Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette Gail Kotajarvi-Gerard, Eric Waara and Amy Zawada go over the potential relief funds regarding damage done to streets in Houghton from the heavy rainfall in the summer. The council approved Resolution 2025-1993, which allows the city to request relief through the Michigan State Police.

HOUGHTON — The City of Houghton is eligible for up to $250,000 in relief from damage done to the city during the heavy rainfall over the summer according to City Manager Eric Waara. In his report at the city council meeting Wednesday, Waara said he met last week with the Michigan State Police (MSP) Disaster Recovery Team. He said he was told that under Section 19 of the Emergency Management Act, MSP can reimburse some of the costs the city paid for permanent repairs. Documentation will need to be provided to MSP and Waara is designated as the official authorized to file the application for financial assistance and provide further information to the state. The City Council approved this in Resolution 2025-1993.

MSP was not the only entity discussing roads with Waara, as he said MDOT held an online conversation regarding Federal Highway Administration money for the city’s major streets. The federal government will pay for some of the repairs the city made on its major streets due to the heavy rainfalls.

“So we could be looking in the neighborhood of about $200,000 for reimbursing us for our response work and then paying for permanent repairs on those streets,” Waara said. “We’re going to keep working on that paperwork. Those areas were Sharon, Dodge, Military and on Macinnes Drive.” Waara explained back in July he mentioned the city might need money for Agate Street repairs and is hoping the relief funds can cover it.

East Houghton Park’s cribbing dock experienced a failure a few months ago and has been fenced off and Waara says it is going to take a significant amount of money to fix it. He said a decision will need to be made on how it is going to be repaired so it won’t be an issue about 10 years from now.

In other action, the council learned the DPW has begun putting up holiday lighting along the waterfront and streets for the winter season.

Houghton Police Chief John Donnelly reported the police department had a meeting with the Child Advocacy Center (CAC). The CAC interviews juveniles regarding abuse with a focus on minimizing trauma to the child during the process according to the Copper Shores website.

“At one time, a crusty old police officer would go into a room with a kid and interview them, and we didn’t do them that often. We really weren’t that well trained in them. Now there’s a center with specially trained people just to talk to kids. So when there’s sexual assaults with under 16 year olds, they do the interviews,” he said.

Donnelly explained during the meeting it was discussed many referrals come from School Resource Officers and the CAC talked about how valuable it is having the officers in schools and the relationships they have with the students. It was noted how students are willing to report things they were not reporting before to the officers. Council member Brian Irizarry commented on the school resource officers, saying they were tremendous.

“As a teacher I see the kids going up to ours, and they have a great relationship,” Irizarry said.

Donnelly said a 50-50 grant was earned to pay for half of the bulletproof vests that are replaced every five years for officers. The police department also received new duty weapons, which have been upgraded from 40 caliber to 9 millimeter. A new patrol vehicle for the department is ready for pickup in Gaylord, which Donnelly thanked the council for.