MONTAGUE — The White River Township board unanimously approved a letter of support for the cleanup of the former DuPont property now owned by Chemours at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The letter was drafted in preparation for the Jan. 25 public meeting, set for 5:30 p.m. at the township hall, with representatives from both Chemours and the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) scheduled to attend.
The reason for the letter is that, according to the Chemours Environmental Impact Committee (CEIC), public support is considered a major factor in cleanup decisions. CEIC hopes to push Chemours to clean up the 1,300-acre property that housed a DuPont manufacturing plant from 1956-96.
The board also discussed moving forward with a bid process for a public access point for a 66-foot-wide stretch of lakeside land at the end of Hancock Road. The county’s chief judge pro tem, Kenneth Hoopes, recently ruled in support of White River Township, saying that stretch is public property. The board did not take any action on the process at the meeting but discussed installing a staircase leading to the lake and emphasized that the goal will be to not inconvenience the property owners on either side of the public access point. The Muskegon County Road Commission has given the township permission to move forward, but the financial responsibility for the installation will fall on the township.
The board unanimously approved a pair of new hires at the meeting. Following interviews of a few prospective candidates for a new zoning enforcement officer position, John Howell was selected for the position. Supervisor Ron Bailey noted that despite the title of the position, it would be more focused on working towards agreeable solutions for all parties in the case of a zoning issue than it would be about “gotcha” type enforcement. Also, resident Mark Grattafiori was approved for an hourly maintenance position. The board noted Grattafiori, the owner of Martech Enterprises, is an experienced and licensed technician in various fields.
The board discussed the possibility of setting up a social media page to disburse information about upcoming meetings and other relevant news from the township. Bailey, who has promoted getting more people involved in local government, expressed support for the idea and noted Facebook seems to be the preferred social media service. It was discussed that should a page be created, residents would expect responsiveness from the page if they had a question about something. Also, there was discussion of limiting or disabling comments on posts from such a page, to prevent arguments and misinformation.
