A special meeting of Coalton Village Council was held Thursday evening, July 22 to adopt two pieces of legislation. The first was the third reading of Ordinance 2010-06 which will allow the village to pay the Jackson County Commissioners $107.79 for indigent counsel defense.
That ordinance was adopted on a motion by Councilwoman Kim Milliken, a second by Councilman Larry Brisker, and a unanimous vote.
The second piece of legislation, Resolution No. 2010-05, will ask the Jackson County Auditor to supply an estimate of proceeds when a DECREASED general operations levy is put on the November ballot. The current 6-mill levy will be reduced by one mill.
The resolution was entered as an emergency measure so a vote to suspend the rules was offered by Brisker and following a second by Councilman Kris Carper, the vote to suspend was unanimous.
Brisker then made a motion to adopt the resolution and it was unanimously adopted following a second by Carper. Coalton Mayor Frank Doenges told council, "This is a chance to take off one mill from our people."
The piece of legislation will now go to the Jackson County Auditor for an estimate of levy proceeds, will be returned to the village for another vote to actually place the issue on the ballot, and once that is adopted the issue will go to the Jackson County Board of Elections to be placed on the November General Election ballot. The deadline for getting the issue to the board of elections is August 4.
According to Doenges, the current levy is bringing in more income than is required.
Doenges explained the village can be impacted by the success, or failure, of the Jackson County Heath Department Levy in November. The village now pays between $500 and $600 for health department services and that will remain the same if the health department levy is adopted in November.
If that levy fails, money will be taken from all municipalities and townships in the county to keep the mandated health department open. Doenges said that figure is estimated to be about $1,300 for the village. That additional expense has been taken into consideration when the one-mill decrease was figured.
Doenges also told council the health department has let bids for the demolition of five structures in the village. Initially, three structures were scheduled for demolition, but due to lower bids, five will be torn down in the near future.
