Demand for high speed Internet service has increased in Curtis and, in fact, such service has become necessary to keep up with elections requirements, said Township Clerk Marcia McDonald at the Portage Township meeting Tuesday, March 14. She needs a high speed connection to access to the state Qualified Voter File (QVF).

"To get access to the QVF, I have to go through the Mackinac County clerk's office," she said, "but we would like to get our own access by the August election."

Previous attempts to get faster Internet service in Portage Township have failed, but Treasurer Nancy Kister informed the board that AT&T promised to bring broadband to Curtis by the end of the year. High speed access could be extended up to three miles from the AT&T service building on Davis Street.

Although AT&T's project to bring high speed Internet would arrive too late to help election workers in 2006, the board planned to press the issue at a meeting with State Representative Gary McDowell at Chamberlin's Ole Forest Inn in Curtis Friday, March 17, where he met with Steve Balbierz, AT&T's director of external affairs.

The purchase contracts for Portage Township's two new fire trucks were finalized by a board resolution at the meeting, and funding from the United States Department of Agriculture is being transferred, Mrs. McDonald said. The trucks are being assembled by two companies, the first, to be completed by July, by Danko Emergency Equipment Company, the second by Smeal Fire Apparatus Company, to be completed by fall. Both companies are in Snyder, Nebraska.

The board and the planning commission agreed to scrap plans to change zoning requirements for rural residences and non-conforming lots, Mrs. McDonald said. The revised plans were designed to make new building projects easier, particularly in the Amos Brown subdivision, which has unusually small lots for a rural area.

"We didn't take into consideration that people with livestock would have problems if they sold their 'farmettes,'" Mrs. McDonald said. "One change would affect others."

Eventually, she added, the entire zoning ordinance will be reviewed, but doing so is expensive and such a project will need to be budgeted. Portage Township's fiscal year begins July 1, she added.

Residents who want to build structures not allowed by current zoning regulations are not out of luck, but they will have to pay $150 to secure zoning variances. Variance proposals will be dealt with individually rather than through the sweeping zoning changes dismissed by the board, Mrs. McDonald said.

Clean Up Day is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 3, said Township Supervisor Donald Ferris. Mr. Ferris informed the board that he would contact Waste Management to set up the project.

The board typically provides four dumpsters for resident use, and traditional limitations on what can be placed in dumpsters will apply this year. In the past, items such as tires and batteries were not allowed, Mrs. McDonald said.

Clean Up Day costs the township between $3,000 and $4,000, she added.

During the public comment period, a resident requested the board contact a metal processing company in Kinross to place a dumpster to reclaim metal. This would provide income to help pay for Clean Up Day. Mr. Ferris plans to follow up on the request, Mrs. McDonald said

Sand built up on township roadways drew public comment, also. According to Craig Kelso of the Mackinac County Road Commission, more sand than usual was spread on roads this winter to offset high salt costs.

Mr. Kelso told the Mackinac County chapter of the Michigan Township Association that the Commission plans to sweep the streets this spring.

The Commission may use more salt next winter, he added.