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SKIDWAY LAKE — Work on the Skidway Lake boardwalk project in Mills Township is still under way, with completion expected sometime in September, according to Mills Township Supervisor Lloyd Saunders.

“It’s pretty close to being done,” Saunders said Monday. “There are still some open-ended issues that need to be resolved.”

Saunders said there has been discussion about putting a split-rail fence between the boardwalk and Greenwood road. He said the grant coordinator with the Department of Environmental Quality is out of the office until after Labor Day, so he won’t know if that can be done until after that time.

He said there is also an issue of the township hoping to attach the west end of the boardwalk to Lucinda Drive with a paved path. However, the property owners there have not yet granted the township an easement to do that.

“We’re trying to work out some things,” Saunders said. “There’s still some work to do.”

Saunders said the township is hoping to cover those additional details with leftover monies from the project.

“We hope so,” he said. “We’re still waiting for figures from all entities.”

Saunders added that inspections still need to be performed on the project, and that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, whose grant money is helping pay for the project, must also inspect it.

“None of that has transpired,” Saunders said. “There are still things to be done.”

And while the project is not yet finished, Saunders said some residents recently have been criticizing the project on a Skidway Lake Facebook fan page.

“I did a walkthrough with the engineer, probably earlier than I should have, because of the comments,” Saunders said. “There are some areas that look like they could use some improvement. But it’s not even complete yet.”

Saunders said he doesn’t think the way the situation was handled by some of the community members was fair.

“I think the way they went about it was wrong,” he said.

Saunders said that contractors must have five years’ worth of experience to qualify to perform work for the DNRE, and the company that was hired to do the work, John Henry Excavating of East Tawas, met those qualifications.

He said the contractors would be working to try to straighten up the issues, and that he thought the complaints were premature.

“They weren’t even given the opportunity to do so,” Saunders said.

Saunders reiterated that a lot of inspections still need to be done before the project is completed.

“There will be no final payment — the DNRE is retaining 25 percent of the project — until they approve it,” Saunders said.

Saunders said that the project has been seen all over the state, and he felt the complaints should have been handled more internally, rather than on Facebook.

He said that John Henry Excavating worked hard throughout the project despite dealing with attempted vandalism.

“They kept the place clean,” Saunders said. “There are 3,200 deck boards on the project. They are some of the nicest deck boards I have seen. Maybe one or two of them have some imperfections. But all in all, I’ve seen a lot worse material.”

Saunders said some areas of the railing do appear to be a little distorted, and those issues would be addressed. He added that the contractors would be at the next Mills Township board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 14.