Laurium Recieves BS&A Software Grant, Ordinance Committee to Discuss Repealing Village Marijuana Prohibition

The Village of Laurium has been awarded a BS&A software grant. Laurium will use a 51,000 dollar grant from the state of Michigan to implement BS&A software for village bill payment, and administrative tasks. Currently Laurium uses four types of software to run administrative tasks such as bill keeping, payroll, tax payments, and audit reports. Spending close to 15,000 dollars for those services. The BS&A software implements a brand new online bill payment service for village residents. As well as condenses and makes tasks like Laurium’s annual audit much more efficient. The village hopes to have the software up and running sometime within the next two years.

Laurium has been able to apply for and receive the BS&A grant as a result of village residents voting to override the Headlee Act in the recent May election.  Village residents will see the millage appear on their summer tax bill. Ahead of implementing the millage, the village will hold a public hearing on June 20^th. The village plans to inform interested residents more on how the override will appear, compared to previous years, on the next tax bill.

Laurium’s CEDAM fellow will arrive in town later this week to start working with the village. Laurium Village Manager, Ian Lewis, has a number of projects that the CEDAM fellow will work on. CEDAM fellowship program are completely funded by the state, and helps individuals interested in working in the public sector gain experience working in local government. In addition to the new employee in the village office, Laurium will post a full time DPW position to the village website. The village hopes to gain a fulltime employee in the public works department sometime before the fall. The village police department’s new recruit has completed her first week of training at the police academy. The village is excited to build the department back up, when the new officer arrives later in the summer. Laurium Chief of Police, Kurt Erkkila, reported that her first week went well, and the new recruit is in high spirits.

The Village Ordinance Committee will meet with Lewis in the near future to discuss drafting language to repeal Laurium’s Marijuana prohibition. The village Property/Business/Ordinance committee is comprised of trustees Jessica Hrebec and Jennifer Jenich-Laplander. Lewis said that the village will look at possibly repealing the prohibiting ordinance so businesses may come into the village and let the village access additional revenue sources. Municipalities across Michigan receive annual payments from the state’s Marijuana Regulation Fund. This past February the City of Houghton received over 150,000 dollars, while the county received a little over 207,000 dollars. Typically municipalities in Michigan have used the money to support local law enforcement, mental health providers, and addiction rehabilitation centers.

Last Laurium will have a draft of the village master plan published for public  input later this week. The council has been hard at work reviewing residents survey responses, and getting a master plan put together for the first time in village history. The council is ready for residents to give further input on the village’s goals. Public input will be open for 63 days, after the village has posted the master plan to the village website. After the master plan is approved later in the summer, Laurium will begin working on new zoning in the village.