By Pat Maurer
Correspondent
Following a Public Hearing Monday (with no public comment) the Clare City Commission approved a motion to submit an application for a grant from USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) that would pay 55 percent of the cost for new tasers and body cameras for the Clare City Police Department.
In his agenda report, City Manager Jeremy Howard said, “The City has worked with the USDA to obtain grant funds for Public Safety for many years.” He continued, “The City has submitted a preliminary request to be considered for a grant to defray the majority portion of the cost to purchase new tasers and body cameras to replace our current ones that have reached the end of their useful life. The new tasers and body cameras will work seamlessly with the equipment used by the Clare County Sheriff’s Department and will enable the CPD to share videos directly with the Prosecuting attorney’s office.”
If approved, USDA will fund approximately $38,800 (55%) of the total cost of approximately $70,690 for the new tasers and body cameras. The remaining balance, though not included in the original 23/24 budget, will be paid for by utilizing funds that were initially allocated to other police department projects in this fiscal year so there are adequate funds to allow us to take advantage of this grant.
The City Commission approved the submission of the grant application and acceptance of grant funds. They also authorized the Mayor or the City Manager to sign any necessary and related documents for the grant and to allow the Treasurer/Finance Director to complete any necessary budget amendments to purchase the equipment.
Another item of business at Monday’s meeting was the approval of a approve a contract and sole source purchase of SCADA equipment from Perceptive Controls. The new equipment will cost $29,348, which includes the sole source design, purchase, installment and programming of the new lift station equipment. Funds included in last year’s budget for the purchase was $32,000.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are used for controlling, monitoring, and analyzing industrial devices and processes. The system consists of both software and hardware components and enables remote and on-site gathering of data from the industrial equipment.
Howard’s agenda report said, “An integral part of the city’s wastewater system, SCADA is used to monitor equipment and processes as a part of normal operations and in emergency conditions. The city plans to replace the aging/failing radios currently in Lift Stations 2,3,7,8 and 10 with new cellular modem technology which should be much more reliable and integrate with our full SCADA system.
A memo from Dale Clark said, “The SCADA radios on the lift stations are starting to fail and are in need of an upgrade. Our radios are no longer serviceable and need to be replaced with cellular modems.”
In his City Manager’s report, Howard reported that mechanical dredging of Lake Shamrock by the City is paused due to frost law restrictions. He said Savin’s “hydraulic dredging is also paused due to ice on the lake and cold temperatures.” Howard continued, “As I mentioned at the last meeting, we did recently hear from EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) that they are requiring us to pause all dredging because the original permit, applied for and approved five years ago, expired at the beginning of February.” He explained, “EGLE is now requiring us to apply for a new permit that would encompass the work as written in the original permit, as well as the new work and spoils locations. After receiving this information, I requested an in-person meeting with EGLE at their Bay City office to facilitate this process. Luke and I and Savin Lake Services met with EGLE staff on February 14th and the meeting went well. We will be submitting a new permit within the week and requesting an expedited time frame for review and the requisite public comment period. EGLE is hopeful that this process can be completed and that they will be able to issue a new permit by the early part of March so that we can begin dredging as soon as the frost laws come off and the weather allows.”
Other business included:
Treasurer Vicki Corlew noted that the last day to pay property taxes at City Hall is February 29th.
Howard reported, “the rail trail project to close the “Clare Gap” is slated to begin this spring and finish this fall. MDOT and the contractors have already begun to mobilize and bring equipment into the area ahead of the frost laws going into place. This is an exciting project and long-awaited by the community and surrounding area.”
Josh Clark resigned from the Planning Commission.
Board of Review dates are March 5th 2 pm organizational meeting; March 11th 9 am – 3 pm Appeal Hearing; March 12th 2pm -5pm and 6 pm – 9pm -Appeal Hearings.
The Commission approved bills payable totaling $53,253.99.