Greetings Village of Hopkins!

Each year I am amazed at how quickly the school year seems to wind down and come to an end.  Though spring “came early” this year, it still seems to have given way to summer so quickly.  The month of May has been filled with all of the regular great things we do as a community.  We had our community garage sales, yet another gloomy day… just to keep with tradition, and the community clean up the following week.  Our High School Seniors have had their last day and will be graduating tomorrow (as I write this).  This is a very fun and exciting time for Hopkins.

Though you will not receive this prior to the event, on Memorial Day, we will hold a Bell Ringing Ceremony at the newly improved Veterans’ Memorial in the “old park”, downtown Hopkins.  This ceremony will be held at 12:45 PM.  Our goal is that this will become a regular part of the local Memorial Day celebrations in and around the Hopkins area.

As we move into summer, we find ourselves with many of the regular summer activities and events.  Many sporting events happen at the North Park and we’re thankful for the use that those fields get.  Please remember to be courteous with your parking and respect people’s wishes to not park where signs indicate “no parking”.  We also want to encourage being good neighbors through appropriate lawn care, not blowing grass into the streets (it’s illegal), and following our burning ordinance (no trash or leaves, only cooking campfires).

While it is over a month away, the 4^th of July celebration will also be coming up soon.  The 4^th of July Committee has been hard at work preparing for this event and we are looking forward to it.  A new part of the event this year will be a social district that has been created for that day.  The Committee will be selling cups that you can use at our local restaurants and have outdoors within the defined area.  Proceeds for this will go to funding fireworks for future events.  More information about this will be available on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hopkinshometowncelebrations

One other thing that is going on this summer that I want to encourage you to check out: the Hopkins Cruise Nights!  These will be happening on the last Friday of each month May 30, June 28, July 26, and August 30 at 5:30 PM.  Each of these events will feature live music (including Hark-Up! On June 28), food, really cool cars, and a lot of friends and fellowship.  We are incredibly grateful for all of the local organizations who have sponsored these events.  As always, it is amazing how everyone pitches in to support local events to make Hopkins the best place to live in West Michigan!

Finally, I wanted to offer a couple of quick updates on some work being down in the background:

At our Regular Meeting on May 13, 2024, the Village Council passed a new Animal Control Ordinance.  This Ordinance is a major update to our existing rules regarding the keeping of animals within the Village.  Some of the highlights include the new ability to have “domestic fowl” (chickens, ducks, and/or Quail) within the Village.  There are a number of specifications that I would encourage you to review about how to keep them and it is limited to 6 birds in any combination.  The Council is excited to have this passed as it provides new opportunities for families within the Village and fulfills a longstanding request from many of you.  You can find this Ordinance on our Website.

The work to revise the current Village Charter from 1921 was completed on August 1, 2023.  As I wrote in the previous letter, we are going through a process of amending the Charter a few sections at a time due to the easier nature of getting it approved by the State.  As such, we have been diligently working to get our first amendment (or set of amendments) approved to be on the ballot in November.  We will release more information on this as it becomes available.  In the meantime, there is a link on our website’s homepage that you can go to for information and an overview of what we are seeking to do.

The joint Master Plan and Parks & Recreation Plan with the Township is in its final phase of approval.  Following the approval of the Recreation Plan, we turned our attention to the Master Plan.  A final draft has been completed and will be voted on in June.  Both the Village and the Township will then hold a public meeting to get final feedback from the public on the joint Master Plan.  Following that meeting, we will hold a final vote on that plan and have submitted it to the State.  I am pleased at this process and looking forward to seeing it finished.

Earlier this year, 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 have likely seen information come from the schools seeking surveys and input.  We STRONGLY encourage you to give your feedback on this as it helps position us well in this competitive grant process.

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 3^rd Tuesday of each month at the Village Hall.
The Township Planning Commission meets at 7:30 PM on the 4^th 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 summer as you enjoy the outdoors, good weather, and freedom we have 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

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 3^rd Tuesday of each month at the Village Hall.
The Township Planning Commission meets at 7:30 PM on the 4^th 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

Greetings Village of Hopkins!

Happy Holidays!  I hope that this letter finds you well and healthy and that each of you had a wonderful thanksgiving celebration.  Once again, we find ourselves in a great season of celebration and rejoicing as we approach the end of the year.  As a Council, we wish you a wonderful holiday celebration.  My family wishes you a very happy and merry Christmas and blessings as we begin a New Year.

As we move through this Holiday season, I wanted bring your attention to a couple of community events that are taking place this year!  We hope you can be a part of them and that they can add to the many holiday memories that you will make this year.

On Saturday, December 9, from 5:30 – 7:30 PM, we will be having our annual Tree-Lighting ceremony in the downtown park.  The park will be surrounded by smaller trees decorated by local businesses with several larger community trees on the stage.  There will be music, a bonfire, friends, neighbors, and hot cocoa too!  This year, Main Street Bakery is donating cookies and frosting for community cookie decorating and the new Township Hall will be open to the public to see as that project finishes up this month.  We invite and welcome everyone from the community, friends and family, to come out for a night of fun and fellowship!

On Monday, December 11, at 6:30 PM, Hopkins Community Church will be hosting the annual Hopkins Community Christmas Concert.  This is always a great event that features local musicians, children and adults!  HCC will seek to livestream the event as well, so you can check it out on their Facebook and Youtube pages if you can’t make it.

Several local businesses are also participating in collections for various agencies this time of year.  We encourage you to consider donating toys, coats, and many other things to local charities during this season of blessing, celebration, and giving.

As I write this, looking out my window, I see snowflakes beginning to fall heralding the coming (and inevitable) winter season.  I know my kids are really looking forward to playing in the snow and all of the fun that brings for our family.  Snow also brings a new set of chores as we trade mowing and raking for shoveling and blowing.  That said, I want to take a moment to remind you of a couple of things for this winter.

Overnight parking on the road is now prohibited until April 1.  This includes parking at the end of streets, in cul-de-sacs, and in public parking lots.  We have this ordinance to help our DPW crew as they plow the streets and parking lots for us.

Additionally, we ask that you also keep your sidewalks clear so that our sidewalk plow can come through.  It is a great blessing for our community to have the sidewalk plow and it is very difficult for them when the sidewalks are blocked by dumpsters, toys, or cars (parking on the sidewalk is always illegal).

We also want to remind you that as you remove snow from driveways, sidewalks, etc., please do not put that snow into the road.  This is both illegal and dangerous for our neighbors and for other drivers.  It is also bad form to put your snow in anyone’s yard but your own… especially without talking with them first.  Personally, I hope this is not an issue for any of us because we don’t have a lot of snow.  However, in reality, these are opportunities to be good neighbors and good community members, reinforcing what we already know to be true about Hopkins being a great place to live.

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 are waiting on a response from the State and, if approved, it will then be presented to the Village of Hopkins for a vote in one of the elections that will be held next year.  The Revision Draft is available on the Village Website; it is still a draft until it is passed in a vote.

The joint Master Plan and Parks & Recreation Plan with the Township is in its final phase of revision.  We will be hosting a “hearing” for the Parks & Rec Plan draft on January 8 following our regular meetings.  An additional hearing will be held for the Master Plan in the first quarter of next year as well.  Again, our goal is to set Hopkins up well for the future with plans that both move us forward and preserve the small-town feel, things that make Hopkins the incredible place to live that it is.

We also wanted to update you on the Floodplain designations that many of have asked about.  The Village of Hopkins has joined over 22,000 communities nationwide that are allowed to purchase federally backed flood insurance. This availability follows the community’s adoption and enforcement of ordinances to reduce flood losses and acceptance by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).  The Village of Hopkins is now a participant in the NFIP effective on October 17, 2023.  Flood insurance is now available to local property owners and may be purchased from any insurance agent or broker licensed to do business in the State where the insurable property is located.

One other change that is taking place at the beginning of the year is in regards to the sewer bills.  The Village Council passed a resolution dealing with “delinquent” sewer bills, those that go unpaid quarter to quarter.  From now on, the late fee will be a percentage of the total bill due.  If a sewer bill goes unpaid for more than two quarters, there will be a $100 administrative fee that will be added in.  This is to stem the very large amount of unpaid sewer bills that we constantly have to manage.

Finally, the Village Council wishes to thank you for your support of the Millage Rollback.  We are thankful for your trust in us and look forward to being able to offer the Village the many great things that we have been doing into the future.

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.  It is possible that these meetings may need to be moved due to the construction.  If that happens, we will communicate that to you through a variety of means with as much advanced notice as possible.

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 return to school, changing seasons, and the beauty that autumn brings here in Michigan.

Sincerely,

Jonathon VanderWall
Village of Hopkins President
President@villageofhopkins.org

www.villageofhopkins.org                                                   https://www.facebook.com/HopkinsVillageCouncil (269) 793-7344

Greetings Village of Hopkins!

It is hard to believe that summer is almost done!  As I write this, I know that many of you are cramming in the last bits of vacation while doing all of the back-to-school shopping and things that need to be done as we make the transition from summer to fall.  Time surely does fly when we’re having fun!

Summer has been a good time for Hopkins!  I enjoy seeing everyone out and about.  Whether you’re sitting on the patio at Russo’s, getting ice cream, or just out for a walk or bike ride, enjoying the warm, sunny days is one of my favorite things about Michigan, and that is especially true in Hopkins.  This summer has been especially fun for my family with our older two daughters learning to ride their two-wheeler bikes.  We have enjoyed evening bike rides around town, taking full advantage of the small town, community environment that the Village offers.  A side note to that: All your new roofs look great!

We’ve had some other great events too!  I want to thank all of those who works so hard on our annual 4^th of July celebration!  It was another great day of community fun!  I also hope you’ve had a chance to come out to one of our Hopkins Cruise Nights!  They have been exceptionally fun community events that we hope to continue in the future!  Our last Cruise Night is actually going to be a bit different.  We’re calling it “Coffee & Cars” and will be held Saturday morning, September 9, from 8 – 10 AM.  Come on down for some live music, breakfast food, and lots of cool cars!  Thank you to those that have put it on and to all the sponsors as well.

As we collectively move into the fall season, there are new things to anticipate as a community!  School is starting up again on August 28 which means traffic will be a little hairy from time to time.  Franklin street, the street that the Library and Village/Township offices are on will remain closed for the time being due to construction.  Incidentally, this had a positive impact on school traffic last year.  There is the potential that this road may be made into one-way road (heading south from Main Street) in the future.  The Council will be evaluating this after all of the construction is complete.

Additionally, fall brings all sorts of sports starting up again.  Whether it’s football, soccer, cross country, or something else entirely, it is important to remember that these things are going on.  Sporting events are some of the great community events that we have here in Hopkins.  We come together to cheer on our kids and our teams and it’s a lot of fun!  I truly think it is the “community feel” that so many of us love about Hopkins.  With that in mind, here are a couple of thoughts about how we can maintain and even improve this community feel as a Village.

As sports start up again, especially at North Park, it brings all sorts of traffic and activity to that area.  We’ve had trouble, lately, with vandalism in the bathrooms.  Please encourage your children to be respectful of public property so that we can all enjoy it together.  Additionally, we know that parking is limited around the park area, but we also want to encourage people to think before they just park on someone’s lawn or drive as well.  The council has received complaints about this in the past and we just want to encourage everyone to be thoughtful about where you can and should park… and also to be mindful of the need for parking in that area.

We are also coming up on the time where additional yard work becomes a major thing for all of us.  Most of us will still be mowing grass for months yet, but the addition of falling leaves will make that even more of a chore.  Please remember that mowing and blowing your grass or leaves into the road is both dangerous and illegal.  It also just makes a mess.  The Council wants to encourage everyone to help us keep Hopkins a beautiful and safe place to live.  If you can help us by clearing leaves away from storm drains, we would be most grateful!  Please, also be mindful of your neighbors by not blowing leaves into their yard (even if it’s their tree).  Hopkins has a mulch and brush pile that is open for all Village Residents, and we welcome your leaves, grass clippings, and brush.  You can find it by heading south on Maple Street.

Just a note too: all of those recommendations go for snow as well.  Please don’t blow or shovel snow into the road (it’s illegal) or your neighbor’s yard… at least not without talking to them and getting permission first.

We’ve also been experiencing some more instances of Blight in the village.  Blight can be anything from overgrown weeds and unkept landscaping to broken-down and/or unlicensed vehicles, appliances, broken lights/glass, and/or other junk that is sitting out.  This has been true at both residential and some commercial properties as well.  The Council kindly asks that you give consideration to your property, including the rite-of-way areas by the road, and consider what/if there may need to be cleaned up.  We will be going through the town in early September and will be sending letters to specific addresses to encourage clean-up.  If you are in need of help with this, please contact me and I will work on connecting you with volunteers that would be able to help you!

One other thing too, and I know this feels a bit nit-picky: If you have an above-ground swimming pool that is not in a fenced-in yard, PLEASE take out the ladder when it is not in use.  This, too, is about being a good neighbor.  It is not safe to leave unsupervised access to a pool, particularly if/when children are around.  Not only that, it is also a violation of our ordinance.  We will include this is letters in September as necessary.

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 is now complete.  Our final draft was approved by the Charter Revision Commission on August 1.  We will be sending this draft to the State for approval and, if approved, it will then be presented to the Village of Hopkins for a vote in one of the elections that will be held next year.  The Revision Draft is available on the Village Website; it is still a draft until it is passed in a vote.

The Village of Hopkins is nearing completion of our joint Master Plan and Parks & Recreation Plan with the Township.  A 1^st draft has been presented to both planning commissions and will be available for public review at the “Cars and Coffee” Cruise Morning on September 9. We would love your feedback on this as it helps us to get a better sense of what the community is looking for.  Again, our goal is to set Hopkins up well for the future with plans that both move us forward and preserve the small-town feel, things that make Hopkins the incredible place to live that it is.

The Township Hall building project continues closer to its completion as well.  Currently, the projected completion is by the end of October.  The Village Council was approached by Mugen Construction Inc. with some offers to do a few updates on the Village Hall side of this building; these updates are available at a significantly reduced cost due to their ongoing work.  We voted to take advantage of them now as the price was very good and we all know that things aren’t getting less expensive.  This will be that there will be a period in September when the Village Hall building will be closed.  You can always contact us via email, and we will be checking the mail as it comes to our PO Box.  There will be an Open House once the building is complete where the public will be invited to see the completed facility.

Finally, I want to take a moment to inform you of an upcoming vote that the Council is bringing before Village residents in November.  The Village Council will be asking residents to “Rollback” the current millage.

History: In 2013, the Village of Hopkins voted in favor of a 10-year special Millage that would be used for general operations for the Village.  This amounted to 2 “mills”.  A “mill” is equivalent to taxing $1.00 per $1,000 of the taxable value of your property (ie. If your property’s taxable value is $50,000 then your property taxes at “1 mill” would be $50 or 1 x 50).  This 10-year Millage was in addition to the Charter-Allowed, normal millage that is maxes out at 10 Mills.  All told, these two brought the maximum total Millage rate to 12 mills.

Currently, the Village levies a total of 7.1482 mills; the reason for this number will be made clear below.  5.4287 comes from our normal millage and 1.7195 from the special 10-year millage.  Both of these are the maximum that the Village can levee at this time.  At the end of this year, that extra millage would fall off, thus reducing the total millage rate (yes, reducing property taxes), but also shrinking the overall Village budget by at least $30,000 or a little over 10% of our budget next year.

Purpose: The purpose of this vote, then, would be to avert this budget fall-off.  To do so, we have to “Roll Back” the Millage Rate to the full 10 mills that our Charter allows.  This is part of what is known as the Headlee Amendment, which is designed to keep taxes on properties in check.  Each year, there is a cap on how much a municipality can collect.  Rolling back our operating millage to the 10 mils essentially resets the “countdown clock” for the Village.  This was last done in Hopkins in 1995 when Proposal A passed.  Since that time, the “10 mills” has gradually ticked downward leading to the 5.4287 mils that we can levee today.  Even the 2 mills passed in 2013 has now become 1.7195.  These is a purpose and design for this, the explanation of which is much more in-depth than this letter will allow.  Rolling it back “resets” that number, as it were, giving the Council the flexibility, allowing us to determine the amount of those 10 mills that we actually levee (aka. How much taxes we actually collect) up to the maximum of 10 mils in that first year.  This is a better option than another “special millage” because of its flexibility.

Every year after that, because of the Headlee Amendment, the maximum number (starting at 10) actually decreases by a percentage which is based on overall taxable value of the Village, inflation etc.  It is kind of like starting a countdown that starts at 10 and then pauses each year.  You can never rewind without a vote like this.  In 1995, the Village was able to levee up to 10 mils; in 2023 that maximum number is 5.4287.  The only reason we’ve been able to levee more is because of that additional 10-year millage.  (I know… it’s confusing).

Language:  This proposal will appear on a ballot in NOVEMBER 2023.  It will read as follows:

VILLAGE OF HOPKINS CHARTER MILLAGE HEADLEE OVERRIDE BALLOT PROPOSAL

“Shall the authorized charter millage for the Village of Hopkins, established at 10 mills ($10.00 per $1,000 of taxable value) and reduced to 5.4287 mills ($5.4287 per $1,000 of taxable value), by the required millage rollbacks, be increased in an amount not to exceed 4.5713 mills ($4.5713 per $1,000 of taxable value) to restore the full amount of the original authorized charter millage? The estimate of the revenue the Village will collect is approximately $69,557.10, a portion of which (approximately $11,021) will be disbursed to the Village of Hopkins Downtown Development Authority.

Explanation: Reading this statement, it appears that what we are asking for is to essentially double your taxes.  In technical terms, based solely on the operating millage allowed by the charter, that is correct.  However, it does not take into consideration the 10-year special millage we’ve also had.  It also doesn’t take into account that the Village Council does not plan to levee the full 10 mils. 

The Village Council voted to move forward with this request because we feel like the work that the Village has been doing has been good.  We’ve been able to work on roads, sidewalks, trees, and have had the ability to respond to needs as they arise as well.  Additionally, we have great people employed at the Department of Public Works (DPW) who do maintenance and upkeep in the Village (and are also first responders to all medical/fire calls which gives us one of the fastest response times in Michigan).  Part of that comes from the reality that we have the capacity to do these things, whether it be employment or contract work, because of the finances that we have which come from taxes.

One question that has been raised is about how this compares to places around the Village of Hopkins.  This is a very difficult comparison because of the differences in the ability to tax of Townships and Cities.  Hopkins Township only levies 1 mil, but that is also the maximum that they can levee.  Cities like Wayland or Otsego can levee up to 20 mils.  These aren’t “apples to apples” comparisons and so, as a Council, prefer to look at the needs of our community and only levee taxes according to those needs.

We are also aware of the current reality.  Things like inflation have made it more difficult for all of us.  Affordability of homes, groceries, utilities, and so much more has become increasingly problematic for many.  We recognize that.  While there had been some discussion about perhaps increasing taxes for a few years to get ahead on some projects, we recognize the financial strain that would put many families in.  Therefore, we are committed to doing this in a way that doesn’t raise your taxes but rather replaces our two millages (5.4287 & 1.7195) with one at 7.1482. 

Timing: This vote will happen on the first Tuesday (the 7^th) in November of 2023.  The reason for this is two-fold.  First, the secondary millage will be falling off at the end of this calendar year.  As such, we want to bring this to you, the voters, ahead of the end of the year so that we can effectively plan and budget for 2024.  Additionally, we are able to do this free of any charge to the Village because there will already be an election that the Township will be doing for the Martin Public School district.  We are simply jumping on to an existing election.  We are aware that putting things like this on ballots when there isn’t a “normal” election can seem suspicious.  This is why we are trying to be WAY out in front of this in both communication and transparency.

Recommendation:  With all this in mind, it ultimately comes down to how you vote.  There is a tendency, here, to “hold things hostage” in the event that this rollback doesn’t get passed.  In reality, if this doesn’t pass, we will have to tighten our belts and do our best to provide the best level of service and care for the Village with less funds.  But I don’t want to threaten or manipulate.  I think this is a really good idea for the Village of Hopkins and would encourage you to vote yes on the millage rollback question in November.  In either case, though, I, along with the council, are committed to making the Village of Hopkins the best community it can be.

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.  It is possible that these meetings may need to be moved due to the construction.  If that happens, we will communicate that to you through a variety of means with as much advanced notice as possible.

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 return to school, changing seasons, and the beauty that autumn brings here in Michigan.

Sincerely,

Jonathon VanderWall
Village of Hopkins President
President@villageofhopkins.org

www.villageofhopkins.org

(269) 793-7344

https://www.facebook.com/HopkinsVillageCouncil

https://www.youtube.com/@VillageofHopkins

Greetings Village of Hopkins!

In an effort to keep you connected with your local government, I wanted to take a moment to update you on some of the things that your Village Council has been up to in the last few months as well as some things that are going on around town.  It continues to be an honor to serve the Village of Hopkins and we are thankful for the continued opportunities that we have been given to help make our Village a great place to live!

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve experienced some of the great events that mark the coming of spring in Hopkins.  The FFA flower sale and annual garage sale day we accented by new events this year: the Strongman Competition put on by the DDA, Lafayette Creamery, and several other local sponsors, and the Varsity Women’s Soccer car wash.  It was a really busy and really fun Saturday for all.  Following this, the next weekend hosted the annual Hopkins Clean-up Day.  Once again, we filled up that dumpster with all manner of junk you wanted to be rid of!  The Village Council wants to thank Sebright Products for providing the dumpster and compactor and Hopkins Community Church for the volunteers!  We also had our first Cruise Night of the summer!

As we move through Memorial Day and into the summer, you will notice (if you haven’t already) some updates to the downtown park Veteran’s Memorial.  The Council is very thankful for those who took on this project.  They have asked not to be named specifically but rather hope that their efforts will draw your attention toward those on the Memorial who served our country and gave their lives for the cause of freedom.  We encourage you to check it out!

We are also looking forward to our annual 4^th of July celebration again this year.  Plans are well underway for this annual event!  Not all is set in stone yet, but one thing we do know is that Hopkins will be having fireworks again this year!  For more information on this and other Village Events and happenings, you can check out the Official Hopkins Village Council Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HopkinsVillageCouncil or visit us on our website: www.villageofhopkins.org.  We are also working on getting a YouTube Channel up and running.  This will be a place for some short videos, recaps of council meetings and actions taken, and hopefully some presentations and/or explanations of upcoming items of interest.  You can subscribe to this channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@VillageofHopkins.

The Village Website continues to be updated on a regular basis.  On it, you can find contact information for the Village Council, minutes from our previous meetings, resolutions, and ordinances, and links to helpful forms like Senior Sewer Rate applications and park rental forms.  We want this to be a useful tool for everyone in the Village of Hopkins so if you have suggestions on how we can improve it, please send them to President@villageofhopkins.org.

Finally, I wanted to offer a couple of quick updates on some work being down in the background:

In November, the Village voted to revise the current Village Charter from 1921 and elected a Charter Commission including Eric Alberda, Tabitha Kennedy, Mary Howard, Dawn Buist, and Jonathon VanderWall.  We have been diligently working through the charter and are coming to the end of this revision work.  Our next step, after a final review, will be to send it to the State of Michigan for review and, hopefully, approval.  Once approved by the state, we will then present this revision draft to you, the residents of the Village of Hopkins.  You will have an opportunity to read through it, ask questions, and ultimately vote on this Revision.  If all goes well, our goal is to have this on the ballot during the August primary in 2024 and, if passed, will be active for the November 2024 election which includes the election of the next Village Council.  The Village Charter is a very important document as it governs how the village is governed.  It gives and limits the power of the Village Council to make decisions and lead the Village of Hopkins.  Our goal in this revision is to update the language, which is 100 years old and set forth a Charter that will help the Council continue to Lead well into the future.

The Village of Hopkins is also undergoing a review and revision of our Master Plan and Parks & Recreation Plan.  Both are being done in partnership with the Township.  We recognize that the Village and the Township are separate, unique entities, and yet we are very much intertwined in all that we do and in our common interests.  At the Tree Lighting Ceremony in December, you had the opportunity to review some of the material that we are working on.  In early September, we will lay out the work and updates that have been done and again receive your feedback and thoughts on these plans.  Again, our goal is to set Hopkins up well for the future with plans that both move us forward and preserve the small-town feel, things that make Hopkins the incredible place to live that it is.

And last, but certainly not least, we as a council are excited to have purchased a new truck for the Village!  This truck will be used for many things, particularly plowing in the winter months, and is an update to the Village that we have desperately needed for a long time.  Some of you remember the old Orange Pumpkin truck plow that the Village used to have and how important it was to update from there.  This truck purchase was something akin to that.  The Council wants to acknowledge Jon Stafford, our DPW Supervisor, for a great find here too! 

Additionally, we are looking forward to some roadwork on Water Street between Russo’s and the School as well as Wise Street between Water and Clark Streets.  This work will be done sometime after school is out in June.  Construction will also continue throughout the summer on the new Township Hall.  This new building will serve the Township staff and for elections in the future.  If you have any questions about that, you can contact Mark Evans, the Township Supervisor.

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 at President@Villageofhopkins.org 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 summer as you enjoy the warm weather, vacations, and holidays.  We also offer a special thank you to our Veterans, especially remembering those who lost their lives in service of our country this Memorial Day.

Sincerely,

Jonathon VanderWall
Village of Hopkins President