SN 3-11-2023

The Sun and News, Saturday, March 11, 2023/ Page 5

Township hall renovation in Yankee Springs

ahead of schedule, under budget, board says

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

The renovation of the

Yankee Springs Township

Hall is running ahead of

schedule and under budget,

township officials say.

Township Clerk Mike

Cunningham said at

Thursday’s board meeting

that the project will be com-

pleted and ready for occu-

pancy in the first week of

April. That’s well ahead of

an earlier timeline that put

the project completion and

occupancy in the middle of

May.

Work on renovating the

original 4,000-square-foot

building and adding more

than 1,700 square feet to the

structure began in July, with

the initial work focusing on

expansion. Once the expan-

sion was completed, offices

were moved into the addition

and work began on renovat-

ing the original office space

and the meeting room where

township meetings are held.

The original project esti-

mate was $1.2 million - $

million for the construction

work by project contractor

Mugen Construction,

$101,000 for contingency

and $97,000 to Fleis &

VandenBrink for design and

engineering costs. At pres-

ent, the project is projected

to come in $39,169 under

budget, Cunningham said.

There was one signifi-

cant change to the project.

Cunningham reported that a

new, larger-capacity gener-

ator that had earlier been

planned will not be

installed. Township offi-

cials learned that the hall

would not have power for

lighting or receptacles in

case of a power outage. The

contractor and architect

were informed that it wasn’t

acceptable, and the contrac-

tor has since added a small

panel in the furnace room

that can provide generator

power.

“There is a panel in, we

will have lighting and recep-

tacles for meetings and elec-

tions if the power goes out,”

Cunningham said. “There’s

no guarantee ... that the gen-

erator can handle it.”

Cunningham said the

township will have to get a

larger generator in the future.

“We’ll see how this goes,” he

said.

Furnishings for the

reception area are expected

to be installed on April 7.

At that time, the township

will need to relocate the

treasurer’s office furnish-

ings and contents to the

treasurer’s office and move

the zoning administrator,

zoning assistant and code

enforcement office to the

zoning office. In addition,

the township needs to

acquire three desks to fur-

nish the zoning office and

filing cabinets may also be

needed, Cunningham said.

The board Thursday

approved two small purchas-

es tied to the hall project –

approving the addition of

two 8-foot sections of snow

bars to protect the generator

and the new heating and

cooling unit at the hall from

falling snow and ice in the

amount of $1,029, and

approving the purchase of

one fireproof file cabinet for

the assessor’s office at a cost

of no more than $3,648.

Cunningham said the gener-

ator that was installed in

2018-19 had a large dent in

the housing that was caused

by falling ice.

The township has been

holding its board, planning

commission and zoning

board of appeals meetings at

Gun Lake Community

Church while the meeting

room portion of the hall was

being renovated.

Cal middle school robotics teams compete in state VEX finals

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Four teams from

Caledonia Community

Schools were among 54

teams from around the

state to compete in the

2023 Middle School VEX

Robotics state champion-

ship last Saturday at River

Raisin National Battlefield

Park in Monroe.

The teams battled hours

of treacherous driving

through a winter storm the

day before just to get to the

meet. The end goal was to

qualify for the VEX World

Championship in April –

and Grant Feldpausch, rep-

resenting Team 97896B

(Lord of the Disks and

absent team members

Daniel Donaldson, Zack

Keson and Gavin Van

Meter) did just that. After

finishing 16th in qualifying

play, Feldpausch advanced

to the semifinals in bracket

play, earning his team a

ticket to the world champi-

onship.

Team 97311A (Vex

Luthor 2.0), comprised of

Gavin Grysen, Nicholai

Nonhof, Logan Workman

(and missing from the

event, Owen Marshall),

also advanced to bracket

play, but were eliminated

by the event champions in

the first round.

Also competing at the

state finals were Team

97311B (Rojo Disco), with

Logan Paulen, Nola

Pearson and Sophia

Teelander, and Team

97896B (Brain Dead), with

Trevor Dorman, Roger

McIntyre and Connor

Smead. They represented

Caledonia well but did not

advance into bracket play.

All four Caledonia teams

were invited to the state

finals based on their out-

standing skills scores.

These scores are obtained

by a combination of auton-

omous programming and

driving sessions at each

event.

Caledonia Robotics is

operated under Caledonia

EnrichED, a 501(c)3 non-

profit organization that

was formed in partnership

with Caledonia Community

Schools, dedicated to help

maintain and enhance the

quality of educational

enrichment opportunities

in the district. To learn

more about EnrichED, visit

calschools.org/enriched.

Grant Feldpausch represented VEX World
Championship-qualifying team Lord of the Disks.

Caledonia’s Middle School State attendees (from left to right): Connor Smead, Roger McIntyre, Trevor

Dorman, Nicholai Nonhof, Logan Workman, Gavin Grysen, Grant Feldpaush, Nola Pearson, Logan Paulen,

Sophia Teelander. (Courtesy photos)