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NILES — The Bluegrass Festival and funds allocated for a fireworks event were approved by the Niles City Council Monday evening.

The Bluegrass Festival, organized by The Riverfront Optimist Club, had its application approved 7-1 by the city council Monday evening to host its event Thursday, May 30 through Sunday, June 2 at the amphitheater in Riverfront Park. The annual event will feature live bluegrass and Americana acts as well as vendors.

The city will pay for utilities, police presence and police barricades for a total cost of $1,795. For last year’s event, the Optimist Club agreed to pay for utilities.

The motion was approved with a provision that the city would provide the in-kind services as long as there is a remaining budget by the city, which there is.

“I know the community enjoys this festival and there’s been controversy among council members over whether we provide the in-kind services or not and we did go to trouble of including it in the budget,” said Council member John DiCostanzo. “As long as there’s budget remaining, we should authorize it.”

Michael Thompson casted the lone dissenting vote.

“All of these kind of things are definitely things that should be paid via a volunteer association and not through force payments from non-participants via government taxation,” he said. “For that reason alone, I will not be supporting this item. However, I do appreciate that we are adding some level of limitations on how much of this that we do because it can snowball into getting real big real fast.”

Tim Rogers expressed concern about the agenda item being brought to the council just nine days before the event is scheduled to begin.

In other business, council approved the submission of a contract to the Niles Community Schools for approval to use the Apple Festival Grounds for the Fourth of July fireworks and approved the request of Niles High School Student Council to host the annual Homecoming Parade September 27.

Historically, the city provides fireworks for the annual Fourth of July celebration held on the Apple Festival Grounds located at 1740 Lake Street, which is owned by NCS. The bid for the 2024 fireworks was awarded to Kirk Proshwitz and approved by Council in November 2023. 

The Homecoming parade includes participants from the freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior classes and is staged to promote school spirit and participation. The parade is to begin at 1 p.m. at the corner of 14th and Merrifield, go west on Merrifield to 14th Street, south on 14th Street to Sycamore Street, east on Sycamore Street to 17th Street, north on 17th to Merrifield and west on Merrifield to the north side of the high school in the parking lot. The parade is expected to last no more than one hour.

The Student Council also requested permission to have a fire truck in the parade as well as police department assistance for traffic control. The cost for police and fire staff is estimated to be $200.

The motion passed 7-1 with Thompson voting against it because he believes that the student council should pay for use of city services.

In further business, council:

• Authorized the fire department to accept the quote from Damage Control of Niles, Michigan in the amount of $4,325 for fabrication work to the stacked boat trailer and charge the expense to the fire department’s vehicle maintenance account.
• Authorized the fire department to accept the quote from Firehouse Heating and Cooling of Edwardsburg, Michigan to replace air conditioning unit No. 2 and for installation of a humidifier at the fire department and charge the expense to the building repairs account.
• Authorized the police department to accept the quote from Tele-Rad, Inc. of Benton Harbor, Michigan in the amount of $71,333to outfit four new patrol vehicles and pay for the expense with ARPA funds.
• Authorized the Utilities Department to sole-source 4,975 water meters from Zenner-USA of Addison, Texas at an approximate cost of $526,742 and charged the expense to the Water and Wastewater Division – Meters account.
• Authorized the Utilities Department Wastewater Division to accept the quote from Kendall Electric of Benton Harbor, Michigan in the amount of $32,136.89 for five Allen-Bradley Panelview screens for use at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and charge the expense in their Machinery & Equipment account.
• Authorized the Utilities Department to emergency purchase services from Precision Electric of Mishawaka, Indiana in the amount of $5,517.24 to rebuild the Vaughan Chopper Pump and charge the expense to their Maintenance-Plant Equipment account.
• Authorized the Utilities Department to accept the quote from Ferguson Equipment of South Bend, Indiana in the amount of $16,101 for body/bed repairs to the 1997 International “Digger Derrick” truck and charge the expense to the Vehicle Maintenance account.
• Authorized the Utilities Department to accept the quote from Stateline Diesel Services of Edwardsburg, Michigan in the amount of $14,703.66 to replace the engine on a 2013 Ford F550 “Telescopic Bucket” and charge the expense to the Vehicle Maintenance account.
• Approved a Performance Resolution for Governmental Agencies as required by MDOT allowing designated city officials to apply for work permits within MDOT right of way and authorize the City Clerk to sign the resolution.
• Approved the request from the Greater Niles Chamber of Commerce to hold its Third Thursdays after-hours event on June 20. The Niles Chamber is requesting permission for sole use of the city-owned Sycamore and 4th St. parking lot from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and permission to provide alcohol. Custom Computer Company is hosting this month’s event.