As Trustee and AuTrain Township Board member , I voted no on the AuTrain Township Budget for 2011.
In the past several years AuTrain Township utilized all of its recreation budget , outside of the Alger Parks and Recreation contribution , for projects in one specific area, AuTrain Village. The only money spent for Christmas was to remove a high risk piece of equipment . The recreation budget for 2011 is a continuation of basically all the recreation funds going to AuTrain Village and ignoring the needs of Christmas. I strongly disagree with this plan as it does not fairly represent all of AuTrain Township.
Additionally, I could not approve a budget that provided a salary of $9000 per year to Zoning Administrator Will Rogers. Munising Township , with much more complicated zoning and a highly qualified Zoning Administrator, budgets around $3,600 per year . Comparing AuTrain and Munising townships shows AuTrain paying $5,400 too much each year to Will Rogers.
For many years illegal boarding houses have plagued an LS/R2 Residential District, with the violators provided amnesty by the actions of Zoning Administrator Will Rogers.
The lack of enforcement of by both Will Rogers and some AuTrain Township Board members is the reason for the majority of legal costs concerning zoning issues in this residential district. District Court Judge Carmody supported the findings of the AuTrain Township Board of Appeals which found Will Rogers errant in his effort to give amnesty to these illegal boarding houses.
A Board motion passed to litigate Billy Jack Gramm honoring both Judge Carmody and the Board of Appeals decision that states "This Board further find that the transient rentals currently operating within the LS&R II Zoning District(AuTrain Township) are illegal nonconforming uses and hence subject to Court-ordered abatement as nuisance." The issue of costs was considered concerning litigation of Gramm and the motion still passed by a vote of four to one. Yet with Will Rogers still getting overpaid, Clerk Rogers continues this effort to provide amnesty to the boarding house violators with a motion to not litigate any zoning violations in the entire township on the basis of cost, in direct conflict with the existing motion to litigate Gramm.
If AuTrain Township is in such a dire financial situation, the salary for the Zoning Administrator must be reduced to no higher than $300 per month. The recreation projects must be discontinued, and the Planning Commission activity must be suspended immediately following the completion of the Master Plan. We don't so much need new zoning, we need to enforce what we have. AuTrain Township must consider applying fines to the illegal boarding houses in the Sixteen Mile Lake LS/R2 district and to the owner/operator of the Reel Inn boarding house in, the Village of AuTrain.
Most importantly, the AuTrain Township Board must begin acting on behalf of the residents of Christmas , Sixteen Mile Lake area, and AuTrain Village, not just a few select people. The negative results of a the vote on Road millage and a failed recent general fund millage both reflect a lack of confidence in AuTrain government. Other millage proposals for more effective functions did fine, so it isn't simply a money issue.
