Jail fix, snowmobile trail on county board agenda

By Lisa Enos
MCP Correspondent

LUDINGTON — Remonumentation, board appointments, jail fixes and a state certified snowmobile trail in Mason County are just some of the items on the county board’s agenda this month. West Michigan Community Mental Health Executive Director Richard VandenHuevel and District Health Department #10 Officer Linda VanGills will address the board and have provided annual report information in advance. The meeting will take place Tuesday, March 12 at 9 a.m. at the courthouse and is open to the public.

The Mason County Board of Commissioners has been asked to endorse efforts to explore the feasibility of a state certified snowmobile trail from the Mason County Fairgrounds to a connector trail in Lake County, northeast of Free Soil. The trail would be maintained by the Irons Snowmobile club.

The county board will seek to approve a proposal hire a company, r2 Design Group and to prepare bid documents for various rehabilitation projects at the Mason County Jail which include cleaning the air ducts and repairing foundation cracks, replacement of 7 showers and other interior and exterior improvements.

The board will also seek approval of an agreement between Mason County and West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission. The WMSRDC is a federal and state designated regional planning and development agency serving 127 local governments in Lake, Mason, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, and Ottawa counties. The WMSRDC is the fiduciary for a Department of Homeland Security grant and is responsible for the management and administration of the funds to a number of counties in the region. A separate resolution to approve of a transfer of ownership of 11 Motorola pagers to Mason County under the agreement is also on the agenda. The pagers were purchased with Department of Homeland Security funds by the WMSRDC.

The Mason County local Emergency Planning Committee has applied for a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant. To that end the board moves for acceptance of the grant. “The HEMP grant is intended to provide financial and technical assistance as well as national direction and guidance to enhance State, Territorial, Tribal, and local hazardous materials emergency planning and training. The HMEP Grant Program distributes fees collected from shippers and carriers of hazardous materials to emergency responders for hazmat training and to Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) for hazmat planning,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Mason County Emergency Planning Coordinator Elizabeth Reimink has recommended appointments of Sherif Kim Cole, Undersheriff Jody Hartley, Commissioner Mary Nichols, Jordan Devries of the Mason Lake Conservation District and Tom Routhier of the Mason County Equalization Department to the Mason County local Emergency Planning Commission.

Other appointments may include Jack Harper to the Tax Allocation Board and Ronald Sanders to the West Michigan Community Mental Health System Board for a 3 year term.

There is also a resolution to reduce the number of members on the Council on Aging Board on the agenda and a resolution to consider a Remonumnetation Peer Group and to approve the appointment of James Carter and Patrick Bentley to that group as recommended by surveyor John Schulke — the first of a series of resolutions which will be voted on at the county board meeting under the heading of, “Remonumentation.”

Such a peer group is required by the Michigan Office of Land Survey and Remonumentation, the government body which is responsible for administration of the statewide program of monumenting and remonumenting the original U.S. government public land survey.

Another resolution to appoint James Nordlund, Rex Pope and surveyor John Schulke (and alternate, Noah Penn) to the Remonumentation Peer Group is also on the agenda as is a resolution to approve contracts with Nordland and Asociates, Rex Pope and John Schulke.

The county board will also vote on:

-Approval to authorize HGC Engineering to conduct a post construction sound survey for the Lake Winds Energy Park.

-Approval to purchase of a scanner for the Mason County Register of Deeds.

-Approval to secure services (not to exceed $10,700) to upgrade the county’s terminal server so as to support remote access to the county’s computer network by agencies not housed in the courthouse.

-Approval of an agreement between the City of Ludington and Mason County whereas the City of Ludington would provide administrative services for a housing block grant.