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Council votes to contract with MDOT

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Mayor Matt Waligora proclaimed the week of June 24-30 Association of Lifelong Learners Week in Alpena and presented some members of the organization the proclamation at Monday’s Alpena Municipal Council meeting.

ALPENA — Alpena Municipal Council voted 4-0 to enter into a contract with Michigan Department of Transportation that will provide the city $325,000 in federal funding to help cover the cost of the reconstruction of Miller Street.

The city’s match for the project is about $1,132,600, which will come from water, sewer and major street funds. Council also voted to hire Huron Engineering for $52,770 to manage the project that should be completed over 10 weeks this fall.

At Monday’s council meeting City Engineer Rich Sullenger said the project will run from Walnut Street and end at Second Avenue. He said the condition of the street has been deteriorating over the years and the city did its best to keep it serviceable. Sullenger said it is at the point where a full reconstruction is needed.

“Anyone who has driven down Miller Street knows there are sections that are in very poor condition,” Sullenger said. “We’ve patched it and years ago some thin overlays on it. It’s just the point to where it needs to be redone. The utilities need to be replaced, but we didn’t want to invest a lot of money into it because we knew this was coming down the pike.”

Sullenger said the project originally was slated for next year, but the city was able to expedite it through MDOT.

He said the city needed to hire a state certified inspector to be on site with the contractor that will be hired because of the terms of the contract with MDOT. He said there were three bids received, with Huron Engineering being the lowest. Sullenger said the city and Huron Engineering worked on other projects, such as the Grant Street reconstruction and the Second Avenue Bridge update.

Sullenger said the project should begin in late August and be done about 10 weeks afterward.

In other business:

∫ council voted to approve a budget amendment for $68,715 from general fund and $2,216 from water fund to balance the retiree health care funding. The amendments will add a touch over $70,000 to the budget deficit for next fiscal year.

∫ Mayor Matt Waligora proclaimed the week of June 24-30 Association of Lifelong Learners Week in Alpena and this week Amateur Radio Week in the city.

∫ council voted to adopt the Uniform Guidance Policies and Procedures for Federal Awards Administration.

∫ City Manager Greg Sundin read a prepared statement that provided insight on miscommunication regarding the permitting process and cost overruns for the splash park project. Sundin apologized to the media and Rotary Club for having inaccurate information provided to them. The project remains on target to be complete by June 30 and ready for the busy Fourth of July weekend.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.

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