By: Dean Vaglia | Macomb Chronicle | Published November 8, 2023
MACOMB TOWNSHIP — In a township hall meeting room adorned with Halloween paraphernalia on Oct. 25, the Macomb Township Board of Trustees gave two incoming businesses the treat they desperately needed.
Trustees approved Class-C liquor licenses for Sonjeow Holdings, LLC at 48864 Romeo Plank and for Bee Tee Golf Course, Inc. at 22871 21 Mile Road.
“This is a two-step process,” said Charles Pierce, the township’s records manager. “This is the first part of the application process.”
The first part of obtaining a liquor license is to complete a prequalification form with a $500 fee. The second part of the process involves submitting a formal application after township board approval of the prequalification application.
The Sonjeow Holdings application caught the particular interest of trustee Frank Cusumano, who was excited by the concept for the restaurant, Travel Agents: Cocktails & Conversations.
“They intend to make it almost like a speakeasy with a front facade on the building,” Cusumano said. “The initial entrance is a travel agency, but then you’re invited through a side door and it’s actually a lounge serving alcohol. I thought it was a neat addition to our community.”
Bee Tee Golf Course will expand upon its existing golf course operations with the addition of a liquor license. The public golf course snakes around the North Branch Clinton River and is one of four courses along North Avenue between 21 Mile and 23 Mile roads.
DPW work
The famous call of Halloween is “trick or treat,” and unfortunately, the Deerfield Park East subdivision was struck with the dubious trick of a failing storm sewer last month.
The Macomb Township Department of Public Works was able to replace the 12-inch concrete pipe for $9,019, the cost being covered by each of the neighborhood’s 66 homes.
Rogue Industrial Services was awarded a $288,395 “treat” to perform CCTV examination and cleaning of the township’s sewers. Nine companies placed bids for the work with four of the bidders being further interviewed. Rogue Industrial Services had the second-lowest bid and the highest-performing interview.
“The lowest bid, Champion (Cleaning Specialists), we were concerned about some of their methods, mainly that they wanted to use AI, or artificial intelligence, as a part of their process,” said Macomb Township DPW Director Kevin Johnson. “That garnered almost four times more footage in a day compared to the rest of the bids that were out there. It gives us pause because it’s not well-known how that type of technology works. We want to vet the AI process first before we decide we want to move forward with that.”
The township worked with Rogue last year, which performed to last year’s budgeted work as expected.
Finally, the DPW increased its department fees for all of its work. The fees have not been updated in 20 years.
For sewer and pipe work, the prior rates ranged from $325 to $815 for meter fees on pipes ranging from 0.75 inches to 2 inches, with no set amounts for pipes larger than that. The new rates increase the meter fees, add connection fees and include set costs for up to 12-inch pipes. The sewer benefit fee, water main benefit fee, wastewater benefit fee and water system benefit fee remain at $65, $45, $850 and $450, respectively.
Other fees that saw an increase include the 2-inch hydrant meter deposit ($500 to $1,300), hydrant relocation ($1,500 to $4,900), meter head fee ($95 to $200), discontinuing water service fee ($25 to $100) and the grade bond ($2,000 to $5,000).