Sheridan Township Board of Trustees Meeting
July 21, 2020
7:00 pm
I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Richard Porter at 7:08 pm.
Pledge: The pledge was led by Richard Porter
Present: Roll call: Randy Fisher, Scott Frederick, Shanna Pollman, Stephanie Craig, and Richard Porter.
Absent: None
Audience: Gary Tompkins, Cindy Stanczak, Kristan, Lance Lohrke, Peggy, Chris Atkin
II. Approval of Agenda: Adjustments to the agenda were proposed. Put a hold on the Savion item; number two in New Business, and add budget adjustments to the list. A motion was made by Randy Fisher 2nd by Shanna Pollman to approve the agenda with the corrections. Roll call vote; all in favor. The motion passed.
III. Approval of previous Township Board Minutes: #2 on item 7 needs to be corrected. The Fire Department applied for a pick up truck not a fire truck. A motion was made by Scott Frederick, 2nd by Shanna Pollman to accept the minutes with the correction. Roll call vote; all in favor. The motion passed
IV. Payment of Bills: A motion was made by Scott Frederick 2nd by Randy Fisher to pay the bills. Roll call vote; all in favor. The motion passed
V. Treasurers Report: A motion was made by Randy Fisher 2nd by Scott Frederick to accept the report as presented. Roll call vote; all in favor. The motion passed.
VI. Correspondence:
1. Request from C. Hammond to proceed on zoning for ORV commercial track. Directed Mr. Hammond over to Baukman Sparks to go over procedures and costs etc. It will be a long process.
2. Pine Gate renewable energy. They have held off on the application. Investors want to hold off, they have questions and want to add more property than they initially thought.
VII. Committee Reports
1. Planning Commission/Roads – Scott Frederick. Planning commission is supposed to meet the first week of August. J drive was patched so it can be driven on. Planning commission meeting changed to the 13th of August. A notice went in the paper today (July 21) which was not 14 days in advance as it should be so the meeting needed to be pushed back. Written letters will go out on Monday.
Fire – Chief Lance Lohrke. See attached report about the calls from June. There were a lot of wires down; most of them were on the night of the big storm, which is why the number was so high in June. Grass Truck is behind schedule because of Covid-19. Still 6-8 weeks on the truck. Two buildings are listed to burn but due to Covid-19 they can’t be scheduled yet. Chief will talk to the City; we have taken the last 8 calls with not much help from the city.
VIII. Public Comment: Update from Gary Tompkins. There will be two millages on the August ballot. Senior Millage, which has no change, and a new Parks Millage. Sheridan would get about $5000 a year for parks from that millage. The June 18th meeting’s Return to Gravel policy failed. Gary thinks that the townships should have the final say in that matter. Additional item on the November ballot to authorize a 911 surcharge of $3 per line generating 3.1 million. Scott asks about the 911 surcharges, he thinks it’s important to get word out to the voters to make sure that they know what they are voting on in November. Chip and seal work is the only thing going on with road projects right now. J drive was bad, they came out and did something with it, thought it needs more work. A culvert on 28 Mile Rd. failed, and the road was closed for 2 days but it has been fixed quickly. It should still be paved along with H drive, but there is not a specific time frame on that. H drive has been a year unfinished, and they don’t want 28 Mile to be the same way.
Cindy Stanczak gave an update on the library. June 15 phase reopening started. July 6th reopening the building with 25% capacity cap. They are currently only opening the main floor. The summer reading program started. Online only. Take and make crafts are available to be taken home. Main hours are back with added safety measures to keep people healthy and safe. Face coverings are required. People are limited to visit 1 hour a day. Tests were done on the library items with Covid-19, and they are holding items for 4 days after their return before returning them to the shelves. They are also trying to double the number of hotspots available through a grant that has been applied for.
IX. Unfinished Business: None
X. New Business
1. Discuss opening up hall and office hours. We are getting by on 2 days a week from 9-3 right now. We would like to leave it where it is for right now. Ballots will be taken care of as they come in and toward the end Stephanie will be coming in to make sure that the mail is checked more often when time is short. Virtual meetings have been extended to September 8. We are limited to 10 people at our meetings so we will probably need to continue with virtual.
2. Approval of solar panel application for PA 116 property – Wayne Weaver. Postponed
3. Approval for Walt Obrinske to pick up and dispose of shingles on F Drive North. Shingles were dumped just off the road. Scott doesn’t think the quote is unreasonable. There will be a lot of work involved in cleaning that up pus the equipment that is necessary. We have $3,740 in trash, and we don’t usually use all of it. We should be okay to use it for clean up. A motion was made by Randy Fisher 2nd by Scott Frederick to approve the quote from Walt. Roll call vote, all in favor. The motion passed
4. Approval of Resolution 2020-06 to set public hearing for the establishment of an industrial development district for River Fork Solar, LLC. Richard explained the resolution. Tax abatement is for real property taxes. Richard is concerned about taking the money from people that need it. We need 6 approvals from the state. We could earmark a portion of the money for the people that would lose out from the change like the library. Energy is sold to Consumers and they have added about 400 acres. The Resolution is from the lawyers. If we vote no it goes no farther, we need a yes vote for it to go any farther. If one solar company applies for it the others probably will as well. Randy doesn’t believe it is industrial. It won’t change the zoning it will just change the taxes. As long as they don’t rezone it, it will stay the same. If the state is considering this as manufacturing that might make them qualify. Scott wonders if it gives other businesses the right to build in it. Without being rezoned it won’t give them the ability to build anything else on it. Discussion followed on details of the resolution, and thoughts of the board members were talked over. River forks will pay for all of the notifications. A motion was made by Randy Fisher 2nd by Scott Frederick to request a public hearing for the establishment of the industrial development district for River Fork Solar LLC. Roll call vote, Richard Porter, yes, Shanna Pollman, yes, Scott Frederick, yes, Randy Fisher, yes, and Stephanie Craig, yes. All in favor. The motion passed.
5. Budget adjustments. 2020-2021 budget; due to Covid-19 we did not get to the necessary budget adjustments. The Fire Budget needs to adjust the FICA and MESC Tax numbers. The health care fund might have extra so we could some of that. Stephanie needs to look up how to amend the budget. We need to find where the money will come from so we can adjust properly. It was brought up that in the past we could move money from account to account without meetings. It was decided to table this matter for the next meeting when more information could be provided. Stephanie asked if we could move money from the Contingency Fund to the miscellaneous fund to cover Wes’ memorial. A motion was made by Randy Fisher 2nd by Scott Frederick to move $250 from Contingency to Miscellaneous. Roll call, all in favor. The motion passed.
XII. Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn by Randy Fisher 2nd by Scott Frederick at 8:22. Roll call vote; all in favor. The motion passed.
Respectfully Submitted,
Stephanie Craig, Secretary
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