A Community News Organ

Archive for April, 2011|Monthly archive page

Frankfort, Tree City, Celebrates Arbor Day

In Green Elbertians, Open Season on April 27, 2011 at 12:31 pm

The Alert spoke with Bonnie Warren of the Frankfort Tree Board and Jim Grabowski, tree wrangler extraordinaire, ahead of the 8th Annual Arbor Day event at 9:30 a.m. this Friday, April 29. With children, parents, and city officials looking on, a maple will be planted at Frankfort–Elberta Elementary School, where the first of these sylvan celebrations took place in 2004. Frankfort has been recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City again this year for the seventh time, and it’s the sixth year they’ve earned a foundation Growth Award. The 2011 Tree City poster was made from an oil painting of the Frankfort beach cannon by the artist Joan Miller. It’s titled Lonely Vigil, and is available for $15 at City Hall, the Bookstore, and Java 429.

The Elberta Alert: What variety of maple will be planted Friday, and why maple?

Jim Grabowski: It’ll probably be an autumn blaze. They’re fast-growing and quickly become good shade trees; they’re a cross between a silver and a red maple, but they have  red leaves only in the fall. We usually can’t find big enough sugar maples, and they’re slower growing—we usually plant a twelve-foot, two-inch caliper tree.

EA: How did you get involved with Frankfort and the Tree Board? Read the rest of this entry »

Agenda: April Council Meeting

In Calendar, On and off the Apron, Politics on April 19, 2011 at 3:58 pm

At Thursday’s council meeting this week, the Village’s annual auditor, Dave Wilson (CPA), will be on hand to address concerns over our scary 8 status, the state of our finances, and how the Village leadership has been addressing our $700K-plus reserve deficit over the past few years. Come out and find out what’s what, at 7 PM.

President Reg Manville is away, so the meeting will be run by president pro-tem Jinx Jenks. Here’s the rest of the agenda, courtesy of Sharyn Bower at the Village Office

Council Meeting Agenda 4/21

Call to order
Attendance
Approval of minutes
Approval of agenda
Agenda conflict
Brief public comment
Advertised public hearing
Correspondence
Approval of bills
Reports: Department Heads
Water/sewer/BLUA: Diane Jenks and Ken Holmes
Parks & Rec: Linda Manville
Marina Park/Farmers Market: Bill Soper
Beach: Ross Thorsen
Zoning administrator: Carl Noffsinger
President’s report: Diane Jenks for Reg Manville Read the rest of this entry »

Elberta Placed on State Government Fiscal Watch List

In Infrastructure and Planning, On and off the Apron, Politics on April 13, 2011 at 5:12 pm

On the front page of today’s Record-Patriot, below the fold, appeared a headline no less disturbing for being not entirely surprising: “Elberta ‘Working Diligently’ on Financial Woes Cited by State.”

According to a chart released on the Detroit Free Press website on April 6, Elberta has been placed on a state financial watch list and is “flagged for possible state intervention.” We scored an 8 out of 10 based on our fiscal 2009 audit. Frankfort, meanwhile, scored an impressive 2, placing it in the category “neutral—no action necessary” (view the breakdown for Benzie County here). Elberta did remarkably worse than any other Benzie County entity. Gilmore Township was also in the neutral clear as of 2009, with a score of 3.

On March 16 of this year, Governor Snyder signed into law the Local Government and School District Accountability Act (hereafter referred to as Public Act no. 4). This law allows the governor to put local governments and schools under financial review. If the appointed financial reviewers determine that the local entity is in sufficient financial trouble, the local government or school board will be disbanded and governance will be assumed by appointed officials—the so-called Emergency Managers. These managers will have the authority, without public input, to do what they deem necessary to get the municipality or school back in the black. This could presumably include deciding to sell off key assets, close schools, raise taxes [according to the FAQs about the act posted on Treasury's site, "An Emergency Manager cannot impose taxes, over and above those already authorized, without the approval at an election of a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question. However, an Emergency Manager is authorized to order one, or more, millage elections for the unit of local government."—Ed.], cut programs and commissions, and eliminate other expenses.

The Alert placed a call to Terry Stanton, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Treasury, to find out the implications of our watch status. According to Stanton, the data for the fiscal indicator scores (our score being 8 ) was compiled from the U.S. Census, local government offices, local tax assessment officers, and the municipalities’ annual audit reports. (View our breakdown in the accompanying image and here.) Read the rest of this entry »

Foghorn: Sign of the Times

In Culture Bluffs, Foghorn, Open Season on April 10, 2011 at 8:32 pm

Observant travelers near the junction of M-22 and M-168 may have noted that the Welcome to Elberta sign is missing. The Parks Committee of the Parks and Rec Commission removed it Saturday, April 9, for renovations. Jennifer Wilkins of the Parks Committee remarked that at least one of the several Village amenities listed on the sign no longer exists—the public restrooms. Keep your eyes peeled for the sign’s sparkling return, along with more new and improved signage around the Village.

Where’s That Confounded Bridge?

In Infrastructure and Planning, Open Season on April 4, 2011 at 10:53 pm

My family and some friends of ours were hiking down Elberta Beach last week when I noticed an object off in the distance. I feared it to be a car, and sure enough, it was.

Basically, two complete idiots, and I mean idiots in the truest sense, had driven down the beach, which is illegal. Unfortunately, our Benzie County law enforcement does not have the manpower to patrol the beach. And Elberta itself, unlike Frankfort, has no official law-enforcement presence.

They were driving along, hit some soft sand, and slipped into the water.

We offered to call the police for them. They informed us that they had called a towing service, but they were on hour two of waiting. Nobody was coming for these guys, but they remained with their giant car and 40-inch tires.

We got all the way down to the end of the beach, and they still had not left. When we got home, I phoned the sheriff, and they passed on the word to the DNR and the Coast Guard. The vehicle is now off the beach.

So, what were these people really thinking? And what can we do to prevent this sort of thing from happening again?—Gretchen Eichberger

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