Good afternoon! I missed the school board meeting on Monday evening. However, I did get an invitation from Dan O’Connor to join a meeting with Kingscott (remember the presentation I told you about a couple of months ago) on the 26th. I said I would be happy to attend. I will be able to let you know about the assessment they did on the school. It should be interesting. 🙂
Tuesday evening was the ACCOA special meeting. The board opened the meeting and then voted to go into closed session. After an hour in the closed session, they re-opened the meeting and voted 3-2 to hire Denise Trelfa as the new executive director. The two that voted no, preferred LeAnn Hanner for the position. The meeting adjourned shortly after with no public comment.
The commissioners met yesterday afternoon. The minutes were approved and then public comment started. Sheila Phillips stood and said the village of Lincoln was happy to be working with the veterans but she was very disappointed in the fact that the board was not going to fix the roof on the old forest service building. She said it was their responsibility and as they used it for free for the last twenty years, the county should maintain it. She felt this was stealing from the taxpayers. Ann Gonsler from the Hubbard Lake Community Center would like to build a library. She was there to solicit covid funds from the county. She said if 100 families gave $5,000.00 each, they could build the library. LeRoy Perrin stood and made an announcement that the ACCOA was having an evening meal next Tuesday, the 21st at 4:30 in the evening. Chicken Marsala will be served and to call the center if you plan on going. The number is 989-334-3466.
There was a presentation by Consumer’s Energy regarding the dams on the Au Sable that they are going to be making a decision on. There are several options – they can re-license them, they can sell them, they can remove them and let the river run naturally or they can replace them with another structure. Right now it seems they are breaking even on how much they cost vs. how much energy they produce, but the maintenance costs are very high and the capital outlay will be what the citizens will be paying for. There will be public meetings coming up later this year.
The board made a motion to go into closed session for a meeting with their attorney. They were in for 20 minutes and the regular meeting resumed. A lady named Julie was on zoom who was talking with Craig Johnston about a brownfield site assessment. It was in regards to the two properties that the veterans had been given by the village of Lincoln. They will be using ground penetrating radar to look for contamination but the county will not have to pay. There is a grant from the EPA for that. They should be wrapping up the Phase II assessment on both properties by June. Then the veterans can choose which site best suits them according to the conditions.
Claims were paid in the amount of $356,937.18. Finance report – once again, money is needed for Friend of the Court in the amount of $9,100.00 for new additions to the software. 66% will be refunded. The board voted in favor of increasing the budget for this. The county visa cards have a $5000 limit, EMS only has $2000. The board voted to increase the limit for EMS. The board voted to spend $1,800.00 to fix the security system at the front entrance of the building. The printing machines that print the tags don’t work. Craig Johnston voted no on this.
The funding for the school resource officer will be shared as 1/3 state grant, 1/3 school and 1/3 county. The treasurer said 44 properties were left to pay before foreclosure. The clerk is getting a quote from Spectrum on printing of the ballots and working on the renewal for MMRMA. Committee reports – there is a roof leak at the building department, Mikado township has all their new officers in place and are back holding meetings. Carolyn Brummund offered to pay the donation for the ACCOA dinner for each of the commissioners if they attend. Tuesday, April 4th at 3:00 is the opioid meeting and they will be talking about narcan and $500.00 drug court evaluations that running are behind.
The last public comment saw Mary Weber stand and speak in her defense regarding last meeting’s comment from a citizen about the newspaper and how the speaker wanted the board to admonish her. Pat Smiley chimed in about what Mary said and also said he was happy with the way the veterans thing was going. Dave Hanson came in and said he thinks he knows where the roof leak is coming from. The roof people were there six times and have finally figured out the problem and fixed it. I said two things, first that I thought the security system at the county building was silly. You have to answer a question as to whether or not you know guns aren’t allowed. Is that really going to stop someone who wants to use a gun there?
Carolyn Brummund said Mikado township moved their meetings to the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm but was not sure if this was set in stone forever. Adam said this weekend in Standish was a robotics competition if anyone was interested. The Toolcats of Alcona will be there. Meeting adjourned.
Wednesday night, 17 of us to talk about things happening in the community. There was a great sharing of ideas and information. I have attached a link that Erinn talked about. And this was in the FoodCorps application at the school. All this just for a job?
One last thing, I had a conversation with Commissioner Dave Jagst after the commissioner meeting regarding the security system. He said at his meeting with the security team, he suggested that everyone in the building conceal carry if they want. He said the court people said that’s exactly the opposite of what the court wants. However, if the judge carries (and I’m just assuming she does) and they have a bailiff in the courtroom, why isn’t anyone else allowed to conceal carry? This would be a great way to deter a criminal if they weren’t sure who else had a gun. Is it okay for the court people to be protected but the rest of the building people are protected by a label on your lapel? I think it’s ridiculous!
That’s all I have for now. Have a great weekend and if you have questions or comments or ideas for the county commissioners, or any elected official, feel free to give a call or send an email. It’s the only way they really know how ‘we the people’ feel about this stuff.
