The Ontwa Township Board appointed Sandy Seanor to the Waste Water Board to fill James Robinson’s seat at its regular monthly meeting Monday.

Robinson resigned from the seat following the cancellation of the township’s $7.59 million proposed sewer plant last month with.

The Cass County Board of Commissioners, in a unanimous decision last month, terminated its waste water treatment plant contract with Ontwa Township to be located on Cobus Creek near Garver Lake.

Commissioner Roseann Marchetti, District 4 Republican, said at the commissioners’ meeting the situation with Ontwa Township was so full of problems and had so many concerns  that she was asked by citizens why the Cass County Board of Commissioners didn’t do a better job of reviewing the contract.

The county board at that time also directed a letter to Mike Bitondo of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to take appropriate action to cease processing of the permit.

In a related matter, trustee Mike Mroczek reported he will be investigating a current sewer rate hike of about $10 a month from $36 to $46 and that there should be a budget in February about it. This increase is expected to come from the City of Elkhart.

The township is also in need of updating its computer system and Clerk Teri McNaughton said that the budget will be looked at before purchasing three new computers for the office.

In another matter, trustee Leon Gilliam reported that he attended a special meeting held by the police board to set things up with new chief Tim Kozel.

“We tried to put together loose ends,” he said.

The chief will get a new computer and there are a couple openings for police officers. It was also noted the department will try to become more visible.

The board was informed that the poverty guidelines to be exempt from paying taxes was set at $15,000 in assets or below.