Clark Township's Board of Trustees recommended that the township's planning commission consider re-zoning on a case-bycase basis until current zoning maps are better defined during a special meeting Monday, February 1. Recent discrepancies between the re-zoning philosophy of the Clark Township Planning Commission and the township board were brought up by Gary Wellnitz, who serves on both boards.

"We need clarification between the planning commission and the town board about what direction we are going to go with this," Mr. Wellnitz said. "I don't think we are on the same page."

In issues like the proposed rezoning of the Weston plat, which was struck down by the township board in a 3-2 vote, and the proposed re-zoning of a portion of property along M-134 between Cedarville and Hessel, Mr. Wellnitz said the planning commission has recommended re-zoning both areas commercial, seeing the change as consistent with the township master plan.

Trustees Mike Lofdahl, Katie Carpenter, and Township Clerk Mike Miller pointed out that the "300-foot corridors" along M-129 and M-134, cited by planning commissioners as reasoning for such re-zoning, while discussed in a master plan public hearing, was not actually included in the current township plan.

Mrs. Carpenter pointed out that the township board can in no way direct the planning commission, an independent body, on what recommendations to make regarding rezoning.

Trustees also pointed out that if planning commissioners want to re-zone any section of land based on what developers want to do with the property, which they argued may have been the case in the Weston plat and M-134 property re-zoning recommendations, that would be irresponsible re-zoning.

"The business needs to fit into the zoning, not the zoning into the business," Mrs. Carpenter said.

Since the township has recently discovered that none of their coded zoning maps accurately portray current zoning, Mr. Lofdahl and Mrs. Carpenter pointed out that this problem should be addressed first before re-zoning any multipleproperty sections of land in the township.

"Can we all agree that a caseby case basis is the best way to go for now until we get the maps redone?" Mr. Lofdahl asked, to which trustees agreed.

Though trustees did not vote to make a formal recommendation, they did agree that re-zoning large portions of land would not be advisable until zoning maps are fixed, a process that township staff is currently working on by looking through past board action on zoning ordinances.

Daytime EMT Provider Owing to a decision by voters in the May 2009 election to pass a 0.75 mill tax levy to fund a dayshift emergency service crew in Clark Township, the township board will send out a request for proposals from area ambulance providers to provide ambulance service between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays in the township.

The millage is expected to raise about $139,000 a year, and the township is seeking an emergency service provider to bid on a one year contract with the township.

The Clark Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps currently covers night and weekend shifts, but none of the volunteers have expressed interest in taking the two full-time positions that would be necessary to cover the day shifts.

Under state law, at least one emergency medical technician and one medical first responder are required to be on hand 24 hours a day for the ambulance to be able to respond to a call, otherwise the corps could lose its license to provide emergency medical services.

In the request for proposals, the township has asked any third-party emergency service provider to give current Clark Township Ambulance Corps volunteers preference in consideration for the two positions. The township has agreed that the corps' equipment and vehicles may be used by these new emergency medical personnel, but scheduling, payroll, and insurance would be the responsibility of the third-party provider.

All proposals are due at the township's offices by noon April 5.

DPW Contract Negotiations

After reviewing the Department of Public Works employee contract submitted to the board for consideration, trustees decided to withhold approval of the contract until the union tells the township why it made changes in the new contract that were not negotiated.

"I feel this is pieced together," Mr. Lofdahl said. "I would rather have it all put together before voting on it."

A letter of understanding, part of the current employment agreement, which gave the township certain powers, such as changing employees' lunch hours from 30 minutes back to one hour, was dropped from the new agreement given to the township for approval.

Mr. Miller noted that other points not negotiated were nevertheless changed in the new contract, such as a requirement to pay an employee a minimum of two hours wages when called in outside of normal hours, regardless of how many hours the employee worked.

Trustees will communicate these inconsistencies found in the new contract, and also resolved to have a labor attorney compare the old and new contracts before considering the new contract for