Speaking at the Hagar Township Board of Trustees monthly meeting on May 13, 2024, were two candidates running in the November election. Berrien County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Amy Byrd introduced herself as a candidate running for the office of Berrien County Prosecutor and George McManus, who is one of the candidates running for Drain Commissioner for Berrien County.
And the prior to Supervisor Izzy DiMaggio giving his report, Sam and Connie Monte presented the board with an offer to gift the parcel of land located on 3855 Riverside Road to the township to be used to extend the park that is adjacent to the property. The Montes will now spend time working with the Hagar Township Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and the township board to work out the details moving forward. This couple shares the belief that it is important to develop the area for adult use and they look forward to seeing the design concepts that come from the development stage of the project.
After their presentation, the supervisor gave an update on the Public Safety Building where he announced that a bid from Pierson Construction was awarded the contract.
Additionally, DiMaggio reported that the fencing and signs that were approved last month have been installed along the top and bottom area of the bluff that is experiencing heavy erosion. After posting requests for proposals to address the erosion issue, LandTech WMI, a Geo-Technical construction company based out of Holland, Michigan, which specializes in areas of shoreline restoration and protection, did an inspection of Hagar Park.
LandTech’s report states that the current site condition includes a catastrophic slope failure along with an area that is starting to reach the threshold of catastrophic slope failure. In geotechnical terms, an earth or soil slope is a surface of soil mass that is at an incline. Slopes can both occur naturally or be manmade. In either circumstance, it is important to monitor earth slopes, such as their balance, shear strength, and ability to withstand movement, to ensure slope failure does not occur, or if it has occurred, how to stop it from further damage.
According to LandTech’s finding, the cause of Hagar Park’s slope failure condition is due to the separation of the surface soils from the clay layer that is about 10” below the surface of the park’s grassy area.
Ryan Hall, an agent of LandTech WMI, was on hand at the meeting to help answer any questions that the board had after reading the detailed report which stated that there are seven existing conditions that are contributing to the slope failure.
The seven conditions listed in the order of significance are clay lens leaks from migrating subsoil water that is saturating the organic soil layer; shallow organic soil layer with heavy, shallow-rooted trees on the slope face; slope angles exceeding 35 degrees; weak slope toe stability; unimpeded human and animal foot traffic on the slope; surface runoff from the upland turf and pavement areas of the park; lack of multi-species, with diverse plant profiles with shallow/mid-depth fibrous roots to deepen penetrating root profiles.
The report also noted that there is a need for all large, single-trunk, heavy top-growth trees to be removed and then replaced with forbes (which are herbaceous broadleaf plants), shrubs, and shorter multi-stemmed trees to help mitigate the erosion problem going forward.
Hall explains that the clay lens leaks are random and quite unpredictable. Therefore notorious for causing separation and slide off of surface soil layers, like what is transpiring at Hagar Park.
LandTech WMI submitted a preliminary budget for engineering, permits, construction, restoration, and cleanup to be at $487,230 for a full repair. The cost of only doing a short-term repair for the failed slope area would be about $194,000. The board plans to have further discussions on the matter before making a decision on how to proceed.
Clerk’s Report
The clerk’s report stated that the May 7th election was a success and he wanted all the election workers to know that he was thankful for their hard work. Clerk Tom Allen also reported that all of Hagar’s results were turned in by 9 p.m. on election night making them one of the first few precincts to be turned into the county office.
In the report last month, Clerk Allen included a list of all expenses that were incurred for both the precinct consolidation and primary election. The total of $4,324.87 was submitted to the state for reimbursement and he reported that about $4,100 of that expense will be reimbursed by the state.
Treasurer’s Report
Kim LaSata presented her treasurer’s report for April. The Township Board approved the paying of bills for $41,488.28 for the month.
Public Service Reports
Medic 1 Ambulance had submitted their report dated March 2024. In the report, it showed a total of 20 calls within the township. There were six Priority I calls and 14 Priority II calls on record.
Great Lakes Rescue reported three Priority I calls for Hagar Township for April. There was a call on April 10 that took a bit longer than usual to respond to because construction vehicles were blocking entry, so an alternate route had to be accessed to get to the scene.
The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department report was presented by Deputy Katie VanKampen. The statistics for March 2024 reflected that there were 32 complaints worked in the township with three arrests and four tickets issued for the month.
Other reports
At the board meeting, the board heard the building report from Butch Kelley. Kelley showed four permits totaling $101,663 for the building department.
In addition, the board heard that there are two new requests for rental inspections and there are 20 rentals currently in violation because they have not completed their rental inspections.
The next township meeting is June 10, 2024, at 7 p.m.
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