February: “Happy Fiscalivus!”
Council adopted the 2025–26 budget, Road Commission wants a new building, and some of us are a little concerned about the Sheriff Department.
((((((((( Audio of the meeting )))))))))
I’ll start with some *breaking news*: the Village Office will again be holding open office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Come and say hi to Jan and Rachel.
New Village Budget Includes Small Raises and Rate Increases
As of post time, the adopted budget and budget resolution weren’t posted yet, but the draft budget was adopted without any changes, so you can look at that. [Resolutions are up now. 2/26/25] Herewith, I’ll summarize the discussion and show you the “cheat sheets” President Wilkins provided to Council, describing decisions for each of the seven funds.
The Budget, Grant, Finance, and Audit Committee is Jennifer Wilkins, Brett McGregor, the Village Clerk (Rachel Perkins), the Village Treasurer (Jan Erlewein), and Justin Towle of the DPW, per a December 19 council meeting decision (read about the other committees and commissions on the website). There is and has been for some time an open position on BGFAC for an Elberta resident. Please email Rachel if you’re interested (clerk@villageofelberta.com).
I used to be on BGFAC, but numbers tend to hit the smooth surface of my brain and slide off, so I’ve been on Personnel and Policy for about a year. Still, I am sometimes good at asking dumb questions about the budget. I asked how we arrived at the percentages shown above. The 8% assigned as an administrative fee for Major Streets is per Act 51 law, Jen said, and the other percentages are per recent local Village custom. These percentages are how we fund wages and costs for Office activities: the six other funds pay these percentages into the General Fund to cover administrative (office) costs. As you may recall, past Village regimes drew scrutiny from state auditors in part for drawing too much from certain funds to cover unrelated expenses, such as employee wages. Under President Wilkins, we have really improved our accounting practices, and are continuing to do so with the help of career accountant Jan Erlewein in the treasurer’s seat.
Jen highlighted a big-ticket item in the General Fund: the replacement doors for the Life Saving Station, which are being manufactured by RJ Raven in Grand Rapids and will be paid for in part by the last chunk of our ARPA money. New to the General Fund this year is per-meeting compensation for Planning Commission members, set at a spine-tingling $25 for members and $75 for the chair—“They’re making tough decisions for our little Village,” Wilkins said, and this is the first year (that we know of) that they’ll be getting any pay.
We’re also reinstating retirement contributions (per our policy), and will follow the new state law regarding sick pay that Governor Whitmer signed on February 21, requiring workplaces with up to 10 employees to offer 40 hours of paid sick leave each year.
In Major Streets and Local Streets, the major expenses will be for equipment (a new plow truck) and sidewalk installation and repair. Robarge Street, which was roughed in last year, will be completed, and Narrow and Center Streets will be resurfaced. We’re expecting a total of $93,000 in Act 51 money (“Act 51 Shares”) from the state this year.
Out of the Municipal Streets fund, we’re going to repair the garage roof and replace the doors (see the call for roof bids on our website). With regard to my note below circling “offsetting with other funds”: Wilkins is looking into whether it’s legal to use money from the General Fund for this expense, since the office (paid for through the General Fund) is attached to the garage. “I’ve learned a lot from Treasury,” Wilkins said, “and this year we’re going to look into creating a new fund for equipment.”
Wilkins has a quote from Eclipse on the cost of putting a cam at the top of EDNA for sunset view livestreaming! Just today on Bluesky I saw rebar mcentire’s post extolling the therapeutic benefits of the live weather cam at Whitefish Point, although today it actually seems to be … frozen. Other than that, no specific projects planned for the Parks Fund.
DPW has been steadily replacing broken and outdated (and tampered with!) water-sewer meters, and that will continue. Last year a new meter cost $363 and the price has probably gone up. The Sewer Fund will help pay for those, a new DPW laptop for meter reads, and cleaning and maintenance on the new Beach restroom.
The Water Fund will pay (along with a state grant) for the project to map the water lines, hydrants, and curb stops (and train DPW to use the system), and to replace lead water service lines in accordance with the state mandated program of at least 5% replacement per year; we have until 2044 to get all the lead out. “Potholing” means they’re literally going to dig little holes to check for lead pipe.
Wilkins asked for comments from the public on the budget, and there were none, so the regular meeting resumed.
Ragnar Road Race
Council had received an email from Kailey Sumner requesting permission to run the Ragnar Road Race through Elberta along M22 on September 19 between 12 pm and 5 pm. It’ll be the weekend after Ironman. Jen said she’d already given permission. The race will require no road closures. She said there were no issues when they did it last year. “We just make sure the bathrooms are clean and open for them,” she said. (Which I think means they should give us some money, but that’s just me.)
Elberta Dunes South Natural Area
We received our endowment distribution for EDNA from the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation: $4,880, which we can use only for EDNA expenses. As of December 2024 the fund’s total is $134,649.67.
Frankfort Fire & Safety: Walk Like a Penguin
As always, check out the current fire and safety data on the Village website. Chief Cederholm reminds everyone to check your furnace vents to make sure they’re not covered in snow; if they’re not venting out, they might be venting back in. He mentioned the department’s recent ice rescue training. Always looking for ways to reduce our homeowner’s insurance rates, Cederholm had a meeting with ISO, a company that sells data about local fire services to insurance companies. “They’re not now accepting what they call suction points; they used to require a dry hydrant, but now you can provide the latitude and longitude of a suction point [from bodies of water] and its accessibility.” Homeowners who live within a thousand feet of a lake or stream can get a discount on insurance if they give permission to a local fire department to enter their property to draw that water. They are also going to map all the cisterns, such as the large one at Graceland Fruit, which holds about 30,000 [2/27/25] gallons all year round. “Hats off to your DPW, because they’re doing regularly scheduled maintenance” on hydrants and reporting to the fire department about it. “[ISO] want all the documentation and records we can provide.” The department received one of the Grand Traverse Band end of year gaming revenue grants, $10,795 for a chest compression machine (truly lifesaving while EMS workers are waiting for an ambulance, because proper chest compressions are exhausting to perform); matching funds were covered by donations from Frankfort Manufacturing and Frankfort Federal Credit Union. Webber Insurance donated $1,000 for a new ice rescue suit to replace a leaking one. On January 27 three departments were called to a commercial structure fire at Graceland Fruit on Forrester. It turned out to be a waste pit tank that lets off a flare occasionally to burn fumes; the new neighbors weren’t familiar with the phenomenon.
Paul Beechraft Presents on the Road Commission Millage
“With the rate of inflation, every year that we don’t get a millage approved is $540,000 that the cost of this will go up,” said Beechraft, whose dad’s brother’s wife was Edna Beechraft, of Furnace Avenue. Bob Rosa, the chair of the Road Commission, was also present at this meeting. Beechraft said the commission would go for a November election. “We’re encouraging people to come out to the building and look at it. You can see the problem with height. Trucks are all getting taller and longer.”
The barrel trusses have to be completely removed in order to be repaired, and the building is also on three different levels, posing a challenge and safety hazard with unwieldy ramps in order to move materials and equipment around inside. “There was 116 3/4 inches of snow this year in Honor, so far.” Beechraft said he and other members of the department would be trying to attend meetings to make their case. I asked if they were going to do a TikTok. Holmes said, “That’s some junk on the internet.” “We’re looking for help. We could try to get a marketing person, but, it’s your money. If we can sell it and make it happen without spending $30,000 in advertising… Trucks before COVID, complete, were $250,000, trucks today, complete, outfitted, is $500,000.” The commission currently has 26 employees and 16 trucks. “So you have $10 million in equipment in that building, at least, and no fire suppression,” Brett said. “I’m glad you brought that up,” Beechraft said. “Where we’re at we only have the Platte River,” and they need a well that’s big enough to feed a cistern the fire department can use. “It frees up manpower, for one, and two, you’re not putting an $800,000 piece of machinery out there to pump water out of a lake, river or stream, and the sand gets in the pump and tears it up—this will be a big plus for Honor.”
The Road Commission’s previous millage request failed in the 2024 election (see our local results), a loss some, including Gary Sauer, have attributed to lack of communication about the need. The special election will cost $70–$80K, which the Road Commission would cover, per a February 13 article in the Record Patriot. The new headquarters would be located at the site of the former Platte River Elementary School.
Money Stuff
We approved check register expenses in the amount of $56,799.12. The $424.01 paid to the county treasurer was related to adjustments after the most recent Board of Review assessment changes. The $373 paid to the Village of Elberta was us paying our own water bill. Brett asked if there was a way to put a memo column in the report. “If BS&A can work for us, time is money, let’s let it.” “I love dealing with them. I’m on it,” Rachel said.
“She’s done it, everyone,” Jen said, of Rachel’s success at setting up direct deposit for all staff wages, saving us envelopes, paper checks, and time. [2/27/25]
Wilkins said there would be a great budget amendment at the March 13 meeting (which by the way is earlier than usual, on the second rather than third Thursday), because we have more revenues than anticipated.
“I think Winter Fridays has generated about $100 in donations,” I said, by way of a question. “74.01 plus 57,” Rachel said.
Jan reported that bank reconciliations are current in the General Fund, Sewer was correct up to November, and all other funds were up-to-date.
MiClass investments now include the Parks fund, on which we had already made $4.93 in interest.
New Fiscal Year’s Resolutions
They are all already posted on the website here. In addition to the new pay for the Planning Commission members, trustees got a bump to $75 per meeting, and the president now makes $125 per meeting. We renewed the resolution to pay officials to perform staff duties when there’s an absence or vacancy; Jen intends to spend some extra time with DPW training them to take over most or all of their administrative/recordkeeping work, which has previously been done by office staff, and she will be paid for this at a DPW Superintendent rate of $22 an hour.
And finally: the water, sewer, and trash rates are all going up again this year. The new rates are posted on the website. The water usage rate is up 43 cents per 1,000 gallons, the on/off fee is up $25 to $50, and the ready-to-serve rates for the various line sizes are up by about 5%. Trash carts have gone up by $1; no decision had yet been made at the time of the meeting on whether trash bags would go up from $30 for ten. We’re not making more than a few cents on trash carts; the increase covers Republic’s rate change.
The reason for the water-sewer increase is that we (along with Frankfort) have taken on sewer debt to pay for the new BLUA facility, and the cost of living went up by 3.4%. The BLUA project is scheduled to be finished in May 2026.
We renewed our Michigan Township Par Plan insurance coverage with Municipal Underwriters of West Michigan to the tune of $15,191.00; last year it was about $12K, Jen said, and it was going to go up to $14K anyway, but it went up further to cover the new bathroom at Elberta Beach.
We’re going to pay Fleis & VandenBrink one more time ($650 this time) to do our consumer confidence drinking water report (an EGLE requirement), but then Jen and DPW will learn how to do it and that money will be saved in future.
We paid Kerby’s very late invoice of $52,020 and Fleis & VandenBrink’s invoice of $41,465.75 for water-service-related potholing and GIS mapping work done in the summer and fall. We got the money for this from the Michigan Finance Authority, and ultimately from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), to help us meet this state-mandated water system inventory requirement. Then we paid for an emergency repair to our water-service lift station near the Community Building ($6,925), and we approved the purchase of a Quick Attach Eagle Talon for the front-end loader to deal with our community brush pile and large rocks that don’t move by themselves (or at least not fast enough) ($5,716). Justin sent me this video of the claw:
Contract for Use of ELSS by Village Government
We developed a contract so when Parks & Rec or other government bodies use the Life Saving Station for events (such as Winter Fridays) there’s an agreement with some rules in place and a record of payment.
County Commissioner’s Report
Gary Sauer reported on “the new lady for Benzie Senior Resources,” Brigit Hassig. “She’s got a lot of experience with this kind of stuff.” Jon Ottinger, whose wife, Kelly Ottinger, was interim director, said he had heard nothing but good things about Hassig. Sauer said he was concerned that the Road Commission didn’t have the price of their new building nailed down yet, and that, best-case scenario, it will be two years before they start building. Pt. Betsie is hoping to get approval from EGLE in ’26 to proceed with reinforcing the revetment. “They have a $57 million grant that they’ll lose if they don’t get it done in the next couple of years.” The radios for first responders need to be replaced, by state mandate. “I always like state mandates where they never follow through and pay for anything.”
The tax advisory committee will be brought back to reconsider the Headlee Rollback. If anyone else is interested in serving on the five- to seven-member board, they should contact Gary. Among the appointees will be someone elected by the township supervisors, a couple of people “at large,” and a judge appointee.
Sauer went to a Michigan Association of Counties meeting discussion on materials management, meaning recycling. “They will not buy property but they will help you pay for a building.” One of the best recycling places is up in Emmet County, according to Gary. On Monday I learned from Mary Pitcher, the newly elected Lake Township supervisor, that she has been named Waste Management Coordinator, which she’s super-excited about.
Betsie Valley Trail has been given a Pure Michigan trail designation.
“That’s all I have unless you have questions for me. Hopefully you haven’t been reading the paper.”
Lawsuit Against Benzie County and the Sheriff’s Department
“It’s been a lighthearted meeting up until now but I have some questions,” I said. “I don’t know if you can answer them but I’m going to ask them anyway. There’s three current members of the sheriff’s department that are named in this lawsuit. Anybody who’s read the details in this lawsuit, I would imagine, would not necessarily feel so great if one of those three deputies showed up to help them. I know I wouldn’t. Why haven’t they been placed on administrative leave? And, if they were to be, who would do that?”
“The sheriff would do that. Those kind of questions, I would prefer you call the administrator and talk to her. It’s in the sheriff’s purview, the sheriff is kind of his own entity. He’s responsible for that department.”
“So if people have queries about that they should address them to [Katelyn Zeits].”
“I thought you were going to bring up the one with the fireworks in Crystal Lake Township,” Sauer said.
“Actually, I’m not going to bring that one up, except sort of obliquely, which is to say, the county has now settled a lawsuit for $195,000 in 2022, and they’ve got this upcoming settlement [related to the fireworks], and now who knows what’s going to happen with this case [Henry family lawsuit]. It’s a lot of money we’re spending, as residents, to settle lawsuits.”
“We carry insurance. We pay up to $75,000, and anything over that they cover it, and most of the time, if they suggest that you settle, it’s more beneficial than going to court. It’s a business decision. You don’t like it. You’ve got to hold your nose when you do it. I can’t go into details because that was in closed session, but what you read in the papers is not always the whole truth,” Sauer said.
“I have to also bring up that we just spent federal money, $1.8 million for the sheriff department. I feel like, it’s frustrating. There was a renovation, and then like, a gym?”
“That wasn’t the sheriff department, that was central dispatch,” Sauer said. “It was in the same building, but. They did upgrade the gym some. But it doesn’t come out of the county coffers.”
“I’m glad to have that clarification,” I said. [Last May, the Record-Patriot did a breakdown of how the county spent its $3.4 million in ARPA money, and cited Sheriff Department renovations but with no dollar figure. In August the Patriot described the renovation and cost in more detail; basically, they moved central dispatch to a separate area. In May, Gary brought us a flyer breaking down how the county would spend the federal funds. 2/27/25]
This week, Colin Merry published a roundup of lawsuits against the Benzie County Sheriff’s Department. It doesn’t contain dollar amounts. But you have to ask yourself, even in our litigious society, are lawsuits the “cost of doing business” or an indication that our law enforcement is not operating for the benefit of our community? In the case of Linda Henry, we have clear evidence of failure.
Read this article published by IPR and consider visiting the Cinder Pines Reciprocity Project, established by Linda Henry’s son McCord Henry. We should be hearing the county’s response to the court summons very soon.
Planning Commission
The commission is reviewing the draft zoning ordinance. Housing North, an affordable housing advocacy organization, has been attending planning commission meetings. There were three Housing North guests at the February meeting!
Clerk’s Report
More than 9,000 duplicate files have been found on the clerk’s computer. Now those are in a folder.
Parks & Rec
Arlene Sweeting, of WUWU, applied to be on the Parks & Recreation Commission!
Utility Billing: Go Paperless!
Please consider switching to paperless water bills. Email Jon Ottinger at utilitybilling@villageofelberta.com to do so. You will then get your water bill as an email notification.
Burger Battle: Find the Beef Before March 7
Elberta has two restaurants participating: Lighthouse Cafe and Mayfair Burger Bar. The featured Mayfair burger is called “Pickle Pig” and if you like pickles, it’s excellent (you can also order any of their other burgers). I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed and it took me a minute to grasp the Burger Battle concept, so let me explain it to you like I’m 5: You go to one of the participating restaurants and buy a card for $30 (use cash, check, or Venmo [no credit cards for this part]). All that money goes to Rotary Charities to support youth programs like Books from Birth, the Scholastic Book Fair, the Interact Club, and international service trips. Then when you show the card, either at the same time or another time before March 7, you can buy one burger and get one burger free at any of the 7 restaurants who are burger fighting each other. There’s a catch, though: It doesn’t work for takeout. You have to eat the burgers at the restaurant and have a dining experience. (Suck it, introverts.) Then if you want you can vote for the burger you thought was the best, thereby entering yourself for a drawing for $100 in Frankfort Bucks.
Benzie Bus Survey
Item 2 in the category of things ending in early March: If you haven’t taken the Benzie Bus Survey, please do. The survey was paid for by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration and the National Aging and Disability Transit Center. The information gathered during this survey will help the Benzie Transit Authority better serve the community’s needs. Take it by March 9! If you respond you’ll be in the running for one of three $100 Family Fare gift cards. Personally, I would like to see the Benzie Bus eventually operate on a regular schedule of stops, say every 10 or 15 minutes. Like a bus. But in the meantime, it would be great if Elberta could at least be added to the Flex Route? The squeaky wheel gets the grease, folks! Survey it up.
Manners Corner
It’s not OK to shout at our office staff or slam down objects when you’re mad about your utility bill or your utility circumstances. Our staff are doing their job, which is to follow our policies and ordinances. If you feel you are being treated unfairly, or rudely, or you disagree with a policy or ordinance, please take it up with a member of council. Note that there’s a camera in the office that records images *and sound* all the time. And tampering with water meters is a criminal offense for which council will certainly and enthusiastically call law enforcement and press charges.
Imagination Library
In a public comment, Kay Bond, a new resident of Elberta as of October 2024 and the executive director of the Advocates for Benzie County, talked about the organizations two foci: early education, and adult education for ages 25 to 50. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has recently been in the news because it was defunded by the Indiana Republicans in their proposed budget, is one of the projects the Advocates participate in. In its seventh year, per the Record Patriot, the Benzie program is funded by the Advocates Early Childhood Task Force, Rotary, and private donations. You can register for the program here, and join 70% of Benzie children ages 0 to 5. The Advocates are applying for a seed grant from the Rotary Foundation to survey the 25+ age group about the need for financial support for adult education, including help with tuition, books, transportation, and childcare.
A Statement from President Wilkins: “We Have a Foundation”
begins at 1:29:00 in the recording above. I will probably transcribe it at some point but it’s worth listening to her words.
Elberta in the News: Shhhhhh
Some fool talked to the papers about us. If you want “solitude and reflection,” this is not how you go about it.
