sun and news 4-17-2021

Page 2/The Sun and News, Saturday, April 17, 2021

Middleville council awards bids

for wastewater plant expansion

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

The final price tag for the

expansion of the Middleville

wastewater treatment plant

will be $1.6 million less than

engineers had first expected.

The village council

Tuesday approved awarding

the contract for the construc-

tion of the plant expansion to

Lansing-based Davis

Construction, the same com-

pany with whom the village

contracted in 2017 for an

improvement project at the

plant. Davis Construction

submitted the low bid of

more than $3.77 million.

Overall, Village Manager

Patricia Rayl said she now

expects the project final cost

to come in at about $4.8 mil-

lion. The village’s engineer-

ing planning consultant,

Williams & Works, had esti-

mated the expansion would

cost about $6.4 million.

The expansion will boost

the plant’s capacity from

500,000 to 900,000 gallons

per day. The plant’s average

daily flow last year was

about 395,000 gallons per

day, just shy of the 80 per-

cent capacity that triggers a

requirement by the Michigan

Department of Environment,

Great Lakes and Energy to

begin the planning process

for expanding a plant.

While the vote to award

the contract was unanimous,

Trustee Mike Cramer contin-

ued to express concerns

about how low the bids were.

“I just have genuine con-

cerns with the gap in the

engineer estimate and the

bids that we’re getting,”

Cramer said. “I feel like

something’s being missed,

and we’re not catching it.

That’s a huge margin.”

But department of public

works director Alec Belson

expressed confidence that

village officials and Williams

& Works covered all the

details.

“Staff did review the prints

pretty thoroughly, and speak-

ing with the engineer, he had

told me that he was using

previous estimates from

other jobs that came in,

where he came up with that

$5 million [figure],” Belson

said. “This job, in itself, is a

pretty clear-cut job. There’s a

lot of work involved. There’s

just not a lot of unknowns.”

“All four bids were right

on top of each other. I think

the highest bid was just over

$4 million. In the grand

scheme of things, there was

not one bid that was quite a

bit higher or lower. They

were within percentage

points of each other,” Belson

added.

Barry County commis-

sioners late last year

approved the sale of bonds to

finance construction of the

project. The village is slated

to go to the Barry County

Board of Public Works and

the county board of commis-

sioners Tuesday for final

approval of the bond resolu-

tion.

The bonds are expected to

cover more than $2.31 mil-

lion of the project cost. The

village’s local development

funding authority will con-

tribute $1.5 million, and

another $1 million will come

from reserve funds in the

village’s sewer fund, Belson

wrote in an email Friday

morning.

The timetable for the start

of construction will depend

on EGLE’s approval of all

documents and permits.

“Once we receive the final

approval from EGLE, the

project will start soon after,”

Belson wrote. “This project

is estimated to take roughly

18 months.”

Tech company seeking tax

breaks for new Gaines facility

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
A Kentwood-based tech-
nology company is seeking a
tax abatement as part of its
planned move into Gaines
Township.
Representatives of
Mobile Defenders went
before the township board
Monday, seeking the creation
of an industrial development
district for the new $6 mil-
lion facility, to be built at
6155 East Paris Ave., SE.
The board approved the cre-
ation of the district on first
reading and set a public hear-
ing for next month to consid-
er the resolution to give final
approval to establishing the
district.
Once the industrial devel-
opment district is approved,
Mobile Defenders will ask
the township for approval of

an industrial facilities tax

abatement for 12 years for

real property and six years

for personal property,

Township Community

Development Director Dan

Wells said.

Mobile Defenders, which

currently is at 3990 44th St.,

SE, supplies wholesale

replacement parts to stores

that repair cell phones, com-

puters and other high-tech

equipment.

“We do a lot of testing,

both microelectronic and

otherwise,” company chief

executive officer Jordan

Notenboom told the board.

The company received

site plan approval from the

township planning commis-

sion in December 2020 for an

89,430-square-foot building

that will include electronic

device servicing, offices and

warehousing. The company

has since proposed increas-

ing the size of the building to

92,785 square feet, but may

lease out about half of the

building space for the time

being.

“Our plan is to [eventual-

ly] grow into the entire facil-

ity, but we don’t have a hard

and fast schedule,”

Notenboom said.

Leasing out a portion of

the building would allow

Mobile Defenders to fund

construction of the building

and ensure the company has

necessary space for future

expansion, Notenboom wrote

in a memo to the township.

Part of the township’s

decision on the tax abate-

ment will focus on whether it

will include the leased por-

tion of the building as part of

the abatement.

Founded in 2013, Mobile

Defenders currently employs

65 workers and proposes to

add at least 30 new jobs over

the next five years, with an

average salary of about

$50,000, Notenboom said.

“I’d like to open by

Quarter 2 of next year,”

Notenboom said.

The hearing on the indus-

trial development district

will take place at 7 p.m.

Monday, May 10, at the

township hall, 8555

Kalamazoo Ave. SE. A

25-person limit is allowed in

the board room, social dis-

tancing will be observed and

masks are required for entry.

SOS Property Maintenance

We are your local dealer.

• Sales • Service • Parts


• Maintenance Supplies.
  COME IN AND SEE THE
  NEWEST MODELS!

6950 Hammond Ave., SE, Caledonia, MI • 616.554.

121 E. Main Street

Downtown Middleville

(269) 795-

[email protected]

FarmBureauInsurance.com

Area Obituaries

Andrew Carl Myers, age

42, of Middleville passed

away unexpectedly on April

11, 2021.

Andy was born on May

12, 1978, in Grand Rapids.

He was the son of Kenneth

and Phyllis (Fox) Myers.

Andy grew up in Freeport

and graduated from

Thornapple Kellogg High

School in 1996.

It was during that time

that he would first date his

future wife Jenny. After

graduating, he then went on

to join the Navy and was a

proud radioman who served

for four years with the

majority of that time being

in Japan. Several years later

he would reconnect with

Jenny and they married on

September 11, 2010. They

built a lifetime of memories

traveling the world together.

Andy enjoyed doing

anything outdoors,

especially camping, hunting,

fishing, and golfing. The

most important thing to

Andy was spending time and

being with his family. Most

weekends you would find

him at Jeff and DeeDees

with a garage full of friends

playing cards (which he

never lost......gracefully),

watching some kind of

sporting event (especially if

it was the Tigers or

Spartans), or finding some

way to tease his nieces and

nephews.

Andy is survived by his

mother, Phyllis Myers; wife,

Jennifer (Colter) Myers;

children, Quentin, Alexis,

and Leah Luyk; sisters:

Michelle (Gary) Yoder and

DeeDee (Jeff) Innes;

nephews, Zack (Jordan),

Jeremy, Bryce (Rose), and

Bryant (Kelsea), niece

Benicia; mother-in-law,

Carrie Colter; and brother-

in-law, Dan (Wendy) Colter.

Andy was preceded in

death by his father, Kenneth

Myers; and father-in-law,

Walter Colter.

Andy’s family received

friends on Friday, April 16,

2021, with visitation fand

funeral immediately

following at Peace Church.

Military Honors will be

conducted by American

Legion Post 45.

Please visit http://www.

beelergoresfuneral.com to

share a memory or to leave a

condolence message for

Andy’s family.

Andrew Carl Myers

Bonnie Louise White, age

72, of Middleville, passed

away peacefully on Friday,

April 9, 2021, after a long

illness.

She was preceded in

death by her parents, Harry

and Virginia (Blaser) White;

sister-in-law, Cindy

(DeRidder) White; nephew,

Zechariah White; great

niece, Virginia Marie Leno.

She will be lovingly

remembered by her brothers:

Don (Judy) White, Ron

(Pam) White; nieces: Leah

(Matt) Leno, Bonnie Joy

White, Rachel McWilliams;

nephews: Steven White, and

Brett White; great nieces and

nephews, wonderful cousins

and many caring friends.

According to her wishes,

cremation has taken place

and there will be no public

services.

A celebration of life will

be held at the convenience of

the family.

Those who wish may

make memorial

contributions to Pierce Cedar

Creek (https://www.

cedarcreekinstitute.org/

donate.html) or Barry

County 4H, Barry County

Bird Club (BCBC c/o Klein,

235 Timberwood Dr.,

Hastings, MI 49058) or a

charity of one’s choice.

Condolences may be sent

online at http://www.

mkdfuneralhome.com.

Bonnie Louise White

Caledonia, MI

“Your Safety is Important to Us”

— State of the Art Systems —

3 Complete Collision Service

3 Frame Repairs

3 State & I-CAR Certified Technicians

3 Direct Repair Facility * Most insurance companies

Open Monday thru Friday 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

616.891.

Ed Pawloski Jr., Owner

110 Johnson St., Caledonia • http://www.edsbody.com

Water Bourne System

Call any time

for Sun & News

classified ads

269-945-9554 or

1-800-870-