By Barb Pert Templeton
When your city has an infrastructure that’s nearly a century old, updating it is going to take time, money and likely most important, patience, for those living day to day with the construction.
City Manager Michael Reaves gave the commission an update on the progress of the Safe Drinking Water Project at an April 2 meeting.
Water Main Project is ongoing in the north portion of the city and will continue on until at least May. Reaves said they changed it up a bit and didn’t mill and grind all the areas involved but are just doing sections at a time so it’s not all torn up all over the place.
In Phase 3, Reaves said he’s got a Stormwater Asset Management and Wastewater Grant Program (SAW) oversight report noting 47 areas that he has to repair, significantly more than what was seen in Phase 1 and Phase 2. He said 80 percent are storm related, 20 percent are sanitary related and he’s got another part that falls into “other issues” that they can’t explain yet.
Those are things such as pipes thought to be free flowing and connected were found to be abandoned, disconnected or diverted.
Marine City Manager Michael Reaves provided an update on the ongoing water project in the city during an April 2 commission meeting
“So, I want people to be aware that prolongs the project a bit it allows the streets to be reopened once we pave and hopefully no work afterward,” Reaves said. “None of the restoration work is done at this time it’s done at the end of that phase, so you may have to wait to have brick pavers or your lawn put back together because they bring a company in and do it by section.”
The city has requested the contractor takes care of the potholes and the area water collections on a daily basis but the city has no control of that process.
“By contract I cannot tell the contractor how to do his job or where he should do it, I’m not allowed by contract to do that but if somebody is aware of an area of concern call us, we’ll jot it down and give it to the contractor,” Reaves said.
The Phase 3 water main project also includes significant renovation of the water plant and in the coming months the city will completely shut off their water production there, Reaves said.
“Meaning we will not produce any water for our community, we’ve got plans in place that we tested already and we’re going to turn on the interconnects between East China and Marine City and they’ll pump additional capacity in order to supply us,” Reaves explained.
He also noted that the fire chief has plans in place in case of any fire concerns during the week to 14 days the water would be shutoff.
“We also have contingency plans in regards to issues like water main breaks because while all that’s going on the water main project doesn’t stop,” Reaves said.
Amid all those things, Reaves wanted to remind everyone that the city follows State of Michigan guidelines for water quality and clarity and the water is mandated to be tested several times a day.
The Safe Drinking Water Project in the city is ongoing and now in Phase 3.
“I know a lot of times people hold up a glass of water on social media that shows yellow water, and there could be for a number of different reasons for it,” Reaves said. “Obviously we’ll investigate those complaints but I ask people not to rush to judgement with the Facebook experts but perhaps run their water a little bit and check it again and if there is a problem call us.”
“We’ve addressed some of that in the agreement, the water quality carryover so that folks would know,” Davis said.
Commissioners weigh-in
During the commissioner privilege part of the recent meeting’s agenda, near the end of the session, several took time to comment on the water project that’s ongoing in the city.
Commissioner William Klaassen said he wanted to thank everybody for dealing with the everything going on in town with the water project. He said he was recently having breakfast on a Sunday morning and someone approached him about the increased water rates.
“I tried to explain it to them but they just didn’t want to listen to anything I said,” Klaassen said
“We try to listen and we try to tell you it’s there for a reason.”
Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Hendrick also commented on the issue stating the city has taken a lot of time and put in a lot of work to put together information on the project including the water rate increases.
“I know people find some of these meetings boring and they don’t want to make time to come and I know it’s hard,” Hendrick said. “But the way you learn about how your government works is to attend these meetings so that you can see it first hand and you can ask questions.”
Clerk addresses concerns about water bills
During his report from department heads near the end of the recent meeting City Clerk Jason Bell said the city office staff have been inundated with calls about the increase in rates on the water bills.
“We understand the frustrations, we get it and we try to explain it the best that we can,” Bell said. “But I just want to let residents now that the entire water rate study and sewer rate study is available online on our website under the public notices section.”
Bell said the city also has information about payment assistance programs from across the county and a payment arrangement program at the city.
“If you’re struggling, we understand the frustrations but reach out,” Bell said. “We can get you the help and assistance that you need.”
