Bedford board hires aide to township supervisor

Greg Stewart, the new Bedford Township supervisor, attends his first Bedford Township Board meeting recently at the Bedford Township Hall in Temperance, Mich.

TEMPERANCE — The new Bedford Township Board met for the first time last week — a mere seven hours after members took office — and quickly got down to business.

The panel approved the hiring Kim Pollins, a part-time employee in the clerk’s department, as administrative assistant for Supervisor Greg Stewart. The vote was 6-0, with Trustee Larry O’Dell absent.

Ms. Pollins is to be paid $35,000 a year plus benefits, $12,000 less than Mr. Stewart’s predecessor’s deputy, who no longer works for the township. Mr. Stewart said he would not have a deputy supervisor. The supervisor’s office, unlike the treasurer’s, is not required by law to have one.

Besides Mr. Stewart, the newly elected board members are Paul Pirrone, Rick Steiner, and Nancy Tienvieri.

The board also approved a contract with the Monroe County Road Commission to fill road cracks in the Montevallo subdivision in Lambertville. The contract amount is $3,692, which the property owners have already paid, Clerk Trudy Hershberger said. Ms. Tienvieri noted that the repair work would not be done for some time and asked what would happen if the cost went up.

Treasurer Paul Francis replied that a price increase of more than 10 percent would have to go before the board again.

Ms. Tienvieri said the contract was written to the road commission’s advantage and should be tightened in the township’s favor. She also noted that the road commission contracts out such work and charges 13 percent of the cost of the project for doing so. The township, she said, was in a position to bargain that percentage down.

Ms. Tienvieri also said she didn’t believe trustees, who are part-time, should have taxpayer-funded retirement accounts when other part-time township employees did not.

During the report segment of the meeting, Mr. Francis said the treasurer’s office had begun the process for a computerized payment-receiving system. Tax and sewer bills would be payable with debit and credit cards in the spring.

Ms. Hershberger said the township’s new Web site is operational but still under construction. She hoped to have the agenda for the next meeting, on Dec. 4, posted there.