Albion City Council hoping resolution allowing it to levy bonds on two major projects opens area up to new businesses

By RJ Walters / For the Jackson Citizen Patriot

The Albion City Council showed a proactive spirit toward bringing new businesses to the area Monday when it passed a resolution that allows it to levy future bonds on a pair of major projects.

The council voted unanimously to allow bonds to be issued for an extension of the city’s sewer system out to Sheridan Township and for the purchase of a new generator for the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

The combined cost of the two projects is expected to run between $500,000 to $800,000 — most likely on the lower end, City Manager Michael Herman said.

The first project will extend the sewer system to what is known as the “425 agreement area,” east of Albion in Sheridan Township, a 250-acre area of land visible from I-94.

Mayor Joe Domingo said the project has been in the works since before he took office two years ago, and he is pleased with the progress.

“It takes the utilities and water and runs it out there so if another business comes in that needs a big area, like next to the highway, we’re going to be all ready for that,” he said. “That wouldn’t help only us, but it would help the county, Sheridan Township and Albion — and that would be a big plus for us all.”

The purchase of a new generator for the wastewater system is something Herman expects the council to vote on soon, and he believes it would be smarter to levy bonds to reimburse the city’s fund rather than extract money directly from it.

“You don’t want to take out almost all the cash we have in the system, and we want to have a bond so we can spread the cost out to future users,” Herman said, noting that the bonds should be tax-exempt and run for a period of no more than 10 years.

In other business Monday, the council approved a proclamation to add Bailly, France, to the Sister City relationship it already has with Noisy-le-Roi, a city less than 10 miles from Paris.

An official amendment to the city’s current agreement will take place at the annual Festival of Forks, with mayors from both French communities expected to be present.