The Sun and News, Saturday, August 5, 2023/ Page 9Work on Campau-Kettle Lake trail to begin soon
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Construction is soon
expected to get underway on
the newest addition to
Caledonia Township’s net-
work of non-motorized trails.
Work is expected to begin
Aug. 14 on a new trail in the
Campau-Kettle Lake area.
The trail will run along
Whitneyville Avenue from
Kettle Lake Elementary
School to 66th Street, along
66th to McCords Avenue and
along McCords past the
Department of Natural
Resources boat launch to
Channel Drive.
Two residents who live near
Campau Lake raised concerns
about the project at Wednesday
night’s Township Board meet-
ing. Pat Decker, a 25-year
resident of the area, was con-
cerned about the potential loss
of trees to the project, as well
as what he saw as a lack of
communication from the
township. Decker’s wife,
Mary, had earlier called the
township to report a tree being
marked to be cut down in the
area where the path was to be
built along 66th Street.
“She was uninformed
(about the project). She didn’t
understand what was going
on,” Decker said. “They’re out
cutting trees, and she got upset
real fast.”
Township Trustee Dale
Hermenet and Supervisor
Bryan Harrison responded to
the area when they received
the call from Mary Decker.
Hermenet said the project
engineer was not aware that
trees were being marked to be
cut down and thanked the
Deckers for letting them know
about the situation.
Pat Decker asked the board
to save as many trees as possi-
ble during construction.
Hermenet said the township
would make sure the contrac-
tor honored that request.
“Everything we can do to
not cut trees down, that’s what
we’re going to do,” Hermenet
said.
The township has been able
to get expanded easements
from a couple of property
owners along 66th that will
make it possible for the con-
struction crew to avoid “eight
to 12 trees” that might other-
wise have been cut down,
Harrison said.
Another resident, Kathy
Labine, expressed concern
about who would be responsi-
ble for the maintenance of the
path once it’s built. Harrison
said a maintenance decision
will be determined based on
budget and staffing.
Harrison apologized for the
lack of communication with
neighbors.
“You weren’t misinformed;
you were not informed (at all).
That is our fault,” Harrison
said. “Because we did not
inform the residents ... this is
on us.”
“This is a case study and
lesson learned. I believe in the
future we’ll reach out proac-
tively,” Harrison added.
Hermenet says the project
will start from the school and
go north on Whitneyville. The
final leg of the project along
McCords is expected to be
completed in November, he
said.Brenner Excavating of
Hopkins is the project contrac-
tor. The company submitted
the low bid of $1.92 million
for the project back in May.
In other business
Wednesday:
— The board awarded a
contract for repainting work
on the township water tower
on 76th Street to Hastings-
based Fedewa Inc., which sub-
mitted the low bid of $112,999.
The exterior of the
600,000-gallon tank will get
an overcoat, while the dry
interior will get a partial
repainting job. Repairs such as
expansion joint replacement
and foundation repair are also
included in the contract.
— The board approved the
purchase of 800 feet of com-
bat-ready fire hose for the fire
department from Phoenix
Safety Outfitters in the amount
of $6,135. The new hose
replaces an old section of hose
that the township acquired
about six years ago from the
Cutlerville Fire Department at
a cost of $700. That hose
needed to be replaced after
failing a pressure test earlier
this year, Fire Chief Scott Siler
said.
— The board set a public
hearing for Aug. 16 on a
request to transfer an industrial
facilities tax abatement thathad been approved in
December 2018 from FunctionGAINES CHARTER TOWNSHIP
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The Gaines Charter Township Planning Commission will hold five (5) public hearings to consider
the following items at the August 24th, 2023, 7:00 PM meeting :- Special Land Use request to allow for a 400 square foot accessory building, for a total
of 480 square feet of residential accessory buildings in the Multiple Family Residen-
tial (R-3) zoning district.
a. Property Address: 133 Wavell Street, Grand Rapids, MI 49548
b. Parcel Number: 41-22-07-305-
c. Applicant: Larry Cross - Special Land Use request to allow for a 903 square foot accessory building, for a total
of 4,327 square feet of residential accessory buildings on the property in the Agricul-
tural/Rural-Residential (A-R) zoning district.
a. Property Address: 190 92nd Street SE, Byron Center, MI 49315
b. Parcel Number: 41-22-30-101-
c. Applicant: Randy Oeverman - Special Land Use request to allow for a 196 square foot accessory building, for a total
of 296 square feet of residential accessory buildings on the property in the Residen-
tial-10 (RL-10) zoning district.
a. Property Address: 500 Sunbrook Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49508
b. Parcel Number: 41-22-07-455-
c. Applicant: Will Shanafelt - Special Land Use request to allow for a 2,250 square foot accessory building, for a
total of 2,350 square feet of residential accessory buildings on the property in the
Residential-10 (RL-10) zoning district.
a. Property Address: 2864 60th Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49508
b. Parcel Number: 41-22-03-201-
c. Applicant: Samuel Simmons - Special Land Use request to allow for a 2,016 square foot accessory building, for a
total of 2,706 square feet of residential accessory buildings on the property in the
Agricultural/Agri-Business (A-B) zoning district.
a. Property Address: 3820 100th Street SE, Caledonia, MI 49316
b. Parcel Number: 41-22-35-200-
c. Applicant: Ken Yonker
Any interested party may appear and be heard on said proposal. Information related to this
request may be inspected, purchased, or reviewed by appt., during regular business hours
at the Planning Department window located in the Gaines Charter Township Offices at 8555
Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Caledonia, MI 49316. For more information related to this request,
contact Dan Wells at (616) 980-6188 or [email protected]. In order to be
entered into the public record, written comments must be received by 5:00 PM on August
24 th, 2023. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations should contact Kim
Triplett at 616-698-6640 one week prior to the meeting to request mobility, visual or any
other assistance.
LOCATION OF HEARINGS: GAINES CHARTER TOWNSHIP OFFICES, BOARD
ROOM, 8555 KALAMAZOO AVE., SE, CALEDONIA, MI 49316(^203888) CHARTER TOWNSHIP
OF GAINES
KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
HELP WANTED
RN Nurse Care Manager
Middleville Family Practice
Chris Noah, MD
- 24-hour week flex time, hybrid/home-office
- Previous care management and/or CCM preferred
- EMR experience, MS Office Word & Excel preferred
- Occasional backup for clinical patient check-in nurse
Please email resume to
[email protected]Middleville considering using reserves to make up pension shortfall
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The village of Middleville
plans to tap into its reserves to
make up a portion of a funding
shortfall in its pension plan.
Meeting as a Committee of
the Whole on Tuesday, the
Village Council moved a reso-
lution that would set aside
$200,000 out of the village’s
general fund reserves and
$50,000 from its major streets
fund reserves to help shore up
a portion of its unfunded lia-
bilities to the Municipal
Employees Retirement System
of Michigan to next week’s
council agenda.
As of the end of 2022, the
village had funded 80.2 per-
cent of its MERS defined ben-
efit pension plan, with valua-
tion assets of $2,171,199 and
actuarial accrued liabilities of
$2,706,016, leaving the vil-
lage’s unfunded accrued liabil-
ities at $534,817.
“An unfunded liability is
basically time that employees
of the village of Middleville
have already earned, so it’s
promised to them. It just hasn’t
been paid for yet,” MERS
regional manager Mike
Overley told the council. “It
doesn’t need to be for paid
today, tomorrow or even next
year, but it does have to get
paid off because it’s some-
thing that they’ve earned, and
most likely, they’re going to
file for retirement someday.”
The village currently has
general fund reserves of about
$1.47 million and about $1.
million to $1.4 million in its
major streets fund balance,
Village Manager Craig
Stolsonburg said.
“The lump sum (payment)
would pay down our overall
amount that we owe. It would
help us save in the future when
... the village isn’t as well off
on a cash basis,” Stolsonburgsaid. “It would help us pay off
our debt quicker.”
Funding pension plans has
proved challenging for many
Michigan governmental units
in recent years. In 2021, only
101 municipalities in the state
have fully funded pension
plans through MERS. Still,
Overley is encouraged by
Middleville’s position.
“Generally speaking,
80-percent-plus is considered a
strong financial position. But
we ultimately want to get you
to 100 percent (funding).
You’re in a good spot,” he said.
Employees contribute 4.
percent of their wages to the
pension plan, while the village
currently makes an annual
contribution of $75,000-
$80,000, along with 3.5 per-
cent of each employee’s pay to
MERS. The village’s contribu-
tion of employee pay to MERS
is scheduled to increase to
4.15 percent effective Jan. 1,2024, Stolsonburg said.
Council Trustee Kevin
Smith equated the importance
of increasing the village’s sup-
port of the pension plan to
increasing employee wages to
retain staff.
“If you think about the fact
that we spent a lump sum basi-
cally giving raises — same
concept, right? — I would say
this is equally as important for
the employees as it is for their
raises. I think that given the
fact we invested in those sala-
ries, we should invest in (the
pension),” Smith said.
Employees become fully
vested in the pension plan
once they have completed 10
years of service to the village
and are eligible to begin col-
lecting from the pension at age
60, Overley said.
The Middleville pension
plan has 33 members, includ-
ing 12 retirees and their bene-
ficiaries, 12 active employees,four former employees who
are vested in the plan but are
not yet eligible to collect ben-
efits and five former employ-
ees who are seeking refunds
for what they paid into the
system while they worked for
the village, Overley said.
MERS is an independent,
professional retirement ser-
vices company that servesmunicipalities across the state
of Michigan. MERS manages
3,300 retirement and employ-
ee benefit plans for more than
960 Michigan cities, town-
ships, villages and counties.
The system is overseen by a
nine-member board of direc-
tors chaired by Barry County
Administrator Michael
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