Discussions about the ongoing construction project at the government offices and a possible design for a parks and recreation committee website dominated the Bingham Township Board meeting Monday.
The project started in summer 2023 and includes an addition to the township hall that will provide a place for the absentee voter counting board to count ballots. It is also planned to include additional office space for township staff within the building.
Township Supervisor Midge Werner said that construction is “coming along,” with new siding, drywall, and windows installed. During the meeting, the board approved a contract with Graham Builders to remove shingles from the existing building and install new ones to match those on the additions at the cost of $11,000.
The board discussed some changes to bring the building in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but ultimately postponed action while they get more information on the costs involved.
The board then approved another contract with Graham Builders to replace the shingles at the Maple Grove Cemetery pumphouse at a cost of $1,500.
Werner also reported that the township parks and recreation committee was interested in creating its own website outside of leelanau.gov so they could post news more quickly without going through the county website.
Brian Kendt, vice chairman of parks and recreation committee, attended the Monday meeting to receive feedback from the township trustees on the committee’s website, which is still a work in progress. Kendt agreed to work on the website because he was technically capable. But he may have done too good of a job at making the township parks look appealing, in Werner’s opinion.
“It’s really nice, you did a great job here, but I think it looks like it comes from the chamber of commerce,” Werner said. “I don’t necessarily want someone to see this beautiful park plan and link it to somebody else and do things like that to encourage more people to the park.”
“All our parks are within residential districts, and we already have issues with that a little bit. And the more we do to invite people to come in, the harder I think it is for those neighbors,” she continued.
The other board members only had good things to say about the website layout, however, and Kendt said that the text boxes can be easily changed to shift emphasis from promoting the parks to township residents.
