By Scott Sullivan
Editor
Saugatuck City Council Monday, May 4 changed scheduled Water Street watermain valve work to dates and times less impactful to residents and businesses, with appropriate advance notice.
Based on assessment by engineers, the contractor and staff, completing this work next week or the following week would create greater impacts. As a result, staff will ask Council to OK a change order to move this work to a window between October 5 and 23, 2026.
“Unfortunately,” said City Manager Ryan Cummins, “we cannot eliminate all disruption associated with this type of infrastructure work. While we don’t have specific dates this far out, we are aiming for the work to occur on a Monday/Tuesday and avoid the weekend. We will do our best to provide 7 days advance notice.
Why Not November?
“Our engineers, contractor, and public works staff,” Cummins continued, “have advised that completing this work in November carries a significant risk of not being able to obtain asphalt for proper road restoration. This could result in major intersections remaining gravel through the winter, creating plowing challenges and increasing the risk of damage from freeze/thaw cycles.
“October provides a more reliable construction window to complete the work properly,” he said.
Communication
“We heard the concerns raised regarding communication,” Cummins went on (eg. last week’s Letter to the Editor “Saugatuck businesses deserve better” by Richard Williams and city resident Joe Leonatti’s follow-up this week).
“While the City has taken steps over the past year to improve outreach (adding staff capacity, increasing regular updates and expanding use of email and social media) we recognize there is more to do, particularly in creating opportunities for two-way dialogue,” the Manager conceded.
“City Council has prioritized additional town hall-style meetings. One with area businesses is being planned for this fall to review the season, hear concerns directly and discuss opportunities for improvement moving forward,” said Cummins.
“We also heard a suggestion to consider a liaison with business community,” he went on. “Today (this email went out Monday, May 4) I met with Chris Marco, Community Development Director at Lakeshore Advantage, a local economic development organization for Allegan and Ottawa counties.
“Lakeshore Advantage is happy to help be a liaison and facilitate conversations between the City, businesses and nonprofits. If that is of interest to your business, Chris can be reached at (616) 772-5226 ext. 0050,” Cummins said.
“Finally, I would welcome the opportunity to schedule a meeting at a local business or City Hall with anyone who would like to talk further,” the manager said.
