Township Board Minutes

MINUTES OF CASCADE CHARTER TOWNSHIP
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
7:00 P.M.

Article 1. Supervisor Julien called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Supervisor Julien, Trustees Beahan, Koessel, Fox, Goldberg, Treasurer Carpenter and Clerk Goodyke.
Absent: None
Also Present: Manager Cousins, Planning Director Peterson, Deputy Clerk Biegalle, Deputy Assessor McCarty, and those listed on Supplement #1.

Article 2. Supervisor Julien led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Article 3. Motion to approve the agenda was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Clerk Goodyke. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 4. Approval of Consent Agenda
a. Receive and File Various Meeting Minutes
1. Regular Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of 12/17/07.
2. Kent County Road Commission Meeting Minutes of 12/11/07.
b. Receive and File Communications
1. Letter from Comcast - re: Michigan Public Service Commission Annual Survey for 2007.
2. Letter from Janesville Acoustics - re: Closure schedule extended
3. Letter from Grand Rapids Township - re: FY 2007 4th Quarter Fire Inspection Report.
4. Letter from The Right Place Program - re: Thank you for commitment to 20/20 Campaign.
5. Letter from Michigan Community Blood Centers - re: Thank you for Utilization of Wisner Center.
c. Receive and File Various Reports
1. Building Department Report - re: December 2007 Month End Report
2. Fire Department Reports - re: November/December 2007 Month End Reports
3. Kent County Sheriff Department East Precinct Reports - re: 4th Quarter Report 2007/Year End Report 2007.
d. Education Requests
1. Doug Poolman -10th Annual Michigan Fire Inspectors Society Winter Educational Seminar - February 5-6, 2008 - East Lansing
2. Dan Gillespie - Society of Michigan EMS Instructor Coordinators - February 28- March 2, 2008 - Traverse City
Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Fox to approve the consent agenda. Motion carried unanimously.

Article 5. Financial Actions
a. Consider Approval of Change Order (Contract Modification No. 4.) for the Sanitary Sewer and Watermain in Burton Street.
Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Fox to approve the Change Order for the Sanitary Sewer and Watermain Project for Burton St. Discussion followed. Motion carried unanimously.
Article 6. Public Actions
a. Public Hearing - Final Plan Review for an Amendment and Addition to the P.U.D. at 5595 28th St.
Motion to excuse Supervisor Julien from the discussion by reason of conflict of interest regarding the above mentioned issue was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Koessel. Motion carried unanimously.
Supervisor Julien left the room.
Motion to open the Public Hearing was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Fox. Motion carried unanimously.
Planning Director Peterson reviewed the Final P.U.D. Approval in order to amend the existing Planned Unit development in order to add the corner property at Kraft and 28th St. into the existing PUD 69.
This Plan would allow for the development of a new 20,000 sq. ft. retail strip and 4,000 sq. ft. bank at the corner of 28th and Kraft Ave.
One of the major obstacles to this site was the traffic flow.
Trustee Fox had concerns with the drive-thru. Peterson explained that the concerns for drive-thru's were mainly in the Village area.
The meeting was opened up to the Public. Resident Kathy Stahl of 2642 Knightsbridge S.E. addressed the Board with the following issues:
" Limit on the number of drive-thru spaces that would be allowed
" Difficult to turn right or left on Kraft because of the traffic.
" The speed on Kraft Ave.
No other comments were received.
Motion to close the Public Hearing was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Fox. Motion carried.
Supervisor Julien re-entered the meeting.

Article 7. Public Comments

Article 8. Unfinished Business

Article 9. New Business

009-2008 Consider Approval of Final Plan Review for an Amendment and Addition to the P.U.D. at 5595 28th St.
Motion to excuse Supervisor Julien from the discussion by reason of conflict of interest regarding the above mentioned issue was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Fox. Motion carried unanimously.
Supervisor Julien left the room.
Trustee Koessel added to comments that Director Peterson had made earlier regarding some of the issues discussed at the Planning Commission level.
Motion was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Goldberg to approve the Final Plan Review for an Amendment and Addition to the P.U.D. at 5595 28th St.. Motion carried by roll call vote.
Supervisor Julien re-entered the room.

010-2008 Consider a Consent to Proposed Redemption of Workers Compensation Case for Rosealyn Woods.
Motion was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Beahan to approve the Consent to Proposed Redemption of Workers Compensation Case for Rosealyn Woods in the amount of $52,000. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

011-2008 Consider 2008 Pay Raises for Fire Department Personnel.
Manager Cousins reviewed the recommendation/proposal made by the FDAC Committee regarding the 2008 pay raises. The proposal was to put the firefighters into a small revised five year plan for the newcomers to come up to the level of the veteran firefighter. The proposal is to a) set a policy tonight that we have a five year plan for firefighters starting at $35,000 and after five years be at the current wage of $53,763. For Lieutenants (Lt.). Upon promotion they would start at $58,110 and at the second year as a Lt. they would be at the veteran rate of $61.727. b) Take our current firefighter and place the '04 class and the '07 class into year number four of that firefighter wage schedule and the '07 class of Lt. into the upon promotion wage for Lt. (in 2009 everybody would be in the same wage rate)
Discussion followed.
Motion was made by Trustee Koessel and supported by Trustee Goldberg to accept the recommendation of the FDAC that we are taking Class '04 and '07 Firefighters to the wage showing on the attached memo for year four and that we state that in year five all veteran firefighters whatever dollar amount deemed to be appropriate at that time. Any Lt. that we have upon promotion be taken to the $58,110 and that the year two number also be whatever the committee determines is parity. This applies to existing firefighters only. Motion carried unanimously.
Supervisor Julien asked the FDAC Committee to review over this year the Firefighter and Lt. wage rates relative to the market to see what other municipalities pay.

012-2008 Discussion and Consideration of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Money.
Motion was made by Treasurer Carpenter and supported by Trustee Fox to accept the recommendation made by staff that we allocate $5,000 to Home Repair Services and bankroll the balance of $6,780 into our account balance to use on future projects.
Trustee Koessel questioned if we could use the money for a Habitat for Humanity Project. Manager Cousins will look into. Trustee Koessel also questioned why we chose Home Repair Services. Staff was not available for comment. Manager Cousins would get back with Trustee Koessel. Motion carried unanimously.

013-2008 Consider Request to Approve 2008 Poverty Tax Exemptions
Deputy Assessor McCarty reviewed the minor changes to Cascade's Poverty Tax Exemptions which included the following:
" The household income limits are updated to the 2008 amounts
" Total household assets are adjusted to $4,000 for claimant and $6,000 for household up from $3,000 to $4,500. There is also clarification as to what is included in the calculation of total household assets.
Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Fox to approve the 2008 Poverty Tax Exemptions. Discussion followed. Motion carried unanimously.

014-2008 Consider Date for next "Community/Board Open House".
Upon Board Consensus the next date for the Community/Board Open House will be Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. at the Wisner Center. This year it has been proposed that all Boards/Commissions be invited.

015-2008 Consider Resolution to Replace Mike Julien with Cindy Fox as the Township Representative to the Grand Valley Metro Council Board.
Motion was made by Clerk Goodyke and supported by Trustee Beahan to approve the replacement of Mike Julien with Cindy Fox as the Township Representative to the Grand Valley Metro Council Board. Motion carried. Trustee Fox abstained from the vote.

Article 10. Manager's Comments
Manager Comments included the following:
" Asked the Board to Pledge their support for employees that serve in the National Guard. There was consensus among the board to pledge their support.
" Started meeting with the Auditors.
" Received a map from Chief Sigg which shows all of the 1,404 calls that our firefighters made throughout the Township in 2007. Designated both fire calls and EMS calls.

Article 11. Board Member Comments
Trustee Carpenter offered the following:
" Attended the Michigan Township Associations Annual Meeting. Fifty-six area people attended the meeting and rode on the bus.
" Attended a seminar on Elections within the MTA Annual meeting. Wanted to share that you can file positions for two offices by May 13th, but one of the petitions needs to be removed by May 16th.
" Attended a seminar on Internal Controls also, Cascade does need more separation of the accounting duties.
Trustee Beahan offered the following:
" Lost his wallet at the MTA Annual Meeting.
Supervisor Julien offered the following:
" February 27th will be on vacation and suggests that Trustee Beahan chair the meeting on that date.
" Board Goals for 2008…need to schedule a work session. Work Session will be scheduled for Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 5:30 at Township Hall.

Article 12. Adjournment
Motion was made by Trustee Goldberg and supported by Trustee Beahan to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Denise M. Biegalle
Deputy Clerk

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