Roads in Cedarville will be a little easier to navigate in the coming weeks, as the Clark Township Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to spend up to $2,500 to have traffic lines repainted on portions of Four-Mile Block, Krowmiller Road, Meridian Road, and Hodek Street.

Luke Jaroche of the Clark Township Road Committee presented the repainting request to the board Thursday, June 18, on behalf of the committee. The repainting will be done by the Mackinac County Road Commission at a cost to the township of 6¢ per foot. The total cost is estimated at $1,690, with an extra $810 to pay for any unexpected expenses.

"It's been brought to our attention that the citizens would like some of the streets striped," he said. "There are a lot of streets that obviously need striping. We tried to pick the areas where people may be meeting excess speeds. Those are areas where we've had traffic accidents in the past."

Areas to be striped are Four- Mile Block Road between M-134 and Krowmiller Road, Krowmiller Road between Four-Mile Block and Meridian Street, and Meridian Street between Krowmiller Road and M-134. The turn lanes at the intersection of Hodeck and Meridian Streets will also be striped.

Clerk Mike Miller said a start date for the project has not been selected, but it will begin in the coming weeks.

Sewer rate increase

Clark Township residents will see an increase in quarterly sewer bills starting next quarter. The township board approved a $3 quarterly, or $1 per month, rate of inflation increase, which will go into effect next month to coincide with the township's fiscal year.

"Basically, the reason we're doing this is because of the rate of inflation," Trustee Mike Lofdahl said.

Rate of inflation increases were recommended to the board last September by municipal financial advisory firm ACI Finance of Mason. It was also during this time the township increased the annual sewer rate from $184 to $288 to support operations and maintenance of the township sewer system.

New computers

at township hall The board also approved spending up to $10,000 to buy seven new computers for the Clark Township Hall offices. Sean Tackaberry of I.T. Solutions is being hired by the township to order and install the new computers and transfer data from the old computers.

The computers being replaced are eight years old and need to be replaced, Mr. Miller said. Money for the new computers will come out of the general fund for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. He said he is budgeting for eight computers, but only ordering seven to allow for any installation and troubleshooting expenses.

"If everything goes smooth, that estimate is [high]. If he has problems with the software or something, that would add to the bill. He's not going to know that until he's on-site doing it," he said of Mr. Tackaberry installing the new computers. "I'm leaving a little play room for the bill to be a little bit more and hoping that the $10,000, overall, will do it."

The new computers will be distributed as follows: two in the clerk's office for deputy use, two in the treasurer's office, one in the building and zoning inspector's office, one in the assessor's office, and one in the supervisor's office for deputy use. Mr. Miller and Supervisor Gerald Hill will not be receiving new computers because their current computers are newer and in good working order, respectively.

In other business, the board also approved Anderson Tackman's proposal to audit the township's financials at an estimated cost of $4,500. The Kincheloe-based firm has conducted the township's audit for the past two years.