Wakefield council swears in new member, approves engineering for dam update

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield City Council swore in longtime resident Charles Picoldi Monday, to fill an unexpired term vacated by a resignation.

A seat on the council became available when April Rauh resigned her position in March. One application, from Picoldi, was received by the city to fill the vacancy.

The council is now comprised of Joseph DelFavero, Ted Finco, Picoldi, Jason White and Mayor Richard Bolen.

The council approved GEI Consultants to complete the engineering design for the city’s upcoming project to update the dam at Sunday Lake’s northeast corner.

Wakefield was recently approved for one of six Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ dam management grants for 2013. The MDNR and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality reviewed 23 applications for the $2.35 million in grant funding that was available.

The city will contribute a 10 percent local share of the $77,000 project cost.

City manager John Siira said GEI has assisted the city in all of the project planning to date. With the engineering design and grant agreement now in the works, he said he hopes that work on the project could begin as soon as August.

With this year’s heavy snowfall and the spring thaw occurring later than last year’s, the city has been paying close attention to the rate of snow melt. Lingering cold temperatures have helped so far to prevent a rapid melt and rising lake levels.

In other business, the council:

—Voted to extend the city’s agreement with the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department for police services. Under the two-year contract, the city will pay $92,040 for the first fiscal year and $92,664 for the second.

This is up from the city’s current rate of $91,520. Wakefield and Bessemer each pay the same rate for sheriff’s department services.

—Heard that spring work has started on the city’s ongoing sewer project, which it hopes to wrap up this year.

—Approved city of Ironwood code enforcement official Jason Alonen to continue as Wakefield’s code enforcement officer. The contract is for two years and includes rates of $28.56 per hour for the first year and $29.13 per hour for the second.

Wakefield was billed a total of $1,134 for code enforcement services for 2012.

—Approved William Saily to continue as building inspector. Saily will be paid $550 per month from April 2013 to Jan. 2014 and $200 per month from January to April 2014. To date, the city has issued no building permits for the 2013 construction season.

—Approved a contribution of $1200 to the Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency for the 2013-’14 fiscal year. This represents an increase from the yearly amount of $1,150 the city has contributed since 2010.

—Heard that the city’s website has been updated. The site can be found at cityofwakefield.org.