MARQUETTE — Chocolay Township will dig into its general fund reserves to make improvements to a portion of Poplar Trail, a county road near Little Lake Road that intersects Karen Road.

The Chocolay Township Board unanimously approved spending $10,964 in reserve funds for its 60% share of the cost to improve the gravel county road on Sept 14.

The total cost of the improvements, which will gravel 1,225 feet of Poplar Trail, is $18,274, according to a Marquette County Road Commission estimate.

State law assigns maintenance and construction responsibility for township roads to the county road commissions, but according to the Michigan Townships Association website “the state transportation fund doesn’t provide sufficient financial resources for road commissions to perform their responsibilities at a level acceptable to everyone.”

Township boards across the state, consequently, have voluntarily contributed over $150 million per year to their county road commissions to support road projects in their respective townships, the site states.

Chocolay Township residents approved a 15-year, 1.7-mill road millage in 2017, but the millage and its corresponding road maintenance plan do not include gravel roads, according to Township Manager Bill DeGroot.

During public comment on Monday, township resident Deborah Mulcahey said she was opposed to the expenditure of general fund reserves.

“I do not support the use of Chocolay Township reserve money for gravel road improvements,” Mulcahey said. “I think the whole thing with the roads should be dealt with historically, and have been historically through the planning commission in review overall.”

Resident Barney Banton, who lives on Poplar Trail, disagreed with Mulcahey, pointing out that he and other property owners on the road have “added to the community” by “adding to the tax base” with very little service in return.

“We’re taxpayers back here. I have been paying taxes since 1981. My taxes alone have been probably $24,000 plus some. And then we have four other neighbors that have also been paying. We live on a county road and I don’t care if it’s blacktop or gravel, it’s still a county road and we have several gravel roads in Chocolay Township,” Banton said. “You’ve got Cherry Creek Road, you’ve got Little Lake Road.

“At some point in time they do need fixing. And we’re not asking for super highways. We are just asking for something that could get an emergency vehicle back here in the springtime because we do get some severe breakup from frost. I could go on and on about this, but it is more of a safety hazard is what I am concerned about for our family.”

DeGroot recommended the township board “discuss the importance of gravel road improvements.”

He suggested in the long term that the board “review the plan that led to the road millage to incorporate gravel roads or come up with a gravel road maintenance plan identified with it.”

The board also voted unanimously to delegate all hiring and all handling of personnel matters to the township manager, who will act as the personnel administrator.

“Ultimately, I think that, going back in history, the job descriptions that I can see … for the manager position, there was the idea and intent that the manager be the day-to-day responsible party for the personnel administration,” DeGroot said. “And in my opinion that is probably the best thing and the most expedient thing along the way.”

Trustee Judy White, who was the chair of the personnel committee that negotiated with DeGroot before he was hired in 2019, said she had recently gone over the personnel policies and procedures with him. She expressed regret that the item was not included in the duties outlined in the township manager’s original job description.

“I fully agree that the manager needs to be the personnel administrator,” White said. “He is the one who’s in the office, not the board, and he is the one who has to deal with everybody on a day-to-day basis, so I regret that we did not catch this oversight in the first place. He has every reason to be the personnel manager and I feel that was the intent of the board all along.”

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is lbowers@miningjournal.net.