Dockett 5 9 2017 340w226h

'If I was an employee, I'd be fired.'

- Trustee Wayne Dockett

Two minutes and forty seconds into this meeting, Trustee Dockett walked out. Because Trustees Otto and Chick were absent, this left only four Trustees, less than the 5 member supermajority required to convene a closed session. Why Dockett walked out on a meeting he himself requested is the question. Adding 2 and 2, the presence of the Township Labor attorney and the Public Safety Director, one could be forgiven for speculating that Dockett requested this meeting to discuss the status of Northfield Township Police Lt. Green, who has been on paid Administrative Leave for many months.

 

Watch the thrills and spills with our 5-9-2017 Northfield Township Board of Trustees special meeting LiveAgenda

Dockett: "I wanna know how many people we need for this meeting.”

Chockley: “We need five to close the session

Dockett: “Yes

Dockett: “Well I think I'm gonna leave

Chockley: “Well, uh

Chockley: “And our attorney has come to speak to us about an important topic, we'll have to adjourn to the next meeting then, Mr Dockett. Mr Dockett?

Zelenock: "Isn't this the one he wants to talk about?

Chockley: “I thought this was the one you wanted to hear something about, Mr. Dockett

Dockett: “I'm wanting to get a paycheck too and I don't have one. So

Manley: “Well, we can address... Our labor attorney's here; we can address her about that...

Dockett: “Oh, I'll be here.”

Or, you can watch it from the beginning on VideoNorthfield

We have broken out each item in the meeting packets.  They are separated into individual documents and and converted into searchable text.  The financial reports show how quickly money is flying out the door and give evidence of the Township's actual indebtedness.  Ex Township Manager Fink's legacy of unplanned-for debt, financial incompetence, and deferred maintenance compounded the crippling foolishness of our Township's past petty dictatorships.  There's a fresh bundle of Bad News in each monthly board packet.

Meeting Documents:

 

 

 Little Library Dangerously unregulated cropped 800w

 

 

 Meeting Documents:

by David GordondirtRoadPotholes 2017 05 02 350w

Local roads in Northfield Township will not be getting better anytime soon, according to a Washtenaw County Road Commission report presented to the Board of Trustees at their April 25 meeting.

“We have only enough money to fill some of the potholes” began WCRC Managing Director Roy Townsend as he painted a grim picture of road financing in Michigan and our township.  (link to the WCRC 2017 report)

According to Townsend, Northfield has about 40 miles of roads which need serious upgrading that would cost $100,000/mile or $4M. Last year, our township spent $108,000 on local road maintenance.

There are 14 local road projects on the WCRC drawing board for Northfield, said WCRC District Project Manager Mike Mastie, but the total cost would be $2,226,000 and Northfield would need to pay half.

Townsend noted that Northfield’s spending for roads is near the bottom in the county. He outlined several financing options that other communities use to fund road repairs such as millages or Special Assessment Districts. (link to “Funding Local Road Improvements” and “Township Contribution Summary” from WCR report).

On average between 2012-2016, Northfield contributed $10.89/capita. Only Lyndon Township spent less: $10.45/capita. The top three communities in road funding are Salem ($97.68), Saline ($72.26) and Scio ($66.44).

Trustees Tawn Beliger and Wayne Dockett both accused the road commission of wasting money. Beliger added: “Taxes don’t fix roads”.   Townsend then pointed out that repairs this year on East Shore Drive were being done because of a tax millage passed last year.

Regarding the work being done on US23, Townsend that the Michigan DOT does not set aside extra funds to help maintain local roads that are degraded due to the extra traffic trying to avoid the highway construction.

General “spot improvements” plus brine applications to reduce dust again will be the attention dirt roads get this year, he said. Northfield spends $32,000 for each of the two brine applications per year even though Townsend said brine is not particularly effective on dirt roads. Resident Bruce Bell later questioned the sense of spending the $64,000.

The Board must provide a priority list of road “spots” for maintenance by May 19, and Supervisor Marlene Chockley asked the Trustees and members of the public to make specific recommendations. 

In other matters:

  • The Board approved the job description for the manager position. Treasurer Lenore Zelenock insisted that language be added instructing the manager to “Implement the Master Plan”. Trustees Jacki Otto and Janet Chick objected, claiming that “it goes without saying,” which brought guffaws from the residents in attendance. The previous manager, Howard Fink, was never instructed to respect the Master Plan and as a result embroiled the township in a two-year fight.
  • About 40 people have applied for the manager post. The Board will hold a “Special Meeting” next week to decide criteria and create a process for making a selection.   The Board also has not created any process for evaluating the manager’s performance.

             Otto's proposed Township Manager's job description

  • The six-year, $445,000 weed control project for Whitmore Lake was approved. The program, which is funded by lake property owners, has been ongoing since 2003.
  • The Board hired a new controller, Ms. Yvette Patrick, who will begin May 15 or sooner.
  • Little Porky’s retracted it’s application for a packaged liquor license. State law requires license holders be a minimum of ½ mile from one another, and Little Porky’s is within ½ mile of Polly’s Market, which holds the only package license in the township.
  • Clerk Kathy Manley reminded voters in the Ann Arbor School District that a special election is being held May 2.
  • Chockley said the Downtown Planning Group and the Downtown Development Authority will be holding joint workshops and focus groups to involve residents in their strategic planning efforts. Dates TBD.
  • Otto said the local Kiwanis is holding a golf outing fundraiser on May 13 at Rolling Meadows Golf Course. 
  • Chick "clarified" that the Planning Commission, on which she is the Board liaison, did not recommend the Downtown Planning Group “synthesis plan” for the North Village project on the former Van Curler property surrounding the Post Office on Main Street. She said the PC urges further public input as a means of finalizing a plan from among the several suggested. 

 

Meeting Documents:

We break the packet into component documents, converted as necessary to searchable text.  As a bonus, in addition to making everything ridiculously easier to find, it saves you money.  Those people on limited internet plans or speeds save about 33%. 

Editorial by Jim Nelson

undernewmanagement 340w

What will they be talking about in April 25th's closed session?  Probably about the rumored $20,000 cost of each of the still unobtained easements for the Barker Road non motorized path.  

In his haste to inflate his resume with our tax dollars, the dear departed patron saint of free money, Township Manager Howard Fink, neglected to obtain the required easements from the property owners while the Township had a tenable negotiating position.  Trustees supposedly watching your back, including Jacki Otto and Janet Chick, sat by and allowed Fink to do it.  Wayne Dockett was the only Trustee on the former Board to object to what was either Fink's ineptitude or flagrantly misleading cost accounting.

The kicker is that the previous Board promised to the property owners who had already sold their easements (for fair prices), to match the prices that the Township would finally pay for the unsettled easements.  In other words, the moment the Township pays $20,000 per new easement, they have promised to retroactively raise the price paid for those already bought.  Sounds fair, if gruesomely expensive.  Yet at a Board meeting earlier this year, Trustee Otto astonished everyone by saying that the promise made by the previous board was "optional."  In other words, the word of the Township Board and its Trustees could be considered to mean absolutely nothing.

That's something you should remember.    I'll post a LiveVideo link to that later. 

 

Meeting Documents:

We have broken the packet into component documents, converted as necessary to searchable text.  As a bonus, in addition to making everything ridiculously easier to find, it saves you money.  Those people on limited internet plans or speeds save about 33%. 

 

Northfield Township Master Plan is “Just Fine”

Formal Review Postponed

By David Gordon

Planner Patrick Sloane laid out a five-step roadmap for reviewing the township’s Master Plan at last night’s meeting. Several Planning Commissioners balked at the scope of the review and at the $29,000 price tag.

After nearly two hours of discussion, the Planning Commission voted to postpone a decision until it’s May 3 meeting.

RomanCousino04192017crop340w

“The budget is tight, so let’s put it off to next year” said Trustee Janet Chick, the Board representative to the Commission, setting the tone for the long discussion that followed.   Later in the meeting, she said Sloane’s fees “were not out of line.”   Commissioner Sam Iaquinto said the budget “doesn’t seem out of line, but I’m in favor of saving half, possibly.”

Sloane’s budget is $6,000 less that the $35,000 spent on the 2012 Master Plan review, and final approval of the budget is made by the Board of Trustees.

Commissioners noted that some items in Sloane’s proposal were actually part of the Commission’s regular activities. Commissioner Amy Steffens commented, “this is a big job for just an update” and then said that “we have no means of measuring our progress” as a commission.

There was general agreement that the Master Plan needs no major changes. “It’s sufficient for now,” said Commissioner Brad Cousino, summing up the majority view.

Two separate projects – for downtown revitalization and for land preservation - are underway and will eventually be woven into the overall Master Plan, said Chairman Larry Roman.

The Downtown Planning Group is working on a “strategic action plan and design framework” for the entire downtown area including the new North Village Park proposal.  

The Farmland & Natural Area Preservation Committee is developing recommendations for protecting the township’s rural heritage.

Commissioner Cecelia Infante recommended that Sloane help with both of those two independent projects and coordinate with the Planning Commission.  

The township’s Master Plan was last updated in 2014 and a formal review isn’t required until 2019, according to Sloane. He said the minimum requirement is a notation in the official “Commission Minutes” saying the plan has been reviewed.

Some Commissioners asked that Sloane rework the budget with more detail.    

Meeting Documents:

 

  1. 4-11-2017 Northfield Township Board of Trustees
  2. 4-5-2017 Northfield Township Planning Commission Rejects Cobalt Survey Offer
  3. 3-28-2017 Ambitious “North Village” Waterfront Park Plan Unveiled
  4. 3-14-2017 Northfield Township Board of Trustees meeting
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