Mulliken council votes to order new playground equipment despite budget overrun

The Mulliken village council voted to move ahead with ordering new playground equipment for the village park, even though the chosen set costs more than the money set aside for it. The board had budgeted about $10,000 for playground upgrades, but the best set found — a tulip-style play structure — is priced at roughly $12,457 before shipping and installation, on top of $561 already spent on replacement swings.

The council agreed to place the order now so the equipment can be shipped this winter, with installation held off until spring and the extra cost folded into next year's budget. Members noted the village's aging playground equipment, including an old spinning "death wheel" ride, is worn out and unsafe. A $500 donation from the Hot Rods and Harleys event and an additional contribution from the Brothers of the Ring motorcycle group will help offset the cost. The village's maintenance contact will need to trim at least a couple of trees to make room for the new equipment, but the existing swings and slide are expected to stay in place.

In other spending news, the council authorized two members to inspect a used street sweeper and leaf-vacuum truck being sold by a neighboring municipality's public works department, with authority to negotiate up from a starting offer of about $5,500 up to a $10,000 ceiling if it proves to be a good deal. The truck's main engine has low mileage, and its auxiliary vacuum engine is a rebuilt unit that burns some oil. Supporters said the equipment could cut leaf pickup from months to days and would let the village handle street sweeping in-house instead of paying an outside contractor.

The council also approved seeking bids to repair a curb outside the Township Hall that members called a trip hazard, with the goal of getting it fixed before the November 8 election. The job is expected to cost under $2,000. Separately, the maintenance report noted the demolition project is still waiting on a contractor crew, and testing found no asbestos or lead in the materials involved. A planned wastewater discharge is set to happen this fall after a pre-sample test, and chemical treatment will be added before the discharge occurs. A second call to the utility-locating service was still needed after an earlier request for street sign markings went unanswered for weeks.

The treasurer's report, given by Treasurer Kelli Waldo, noted a payment of about $600 to cover the village's remaining unpaid property taxes, with tax season now complete and other expenses running normal. The council approved both the treasurer's report and the September 12 meeting minutes once corrected to properly identify a resident who had requested a street sign on 5th Street.

Council members discussed ongoing questions about water service for the proposed ice cream shack building, which currently shares a well with two other nearby businesses that each pay a semi-annual water fee. Members raised concerns about heating the building, running new water lines, and whether well water could be used for anything beyond cleaning floors under health department rules. Rather than guess at requirements, the council agreed to invite the health department to a future meeting to clarify what upgrades would be needed before the shack could open for food service.

A village fall event — a trunk-or-treat gathering — is planned for October 27, tentatively starting between 5:30 and 6 p.m., with a resident organizing a decorated truck, candy, and cider, in partnership with the library. The council was asked to help spread the word since not everyone had received the earlier email invitation, and members suggested double-checking the village's contact list for outdated addresses.

The council set aside up to $600 for a resident to research affordable Christmas decorations for Main Street, aiming to start with a small display — such as candy canes or bells — this year and add more in future years. Members also discussed farmers' requests to keep campers and other vehicles from blocking road access to their fields on Ames Road, with signage suggesting agricultural access only floated as a possible solution, though no formal action was taken.

On zoning matters, no new building permits or lot-split requests have come in, despite a real estate listing advertising a multi-acre property as having potential for several building lots. Officials noted any such subdivision would require extending sewer service, since drain fields aren't an option on the site. Two houses on French Street were reported as under contract.

During public comment, Trustee Will Simon raised the idea of a "Welcome to Mulliken" sign similar to ones seen in neighboring communities, and asked for the board's support in researching possible locations and getting a design quote from a sign company. The council gave the go-ahead to explore locations and pursue a design proposal to bring back for consideration.

The meeting closed with a motion to adjourn, which the council approved.

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.