Hello ER!
The last month has been a busy one! We had a fabulous July 4th celebration that I hope you all were able to enjoy. Special thanks to Parks and Recreation Coordinator, Corey Cagle who organized a terrific parade and the days’ events. I don’t know when I’ve heard so many positive comments regarding the entire day, especially the fireworks. They were fantastic! Also, a huge thanks to our Police and Fire departments as they kept us safe during the days’ festivities. It’s no easy feat managing the amount of traffic we had for the fireworks, and making sure no accidents or injuries occurred, just made the day even better!
At the last meeting in June, City Council approved the closure of the recycling drop off center on Market Street. You have probably heard of this already as it’s been on the local news, newspaper, and the city’s website, but just in case you haven’t, we are closing this center because it’s become an area that is being misused. Dumping garbage, doors, windows, even a bathtub was dropped off. Those are not items to recycle; and even with signs posted as to what is acceptable, the misuse continued. The City of Eaton Rapids hosts this center for anyone in Eaton County to use, however, with the added pickups the city has to have due to non-approved items, this was costing city taxpayers and we simply could not have that go any longer. Please note: the final day to drop off your approved recycled materials is July 19th. Granger will be picking up the bins on July 20th. This is a little earlier than planned, but Granger’s schedule would have put us into August if we waited longer and we just couldn’t continue to have this expense.
On a positive note, we are planning for a NEW recycling center in the near future, and those plans are already underway. We are working with our township neighbors to create a center that all of Eaton Rapids residents will be proud to use. It will also include gated security, limited hours, and possibly be staffed so that we can assure that items brought to the center are proper items for recycling. In the meantime, please check out the other recycle centers in Eaton County. You can see a complete list on Eaton County’s website, under Resource Recovery. If you have any questions regarding this, please reach out to me.
At our July 11th meeting, City Council approved the contract for a new City Manager. Yvonne Ridge of Charlotte will start on August 15th. We are very excited to have Yvonne join our team. She brings a wealth of experience, but she also knows Eaton Rapids very well. Be sure to stop into City Hall and say Hello!
I want to take this time to thank the staff once again for all of their efforts while we were in-between managers especially DPW Director Rob Pierce and City Treasurer Marrie Jo Carr, who did an excellent job as Interim Managers.
Have you ever wanted to get involved in the community, but wasn’t sure how? We have opportunities on several boards. If you are interested in serving on any of these, or have questions, please contact me.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, ideas or would like more information about serving our city, please reach out to me at pcolestock@cityofeatonrapids.com or call me at 517-489-3064.
Have a great July!
