Belleville last to approve new 34th District Court funding agreement

On Sept. 3, the Belleville City Council approved the revised agreement with the 34th District Court on procedures for handling the money.
Belleville was the last of the five communities that make up the 34th District Court to approve the agreement. Others that approved it are Sumpter Township, Huron Township, Van Buren Township, and the City of Romulus.
Romulus is the host community.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, Belleville Mayor Kerreen Conley said it all started when the communities got a letter, “a very premature letter from the court.”
That was the March 27 letter signed by all three judges at the 34th District Court alleging that each of the communities was owed money by the City of Romulus.
At a Romulus City Council meeting on March 25 a court employee suggested Romulus had possibly misused funds or stolen money from court funds to cover its bottom line.
Mayor Conley said the communities all met together and there was not enough information.
That’s when the court sent a request for an audit to the state and Paul J. Paruk, regional administrator for the Michigan Supreme Court Administrative Office, did a study and on Aug. 5 in a letter recommended the municipalities and the court approve a new funding agreement and put everything in writing to avoid an expensive law suit.
This agreement, now signed by all involved, is the result.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said she went to a recent meeting of all the municipalities and all three judges were there, along with Paruk.
In other business at the 40-minute meeting on Sept. 3, the council:
• Approved holding a public informational session of the city council at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 14, at the Belleville High School Commons, if possible, to discuss with the public the proposed tax assessment for police and fire which will be on the Nov. 5 ballot;
• Approved use of the Fourth Street Square by Egan’s Pub on Nov. 1-3. This includes a Witches’ Ball from 7 p.m. to midnight on Nov. 1, crafts from noon to 4 p.m. on Nov. 2, and a private event for Moving the Mitten from noon to 5 p.m. on Nov. 3. A tent will be put up that will house all three events and a liquor license obtained for all three days. Therese Antonelli of Moving the Mitten said the chamber doesn’t get a big check from Wayne County Community College for the tent like it used to. The Witches Weekend will finish October’s Booville events and local business owners will write a check for the tent;
• Approved Winterfest activities for Dec. 5-8 as requested by the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce. These events also will include a tent on the Fourth Street Square, with vendors in the tent on Thursday for Ladies’ Night Out, Family Fun Night with movies on Friday, and on Saturday pancakes, arts and crafts, Animal Magic, soup crawl, a night parade and a possible band in the tent, or maybe fireworks on Saturday night, or Santa under the tent. This is still being decided. The Sunday event is open. The theme of the parade was announced as “Christmas Movies”;
• Approved a resolution to implement a local pavement warranty program and a resolution to adopt a local pavement warranty program, as recommended by Hennessey Engineers. The engineers said the Michigan Legislature created a law in 2015 that requires each city and village in the state to adopt this program. DPW Director Rick Rutherford said if the city got state or federal funding for a road project, these resolutions would need to be in place. “If you want to be in the pool, we’d need this in place,” Rutherford said, adding, “As soon as I can find some state or federal funds, I’ll be all over it”;
• Approved the mayor’s reappointments of Jim Chudzinski and Alicia McGovern to the Downtown Development Authority, with terms to expire Dec. 31, 2022;
• Approved accounts payable of $334,191.33 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to David C. Brown Funeral Home, $1,500 for a headstone replacement (damaged by the city, claim filed with MMRMA – the city has a deductible of $1,000, so it would get $500 from the insurance company); to James Millen, $1,350 for a grave buyback, from cemetery fund; and to Burhop Collision, $541.87 for truck repair from the Streets fund;
• Heard City Manager Kollmeyer announce that the Civil Service Commission would meet at 1 p.m., Sept. 5, to hold interviews for two account clerk positions;
• Heard Mayor Conley announce that applications are now available for the annual Scarecrow Contest, with a deadline of Sept. 20. She said judging will be Oct. 20;
• Heard Rutherford announce that water taps will be put in for the new buildings in the 500 block of Main Street on Sept. 4 and 5. He suggests drivers heading toward the bridge use Main Street to Fifth Street, and then North Liberty Street to avoid the congestion on Main, which was expected to be just one lane for the 500 block. Rutherford announced the new ropes have been put in place at Horizon Park. Rutherford also said he needs people to take lead and copper samples from their home taps for the state. He said at first the samples required by the city were six and now he’s been told he needs 26. Many people in the audience at the council meeting volunteered to take samples from their homes; and
• Heard Kollmeyer say the city has a private resident who paid for the new rope for the park and the city wanted to say a big thank you to them. In the future, if the person approves the release of the person’s name, she will tell everyone who the person is.