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Water tower antennas approved




BROWN CITY — The Brown City Council approved a contract with AT&T to place antennas on top of the city’s water tower at its July 9 meeting.

Council members unanimously approved the contract and the company’s request for a building permit to add the antennas and service building to be constructed south of the existing well house at 4070 Third St.

T.J. Garrett from the Haley Law Firm, which is representing AT&T, presented the contract at the meeting. Space will be leased near the base of the water tower for an equipment building and the LTE and 4G cell phone antennas on top.

In order to approve the agreement, the council had to introduce an ordinance to amend the Brown City code by adding a new section known as: Section 17.996 of Chapter 17, Table 2 – Real Estate.

A couple city residents had attended previous council meetings to express their concerns about the alleged health risks attributed to cell phone antennas. The city attorney provided council members with educational material.

In another matter, the council approved a request to allow Thumb Cellular to put an addition on the north side of their existing ground site building at the base of the water tower. A generator must be moved in order to put on the requested addition.

In other business:

• Lehn King of King and King CPAs provided an overview of the city finances from the annual city audit review. The audit went well and city is in good financial condition.

• Council members approved a building permit request to construct a 150-by-200-foot building on the east of the existing factory at Blue Bird Enterprises, 3950 Burnsline Road.

• A request for a demolition permit was granted to tear down the existing garage at 4203 Maple St. and construct a new approximately 24-by-30-foot garage at the same address. The approval requires the city setback requirements must be met as detailed in Appendix K, and the property owner must call Miss Dig before beginning the project.

• The council approved a request from Maple Valley Plastics, 4119 Main St., to install water, storm and sanitary sewer lines into the plant as part of a production system upgrade.

• A $42,000 contract was approved with Michigan Pipe and Well to overhaul Well No. 4, which is due to have its arsenic absorption media replaced.

• City Manager Clint Holmes reported the city received its report regarding lagoon capacity. The report had several recommendations for potential improvements to the lagoons and the measuring of capacities and discharges. He said the report made a tentative conclusion that adding another 12,000 gallons per week “would not be recommended” based on reporting discrepancies. A copy of the report was provided to Bluebird Enterprises.

• Holmes informed the council that city hall received notice of days of review of drainage district boundaries and review of appointments concerning the Lapeer and Sanilac Intercounty Drain that was set for July 10-11, as well as Black River Intercounty Drain in Lapeer County on July 9.

• Mayor Julie Miller read a proclamation for the Green Devil Bots Team. No one from the team was in attendance, so she will take the signed and framed proclamation to the school along with individual proclamations for each of the members of the team. Members of the team are: Aaron Banks, Evan Banks, Joey Herrickl, Jory Hendrix, Joe Kneebone, Sam Kneebone, Seth Martus, Liz Petty, Gabrial Thick, Kendra Webster, Cody Wilcox, Joey Gingell and Jonathan Robertson.