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HARRISON TOWNSHIP — It was a fiscal-focused evening at the June 24 Harrison Township Board of Trustees meeting, as the board received the audit of its 2023 books and approved a contract for work at Waterfront Park.
Auditing firm Rehmann was tasked with making sure the township’s finances last year were in order. Daniel Clark, an accountant with the firm, told trustees they had given the finances a “clean” opinion, which is the highest rating an auditor can give.
“We had no audit adjustments either past or needed to be posted as part of the audit process,” Clark said. “The records that were provided to us were clean, and that made the audit go smoothly.”
Harrison Township ended 2023 with a combined fund balance of $7.9 million: a $2.3 million increase over 2022. About $5 million of the combined fund balance was available for spending.
Waterfront Park improvements contract
Trustees awarded construction firm EC Korneffel Company a $1.3 million contract to perform improvement work at Waterfront Park, on Jefferson Avenue.
Work at the park will involve softening the park’s shoreline — replacing the stone-based shoreline with a plant-based one — and building a fishing pier.
“Some of (EC Korneffel Company’s) reference projects included the Detroit RiverWalk and they also constructed Blossom Heath Park’s pier, which are both beautiful projects and certainly, I would say, bigger than what we’re proposing,” Township Supervisor Ken Verkest said.
Funding for the improvements will come from the general fund, utilizing $1.52 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. About $387,420 will be left of the ARPA funds once the project is paid for. A contingency of around 5% of the project cost was included in the awarding motion.
Verkest said work on the park will likely begin in October.
