The Sun and News

Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Middleville and Caledonia Areas

No. 16/April 17, 2021 Published by J-Ad Graphics, Inc. • 1351 N. M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI 49058 143rd year

Former state legislator, township

manager honored in memorial service

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
A memorial service was
held Friday afternoon at
Kentwood Community
Church for former state leg-
islator and former Gaines
Charter Township manager
Mark Jansen.
Jansen, who was hired in
August 2020 to be the town-
ship manager but was forced
to leave the position because
of illness, died March 23,
five months after being diag-
nosed with brain cancer. He
was 61.
Jansen served for 14
years as a state lawmaker,
first representing the 72nd
House District from 1996 to
2002, then later serving as
state senator for the 28th
Senate District from 2007 to
2015.
A longtime Gaines
Township resident, Jansen
began his service in govern-
ment as a township clerk in

1992. After four years as
      clerk, he ran and won his seat
      in the state House.
      Township board mem-
      bers cited his longstanding
      ties to the community and
      past government service
      when they voted last year to
      offer him the job of township
      manager. Trustee Dan
      Fryling, who made the
      motion to offer the job to
      Jansen, at the time called him
      the candidate who offered
      “more heart, soul, roots – and
      cares about this township.”
      Treasurer Laurie Lemke
      said Jansen would be a “uni-
      fier for our township.”

“I felt that his integrity

came across loud and clear

[in his interview],” Lemke

said before casting her vote

of support for him. “He is

part of our community now.

He has a passion for our

township that he brings to the

table.”

Jansen began working for

the township in October

2020, but within a week of

starting the job became seri-

ously ill and was diagnosed

with cancer. He was placed

on medical leave and

remained so into January,

when he was able to sign up

for disability coverage,

Township Supervisor Rob

DeWard said in a February

interview.

In addition to being a

state lawmaker and township

official, Jansen served as a

Kent County road commis-

sioner from 2003 to 2006.

His work experience includ-

See JANSEN, page 5

IN THIS ISSUE...

• Middleville council awards bids for
  wastewater plant expansion


• Tech company seeking tax
  breaks for new Gaines facility


• Yankee Springs planners approve
  new site for pickleball courts


• Spring sports team previews

Gaines Township board approves

contract for new manager

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Gaines Charter

Township’s new manager

will begin his duties with the

township May 19.

The township board

Monday approved a three-

year contract with Jonathan

Seyferth, currently the city

manager in Coopersville.

Seyferth, 42, was offered the

township manager job last

month.

“Our personnel commit-

tee, our attorney and Jonathan

are happy with the contract,”

Township Supervisor Rob

DeWard wrote in a memo to

the township board.

DeWard said the contract

is similar to one the township

agreed to with former state

legislator Mark Jansen last

year. Jansen began working

as township manager in

October 2020, but within a

week of starting the job,

became seriously ill and was

diagnosed with brain cancer.

Jansen died March 23 at the

age of 61.

Seyferth will receive a

starting salary of $100,000.

After six months, his perfor-

mance will be reviewed, and

upon a satisfactory review,

his salary will increase to

$105,000. Another perfor-

mance review is scheduled

for May 2022, where his sal-

ary could rise to $110,000,

according to the contract

document.

Other benefits Seyferth

will receive include health

and dental insurance, life

insurance, short-term and

long-term disability insur-

ance, and 10 percent of his

salary deposited in a retire-

ment account that will be

fully vested at the beginning.

He will receive 112 hours of

vacation time for the remain-

der of this year and 168 hours

of vacation each calendar

year after that, according to

the contract document.

The township also agreed

to allot a minimum of $5,

to allow Seyferth to attend

meetings, conventions and

conferences, with prior

approval from the board. He

is active in the Michigan

Municipal Executives orga-

nization and the International

City/County Management

Association, DeWard said.

Seyferth has served as

Coopersville’s city manager

since July 2018. When he

was offered the Gaines

Township position, he asked

DeWard to be able to finish

the city budget for

Coopersville for the next fis-

cal year before beginning his

duties with the township.

Prior to becoming city

manager, Seyferth was assis-

tant city manager and plan-

ning director in Coopersville

for about 2 1/2 years. Before

that, he was executive direc-

tor of Downtown Muskegon

Now for two years.

One possible agenda

Seyferth could be asked to

look at once he arrives in the

township may be connecting

with neighboring Caledonia

and Byron townships to dis-

cuss the idea of shared com-

munity policing services.

“I think we can have this

conversation,” DeWard said.

A ribbon-cutting is planned next Saturday to cele-

brate completion of a four-year effort to renovate one of

the oldest buildings in downtown Middleville.

Lofts, ribbon-cutting, Spring Spectacular

highlight busy day in Middleville

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Celebration of the com-
pleted redevelopment of one
of Middleville’s oldest build-
ings and a new springtime
event will highlight activity
in the village next Saturday.
Activities will begin at
10 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting
ceremony marking the offi-
cial opening of the Lofts of
Middleville at 101 W. Main
St., completing a four-year
odyssey for developers
Joanna and Chad Schlientz.
That will be followed at noon
by the village’s first Spring
Spectacular.
The Schlientzes invested
about $1 million into the
9,000-square-foot building
that once served as the vil-
lage’s post office, converting
the structure into four apart-
ments on the upper floor and
commercial and retail space
on the remaining two floors.

At least one business, My

Sister’s Closet, is already

planning to move into that

retail space.

“She said from start to

finish, from the time it was

conceived and they started

working with contractors and

getting all the paperwork

arranged before they ever

broke ground, until signing

off with the [Michigan

Economic Development

Commission] this year, it’s

been four years for her,”

Middleville Downtown

Development Authority

Director Katherine Schmidt

said.

“That’s a long time to

have that kind of money tied

up. The project was bigger

than they originally thought

and got more involved than

they originally thought. You

pull off this siding and there’s

this amazing brick, and how

cool would it be to restore

that and preserve that. That

means more money, more

time.”

The project received

more than $300,000 in grants

from MEDC toward the res-

toration, and the DDA

approved $27,000 in funding

for facade improvements,

Schmidt said.

“You never know what’s

behind a wall, what’s under a

floorboard and what new

challenge you’ll find. But at

the same time there’s huge

reward in preserving the

character and that sense of

place that comes with these

beautiful old buildings,” she

said.

The Schlientzes will be

among the speakers at the

ribbon-cutting, along with

U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer,

R-Grand Rapids, and state

Rep. Julie Calley, R-Portland.

Tours of the commercial lev-

els of the lofts will be offered,

and a slideshow will depict

the before-and-after evolu-

tion of the project. Guests are

asked to maintain social dis-

tance and wear masks,

Schmidt said.

Meanwhile, the idea for

the Spring Spectacular came

very quickly for Schmidt.

“My very first day here,

Feb. 22, I got a call from

someone affiliated with the

Audubon Society, [saying]

that they were canceling the

Woodpecker Festival, due to

COVID,” Schmidt said. “At

the same time, talking with

my board members and the

community and looking

around, [I realized] we have

this beautiful trail, people are

safer outside with this virus,

spring is coming, the weath-

er’s breaking, everybody’s

been cooped up for months,

people are eager to get out-

See MIDDLEVILLE, pg. 6

Cherry Valley

resurfacing set

for this spring

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

An $800,000 project to

repave and widen Cherry

Valley Road in Thornapple

Township, south of M-37, is

expected to get underway

next week.

The project, which is

slated to begin Tuesday, will

widen the section of Cherry

Valley from M-37 to Green

Lake Road, to be followed

by an overlay of chip seal

pavement on the section of

Cherry Valley from M-37 to

Green Lake and from Adams

Road to Bass Road, said

Jake Welch, operations

director of the Barry County

Road Commission.

The project has about

$600,000 in federal funding

that will be used to pay for

the resurfacing work, and

about $200,000 in local

funding that will pay for the

widening work, Welch said.

“This is a project we’ve

canceled for two years,” he

said.

Last year, the loss of

funding because of the

COVID-19 pandemic put

the project on the shelf,

Welch said.

The project will be com-

pleted in two phases, start-

ing with the widening of

Cherry Valley between

M-37 and Green Lake Road

from 22 to 28 feet. That will

match the width of the road

surface on Cherry Valley

from Green Lake to Bass

roads, Welch said.

The widening work is

expected to be completed by

April 30, with the resurfac-

ing work to be done in mid-

See ROAD WORK, page 16