Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood — Ironwood’s department heads will soon start the process of updating the city’s comprehensive plan, according to reports at the city commission meeting on Monday.
The commission 5-0 approved the Ironwood Comprehensive Plan and Planning Commission report and review. Approval is required by the Redevelopment Ready Communities Program of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
The 10-year plan needs an annual review for insight on how much of the plan is completed or in process, said Tom Bergman, director of city community development. The planning commission is responsible for processing zoning requests and the sale of city-owned surplus property — but it’s also responsible for the comprehensive plan.
The Master Plan review includes the planning commission priority action items from street maintenance reconstruction to zoning and ordinance revisions, to infill redevelopment, infrastructure and training. It also incorporates the downtown blueprint plan and downtown enhancement, trail improvements, park programming, economic development, community marketing, housing rehabilitation, broadband access improvements and even the community calendar.
Commissioner Kim Corcoran, also the mayor pro tem, suggested that in addition to the annual report that Bergman provide quarterly updates. Commissioner Rick Semo wanted to know if the comprehensive plan was being modified as a result of the report.
The review is also an opportunity to modify the comprehensive plan, Bergman said. Over the next two years the entire plan will need to be adjusted to incorporate changing priorities and as other projects are completed or added.
“When you get to the point where you’ve implemented so much of your plan, even if there are things that haven’t been completed — when you’ve completed a lot of things it starts to shift your priorities a little bit,” Bergman said.
The city is six years into the most recent comprehensive plan. The revisions come in part from changes in the capital improvement plan, or the parks and recreation plan, and multiple smaller planning documents, he said.
“Once that’s completed that may be when we would want to make the next step to do the full revision of the comprehensive plan,” Bergman said.
This is the month when department heads start reviewing and discussing planning and there is a lot of time, energy and resources spent in developing these plans, Bergman said. The committees and the public should know the process of how they are implemented.
The commission heard a COVID-19 response update from city officials.
“We continue to see community-wide spread within Gogebic County as identified by Western UP Health,” said Andrew DiGiorgio, director of Ironwood Public Safety Department.
Ironwood Public Safety will host a free mobile COVID-19 testing event from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday for adults ages 18 and older. The event is in collaboration with Western Upper Peninsula Health Department, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan National Guard.
Organizers expect the turnout to be consistent with other area mobile testing events that draw from 100 to 250 people. Results should be returned in two to seven days depending on laboratory demand.
Bergman said around 40 Ironwood businesses and 80 in all of Gogebic County that applied for the Michigan Small Business Restart Program grant by the Wednesday deadline. The Michigan Economic Development Association is making $4.5 million available for the Upper Peninsula, as compared to $500,000 in the first round, he said.
Paul Linn, city finance director and treasurer, said the city has applied for three grants that are using Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds. Two grant deadlines were extended and the program was opened up to other government authorities that were not previously eligible.
There is also FEMA funding available with 25% city grant matching dollars. There are changes to the Act 51 revenue sharing estimates in May and a revised decrease in budget numbers. The August revenue sharing estimates from the Michigan Department of the Treasury used CARES Act dollars.
The two components of revenue sharing are the constitutional revenue sharing formula based on sales revenue, and the statutory revenue sharing of city, village and township revenue sharing that the state Legislature controls in the general fund.
“They eliminated the statutory revenue sharing part of our August payment and they are backfilling that with CARES Act dollars,” Linn said. “So, some of the federal CARES Act dollars that the state received they are allocating that to local governments in the form of our statutory revenue sharing.”
The estimates show that this may bring an additional $24,000 to Ironwood over and above the revised decrease in revenue sharing from the May estimates, he said. This isn’t the same level as the city budget proposed in 2019 but it is more than what was expected now, he said.
It is possible that the state could change the formulas or funding sources. There are also reporting requirements with the funding, he said.
Scott Erickson, city manager, said the cities of Ironwood, Bessemer and Wakefield will work together on another public service event on Thursday, Aug. 20. The event, which has yet to be finalized, is intended to be a webinar with area school administrators or superintendents regarding the status of schools as the fall semester nears.
In other business, the city commission approved 5-0:
—Renewal of the Office of Pharmacy Affairs certification of contract to provide health care services to low income individuals and the 340B Health Care Services Contract with Aspirus Ironwood Hospital.
—Authorizing bid advertisements for 3,000 tons of 22A road gravel, 1,500 tons of street sand, and 1,000 tons of ditch sand.
—Authorizing bid advertisement for a three year grass mowing and trimming contract at the Riverside Cemetery and city parks.
—Assigned commissioners Corcoran and Semo to the compost site planning committee.
