DOWAGIAC — Repair work will soon begin at the Dowagiac Area History Museum, following a vote from the Dowagiac City Council Monday.

During its regular meeting, the Dowagiac City Council approved a resolution to authorize a purchase order for insulation work at the Dowagiac Area History Museum. The insulation work is part of roof repairs approved at the history museum last month. The total cost of repairs is around $17,000.

“Once the roof gets done, we can get [the insulation] off there so that mold doesn’t occur,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “The new insulation will have good quality spores and is pretty water resistant, so we hopefully won’t have a problem again.”

City council members said the director of the museum, Steve Arseneau, has been pushing the need for insulation work and applauded his dedication to the museum.

Arseneau said he is attending to the needs of the museum.

“We had some damage to our roof and so some moisture got into the insulation, and we believe there are some issues with that and we need to get the moisture out of the insulation,” he said.

As of Tuesday, Arseneau said there has not been any detected mold or long-term damage to the museum due to the moisture in the insulation. Having the problem dealt with quickly will help ensure that remains the case, he said.

“We believe that going forward, the best way to prevent that is to have this project done,” he said.

In other business, the city council answered one of its most asked questions of the year: when is trick or treating?

The Dowagiac City Council approved a resolution to designate city-wide trick or treat hours as 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday Oct. 31.

Council member Charles Burling said keeping trick or treating to an hour city-wide was a safety issue, as the council members did not want children out on the streets after dark.

Both Mayor Don Lyons and council member Bob Schuur agreed that hour was appropriate and enough for the children of Dowagiac. 

“When I get 500 kids in an hour, that makes it seem like long enough,” Schuur said.