DENMARK TWP. — Denmark Township is going all-in on Quanicassee Road.
The township board plans to spend all of the funds generated by its two one-mill road taxes on repaving the two miles of Quanicassee Road north of M-81. The board agreed to that plan at its April 4 session.
This summer’s project will finish repaving all of Quanicassee Road in the township – where all of its roads are paved.
The contract presented by the Tuscola County Road Commission is for $232,841. The township’s millage raises $229,000.
“Repaving is expensive,” Supervisor Charles Heinlein said. “And the price of oil is going nuts and it is taking the price of asphalt and everything right along with it.
“It’s the same thing all over.”
To complete the work, the board is taking $3,841 out of its contingency fund. Next year, Heinlein said, the millage will have to repay this loan from the contingency fund.
“I have crack filling to do,” he said. “I have all of this other stuff to do to these roads. And I have to have money in the kitty to do this.”
Heinlein and the board also are looking ahead to what road will next be the focus of attention.
“I don’t know what the next road is going to be,” he said, though Reese or Bradford roads are at the top of the list. They are part of a five-year plan drawn up by the board.
“We have done some preliminary work on parts of these roads,” he said. The purpose of this work is to stabilize a road and get it ready for the repaving.
“We are trying to get caught up here,” Heinlein said. “We are trying to make the roads nice, trying to make the roads safe for the residents.”
The board also:
■ Continues looking for a replacement for John McQuillan, who has retired, as the township’s attorney. James Abbey was going to present to the board but pulled out. “He respectfully declined,” Heinlein said, “only because he has an overwhelming number of townships who have jumped on his bandwagon.”
■ Adjusted the budget to account for a $3,000 increase in utilities costs and a $950 increase in drains-at-large costs. The utilities adjustment was due to having to run a township hall and the new township office. As a result the township is paying for double the utilities, double the insurance, double the water and sewer service. Heinlein said the township doesn’t yet have a date to finish moving from the old hall. The clerk’s stuff is moved and most of the treasurer’s office is mostly moved, but Heinlein’s office hasn’t completely moved over and there are some election items yet to be moved. Heinlein said he also has to set up a drop box for ballots, and that needs to have a video camera aimed at it as part of the security. After that there will be an auction of items from the old hall before it is demolished. The drains-at-large uptick was for the township’s share of the cleaning costs.
■ Set the township office open house for 7:30 p.m. May 25.
■ Set the cleanup for the township cemetery, which is in Reese, for 8 a.m. May 14, with May 21 as an alternate date if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
■ Set the next planning commission meeting for 6 p.m. April 18, the next fire board meeting for 7 p.m. April 20 and the next board of review session for 3:30 p.m. July 19..
■ Took a first look at a proposed 2022-23 budget. That included possible contracts and agreements with auditors Anderson, Tuckey, Bernhardt and Doran; Assessment Pros; Clearbrooke Technologies for sewer system treatments; Waste Management of Michigan for townshipwide garbage removal; Trugreen for cemetery lawn spraying; Helm Electric for sewer maintenance; Lezarazua Consultants for lagoon operations; MiDeal for purchasing; and Miss Dig811 for sewer system marking. Other potential deals regard cleaning services for the office, for the township’s website domain, for lawn maintenance, for cemetery headstone foundations and for cemetery interments. The budget has to be improved and in place by July 1.
