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MARQUETTE -- A local municipal leader will join eight other experts in Lansing starting this fall to come up with solutions to improve Michigan's failing infrastructure.
Chocolay Township Manager Jon Kangas was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder in July to the Michigan Infrastructure Council, a state committee tasked with devising a road map for fixing infrastructure statewide including drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, electric and broadband.
The nine-member body, which was created pursuant to Public Act 323, will devise a statewide asset management database, facilitate the data collection strategy and produce a 30-year infrastructure investment and management strategy for infrastructure across the state.
"Improving Michigan's infrastructure systems means healthier communities, better-paying jobs and a stronger foundation for our future," Snyder said on June 19.
If past experience is any indicator, Kangas is a good fit for the task, having worked for the city of Ishpeming for nearly a decade filling the roles of city engineer, public works director and interim city manager during his tenure there. He is also a member of the American Society of Engineers, the American Public Works Association and the Michigan Rural Water Works Association.
Asset management, as defined by the International Infrastructure Management Manual, is "meeting a required level of service in the most cost-effective way through the creation, acquisition, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and disposal of assets to provide for present and future customers."
Kangas, who will represent small utilities on the council, and is the only representative from the Upper Peninsula, said the smaller the utility, the less likely it has a complete asset management plan.
"There are five critical elements of an asset management plan, and No. 4 is the revenue structure," Kangas said. "Basically, how do you make sure you have the money sitting in the bank when you need to do something. I can tell you, the smaller the utility, the less likely they are going to have money socked away. We don't want to charge you more than it is going to cost to run the system, not thinking about 50 years down the road you have a couple million dollars worth of pipe you have to replace."
He said small utilities also historically have not kept proper asset inventories. In other words, they don't have a comprehensive list of every pipe, hydrant, valve and manhole that they own, and therefore are unaware of the age and condition of each of those elements.
The work of the Michigan Infrastructure Council is crucial, Kangas said, because it will give municipalities the tools to create comprehensive asset management plans, which examine asset inventory, level of service, critical assets, revenue structure and a capital improvement project plan.
"I think that is the biggest thing in getting all of these asset management plans together so that when you start looking at the criticality of a segment, look at the criticality of the other infrastructure in that same area," Kangas said. "Me being a utility guy, I always say you have to work from the bottom up."
When people think of infrastructure, they inevitably think of roads because they are visible. But the infrastructure for water, wastewater, stormwater and other utilities under and above the roads are also important -- and all should be addressed in an organized and deliberate way.
"(In Ishpeming) we didn't improve a roadway unless we looked at everything underneath it first," he said, "and not just your municipally owned utilities, but your broadband, your phone cable, power, natural gas -- everything that could be in that right-of-way."
A good example, Kangas said, is the way that utility owners and municipal leaders worked together during a 2016 project to construct a roundabout on U.S. 41 while he was the Ishpeming Department of Public Works director.
"Pretty much every utility that existed there cooperated," Kangas said. "(Upper Peninsula Power Company), Charter (Communications) and AT&T all took their overhead utilities and put them underground so that drivers have less distractions. The only thing that is above ground now, is the highway structure itself and the street lighting, and I think it really cleaned up the project and it makes it easier for the driver to focus on what they should be, and that's where's the traffic coming from?"
Kangas said he is humbled to be able to represent Upper Peninsula utilities in such an important project.
"Being able to represent the U.P. is obviously a big deal," Kangas said. "Not having representation from the U.P. on that council … would be difficult for U.P. communities and municipalities or utilities to stay properly informed. So that might be my biggest challenge is, how do I communicate with everyone."
Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is lbowers@miningjournal.net.