VBT board levies $72 penalty on those who haven’t got new meters

There’s about 1,000 Van Buren Township property owners who haven’t had the new water meters installed and the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees got tough with them at the board’s regular meeting on Nov. 21.
The item was added to the top of the agenda by Supervisor Kevin McNamara who said for the township to have to send out a manual meter reader, it costs about $72, which will be put on the water bill each quarter.
Ron Akers, director of municipal services, said 85% of the homes have connected and about 1,000 are not installed. He said the contractors for the work are fully booked to the end of December, but to keep the contractors from leaving, effective Jan. 1, the $72 will start being placed on the quarterly water bills.
Director Akers said the meters are put in without cost to the property owner and the fee will be removed from bills once the meter is installed.
“We don’t want your money. We want your meter,” Supervisor McNamara said. “And we don’t want to let the contractors leave because they have no work.”
In other business at the 45-minute meeting on Nov. 21, the board:
• Approved the personal service agreement with Marylynn Balewski as senior program director starting Monday, Nov. 27. She has 25 years of experience with recreation and seniors. Salary is $57,142;
• Approved the grant agreement with the State of Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity for $1.8 million to be expensed by 2027, dedicated to the Iron Belle Trail project, which will allow construction of almost two miles of trail, including a 14’ pedestrian bridge over Willow Run Creek. The expansion of the trail will run across the Denton Road Bridge and connect the communities of Belleville and Van Burean Township by foot and bike path. Supervisor McNamara said this will complete the path from the saddle in Van Buren Park to the apartments, he said. This grant is on top of the $10 million from the state for the Denton Road Bridge and $2 million from other sources;
• Approved entering into a three-year contract with AQUASIGHT Intelligent Water Solution for $35,000, to be paid from the Water and Sewer contracted services budget. Director Akers explainated that this software recalculates the water system after information is plugged in and asset management plans are recommended using GIS. He said the water system was analyzed two years ago but now it needs to be done again and this software keeps the plan up to date. He said there are different types of water mains in the system. The program identifies the risk scores in red and a list of assets to be repaired each year. Cost is $5,000 a year to use the program. McNamara said the value of the sewer and water system is $100,000 and all the lines were put in within a 20-year span. “This will keep us up to date,” McNamara said;
• Approved a revised proposal from O’Donnell Electric to install a fire alarm system at township hall and the police department to bring the system up to current code standards at a cost of $122,431.80. McNamara said the new fire alarm system in the new community center has to be able to talk to the fire alarm system in the township hall and police department;
• Approved the recommendation of the review committee (DDA director Merrie Coburn, Akers, DDA board member Mark Laginess, and DDA secretary Chris Brown) to accept the proposal from Wade Trim for the completion of the Safe Streets and Roads for All Comprehensive Action Plan. Director Akers said the township applied to the USDOT in 2022 and got a grant to develop a plan last February;
• Approved the professional services agreement with Wade Trim for the completion of the SS4A Safe Streets and Roads for All Comprehensive Action plan (Safe VB Roads and Streets Action Plan) in the amount of $481,900 — $384,900 is from the federal grant and $97,000 is a local match by the township DDA. Lori Pawlik of Wade Trim said they will look at all the crashes in the township, especially Belleville Road, and signalization may be identified as needed. Trustee Kevin Martin noted the Belleville/Tyler Road intersection is dangerous. He has been in favor of a left-turn light for some time. McNamara said they can use the raw data to get grants to go after;
• Approved the 2024 Senior Transportation Fee Schedule, the same as last year but inadvertantly left off the fee schedules recently approved. Fees are $4 each way for the local tri-community, $7 each way within a 20-mile radius, and $2 each way for lunch and shopping;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointments of Amos Grissett and John Haase to the Board of Zoning Appeals with terms to expire Dec. 1, 2026; and
• Heard Trustee Donald Boynton praise Director of Community Services Elizabeth Renaud and Deputy Director Tammy Dohring for the improvements of the Belleville Area Museum. “It would not be open now without their hard work,” he said.
Absent and excused from the meeting was Clerk Leon Wright.