Bergland Township awarded $1 million community facility loan

As part of a recent round of U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funding, Bergland Township in Ontonagon County will be getting more than $1 million in grants and loans to build a new community center.

The funding was announced through U.S. Representative Bart Stupak's office, which says the project is expected to create 22 jobs in Bergland Township as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The township was awarded a $192,000 grant and a loan for $1,065,000 to build a new community facility.

Township supervisor Carl Bailey says the new building will fill a need for updating the community's public facilities.

"It'll be replacing a fire hall that's maybe 50 to 60 years old, and a senior center that's about 100 years old," Bailey says. "So we're replacing two old buildings with one new building." He adds the new community center will include space for parties and events, conferences, meeting rooms, all the township offices, an office for the Commission on Aging, the American Legion office, and the township's fire hall and garage.

Construction on the center can't start, however, until Bergland voters pass a millage to fund the low-interest USDA loan repayment, Bailey says.

"We're hoping to get approval from voters in the August 3 election, and then put it out for bids. It'll be late fall or next spring before we can get it started," he says.

The millage would likely be about 1.5 mills over 30 to 40 years, although the specifics haven't been set down yet. But Bailey says township voters have previously supported community center efforts.

"We put it before the voters here a year ago, and it didn't pass by three votes," he says. "So when we got this grant from the USDA, the board said we could go ahead and try the millage again."

Stupak says the funding was one of two projects approved in his district, with the other being a road improvement plan in Onaway.

"By creating jobs to improve local roads and build a center for members of the community to gather, this stimulus funding is an investment in infrastructure that is critical to the economic future of these communities," Stupak says.

The USDA Rural Development's Community Facilities program, which awarded the money, is designed to help fund public facilities in rural areas.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Carl Bailey, Bergland Township Supervisor