Bob Hess, longtime general manager of Wayland Area Emergency Services (WAEMS) plans to retire next summer.
The Martin Township Board Wednesday evening learned of this development from Sarah Lynema, who Martin’s representative on the WAEMS Board.
WAEMS is a full-service provider of medical first-response services, paramedic transport and education, with more than 120 volunteers who donate more than 2,880 hours per month to provide ambulance transport. It was started in 1975 and now serves 12 area townships and the Gun Lake Casino.
The Township Board Wednesday evening also approved a work order for the Allegan County Road Commission to seek bids on a project to pave 122nd Avenue from 10th Street east nearly a mile.
Meanwhile, the board declined to award a bid of $9,000 Southwestern Michigan Dust Control for a second application of brine solution. Supervisor Glenn Leep explained, “It (the cost) is pretty expensive for what it is.”
In other business, the board:
• Was told by Cemetery Sexton Mark Simpson that he no longer perform the duties of his job because his physicians have recommended he stop because of a longtime back ailment. He asked the board to find a suitable replacement by the end of the year.
Simpson also is Watson Township Sexton.
• Learned from Allegan County Commissioner Gale Dugan that the county’s current general fund budget has a whopping 32 percent fund balance, which he said is the result of two payments from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
• Learned from a memo from Clerk Rachelle Smit that Martin Township 695 total voters in the Aug. 2 primary, including 241 mail-in ballots and the fire millage proposal was passed overwhelmingly with 73 percent approval.