MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING, MARCH 29, 2021
The meeting was called to order with the pledge to the flag. In attendance were Michael Yerge, Robert Scheurer, Jill Thelen Charles Babcock and Julie Heckman. The minutes of the 2020 Annual meeting were presented. A motion to accept the minutes as presented was made by J Thelen and supported by J Heckman. Motion carried. The depository is Independent Bank in Ionia. J Heckman made a motion to keep the Depository the same, J Thelen supported. Motion Carried. The date of the regular board meetings will remain the same, first Monday of the month, but the time is changing to 5:30pm., at the township hall. The exception will be holidays, which will be noted. J Heckman made a motion to keep the meeting dates the same, J Thelen supported. Motion carried. The budget was presented for discussion. J Thelen made a motion to accept the 21-22 budget as presented, J Heckman supported. Motion Carried. A motion to adjourn at 6:50 pm was made by J Thelen and supported by J Heckman. LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
MARCH 7, 2022 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 with changes to COVID money given to firefighters, election workers, clerk, and treasurer is for hazard pay, was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried. Correspondence: Portland TWP sent a letter stating they are working on their master plan. 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 R Scheurer. Motion carried. Bills in the amount of $60,906.46 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried. TWP Business: A motion to accept the Metro Act was made by A Hengesbach and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried. The Village of Lyons asked C Babcock to come to a meeting to listen to a discussion on needing funds for some street work. C Babcock and R Scheurer went to the meeting and listened to what was said. They come to our TWP meeting with a request from the Lyons Village Board for $50,000. The TWP Board discussed this and stated that the Twp Board had given Muir and Pewamo $20,000 in the past for projects. A motion was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach to give $50,000 to Lyons for their street project and $30,000 to both Pewamo and Muir for projects that can use Covid Money. A roll call vote was taken; R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, J Thelen yes, C Babcock yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried. It was brought to the attention of the board by a taxpayer in the township that there is culvert problems on Wager Rd. C Babcock and R Scheurer and getting bids to have a fence put up and for a new parking lot at the new office. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7pm was made by J Thelen and supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried. Julie Heckman, Clerk LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
FEB 7, 2022 The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 2 citizens, and 4 board members present. A Hengesbach was absent. Minutes to the Dec 17th special meeting for the ordering of the jaws of life were presented for Review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by J Thelen and supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried. 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: A letter from our attorney’s at Varnum LLP was read stating that Matt Zimmerman is transitioning from Partner to Counsel, which means he is semi retiring. He is turning responsibility over to Mary Kay Shaver. Cemetery: There is no cemetery report. Public comment: Sgt. Stan Hoskins who was here as Liaison for the Sheriff’s Department. He said if we have any concerns at the moment to contact Lt. Peters. Sgt. Hoskins is retiring. Thank You for you service Sgt. Hoskins. Treasurer’s report: A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Heckman. Motion carried. Bills in the amount of $218,583.54 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried. TWP Business: There was a short discussion about the Portland Ambulance Contract. C Babcock has contacted Life Ambulance to come to a meeting to talk about their services so that we can make a decision on what to do about Ambulance service. C Babcock has suggested that the Board and Election workers receive a 3% raise. There was a roll call vote; C Babcock yes, J Thelen yes, R Scheurer yes, and J Heckman yes. There was a motion made by R Scheurer and supported by C Babcock to give the Fire Fighters, Election workers, Treasurer and Clerk $500.00 hazard pay from the Covid money. Motion Carried. J Heckman was asked to try and get a date for an informational meeting between the villages and the township about combining the 2 fire departments into 1. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:40 was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried. Julie Heckman, Clerk LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
JAN 3, 2022 The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 3 citizens’, and 4 board members present. A Hengesbach was absent. Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made Correspondence: There was no correspondence. Cemetery: There was no cemetery comment. Public comment: There was no public comment. Treasurer’s report: A motion was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Heckman to put $200,000 into a CD at Mercantile bank for 24 months. Motion carried. A motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Heckman. Motion carried. Bills in the amount of $48,245.80 to the general fund were presented for payment. A motion to pay the bills was made by J Thelen and supported by J Heckman. Motion carried. TWP Business: The Poverty Exemption Application for 2022 was presented. A motion to accept the 2022 Poverty exemption was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried. A resolution was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen that March 16, 2022, the Wednesday following the second Monday of March has been selected as the first meeting date of the 2022 Board of Review by the Lyons Township Board on Jan 3, 2022. A roll call vote was taken R Scheurer yes, J Thelen yes Charles Babcock yes and J Heckman yes. Motion carried. A motion was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen to pay for the Board of Review to go to training. Motion carried. R Scheurer brought up using some of the Covid money to pay the firefighters, election workers, Clerk and Treasurer hazard pay for dealing with the public during this time. This is tabled until next month to get some concrete figures. C Babcock is recommending a 3% raise for the board for cost of living. This is tabled until next month also so the whole board can discuss this. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 was made by J Thelen and supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried. Clerk Julie Heckman LYONS TWP SPECIAL MEETING
Dec 17, 2021 @ 3:30pm The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were 2 citizens, and 5 board members present. TWP Business: This meeting was conducted to vote on getting 2 new jaws of life. This needed to be done before the end of the year to get in on the best price. Michael Yerge, Pewamo Fire Chief brought 2 bids for the Jaws of Life. One bid was from Apollo 1 medium and 1 large for $58,895. The other bid was from MI Rescue Resources LLC for 2 large Jaws of Life for between $69,000-$72,000. The firemen talked it over and thought the one from MI Rescue Resources LLC was a better place to work with because you can get replacement things like batteries right from them. A motion was made by A Hengesbach and supported by R Scheurer to buy 2 large new Jaws of Life one for each department paying no more than $72,000. A roll call vote was taken A Hengesbach yes, R Scheurer yes, C Babcock yes, J Thelen yes, and J Heckman yes. Motion carried. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:00pm was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen. Motion carried. Clerk Julie Heckman LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
DEC 6, 2021 The meeting was called to order with the Pledge to the Flag. There were citizens 6 and 4 board members present. J Thelen was absent. Minutes to the meeting were presented for review. A motion to accept the minutes was made by R Scheurer and supported by C Babcock. Motion carried. C Babcock asked for a moment of silence for Tony Thelen Sr. former Supervisor of Lyons Township who passed away. C Babcock wanted to thank J Thelen for the insight to look into the former doctor’s office to purchase for our new office building. Correspondence: There was no correspondence. Cemetery: J Wickham was on vacation all of November, so the road was not graded, and J Heckman was not able to get with him on the Vanderveen plots. 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. A motion to move $200,000 out of Independent bank and into a different bank into a CD was made by A Hengesbach and supported by B Scheurer. Motion carried. Bills in the amount of $34,410.16 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, our insurance rep was here to discuss our renewal. He also brought us a dividend check for $681.70 from Accident fund. Jason asked the board if we wanted to have cyber insurance and the board agreed we should have it. A motion was made to buy cyber insurance by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. A roll call vote was taken, R Scheurer yes, A Hengesbach yes, C Babcock yes, J Heckman yes. J Thelen was absent. Motion carried. Ionia County Prosecutor was here to discuss the child advocacy program I’M SAFE. This started in January of 2015 and has grown tremendously. This organization helps children who have been abused in Ionia and Montcalm counties. Since 2015 there have been about 1747 victims that have been helped with this program. They have full time and part time workers. It costs $1,250.00 per child to run this program that is free to families. I’M SAFE gets a grant but they need to have a 20% match. They are just trying to get the word out, so people know they are there to help. Lyons Township gives to support this program and will continue to give as they can in the future. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:05 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried. Clerk Julie Heckman LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
Nov. 1, 2021 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 words members present added to the first paragraph was made by A Hengesbach and supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried. Correspondence: J Thelen received an email about Alzheimer’s support. The board agreed to put the Alzheimer’s support information on our website. Cemetery: We have had a lot of rain lately and it has washed out the roads in the cemetery. The board asked J Heckman to get ahold of J Wickham to ask him to grade the roads. There is a headstone in the southeast corner of the cemetery that has fallen over. 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 $50,258.61 to the general fund and $24,166.43 to the building 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: J Heckman invited Kim Thelen from Pewamo to the meeting to introduce her as the new Deputy Clerk. Robert Rose, Drain Commissioner, was here to ask Lyons Township to sign a petition for consolidating and organizing two or more drainage districts as a single drainage district. This consolidation is of the Clinton and Ionia Intercounty with the Cook intercounty Drain. This will now be known as the Clinton and Ionia Intercounty Drain Drainage district. A motion to sign the petition and consolidate the two drainage districts 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. Bob Vanderveen was here again to see if we have found anything out on his wife’s family headstones. J Heckman will get with the sexton before the next meeting to try and get some answers. The dry hydrant is being pushed back till spring to be put in. The board would like an itemized list of expenditures for the new office. Building: We are in our new building. Julie Bennett has expressed interest to do the cleaning of the new office. A motion was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach to except Julie Bennett’s bid of $30 an hour to clean the office. Motion carried. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:20 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried. Clerk Julie Heckman LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
SEPT 7, 2021 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 A Hengesbach and supported by R Scheurer. Motion carried. Correspondence: There was no correspondence. Cemetery: Wickham’s have been working on the foundations in the cemetery. There have been compliments on having the port-a-potty 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 $12,440.94 to the general fund and $25,678.46 to the building 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: Larry Tiejema was here to discuss the audit. He says the audit went very well. The Township does a good job with their finances. Since Larry was here and he is on the County Board of Commissioners, there was discussion on if there should be a board overlooking the road department. There was also discussion on the Stoney Creek Culvert. A couple of the board members have gone out to look at it and feel it was not put in correctly. Bob and Chuck will meet with Bud White to discuss this with him. Pewamo Fire Chief Michael Yerge was asked about the dry hydrant being shared with Portland, he said it is stalled at the county level. C Babcock asked the board if the siren that is on the old Township Hall could be taken down and put on a pole with a timer by the fire barn and the board agreed that would be a good place for it and to put a timer on it. The Board Thanks the village of Muir for allowing us to use their office for our September meeting. Building: The flooring should be laid on October 6,7, and 8. After that is laid, we should be able to move in. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:01 was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried. Clerk Julie Heckman LYONS TWP REG. MEETING
AUG 2, 2021 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 adding in the first paragraph board members present, was made by R Scheurer and supported by A Hengesbach. Motion carried. Correspondence: There was no correspondence. Cemetery: J Heckman brought to the board’s attention that Mr. Kimball had come in a month and a half ago upset that his wife’s foundation wasn’t poured yet so their headstone could be placed on it. I had talked to J Wickham to find out what was going on and he informed me he hadn’t gotten any paperwork from Lowell Granite company. Lowell Granite finally sent the paperwork out and J Wickham still had not gotten it poured. He was trying to keep up with mowing with all the rain that had come down. Last I spoke to Lowell Granite they had talked to J Wickham and hopefully this will be resolved soon. There were a couple foundations poured in the new part of the cemetery we need to ask J Wickham if he did those or if someone did their own. Also need to ask J Wickham if he will kill the weeds in the middle of the cemetery roads. Public comment: There was no public comment. Treasurer’s report: The money received from the selling of the township building and the maturing of the last CD was put into the building fund. 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 $31,745.19 to the general fund and $7,616.59 to the building 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: T Bennett was here from LMFD to discuss the New Grass Rig that was tabled a few months ago. The vehicle should cost approximately $45,000. A motion was made to help LMFD purchase the New Grass Rig 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. The Ionia County Road Department sent a bill of $16,462.71 for the culvert on Stoney Creek. They would like the township to pay for the materials and the ICRD would pay for the labor. The board has asked to have more information on the bids that were considered. This is tabled until next month when we can see all the bids. C Babcock asked when a survey should be done on the new property, the board agreed it should be done now. The board would like to thank Kathy Pinkston for cleaning for us. We hope she enjoys her retirement. Building: T Bennett was here to discuss how the remodeling job is going. They found out the building was never winterized so they found lots of leaks in the pipes. Luckily, they found them before they drywalled. The hope is for the remodeling to be done before our September meeting but with this setback he is unsure. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:40 was made by R Scheurer and supported by J Thelen Motion carried. Clerk Julie Heckman |
ClerkJulie Heckman records these minutes. To contact her, visit the Board Members section of the website. Categories |