Belleville City Council sets special meeting

A special meeting of the Belleville City Council has been set for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 12, to approve the wording of a public safety assessment proposal and the amount needed.
The wording has to be determined by Aug. 13 in order to be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The city council is able to levy an assessment without having to go to the public for approval, so this ballot proposal will be advisory, and the council will still be able to levy the assessment if the proposal fails.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said that they have been waiting to have a full council in attendance before voting on the assessment and two council members – Tom Smith and Jesse Marcotte – were absent at last Monday’s regular meeting.
She decided to go ahead with setting the special meeting to get the city attorney’s wording for the ballot and the recommendation from administration on the amount needed.
Mayor Conley said all the tax money coming in now is spent on public safety and if they had a public safety assessment, then some of the money now spent on public safety could be put back into city services.
Mayor Conley said the ballot question will be used to educate the people that this assessment would be for multiple years, although the council would have to vote on it annually.
City Clerk Sherri Scharf said the “drop-dead deadline” for wording to be on the Nov. 5 ballot is Aug. 13.
Mayor Conley pointed out that if the council asked voters to approve a public safety “millage,” the Downtown Development Authority would be able to capture 40% of that.
An “assessment” would be for the amount needed and the city would get it all without the DDA capturing any of it.
Also, an assessment would be on all property in the city, even those generally tax-free such as the schools and churches.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said the city’s intent could be to put $100,000 total assessment for 10 years, all for public safety.
“The public would know what our intent is,” said Mayor Conley. “If the bottom drops out [of the economy], we could decide not to levy the assessment that year.”
Planning Commissioner Mike Renaud said the council is asking the voters to approve this, but what if they don’t?
“If they don’t support it, we know it wouldn’t be popular with them,” Mayor Conley said.
“You’re setting yourself up, if they vote it down and you approve it,” Renaud said.
“I would hope the people would support public safety,” Mayor Conley said.
Councilman Tom Fielder said the ballot proposal would be the best way to educate the public. He said the ballot issue would be covered by the local papers and there would be conversations in local coffee houses.
Mayor Conley pointed out that absentee ballots now may be requested without having a reason and the wording would be on those ballots, laying on people’s tables. It would be a tool to get the words out, she said.
Councilman Fielder said although the properties have gone up in value, the Headlee Amendment keeps the city from having the taxes it had in the past. He repeated that all of the city’s tax money goes to public safety.
“This is the tightness we have,” he said.
Fire Chief Brian Loranger said with this assessment the city would have to use it all for public safety. If the DDA captured some of it, as in a millage proposal, the DDA would not be able to use it for public safety, but would have to use it for development.
The assessment of one or two mills a year was discussed and Chief Loranger said with two mills they’d be able to have a new fire truck in five years.
“We need to get Steve to write the language so it can be certified,” Kollmeyer said, referring to city attorney Steve Hitchcock.
Kollmeyer said it is required to have a public hearing before levying an assessment and Mayor Conley said, “We’re not taking action. We’re just putting it on the ballot,” and there would be time for a public hearing before the council’s vote on the assessment.
Kollmeyer said they would look into the equivalent of one or two mills and whether to have accelerated or prolonged purchase of public safety equipment.
Renaud said as far as a new fire engine, the city doesn’t want to front-load it for the public to pay now for something they won’t be able to use later.
“Bills on your taxes never go away,” Renaud said.
“I’m replacing a 30-year-old truck and I’ve got a 20-year-old truck,” said Chief Loranger. “Fix that and we’ll be good for a very long time.”
Mayor Conley said with the information in the ballot proposal the public will know there is a plan tied to it.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• Approved the request of Jeff Conley, vice president of the Belleville Lacrosse Athletic Association, to be recognized as a non-profit organization for the purpose of obtaining charitable gaming licenses from the state;
• Approved the mayor’s appointment of Theresa Ceccarelli to a six-year term on the Civil Service Commission. It was pointed out in order to hire a new DPW worker, the Civil Service Commission needs to meet and it did not have enough members for a quorum until now;
• Heard Building Official Rick Rutherford report the contractors started working on the seawall repairs, but the engineers had to make a slight change. He said the depth of the water increased going toward the bridge. He said they needed to do a jog so they can use the steel that was ordered. He said the barges are in place and the construction fencing has been put up; and
• Approved accounts payable of $285,274.19 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Jeanette Fix, $4,050 for purchase of six graves; to Blue Ribbon, $3,380 for sewer repair; to Osborne Concrete, $795 for grave foundations; and to SEMCOG, $770 for annual dues.