Mulliken council approves resident’s goose hunt on sewage ponds, sets fall leaf drop-off dates

The Mulliken village council's October 8 meeting opened with approval of the September 19 minutes and moved into a full agenda covering finances, a request to hunt geese on the village's sewage ponds, tree removal, drainage work and fall community events.

Treasurer Kelli Waldo presented the treasurer's report, noting recent payments included American Rentals for portable toilets used during the Hot Rods and Hollies event, a CSX Transportation charge tied to a railroad crossing, and new road signage. She flagged higher fuel costs this month due to a problem with gas in a village vehicle, and reported that the board had previously approved a road-sign related contract renewal valued at roughly $5,800 to continue for one more year. A trustee asked for a breakdown of the village's Visa/ELAN Financial bill, which the treasurer agreed to provide. The council approved a motion to accept the profit-and-loss statement.

Under new business, the council reviewed correspondence describing a "show cause" matter tied to a property, with dollar figures in the conversation running into the several-thousand-dollar range; the exact amount was not clearly stated on the recording.

A resident asked the council for permission to hunt geese on the village's sewage lagoons, explaining he would keep the group small — starting with two or three hunters — to help control the goose population without opening the area to a crowd. Village officials noted the ponds cannot be discharged into local waterways in October because fecal matter levels are currently too high, and said an outside water-testing contact had encouraged controlled hunting as a way to help. The council approved a motion allowing him to proceed, with a request that he stay in touch with the village's maintenance staff.

In old business, the board reported two streetlights out on Ionia Street, which have been reported to the utility company for repair within seven to ten days. Trustees also discussed a split tree at the corner of French and Potter that needs to come down for safety reasons, especially given recent high winds, and said a tree contractor has already been in town to look at it. A resident's question about trees tangled in power lines on another village street was also raised and will be followed up on.

With the maintenance supervisor absent, the board relayed his report: the sewage pond still cannot be discharged because of high fecal matter, and rain is needed to dilute it; the village remains under a no-burn order. Catch basins and pipes were repaired after being found in poor condition, and the crew is looking to get bids in early for additional catch-basin work before spring to qualify for a 50 percent matching grant. Officials also said a suspected county drain running along the railroad on Potter Street may no longer be classified as a county drain, and that the aging pipe — believed to be over a century old — is being inspected further.

A public safety report counted nine calls for service in the past month, including unknown-trouble calls, an alarm, an assist-citizen call, a wellness check, a disorderly conduct incident, a domestic dispute, and a larceny in a village subdivision. The larceny victim's property was reportedly caught on a doorbell-style camera, though the suspect has not yet been identified.

On zoning and ordinance matters, the council noted the village plans to join the Michigan Municipal League next month at the start of the new fiscal year, citing access to training classes. A longstanding property-cleanup and tax-delinquency issue was discussed but tabled for now, with officials indicating they intend to push for cleanup again next year.

Residents were reminded that a fall leaf and yard-waste drop-off will be held Thursday, October 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 12 from 8 a.m. to noon at the lagoon system off North Street; a photo ID will be required, and additional drop-off dates will be announced. There was no curbside leaf pickup service this year. The board also discussed a community fall gathering later in the month, tentatively around October 24, and looked ahead to this year's Halloween-season event, which drew about 400 attendees last year.

During public comment, a board member noted the village is currently over budget on legal services. A resident also raised talk around town about a truck purchase; officials addressed the rumor directly and said it was not accurate. Before adjourning, the board reminded residents of a countywide tax limitation proposal meeting set for October 14 at 7 p.m. at Roxand Township Hall, encouraging residents to attend ahead of an upcoming 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.