DPW

FLINT, MI — Flint is losing its director of planning and development, creating the third executive vacancy inside City Hall. Suzanne Wilcox, who has led Flint’s planning efforts since 2016, is retiring effective May 1, city spokeswoman Caitie O’Neill told MLive-The Flint Journal on Wednesday, March 15. Her departure comes as the city is already searching to fill two other key department-head positions: fire chief and director of the Flint Department of Public Works. “You have always been very honest, straightforward and helpful.”Read more at The Flint Journal:Dr. Mona’s prescription for helping Flint kids? $500 infant cash allowance for entire cityFlint Council rejects higher salary range for mayor’s top advisorFormer Flint fire chief files $10M wrongful termination lawsuit against cityFormer Flint utilities administrator named new DPW director for city

GROSSE POINTE PARK — With the new public works complex on Mack due to open sooner than later, all bets are off on the city’s purchase of land across the Detroit border for what at one time had been considered the future site of modernized DPW facilities. A united city council Monday, Jan. 9, approved

American drinking water infrastructure is aging, and the impacts are increasingly dangerous. How is the U.S. fixing it?

JACKSON, MI -- Loose leaf collection is returning to Jackson this fall. The City of Jackson Department of Public Works (DPW) is starting the Fall 2022 Loose Leaf Collection Program Monday, Nov. 7 through Thursday, Dec. 8. The DPW will plan two rounds of leaf collection in every section of the city. Users of this system are given advanced notice of when leaf collection is coming to their area through phone calls, emails and texts. Call the Leaf Collection Phone Line at 517-768-6088 to hear collection updates.

GROSSE POINTE PARK — It’s not as spectacular as finding a buried Viking longship, but excavators doing groundwork on the new DPW building bumped into the remnants of an old foundation. The unexpected obstacle escaped pre-construction soil surveys. It cost nearly $67,000 to remove and is among the public works project’s unforeseen expenses totaling $180,276.

Photo by Renee LanduytCrews work to complete construction at the new Grosse Pointe Park DPW building. GROSSE POINTE PARK — Construction of the public works building on Mack, which got off to a slow start due to a nationwide shortage of construction materials, has shifted into high gear. “The DPW project on Mack is going

Detroit residents are getting a helping hand when cleaning up their yard waste.

The city of Detroit has released a list of 2,700 more streets that are getting speed humps. Experts say they will calm traffic on residential streets where some drivers are going way too fast.

Detroit contractors have plowed 1,884 miles of residential streets, and the city met its 6 p.m. Friday goal to clear the roads. Expectations of that effort from the DPW were to have passable streets, not necessarily cleared down to the pavement. In addition, because the city got less snow than was initially forecast, it decided to do a single plow pass.

The city of Detroit has extended the deadline for contracted crews to remove snow from the streets, due to the way the Wednesday-Thursday snowstorm played out.

People living on Detroit’s west side will have their trash and recycling containers collected one to two days late due to COVID-related staffing issues, according to the Department of Public Works (DPW).

Boil-water alert lifted in Huron Township, water deemed safe to drink

Huron Township investigating water issue.

“It felt like an explosion or earthquake honestly. The doors in the building were shifting. We were trying to fix them and then we noticed that it was actually a foundation issue. Cracks were appearing inside as well as outside."

Anyone who smells gas or a strong odor in the area is asked to call EGLE’s Pollution Emergency Alerting System hotline at 800-292-4706.

Many people have spent the summer cleaning up from flooding and severe storms that hit Metro Detroit.

Despite the city being flooded numerous times since June, Dearborn Heights has welcomed a new Department of Public Works (DPW) director.

To meet demand for bulk drop off after recent flooding, the DPW Yard will be open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 31, for disposal of flood damaged items

To the Editor: I want to give a huge shout out to Grosse Pointe Farms City Manager Shane Reeside and Public Service Director Matthew Baka for the outstanding

“He told his staff that he wanted the Emergency Order done for Detroit as fast as legally possible so we can get money into the hands of our residents for reimbursements as quickly as possible,” Duggan said.

The storms from last weekend damaged roads, vehicles, homes and left debris all over Metro Detroit.

After the third round of catastrophic flooding in less than a decade hit Dearborn this week, city leaders are calling for an investigation.

After the third round of catastrophic flooding in less than a decade hit Dearborn this week, city leaders are calling for an investigation.

Detroit mayor Mike Duggan discussed the city’s expanded efforts to pick up debris in front of homes and remove damaged items from flooded basements Thursday.

Vehicles lined up on Detroit’s east side Thursday for much-needed items to clean their homes after the most recent flood.

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Woods city buildings have undergone many improvements lately and the public safety department is no different. With the installation of a

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Residents might start noticing tags on their recycling carts again showing them what was improperly recycled as gains made by a curbside inspection program last fall have started slipping. Grand Rapids stopped tagging carts for about four months after the program because people were recycling far better than they had before. For example, the tonnage of recyclables incinerated during that time due to unacceptable materials fell roughly 73%, compared to before the program. “Our current recycling initiatives would be to continue to sustain the improvements that we did see from the Feet on the Street program,” said Robert Swain, acting director of the Grand Rapids Public Works Department. Read more:2 dozen more Grand Rapids blocks could soon see sidewalk, on-street drinking zonesComedian from Michigan in ‘Jeopardy’ Tournament of Champions quarterfinals tonightPolls are closing, it’s your last chance to vote for Michigan’s Best Inland Lake

Upon its completion, the current DPW building on Jefferson will be torn down. The construction cost of the new DPW building is $4 million, as agreed to in writing by the builder. Not surprisingly, some irate social activists have determined that if they can stop the new DPW building, they can probably stop the art center. Apparently, it’s more of an affront than the unsightly blight that the new DPW building will replace. Greg Theokas is a past mayor and councilman in Grosse Pointe Park and a regular contributor to the Grosse Pointe News.

GROSSE POINTE PARK — Some walls at public works facilities are less equal than others. “We see the wall of the relocated DPW facility as yet another barrier between Grosse Pointe Park and Detroit,” said Frank Joyce, alluding to some fellow Park residents. “A wall is a wall.”Yet, the wall at the forthcoming DPW structure and storage yard faces a Park residential neighborhood, not Detroit, according to renderings attached to minutes of the Sept. 24 meeting of the Park planning commission, posted on the municipal website, grossepointepark.org. In Grosse Pointe Farms at the intersection of Kerby and Chalfonte? Park DPW operations represent more than 15 percent of the $24.6 million municipal annual budget.

The city of Dearborn is opening its DPW yard on Saturday, Feb. 20 for free drop off of household bulk materialsDEARBORN – The city of Dearborn is opening its DPW yard on Saturday, Feb. 20 for free drop off of household bulk materials. The city cannot accept bulk debris from businesses, apartments or commercial operations and commercial trucks, rental trucks, utility or landscape trailers are prohibited from dropped off materials at the yard. Also prohibited are materials transported on pickup trucks temporarily modified with wood planks to carry more bulk waste. Hazardous materials are not acceptable for disposal either at the curbside or at the DPW yard and tires would only be accepted if a tire collection day were to be announced. The DPW yard is at 2951 Greenfield Road, south of Rotunda.

Councilman Mo Baydoun went for a ride-along with DPW employee Wesley Zain to help clear the streets on Tuesday's snow day. Recently appointed Councilman Mo Baydoun had recently spoken with Department of Public Works Director John Selmi and had mentioned wanting to go on a ride-along for the next snow day, not realizing it was going to be the very next day. — Mayor Bill BazziOn Tuesday, Baydoun joined DPW workers for nearly three hours, getting to know the employees while also watching the plows in action. They worked tirelessly and they did a great job.”On Sunday, Baydoun posted on social media advising residents to prepare for snow and when some residents reached out regarding their snow, Baydoun stepped up. — Councilman Mo BaydounBaydoun said that he enjoyed the experience so much, he wants to do more.

Bay City nearly broke even for 2020, with the city’s revenue exceeding its expenditures by $27,912, said Rivette. However, with an expected higher general fund balance and large projects like the DPW move on the table, the commissioners discussed exploring how they could utilize more of the fund balance. Those fund balance have grown in the past year due to the pandemic and a lot of expenditures not happening. “I don’t like this idea of increasing expenses on residents, so going into the fund balance is kind of what the fund balance is for- things kind of like where we are right now,” Docket said. Diving into the numbers for the 2020 audit, the largest contribution to Bay City’s fiscal year 2020 revenue came from taxes, which accounted for 57% of the city’s total revenue.