First I would like to Thank Atkins School Elementary Principal Mrs. Susan Duran and Bridgeport School Resource Officer Brent Green for inviting me to this event. They did a good job with this event and I think I enjoyed it almost as much as the children did.
There were representatives from the Bridgeport Fire Department, the Bridgeport Police Department, the US Coast Guard, St. Mary's Hospital Flight Care, Mobile Medical Response Ambulance and Consumers Energy. The children got to see the different crews and listen to them talk about their jobs and equipment and safety, climb on board the vehicles, ask questions, lots of questions! They also had safety training for the groups of children on bus safety, the proper way to get on the bus, seating, behavior, and getting off the buses.
I think the representatives from the organizations did a great job talking with the children and handling all their questions. I would also like to commend the staff of Atkins for the job they did, and also the Bridgeport High School students they had helping with the event. I got to meet and speak with some of the teachers and staff and I was very impressed with everyone I met and everything I saw there this morning. I only captured some small portions of the morning on video. I think one of the big hits was the sirens, but the flight care landing and the fire truck ladder going up and down were pretty popular too! Watching the children enjoy the event was a joy for me. The first event with one of the groups of children that I videotaped was the US Coast Guard rescue air boat. I was so engrossed with their presentation and watching the children interact that somehow I forgot to hit record on my camera. I did go back later and catch another group with them.
Again, Great Job on this event. I don't know how many other schools do things like this but it would be nice if all schools did this. They will be holding this event again next year in September, I believe in the third week of the school year, and I hope to be there to capture it again.
I would first like to say THANK YOU to all the volunteers that joined in this cleanup and helped to make the beautiful Cass River here in Bridgeport a little cleaner, actually a lot cleaner! This is a annual event held by the Cass River Greenway Organization - http://www.cassriver.org/
BillWheeler the Bridgeport Parks & Recreation Director helped to organize this years event here in Bridgeport. Great Job!!
These people that do this event every year in a different section of the Cass River are a great bunch of people. They are from many different communities here along the Cass River. This was my first time at one of these events but it will not be the last time. If you have never joined in before, I highly recommend you join in one of their future events. Any time you have a excuse to play in the river and make a difference at the same time - That is always a good thing :-)
I want to give a personal shout out here to those that I know of that were involved in helping to make this event so successful. These are the sponsors listed on the back of the really nice t-shirt I got: Leinenkugel's Canoes For A Cause, Cass River Yacht Club, Bridgeport Township Parks & Recreation,
Bridgeport Township Downtown Development Authority, Grasel Graphics, Bavarian Inn Restuarant, Cass River Greenway, McDonald's Of Bridgeport, Great Lakes Commission des Grands Lacs, Billy's Contracting, R.A. Monk Insurance. Also Thank You to Bridgeport residents Glen Chaney, Dr. Darrow and Jim Secord for allowing their property to be used for access to the river. Also Gobeyn's Service Station for picking up and disposing of the 14 tires that were removed from the Cass River. Almost forgot Star of the West Milling Co. that provides trucks every year to help with the cleanups.
Some Bridgeport residents that joined in the clean up were Township Supervisor Augie Tausend and Township Manager Rose Licht, Police Chief Dave Duffett and Officer Mat Kaz-Mika, and Bill Wheeler. Bridgeport's public servants got wet, muddy and did a great job in helping with this cleanup! Rose, Augie and Chief Duffett did get a car door out of the river! Miss Bridge Fest 2015, Chelsea Nedrow also joined us in the cleanup. She drove a long way to come and get wet, muddy and pitch in to help cleanup. I think she is a great representative for our Bridgeport community. There was also a great group of teens from the Wolverine Human Services, Pioneer Work & Learn Vassar program. They did a great job of helping out, got out a lot of trash, looked like they had fun doing it too!
On tonight's agenda: Public Comment begins at 2:52 in the video Unfinished Business - - Fire Department Station Upgrades begins at 4:15 New Business - - Little Free Library - Carmen Sawshuk begins at 7:02 - Hoffman Canoe Launch - seeking public input begins at 15:50 - R15-2 DNR Trust Fund Grant canoe/kayak launch Hoffman property begins at 17:48 - Bridgeport Cass River trail head - seeking public input begins at 18:38 - R15-3 DNR Trust Fund Grant Bridgeport Cass River trail head property begins at 19:40 - Oath of office for two New Police Officers begins at 20:48 - Building Department Truck purchase begins at 29:10 - Police Department Tahoe purchase begins at 30:31 - Fire Department Hazardous materials response technology begins at 34:20 - Police Department & Governmental Center Grant for AED Machines begins at 37:24 - Commitment of Fund Balance Funds begins at 39:13 Board Comments begins at 41:29
Welcome to Bridgeport's two new police officers! And again Thank You to the voters that approved the assessment so they could be hired.
I think the Little Free Library will be a nice thing to have here in downtown Bridgeport. They are seeking public input for the Hoffman property canoe launch, that property is located on the Dixie where it crosses the Cass River. They are also seeking public input for the property where the former Bridgeport Oil and Gas station was located next to the historic State St. Bridge. It would be nice if community members would get involved in these projects now and help provide input.
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.
They covered many items at tonight's meeting:
A. Special Orders
1. Public Hearing General Fund Budget Fiscal Year 2015 starts at 3:25 in the video.
2. Set Special Town Board Meeting for November 17, 2014 starts at 4:10
The Public Comments start at 5:10
Under New Business they covered the following items. This starts at 14:25 You can see the budget here 2015 Bridgeport Budget Report
1. General Fund Budget FY2015
2. Cemetery Budget FY2015
3. Refuse Budget FY2015
4. Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Budget FY2015
5. Buildings & Codes Budget FY2015
6. Drug Enforcement Budget FY2015
7. Williamson Acres Budget FY2015
8. Construction Fund Budget FY2015
9. Equipment Pool Budget FY2015 (this was scratched from the list for tonight)
10. Resolution R14-20 Foreclosed Properties Saginaw County
11. Resolution R14-21 General Fund Appropriation Act FY2015
12. Resolution R14-22 Designating County Drainage District/Petition-Southfield Village
13. Sidewalks 5 year assessment at 1.25% interest rate
14. 2015 Township Attorney list
15. 2015 Township Board Meeting Schedule
16. 2015 Township Designated Holidays
17. 2015 Financial Institutions
18. 2015 Planning Commission Schedule
19. Set Public Hearing Date for Public Safety Assessment for Police and Fire starts at 29:10 in the video.
20. Sale of 1999 Malibu starts at 29:55
21. Special land use 5195 Dixie Hwy. #09-11-5-05-4003-000 starts at 31:24
22. Special land use Roedel Rd. #09-11-5-13-3003-004 starts at 33:12
23. Resignation of Trustee Vanessa Guerra starts at 34:30
Comments by the board members starts at 37:00
Battle of the signs and common sense in Bridgeport..........
I see these two signs while out and about here in Bridgeport. To me they represent the two paths that Bridgeport residents can take on November 4th.
The Yes Path will lead to a safer and better community for our residents. I have posted videos and blog posts concerning the police and fire departments special assessments. You can find all the facts and figures there.
This was a presentation given by Police Chief Dave Duffett and Fire Chief Patrick Nelson in October at the Bridgeport Gun Club http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2014/10/bridgeport-township-police-and-fire.html
They both post updates on their departments and what is going on in the community. You can also sign up for the Constant Contact emails from the township government. They include the logs of all the police and fire department calls every week, what meetings are coming up and the minutes of the meetings. If you have any doubt that we need more money for the two departments, just read the weekly list of calls. I know that in my neighborhood crime continues to increase. You can see all the past call logs on the township website under the departments. http://bridgeportmi.org/ The link to sign up for the emails is at the bottom of the website.
The Bridgeport Township Government also has a Facebook page you can follow. They post updates for the community, the police and fire department call logs, etc..... https://www.facebook.com/bridgeporttownship
The information is out there for the residents, in the meetings, online, in the weekly Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald newspaper, or you can contact any of the township officials or the police and fire departments. It is up to the residents to make the effort to seek this information out, to get involved in our community.
The No Path is a path into the past really. It is not the path to a better future for our community, a safer path for the members of our police and fire departments that we expect to be there to protect and serve our community; it is a path into the bitterness of the past, of the battles that took place in our community and divided our community. There is no hope for a prosperous future on this No Path.
I was reading a article online about social media and there was a comment in there that struck a chord with me when thinking about the future of Bridgeport: "Instead, it’s that we’re a culture of complainers. We use complaints as icebreakers or to bond with others: What’s with this weather? What’s with our boss? We use complaints to establish rapport. Studies have suggested that complaining adds years to your life by helping us release tension. But we also complain because it’s in our nature, and we’re more apt to complain than to do something about it."
It was especially the last line that reminded me of the problems in Bridgeport, that we are more apt to complain than to do something about it. I had become one of the complainers and haters, was doing nothing to make this a better community. It is time for some of our residents to let go of the past and move forward if we want to have any hope for the future of our little community. Do something positive, make a difference!!
I am not saying that we should just blindly accept everything that goes on. If you see something you don't like, think is wrong, stand up, fight for change. BUT there is a difference between fighting for a better future and just bitching, complaining, being negative towards everything in our community. Some peoples energy would be better spent doing something positive instead of the same old worn out tiresome hate.
Bridgeport Township Police Chief Dave Duffett and Fire Chief Patrick Nelson gave a presentation at the Bridgeport Gun Club of the details for the Police and Fire Special Assessments that will be on the November ballot.
There are several things I would like to point out right up front.
First is the language on the ballot that seems confusing to most people that I have shown it to. It states "Shall the entire unincorporated portion of Bridgeport Charter Township...". Some people think that means that only part of Bridgeport will be assessed or that it is some kind of subterfuge language. It is not subterfuge it is just legalese language. The assessment will be on ALL tax parcels in Bridgeport that have one or more structures on the parcel, not on any vacant parcels.
Second is that the Bridgeport Downtown Development Authority does not capture any monies from special assessments like these. So no matter what anyone may say, the DDA will not be getting any of this money, it is just for the fire and police departments.
Lastly, these proposals on the ballot will just be to approve the special assessment district. The ballot language does list the proposed flat rate cost for the police and fire departments, but after the assessments are approved, then there will another public hearing on November 17th, 2014 to set the rate. The public can come to this special hearing and have their say on what the costs for the assessment should be. The cost WILL NOT go any higher than what is listed on the ballot. This is my understanding of the technicalities and hopefully I have that correct!
Chief Duffett and Chief Nelson provide such good information on their departments and on the special assessment in this meeting. Please take the time to watch it!!
Here is some information from the handouts they provided at the meeting.
For the Police Department:
The proposed rate is $37.80 per tax parcel with one or more structures for a 5 year period.
The money raised will be used to bring back 2 full time Police Officer positions, and to fund their uniforms and gear.
Their current staffing level includes 1 Police Chief, 1 Sgt/Uniformed Investigator and 6 Patrol Officers. At their current staffing levels there are times when there is no officer on duty due to things like vacations or illness. With two more officers they will be able to maintain 24/7 coverage.
In 2011, they responded to 7,240 calls.
In 2012, they responded to 6,807 calls (the decrease was due to their low staffing levels at that time).
In 2013, they responded to 8,159 calls.
For 2014 they are on pace to respond to approximately 8,800 calls.
With the two new officers they would be able to be proactive in trying to prevent crime in Bridgeport, instead of just reactive.
If you have any questions you can contact them at 989-777-2800 or by email - dduffett@bridgeportmi.org
The township website is www.bridgeportmi.org
The Police Department Facebook page is Bridgeport Township Police Department
For the Fire Department:
They have a lot of information about their department and their needs so it will just be easier to post a copy of the pages of information they provided. Just click on each photo to see a larger version of it.
If you have any questions you can contact them
Fire Chief Patrick Nelson
989-777-2400 ext 233
email - fire@bridgeportmi.org
The township website is www.bridgeportmi.org
The Fire Department Facebook page is Bridgeport Township Fire Department
MY THOUGHTS ON THE ASSESSMENT
I am hoping that our residents will get out and vote for these two assessments!! Anyone that lives in this township knows that we need more police protection. I know right in my neighborhood the crime has increased. Chief Duffett quoted some FBI stats about the police levels for similar population size townships and they have 18 police officers, we only have 8. We need these two other officers and it would be nice to be sure we always have 24/7 protection.
The Fire Department is in need of support from our community. They have a long list of the things they need to just maintain the fire station, their apparatus (vehicles) and their equipment.
The men and women from both of these departments literally put their lives on the line to protect all of us in our community and we need to support them.
PLEASE VOTE YES ON NOVEMBER 4TH FOR THESE TWO ASSESSMENTS
