Fall is here and that means it is open hunting season for Grants in Mullett Township.

At a last minute Special Board Meeting on September 28th, the Mullett Board, as directed by the Topinabee Development Association (TDA) approved this years DNR Trust Fund Grant application of $410,000 for a beach front park, apparently ignoring the scoring criteria used by the DNR. A project cost exceeding $50 per capita is defined as a significant deficiency and this application is more than $300 per Mullett Township resident. A 30% match, $123,000, would come from local taxpayers pockets. Increasing the total project at the last moment from $370,000 to $410,000 also topped a $400,000 threshold; costing additional points that should have been earned with a 30% match.

On October 4th, the annual TDA sponsored Federal USDOT Tiger III Grant application for the M27 Topinabee Green Corridor was approved by a unanimous vote of the Board without any conceptual plan, design, engineering or a cost estimate completed and with no public vetting. It was approved with the stipulation to not exceed $1,000,000, with a local taxpayer contribution of $200,000. The Board also gave tacit approval to the TDA to come back, if necessary, at another Special Meeting to increase the Grant amount by another couple hundred thousand dollars. Last year it was $2.8 million with a $100,000 match. Now, the project, of unknown design, has shrunk by 65% and the Mullett Township taxpayers commitment has doubled to $200,000. Will the TDA be back for more?

Joe Mullett is not lobbying for these pie-in-the-sky Grants. People with little or no connection to Topinabee can sign on-line petitions supporting the Topinabee Green Corridor, but they arent at the Mullett Township Board meetings or paying the costs of these Grant applications because they dont live here.

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