The Orrock Annual Meeting was very productive, as the assembled electorate approved a tax levy for 2024 and approved the demolition of the old town hall building and the construction of a new building. 

Boaz Erickson was elected as the meeting moderator for the evening. He efficiently lead the assembled electorate through the first few agenda items, including the financial report, the fire departments report, and the overview of 2022. 

The hot button item on the agenda for the evening was what to do regarding a new town hall building. Last year, the electorate directed the board to seek bids to expand the current town hall building, but the bids for work came in far higher than the board hoped, and so the project was pushed off for another year. During that time, the building committee continued to investigate a solution to their need for a new town hall, and found that the most cost effective option would be to simply demolish the current building and build a new town hall.

The electorate asked the building committee why they needed a new town hall building. The committee members explained how elections could not be conducted well in their current small building, and that the longer they continued to use the old building (which was built in the 1950s) the more problems they expected to encounter. Already, the board was forced to replace the septic tank after a crack was discovered, and the siding was heavily damaged by hail last summer. This is also a project on which the board has been working for about ten years. The board hoped to use ARPA funding for the project as well, and the funds need to be committed by 2024.

The electorate came to the consensus that a new hall was needed and that this was the right time to build. They went on to discuss possibly purchasing new land for the town hall or asking for someone to donate land. Board Supervisor Anne Felber was a cheerleader for the idea of receiving donated land, as she noted there were substantial tax benefits to the donor, and she thought it would be a great opportunity to create a community park. The electorate, however, was skeptical that anyone would be so generous as to donate the 2-5 acres of land needed for the project, and were more in favor of demolishing the current building and building a new town hall. And, after further discussion, the electorate opted to do just that. 

To conclude the evening, the electorate approved the tax levy at $1.12 million, which is an increase of about 3.7% over last year. Moderator Erickson noted that this was about half the rate of inflation, and commended the township on being reasonable in their tax increases. Supervisor Gary Goldsmith also noted that with new development happening in the township, the costs should be absorbed by new taxpayers, and current residents should see very little change in their taxes towards Orrock over last year.