Brevort Twp. Fire Dept. Anticipates Having Enough Funds To Build New Hall
By Paul Gingras

The Brevort Township Fire Department should have enough money in its operation and maintenance fund to build a new fire hall, reported Chief Mark Peterson at the township's regular meeting Tuesday, January 2.

One concern for the project is the potential cost of site preparation, because the ground is predominantly clay.

"We don't want to build anything extravagant," Chief Peterson assured the board and the public. "All we want is something simple and cost effective for the township."

The township's Fire Committee was advised by DEM Architects of Gaylord that the department's best, most affordable option would be a stud-framed building, rather than post-frame (pole barn), Chief Peterson said. The company was to attend a Fire Committee meeting Thursday, January 4.

The board has not received any financial figures for the fire hall, said Township Supervisor Ed Serwach.

"We're just waiting to see numbers on what it will cost to build," he told The St. Ignace News.

The fire department would like to build its new facility on a townshipowned lot across from the existing fire hall on Church Street. The lot also has enough space for a new community center, if the board finds a way to pay for it, Mr. Serwach said.

In a related issue, Mr. Peterson called on the board fix a broken storm drain directly above the fire hall's front doors. During a recent storm, rain poured through the break, pooled in front of the fire hall, washed beneath the doors, and ran inside the building. He said he is concerned about moisture in the building, owing to electrical firefighting equipment stored inside.

In other business, the township has settled two of three lawsuits. At the meeting, the board paid the final $500 in legal fees owed to its lawyers for a case it won involving Woods Edge Development.

Woods Edge filed a lawsuit against the township for refusing to grant tax-free status to a parcel in Brevort Lake Estates. The company wanted to develop the parcel into a park to be used exclusively by residents of the subdivision. Township Supervisor Ed Serwach said the township could not exempt the parcel from taxation unless it was designated an official "public park," which would make in open to anyone.

The parcel will be closed to the public, and the owners of the remaining 10 parcels in Brevort Lake Estates will each pay one-tenth of the taxes on the lot, Mr. Serwach said.

Litigation against the township by Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company is complete. The company appealed the value of its pipeline to the Michigan Tax Tribunal in the late 1990s and has since been suing taxing entities to recover taxes it paid on its property.

The outcome of the case amounted to compromise, Mr. Serwach said. Great Lakes was able to lower its taxes on its line through Brevort Township slightly, but not nearly as much as the company wanted. Precise figures were not available at press time.

A similar case with Enbridge Energy is still pending.

The board received estimates from the Mackinac County Road Commission regarding costs to repair 27 Mile Road and Martin Road between Dukes Road and Brevort Lake Road. Both projects will not fit into the township's budget and will have to wait at least four years, Mr. Serwach told The St. Ignace News.

Martin Road is a bad gravel road, he explained, but there has been recent development along it. To upgrade the road, the Road Commission estimates that the township will need to pay $110,000 for materials and labor, and about $1,100 in engineering fees. The Road Commission would pay about $4,000. The cost to upgrade 27 Mile Road is about $128,000.

David Craig, head of the Brevort Township Building Committee, questioned the engineering charge. Craig Kelso, who is both the manager and engineer for the Road Commission, is paid an annual salary for his services, so it does not make sense to pay additional engineering fees for each project, Mr. Craig asserted.

The reason there is an engineering cost is because the Road Commission is primarily designed for maintenance, Mr. Kelso told The St. Ignace News. Mr. Kelso is an engineer, so the Commission is able to pay for some of the engineering costs, but if the Commission did not have an engineer, the road commission would have to hire one, and townships would pay 100 percent of the cost of engineering services.

Townships only pay separate engineering costs on new roads or roads involving federal aid, he added. The Martin Road project is an expansion, The township has to bring it up to the Road Commission's standards before it can be brought into the Commission's fold.

Twenty-seven Mile Road, on the other hand, is already maintained by the Road Commission, and the project does not involve federal aid, so no additional engineering costs are built into the plan to upgrade it, he said.