A routine approval of a committee to research future needs of the Leland Township Fire and Rescue Department turned into a shouting match between two Township Board members Monday night.

At the meeting, supervisor Harry Larkin presented a list of residents he was recommending for appointment to the township’s Fire Facilities Committee. The approval process bogged down when trustee Nicholas Lederle voiced his concerns and anger about not being included on the committee.

Larkin said the list of 14 people was recommended by the township department’s fire board, a statement that Lederle denied. Lederle said he was at the fire board meeting when Larkin presented the list and the board members took no action on the matter.
Lederle said Lake Leelanau fire chief Terry Gilland was supposed to have put together this list of possible committee appointees, not Larkin. Larkin said it was his duty as township supervisor to make recommendations to the township board for appointments to committees. “I worked with Terry on this list and presented it to the fire board at its last meeting,” he said.

“I object to being removed from the list,” Lederle said. He said he was also upset that Larkin has not appointed him to any township committees or commissions after not recommending Lederle’s reappointment to the township Planning Commission earlier this year.

Larkin fired back, saying he had appointed Lederle to be the board’s representative on the parks and recreation committee and on the county M-22 Heritage Route Committee. “But, you haven’t attended any of those meetings,” Larkin said.

The board approved 4-1, with Larkin opposed, a motion by Lederle and supported by trustee Steve Plamondon, to add his name and Lake Leelanau resident Stephen P. Mikowski to the committee, and approve the committee list as amended. Lederle said he was concerned that Mikowski’s name had not been included in Larkin’s recommendation after Mikowski submitted an application to the township to be part of the facilities ad-hoc committee.

Lederle said he had asked to be included on the committee at a fire board meeting in January when Gilland asked if anyone else was interested in serving. Larkin’s list recommended that Plamondon be the Township Board’s representative. Plamondon said he was asked by Gilland to serve on the committee sometime in the fall of 2006.

Larkin said he did not include Mikowski in his recommendation because he did not think he would be a positive influence on the committee.

Clerk Jane Keen and treasurer Mike Kirt said the committee’s goal is to look at all future needs for the township fire and rescue department, including the location of the Leland fire station, and to keep an open mind.

Kirt said he was concerned that 10 of the 16 committee members are from Leland, and that the committee should have an equal number of representatives from Lake Leelanau. He was also concerned that some committee members have already voiced their opinion that the fire station in Leland should remain where it is.

In other business, the board:

• Unanimously approved two cost-share agreements with the county Road Commission to pay for paving work on streets in Leland and Lake Leelanau. The total cost for repaving parts of Reynolds, Union, Pearl, Cummins, Lake and Juniper streets in Leland, along with paving the parking area at Bartholomew Park at Nedow’s Bay, is $100,550. The board transferred $550 from the general fund budget’s contingency fund to the public works fund to cover the $550 overage. The paving contractor was scheduled to be in Leland this week. Main Street, from Meinrad to M-204 will be repaved next week.