Osceola Township seeks millage increase for aging roads
By JANE NORDBERG, DMG WriterOSCEOLA TOWNSHIP - Osceola Township voters Tuesday have a chance to rebuild the township's deteriorating roads and sidewalks, but officials warn it won't be a quick process.
"What we're asking for now won't fund anything until 2009," Township Supervisor Steve Karpiak said. A millage increase on Tuesday's ballot, if approved, wouldn't be collected until February of 2010.
"The earliest we'd be able to start any work is the summer of 2010," Karpiak said. "It's a slow, forward-thinking process, but we have to start now if we have any hope of doing the work then."
The proposal on Tuesday's ballot asks voters for an increase of up to 3 mills for 2009 through 2014 for road and sidewalk improvements. The township already receives one mill for roads and sidewalk improvements, but that expires in 2009. Rather than spend the money for a separate election next year, Karpiak said, the township thought it more fiscally responsible to ask for the additional mills, plus a renewal of the one mill, this election year.
If approved, the 3-mill proposal would raise $73,365 in 2009. The money cannot be used for any other project, Karpiak said, just roads, drainage and sidewalks.
Which is good, really, because those are the township's biggest priorities.
"Dollar Bay has significantly poor drainage, which has hindered any efforts for long-term road improvements," Karpiak said. Snow melt in the spring causes flooding in the township's series of storm drains, which become clogged with stamp sand. It can be pumped out with a vacuum truck, but the township doesn't own one. Using the Torch Lake Sewage Authority's vacuum truck is a problem, because Michigan Department of Environmental Quality regulations have changed, Karpiak said, now requiring the materials to be placed on a concrete slab, tested, and transported out of the county.
"It's become very cost-prohibitive," Karpiak said. "We have to get the water from Dollar Bay out of Dollar Bay."
Traverse Engineering Services of Hancock completed a street improvement plan a year ago for the township, identifying eight priority sites for improvement. Those include First Street, Elm Avenue and Dogwood Avenue in Dollar Bay, and Beech, Cedar and Elm Streets in Tamarack Location, in the township's properties near Calumet.
"One of the reasons this will take a while is that the money has to accumulate," said TES President Dick Supina. Supina recommended the township select a project, a portion of a project or a group of projects that can be improved based on funding and construction costs.
Karpiak said it's not the township's intention to patch up roads in a piecemeal fashion.
"We need to do whole streets, not just blocks," he said. "Everything has gone up, and one mill just doesn't do squat."
Jane Nordberg can be reached at jnordberg@mininggazette.com
