Belleville City Council pays Kollmeyer $14,735 as final payout

The Belleville City Council approved payment of $14,735 in final payment to City Manager Diana Kollmeyer after her retirement on Feb. 3.
At its regular meeting on Feb. 18, the council approved $6,235.94 in vacation pay, $392.28 in personal time, $7,845.60 in sick time, and $261 in pay for the one day she worked after retirement.
The payout was to be made on Feb. 20. Changes could not be made to that payroll after 2 p.m. Feb. 18, so the payout was on its way before the council approved it at its 7:30 p.m. meeting on Feb. 18.
Kollmeyer worked for the city from June 1, 1998 until Feb. 3, 2020.
When a member of the audience asked if that wasn’t an excessive payout, Mayor Kerreen Conley said the next city manager contract will have caps.
The new interim city manager is Tracey Schultz Kobylarz, who has agreed to serve for six months.
In other business at the one-hour-and-33-minute Feb. 18 meeting, the council:
• Voted unanimously to approve David Robinson as the new, part-time police chief, subject to a level 4 background check through Fifer, a transcript of his educational degrees, and signing of the contract. It was not known how soon he could be on the job. The former police chief, Hal Berriman, retired Jan. 31. Twelve finalists for the position were interviewed by a committee of law enforcement officials and three certified by the Civil Service Commission. On Feb. 17 the city council interviewed the three selected;
• Approved in one motion all the activities requested on city property by the Central Business Community: Flop E. Bunny on April 11 at Victory Park, Farmer’s Market on Mondays in June through September, Taste of Belleville on Aug. 20 on High Street after the Bridge Walk, Harvest Fest Market on Oct. 10 on the Fourth Street Square, Monster Mutt Walk on Oct. 17 on the Fourth Street Square and Halloween on Oct. 30 on the Fourth Street Square; and
• Heard Councilman Tom Fielder express frustration over signing checks to repair city hall. City Hall has been on the Council Follow-Up List since Dec. 15, 2014, and an evaluation and appraisal completed. Then nothing. He said he would like the council to look into selling the property the city has at Five Points to a commercial venture and have the city offices go elsewhere. City Manager Kobylarz said she can very easily find out how much city hall is costing. Councilman Ken Voigt said the police chief’s office is falling in and the squad room upstairs is in shockingly bad shape. Fire Chief Brian Loranger said since there is no mortgage on the property, they should use the equity in it to fix it or they can sell it. Kobylarz said any time the council talks about buying or selling real estate they should do it in closed session with an attorney. “Let me reach out to legal counsel first,” Kobylarz said, adding they could have a town hall meeting to find out what people think about it;
• Held a public hearing and then passed an ordinance amendment on illicit discharge and connection stormwater control, as required by the state; and
• Approved accounts payable of $329,675.05 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Morton Salt, $4,783.50 for road salt; to Hennessey Engineers, $4,051.50 for Doane’s Landing Seawall and $1,308 for a survey of Doane’s Landing; to EGLE/State of Michigan, $2,000 for stormwater permit; to Absolute Heating, $1,610 for boiler repair; to WAMAA, $1,000 for annual dues; and to Hobo Press, $630 for hooded fire department sweatshirts (with Councilman Voigt recusing himself from that vote).