Highlights of Casco Township Board meeting of March 17

Casco Township Board of Trustees meets the third Monday of every month at 7:00 pm

The Casco Township Board of Trustees held their regular board meeting on March 17, 2025 at 7:00 pm at the Casco Township Hall. Highlights from the meeting:

SHAES: Johanna Quinn reported 38 Casco calls in February (27 Fire, 11 EMS); 85 total calls for Casco year to date, with 520 total calls for SHAES, district-wide year to date.

Duke Packer is a new SHAES hire and Aaron Sawyer is stepping away from a career of on call duty. SHAES has a new cadet, Nick Rainey. SHAES is developing a career hire eligibility list to make adding hires easier going forward.

Quinn reported that Bronson South Haven hospital has been diverting emergencies to Holland and Kalamazoo recently due to sick staff. As EMS vehicles need to drive farther to transport people, this doubles the call time for South Haven. In February, 98 emergencies were treated at South Haven, with 2 diverted to Kalamazoo, 23 to Holland, and 13 to St. Joseph.

Treasurer: Kenny Clevenger reported fund balances as follows (rounded by editor): General fund, $1.325M; Roads, $739k; Fire, $305k; Police, $135k; Parks & Recreation, $148k; Cemetery, $100k; Senior services $55k; Collected tax, $3.59M.

Deputy Treasurer Janet Knisely stepped down effective February 28 and Treasurer Clevenger expressed appreciation for the work she put in, noting that she "never called off." Clevenger has hired Nate Sherman as the new Deputy Treasurer.

The Township will now accept credit and debit cards for payments, including tax payments, permits, short term rental registration fees, and cemetery lot purchases, with a convenience fee of approximately 3% added to all transactions. Accepting credit/debit cards will not cost the Township anything as the convenience fee covers all transaction fees.

Senior Services: Julie Cowie has been named to the board of Senior Services of Van Buren County as the Casco Township Representative. She reported the following participation numbers:

Senior Services	February
Unduplicated at Casco site	13
Unduplicated at South Haven site	112
Casco Activities	72
South Haven activities	952

SHAWSA: plans continue to expand the wastewater system to serve Covert/Holtec and the Van Buren County State Park.

Assessor Contract: Tony Meyaard and Kelly Jellison of Assessing Solutions were present and spoke to Casco Township's assessing situation (see related article). The Board voted to hire Kelly Jellison as Casco Township assessor. The board also voted to conduct a reappraisal process over the next two years.

Boundary line adjustment: The board approved a boundary line adjustment for Debbie Weaver, lot 24, in Miami Park.

Budget: The board will hold a special meeting on Monday March 31 at 7:00 pm to discuss the budget.

New Resort Class C Liquor License: The Board considered the recommendation from the Planning Commission to approve the Liquor License requested by Daydreamer Domes. Technically the Board does not approve liquor licenses, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission does that; the decision locally is that the Board deemed that there is no reason from a zoning perspective not to approve the license request made by Daydreamer Domes.

Township Hall renovation: updated drawings developed by architect Brian Peterson were distributed to the Board. The architect proposes that any contractor responding to an RFP will have suggestions about lighting and leveling the concrete slab. He also suggested that input from the building inspector is needed regarding renovation of the existing restrooms (into a unisex/family restroom, most likely) and stairs for accessing the proposed storage areas in the renovated area due to ingress and egress requirements.

The Township has not yet received the first payment of the $200,000 state appropriation for the project and will take action on the drawings and bidding process at the April Board meeting.