The Sun and News, Saturday, October 30, 2021/ Page 3James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
The Middleville Village
Council has rejected a pro-
posed Rural Task Force study
that would have examined
the feasibility of a round-
about being constructed at
the three-way intersection of
Grand Rapids and Main
streets.
The council voted 3-
Tuesday in favor of a resolu-
tion to authorize the study,
but a 4-0 vote was required
to reach the majority total
need to approve it. That is
because there are six active
council members. Trustee Ed
Schellinger cast the only
“no” vote, but it was enough
to defeat the proposal.
The federal funding for
the project would have been
allocated by the state through
the Michigan Department of
Transportation.
“The money could be
spent much better at other
locations in the village,”
Schellinger said.
Voting in favor of the pro-
posal were President Pro
Tempore Sherry Ronning,
and trustees Kevin Smith and
Tom DeVries. Trustee Mike
Lytle was absent from the
meeting. And a replacement
member has not been found
yet for former Village
President Amanda Fisk, who
resigned in September.
Trustee Mike Cramer partici-
pated in the meeting via an
internet connection, but was
not allowed to vote because
he was not attending in per-
son.
The MDOT Rural Task
Force Program provides fed-
eral and state funding to rural
counties in Michigan with
populations of less than
400,000. The dollars must be
spent on eligible road and
transit capital projects
improvements.
Rayl said the state is try-
ing to plan for road projects
from 2023 through 2026.
“We have the eligibility to
use these federal dollars on
certain streets in Middleville.
And Grand Rapids Street and
Main Street qualify for fed-
eral dollars through the Rural
Task Force. We could use
this as an opportunity to use
federal dollars and [local
development finance author-
ity] dollars to correct the
intersection of Main and
Grand Rapids,” Rayl told the
village council.
Under Public Act 57 of
2018, any city, village or
urban township in Michigan
can create an LDFA district,
which allows the municipali-
ty to issue bonds or use
tax-increment financing to
fund public infrastructure
improvements.
Rayl described the inter-
section as having a confusing
configuration for motorists.
“This is an opportunity for
us to use other people’s
money to make an intersec-
tion in town ... less confus-ing. Make it into a circle,”
she said.
Trustee Kevin Smith
agreed.
“I think that’s such a great
idea. I cannot overstate how
that would improve that
intersection and the flow of
traffic,” he said. “I think it
would fit perfectly there and
answer a lot of strange [driv-
er] questions as to who’s
next. Honestly, I think it
would make it an even safer
intersection.”
However, Schellinger said
the Grand Rapids/Main
Street intersection is “not
that hazardous. I don’t see
this as a big problem, myself
... let’s not build a round-about. We’re not Grand
Rapids. We don’t need a
roundabout in this little
town.”
Cramer said he thinks the
roundabout would cause
more confusion than the
existing intersection layout.
“Just like it does in Misty
Ridge [subdivision].
Residents in there, to this
day, do not know how to
operate the roundabout that’sthere. [The proposed round-
about] will solve traffic prob-
lems long-term, but the
learning curve on that is sub-
stantial, and we don’t even
know if it’s necessary yet.”
Cramer said a recently
installed traffic light on M-
may help curb traffic vol-
umes in the area.
A roundabout at the Grand
Rapids/Main Street intersec-
tion would cost between$200,000 to $300,000 to
build, Rayl said after the
meeting. Although the coun-
cil rejected the project
Tuesday, she said the state
could offer to do a study
again at some point.
“Yes, because they renew
calls for these every few
years. So, probably in about
three years, they’ll come
back and say that they want
more projects,” she said.Join Us In Person or Online
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James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
The Middleville Village
Council voted 4-0 Tuesday
to transfer $40,000 from the
village’s sewer fund to its
motor pool fund to correct a
budgeting error that was
caught by the village’s audi-
tor.
The Michigan Department
of Treasury noticed the mis-
take, as well, and sent the
village a letter Oct. 11 seek-
ing a written response
detailing how the village
plans to address it. The
Department of Treasury said
there was a $16,687 deficit
in the village’s equipment
fund for the 2020 fiscal year,
and it gave the village 30
days to respond with a plan
to offset the discrepancy.
Under the Glenn Steil State
Revenue Sharing Act of
1971, local governments
that end the fiscal year in a
deficit condition must for-
mulate a deficit-elimination
plan.
Daniel Veldhuizen from
Siegfried Crandall PC certi-
fied public accounting firm
spotted the error in his vil-
lage audit. He wrote in areport that the motor pool
fund’s cash was overdrawn
for the 2020 fiscal year with
the purchase of a sewer vac-
uum truck and a new police
car. Specifically, the docu-
ment says a sewer vacuum
truck was purchased for
$136,000, along with a new
police vehicle. The truck
can be used to clean or
inspect water and sewer
drains.
“Unfortunately, we did
not have all that cash,”
Village Manager Patricia
Rayl told the village council
Tuesday night. However,she said the village has extra
infrastructure funds to make
up for the overdraw, and the
overall village budget
remains in the positive num-
bers.
Veldhuizen suggested
$40,000 could be transferred
from the sewer fund into the
motor pool fund in the 2021
fiscal-year budget to support
the purchase of the vacuum
truck.
“The advantage of this
plan is that the sewer fund
has sufficient resources, and
the deficit would be elimi-
nated with one simple jour-nal entry,” Rayl said.
She speculated that the
village council may have
mistakenly figured a couple
years ago that it had enough
money in the motor pool
fund to cover the purchases.
Village Trustee Mike
Cramer said the sewer vacu-
um truck was purchased in
2019 from Vactor
Manufacturing “because it
came up at auction at a sub-
stantial discount.
“And it is used to exca-
vate without shoring [using
temporary supports], so we
could inspect our water-main services. The price
was too good to pass up,
because a standard Vactor
truck runs anywhere from
$500,000 to $750,000. But
we got it used for
$136,000.”
“What happened is we
overspent,” Rayl said in an
interview before the meet-
ing. “Because not only did
we buy the vacuum truck,
but we also bought a police
car. And so, we used fund
balance. But fund balance is
composed of cash and infra-
structure. So, we ran dry on
cash,” Rayl said.Middleville responds to state over budget error
An overhead diagram shows a potential future
roundabout at the Main Street/Grand Rapids Street
intersection. (Image provided)Middleville nixes proposed roundabout study