At its regular meeting Tuesday, Feb. 17, the Fruitland Township Board of Trustees met and accepted the January 2026 Clerk and Treasurer reports, which included amendments to the fourth quarter budget as the township’s fiscal year comes to a close. In attendance were Trustees Chris VanOosterhout, Brent Brower, Treasurer Justin Roggero, and Supervisor Jeff Marcinkowski, with Trustee Mike Holman and Clerk Alexa Steffes absent. Trustee Sondra Cross was present, but arrived after the Clerk’s Report, which was accepted by a quorum of present members. Cross was present for the remaining decisions, which were all accepted unanimously by the five attending board members.
These decisions included ordinances for the Duck Creek Natural Area - primarily concerned with hunting allowances on the property - with minor corrections, and a lot-split application on Duck Lake Road. The board also reviewed and accepted new poverty exemption guidelines for the township. To Marcinkowski's knowledge, only one resident has applied for the exemption, which was granted. The board likewise consented to Marcinkowski requesting a quote from the Muskegon County Road Commission for work on rehabilitating Scenic Road, particularly from S Shore Drive to the road end by the boat launch.
Also discussed was the matter of software provider BS&A’s mandatory transition from physical servers to a cloud-based system. Many other municipalities are navigating this upcoming migration, and feedback from municipalities who have already made the transition report frustration with buggy technology. Considering this feedback, Fruitland plans to start the cloud migration in 2027, giving BS&A time to work out the system’s kinks. Supervisor Marcinkowski is recommending the township use the time before the transition to review training webinars which will instruct how to best utilize the new system.
Finally, the board discussed its first town hall-style meeting, which took place Thursday Feb. 26. Fruitland began hosting quarterly town hall-style meetings for township residents last March The Feb. 26 meeting was planned to primarily center on Fruitland’s tax rates and the process of assessing, which are consistently brought up as a concern for residents. Ahead of the meeting, the board shared handouts describing breakdowns of Fruitland’s tax rates, as well as mentioning the provided refreshments: Cake and ice cream, as the meeting fell on Supervisor Jeff Marcinkowski’s birthday.
