Lowell City Council met in open session for 51 minutes last night before heading into closed session to discuss a court case. All councilmembers were present, as were a handful of community members.
Public Comments: Doak Dean Fundraiser, River Trail Triathlon
During the public comments portion of the meeting, resident Perry Beachum noted that the recent fundraiser in support of Doak Dean was a great success.
“[We] raised enough that we’ll be able to support a lot of families in the community,” he said. Organizers had previously announced that any money raised in excess of the Dean family’s needs would be rolled into an assistance fund for Lowell families affected by cancer.
A second resident, Grant Hengesbach, spoke during public comments to share his plans for the River Trail Triathlon. Hengesbach moved to Lowell in 2021 and thought the city would be a perfect location for a triathlon.
Traditionally, a triathlon includes swimming, biking and running, but Hengesbach is planning to swap out the swimming portion for kayaking to make the race more accessible. He also plans on having Tri-Hard and Tri-Harder divisions to accommodate those who might be new to triathlons as well as more experienced participants.
“I’m really just looking for the green light to have this event,” Hengesbach said. “The River Trail Triathlon really encapsulates what makes Lowell special.”
Councilmembers appeared agreeable to the idea, and Hengesbach has a meeting scheduled with city officials to iron out the details. The event is tentatively planned for Saturday, June 17, 2023.
Lowell Township Makes Buy-In Offer for Water System
As Lowell Charter Township continues to grow, demand on the city’s water system has become an issue of increasing concern for city officials. Currently, the township is a wholesale customer of city water via an agreement that won’t expire until 2033.
The water plant can treat 1.5 million gallons of water per day, and it neared that capacity last summer. As a result, watering restrictions were placed on system customers in both the city and township. Representatives of the municipalities were appointed to a Joint Water Advisory Committee to discuss how to address the problem, including a possible expansion of the water plant.
Out of those meetings, Lowell Charter Township sent an offer of $2.775 million to buy one-half interest in the city water system along with the pump station on Foreman Street. If accepted, the city and township would presumably create an authority to oversee the water system, much in the same way an authority manages the Lowell Area Fire Department.
However, city officials weren’t inclined to accept the proposal as presented. “It’s a lot of money, but in a sense, it’s not a lot of money,” said City Manager Mike Burns. He worried about what happens when the money runs out.
Councilmember Cliff Yankovich pointed out that the offer was based on a valuation of the current plant and not the replacement cost. The current plant was built in the 1970s and will likely need to be expanded to meet demand in the township.
“To me, that’s not the number,” said Mayor Mike DeVore about the township’s offer. “It’s low.”
“With the buy-in, what are they envisioning the authority would look like?” Burns added. “Would they be responsible for the plant expansion?”
Lowell Township Supervisor Jerry Hale was present in the audience, but he was not asked to respond to this or other concerns.
The conversation then turned to whether building an additional storage tank might alleviate the problem with growing demand. “More storage capacity could help, but it doesn’t solve the problem,” stated Director of Public Works Dan Czarnecki. With more storage, pumping could be spread out, but it doesn’t change the fact that the water plant has a finite amount of treatment capacity each day.
Councilmember Marty Chambers was concerned that if a fire broke out at a manufacturer in the city, the fire department might not have access to enough water if the plant was operating very close to capacity.
No action was taken on the matter, but discussions will continue in the next Joint Water Advisory Committee meeting.
Council Gives Blessing to Canoe Rentals
Annie and Kyle Schaver of Flat River Kayaks approached the city about leasing property near the Flat River boat launch to rent out canoes and kayaks. They envision having a truck, trailer and pop-up tent in place on weekends and during some holidays such as Memorial Day but not during city events such as the Riverwalk Festival. Their set-up would be on the grass so as not to interfere with boats entering or exiting the boat launch.
Burns had the city appraiser provide a value for the approximately 350 square feet used by the Flat River Kayaks equipment. That appraisal came back as $286 per month or approximately $10 per day. Assuming they expect to use the property for 16 days per month, Burns recommended a rental agreement of $160 per month.
Resident Eric Bartkus, who also co-owns Ability Weavers, approached the podium to say that he thought the idea was great, but he wondered about insurance. Burns replied that Flat River Kayaks would be required to maintain insurance and name the city on the policy for the days they operate on city property.
Lowell City Council voted unanimously for the city to enter into a three-year contract with the company for the lease of city property near the boat launch.
City Manager’s Report
During his city manager’s report, Burns noted there had been an issue with approximately 60 people who had paid their city water bill at Lowell Light & Power. The city was never notified of the payments, and those residents were charged a late fee. However, now that the mistake has been discovered, those late fees will be waived.
Burns also addressed a comment made by Beachum at an earlier meeting. Beachum had suggested that allowing marijuana businesses to remain open later could result in more sales and additional tax revenue for the city.
Currently, all recreational marijuana sales are subject to a 10% excise tax. Of that amount, 15% is earmarked for local governments. The state pools all the tax revenue together and distributes money to local governments based on the number of establishments they have within their limits. Each municipality receives the same amount per marijuana business.
While letting marijuana businesses remain open later could conceivably result in more sales and, therefore, more tax revenues, Burns said that money would go into the pot of money to be divided statewide rather than coming directly to Lowell.
Lowell Light & Power will be removing nine trees along Bowes Road that are growing into the power lines, and Burns said $500 per tree – split between the city and LLP – would be set aside to replace them with more suitable varieties.
Near the end of the report, Yankovich asked about making Monroe a one-way street for the block next to City Hall. This has been discussed in years past as a way to avoid having trucks travel on Monroe. Yankovich also noted that having the block be one-way could allow for the addition of angled parking along the road. Burns and Czarnecki said that was something that could be done at the end of the project.
Other Meeting Items
In other meeting activity:
- Lowell City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the parking ordinance which allows overnight parking on Main Street from April 1 to October 31. Councilmembers had previously agreed to bring Main Street parking restrictions in alignment with the rest of the city, and this vote formalizes that decision.
- Lowell City Council unanimously approved resolutions related to USDA bonds being used to finance improvements to Monroe Street.
- Lowell City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the animal ordinance which brings the city into alignment with a county ordinance.
- Lowell City Council unanimously approved a resolution asking state legislators to allocate $250 million to assist with the pension funds of communities that have funded their liabilities by at least 60% and taken corrective action in the past to improve their fund balances. There is currently a proposal in Lansing to provide $750 million in pension grants to communities that have less than 60% of their pension liabilities funded, but nothing for communities who are above that threshold.
At 7:51pm, Lowell City Council voted to go into closed session “For the purpose of discussing W.B., by and through his Next Friend Shmeka Craig Miles v Jason Diaz, Christopher Hurst and City of Lowell – MCL 15.268(e).” This is presumably in reference to an officer-involved shooting that occurred in 2020.
The next regular meeting of Lowell City Council will take place on Monday, April 17, at 7pm in Lowell City Hall.
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