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CENTER LINE — Construction can upend a driver’s sense of normalcy, leading to a potentially treacherous commute. To address this, the Center Line Department of Public Safety had an increased presence in the area from April 3-5.
Center Line Director of Public Safety Paul Myszenski provided a report of the incidents at the April 7 Center Line City Council meeting. He said 20 officers were in the area, including the subdivisions near the construction, for 25 hours. In that time, the department wrote 99 violations and arrested six people. Myszenski mentioned being out in the area the day prior to the increased presence.
“I was out there for 40 minutes Wednesday and wrote six tickets,” Myszenski said. “The only reason I stopped at six was because I ran out. I didn’t have any more tickets in my book.”
During the increased enforcement, Myszenski said one officer wrote 36 tickets in six hours. Another wrote 25 tickets in six hours.
“They weren’t having to work hard because the violations were just falling in their lap,” he said. “This is new. There’s those who don’t care and they’re going to do what they want anyway. For some, it’s kind of new and the average person cannot deviate from his normal path that he travels on. That will come in time and the numbers will eventually go down.”
When an officer is on a detail like this, a minimum number of violations is expected.
“Right now, it’s two violations an hour,” Myszenski said. “Which is nothing, but no one has written two violations an hour. They’ve written an excess amount in that time, so that’s not a problem.”
City Manager Dennis Champine explained the costs of the enforcement.
“We hope that everybody pays their tickets, but we’re not basing our numbers on paying the cost of the overtime for the enforcement,” Champine said. “We’re not basing it on the value of two tickets per hour. We’re basing it on the actual anticipated response and that is a conservative 50% of return on that particular investment for the enforcement.”
Mayor Bob Binson spoke in favor of the enforcement.
“If it helps people follow the rules, that’s what I’m all for,” Binson said. “It’s very frustrating to be stuck there behind that big, long line of cars when somebody’s trying to make a left turn when they’re not supposed to be making a left turn.”
Champine previously said the price tag for the 10 Mile Road project is about $16 million. Of that total amount, $10 million will be spent on the chunk of 10 Mile within Center Line and the remaining $6 million will be on Warren’s end. Center Line is chipping in $2 million for the project.
Rotary Park to receive updates
On April 7, the Center Line City Council also unanimously approved Genoa Contracting’s bid to make improvements to Rotary Park.
Champine said, following the meeting, that the park improvements include removing baseball diamond backstop fencing, creating a walking path to connect two others and the installation and seeding of a butterfly garden.
The approved bid is $121,048 with engineering costs of $20,578, totaling $141,626. Champine said the city received $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to improve the park. Three bids were entertained for the project. Genoa had the lowest bid.
Champine said the project came in over $55,000 lower than what was originally estimated.
“This anticipated construction decrease will result in the city not being required to supplement the cost,” Champine said.
Ordinance adds teeth to meter inspections
The Center Line City Council also unanimously approved an update to its ordinances in chapter 74 and chapter 14 to cut down on inaccurate water meter readings.
The city has been installing new water meters to replace old faulty meters.
“The result of these inoperable water meters is that water usage is not being properly billed to the user, causing a financial burden to the city,” Champine said. “In those cases, water users ultimately receive sometimes very large water usage bills, which places a financial burden on the water user.”
The city has been doing inspections to correct the issue, according to Champine. The adjusted ordinance in chapter 74, allows the city to take legal action against properties where an owner refuses access to an inspector. In chapter 14, the adjustment allows for water meter inspections in unoccupied buildings. With the updated ordinances, the city can now get an administrative order from the 37 District Court to legally access the properties.
City purchases street sweeper
The Center Line City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a used street sweeper not to exceed $150,000 from MacQueen at the April 7 meeting.
Champine said that it would cost about $50,000 to repair the city’s current street sweeper, which is 25 years old.
“Bottom line is we found one, we got a good price on it,” Champine said. “It’s fully up to date, as far as what we’re being told by MacQueen.”
Center Line Department of Public Works Superintendent Gary McKinney said Center Line’s sweeper has worked infrequently for the last few years. He said the new sweeper is from 2017 and was previously used by Royal Oak. He said Royal Oak turns in its sweepers after seven years. MacQueen is inspecting the sweeper and adding a new coat of paint. He said there’s a 90-day warranty on it.
“What’s nice about this is it hasn’t cost any tax money,” McKinney said. “We’re using Act 51 money.”
Michigan Act 51 of 1951 appropriates state funds collected from gas and registration taxes, and distributes them to municipalities throughout the state for projects. McKinney said the state allowed the purchase of the street sweeper in place of being put toward road projects.
Champine said future road projects could be impacted by the purchase, but said the city is looking for state grant funding to repair Lawrence Avenue, Bernice Street and Liberal Street.
