Manistee, Michigan

eliminate the discharges. He reports, “Even with this work, because of the age of the system, we still had a lot of water getting into the pipes through inflow and infiltration. We went on a multi-year process to identify and eliminate those sources and were very successful.” Unfortunately, there is still some water getting in and they are about to embark on an 18-month, $23 million upgrade to finally eliminate those sources and end the discharges. Bradford adds, “So the commitment to maintaining the environment and making sure that we can treat all of our sewage has been first and foremost for the last several decades and this is the capstone of that.” Manistee is also working to upgrade its streets, systematically, while at the same time replacing water and sewer mains, increasing walkability, and improving the look of the city. Looking to the future, Taylor hopes that once the hotel is built and thriving, the community will revive an old initiative to build a 2,000 seat outdoor waterfront amphitheater in the park nearby. Miller and Bradford both hope that the development boom continues, resulting in an expanded housing market so more people can love living in Manistee. Bradford shares, “Manistee is a community that is really on the cusp of some great things. There’s a lot of excitement; a lot of developer interest. It’s really just an undiscovered gem that is starting to get polished. We’ve got all the tools in place to make sure that can happen, so we can keep that momentum going.” MANI STEE , MI CHIGAN