Page 16/The Sun and News, Saturday, October 16, 2021Yankee Springs OKs hall expansion, renovation
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The Yankee Springs
Township Hall will soon get
a makeover.
The township board
Thursday approved an expan-
sion and renovation project
for the 50-year-old building at
284 N. Briggs Road.
The hall meeting room
and offices will be renovat-
ed, and a nearly 1,700-square-
foot office area will be added
to the north side of the build-
ing. The project has an esti-
mated cost of $1.2 million.
The project is almost iden-
tical to a hall expansion and
renovation proposal that was
approved on a 3-2 vote of the
township board two years
ago this week. At that time,
engineers estimated the cost
of the project at nearly
$900,000. But building and
material costs have increased
significantly since then.
“Is this finally over with?”
asked Trustee Larry
Knowles, the only remaining
member of the board from
the October 2019 decision.
“The fun begins now,”
Township Supervisor Rob
Heethuis said in response.
In separate but unanimous
votes, the board chose the
larger expansion of the
4,000-square-foot building
over a smaller 1,040-square-
foot expansion option, then
approved renovating the hall
meeting room. The vote
clears the way for the engi-
neering firm Fleis &
Vandenbrink to draw up
detailed plans and prepare
documents for the bidding
process, which is expected to
take place early next year.
A major difference
between the 2019 hall pro-
posal and the one approved
Thursday was community
response. The 2019 plan gen-
erated heated opposition
from some residents who felt
the project was too costly.
This time, there was no
vocal opposition. Only eight
residents attended a public
hearing Monday where the
project was discussed, and only
one routine question was asked.
“Under your leadership,
we’ve been able to accom-
plish in less than a year what
Yankee Springs Township
hadn’t been able to accom-
plish in years,” said resident
John R. Smith, whose wife
Sally was on a 10-member
office renovation committee.
“Well done and thank you.”
Thursday’s decision fol-
lowed six months of study by
the committee, which consist-
ed of elected board members,
township employees and four
citizen members. Six differ-
ent building options were
considered. The committee
recommended two building
options – one calling for a
larger office expansion with a
hall meeting room renova-
tion, the other a larger officeexpansion without renovating
the meeting hall.
The expanded offices will
include a secure entry with
window access to the recep-
tionist, deputy clerk and dep-
uty treasurer functions; offic-
es for the supervisor, clerk,
treasurer, assessor and zon-
ing administrator; storage
space for election equipment;
and a conference room. The
renovation committee priori-
tized those features as the
most significant needs.
Meanwhile, the hall meet-
ing room renovation will
include installation of a raised
platform for the board as well
as new closet space, Clerk
Mike Cunningham said.
“That design includes
everything that was in the
original 2019 scope of work- insulation in the ceiling
[and] walls, money for the
[audio visual] system and the
HVAC system,” Cunningham
said. “It’s the original scope,
just a few things moved
around a little bit.”
The township hall was
built in 1971, and offices
were added on in 1978.
“The township population
has tripled during that time,”
Cunningham said at
Monday’s special meeting.
“Rules, regulations and
expectations of township
government have dramatical-
ly increased during that time.
The hall and office buildings
have not been expanded or
improved to keep up with the
increased growth and needs
of the township.”
Yankee Springs’ popula-
tion has grown from 1,
residents in the 1970 U.S.
Census, to 2,251 in 1980, to
5,322 in the 2020 census,
Cunningham said.
Over the years, mainte-
nance projects have been
deferred, such as replacing the
heating and cooling systems in
both the hall meeting room
and the offices, insulation of
the hall, replacing exterior sid-
ing in the offices, and new
flooring in the hall meeting
room, Cunningham said.
“I think some of that’s
because people were waiting
for this project,” he said. “The
project’s not new. The efforts
have been ongoing since ...
2012 and earlier. Nothing’s
happened to change the situa-
tion over the years. It’s only
gotten worse.”
In another separate vote
Thursday, the board unani-
mously rejected adding on
the renovation of two bath-
rooms and the kitchen near
the front entrance of the
meeting room portion of the
hall. Heethuis had initially
proposed renovating the
bathrooms to meet the stan-
dards of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. But that
option would have added
another $114,000 to the proj-
ect cost, Cunningham said.
Knowles made the motionto reject that option.
“With me, it is the cost,”
he said.
Trustee Dave VanHouten
agreed.
“A bad drawing, high cost,
one bathroom that already is
ADA-compliant – it doesn’t
make sense right now,”
VanHouten said.
The township board earli-
er this year voted to set aside
$300,000 in the general fund
for the project, with the rest
of the cost to be financed.
The township entered the
current fiscal year with gen-
eral fund reserves of about
$1.98 million, making it pos-
sible to finance the project
without raising taxes. In amodel illustrated at Monday’s
public hearing, the township
could finance the project
over 10 years and still have
more than $700,000 left in
fund balance by the time it is
paid off, Cunningham said.
In a related move Thursday,
the board voted to enter into a
contract with Roger Swets of
Grand Rapids-based
Dickinson Wright PLLC to
represent the township in
connection with financing the
project through an installment
purchase agreement. The
township will pay $6,500 for
Swets’ services, which will
include providing advice at
each step of the borrowing
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This office design was approved Thursday.