City Council wrestles with time schedule for Strawberry Festival

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
On May 5, after more than an hour of discussing the Administrative Policy for the Strawberry Festival June 13-15, the Belleville City Council approved a version slightly different than that presented by the Festival.
The council took out the part that said the city will enforce a restriction on passing out handbills in the festival area. Council members agreed that would be illegal.
They also turned down the city enforcing restrictions against pets, bikes and rollerblades, since the reserve officers patrolling the festival do not have the power to arrest anyone. And, city employees shouldn’t be posting signs for the festival as required in the policy.
But the big disagreement with the policy was on the hours the festival will be open, especially since a St. Anthony’s event brochure lists different times for St. Anthony’s than the rest of the festival.
Since Belleville High School will still be in session on Friday, June 13, the superintendent was said to have signed off on a change that holds off on starting the carnival and Beer Tent until 3 p.m. that day.
The St. Anthony Beer Tent has a license from the state Liquor Control Commission and so the council felt it could not set any times for that, although the Beer Tent is a part of the festival and should have the same hours as the rest of the festival.
The Beer Tent will be open 3 p.m. to midnight on Friday, noon to midnight on Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
The hours for the rest of the festival are noon to 10 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
“And, music shall end by 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday,” Mayor Kerreen Conley stated, and the council agreed.
George Chedraue, a former council member and practicing attorney, said someone from the festival committee should have been at the council meeting to give its side of the policy.
That’s when Councilman Tom Fielder spoke up. He is executive director of the Strawberry Festival, but had not entered into the debate on the side of the festival.
He offered to abstain from the council vote on the policy, but council members rejected his abstention. Fielder joined in the unanimous vote to approve the altered policy.
The council members said next year there will be an effort to have the Beer Tent hours conform to the hours for the rest of the festival.
That was not possible this year because Mayor Conley said both the retired Police Chief Gene Taylor and the interim Police Chief Hal Berriman signed off on the midnight Beer Tent closings on Friday and Saturday.
In other business at the May 5 two-hour-and-20-minute meeting, the council:
• Unanimously approved using the Belleville-Area Independent as its newspaper of record at a bid of $5 per column inch. There was one bid;
• Approved the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s “Safe Boating Week” activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 17 and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 18 at Horizon Park and at the DNR east boat launch site just east of the city limits. Their annual “Ready, Set Wear It” photo with everyone wearing life vests will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the park;
• Approved the Half Way to St. Patty’s Day event on Sept. 20 and the St. Patrick’s Day party on March 17, 2015 put on by Egan’s Pub on the Fourth Street Square. Both events will be from 7 a.m. to the following 2 a.m. Councilwoman Kim Tindall, who questioned alcoholic beverages on city property, voted against the September event and didn’t seem to vote either way for the March party;
• Approved the MDNR Trust Fund’s Development Project Agreement that will bring a grant of $120,700 for a canoe/kayak launch and other upgrades to Horizon Park. The Belleville Downtown Development Authority is providing a $51,700 matching grant;
• Discussed a 40-pound pedestrian sign to be put in the middle of Main Street at the Fourth Street crosswalk. Councilman Tom Fielder said Police Chief Berriman scared everyone by saying two or three parking spaces had to be removed. Now, Berriman said they can get by with one. Spicer Engineers are looking into the turning radius needed there for the DDA, which is expected to pay for the sign. A 90-day traffic ordinance may be needed, Fielder said;
• Discussed possible changes to the Special Events ordinance, with suggestions for requiring a deposit for those reserving the use of Fourth Street Square and other city sites, like they have for Victory Station. City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said she, Carol Thompson and Fielder will be going to an upcoming MMRMA seminar on special events which should provide important information;
• Briefly discussed the Animal Control Ordinance and then asked for a more-recent version of the 1970 ordinance in their hands to discuss at an upcoming meeting;
• Received a list of estimated revenues and expenditures for the upcoming 2014-15 budget talks. City Manager Kollmeyer said the items need to be cut since the budget would never balance with that spending. The first budget session is set for 6 p.m. Monday, May 12 and Wednesday, May 14;
• Set a public hearing during the regular city council meeting at 7:30 p.m., June 16, to receive comments on the proposed sanitary sewer rehabilitation project financed by an S-2 grant;
• Approved $97,778 in accounts payable and the following purchases in excess of $500: to CJ, $1,842.57 for NSF 61 & 372 compliance (water dept.); to Fox Auto Parts, $678 for emergency fire vehicle repair; to ICMA, $598 for annual dues; to Barrett Michigan, $579 in street funds; to Blue Ribbon, $1,290 for water main repair on Robbe and $1,730 for water main repair at Sumpter and Wabash; to Code Savvy, $506 for building review for Affordable Veterinarian and $739 for building review for Secretary of State; and to Martin & Son, $980.24 for DPW truck repair; and
• Heard former councilman Jim Fitch tell of the leaf situation where people dump their leaves way out into the street beyond the pickup time in the fall and leave them there all winter. Fitch cleaned up the leaves on Second Street and it took three weeks for him to get rid of all the leaves so the street sweeper could come down the street.