Courtesy Photo Alpena Township work crews dug up a section of U.S. 23 South last month to make repairs to a fire hydrant. The township is seeking a $15.8 million loan from the state to help pay for large improvement projects to its water system.

ALPENA — Alpena Township is prepared to borrow $15.8 million to invest into its water system, but if the township and the City of Alpena create a water authority, the debt would transfer over to the new governing body.

At a special board of trustees meeting Tuesday, the trustees voted 8-0 to hire Fleis & Vandenbrink for $39,000 to assemble needed data to submit to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

The township is paying the contract with Fleis & Vandenbrink from America Rescue Plan Act funds it received as part of the federal government’s stimulus package that was passed last year.

The money for the loan would come from the state’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

The money would be used to pay for large projects that include replacing approximately 2,600 water service pipes from the water main to the curb, creating a water main loop at South Partridge Point Road to U.S.-23 and South Partridge Point Road to North Partridge Point Road.

If the township is granted the loan, the projects could begin in October of 2023.

The water tower on the township’s southside would be repaired and painted and a water asset management and distribution plans drafted. Other needed equipment would be purchased such as handheld GPS, pipe locators, and software.

Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe said the projects are badly needed and finding grant funding to cover a brunt of the high cost was not in the cards. Skibbe said preliminary conversations with EGLE have gone well and the state department has indicated the preliminary plans and projects should score high when the loan is considered.

The proposed projects are scored on factors such as water quality, system reliability, population, disadvantaged community status, and consolidation with a regional system.

“We have gone through the first, primary battery of interviews with EGLE, in terms of vetting this proposal, and we got stellar reviews,” Skibbe said. “All three principal points of contact with EGLE preliminarily scored us extremely high.”

The township is currently trying to resolve litigation with Alpena that has been ongoing for more than eight years over water rates. It was announced earlier this year the two sides have a draft agreement in place to form a water authority that would govern the city and township water and sewer system as one.

A consultant will be hired to review the proposed agreement.

Skibbe said if the authority is implemented, the debt from the loan and the responsibility for the payment would fall to the water authority.

Despite that, Skibbe said, the work needs to be done no matter what happens between the township and city.

“This is something that no matter how we look at it, we have a responsibility as a municipality to provide this service that our consumers have always had,” Skibbe said.

Skibbe said there is a degree of risk in spending the $39,000 to have the loan application filled out and submitted to the state because there is no guarantee the state will loan the township the money.

Skibbe believes the risk is worth the reward.

“We are leveraging this $39,000 in engineering cost to that $15.8 million,” Skibbe said. “I think the old adage is, you have to spend a little money to make money.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.