City Council approves locations for sculptures at Horizon Park

After a lengthy discussion at the Oct. 18 in-person/zoom meeting, the Belleville City Council agreed to allow placement of two more sculptures at Horizon Park.
At a previous meeting, Councilman Ken Voigt had requested placement of the sculptures, donated by the Belleville Area Council for the Arts, but his selected locations were questioned.
The council agreed to put one of the pieces between the gazebo and the Veterans’ Memorial and the other on the other side of the gazebo at the far end of the park. Councilman Voigt did not dispute the locations.
City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson said that he would go out in the morning with some white paint from the DPW and mark the two locations with numbers 1 and 2 and council members could go out and check the locations before the cement slabs are put in place.
Voigt said installation was being paid for by the arts council
One of the two sculptures is the Upsidedown Man, donated to the city by Justin Juriga and stored in the DPW garage for about 10 years. Voigt said Jim Chudzinski and his auto shop completely redid the artwork that had been damaged in the city’s care.
The other sculpture is of recycled rebar and Voigt said it had no name. It was a winner at one of the recent art shows and purchased by the Council for the Arts from artist Tim Elden, who has stored it at his home for several years.
Council members wanted to make sure no resident’s view of the lake was obstructed by a sculpture.
Councilman Tom Fielder said he has talked to a lot of people who were concerned with blocking views of the sunset at Horizon Park. He asked what will happen if someone donates a third sculpture to go up? He said the Horizon Park would become a statuary park, not a viewing park.
City Manager Robinson said he researched the proposed sites and approved Voigt’s locations on the basis of whether its safe to be there. He said the council should discuss it and guide him in what they want to do.
“I made a lot of ashtrays in elementary school, but I’m not an artsy kind of guy,” Robinson said.
It was noted that the Upsidedown Man was considered for Victory Park a decade ago and it was decided it was too sharp to be where children play and so it was stored.
“There’s no sharp edges,” Voigt stated.
Voigt said the placement he selected will not block the view of anyone’s house and the spots are by the ropes because they are iconic structures and people can see them from the water and maybe dock to come ashore.
He said the Hands Held High sculpture in the park is not blocking anyone’s view and people take pictures of it all the time and post them on social media.
Voigt said Fielder’s argument is “fallacious” that the Downtown Development Authority’s art committee should be a part of this discussion. He said that committee was to select sculptures that are leased. He said the DDA agreed to cut the grass and it’s the council’s job to run the parks.
Mayor Kerreen Conley put all the arguments together, noting the park between the gazebo and the Veterans’ Monument has a rose arbor, statues, fish, benches and other things, but the area on the other side of the gazebo has nothing. She proposed one sculpture be placed on the far part of the park that has nothing in it.
“You say it’s not sharp,” she said to Voigt. “Maybe it’s not sharp. It’s been refurbished.”
She said the city used to have art at the Davenport Center. There was a beautiful horse there, she said. She suggested they look at locations not just on the water for future sculptures.
“They’d be beautiful in other parks,” she said.
The council had not officially accepted the wrought iron sculpture and so it was a part of the resolution to put the sculptures in the park.
Robinson said he could put together a pretty short draft policy for how to handle future sculptures that are donated. He said he would do so and circulate it to council members.
In other business at Monday’s one-hour-and-eight-minute meeting, the council:
• Approved the marijuana license renewal fee resolution as provided for in Section 10, subsection 4 of the ordinance. The annual fee of each issued Provisional License and City Full License has to be set by resolution and cannot exceed $5,000 a year. It was set for $5,000. It has to be set 90 days before and Feb. 1 is the renewal day;
• Approved the Holiday Wreath Sale by Boy Scout Troop #793, who wanted it on Dec. 5 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Fourth Street Square. Since this is the same time as Winterfest events, Robinson said he would check with the organizers of Winterfest to see if there is space on the square and if not they would find another location for the scouts;
• Approved three annual permits from Wayne County for maintenance, pavement restoration, and special events;
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $144,227.81 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Belle Tire, $955.99 for new tires and alignment for the 2017 Ford Interceptor; to Blue Ribbon Contracting, $2,785.50 for repair of leaky stop box at 109 N. Edgemont and $3,546.50 for repair of leaky stop box at 537 Victorian Ln.; to Mueller, $2,888.18 for 30 remote readers for water billing; and to Osborne Concrete, $840 to replace road from broken sewer on Bedell Street;
• Heard DPW Director Rick Rutherford say that the invoice for the remote readers for water billing was ordered in June or July and the city just got them. He said now they have to reorder;
• Heard Robinson report that he is looking at a lot of different grant requests to the county for use of not only the COVID funds, but other things from the trillions of dollars in stimulus funds. He said he wants to be ready with requests when the funds arrive. He said the requests will be comprehensive and he’s working with Sumpter Township on water systems, and on roads in subdivisions, as well as the intersection at Main and Liberty;
• Heard Deputy Administrator Tim McLean say the Booville sign replacement was ordered and is due to be ready on Wednesday. The previous sign was destroyed by winds the last time it was up;
• Heard Councilman Fielder say it looks like the Belleville High School football team will play Hartland for the league championship and BHS will host the final game the same day as Halloween trick or treat night in downtown Belleville; and
• Heard Mayor Conley say that there was a Lakefest debriefing where they discussed what went well and what they will need help with next year. She said electricity at Fourth Street Square and a stage are priorities. She said a lot of good ideas were bought out and they want to use the lake as much as possible. She also said she received an anonymous letter on ordinance enforcement which she will share with council members. Robinson said he got it, too.