Mary Talaga submits resignation as crossing guard after 57 years

Mary Talaga will end her service as a school crossing guard at the E. Huron River Drive – Edgemont Avenue intersection after 57 years of service.
At Monday’s regular meeting of the Belleville City Council, Mayor Kerreen Conley announced that Talaga had submitted her letter of resignation and she will end her service on Jan. 18.
Mayor Conley recognized Talaga and her family in the audience and asked them to come back on the first meeting in February when the council will recognize her for her many years of service.
“I enjoyed every bit of it, but it’s time,” Talaga said.
“We’re not ready to say goodbye yet,” Mayor Conley said. “Come back Feb. 4 so we can honor you.”
Later Talaga said she will continue to work in the lunchroom at Edgemont Elementary School, so she isn’t going to be fully retired from everything.
Members of the council each said they will miss seeing Talaga out at the corner on school mornings.
Councilman Jesse Marcotte said there will be a fence-painting party in the future for Talaga.
In another matter, a woman who identified herself as Eileen, said she and her husband have been renting a home for two years in Belle Villa.
“Can a landlord force you to pay taxes on a rental property?” she asked, noting it was a school tax.
“You would have to take that up with your landlord or an attorney,” Mayor Conley replied and Eileen said she has taken it up with the landlord. She said this is not in the lease.
Eileen came to the city because that’s who sent the tax bill, but Mayor Conley said the city sent the bill, but the money is a pass-through to the school.
Eileen said their home had been without water for three days without any notice – and that’s in a senior community. She said when they went in to pay the rent on Friday, she said the landlord told her, “I will drive you to the dollar store to buy water and drive you back so you can flush your toilet.”
“This is the 11th time we’ve been without water in two years and people are afraid to complain because they think they will be evicted,” she said.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer pointed out the mobile home park and the condos have a private water system.
Eileen said the landlord said he texted a warning about the water shutoff to those who had cell phones, which she doesn’t.
“There’s nothing we can do,” City Manager Kollmeyer said. “It’s a private water system. We were aware of the shutdown.”
It was suggested she might want to call the health department and she said she would do that.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• Approved accounts payable of $102,534.48 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Metro Environment, $1,632.50 for Vactor service, and $816.25 for jet sewer blockage, Water Dept.; to Miss Dig Systems, $1,087.74 for utility marking, Water Dept.; to Cadillac Asphalt, $917.70 for cold patch, Water/Streets; to Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, $600, for Clerk’s Institute, Year 2, General Fund/Clerk; and to Osborne Concrete, $543, for cemetery footings, General Fund/Cemetery; and
• Went into closed-door session to discuss the status and strategy of pending union negotiations and then reconvened in open session only to adjourn.
Councilman Tom Smith was absent from the meeting.