Hancock Approves MDOT Contracts for Work on North and Prospects Streets and Minnesota Street

Hancock’s city council move forward with approving several important items at last night’s March meeting. Hancock will have two large street projects begin this summer repairing North and Prospects streets near the County Fairgrounds. The project will need to start in time says city manager Mary Babcock so that work ends before the Houghton County Fair in August. After the 521,643 dollar MDOT contract, a second project will start on Minnesota Street. That 755,444 dollar MDOT contract cost more added babcock because Minnesota Street is the widest street in the city and has had deferred maintenance for several years.

Two more approvals from the city council were for applying for two grant programs. Hancock will apply for funding from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund to make improvements to the HOCO Ice Arena. A second grant requests fifty percent of the estimated costs of installing transient docks connected to the Porvoo Park boardwalk. Currently, Hancock does not have a significant gathering spot for transient boats checking out the entertainment on the north side of the canal. If granted the request by the Land and Conservation Fund Grant program Hancock will use 145,000 dollars toward the project. Hancock estimated the cost to install several docks at the park would cost in total of 290,000 dollars.

The final two approvals by the council dealt with maintenance to the Fire Department vehicle and at the Hancock Beach bathroom pavilion. One of the fire department’s fire engines was already scheduled for service, however, Red Power Diesel did discover several other issues the city would want to consider taking care of now before a potential failure. The mechanic found an additional 29,973.70 dollars in repairs. Fire Chief Lepisto says that the 24-year-old truck has been very reliable for the department and hopes to see it stay in service for at least another 10 to 15 years. He added that these items are critical for the department to reliably draw water from pumps and get to a scene.

At the Hancock Beach bathroom pavilion the city recently completed several smaller projects with the public works department freed up this winter by the lack of snow. One project that continues to require a new solution deals with the current way the floors are surfaced with paint. Hancock approved an estimate from Superior Polymer to install an epoxy floor system in the Hancock Bech bathrooms. Chief Lepisto noted that the fire department’s floor with a similar coating was only recently replaced after being installed in the 1990’s. Council Rick Freeman added that he believes such a project, with the amount of foot traffic at Hancock Beach, would be an economical decision for the city. Babcock added that the epoxy flooring should also be slightly more non-slip compared to painted floors.