WHITEHALL — The Whitehall city council approved bids from Prein and Newhof to enter into the engineering and design phase of road improvement projects on both Muskegon Avenue and Livingston Street, part of a large slate of financial items during its regular meeting Tuesday night.
The combined expenditure for design and construction oversight for the two road projects will be $585,500: $342,700 for the Livingston project and the remainder for the work on Muskegon.
Both approvals passed with a 5-0 vote. Tanya Cabala and Roger Squiers were absent.
The resolutions for both projects described them as "critical need" improvements for the city. Road reconstruction, water main replacements and new sidewalks will be part of the work done on both roads.
Mayor Tom Ziemer expressed excitement that the city was taking concrete steps toward road repairs; the topic was one of his main priorities when running for the office last year.
The council also granted a 5-0 approval to a contract with Jaekel Construction for $61,825 to do dock repairs and install steel handrails at the marina, with the money coming out of the marina fund. City manager Dan Tavernier said he viewed the work as a priority because he wouldn't feel comfortable renting some of the slips out until it is completed.
Three other financial approvals were granted 5-0: The establishment of a $42,000 facade grant program that will allow up to seven businesses per year in the Commercial Rehabilitation District to seek city funding to improve their exteriors; a $7,500 allocation to the Arts Council of White Lake-Nuveen Center to help pay for rehabilitation work on the Sailboat Trees sculpture in Covell Park; and $1,000 in support to the White Lake Community Garden, as well as waiving the cost of the garden's water use, providing a port-a-potty there in the summer months, and a five-year permit approval for the garden's continued use of Slocum Park.
The facade grant money, which Tavernier said will come out of the proceeds of a recent land sale, will be used as a test run to see if the council would like to continue the program in the 2026-27 budget. The program will allow up to seven businesses in the Commercial Rehab District, which encompasses most of Colby Street, to seek up to $6,000 each in grant money to aid in various exterior improvements. This could include Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, as well as work on entryways or replacement of windows or doors. Properties would be eligible to seek funds once every two years, with work to be completed by June 30 of the fiscal year.
Greg Tuggle of Painting Services of West Michigan, based in Grand Haven, will rehabilitate the Sailboat Trees sculpture, which the ACWL-Nuveen says is in dire need of repair. The work, which will cost $12,140, includes sandblasting the sculpture to remove loose paint and rust and repainting it with catalyzed polyurethane, a more durable material than the original powder-coated surface. The remainder of the funding is provided by a White Lake Community Fund grant received last year. The ACWL-Nuveen reported that Tuggle believes the work will extend the sculpture's lifespan by 25-plus years.
With the approval of the garden's requests, its board will move forward with expansion plans it hopes will over time transform the space into a "food forest" that can provide local residents with plentiful fresh produce. Council member Bryan Mahan said the extended term, a departure from the usual practice of year-to-year approvals for requests of this nature, allows the garden to pursue its long-term plan, which includes more planting and fencing.
Ziemer reported that the outlook for the White Lake Senior Center building may be rosier than previously believed after he attended the center's Feb. 17 board meeting. He said Montague city manager Jeff Auch shared a quote from the firm Fleis and Vandenbrink saying the main structural issues with the building could be resolved by excavating below its back wall and installing helical piers to stabilize it. This would cost between $50,000-$75,000, with additional follow-up costs for masonry repairs, but would keep the building usable and would prevent the necessity of seeking a new home for the Senior Center.
The council also received the city's annual audit presentation from Vredeveld Haefner, with presenter Matthew Vredeveld reporting a clean audit. There was some discussion about implementing controls to verify marina revenues, which do not currently exist, though as the marina no longer accepts cash payments, monitoring those revenues is easier than it once was.
Tavernier said bids for work on the Lake Street road improvement projects are set to open this week. He hopes that work can begin on those improvements by April.
