Mulliken council hires contractor for fall leaf pickup, votes to sell aging sweeper truck

The Mulliken village council approved its October 7 meeting minutes after confirming that a drainage pipe on Potter Street is officially classified as a county drain, and closed out several months of service by two departing trustees, Susie Dubler and Pam Jenkins, who were thanked for their years on the board.

The treasurer's monthly report showed the county has now paid the village its full share of tax revenue for the year, with only a modest balance tied to delinquent parcels still outstanding. Trustees also asked about a line item for new emergency-vehicle equipment on the village's newer truck, which the treasurer explained covered lighting required to bring the plow rig into compliance with state law. The board voted to accept the treasurer's report as presented.

Much of the meeting was spent comparing bids for fall leaf pickup. Quotes ranged from an hourly rate of $135 up to $350 an hour from various contractors, with uncertainty over exactly how many workers and hours each bid actually included. After weighing the options, the council approved hiring Smith Landscapes at a rate of $205 an hour, with pickups scheduled for November 23, 24, 30 and December 1. Residents were asked to bring leaves to the curb by those dates, use paper rather than plastic bags, and keep sticks and branches out of leaf piles so they don't jam the collection equipment. Trustees also discussed building leaf-pickup costs into next year's budget if the village continues contracting out the work.

The village's leaf-sucker sweeper truck was also on the agenda. A mechanic quoted roughly $12,000 to $15,000, and at one point as much as $30,000, to replace the truck's motor, but advised the board that the truck likely wasn't worth repairing given its history. The council voted to put the truck up for sale rather than sink more money into it, noting the village should recoup close to what it originally paid.

In committee reports, trustees reviewed a summary of recent calls to the Eaton County Sheriff's Department, which included a domestic dispute, a hit-and-run property-damage complaint, a suicidal-threat call, a traffic stop and other responses. A damaged tree at the corner of Potter and French streets has been reported to the utility company for inspection, with a follow-up still pending; the tree may need to be removed if the company doesn't respond. On sidewalks, the treasurer had received a request from a resident hoping to add a wheelchair ramp near a building downtown; the council said it cannot issue a permit itself, since that authority rests with the county, but asked the resident to submit a site plan so the village can check it against the required setback from the public right-of-way.

The village's sewer fund grew by $5,900 this reporting period, reflecting billed amounts recorded as accounts receivable. The lagoon system was reported to be running well after recent equipment repairs, with water levels dropping steadily as one pond is drained ahead of switching operations to the second pond later in the week.

Trustees also discussed, without taking action, whether the village should continue relying on a nearby private gas station's 24-hour credit-card fuel pumps rather than maintaining its own fuel tanks. Concerns raised included what would happen during a power outage, the fire department's need for reliable access to fuel, and the risk of depending on a private business that could change its hours or policies. No decision was made, and the topic will likely come up again.

The zoning report included an update on a delinquent property moving toward the county land bank process, with show-cause hearings scheduled for January 7 and 9. Trustees noted the village is currently owed roughly $4,549.65 on the property, a figure that would grow to more than $50,000 next year if it remains unresolved, and that the village could be responsible for refunding some of that money if the land bank ultimately sells the property for less than what's owed.

A resident's question about bow hunting on wooded property at the edge of the village prompted discussion of state Department of Natural Resources rules, since Mulliken has no ordinance of its own addressing hunting distances from homes. The board plans to follow up with the DNR for guidance rather than adopt new local rules at this time.

During public comment, a resident raised concerns about someone repeatedly burning leaves in the street on a section of newly paved road, warning that the heat could damage the fresh asphalt. Trustees acknowledged the village's burning ordinance addresses smoke that creates a health or nuisance issue but does not specifically prohibit burning on a public roadway. Rather than pursue immediate enforcement, trustees discussed sending the resident a written notice asking that leaf burning be moved off the street. The meeting was adjourned following a motion and second.

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.