On tonight's agenda - New Business - 1. Equipment Pool Budget for 2015 starts at 2:45 in the video. 2. General Fund Budget Amendments for 2014 starts at 3:37 3. Cancel Public Hearing Date for Cemetery Ordinance Revisions starts at 4:27 4. Cancel Public Hearing Date for Water Ordinance Revisions starts at 5:22 5. Appointments for Boards and Commissions starts at 6:40 * they moved the Accounts Payable segment to here on the agenda. This starts at 9:00 6. Appointment for Township Board Trustee starts at 10:26
* the interviewees were in order - John Altz, Jennifer Gutierrez, Roberta Placher, Tom Coates, Robert Brown, and the last candidate I believe was Anna Mayer. Some of the names I knew because the people are on other boards here in Bridgeport, and I also got the names from a article in the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald. It is hard to understand the names here in the video.
Board Comments start at 42:25
I don't have much to say about the meeting except Congratulations to Jennifer Gutierrez on her appointment to the Bridgeport Township Board! And like Darlene Miller I am also glad to see one more woman on the board!
I think the Christmas Lights on display in Bridgeport are just beautiful! Now all we need is a little snow just in time for a White Christmas.
On today's agenda -
Under New Business -
1. Former Carpenter's Plaza discussion starts at 2:00 in the video
2. Christmas Lunch starts at 7:20
3. 2015 Meeting Schedule starts at 8:05
Under Old Business -
1. Canoe Launch starts at 8:38
2. Great Lakes Discovery Center starts at 16:07
3. Beautification Update starts at 17:08
4. Review of 4422 Williamson starts at 18:30
5. I-75 Billboard Update starts at 44:20
6. 6137 Dixie Highway Update starts at 46:00
DDA Coordinator's Report starts at 52:18
DDA Board Member Comments start at 1:05:51
There were some exciting things discussed at the meeting. I am excited about the plans for the property located at 4422 Williamson, the former B & S Heating property. It will become a park type area that ties in with the historic State Street Bridge and the walking trail. The proposed plans call for restoring the facade of the front building back to the time when it was the Bridgeport Oil & Gas Co. Many Bridgeport residents have fond memories of that business and the owners. They would also include restrooms inside the building. The back garage building would be torn down and a pavilion would be placed there with tables, grills etc.. There would also be a fishing/wildlife viewing platform overlooking the Cass River. The projected cost for the project is $395,700.00. They will start submitting grants to help obtain monies toward the cost.
When I look towards the future and the possibilities with this project, I see a truly beautiful attraction for Bridgeport; a beautiful part of Bridgeport and our history. I had become too old and cranky and had lost my vision to see possibilities and the beauty in so many things. Thankfully we have Tanya Moore and Steve Dobis, they can see the future and the possibilities then put them onto paper and into action! They first presented this plan back in September along with Carl Hamann, a former Bridgeport resident and son of the last owner of Bridgeport Oil & Gas Co., you can view that meeting by clicking here -Special Meeting of the Bridgeport DDA Board
Here is the development master plan for the site done by Tanya Moore of Spicer Engineering.
*click on photo to enlarge it
Here also is the preliminary cost estimate for the project -
There was some other good news. The canoe launch project is moving forward. So far Parks and Recreation Director Bill Wheeler has raised money from the DNR Trust Fund in the amount of $121,100.00 for the project. Also from the Anderson Foundation - $30,000.00 over 3 years, Wickes Foundation - $10,000.00, McNally Foundation - $45,000.00 over 3 years, Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative - $20,000.00, Morley Foundation - $5,000.00 and from Bridgeport Township - $10,000.00
And lastly I was amazed to hear that Bridgeport had been able to obtain a very nice piece of property for the sum of $10.00! The property is known as Carpenter Plaza, or known to those of us that grew up here as the former IGA and Hoffman Drugs property. This property has been sitting vacant for years now and and is a eyesore. NOW, there is a possible future for that property other than continued deterioration and vandalism.
The meeting this evening was to discuss plans for the special assessment that was passed for the fire department. They discussed current and long term plans and ideas. The next Building and Grounds meeting will be held on January 13th, 2015.
At the special meeting that was held on November 17th to discuss the police and fire department special assessments, there were people who got up and spoke about their concerns and opposition to the assessments. At tonight's meeting there were no Bridgeport residents there except myself, my elderly mother and several of the firefighters.
I would think that if any of our residents were seriously concerned about the assessments and the future of our police and fire departments, that they would have shown up at this meeting. People can get up and talk about "hidden meetings", "I'm not blowing smoke" etc... etc... all they want, but if they really care about and want to work towards a better future for Bridgeport Township then maybe they should show up at meetings, keep informed about all events, and try working towards a better future. Get involved in ways other than just putting up stupid signs and bitching about everything.
I am still working on trying to clean up trash in Lyle Park and could always use some help there. Only in my Utopian Dreamworld would any of the complainers ever show up to help me clean up the trash.
I will keep posting video's of all the meetings that I can attend and hope that Bridgeport residents will watch them and get involved and I will keep picking up the trash in the river and parks. I may not make much of a impact in our community but at least it is better than just being negative all the time.
On the agenda: Under New Business - this section starts at 3:20 in the video. 1. Resolution R-14-23 Saginaw Area Storm Water Authority 2. Set Public Hearing Date for Cemetery Ordinance Revisions 3. Set Public Hearing Date for Water Ordinance Revisions 4. Police Department Budget for 2015 5. Fire Department Budget for 2015 6. Water Department Budget for 2015 7. Waste Water Treatment Plant Budget for 2015 Board Member Comments begin at 10:52
The meeting was short and sweet. Not many residents in the audience, just the usual handful that show a interest in what goes on. At least we didn't have to listen to anyone rambling about hidden meetings and hoodwinking the public!
The public hearing dates were set for the cemetery and water ordinance revisions, they will be on January 6th, 2015.
They approved the 2015 budgets for the police, fire, water and waste water treatment departments. Copies of the budget reports were provided to the public at the meeting.
There will be a Building and Grounds meeting on December 9th at 6pm where they will discuss the assessment for the fire department.
There will be another Township Board meeting held on December 16th. They will be interviewing the applicants for the trustee position at this meeting and making appointments for other boards also.
This meeting was held to discuss and approve the special assessments for the police and fire departments.
Discussion starts with the township supervisor reading a letter that went out by constant contact email on Friday Nov 14th to explain some of the concerns that residents have been voicing. This starts at 6:54 in the video.
Under Special Orders:
- Public Hearing for Special Assessment for Police Department starts at 11:57
- Public Hearing for Special Assessment for Fire Department starts at 1:01:10
Public Comment period starts at 1:21:21
Under New Business:
- Resolution R14-24 Amendment to 911 Saginaw County Interlocal Agreement starts at 1:32:10
- Special Assessment Police Department R14-18 & R14-19 starts at 1:35:20
- Special Assessment Fire Department R14-16 & R14-17 starts at 1:47:09
- Board Comments start at 1:50:35
My thoughts - Where to start…….
Thank You Pastor Sinclair for a very nice story and
invocation.
Good Turnout, but sadly those kind of turnouts don’t happen
at every monthly meeting.
It was brought up several times that the board isn’t
listening to the residents.Actually
they are listening and 60% of the voters that came out to vote on November 4th
said that they do want these special assessments.For the Fire Department the votes were 2,190
yes votes and 1,457 no votes.For the
Police Department the votes were 2,142 yes votes and 1,517 no votes.
The loudest voices are not the only voices in our township.
I hate to go here but let’s discuss the troubled past.A previous township board did try to put a
special assessment through with no input or vote from the residents in
2009/2010.They had the legal right to
do so, but it did not go over well with the residents and they let the board
know so.That whole debacle rivals
events that come out of Oakley!Hopefully those days are past us now.
Fast Forward through all those troubles to the attempts by
the township to get millages through for the police and fire departments.One was done in 2010 but it failed.What I remember hearing in the community was
concerns because it was not specific enough about how much would be going to
which departments and I believe there was still much distrust of the township
government at that time and there was the issue of the DDA being able to
collect a portion of the taxes.Another millage was attempted in 2012 but it
also failed.If I remember correctly this one was more specific
about the amounts and where the money would be going.The only concern I remember hearing about was
the dollar amount that some residents would be getting taxed, especially those
with large acreages of land and high value properties.
The township government listened to the concerns voiced by
residents as to why they voted the previous millages down.When they worked on this current assessment
they tried to take those previous concerns into account.Some people feel this new assessment is
fairer to all the residents than the previous millages that were
proposed.Now someone sitting on say, for
example 50+ acres of farmland, with a taxable value of over $50,000 will pay
the same amount as everyone else.Large
land owners would not use the police and fire services any more than I would so
why should they pay more? This seems
fair to me and to others I have talked to.
I understand the concerns voiced by residents at this
meeting about the hardship of more taxes.
There were other valid concerns voiced also like the one by
Mr. Lysogorski concerning the 10 percent increase that the board can add to the
assessment.Even though this current
board has no plans to do that, a future board may do it. That is where the
public participation of the residents becomes important.Every year the board will review the
assessments and it is up to the residents to stay informed on the issue and
show up at the meetings.
The ability to add the 10 percent increase is the way the
law was written, it is not something that the Bridgeport Township Government
snuck into the assessment wording.
I don’t believe that if the township does add the 10 percent
to the assessment amount in any given year that it will accumulate each
year.EX: The police assessment is
$37.80 per year.If they add the 10
percent on one year, that will make it around $41.58 for that year.I believe that the next year the assessment
will be back to the $37.80 that the rate was set at.I will check with the township offices on
that since I prefer to share accurate information.
Sadly there are residents that feel they were either misled
or not fully informed about the assessments.I don’t know what to say.I have
attended the meetings and understood it for months.I believe there were articles posted in the
Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald weekly newspaper but since I have recently put them
all out in the recycling I can’t swear they were there or what date they may
have been there.
It was first mentioned at the June 3rd, 2014 Bridgeport
Township Board meeting, unfortunately I was not present at that meeting.It was discussed again at the July 1st
township board meeting.It was also
discussed again at the August 6th township board meeting.
The agenda’s for the meetings are posted online before the
meetings take place and the minutes are posted online after the meetings.The agendas of upcoming meetings are posted
on the bulletin board outside the main doors of the township government
offices.On the township website http://www.bridgeportmi.org/they have the option to sign up for their “constant
contact” email.They send out important
and informative notices for everything that goes on in our township.
In my videos I have a presentation by Fire Chief Nelson at
the April 14th Building and Grounds Meeting concerning the problems
and needs of the fire department.View it
here - April 14th Meeting
There was excellent presentation and discussion at the July
29th Building and Grounds Meeting -July 29th Meeting
And another informative presentation by Fire Chief Nelson
and Police Chief Duffett held at the Bridgeport Gun Club in October - October Presentation
I don’t personally believe that the township ever tried to
intentionally mislead the residents about the assessment.Could they have tried other ways to reach out
to the residents and let them know the details of the assessment?Maybe they could have done a mass mailing
earlier.I don’t know what the costs of
that would be, and if residents would complain about that cost.For the residents that do not have access to
a computer, maybe something like a monthly newsletter would be helpful.There again you could be running into a cost
issue.The Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald
does seem to carry more Bridgeport news than they did in the past.The weekly paper is sold in all the local
stores and only costs 75 cents per issue.
I personally feel that it is up to the residents to be aware
of what is going on, from the local to the federal level; to seek out the information that will affect
your quality of life, your taxes, and your future.
There were some other things brought up about the legality
of this assessment.From the small amount
of research I had done earlier about assessments, I had the impression that the
township has all the legal aspects done properly.I don’t have the time, energy, or patience in
this blog post to go over this issue.Perhaps I will in a future post.
It was obvious by some of the comments made during this
meeting that residents have not forgotten the troubles of the past boards, of
the bridge affair.While talking with
residents of our township it becomes clear that the township board is still
disliked, hated might be a more accurate word.If people cannot let go of the past and work together to move this
township forward, there is no hope for the future of our township.
Things that were said and done before, during, and after the meeting reminded me of
two events I have experienced in the past.The first one was an exercise that we did in our 5th grade
classroom.The teacher put all the
students in a circle and told the first student a brief story.That student was to tell the next student the
same story, then the second student was to tell the third student and so
on.By the time the last student in the
circle repeated the story back to the teacher, it barely resembled the original
story.I guess the moral of the story is
don’t believe everything you hear, get the facts straight from the original
source.
Another incident happened in college.There was a class that had part 1 in the fall
semester and part 2 in the winter semester.Teacher A always taught part 1 in the fall and then took the winter
semester off.Part 2 was taught by
another teacher, teacher B.Teacher A
had a grudge against teacher B and had for many years.Teacher A told his young naive impressionable
students in the fall class that he wouldn’t be there for the winter class, that
instead it would be teacher B.He
neglected to tell them that this is the way it was done every year, instead he
led them to believe that this was being forced upon him by the college.Once the winter semester started with teacher
B at the helm, the well-intentioned but gullible students started so much
trouble over this that it almost lead to the dismissal of teacher B.Luckily there was one student who knew the
whole story including the long vendetta by teacher A.That student stood up to the administration
with the truth of what was going on.Teacher B was not dismissed but sadly was disillusioned by the whole
sordid affair and did end up taking early retirement afterwards.This story shows the power that one person
with a vendetta, with an agenda, can do with a little twisting of the truth and
people that are willing to blindly follow without knowing the whole truth.
At today's meeting they discussed under New Business:
1. Marketing & Business Development which starts at 1:55
2. State of Michigan check starts at 9:24
Under Old Business:
1. Canoe Launch starts at 10:50
2. Great Lakes Discovery Center starts at 11:20
3. 6001 Dixie Hwy - Update starts at 12:35
4. Beautification - Update starts at 19:04
5. Christmas Decorations starts at 24:11
6. 2014 Flower Watering Expense starts at 27:16
7. Review of 4422 Williamson (former B & S Heating property) starts at 28:57
8. I-75 Billboard - Update starts at 47:20
DDA Coordinator's Report starts at 58:14
DDA Board Member Comments start at 1:11:23
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at Noon.
Some thoughts about some of the items discussed at today’s
meeting. I think the proposed plans for
the former B & S Heating property are awesome! It will be beautiful and will tie in with the
bridge and the history of Bridgeport perfectly.
Tanya Moore and Steve Dobis are doing a great job on this project!
The Great Lakes Discovery Center is another project I hope
finally comes to fruition.
I can sympathize with Augie Tausend and his view of
Christmas decorations etc. being put out too early. It irritates me when I go into the stores and
they are putting Christmas decorations up the day after Halloween. I saw a home and yard last week with their
Christmas decorations already up and just shook my head. BUT, I am looking forward to the Christmas
decorations here in Bridgeport. I
absolutely loved the blue and green lights they had by the bridge last year and
look forward to them this year. And will
be glad to see some new and better decorations displayed in town this year. This is one time I won’t get irritated to see
them go up a little early. Maybe if they
don’t light them up until Thanksgiving evening, that is a compromise that will
make everyone happy. It would be nice to
see them lit up for Thanksgiving. They’re
not just Christmas lights, they are Holiday lights.
McLeod’s does deserve a Thank You for the beautiful wreath
and garland they provided last year to the bridge area and am looking forward
to those again this year.
During the DDA Coordinators report it was mentioned that there
will be 4 DDA board members whose terms are expiring this year. I am not sure if any of them are planning on
running for reappointment of their seats.
Anyone in Bridgeport can fill out an application at the township
governmental center if they would like to try and get on the board.
During the coordinators report they also discussed the issue
of snowmobiles going across the historic bridge. The snowmobilers did go across the bridge
last year. I saw the tracks in the late
winter towards spring. I didn’t have my
camera with me at the time so I didn’t get a photo of the tracks then. It
looked to me as if they had been across the bridge several times, it looked
like newer tracks on top of older tracks. They left the tracks in the snow and
then in the areas where the snow was very thin and where it had already melted
away, the treads from the machines left gouges in the wood planks on the
bridge.
I can see the problem with adding new posts to keep them out
and the cost would be high. Hopefully
they won’t do it again. The damage is
minor now but after enough times, the damage could be a problem.
Here is a photo I took earlier this year of
the tracks that they left on the bridge.
You Might Be A Special Kind Of Stupid If You Do Any Of These:
1 – Tampons are not to be used as scent wicks for Whitetail
Deer Hunting!Tampons contain chemicals
to control bacteria and odor and they often contain a strong unnatural
scent.So you just used one with a
strong “fresh scent” added smell to put some “doe in heat” scent on? Good Luck with that.
2 – Proper placement and use of deer attractant.Hanging that fresh scent tampon about 6
inches above the ground on a random fallen tree branch, won’t be of much use
for anything.That fancy expensive scent
dripper bottle that you just filled with one of the most expensive bottles of
deer scent and then hung to the side of a tree about 2 feet above the ground,
won’t be of much use for anything.Until
you understand the concept of scent trails, mock scrapes, natural scrapes, licking
branches, the way the scent will travel on the breeze and be picked up by the
deer, not much point in wasting your time and money hunting.
3 – There are two clearly marked active hunting blinds setting
about 150 yards apart on a ridge top.You take your fresh scent tampon and hang it on the ridge bottom in
between these two blinds and within visual and gun range of both of them. Need glasses?
4 – You arrive in the woods before dawn on the opening day
of firearm season and proceed to take off all your blaze orange clothing and
wait for dawn sitting in the brush wearing your full camo clothing.Or you
come and sit down about 75 yards from a hunter in their blind and proceed to
take off your orange blaze and are now in your brown wool hat and coat.The blaze orange requirement is in place for
your safety.Dangerous lack of common
sense on your part.
5 – Shooting at anything that moves in the woods just leaves
me speechless and scared to be in the same vicinity.
6 – Crashing your way through an impassable thick swamp 1
hour before dusk, at the prime time for deer movement, with no clue where you
are going and making so much noise that you just scared every deer out of the
area.Then to top that spectacle off you
spend the last half hour with your phone beeping and buzzing to make sure you
scare every deer out of the area that may not have heard you as you came
crashing through.And the whole time you
have no clue that you are sitting less than 75 yards away from another
hunter.Now it is dark and you have no clue
how to find your way back out of the thick swamp.Was it embarrassing needing that girl hunter to
lead you back out?
7 – Mixing alcohol and firearms with the adrenaline rush of
hunting.There doesn’t even exist the
correct words in any language to describe your kind of stupid.
8 - Sitting twenty yards from another hunter’s blind, ½ hour
before daylight, wailing away on a fawn bleat call imitating a fawn in their
death throes. Clueless!
9 – In a vast area of state forest land, with no other
hunter for at least a mile in every direction, you decide to go and set your
pop up blind 20 yards away from the only other hunter there.Really?
10 – You can clearly see a hunter sitting in their
blind.Instead of just going and asking
the hunter how the deer movement is, you proceed to walk up and down each one
of the deer trails surrounding their blind checking for deer tracks.When you find the huge natural scrape in a
clear shooting line from their blind, you stand in that scrape for a good 5
minutes staring at it as if you have never seen one in your entire life.Get out into the woods much?
11 – You find another hunters blind and when you see the
fresh scrape and buck rub right in front of their blind, you decide that is a
good place to relieve your bowels.Disgusting!
12 – You see another hunter sitting in a blind over a well-used
deer crossing point.You then proceed to
set your young hunting companion right in that hunters line of site and within
their gun range, on the other side of that deer crossing, in the only open
space to get a shot at those deer.Now
neither hunter can shoot at the deer without risking hitting the other
hunter.You then proceed to spend the next
several hours walking and crashing through the woods around the two
hunters.You are clearly a dangerous
kind of stupid.
13 – You see a deer running though some thickets or woods
and you empty your firearm shooting at the deer, with no clear opening or a
clean kill shot.Hoping just to hit the
deer, doesn’t matter if you gut shoot it, hit the leg, you don’t seem to
care.Then after you half ass wound the
poor deer, you lack the skill or humanity to blood trail that wounded deer and
just leave it to slowly die and die for nothing.You shouldn’t even be allowed to hunt!
14 – You see a female hunter that has just shot a nice buck
and you try to claim it was the buck you just shot in the leg a hundred or so
yards away.How did that work out for
you?Best not to try and steal a girl’s
buck!
15 – You decide to go out onto state forest land on the
opening day of firearm deer season, with guns that are illegal to have in the woods
during deer season and wearing no blaze orange.You and your inbred companion think it will be funny to use a deer
hunter as a running living target in the woods.You are not just stupid, you are insane.The next hunter you try that on may decide to start firing back and then
you will become the prey.
Sadly there is an endless list of the special kind of stupid
people you find out in the woods during hunting season.Sadly some of the hunters I come across now a
days lack the proper knowledge or understanding of the wildlife they are
hunting.The saddest part is that some
of them lack any kind of hunting ethics; towards the wildlife they are hunting,
towards their fellow sportsman, even towards the natural environment they are
hunting in.
