The Portage Township board discussed maintenance of its emergency response, road matters, and how to maintain the cemetery without a sexton at its monthly meeting Tuesday, December 13.

New fire fighting equipment turned out to be significantly more expensive than anticipated, but the township board is going ahead and approving $399,020 for two new fire trucks. These trucks are needed upgrades for the rural fire department.

They cost approximately $43,520 more than expected, said Marcia McDonald, township clerk, but will not stress the township’s budget.

Great Lakes Fire Equipment of Wisconsin sells the fire trucks. Board members signed a purchase agreement to buy one new fire truck, made by Danko Emergency Equipment Company, for $170,994, and another, produced by Smeal Fire Apparatus Company, for $219,026.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which will loan the township much of the money needed for the equipment, must still review the purchasing agreement, but Ms. McDonald said she anticipates that the USDA will approve transaction.

State legislation to ban “water skipping” at Portage Creek in Curtis may be in effect by the end of January, Ms. McDonald said. For years, snowmobilers have had fun crossing a portion of shallow, open water at Portage Creek, an inlet to South Manistique Lake. Snowmobiles cross the creek at high speed during the winter, she said. It’s a daredevil maneuver and some make it across, some don’t.

Since some snowmobiles wind up in the water, the activity creates a pollution issue, giving the Department of Natural Resources authority in the matter.

Since 2004, there has been a lot of activity at night, often by a group which leaves litter and makes excessive noise, Ms. McDonald said.

In response to complaints, the township sent a letter to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) last March, asking that water skipping be prohibited at night. The DNR suggested the activity be banned at all times, but the township will resubmit its request for only a nighttime ban and believes the DNR will submit the matter to the legislature this winter.

Two Mackinac County Road Commission contracts were signed by the township. One is for continued work on East Sandtown Road. Every year, one mile of the road is improved by adding gravel using a combination of federal, state, county, and local funding. The improvement of Sandtown road is a federally approved program, in which Portage Township will contribute $10,900.

Another major road improvement concerns the corner where Crisler Shores Road makes a nearly 90-degree turn onto County Road H-42, known locally as dead man’s curve.

For years, Ms. McDonald said, this was a dangerous turn where serious potholes marred the roadside. The corner was eventually improved, but the main road is still in need of an upgrade.

The work will be funded with matching money provided by the township, the County Board of Commissioners, and the Road Commission. Each entity will contribute $10,000.

Crisler Shores is a dead end road. The township plans to build a turn-around at the end to make it easy for snowplows to maneuver.

At the meeting, board members passed a resolution to adopt the Mackinac County Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The plan lays out procedures for dealing with natural and manmade disasters. Every government entity in the county has to adopt it, Ms. McDonald said. It allows resources to be shared by townships, the county, and other organizations to make dealing with disasters quicker and easier.

Natural disaster mitigation procedures have been on the minds of the public lately, due to hurricanes Rita and Katrina in the southern United states, but in Garfield Township, a recent near-miss could have caused a man-made disaster, leading to speculation and concern among area residents.

A semi tractor trailer carrying a low level radioactive product through the Upper Peninsula from Canada went off the roadway into the ditch on M-117 in Mackinac County’s Garfield Township (which borders Portage Township) Thursday, November 24. The tanker did not rupture, luckily, said Ms. McDonald.

“Had it leaked into the world as we know it here,” she said, “we would have been dealing with a major cleanup.”

Although no major cleanup was necessary, taking care of the accident took several days. M-117 had to be closed and reopened several times.

Ms. McDonald said the new hazard mitigation plan will aid responders in dealing with such accidents. It also has alerted officials to the potential for man-made disasters in the U.P.

“Until something like this happens, you don’t realize how things like this are passing through your area,” she said. The accident prompted her to trace the truck’s path from Canada to its destination out west.

During the meeting, the township board eliminated the position of township Sexton and reassigned cemetery maintenance duties, including grave opening and closing, to the township maintenance department. Harold Reeves, former Portage Township sexton, resigned after a year and a half. Mr. Reeves was in the process of transferring cemetery data to a computer program, which kept track of who is buried where, as well as other record keeping.

Now, the clerk’s office will be in charge of those duties, as well as selling lots and issuing deeds.

The new process of maintaining cemetery records is being modernized, said Ms. McDonald. For decades, cemetery information was placed on large window shades which were rolled up when not in use, like large scrolls. When needed, they were simply unrolled and read.

Now the information is being transferred onto a computer by Ms. McDonald.

“It’s a big job,” she said.

Mr. Reeves’ computer, and the data on it, will now be more accessible to the public. The public can come to the township building, and Ms. McDonald will be able to help people look up information concerning their relatives quickly and easily.

Doing so was challenging before, she added. Locating burial certificates, discovering exactly who was buried where, and rooting out other information wasn’t easy under the old categorization method.

It has been a personal project for Ms. McDonald to go through the old records and find out where individuals are buried, a project she described as difficult and sensitive.

“But cemeteries are for the living,” she added. “People should be able to access this information.” Tom Brown, who has being doing maintenance for the township for about two years, will be helping Ms. McDonald create the upgraded cemetery map.