MONTAGUE — The White River Township board unanimously approved committing $106,000 to repair Hancock Road Tuesday night at its monthly meeting, following up on a February discussion about the four high-priority roads it said needed repairs in the township.
There is no timeline for the project yet, as the township will now have to check in with the Muskegon County Road Commission about the next steps. However, with the 2024-25 budget now set - the budget meeting took place just prior to the board meeting Tuesday - the board determined that the funds were there to move forward with such a project. The $106,000 will come out of the township’s general fund.
“We were just trying to get some action happening while we knew we could,” supervisor Ron Bailey said. “We have a need there. Without a doubt, it’s probably the most high-priority road because of its high use, and if you travel down it, you would notice a lot of divots and patches. It’s time to try to get things leveled out and straightened out.”
Over the course of discussing potential road repairs during the last month, the board noted some township roads the township does not have to pay money to maintain, as they are under the county’s jurisdiction - Bailey mentioned Chase Road and Old Channel Trail as examples. Other roads, like Hancock, fall to the township to maintain. (Lau, Indian Bay and Lamos roads were also discussed at February’s meeting.)
The $106,000 sum is no small amount - in fact, it represents about a quarter of the township budget for 2024-25, approved just an hour or so prior. Clerk Debbi Sargent jokingly hesitated prior to making the vote unanimous, noting she is perhaps more frugal than her colleagues on the board. However, the approval makes clear the importance of the issue in the township, as did the small round of applause that came from the crowd in the township hall after the vote.
“Now that we’ve been through the budget hearing, we understand we do have some funds available, and we want to start making some progress toward having our roads get to the level they should be,” Bailey said.
Also Tuesday, the township noted the successful primary election. Over half the votes cast in the township were absentee ballots, though only one voter, Sargent said, took advantage of the early voting site in Muskegon.
The board also discussed the Sports ‘n Shorts program scheduled to return to local municipalities this summer. Townships pay for the program, which offers sports and other activities free to local children during the summer, and the board said unless the city of Montague becomes involved, the cost to the township will increase from $1,700 to $2,200. Board members noted their approval of the program.
Two public comments focused on solar issues. Lauren Wackernagel noted the July court date in the Lakeside Solar suit against the township is coming up and encouraged the board to continue following local ordinances and remain strong. Melissa Lorenz noted the statewide Citizens for Local Choice group is attempting to collect 500,000 petitions in order to force a referendum on the statewide alternative energy bill passed late last year, which would disallow local ordinances on the issue that are more restrictive than the state’s requirements.
