Dryden Township approves road maintenance projects

DRYDEN TWP. — Township Board members voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 8, to approve more than $200,000 in road repairs. 

The work will include 6,000 tons of gravel spread along four roads, including Havens Road between Hollow Corners Road and Dryden Road; Hough Road between Hosner Road and Rochester Road; Secord Lake Road between Hough Road and Bordman Road; and Mille Road between General Squier Road and Hough Road.

Two roads — Lake George Road between Hollows Corners Road and Dryden Road and Hollows Corners Road between Rochester Road and Mill Road — will get 3,000 tons of crushed limestone.

Township Board members also approved $15,000 worth of brush clearing along township roads. Supervisor Tina Papineau said the township hasn’t determined which roads will get brush clearing yet.

The bulk of the cost of the work will be picked up by the Lapeer County Road Commission. Township Board members voted to spend $27,000 from its 2026 budget and $34,000 from its 2027 budget. The three projects are expected to cost $218,000. Lapeer County Road Commission Managing Director Destain Gingell said he expects all three projects will be finished by mid-October.

Dryden Township recently received a $5,000 grant from the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, a nonprofit created by the Chicago-based Center for Tech and Civic Life. CTCL was founded in 2015 by a group of civic technologists, researchers, and election experts.

Township board members voted unanimously to approve Clerk April Smith’s request to use $2,000 from the grant to put a new security door on the closet in her office.

Smith told the board that while the township has a secure place to store ballots, “we’re running out of space.” 

The board approved her request unanimously. 

Smith said she plans to use the remainder of the grant to purchase new chairs for election workers to use.