By Susan Carroll

Review Writer

The Lake Orion Village Council rejected an offer from the Michigan Department of Transportation on its share of the Paint Creek Dam emergency repairs during the council meeting on Monday.

The council also discussed the water asset management plan and got an update on its SAW Grant for the sanitary sewer system.

The emergency repair costs for the dam are estimated at $600,000.

MDOT, which co-owns the dam with the village, has offered to pay the estimated $600,000 contractor costs, while the village would be responsible for paying the engineering costs of Hubbell, Roth & Clark (HRC), estimated at $60,000.

The contract between the village and MDOT is that MDOT is responsible for the spillway of the dam, according to the terms of the agreement. Since the dam failure was caused by the spillway, the village should not be responsible for the engineering costs incurred, village officials said during council discussion.

The village elected to reject the MDOT offer for the village to pay the engineering costs for the dam repairs, and to counter offer that MDOT pay $55,000 towards the design and construction inspection engineering services.

Water Asset Management Plan

The MDEQ has issued a new requirement for a Water Asset Management Plan to be completed by Dec. 31, 2018. Five engineering firms submitted proposals to the council to engineer the plan.

The council moved to set aside selecting a firm for the asset management plan until the next village meeting on Oct. 23.

Construction engineering proposals for the water main replacement project phases 1 and 2 were submitted by the same five engineering firms who submitted for the water asset management plan.

The design engineering work for the two phases of the water main replacement project was previously awarded on Aug. 14 to HRC in an amount not to exceed $165,805.

The total estimated amounts ranged from $301,520 to $363,430 and total hours for the work from 3,646 to 4,798. The average overall hourly rates ranged from $75.75 to $90.34.

The council moved to set aside making an appointment until the next village meeting on Oct. 23.

SAW grant update

A SAW grant update was presented by Hubbell, Roth & Clark. The grant for the asset management plan for sanitary sewer system was granted to the village in October 2015, and will expire in October 2018.

The project amount is $663,300; of that $596,970 is grant money and the village match is $66,330.

To date, two years after the appointment of the grant, only $242,003 of the grant funds have been used.

Village Council President Ken VanPortfliet questioned HRC with his concern that there is less than one year to complete the inspection and management plan; and that the project is moving slowly and there is a lot of outstanding work to be done.

“It has taken 17 months to get this far, and there is only one year left,” said VanPortfliet.

HRC agreed to discuss the remaining timeline and present their plan for the remaining time to the council at an upcoming meeting.

Partially causing the concern is the fact that only 159 of the 349 sanitary manholes have been inspected as of October 2017. Of those inspected, 72 are in good condition and 87 are in poor condition. Village officials also said some manhole covers are hidden under porches or driveways and still need to be located before work can be done, said a representative from HRC.

Sound and lighting in village hall

The ability to hear during a council meeting in the village hall chamber is difficult. The historical room, formerly a church, has a high ceiling, however, the vastness of the room creates an acoustical debacle.

To achieve the acoustical quality necessary to conduct business in the chambers, Solar 2 LLC has proposed a solution to create an atmosphere where people can be heard clearly and room noise would be reduced.

They proposed installing absorptive removable panels that would complement the room décor. These panels offer the least intrusive solution and will not disrupt the historic walls. The cost of this project would be $20,530.

The village will also be obtaining quotes to add supplemental lighting to the room.

A Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program public hearing for uses and $13,721 worth of funding for program year 2018 is at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at village hall.