Local meeting primer: Three Rivers City Commission

The Three Rivers City Commission will meet Tuesday, April 7, at 6 p.m. at City Hall for its regular business meeting. Commissioners will consider several new business items, including scheduling meeting dates for FY 2027 budget discussions and a public hearing, approving tornado response invoices to local contractors, and considering nearly $3 million in infrastructure projects throughout the city.

The agenda comes about a month after an EF2 tornado struck the city on March 6, causing widespread damage and prompting a large-scale cleanup response.

The meeting will be livestreamed on Watershed Voice’s Facebook page and uploaded to YouTube afterward.

Budget schedule

Commissioners will be asked to schedule special meeting dates for budget discussions and a public hearing for adoption of the proposed budget and millage rates.

The current proposal is to hold a budget discussion meeting Tuesday, May 12, from 6 to 9 p.m., when city staff will present the proposed budget and receive feedback. A week later, on Tuesday, May 19, commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing at 6 p.m., where residents can provide input before commissioners consider adopting the budget.

Tornado response invoices

Commissioners will consider approving payments to two long-term city contractors brought in to assist the Department of Public Safety with emergency tree removals following the March 6 tornado.

The contractors — Roberts Brothers Excavating and JC & Sons Tree Service — began work March 7 to help open roadways and create access paths for power crews, including into the cemetery, according to the agenda packet. 

On March 9, JC & Sons continued work in the cemetery and ultimately removed more than 70 trees. Their work allowed the cemetery to reopen to the public March 21, with final cleanup completed March 25. 

The work was authorized as an emergency, meaning it was not budgeted and will require drawing from fund balances.

Costs are proposed as follows:

• Roberts Brothers Excavating: $5,940 (local streets) and $22,060 (general maintenance)
• JC & Sons Tree Service: $23,800 (local streets) and $155,975 (cemetery)

Infrastructure upgrades

The City Commission will also consider several street and infrastructure projects, along with routine annual updates to its Act 51 street map.

Projects include:

• A $89,995.60 contract for Phase 3 of the Department of Public Safety parking lot replacement project
• A roughly $596,000 micro-surfacing and crack-filling project across multiple streets and at the airport
• A $2.02 million reconstruction project on Pealer Street and Sixth Avenue, along with a $262,000 construction engineering contract 

The Pealer Street and Sixth Avenue project would require additional funding from city fund balances, including about $590,306 from the municipal streets fund and $81,100 from the water fund.

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.