Proposed Policy

Local Resolutions

Local Government Communication

With Isabella County, particularly the Mt. Pleasant area, becoming a regional center of commerce there is increasing demands to improve the infrastructure. Township boards, the county commissioners, local road commission and municipalities are involved in decisions impacting the growth of the county. Strong communication between all of these units of government is important to ensure the best utilization of resources.

We support the development of a county sub-committee under the Isabella County Commission for the purpose of but not limited to:

- Creating a master plan for infrastructure improvements in the county

- Establish regular communication with all major municipalities in the county

- Create a more open forum with the public Adopted

Land Preservation

Agriculture is a resource (land and water) based business that has a 60 million dollar impact on the local economy. To be profitable we need a viable farmland preservation program in Isabella County that includes all the tools available to local governments.

These include:

- Voluntary purchase of Development Rights

- Public Act 116

- Voluntary conservation easements

- Local zoning that protects prime agricultural land.

We further encourage elected officials to support enabling legislation for Transfer of Development Rights and other preservation programs.  Adopted

State Resolutions

Wildlife Plantings

Agricultural producers are encouraged to plant fence rows, and other areas of their farmland for wildlife habitat. The local Conservation District provides area residents with plant species intended for wildlife habitat. While their intentions have been good, we are concerned that some of the species such as autumn olive are evasive and impacting productive farmland.

We encourage the Conservation District to ensure that the species being offered are non-evasive; this would include the elimination of autumn olive. Additionally, we encourage the district to offer native species when possible and consider adding autumn olive as noxious weeds.  Adopted

Capping Sales Taxes on Fuel

Fuel prices continue to rise faster than the cost of living and the sales tax increases in direct proportion to the increase in the cost of fuel.  These increases are a burden on all the citizens of Michigan.  The farming community suffers a disproportionate burden from this increase in taxes because of the cost of trucking inputs to the farm and product to the consumer.

We support that sales taxes on fuel will be capped at a reasonable level up to $.09 per gallon.  Adopted