sun and news 4-24-21

The Sun and News, Saturday, April 24, 2021/ Page 3

Broadband expansion efforts put on hold by permit delays

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Irving Township residents
who were hoping to get
broadband internet service
extended into the township
will likely have to wait until
next year, and that has town-
ship officials feeling frustrat-
ed.
Great Lakes Energy, a
rural electric power coopera-
tive based in northern Lower
Michigan, was planning to
extend its Truestream broad-
band service into Irving
Township as part of an over-
all effort to expand service to
western Barry and eastern
Allegan counties. However,
the cooperative ran into a
roadblock when it came to
crossing land in the Barry
State Game Area.
“We went to apply to the
[Michigan Department of
Natural Resources] for an
easement,” Great Lakes vice
president Shari Culver said
in a telephone interview
Wednesday. “The state had
originally purchased the land
from the federal government.
This was our understanding.

When that happened, the

federal government first has

to approve the application

and then send it back to the

DNR for approval.

“We submitted [our permit

application] in October 2020

and are waiting to get that

back from the DNR. From

our understanding, they’re

waiting on the federal gov-

ernment to get approval.

Once [the federal govern-

ment gets] approval, they’ll

come back to their process

and look at our permit appli-

cation, and hopefully give us

approval.”

Culver said at this point,

she does not expect Great

Lakes to move ahead with

fiber-optic installation this

year.

“We had to pull back our

resources. We had planned to

build this year, in 2021, but

we just couldn’t take the

chance of waiting six months,

nine months, whatever it

may be until get approval,

and having all those contrac-

tors and suppliers just sitting

there. So, we reallocated our

resources to Oceana County,”

she said. “What we’re hop-

ing is that we receive the

permits this year so that we

can then build in [2022].”

Township Clerk Sharon

Olson received an update on

the delay in Great Lakes’

plans last weekend and spoke

to a company representative.

“I just think there’s got to

be somebody that we can

talk to at some level that

would see it as [a critical

need], especially under the

circumstances with every-

body locked at home, work-

ing from home,” Olson said

at Tuesday’s township board

meeting.

The township hall is cur-

rently served by HughesNet,

a satellite-based communica-

tions provider. Olson said the

quality of service at the hall

varies throughout the day.

“My internet speed tonight

when I came back after din-

ner was so much better than

it’s been all day long [that

I’ve been] trying to do work

here, because everybody’s

on it,” Olson said. “We need

that service just for people to

work from home. It’s a dis-

service to our community.”

Township Treasurer

Alesse Cross was so frustrat-

ed with the lack of available

internet service in the town-

ship that she and a neighbor

invested $5,000 last year to

have a 100-foot-high tower

installed to receive service

from MEI.

“[The signal is based on]

line of sight, and we live in

the woods, with tall trees,”

Cross said after Tuesday’s

meeting. “They took a buck-

et truck out and put it all the

way up and they said, ‘You’re

still going to need 40 or 50

feet on top of where our

bucket truck can go to be

able to see [the tower]. Our

neighbors were having the

same problem. They have

kids in school. They were

needing internet. So, we

went in together [on the

tower].”

County Commissioner Jon

Smelker said during

Tuesday’s county board

meeting that he would speak

with fellow Commissioner

Catherine Getty, who serves

on a countywide broadband

committee, regarding the

Great Lakes delay.

“Dealing with the state

and the DNR is not the easi-

est thing, but we’ll see if we

can do something,” Smelker

said.

Culver said she under-

stands the frustration of those

who are waiting for high-

speed broadband access in

Irving Township and other

areas of Barry County.

“We chose the Middleville

circuit as an area we were

going to come to first because

we know there’s a huge need

there and because that group

has been pretty vocal on our

Facebook pages,” she said.

“We know there’s a need

there. They’ve been support-

ive of the project

“We will get there. It’s just

unfortunately delayed right

now for 2021, and we’re

looking at 2022.”

Charlie Pullen memorial service set for next Saturday

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Former Middleville
Village President Charlie
Pullen will be remembered at
a memorial service next
Saturday.
The service will begin at
1 p.m. at the DDA
Amphitheater, and will
include speakers from the
village and veterans organi-
zations.
“It’s a tribute to Charlie’s
community service,” said
Jerry Welch, who worked
closely with Pullen on the
creation of the veterans
memorial in Middleville, and
who is organizing the ser-
vice. “We’re going to give a
flavor of all the areas he

touched.”

Pullen, who served for 18

years on the village council,

the last 11 years as village

president, died Nov. 20,

2020, at Spectrum Health

Pennock Hospital in Hastings

of complications from the

COVID-19 virus. He was 71.

He had just run unopposed

for another two-year term as

village president in the elec-

tion shortly before his death.

Pullen played a leading

role in the establishment of

the veterans memorial in

Middleville 10 years ago,

helping raise more than

$100,000 toward its con-

struction.

“Everyone knew Charlie

was very proud of

Middleville,” Welch said.

“The veterans memorial had

a special place in his heart.

He really loved working on

that.”

Pullen also worked close-

ly with veterans throughout

Barry County as chairman of

the county Veterans’ Trust

Fund, and volunteered regu-

larly at the Grand Rapids

Home for Veterans, often

being the last person a veter-

an might see before dying.

Among the scheduled

speakers for the memorial

service will be former village

manager Duane Weeks, vil-

lage council Trustee Ed

Schellinger, former council

trustee Phil Van Noord, for-

mer Thornapple Township

Supervisor Mike Bremer,

and Pullen’s daughter

Amanda.

A representative from

American Legion Post 140 in

Middleville will present a

U.S. flag to Pullen’s wife,

Barb, honoring Pullen’s ser-

vice in the military. An honor

guard from American Legion

Post 45 in Hastings will fire

three rifle volleys, traditional

for a funeral for veterans

who have been honorably

discharged, which will be

followed by the playing of

taps to conclude the service.

Pullen was drafted into

the U.S. Army shortly after

graduating from Caledonia

High School in 1967 and

served on bases in Virginia

and Arizona as a cook. His

military experience would

give him a lifelong desire to

serve fellow veterans.

Pullen worked at

Bradford White Corporation

in Middleville for 43 years.

In 2002, he was elected

to the village council for the

first time. He served on the

council for seven years

before running for village

president. He won a four-

way race for the office in

September 2009. One of the

men he defeated was

then-fellow council trustee

Dan Parker, who later went

on to serve on the Barry

County Board of

Commissioners. Parker died

Dec. 11, 2020, of complica-

tions from COVID-19, one

month before he was to have

become Thornapple

Township supervisor, a seat

he won in the November

election.

than $917 billion.

Woolford’s team uses resi-

dential sales records through

the county register of deeds

office to calculate its figures

for property values in that

sector.

“We study sales over a

two-year period. We basical-

ly study what is happening,

how are private individuals

and the open market exchang-

ing property, and we record

those prices and compare

them against what the

[municipal] assessors have

on their records,” Woolford

said. “By doing that, we are

able to monitor the change in

market conditions from one

year to the next. If the aver-

age level of assessment is

supposed to be at 50 percent,

and the average assessment

sale ratio is coming in at 45

percent, we’re going to need

to raise those assessments to

get them to the statutory

level.”

The method for determin-

ing changes in property val-

ues in other sectors is differ-

ent from residential, he said.

“With commercial, indus-

trial and agricultural classes,

we often don’t have suffi-

cient sales to measure the

market directly,” he said.

“That is where my staff of

professional appraisers ... go

out and visit every sale that

has occurred in the commer-

cial and industrial class,

interview the participants in

the transaction to make sure

that there’s an arms-length

transaction. That gives us

intelligence in terms of

what’s going on with the

overall value of the property,

and then we track the land

values for all the vacant

properties so we can get a

direct measurement of what

the land value is. Then we’re

able to use our appraisal

practices. We’re able to infer

current building values from

those sale prices.”

The equalization depart-

ment conducts about 2,

appraisals of commercial and

industrial properties across

the county each year,

Woolford said.

“Those appraisals act in

the stead of a sale price, and

that’s how we monitor

change of value in the com-

mercial and industrial class-

es,” he said.

With growth outpacing the

rate of inflation, the gap

between state equalized val-

ues and taxable values in

Kent County now has

reached its widest point since

the adoption of Proposal A in

1994. Taxable values in the
      county this year totaled $26.
      billion, a difference of about
      $7.5 billion from the county-
      wide SEV figure, and a 4.
      percent increase from 2020
      taxable values, according to
      the report.
      “You can have several
      years of inflationary increas-
      es and still not catch up to the
      SEV,” Woolford told mem-
      bers of the county board’s
      Finance and Physical
      Resources Committee
      Tuesday.
      The increase in taxable
      value is expected to generate
      an additional $5 million in
      property taxes for the county
      this year, even though the
      Headlee rollback will be
      instituted, Woolford told
      commissioners.

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