Additional work on the Brevort Township fire hall across from the township's Community Center at 4020 North Church Street in Moran is nearly finished, Supervisor Ed Serwach announced during the township board meeting Tuesday, January 5. Firefighters can begin moving equipment into the new hall. Board members also changed the date the board would meet in future, provided an update on the sewer flow meter required by the Department of Environmental Quality to provide more accurate readings of the amount of sewage discharged into sewer lagoons, and discussed a possible change to ballot language for a millage.

Several items on a "punch list" must still be fixed before the fire hall is complete, Mr. Serwach said. The shower room floor must be sloped to properly drain water, he said, as well as weatherstripping the overhead doors and working on the vents on exhaust fans. Pull cords that can be used to operate the doors during a power failure must also be checked.

With most of the work complete, Mr. Serwach suggested the board approve a payment to the Whiskey River construction company for roughly $18,000. The company requested the money in December, he said, but he refused to pay until more progress on the fire hall was made. The board approved the payment, with $31,000 retained until completion of the hall.

Mr. Serwach will conduct another walk-through in the future to check for any additional concerns.

Brevort Township board meetings will now be held the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m., rather than the second Tuesday. The change will accommodate the trustees' work schedules.

The sewer flow meter the board considered purchasing may not read the water pumped into the sewer lagoons because the amount is so low, Mr. Serwach said. Originally, the board expected to install a meter at the end of a sewer pipe to meet Department of Environmental Quality requirements, but discovered they would have difficulty reaching it if it needed maintenance. Installing the meter so that it could be properly accessed would cost about $20,000.

Rather than using a flow meter, computer equipment could be used to read the flow of water into the sewer lagoons. The equipment would cost about $6,000, Mr. Serwach said, not including the cost of labor for installing it. The board will contact the DEQ to determine if the computer equipment would be an acceptable alternative to a flow meter.

Millage Ballot

Language Discussed

Ballot language on the upcoming Tuesday, May 4, millage renewal request that would raise funding for the township community center may change in the future. The language requires the millage, which raises $24,634 for maintenance of the "senior citizen center and library." More accurate, said Mr. Serwach, would be to say the millage is to be used for maintenance of the "community center, which houses the library." The old wording, he said, gives people the impression that the township is paying for the library. The library is part of the Bayliss library system and the millage pays for the building that houses it. It does not pay for operations. The formal name for the building, he also noted, is the community center not the senior citizen center.

The board considered changing the language so that the millage could also be used for capital projects, such as building a new township hall. Trustee David Craig asked if the board knew for certain if the millage has to be spent specifically for how it is described. Mr. Serwach replied it is his understanding that if the language described maintenance, it would have to only be used for that purpose, but he said he would look into Mr. Craig's question. No action was taken on the matter. Any changes to the ballot language must be submitted to the Department of State by Tuesday, February 23.

Mr. Serwach announced a parttime janitorial position is available and will be advertised. The position pays $75 a month.