Belleville City Council to look into details in search for city manager

Although it’s a little too early to start taking resumes for a new city manager, members of the Belleville City Council agreed to start looking into how the search will be conducted.
The council has been advised by City Manager Diana Kollmeyer that she will be retiring sometime in January.
At Monday’s regular meeting of the city council, Councilman Tom Fielder asked that the item be added to the agenda and then said he believes they should begin a process to identify a candidate or organizations that can help with the search.
He said if people are interested, they should let the council know. He said they want to bring the new city manager in to overlap with Kollmeyer’s term to learn the job. He noted there is only a five-or-six-month window now, which is not a huge amount of time.
“I would like to leave in January, but I will stay until we find the right person,” Kollmeyer said, with tears forming. “This is a family here and the right person has to be in place.”
When discussing the budget later in the meeting, Kollmeyer said she and Police Chief Hal Berriman will be retiring this year and the city needs to make provisions in the budget for their vacation buyout and sick time, as well as provisions for the new city manager.
In other business at Monday’s one-hour-and-10-minute meeting, the council:
• Discussed the latest draft of the proposed 2019-20 city budget of about $2.1 million and then set a public hearing for 7:30 p.m., June 3, during the next council meeting. The $295,000 seawall repair was put into the budget, as the council requested, and so expenditures are in excess of revenues by that amount. There is enough money to cover that in the $1.163 million fund balance. The general fund is supporting the Cemetery Fund in the amount of $4,100 and the Capital Purchase fund in the amount of $33,000. Kelly Howey of Plante Moran said a vote of the people to restore the Headlee Rollback would add $225,000 to the budget (although the Downtown Development Authority would take a piece of that) and a public safety millage, which can be set by a vote of council, would bring $85,000 for each mill. That will be discussed at the public hearing;
• Heard Fire Chief Brian Loranger note that he is frustrated because he first asked for $162,000 for his department in the new budget and then he dropped that to $151,700. It’s been cut to $132,000. He said the city was ready to give $160,000 a year to Van Buren Township for fire service. He said the city has cut truck maintenance down to $5,000 and he pays that for one time on maintenance. He’s been asking for a new fire truck for five years, he said. Doc Williams, a High Street resident, said, “I hate to see public safety given the shaft for a seawall… I’m talking about outfitting trained firefighters”;
• Heard Dr. Williams ask if he is wasting his time recycling. Kollmeyer said Republic Waste tells the city they are recycling and they still are charging the city for recycling. She said the contract with Republic is up in October. Kollmeyer said Republic recently wanted the city to raise rates for recycling and she didn’t bring that to the council. The future of recycling remains to be seen, she said, adding it will be around in some form;
• Heard Kollmeyer say that the request of the Belleville Area Council for the Arts to hang banners on Horizon Park light poles all summer for the Music Lakeside events is not a viable option. The light poles are not able to handle the banners and, “If we tell them yes, then we can’t tell anyone no,” concerning banners, she said;
• Heard a High Street resident complain about the upcoming flags the Kiwanis is putting along the lake right in front of her house, which would block their view of the lake. They will be up five days at a time, four times a year, she said, quoting the Kiwanis website. She said the 13 flags they plan now, with 40 flags if they can get sponsors, are 10 feet tall. She suggested better locations might be at the Denton Road bridge or north of the Belleville bridge on the property recently acquired by VBT. Councilman Fielder said he will go out and assess the situation. “Not allow the Arts Council to put flags and allow this?” Chief Loranger asked;
• Heard Kollmeyer announce the city just got $45,000 as a Youth Employment Grant and the city is hiring. She invited those interested to come into city hall for applications;
• Approved the mayor’s reappointments to the planning commission, with terms to expire Dec. 31, 2021: Michael Hawkins, Mike Renaud, and Kelly Bates; and
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $129,317.40 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to R&R Fire Truck Repair, $5,350.99 for maintenance on three trucks; to Morton Salt, $4,651.06 for road salt for streets; to Oakland County, $4,080.67 for CLEMIS membership fee for police; to Metro Environmental, $768.75 for city sewer jet service; and to Hennessey Engineers, $4,228, $3,353.50, $2,855.50, and $1,405, all for SRF sewer rehab.
Mayor Pro Tem Jack Loria presided at the meeting in the absence of Mayor Kerreen Conley.