Belleville DDA unanimously elects Alicia McGovern

Alicia McGovern, who had been serving as vice-chairperson of the Belleville Downtown Development Authority for the past year, was unanimously elected chairperson at its meeting on Jan. 15.
But, it took some fancy footwork to get the election completed.
Jim Chudzinski nominated McGovern for the post and Sabrina Richardson-Williams nominated Jason Mida. When they voted McGovern got four votes and Mida got three.
DDA Coordinator Carol Thompson said the bylaws require five votes to win the election and so they didn’t quite know what to do.
Then, Mida said since they needed to move forward he would decline the nomination. Since there was no other candidate, McGovern was elected unanimously.
Then, Richardson-Williams nominated Mida for vice-chairman and McGovern nominated Chudzinski.
The vote was four for Mida and three for Chudzinski. Again, a candidate needs five votes to win.
“I’ll decline for vice chair,” Chudzinski said, pointing out since Mida had come forward and declined his nomination to make things move along smoothly, he wanted to do so, as well.
Then Richardson-Williams was unanimously reelected treasurer and Denise Baker was unanimously reelected secretary.
Thompson, who was serving as recording secretary for the meeting, said this was most polite group she has ever worked with.
The DDA also voted to keep the meeting time at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month.
McGovern takes the place of Rosemary Loria who was DDA chairperson for many years and died in November.
Mida announced that the Loria family and the DDA are getting a bench for the Fourth Street Square in memory of Loria who worked so hard to make Belleville be more beautiful.
Mida then presented a wrapped present to City Manager Diana Kollmeyer, who was retiring as of Feb. 3, after 22 years working in Belleville city government.
When she unwrapped it, she found a brick that could be used in the streetscape walkway right outside of city hall.
“I always meant to get a brick,” said Kollmeyer, hugging the heavy present. “I need to be at home more,” she said of her retirement. “I never intended to stay 40 years in this business and it’s time for me to go.”
McGovern said Kollmeyer is “pleasant and sweet and always so helpful.”
In other business at the Jan. 15 meeting, the DDA:
• Approved the details of the $425,000 Fourth Street Placemaking Project in front of the new library as presented by Spicer Engineer Phil Westmoreland. Actual costs will be known once they go out for bids and Westmoreland said that construction costs are soaring. The design showed four parking spots by Main Street and seven staggered deciduous trees. He said they lost all the green space in the project because of space limitations and there will be paving in front of the museum garage for the historical society instead of grass, at the request of Van Buren Township. The sidewalks on both sides of the street will be pulled up and the bricks on the museum side will be given to VBT to relocate. The work on VBT property next to the museum was costed out as a part of the DDA project, Thompson said. There will be stamped, colored concrete parking spaces, benches, flower pots, and special, custom-built tree grates at a cost of $7,000 each (for seven trees that makes $49,000 total). Councilman Tom Fielder got permission to ask VBT if it would allow grass by the garage instead of the requested concrete because he wants some green grass at the site. There was some discussion on how the water would drain on Fourth Street since there is almost no curb up until you get to the library. They will install extra catch basins;
• Approved updates for the community events program that requires DDA funding to be used towards marketing the event as well as promoting Belleville’s downtown. Also, presenters must seek local business participation in downtown events. DDA funding will not exceed $2,000 per organization (not per event), up from $1,500 last year. Thompson said the requests for DDA funds are due in March. “People have taken some liberties for the last two years,” Thompson said of the funds given out. “It’s to promote the downtown”;
• Reviewed the 2020 DDA Projects and Follow-Up List;
• Heard Mayor Kerreen Conley announce that the city will be getting $250,000 of the $330,000 spent for repairs to the Doane’s Landing seawall. This state money came through the efforts of State Representative Kristy Pagan, the mayor said. Thompson said they will work to get bids from landscapers in February and March to complete the Doane’s project; and
• Heard McGovern ask board members to consider “What we as a board want to do in 2020” and bring those ideas to the next meeting. She also said she would like an educational program for the new board on how the budget works. “2020 is going to be a great year,” McGovern said.
Present at the Jan. 15 meeting were McGovern, Mida, Richardson-Williams, Baker, Chudzinski, Mayor Conley, and Kelly McWilliams. Absent was Valerie Kelley-Bonner.