Category: Village Money Situation
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Council Meeting August 2017
Herewith, audio from the August 17, 2017 Regular Council Meeting.
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Letter from Holly O’Dwyer
In reference to the letter from Kristine Mills I posted on August 25, Village board of trustees president pro tempore Holly O’Dwyer asked that I publish this email she sent to Mills August 21, which O’Dwyer says she didn’t get a response to.—Emily Votruba
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Letter from Kristine Mills to Village Council
Kristine Mills asked me to publish this letter after she received what she feels was an incomplete response to her FOIA request for documents and information related to her contract position as rentals coordinator for the Life Saving Station and other Village venues. —Emily Votruba
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Council Meeting July 2017
Herewith, audio from the July 20, 2017 Regular Council Meeting.
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Council Meeting June 2017
Herewith, audio from the June 15, 2017 Regular Council Meeting.
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Council Meeting May 2017
Herewith, audio from the May 18, 2017 Regular Council Meeting.
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Coyote Crossing: November Council Meeting Reports
By Emily Votruba Regular Meeting, November 17, 2016 On the way to the regular council meeting, Linda Manville saw a coyote cross the road in front of her. The meeting was held at the Life Saving Station for the first time ever as far as anyone could remember. The room…
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Sign Sale Today: So Far Successful
UPDATE: Here’s an updated list of the remaining sign inventory. Call or visit the Village Office during regular office hours or schedule an appointment. http://villageofelberta.com/elberta-used-street-name-sign-sale/ It’s 11 am and there’s been good turnout for the antique street sign sale at the Village Office. Each corner array costs $50, with some…
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Get It in Writing: Council Approves Additional Compensation for Clerk
By Emily Votruba What follows is a (mostly) direct transcript of the special council meeting that took place on Saturday, October 1, at 1 pm. Background: In a September 6 letter to council (obtained by me from the clerk by FOIA request), our clerk, Catherine Anderson, asked for salaried compensation for the nonclerk duties she…
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And a-One and a-Two: Village Weighs Proceeding with Restroom Project with Partial Grant Funding
By Emily Votruba, Parks & Rec Secretary At the February Parks and Rec meeting this year, Elberta Farmers’ Market master Sue Oseland presented a proposal to apply for a $70K USDA grant for permanent, piped restroom facilities at the Penfold/Farmers’ Market park. The restroom would be 10×20 with two separate…
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Signs of the Times: July Council Meeting Report
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING July 16, 2015 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| July 16, 2015 • 7 PM The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, July 16, 2015, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called…
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Burn After Reading: June Council Meeting
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING June 18, 2015 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, June 18, 2015, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order by Diane Jenks at 7:02…
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Solstice Approved: May Council Meeting
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —DRAFT Minutes— May 21, 2015 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order by Diane…
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A New Era for the Elberta Solstice Festival
EDITORIAL By Emily Votruba In the space of a couple of weeks straddling April and May, Solstice Fest 2015 went from being on, to off, to back on again. On April 15, Bill Soper, chair of the Solstice Committee, and Diane Jenks, village council president, had a discussion, based on…
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February 2015 Council Meeting: Budget Adopted
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —DRAFT Minutes— —FINAL Minutes— —ADOPTED FY2015 VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BUDGET— February 19, 2015 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO |||
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It’s Budget Time
Offer feedback on the budget to the Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee by contacting committee member Cathy Anderson at cathymaryanderson@gmail.com Download/view: The Proposed Village of Elberta Budget, prepared by the Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee (DRAFT)
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Where There’s Smoke: January Council Meeting
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —DRAFT Minutes— —FINAL Minutes— January 15, 2015 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order…
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Short and Sweet: December Council Meeting
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —Minutes— December 18, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, December 18, 2014, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order by president Diane…
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“Do We Want to Remain a Village? I Think It’s Worth It”—Diane Jenks
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —DRAFT Minutes— November 20, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The newly elected Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held its first regular meeting on Thursday, November 20, 2014, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to…
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Midterm Election 2014! Wolves, Drugs, Fire
UPDATE: View up-to the minute election results (as available) from the various Benzie townships here, and the final official Benzie County results page here. UPDATE: From Aubrey Parker: “BENZIE COUNTY: We’re hoping to do LIVE election results again tonight like we brought you in 2013, but we need your help! All…
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Revising the DEP: Special Meeting of the Village Council October 27, 2014
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —DRAFT Minutes TO COME— October 27, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| Revised DEP Cover Letter from Chris Olson Audit Analysis and Projections Revised DEP Resolution of Adoption
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Regular Meeting of the Village Council October 2014
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —DRAFT Minutes— October 16, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held its regular meeting on Thursday, October 16, 2014, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order by president…
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Special Meeting on DEP Tonight
Special Meeting of the Elberta Village Council Monday October 27, 2014 Community Building 401 First Street 7:00 P.M. The Village of Elberta will conduct a Special Meeting on Monday October 27, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. to consider the financial status of the Village including the 2013 – 2014 audit, the…
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Village Seeks New Deputy Clerk
The Village is *NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS* for the position of DEPUTY VILLAGE CLERK Elberta residency NOT required. This is a part time position, 12 – 16 FLEX TIME hours/week. Pay is $10.50 – $14.50 dependent upon education and experience. Complete job description and application available at the Village website or…
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Council Holds Workshop Meeting to Deal with Deficit Elimination Plan Shortfall
August 28, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| —DRAFT— VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES WORKSHOP MEETING August 28, 2014 • 7 PM The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held a special budget workshop meeting on Thursday, August 28, 2014, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta,…
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Regular (and Special) Meeting of the Village Council August 2014
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR AND SPECIAL MEETING —DRAFT Minutes— August 21, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held its regular meeting on Thursday, August 21, 2014, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order…
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Regular Meeting of the Village Council July 2014
VILLAGE OF ELBERTA BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING —Minutes— July 17, 2014 • 7 PM ||| AUDIO ||| The Village of Elberta Board of Trustees held its regular meeting on Thursday, July 17, 2014, at the Community Building, 401 First Street, Elberta, Michigan. The meeting was called to order by Village…
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Elberta Business Owners Speak! On State Proposal 14-1
By Emily Votruba Tomorrow, August 5, voters will decide whether to adopt a proposal to eliminate the personal property tax. The strangely worded measure doesn’t actually mention “personal property tax,” but instead says the following: Approval or disapproval of amendatory act to reduce state use tax and replace with a…
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Village Offers Beautiful, Affordable Event Locations
By Diane Jenks The Village of Elberta is struggling to survive with low fiscal scores and the threat of an emergency manager. The State of Michigan has many communities in this situation and is willing to help the village work its way back into the black. The departure of the…
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Parks & Rec Cites Improper Transfer of Funds by Village President Pro Tem
By Emily Votruba At their June 12 regular meeting, the Parks and Recreation Commission voted to submit a letter to Council reprimanding president pro tempore Robin Rommell for improper transfer of funds. (Full disclosure: I am one of the signatories of that letter.) A statement obtained by P&R secretary Jennifer…
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Departure Letter from Interim Treasurer Toni Flynn
June 18, 2014 To the Elberta Village Council and to the Lovely People of the Town, After three months of working in the Village office, helping where I was able, I feel it is in the best interest of all for me to take my leave and allow someone with…
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Motion to Fire DPW Head Fails; Raucous Public Meeting Ends Early
By Emily Votruba I’ll post a summary of last night’s Special Meeting soonish. In the meantime, here’s the audio and the documents I tweeted to the Facebook feed last night. Full audio of meeting: Police Report in the Case of the Possibly Stolen Building County Prosecutor’s Letter Declining to Pursue Case…
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The Sacred and the Profane
By Emily Votruba BREAKING: A special meeting of the Village Council will be held this Wednesday at 7 pm in the Community Building to deal with agenda items council didn’t get to at last Thursday’s meeting and to finalize the budget. A great deal of time was spent on 2/20 dealing…
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Budget Fuss: A Choppy Start to Turning the Fiscal Ship Around
By Emily Votruba During its regular board meeting this Thursday, February 20, the Village Council will review and most likely adopt the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014–15. At least one council member and budget committee member won’t be voting to adopt it. “We’ve had no budget meetings,” says Jennifer…
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Council to Review Corrective Action Plan for Village Internal Controls, Policies and Procedures Tonight
By Emily Votruba Former Benzie County administrator Chris Olson, who was engaged by the Village Board of Trustees to help them create both a deficit elimination plan and an internal controls action plan as required by the State of Michigan, has come up with a corrective action plan (CAP) for…
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Finalized Deficit Elimination Plan Submitted to State; Calls for Sale of MiniPond/Farmers Market Park and Deep Cuts to Office and DPW
By Emily Votruba Last night in a special meeting, council approved a deficit elimination plan to submit to the Michigan Department of Treasury. The penalty for failure to meet the revised deadline of January 6 (moved again to January 8 because of the weather) was a 25% reduction in revenue…
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Council to Finalize Deficit Elimination Plan Tonight
By Emily Votruba Former Benzie County administrator Chris Olson, who was engaged by the Village Board of Trustees to help them create both a deficit elimination plan and an internal controls action plan as required by the State of Michigan, has come up with a DEP for the board to…
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Olson Presents Prioritization Results and Council Begins to Hash Out DEP
Full audio of the Dec. 30 meeting (2 parts): Full audio of the Jan. 2 meeting: At the January 2 meeting, Chris Olson came back with the compiled results of the Dec. 30 prioritization exercise, in which, after a long discussion, council members and staff placed dots next to items…
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Deficit Elimination: A Proposal from Chris Olson
The following email and pdf was received by several council members and the Village office today from former Benzie county administrator Chris Olson, in response to president Reg Manville’s request for assistance with the Village’s deficit elimination plan. This information was forwarded to the Alert by trustee Jennifer Wilkins. Tomorrow…
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Alert Reader: Some Notes on Possible Actions the People of Elberta May Take According to the Village General Law and MML, and a Word on Village Tax Rates
The Alert received the following by email from Elberta resident Teri McGregor December 20, 2013. Letters to the editor may be edited for length and minor typos/spelling issues. We welcome anyone’s input. Send letters to elberta.alert@gmail.com, subject line “Alert Reader.” Thanks for reading! By Teri McGregor The Elberta Village meeting was stimulating…
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Alert Reader: “Asleep at the Switch”
The Alert received the following by email yesterday, December 13, 2013. Letters to the editor may be edited for length and minor typos/spelling issues. We welcome anyone’s input. Send letters to elberta.alert@gmail.com, subject line “Alert Reader.” Thanks for reading! Can I post this on the ALert FB? Park and wreckers…
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Council Votes to Reinstate Sharyn Bower to Temporary Clerk Position
December 10, 2013 Full audio of meeting Village Community Building—In a four to three vote during a special meeting tonight, the Village Council decided to hire recently retired Village clerk Sharyn Bower back to the clerk’s position at two days a week, minus the benefits she requested in her application…
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Pointing Figures: Regular Council Meeting November 21, 2013
What follows, in bold type, are the official minutes for the meeting, respectfully (and very quickly) submitted by volunteer clerk Sharron May. Thanks, Sharron! My interpolations appear in regular type.—Emily Votruba The regular meeting of the Elberta Village Council was held on Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at…
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Treasury Report on the Village’s Internal Controls
This report was given to me by two Village officials (on separate occasions). The officials asked not to be named. One of them said I should publish it on the Alert site and Facebook page, the other asked that I wait to do that until after the council meeting tonight,…
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Council Tables Deficit Elimination Plan, Treasurer to Phone State Tomorrow
Brief update on tonight’s meeting: Council voted to table the topic of the deficit reduction plan until they receive further guidance from the state, preferably in writing. The only documentation of the state’s interest in seeing a deficit reduction plan cited a report the state is supposedly preparing, to be…
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Citizen’s Letter Read at Oct. 10 Special Meeting
Art Melendez read the following letter at the special council meeting on October 10, convened to discuss options for reducing the Village’s general fund balance deficit, which is so severe that according to Reggie Manville (village president), we may be taken over by an emergency manager if an acceptable plan…
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Important Council Meeting Tomorrow
(Not that they’re not all important…) Attention Elbertians (and their friends)! Please attend the council meeting tomorrow night (Thursday, October 17) at 7 pm in the Community Building (401 First St.) to hear our council’s plan to prevent our being taken over by an emergency manager.
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Village Deficit Crisis: Brief, Important Update
By Emily Votruba According to Reggie and Laura Manville, the state expects to see a plan that might realistically eliminate our $558K+ deficit within the next 5 years.* If the Village does not come up with an acceptable plan by October 17, it’s very likely, again according to Reggie Manville, that…
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The State Visits the Village: Are Personnel Changes Possible?
By Emily Votruba The following article is an editorial. I have tried to present the facts as I know them in as unbiased a manner possible, but I do have a bias, as you will discover below. Please weigh in with your comments! An auditor from the State of Michigan…
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March Elberta Council Meeting Report: Holier Than Thou
By Emily Votruba VILLAGE COMMUNITY BUILDING March 21, 2013—Sharyn Bower announced that the County Board of Commissioners would be holding their regular meeting at the Village Community Building on April 16 at 6 pm as part of their tour around the county. The Planning Commission will hold two public hearings…
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February Elberta Council Meeting Report: Same Playing Field
By Emily Votruba VILLAGE COMMUNITY BUILDING, February 20, 2013—A date and the spelling of Jennifer Wilkins’s name were corrected on the January meeting minutes. Wilkins’s name was also added to the agenda under the Beach Committee report, as she is a new member of that committee. PUBLIC HEARING ON 2013–14…
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Village of Elberta Budget for 2013–14
This budget was adopted at the February 21, 2013, council meeting after a public hearing held before the meeting. Read more about the budget adoption and other Village matters in the upcoming Council Meeting report. Village of Elberta Budget 2013-14