Watson Township received word Thursday that the State of Michigan has awarded it a $150,000 passport grant for continued work on the Seven Generations Recreation Park at the corner of M-222 and 20th Street.

Township officials, who held a ribbon cutting for the park earlier this year, were told Watson will be required to provide a $50,000 match, which Supervisor Kevin Travis said will be no problem.

“This is a very good deal for our community,” Travis told board colleagues. It’s a huge deal. We were told by the county that it would be very unlikely for us to get that grant.”

Travis had high praise for the work done by Planning Commissioner Jay Eveland and Trustee John Caras in preparing and submitting the grant application.

Further good news about Watson’s only park was notice from Martin High School wood working shop teacher Rob Harrison that he and his students want to be involved in building the mobile benches and picnic tables as a community service.

In other business at Thursday night’s meeting, the board:

• Approved the appointment of Hunter Davis to the Planning Commission, filling a vacancy left by the resignation of Nick Evans.
• Received a request for proposal for the first-ever curbside recycling program and noted there still has been some dumping of refuse at the now-closed former recycling location at the Township Hall parking lot. The curbside recycling is expected to get under way in January.
• Awarded the bid for snow plowing for $3,900 to Scott Langlois of ATF Enterprises.
• Was told by Travis that the Allegan County Road Commission plans to pave two miles of a road between Martin and Watson townships, with a $260,000 local match. It was noted that the arrival of a gavel mining operation on 117th Avenue may put more pressure on that road.
• Approved payment of $29,000 to Arndt Electric for replacing all lights at the township hall with LED lights. The money will be taken from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
• Learned that the Hopkins Area Fire Department was able to secure a $40,000 state grant for serving four townships.
• Was told by Travis that the Wayland Area Emergency Services Board has been discussing the possibility of having no more than two EMTs paid for each run. WAEMS has reported 3,739 call responses thus far in 2023 and more efforts may be made to save on costs.