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Breitung Township to move forward with planned road projects

QUINNESEC — The Breitung Township Board agreed Monday to exceed its 2018 road budget of $207,000 by accepting Bacco Construction’s bid for work on several East Kingsford streets.

Bacco’s total price is $211,180 — $40,990 to reconstruct portions of Boyle Drive and Barton Street and $170,190 to put a 1.5-inch asphalt overlay on portions of Elizabeth and Campbell streets and Withworth, Superior and Michigan avenues.

Contractors are busy this year, Township Supervisor Denny Olson noted, resulting in higher than normal prices. Other options besides accepting the bid included taking only the Boyle and Barton bid or re-bidding the entire project next year, Olson said.

But Township Trustee Dave Soderbloom said he didn’t think prices would be any better next year.

Work on the roads will start later this year, Township Superintendent John Gaudette said.

In other business, the board:

— Revised cemetery rules to let the sexton determine the size and location of monuments on an individual basis, allow two upright markers at the same end of a grave, remove a restriction requiring all stones in block 9 be flush with the ground, and allow the sexton to remove any dead shrubs or trees annually.

— Renewed the accident and health insurance policy for township firefighters for three years at a cost of $17,967.

— Contributed $500 to the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 50 for the community Fourth of July fireworks display.

— Allowed board members, appointed officials and employees to attend a Michigan Townships Association educational seminar July 31 through Aug. 2 in Harris. The township will cover the cost of registration, mileage, lodging and meals for all attendees, as well as per diem payments for trustees.

— Adopted a resolution commemorating the centennial of World War I’s end. Olson was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to the state’s World War I Centennial Commission to promote awareness of the centennial this year.

— Approved a resolution opposing proposed state reforms on administering assessors. The proposals in the state senate and house “have been hastily put together without better input from the stakeholders who are most impacted,” the resolution reads.

— Postponed awarding the bid for the Quinnesec water holding tank roof project and agreed to send the matter back to the township’s water/sewer board for review. The only bid received came in higher than expected, Gaudette pointed out, and building a roof over the tank is neither a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality requirement nor a mandatory remediation effort.

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