Mulliken council fixes minutes after open-meetings concern, approves playground grant bid

The Mulliken village council opened its July 11 meeting by fixing a problem with last month's minutes: language covering a decision the council had polled members on outside of a proper open meeting had to be removed, after someone flagged it as a violation of the state's Open Meetings Act. Trustees approved the minutes as corrected.

The treasurer's report clarified an item from last month's discussion — it was tax bills, not sewer bills, that went out around that time. Tax bills were mailed July 1, and the village expects to begin collecting on them and make its first deposit soon, with roughly $60,000 in tax revenue anticipated. The treasurer also reported a bit of good news: the village's attorneys succeeded in getting a Hoover property assessed for about $57,000, covering the costs the village had levied against the owner's taxes for a cleanup the village performed there. The council voted to accept the treasurer's report.

A larger financial issue surfaced regarding road work: the village paid roughly $110,000 for highway paving out of its general fund, even though that expense should properly come from the major and local street funds. The treasurer said she's holding off on transferring the money until more state road funding (Act 51 money) comes in, because paying it now would drain the major and local funds to very low balances. A motion to formally repay the general fund will be needed once that transfer happens. The treasurer also flagged that next year's budget discussion may need to include scaling back road repairs for a year to rebuild the road funds.

Under correspondence, a trustee raised complaints from residents that some board members were said to be undermining other people's businesses around town, calling the behavior unethical and a violation of the council's own handbook expectations of neutrality. The trustee said the matter would be handled separately in a meeting the next morning rather than aired further at the council table.

In new business, the council voted to apply for a grant through the Eaton County Parks and Recreation department to help reimburse costs from recent playground updates; the motion passed. Maintenance staff reported the new playground equipment has been installed and cemented in place, and it passed an official safety inspection.

Infrastructure work is also underway: failing catch basins on French Street need replacement, including new pipe across the road, and a contractor was expected to be consulted the next morning. The village also plans to have the contractor look at similar problems on Ames and Colfax, where adjustment rings need replacing and a sinkhole has developed. Bids are expected by the next meeting. Separately, the council discussed a broken tree near a resident's property; Consumers Energy inspected it and said it wasn't interfering with utility lines and wasn't their responsibility, so the council decided to hold off and gather bids next year rather than spend money now. A cracked sidewalk section, likely damaged by tree roots, will also need repair, with the village planning to use the same contractor that recently did sidewalk work at a nearby business.

On zoning, a new modular home is going in on Green Acres, with the buyer reportedly planning to purchase two additional adjacent lots. A newer resident reported ongoing harassment from a neighbor, including survey stakes being pulled up and property vandalized with paint; she has filed a police report, and council members noted similar vandalism has appeared elsewhere in town, including road signs.

Ordinance enforcement discussion covered several unmowed lawns and a vacant house being used for storage that trustees said is becoming an eyesore. The village plans to send warning letters once addresses are confirmed, and trustees agreed to drive past several properties on their way out that night to assess the situations firsthand before deciding on next steps as a group.

During public comment, planning continued for an upcoming multi-day village event, with organizers confirming use of the village's forklift and stage, portable restrooms, and setup beginning Friday. The event will include daytime and evening music and food trucks on a first-come basis. A resident also asked about replacing a worn-out basketball hoop and backboard at the park; council members estimated the cost at under $300 and agreed it could proceed without a formal vote.

Other maintenance notes included plans to temporarily patch a catch basin issue on the new highway work until spring, when it can be properly raised and fitted with a new casting, and old road signs are being saved to send back for manufacturer credit. Work is also set to begin soon on a budgeted salt storage building, with material pickup being arranged. Residents were reminded of a magician performing at the Pavilion on July 13 at 6 p.m., open to everyone. The meeting closed with a vote to adjourn.

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.