Mulliken council weighs owning its own leaf-pickup equipment, plans sidewalk and street repairs for next year

The Mulliken village council welcomed new board members at the start of Tuesday's meeting before approving the minutes from the November 4th meeting, with a note to double-check that the minutes reflect the earlier finding that a problematic pipe on Potter Street was determined to be a county responsibility and had already been addressed.

The treasurer's report was tabled until next month because Treasurer Kelli Waldo was unable to attend due to a family medical emergency. Trustees said they want residents and each other to start thinking about budget priorities for the coming year — including sidewalk repair and leaf pickup — so the council can begin shaping a budget at the January and February meetings.

Much of the discussion centered on the poor condition of sidewalks along Main Street, which trustees said are becoming a safety and liability concern, particularly stretches near the library and elsewhere in the village. Rather than extending sidewalk toward the dollar store, several trustees favored putting available sidewalk money toward repairing the existing walks, especially given new businesses opening on Main Street.

On the holiday front, the council is arranging to replace an old wreath, is again planning to get a Christmas tree from a local family, and is trying to line up a Santa Claus for the tree lighting after a previous volunteer said he couldn't do it this year. Trustees also discussed decorating utility poles downtown again this year, inviting local businesses to help, and exploring the cost of adding permanent string lights atop the poles in future years.

Trustees noted that the Hot Rods and Harleys club voted not to hold its event again next year after it failed to turn much profit this year, meaning the village lost a significant summer draw and its usual community donation. The council floated ideas for a replacement event, including a car show, and discussed whether the club might help fund additional attractions like a bouncy house, though insurance costs were raised as a concern.

On leaf pickup, trustees discussed the possibility of the village buying its own equipment — such as a dump trailer — rather than relying on borrowed machines or paid contractors, arguing it could pay for itself within about a year and give the village more control over the schedule. In the meantime, leaf pickup was paused briefly due to weather but is set to resume, with a resident lending equipment to help finish the job.

The council also discussed street repairs needed on Colfax, Ames, and French streets, including catch basin work, and plans to seek contractor bids and pursue state funding — potentially covering a significant share of the cost — before moving forward. Separately, trustees discussed adding small solar-powered flashing lights to signage near intersections where drivers have been running stop signs, and noted the county is installing rumble strips at one nearby intersection following recent near-misses.

A committee report showed only a handful of police calls in the village over the past month. Several trustees raised frustration over limited patrol coverage after a recent public safety funding measure failed, and questioned why the village is told it can't be guaranteed dedicated police coverage while continuing to help subsidize a neighboring township's police department by a large annual amount. Trustees said they plan to attend an upcoming Ways and Means committee meeting to get more clarity on the funding situation.

A maintenance report indicated pond levels are being properly managed and recent water quality testing looks good. On zoning, a proposed ramp project near a building adjacent to the right-of-way on Main Street is still awaiting a design plan from the applicant's representative before the council can act further. There was also brief discussion, prompted by social media chatter, about whether to move future meetings to a larger space; the council decided to keep meetings at the current location for now, with the possibility of using the township pavilion in summer months.

Trustees also discussed ways to help elderly residents with snow removal from driveways and sidewalks, and considered budgeting for a snowblower attachment for the village tractor to assist both residents and downtown sidewalks. No members of the public offered comments during the public comment period, and the meeting was adjourned.

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.