February 1, 2012 Regular Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Regular Meeting of Joyfield Township
At Joyfield Township Hall
February 1, 2012 7:30 p.m.

Members Present: Ken Fallowfield, Guy Sauer, Mark Evans.  Dede Nugent and Lisa Sauer excused. 

Meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m.

Public Input (agenda related only): 
Mike Henschell regarding 11 A on the agenda – Why adopting a committee for zoning/planning when it was voted down last fall.

Minutes of the January 4, 2012 meeting were read.  Motion by Mark Evans, seconded by Guy Sauer to approve the minutes.  No discussion, no vote taken. Supervisor Fallowfield states “carried”.

Treasurer’s Report: Separate page attached.

Motion by Mark Evans, seconded by Guy Sauer to approve the treasurer report.  No discussion, not vote taken.  Supervisor Fallowfield states “carried”.

At this point in the meeting, Trustee Guy Sauer points out to Supervisor Fallowfield that the meeting is not being run properly. 

Bills Presented:
AT&T                              Phone                 $  56.81    #3704
Blarney Castle                 Propane                 347.33    #3705
Consumers Energy          Electric                     76.56    #3706
Richard J. Figura, P.C.     Attorney                  112.50    #3707
                  FOIA request/reviews Dec 2011
Benzie County Sheriff        Snowmobile Patrol 2012              200.00    #3708
Nugent Maint. Service         Snowplowing Twp Hall                 92.00     #3709

Motion by Mark Evans, seconded by Guy Sauer to pay bills.  No discussion, no vote taken. Supervisor Fallowfield states “approved”.

Again Trustee Guy Sauer points out to Supervisor Fallowfield that the meeting is not being run properly. 
 

New Business:
March Board of Review – Preliminary:  March 6th   9 am - 12 noon
                                        Public:  March 12th          9 am - 12 noon and 1 - 4 pm
                                                   March 13th          9 am - 12 noon and 6 - 8 pm
                    Joyfield Township Hall
Letters of protest must be received before March 9th.
Motion made by Guy Sauer to accept Board of Review Dates, seconded by Mark Evans. No discussion, vote taken, motion carried.
 

Aerial Mapping
Guy Sauer makes a motion to pay $520 to participate in the aerial mapping by the Equalization Dept. Discussion regarding the need; the cost is if 14 units participate.  The mapping needs to be updated and will be more user friendly – available to the public.
Motion is tabled until the March meeting.   

Dede had requested that election workers be paid the same night as the election due to the turnover in offices.  Tabled until March meeting.   

Correspondence: Nothing noted

Old Business:
Dede Nugent had contacted our accounting firm, Baird, Cotter and Bishop, P.C. regarding exit audits.  They advised that we not spend money on this, but we can if we want too.  The township is scheduled for an audit at the end of this fiscal year, March 2012.  The accountant has stated that they will look at the time periods carefully when there was turnover in offices.

Betsy Evans– Final Report for Understanding Wind Initiative is final.  Can access the report at:  www.allianceforeconomicsuccess.com or www.macalester.edy/understandingwind

Don Tanner - Routing of natural gas, continue dialog on process; upcoming mileage for    Commission on Aging

Appointing Committee for Zoning
Supervisor Fallowfield states that seven individuals have signed up to be a part of a committee to look into zoning: Matt Emory, Betsy Evans, Susan Zenker, Don Tanner, Ted Wood, Tom Hart, Kurt Krueger.

Supervisor Fallowfield appoints the following five: Matt Emory, Betsy Evans, Susan Zenker, Tom Hart, Ted Wood.  Gives them direction to look into zoning.

No motion made, no second, no discussion, no vote taken on the above appointed committee.
Public Input:  Separate page attached

Adjournment:
Motion made by Mark Evans, seconded by Guy Sauer to adjourn.  No time stated.
 

Submitted by

Deirdre Nugent
Clerk

Notes provided by Guy Sauer, Trustee
Clarification through audio recording, cd attached
 

Public Input:

Ted Schendel – Introduced himself, running for Sheriff of Benzie County in fall

Chris Olsen – Introduced himself, new County Administrator hired in Oct 2011

Dick Hug – Zoning, coming infrastructure – natural gas, broadband

Larry Lathwell – Zoning is good to a point, division of land

Matt Emory – What is the task of this committee? Was it adopted?  Disappointed that there is no budget discussion or meeting scheduled to do so like other townships Disappointed in absences of board members

Gary Gatrell – Against zoning

Mary Straubel – Zoning, each township do their own. 

Jim March (Arcadia Twp) – In the process of excluding all wind language from their plan.  Preserving land owner rights

Don Tanner – On previous committee to look into zoning, thought committee worked well. Can do our own, most expensive. Adopt county plan, ordinances, cheapest.

Tom Hart – No zoning mentioned until turbines.  Time to start communicating.

Linda Wood – Zoning, worst case scenario

Mike Henschell – Reconsider the make-up of appointed committee.  It is not balanced.  Previous committee regarding zoning gave the most expensive scenario to the board, they added more.

Ted Wood – Cannot talk about zoning without a Master Plan.