Three Oaks council approves sewer bond and contract, raises police pay and appoints new clerk

Three Oaks Village Council approved Sewer Bond Ordinance No. 239 and awarded a sanitary sewer construction contract at its July 10 regular meeting, while also approving police department merit raises and appointing a new village clerk.

Village President Richard Smith called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. The council voted unanimously among members present to approve Sewer Bond Ordinance No. 239 after updates from engineering representatives Andrew Rudd of Wightman and Jeff Baker of Tilly. Council member Thomas moved the ordinance and Jones supported the motion; the ayes were Kramer, Thomas, Hinman, Jones, Wojtczak and Smith. The record does not specify the bond amount or bond terms.

Council then moved to award the sanitary sewer construction contract to Oselka Construction. The motion, made by Thomas and supported by Hinman, carried with the same recorded ayes. The minutes do not list a contract dollar amount.

The council approved merit raises for the police department after a manager update. The approved changes raise hourly pay from $25.96 to $28.00 and increase a salaried position from $62,360 to $72,000. The motion to approve the raises was made by Hinman and supported by Thomas and carried with ayes from all members present.

In zoning matters, the council approved Zoning Conditional Ordinance Amendment No. 240 for the property at 23 West Ash, adopting revised language requested by Council member Jones to refer to the “property known as 23 West Ash.” The ordinance includes a legal description of the parcel in the minutes. Separately, the council voted to return a conditional zoning request from an applicant identified as Journeyman for revisions (removing Section K, Subsection 2, and correcting the village address to 21 N Elm St.). Jones moved to send the package back; Hinman supported the motion and it carried.

President Smith reported that Matt Lindsey obtained an EGLE State L-1 license; the council approved a $1.00-per-hour raise for Lindsey, effective June 13, 2024. The minutes do not specify Lindsey’s departmental title.

The council accepted the resignation of Village Clerk Theresa Schmaltz, effective July 26, 2024, and appointed Kimberly Johnson as Three Oaks Village Clerk. The appointment was moved by Thomas, supported by Wojtczak, and carried with recorded ayes from Kramer, Thomas, Hinman, Jones, Wojtczak and Smith.

The consent agenda, approved early in the meeting, included approval of regular and special meeting minutes, June invoices paid totaling $145,202.08, disbursements and payroll for June 2024, and prepays for July 2024 totaling $63,446.90. The council also accepted the Building Inspector and Zoning Administrator report from Ed Carpenter.

Standard board and staff reports were provided: Planning Commission (Jones), Parks and Recreation Board (Wojtczak), DDA Board (Hinman), Public Service Committee (Faulkner), a Chief’s Report by Chief Krause, and a Manager’s Report by Dan Faulkner. Public comment at the end of the meeting included remarks from Mike Holfels, Chris Zebell, Matthew Keller and Gary Lindgren. The meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.

What the minutes do not specify: bond and contract dollar amounts for the sewer work, details of the Change Makers proposal (it was tabled), and a departmental title for Matt Lindsey. Those details were not included in the published meeting minutes.