City Council approves agreement with library for property swaps

“No cash is moving,” said Belleville city attorney Steve Hitchcock as he explained the property agreement worked out between the City of Belleville and the Belleville Area District Library to make way for a new library building. This was at the regular city council meeting on May 16.
After a short discussion, Councilman Tom Smith made the motion, with Councilman Tom Fielder supporting, and the council unanimously approved the agreement. The library board already had approved it at its May 10 meeting.
Following the council vote, members of the audience including a contingent from the library board, broke out into applause.
“This is a great compromise,” said Mayor Kerreen Conley.
Hitchcock said he met with the committee of city and library representatives and they worked out an agreement for trading parcels of equal values. He said they used Craig Fuller who had appraised the city hall property and the library property in 2013.
“Nobody is giving away their assets,” Hitchcock said. “The parking lot has to be built with an underground retention pond, which is costly.”
He said the city abandons a portion of Fourth Street and exchanges its parking lot for parts of parcels 78 and 79, 43 feet.
He said the footprint of the library needed open space around it, to enter from the jointly owned parking lot.
The library will tear down the present building and the city and library will jointly own the public parking and customers of the businesses downtown will be able to use the new parking lot, he said.
Hitchcock said this is all subject to the library being approved by voters.
In other business at the May 16 meeting, the council:
• Approved White Cane Week during which Belleville’s new Lions Club will solicit donations on Main Street, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m., Friday through Sunday, May 27-June 4. Martha Brown is chairperson of White Cane Week. Amos Johnson Jr. is the president of the new Belleville Lions Club. He said this is the third time he has been president of the Belleville club, being a president in the past before the local club folded;
• Approved closing part of High Street from noon to 4 p.m. for the Thunder Rolls Memorial Day ceremony at the Veterans Monument on
• Approved the mayor’s appointment of Councilman Fielder as alternate representative to the Conference of Western Wayne. Mayor Conley is the representative;
• Approved an annual Hardcap Healthcare Premium Contribution by the City of Belleville for all employees eligible for healthcare coverage. The hardcap amounts are: single coverage, $6,142.11; two-person, $12,845.04; and family, $16,751.23. MCL 15.563, as amended in 2013, sets a limit on the amount a public employee may contribute to a medical benefit plan;
• Set a special budget meeting for 6:30 p.m., May 23, and a public hearing on the 2016/17 budget at 7:30 p.m., June 6;
• Adopted an Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and a Disability Accommodation Policy as required by the state to settle a complaint brought by a parent of a handicapped child;
• Approved accounts payable of $171,007.58 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Bio Care, $675 for physical, Fire Dept.; to B&R Janitorial, $614.78, for supplies, General/DDA; to Harry’s Army Surplus, $2,700 for boots, Fire Dept.; Miller Canfield, $9,000 for bonds, Water/Sewer Dept.; to Oakland Co. Treas., $2,495 for CLEMIS membership, Police Dept.; to Robinson’s Auto, $1,000 for auto repairs, Police Dept.; to State of Michigan, $2,100 OSHA Penalties (violation fees), Fire Dept.; to State of Michigan, $509.25, Fire Dept. (Fire Chief said the department will get $500 back from Western Wayne); and to Wayne County Accounts Receivable, $1,750 for lodging in the Dickerson Facility, Police Dept.;
• Heard LeRoy Paige question why he wasn’t put on the agenda for his Honor and Remember request. He wanted the city to fly the Honor & Remember flag at the Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day, to pass a resolution honoring veterans, and to read names into the minutes that are on the Veterans Memorial. “Local groups in this community have felt some reservation about it,” Councilman Fielder said of the flag, adding the city and veterans are honoring specific veterans listed on the memorial each year. “I have heard nothing that convinced me it’s the right thing to do,” Fielder said. The local VFW and PLAV have voiced opposition to the Honor and Remember project;
• Heard Kathy Paige say she supports her husband’s Honor and Remember project. She said she was on the committee that raised money to put up the Veterans Memorial. She said it is not a VFW memorial, not a Vietnam memorial, and not a PLAV memorial. She said it is for everyone. She said the Honor and Remember flag is to recognize loved ones lost and it is not to replace the “United States of America flag.” She said to the council: “I feel like you’re being closed minded”;
• Heard City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said the city’s new clerk/treasurer will be present at the June 6 meeting. Current city clerk/treasurer Lisa Long retires June 24. Sherry Scharf and her husband, currently of North Carolina, are looking at condos in Belleville, Kollmeyer said;
• Heard the Independent ask why the Fire Department’s proposal to upgrade its license from Medical First Responder (MFR) to Basic Life Support (BLS) level was not put on the agenda as requested by fire fighters. The state’s deadline is in June. Cost is $250, and several businesses and individuals have already offered to pay for the upgrade. Kollmeyer said it will be discussed the next day at the committee meeting to discuss the fire department budget. She said they wouldn’t miss the deadline;
• Heard Mayor Conley report on subjects discussed at the Conference of Western Wayne’s recent meeting in Lansing. She also thanked the BYC for their work in cleaning up the city; and
• Went into closed-door session at the end of the regular meeting to discuss the status and strategy of negotiations with the police union. After coming back into regular session, the council approved a 3.5-year contract.