Bridgeport Township Trustee Board Meeting July 13th, 2021

 On the agenda:

Adoption of Agenda begins at 1:05 Approval of Minutes - June 1, 2021 Regular Meeting begins at 1:31 Public Comment begins at 1:55 New Business: 1. Resolution R21-07 Special Assessment for Waste Collection/Management Services begins at 2:37 2. MSU Survey Findings begins at 7:02 3. Resolution R21-08 Resolution Submitting Municipal Complex Bond Proposal begins at 14:54 - Language reading of proposal begins at 16:55 4. METRO ACT - Permit Application for Fiber Optic Cable - Fischer Rd. begins at 19:07 Accounts Payable Checks 68257 through 68385 for $364,144.58 begins at 20:51 Police Department Report begins at 21:30 Fire Department Report begins at 26:06 Manager's Report begins at 36:30 Board Member Comments begin at 42:29 © 2021 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

This was an informative meeting on multiple subjects but most residents are probably just interested in the MSU Survey results and the upcoming bond proposal. I am hoping everyone will take the time to listen to it all.  There were no public comments because there was not really too many members of the public bothered to attend. Like usual. 

First order of business was the special assessment for waste collection. The fee for our waste collection will be going up from $150.77 to $165.00. I can already hear some residents bitching. The township has basically been losing money on this service for several years and are now running a deficit in that fund. They are required by the state to straighten that out. Now for anyone that wants to bitch about it, think about the service that we are provided in our township and the value of it. It is a great service and worth every penny of it!! Try checking out surrounding townships and what they offer. I personally use the recycling pickup and have since they first offered it here. I don't put out a little red bin each week for recycling, I put out a 30 gallon trash can each week and it is usually full to the top. I use the yard waste pickup each week. Trash pickup each week. And don't forget about the brush pickup that is offered in the summer months every other week. I have already used that once this year and will have another pickup before this summer is over. I have a friend that recently moved to another state. That state does not have bottle deposits on the containers sold there, and no curbside recycling pickup is offered. Sadly you know where all that recycling is going. 

Next up was the results from the MSU Survey finding on the two bond proposals. The sad part of the results is that only 475 residents took the time to respond. The results are broken down by age, length of residency, male/female etc... Quick summary is that support for the governmental complex is about 50/50. I thought the support for that would be higher but I guess these are tough times. Hopefully the township will be able to better inform the residents about this before the election in November. Residents could better educate themselves by attending meetings, talking with officials, talk to the police and fire departments. And please avoid the misinformation and rumor mills I see being shared online. I will be sharing everything I can to help inform the public before November. The municipal complex bond proposal I am truly hoping to see pass.  The support for the recreational complex was about 29% for and 67% opposed. They will not be moving forward with that bond proposal at this time, but did say they may look in the future at a scaled down version of it. It would have to be pretty scaled down to pass here. A complex like they have out in Freeland was just a pipe dream. We do not have the million dollar properties and business tax base to support a complex like that. I actually found it offensive that they even tried to pass that off onto Bridgeport residents. Does anyone think that if there was a Bridgeport Township employee for example, or any other Saginaw County resident, that may live in a place like Freeland, send their child/children to school in a place like Freeland, maybe uses the Freeland sports complex, that that person would move to Bridgeport, send their children to Bridgeport schools and help to pay for that complex? Doubtful. This bond proposal I was glad to see fail.

Let me address one comment I saw posted online in support of the recreation center: The comment was something along the line that if we had the complex then the youths or whoever it is that vandalize areas like the historic bridge and park areas would stop vandalizing and spend their time at the complex instead. Dude, they will not be buying memberships and taking out their frustrations or just plain lack of morals by hanging out at a recreation complex. (Insert Giant Eye Roll Here).  To be fair I guess there always is a chance that they would hang out at a recreational complex, but also cause a little trouble, do a little vandalism maybe there, just before or after they vandalize the parks or historic bridge areas. 

Two parts of the meeting that I hope every resident will take the time to listen to are the reports from the police and fire departments. The fire department will be hosting an open house on September 12th, 2021. It is their 80th anniversary. I have been here almost as long as they have! The township manager also has an update report on things here in the township, also worth listening to! She said that Bridgeport will be getting some money, over 1 Million dollars, from the Recovery Act. They will be talking about that at future meetings and deciding where they money will be allocated. I'm rooting for the police and fire departments to get a nice chunk of that money! She also talked about attending a statewide municipal employee’s conference, or something like that, and one of the subjects will be building trust with the community. I just stood there, almost laughed out loud, and thought to myself "Lady, that is a mountain that may be too high for you to climb". I wish her luck!! Maybe if she was a lifelong resident of our township, seen all the failures, deceit etc... Then she would understand what a task that would be, especially with the people currently serving in elected office. For some of us old-timers, ever trusting our current elected officials is not something that will be happening any time soon. Elections will be coming, maybe if we get some new officials in office that trust could be rebuilt.