3-27-24 Ledger

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 page 3

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By Justin Tiemeyer

contributing writer

The Monday, March 18,

2024, meeting of Lowell’s

City Council started at 7 pm

with all council members

present. The first order of

business was the swearing-

in of the Lowell Police De-

partment’s newest officer.

Keegan Neller is from

St. Johns, Michigan. After

graduating from St. Johns

High School in 2018, Neller

attended Ferris State Uni-

versity, where he obtained a

bachelor’s degree in crimi-

nal science. While attending

Ferris, Neller was an intern

with the Lowell Police De-

partment. “He did a great job

in the internship, got great

New Police Officer, Keegan Neller, sworn in at council meeting

reviews by our department,”

said Police Chief Chris

Hurst, “and before he left,

I said, ‘When you graduate,

come back, and I’ll give you

a job.’ And he came back.”

Neller’s swearing-in

drew quite a crowd, in-

cluding Neller’s fiancée,

his mother and father,

his sisters, cousin, and

grandmother. After Neller

pledged his commitment

to the department, Coun-

cil member, Marty Cham-

bers said, “Welcome to

our dysfunctional family.”

With no public com-

ment, the microphone was

handed over to Dave Austin

from Williams & Works, who

has been negotiating with

Grand Rapids Gravel for a

trail easement and grading

permit required for Lowell

Area Recreational Author-

ity’s (LARA) proposed trail.

The easement in ques-

tion is one of three that

LARA will need to obtain

in order to move on to phase

two of the trail project.

Austin has received ver-

bal agreement from Grand

Rapids Gravel, Walgreens,

and the Reagan family.

In their negotiations

with Grand Rapids Grav-

el, the mining company

requested an advance of

$25,000 so they could mine

the portion of the property

LARA needs for its trail

prior to construction. The

land was already intended

for mining, but the com-

pany’s conventional setup is

not that far east, as of yet. As

a result, they would have to

manually mine the location

with backhoes and dump

trucks. “That’s kind of the

last big puzzle on that side

of the river,” Chambers said.

The total cost of the

easement is $94,978, and

the city has committed

more than enough money

in ARPA funds to cover the

cost. The downtown devel-

opment authority (DDA)

has committed an additional

$300,000 to the project. The

Council approved the ease-

ment request unanimously.

Following the LARA

trail discussion, Lowell Area

Chamber of Commerce Di-

rector, Shannon Kennedy,

took to the mic to discuss

three separate requests; a

permit request for fireworks

at the 29th annual Riverwalk

Festival, a request for street

closures for the same, and

a request to change the lo-

cation of Lowell’s Farmers

Market, all of which were

approved unanimously.

The latter was the cause

for some discussion, as the

Lowell Farmers Market has

not been positioned well,

in order to obtain walkable

traffic. Kennedy proposed

moving the Farmers Market

to the grass between the li-

brary’s parking lot and the

boat launch, taking special

care not to obstruct access.

This, she believed, would in-

crease shopping at the farm-

er’s market, helping farm-

ers who often travel great

distances to sell their goods.

Additionally, Kenne-

dy proposed changing the

Farmers Market hours to 2

pm to 7 pm on Thursdays

during the summer, con-

cluding just prior to the start

of the Sizzlin’ Summer Con-

cert Series each evening.

“I’m hoping this can

help it grow,” Kennedy said.

Prior to the end of

the meeting, the city held

something of a sympo-

sium about speeding in

response to City Manager

Mike Burns’ announcement

that he was backing off on

the issue of adding speed

bumps on Monroe Street.

Council member, Eric

Bartkus, started the discus-

sion off by saying that a

number of people on Riv-

erside Drive have come to

him to request the city ad-

dress the speeding problem

on their road, noting that

the neighbors there intend

to come in for a presenta-

tion on the matter later.

City Manager Burns

noted that the cost for one

temporary speed bump on

Riverside Drive would be

$12,000 per year, $6,000 to

install it and another $6,

to remove it. This figure

only accounts for one speed

bump, and it would likely

take five or six to address

the problem effectively.

Council member Jim Salz-

wedel questioned whether

the city has information

on the street’s traffic load

per day, suggesting that it

may be worth the invest-

ment if there are 3,000 or

more cars using Riverside

Drive each day, but no

such study has been done.

Council member,

Chambers, suggested put-

ting in stop signs with solar

panels that light up dur-

ing the evening hours, but

Assistant City Manager,

Rich LaBombard, had a

fundamental objection to

that suggestion, explain-

ing that stop signs should

be assigned as a means

of traffic control, not as a

means of managing speed-

ing problems. Assistant City

Manager, LaBombard, sug-

gested that speeding should

either be addressed through

law enforcement or design.

When Council Member

Chambers pointed out that

the Lowell Police Depart-

ment does not have enough

officers to keep one camped

out on Riverside Drive

all day, and other council

members pointed out simi-

lar problematic roads, like

Foreman and Sibley, this

left only design as the only

reasonable solution. Assis-

tant City Manager, LaBom-

bard, noted that Riverside

Drive is scheduled to be

resurfaced, and that would

provide a great opportunity

to narrow the streets at se-

lect locations to strategi-

cally control speed. “We

gotta do these low cost,”

City Manager, Burns, clari-

fied, “because we’ve got a

lot of streets we gotta do.”

At the conclusion of the

debate, Council Member,

Salzwedel, made a point

to encourage residents to

come in and voice their

opinions about speeding

and other issues on their

streets. Even though sig-

nificant change may be cost

prohibitive, he wanted to

make sure the prior discus-

sion had not discouraged

further communication.

The City Council will

meet again on Monday,

April 1, 2024 at 7 pm. Those

interested in watching the

March 18 meeting can find

it on the City of Lowell

YouTube channel, @cityo-

flowell. The agenda can be

found at the City of Lowell

home page, lowellmi.gov.

New Police Officer, Keegan Nellar, was sworn in

at the beginning of the city council meeting.

Council Member, Marty Chambers, addresses “last big puzzle” in LARA

trail planning.

Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce Director
Shannon Kennedy makes a couple of key requests
of the council ahead of the 2024 Riverwalk Festival.