Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A Rendering showing how U.S. 2 would look as a three lane highway versus four lanes through Bessemer. The Bessemer City Council wants more information from MDOT before making a decision.
By JEAN NORDINE
Bessemer - At Monday's regular meeting of the Bessemer City Council, the council stated they want more input from the Michigan Department of Trasportation before making a decision as to if U.S. 2 should remain four lanes or go on a road diet and become three lanes.
The council feels they need an actual survey to see exactly where the lanes would go, before they can make a decision. They also question whether compromises can be made. They are requesting MDOT representatives attend their next meeting and answer specific questions from the council, before they bring the discussion to another public meeting.
In other business, two rental inspection ordinances were adopted. The first ordinance, No. 368, is an ordinance regulating the registration of residential rental dwelling units. All owners of every building containing a residential rental dwelling unit within the corporate limits of the city of Bessemer must register said building with the city's code enforcement officer. The second ordinance, No. 369, is an ordinance to require the inspection of residential rental dwelling units by the code enforcement officer. Both ordinances were adopted with a 4-1 vote, with councilman Archie voting no.
The council also passed a resolution to abandon the alley on Moore Street To formalize this process, the council will publish the resolution and a public hearing will be held on Nov. 5.
A first reading was held on a few changes to the city's property maintenance code and civil infraction code. City manager Charly Loper said, "Ray O'dea (attorney) and I have discovered a few issues with our Property Maintenance Code and Civil Infraction Code that need to be amended. Both changes are fairly straight forward. We had the property maintenance code tied to the civil infraction ordinance and this isn't necessary. We also modified the grass section slightly."
The council discussed the no dogs in the park signs that are at Bluff Valley Park. The Parks and Recreation Committee previously voted to install no dogs in park signs and three were installed. They also requested the dog waste bag dispensers be removed. Since the Park and Recreation committee serves as an advisory board to the City Council, action to remove the dispensers must be addressed by the Council. In order to have a no dogs sign viable, the council would have to pass a resolution to keep dogs out. As there would be a problem policing that type of resolution, the council did not want to go that route, so they decided to have the signs removed. New signs will be installed to encourage dog owners to be courteous of others and the dog waste station will remain at the Bluff Valley park.
The Bridges to Bluffs half marathon is scheduled for Saturday Sept. 22. This is a fundraiser for trail maintenance funds. In 2017 the marathon started in Ironwood, came to Bessemer and finished in Ironwood. This year the marathon will begin and end in Bessemer.
Organizers of the marathon requested that the city close parking on the west side of Sophie St. from 5 to 6 p.m. for children's races on Friday Sept. 21. They also requested the use of the Fire Hall for Friday night's registration and use of the auditorium for a pasta feed fundraiser for the cross country team. On Saturday morning, the group requested to close Mary St. from Moore to Sophie and west side parking on S. Sophie from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Also discussed at the meeting was the need to control and clean up an ongoing sewer problem at 607 N. Moore St.
The council received good news with a USDA change order for the water/sewer project. After a partial balancing of unit price quantities, there is an adjustment to the project quantities to reflect conditions encountered in the field in the amount of $62,263.
DPW progress report:
Streets: The DPW has repaired storm damage, cleaned ditches, flushed culverts, checked and cleaned storm drains, swept streets and sidewalks, cold patched streets, picked up trash, graded road shoulders and hauled gravel to shop stockpile.
Buildings: The DPW has been mowing, repaired storm damage to trails, weed trimming, watered flowers, cleaning and playground equipment maintenance.
Water: The DPW repaired meters, read meters, operated valves, flushed water mains, Miss Dig locates, repaired valve boxes, and general water plant operations.
Sewer: The DPW has checked manholes, plugged sewer line N. Moore St., repaired sink hole N. Moore St., adjusted man hole castings, and Miss Dig locates.
Shop: The DPW has repaired equipment and are doing preventive maintenance of equipment.
The DPW will be doing building maintenance, Miss Dig locates water system maintenance, equipment repairs, and street maintenance.
