Township testing evening hours starting in May

Laketown Township is going to do a trial of changing its open office hours to better accommodate residents who need township services in the evening.

The board on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, unanimously agreed to change the hours starting in May through October 31, 2025, to:

• Monday, Tuesday and Thursday – 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Wednesday – 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Friday – 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The office at 4338 Beeline Road is currently open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Supervisor Steven Ringelberg, who is also interim township manager, suggested the changes to make the office available to people who cannot make it to the office during the day.

The change is an experiment, Ringelberg said, and staff will report monthly to the board the numbers of people and comments received. The board can change the hours back to the current schedule as it sees fit.

In other business, the board

• Agreed the township will start recording its meetings in May. The recordings will be stored for 6 months.
• Tabled discussion on the upcoming fire millage. The board is considering changing the current 1 mill to 1.5 mills while reducing the current 2 mills for roads, drains, bike paths and fire to 1.5 mills. The Graafschap Fire Department is looking at increasing full-time staff and adding to a capital improvement fund. The board plans to address the issue on May 7.
• Approved changes to residential water and sewer connection fees for the Holland Board of Public Works and the Kalamazoo Lake Sewer and Water Authority. A complete list of the fee changes are available on the website.
• Approved a letter of recommendation request from 123Net for the submission of a Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grant application. The approval does not exclude the board from supporting other providers as well. The board approved a similar recommendation on April 2 for Frontier Communications. About 200 homes in the township do not yet have broadband access.