Almont council votes to utilize grant funds for street rebuild

ALMONT — At last week’s Almont Council meeting, Michael Sage of DTE Energy spoke to the council, offering updates regarding future plans for the village. 

To start, he said, there are plans to begin speaking on a four-point plan that consists of tree trimming, pole top maintenance, strengthening the system, and new improvements.

According to Sage, the utility is currently working on making improvements upon pole tops working toward replacing what is required.

“If you go to the power map, type your address in where you live, it’ll show little dots that show where the work is being done,” Sage said. “It’s nice for customers who maybe say, ‘I have too many outages’ or ‘they happen too frequently,’ can look at.”

Another part is the tree trim, and that “historically about 70% of our outages are related to trees.” 

He cited the most recent Labor Day storms that hit Michigan with repetitive storms, which left some large, century-old trees toppled over even a week or so after. 

Another large update from DTE is the Almont substation being decommissioned. 

“Three final things need to happen,” Sage said. “A final transfer of all the load … all of the equipment to be de-energized … and DTE salvaging whatever they can or is worth it to get out of the substation.” 

Once these steps have been made, a contractor will dig up cable and return the land by leveling it, restoring it to lawn.

Other business

The council spoke to Warren Kramer of MFCI of a proposed resolution to the sale of Capital Improvement Bonds for the St. Clair Street project. 

The village did a rating call to be assessed on their financial condition and what sort of credit risk they’d be, according to Village Manager Dale Kerbyson, they suspect their rating will be “an A+.”

Upon plenty of back and forth, council decided to pass a motion to use the roughly $5 million grant, along with their high financial rating to pay off the costs over a 15-year period. 

The work includes a major rebuild of East St. Clair Street, complete with infrastructure, new pavement, sidewalks and landscaping. 

Village Manager Dale Kerbyson says while utility work may begin yet this fall, before the ground freezes, the rest of the project is expected to be included in the 2027 construction season. 

The next Almont Village Council meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6.