Cheboygan city officials approve five-year capital improvement plan, set ‘wish list’ of future projects

CHEBOYGAN — Cheboygan city officials recently approved a five-year capital improvement plan to give them a “wish list” of projects to complete when funding becomes available.

Cheboygan City Manager Dan Sabolsky and city council members will have a work session soon to further discuss the projects, which include equipment purchases for the city’s police and fire departments, as well as new equipment for the street department. Water system improvements are also noted.

“We should have this document. It should be done every six years, and it’s been a couple of years since we’ve had one,” said Sabolsky.

Sabolsky said the document needed to be adopted by council and in place in order for the city to be able to pursue grant funding to help turn the wish list into a reality. The work session would allow city officials to go over the projects more in depth, then come up with ideas for potential funding sources to move forward with the upgrades and improvements.

The capital improvement plan was formed through meetings between Sabolsky and different department heads, including Cheboygan Fire Department Chief Don Dailey, City of Cheboygan Director of Public Works Director Jason Karmol and Parks and Recreation Department Director Scott Hancock.

The department heads brought lists of priorities and associated costs, which included new tasers, weapons, bulletproof vests and body cameras for the city’s police department, turnout gear, air packs and a new equipment van for the fire department, and new riding lawn mowers for the parks and recreation department. Resurfacing of city streets was also included.

“It was very tough on the department heads, Jason especially, all those big numbers in there,” said Sabolsky. “You could add up three numbers of his and it was $7 million, I think. So, going through it, it was in a way, depressing for us as a staff, as we went through this, to know how much truly is out there and how are we going to get there.”

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Water infrastructure improvements included in the document were estimated to cost more than $30.3 million. Proposed upgrades to the city’s sewer plant were estimated to cost more than $23 million. Equipment costs for the police department alone were estimated to be more than $150,000, which also includes a new patrol vehicle. The fire department’s equipment and upgrades would come at a cost of more than $336,000.

The document was an eye-opener for city officials, but helped to point out needs.

Sabolsky said this is something he thinks will better explain the city’s priorities and strategies.

“If you look at this document, you’ll quickly realize ‘Wow, there’s a lot out there that needs to be done,'” said Sabolsky.

For example, equipment needed for the police and fire departments is.

City officials in the past have discussed the need of possibly levying a millage to help fund public safety.

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Sabolsky said this document is something the city can use as a base, every time they start talking about potentially having a little extra funding, or if a new grant becomes available, they have a list of projects to see where that funding could benefit.

“It’s a living, breathing document that we should continuously modify as we go forward,” he said.

When projects in the document have been completed, they can be removed from the plan and replaced with other things needing to be done.

Cheboygan City Councilman Ken Kwiatkowski said this was something the city always did for the more than 20 years he worked for the municipality. It was always called the “wish list.”

A copy of the city’s capital improvement plan for the next five years can be found on the city’s website at cheboygan.org/departments/zoning-and-planning.

Contact Features Writer Kortny Hahn at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan city officials approve five-year capital improvement plan, set ‘wish list’ of future projects