The Sun and News, Saturday, March 16, 2024/ Page 9Five TK BPA students qualify for national finals
To say the Thornapple
Kellogg High School Business
Professionals of America team
members had a successful out-
ing at the state competition this
weekend would be a bit of an
understatement. Nine students
qualified for the state contests,
six earned state honors and five
students will advance to the
national competition on May
10-14 in Chicago.
Team advisor Keith
Hamming said he has been
extremely proud of all the
team members. Of the ninestudents at the state competi-
tion, eight had never been
there before and seven of them
are first-year BPA students.
“We had a very exciting
awards ceremony as six differ-
ent students were called on
stage and placed in their respec-
tive events,” said Hamming.
Students advancing to the
national finals are:
— Kaden Hamming: First
in Fundamental Accounting;
First in Digital Media
Production; First in Digital
Marketing Concepts. Qualified
for nationals.
— Ryan Skidmore: First in
Basic Office Systems and
Procedures. Qualified for
nationals.
— Evan Liu: Fourth in
Fundamental Word Processing.Qualified for nationals.
— Raegen Chapman: Sixth
in Fundamental Word
Processing; Seventh in Basic
Office Systems and Procedures.Qualified for nationals.
— Carmen Reynolds: Sixth
in Business Law and Ethics.
Qualified for nationals.
— Katelyn Chase: Fourthin Prepared Speech.
Other team members com-
peting at the state level were
Molly Alden, Tyne Bufka and
Oliver Klerk.284 N BRIGGS ROAD - MIDDLEVILLE, MICHIGAN 49333
269-795-9091 / FAX 269-795-213759NOTICE OF ORDINANCE ADOPTION
TOWNSHIP OF YANKEE SPRINGS
BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGANTO: THE RESIDENTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS OF THE TOWNSHIP OF YANKEE
SPRINGS, BARRY COUNTY, MICHIGAN, AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED
PERSONS:PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the following is a summary of Ordinance No. 03-14-2024 which
was adopted by the Yankee Springs Township Board at a regular meeting held on March 14, 2024.ORDINANCE No. 03-14-2024 – ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENTSSECTION 1 AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE X, SECTION 10.4. This section amends Section
10.4 of the Zoning Ordinance, re short term rental definitions.SECTION 2 AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE X, SECTION 10.5. This section amends Section
10.5 of the Zoning Ordinance, re short term rental standards.SECTION 3 AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE X, SECTION 10.7. This section amends Section
10.7 of the Zoning Ordinance, re short term rental permits.SECTION 4 AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE X, SECTION 10.8. This section amends Section
10.8 of the Zoning Ordinance, re violations and penalties for violating the short
term rental ordinance.SECTION 5 SAVINGS CLAUSE. Any repeal herein will not affect the prosecution of any
violation committed or done prior to the effective date of the OrdinanceSECTION 6 SEVERABILITY. The provisions of this Ordinance are severable.SECTION 7 REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES/EFFECTIVE DATE. All ordi-
nances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. This
Ordinance shall take effect eight days after publication after adoption.PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the full text of the Ordinance has been posted in the
Office of the Township Clerk at the address set forth below and that a copy of the Ordinance may
be purchased or inspected at the office of the Township Clerk during regular business hours of reg-
ular working days following the date of this publication.YANKEE SPRINGS TOWNSHIP
Michael Cunningham, Clerk
284 N. Briggs Road
Middleville, MI 49333
(269) 795-68
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Barry County in line for $1.4 million in opioid
settlement funds, probes needs
Jayson Bussa
Editor
Barry County will receive
somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of $1.4 million as part of
the National Opioid
Settlement.
On Tuesday morning, Liz
Lenz, coordinator of the Barry
County Substance Abuse Task
Force, which will provide over-
sight for these funds, spoke to
the Barry County Board of
Commissioners to give a snap-
shot of what needs to happen
before the money is allocated.
The National Opioid
Settlement is the result of legal
actions taken against a list of
opioid producers, distributors
and companies that have mar-
keted and sold these high-
ly-addictive drugs.
These parties have been
accused of downplaying the
addictive nature of opioids,
which allowed for widespread
use of them across the country,
and in turn, led to overdoses,
deaths, addiction and subse-
quent crime.
The settlement spread
throughout the whole country
was to the tune of billions of
dollars. Michigan itself is in
line for $1.6 billion, which is an
amount that could continue to
grow as more cases are settled.
The terms of most of these
settlements mean that 50 per-
cent of the funds go directly to
the state and 50 percent of the
funds go directly to townships,
cities and counties.
For Barry County, that
means roughly $1.4 million
over the next 17 years. Some
payments have already come
in, but the money is sitting in
the county’s bank account until
the Substance Abuse Task
Force (SATF) can identify how
and where to allocate it.
Lenz and Amy Dolinky,
who is the Opioid Settlement
Fund Technical Advisor for
the Michigan Association of
Counties, stressed that these
funds are not structured like a
grant, where an even amountof money will flow in on a
yearly basis. Each company
has some flexibility to decide
when and how much it can
pay each year.
The Substance Abuse Task
Force will provide advice on
how to spend these dollars, but
Lenz said the SATF will not
move on those plans until it
gets the go-ahead from county
commissioners.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Lenz
highlighted to commissioners
what work had already been
completed and what is up next
in the journey to allocating
these dollars.
In the fall of 2022, the
SATF conducted an Opioid
Settlement Fund needs assess-
ment and the board of com-
missioners also elected the
SATF to serve as stewards of
Barry County’s take of the
settlement.
The SATF has coordinated
with Dolinky since last fall
and into the winter and plans
to join a community substanceneeds assessment conducted
by Michigan State University
this spring.
“That will take a look at a
couple of areas and be heavily
concentrated on people with
lived experience and people
whose loved ones have lived
experience because they’re the
people who have been impact-
ed,” Lenz said about the
upcoming needs assessment.
The Substance Abuse Task
Force also organized and
formed an opioid fatality
review team — the 16th coun-
ty in the state to do so — and
has launched a Barry County
opioid settlement funds web-
site that residents can use as a
hub for all updated informa-
tion on this issue. That website
is located at barrycountysatf.
com/opioid-settlement.html.
Lenz said the SATF is look-
ing to raise awareness for the
website and the information it
contains. Meanwhile, the MSU
community needs assessment
will help to shine a light on apotential path forward on how
to allocate the funds.
Once the SATF identifies
needs, it will develop an opi-
oid settlement fund request
process and start doling out
the money.
“We’ll be promoting this
web page — we’re starting
with you today,” Lenz told
commissioners. “You’re going
to start to see this every day.
We’re moving. It’s not goingto be a cheetah’s pace, nor do
you want it to be. We’re trying
to be faster than a snail or tor-
toise but we want to be careful
with how we spend these dol-
lars. It’s not a lot of money
right now and it can be very
easy to enter into some quick
decisions just to make it look
like we’re spending that
money and I don’t think any of
us want to do that. We want to
do what is sound.”Liz Lenz, coordinator for the Barry County
Substance Abuse Task Force, spoke to the Barry
County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday morning
about opioid settlement funds that will be making
their way to Barry County throughout the next couple
of decades. (Photo by Jayson Bussa)Nine students qualified for state contests this year
for the Thornapple Kellogg High School Business
Professionals of America. (Photo provided)