Tri-County Citizen

NEWS BRIEFS


KC RAFFLE WINNERS ANNOUNCED – The winners of the Chesaning Knights of Columbus raffle for March are Gary Peterson, Chad Maike, John Ebenhoeh and Joel Henige.

OPEN MEETINGS AGAIN ALLOWED – During the Thursday, March 4 meeting of the Chesaning Township Board, Supervisor Joseph Ruthig announced that they just received word that starting Friday, March 5, the State of Michigan is allowing public meetings in person.

ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR BOB CORRIN MEMORIAL – Chesaning Township has opened a separate savings account at United Financial Credit Union in Chesaning for the Robert Corrin Memorial Fund. Public tax dollars cannot be used for a memorial. Township officials want to create a memorial honoring Corrin for his decades of public service and are contributing their own personal funds toward the memorial. Other people have also expressed an interest in donating toward the memorial. Donations can be made with checks made out to “Robert Corrin Memorial Fund.” Donations can be mailed to the Chesaning Township Office, 1025 W. Brady St., Chesaning, MI 48616.

SOLAR FARM NOT VIABLE – During the Thursday, March 4 meeting of the Chesaning Township board, Supervisor Joseph Ruthig announced that the solar farm project that was proposed in 2018 for the southeast corner of Chesaning Township has been discontinued. He explained that the company has determined that the project is not financially viable.

TOWNSHIP LOOKS TO ANSWERING THIRD GRADER’S REQUEST – A third-grade student from Byron Center Christian School recently wrote to Chesaning Township as part of a class assignment to learn about a township in the State of Michigan. The student chose Chesaning Township to study. She requested information about Chesaning Township, its industry and a little history about it, such as who its first settlers were. The student added that the class is also collecting items representing the townships being studied. Chesaning Township Clerk Julie Paulson welcomes help in sharing special gems of knowledge about Chesaning Township and small items representative of Chesaning that would be enjoyed by students in the class.

STATE-SHARED REVENUE RECEIVED – Chesaning Township Treasurer Cathy Gross announced that Chesaning Township recently received a state-shared revenue check. Township treasurers had been told earlier in the pandemic that state-shared revenues would be down. Gross informed the Chesaning Township Board that the first state-shared revenue check this year is down by $834, as compared to last year’s revenue check at this time. She was relieved that it wasn’t as bad as she had feared.

TOWNSHIP INCREASES FEES FOR GRAVE MARKER FOUNDATIONS – During its Thursday, March 4 virtual meeting, the Chesaning Township Board approved a fee increase for preparing grave marker foundations. Supervisor Joseph Ruthig explained that the contractor, Mow and Snow, wanted to negotiate their contract. They requested a rate increase for laying the marker foundations. The previous fee was 45 cents per square inch. An increase of 10 cents per square inch with a minimum charge of $100 was requested. The township board approved the increase and amended the township fee schedule to reflect the change.

LED BULB PURCHASE APPROVED – Many of the fluorescent light bulbs at the Chesaning Township Hall have been flickering or providing significantly less light. During the February meeting of the Chesaning Township Board, supervisor Joseph Ruthig proposed replacing them with LED lights to save energy and improve lighting in the building. He had a local price of $6 per bulb. There was discussion about the possibility of a Consumers Energy incentive program to switch to LED lighting. He returned to the March meeting with Consumers Energy rebate pricing of $3 per bulb with the purchase of 100 bulbs, for a total of $300. The local supplier would handle the rebate process for the township. The board approved the purchase.

CHESANING TWP. BOARD CHANGES MEETING TIME – During its Thursday, March 4 meeting, the Chesaning Township Board approved its meeting schedule for the next year. Meetings will continue to be held on the first Thursday of the month. However, trustee Bill Hedrich proposed that the township board begin 30 minutes earlier, setting the meeting times to start at 7 p.m. Board members discussed the change and unanimously approved. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 1 at 7 p.m.