Work will begin this spring on improvements to three streets in Brighton as the first part of the 2.5-mill Headlee override approved by city voters last May. After defeating a much larger millage proposal in August of 2018, which asked for 4.34 mills for 10 years, city voters in May of 2019 narrowly approved the 2.5-mill request for a period of seven years.

The approximately $1.1 million generated annually, a figure based on current property values, will be used to repair and in some cases completely reconstruct a number of city streets. Since the city has been criticized in the past for concentrating on the more heavily traveled streets and the downtown, this time the emphasis will be on the neighborhoods. The first streets to get attention are Third St., Alpine and Fairway Trails, on the Southwest side. City DPW Director Marcel Goch tells WHMI the city has already done a considerable amount of engineering work on the project and hopes to start construction work in May, with completion set for August.

A 2018 Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating showed that 80% of the city’s streets are in poor condition, and city officials hope to improve greatly on that unenviable rating in the next several years with a number of street projects. Engineering work is also now being performed on streets on the Northwest side, and that was a subject of discussion at Thursday night’s council study session, which preceded the regular meeting. The city plans to start on that extensive, and expensive, project in the spring of 2021.

Mayor Pro Tem Susan Gardner conducted the meeting in the absence of Mayor Shawn Pipoly, whose mother passed away on Feb. 1st. Funeral services for Margaret Pipoly were to be held today at 11 a.m. at the Keehn-Griffin Funeral Home in Brighton. (TT)