Bridgeport Township DDA Meeting October 13th, 2021

 On the Agenda:
Approval of Agenda begins at 0:48
Approval of Minutes - September 8th, 2021 begins at 1:05
NEW BUSINESS:
1.  Beautification Sub Committee Report begins at 1:40
2.  2022 Budget begins at 4:38
3.  Capitol Stone Works Façade Grant Request begins at 5:46
OLD BUSINESS:
1.  Dixie Hwy Project Completion begins at 8:36
2.  RRC / MEDC Update – CEDAM Fellowship begins at 9:20
3.  Economic Development Plan and Studies Update begins at 10:19
DDA COORDINATOR'S REPORT begins at 13:36
DDA MEMBER COMMENTS begin at 20:00

One sad bit of news came from the Beautification Sub Committee.  Abele's will no longer be able to place and then pick back up the flower pots each year so the township would need to find other means to get that done, and the cost will be $30 more per pot.  The beautification sub committee will be having more meetings to come up with a solution for this.  

The community Fall Cleanup will be moved to next spring, probably around April 29th & 30th, 2022.

They awarded another grant for a local business to spruce up their building. I can't remember what year they started doing this and wanted to share some information for businesses that may want to apply, but I can't find any information about it on their website.  Some parts of the township website are up to date and very informative, other parts haven't been updated in years.

There were some informative updates by the Township Manager, the DDA Coordinator, and the Township Supervisor about Economic Developement plans etc....

In case anyone was wondering about the work that has been done at the closed Gobeyn's Service Station, it is an environmental  cleanup.  They mention it briefly here in this meeting.

I see residents bitching online about the empty buildings here in Bridgeport and the DDA Coordinator mentions here an update on the empty hotel situation.  I don't think that most residents realize that to get these empty buildings properly dealt with, burned out homes etc... can take years of paperwork, court cases, legal fees etc...  Maybe if more residents would attend the meetings, or at least give these videos a listen, or even contact the township government, they would understand how much work the township does on these problems and how long the process can take; but then I guess they couldn't go online and bitch about things they don't actually know about.

There are always little bits of good information here and there in these meetings, and it is worth it to residents to take the time to listen to the whole meetings.

Bridgeport Spaulding School Board Meeting October 11th, 2021

I attended my first school board meeting in over 2 years and was excited to share it, but I had audio problems so no video of the meeting to share.  It was a great meeting!!  It was the kind you walk away from feeling happy and positive about the future of our school district.  There are so many improvements happening in our district, exciting things.  I don't know if most of the residents are even aware of everything going on in our schools.  

I can't remember everything that was discussed word for word from the meeting, but one thing I can share is the audit report which was very positive.  The school has a good website with a lot of information on there for the community to see.  The transparency section is full of reports  Transparency Reporting 

And there you can find the audit report 2020-21 Financial Statement Audit

The next school board meeting will be on November 8th, and I will be there with my camera, audio working!

For any residents that care to stay updated about our school district, here are links to their website and some Facebook pages to follow:

Bridgeport Spaulding Community School District

These are the Facebook pages for the schools:

Bridgeport High School

Martin G. Atkins Middle School

Martin G. Atkins Elementary School

Thomas White Elementary School

Bridgeport Township Board Meeting October 5th, 2021

 On the Agenda:
Approval of Agenda begins at 1:02
Approval of Minutes - September 7th, 2021 begins at 1:27
Special Orders:
1. Set Public Hearing for 2022 General Fund Budget for Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021  begins at 2:10
2. Set Public Hearing for Zoning Ordinance 21-02 Text Amendments - Food Trucks for Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021 begins at 3:33
Presentations:
1. Introduction of CEDAM Fellowship employee Michelle McGregor begins at 5:05
New Business:
1. Board Appointment of Brandell Adams begins at 9:57
2. Police Officer Oath of Office Larrisa Fuester begins at 15:33
3. Police Power Ordinance Food Trucks begins at 18:00
4. Equipment Purchase - Bobcat begins at 21:08
5. Exmark Mower Update begins at 23:00
6. Firearm Disposal begins at 23:56
Accounts Payable Checks 68639 through 68756 $811,812.17 begins at 25:18
Police Department Report begins at 27:38
Fire Department Report begins at 30:15
Manager's Report begins at 33:00
Board Member Comments begin at 39:07

I would like to start with a big Welcome to Michelle McGregor, Brandell Adams, and our newest police officer Larrisa Fuester!  Good Job Chief Duffett on our newest officer, I like her!!

There is a lot of information in this meeting and lots to comment on, but I will just focus on just the appointment of our newest board member, Brandell Adams.

It sounds like Augie Tausend  says that no other community members applied for the open board seat?  He talks about how we are a small community and have problems recruiting people to be involved.  He mentions that the notice was sent out in their constant contact email service about the open board position. The only "notice" I could find was a mention in the minutes from the September 7th board meeting that Heather Wilson was resigning her seat on the board.  So I guess if residents read the minutes from the meeting they would be aware of the open board seat.  I saw an article in the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald about the opening on the board, about two weeks before they were planning on filling the position.  Maybe if the township had put in a bit more effort to reach out to the residents there would have been more applicants?  I tried to reach out to as many township residents as I could to let them know there was an opening on the board.  Just one of my posts reached over 1,000 of our fellow residents.  I find it very disappointing if it is true that no residents applied for that board seat.  Augie Tausend said that Mr. Adams has worked on elections with him so they know each other.  Augie said though that the clincher for him in selecting Mr. Adams for our board was his endorsement for the position by Vanessa Guerra.  Vanessa Guerra was briefly a member of our township board.  She left before her term was up here on our board to become a Michigan Representative for the 95th district.  If I remember correctly, she was absent often from our board meetings and never had much to say when she was here.  My impression was that her being on our board was nothing more than a launching position for her future political career, to serve herself more than to serve our township.  I could be wrong.  

Mr. Adams seems to be a very involved community member, very involved in outreach and politics.  He does some good things for the entire Saginaw County community.  You can do a simple search on the internet and find tons of information on him, I will share a few here in this post.  It seems to me, just my opinion, that Mr. Adams has an eye on political office for his future.  He ran for Vanessa Guerra's former seat in the Michigan Legislature in 2020 but didn't win.  

Mr. Adams has a Facebook page that our township residents can follow:

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofBrandellAdams

His page is very professional and informative.  If Bridgeport residents need to go searching all over the internet for information on any upcoming elections etc... then hopefully they can go to Mr. Adams page to find it.  At least on his page you won't have to deal with personal drama and nasty partisan politics, like on the township clerks page, to find information that should be posted on the township website but hasn't been in the past.  Maybe Mr. Adams can post updated and accurate voting information for the residents like about absentee voting?

Here are a few more links to information about Mr. Adams where you can see his qualifications, education etc..  and all the work he does.  Hopefully Mr. Adams is on our board with intentions to stay, to truly serve our residents, and not just use this position to launch a future political career.

5 vying for Democratic nomination to replace Vanessa Guerra as 95th District rep

Brandell Adams Michigan House, District 95, MI

New Saginaw coalition localizes national concerns

September 2021 Bridgeport Township Check Register

Click on each image to view a larger version

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Bridgeport Township DDA Meeting September 8th, 2021

On the Agenda:

Approval of Agenda begins at 1:02

Approval of Minutes - August 11, 2021 begins at 1:24

New Business:

1. Beautification Sub-Committee Report begins at 2:08

2. Equipment Discussion begins at 4:05

Old Business:

1. RRC/MEDC Update - CEDAM Fellowship begins at 24:30

2. Land at Dixie & Wigen and 6227 Dixie (Former Hillier Studio Property) begins at 25:35

They go into a Closed Session at 28:07

DDA Coordinator's Report begins at 30:00

DDA Member Comments begin at 32:52

© 2021 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

They didn't use the microphones very often during this meeting and some of the people speak very softly so sorry if you can't hear everything.  I couldn't hear everything even while standing in the same room with them.

From the Beautification Sub-Committee - The flower pots will be coming back again next year.  You could argue the pro's and con's about that, like it is a lot of money and that money could be spent elsewhere in our community; and on the pro side - I Love The Flower Pots!!  End of discussion!

Next from the sub-committee was talk about looking into the Asphalt Art Initiative, and they are looking at possible grant money for that. They are thinking about it in the Dixie/ Bearcat Blvd. area, the Dixie/State St. are and possibly around the bridge area I think.  I like this idea!  I am assuming this is the program they are looking at: Asphalt Art Initiative

You can see the photo at the top of their page is from right here in Saginaw County at Ojibway Island.

They are also talking about having a Fall cleanup on October 15th at 1pm. I will post more when it is available.  This is another nice idea I like!

Next up was the equipment purchase discussion. My understanding of the discussion is they will be purchasing a piece of equipment that they will use for snow removal on some sidewalk areas and places like the bridge and trail.  I'm not clear if this equipment will also be used for other things.  It sounds like the DDA and the township will be splitting the cost.  I think this also has to go to the regular town board for approval?  They do have a long and informative discussion about this subject during the meeting that you can watch here in the video.

This is another subject you could argue the pro's and con's on. First it is again a lot of money, and money that could and probably should be spent elsewhere and on more important things in our community. I argued against this when it was proposed several years ago.  On the pro side:  At this point in my life I am just damned tired of seeing the mess our sidewalks are every winter.  We have so many walkers that try to walk year round in the downtown area, kids from the schools walking, but sadly in the winter time many of these sidewalks are not safe to walk on. I'm not sure which sidewalk areas would be cleared by the township, I doubt it would be in all the neighborhoods.  That is a nice dream though!  Some of you have probably seen me out trying to snow blow off some of the sidewalks in the downtown area over the years.  I tried to keep the ones going to the post office clear for all the neighbors that walked there, especially our elderly residents.  I am not physically able to do that very often anymore, so yes, at this time, I would like to see these sidewalks kept clear by whatever means is available.  Buy the equipment!!

During the board member comment section Jeff McNally mentioned that their business, McNally-Nimergood Cranes will be having an open house to show their new facilities on October 1st.  Not sure if it is open to the general public,

Bridgeport Township Board Meeting September 7th, 2021

On the agenda:
Adoption of Agenda begins as 1:37
Approval of Minutes - August 3rd, 2021 begins at 2:08
Special Orders:
1. Public Hearing for Truth in Taxation begins at 2:47
Unfinished Business:
1. R21-10 Truth in taxation begins at 7:16
New Business:
1. Board Resignation begins at 8:51
2. Conflict of Interest Policy begins at 10:37
3. Planning Commission Appointment begins at 12:18
Accounts Payable Checks 68507 through 68638 $316,681.01 begins at 13:26
Police Department Report begins at 14:06
Fire Department Report begins at 17:30
Manager's Report begins at 18:50
Board Member Comments begin at 24:33
Public Comment begins at 27:45
© 2021 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

First I should note that they did attempt to improve the sound system and you can hear them better than usual and I Thank them for that!   If everyone would speak up loudly and clearly then we would really be in business.

They did hold the public hearing for the Truth in Taxation and there were no members of the public that came to hear it or speak up for or against it.

They announced the resignation of board member Heather Wilson due to the conflict with her job that requires her to travel out of town often.  I am sad to see Heather leave but wish her well in life!

They claim to have 30 days to fill her position and plan on having it filled by the next board meeting on October 5th, 2021.  I wonder if they will be posting notices for the opening, will they have public interviews in a board meeting if there are any applicants?  Guess we will find out on October 5th.

Any township resident that is not in default to the township and is a registered elector can apply for the open board seat.  Information can be found on this link:  Employment Opportunities

For townships to receive money from the ?? fund they have to have conflict of interest policies in place.  Bridgeport updated theirs to also include board members.

Mark Schluckbier has been appointed to the planning commission.

During the Managers Report segment she talked about updates on the Dixie Hwy project and  mentioned that Tri Valley was one business that was involved with bringing top soil for the project.  If this is Tri Valley Landscaping & Tri Valley Construction companies run by members of the Gilbert family, maybe Bridgeport needs to vet the companies they do business with better in my opinion.

There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Dixie Hwy project with  Senator Horn on Monday September 20th at 9am in the parking lot at the governmental center.

The CEDAM Fellowship position has been filled by Michelle McGregor, a resident from Saginaw Township.  Welcome to Ms. McGregor!

She also gives updates about grants and funding.  Updates on community outreach like her Coffee with the Township Manager at Big Boy on September 9th and the 23rd at 9am.  They may also be hosting two  open houses for the temporary governmental center, one on Wednesday, September 15th, and another for Tuesday, October 19th.  No other information on those events yet.

During the board member comments something was brought up by Augie Tausend that is somewhat of a controversial issue across the country right now.  He talked about the moratorium on rent/evictions that has now been ended. He said there is talk about possibly extending that at the state or county levels, and if that does come about then maybe there is something that the board will look at.

** I almost forgot to add that there was a Bridgeport resident that spoke at the end of the meeting.  Because of the severe weather we were having at the time of the meeting, the residents were late getting to the meeting and missed the public comment period.  The resident is a member of a Neighborhood Watch group from the Studor Rd. area.  I am always glad to see residents speak up at meetings and glad to know there are still active & concerned residents involved that care about our community.

August 2021 Bridgeport Township Check Register

Thanks to one of my favorite township employees I do now have all 6 pages of the August check register.

Click on each image to see larger version.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Bridgeport Township Board Meeting August 3rd, 2021

 On the agenda:
Adoption of Agenda begins at 0:47
Approval of Minutes - July 13, 2021 begins at 1:22
Special Orders:
1.  Set Public Hearing for Truth and Taxation begins at 2:25
New Business:
1.  2665 Tatham Property #09-11-5-05-1013-000 begins at 4:44
2.  Firearm Disposal begins at 7:02
Presentation: From State Representative Amos O'Neal representing the 95th House District begins at 8:48
Back To New Business:
3.  Township Board Meeting Schedule change begins at 12:06
4.  Resolution R21-9,  Intent to apply for United States Economic Development Administration grant begins at 12:50
Accounts Payable checks 68386 through 68506   $342,922.87 begins at 16:50
Police Department Report begins at 17:28
Fire Department Report begins at 18:13
Managers Report begins at 20:04
Board Member comments begin at 22:38
© 2021 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

Sorry I am so late posting this to the blog.  

Bridgeport Township Board Opening

The meeting agenda has been posted for the upcoming September 7th, 2021 meeting of the Bridgeport Township Board.  There will be a board resignation of a trustee member.  Sadly it won't be any of the members I would like to see resign.  So it appears there will be an opening for a new trustee for the board.

I checked the August 25th and September 1st editions of the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald and saw no notice in there for the board opening.  I checked the Bridgeport Township Facebook page and the website, no mention on either of those sites about the board opening.  Hopefully they will be posting it somewhere so members of the township can apply for the position, unlike how they handled it when the township clerk position opened up.  Sometimes this township will post openings and interview candidates, and sometimes they just appoint them,  On the township website they have the requirements posted for board members and also a link to apply online.  It is under "Employment Opportunities".

Employment Opportunities Link

I am hoping that there are members of our community that would like to step up and serve as a trustee on the board, and hoping that they will not just be appointing another "buddy",  but rather giving members of the community the chance to serve.  If they do just "appoint" one of their buddies to the position, hopefully it won't be another previously recalled board member!  Hopefully they aren't hoping to get the old band back together 😏

And hoping I won't have to be writing another post like this one:

Search For A New Township Clerk And How It Came To Be... Or How It Should Have Been
 

July 2021 Bridgeport Township Check Register

Click on the photos to view them in larger size.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6