Belleville City Council OKs budget, 3-2, puts moratorium on any new hires

The Belleville City Council approved its balanced $2,082,691 budget for 2015-16 on June 1 with a 3-2 vote following about two hours of discussion.
Voting to approve the budget as presented were Mayor Pro Tem Jack Loria and Councilmen Tom Smith and Tom Fielder. Voting no were Councilwoman Kim Tindall and Mayor Kerreen Conley, who said they needed more information.
After much discussion the council unanimously passed a motion to put a moratorium on hiring any additional employees until the council gets more information; to find out the situation with the School Resource Officer position; and not to make any decisions on items subject to contract negotiations. The council is negotiating contracts with all its unions this year.
The budget wasn’t printed off until 6:11 p.m. Saturday after City Manager Diana Kollmeyer and Plante Moran financial representative Kelly Howey spent the day trying to get everything into the budget and balance it. The numbers changed on Thursday and Kelly wasn’t available on Friday, Kollmeyer said. They were able to balance the figures without dipping into the fund balance.
Councilwoman Kim Tindall said she got the budget about midnight Saturday and had questions on some of the figures.
The biggest problem was that Police Chief Hal Berriman wanted to hire one more full-time officer and a part-time officer, and so funds for that were put into the budget.
The department currently has six officers who cover the city 24/7 and one of them is a School Resource Officer. But, there is no fulltime officer on patrol during the day on Mondays and Tuesdays, Kollmeyer said.
She said Cpl. Kris Faull had to leave the schools on Monday morning to go to the fatal accident on the Belleville Bridge.
And, that is one of the budget hang-ups.
Cpl. Faull is the lone School Resource Officer for the Van Buren Public Schools. If she was to be pulled out of the SRO position and put on patrol, then the city might not have to hire another full-time officer.
For the past two years the Van Buren Public Schools have been paying the city $40,000 annually for the SRO and that was up from the previous $25,000 annual payment.
Mayor Conley said the city has calculated that it costs the city $70,000 for the nine months the SRO is on duty and Belleville is the only one subsidizing the school district.
“I don’t think our 2,000 taxpayers should be subsidizing this,” said Tindall.
Mike Renaud said from the audience that there are concerns from Van Buren Township about the city not paying its fair share for the museum and there are inequities throughout the budget.
“If the school really wants the thing, it needs to come to the party and pay,” Renaud said. “…They’re either going to agree or we remove the officer.”
Fielder said he doesn’t think the council has a clear job description about what Cpl. Faull does. He said years ago the city got a grant for two SROs and both officers were deputized by all four communities.
He said VBT pulled out its SRO and Sumpter no longer has Elwell School in its area, so Belleville has the lone officer.
“Every day there is school, the city’s population doubles,” Fielder said, pointing out most of the kids don’t live in the city but they may be violating city laws.
“Who does she report to?” Renaud asked, referring to Faull and Chief Berriman said she reports to him.
“Ask her what she does,” Renaud suggested and Chief Berriman said, “I know what she does.”
Mayor Conley said if the administration [Kollmeyer] stood up and said the city needs these extra police because there are four bars in town and more drunk driving, she would consider the hiring. But, she said, she hasn’t seen Kollmeyer do that.
Kollmeyer said they put it in the budget after Chief Berriman talked about not having a full squad. She said Berriman said last time he was chief he had 13 officers.
She said it will take time to negotiate with the school district on the SRO and they will have to find out how many school hours are involved, how many days off. She said Faull spends her first half hour on duty at the city and then goes to the school and back to the city after school.
“I do believe we need another full-time officer,” Kollmeyer said.
Mayor Pro Tem Loria said, “We’re getting tattooed by the school district [on the SRO]. What percent of Belleville residents have students in that high school? … Let’s find out … if they’re not going to pay for it, we’ll put that person on the street.”
Tindall said the city pays $60,000 with lifetime benefits for a police officer and the SRO is contracted at the discretion of the city council.
“If that SRO officer moves here, do we still need another officer?” Tindall asked.
Loria said the police chief would evaluate the situation and report back on if he still needs another officer.
“I’m not convinced it’s a worthy decision to fund the SRO,” Tindall said.
“This budget came out at midnight on Saturday and was made available to the public at 9 o’clock this morning [Monday],” she said, noting the public hasn’t had time to look at the numbers. “Because I just got the numbers, I got questions.”
In other business at the June 1 meeting, the council:
• Approved the Fourth of July closing of part of High Street from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the annual Grace Baptist Church picnic in the church yard.
• Heard updates from Mayor Conley on the Downriver Joint Management Committee and the new addition of Lincoln Park to the Downriver Utility Waste water Authority (DUWA);
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $89,350.69 and departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Foremost Medical $774.79 for medical supplies out of the general fund/fire; to Michigan Municipal League $2,595 for membership dues; to Shred Corp $400 for document shredding; to Time Emergency $2,191.68 for hose replacement, from general fund/fire; and to Van Buren Township $650 for training academy, from general fund/fire; and
• Heard Kollmeyer say that evening (June 1) was the 17th anniversary of her employment with the city of Belleville and she spent 17 ½ years at her previous city of employment.