LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
FEBRUARY 12, 2024
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 with changing the spelling of R Scheurer’s name was made by A Hengesbach and supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried.

Correspondence:  There was no correspondence.

Cemetery:  R Scheurer and A Hengesbach both had been through the cemetery and said all looks good. There are some logs stacked up.

Public comment:  Kevin Gould came in to introduce himself. He is thinking of running for trustee this year.

Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $20,925.38 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
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TWP Business: There was a motion to  approve the 2024 Poverty Exemption made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
C Babcock brought up the topic of 3% raises for the board and the fire chiefs.
R Scheurer made a motion to give the Supervisor a 3% raise A Hengesbach supported. Motion carried.
C Babcock made a motion to give the trustees a 3% raise supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
R Scheurer made a motion to give the clerk a 3% raise supported by C Babcock. Motion carried.
J Heckman made a motion to give the Treasurer a 3% raise supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried.
A Hengesbach made a motion to give a 3% raise to the fire chiefs supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
C Babcock has been talking with the Ionia County Road Department. There needs to be a longer culvert on Reeder Road. Also, there is work needed on Spaulding Road south.
A motion to give the Board of Review members $50 compensation for training was made by A Hengesbach and supported by R Scheurer. A roll call vote was taken: A Hengesbach yes, R Scheurer yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
J Heckman reported she had to order an Absent voter drop box and will need to have a camera for the drop box.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:30 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
JANUARY 8, 2024
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 was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery: R Scheurer reported the cemetery looked good. All the leaves were cleaned up and sticks were stacked neatly waiting to be taken away.
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 R Scheurer.  Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $54,253.90 to the general fund were presented for payment.  A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
TWP Business: Jason Orton was here to go over our insurance policy.  He reported all was good. The policy did have a slight increase.
Fire Chief Randall was here and reported the mobile radios are in and the portables should be in by sometime in February.
A Finley from HOA of Marsh Ridge came to report that they had talked to the road department about the road up in Marsh Ridge becoming a county road and they said it would cost around $650,000 to make that happen.
C Babcock will talk to Linda at the road department about the roads in Marsh Ridge later in January.
C Babcock rode with Tanner Roe, who wanted to know what concerns the township had for the road department, C Babcock brought to their attention problems on Irish into Staley. C Babcock wanted a cost estimate to fix it with blacktop and with limestone.
A motion was made to abolish the 2001 Water Franchise Fee in Marsh Ridge by J Heckman and supported by R Scheurer. A roll call vote was taken J Heckman yes, R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, and C Babcock no. Motion carried.
 C Babcock asked what the fire departments wanted or needed on their wish list for the new budget year. LMFD said they needed to put a flatbed and new tank on their grass rig. They also need a couple hand cranks for hydrants that might cost around $4000. J Dygert said he would ask Fire Chief Yerge to report PFD’s needs and wants.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at6:50 was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
December 4, 2023
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 was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  It was reported that everything 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 R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $59,799.40 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
TWP Business:  Shawn Diebel and Austin Finley, Heads of the HOA for Marsh Ridge were here to discuss the private road in Marsh Ridge. The Board agreed to patch the road earlier this year. Shawn and Austin came to ask if we will keep patching the road, the HOA will reimburse the Township for the work. They are trying to get the road to become a county road instead of the private road that it is.
 A motion to continue to patch the roads in Marsh Ridge (not to exceed $5000) with the HOA reimbursing the Township was made by R Scheurer supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
C Babcock reported there needs to be gravel put on Peckins road and South of Peckins on Staley to Reeder Road.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:40 was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman

​LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
NOVEMBER 6, 2023
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 was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen.  Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery: Everything looks good at the Cemetery. J Heckman will check prices on different Port a Potty’s.
Public comment: There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $40,209.68 to the general fund were presented for payment.  A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
TWP Business: A motion to accept the Ionia County Clerk to hold and pay for the nine days of early voting for all necessary elections moving forward was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken: A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, R Scheurer yes, and J Heckman yes.  Motion carried.
C Babcock reported that long time Road Department Superintendent Bud White is retiring from the Superintendent position and taking a position as a driver for the road department. Bud White did a lot of good for the county and he will be missed as superintendent.
Fire Chief Randall was here to discuss having the Township and possibly all three villages divide equally payment to have the three sirens activated through central dispatch. The board tabled this until a later date.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:05 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
 
Clerk
Julie Heckman

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
OCT 2, 2023
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag.  There were 6 citizens, and 4 board members present. J Heckman was absent.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review.  A motion to accept the minutes was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  R Scheurer reported that the port-a-potty is gone. J Wickham put up the enter and exit signs for the cemetery drives. Wickhams are cleaning up the downed branches and they fixed the foundations. L Randall said they (DPW) would trim some of the trees by the road at the cemetery. 
There are holes in the siding presumably from mowing, Tom Bennett will fix them.
-Public comment:  There was no public comment. 
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
The CD from Mercantile bank is up for renewal. A motion to renew the CD was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $64,232.01 to the general fund were presented for payment.  A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
TWP Business: C Babcock invited the Muir/Lyons presidents to the meeting to talk about what the villages contribute to the fire department. The villages split the costs for the housing of the trucks and pay part of training for the firefighters. 
Chrouch Communications will get back with Chief Randall about getting the siren functional.
Lyons/Muir Fire Department got a $30,000 grant. Thank you to Carol Randall for doing the work to get this grant for the fire department. This can be used for turnout gear and radios. It will most likely be used for turnout gear. It will need to be paid for up front then it will be reimbursed.
Pewamo Fire Department is residing and insulating their building. The Village of Pewamo received a grant and also sold trees to fund this project.
The fire department has given up on the dry hydrant. They will try and sell the parts they have already purchased for it.
Staley road is now complete. They will do Tabor St. spring of 2024.
C Babcock went to the Weber Dam Meeting. 
The Village of Muir received a grant of $1.5 million for trails and parks, with $140,000 matching funds. They are asking if we might contribute to this. The Board will discuss this at a later date.
There was a discussion about firefighters. The reason it’s getting harder to get people to be volunteer firefighters is the many hours of training they need to have to become one.

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:30 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.

Clerk

Julie Heckman

​                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
SEPT 5TH, 2023
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 2 citizens, and 5  board members present.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the regular minutes with the change of Diane Almy being appointed as a Lyons Township representative on the Ionia County Parks Board instead of the Greenview Point Board regular meeting minutes and the special meeting minutes was made by R Scheurer and supported  by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  C Babcock asked Josh to fix the sunken foundation. R Scheurer informed the board the port-a-potty tipped over in the storm. J Heckman will contact J Wickham to have the port-a-potty taken out for the year. The board agreed the rotten posts by the cemetery should be taken out. J Heckman will ask J Wickham if they will do that and also put in two posts by the cemetery drives to put enter and exit signs on.
Public comment:  There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $24,316.38 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
TWP Business:  A motion to have Sid’s Flower Shop decorate the outside of the office for the 2023 holiday season with 45 ft of garland and a 30 in wreath was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
A Hengesbach went down Reeder Road after the rainstorm and said it was a mess. The bridge was all washed out. A tube needs to be put in to widen the road. There needs to be a discussion between Lyons TWP., Portland, and Ionia County to work together to get this done.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:00 was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
Julie Heckman

​                                                     LYONS TWP SPECIAL MEETING
AUGUST 24, 2023
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag.  There was 1 citizen, and 5 board members present.
TWP Business: The topic of this special meeting was to discuss roadwork to be done on Staley Road. The Ionia County Road Department sent out a quote to have fog and chip seal done on a portion of Staley Road. The letter was received after the August meeting, and they wanted to start the work in August. R Scheurer and C. Babcock had a meeting with B White and the engineer to discuss what was needed. There is a low spot on Staley Road where water sits when it rains and in the winter it is dangerously slippery. The quote that was sent out was over $12,000 and the purposed work to be done did not seem like it would fix the problem. After the meeting with B White and the engineer a new plan was drawn up to actually fix the problem and the cost was only going to cost $7600.00.
A motion to accept the bid of $7600.00 to fix the spot on Staley Road was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken; R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 3:05 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.

Clerk

Julie Heckman

                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
AUGUST 7, 2023
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag.  There were 2 citizens, and 5 board members present.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review.  A motion to accept the minutes was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen.  Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  A Hengesbach had the enter and exit signs made for the cemetery drives. They look great. There are wood posts along the road that are rotting. The board will look at them to see about taking them out. There is a foundation that has a sink hole around it and the board has agreed to have it fixed. There is a limb coming down in the cemetery the board agreed to have taken down.
Public comment:  There was no public comment. 
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach.  Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $59054.95 to the general fund were presented for payment.  A motion to pay the bills was made by A Hengesbach and supported by R Scheurer.  Motion carried.
TWP Business: J Heckman read the AT&T Metro Act. A motion to accept the AT&T Metro Act was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
J Heckman read the Portland Ambulance agreement. A motion to accept the Portland Ambulance Agreement was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
C Babcock announced that Diane Almy would like to be a representative for Lyons Township on the Ionia County Park  Board. A motion to appoint Diane Almy to the Ionia County Park Board was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
J Heckman brought up the bid for Christmas decorations from Sid’s Floral. The board agreed to table until the next meeting.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:30 was made by J Thelen and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.

Julie Heckman, Clerk

​LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
July 10, 2023
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 2 citizens, and 5 board members present.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes with spelling and grammar corrections  was made by R Scheurer and supported  by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery: The old flagpole was taken away. The cemetery looks good. The board thanked R Scheurer for moving the crushed asphalt around.
A motion to have A Hengesbach make an entrance and exit only signs for the cemetery drives was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
There was discussion about budgeting to pave the rest of the cemetery next year.
Public comment:  There was no public comment.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $63,468.11 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
TWP Business: Home Experts came to check how a squirrel got in the building. They could not find anyplace where it might have gotten in. They did find 2 ducts that need to be capped so they will come back to do that.
Tom Bennett will be putting the fence up by the building and also, he will put some insulation in the attic.
C Babcock agreed to pay the Ionia County Road Department $2075 to take the big tree on Kimball Road down.
There was discussion about putting a culvert in on Reeder and Keefer.
LMFD is putting in for a $30,000 grant for turnout gear and SCBA masks.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:20 was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried.
 
Julie Heckman, Clerk
 

                                                     LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
JUNE 5, 2023
The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 3 citizens, and 5 board members present.
Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by R Scheurer and A Hengesbach supported by. Motion carried.
Correspondence: There was no correspondence.
Cemetery:  C Babcock had reported that a wall was falling down. It was recommended to have J Wickham the Sexton look at the wall because they thought it had just been repaired recently. A Hengesbach recommended that there be an exit and entrance sign put up at the Lyons TWP Cemetery because there isn’t room to pass on the driveway.
Public comment: Mattie Cook-Hildebrandt was here promoting the library. There are fun activities planned all summer long.
Treasurer’s report:  A motion to accept the treasurer’s report for both April and May as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $34,625.15 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
TWP Business: We received a dividend check from MTA for 483.03.
Ionia County sent their Hazard Mitigation Plan for us to look over. A resolution to accept the Ionia County Mitigation plan was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken; R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried.
L Randall reported to C Babcock that the dry hydrant will be done soon. He also reported that the siren will be put back up in Lyons.
A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:30 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried.
 
Clerk
 
Julie Heckman