Curbside recycling for single-family housing is coming to Union Township.

The Charter Township of Union Board of Trustees approved a motion to begin curbside recycling Oct. 1 at its regular meeting Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a great service for our township and I’m excited for it,” said Supervisor John Barker. “I love the idea that recycling can begin on Oct. 1.”

Trustee Phil Mikus said the township with pay for the first quarter of the program from Oct. 1 to the end of the year, and the citizens will be responsible for the remainder of the year with an annual fee of up to $25.

The curbside recycling begins the first phase of recycling options in the township.

Resource Recovery Director Amy Shindorf of Isabella County Recycling said the program is about providing Union Township with bigger options in the second phase. The program affects 2,961 households and ICR is looking to expand it to the whole township.

Other business

The Board unanimously approved a proposal to use the Center for Applied Research and Rural Studies at CMU to conduct a community survey at a cost of $8,000 “to get public opinion,” said Zoning Administrator Woody Woodruff.

The surveys will be conducted in late October and early November and the analysis should be available in February, said Dr. James Hill, former director of CARRS. “We will work with the township to develop the questions. We will use questions that the township finds most pressing.”

The results will bring in vital information for the board to use in the future.

“It’s really important to the future of our township,” Barker said.

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Ten years and 10,000 adoptions.

Isabella County’s Humane Animal Treatment Society has something to celebrate.

“I have been involved with the organization since it was established in 1999. Our founding members are myself, Lee Fabiano and Carol Smallwood,” said HATS President Debbie Dorn. “We originally were part of the Animal Control building committee and we decided we could be an effective animal welfare advocacy organization if we established ourselves as an independent non-profit, able to fund raise and develop our own programs and goals.”

The help of volunteers made HATS a successful program. HATS has been popular in the community and with students over the past 10 years, so much that a student chapter of the group was started.

“I believe the student chapter has been around for about five or six years,” said HATS Volunteer Coordinator Summer Dubois. “We host an annual Paws and Claws Dinner every year and all proceeds go to the shelter. We also volunteer our time at the shelter and host several fundraisers throughout the year.”

The program has adopted out more than 10,000 animals since 1999 and have returned more than 3,000 to their owners, Dubois said.

“I know the rate of adoptions has gone up and euthanizing has decreased since HATS began,” said Volunteer Deb Gascho. “HATS tries to inform the public about spay and neutering and offers assistance to residents of lower income to get their dog or cat spayed/neutered.”

HATS helps the community and its homeless companion animals by assisting and paying for animal vaccines and veterinary care, finding permanent homes for them, assuring that the animals are spayed and neutered before adoption and providing foster care for animals that would otherwise be euthanized. Adoptions play a huge part in the everyday activities of the HATS staff.

“We expect to have over 4,000 homeless animals entering the facility just this year alone,” Dorn said.

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The search for a manager for Union Township could be complete by next Wednesday.

At a special meeting of the Charter Township of Union Board of Trustees Tuesday, the board chose candidates to interview to from a pool of 27.

“We will interview the candidates on July 20 and the public has the chance to be here,” Supervisor John Barker said. “We’ll give a couple days after the interviews to citizens for feedback and will let the public know who we want to offer the position to on July 22.”

Last Wednesday’s regular meeting was the deadline for the applications, Barker said.

Barker said that so far, Bill Baldridge, the executive search consultant from the Michigan Municipal League, had received 27 applications for the position and is hoping the public gets involved with this process.

“Within a couple weeks we will have an offer to the candidate,” Barker said.

Other business

After five months of negotiations, the board and Local 1855, Chapter 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union agreed to a contract through Dec. 31, 2011.

“It’s a fair agreement with fair compensation,” said Trustee Phil Mikus. “There was a lot of give and take on both sides.”

The contract was approved on a unanimous vote by board members after a closed session with the township’s labor attorney, Steve Schultz of Lansing.

Curbside recycling may be coming to the township.

Mikus said a proposal for curbside recycling has been discussed and information on funding and the contract will be discussed at the next meeting.

The board also unanimously approved the rezoning of property from industrial to commercial at 2266 Northway Drive.

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The campus of Central Michigan University had some unusual residents lurking around last week.

The second annual Grandparents U, a three-day summer camp, brought 111 CMU alumni and their grandchildren ages eight to 12 to share and experience college life.

“We think everything is going good,” said Anne Galgoczi, assistant director of Alumni Relations. “Everyone is impressed with the residence halls and the dining commons. They are a lot different from when the grandparents were here.”

The residence halls can be a big change from the children’s rooms at home.

“My room is empty and nice,” said Kelsey Linkous, a 9-year-old from Rossford, Ohio.

The camp lets grandparents and grandchildren experience many highlights of CMU’s campus, including activities at the SAC, the rock climbing wall and 24 hands-on educational sessions put on by faculty members.

“I took ‘The Joy of Chemistry.’ It was fun,” said Nick Bills, 11, of Fenton. “We made liquid nitrogen ice cream and elephant’s tooth paste.”

Zachary Post, 11, of Fenton, participated in ‘Get Wet! Fish Sampling Techniques.’

“I was the first one to catch a bullhead,” he said.

Many of the children checked out the SAC and the rock-climbing wall on their first night on campus.

Kelly Leavy, a 9-year-old from Petoskey, climbed the wall five times.

“The best part about it is getting to the top,” she said.

Post went swimming and plans on going bowling.

The staff of CMU has had to prepare for these new arrivals on campus. Galgoczi said that the staff has been very accommodating and it’s been a good experience for everyone.

Getting that full college experience is the goal of Grandparents U, but it is also about the time shared between the grandparents and grandchildren.

“I’m looking forward to spending time with my grandma,” Leavy said.

news@cm-life.com

The campus of Central Michigan University has some unusual residents lurking around this week.

The second annual Grandparents U, a three-day summer camp, has brought 111 CMU alumni and their grandchildren ages eight to 12 to share and experience college life.

“We think everything is going good,” said Anne Galgoczi, assistant director of Alumni Relations. “Everyone is impressed with the residence halls and the dining commons. They are a lot different from when the grandparents were here.”

The residence halls can be a big change from the children’s rooms at home.

“My room is empty and nice,” said Kelsey Linkous, a 9-year-old from Rossford, Ohio.

The camp lets grandparents and grandchildren experience many highlights of CMU’s campus, including activities at the SAC, the rock climbing wall and 24 hands-on educational sessions put on by faculty members.

“I took ‘The Joy of Chemistry.’ It was fun,” said Nick Bills, 11, of Fenton. “We made liquid nitrogen ice cream and elephant’s tooth paste.”

Zachary Post, 11, of Fenton, participated in ‘Get Wet! Fish Sampling Techniques.’

“I was the first one to catch a bullhead,” he said.

Many of the children checked out the SAC and the rock-climbing wall on their first night on campus.

Kelly Leavy, a 9-year-old from Petoskey, climbed the wall five times.

“The best part about it is getting to the top,” she said.

Post went swimming and plans on going bowling.

The staff of CMU has had to prepare for these new arrivals on campus. Galgoczi said that the staff has been very accommodating and it’s been a good experience for everyone.

Getting that full college experience is the goal of Grandparents U, but it is also about the time shared between the grandparents and grandchildren.

“I’m looking forward to spending time with my grandma,” Leavy said.

Central Michigan University alumni and their grandchildren will be taking over campus for the next few days.

The second annual Grandparents U, a three-day summer camp, will bring more than 100 people to share and experience college life.

“It’s an opportunity for grandparents and children ages eight to 12 to come to campus and get the full experience,” said Anne Galgoczi, assistant director of alumni relations. “They are staying in the residence halls, eating in the dining halls, taking advantage of what campus has to offer. Also, the grandparents and grandchildren get to spend time together.”

The camp lets grandparents and grandchildren experience many highlights of CMU’s campus, including the rock wall, swimming and other activities at the SAC and 24 hands-on educational sessions put on by faculty members.

“We have representation from all the colleges on campus,” Galgoczi said. “The classes range from ‘The Joy of Chemistry to Rocket Science’ to ‘Theater: Behind the Scenes.’ It will be like attending a college course, but appropriate for kids ages eight to 12.”

This is the second year for the summer camp, and many faculty are coming back to participate.

Sue Gamble, an associate professor in the School of Music, is teaching “Therapeutic Use of Animals” with a group from the Mount Pleasant Kennel Club. In addition to her teaching duties, Gamble is the secretary of the Mount Pleasant Kennel Club.

“We show how we use dogs in a variety of ways with people in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living homes. How the dogs are trained and how they help with therapy,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to learn things you can do with dogs other than as just pets. The kids seemed to really like it last year. It’s a worthwhile endeavor.”

That endeavor is what one particular grandparent is looking forward to.

Director of Media Relations Steve Smith is bringing his 10-year-old grandson, Zach, and is excited to spend more time with him.

“We don’t get to see each other enough, so I’m really excited about this opportunity,” Smith said. “I also hope he will want to attend college, and this is a great chance to expose him to the university experience.”

Smith is hoping the three days open his grandson’s eyes to the idea of attending college.

“My brother and I were first-generation college students and our kids never did well in the higher education,” Smith said. “I see this as an opportunity to give Zach a chance to see how fun and rewarding college life can be in hopes that he makes attending a university one of his goals.”

The event, which saw 50 participants last year, is continuing to grow.

“We’re really excited. Numbers have doubled for the second year. Definitely going to make this an annual event and hope it continues to grow and grow,” said Galgoczi. “It provides alumni an opportunity to come back to campus and gets children to CMU, as an alumni event as well as a recruitment tool.”

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Central Michigan University’s Adventure Seminars is providing not only an opportunity for students to get a workout but a chance to listen to some live music.

Open mic nights take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Wednesday in Finch Fieldhouse Room 112.

“They take place every Wednesday night and we had out first one last week,” said Jordan Bruursema, Zeeland graduate student. “You can play music for free and climb for low rates.”

After the first week Bruursema is hoping for a bigger crowd this week.

“We did it during the school year,” said Bruursema. “We always had the climb during the summer, but added the open mic this summer.”

The open mic is free to the public, but according to the Adventures Seminars website it is $7 to climb and $3 for the harness rental.

After a slow start last week, more participation is wanted for this and upcoming weeks.

“Right now, we don’t have anyone booked, but sometimes people just show up and want to sing and sometimes they are booked in advance,” said Bruursema. “People can just come in and say, ‘Hey, I wanna play.’”

The rock climbing wall is an adventure students can check out during these summer months. According to the website, it “provides limitless opportunities for individuals and groups interested in heart-stirring recreational experiences that promote fitness, boost self-esteem and develop leadership skills.”

“It’s definitely a different venue for people to play music,” Bruursema said. “Come and feel free to hang out, climb or listen to music, if we have it.”

For more information on the rock-climbing wall or open mic night, contact either Jordan Bruursema at (616) 994-2694 or e-mail bruur1jr@cmich.edu or Rob Schumacker at (989) 774-7307. Also, visit http://rpl.cmich.edu/adventure/awall.htm.

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Students will not be able to access registration, pay statements and online bill payment on the Central Michigan University Portal this weekend.

Beginning Friday, the SAP Production system will be going offline for system upgrades.

“It’s going to start at 4 a.m. on Friday and should be back up by 8 a.m. on Tuesday,” said Duane Kleinhardt, Information Technology communications manager.

The system shutdown is taking place for routine upgrades.

Kleinhardt said SAP has updates and enhancements that come out once or twice a year. Because SAP is such a detailed system, he said, they need to take it offline to perform the updates.

During the shutdown, many aspects of the system will be unavailable.

“The outage will mean that Registration, Drop/Add, Course Search, Pay stubs, Change of address, online bill payment and any other SAP related applications accessed via Portal or any other interface will be unavailable,” the CMU Portal states.

Since the shutdown is for routine system upgrades, no major problems are anticipated, Kleinhardt said.

“It’s hard to tell what will be affected,” he said. “Anything affected by the SAP shutdown, you will receive a Web page stating it is shut down and when it will return.”

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