PRESQUE ISLE TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING
held June 21, 2010

Supervisor Patrick Pokorski called the meeting to order at 5:25 pm.

The pledge of allegiance was recited.

Members Present: Supervisor Patrick Pokorski, Treasurer Bette Tadajewski, and Trustee Cynthia Paavola. Clerk Karen Fournier and Trustee Lynn Morrison were absent.

Audience: Clayton Peters and Dan Rivard were also present.

Fireworks: P. Pokorski stated that, previously, the Board gave the "okay" for the helpers to go down and get their training (which they did), they got their fire gear, etc, but the Board has never approved the bill for the fireworks. N. Kinney and he wanted to start promoting the fireworks, but B. Schatz brought up the point that they never approved the money for the actual fireworks yet, so he asked to do that so they could go ahead with promotion. At a previous Parks and Rec. meeting, B. Schatz said that it was too short of a notice to go out and do fundraising before the 4th, however, they are still interested in doing the Cookie Toss, and some other fundraisers to help raise money to go towards the fireworks; it will just be after the 4th instead of before like in the past. Copies of the fireworks bill were handed out to those who did not have one. B. Tadajewski made a motion to approve the fireworks bill in the amount of $5,642.00 due to Wolverine Fireworks. C. Paavola seconded, however asked for clarification, as mentioned at a previous meeting, about the ability to cancel the order, if they chose to, in case they decide not to go through with this, and how they would go about doing that. She stated that she was not for this at all, and felt that they had no business spending this kind of money. P. Pokorski stated that he would agree with her if it was the full five or six thousand dollars, but in the past, Parks and Rec has raised some serious money. B. Tadajewski interjected and stated that Parks and Rec, and B. Schatz and his group out there, she believed, raised about $2,000 as opposed to the $5,600, and she fully agrees with C. Paavola that this is the kind of money that we do not need to be spending. She added that the 4th of July does not change from year to year, it's always the 4th of July. They do not need to be sitting here on June 21st, trying to figure out how we're going to get money to offset the cost of it. B. Tadajewski stated that she will not approve fireworks next year unless there is some serious money raising done prior. C. Paavola suggested starting in April. P. Pokorski stated that he agreed with everyone wholeheartedly, however, if they recall how the fireworks went this year, it was on and off again. More discussion was had in regards to starting fundraising earlier and determining why that wasn't done this year. B. Tadajewski stated that she is very disturbed because, she thinks it's going to cost the township over $4,000 because she doesn't think we're going to get the after effect, like we get before. P. Pokorski stated that was why Parks and Rec wants to do some serious fundraising; because they don't want any of this coming out of the anything to do with the lighthouses or anything; they are in 100% agreement also. C. Paavola stated that there is only 3 weeks! C. Peters asked where the money is coming out of. B. Tadajewski responded that it has always come out of Enterprise. C. Peters responded that he knows it has, and continued on that they will be taking more than 25% of their budget and spending it on fireworks. P. Pokorski responded that N. Kinney said the same thing, and that is why everyone wants to do the fundraising to recoup the costs. C. Peters also said that Parks and Rec. meets next Monday; what if they don't approve it? P. Pokorski stated that the volunteers had already come before Parks and Rec. and the Board, and everyone gave them the feeling that we were moving forward and doing this, so it can't be said that this was totally done in the complete dark because these people have been up front and talking with people on their own time. P. Pokorski also stated that N. Kinney agreed that we're going to push and raise some money for the fireworks this year, and he also stated that next year, everyone is right, we're going to need start earlier, and it needs to be on the Parks and Rec agenda in February to start working on it. C. Paavola stated that the balance for Enterprise is $34,254 so you take $6,000 out of that...that's a chunk of money. P. Pokorski responded that he's not arguing with that fact. B. Tadajewski added that she needed to just point out one thing; they do have money in Rec Long Range in the Special Revenue funds, if Enterprise Parks should become short, the Board could feasibly move some of that money back, and added that they have already taken $11,000 out of there as part of the lighthouses. C. Peters said he understands all of that, but he's not a fireworks person, and just can't see spending the money on something like that when there are buildings in sad need of a lot of repair; it didn't make fiscal sense to him. B. Tadajewski agreed, and added that they are all the discussion point here, and it feels like this year, it's almost too late to back away, but it needs to be planned a lot better for next yet, and if they can't raise the money, then there won't be any fireworks. P. Pokorski suggested giving it as a task to Parks and Rec, and stating that if they don't raise "x" amount of dollars, there won't be any fireworks; they need to give them a target. D. Rivard proposed a compromise. He suggested to do the fireworks, but have Parks and Rec commit to pay back the Enterprise fund over time for 2010, and then for 2011, the fireworks need to pay for themselves, and if they need any up-front money from the Enterprise fund, then so be it, but that too should be paid back within the same calendar year before the 4th of July. He added that we are already half way committed this year, but Parks and Rec and others should be committed with fundraisers, donations and so on, to make sure that it's paid back. B. Tadajewski stated that no soliciting has been done this year, and C. Paavola added that they have the tubes at the stores; that's it. P. Pokorski felt that it was unfair to ask Parks and Rec. to raise the full amount for this year. D. Rivard stated that they would have from now until the next 4th of July, and B. Tadajewski added that if Parks and Rec is not comfortable with that type; then they just won't have fireworks. D. Rivard stated that the long range goal should be to make it a revenue neutral thing. P. Pokorski responded that is the goal, but if we do that, then Parks and Rec turns it down next week, then we're going to have a lot of irate people out here because there are a lot of people who a put a lot of time and energy into it this year. C. Peters responded that if the money is not there; it's not there! P. Pokorski stated that he felt we should ask them to commit to the full amount for next year, but only half for this year because of the changes with everything from the committee to the expectation, and because they've never raised the full amount in the past. He agreed fully with the expectation for next year; they spend what they raise, but to change the expectation for this year, mid-year and then expect them to fulfill it he felt was unfair. B. Tadajewski stated that the assumption, by the general public, is that we are going to have fire works every year, and we need to notify them that unless funds are raised there will be none, or whatever is raised is all that can be spent. C. Peters said that is something P & R can figure out how to do. D. Rivard added that they need to come up with some type of compromise for the transition period, and also plan for the long term goal. P. Pokorski asked if anyone wanted to change the motion to incorporate the ideas. D. Rivard recommended that it include A. a payment to restore funds to the Enterprise fund, and B. a plan to generate an on-going revenue source for the fireworks. B. Tadajewski and C. Peters talked about ways to inform the public that if no funds are raised, no fireworks are purchased. There was further discussion regarding ways to raise money and the type of plan that needed to be developed. It was decided to make two separate motions, so that if Parks and Rec did not agree to it, then this year's fireworks could still be had, but would be the last. A roll call vote was taken. All ayes; Motion carried. Future plans were discussed and agreed upon in regards to paying for the shoot this year, but no others in the future. C. Paavola stated she was still not happy that they were paying for this years', but accepted the compromise. B. Tadajewski made a motion that the Board task Parks and Rec to develop a plan to make the fireworks revenue neutral. C. Paavola seconded. All ayes; motion carried. It was agreed that Parks and Rec don't have to be solely responsible, and that a sub committee can be formed to help out. D. Rivard asked if the Board wanted to assign any type of target date. B. Tadajewski asked to amend her motion. She amended the motion to task the Parks and Rec to develop a plan to make the fireworks revenue neutral and to be presented to the Board at their December 2010 meeting. All members agreed to the amendment.

Budget: Members chose to not address this item until the meeting on the 28th of June.

Payment of the maintenance person: P. Pokorski asked to give his take on the situation. He referred to the list (of projects that was previously submitted). He stated that it was developed because over the years we didn't do it; we did a poor job of maintenance because of money and so forth. Nothing was done. B. Tadajewski stated that she had an issue with the list. She wasn't saying that any of it does not need to be done, but she was under the understanding that the list was going to be prioritized with dollar amounts put with and that the board would decide which projects they wanted to go forward with. Now she finds they have over $2,000 worth of invoices to be paid when she's never seen any prioritizing or any costs, and felt that it was open ended. P. Pokorski stated that they did this at the last meeting. They were going to beat the thing to death and it was agreed that they didn't know how much was out there, it was agreed they need to prioritize, however, he added there's another part out there. Part of his bill was for cutting grass at the cemetery. B. Tadajewski stated that it may very well be, but the Board never did decided what was going to be done at the cemetery. P. Pokorski responded to B. Tadajewski by saying that that when she does her job, she does her job, Karen goes out and gets bids and does as she darn well pleases, and added that he's sexton of the cemetery, and he said he was going to have a maintenance guy cut the grass, which, at first he said Deb was going to do it, and no one said anything. He has Gene do it, and now it's an issue, and we're not going to have Gene cut the grass. He continued by saying that it's very obvious that he's the guy that does the best job and he knows him. Now we're going to say that we're not going to pay him for cutting the grass at the cemetery. B. Tadajewski responded that she thinks that's a different issue, and she didn't want it discussed at a special meeting. She had a really bad feeling about special meetings. They're clandestine; things are done behind people's back. Yes, the requirements were met by posting it, but the general public does not stop and look at that door everyday. She still thinks it needs to be discussed either at the June 28th meeting or at the regular meeting in July, so that it's not like they're doing things behind people's backs. She gets some really bad feed back from special meetings. P. Pokorski added that he got a lot of bad feedback after the last meeting from the way the situation was handled. Others felt that Gene did the work, just pay him, and let's get a system in place. B. Tadajewski responded that we've done this over and over and over in the last year. We go out and spend money, and then try to make things better by just paying people. She's not saying that Gene's not entitled to the money, she's just very disturbed about the way that they went about having it done. She was under the impression that the projects were coming back to the Board with dollars. C. Paavola was under the impression that it was just a priority list; she never heard that money was going to be attached to what was going to be done because how do you know. B. Tadajewski said that the minutes stated that "he (Patrick) will prepare a list and then present the projects and corresponding figures to the Board for review and/or approval." So her understanding was that there was going to be dollar and cents attached the projects. She knows you can't predict accurate figures, but you can get estimates so that they have some idea. When she's looking at a pay sheet that's $600.00 for four days, she wants to do that job! P. Pokorski told her she didn't and said that neither she nor Cynthia have spent anytime working down at those Lighthouses to know what type of work needs to be done. He continued on explaining the types of repairs that needed to be done immediately in order to prevent major problems, and summarized the point that they can spend a little now to save a lot down the road. D. Rivard and C. Peters came up with a form to help alleviate some of the confusion and provide a better explanation of what work is being done and why. B. Tadajewski stated that she is upset that this is all being done after the fact. All they need to do is prioritize the list, and she added that the bills need to come to the 28th meeting that the public is aware of , or at the July meeting. C. Paavola stated that the bad thing is that if Gene doesn't get paid, he doesn't work, and if he doesn't work, the volunteers don't' work, and unfortunately this is a crunch time for the township, and she doesn't blame him. There was discussion commending G. Campbell's work history and volunteer service within the township. C. Peters spoke and explained that Gene has been paid $184.14 of the $2,300 and some that was owed to him. B. Tadajewski stated that she believed that was the portion that was preapproved for the Township Hall. C. Peters gave the amounts that Gene has paid out of his own pocket, and added that, under contract, he is entitled to a $25.00 per month fuel allowance, plus $103.02 mileage. He also explained that Karen approved, and called in to Ace Hardware, the purchase of fertilizer for the lawns, and she paid for those, but she won't pay him the $100.00 to put the fertilizer down! C. Peters also added that, after years, they have finally found someone to fix the bat problem, but now he's not going to be paid for it. B. Tadajewski stated that she doesn't think he's not going to be paid. She just thinks that what we need to do is establish that approvals need to be given for payments before charges are made. D. Rivard interjected an observation. He stated that we are in transition from where we were to where we want to be. A lot of this stuff is unforeseen or is discovered as we go. He thinks what we need to think through is a way to take care of some of the stuff we're working on that are the "have to's" to get things opened up and stuff that needs repair because it hasn't been. On an on-going basis, if it's a project, he agrees it should be in the budget, it should be approved, and it should have a work task approval assigned on which Gene puts his hours against, C. Peters signs off that those were the actual hours, it comes to the Board, and its in a formality for approval because it's in there. The area where they're going to have discussion on that basis is when they have an unforeseen incident where something breaks, falls down or get's knocked over. For that, they're going to just have to come up with a number to add in to cover unforeseen incidentals, and if something happens, it's logged and turned in accordingly. He also passed out spreadsheets with examples of how to keep track of monthly expenses similar to a job ticket. There are a list of projects that need to be done in order to get the parks opened and safe. C. Peters, at this point, is the best person who knows what those projects are, and how much they may cost. We need to find a non-clumsy way to get Gene paid for the work that has been done, and find a way to approve an additional amount to be able to get the rest of the work done, and then charge themselves to develop a budget format that can keep track of for each project. P. Pokorski agreed. D. Rivard asked what the plan is, then for the short term, to get the $2,000 paid. He asked B. Tadajewski what sort of requirements she was comfortable with to pay it. She stated that she was very uncomfortable just to see the bills to begin with. She was beyond shock because she was under the impression that they were going to get an idea as to how much things would cost, and she has absolutely no criticism of Gene Campbell, what he has done, or what he has given freely; none what-so-ever. She feels the man is outstanding, however, are we going to have people coming back at us to say "well, I would have done that, or you never asked me if I wanted to do that". She understand that volunteers are not capable of doing some of the projects that Gene is capable of doing, but when we do an on-call person...it's on call. P. Pokorski stated that it was never an "on-call"; it was a contracted maintenance person. B. Tadajewski said that she then has an issue with a "contracted maintenance person". P. Pokorski said that if we do what Dan is talking about then we shouldn't have these types of problems anymore. D. Rivard interjected that maintenance has always been done on the lighthouses; it just been done by volunteers. As far as he knows, there's never been a maintenance plan in the township for the lighthouses. It's been an emergency plan as things break. Volunteers have done an amazing job restoring things, and taking care of them, but they're wearing out. The youngest volunteer is 55 years old. They need someone to be able to pass the projects on to and it will be a 5 day a week job. The volunteers were discussed further. It was also pointed out that G. Campbell is unaware of what was going on. He was asked to do the work, he did it, and now when it comes time to get paid, he's not. He asked what decisions can be made to get Gene paid so that everyone is content legally and morally. B. Tadajewski explained that as a governmental unit we can't expend funds without approval. D. Rivard stated that we can approve for things that we can forecast and see, but you can't for things we can't see, so we're going to have to set up a category or unforeseen or emergency fund. Bette stated that her gut concern was that if we go ahead and approve the $2,000 this month is there going to be another $2,000 next month? D. Rivard answered that it will be done differently, but it will take a while before they can have figures to work off of and approve. A scheduled preventative maintenance plan needs to be put in force and then the unforeseen expenses will start to decrease, but while they're in the transition period, a guessed amount will be have to be approved to cover those unknown amounts. Project related expenses should be done according to a plan. A budget process and plans for how to handle future projects were discussed. B. Tadajewski did not feel comfortable having a partial Board make the decision on what to do. D. Rivard suggested that no one move forward until all five Board members and the rest of the boards develop a plan on how they're going to handle it or until a budget can be established. B. Tadajewski stated that we can't leave it open ended, since that's how they got into this problem. D. Rivard said they need to bridge from where there are to where they want to be, figure out what to do about the $2,000 owed to Gene, figure out how they're going to handle the rest of 2010, and work on the budget for 2011. B. Tadajewski stated that she would like to see it on the agenda for the June 28th meeting. P. Pokorski stated that he will do that, and in the mean time, would like to meet with C. Peters to go over the bills. B. Tadajewski stated that she didn't think the bills were the problem. P. Pokorski interjected that there are some people on the Board that want to blame people not processes. The second problem is that at the last Township Board meeting, packets were handed out, he didn't have one, he asked for one, get's a packet, and is told that he doesn't need one, so he never got the packet that everyone else got. He stated there are anger management problems too that need to be addressed. He had asked her (K. Fournier) if there were any items that needed to be added to the agenda. She said nothing and then walks in with packets and adds the item to the agenda. He stated that we can't work and operate this way. B. Tadajewski commented on the bills being turned in last minute, and C. Paavola clarified that she had dropped them off the Monday or Tuesday of the week before the Board meeting. P. Pokorski proposed, if by the 28th meeting, he and C. Peters have everything from what has happened reasons why, which ones went on, and what they want to go forward with, would she consider it. C. Peters interjected that he has gone through each of the bills; B. Tadajewski interjected that she is not quivering over bills; C. Peters continued on stating that there is over $1,000 worth of money owed to him that has already been approved. B. Tadajewski answered that was the other issue. They have no idea what goes with what, and she feels that the same $2,000 is getting spent over and over. B. Tadajewski stated that she would like the bills presented and discussed at the meeting on the 28th. She would like every member of the board present, and if possible she would like for P. Pokorski to communicate with each member of the Board, his feelings on how these bills got done without prior approval. She's not saying we don't owe the money, she just thinks the way it was done was wrong. Budget and current approval procedures were discussed. P. Pokoski asked C. Peters if he was willing to sit down with him and get the bills detailed before the 28th. He responded that he was willing to do anything to get Gene paid. More discussion was had regarding actions that have taken place. B. Tadajewski suggested a conference call with MTA. P. Pokorski agreed or suggested perhaps a meeting in person. It was repeatedly mentioned that throughout all of the Boards quarrelling, G. Campbell should not have to be caught in the middle of it and be the one losing out. B. Tadajewski gave scenarios of when projects have been approved, they go over, but no one ever does anything about it and the money just keeps getting spent over and over. The need to get a project that has a dollar amount that goes with it and we subtract from it. It was agreed that this hasn't been done in the past. C. Peters gave examples of where he was approved for up to $1,000, but only spent $200.00 of it. B. Tadajewski stated that we need to go back through the minutes, find out what was approved, and what was spent in order to keep track. C. Peters said that he will take all of the bills, have Parks and Rec. approve them at their next meeting, and then present them to K. Fournier to pay. He also asked why he still hasn't been paid. P. Pokorski explained that it was because of the question of whether or not his resignation had been accepted and whether or not he needed to be reappointed. Once that is determined, they can move forward. D. Rivard stated that they need to focus on creating a budget by project but also need to figure out a plan on how to reimburse or pay for unforeseen projects or emergencies. C. Peters asked P. Pokorski to call Gene and explain to him why he's not getting anymore money until this is all figured out. P. Pokorski said he would that night. D. Rivard encouraged everyone to work together towards accomplishing the same goal in order to get things taken care of. P. Pokorski agreed that they all need to learn how to do things better. D. Rivard stated that C. Peters is trying to get things straightened out, and B. Tadajewski assured that it would be solved next Monday. She also explained that by going through the minutes and getting a list of what was approved that it would be a start to the process. C. Paavola stated that C. Peters has already done that, and B. Tadajewski responded that if some of Gene's expenses were part of the $2000 or $3000 projects that were pre-approved, then those need to be broken out and listed, and separated from those that were not approved so that they can be paid. D. Rivard elaborated on the concept for the plan. C. Paavola stated that what he's proposing is actually very simple, we just need to do it. D. Rivard stated that he would like to start with Parks and Rec because they're new. The example sheets he provided were discussed, and recommended for use of budgeting throughout the entire township government. He also suggested talking with MTA and the accountant to find out a way to be able to streamline the process to make everything easier for everyone and still be in compliance. He wants everyone to be better off once this is done. Following additional discussion regarding G. Campbell and the position the township has put him in personally, D. Rivard concluded that if the issue is not resolved by the end of the month that he will make a charitable contribution to the Township to pay G. Campbell, and the township can pay him back whenever they get their stuff figured out. There was further discussion regarding what D. Rivard had proposed in regards to keeping track of which expenses go with which approved projects, and it was agreed to have E. Comerford go through the minutes to determine which amounts have been approved to this point. They could then start assigning expenses from there. B. Tadajewski was concluded that the uncomfortableness of everything is due to the legality involved.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm.

Minutes submitted by,
Erika M. Comerford, Office Staff