January: “Let’s Have a Future Party”
The January 18, 2024: bearcats, oh my! — and 2 polls
(((((((( Audio of the meeting )))))))))
Council, which is also the Zoning Board of Appeals, had a brief meeting before the meeting to approve the minutes from the ZBA hearing on Elberta Land Holding Company’s proposed nonconforming fence. I’ve been meaning to do a report on the hearing, with audio, and I probably will, but the minutes are very thorough, so you can certainly get a strong feel for what happened by reading them. ICYMI, the appeal was denied. According to a source close to the matter, no-trespassing signs went up in several spots on the property on the morning of Friday, January 26.
As usual, the real minutes are up on the Village website.
There was no correspondence included in the trustee packets, but President Wilkins mentioned that there had been some further back-and-forth with Mr. Rains regarding his interest in purchasing part of White Street or having a portion vacated. Perhaps needless to say, there are known and unknown unknowns to this, and investigation is underway. If you’re interested in the topic of abandoning streets that exist, or developing streets that are platted but don’t yet exist (Prospect and Shady Lane, anyone?), you might want to serve on a Streets Committee! Please let me or Jennifer Wilkins know.
Wilkins and Clerk-Treasurer Ralston have continued to chuck a huge number of office hours and brain cells at our software and accounting overhaul, catching up on bank reconciliations with help from Treasury, learning how to use the new BS&A system (transferring all our digits over from Fund Balance, which hardly any entity in our region uses); and settling into a secure Microsoft 365 office email and file sharing system, in addition to all the regular stuff. Wilkins, per our Resolution 2023-006, has been getting paid to act as DPW Superintendent and Deputy Clerk during this transition time. We will be resuming the search for dedicated office deputies soon. In the meantime, Wilkins has been recusing herself from the payroll vote at meetings.
Since I’ve had a bit more exposure in the past year to the hours and personpower required for monthly water reads and billing, I’m wondering if we should go to a quarterly billing system, which I believe Beulah has. This is not being seriously discussed at the moment, but what do you think? See poll below.
Financial Report
Council approved $190,188.41 in accounts payable expenses and a payroll of $14,243.71. Payroll this time included meeting payments for trustees (trustees get $40 per council meeting and the president gets $80).
Expect a slew of budget amendments in February; the bank reconciliations should be done by the end of the fiscal year, Wilkins said. The master plan update is overbudget and no more funding is coming. We also spent more than the $25K we were granted from Treasury for accounting and auditing help; Wilkins said she will ask Treasury for $10,000 more. A portion of our state revenue sharing is being held until we’ve submitted an updated deficit elimination plan (DEP), and that can't be done until bank recs are done (bank recs are current through September ’23). We were expecting $35,925 in state revenue sharing, but we’ve received $29,601.69.
Something to look forward to with BS&A is the arrival of electronic payment options for water bills and other things. Intellipay is being considered.
The Water Project Is Finished. Long Live the Water Project!
Council authorized payment of the last of our engineering and construction bills related to the great water main replacement of 2023.
When all was said and not done, we had about about $97,000 left over from our grants and loans, and so council amended its agreement with Fleis & VandenBrink to oversee more work to take place “first thing in the spring.” Ken Mlcek, our favorite engineer, said the remaining funds will cover two more blocks of Lincoln, from Sherman to Pearson, and the replacement of the Bigley water main from Lincoln to Glen Avenue; I asked when “first thing in the spring” was, because I’ve never been clear on this, and Mlcek said May 1stish.
Mapping the Sewer System — the Ninja Turtles Were Booked
Fleis & VandenBrink will also oversee a project to GIS map our water system, and council voted to add on the sewer system, as long as they’re out there. This work is 25% funded by a Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) grant. The idea is that when all our mains, wells, valves, curb stops, manholes, pumping stations, drains, and other water system features are mapped on a handheld computer system, DPW will be spared a ton of time and heartache looking for these things for routine maintenance, meter readings, and emergencies, and the Village will ultimately save money. The addition of the sewer system to the mapping project will cost $15K.
The GIS is by Leica Geosystems and will cost $6,028. This is the same Leica what makes the classy film cameras, and I’m chuffed to see they’ve swanned into the 21st century. Mlcek said the system provides accuracy within three inches and, unlike one competitor they looked at, has no monthly fees.
Speaking of the expensive 21st century, we have to spend $5,658.82 on software so that our SLC (Badger) water meters will work with our new BS&A billing system. We’re not necessarily in love with the meters we have, but unfortunately we fiscally can’t wait to issue water bills until such time as we’re able to get all new meters.
Maximizing the Elberta Life Saving Station
We updated and renewed our contract with Kristi Mills to handle events at the Life Saving Station. Kristi does a terrific job taking care of this huge Village asset and major source of revenue. Several parties have taken advantage of the new Weekend Rental rate, and we’re hoping more will, because it’s less stressful for the renters, Kristi, DPW, and probably the building to have one group scheduled for the whole weekend. This contract gives Kristi a bump in her compensation if she manages to secure more than 15 weekend rentals.
Trustee Brett McGregor said he’d like to see other types of events year-round, since we’re heating the building anyway. I violently agree. Smaller, community-oriented uses like lectures, bingo nights, and classes that are open to the public would really bring us together as a Village. And perhaps private events with a rental fee could be considered. As with everything, this will take some organization and volunteerism to pull off (some poor sap with a spreadsheet), and we’ll have to come up with fees to cover costs if necessary and some decisions about scheduling and rules and all that, in cooperation with Kristi. It would be great to have additional revenue to cover upkeep and updates to the building. What kinds of fun would you like to see at the LSS? Respond in the poll below.
We Love Kerby’s Backhoe!
Oh, yes we do. We signed a two-year contract for excavating services with Kerby’s, including a detailed schedule of hourly rates. Ken Holmes once again mentioned the beyond-the-call-of-duty response from Kerby during our catastrophic water main break of February 2023.
Ironman 2024
Sunday, September 15, 2024, is the day of the next Ironman, and the Ironpeople are on the ball when it comes to getting their street closure and traffic control orders taken care of. The route will be the same as in 2023, with M22 between Frankfort Ave and River Road closed as well as one side of Frankfort Ave and Furnace Street. They will not be utilizing pothole-riddled Bye Rd (aka the road to the overlook), although it will be fixed not too long after they have run/swum/biked away. Unfortunately, we hear from Gary Sauer that Traverse City will host the 2025 event, apparently largely because of lack of lodging locally. The participants all have had high praise for competing in Frankfort–Elberta.
Garbage
Due to a filing error by person or persons unknown, we can’t find the original contract with Republic Services, which possibly dates to 1994, but wherever it is, they want to amend it to raise their rates about 33% and lock us in to yearly increases for 5 years. Mr. McGregor is going to investigate other options and we’ll revisit the contract at the February meeting.
Committees and Commissions: Get Involved!
It was time to appoint and reappoint, and create some new committees. I have been president pro tempore for a bit, and was wondering if someone else might like to do it. Two of our council members are appointed rather than elected, and I didn’t know if there were any rules stipulating that a pro tempore be an elected trustee. It turns out there aren’t. The General Law Village Act chapter V Sec. 65.3(2) merely says that in the absence of both president and pro tem, the trustee with the longest current period of continuous service shall preside, which means that if Wilkins and I were both absent, Ken Holmes would be in charge. I will continue on as pro tempore.
There’s a new page on the website devoted to committees and commissions, and you can see there are some vacant spots, especially two important ones on the Planning Commission. Descriptions of each of these bodies, their missions and time commitments, are forthcoming. As chair of the Personnel and Policy Committee, I would really love to have some members of the community involved as we hone our policies and deal with HR issues and job descriptions and interdepartmental communication, so if you’re interested, please give me a shout.
The Demolition of Platte River Elementary School
During County Commissioner Gary Sauer’s report we learned that the old school was to come down “shortly”; he said the state police had shown some interest in the county’s plan to use a bearcat armored vehicle to do this work. The public were discouraged from attending this event for safety reasons, and indeed I don’t know when it’s happening or if it has already happened, so I can’t encourage or discourage you, but I did mention it to a local drone filmmaker, and I hope that it will be documented for posterity. I had to google “bearcat” to get a look at the proposed equipment; if I were a real journalist I would go to the county and ask to look at it.
The Fire Department: Great Service Costs Money
Scroll down on the dedicated Fire & Safety page on the Village website to read Chief Cederholm’s detailed report, including safety notices (Walk Like a Penguin!). Runs are up again from last year, and this along with inflation, insurance hikes, and the fact that Cederholm would like to pay his staff at least as much as they might earn at McDonald’s or washing dishes means we will probably need to pay more for fire and safety service. I attended a fire board meeting last week during which representatives from the service area (Frankfort, Blaine, Crystal Lake, Lake, Gilmore, and Elberta) discussed the new ask, and some of the equipment needed to comply with regulations, which Cederholm is seeking grant funding for. As first responders, the Fire Department often gets called for falls and other non-fire emergencies, including from residents at the Maples. I asked how much a basic call like that costs the department (it doesn’t cost the caller anything out of pocket). Cederholm estimated that in wages and fuel and other factors, it’s about $350 per response. “You can’t tell people not to call 911,” Cederholm said. On the other hand, everyone should think about these realities before they head to the polls to vote on the fire & safety millage in November. Also under discussion was the impact of visitor behavior on costs. Don’t light charcoal in a gas grill, folks.
DPW — They Moved a Lot of Snow for a Few Days
For not having their CDLs, Justin Towle and Chris Cervantes sure have been making some piles with the equipment they can legally operate, which is a plow truck and the DoMor. I have seen them up early in the dark and cold as I head to the gym and I appreciate them very much. Now that it’s November again, I hope they’re catching up on some sleep, but with a new baby and the written CDL test to take in February, Justin probably isn’t, and Chris still pulls an all-nighter at the Fire Department on Sundays, so that exes out z’s for him, too. These guys work hard.
People are driving up to the water’s edge near the Life Saving Station instead of parking in the parking lot and walking. Some big rocks are coming.
Would you like to do weekend testing at BLUA, the sewage treatment facility? You can. Fred Gum has left the position.
The draft budget for fiscal year 2024/25 is done, and the
Annual budget hearing will be held February 15 at 7 p.m., right before the council meeting.
Thank you to President Wilkins, Kat Ralston, and new Budget committee member replacing me Brett McGregor for their work on this, especially Wilkins. I am so glad not to be on the budget committee anymore I can’t even begin to tell you. And you’re glad, too. During the discussion about pro tempore, McGregor mentioned that he graduated high school in 1994, whereupon I said “so you’re older than me.”
Reader, math is hard.
I can handle a quarterly bill but I'm afraid that a significant number of residence cannot. Far too many residents live month-to-month and a quarterly bill could be devastating
Benzonia also bills quarterly. Great job with these reports. I read a lot of reports of township meetings. Yours are a lot more interesting.