Good morning! I was hoping for a little warmer weather this weekend but, alas, it’s not meant to be just yet. So, to business….
On Tuesday, three new members were elected to the board of the ACCOA – Rick Kacel, Wendy Bain and Gary Wnuk. Congratulations to the new board members and we look forward to more good things coming! The next ACCOA board meeting is this coming Tuesday at 10:00am. Please consider attending if you are able.I attended the commissioner meeting on Wednesday. Commissioner Jagst was absent but on zoom. I forgot to count but I think there were about 10 in the audience and 8 on zoom. Patty Thomas was the only public comment. She was concerned about a resolution she said was coming before the board that was in contradiction to state and federal laws. I really don’t know what she was talking about. It wasn’t very clear.
I didn’t catch the gentleman’s name but he was there to make a presentation about the proposed expansion of Camp Grayling. The state (read Governor Whitmer) wants to double the size of Camp Grayling from 230 square miles to 500 square miles (or 148,000 to 310,000 acres) for what she says is low-impact weapons training. The truth is that they will be leasing the land to the private sector to test unapproved weapons and become a nationally recognized weapons testing area. One possibility is electromagnetic warfare. It will be the largest state land lease in history. Jack Begman has opposed this, as well as the retired Lt. Col. McNamara who retired as the head of Camp Grayling. We have the largest area for National Guard training but aren’t even in the top third for readiness. Fort IndianTown Gap, which for the last five years was the busiest national guard training facility, has trained 113,000 soldiers on 18,000 acres. Camp Grayling has 148,000 acres and trains only 10,000 soldiers. Also, the PFAS contamination is something that is not addressed by Camp Grayling and those opposed only think it will get worse for the land and water around the area. The presenter asked the commissioners to support the other townships and 13 counties in the area in opposing this expansion. Out of 70 county commissioners, only 3 have not wanted to oppose the expansion.
He also suggested writing to the DNR or the governor if you oppose this expansion. I was going to see if he had a group one could contact but he was busy with others after the meeting and I wasn’t able to get a card.
The next presenter was Jeff Linderman of Cedar Lake. He was there to say he has been trying to get information from the Cedar Lake Improvement Board for many months and is not able to get minutes to their meetings and any kind of financial data relating to the funding. He said since the county commissions, along with Iosco County, created the board, he was hoping they would have some oversight and help him get the information he is requesting. He said Mr. Vaughn has refused his request for information (and I noticed a person with the last name of Vaughn was on zoom). He wants to know why the CLIB was created, who retains oversight, what is their financial status, and how was a board able to purchase a piece of property at the NW corner of the lake for $160,000. Can a board purchase a piece of property and who owns it? He asked that the commissioners meet with him so he can get the information.
Gary Wnuk was the next presenter and gave a resolution to the board. I have attached it for you to read. He said the bill that it is in regards to is important to school history standards. And since he is on the Fairview school board, he has an interest in seeing this bill passed.
The board approved the special payroll for Tammy Ranger who is retiring. However, there was some concern that the board was setting precedent.
Claims in the amount of $365,189.83 were paid for dates 04/05 to 04/18.
The solar amendment to the Hawes Township zoning ordinance was passed by the board. The board also adopted the Camp Grayling Resolution (23-10). Commissioner Small wanted to do more research. Commissioner Brummund countered that they didn’t just receive the information yesterday and Commissioner Johnston suggested that the counties around Camp Grayling were the experts and if they opposed it, so should Alcona. He said if the shoe was on the other foot, they would hope other counties would support them. All four voted yes.
The board passed the resolution given by Gary Wnuk unanimously. Adam made a comment that at least in this resolution there was nothing that would land them on the front page of the newspaper. I wonder if that’s how he makes all decisions..hmmmmmm…
The treasurer said the first quarter revenues for 2023 were in…8% taken in vs. 24% output. She said this is not unexpected for this time of the year. The clerk has been in training for tax rolls. She said Ottawa county will be the pilot for the nine days of voting. She said the Bureau of Elections is going to have to enforce this and there is no information on how that is going to be done. Our townships are not only going to have to buy another piece of equipment for $10,000 but pay to have someone at the polling places for nine days. It is going to be a burden for our townships. Anyone want to ask the clerk about going to hand-counted ballots and skip the machines? 🙂
Committee reports had nothing worth mentioning. Gary Wnuk, during the last public comment, thanked the board for passing his resolution. Meeting adjourned at 2:46pm.
I went to the amateur radio meeting on Thursday. I went with 8 friends 🙂 who are also interested in learning how to use portable radios for communication in case we ever need it. There was a guy there from Midland who talked about what happened when the dam broke there a couple of years ago. Truthfully, a lot of it was Greek to me, but Jim Smith, who is in charge, will be giving a class at the end of June for all of us newbies to get a Technician License so we can communicate during an emergency. If you are interested, let me know and I can share the details. You can also go to the website http://alconaradio.org/ for information and Jim’s email.
Dave Adams shared with me a Constitutional Resolution that was passed by our commissioners in 2020 regarding a second amendment sanctuary. The original resolution had wording they did not like so I have attached the resolution that was passed as well as a letter from Tom Weichel and the Sheriff in regards to their support of responsible ownership of firearms in Alcona County.
24 people came to the Tavern meeting. We anticipated a guest with a presentation, however, his Mom was ill and he had to go to Kentucky. We hope to see him at a future meeting.
Other than that, there isn’t much to report. If I think of something, or something comes up, I will let you know. And as always, if you would like to be removed from this list, please let me know.
Your Fellow Patriot,
Lisa
