Mulliken council approves lagoon fence, commits to $150,000 road grant project

The Village of Mulliken council took action on several infrastructure projects at its November meeting, approving a new fence around the wastewater lagoons, signing off on a camera inspection of an outflow line, and committing to a $150,000 road improvement grant package covering Ames, Colfax and French streets.

The treasurer's report included a discussion of unexpected repair costs at the village building. A water heater repair that was originally expected to cost around $7,000 turned into a larger job after the contractor found and fixed several other problems, including leaking toilet supply lines and a leaking hose bib in the shop. A separate contractor also replaced a faulty valve and a rotted pressure tank on the building's in-floor heating system, which is now working properly. The treasurer noted a duplicate payment that had been sent to the wrong address and needed to be cancelled, and the report was approved.

Much of the meeting focused on the lagoons, which have suffered significant bank erosion — estimated at roughly six feet of lost bank since the system was built in the 1970s. The council reviewed three bids for lagoon leveling, drainage tube replacement and erosion control (stone or crushed-concrete bank protection), ranging from roughly $56,000 to about $90,000, though the lowest bid was incomplete and would need to be revised. Rather than approve a bid immediately, the board decided to hold off, gather additional bids for sludge removal and other lagoon work, and consider bundling everything into one larger project — possibly financed with a loan — to be completed in the spring when the ponds can be drawn down.

The board did approve a roughly $29,480 bid from a contracting company to install new fencing and gates around the lagoon property, choosing that bid over a cheaper option after concerns were raised about the lower bidder's reliability and plan to subcontract the work. The area has already been cleared, and the contractor is expected to begin once given the go-ahead. Council members also approved a roughly $6,700 bid to televise (camera-inspect) an outflow line running from the lagoons to a nearby creek, work that will begin once a neighboring farmer finishes harvesting his fields.

Village officials discussed the likely need to raise sewer rates in the coming years to fund ongoing infrastructure work, including a planned assessment of the lift stations and smoke testing of the sewer lines to find sources of unwanted water entering the system. No rate increase was voted on, but officials said residents should be notified well in advance of any changes.

On roads, the council discussed a state grant program requiring a local funding match and voted to commit $150,000 toward the project — roughly $100,000 for construction and $50,000 for engineering and design — with plans to prioritize French, Ames and Colfax streets, which were described as being in poor condition. An engineer will assess the scope of work, including possible storm sewer repairs, before a final project size is set.

The village's recycling center was a topic of debate, with officials noting it costs the village roughly $1,000 to several thousand dollars a month to operate, while producing limited actual recycling benefit since much of the material still ends up in a landfill. Rather than vote to close it immediately, the council agreed to reach out to the township about potentially sharing costs and to explore other service options before revisiting the issue at a future meeting.

In zoning matters, the council approved a permit request allowing a resident on West Saginaw Highway to keep a lean-to addition to his garage, provided he obtains the required permit from the village's building official. Officials also discussed a proposal from a developer looking to build duplexes instead of single-family homes on a platted subdivision, citing the cost of installing underground utilities; no formal action was taken, and officials noted the village's ordinance currently allows duplexes.

The council also discussed an upcoming Eaton County land bank auction, set for November 18, involving the village's old grain elevator property, on which the village holds a lien for back taxes of just over $100,000. Officials weighed the financial risk of the village becoming responsible for a large balance if the property doesn't sell for enough to cover what's owed, and discussed possible outcomes depending on who might purchase and redevelop the site.

Administrative business included a reduction in the part-time ordinance officer's hourly wage, approved by motion, reflecting a scaled-back role as his contract winds down around December 1; he will continue handling ordinance enforcement. Officials noted recent progress on lawn-violation complaints and discussed an ongoing issue with a parked vehicle on Charlotte Highway.

In other business, the council approved roughly $3,400 to clear brush from an overgrown stormwater retention area near the lagoons, work that had been damaging the adjacent fence. Leaf pickup around the village was reported to be going well despite a heavy volume of fallen walnuts. Officials also discussed plans for holiday decorations for the village this winter and noted free and low-cost training opportunities available through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, including a course related to updating the village's master plan, which officials said will be important for future grant applications.

How this report was produced

This article was generated by an automated pipeline, and we think you should know exactly how. First, the audio of the meeting was converted into text by automatic speech recognition — software that infers words from sound, without a human listening along. That machine-made transcript was then read by Willbot, American2Day’s AI reporter, which condensed it into the report above. No human transcribed the meeting, and no human wrote this summary.