ECKFORD TOWNSHIP of

CALHOUN COUNTY

February 16, 2015

Supervisor Rapp called the regular meeting of the Eckford Township Board to order at 7:30 p.m. Others in attendance were Clerk Hinkley, Treasurer Baylis, Trustee Cornell, Trustee Lawrence, M.Frohm, B. Haeske, County Comm. B. VanSickle, A. Blight, L. Robinson, Water Resource Comm. C. Kosmowski, B. Cenci, D & L Tasker, E. Tasker .

ABSENT: NONE

Supervisor Rapp led the group in the pledge and T. Baylis gave the invocation.

CLERK MINUTES

A motion was made by Trustee Lawrence to approve the regular minutes of the January 19, 2015 meeting with the correction of re-coup spelling in Communications section. Trustee Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Treasurer Baylis gave the financial statement for January with

RECEIPTS $ 19,625.80

DISBURSEMENTS $ 19,430.86

BILLS TO Pay $ 7,685.37

Trustee Lawrence made a motion to approve the Financial Statement as presented and pay the bills. Trustee Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED

HOMER FIRE BOARD REPORT

Given by B. Rapp, we will be looking at the new articles that has been drawn up for the Homer Area Fire Authority tonight. They are getting bids to have the electricty seperated from the Homer Village.

MARENGO FIRE DEPARTMENT

Given by A. Blight, they had two fire alarm calls. They also have a complaint of one of Marengo Twp. residents on Division Drive burning railroad ties in their wood stove. There are two Eckford residents burning them in their as well. Supervisor Rapp will look into what our township can do about this problem. The neighbors do not want to be breathing in the toxic air.

MARSHALL FIREFIGHTERS AMBULANCE

Given by Trustee Cornell, the meeting will be this coming thursday.

ZONING ADMINISTRATORS REPORT

Given by B. Rapp, nothing at this time

CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER REPORT

Given by B. Rapp, there is nothing at this time but there has been one Land Divison with John LaForge which will be sold to John & Sharon Kiessling.

PLANNING COMMISSION

Given by Martha Frohm, Dawn has given her resignation which will go into effect when we have a new replacement. Rich will be ordering new maps for the Master Plan.

LIBRARY REPORT

Given by M. Frohm, this is reading month there will be prizes for reading a certain number of books. They will be doing renovations in July/August to help the flow of the library and to accomodate the after school programs.

CITIZENS COMMENTS

Water Resources Commissioner Christine Kosmowski along with engineer Brian Cenci are meeting with residents along the Booth Richfield Drain. This drain has been asked to be re-done by Doug & Linda Tasker. The price to do so has been surprisingly larger than they realized it would be and they want to find out what can be done about the price of having this drain done. After much discussion Ms. Kosmowski said she would go over the options that she would bring back to the residents and have then decided if they wanted to go through with the drain renovations or stop them but either way there would be a charge for services that have already been done. Residents that were present for this discussion was: Doug & Linda Tasker, Eric Tasker, Dean Vincent, Larry Robinson, Blain VanSickle

COMMUNICATIONS

Clerk Hinkley shared that she met with the Decker Agency which is the township's insurance agency. Everything looks good for the township's coverage. She also gave a each board member a sheet of new services that are available to each member to utilize. Supervisor Rapp shared that the Board of Review will be March 11th & 12th. Clerk Hinkley also shared that there will be a May election that the residents of the state will be voting whether to increase the state sales tax from 6% to 7% to pay for the repair of roads and bridges.

OLD BUSINESS

Roads, Supervisor Rapp has still not been able to get ahold of the road commission. Clerk Hinkley will be emailing Angela at the road commission and let her know which roads we would like to do and see if we can get some response from her.

NEW BUSINESS

Marengo Township Fire contract there is a 3% increase on this years contract. Clerk Hinkley shared that we have kept the Fredonia Township contract at the same rate for the last couple of years and the Homer Fire contract has gone done in accordance with our runs. Treasurer Baylis made a motion to keep the Marengo Fire Contract at the same rate as last year and to give them $6000 for the fire truck fund. Trustee Cornell seconded the motion. Clerk Hinkley will contact Marengo and see if they will agree to these terms.

Conditional Use Permit Dwight Dunn Farm: Trustee Lawrence made a motion to accept the Conditional Use Permit for a trailer for farm use for Dwight Dunn Farm and Trustee Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED

Conditional Use Permit for Holloo Farms: Trustee Lawrence made a motion to accept the Conditional Use Permit for two trailers for farm use for the Holloo Farms and Trustee Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED

Homer Fire Authority Agreement, much discussion was held over the wording and phrasing of certain items. It was decided with as many questions as there was about the agreement that the board members would try to go to the Homer Fire board meeting next week to present the conerns that Trustee Cornell has raised.

Clerk Hinkley shared that the computer used for elections that was given to the township by a grant five years ago has a crashed hard drive. The IT guy Don gave us two options to either get a new one or put in a new hard drive which may not last very long. Clerk Hinkley shared that this computer can only be used for election day and that she would like a board decision in how to proceed. Treasurer Baylis made a motion to purchase a new computer for elections and Trustee Cornell seconded the motion. CARRIED

County Commissioner Blaine VanSickle stated that he was surprised the road commissioner had not responded to our calls. He also stated that coming to the Supervisor's meeting would help. Trustee Lawrence stated that he was going to try to start attending these meetings.

ADJOURNMENT

Trustee Lawrence made a motion to adjourn at 9:20 p.m. Seconded by Clerk Hinkley.

Respectfully submitted by,

Kimberly Hinkley Bruce Rapp

Eckford Township Clerk Eckford Township Supervisor

APPROVED