Commissions and Boards

These boards and commissions are authorized and appointed by the Township Board.

The Planning Commission (PC) consists of five members, one of whom must be an elected Township Board official.  These members are recommended by the Supervisor and appointed by the Township Board and serve a three-year term.

They meet the third Wednesday of January, April, July, and October at 6:00 pm.

The PC is tasked by law with planning the growth of Denver Township, establishing guidelines for the types of uses that will take place within the Township, and where those activities will be allowed.  Reviewing, revising and creating ordinances and a Master Plan to best suit the current and future needs of the Township are the responsibility of the PC.

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) consists of five members, one of whom must be a PC member.  These members are recommended by the Supervisor and appointed by the Township Board and serve a three-year term.

The ZBA meets once a year, and as needed, to hear appeals of denied requests by the PC for variances of the zoning ordinance.

The Board of Review (BOR) consists of three members who are recommended by the Supervisor and appointed by the Township Board.  The Supervisor is the appointed Secretary for the BOR.

The purpose of the BOR is to let property owners voice various concerns about property assessments.  The BOR meets three months of the year.  The meeting of most interest is the March BOR session which meets for two six-hour sessions the second week of March.  At these sessions property owners or their agents can appeal both tax class or property value assessments.

The taxable value (TV) is the amount tax bills are based on.  The state equalized value (SEV) is supposed to be ½ of true cash value.  If you see a large spread between TV and SEV, the SEV may drop based on county sales studies; but TV can still go up by rate of inflation or 5%, whichever is less.  If the SEV drops lower than TV, then the SEV becomes the new TV.

The July and December BOR sessions are to correct mistakes.  The most common ones are that the property transferred, and the TV is uncapped, and then the new TV becomes what the SEV is and then it is capped after the first year of ownership.  The other common occurrence is Principal Residence Exemption (PRE) changes; either it did not get processed timely or a person may not have filed the forms. 

May 1 of each year is the magic date.  If the change happened May 1 or before, the change can be made. If the change is after May 1, then for that year the property owner is bound by what the previous owner’s status was with the prior ownership.

The Election Commission consists of the Clerk, Supervisor and Treasurer. 

They meet within the required number of days prior to each election to appoint Election Inspectors, Election Chairperson and Receiving Board.

The Cemetery Board consists of the Supervisor, Clerk and Treasurer. 

They are responsible for overseeing the overall operations of the cemetery, with the Sexton overseeing the daily operations.  This Board serves as an advisory board to the Denver Township Board of Trustees on issues concerning cemetery maintenance and future planning for the Township's cemeteries.