The Dorr Township Board meeting scheduled for Thursday evening has been canceled because of the current Covid-19 health crisis and Leighton’s meeting at the same time will be switched to virtual.
Dorr Township Supervisor Jeff Miling, in an e-mail to board members and other officials, announced the cancellation as a result of the lack of technical ability to have the meeting on–line.
He wrote:
“I will be Canceling our November 19th meeting to comply with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) emergency order.
“I received an email from MTA on the 16th of November stating this:
‘All indoor meetings of a public body must be held completely virtually, if at all, between Nov. 18 and Dec. 8, 2020,under a new Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) emergency order that goes into effect on Wednesday. The order enacts a three-week pause targeting indoor gatherings and other group activities in an effort to curb rapidly rising COVID-19 infection rates.’
The Open Meetings Act, as amended by Public Act 228 of 2020, allows virtual meetings to be held for any reason through Dec. 31, 2020.’
“So on the 16th of November I e-mailed (Township Attorney) Cliff Bloom for his option, then with no reply to my e-mail, on the 17th on November I sent a text to him. He called me back. He has been home a couple of week with COVID-19. He stated he was better now, so we talked about The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) emergency order. He stated that MTA was correct in their response to the (MDHHS) emergency order.
“He advised me if we can’t go 100% virtually, we should cancel.
“I’m working with (Office Manager) Vicky (Fifelski) to get Zoom ordered and working well enough to have a virtual meeting.
“Also next Wednesday we get our new router/wi-fi and hope to setup so we can stream our meetings from our website.
“Seeing the order ends on the 8th of December and our December meeting is on the 17th, I don’t see any reason to reschedule.”
Township Trustee Terri Rios, who is stepping down next month after an unsuccessful run against Miling in the August primary, wrote:
“It makes absolutely no sense to cancel. You have been telling me for months that by your next term you would have the set up for virtual meetings. So why don’t you? This isn’t something new or unique. This is reality and you as leader of this township need to get it done. Even I know how to do a Zoom meeting and I wasn’t elected to be supervisor — YOU were.”
Miling replied, “I Know. I’m sorry! I do not like to cancel meetings, there is a lot of time that goes into setting them up.
“At the meeting, this is what I was going to tell the board: I want to thank Terri, Josh (Otto) and Jim (Martin) for their service to Dorr Township. It was a great pleasure to serve with you!”
Otto wrote in an e-mail to Miling, “Lol, like we haven’t done anything virtually this whole time and now… let’s do it? Jeff, your decision is kind of a joke now… (Gov. Gretchen) Whitmer’s power is based on the health department… are we eating there? You know how to pick and choose what you’d like to do…”
Those who wish to listen in on the Leighton meeting should follow instructions on the Leighton Township web site. The meeting was supposed to be the last for retiring Clerk Mary Lou Nieuwenhuis and Supervisor Steve Deer.
