"It's not every day that you receive a $10,000 check," said Ed Serwach, Brevort Township supervisor. At the regular township meeting Tuesday, June 6, he informed the board that the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians had contributed $5,000 to help residents fight the annual influx of double-crested cormorants on Brevort Lake, which are thought to impact the local fish population. The second $5,000 will go toward the township's ongoing playground replacement project at the community center.

The cormorant control program, run by township resident Jimmy Miller, is active in the spring, Mr. Serwach said. For the most part, the birds have been driven away or migrated north, meaning the project funds will be held for next spring.

Voters will decide in August whether the township should raise $450,000 to build a new community center. The present facility also houses a fire hall and library and was built in 1930 as a school.

The board met Thursday, May 25, to approve the ballot language. It had considered building a new fire hall, but decided to push for a community center first.

"The existing building is ready to fall down and doesn't comply with federal codes requiring handicapped access," Mr. Serwach said. This creates a legal dilemma for the township, which must comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, in part, because the board accepted federal grants to pay for its sewer system.

After forming a committee to draft its plans for the community center, the board approached Huskey Built Construction, Weiss Builders, and Maverick Construction, seeing estimates for both modular and standard buildings.

"We hope to come in between $300,000 or $350,000," Mr. Serwach said. "This wouldn't raise taxes for township residents significantly."

The township board has proposed plans for new buildings several times. The first proposal was a $900,000 fire hall, community center, and library combination. The plan was voted down and referred to by area residents as a "Taj Mahal," Mr. Serwach said. Since then, he added, the board has scaled its plans significantly to create a plan palatable to voters.

The Bradford building adjacent to the new True Value Hardware store in Moran is slated for demolition and a public hearing is slated for Saturday, June 17. If there are no objections, Brevort Township will receive funding from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) to complete the project.

The township will pay $4,000 of the $44,000 needed to demolish the building and replace it with a public parking lot . If all goes well, the project will be completed by July, Mr. Serwach said.

The township's ongoing effort to place a light at the corner of Worth Road and M-123 has run into another snag, despite full payment of $2,500 for a new light made to Cloverland Electric, Mr. Serwach said. The unexpected presence of fiber optic cables hindered the replacement of the light, said a representative of Cloverland.

The board had originally sought to have the light paid for by the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Mackinac County Road Commission. Both efforts failed, so the board voted to pay for the light with township funds.

"We did this because we really wanted to be good neighbors to Moran Township residents," Mr. Serwach added.

The unlit corner lies at the edge of Brevort Township, an area more often frequented by residents of Moran Township.

Cloverland promised action on the matter within the week, Mr. Serwach said.

Brevort Township has decided not to hire its own building inspector because the township hasn't had much luck retaining inspectors in the past, Mr. Serwach said.

"What's happened in the past is that the township would pay to send someone to school for training, pay them a salary or by the job, but since the township pulls very few permits each year, the inspector would get a real job somewhere else, and we'd have to start all over again," Mr. Serwach said.

Since 1999, the State of Michigan has provided a roving inspector, formerly Jim Kelly of St. Ignace, who has since been replaced by Devon Elsa. Mr. Elsa covers townships from Alpena through the mid-Upper Peninsula that hold similar agreements with the state.

Mr. Serwach acknowledged that state inspection fees are climbing. Years ago, he said, residents could expect to pay approximately $25 for inspection services that now cost $197.