Mulliken council advances lagoon repairs, property lease talks and building permits

Mulliken village officials delayed approval of the June meeting minutes and the treasurer’s report until the August meeting because of a computer problem. Both delays were approved by motion, with the understanding that the items would come back once the information is available.

The council heard an update on the village wastewater lagoons from a representative of the company operating the system. He said work had been done to replace failed valves so each lagoon can now be isolated, which he described as the state’s main concern. He also warned that the roughly 50-year-old system still needs more work, including future removal of accumulated biosolids from at least one lagoon, and possibly a second. Officials discussed contacting contractors and said the work may need to be planned well ahead because companies that handle lagoon sludge are busy.

Much of the meeting focused on the former elevator property and a proposed lease involving the front building and surrounding usable area. Officials and the prospective tenant discussed how to define the leased premises, what cleanup responsibilities should remain in the lease, who pays for utilities, whether the tenant may make improvements, and whether the tenant should have some form of first right to buy the property later. The council approved a motion to have changes made to the draft lease, with final action expected at the August meeting.

The council also discussed removing electric service, gas service or other mechanical connections from a deteriorating pole barn on the property so the building can eventually be torn down. Officials said the building is in poor condition and that the first step is moving electrical service to another building. One estimate for a new electrical service was discussed at about $5,000, not including any cost from the utility. Council members said they would seek more bids and contact the utility about service options.

Cleanup of the former elevator property remains ongoing. Officials said several thousand dollars had already been spent on dumpsters and trucking, and scrap metal sales had brought in some money. The prospective tenant said he had submitted an invoice for cleanup-related work, while officials said they needed to confirm that the invoice had been received. Council members also discussed using smaller equipment for remaining cleanup once larger debris is removed.

The council approved a zoning request for a resident seeking to build a 30-by-50-foot steel building on a Green Acres property. Later, officials also approved allowing a pole barn on a vacant Sherlock Street lot if the person discussing the project buys the property. One council member connected to that request did not vote, and the motion still carried.

Wastewater operations drew sharp criticism from a village official, who said the current lagoon operator and its mechanical division had caused delays and extra costs during valve and pump work. He proposed replacing the company with an independent operator who would charge hourly and allow the village to pay lab fees directly. Other officials said they wanted the potential replacement operator to attend the August meeting before making a final decision, because the village must maintain a licensed operator for the lagoons.

Several sewer and lagoon-related spending items were approved. The council approved a repair estimate of $12,589 to remove root blockages and repair sections of an outflow pipe. It also approved about $3,000 for a survey needed to keep moving forward with a state permit tied to another outflow line repair. Officials said both items are important before fall discharge. The council also approved a $1,200 bid from a local lawn and landscape business to weed-whack around the lagoons so the village can regain control of vegetation.

Other maintenance items included discussion of hauling approved backfill to repair eroded lagoon banks, repairing a failing section of Eaton Highway pavement, and improving the recycling center building. The council approved a $3,675 asphalt repair bid for Eaton Highway. Officials also discussed getting bids for steel siding on part of the recycling center building and possibly repairing or replacing material on an awning there.

Officials briefly discussed ordinance and property maintenance concerns, including long grass at Dollar General, signs that may need replacement, a sidewalk issue, and junk or lawn violations at several properties. The meeting ended with no public comment from attendees and an adjournment vote.

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.