On the Agenda:

• The Township Financial Audit,
• The Parks & Rec Plan
• Sewer billing and sewer policy
• Decorative lighting for MDOT's new 8 Mile Road bridge
• Bike paths, sidewalks, or wide shoulders across the Territorial Road Bridge
• Goals for the Board's final year in office

[Meeting Report]

• You don't have to take our word for any of this.  You can watch the parts of the meeting you want to watch using this LiveAgenda.

At this meeting, Trustees Dockett and Kathy Braun were the lone voices of fiscal conservativism. 

"Throwing away money" was how Braun described it the Board vote to pay MDOT $4,000 per year for "decorative lighting" on the replacement 8 Mile Road bridge.  She contrasted the casually dispersed $4,000 to the non-investment in a wretched East Shore Drive and the lack of a walkway for East Shore Drive pedestrians.  No way to walk or bicycle safely on East Shore.  She spoke about the non-existent Seven Mile road extension, another non-investment contributing to East Shore Drive's decline and poor condition. 

[My Opinion] What she didn't say is that it's like everyone is waiting for someone else to pay for it, waiting for the free money, the TIGER grants or the TIF magic.  Anything that will shift the burden and responsibility to someone else or down the road.  As a consequence of this hope-iness, the attitude seems to be that as long as someone else is going to pay for it, someday, the Rainy Day fund - what is being called the excess in our General Fund - is up for grabs now.  No need to plan or conserve or save or contribute more toward the County's road repair and maintenance efforts, or anything else we've got to repair or maintain.  We can't afford it anyway.  So we spend it on baubles. 

Many citizens value planning and take pride in less conspicuous, less immediate gratification.

On November 24th, our Township Auditor reported that only about $256,000 of our annual general fund comes directly from our tax dollars.  The rest of the general fund arrives in the form of revenue sharing.  Every one of those dollars should count.

BTW, congratulations to Manager Fink and Chief Bill Wagner. At the Board meeting, Fink said that he and Chief Bill Wagner convinced MDOT to include "millions in enhancements" to the US-23 improvement project.  Anything that gets fire trucks more quickly to the west side of US-23 is good for everyone.  The "Gateway" bridge was MDOT's idea, not theirs.  Fink said it wasn't part of the lobbied-for enhancements.

[Resources]

• Click here to watch individual Agenda or discussion items using a LiveAgenda
• Click here to view or download the Meeting Agenda  (converted to pdf-text listenable by the visually impaired)
• Click here to view or download Meeting Packet part 1
• Click here to view or download Meeting Packet part 2
• Click here to watch the entire meeting on Livestream