February Meeting Minutes

​                                                     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