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MACOMB TOWNSHIP — In a festive final meeting of 2023, the Macomb Township Board of Trustees received two gifts at its Dec. 20 meeting.
The first was an “unmodified” audit opinion from Plante Moran, the highest opinion auditing firms give for financial statements.
“Beyond that, I would say that the records are in outstanding condition throughout the year,” said David Herrington, a Plante Moran accountant. “You are making decisions based on accurate information on a timely basis, which makes it strategically advantageous for our community.”
The fiscal year 2023 audit showed that the township brought in $47.3 million with $38.6 million in expenditures. Property taxes made up the largest share of revenues at about $20.7 million, while public safety was the highest expenditure at $14.6 million. Revenue was nearly $10 million more than it was in 2022, with federal revenue sources being the biggest change, from $463,000 to about $7.2 million. Expenditures increased from $35.5 million in 2022 but were lower than the $39.4 million in 2021.
The second gift granted to the board was delivered by Santa Claus himself but came from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development. An oversized novelty check represented $1.7 million from the state and county to help create a trail along the North Branch of the Clinton River known as the North Branch Greenway.
“The greenway is a project initiated by the county of Macomb, the goal of which is to establish a continuous green space along the North Branch of the Clinton River from 26 Mile Road all the way down to Hall Road,” Macomb Township Treasurer Leon Drolet said. “Now this would be a very ambitious project and very expensive, but our township bought into the idea that, if we can get grant funding (and) state funding, we should begin that project to preserve open space along the river.”
The $1.7 million grant, which will be used to buy property along the river to begin work on the greenway, came from the DNR’s Natural Resources Trust Fund. Oil, gas and logging companies paid into the fund through leases and royalties until 2011, when the fund became able to support itself through investments and extraction revenues were redirected toward state parks. Getting a DNR trust fund grant is a competitive process and Macomb Township staff lobbied hard to get a share of the fund.
“When the scoring came out, we were on the bubble,” Drolet said. “Jodi (Claycomb, the township’s deputy supervisor), myself and some folks from the county went up to Lansing. We met with the DNR trust fund team, we advocated for this project and thankfully they decided to fund us.”
Drolet and Macomb Township Supervisor Frank Viviano praised Claycomb for her role in getting the grant.
“She was the driving force behind this in our township,” Viviano said. “She did a tremendous amount of work. The grant applications for the DNR are lengthy and cumbersome. If it were not for her, we would have never gotten this far. We would have never acquired this resource for the township.”
Viviano said the project would take “decades” to complete but would include the preservation of 1,300 acres of natural riverfront if seen through.
New professional services contract
Trustees approved a new professional engineering services contract, adding OHM Advisors to its lineup of Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick Inc. and Fishbeck. OHM was brought in to give the township more engineering capacity. James Van Tiflin, Macomb Township’s land development director, told trustees projects would be assigned based on each firm’s expertise. OHM is notable for its work on sidewalk projects in Macomb County and is currently working with Macomb Township to visualize the Broughton Road extension.
According to the contract with three firms, $7.6 million was spent on engineering services over the past five years and a similar amount is expected over the next five years.
Bridge funding
Several bridge projects received funding at the meeting. The first of those were bridges spanning the Clinton River at 21 Mile and 22 Mile roads with costs split 50/50 between the township and the county. The bridge at 21 Mile will cost Macomb Township $44,355 and the 22 Mile Road bridge will cost $42,942.
A bridge to connect Pitchford Park with the neighborhood to the west was approved with JSS-Macomb LLC awarded the $214,860 contract to build it. The bridge will cross the open channel Denryter Drain. State grant funds are paying for the bridge and are expected to cover the entirety of the project’s costs. Viviano said the township is also working on connecting the Romeo Plank-based Pitchford Park to the sidewalks along 22 Mile Road.
