboise, who founded FMAR and FMAR took over care of the strays. When asked how many dogs he is talking about, he said it was in the low 40s per year at first, went up to the mid 50s and is in the 60s this year and last.
He said a lot of the strays they get are bully breeds and they are hard to adopt out. He said a lot are coming back to the shelter after being adopted during COVID when people thought they would always be working from home.
“We’re working through it,” Luke said of the situation.
Township Manager Anthony Burdick said that the township has looked at the options, including the current kennel. He said the township’s financial option from FMAR is far from within the township’s reasonable reach.
The LaFramboises are no longer in charge of FMAR.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the planning commission meeting dates for 2024;
• Approved adoption of the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code;
• Approved paying $10,500 for ground-penetrating radar from Trimedia Environmental & Engineering to be used at Martinsville Cemetery;
• Approved, with regrets, the resignation of fire fighter Bela Maroti effective Nov. 7;
• Approved hiring new paid-on-call fire fighters Michael Brohl, Ayden Roupe, Andrew Sherwood-Landskroener, and James Hurst, contingent on them passing physical and drug tests;
• Approved ordering two Ford Interceptor Utility Vehicles with extended warranties for $102,000 total from the 2024 budget for the police department;
• Approved township attorney Rob Young’s report, which included directing him to begin an investigation into who was responsible for misplacement of a water line on Rawsonville Road 40 years ago;
• Heard resident Mary Ban say she will be attending the VIP event at the Belleville Area Museum on Dec. 1. She said Festival of Holiday Trees is set to be open to the public at the museum Dec. 2-23. Ban also said two people asked her if the former peach orchard on Martinsville Road is going to be the site of a new battery plant. Trustee Tim Rush said that was “a big rumor”;
Heard manager Burdick give a report on township business, including preparation for the Feb. 27 election, which will feature nine days of early voting and cancellation of the regular township meeting that day;
• Heard DPW Director John Danci say he plans to bring a request to hire a 90-day temporary employee to help with winter work. He said 80 seniors have signed up for free snow-plowing and that maxes out his crew at 20 per employee after township property plowing is done. Other seniors who need emergency plowing should call township hall, he said. He said bids will be opened Nov. 21 for the Rawsonville Road water main that needs relocation;
• Heard Danci report that the seasonal work of pumping the hydrants is not complete and three guys are trying to finish by the end of the calendar year. He said a handful of hydrants need repair. He will give his report to the fire chief;
• Heard Trustee Rush say plans are being made to have the Council of Western Wayne meet in Sumpter in June and that the Trunk or Treat event brought 90 children and about 160 total people and they gave out a ton of candy. “We finally got some traction on an event,” he said; and
• Went into closed-door session, recusing Trustee Don LaPorte, who is a fire fighter, to get an update on the Michigan Association of Fire Fighters contract under negotiation. After a 20-minute closed-door session, the board voted to direct the attorney to proceed as discussed in the closed session. Then the meeting was adjourned.
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