SUPERVISORS CORNER

With so many things happening at once I don’t know where to begin. I guess that I will start at the most recent. I hope everyone enjoyed the Iosco County Fair this year. Celebrating 80 years of entertaining our community is a great milestone. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all those individual volunteers over the years that have worked to make the fair successful, you don’t last 80 years in anything if you’re not successful. Next is the primary election on August 6th. As I have said before, make sure that you and all your friends and relatives get out and vote in this primary election. All our local offices are up for re-election as well as 2 township millage renewals, one for fire and one for roads. These are just renewing the ones that you are currently paying, these are not new. In addition Hale Area Schools are asking for a sinking fund millage. This is new and is for an additional 2 mils that the school is targeting for building upkeep, playground improvements, technology upgrades and transportation maintenance. If approved, these funds can only be used for these items, they can not be used for any expense that the district has. It is requested for 5 years only and will need to be reapproved at that time, if necessary. Remember to vote, all votes count and it is the only way that you can guarantee that you have a voice. Let it be heard and VOTE.
We are still working on the gate at the transfer station. A new exit gate has been ordered and is expected in three to four weeks, so have patience, we are working on it. In the meantime we have changed some things at the waste site to try and avoid the early weekend closures. We noticed that we still have a number of local residents’ bringing loads in on the weekends. When we talked with them we found that they don’t get home during the week to use the waste site before the 4:00 closing time. In discussing this with CJ, your favorite bearded waste site attendant, he took a poll and got great responses to expanding our hours on Wednesday until 6:00 pm. So starting this week we are now open on Wednesday evenings until 6PM. So for those of us that live here and work until 4 or 5, we now have an evening that we can use the waste site. We will track the usage over the next few months to see what impact this change has. Make sure to tell your friends and neighbors about this change, as word-of-mouth will get this change out faster that any publications that we can send. Also, thanks for all of your comments about CJ, he does a great job and we recognize him for this. His video postings have been great and we will continue to use these as a way to get info out to you in a timely fashion. I ask you to check out his posting on the recyclables. He does a great job explaining what we can and what we can not take in the recycle bins. We added a third bin because you have added a lot to the recycling over the last year. This is a good thing, just make sure to only give us the approved recyclables. Has anyone found a good use for the plastic bags, we can’t recycle them and they do not compost, they just don’t seem to go away. Want to be a gazillionaire, come up with a viable use, re-use or alternative to these plastic bags.
The pavilion at the park downtown is complete. We do want to add lights and power outlets by this fall, but the structure is complete. This project was partially funded by a $25,000 grant from the Iosco County Parks and Rec. Commission with the millage that was collected a few years ago. The pavilion will be used each Saturday morning from 9-1 in the summer for the Hale Market. Otherwise it is open for use at anytime by residents. Please be courteous to others and those that are using the facility for an event and event users, be aware that this is a public park to be equally used by all. Please share courteously.
In the meantime, consider a membership at the Community Center and Eagle Point Plaza. You can come and enjoy pickleball at any time, yoga, cardio drumming, fitness training, walking or some more intense TOWANDA. Whatever your need we probably have some form of activity to assist you. So stop in and see Roma about a membership. We have family rates and business/group rates also. We would love to see you. When you’re here stop in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to the Plainfield Township Historical Museum. They have great displays of our community throughout history and how our residents lived long ago. The members do a great job preserving and showcasing our heritage. They also have genealogical workshops, and guest speakers so stop and ask about the next event. Also don’t forget our library over on M-65 at the Resource Center. We have new hours for the summer, we are open Monday 9-4, closed Tuesday, open Wednesday and Thursday 9-4, closed Friday, open Saturday 9-4, closed Sunday. Call Cheryl at 989-728 -4086 for information on upcoming events. As always, a shout-out to our Hale Garden Club for the phenomenal work that you do for our downtown planters, garden and flower pots. They are beautiful as always and your volunteer work is appreciated by all in our community. If anyone would like to show their appreciation for the efforts of these individuals, they are always looking for more volunteers or donations to Hale Garden Club Donations, PO Box 174, Hale, MI 48739.
As always if you ever have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our community please contact me. I am in the office Monday – Friday 7:30 – 4:00 at 989-728-2811 or my cell at 989-984-7073 or by email supervisor@plainfieldtwpmi.com.
Fred Lewis – Supervisor Plainfield Township