Watervliet Township approves Lane Automotive tax exception, has fund balance of 23 months

A special meeting was held at 6:30 p.m., prior to Watervliet Charter Township board’s regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. The meeting was for the purpose of receiving a request from Lane Automotive via Cindy LaGrow from LaGrow Consulting to ask for a 12-year tax exemption for future expansion. Lane’s expansion plans include adding a mezzanine, new storage racking and mobile robot to help with efficiency and growth of the plant. With this added addition they expect the need to add new employment opportunities.

Total cost projected is $15,256,706; of this, $6.9 million will be in real tax (pouring of floor and adding mezzanine). The remaining $8.2 million is in personal taxes (the actual equipment). This is where the 50% tax exception will be applied if approved by Watervliet Township and the state of Michigan.

Currently, Lane Automotive is under the end of a tax exception from the addition to their building in 2015. This 2015 exception will be phasing out during the years of 2024 and 2025 and be finished in 2026.

Lane states that they did not plan on expanding for 10 years (in 2025), but during the COVID-19 pandemic they exploded with requests for their products and forced them to expand earlier than projected. LaGrow stated that Lane is in need of good employees and they have several positions open.

There were several questions asked by the board in the special session and no questions from the eight people in the audience. Approval or denial would be within the regularly scheduled monthly meeting starting at 7 p.m.

Regular business meeting

The Township Board approved a Resolution for Application of Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate for Lane Automotive. The exception is for twelve years on personal tax for the equipment being installed in their building of storage racking and mobile robot. The total cost of the project will be $15,256,706 with 8.2 million being exempt for personal taxes. This now goes to the state for approval.

Audit review

The auditor was present at the Monday meeting and did a quick review of the audit report for 2023. The review reflected that Watervliet Charter Township has a strong fund balance of 23 months. The state requires two months of fund balance and prefers at least a 5-month fund balance. The township’s status means that if no money came in, they could pay their bills for a total of 23 months.

Engineer’s report

Paul Hausler from Progressive AE presented an update of their activity and priorities for the following items: Branch & Derby Drain (largest source of external loading); M-140 sediment basin (clean out frequency, potential for nutrient removal); drain inventory by Spicer Group Inc. to assess improvement efficacy and condition of entire drain; storm-water improvements; clean out catch basins (396 total) and assess build up since last clean out in 2022, to measure sediment.

Starting in 2024, Progressive AE will be monitoring in-lake and Spicer Group will be monitoring tributaries/watershed. They will also be reviewing nutrient loading model and recalibrate to determine most prudent and feasible management strategies going forward.

Hausler also discussed the Paw Paw Lake Aquatic Plant Survey of 2023 activity summary. Biologists from Progressive AE conduct a GPS-guided survey of the lake to identify problem areas and accurately identify the location of nuisance plant growth areas. The primary plants of concern in Paw Paw Lake are the Eurasian milfoil and starry stonewort. Both of these plants are non-native (exotic) species that tend to be highly invasive and have the potential to spread quickly if left unchecked.

Hausler also reviewed the lake water quality. This can change from day to day, dependent on weather, temperature, dissolved oxygen, phosphorus, chlorophyll-a, secchi transparency, lake classification criteria, and variability and tends. There are three types of lakes; oligotrophic – generally deep and clear, eutrophic lakes – have poor clarity and support abundant aquatic plant growth. The lakes that fall between the two extremes of oligotrophic and eutrophic are called mesotrophic. Most lakes will ultimately evolve to a eutrophic state as they gradually fill with sediment and organic matter transported to the lake from surrounding watershed.

The Progressive report presented the deep basin water quality data for Paw Paw Lake on Aug. 23, 2023 from station 1 (Coloma side or lower south end of lake), station 2 (middle of lake) and station 3 (upper north end of lake) at various depths. This was looking at temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, total alkalinity, and total phosphorus. There was also data of the surface water quality from each of the stations looking at chlorophyll-a and secchi transparency.

As expected the temperature is colder at lower levels of the lake and the dissolved oxygen is zero in lower levels, the pH at top averages 8.7 and at bottom 7.3. A healthy lake phosphorus level should be 5.4 – 8.0ug/L for an oligotrophic lake. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and animals. However, excessive phosphorus in surface water can cause explosive growth of aquatic plants and algae. This can lead to a variety of water quality problems, including low dissolved oxygen concentrations, which can cause fish kills and harm other aquatic life.

Phosphates enter waterways from human and animal waste, phosphorus-rich bedrock, laundry and cleaning wastewater, industrial effluents and fertilizer runoff.

Progressive AE will be studying more through the winter, spring and summer and report their findings and activities to the board.

Township business for October

Watervliet Township has total funds of $4,140,877.95. Out of that, general fund was $88,048.26 with the two highest bills being the MEDIC 1, 2nd quarterly payment of $10,481.79 and $31,019.32 for Paw Paw Lake wastewater plant. Payroll for the month of September was $25,142.12. Total payout for the month, approved by board, was $113,190.38.

There were no significant updates from the different departments and projects. There is a delay regarding broadband Midwest EC (Midwest Energy and Communications) at the state level. This is under the ROBIN grant (Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks), a high-speed internet last mile and middle mile infrastructure competitive grant program with $238M in project funds from the U.S. Treasury as part of the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund.

Sept. 18 business meeting

A public hearing was held on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023 to offer a forum for Watervliet Township residents to hear about and voice their opinion on police service in the township. When asked for comment, several residents spoke in favor of keeping the township’s agreement with the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office. There were no opposing statements.

Following the public hearing there was a motion by Trustee Bob Wallace, with support by Trustee Colleen Curtis, to not enter into a contract with the Watervliet City Police Department, which had provided the township with a proposal to provided police coverage. All board members approved the motion. The township will keep the current police service with the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.

Other business

Leaf pickup in the township is scheduled for the month of November. Flexibility for weather conditions will be accommodated.

Joe Stepich, Township Supervisor made the comment on how nice it was to have an increased number of residents in attendance at meetings.