EDWARDSBURG — One Ontwa Township Board of Trustees member was brought to tears Monday night due to a special honor bestowed upon the Edwardsburg High School football team.

Trustee Jerry Duck, who was on the Edwardsburg High School Football team in 1960, presented the current team with a plaque of achievement and a statement honoring them, as part of a special resolution at Monday’s board of trustees meeting.

The resolution comes after the football team represented Edwardsburg at state championships in November, for the first time in the high school’s history bringing back a state runner-up trophy.

“I would like to congratulate everyone,” Duck, holding back tears of pride, said. “The 2017 Edwardsburg High School football team showcased a high-level of excellence by providing fans with another exciting season and the southwest Michigan region with a sense of pride, purpose and passion.”

The resolution, which was passed unanimously and will be placed into town records, congratulated the players as well as coaches Kevin Bartz and Jeff Kozinski.

Bartz thanked the board of trustees for the honor, and went on to thank the community as a whole for supporting the football team this season, saying that the team would not have made it to the state championships without the backing of the community.

“Whether you were in the stands [at the championships] or watching on TV, it was great,” Bartz said.

In his speech to the crowd at the meeting, Bartz commended the team captains, Matt Hepler, Kyle Shinder, Josh Harris and Nick Bradley, for their leadership this season.

“These are great young men, great students. Their leadership was integral to what we were doing here,” Bartz said.

Bartz finished his statements by once again thanking everyone involved in the football team’s success.

In other business:

•A topic that has caused many tensions throughout Ontwa Township may finally be laid to rest. The board voted in a resolution finalizing their process for allowing piers on public road ends.

The board will not be issuing permits as originally planned. Instead, the board will be issuing recommendations to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which will then determine if a road end can be used for a pier.

Those looking to place a pier on a road end, may receive a 14-page application from the township or on the township’s website.

•The board of trustees voted to accept Niles resident Scott Swanson as the new wastewater administrator, following former wastewater administrator John Harsh’s resignation.

Trustee Dan Stutsman welcomed Swanson to his position.

“We are confident Scott will be an asset to the Ontwa wastewater team,” Stutsman said.