ALPENA — The Alpena Municipal Council has a chance to put the decade-old litigation with Alpena Township over water and sewer rates to rest tonight.

It also has an opportunity to reshape Alpena’s shoreline, if it approves a proposed zoning change for the former Decorative Panels International property.

The council meeting tonight begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Public comment is welcome.

The water and sewer litigation will be discussed in closed session, but it is not known if the council will vote on a proposed settlement deal.

The Alpena Township Board of Trustees voted to accept the terms of a deal on Dec. 5.

The rezoning of the lakeshore property on Alpena’s north side will be discussed, but it is uncertain if there will be a vote, although there are several council members who are aiming to have one.

The city wants to change the zoning from industrial to a waterfront district which would essentially make it unlawful for a large plant similar to DPI to operate.

The property was slated to be auctioned off this month, but the date of the bidding has been pushed back until late January.

The plant closed in February and laid off more than 150 employees.

The litigation with the township over water rates the township believed were unfair dates back to 2014. It has been a long and expensive journey for both municipalities, but it is possible if the council approves the settlement, no court dates will be needed. If the council doesn’t take action, there is a court hearing slated for Thursday.

Alpena Township has for decades bought water and sewer services for many of its residents from Alpena. The city sued the township in 2014, when the township refused to pay a rate hike, claiming the township is a wholesale customer and entitled to reduced rates.

The township continued to pay the lower rate it paid before the rate increase and city leaders hope to use the court battle to collect the difference between those two amounts.

Since Alpena filed the suit against the township and the dispute moved forward, the two parties continued to bargain on the side but made little to no progress over the years.

In 2017, the circuit court ordered the two sides into mediation. That lasted only one day, however, as city officials didn’t see enough progress to continue.

A settlement appeared likely early in 2018, when both governing boards voted to approve “principle terms” for an agreement. That vote wasn’t for a deal on rates but on seeking a process for establishing rates that could end the dispute.

After continuing negotiations failed to yield a deal, the local court essentially ordered the two sides to adhere to the terms they’d reached earlier in the year.

Shortly after, the township appealed a portion of that ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the city filed a cross-appeal. The appellate court also ordered mediation, which again yielded no agreement.

The appeals court then ruled that the 2018 proposed agreement was non-binding, which the township appealed to the state Supreme Court. The state’s highest court declined to hear the case and sent it back to the circuit court in Alpena.

During the initial hearing in circuit court, then-judge Michael Mack ordered the opening of an escrow account in the name of both governments. Mack required the township to deposit into that account the difference between the old rates the township had paid and the higher rates the city set for all of its customers.

The township now has about $4 million in escrow, city attorney Bill Pfeifer, told The News last month.

The two municipalities had worked together toward establishing a water authority several years ago that would oversee water and sewer operations for both governments and reached a draft agreement on a water and sewer authority early in 2022.

However, that plan fell apart, leaving the fate of the matter in the court’s hands.

The two sides have spent millions of dollars on attorney and consultant fees since the litigation began.

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