Bingham Township has received word through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality that it will receive a $5,000 grant to develop plans for the improvement of the township's Hendryx and Boughy parks on West Grand Traverse Bay.

The chairman of the township’s parks and recreation committee, Robert Walton, said his committee had considered bids from engineering firms to prepare site plans for the parks, and recommended that the Traverse City firm Gosling-Czubak be selected.

Township officials came under fire from DEQ and Army Corps of Engineers officials last year for “improving” Hendryx Park below the ordinary high water mark without the appropriate permits in violation of state and federal laws. The issue was one of the factors that led to the recall early this year of township supervisor Robert Foster who authorized the work without discussing it with the rest of the township board.

Acting at its regular monthly meeting Monday evening, the Bingham Township Board authorized clerk Peggy Core to sign a contract with Gosling-Czubak subject to the availability of grant funding and a final review of the contract by the township attorney.

Parks and recreation committee member Kathy Heil noted during Monday’s meeting that completion of site plans for the waterfront parks will put the township in a position to apply for additional grant funding from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources that will help pay for actual improvements at the parks.

In other business at this week’s meeting, the Bingham Township Board:

• Learned that assistant assessor Deb Johnson was planning to resign from her job, and that assessor Angela Friske was recommending the hiring of a new assistant, Marvel Mallory, for the $12.50 per hour part-time position. Township supervisor Ross Ard moved to accept Friske’s recommendation, supported by treasurer Sandra Grant. The motion carried in a 5-0 vote.

• Adopted a routine set of “housekeeping” rules for the township’s Board of Review on Friske’s recommendation. The rules formally spell out requirements for a property tax “poverty exemption” that the township has been using all along. Officials said the exemption has been rarely used in Bingham Township.

• Authorized Grant to expend up to $500 to purchase equipment for the township office, including a paper shredder, a two-line wireless phone and a paper folder.

• Learned from the township’s representative on the Sutton Bay-Bingham District Library Board, Dorothy Jean Coulter, that an audit of the library’s financial records had recently been completed and will soon be available for public review. Coulter added that the library board is working on a “10-year plan” that will outline goals for the library over the next decade.