New Year and New Board Members

New Year and New Board Members
By Charles Chandler

In the January 11th 2017 meeting incoming Commissioners Brian Kolk representing District 2 and Lavern Willett representing District 5 and County Clerk Jason VanderStelt were seated.  Other County Officials attending included Sheriff Bob Mendham, Treasure Holly Moon, Register of Deeds Stewart Sanders and Commission on Aging Director Joseph Fox. 
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The agenda and the Board meeting were short and sweet and the Board moved efficiently and effectively through the County Business that was set before them. 
During Public Comment former Representative Jon Bumstead thanked the Commissioners for their support during...

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...his term in office and asked them to give him a call if he could be of any further service.  He mentioned that Representative Scott VanSingel had retained his former staff members and that should ensure a smooth transition.  

Commission on Aging (COA) Director Joseph Fox requested that the Board approve the submission of three grant applications to the Fremont Area Community Foundation. They were COA Bus Access Transportation Grant Application in the amount of $64,000.00 for year 2018, The Aging Homemaker Grant in the amount of $22,500.00, year 20118 and Senior Project Fresh in the amount of $25,600.00 for May 2017 through January 2018.  Project Fresh is a new and significant nutritional program for County Seniors and business opportunity for our local farm markets.

County residents who qualify for this program are issued $40.00 worth of coupons to be redeemed for fresh Michigan fruits and vegetables from local farm markets and roadside stands that participates in the project. During fiscal year 2016 COA staff distributed 1,385 coupon booklets valued at $27,700, to about 720 people that had qualified for this program.

The Board approved the request to submit the three program grants to the Fremont Area Community Foundation.

In other business Treasurer Holly Moon requested that the Board approve Resolution #01-001-17 authorizing Deposit and Investment of County Funds and Approving the Investment Policy.  When asked about the County Investment Policy, Treasure Moon stated that the focus of the policy in order of importance was,  asset security, liquidity in order to pay bills when necessary and returns on investment.

The Board approved the Resolution.

In Miscellaneous Committee Reports Commissioner Maike reported on the activities of the Newaygo County Community Collaborative (NC3) indicative.

Commissioner Trapp discussed the Hazardous Waste collection program and reported that he hopes that the Department of Environment Quality grants would come through and that there would be additional funds for tire and electronics waste disposal and recycling.

Administrator Wren mentioned that they had been working with the Fremont Area Community Foundation so as to staff the Newaygo County Information Center. He was happy to report that there were now 14 trained volunteers ready and available for Friday and Saturday staffing duties at the Information Center.  He stated that there were no hard data at this time but we do know that in the last quarter Information Center staff gave out about 1000 Newaygo County roadmaps.

​A good indication that tourists were stopping and interested in the opportunities our County provides.