VBT buys two Ford Explorers for Public Safety Administration

The Van Buren Township Board of Trustees approved the purchase of two, 2019 Ford Explorers for the use of Public Safety Director Greg Laurain and Police Chief Jason Wright. Cost is $33,695.56 each.
The unanimous vote on the $67,391.12 total purchase from Atchinson Ford was at the regular Feb. 5 meeting of the board.
Director Laurain said the two vehicles replace a 2007 Ford Expedition with 138,000 miles on it and a 2010 Ford Taurus with over $90,000 miles.
Laurain said the purchase had been discussed in the budget talks last fall and put into the budget.
In other business at the one-hour-and-25-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved a resolution to proceed with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MDEC) Redevelopment Ready Communities program. The township’s baseline report has been received and the resolution is necessary to move forward on the project, which is without charge to the township. The RRC program can lead to grants and free consultation services;
• Approved the state-required Planning Commission Annual Report for 2018;
• Approved the Stormwater Maintenance Agreements with PI Tower Development, L.L.C. (Verizon), at the corner of Ecorse and Morton Taylor roads; with Menard, Inc., at 10010 Belleville Rd.; and with the VBT Downtown Development Authority at 10151 Belleville Rd., for its Placemaking Project;
• Heard a presentation on the Water and Sewer Department’s SAW grant of $777,000 with a 10% match. Township crews currently are recording the conditions of all the 2,538 sanitary system manholes on the GIS data base. Pipes older than 20 years are being televised. The SAW (Stormwater, Asset Management, and Wastewater) grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is just for the study of the infrastructure so the township can set up a 20-year plan on procedures to take care of the most pressing problems first;
• Approved the supervisor’s appointment of John Haase to the Board of Zoning Appeals with a term to expire Dec. 1, 2020; and approved the appointment of Carmen Stovall as an alternate to the BZA with a term to expire Dec. 1, 2019;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointments of Charles Coleman, Kimberly Nofz, Tammy Wall, Daniel Belanger, Todd O’Neill, and Denise Willoughby to the Recreation Committee with terms to expire Feb. 1, 2020;
• Heard Fire Marshal Dave McInally say he is on the board of the State of Michigan Community Risk Reduction Task Force, which was awarded a $500,000 grant for smoke alarms and carbon dioxide detectors to be installed in Michigan communities free of charge to residents. McInally said the VBT Fire Department is going to first target those at the highest risk, such as seniors, with the township’s allotted detectors. His goal is to receive enough funding to make sure every home in VBT has smoke alarms and carbon dioxide detectors no older than 10 years within the next three years;
• Heard letters from people praising VBT police officers for helping them. Officer Ryan Bidwell was praised for the way he helped a family after the father passed away and Officer Ryan Barry was praised for the concerned way he helped people in a traffic crash; and
• Heard Clerk Wright announce that governmental cable channel 12 will go off the air from Feb. 7 to March 1 as the cable department and township board meeting room are upgraded. No board or planning commission meetings will be cablecast during this time. Meetings will take place in the Sheldon Room across the hall from the township board meeting room.