By Leslie Ballard
During the Jan. 23 City Council Study Session, Doug Kadzbahn, Director of the Department of Public Works, and Tony Magee of Abonmarche gave a presentation based on Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) data concerning the state of Allegan city streets. PASER is based on a 10-point scale with 1-4 a Poor rating, 5-7 Fair and 7-10 Good. Currently Allegan streets average 4.886.
Magee shared how much money it would cost to get different percentages of Allegan streets to Good for a 10-year period. To get 25% of streets to Good would require a $155,000 annual investment; 50% would require $330,000 and 75% would require $675,000 per year.
His recommendations are to hold a community meeting to inform residents and businesses about the condition of the community’s road system and solicit input as to what they feel should be priorities in Spring 2023.
Establishing a list of priority projects aligned with the Roadsoft analysis and coordinating priority projects with planned utility projects would be next steps before formulating a funding plan for City Council consideration in Fall 2023.
BioTech
The City Council reviewed the three-year contract extension from BioTech Agronomics for removal and disposal of biosolids from the Allegan Resource Recovery Facility. BioTech Agronomics has been the biosolids contractor for Allegan for the last 11 years.
The proposed extension would expire on February 28, 2026. Currently BioTech removes between 7,000,000-8,000,000 gallons of biosolids each year for land application. The extension includes the following cost increases for each of the three years.
The Council accepted the December 2022 Revenue/Expenditure Report, which includes all revenue received and expenditure invoices received as of January 19, 2023.
Regular Meeting
Mayor Teresa Galloway reported that the Downtown Development Authority unanimously approved the Downtown Allegan Events calendar and the change in hours of operation for the Social District at their January meeting.
Council Member Bill Morgan recapped the recent Public Spaces Commission meeting during which the members were updated on the status of a Michigan DNR Recreation Passport Grant that was awarded for improvements to Rossman Park. Work is expected to begin in 2023. They also discussed the 60 trees that will be planted downtown once Streetscapes is completed and the possibility of the elementary school playgrounds, especially in the west side of town, being used as parks once the new consolidated elementary school is built.
City Manager Joel Dye reported that the Riverfront Design Committee discussed the upcoming January 19th Community Meeting about the dam removal.
Mayor Galloway shared that the Planning Commission continued their review of the Draft Master Plan, which should be completed in February.
Other Business
The Council approved accounts payable in the amount of $1,717,225.03 and payroll in the amount of $139,078.60 for a total disbursement of $1,856,303.63.
The Council then approved the purchase order for a Hach DR3900 spectrophotometer from USA Bluebook for the WRRF lab. Replacement is listed in the asset program and was budgeted for replacement this year.
The Council adopted Resolution 23.01 accepting the terms of the Michigan Recreational Passport Grant Program Development Project Agreement to make several improvements to Rossman Park. The City of Allegan was awarded a grant from the State of Michigan in the amount of $112,000 to make several improvements to Rossman Park, including the resurfacing of the Pickleball Courts, installation of sidewalks, a drinking fountain, concrete outdoor games, benches, and tables. The total cost of this project is $149,400, and the city’s required financial match is $37,400, which was budgeted in the FY2023 Budget.
After some discussion, the Council amended several sections of the City of Allegan Personnel and Procedures Manual. This includes the following changes: Changing the holiday schedule to match the county’s holiday schedule by removing Columbus Day and adding Juneteenth; clarifying how regular part time employees are compensated on holidays; clarifying what employees qualify as regular part time employees; clarifying when bereavement leave can be used, and clarifying the length of parental leave.
They then amended the 2023 Public Meetings Schedule to reflect the removal of Columbus Day as a city-observed holiday and to keep in line with the state and county holiday schedules.
The Council approved Resolution 23.02 to establish a guideline for Poverty Exemptions for the Allegan City Board of Review. Annually, the City of Allegan shall adopt a resolution to create a guideline for the City of Allegan Board of Review to follow when granting a Poverty Exemptions.
After reviewing this at the last Study Session and discussion at this meeting, the Council approved the proposed changes to the operation hours of Downtown Allegan Social District from the current 11am-11pm to 7am-1am.
Dye reminded the Council about the Jan 31st joint meeting between the Council, the Historic District Commission and a representative from the State Historic Preservation Office at 7 pm.
He also noted that the Feb 2nd M89 Open House will be run as an open house, where people can look at plans and ask questions of the MDOT personnel that will be on hand to talk about the M89 traffic circle and downtown improvement plan scheduled for 2024.