The Wayland City Council held a public hearing Monday night on the special assessments for sidewalks in the East Maple Street project, but had to postpone officially approving the assessment roll.
The city’s street project for this summer is reconstructing and repaving East Maple from North Main to Steeby Elementary, which includes new sidewalks on the north side of the street, but not the south.
Because the exact amounts for each homeowner along the sidewalk installation won’t be known until the city’s finance director works them out, the council had to postpone official action.
“We can’t approve the assessments until we have the actual amounts,” pointed out Councilwoman Jennifer Antel.
There were a few people who appeared for the hearing.
Sam Dykstra, who also is a member of the City of Wauyland Planning Commission, said work needs to be done about the stormwater on the street.
Resident Mark VerHage added, “That road is a lot busier than it has been (in the past). It gets a lot of traffic.”
East Maple’s traffic has increased because a lot of parents use it to drop off their children Monday through Friday mornings at Steeby Elementary.
Councilwoman Tracy Bivins said, “It’s a school problem. I think the school needs to address it.”
City officials added that one of the best reasons for installing a sidewalk on the north side of East Maple to Steeby is to provide children with a place to walk rather than on the road.
In other business at Monday night’s meeting, the council:
- Decided to have City Manager Tim McLean direct the local Department of Public Works to provide more explicit signs forbidding smoking in the City Park. The council considered adopting an ordinance, which would have more teeth than just policy, but McLean said it would be more expensive for the city.
- Extended the fire service agreement between the city and the Gun Lake Casino for 10 years.
- Agreed to have a three-person committee made up of Lisa Banas, Rick Mathis and John Sloan have a meeting with McLean prior to his performance evaluation next month. McLean has been city manager since January 2016.
- Was told by Lt. Mark Rookus that Kyle Hart of Cassopolis has been hired as the newest police officer in the city.
