The Lockport Township Board held both its regular and annual meetings Monday evening, where it voted to approve amendments to its 2019-2020 budget and to adopt its 2020-2021 FY budget. 

Amendments to the 2019-2020 budget consisted of various changes to reconcile expenditures on supplies and operations, and actual versus projected income related to various fees and taxes. Township Supervisor Mark Major noted some expenditures rise fairly consistently each year, like the cost share with the Three Rivers Fire Department, which typically goes up by 2 percent annually. Others change with the tax base, such as the library contributions to Three Rivers and Nottawa, and some are one-time expenditures, like the installation of new tile in a drain beneath Heimbach Road.

For the 2020-2021 budget, Major noted some important changes before the board voted 5-0 to adopt it. Revenue sharing took a roughly $40,000 loss from pandemic impacts at the state level. 

“That’s quite a big hit,” Major said, “if you compare that [revenue] number over the last five years, that’s the lowest it’s been.” 

Minor adjustments were made to break previously discussed figures into separate, specific categories. Major noted some revenues, like a projected figure of $6,000 for inspections revenue, are rough figures at this time based on previous monthly averages and will have to be adjusted based on what actually happens during the fiscal year. Interest rate changes may also affect revenues as the year unfolds. The township’s projected revenue is $588,232, down from over $600,000 during the last fiscal year.

For expenditures, ordinance enforcement was separated from legal fees in order to better track costs. Several other costs were also divided in order to better track ordinance enforcement. Some items, including trash, elections, repairs and maintenance, and clerk’s office supplies, increased based on costs that were rising during the latter part of the 2019-2020 fiscal year. 

Many other costs were the same; the Three Rivers fire protection contribution was up by two percent as is typical. The figure for the Centreville fire contributions was lowered based on a disparity between the previous contribution figure and actual expenditures. 

“If you get down to the bottom of it, we’re going to be pretty close this year,” Major said. The figure for projected expenditures is $571,660, leaving $572 in extra funds.

Township Clerk Tammy Babcock thanked Major for taking the time to explain, review, and add detail to the budget. The Board also voted separately to approve its Water Department budget, which includes needed renewal work on its pumps. 

Township to Consider Sewer System

The Lockport Township Board appointed Trustee Dave Cooper and Treasurer Mike Friesner to serve on a Sewer Investigation Committee, the purpose of which would be to explore what it would require for the township to install a sewer system, and to come up with a feasibility study. Major reported that Park Township has initiated the committee and indicated Fabius Township had also expressed interest, and its representatives would be welcome to participate as well. 

“We have concern by a fair number of Tamarack residents that they will be annexed into the city for services,” Zoning official Doug Kulhman said. “I don’t think that will happen, but with people’s properties expanding over the years with additions of outbuildings, the health department may tell them they don’t have room for new septic systems if their existing systems fail, so this would give them an alternative, and take some of that fear away as well.”

In speaking with prospective project funders at the federal level, Kuhlman said he was encouraged by the potential for favorable terms of finance, emphasizing that the federal government is encouraging infrastructure projects at the moment. In addition, the person Kuhlman spoke to encouraged him to reach out to the Village of Schoolcraft for inclusion on the committee and in the feasibility study. The village is considering a sewer ballot initiative in November, and a Lockport-Park-Fabius system would provide an alternative drainage outlet for that system. Kuhlman also pointed out that a sewer line adjacent to US-131 could enhance development opportunities along that corridor.

In other Lockport Township news:

• Kuhlman said the township intervened in an issue with squatters in a North Main Street property at the request of Clark Logic last week. After inspecting the property, Kuhlman determined that a building condemnation was necessary. Clark Logic wanted to demolish the building anyway, but had to address the squatters. Kuhlman expressed thanks to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, Animal Control, Three Rivers Police, and the Three Rivers Ambulance Service for their help, saying it was comforting to know that they “made sure that scene was safe and stood by while we did our job.”
• The board approved a slate of reappointments to its various boards and committees, and the reappoints of existing firms as the accountants and attorneys of record.
• Major noted he and Cooper were also looking into a new control system for the water plant. The existing plant depends on wired internet access and modems that have become outdated and scarce. Recent difficulties with getting help from management at Frontier Communications prompted Major to begin exploring a new, wireless system. He expected to have costs for the new system soon, which can be operated from a phone, tablet, or laptop from any location.
• Assessor Dale Hutson reported that with relaxation of pandemic restrictions, he expected the assessor’s office to resume field inspections as early as next week. In observance of continuing precautions, assessors will not request access to the interiors of structures, but will knock on doors, announce their presence, and conduct inspections from the outside.
• The assessor’s office is also working on a special assessment district to cover the cost of proposed lighting in the Tamarack subdivision. Hutson said he is awaiting paperwork from American Electric Power.
• Kuhlman said with the lifting of certain pandemic restrictions, more construction projects will likely move ahead as well. However, Kuhlman added a recent change in management at the St. Joseph County Health Department has changed the way in which he works with that agency to process construction approvals, which could result in additional backlogs.
• Babcock’s office has sent out applications for mail-in ballots for November’s election to all township residents that either requested them or appeared on previous lists. She said any additional township residents who wanted mail-in ballot applications could get them online at Michigan.gov/vote, or by reaching out to her office. Babcock worked with County Clerk Lindsey Oswald to review and correct a proof of the ballots themselves, which she expected to receive next week.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.