By Sterling McGinn
Columbus Township Clerk Jeff Anderson, who planned to resign at the beginning of the year, has agreed to stay on with assistance from his deputy, Don Leech. This decision has left the township in a more stable condition for the time being.
This action took place at the January 13 meeting of the board.
After announcing his resignation due to health problems late last year, the board was again facing an uncertain future with discussions of merging with another township taking place as a last resort. Anderson originally had a resignation date of December 31. He extended that date a couple of weeks to the January 13 meeting night so he could help train his replacement.
Last fall, the township board began searching for a replacement. Advertisements were placed for months with no luck.
A township cannot function without a clerk. The clerk is a crucial member making up the five-member board. They have the responsibility of maintaining records, keeping voter records and conducting elections.
Anderson and Leech decided to stay in office to allow for time to find a potential new clerk.
“I hate the idea of Lakefield, or another township taking over our township…I also know staying on could be detrimental to my health,” said Anderson.
During public comment, Columbus resident Debra Rogers thanked both Anderson and Leech for their decision to stay on.
“You guys were ready to back out and you decided not to,” Rogers said. “I don’t think a lot of the people in the township, including me, realize what might have happened to us if you guys didn’t do this tonight.”
In the meantime, the township is still searching for a replacement clerk.
In other news, Columbus Fire Chief Jon Pope, along with four firefighters, discussed a few issues regarding the fire department.
Pope said that he and a couple other firefighters had attended the Lakefield Township monthly meeting the previous evening and that the Lakefield Board had several questions for them. Columbus Fire Department services Lakefield Township, who pays Columbus $20,000 each year.
“One that has come up is why we aren’t billing for our services,” he said.
Pope ran numbers on the 13 fire calls that Columbus was dispatched to in 2025. Newberry Fire bills $500 for residential calls and $1,000 for commercial.
“We had three calls for powerlines, that’s Cloverland, that is $1,000 a call,” said Pope. “We had one call to an Airbnb, that is a commercial business and that another $1,000.”
Pope said the department was also dispatched to three separate accidents involving two cars. The charge for those calls would have been $500 per car.
“There was a potential of $10,000 that we could have billed for the year 2025,” Pope said. “Why are we not charging? That is a huge chunk of money that we could have added to our budget.”
Supervisor Roger Auble was unsure why the township did not bill for services. Firefighter Wally Williams noted that billing was something that used to occur years ago.
“Ed Auge used to do it…I am assuming it just got to be too much as he was the only person doing it,” Williams said.
The board will look into billing for services again.
“The other thing they [Lakefield] was concerned about is why the fire department is operating out of the general fund and why there is not a standalone budget,” Pope said.
Fire department funds not used by the end of the fiscal year are rolled back into the general fund and the department’s budget is started over again the next year. Pope says the Lakefield board is not comfortable with the practice.
The board discussed separating the fire department funds into a different account. Trustee Ed Stielstra said that he was not comfortable with a separate fund, stating that it should remain in the general fund.
It was the consensus of the board that the fire department funds should remain in the general fund, but as a separate line item.
