The Hopkins Township Board Monday voted 3-2 to make a one-time $1,000 contribution to a proposed Hopkins High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
The move came after Township Supervisor Mark Evans met with attorney Robert Thall of Baucham and Sparks of Kalamazoo to determine whether making a contribution was legal. Thall told him it could be done in the interests of promoting history within the township.
Trustee Bob Modreske, who made the motion, insisted that the money should be returned to the township if the publicly-funded project fails.
Evans, Modreske and Trustee Chuck Wamhoff all voted in favor of the expenditure. Clerk Lisa Battjes and Treasurer Sandra Morris dissented.
“I feel like we’re setting a precedent,” Battjes said, wondering if the township would be vulnerable to similar requests in the future.
Morris agreed, saying, “I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do… They have a lot of other people who are donating.”
Evans said he worried that the Wayland school district, which makes up about one-third of the township with 266 properties, some day may institute an athletic hall of fame and ask for a contribution as well.
Wayland now doesn’t have such a hall of fame, but Martin does. However, Martin has only six properties located in Hopkins Township.
Hopkins High School Athletic Director Adam Valk has organized a nine-member committee and has turned loose special education teacher Linsey Mitchell, also assistant girls’ basketball coach, to make it into her master’s project.
Hall of Famers can be nominated by anyone from the public. Forms are available in all main offices in the school district and they soon will be posted on line at the district’s web site.
Valk said a committee would be responsible for sorting through nominees and make selections every year. He said he hopes to have the first group honored at a ceremony during halftime of a home football game next fall and at a special dinner and ceremony at the high school cafeteria and gym the following evening.
“We (committee members) will try to have every decade represented,” the athletic director said.
Hall of Famers’ names will be placed on a plaque on the wall between the cafeteria and gymnasium, obviously being updated every year with new selections.
Members of the committee are Valk, Lee Dale (Pete) Arnsman, Rick Hazen, Scott VanBonn, Dan Kisner, Brooke Brenner, Jim Newell, Mitchell and Bob Beck, all coaches, school officials and longtime community members.
Valk said the group started meeting last August to get plans going. They are seeking nominations of athletes, coaches and community members.
PHOTO: Jan Timmer was sworn in as deputy treasurer for Hopkins Township Monday nigh, succeeding Dawn Arndt. She will be paid $12.58 per hour assisting Treasurer Sandra Morris. Clerk Lisa Battjes meanwhile was asked to swear in Eric Alberda as a deputy because he likely will succeed her next November because she isn’t seeking re-election.
