City Council seeks residents to help rewrite city charter

At the Sept. 7 meeting of the Belleville City Council, Councilman Tom Fielder said the council has been talking about charter revisions for 20 years and the charter does not need revisions, but replacement.
He said the city has been doing things it shouldn’t be doing, referring to being in violation of the present charter, which was effective Sept. 1, 1982. The Charter Commission had been chaired by Richard S. Smith and Commissioner Jay Hartford made the motion in May 1982 to adopt the document which was approved unanimously by the ten members of the commission. Later it was adopted in a vote by the residents of the city.
Mayor Kerreen Conley agreed with Fielder and said residents interested in serving on a committee to rewrite the charter should give their names to City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson so this can get started.
In other business at the 59-minute, Sept. 7 meeting, the council:
• Approved adding the new Clerk/Treasurer Briana Hootman as a signatory on warrants issued for city business. Current signatories are Mayor Kerreen Conley, Councilman Fielder, and Deputy Administrator Tim McLean;
• Approved Harvest Fest for Saturday, Oct. 9, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., held in cooperation with the museum, library, and Central Business Community, all on Fourth Street Place, which will be closed. Library Director Mary Jo Suchy said that the CBC will feature a Harvest Farmers’ Market at the event;
• Approved the Witches’ Ball for Friday, Oct. 22, in a tent on the Fourth Street Square. The private Halloween costume party, put on by Egan’s Pub each year, is for women aged 21 and older. They will have the tent up from Thursday through Monday. As part of the approval the council expanded the DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) hours until midnight on Friday and Saturday;
• Approved the CBC’s Photos with Santa event on Saturdays, Dec. 11 and 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. upstairs at the museum. Fielder said the first half hour is for special-needs people to come. He said there are free photos with Santa and a goodies bag that usually includes a coloring book. Usually, some 300 to 400 people come over the two days;
• Approved accounts payable of $872,846.66 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Blue Ribbon Contracting, $9,160.86 for road replacement due to water main break (Robbe/Clarence on July 9 and Edgemont curb, sidewalk, and Huron River Dr. sidewalk on July 12); to Blue Ribbon Contracting, $6,631.50 to repair broken sewer in road (South Biggs on July 7); and to Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments, $803 for annual membership dues;
• Heard Councilman Fielder say that people talk about the high cost of water in the city, but the city can pay for road repairs out of the water and sewer fund instead of using other city funds, the way other communities have to do;
• Heard Deputy Administrator McLean say the new records clerk in the police department is Emma Pelker and he was asked to bring her to a future meeting so the council can meet her. He said the high school told him there will be no Zombie 5K Run this year. He said his wife likes to dress him up funny and have him run in 5Ks. Steve Jones from the audience announced the Jingle Bell Run is still on and he could run in that. McLean also wished City Manager/Police Chief Robinson a happy anniversary, explaining that’s why Robinson wasn’t present at the meeting;
• Heard John Winter say from the audience that the traffic backup in front of the high school on Columbia Ave./W. Huron River Dr. was backed up to Ormond Drive in the township on the first day of school. He usually turns east from Elwell Road to take his child to another school, but that was a disaster. The next day, he turned west and went to Rawsonville Road and the freeway to take his child to school. He said he saw students get out of cars at Elwell and walk to the high school and they made better time than the cars on the street;
• Heard DPW Director Rick Rutherford thank everyone who helped with the lead and copper testing that he had to accomplish; and
• Heard Fire Chief Brian Loranger say he is glad the cones are back up again in the roadway near Denton Road bridge. The cones keep drivers from changing lanes and cutting people off there and when the cones were gone it was terrible, he said.
The meeting was a hybrid session with only Mayor Conley and Councilman Fielder present in person at the council table and Councilpersons Kelly Bates and Ken Voigt present virtually. Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Marcotte was absent.
Mayor Conley pointed out the council deviated from its announced policy to have a quorum in person at the hybrid meetings, both at the first such meeting on Aug. 16 and this Sept. 7 meeting, and maybe they should change their policy.