By Pat Maurer
Correspondent
The Grant Township Board approved a plan for an addition on the west side of the Township Hall at Tuesday’s regular meeting. The plan, one of three discussed at the last meeting, would, “keep the disruption of our current floor plan to a minimum,” Supervisor Dan Dysinger said.
He said, “it is proposed to enlarge the mechanical room sufficiently as this room also doubles as a janitor closet. The chair storage area would be restored to its original size.”
He continued, “It is proposed use the west entrance to the hall as a regular business entrance.” He said the plan was approved with the minor modifications and some other suggestions including a pass thru window from an office in the hall and pass-through window at both ends of the larger work area.
“The present areas would be impacted very little,” Dysinger said, “And since we have two elections this year it should not interfere with these events.”
Two presentations were made to the board at the meeting.
The Clare County Road Commission provided a power point presentation which outlined recent County wide road improvements. Dewayne Rogers, Manager, Dave Bondie, Superintendent and Max Schunk, Road Commissioner came to the meeting.
There was discussion on finishing Kapplinger Dr. between Surrey Road and White Birch. The Road Commission will be making every effort to complete and gravel this project, they said. Also discussed were improvements to Eberhart Avenue between Colonville and Beaverton Road. Continued discussion also centered on estimated costs from last November up to current estimates. They said costs for fuel and materials will be greatly impacted by outside economic conditions. Final numbers for bituminous material and gravel should be known in the next several days after bid openings.
After a $75,000 Clare County Road Commission Grant was not approved by the Michigan Department of Agriculture – Rural Development, Dysinger said improvements would still be made to a small section of Grant Road north of M-115/US 10. The RD grant, if it had been approved would have covered some of the costs to improve the road by the stockyards. “We are committed to fixing this stretch of roadway,” Dysinger said. The last revised estimate was $150,000, but it is anticipated this cost will be lower.
Because the Rail Trail will not be completed through Clare this year, Renovations to Grant south of M0115/US 10 will wait to be coordinated with that construction, now scheduled for 2023. An email from Brian Atkinson, Operations Engineer at the Michigan Department of Transportation, Mt. Pleasant TSC, to Clare County Road Commission Managing Director Dewayne Rogers on February 28th said, “We’ve had some further discussions on when construction would start for the Trail project. We are anticipating a 2023 Construction season now.”
Farwell Schools Superintendent Steve Scoville also came before the
Board to discuss and present figures and information from the recent bond improvements at Farwell Schools. He also outlined the proposal for Farwell District voters of a School Sinking Fund, the ballot is .5 mills for 2 years and will be on the November ballot.
In another matter at the meeting, Long Time Township Assessor Dawn Gentz submitted her letter of resignation to the board, which was “reluctantly accepted.” Dysinger said “Dawn has served the Township for 25 years. Her expertise and knowledge of the General Property Tax laws will be missed by the Township.” He said she has agreed to help in transitioning to a new assessor.
The Board also approved placing the fire millage renewal for four years on the August primary ballot. As was discussed at the last meeting, The previous approved millage of 1.1 mills has been reduced to 1.0938 by the Headlee rollback. That levy would raise about $120,000 currently from the Grant Township base. The millage expires at the end of 2022. Since there are no scheduled elections in 2023 it will be placed before voters this year and would be in effect from 2023 to 2026.
Grant Township has a contract for fire protection with the City of Clare, also included in the operation of the Fire Department is similar contributions from Sheridan Township, Vernon Township and Wise Township.
Dysinger briefly outlined the several hundred acres in Grant Township marked for Gypsy Moth control this spring. Spraying is currently scheduled for areas along Harrison Ave. and includes portions of Section 6, 7, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29 and 30.
Dysinger also noted that the township has received another royalty check for the Grant 1-18 oilwell located on the 180-acre township property.
The Township received its royalty check for 2022 from Gulfmark Energy in the amount of $950.19. The royalty is the result of an agreement for royalty from Ranch Productions, owner of the Grant 1-18 oilwell on the Section 18 property owned by Grant Township.
Finally, the board approved bills totaling $195,301.13.
