The Three Rivers City Commission will hold the first bi-monthly meeting for July on Wednesday evening rather than Tuesday, due to the holiday schedule. The commission will meet at 6 p.m. at Three Rivers City Hall (333 W. Michigan Ave.).
In new business, the commission will consider approving purchase orders for salt through the State of Michigan MiDEAL contract for the 2023-2024 winter at a total purchase order amount of $21,000. With the MiDEAL program the State bids out the purchase of salt for itself and participating governmental units. According to the report from Director of Public Service Amy Roth, the City has residual from last year and are limited as to how much can be fit in the storage barn at one time. Therefore, the City has committed to purchase 100 tons of early salt, and up to 200 tons of midseason salt.
Next on the docket is a report to the commission from City Manager Joe Bippus regarding the issue of overnight parking on city streets. During public comments at the June 20 meeting a citizen requested the city commission review the current ordinances that limit such parking. The citizen gave three options in an email: strictly enforce the ordinance, eliminate the ordinance restricting overnight parking, or stop enforcing the current ordinance. Bippus drafted a report at the request of the commission, which will provide options for addressing the situation. According to Bippus, if the commission wishes to make a change they should ask the planning commission to review the issue and make a recommendation.
The last item on the agenda for new business is a request from Deputy Fire Chief Paul Schoon for approval of a change order in the amount of $1,800.00 for Linde Gas & Equipment. Linde supplies medical grade oxygen for the Three Rivers Fire Department (TRFD) and, due to an increase in cost and use of oxygen, TRFD will need to add an additional $1,800.00 to the current blanket order amount of $13,500.00. A report from Schoon says this amount will also take care of an invoice for April, which TRFD did not receive at that time. According to Schoon, if the TRFD had received the invoice on time then they would have been able to correctly calculate the last change order done in May.
In other news, the commission will consider approving fiscal year 2024 blanket orders, as well as approve a vacation request from Bippus from July 24 to July 28.
For those unable to make Wednesday evening’s meeting in-person, the proceedings are available via Facebook live on Three Rivers City Hall’s page.
Beca Welty is a staff writer and columnist for Watershed Voice.
