Belleville City Council approves Korneffel to do Doane’s Landing seawall

At Monday’s regular meeting, the Belleville City Council accepted the bid by E.C. Korneffel Company of Trenton to do the repairs on the seawall at Doane’s Landing park.
Belleville Building Official Rick Rutherford and consultant McDowell & Associates studied the bids presented for the seawall and both agreed Korneffel should have the job based on its experience. Engineering consultant Hennessey also recommended Korneffel.
“Korneffel is a well-established company with a long track record of similar successful projects,” Rutherford wrote in a memo to the board.
He said the work will be done from the shore instead of the barge work of another contractor discussed at a past meeting.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer recommended using money from the city fund balance of about $2 million and then consider a Headlee Override and ear mark it to reimburse the general fund balance for this project. Net income of approximately $80,000 per year would be collected.
She said a Headlee Override requires language to be placed on a ballot and voted on with a favorable approval from the eligible voters. This language could be placed on the November 2018 ballot.
She said State Senator Hoon-Yung Hopgood and State Rep. Kristi Pagan are working to get some state financial assistance to the city for this project. Any funding received from the state would also be used to reimburse the general fund balance, she said.
She said the approximate time for the completion of the project would be two months, with construction to start in the late summer.
As part of the motion passed, the council will ask the DDA to use its capital outlay line item of $44,000 in its new budget to help pay for the seawall repair since the park is in the DDA district.
Also, the council asked that it get a written guarantee on the life of the repaired seawall and City Manager Kollmeyer said they are working on it.
There was some discussion about whether the $339,000 bid for the work by Korneffel was for the whole seawall project, including the condominium part, or just the city’s share. It was made clear the city would just pay for its share.
Belleville attorney John Day was present representing four neighbors in the condominiums. He asked the city to work on a common solution.
“I still have hopes it will be done together,” said Rutherford. “So far we worked together … I had hoped that the original cooperation will continue.”
He said it would be inefficient for there to be two mobilizations if the condos used another company.
“I would still hope there was cooperation there,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford said in a meeting with Korneffel the previous Friday it came out that $45,000 of the total cost quoted was for the portion of the seawall behind the condos and the remainder is the city’s property.
“It is my recommendation the city pays its share up to the first dock,” Rutherford said.
A dollar amount for the city will be sought.
From the audience, Kim Tindall noted that after the seawall is done, making the park whole is another project.
Mayor Conley asked if North Liberty Street would be closed for the seawall work and Rutherford said it would be closed “shortly” while the equipment is staging.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• Approved a public hearing on the proposed 2018-19 budget of $2,101,310 at the regular June 4 meeting of the city council. A copy of the budget is available for study at city hall. Mayor Conley said not a single piece of capital purchase is in the budget;
• Approved the Central Business District’s request to hold the Taste of Belleville and Bridgewalk on Aug. 16. The Taste requires closing of High Street;
• Approved the CBC’s request for a Harvest Market on Fourth Street Square in conjunction with Harvest Fest on Oct. 13;
• Approved the CBC’s request for a Costumed Monster Mutt Walk on Oct. 20 on the Fourth Street Square;
• Approved CBC’s request for Halloween on the Fourth Street Square as part of the annual downtown trick or treat from 5 to 7 p.m.;
• Approved sending the sidewalk ordinance to the planning commission for review and possible recommended updates;
• Reviewed the list of contractors hired by the city and suggested going out for bids on some of them, including assessing services, auditor, planning consultant, labor attorney, and possibly others. It was pointed out the Downtown Development Authority coordinator appears to have no contract. She was hired in 2007 and appears to be an independent contractor hired by the DDA;
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $99,517.68 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Atchinson Ford, $1,287.08 for repairs on a police vehicle; to Washtenaw Area Mutual Aid Association, $1,000 dues; to Apex, $595 for sketching software for assessing, including maintenance for one year; and to Fire CATT, an unknown amount for hose/ladder testing that is due to be done May 23;
• Heard Kollmeyer announce that the city’s new website is slated to go live on June 1; and
• Welcomed the members of Boy Scout Troop 793 who meet at St. Anthony Catholic Church. The scouts have to attend a municipal meeting as part of their merit badge work.
Before the regular meeting Monday, the council held a 90-minute budget work/study session to discuss the proposed budget.