GREEN TOWNSHIP – The Green Township Board held a public hearing on a proposed application to the Michigan State Revolving Clean Water Fund for funding to support the elevator station replacement project at 205th Avenue and Ross Parkway.
“The public hearing is requested by the state revolving fund to which we aim to apply,” said local supervisor Jim Chapman. “Fleis and VandenBrink have taken over the project again. There weren’t many questions. “
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund is a federal-state partnership that provides low-cost funding to communities for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects. The terms of the loan may not exceed the useful life of the project and the interest rates must be at or below the market rate.
Funding for this year’s loan program is $ 800 million. There are no guarantees, but this year it looks like they will be able to finance all the projects at the state level, Scott Hall, from Fleis and VandenBrink Engineering, previously told the board.
City officials were alerted to problems with the lifting station in early 2021 and hired Fleis & VandenBrink to conduct a feasibility study to determine what would be needed to bring it up to standard.
The report stated that although the lifting station was well maintained, many components were at or above their unnecessary service life, the pumping station is in poor structural and mechanical condition and the pipes are significantly corroded and recommended complete replacement. lifting station. .
Initially estimated to cost about $ 600,000, Chapman said at the time that it would be tight, but local officials thought they would be able to find a way to finance it indoors, using money from the sewer fund, American funds. Rescue Act and a general loan.
Now that the total cost has risen significantly, city officials have said it is too large to be managed internally, as originally planned, and have begun looking for other funding options.
Hall said that by the fall of 2022, he should know what kind of financing package the state is offering, and that will lead to the bidding process for works in November or December, and construction will begin in the spring of 2023.
During the meeting, the board of directors approved a resolution to move forward with the elevator station project.
MORE ROADS, LATHE MAINTENANCE
In other matters, the board of directors approved an additional road project to take advantage of additional funding for county roads.
The county council of commissioners approved a $ 1 million fund, using money to replace lost revenue from the state, to be distributed in each locality to help with road repairs.
“I presented some options to the board, asking if they want to put them into projects this year or wait until next year,” Chapman said. “The council’s decision was to pave 230th Avenue from 21 miles to 22 miles because we see a lot more traffic from people trying to get around the 19-mile road.”
The total cost of the redevelopment is estimated at 92,000 USD, the cost for the locality is estimated to be around 30,000 USD.
The Council also approved an amendment to the White Pine Recreation Area Internet Tower Maintenance Agreement to include the maintenance of the two new planned towers on Round Lake Road and Beach Road.
“They were supposed to open ground at the foundation this week, but the rain pushed that,” Chapman said. “We still hope to make July 1 the starting date, but it will depend, among other things, on the weather and supply chains.”