Greetings Village of Hopkins!
Happy Spring… ish? It has been a profoundly different winter than I have ever experienced. Our one winter storm has given way to an extended period of unusually warm weather. Even as I write this, we are expecting temperatures in the 70s before we ride the weather rollercoaster again back down into freezing temperatures for a few days. Once again, Michigan is holding to the mantra that if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes and it will change.
I hope and pray this letter finds you well. The holidays are long since past and we press ever closer to actual spring with all the anticipation that it brings. Though there hasn’t been much snow this winter, I am pleased to commend our DPW staff for their great work during the very difficult storm had. Moving the slush and snow was exceptionally difficult and they did a spectacular job.
The coming of spring also heralds new work for us as we move back outside and start cleaning up our yards again. I want to remind you of some of the amenities that the Village has to offer in the mulch pile as the brush pile. If you have yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, etc.), the Village of Hopkins has a place where you can dump them. There is also a brush pile for sticks and branches that take longer to decompose. We make an effort to keep this going by turning the compost to also provide dirt for Village residents. This can all be found on the south end of Maple Street. Please note that this is for Village residents only. Please also note that this area is a mix of both public and private property; Dirt Bikes & Quads are prohibited for any purpose other than dumping yard waste and brush.
Spring also brings with it some of our favorite Hopkins events. Our annual Garage Sale Day will be held on May 11 and the annual Hopkins Community Clean-up will be held on May 18 from 8 AM – 1 PM. More information about this can be found on the “Hopkins Village Council” Facebook page. Fliers will also be posted around town as we get closer to these events.
One thing I also want to draw your attention to is the calendar that is included in this letter. At the beginning of this year, Republic quietly changed our recycling schedule from the second Wednesday of the month to every 4 weeks. As such, this caused many people to miss the second pick-up that happened on February 7. Thankfully, Republic agreed to a special pick-up the next week (the previous normal day) for those who missed, but the next pick-up will be on March 6. Please refer to the calendar included and make sure you are aware of the pickup dates as they vary greatly from the schedule we were used to.
Finally, I wanted to offer a couple of quick updates on some work being down in the background:
The work to revise the current Village Charter from 1921 was completed on August 1. We received a response from the state late in 2023. It became very clear to us that the state was going to make it very difficult for us to completely revise the whole charter in one sitting. There were many reasons and excuses for why this wouldn’t work on their end. Following that meeting, we consulted with our Village Lawyer who informed us of a different route to achieve the same end goal: Charter Amendments. This would allow us to amend the charter one chapter at a time over the course of a couple of years. The State has little recourse for this process, so long as the amendments are legally objectionable. The Village Council has decided to take this route, using the work of the Charter Revision Committee, as it will be more cost effective both in terms of both time and finances. Therefore, you will likely see the first of these amendments on the ballot in November of 2024.
The joint Master Plan and Parks & Recreation Plan with the Township is in its final phase of approval. Both the Village and the Township held public meetings to get final feedback on the joint Parks and Recreation Plan. Following those meetings, we voted to approve that plan and have submitted it to the State. We are now moving on to the final draft of the joint Master Plan. Once this draft is approved, we will hold a public meeting for feedback before a final vote is taken. I am pleased at this process and looking forward to seeing it finished.
This past month, the Village of Hopkins and Hopkins Public Schools also entered into a process to pursue a grant called “Safe Routes to School”. SRTS is a federal grant that is available to communities that are seeking to create and/or update infrastructure and/or education for families and communities that have people walking, biking, or participating in other non-vehicle related transportation to school. We will be pursing a large grant for the purpose of updating lighting, sidewalks, crossings, etc. throughout the Village of Hopkins. You will likely see information come from the schools with surveys and input. We STRONGLY encourage you to give your feedback on this as it helps position us well in this competitive grant process.
I also want to take a moment to clarify what I wrote last quarter regarding the sewer bills. The Village Council passed a resolution dealing with “delinquent” sewer bills, those that go unpaid quarter to quarter. There will be a normal “late fee” that is assessed quarter to quarter of 10%. This fee will now be compounded each quarter. The “administrative fee” that we are now assessing is something that would be added to your sewer bill if it goes unpaid into the month of June. At this time, our Treasurer forwards all unpaid bills to the county, and they get added onto the taxes assessed to the residence. If this happens, there will be a $100 administrative fee that will be added in. Our goal in this is to stem the very large amount of unpaid sewer bills that we continually manage. I apologize if my prior explanation caused any confusion.
Finally, I wanted to take a moment to remind you of when meetings happen. You can find all the following information on our Facebook page and our website. All meetings are open to the public.
The Hopkins District Library Board meets on the Second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM at the library.
The Hopkins Area Fire Board meets once a quarter at 7:00 PM on 3rd Wednesday of January, April, July, & October in the Hopkins Fire Barn.
The Hopkins Village Downtown Development Authority meets at 7:30 AM on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Village Hall.
The Township Planning Commission meets at 7:30 PM on the 4th Tuesday of each month at the Township Hall.
If you ever have any questions or concerns that you would like to bring our way, please feel free to reach out! You can email me or Mike, our Clerk, at Clerk@villageofhopkins.org. You can call the Village Office at (269) 793-7344 as well and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We also invite you to the regular meetings of the Village Council. They happen on the Second Monday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Village Hall located at 128 Franklin St. Hopkins, MI 49328.
As always, it is a privilege to serve you as the Village President, and for each of us to lead and serve on the Village Council. We are grateful for the opportunity.
On behalf of the council, we wish you the best this fall as you enjoy the transition to spring and the beauty that new life and growth brings here in our community of Hopkins.
Sincerely,
Jonathon VanderWall
Village of Hopkins President
President@villageofhopkins.org
www.villageofhopkins.org https://www.facebook.com/HopkinsVillageCouncil (269) 793-7344
Village of Hopkins 