Eaton County Commissioners approve full‑faith pledges for major drainage projects, authorize bond process for intercounty bank drain

EATON COUNTY — The Eaton County Board of Commissioners on April 16 voted to back multiple drainage projects with the county’s credit and set the county on a path to issue a capital improvement bond to help finance the largest, the Bank Intercounty Drain project.

The board voted to pledge the county’s full faith and credit for the Hobart and Lead‑Lehi drain projects and, after separating it for discussion, approved a separate full‑faith pledge for the Bank Intercounty Drain. Commissioners later adopted a notice of intent to issue capital improvement bonds to finance the county’s portion of the Bank Intercounty Drain project and related county facility improvements.

The decisions follow months of engineering, hearings and financing work by the drainage district, county staff and consultants. Spicer Group, municipal bond counsel and financial advisors told commissioners that without the county pledge the projects likely would not receive competitive bids or would face substantially higher interest costs when sold in the bond market. Bond counsel explained that drainage districts rely primarily on special assessments and that a county pledge acts as a backup source of payment if assessments prove insufficient.

“This is a real obligation from the county,” bond counsel told commissioners, adding that in normal situations any county payment would be limited and short in duration because delinquent assessments first enter the county tax‑collection process and the drainage district can levy deficiency assessments to repay the county.

Commissioners pressed staff on process and timing. Officials said the drainage districts had completed the necessary hearing steps and that, at the time of the meeting, the project had no outstanding appeals. The county’s municipal advisor and drain counsel said the bank drain bond sale was scheduled for mid‑May and that a delay in the board’s action likely would force the financing date to move and could increase costs for assessed property owners.

The board split the three full‑faith resolutions into two votes after several commissioners asked that the Bank Intercounty Drain be considered separately from two smaller county drains to address specific questions, including the fact that Eaton County’s drain commissioner had been recused earlier in the process and an outside drain commissioner had presided over initial steps. County legal counsel explained that recusal in that context is statutory and that a substitute drain commissioner had been appointed for the early proceedings.

Commissioners also heard project details from engineering firm Spicer Group. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, with preconstruction meetings the week of June 2; project leaders said work should be substantially complete by mid‑2028. Engineers described a combination of storm sewer, pipe and dry detention basins, including a larger detention basin on the 4,300 West Saginaw (former school) property and two smaller dry basins near Waverly Road. Spicer said the design intends the smaller basins to remain dry in normal conditions and to hold water only during storm events.

The drainage team emphasized prepayment options for property owners: letters and a project website will provide each parcel’s assessment figure and property owners who prepay by the posted deadline will avoid interest. County staff will operate satellite payment sessions in Delta Township and at county offices to assist residents with prepayments.

Commissioners acknowledged constituent frustration about timing and cost. Several members said they would vote to approve the pledges reluctantly to avoid higher financing costs for property owners or loss of the current construction schedule and state or federal funding. Others criticized the drain commissioner’s lack of presence during parts of the process and requested statutory guidance on recusal and participation.

Votes at a glance: - Full faith and credit, Hobart and Lead‑Lehi drain resolutions (items 4 and 5): passed by roll call. Recorded roll call (selected entries): Commissioner Art — no; Commissioner Mark Mudry — yes; Commissioner John Haskell — yes; Commissioner Jane Whitaker — yes; Commissioner Christiansen — no; others recorded yes. (Tally from roll call: 12 yes, 2 no.) - Full faith and credit, Bank Intercounty Drain (item 6): passed by roll call (unanimous among members recorded present). (Recorded yes votes include: Commissioner Arndt, Peake, Haskell, Pearl Wright, Whitaker, Mudry, Jones, Drosha, Toomey, Hansen, Christiansen, Holmes, Barber, Chairman Mott.) - Notice of intent to issue capital improvement bonds (Bank Intercounty Drain financing / county portion): board adopted the notice of intent and an administrative recommendation to override a 2011 county policy limiting full‑faith approvals in order to proceed with the financing schedule; the motion carried by voice vote.

County officials and consultants said the maximum bond authorization and final structure will be set later in the statutory process; the notice of intent does not finalize rates, term or exact amounts. Bond counsel and the financial advisor said the board’s action authorizes the publication and steps required under Act 34 for municipal financings.

During the meeting, drainage counsel and engineers summarized the statutory process that led to the project—petitions, hearings of practicability, preliminary engineering and property acquisition—and noted the team had secured a $5 million state appropriation and some ARPA funding that aided the project’s affordability. The drainage team also said competitive bid adjustments and scheduling changes reduced the total project estimate by about $1.6 million since the earliest estimates.

Commissioners, engineers and the public urged close construction coordination to reduce disruption; Spicer Group said the project will use direct mail, a live project map on the project website and door‑to‑door contact for directly affected properties. The board scheduled no additional financing decisions at this meeting; staff will return with final bond sizing and statutory notices as required.

Ending: The drainage projects mark one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Eaton County in recent years. Commissioners said they approved the pledges to keep the projects on their current schedule and to avoid higher costs for assessed property owners, while continuing to hear concerns about timing, transparency and the drain commissioner recusal process.