By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
CLARKSTON — During its meeting on Aug. 26, the Clarkston City Council discussed several items including a resolution regarding sanitary sewer pipe repairs in West Alley and continued discussion on the single day waste haulers as well as one new topic; bioswale installation.
Sanitary sewer pipe repairs in West Alley
Council voted unanimously to authorize the completion of two open cut sewer repairs in West Alley as well as authorize city Treasurer Greg Cote to pay the repair invoice from the city’s water fund. Council also authorized the city to utilize its sewer billing system to recoup the cost of repairs via a temporary increase for the next year on each Residential Equivalency Unit (REU).
In May of this year, the Independence Township Department of Public Works (DPW) contracted with Pipeline Management Company (PMC) to clean, inspect and televise all sanitary sewer pipes in the city. The township was responsible for the cost of the cleaning and inspection but the city was responsible for the cost of any required repairs that were identified during the inspection.
In July, PMC notified the city that there were two required repairs, both in the West Ally, that would require excavation in order to complete. The total cost, per a quote from PMC, rounded out to about $121,052. PMC also recommended several pipe rehabilitations but has not yet evaluated the cost at this time.
According to city documents, Treasurer Cote has reviewed the city’s water and sewer funds and recommends that the sewer repair cost be initially covered by the water fund and followed by the implementation of a cost recovery plan consisting of four quarterly payments from residents and business owners.
“We have some excess, rainy day funds in our water fund but our sewer fund does not have any. There are monies in the account, don’t get me wrong but we have to be prepared for the next sewer bill,” said city Manager Jonathan Smith. “We pay the sewer fund and then we get payments in from all the residents. You have to have some flow in that money, I can’t take it right down to zero because we have inbound and outbound payments. That’s why we feel we can borrow from the water fund to make this payment but we have to recoup our money back.”
Under the approved proposal, each REU would be billed $215.01, which will be broken up into four quarterly payments of $53.75 in addition to the current quarterly REU cost of $128. The increase in quarterly payment is expected to start at the Oct. 2024 billing cycle.
According to Smith, the city intends to get started on the project as soon as possible and noted that PMC informed him they can complete the project in between three and five days.
Single day waste hauler
Councilmember Ted Quisenberry requested council revisit the discussion on the single day waste hauler issue.
“We discussed this in two, maybe three meetings and didn’t do anything with it, which was the decision of the council based on what our options were at the time. But, one of the points that we brought up was, instead of a single trash hauler was the option of a single day trash service and that appeared, in my opinion, to get the support of several people on the council here. So, I thought, before we let this thing just sit and fester and go away, do we want to consider an option for council, not a vote to the people, but the council to consider directing the city manager to look into and bring back to us a plan for a single day trash service,” Quisenberry said.
Council has discussed both a single waste hauler and a single day hauler in the city at three meetings in recent months but have not made any decisions as far as ballot initiatives or direction of Manager Smith to bring proposals forward.
Councilmember Gary Casey spoke to say he was not in favor of a single day hauler system in the city stating he felt it would have a “neutral impact” on the roads.
“Instead of having the same number of trucks and the same number of haulers on different days, they would be on the same day,” Casey said. “So, I think it’s a neutral road impact and that was one of the big selling points of a single hauler.”
Casey also raised concerns about how a single day hauler system would impact business operations for waste haulers and also noted that he felt the noise that garbage trucks make wouldn’t go away anyway.
Mayor Sue Wylie, who had previously said she liked the idea of a single day hauler system, doubled down on her stance, stating that she felt there would be fewer garbage trucks on the road should they switch to a single day system. Wylie cited a public comment made at the July 22 meeting from Tony Detkowski owner of TNR Lawn Service & Dumpster, LLC who told council that in Ortonville, when they implemented a single day hauler system, several companies pulled out of servicing the area.
“Lets say we pick Monday. If only two companies can do Monday then that almost automatically reduces the amount of companies servicing the community, which does decrease the amount of traffic on the road which does mean, I think, less noise,” Wylie said.
Council did not take action on the item but the door was left open for another conversation on the topic at a later date.
Bioswale installation
Council unanimously approved a resolution to install an estimated 10 bioswales in the amount not to exceed $1,000. The project will be funded by the park materials budget.
“Bioswales and rain gardens are proven methods of filtering contaminants from rain water runoff before flowing into storm sewers and bodies of water,” said Wylie.
Last year, the city’s biophilic committee obtained donations to install five bioswales around storm drains in the city. However, there are roughly 45 unprotected inlets in the city. Because of that, the biophilic committee is seeking approval for a program which would split the cost of bioswale installation between the city and property owners.
Under the proposal, the property owner would be responsible for installing the bioswale and other material cost which is estimated to total $170. The city would then be responsible for purchasing the planting as well as the site preparation at a not to exceed cost of $1,000 for the current fiscal year.