By John Raffel
Correspondent
PLAINWELL – Community Development Manager Denise Siegel reported at a recent Plainwell City Council meeting an updated offer from Nobis for land at Miller Road.
She said Nobis is now offering $25,000 per acre for 20.48 acres for all three (3) lots abutting Lincoln Parkway. The Council agreed it had accepted the original offer from Nobis of $315,000 for 10.48 acres for two of those lots.
Siegel said the new offer supersedes all other offers. The Council debated the precedent of accepting a lower offer for land adjacent to the utility supply and how it would affect selling land further north, where utilities are not yet available.
A motion passed to counter-offer the sale of 20.48 acres at a cost equal to the original purchase price (nearly $31,500) per acre.
Finance Director Kelley presented a plan to set periodic billing rates for recycling and bulk-trash pickups. He said the original ordinance is worded to suggest that these charges are fees, not taxes and should be collected similarly to a water/sewer bill.
There was discussion on the reliability of Republic’s service and that not everyone participates with the program and may not pay separately issued billing statements. Council members asked why only delinquent charges could be added to the tax bill when they have been included on the tax bill, up front, since the program was implemented. A motion was made to set a quarterly recycling charge of $13.55 and a semi-annual bulk-trash fee of $11.83. It failed due to lack of a second.
The matter was tabled to the June 26 meeting.