Mulliken council adopts new budget, tackles speeding and park upgrades

The Mulliken village council formally adopted its budget for the fiscal year running from March 1, 2023 through February 28, 2024, finalizing paperwork on a decision the council had already agreed to in principle at its previous meeting.

The treasurer reported another financially healthy month, with the village's major road, local road, and sewer accounts collectively holding roughly $200,000 to $250,000 thanks to routine state road-distribution and population-based stabilization payments. With the major and local road funds sitting at healthy levels, the council approved transferring money from those accounts and the sewer fund into the general fund to cover the roughly $10,000 the village budgets annually for equipment rental. The treasurer also noted a payment of about $4,400 to an environmental firm for surface water discharge sampling, and sewer-related testing costs during the month.

The council learned that a roughly four-foot-by-260-foot easement on a resident's property, apparently unused for years and now partly covered by the owner's garage, had never been formally addressed. On the advice of the township's tax assessor, the council approved returning the easement to the property owner.

Trustees renewed the contract of the village's maintenance contractor, approving roughly a 6% cost-of-living increase after discussing recent inflation figures. The new contract term was shifted to run from December 2022 through April 2024 to better align with the village's budget calendar.

The council also discussed ongoing trouble with the standby generator at the village's sewer lift station, which ran continuously and threw an alarm after a recent power outage instead of shutting off properly. Rather than commit to a full annual service contract immediately, the council approved having the servicing company make an initial service call to get the generator running and inspect it, with a maintenance agreement to be negotiated afterward.

Trustee Brandon Lambrix reported he had begun surveying the village's street signs after noticing many had worn reflective coating, and said he had contacted Michigan State Industries, a nonprofit-friendly vendor recommended by the Department of Transportation, for pricing. He plans to bring photos of signs needing replacement to a future meeting, along with a list of possible new signage for areas such as Mulliken Road.

Speeding drew extended discussion, particularly on Charlotte and Potter streets, with trustees noting the county sheriff's office now has only one deputy covering the area after losing others to another jurisdiction. The council considered a radar-style speed-display sign costing roughly $4,500 to $6,000, but trustees were skeptical, saying similar signs in other communities became a game for drivers trying to run up the displayed speed. Speed bumps and rumble strips were ruled out over liability concerns if vehicles were damaged swerving to avoid them. The council instead decided to pursue smaller, less expensive "slow down" and reduced-speed signage for problem areas, with pricing to be gathered before the next meeting.

Trustees confirmed plans to move forward on the previously approved purchase of three security cameras for the village office, budgeted at $360 total, with a trustee agreeing to place the order.

On the park, playground equipment is being reoriented to run north-south instead of east-west, a change expected to improve drainage issues with one slide. New equipment is expected to begin arriving in late May, with installation taking about three days in early June; the area will be fenced and marked with caution tape during construction. The pavilion's new roof has been completed, and the council discussed removing loose rocks from under play equipment and replacing bark or wood-chip ground cover with dirt or sand in some areas.

The council decided to keep the village's stockpile of milled asphalt rather than sell it at $20 a ton, reasoning it will be needed for future road work. Plans call for repaving projects on Eaton Highway and French Street, with a camera inspection of underground pipes planned before paving to catch problems, including a possible issue near Colfax, ahead of hoped-for work next year.

Trustees discussed how to handle overgrown lawns and yard debris at a handful of problem properties, weighing the cost of billing residents against concern for elderly or disabled homeowners who may simply need help mowing. No formal ordinance policy was adopted, but trustees leaned toward personally checking in with property owners first and considering informal volunteer help before pursuing billing for repeat violations. Separately, a trustee agreed to speak with a resident who has been parking a semi-truck overnight on Potter Street, narrowing the road to one lane.

A resident who recently moved to the village asked about keeping five or six ducks in a fenced pen for eggs and meat, with neighboring property owners already voicing no objection. The council said the request would require a special use permit, agreed to provide the paperwork, and indicated approval would likely follow if no complaints arise from neighbors. Trustees also briefly discussed adding flower planters or beds near the park and elsewhere in the village to improve its appearance, though no decisions were made.

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.