Mulliken council approves 2025-26 budget, weighs Main Street development plans

The Village of Mulliken council approved its budget for the coming fiscal year and heard an early-stage proposal to develop two vacant lots near Main Street, in a meeting that also touched on road repairs, a possible paving grant, recycling money, and a countywide shake-up in building inspections.

Before other business, the board corrected the minutes from the prior meeting to fix the name of the village's accounting firm and to clarify that a cracked tree at the corner of Potter and French streets has not yet been removed. Trustees said the tree, though budding, has a cracked trunk and could come down onto power lines in a storm; a bid of roughly $2,942 has been received from a tree service, and Trustee Sherry Kempf will seek additional bids before the village moves forward. The corrected minutes were approved. Treasurer Kelli Waldo's monthly report showed no unusual spending, and included payments for tax-collection software, upkeep of the building's camera and surveillance system, a repair to an exterior light, and legal fees tied to a sidewalk issue; the report was approved.

The clerk noted that some residents have been posting on Facebook suggesting the village mishandles money and should be audited, and reminded the board that Mulliken is in fact audited every year.

A builder working with Guile Builders told the council he is under contract on two small lots near Main Street — one zoned commercial, one residential — and is exploring options including two single-family homes, a duplex, or splitting the lots to face a side street instead of Main. Council members and the builder worked through the village's zoning ordinance together, noting a required front setback of 25 feet, side setbacks of 10 feet, a rear setback of 35 feet, and a maximum building height of 35 feet. Connecting to the village sewer system costs $3,500 per tap plus a monthly fee, with added cost for a multi-unit building. No decision was made; the council asked the builder to return with a hand-drawn site plan reflecting the setbacks for consideration at the April meeting.

The board approved the 2025-26 budget, which sets aside about $50,000 for new equipment, roughly $40,000 for road and drain repairs, $10,000 for recycling and hauling, and about $40,000 for sewer repairs; sewer monitoring equipment costs are nearly paid off, at under $10,000 remaining. The treasurer said she will bring a separate list of required adjustments to the current 2024-25 budget for approval next month. The new budget takes effect March 21.

The village is looking at a dump trailer with a vacuum attachment, priced just over $20,000 combined from two vendors, to help with brush hauling and other village work. Rather than buy immediately, the board asked the treasurer to confirm how long the price quote is valid and bring updated pricing back before committing to the purchase.

On streets, the board agreed to begin catch-basin and road repair work on Ames Street this year, then move to problem spots at French, Ionia, and Colfax. Members plan to walk or drive the affected areas together before the next meeting to help shape a formal repair plan. Separately, the treasurer reported that a consulting engineer had reached out about an MDOT grant of up to $250,000 available for paving, and said she would follow up once the grant opens in the coming weeks. One trustee said he would recuse himself from voting on road-grant matters due to a work-related conflict of interest, though he offered to stay available to advise.

In old business, the county report noted seven calls for service that month — including abandoned and unknown calls, a civil complaint, a threat, and a traffic violation — described as a quiet month.

The board discussed reapplying for a county recycling grant worth about $20,000 once the application period opens October 1, potentially to fund improvements such as a better awning or canopy at the recycling drop-off area at the building.

Members were told the county's building code and zoning administrator is developing a proposal, still in early planning and likely six months to a year out, for a shared countywide inspection and permitting program in response to potential downsizing of the county building department. Officials said Mulliken would not be required to join, and that local control over zoning ordinances and any future master plan would remain with the village.

On maintenance, the board is replacing two non-code speed-limit signs on Charlotte Street with new signs equipped with solar flashers, and may add flashers to the 25 mph sign as well, in response to complaints about speeding. The village continues trying to sell an older dump/sweeper truck listed online at $7,500 with no bids so far; the board agreed to lower the asking price to $6,000 and accept offers through the end of the month. One trustee mentioned possible personal interest in bidding and said he would stay out of the village's decision-making on the sale. Free surge protectors left by the local utility are available to any resident who wants one.

The next regular meeting is scheduled for April 7 at 6:30 p.m., with the board also planning an informal walking review of street repair sites beforehand, weather permitting.

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.