By Pat Maurer
Correspondent
The highlight of Monday night’s City Commission meeting was a report, and pictures of the completion of the Pere’ Marquette Rail trail project, completing the ‘Clare Gap’ through the City.
City Manager Jeremy Howard’s report to the Commission said, “The (rail-trail) project is essentially complete. The only major piece that was left was the rail crossing gates and fencing at the end of Pioneer Parkway. Those are beginning to be installed as I write this memo and likely will be fully completed in the next week. The ribbon cutting and official trail opening celebration was held Wednesday, October 23, at 3:00 p.m. at the new trail head located at the (Clare Union) Depot. It was a wonderful celebration of a project that had been decades in the making. Approximately a hundred people were there to celebrate, and many took to the trail after the ceremony. [State] Representative Tom Kunse presented an official proclamation at the ceremony which was presented to the City of Clare and received by Parks and Recreation Director Joy Simmer.”
Howard concluded, “It will be in the Commission Chambers on the night of your meeting for you to see. Thank you again to all those who were involved in bringing this project to completion.”
Also included in Howard’s report to the Commission included an update on the Lake Shamrock Dredging Project and the Dam Project.
He said, “Mechanical and hydraulic dredging both continue with great progress. Mechanical dredging by the city is operating 10 hours a day Monday through Thursday each week.”
He added, “With the time change happening Sunday, November 3rd, we will probably have to evaluate if there is enough daylight to continue the 4 ten-hour days and at some point, go back to 8 hours a day Monday through Friday for the City mechanical dredging operation.”
He continued, “Hydraulic dredging by Savin Lake Services is still operating Monday through Friday 24 hours a day most days and some alternate day and night shifts on the weekends as well. They have one barge still working the north side of Barnes Island and have been making great progress in the West finger of the lake.”
Howard said, “Great news, EGLE finished reviewing the permit for the East finger and area on the East end of the lake by the dam, and we now have a fully executed permit for those sections of the lake as well. Savin will move into those sections next after they complete the areas they are currently working in the lake.”
Reporting on the dam project, Howard said, “Our engineering firm GEI, has begun design work for the dam and we had a very productive kickoff meeting with them and staff for the project on Tuesday, October 22nd.”
He continued, “This grant (Dam Risk Reduction Grant Program – DRRGP) is the one for $600,000, with the total project cost at $670,000. $70,000 is the City’s match. The project will be quite extensive and should finish up late Summer or early Fall next year”.
He said, “We are still waiting on a grant agreement for the second grant (High Hazard Potential Dams – HHPD) to cover the next phase of the project. However, we do have more good news regarding the grant amount. Several other applicants have dropped out, so our grant share has increased to $758,971.50. The city will pay a 35% match of the total project cost. The next phase will likely be the actual bidding and construction of the dam.”
He reminded the Commission, “As you recall the total cost of all the phases to design, bid, and construct the dam and emergency spillway was around $7,000,000. These two grants add $1,358,971.50 to our funding for the project. The city’s matching funds for these grants, as well as additional dollars for the project, will come from the original $6.8 million state revenue allocation we received for the dredging and dam project. We will also be pursuing further rounds of both the DRRGP and HHPD grants in hopes of receiving additional grant dollars for the project to get us all the way to the preferred design of the dam as recommended by the engineer, and to meet all the requirements of EGLE.”
Other business at the Clare City meeting October 4th included”
*Approval of an agreement with Isabella County fire Departments for Mutual Aid as recommend by Howard and Fire Chief Sam Eberhart.
*Approval of the review and revision of the City Commission By-Laws.
*Approval of bills totaling $340,318/68.
Howard reminded everyone that “City Hall offices will be closed to the Public on Veteran’s Day, November 11th.
