DAYTON TOWNSHIP
Special Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2015

Meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. with the pledge to the flag.  Members Bob Cook, Mike Mocniak, Eleanor Kilmer, Bob Steele and James Satchel were present.

 Mr. Cook read a draft of meeting rules and decorum which he felt was necessary to maintain order at township meetings.  James proposed that these should be posted for the public to review. There was a motion by Mike and a second by Mr Steele to adopt these rules as procedure for township meetings. Motion passed unanimously. Mike stated that he had extra copies available for anyone in attendance to have and that he would post a copy at the hall.

Mr Cook read a letter of support that Mike had drafted after the last meeting in support of the efforts of the Shay Lake community in finding the person(s) responsible for the sign that was put up in the Shay Lake area. There was a motion by Steele with a second by Mocniak to motion to approve this letter of support. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

Mike made a recommendation that the board, and particularly the road committee, begin to get information out regarding the upcoming road millage vote. There was considerable discussion regarding the need for the millage, the uses of the additional money, and the budgetary considerations regarding the millage. Questions were posed about the possibility of center striping Mayville road , equal use of  funds for maintaining all roads rather than paying more for maintenance of  paved roads, and the possibility of adding more members to the road committee. Mr Cook briefly explained the process and considerations for the use of road funds and agreed that the roads committee should provide information on how the additional funds would be used as well as an explanation of how road maintenance is decided.

Mike referred to the risk assessment that was done by the township insurance agency, that we were following most of the recommendations, but that we have not had a fire inspection of the building. He also mentioned that the recommendation for electronic tracking of zoning documents could be easily done with a log document which could be shared with the clerk for transfer to an electronic log.

Mike then spoke briefly about the upcoming election, the public voting machine test, and the increasing difficulty in recruiting certified election inspectors. He stated that part of this difficulty is because of the low wages that Dayton township pays compared to other townships. He recommended increasing the inspector wage to $10/hr. from $7.50. He also spoke in favor of changing the board of review(BOR) wage to $10 per hour from its current $30/half day, $60/whole day. After considerable discussion it was motioned by Mike with a second by Mr Steele to increase election inspector rates to $10/hr. The motion passed by roll call vote with Satchel dissenting. There was then a motion by Steele with a second by Mrs Kilmer to increase the BOR rate to$10/hr. The motion passed by roll call vote with Satchel dissenting.

There was considerable discussion about the supervisor wage with Mike making a motion to increase the supervisor wage by 10% and also reimbursing the supervisor for 50% of his cell phone bill. There was a motion by Mike with a second by Steele to increase the supervisor wage by 10% and to reimburse the supervisor for 50% of his phone bill. Motion passed by roll call vote with Satchel dissenting. There was a recommendation by Mike that our website coordinator, Gail Cook be paid $100 per quarter to maintain and coordinate the website. Satchel stated that he felt there was nepotism involved and dissented on a roll call vote with a motion by Mike and a second by Steele to pay Gail $100 per quarter for her services as website coordinator. Motion passed as it was supported by the other 4 board members.

 Bob Steele made a motion to decrease the trustee rate from $100 to $50 per month. Mike explained that the only way board wages can be reduced is if the person(s) in the position agreed to the reduction. Mr Satchel stated that he would not agree to a reduction in the trustee wage so the motion was not pursued.

Mike mentioned that the reimbursement rate for mileage had increased to 57.5 cents per mile effective Jan 1.  Mike talked about conversations that he has had with Waste Management regarding the garbage rates, as he felt that the rates should go down somewhat considering the lower fuel costs. After several conversations/e-mails Mike said that WM has agreed to putting an addendum on our contract that would offer some reduction in rates because of lower fuel costs. He expects to have something in writing by the next board meeting.

The board set the budget workshop date for March 14 at 9:00 am and the budget meeting for March 21 at 9:00 am. There was then a motion by Satchel with a second by Steele to have the board meetings for the next fiscal year on the same schedule as we have been following, specifically the first Monday of each month at 7:30 pm.  If the first Monday is a holiday the meeting will be held on Tuesday at the same time. Motion passed unanimously.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:32 am.

DAYTON TOWNSHIP