Township Supervisor Anne Felber led the Orrock Twp. Annual Meeting as the moderator for the evening.

The electorate began by approving the minutes from the last annual meeting. They also waived reviewing the claims for the year, though the information was available in paper copies for the public to take and peruse.

Finance Report

Last year at the annual meeting, the electorate approved building a new town hall, and approved a one time transfer of money from the road account to the capital improvement fund to get the project going. The funds will be transferred back this year.

The building project also was funded partially by ARPA funds.

The total spent on the project in 2023 was just over $600,000, though some spending for the project occured in this calendar year.

Treasurer Janine Arnold also explained the board of audit process and reviewed the results of the board of audit from the last regular meeting. 

A couple of years ago, the township had grown enough in size to necessitate an external audit. An auditing company is hired to review the township’s finances. For both years, the audit went well and Schlenner Wenner, the auditing firm, gave a clean report. The auditing firm also checks for legal compliance.

Clerk Chris Weber noted that small townships are having a difficult time finding auditors, and due to this practicing auditors will likely be raising their prices and will not accept contracts of more than one year.

Year in Review

Three positions will be up for election in November, including two board member positions and the town clerk position

Fire response is provided by the Big Lake Fire Department (BLFD) and the Zimmerman-Livonia Fire Department (ZLFD). There will be a bridge closure this year which will impact the ZLFD’s ability to respond to response calls in the township, but the BLFD is planning to work on their response ability in the area.

Town Hall

The new town hall has been finished. The reason for the new building was the township’s inability to effectively host elections for the growing community. An open house of the town hall was held before the annual meeting.

The project went very well and came in under budget by around $70,000. 

The electorate was asked for opinions on how to handle the landscaping. The opinions came in to keep the landscaping natural, native, and low maintenance. 

The town board is also going to consider installing a fence to protect their heating and air conditioning in the back of the building.

Road Report

The 2022-2023 winter season was over budget in snow and ice removal, but the 2023-2024 season was under budget, which was good for the township’s finances.

Orrock sticks to a pavement management plan in the hopes of extending the life of each road to 50 years before it needs to be completely redone. Without a maintenance plan, the roads would need to be torn up and repaved every 20 years.

Levy

Treasurer Arnold proposed a $1,125,000 levy, which is a 0.4% increase over last year. The budget this year is expected to be higher with the cost of running elections. The township staff is also working to make small increases in the levy every year to build up the road fund, so the residents don’t have a huge increase in the future as the township roads begin to deteriorate.

Due to new construction in the township, the tax rate has gone down and residents should see their township portion of taxes decrease over last year.

The levy was approved by the electorate with no dissenting votes.

Business from the Floor

Some residents raised some road issues, County Commissioner Gregg Felber suggested that the board look into upgrading the septic system, as a contractor suggested the septic system wouldn’t be able to handle election traffic. Clerk Weber noted that said contractor was assuming a lot of the voters would use the facilities, which is not the case.

Moderator Anne Felber suggested that perhaps updating would be a good idea if the building is rented out for events.

Commissioner Felber also suggested revisiting posting meeting recordings online.

Suggestions will be reviewed at the next monthly meeting, March 27, 7 p.m.