The Lima Township Board accepted with “amazingly deep regret” the resignation of 38-year clerk Arlene Bareis Monday night, which is effective Dec. 31, 2015.
The township has been advertising this open elected position as well as a seat on the Planning Commission and an Alternate to the Board of Review, due to the resignation of Bill Coury, who moved out of town.
So far, the township has received two letters of interest and resumes for the clerk’s position and one each for the other two positions. The deadline to apply is Oct. 5 at noon.
There’s good news and bad news for township residents who want to get a new address, erect a fence, or have a gathering of over 150 people following Monday night’s township board meeting.
The good news is, the Township Board reduced the fee to get a new address in the township from $100 to $25 thanks to modern technology, which allows staff to easily determine an appropriate address number using GIS.
On the flip side, there will now be a fee of $50 for a temporary gathering permit for events of more than 150 people.
Township Zoning administrator Tom Caplis told the board that currently for large gatherings of this type, there needs to be a “mini site plan of sorts” that includes pertinent information such as a parking and emergency plans that he must review. This would apply to large gatherings at spots such as Nordman Lake or St. Vladmir Russian Orthodox Church, for example.
Caplis said the church is getting ready for its annual fall festival and representatives from the church have met with him on several occasions to discuss their plans.
Although farm fences are exempt from the new fence fee permit requirements, residents who want to erect residential fences in Thornton Farms, for example, would be required to now pay a $25 fee. The homeowners association regulates where the fences can be erected in that subdivision, but they still have to come in for a permit.
In other business, the Township Board met Sgt. Shawn Hoy, who is now in charge of the Scio Township Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office operations. A more than 20-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, Hoy said he’s worked in several different capacities in law enforcement including as a detective.
Hoy said he worked in the Ypsilanti office for many years and is now reassigned to the western portion of the county and will be that area on the afternoon shift.
In a related topic, the Lima Township Neighborhood Watch group will hold a public meeting tonight, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at Lima Township Hall. It’s expected that representatives from Consumer’s Energy, the Chelsea Area Fire Authority and the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office will be in attendance.
Supervisor Craig Maier said the Consumer’s Energy representatives will talk about pipeline safety and a pipeline replacement planned for the southwest portion of the township.
“It ought to be an interesting meeting,” Maier said. “We urge everyone to come.”
He also let the Township Board know that the state Department of Environmental Quality has issued a public notice that Rover Pipeline, LLC, applied for a permit for 72.7 miles of new 42-inch natural gas pipeline, two meter stations and associated pipeline facilities within Lenawee, Washtenaw and Livingston counties.
“The pipeline will cross inland water bodies, wetlands and floodplains,” according to the public notice and 153 mixed wetlands (33.12 acres) will be temporarily disturbed by the construction of the pipeline using the open trench method.”
Also according to the public notice, 52 water bodies are proposed to be crossed, highways, road and railroads also will be crossed. Both wetland restoration and mitigation is proposed.
Maier said the most up-to-date map for the project that the township has can be viewed at the Township Offices. According to the public notice, sections 3, 10, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 33 of the township are expected to be crossed by this project in addition to portions of Dexter, Freedom, Manchester and Bridgewater townships.
The entire copy of the notice, (file No. 15-81-0015-P, dated Aug. 10) which does not include a date for the actual public hearing, can be viewed here. (Note, I was unable to find it when I searched, so I’d suggest going back to search Rover Pipeline, LLC since this is a newly launched website. The one on the letterhead redirected me to this one.)
Ed Greenleaf reported that the Capital Improvements Committee, which is looking at proposals for a new Township Hall, has planned a public meeting for Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at Township Hall to discuss the improvements. He said the committee has received 275 survey responses regarding the project.
Treasurer Nanette Havens told the Township Board that Phil Bolyard is retiring from the Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority (WWRA) and the board hired MML to help them find a new facility manager. She also said that Monday was the last day to pay taxes and that she’d received 145 checks that day, and there were about 200 people who had not paid.
