By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the new Independence Board of Trustees met for its regularly scheduled meeting on Nov. 26. This was the first meeting with the township’s newly-elected members including Supervisor Chuck Phyle and Trustee David Hayward.
The board had a light agenda but approved a few line items including the purchase of SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) gear for the fire department, postponed two public hearings on Special Assessment Districts (SAD) and appointed Trustee Sam Moraco to the planning commission.
Up first, was Fire Chief David Piche to provide additional information on the request for SCBA gear.
“The fire department is looking to replace our SCBA bottles, which is Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, it’s the apparatus you see on firefighters’ backs that they breathe through when they go into a smoke filled environment,” Piche said. “The air bottles themselves are what we’re replacing, not the whole pack because the bottles expire after 15 years. Our bottles are coming up for expiration by the end of the year.”
The department is requesting 76 replacement bottles for a total cost not to exceed cost of $103,870.
Independence Township is also collaborating with Springfield Township, Orion Township and Oxford Township to work with MES, a fire equipment provider, to get better pricing for the community.
Piche added that in the future, the packs will need to be replaced but that the department is hoping to work with the other three communities to receive grant funding for the purchase.
Next, the board unanimously approved the postponement of two SAD public hearings that were originally set for Nov. 26.
Earlier this year, two public hearings were set for potential SADs in the Sheringham Woods Subdivision and the Spring Lake North Subdivision for road repaving projects.
According to Kimberly Feigley, Director of Assessing, under the advice of legal council, the township is looking to put a pin in the projects until they are able to add a chapter to the citizen’s guide and to give them the opportunity to establish budget guidelines.
Feigley also added that both subdivisions have officially circulated successful petitions for the SAD with a majority of homeowners expressing interest in the program.
The board voted to postpone the public hearing to Feb. 18, 2025.
Lastly, the board unanimously approved appointing Trustee Moraco to the planning commission to fill the seat left vacant by former Trustee Ron Ritchie.
“I served almost 20 years on the planning commission since 2003 so I do have a lot of history that I think I can bring to the township,” Moraco said. “I think that’s going to be more important with the consultants changing.”
Moraco added that he would like to bring more updates to the board going forward and also noted that he would be happy to allow for another board member to take over the seat in the future if someone would like to step up at some point.