Mulliken council awards sidewalk repair contract, pushes ahead on road and beautification grants

The Mulliken village council approved adjustments to the 2024-25 budget to bring individual expense accounts into balance ahead of the annual audit, shifting money between line items — for example, moving unused road-sign funds to cover a shortfall in Social Security and Medicare payments. Officials stressed the changes only affect the outgoing 2024-25 budget and do not alter the 2025-26 budget already adopted in February. The treasurer's report noted normal bills were paid on schedule, though a couple weeks of absence means more transactions will show up on next month's report, and a state payment tied to the village's fiscal year timing is booked as an expense on paper even though it's actually incoming revenue.

A newly hired grant writer briefed the council on his review of village streets, which he scored using a state condition scale and rated poorly. He is already working on an application for a road grant that could bring a state match of up to $250,000, though the village would need to cover a substantial local match, potentially drawn from the fund balance; stormwater and drain repair work already planned could count toward that match. The council voted to have him also pursue a downtown beautification grant, a park and recreation grant that could help fund playground equipment, and a grant for lift-station upgrades. Officials separately noted a possible new state road-funding bill still pending in Congress that could significantly increase the village's annual road money if it passes.

Three contractors submitted bids for sidewalk repair work identified during a walk-through of the village, with prices varying widely for what officials said was largely the same scope of work. After weighing price against how clearly each bid was itemized, the council voted contractor by contractor and awarded the work to Hector Mendoza, the low bidder; one trustee voted no because a different bidder wasn't chosen. The village has roughly $40,000 budgeted for sidewalk repairs this year, and a design firm hired to draw up the village's sidewalk plan has already been paid for that work, with bidding on the broader sidewalk project now underway.

Officials identified about 20 catch basins needing repair and initially discussed seeking bids on a portion of them, but decided to first have the storm drain lines inspected by camera before committing to repair bids, tabling the item for now. Catch basins also need to be pumped and cleaned out, something officials said hasn't been done in five or six years; the council wants to move to a routine two- to three-year cleaning schedule using the same contractor that services the village's lift station. One trustee described a long-running, multi-year dispute with the county over a drain and culvert affecting village and neighboring property, warning that the aging culvert will eventually need serious attention.

Committee reports were largely positive: streetlights are in good working order, and the village came through a recent storm with only some power outages. The sheriff's office logged 10 calls for the period, including three unresolved 911 calls, a civil complaint, an EMS assist, two follow-up calls, two suspicious-situation calls, and one traffic stop.

The council approved buying ten new flags for village light poles, with a budget of up to $500 though officials hoped to spend closer to $200; a trustee volunteered to purchase them online. Members also discussed street maintenance, agreeing that cold patch is fine for some side streets but that a heavily traveled street needs milling and a proper hot-mix repair instead of a quick patch. The village's maintenance worker is currently on his honeymoon and expected back around the beginning of May.

A trustee raised reviving a community garden area behind the field near the church, this time set further back from the road, but cautioned that the village already has trouble with abandoned, overgrown plots and wants to plan carefully around nearby farming and pesticide use before moving forward. No vote was taken.

On zoning, the council approved combining two lots to allow a resident to build a single-family home, including rezoning one commercial-designated lot to residential to permit the combination — clearing the way for a building permit. In a separate request, the council approved combining two residential lots on Potter Street into one parcel, with a $3,500 fee for the required paperwork, so that property's owner can also move forward with construction.

During public comment, a resident living near the edge of the village asked the council to add streetlights where the pavement ends, saying the area is unusually dark; the council agreed to gather pricing, likely for three new lights, and revisit the request next month. Another resident offered to do lawn mowing and maintenance work; officials said they aren't currently hiring but took his contact information. The council also discussed ongoing complaints about an unmaintained railroad crossing in town and said they would follow up with the railroad again.

Looking ahead, residents can expect streetlight pricing and a decision on adding lights near the village limits, continued updates from the grant writer on the road, beautification, park, and lift-station applications, and a return to the catch-basin repair bids once camera inspections of the storm drains are complete.

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.