Flowerfield Township Meeting Minutes

 FLOWERFIELD TOWNSHIP BOARD MEETING
March 2, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Supervisor Carroll Parmeter. Carroll Parmeter, Pam Altimus, Ron Shaver, Teresa Ives and Jim Griffith attended the meeting. There were eleven visitors present.

Board Member Additions

Carroll needs to add a new Board of Review member under reports.

AGENDA

Approval of Agenda for March 2, 2009- Pam Altimus made the motion to accept the Agenda as read, seconded by Ron Shaver, motion carried.

Board Member Comments
No comments by the Board were made.

MINUTES

Approval of Minutes from February 2, 2009:-Ron Shaver made the motion to accept the Minutes, seconded by Pam Altimus, motion carried.

SPECIAL GUESTS

Knute Judsen of ZCSS.com- Presentation of online database for cemeteries. A cemetery search system would cost the township $250.00. The demo system could be ready in about six weeks, the final version would be done by the end of spring.
The board made no decision on this issue.

CORRESPONDENCE

Carroll read a letter that was received from the St. Joseph County Road Commission. The letter stated that there would be a public meeting on March 18, 2009 at 6:30 p.m., at the road commission office. It was stated that there would be three bridges in Flowerfield Township to be worked on this season. The bridges are on Floating Bridge Road, Flowerfield Road, and Pulver Road. Ron Shaver stated that he had received a phone call from Flowerfield resident, Pat Brown regarding road conditions. He stated to call Pat Brown if you would like to go the St. Joseph County Road Commission Meeting. Ron also stated that it would be great if he could see about 25-30 people attend this meeting.

REPORTS

Assessor: Shalice Northrop was not present.

Rural Inspection: Tony Vaickus was present. There was one renewal for February 2009. There hasn’t been any activity since June 2008.

Planning Commission: Greg Hamelink, PCB Chairman was present and provided the following update.

• He stated that he spoke with Jim Griffith regarding the township sign, at the hall entrance, and that the dates and times listed need to be accurate. Would like to have a back-up person to help in this matter.
• He stated that the Master Plan has been sent out and only one response has been received with that being from St. Joseph County Planning Commission. Their comment was that there was new legislature that came out in September and so now some things need to be tweaked a bit.
• Greg and Tobin Houts will be attending The St. Joseph County Planning Commission Meeting on March 25, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
• Will need to post a notice for a Public Hearing for the Master Plan, which is scheduled for April 30, 2009. This needs to be published in the local newspapers and on the township sign 15 days prior to the meeting.
• Bob Toland is currently working on zoning plans that need to be included and on certain zoning issues.

Board of Review - Open Alternate Board Seat- Carroll Parmeter made the motion to appoint Mike Glass as an alternate member, seconded by Teresa Ives with a roll call vote: Jim Griffith-yes, Pam Altimus-yes, Ron Shaver-yes, Carroll Parmeter- yes, and Teresa Ives-yes. All approved.

Sexton: Bill Kruger was present. He stated there wasn’t any funerals this past month.

OLD BUSINESS

Marcellus Fire Department- Jim Griffith and Carroll Parmeter attended the last meeting. Carroll, stated that there wasn’t any additional information obtained at this meeting. We are currently being billed at two mills.

NEW BUSINESS

Set Flowerfield Township Board Meeting dates: 4/6/09, 5/4/09, 6/1/09, 7/6/09, 8/3/09, 9/8/09, 10/5/09, 11/2/09, 12/7/09, 1/4/10, 2/1/10 and 3/1/10- Resolution- Pam Altimus made a motion to accept the meeting dates, seconded by Jim Griffith with a roll call vote: Pam Altimus- yes, Ron Shaver- yes, Carroll Parmeter- yes, Jim Griffith- yes, and Teresa Ives-yes. All approved. R#-03/02/09-01

Approval of New 2009-2010 Flowerfield Township Budget- Resolution- Ron Shaver made a motion to accept the 2009-2010 budget, seconded by Pam Altimus with a roll call vote: Jim Griffith- yes, Carroll Parmeter- yes, Pam Altimus- yes, Ron Shaver-yes, and Teresa Ives-yes. All approved. R#-03/02/09-02

Fire Bills- If fire are bills not paid they can be put on as special assessment on the property taxes. The board made no decision on this issue. This issue will be added to the next meeting’s agenda.

High Speed Internet Service- Teresa stated to the board that she needs to have high speed internet service, in order to comply with the Bureau of Elections voter registration system. She has called several companies and did price comparisons. With Wild Blue being cheaper and available to her in her area. It was mentioned that the cell phone companies offer Wi-Fi cards, and this might be cheaper. Teresa stated that she would follow up on this. The board made no decision on this issue. This issue will be added to the next meeting’s agenda.

New telephone for township hall- needed to transfer calls to the clerk-
Teresa stated that when she was looking at the Verizon bill, she noticed that we pay for call forwarding and called Verizon to inquire about this. Teresa also stated that any calls made to the township hall are not answered unless someone is present. Teresa called Verizon and spoke with a representative who stated that yes, we have this service and with a touch tone phone, that all calls to the township phone could be transferred to another phone number. Jim Griffith made a motion to allow the clerk to buy a phone for the hall, seconded by Teresa Ives with a roll call vote: Carroll Parmeter- yes, Pam Altimus- yes, Ron Shaver-yes, Jim Griffith- yes, and Teresa Ives-yes. All approved.

APPROVAL OF EXPENDITURES

Pam Altimus stated that check # 3212 needs to be VOID, due to it was already paid.
Resolution- Carroll Parmeter made a motion to pay all payroll employees every month, seconded by Pam Altimus with a roll call vote: Jim Griffith- yes, Pam Altimus- yes, Ron Shaver-yes, Carroll Parmeter- yes, and Teresa Ives-yes. All approved. R#-03/02/09-03
Carroll Parmeter- yes, and Teresa Ives-yes. All approved.

Ron Shaver made the motion to approve payment of expenditures 3196 thru 3226, seconded, by Jim Griffith, motion carried.

ADJOURNMENT

Jim Griffith made the motion to adjourn, Pam Altimus, seconded, motion carried, with the meeting adjourning at 8:32p.m.

Next Meeting Date: April 6, 2009 at 7pm