At a marathon four-hour meeting Monday, Traverse City commissioners approved applying to the state for nearly $27 million in funding to tackle a variety of sewer system and plant repairs over the next five years. Commissioners also directed staff to negotiate with both Crooked Tree Arts Center and Traverse Area District Library to see if a joint occupancy agreement can be reached for the Carnegie Building and agreed to hire a firm instead of an individual to replace outgoing City Attorney Lauran Trible-Laucht for the near future, among other items.

Sewer Repairs
The city will submit a plan to the state under its Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) seeking nearly $27 million in funding for several major sewer projects. The program provides low-interest loans to communities for such infrastructure projects, though funding is “quite competitive,” said City Director of Municipal Utilities Art Krueger. However, the city’s last submitted plan “paid off very well” as it received a loan for just over $41 million for major treatment and UV disinfection upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant (pictured), which are underway now.

The city also received a $2.725 million loan to relocate a sanitary sewer main in the Front Street alley, Krueger said. That loan also had an 1.875 percent interest rate, and the state forgave $428,750 of the principal. The next round of funding would cover several major plant projects, including upgrades to the membrane bioreactor enclosure, odor control improvements, and anaerobic digestor improvements. Funding would also cover upgrades to the Front Street lift station and force main, East Front Street sewer improvements between Park and Railroad, and system upgrades on the east side of town – including replacing aging force mains from the Coast Guard lift station, which also includes flow from the TBA lift station.

Krueger noted that the city isn’t committed to doing all those projects, but they all become eligible for funding by being submitted in the plan to the state. If the city doesn’t receive full funding, less critical repairs will get pushed out to future years, he said. A 20-year loan has an estimated interest rate of 2.5 percent. The state will sometimes forgive a portion of the principal, and repayment doesn’t begin until one year after construction completion. Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ness pointed out the city can’t necessarily rely on CWSRF as a funding source long term, as major cuts have been proposed to the program under Trump administration. However, the city should know by early fall whether it qualifies for funding this cycle, Krueger said.

Carnegie Update
Crooked Tree Arts Center is likely to see its lease – which expires at the end of October – extended as commissioners work through the future of the Carnegie Building.

Commissioners heard almost an hour of impassioned public comment Monday as supporters of both Crooked Tree and Traverse Area District Library championed either or both of those organizations being awarded a lease for the Carnegie Building. The city is using a request-for-proposals (RFP) process to find the next tenant, which spun in a new direction after city and library staff proposed co-locating the two entities in the building. Crooked Tree staff have significant concerns about the proposal – ranging from security to funding to programming reductions – and reiterated those again during public comment Monday.

Commissioners were sympathetic with Crooked Tree’s frustration that the organization’s programming and planning has come to a standstill waiting to hear its future in the building. The board expressed support for City Manager Benjamin Marentette’s plan to return at their May 4 meeting with a recommended lease extension for Crooked Tree. Commissioners also voted 5-2 – with Mitch Treadwell and Ken Funk opposed – to have Marentette meet with both entities again and see if any kind of compromise can be reached that would allow both the library and Crooked Tree to share Carnegie. Marentette will return at the commission’s May 18 meeting with an update. If the entities can’t reach a deal, commissioners will likely proceed with choosing one of the two RFP responses, Mayor Amy Shamroe said.

City Attorney Position
City commissioners will use an RFP process to find a firm to become the city’s new civil counsel, replacing outgoing City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht. Trible-Laucht is stepping down from her role effective June 30. Noting the city’s ever-growing complex legal needs, commissioners thought a firm could provide a “deeper bench,” in Ness’s words, than one individual on staff. However, in order to see how that works in reality, commissioners will seek a shorter-term retainer contract – likely 18-24 months – to evaluate. If the board wants to seek a different firm in the future, or decides it wants someone on staff again, that period will allow more time to fully explore those options, commissioners agreed. They are expected to approve the RFP language at their May 4 meeting.

Also at Monday’s meeting…
> Commissioners approved a contract with Grand River Construction for up to $947,265 for repairs to the North Union Street Bridge. Work is expected to take place in March or April 2027 and will close that area of Union Street down for a few months. Commissioners also approved a contract with AJ’s Excavating for up to $147,476.19 for a sidewalk infill project on Garfield Avenue, which will add new sidewalk to the east side of Garfield from just south of Boon Street to the southern end of the airport property this summer.

> Commissioners approved approve several traffic control orders to make signs permanent in several areas, including an all-way stop sign at the southwest corner of Front Street (eastbound) at Pine Street, a stop sign on Red Drive at its intersection with Silver Drive, stop signs at Cottageview Drive and Silver Drive, and pedestrian-in-crosswalk signage on Pine Street at the midblock crosswalk between Front Street and State Street. Also related to streets, commissioners approved a resolution updating the city’s certified street map to include a portion of Garland Street connecting to Union Street, which was reconstructed in 2016 but never made official on the map.

> Finally, commissioners approved an additional $1.2 million payment to the city’s pension provider, Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (MERS). The city is currently 55.2 percent funded on its retirement debt, which is below a 60 percent state threshold. The city is working with MERS on additional voluntary contributions “to bring the plan up to 75 percent funded in 9-10 years,” according to City Treasurer/Finance Director Heidi Scheppe.

Photo credit: City of Traverse City