12-06-2018 Hartford sewer rates out of step; City Engineer says rate increases and debt may be in t

MISS HARTFORD 2019 HOPEFULS… Seven young ladies will be vying for the title of Miss Hartford at the pageant being held Sunday, December 9 at 3:00 p.m. at the Hartford High School Auditorium. Tickets will be $20 at the door. Doors open at 2:15 p.m. Pictured (from the left): Seated – Brittany Vanlandingham and Brianna Guntle; Standing – Cecelia Perales, Brynn Duffy, Mikenzie Chambers, Piper Reinhardt, and Catera Hawley.

KINGLY CONTESTANTS… Four young men will be vying for the title of Mr. Hartford 2019 at the contest being held Sunday, December 9, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. The contest theme is “As Big as Kansas…As Big as Oz” and will be held at the Hartford High School Auditorium. The contestants are (from the left): Evan Parker, Noah Wade, Xavier Salina and Alexander Lehnert.

Hartford sewer rates out of step; City Engineer says rate increases and debt may be in the future to pay for system improvements

By Jon Bisnett At the combined workshop/ business meeting of the Hartford City Commission on November 19, Frank LaPierre of Wightman and Associates detailed the final step of the city’s Stormwater, Asset Management & Wastewater (SAW) grant with recommendations for 20-year financial plan for the city’s sewer system. LaPierre noted although the current rates are adequate to maintain day to day operational costs, they do fall short of anticipated maintenance and some impending repairs as uncovered by the exhaustive study done over the past year. The current household rate of $26.10 per month is well below the Southwest Michigan average of roughly $35. The Wightman financial study recommends both an incremental rate increase and the acquisition of $1.5 million bond in ’22-’23 and another $1.4 million in ’29-’30 to make up the difference. Mayor Rick Hall asked for a second proposal scenario wherein incremental rate increases alone could be implemented to give the city the means to self-fund rather than acquire debt. In any case, it will be up to the commissioners to sort it all out to come up with a solution to the long-range budget.

LOCAL BUSINESS HELPS OUT… Wednesday, November 14 Soulard’s in Coloma graciously donated 10% of sales for the whole day to “Give Back Day for the Coloma Junior High Mackinac Trip”. Pictured (from the left) are: Taylor Prestidge (Owner of Soulard’s), Camryn Brown, Wyatt Sinnett, Wyatt Arms, Preston Scott, Olivia Stroba, Lily Dunafin, Skyler Wolfe, and Christianna Flagel.

Dispensary update Owner Alex VonKoenig of Med+Leaf, the city’s first medical marijuana dispensary, visited to update the commissioners on the state licensing progress. Med+Leaf’s application is now in the third and final stage of the process and they hope to begin building remodeling after the first of the year. Since the passing of Proposal 1 it is VonKoenig’s understanding that recreational marijuana licenses will first be offered to existing dispensaries for the first two years. The state will only award some commercial license types to companies already working in Michigan’s regulated medical marijuana industry. Communications The December City Council Workshop/ Business meetings will be combined on December 17 at 7:30 p.m. December 8 will be Christmas in Hartford with the Lighted Parade at 6:00 p.m. followed by Santa’s visit to the Library jointly sponsored by the Lions Club, Library and DDA. The Hartford Joint Fire Board has set Wednesday, January 7 as the annual budget meeting with City and Township. Police Report Chief Tressa Beltran presented a written report detailing activity of 740 duty hours with 22 foot-patrol hours which included 103 complaints for the month of October, resulting in seven arrests including three felonies. Beltran commended the work of both the department’s Reserve Officers and the Hartford Fire Department in keeping the Trick or Treaters safe on yet another zero incident Halloween. Fire Report The Hartford Fire Department responded to a total 39 calls in the month of October, including 27 medical calls, three structure fires, one vehicle fire, and a mutual aid to Lawrence. Chief Rob Harting reported five of his roster is in the final stages of medical training which will give the department a complement of 16 medical first responders. Harting reported a resounding success at HFD Halloween open house and is already making plans to be bigger and better for 2019. Ambulance Report Pride Care Ambulance reports three Priority I calls, seven Priority II calls and a lone Priority III call for the month with an overall average response time of 5:40. Commissioners once again complimented the quick response times and high visibility in the community.

Treasurer’s Report Treasurer Pam Shultz presented a written report for the month of October in the amount of $182,285.07. Commissioner Goss questioned amounts paid to the city attorney, broken down as $600 to WODA reappraisal, $200 to blight prosecution and $400 to KOK license application. City Manager’s Report KOK Application City Manager Yemi Akinwale began by reporting that the proposed marijuana grow operation located on a portion of the Hartford Speedway property has been reassigned a separate address as a distinct parcel, circumventing issues with the easternmost border of the speedway within 1000’ of a school. Akinwale also reports lacking documentation to move forward with the application filed by Kingdom of Kush Inc. Questions then arose as to why the city has already spent $400 on KOK with the city attorney on an application that had not been properly vetted at the City Manager’s office and in the eyes of some commissioners is essentially invalid. No clear answer came to light as to how long KOK has to file the necessary addendums or be rejected. County Sewer Project Akinwale reports that Van Buren County is still up in the air pending additional engineering and cost studies regarding the proposal to connect the county facilities located on Red Arrow Highway and County Road 681 to the city’s system. The Fairgrounds, County Health Department, Michigan Department of Human Services, Historical Society and Animal Control would, in theory, all be tied into a line that would run along Red Arrow Highway to connect to excess capacity of the city system adding a potential $533,000 in annual revenue for the city with an infrastructure cost in excess of $4 million based on initial estimates. Mayor Hall expressed his concern over the large number of RVs present during fair time and would have to see how the RV waste was to be managed before he could feel comfortable endorsing such a plan. Dollar General The owner of the business ravaged by fire last year has obtained a permit for the partial demolition of the south section of the building, with intentions to rebuild the store to match the newest addition which formerly housed the Movie Gallery. 1 West Main Answers were much less forthcoming when commissioners question the City Manager as to the status of 1 West Main. With no visible improvement commissioners want answers as to when that will happen. Akinwale states as before that the building has been purchased by local businessmen who intend to rehabilitate the building for apartment use. No action or inspection has been taken by the city at this time. Commissioners expressed concern that 1 West will drag on like its neighbor 1 East, only to fall to a wrecking ball after two years of a vague business plan incapable of securing financing. New business The Commission voted unanimously to approve the appointment of Gurnamaskar Singh Sr., owner of the Citgo Gas Station located at 332 West Main, to the DDA Board. In the wake of PNC Bank’s branch closure the commission approved Chemical Bank, Hartford and Sturgis Bank & Trust of Bangor as the city’s financial depositories. Having no further business, Mayor Hall adjourned the meeting at 8:28 p.m. The Council next meets in a combined workshop/ business session on Monday, December 18.