001that and that was uh good evening. I'd like to call to turn my mic on. Like to call to order the Charter Township of Oxford Board of Trustees regular meeting for Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. If we would all please rise and pay our respects to the flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Uh noting of the role, please. Noted. There is a quorum. Thank you. Approval of the agenda. I'll make a motion approve the agenda as presented. I'll second that. I have a motion by Treasurer Ferrari, a second by Trustee Charles. Are there any questions? Hearing none. Uh, all those in favor signify by saying
002I. I. I. Those opposed. Hearing none. Uh, item five, approval of the consent agenda. I'll make a motion approve the consent agenda as presented. I'll second. I have a motion by Treasure Ferrari, a second by Trustee Kovven. Are there any questions? I had uh one question. Yes, sir. Trusty Wagner. On page 72, if you bear with us a minute, page 72, the clerk's report. Clerk's report. I'm just interested in what drove the large negative variances for uh for three of those items. Um clerk, right? Well, let me scroll down here if I can find it here. Are the negative variances from year to date? Yeah. Telecommunications, building department, cable. Those are actually uh revenues in and expenses out. And that's your variance for the year on that. What what they are behind that? I don't
003have those answers at this point. I can uh definitely look at what the bills have been. Actually, I was looking at the monthly variances. I'm sorry. The monthly variances. Same same situation. Those should be in your packet for the bills. Yeah, for the monthlies. Well, I was asking I couldn't quite find where those what was driving those. Yeah, as far as uh as far as revenue goes. That that would be on the uh um more more on the treasur side because they take the monies in. And actually revenue is not necessarily cash. It's just bills that have been generated to collect. Um but uh we can sit down, Trusty Wagner, and uh dissect them out if you'd like. Yeah, that'd be good something worthwhile to dig into. Okay, offline. So, that's Thanks. Okay, just pick
004a time and get with me. Thank you. Roll call. Clerk, right? Yes. Uh, Trusty Culvin, yes. Trusty Wagner, yes. Trusty Charles, yes. Treasure Ferrari, yes. And Supervisor Curtis, yes. Item six, public comment on items that are not on the agenda. So, any member of the public would like to come up and speak on an item that's not on the agenda. We'll entertain that. We each get three minutes to talk. So, hi. Hi. Um, my name is Margaret Colbert. I'm a resident on Deleno Road, 3385 Deleno Road. Um, I have some uh handouts I'd just like I'll be talking about that I'd like to approach and give you. Yeah. Could you just bring them up here, Margaret, please? Thank you. And if that green light's not on the mic, would you just press the button right
005there where it says push? Thank you. Green light. Okay. Um I am uh I think this is the appropriate time to speak. I am uh talking about a request to keep the BMS around the gravel pit. And I don't know if that would be a zoning consideration or whatever, but um I think if we kept the BMS there when they do their development, it would um help a whole lot. Uh just keeping the trees and the foliage there uh has great ecological advantages. 90% of Americans say trees and green spaces uh contribute to their mental well-being. It positively impacts the property values, lowers crime rates. Um, and 89% of Americans uh say it boosts curb appeal, reduces noise pollution, and provides for a safe neighborhood atmosphere. And I know from visiting Florida, there are two
006counties. One county is less expensive than the other. And you can tell the minute you cross the border from the less expensive county to the more expensive county, the foliage along the road, you can't see the homes, you can't see I, you know, it's a totally different atmosphere. And um it it really really helps the community and I think it would definitely help uh separating that dense uh development from the horse country. And that's the second thing I wanted to bring to your attention that uh you might not realize but uh the horse economy is something you want to keep in this area and you want to um support in this area and if you have the BMS there it's helping to separate the development from the rural area. And if you take a look
007at some of the highlights of horse economy, um we support 22 million jobs linked both directly and indirectly to the equin sector. These include breeders, trainers, veterinarians, barriers, truck drivers, nutritionists, chemists, and um owners. And uh you can see various areas uh recreation competition we have in this area uh and equin assisted services. Margaret, we're getting at our three minutes. Done. Yeah. Well, hopefully you can take a look at how horses impact the local economy here and it's something that you should be working to preserve. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone? Hello, Barbara. Hi there. My name is Barbara Blanik. I live at 361 Barber Road and I've met many of you several times as we are here to always defend the horse country and you guys do a pretty good job of helping us to
008maintain the environment that's required. Um I have one question uh to you in terms of the proposed master plan for the gravel pit. Now I realize along the pure road is going to be commercial and then within the leggy property of the gravel mining there's going to be condos and apartments and houses etc. And probably over 100 buildings in there building the community. But as you go east, the levy property goes up to North Oxford Road. And when you get to that section, that's in Horse Country where the the zoning currently is 10 miles, excuse me, 10 acres minimum. And as you go a little north to Oakwood, it jumps up to 20. So I would ask you to reconsider what you are potentially planning along North Oxford on the west side the love east
009side uh making it uh digresses down to 2 and a half acre parcels. Uh and I just think that that would be out of context with what the horse country is trying to maintain. So I'd like you to reconsider that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other members of the public? Hello, Brian. Good evening. Uh Brian Clut here, director, Oxford Public Libraries. Um I'm here this evening to share with you that if you've not received your newsletter in your mailbox, I share some with you tonight. Um this is our 100th anniversary edition. So, we're very pleased to be able to present um all of the information that you will want to know in terms of summer reading uh for our summer reading program at the library in addition to the 100th anniversary celebration gayla and
010fundraiser event uh that will be held at India Wood Country Club on uh July 25th, 2025. Um that is the official 100th anniversary day for the library too. So, it just kind of happens to be cool that they kind of fall on the same day. Um, so tickets are available for the fundraiser event through the library's website at myoplmopl.org. Uh, and all of the information you need um to know for that event as well as all of the other extracurricular activities centered around the 100th anniversary are also um on that website and in your newsletter. So, we're looking forward to celebrating with you. It's an honor to be only the fifth head librarian this community has had in 100 years. Um, it says a lot about this community and this library. So, thank you for
011being part of that. Thank you. You any other members of the public that would like to speak? Seeing none, we'll move on to item seven, board of trustee comments. Um, we'll start with Trustee Coleman tonight. I have nothing at this time. Clerk, right? Uh, a couple things. The, uh, clerk's office will be closed on Thursday, May 22nd from about 10:30 to 2:30. We have some mandatory election training to go to, and I need all my staff, myself to be present on that. So, and if uh, uh, communications manager Kernaki wants to put a post on that, that'd be appreciated as well. And also tomorrow, May 15th, is Peace Officers Memorial Day. Flags are ordered by the governor to be at half staff in all public facilities, including local facilities. So, if you're in a public
012facility, please uh obey that that uh that day tomorrow. Those are my comments so far. Supervisor Curtis, thank you. Um, Treasure Ferrari, I don't have any at this time. Thank you. Uh, Trusty Wagner. Yeah. One quick comment. Uh, I was honored to be able to participate in and support the Oxford Addison Youth Awards on May 2nd. From my standpoint, it was quite the pleasure to witness the recognition of the kids for their selfless actions and behaviors. So, kudos to them. Thank you, Trusty Charles. Couple things. Uh, since David just brought up the Ostra and youth assistance group, that was nice to have him join us there along with our state representative Josh Fiber. It was a great great opportunity to recognize kids that represent our community in a very positive way. Uh, another thing here
013too, I'll mention that the DDA uh is working on the speaker system. If you're downtown that hasn't worked there some issues with the uh broadcast system, the Bluetooth and there's another thing coming up the DVD too, the gazebo downtown. There's some money being spent to uh redo that, replace the railings, electric system. Uh and one thing the board might want to think about too, the village manager put together the budget for the uh DDA and the township 2025 2026 budget includes $291,000 contribution from Oxford Township. That's it. Okay. Thank you. Um I'll address a couple things right now uh to Mrs. Culver's statement regarding the BMS around the gravel pit. um that is an active gravel pit. Those BMS are going to remain there in my lifetime. Uh they're going to be mining gravel for
014a minimum of 20 years. So the BMS and the trees will grow. Uh there's even going to be replacement of the trees that died this winter. So we are working. Ruben Maxau has been wonderful to work with as far as government relations, bringing people in, showing them the pit, um and experiencing it inside. you don't even know what's going on in there, but it's it's great. The BMS themselves, um, right now they're they're going to stay there. I I can't write it in in an agreement, but, um, once that dirt was put there, that cost them over $5 million to move that dirt, which is overburden, from the from the mine up onto those BMS. So, uh, probably in 20 years when they go to develop that, someone will have to look at it to
015make sure they maintain them, but it's highly unlikely they're going to tear them down. Um, secondly, the master plan does show commercial on M24, Barbara. It does get into some RM, residential multiple, and then it does get into suburban farms. So as you move away from M24, it does get higher density to the BMS and then after that you have all the beautiful farms up in that country. So we we are looking at that and making sure nothing east of the BMS is touched as far as zoning and keeping ecquin businesses floating in that area. Uh number three, uh kudos go out to uh the staffs of the clerk, treasure, and building department. Uh yesterday they had three second grade class comes in come in. Um the the second graders were taught how to register
016to vote, vote, how to pull a building permit, uh how to pay their taxes. But Danielle, Susan, Stacy, Sarah, Tracy, I'm gonna forget somebody in there, but uh all the the ladies work really hard. Uh it it's great to see the kids show interest. I believe this is the fifth year this is done. So, we think so. Yeah. exponentially. We're training these young children on what to expect when they come into government offices and what what they have to do to register to vote. Uh what they have to do to pay their taxes and such. So kudos go out to them. Other than that, I'm going to move on to item number eight, presentation, 2024 audit financial report. Rea from PSLZ CPAs. Raina, good evening. Good evening. Nice to be here this evening. Thank you.
017Uh I'm pleased to present the annual audit financial statements for the current township of Oxford for your fiscal year ended December 31st, 2024. The um the township did receive the highest level of audit opinion possible, which is an unmodified opinion. So no ex exceptions, no disclaimers, nothing bad to report. In layman's terms, a clean audit opinion. The uh starting off with some highlights. Um, property taxes, your largest source of revenue, uh, up 8% this year. It's all taxable value. That's not milit rates. Obviously, you had roll backs and things like that, but, uh, your taxable value just on the property alone is 8% this year. In comparison, the year before was 4.6%. So, we took a nice jump this year. Uh, state shared revenue increased only slightly, about 1.7%. Uh, state is working on some
018things. We're not looking at any big increases next year. they're still deciding whether they want to spend money on state tier revenue rose that type of thing. So stay tuned with that. Um of course uh interest income interest earned this year um by the township up 34% over the prior year and the year before was exponential. So uh nice work treasurer Ferrari. Um ultimately the general fund added $29,679 this year. Uh the real story here is that the township did so many capital projects within the township. I mean you've kept all your operating expenditures very stable. Um but you were able to accomplish all these capital improvements um including uh the Seymour Lake and Lakeville road safety pass um township hall new roof door access system, cemetery wall restoration and cemetery paving, police substation expansion.
019Um it goes on and on. You have about 2.2 million in capital improvements this year that in in addition to that you had water and sewer that's not counting your water and sewer improvements. That was another 4.8 million this year. So, you got a lot done this year. Um I I know the trustees and uh Supervisor Curtis, you all work as a team a lot of aspects. Um Supervisor Curtis does a great job bringing it all from from beginning to the end. So, we get a lot of things done here. Um paid down debt, uh 745,000 of debt this year. Um you this year we also added the North Area Sewer Special Assessment Bond. So you'll see that that's new this year in the audit. Um so let's see. So defined benefit plan. Let's talk
020about the pension plan quickly. The you are at 83% funded. The year before you were at 75% funded. Two things bumped us up to 83% which is more where we want to be. Of course the the state requirement is 60%. So we're we're well above that but no one here is comfortable at 60%. So, uh, even 75%, we're much happier at the 83% funding level. Two things, um, in this fiscal year, we're reporting on the trust assets. Uh, so the investments had an investment gain this year of $778,000. The year before we had like a $700,000 loss. So, we made up for it and then some. Um, and also the second thing is that the township once again added extra contributions uh of $325,000 and those two things mostly the extra contributions really move the
021needle up. So, uh, we're in the right direction. Um, and I hope that you're happy with the 83% funded because that's a good place to be at. Uh, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. I have one. Raina, last year you recommended we get above 80. So 83 is a is a good number to be at this year and a possible u pension contribution is not really required. Correct. Okay. Board members questions for on the uh I see none. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you to uh everyone the the township departments and staff. Uh everyone was very accommodating. appreciate all your hard work and that's how we get here in in May. So, thank you very much. Thank you. I used to have I used to have hair. Danielle pulled it out
022making me do this stuff. Um, okay. Moving on. Item nine, assessing. We need a motion to Oh, we have to put that in file, don't we? Make a motion to receive and file the Oxford Township 2024 audit financial report. I'll second that. I have a motion by Treasure Ferrari, a second by Trustee Wagner. Any questions? Trusty Charles. Oh, Trusty Charles. It's okay. He sits next to me. That's okay. It's close. We We settle down. I'm excited. Okay, here we go. Let's get this done. Trusty Charles seconded. Any questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Trusty Charles. Yes. Trusty Wagner, yes. Treasure Ferrari, yes. Clerk Wright, yes. Trusty Coven, yes. Supervisor Curtis, yes. All right. Now, we'll move on to item nine. Board members, back in March, I came to you and shared that the Oakland County Board
023of Commissioners was reviewing an assessing contract that would impact municipalities uh which currently use uh Oakland County Equalization. uh due to their increasing cost and our ability to be financially responsible uh we sent out bids uh request for pricing is what we said created and uploaded to Mitten. Uh, at this time we had a bid from Assessment Administration Services LLC. And I've invited the Griffins to come here tonight to answer any of your questions regarding their cost, services, and uh, what we'd be getting for the money. Uh, anybody'd like to start with questions? Raise your hand and I'll call on you. Treasure Ferrari. Hi guys. Uh, how's the transition been from county units to you guys? Well, we I'd like to give you kind of a little background on how we got started. Sure. In
0242009, we we've been in the assessment business for years. In 2009, we got started by healthy communities that would get in trouble. They would lose their role or have problems and needed help. So, we would go in and help them fix that. And that naturally morphed into well now that you fixed us can you stay and we started just doing the assessment administration for communities and it's thrived over the years. We usually get a community or two by word of mouth. We don't advertise. We started in Mcome County and expanded within six counties. Um we have a big staff. We have eight level fours on staffs. There's because we spent most of our time fixing problems. There's nothing that any problem that you had, it would been fixed. So, we've done very well with that.
025We have not taken over. We've got a couple of communities that were done by Opal County that were taking over now, but we have not taken one that was done by Opal County. I'm sure I'll tell these records they'll be fine and we'll move on because we've taken on communities that left the home for years and movement is but we've worked in a lot of counties or municipalities that are the county system for instance I retired from township spent a lot of time there we currently are doing Auburn Hills the city of Northville and now we're starting to pick up some communities and county and the transition will be fine because I don't I don't expect the record cards or the database of any advantage to start. Trusty Wagner, what have been your biggest lessons
026learned when you've taken over an assessment activity? I tell all communities when we take over is we'll put in a proposal what we're going to do and how we're going to do it, but every community is different and we've done a lot of them. They're all different. So, we like to tell everybody we'll set it up, but everybody kind of keep an open mind and we'll be there. You may make some changes that you want and and get it to where everybody's comfortable and at the end, you know, for instance, the supervisor treasure, they've got enough to deal with. So, we'll make sure that the job gets done and you don't have to worry about any of the issues and day-to-day stuff. That'll be the goal. We just got to keep it open mind, set
027it up to where it's comfortable, everybody feels comfortable with the way it's being done. Trying to do it the same way in every community isn't going to work because every community is different. You have different needs. They want more people on staff. They want, you know, less people. It depends on what they want. We'll work it out. Trusty Charles, first of all, thank you, Supervisor Curtis, for initiating this and getting it going. Uh there might be other departments we need to examine along the same lines instead of relying on Oakland County since I think we've been mistreated by Oakland County. Uh what's an example of a problem you've run across? You mentioned fixing problems. How about a concrete example? Give an example is last uh October, November, we got contacted by the city war and
028they their assessor had been let go and they didn't have anybody on staff that could take care of the warrant and get get everything done for the end of the year. So, we came in with our staff and cleaned it up, got them through the end of the year, and then they could go out and try to find our assessor. We did that just this last year. And part of the reason we can be here is because our business model is to go out and help communities that get in trouble and fix them. We've always kept some extra staff for doing that. Even though we did 26 units, we always got extra staff set aside for doing that. Now that we uh can go forward and these units are all coming up at the same
029time. It makes it difficult. We obviously can't do them all. So, we're only going to pick and choose the ones that make sense for us. You folks would make absolute sense because we're already doing Auburn Hills and we're going to do township. It's a perfect fit. Um but we had the extra staff to do that. Otherwise, you would be We struggle to try to do it. Now, if someone calls us calls us a month from now, they have no problem getting to say we can't do it because we're we've set stand aside for these specific communities and we'll take care of Thank you. You have another question, sir? Yeah. In the proposal, you indicated you would have somebody here at least one one day a week. Is that Yes. What you're Yes. Okay. We've already
030set aside three staff people. It may change before we get here in July, but it'll be the three people. Right now, we've set aside certified good days of good experience and come and we'll make sure it's done well. Okay, one more. One more. I promise. When will this change over take place? Be July 1st, right? Yes, sir. July 1st. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Um I I'm sorry, clerk. Right. No. Oh, I'm going to come back. Um how many level fours do you have? Eight. How many does the county have? I'm sure they have quite a few. I don't know, but I I was impressed with the number of villages, cities, townships, counties that you're in. Um is there going to be a problem taking us on now? No, no, it'll be
031seamless. Okay, clerk right? Yeah, my my concern a couple of these not not negative or anything, but uh how do you handle special assessment districts? There's a module in the system and we'll we can we'll take care we've done special assessments for all kinds of communities all over the state and no issue. So, you'd create the role for us then? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. All right. All right. And then freedom of information act request. Uh the data is available because we have access to the rule. Any freedom of information will supply what you need. All right. All right. You have any reports that are needed and we'll be there. All right. And then if we move forward the dollar there'll be a contract. Yes. Okay. And then the the invoicing will be indicated in the contract.
032And we'll we're pretty flexible about that. Most units do it monthly. Some we want to do it quarterly. Okay. All right, I'll uh I'll leave it at that. Trusty Clover, any questions? Bye. Thanks. Uh with that, yes, sir. Treasure Ferrari. Once you guys reach your limit, you're done, right? Let's say the proper way, and I've talked to Supervisor Curtis about this. Sit back, analyze, and make a decision. We're kind of under the gun here, right? Or let's say we say we don't want to go this route and we want to study more. Now, we want to go this route in two months. You guys could be full, and then we're done. We will be full. and you don't have that option. Yeah. I mean, there's really, in my opinion, there's only two companies in the
033state that have a staff and the ability to do this. WAC, WCA, WCA, I'm sorry. Other than that, I would expect you to get anybody. And you guys use the county system as well? We do both. We have We have some of our units are on their own, some are on the county. We actually have two units that are on the cloud. So, we've got some experience with the cloud. So, what we're on now, you can adapt to it. Absolutely. Okay. Albert Hills is on the same system we are. Thank you. You're very familiar with all set. I move to award the bid for assessing services to assessment administration services LLC or three-year contract in the amount of 138,960 for year 1, 144,480 for year two, 150,240 for year three. This contract will be in
034effect from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2028. I further move to authorize Supervisor Jack Curtis sign the contract on behalf of the Charter Township of Oxford. I'll second that. I have a motion by Treasurer Ferrari and I have a second by Trustee Charles. Are there any questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Treasure Ferrari? Yes. Trusty Wagner? Yes. Trusty Charles? Yes. Trusty Coven? Yes. Clerk Wright. Yes. And Supervisor Curtis. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. We look forward to working with you. And we still have a meeting next week or beyond the end. We'll sit down. We'll get together and put some plans together and make this thing work. Thank you very much. Thank you. Moving on. Uh item 10A, zoning ordinance 67A.037. definitions and zoning district regulations. Uh board members, uh at the April
0359, you moved it on me. Yeah, I did. Blow it up for you. Okay, that's fine. At the April 9th regular board meeting, um it was voted to uh conduct the first reading of the draft zoning ordinance. Uh this is uh the ordinance 67A 37037. Um, it relates to the statelicicensed daycare facilities and auto convenience marks being special land uses in the industrial zoning I1 and I2 districts. Uh, the board voted also voted to table the adoption of the draft zoning ordinance language as it relates to animal definitions uh, per the recent case law at the state. These amendments will be revisited by the township staff to assess if they should move forward or prematurely discarded. Uh proposed text amendment zoning ordinance. I move to set the second reading for the proposed text amendments to
036zoning ordinance 678.037 for the charter towns for vox board trustees meeting on June 11th, 2025. I'll second. I have a motion by Treasurer Ferrari, a second by Trustee Coven. I see a question. I can hear it now. Go ahead. Right. Yeah. Um my my concern is on the state licensed daycare facilities. Uh we have no definition of child in our zoning ordinance. So what I'd like to do set with uh planner pasqua tomorrow and uh talk about that. And then I also have a concern about the uh uh issue about uh increased capacity. So I will talk with him tomorrow on that and if there's issues we'll come back for a second reading. Clear it up at the second reading. Okay. For a motion already done. Oh, it's already done. Roll call. Wow. Clerk Wright.
037Yes. Trusty Coven. Yes. Trusty Charles. Yes. Trusty Wagner. Yes. Treasure Ferrari. Yes. Supervisor Curtis. Yes. I was at the high school this morning very early. Um 10B, zoning ordinance 67A.040, reszoning request for parcel 04-21-2000- 02. Uh board members, uh this is the property on Market Street 002 is going from C1 zoning to R1 zoning. Um the developers come in, not the developer, the landowner had three offers on the property. They came in wanting to build businesses, wanting to build businesses with apartments up above. And then a third one came in and wanted building uh threetory apartments. So what happened? Is that 05 or is that 02? 02 as far as I know. Okay. 02 is going to go to uh RM yeah RM and what he did the the owner of the property presented to
038the planning commission uh a residential multiple consisting of uh single family attached like along Stony Lake Road. All the details of that will have to be worked out once engineering is done and things, but the planning commission recommended uh zoning change and um uh I'd like to move to approve the first reading and to set the second reading for the proposed zoning map amendment to the zoning ordinance for parcel 67A.040 04 for parcel ID04-21-2000-00002 for June 11th, 2025 for the Charter Township Oxford Board of Trustees meeting. I'll second that. Okay. Supervisor Curtis moved. Trustee Kovven seconded. Are there any questions? Hearing none, roll call. Trusty Wagner, yes. Trusty Coven, yes. Trusty Charles, yes. Treasure Ferrari, yes. Clerk Wright, yes. And Supervisor Curtis, yes. And board members, just across the street on the lake itself, um
039the three previous potential purchasers wanted to do the same thing on the lake. The residents came out in droves and explained what they'd like. They'd like to continue houses on the lake like are on the lake. Um and uh the owner of the property is seeking zoning to R1 for parcel 005. So I move to approve the first readings and to set the second reading for the proposed zoning map amendment to zoning ordinance 67A.041 for parcel ID04-21-2000-00005 for June 11th 2025 Charter Township of Oxford Board of Trustees meeting. I'll second. Supervisor Curtis moved. Trusty Coven seconded. Are there any questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Trusty Charles. Yes. Trusty Wagner? Yes. Treasure Ferrari? Yes. Trusty Coven? Yes. Clerk Wright? Yes. Supervisor Curtis? Yes. Thank you. Uh we just did item B and C concurrently. So we
040are on item 11. Uh 11A is a zoning ordinance 67A.038 proposed zoning map amendment for 970 and 990 South Lier Road. It's a corner of Drainer and Leier. Uh the planning commission and our first reading was done to change that zoning and tonight we're proposing changing the zoning map. So I look for a motion. I move to a motion. I make a motion to adopt the proposed zoning map amendment zoning ordinance 678.038 for 97990 South of Pier Road, also known as parcel ID 0426 353028 and 0426 353 029. Reszoning both parcels from office zoning designation to C C2 general commercial designation. I'll second. I have a motion by Treasurer Ferrari and a second by Trustee Coven. Are there any questions? Seeing none, roll call. Treasure Ferrari? Yes. Cl Wright? Yes. Trusty Cvin? Yes. Trusty Wagner?
041Yes. Trusty Charles? Yes. Supervisor Curtis? Yes. Uh item 12, Fire Department. I talked to Chief. He's got nothing to report tonight. Uh item 13, sharp engineering report is included in your packet. Uh board members, if you have any questions at this time, engineer Sharp is here and he can answer them. Hearing none, we'll move on to item 14. 14A under unfinished business, notification to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources regarding proposed watercraft control on Indian Wood Lake. Uh board members, as you remember, uh these there were two lakes on our uh public hearing at one time. Uh Manitou Lake and Indianwood Lake. We share both those lakes with Orian Township. uh having uh the board at Orian turn down the proposed amendment change, we have no action required on it. However, we have to respond
042by Monday to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and uh the township board of Oregon will be meeting and discussing this. They kept theirs open on Indian Wood Lake Road because they have more residents that that are on that lake and they wanted to get more input from residents. So, it was uh advised to us through council that we should approve this amendment because if we approve it and they deny it, it will be denied. But if we deny it, they will also have to deny it. We want to give their residents an opportunity to come in and speak whether they want to accept it or not. So us accepting it allows them to have their residents come in. I move to approve the first reading the special watercraft rule for Indianwood Lake as prepared
043by the MDNR pursuant to MCL 324.80110. I'll second. I have a motion by Treasurer Ferrari and a second by Trustee Coven. Are there any questions? Question. Uh, trust clerk, right? Yeah. I just want to make sure uh, attorney will be responding to the, uh, state on our behalf. Attorney Alice and I have already spoke. She has until midnight on the 20th to respond to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Okay. I will let them know whatever action we take tonight. All right. Great. Thank you, Trusty Charles. So for us to accept it gives the state an opportunity to deny it. No, it gives Orian the opportunity to deny it to clarify. Okay. So there's two there is two proposed ordinances from DNR. One for Lake Manitu and one for Indian wood or denied Manitou Lake.
044By law both the ordinance has to be approved by both municipalities. So this board tonight does not have to take any action on Manitou Lake. For Indianwood Lake, the township board at Orian, when they held their first reading, they received no resident input. No residents showed up to speak for Indian Wood. So they have to postpone it to their next meeting, which is Monday for their first reading. Unfortunately, we're up against the 60-day deadline to make a decision. So I was asked to relay that the town Oran Township would like Oxford to approve first reading for Indianwood late tonight so that Orin has the opportunity to consider it Monday night with the resident input that they're seeking. If they deny it, it will not come back to this board. If they approve it, it will
045come back to this board for second reading. You'll have another opportunity. So that's the process. it. She said it a little more eloquently than myself. That's all the time she's on the water. That's why. Any other questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Trusty Charles? Yes. Trusty Wagner? Yes. Treasure Ferrari? Yes. Clerk Wright? Yes. Trusty Culvin? Yes. Supervisor Curtis? Yes. Item 14 C, proposed 2025 Orient Township master plan. Trusty Wagner. Oxford. What did I say? 400. Wow. I got to get that checked. Proposed 2025 Oxford Township master plan. Trustee Wagner. All right. Thank you. So, master plan changes requested by the board um at the last meeting were reviewed by the planning commission and incorporated into the master plan here tonight for review and approval. So, I like the motion to approve the 2025 draft master plan
046to be distributed to all entities required under the Michigan Planning Enabling Act of 2008 section 41 for the required 63day period. Second. I have a motion by Trustee Wagner and a second by Treasure Ferrari. Are there any questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Trusty Coven. Yes. Trusty Charles. Yes. Trusty Wagner. Yes. Clerk Wright, yes. Treasure Ferrari, yes. Supervisor Curtis, yes. Item 14 C, ordinance review committee request for funding. Trusty Wagner. Yes. So, page 355 describes the the revisions of the ordinance work plan since the last township uh board review. The proposed work plan is present in the packet starting on page 35 357 and reflects the changes requested by the township board during their March 12, 2025 regular meeting. Motion to approve the 2025 ordinance review committee work plan and budget not to exceed $13,750. This
047$13,750 amount to be expensed to account 101-701-801.0000 Planner Professional Services. Second. I have a motion by Trusty Wagner and a second by Treasurer Ferrari. Are there any questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Treasure Ferrari? Yes. Trusty Wagner? Yes. Trustee Charles? Yes. Trusty Kovven? Yes. Quick right? Yes. Supervisor Curtis? Yes. Okay. Thought the time was up. 14D, Personnel Committee, Trustee Coven. Okay. Item I, Employee Handbook amendments. Okay. Um, the personnel committee was asked to review the employee handbook and make some updates. Um, we got feedback from uh several of the board members and we reviewed all of all of uh everything everybody wanted us to uh look at. We did make some changes. You have a redlinined copy in your um in your packet. Uh the changes were actually not very large. Um a lot of them
048were just clarifying certain things. Um the big changes I think we did eliminate the requirement um for tuition reimbursement. As long as you pass the class, you can get your tuition reimbured. We took out the percentages. And I think the other big change was um for the township vehicle um if the township vehicle is available uh we're going to require you to use the township vehicle rather than getting your mileage expensed. Um we figure if the township has this vehicle, we might as well be using it. So those are the big ones. Um I don't know if there's anything else that anyone reviewed has questions on. I'll entertain questions before a motion. Yes, sir. What's the process for using the township vehicle? Process or what? If it's there, you take it. Process is if it's
049there, you take it. If you want to reserve it for a long trip or a certain day, you write it on the board. The keys are hanging on the board. Uh you fill out uh I want to use the township vehicle on Friday from 8 to 10 and I use it. uh bring it back, clean all the junk out of it and pull the gas and uh it's ready for the next person. Any questions? I Yeah, one maybe one question. It it talks about this, you know, being highly discouraged of using your own personal vehicle. How is that going to be implemented? How does that work? We're all adults. Okay. Any other questions? Hearing none. Roll call. We haven't made a motion. Motion. Is there Oh, I thought I heard See, we asked questions. Ask
050questions first. You guys are tricking me. I look I'll make a motion to approve the employee handbook amendments as made. I think you want to probably be more specific. Curtis, pull up that motion, please, for Supervisor Curtis. Oh, I can read it. I move to approve the Oxford Township employee handbook with amendments to section employment of relatives non-exempt employees operation and working hours overtime compensatory time overtime PTO awards PTO donations used PTO upon separation from employeement uh medical and hospitalization insurance tuition reimbursement mileage Use of township vehicles, attendance and tardiness, prohibited conduct, corrective or discipline action, ex access to employee personnel records, workplace safety, reporting a violation of illegal harassment or discrimination, internet and email use, social media, leave of absences, medical leave, non FMLA, voluntary separation, and receipt of employee handbook. book and employment
051at will statement to be effective May 14th, 2025. I'll second a motion by Supervisor Curtis, a second by Trustee Coleman. Now, are there any questions? Right. Township, correct? Okay, now you woke me up, boy. I'm ready. That Red Bull kicked in. Hearing none. Roll call. Trusty Coven. Yes. Clerk Wright. Yes. Treasure Ferrari. No. Uh, we got Trustee Charles. Yes. Trusty Wagner, yes. Supervisor Curtis, yes. Motion carries. Item uh 14D2 uh Trustee Coven. Okay. Personnel Committee was also asked to look at the uh hours for the Oxford Township building um and the office. Uh we did a review um it's in your packet of all of the communities uh in the surrounding areas, the hours they worked, when they're open, closed, etc. Um u many communities around us are closed on Fridays. This includes the village
052of Oxford and Orian. Um several other communities are are uh closed um a lot more often. They tend to be smaller. So, we did a review and we decided that we um in order to maybe try to uh be better serving our township residents, we thought it would be better to be open a little bit later, four days a week and then close on Friday. And we thought we'd try this out for the summer only um just to see what kind of uh feedback we would get and so that we could be better serve our residents having them a little more time for them to get here during the week. And so we came up with a proposal to be open from 8:00 to 5:30 Monday through Thursday and closed on Friday just Memorial Day
053through Labor Day. I move that effective Monday, May 26, 2025 through Saturday, September 13, 2025, the Charter Township of Oxford office located 300 Dunlap Road. Hours of operation will be as follows. Monday 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday closed Saturday closed Sunday closed lunch periods are reduced from 1 hour to 1 half hour Monday through Thursday. Further, Oxford Township non-exempt employees with the exception of the executive administrative assistant to the open county sheriff's office substation shall have the hourly rate of pay adjusted to match their salary rate per the approved 2025 general appropriations act. Further, at the Wednesday, September 10th, 2025 regular meeting, the charter township board trustees will determine whether to extend the above stated hours
054of operation or change the hours and days of operation. Second. I have a motion by Treasurer Ferrari. I have a second by Supervisor Curtis. Questions, please. Yes, Trustee Charles. I look at this and I uh for as long as I'm on the board, we always benchmark Milford quite frequently. Is that right? A lot of the proposals we've seen we benchmarked a lot of townships. Well, I hear Milford more than most, but I see on here that Milford is open on Friday from 8:00 a.m. till 4. Uh my thoughts are that this is a service type of business and I can't see closing entirely on Fridays. I can see abbreviated hours uh but not entirely on Fridays. That just I said a service business which I was involved in many years. Well to answer your question
055trustee Charles more than one community besides Milford was reviewed including the village of Oxford where most a lot of the residents lived. like communities like Delh High um and and such have hours that are different. I'm looking at Milford says 7:30 to 5:30 Monday through Thursday closed Friday. Thank you, Treasure Ferrari. I missed. I'm looking at the the previous one that they're open 8 to 4, right? Yep. Previous is not current. But regardless, I just think in a service industry closed down entirely on Friday, maybe part-time or something abbreviated. It just strikes me as odd in a service closed down on Fridays. Anybody else have any questions? I have a question. Yes, sir. Trusty Wagner. I mean, is it really reasonable to reduce have a a lunch time that's only 30 minutes long? How is
056it even possible to go out and get a sandwich, come back and eat it within 30 minutes? You know, can I answer that? Sure. Most of us don't leave. Yeah. Most of us don't leave the office unless we have an errand to run. Most of us brown bag it or we order delivery. Uber Eats, Jimmy John's. I see them all pull up here and don't see our people leaving every day. How is it possible? It's not. They eat at their desk all day at work. Yes, sir. Treasure Ferrari. I like this for the summer, right? That's I that's why I'm glad it's only trial period because in the summer we've got what three three months maybe decent weather and to me summer hours a lot of businesses do summer hours. Now if this was all
057year round I might definitely take a look at it. I think once September comes the committee may want to review and say okay let's figure maybe something else maybe like an 8 to 12 on Friday but I think we should at least try this out and see how it goes and if it doesn't work we'll change it. Are there any other questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Trusty Wagner, yes. Trusty Charles, no. Trusty Coven, yes. Clite, yes. Treasure Ferrari, yes. And Supervisor Curtis, yes. Okay. Wake up, Jack. Uh, no new business tonight. Item 16. We had nothing removed from consent agenda, although trustee Wagner needs to sit down with clerk right and get his questions answered. Item 17. Is there any members of the public that would like to make a comment? So, um, are we
058going to work something out so we can make our own transfers? Uh, the library isn't closed on Friday. We still have to function. We still have to pay our bills and we're at the mercy of the township to transfer our funds. So if we have a situation where we have a Friday and we need funds transferred, am I calling you a home? Call my cell phone. I've got a laptop so I'm always on. So just call me. I'll take care of it. Okay. I I fix sewer repairs 24 hours a day. Water. Joe carries his computer. We need to make sure that when we're at the mercy of the township for services to be done that they're taken care of. Thank you, Brian. Okay. No other questions. Uh no other comments public. Thank you. Board
059of Trustee comments. Trustee Charles. None. Trusty Wagner. Uh no comments. Treasure Ferrari? No comments at this time. No comments from Supervisor Curtis. Clerk right? Uh maybe a reminder that Seymour celebration is June 5th through the 8th. So if you're inclined to attend, um please feel free. It's a nice event. Thank you. Thank you. And Trusty Coven, enjoy the nice weather. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second. I have a motion by Treasure Ferrari and a second by Trustee Coven uh to adjourn. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed can stay.