Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BUCHANAN — New Buchanan City Manager Tony McGhee updated City Commissioners Monday on the upcoming $19.4 million downtown infrastructure project. After years of planning, work is expected to get underway in early spring.

      The project will include water, sewer, storm water work as well as streetscape improvements on two blocks of Front Street in the downtown. The project was initially expected to take two years to complete but he said that it should be substantially complete this year.

      McGhee told commissioners that the city will host a stakeholders meeting with downtown business owners the first week of March to make sure everyone knows what to expect when construction starts. In addition, a “progress page” will be set up on the city’s website and weekly updates will be given.

      Most of the work being done with the project will be in the two blocks of Front Street from Red Bud Trail to Oak Street. Detour signs as well as temporary parking areas will be highlighted during the project. One of the first things people will see as the project starts is the cutting down of trees in the project area.

An interesting aspect of the project will be creating a “festival street” on that section of Front with no curbs and the street and sidewalks being on the same level. McGhee said Buchanan will be one of the first communities to have that feature.

      Funding for the project is coming primarily from a Michigan Department of Transportation grant and a United States Department of Agricullture 40-year low interest loan with the city also contributing some monies from the general fund.

McGhee gave commissioners one piece of unwelcome news on the project Monday, telling them that there is a $1.7 million shortfall with the construction budget.  Commissioners expressed surprise at the news, saying that they thought all the funding was in place before they voted to proceed last fall.

“This makes me angry,” Commissioner Dan Vigansky said. “None of us knew this, we assumed we had all the money we needed. We need to do a post mortem and figure out where we screwed up.”

McGhee said he will do that but right now he’s working on getting the project going. He said while he’s looking for additional grants or loans to make up that difference, the city does have the funds to cover that amount if it has to. Commissioners did approve a resolution of support and commitment of match for the downtown project.

Besides the downtown project, McGhee updated commissioners about the Front Street retaining wall project and also asked commissioners how they want to handle the upcoming budget process in advance of the new fiscal year that starts July 1.

With the retaining wall, he said he and other city staff met with the contractor last week and work should start the first or second week of March. He said there will be a day or two when that part of Front Street will be closed to traffic with one lane open otherwise until the project is done.

On the budget, he asked commissioners if they wanted to have another work session to set down city goals. Commissioners had a work session to set goals on Nov. 23 where they talked about goals for the downtown, city parks, the fire department, boards and committees and code enforcement.

Commissioners said they didn’t feel they needed another work session. McGhee will now find a date when commissioners can meet in March for a budget workshop. A preliminary draft budget will be presented April 28 to the commission with the final budget up for approval and adoption May 26.

After two weeks on the job, McGhee said he’s met with department heads and staff with everyone agreeing on the need to focus on policies and procedures. Specifically, he wants to work on items such as the utility billing process, goal setting and retaining employees as well as developing a new rental housing ordinance.

Staff also told him that they wanted to restore Friday City Hall office hours. City Hall will now be open to the public 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Previously, City Hall was closed to the public at 1 p.m. on Fridays.

In action at Monday’s meeting, commissioners appointed the five-member compensation committee which will determine whether commissioner salaries should be changed. Members will have staggered terms from one to five years and are Tony Houser, Jeannie Harris, Joseph Kruger, Matthew Pleasant and Jen Garry.