8-9-2016 Northfield Township Board of Trustees

At this meeting we learned:

  1. An easement issue has temporarily derailed the Van Curler acquisition.
  2. The Board was reminded by Wayne Docket that the Main Street sidewalk project will cost double the initial estimates of $80,000.   The Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) has notified the Township that we will be paying in perpetuity for the costs of maintenance and repairs of the sidewalks, crosswalks, and warning beacons.  They will also bill us for the costs of metering and electricity for the two $11,000 solar powered, crosswalk warning beacons.
  3. The $10,000 2017 People's Express Contract was approved over the objections of Trustee Dockett, who said there must be a cheaper way to provide the rides, and Supervisor Engstrom, who did not explain her objection.  Board members Janet Chick and Jacki Otto strongly supported the service.  Braun said she had never seen more than one passenger being carried by a People's Express bus but voted in favor of the contract anyway.
  4. The Board approved a $2500 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Van Curler property.   Jack Secrist presented the vague notion on behalf of the new Downtown Development authority.   Only Trustee Dockett objected to spending this money, one quarter of the annual budget for People's Express.  He said that the cost-accounting should already have been in place.  The Board promised to start that right after the Ribbon cutting party.
  5. At Call to the Public, a Whitmore Lake business owner who spoke his name into a dead microphone, said that he and several other downtown business owners objected to the Township's allocation of Barker Road public parking spaces to the restaurant which may replace the old Driftwood Marina.  He seemed to view this as preferential treatment for a competitor.  He also mentioned having been forced by the Township to pay $2,000 for drawings to allow the enclosure of a porch.
  6. Trustee Dockett hinted at a costly problem consequent to the Whitmore Lake SAD build, something discussed in this evening's Closed session.  He provided no details.