October Surprises
A report on the October Council Meeting and other news
** Don’t forget to vote tomorrow! Voting happens at 401 First Street, the Elberta Community Building, from 7 am to 8 pm. **
Be sure to get one of Michigan’s nationally famous “I Voted” stickers for your scrapbook. And watch for deer. It’s sexy-street-crossing season for these varmints.
WUWU Program Notes
Tune in to 100.1 FM tomorrow, November 5, from 9 am to 11 to hear Sue Oseland’s mellow tones on her first radio broadcast—her first in Elberta, anyway. Sue has done radio before, and she used to live here in the Village and served as both our Farmers’ Market manager and our postmaster, so she’s sure to cue up some deep cuts. Sue says her program will showcase singer-songwriters, especially local ones, and tomorrow the theme will be (what else?) democracy and making your voice heard.
During Gretchen Carr’s program last Wednesday, October 30, station cofounder and local history buff David Beaton talked about the Marconi radio station, set up by Marconi himself, that was commissioned by the Ann Arbor railroad to communicate with its ships on the Great Lakes from our very own little tower, still standing and known to some as the Fishermen’s Memorial, just northeast of the overlook. If you haven’t heard that show, check it out in the WUWU archive. It’s also worth a visit to catch the very informative interview the Carr Fairy did with Erin Whiting of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, about the history and current status of the Elberta Community Waterfront Conservation Project, which was the covergirl of the GTRLC’s fall issue of Landscript.
Parks & Recreation: Bingo at the LSS
The Parks and Rec Survey is now closed, with 32 responses received. The next stop on the five-year-plan choo choo is the Parks & Rec meeting on November 14 at the Community Building at 6 pm. All are welcome.
The next day, November 15, you might catch a glimpse of the final and superiest supermoon of the year, the Beaver Moon. Or it might be cloudy and you’ll just get your period.
After 30 days of public review time, the final plan will be adopted (probably) at the December 19 regular council meeting.
I hear there’s some discussion of bringing Bingo to the Life Saving Station this winter, perhaps during the newly proposed “Winter Fridays” open houses there.
((((((((( Audio of the October 17 Council Meeting )))))))))
Draft minutes of this meeting are available on the Village website.
Paging the Lorax
We approved a contract with Dunscombe & Sons for tree trimming. They have already done a lot of work in the Village to DPW’s satisfaction. They cost more than Smitty’s but have already shown themselves to be worth the premium.
The contract was based on one developed by Cathy Anderson when she was Village Clerk or Special Projects Administrator.
The stumps from the clearing of the woods on Robarge between George McManus and White Street were yet to be removed at the time of the meeting but would be sometime this fall, per the contract.
Meanwhile, in the part of the Village not managed by a contracted tree service (or at least not as far as I know):
County Commissioner’s Report
00:33:14
Gary Sauer went to the MAC conference (whether it was the Michigan Association of Counties or the Mackinac Policy Conference was unclear) and heard Enbridge discuss how they monitor their pipeline in the straits for wayward anchors with a special camera they can focus on ships. “This is to help avoid the anchor strike thing, and they're supposed to move at a certain speed. It's amazing what the camera can pick up. They actually use it for helping if somebody has an issue out there or a boat capsizes or whatever. And I was super impressed. If something's not right they can get ahold of the captain and they can stop him or check and make sure the anchor is secure like it's supposed to be and those kinds of things.”
00:34:14
Ken Holmes took the opportunity to weigh in on the possibly separate issue of gunfire along the Betsie Valley Trail: “I was in school when they first put the law on those boats and stuff and shooting on the bay and now I'm hearing I can't even walk on the trail. The people on the trail there must be scared as hell because they're shooting damn close to it.
“The whole thing is, they’re shooting near people, and I'd like to see the county do something about that. That was a refuge for wildlife. Next thing you know the DNR has gotten out hunting that area. They're not going to do anything unless they kill somebody.”
Commissioner Sauer continued with his report.
00:35:27
Sauer reported that the Benzie–Leelanau combined Health Department now has a full-time officer at the health department, Dan Thorell, who starts November 27. Thorell had previously worked for the department one day a week. There are two upcoming public meetings about health services in Benzie/Leelanau that I learned about on the Health Department website, which I had never visited. I also learned there that Gary Sauer is the chair of the health department board!
There was some discussion at that health department meeting about the statewide septic code. “Luckily everybody's running for reelection so nothing's getting done, which probably is a blessing but you never know when lame duck comes around what'll get pushed through.”
The Maples was at 99.7% occupancy for the year and 82% of clients were Benzie County residents.
The three-year contract for the new emergency communications tower in Frankfort was approved.
00:38:14
The recycling area will temporarily move to the lot just north of the Stormcloud Parkview Taproom before a new location near there can be established. Frankfort’s recycling area is said to be the busiest in the county, and a goodly portion of the deposited items end up blowing into the bay.
Elberta Life Saving Station (ELSS)
Kristi Mills already has a lot of bookings set for 2025, starting in May all the way through to October, President Wilkins said. “I'm sure there's still room for more, but she's going to town, and that's good for us. I was able to report about that on the Deficit Elimination Plan—one of [State Treasury’s questions] was why did our revenues go up so much from 2023 to 2024?” Because of ELSS rentals. Thank you, Kristi!
Elberta Beach
]The FEHS Interact Club, which is associated with Rotary, did a beach cleanup on Saturday, October 19. Thanks, guys!
Biggest news: The project is done.
All hail Ken Mlcek, our chief engineer from Fleis & VandenBrink, without whom none of this could have happened. More on Ken in more detail later, but take a moment to behold his greatness:
I’ve been meaning to post about the marvel that is the dunegrass planting and make people aware of this delicate amenity—but apparently while I slept on it there was some foot traffic over the newly planted grass. Holly Zirkel and her crew put a lot of elbow grease and sunscreen into stabbing individual blades of dunegrass into the sand, so let’s show it some love and keep off the beach lawn. Some rocks were installed and some grading done at the beach side of the swank pavilion to make it look less like a gateway to the beach, so that might help. Hey, what’s with the passive voice, there? Justin Towle and Chris Cervantes were among those who lifted those rocks and put them there, eliciting many new and exciting back pain experiences.
Betsie Valley Trail
Steve Radionoff is our new representative on the Betsie Valley Trailway Management Council, and his first meeting with them is in November.
Robarge Vacation
00:02:26
OK, this is really confusing to me, and I’m not the only one, so bear with me.
Mark Rains spoke about what he’d discovered, in consultation with an attorney and Josh Mills (our zoning administrator), about the process for vacating a portion of Robarge Street so that he and his wife, Cheryl Herr-Rains, can build on their property, which they bought in 2022. Much of the property is unbuildable because it is wetland.
“We bought the property knowing it was wetland but not knowing how much wetland until we got it surveyed. And then we didn't really know given that wetland what we could or couldn't do. And that's changed over the last 20 years. So the outcome is there's really not enough land to build the house on as it is. But if it works out, we become taxpayers for that part of Robarge as well as the plot we already own.”
According to Rains, normally, if the Village vacated the street, it would be split in half, with the eastern half going to one owner or set of owners, and the western half going to the west-side owners. In this case, the Rainses would seek to acquire the other side after the street was vacated (a decision made in court). Another tactic would be to purchase a strip of land along the western side of the street before the vacation occurs so that the entire street area would automatically go to them in the event they are successful in their petition to vacate. If they are unsuccessful, however, they will then own a 5-foot-wide, 300-foot-long strip of land on which nothing can be built.
Rains said Mills suggested getting affidavits from the abutters (Lee Plant, James Ward, and Allen Harig on Robarge and the property owners on White Street) that they would waive their interest in their half of the street. These affidavits would be presented to the Planning Commission, who would if they approve pass it on to the Village Council. Council would pass (or not) a resolution to vacate, and then there would be a public hearing. Then a court proceeding would determine the title change from public to private, during which other stakeholders (DNR, EGLE, etc.) would have a chance to dispute the change.
Frankfort Fire & Rescue
00:10:32
(See Chief Cederholm’s detailed reports on our website.) There are 23 active members of the fire department. He reminded everyone to look out for deer and children in these early morning and early evening hours of darkness, and to use the “fall back” on November 3 as an occasion to replace smoke alarm and CO detector batteries. “Replace your furnace filter, keep your doors closed at night. You'd be surprised the studies that are coming out how that door stops fire.… When you hear smoke detectors and you see flames, how much time have you got to get out of the house? Two minutes.” It’s important to plan a meeting place with your housemates in the event of a fire, so everyone can be accounted for quickly. “The first question we normally ask when we get out of our trucks is, Everybody out of this house? Because the tactical objectives are life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation. So when you say there's somebody in the house, we're going in; if you say there's nobody in the house, then we're going to go to the appropriate mode.”
As usual, the department is doing a lot of outreach and education with the kids, and it’s always adorable to hear Chief Cederholm report on these activities. “Those kids on the first day of school in September were great, carrying their backpacks, which looked like sacks of bricks. And when the kindergartners came in, we realized we were welcoming the class of 2037. Wow.”
Money Stuff
We had accounts payable expenditures in the amount of $433,228.33 and payroll to the tune of $15,486.63.
Wilkins had corrected the excess amounts in property taxes with some help from Maryann Goodman, Lake Township clerk treasurer, and we were thus better able to vote on some budget amendments. Water and sewer funds also had higher revenues than expected, and that was to be corrected next. “One thing I noticed today when I was doing the budget amendment is that grant money we’ve received hasn’t all been posted in BS&A. So that's next on the list and troubleshooting that Act 51 money and updating all the loan payments. None of those have been recorded either. So the puzzles continue.”
There was a holdup at State Savings Bank—not a robbery, but an extreme delay in getting our new bank signatory, Brett McGregor, approved. Pursuant to that there has been a holdup in our ability to get online and make transfers between accounts, so Jen has had to go to the bank and stand there and sign off on each transfer while a bank employee does it manually in their system. This really is, uh, inconvenient af. It’s been weeks since we submitted our meeting minutes and Brett went in to show his face. The online issue seems to be separate and to do with SSB’s new system upgrade.
Jen and I are both continuing to get paid the base deputy clerk wage of $18 an hour to fill in until we hire a new Clerk-Treasurer and Utility Billing Clerk. Happily, we’re doing some interviews this week with some excellent candidates. I have now paid payroll taxes and filed reports on that and unemployment insurance and have posted utility billing receipts in BS&A three times and I like it! But I am very eager for someone else to do this as their actual job. Also, we have really good coffee at the office, so if you're ever around, you can come by and have some.
“And at the bottom line [of the budget], the net is $40,687. It only took six months. I’ll cry later. All right,” said Wilkins.
** If you’re interested in serving on the Personnel Committee and being on a panel of job interviewers and employee reviewers, please reach out to me! We need a larger pool of full and part-time resident-volunteers to draw from. It’s not much of a time commitment but it’s an important way to support our staff and find new staff when needed. Help Elberta grow! Contact me at evotruba@villageofelberta.com **
Planning Commission & Zoning
00:44:40
Ryan Fiebing reported on progress with the zoning ordinance update, saying Beckett and Raeder will “try and do the whole draft all at once rather than piecemealing it. So we probably won't have a meeting with [planner] Sara Kopriva until January or so.” The commission had discussed the idea of a steering committee, which would allow members of the commission and the public to meet outside of the meetings to “dive into the nitty gritty legal details, and not take up so much time during the public meetings.” People could participate in the steering committee remotely or in a shared Google doc so that it could be open to nonresidents.
The zoning update consulting is paid for with grant money, which is running low.
The Price of a Salt Building
00:56:48
“Is there a room in the budget for the salt building?” I asked.
Whether it snows or not, we have salt left over from last year and we’re ordering more, to be mixed with sand, as usual, and right now it’s being stored behind the Village Garage, right next to a wetland. Justin Towle had looked into EGLE/DEQ-approved salt storage solutions and had found a prefab building for about $40,000. As of this writing it appears that we will be making do with tarps, as many entities do.
Also we’re worried about our plow truck. Perhaps unnecessarily, since it’s been 70 degrees lately.
Penfold Men’s Room Users Still SOL
01:07:14
“Well, I got to figure out one thing. What is happening to our bathroom and Penfold Park?” said Ken Holmes.
“We're still waiting for… I don’t know what we're waiting for. I keep asking,” said Jen Wilkins.
(In addition to having lights that are way too bright at night and which apparently the DPW has no way of controlling, 50 percent of the Penfold Park restroom has been OOO since the spring because DPW has been unable to get replacement parts for the toilet. Stay tuned for an investigative report on this.)
“We can't get a toilet working. Two hundred years of technology and we can't do it. I don't know,” said McGregor.
The End
Nice job, Votruba!