Baby, it’s coooold outside! And while some Kentwood residents will be sleeping all toasty-warm in their beds in the wee hours of the morn this Saturday, Jan. 7, Consumers Energy workers will be busy attending to a 138,000-volt power line at the electrical substation near 68th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue.
(Worthy of note, arctic temps are expected to drop to 7 degrees between Friday night and early Saturday morning — but fear not, customers likely will not be inconvenienced.)
The planned outage is scheduled so that workers can safely isolate old equipment and update it. About 2,400 Consumers Energy customers in Kentwood and Gaines Township will be without power for about 30 minutes beginning around 2:30 a.m. — but unless you’re a night owl with a late-night craving for microwaved popcorn at 2:45 a.m., you may not even notice (well, that is, until dawn breaks and your clock radio needs resetting.)
The outage will affect an area approximately a mile east and west of Kalamazoo Ave. SE from Christie Ave. SE south to approximately 100th Street SE. Residents in that area received post cards from the utility alerting them to the outage.
The summer months are quickly approaching which means both the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood are looking for seasonal workers for programs run through the individual muncipalties’ parks and recreation departments as well as additional maintenance help.
Both cities are currently accepting applications for seasonal work with positions ranging from umpiring to maintenance in various departments at wages between $9 to $15 an hour.
In the City of Wyoming, there are several positions. The city’s Water Department is looking for seasonal maintenance for a variety of tasks. The Department of Public Works is looking for a seasonal yard waste attendant and maintenance and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department is in need of seasonal maintenance workers along with umpires for softball and kickball.
The Parks and Recreation Department is also looking for T.E.A.M 21 group leaders for its summer program. T.E.A.M. 21 is a cooperative effort between the Parks and Recreation Department, Wyoming Public Schools, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, Godwin Heights Public Schools and Kelloggsville Public Schools. The program is designed to foster academic, social and emotional growth among students in kindergarten through ninth grade. Last year, the program served nearly 1,600 students in the four school districts. T.E.A.M. 21 group leaders would be responsible for supervising students, planning and implementing educational and recreational activities and mentoring.
Most of the City of Wyoming seasonal positions are part-time. Hours for the different positions vary and some do require weekends. For more information or to apply, visit the City of Wyoming’s website by clicking here.
The City of Kentwood is looking for maintenance workers, which is 40 hours per week and pays around $10 an hour.
Kentwood’s Parks and Recreation Department has several seasonal positions open as well including a farmers market manager and park attendant. The Kentwood Farmer’s Market usually runs Saturday mornings from about June to October.
The Parks and Recreation Department is also looking for Recreation Leaders and REACH staff. The REACH program is a drop-in program in three Kentwood Parks that provides recreational opportunities such as games, sports, and crafts, during the summer months. These positions pay around $10 to $15 per hour.
For more information or an employment application, visit the City of Kentwood’s website by clicking here.
