​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
OCTOBER 6, 2026
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 11 citizens, and 5 board members were present.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda was made by J Thelen and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence: J Heckman read a letter from Charter Communications notifying the township that their intent is to renew their contract in August 2028.
Cemetery:  All looks good in the cemetery.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by J Heckman and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $33,240.56 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
TWP Business:  Ken and Sue Winright and Elwood Palmer were here to discuss the lack of brine on South Staley rd. Their road is unique as it has 3 gravel pits around it and also a large farm, so they have many large trucks and farm machinery traveling their road creating so much dust they are choking on it. They were here to ask if there was anything the township could do to get more brine on their road. K Gould and C Babcock are going to try and help them get answers.
Mary Kay Shaver and Silas Kok, our attorneys from Varnum, were here to discuss the agreement contract between the Township and the Village of Muir for the Mobile Home Park and the Fire/Ems agreement between the Township and Park owners. They will add detail to the Muir agreement and draw up the contract for Fire/Ems for us to look over before the next meeting.
There was discussion concerning Pline road to the Oak Hill Gun Club. Linda from Ionia County Road Department spoke to C Babcock about the possibility of opening up the closed area of Pline road to Dexter Trail or replace the bridge that needs to be replaced. There are lots of questions about this project.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7.05pm was made by J Thelen and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
 
Julie Heckman, Clerk

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
SEPTEMBER 2, 2026
 
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 7 citizens, and 4 board members were present. A  Hengesbach was absent.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda with the addition of tree trimming bid and changing Trailer Park to Mobile Home Park was made by K Gould  and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes by changing the phrase Trailer Park to Mobile Home Park in 2 places was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  Wickham workers took out the rest of the posts on the east side of the cemetery and they also fixed the wall that was crumbling.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by K Gould and supported by J Heckman. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $48,057.95 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by J Thelen and supported by K Gould. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
Old TWP Business:  Ted Droste, our Twp Assessor, was here to explain the taxes for the proposed Mobile Home Park going in Muir. He explained how the tax base worked.
Paul Gramzano, one of the owners of the Mobile Home Park, was here to talk to us about what they are planning to do in this Mobile Home Park. This will be done in a couple of phases. They are planning to have both rentals and places to own. They plan on being able to finance for people. They will have streetlights. MDOT said no to reduce the speed limit. The board asked about fees for any EMS or fire runs, Paul said he would take the question back to the other owners to see if the owners would put it in the contract for the TWP to bill the owners then it would be up to them to collect from the individuals. There was also discussion on putting a sidewalk out the back to go to the park. There will be more discussion to come on this subject.
New TWP Business: A motion to accept Rick White’s bid of $850 to trim all trees back from the building on the east side and chip all brush was made by K Gould and supported by J Heckman. No one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 was made by J Thelen and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
August 4, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 5 citizens, and 4 board members were present. J Thelen was absent.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the with correction in the second to last paragraph changing the word both with each referring to the fire departments  was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  There is a wall as you pull into the cemetery on the left hand side that Wickham’s will be fixing. There was talk about putting in posts on the driveway to stop people from cutting corners.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $17,854.67 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
TWP Business: Adam Feenstra was here to discuss the mobile home park being built in Muir. There will be 47 units in this Double wide mobile home park. Muir Village has granted permission to hook into the water and sewer system. They will have a sidewalk put in. They will have storm water collection. They will hold and release the water slowly. They will have paved streets. There will be fire hydrants there. They plan to begin in 2026.
The board has more questions about this development and has asked for the developer and Mr. Feenstra to come back to the September meeting to answer more questions.
The board received 2 bids for power washing the building. A motion to accept the bid of $250 from Keith Kleimola was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:50 was made by C Babcock and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Clerk,
Julie Heckman
 
 
 

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
JULY 15, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 4 citizens, and 5 board members were present.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  The cemetery looks great. All mowed nice and all the twigs were cleaned up.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $33,601.00 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
Old Business:  A motion to approve the new Investment Policy was  made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. A roll call vote was taken: A Hengesbach yes, K Gould yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. No one opposed. Motion carried.
J Heckman sought approval of the new billing form for Fire and EMS billing. The board added some wording then approved the form.
TWP Business:  A motion to approve the new Fire and EMS billing with the new prices of Fire runs $500 for the first hour and $350 for every hour after and EMS runs $300 for residents and $350 for non-residents was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken: K Gould yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. No one opposed. Motions carried.
K Gould brought to the attention of the board that there are people camping/living on vacant lot on Hayes Road. There is concern about toxic waste. K Gould will look into this further and if necessary, talk to someone in the health department.
The building needs to be power washed. C Babcock received one bid, and A Hengesbach and J Heckman will try to get a couple more bids for next month’s meeting.
C Babcock brought to the board’s attention that there is going to be a trailer park built in Muir just west of the Lumbermill Inn. He will invite the owner to come to next month’s meeting to tell us all about the trailer park.
Pewamo Fire Chief Mike Yerge brought 2 quotes for tires for the Pumper and tanker trucks. Keusch’s bid was $10,000 and Quality Tire out of Lansing was $5700. There was a discussion on whether LMFD also needed to have tires put on and the answer was yes.
A motion to approve tires from Quality Tire out of Lansing for $5700 for each department was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
JUNE 2, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There was 1 citizen, and 5  board members were present.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence: A letter was read from the State of Michigan about MI Energy Grants for wind and solar.
Cemetery:  The road in the cemetery has been completed. Wickham’s put the new flagpole and flag up.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $14,778.94 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
TWP Business:  A motion to put information on our website about Portland Parks and Rec but not to commit any funds was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion to approve transferring $400,000 from General checking to MI CLASS investment was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken; K Gould yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, J Heckman yes. No one opposed. Motion carried.
C Babcock announced  there was an assessing audit done and all went well.
C Babcock said there was gravel going down on Dexter Trail in Pewamo.
A motion to refrain from putting a newsletter in the tax bills and only putting it on the website was made by K Gould and supported by J Heckman. No one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed. Motion carried.
The July meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday July 15th at 5:30.
 
Julie Heckman, Clerk

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
MAY 5, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 5 citizens, and 5 board members were present.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  Josh Wickham, the Sexton, said they will put the new flagpole up. He also said as soon as they get all the foundations done, they will get the wall fixed.
The fees for lot were discussed. A motion to raise the price of the Lyons Township Cemetery lot fees to $200.00 for residents and $300.00 for non-residents per lot was made by J Heckman and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Public comment:  There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Heckman. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $16,928.59 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
TWP Business: Jeff Anderson, from MI CLASS, was here to talk about investing the township’s money. This company has been in business since 1991. There is no cost to join. They pay interest every day and there is no maturity date. You can take money out when it’s needed without penalty. The board will let Mr. Anderson know their decision at a later date after they have discussed all options.
Mindy Tolena and Neil Brown were here to discuss Portland Rec Department having things to do for people in Ionia County. They would like to know if we would be willing to spend some money on this project. The board tabled this discussion for a later date.
C Babcock brought the Gravel agreement to the table. A motion to approve the gravel agreement for N Spaulding and Dexter trail was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. A Roll call vote was Taken; A Hengesbach yes, K Gould yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. No one opposed. Motion carried.
The board asked J Heckman to look into how much money was not collected in 2024 for fire and Ems billing.
A motion was made to reinstate the resident newsletter to put in with the tax bills twice a year and to put on the website by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
The July meeting has been moved to Thursday July 10th @ 5:30 pm due to scheduling conflict.
C Babcock and the Township Board would like to thank A Hengesbach and the Bellamy Creek Building Trades for the Beautiful Podium they made for the township and also the election cabinet they made. They do beautiful work.
C Babcock made a public apology to K Gould for the way he talked at the last meeting.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
April 7, 2025
The meeting was called to order at 5:45 with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 3  citizens, and 5(all)  board members were present.
The agenda was presented for review. A motion to approve the agenda was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. No one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion to approve the 2025-2026 budget was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. A roll call vote was taken; A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, K Gould yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by and supported by. No one opposed. Motion carried.
Correspondence:  There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  C Babcock brought 2 bids for review for the Lyons Township Cemetery Road project. The 1st bid received from CL Trucking was $4350.00 and the 2nd bid received from Feehan and Sons was $9850.00. After discussion on the bids a motion was made to accept CL Trucking bid for $4350.00 was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken; K Gould yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
Discussion on the Cemetery ordinance was tabled until next month.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed. Motion carried.
There was discussion on whether or not to have J Thelen Treasurer, look into CD’s. The consensus was yes, look into rates for CD’s.
Bills in the amount of $37,840.94 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. No one opposed,  Motion carried.
TWP Business: Doug Hyland, President of Muir Village was here to discuss recycling. Muir will be a host for recycling in Ionia County. They hope to be operation by the end of May. D Hyland also said that Muir Village received a 1.4 million dollar grant for a special needs park. Everyone can use it, but it is specialized so kids with special needs can use it.
 C Babcock said he and D Hyland were at an MDOT meeting and are trying to get a school zone established on M21. In order to help get that status there are certain things that need to happen. One thing that needs to happen is there needs to be a sidewalk put in from Hayes Road to Twin Rivers School. D Hyland is getting bids for the sidewalk now. The consensus on the board is to help monetarily with this project. Further discussion will be had on this matter when the project gets underway.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. No one opposed. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
MARCH 3, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 8 citizens, and 5 board members present.
A copy of the agenda was presented for review. A motion to accept the motion was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  C Babcock will get bids from Listerman’s and Feehan’s for crushed asphalt for both loops and apron in cemetery. J Thelen and J Heckman will edit the cemetery contract for board approval at the April meeting.
Public comment:  There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $20,92936 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
TWP Business:  Craig Dodge from Life EMS was here to discuss how things are going. Mr. Dodge brought reports with him to show runs and times they have down in our township and villages. Things are going well. The Fire Chiefs were asked if there were any complaints and both Chiefs said there were no complaints. Pewamo Fire Chief M Yerge asked Mr. Dodge if Pewamo EMT’s could ride with Life in the ambulance if they were needed and Mr. Dodge said yes but they could not drive the ambulance. Another question was brought to Mr. Dodge about setting up Mass Casualty Incident Trainings together with Life EMS and Mr. Dodge said he would look into that.
The budget amendments in the amount of $90,948.31 were presented for review. A motion to accept budget amendments was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken; all in favor none opposed. Motion carried.
C Babcock had Wilson’s back in to fix the furnace again.
A motion was made to have the annual meeting to discuss the 2025-2026 budget held on Monday March 24th at 5:30 pm was made by J Heckman and supported by K Gould.
Fire Chief Lyndon Randall asked if when they make big purchases, they can use the Township Credit Card that the Clerk and Treasurer have instead of using their own and get reimbursed.
A motion to use the township credit card for purchases was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. A roll call vote was taken. 5 votes yes no one opposed. Motion carried.
A motion was made to purchase a thermal camera for the Pewamo fire department by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 was made by K Gould and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
FEBRUARY 3, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 6 citizens, and 5 board members present.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes with the addition of the 2024/2025 total payroll budget figures and the proposed 2025/2026 5% increase was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
Correspondence: A letter from Ionia Conservation District was read stating that EGLE is requiring all counties to update their County Solid Waste plans. By 2028, Ionia County will adopt a new Materials Management Plan. They sent out a survey to fill out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Ionia County’s current Solid Waste Plan (1999).
Cemetery:  It was brought to the attention of the Board that the Cemetery is not closed. J Thelen asked if it should be closed or plowed if it is not closed. The board will review the ordinance at next month’s meeting and decide steps to be taken.
Public comment:  There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
J Thelen reported that she has sent out letters to everyone who hasn’t paid their personal property taxes ( some are several years behind) stating that if they do not pay, they may be taken to small claims court. She has received many payments since the letter went out. She has asked the board for direction on what the next steps should be. The board agreed to wait to see how much is still out by the March meeting and advise then.
Bills in the amount of $19065.76 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
TWP Business: Jason Orton, our insurance Rep from David Chapman Agency, was here to discuss our insurance policy. There was a small price increase due to the price of fire trucks.
C Babcock had the Ionia County Road Department Brine and Gradall agreements.
A motion to accept the 2025 Brine agreement at .192 a gallon was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
A motion to accept the 2025 Gradall agreement of $3000 for culverts was made by J Thelen and seconded by K Gould.
Pewamo Fire Chief Michael Yerge was here to ask if he could get all the valves on Engine 1 replaced now. He has already replaced 2 and has 11 more to go. If he can get it done all at once he will save around $4000. A motion to replace the 11 valves on engine 1 now was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
A motion to give a 5% raise across the board was made by C Babcock, there was no support to this motion, so this motion died for lack of support.
A motion to give a 3% raise across the board and a dollar an hour raise to the firemen was made by J Thelen and supported by K Gould. A roll call vote was taken J Thelen yes, K Gould yes, A Hengesbach yes, C Babcock no, J Heckman yes.
A motion to approve the Assessors 2025-2027 contract of $14.50 per parcel. The parcel count is 2176 which totals $31,552 annually, paid monthly $2629.33, was made by A Hengesbach, and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
A motion to approve a 4% increase to Wickham Cemetery Care for a two year contract (2025-2027) for $24,423 per year was made by K Gould and supported by A Hengesbach.
Lyons/Muir Fire Chief Lyndon Randall brought to the attention of the board that their tanker needs a new pump. A motion to approve a new pump for Lyons/Muir  tanker was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
J Heckman brought up she thinks the board needs to go back to having a separate annual meeting. The annual meeting was changed to half an hour before the April meeting, which was supposed to be the last Monday of March because the budget had to be approved by April 1. This made the bookwork off because the April checks and bills were done in March which is in the last fiscal year. The board said to call MTA to see what protocol is for the annual meeting. J Heckman will let the board know what she finds out.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:25 was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
 
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
January 6, 2025
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 4 citizens, and 5 board members present.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  There was no cemetery comment.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried. J Thelen asked the question, should she be going after personal property taxes? Should she take them to small claims court if they don’t pay? The board would like her to look into this matter more and report back.
Bills in the amount of $38,423.04 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by  A Hengesbach and supported by K Gould. Motion carried.
TWP Business:  Joe from Gabridge was here to present our audit. He reported that the township was in good shape and said we should keep doing what we have been doing.
C Babcock announced the members of the Board of Review as Alan Coggan Chair, Elwood Palmer, and new member John Bonter.
A motion to accept the Board of Review members as presented was made by J Heckman and supported by J Thelen. A role call vote was taken J Heckman yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, A Hengesbach yes, and K Gould yes. Motion carried.
C Babcock welcomed Kevin Gould to the table as our new Trustee.
C Babcock informed the board that he had Gutter Wizards install a new gutter to the front of the building because it was icy on the sidewalk after the December meeting.
C Babcock has proposed a 5% wage increase across the board. The 2024/2025 Payroll Budget is $115,700.  A proposed 5% increase for 2025/2026 would total $121,485.   K Gould would like more information on this before deciding. This wage increase is tabled until the February meeting.
C Babcock would like to look at putting more gravel on the roads in the cemetery. C Babcock would like a podium made for people to use while presenting at a meeting. A Hengesbach will have this made at the prison.
A Hengesbach also is having a cabinet made for election equipment at the Pewamo polling place.
Pewamo Fire Chief M Yerge presented his wish list for the upcoming year. K Gould asked this list to be put together highest priority to lowest with prices. Also, Lyons/Muir will also do the same with their list.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman