Clearwater Township residents voted to keep the 2018 road and bridge fund the same during Tuesday’s annual meeting.

 

But not before they talked for 45 minutes about road maintenance and road projects for the future.

 

The board of supervisors had proposed keeping the fund at $330,000 - the same as this year. But before there was a consensus of the crowd of about 25, there were plenty of questions about how the money would be spent.

 

John Notsch,  a candidate for supervisor in November, said the township needed a comprehensive plan about road maintenance - particularly spending money for brush and tree cutting.

 

He referred to a report the night before by Maintenance Supervisor Mike Ludenia about spending $300 a day for renting a wood chipper for brush cutting.

 

“We can’t just send the road crews out and then ask them at the end of the month what they did all month...” he said. “I don’t want to vote on a budget until we discuss some things that go into that budget.”

 

He said the crew just can’t go back 33 feet from the centerline and turn all the roads into superhighways.

 

“What Mike Ludenia has been concentrating on is cleaning out brush where it interferes with snowplowing and with sightlines at intersections,” said Supervisor Bill Langenbacher. 

 

 “I would agree that there should be some planning. It wouldn’t hurt to have some of that going on.”

 

Abe Maier complained about how slippery the roads were because off all the magnesium chloride being sprayed.

 

He said there isn’t much control after it rains.

 

Langenbacher said it isn’t just for dust control. It helps keep the road from deteriorating.

 

Supervisor Scott Miller said without chloride, the binder in the gravel washes away, leaving rocks and pebbles.

 

 “We try to take into consideration the amount of traffic. The weather we can’t predict but we do know what kind of traffic these roads carry,” he said. “In order to keep the road held together, we try to anticipate the amount of chloride we need. It’s kind of a guessing game.”

 

Others spoke about being proactive and begin spending money to chip seal some of the roads. The township spent about $120,000 in 2016 to chip seal  parts of 140th Ave., Hart Ave. and 125th Ave. 

 

Miller said it takes a big up-front investment, but in four to five years it pays for itself by eliminating the need to spread gravel and spray chloride.

 

Earlier in the meeting, moderator Wally Westerberg read a list of 16 potential road projects the township was considering for the future. Some were small and inexpensive enough to have the township’s crew work on. Others would take lots of time and resources. But the town board hasn’t made a decision to move ahead on any of them yet.

 

Some residents asked the board to call a special workshop meeting to prioritize the projects so the township could move forward. 

 

“I’m certainly open to have all the special meetings we need to get this stuff sorted out,” said Langenbacher.

 

Resident Shawn McGuire asked how much of the road and bridge fund was put aside for major road projects.

 

Clerk Jean Just said it’s different every year. She said at the end of each year, the board votes to transfer  unspent money from that fund to either the road project fund or the equipment and building fund.

 

Last year, $65,000 of the $330,000 was left for projects. As of Dec. 31, 2016, the road project fund has $39,680.58, which doesn’t cover much mileage in chip sealing. 

 

Some of the projects on the list are town line roads and have to be cost-shared with Silver Creek Twp. The supervisors said they already plan to meet with Silver Creek Twp. officials to figure out the cost and timing on those shared projects. They recommended holding off on nay special meetings until they have a chance to meet with Silver Creek.

 

When the vote was taken to keep the road and bridge fund at $330,000, Blayne Leuthard made the motion to approve, saying there isn’t enough information to ask for an increase. Most of the room voted in favor, except for four residents who felt the township should increase the levy to start building up the fund for bigger projects.

 

In other levies, residents voted for a 9.7% cut in the general revenue levy to $84,000. They approved the fire protection levey at $59,000 - the same as this year. And they voted to donate $2,000 to the library.

 

In closing, they set next year’s annual meeting for March 13 at 7:30 p.m.