VBT OKs resolution to move forward on Haggerty Rd. construction

The Van Buren Township Board of Trustees unanimously approved an Intergovernmental Agreement with Wayne County for reconstruction of and water main work adjacent to Haggerty Road north of Ecorse Road. This was at its regular meeting on Aug. 16.
The township will pay the entire cost for water main reconstruction enlarging the water main from 12” to 16”, estimated to cost $2,475,670.20, to service present and upcoming development along Haggerty.
The township also has agreed to pay road reconstruction cost of up to 8% — $458,294.90 — over estimated total combined construction, design, and construction engineering cost of $5,728,673.63, associated with the reconstruction of Haggerty Road between Ecorse and Van Born roads.
Work is expected to start in the spring of 2023 and competitive bids will be taken during the winter.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said more than $2 million worth of development is planned on the west side of Haggerty and some of the existing businesses have had water-flow problems. There also have been fire-fighting capability problems. This project was planned for a later time, but got moved up in priority to coincide with the better prices the township would get by tying it to the road project.
In other action at the one-hour meeting on Aug. 16, the board:
• Held a public hearing and then established the Greenbriar Special Assessment District for $750,000 to upgrade the roads in the subdivision and set a public hearing. Supervisor Kevin McNamara was recused and left the meeting during the discussion because he lives in Greenbriar and had a conflict of interest. He did not vote on the decision. The estimated total assessment for each parcel is $4,455 which may be paid in up to five annual installments of $891 each, which includes 1.5% interest. The township board will meet at 6 p.m., Sept. 6, to review the SAD roll and hear objections from the public before voting to approve the roll;
• Approved Supervisor McNamara’s appointment of architect Bernard Grant to the planning commission with a term to expire Oct. 1, 2022;
• Approved McNamara’s appointment of Van Buren Public Schools Supt. Peter Kudlak to the Local Development Finance Authority and to reappoint Van Buren Public Schools Finance Director Sara Cortese to the LDFA. Both terms expire Aug. 12, 2026;
• Approved the personal services agreement as Network Systems Administrator in Information Technology for Brad Barbaza at a salary of $78,000. His career was working with Information Technology with the City of Dearborn’s Police Department of more than 300 personnel. McNamara said they received more than 40 resumes through INDEED and he came out on top. He started the next morning;
• Approved selecting the only bidder Davenport Brothers Construction for the French Landing Park Phase II for a total of $490,544. Russell Design, the township’s landscape architects, recommended not accepting two of three proposed alternates: seeded lawn in lieu of sod or milling asphalt in lieu of removing and disposing. Russell did recommend alternated #3 for composite rail fence in lieu of cedar rail fence, which increased the bid price by $15,660, making it $490,544;
• Approved the agreement between the township and the City of Romulus for the provision of water services to a property owner at 13164 Hannan Rd., at the responsibility of the property owner;
• Approved the agreement between the township and Wayne County Airport Authority for the east side infrastructure project to construct potable water and sanitary sewer to support their facilities at Willow Run. The Authority will incur all the costs and when complete turn it over to the township, McNamara said;
• Approved a Management Consultant Professional Services Agreement with the township’s retired Water & Sewer Director James T. Taylor for $100 per hour, to work no more than 20 hours per calendar month. McNamara said the Water & Sewer directorship changed three times since Taylor left and he has been consulting to make sure everything is done right. “We want to give Director [Kevin] Lawrence all he needs to succeed,” McNamara said of the latest director;
• Under public comment, heard Reg Ion say he is impressed with the looks of the museum but he would like to see the total cost. He also requested the township do an air quality study on the Beck/Ecorse area next to the airport. He said for about a mile it is dust, dust, dust. He said on Denton and Ecorse roads you have to roll your windows up. Trustee Donald Boynton interrupted Ion’s comments and said the hill of spoils, the huge mound of pavement there at the airport, is pretty much gone. Ion said it is not gone. He said the airport was doing construction for two years and Boynton didn’t even know. McNamara said he would get in touch with the airport. Ion said he’s tried and you can’t call anyone over there. “I have all their cellphones now,” McNamara said. Ion said for three years now he’s been complaining about this and why they don’t use calcium chloride to keep the dust down is beyond him;
• Heard Ion say Clerk Leon Wright was a “lousy clerk” because he does not get good sized flags at the polls for election day and sometimes there are no flags at all. “You failed big time on flags on election day,” he said, noting this was the fourth or fifth election he has complained to Wright about the flags. He accused Wright of putting “itty-bitty flags” up. Wright disagreed, saying he got awards for being “a lousy clerk.” He said big flags don’t fit in the bags prepared for the poll workers and sometimes the volunteer workers don’t pull them out. “I’ve been accredited for not being a lousy clerk,” Wright insisted. “Fifth time, Leon,” Ion replied. Later Wright suggested Ion volunteer to check all the polls for flags at the next election and Ion said he would be glad to do that; and
• Heard Mike Monroe, president of the Greenbriar Homeowners’ Association, say the HOA has a water meter to irrigate an area at the subdivision. The water runs off to a storm sewer and no water goes into the storm sewer at all, but the HOA is paying a sewage fee. He said it is “unethical and improper.” McNamara said he will look into it and Monroe is not alone in his complaint. Monroe said other townships don’t charge a sewage fee and it can be done. McNamara said Monroe lives right down the street from him, so he will have to get him an answer.
Work/Study Session
Starting at 5 p.m. on Aug. 16 the board held a 58-minute work/study session and the only item on the agenda was a closed-door discussion on the strategy and negotiations of the Michigan Association of Fire Fighters collective bargaining agreement. No action was taken after the closed-door session, except to adjourn.