New Haven Township holds ambulance fee hearing, amount still unknown

New Haven Township opened a public hearing on raising its ambulance special assessment on Sept. 14, read a letter from Corunna Area Ambulance Service explaining why, listened to a resident's prepared statement — and then scheduled a second meeting because the board could not answer the questions in the room. What the minutes never say, anywhere, is how much more property owners would pay.

The clerk's minutes list 14 guests by name at the 7 p.m. meeting at New Haven Township Hall, 2705 Easton Road. That is a full room for a township board that routinely gets through a regular meeting in under an hour; this one adjourned at 7:49 p.m.

The board left its regular meeting at 7:08 p.m. on a roll call vote and moved into the hearing on "the Ambulance Special Assessment fee increase." Trustee Richardson read aloud a letter from Corunna Area Ambulance Service that, according to the minutes, "provided several key factors driving the proposed fee increase." The minutes do not list those factors. Resident Don Jagos read a prepared statement, which the board acknowledged and the clerk received. The minutes do not summarize it either. The board returned to regular session at 7:30 p.m.

Rather than act that night, the board set a special meeting for Monday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. with a representative from the ambulance service present, "in an effort to answer questions regarding the ambulance service and assessment fee." The Current reported this week on the minutes from that Sept. 21 meeting: the board voted 5-0 to accept a Corunna Area Ambulance Service agreement running Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2030, and that record contains no dollar figure either. So the question raised at the September hearing — what this costs a household in New Haven Township — remains unanswered in two consecutive sets of township minutes.

The board also handled routine business. Treasurer Eickholt reported $989,881.35 in the general fund as of Aug. 31 and $1,119,999.73 across all township funds, including $2,136.23 in the ambulance account and $576.12 in the fire account. Trustees approved a land division application, PLD-0019, presented by Planning Commission member Larry Senk, and approved $13,413.03 in general fund expenses plus $30,280.35 in road fund expenditures, for a total of $43,693.38. Every action was taken on a roll call vote with all ayes from Supervisor DeLong, Clerk Horton, Treasurer Eickholt, Trustee Gray and Trustee Richardson.

On roads, Supervisor DeLong reported the chip seal project on State Road and the culvert project on Henderson Road have been completed. Henderson Road had been closed between Hintz and McCaffrey roads for that culvert work. Treasurer Eickholt noted a reduction in revenue sharing from the state; the minutes do not give an amount.

Two residents spoke in the second public comment period: Fred Riley on the land division and the ambulance board, and Bruce Westerlund on absentee ballot availability. Clerk Horton said absentee ballots were scheduled to be delivered to the township the following week.

What happens next: the board's next regular meeting was set for Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at the township hall on Easton Road. Those minutes have not been posted. The open question for this desk stays the same one 14 people came out for in September: the dollar amount of the ambulance assessment, and whether it appears on a tax bill this winter.