Advertisement

"There is no contract yet," Executive Council Janet Person said. "I met with village attorneys on (April 17) to go over the conditions the council wanted."

Council members voiced these conditions to Antrim County Airport manager John Strehl during their April 16 meeting.

A performance bond specifically for the village was mentioned, guaranteeing satisfactory completion of the project.

Additional liability was another demand, which would add the village to the insurance policy of Treeworks Inc., the contractor automatically selected for the project. The grant required ACA to accept the lowest bid presented for the work but many present at the meeting were surprised at how low the company from Coopersville was willing to go.

"It's such a low-ball bid," Trustee Brent Nelson said after Strehl presented the figure to the council at $34,980. "It kind of strikes you right between the eyes." "I understand you're hamstrung by this low bid policy," Trustee Dave Schultz said to Strehl. "But if they're no good, if the work isn't good can you stop it?"

Strehl assured the council that Treeworks Inc. was a "quality bidder," and if the company did not meet expectations they could be dismissed. He set a start date of June 1 presuming the village will give final consent.

At the April Board of Commissioners meeting, Strehl said he was also surprised by the low bid and even offered Treeworks an option out, which they did not take, but Treeworks assured they could complete the job for that price.

Concerned by conflicting numbers and wording in documents presented to the council, Janet Person pointed out certain trees marked for removal or trimming that didn't match previous documents.Ê The exact treatment of specific trees remains a key point of discussion among many council members.

"This is not an exact science," responded Strehl. "We're working with angles here. Certain trees may or may not end up being cut."

"It should be an exact science," Trustee Patricia Drollinger said.

Commenting later on the council meeting, Strehl explained, "I realize the magnitude of what we're doing. We're downtown cutting trees and that's never a popular thing to do. But some of these trees were identified by the village to come down anyway, so instead of them paying to have (the trees) cut down, we're going to pay (the village) to let us cut them down."

As there is no easement in place allowing the airport to cut on village property, the question remains whether trees will fall at all.

"The village can say, 'sorry you're not cutting our trees,'" Person said. "And if the council's terms aren't met I presume that is exactly what will be said."

Following the discussion, members welcomed Anne Wendling to the fill a vacancy on the council. She was introduced by Village President Butch Dewey as a highly-qualified and well-experienced addition the council before being sworn-in. She will fill the position of Jim Baker, who recently passed away.

Chris Tredway can be reached at ctredway@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-533-8523.