By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich-On Monday night the village council voted 5-0 to authorize $28,954.73 for the payment of a special assessment for the upgrades to the Wheelock &Watkins Drain. The village portion of the drain project was budgeted for the 2020-2021, says Sheri Wilkerson, village administrator.
In December, following more than six years of deliberation, upgrades of the village Wheelock & Watkins Drain began and now nears completion. The upgrades on the agricultural drain built in 1897 encompasses about 139 homes within the village. The old drain, under the jurisdiction of Genesee County, has been one possible cause of flooding of several residents’ homes over the past few years.

About seven years ago, the flooding intensified, prompting village officials to engage the county drain officials to investigate the issues.
As a result, petitions were signed and in a special meeting on April 9, 2013 at the village offices, a board of determination voted 3-0 to move forward with an upgrade to the Wheelock & Watkins Drain. At the time of the determination of necessity for the drain upgrades, supervisors from Mundy, Aregentine and Richfield townships chaired a public hearing and said the project should move forward. The petitioned that prompted the public hearing included many signatures from village residents and council members at the time.
The construction contract of $548,106 came in below estimates, said Hogan. The total cost is about $775,000 and includes a 12 percent contingency of about $86,000 plus engineering costs.