January 2012 Newsletter

RECYCLING:

I thought it was time to do a little update on our township recycling program.  We are pleased with the participation.  We continue to experience some growing pains and are trying to adapt the program as our budget and donations allow.

A recent survey taken during our Saturday recycling showed about 200 vehicles coming through.  The vast majority were from Morton and Austin Townships.  A handful of participants came in from other townships. 

Morton Township pays $75 a month to use the recycle container and $250 each time a container needs to be emptied.  One container is not meeting our needs as we have filled the container and had to close early.  I know this is disappointing to our residents and we are looking to how we can afford a second container each week.  Donations have been running anywhere from $100 to $200 per week.  Austin Township gives us $150 per month to help defray the costs.  We will be asking them to consider increasing their allocation.  We will be approaching Wheatland Township to allocate some money to us as well.

We continue to have individuals dropping off materials outside of our open hours.  This has resulted in trash being put in our containers.  We have been warned by our provider that we will be charged to have the contaminated containers dumped into a landfill.  We hope that people respect our hours of operation so that our volunteers can monitor what is being recycled.  We will ask the State Police to monitor any illegal dumping for us.

We try to schedule community service workers as often as we can to help our residents unload their materials.  We still welcome any groups or individuals who want to volunteer to help out.  We do pay 2 to 4 workers $50.00 each, to supervise our volunteers, in exchange for 4 hours of work.  This cost is usually covered by our donations.  They work very hard to make our collection smooth and safe.

We are open to your suggestions and participation.  Please send your comments and offers to help out to me at supervisor@mortontownship.org.  Watch our website for additional information on our program at www.mortontownsip.org.

PLANNED SPRING CLEAN UP

We again this year will host a township wide cleanup effort.  We will be bringing in several trash compactors and roll offs to the Mecosta Fire Station that will allow residents to bring in miscellaneous rubbish, junk, furniture, metals, and appliances.  Lumber cut into 2 foot lengths will be accepted.  Refrigerators and freezers that have not had their Freon professionally removed cannot be accepted.  If there is no certificate attached, the items will not be received.  We cannot accept batteries, tires, liquids, oils, paint, or other hazardous materials.  We also cannot accept other building materials, yard waste, dirt, concrete, or rocks.  If you have questions about what we accept and don’t, feel free to give me a call at the township office. We have set May 5thas our collection day.  Watch for more details in future newsletters and on our website.

RIVER ACCESS COMMITTEE PROGRESS

Yo and her committee have identified about 3 pieces of property located along the Little Muskegon River that will be considered for access points for canoeing and kayaking.  The committee meetings are open to the public and volunteers are welcome.  Yo is seeking someone in the community that has grant writing experience to help her write the grant.  She can be reached at the township office, 231 973-7138 or on the web at clerk@mortontownhip.org.  The next meeting will be Thursday January 19that 10:30 at the township hall.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

We will again host a planning session this spring, probably in April.  We are interested in receiving input from residents as to what programs or services you want us to pursue in the upcoming years.  I know that we will be discussing road needs, capital improvement projects, and continued recycling efforts.  We are open to discussing other topics as well.  Send me your ideas and we will try to include time for discussion of them as well.

AUDIT RESULTS

 We have just recently received the results of our financial audit of fiscal year 2010 / 2011.  We are very pleased with the results.  We have a strong fund balance position.  We have positioned ourselves again this year to operate completely in the black and anticipate adding to the balance at the end of this fiscal year.  The audit report is available at the township office for your review.

FIRE / RESCUE REPORT

The department finished out 2011 with a total of 60 fire calls and 399 rescue calls.  It is interesting to note that the new ladder truck was used to take a patient out of a second floor where only a circular stairway was available to take him down to the ambulance. We anticipated that there may be more rescue applications right now for that truck than firefighting needs.  The new CPR machines have been used several times with some very positive results. We understand that the County may follow our lead and purchase some of these machines for their ambulances.

The Fire Association will be again putting on car washes this winter.  Watch for notices on Ann Mudel and our website.  They also post a notice on a temporary sign out front of the Canadian Lakes Station a few days before the event.  Cars are washed inside and dried before sending you back outside.  Proceeds are used for charitable and social functions of the association.

CONSTRUCTION NOTES:

The library Board reports that progress continues to be made on completing the project soon.  Watch the Library website for updates.  A grand opening ceremony will be set in May.

The M-20 project has just started at Schraeder’s Creek.  Completion is scheduled for late June.  Hopefully our residents will continue to support our businesses in Mecosta during the detour days.  Hopefully this is the last detour around Mecosta for some time.  Our businesses are hanging on the best they can.

Everyone seems excited to see the expansion of our grocery store in Canadian Lakes.  It should be a great addition to our community.  The store remains open during the construction but patrons are urged to be alert to construction activities to avoid any accidents.

TAX COLLECTIONS:

The last day to pay your winter taxes without penalty and interest is February 14, 2012.  Doug Behrend reports his office has been busy with this year’s collections.

 MEETINGS:

Just a reminder that our Board meetings are scheduled for the first and second Tuesdays of each month.  Check the website for times.  The public is welcome to attend. 

The Mecosta Area Committee meets on the third Monday of each month at the township hall at 7 p.m.  They put on several important functions in our community and are always in need of volunteers.  Contact Sharon Giullani at 972-2945 for more information.

The Mecosta Village Council meets on the first Monday of each month at their office at 7 p.m.  Their meetings are open to the public as well.

We hope this newsletter is helpful for you.  Please send us your comments and concerns to supervisor@mortontownship.org. . 

On behalf of the Board and employees, we wish you all a Happy New Year.