Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By CHARITY SMITH
Bessemer — The city of Bessemer adopted a policy on Monday night to specify the requirements for the restoration of grass and property damaged by snow plows during the winter months.
“We are not obligated by any means to repair grass, this is something that we have just done; most communities do not do it,” said Charly Loper, city manager, of her talks with city attorney Ray O’Dea. “It was getting a little out of hand and we were repairing all these little things. People were calling to complain of tiny little incidents.”
The new policy will only allow for the repair of grass damaged by snow plows if it is 20 or more square feet, whether it is on or off the right-of-way. The city will provide top soil at no cost for those who wish to fix grass damage smaller than the 20-square-foot threshold themselves, according to information provided to the council. Residents should contact the city garage to arrange getting the top soil.
The policy will also allow for the city to replace mailboxes damaged by plows. However, the cost for the mailbox must be $30 or less. The city will cover the cost of labor as well for the mailbox repairs.
The policy states the city isn’t responsible for damage to any vehicles or other property located within the right-of-way.
“If you remember we had this on the agenda a while back, either last meeting or the meeting before ... and we asked Charly to clarify on the (square) footage, and then asking for an opinion from Ray, which he gave us. So I am good with this,” said council member Terry Kryshak.
Representatives of the Michigan Department of Transportation were in attendance at Monday’s meeting to go over plans for the Bessemer U.S. 2 project which will take place in the 2021 and 2022 construction seasons. It will cover 1.8 miles from Powdermill Creek bridge east to Old U.S. 2 for the reconstruction portion. Then another 0.7 miles approximately east to the eastern roadside park for milling and resurfacing. The project budget is at $10.4 million for the MDOT portion, plus an additional $1.55 million for water main and sanitary sewer work that will be built into the U.S. 2 right-of-ways as part of the MDOT project. The project bid will be opened in January 2021 and they hope to start work in June. The first year would work on the west end from the bridge towards town. Year two will focus on the more densely populated section of the project.
The council voted to approve paying $43,000 to MDOT to help out with engineering for the project. The payment had been previously been tabled while city representatives were waiting to speak with MDOT about getting some traffic islands put in at the city entrances to slow traffic on U.S. 2.
“After meeting with MDOT it is pretty clear that there is just no funding for that (islands), so that is just kind of dead in the water,” Loper told the Daily Globe.
The council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Sept. 8, prior to the council’s regular 6 p.m. meeting, to discuss a detour route during the U.S. 2 project in 2022.
The council also voted to approve two applications for the civil service commission, and appointed Kryshak and George Beninghaus to the commission. The city is still seeking a third applicant, which the council granted Loper the power to appoint without seeking further council approval to help speed the process. The commission is being formed, as mandated in the city charter, to help with the hiring of a new city treasurer/clerk to replace Jim Trudgeon. Trudgeon is retiring Oct. 1. Applications can be sent to Loper at [email protected].
