SHELBY - Monday’s Shelby Village Council meeting saw councilors split once again on two separate resolutions, with members Steve Crothers, Samantha Gottschalk, Curt Trott and Village President John Sutton voting in favor, while Crystal Heykoop and Dan Zaverl voted in opposition on each. Council member Mike Termer had an excused absence.
In the first resolution, Village Administrator Phil Morse began by saying three bids had been received for the village’s South Michigan Avenue water main and service line replacement project, with Hallack Contracting submitting the lowest bid of $1,265,000. Morse explained that after months of planning, this important infrastructure project is ready to move forward.
He went on, saying that after a thorough review, he’d identified two important considerations. The lowest bid was $367,027 over the original cost estimate, and, after the project was paid for, the village’s water fund would be approximately $135,000 lower than expected when the village adopted its budget in February.
Morse admitted when he presented the FY26-27 budget to the public, he inadvertently left out the $300,000 transfer from the village’s local and major street funds to the downtown development project, which the council had voted to transfer at their Jan. 12, 2026 meeting. Due to the resulting water fund balance being lower than allowed, the Finance Committee met to work out two possible scaled-back options.
A $990,000 option would include the following: elimination of the Bennett Street water main replacement, perform a one-and-a-half-inch mill and fill on Grant and Bennett Streets, patching of approximately 800 square feet of Bennett, replacement of service lines through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and elimination of one leach basin replacement. This version would leave an estimated year-end (February 2027) Water Fund balance of approximately $260,000, Morse said.
A second option for $869,000 would include the above adjustments, as well as the removal of the new curb and gutter on South Michigan Avenue and limiting reconstruction of the street to one half and only resurfacing the remaining half. This option would leave approximately $390,000 in the water fund at year-end.
Despite Morse’s unintended omission, he believes the $990,000 option offers a viable alternative for the project, while leaving the water fund balance in an acceptable position. (After the meeting, Morse verified that because the project was based on unit pricing, it does not need to be rebid.)
During council discussion, Zaverl voiced his discontent with the downtown renovation project, exclaiming, “We don’t need this downtown! Are you going to tell people we’re not going to do their roads?”
Council member Heykoop said, “If we can’t do both, we need to take care of our citizens first. At what point do we consider putting the $300,000 back?"
The remaining council members shared brief comments, while Morse reminded council that other village streets are on the schedule to be fixed in the coming years and that those projects, along with a renovated downtown and the new housing units proposed for the corner of Fourth Street and North Michigan Avenue, go hand in hand. “They’re all connected,” concluded Morse.
The other split vote was with regard to a proposed Memo of Understanding (MOU) between the Village of Shelby and the Oceana County Development Corporation (OCDC) regarding a new park being built at the Shelby Acres subdivision.
The Shelby Acres Park development team has asked the village if they would be interested in taking on limited maintenance responsibilities for a new park in exchange for it being added to the village’s park system and made available for public use.
According to the MOU, the village agrees to perform ongoing maintenance and operational duties to include the mowing of turf areas, removal of garbage, playground inspection and minor repairs, as well as cleaning and stocking the restrooms.
The OCDC agrees to cover the cost of fertilizer, playground equipment costs, general infrastructure upkeep, restroom paper products and cleaning supplies, irrigation, establishing/maintaining/updating park guidelines and rules, retaining liability and keeping planted areas weeded.
Again, Zaverl voiced discontent. Gottschalk, chair of the village Parks & Recreation committee, said, “It’s important our entities are working together; Shelby Acres is a part of the village.”
Sutton added that the developers are willing to share their new park with the entire community, not just Shelby residents, in exchange for help with general maintenance.
In other business, the council came together and voted unanimously to approve the following: a tree trimming and removal bid from Custom Tree Service for $10,000; the 2026 DWSRF project to Ryerson Brothers Excavating of Muskegon in the amount of $647,596.25; a required DWSRF ordinance to go along with the aforementioned 2026 project; and a transfer of $17,790.01, generated from last year’s Chainsaw Carving Festival and currently being held in the village’s General Fund, to a new nonprofit organization called Shelby Events Inc. created to oversee village events in the future.
During public comment, members of the Shelby Wesleyan Church questioned why no parking was now being allowed on Ferry Street, as there has been curbside parking there since the 1990s. They noted that the no-parking ban is making it more difficult for the elderly and that neighbors across the street are parking on a bump-out. They asked if they could at least be allowed to use street parking on Sundays. Police Chief Dean Roesler provided reasoning behind the recent no parking designation, saying it was to address traffic safety concerns. He added that neighbors parking in the bump-out had been ticketed and would continue to be ticketed if they continued parking there. He said the village would look into it further and get back with the church. Sutton thanked the church members for bringing this concern to the council’s attention.
Finally, Morse let those assembled know that the entire community was invited to this year’s “Bike-to-School” event with Shelby Elementary School on Wednesday, May 6. The event will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the William Field Memorial Hart-Montague Trail State Park (Rail Trail) pavilion in downtown Shelby. Students, staff and the community will ride together on the Rail Trail and village streets from the pavilion to the school. Adults will be stationed along the way, and a police escort will be available.
