Belleville Council holds special Zoom meeting Aug. 7

The Belleville City Council held an eight-minute Zoom meeting Friday at 10 a.m. to re-vote on all the items that were considered at the previous meeting on Monday, Aug. 3.
City Manager Tracey Schultz Kobylarz explained the situation in an email to the Independent: “Due to the unintentional clerical error regarding meeting and the agenda of Aug. 3 which omitted the Zoom location, City Council will hold a special meeting to reenact their votes as the remedy required for compliance with the open meetings act (OMA).”
At times at Friday’s meeting, there was a bare quorum as Councilman Tom Fielder, who was Up North and present by phone, had a dropped connection twice and was gone from the meeting twice briefly. Councilwoman Kelly Bates was unavailable to attend the meeting.
The council again approved a six-month extension of the current contract for City Manager Kobylarz; the mayor’s appointments to boards and commissions; again denied a resolution to initiate a city ordinance to establish marijuana businesses and denied a resolution to amend the city charter to add regulations for marijuana establishments and directed the clerk to place both questions on the Nov. 3 ballot; denied a motion, on a 2-2 vote, to create a charter amendment to eliminate compensation for the mayor and city council members with Councilman Ken Voigt and Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Marcotte voting yes and Councilman Tom Fielder and Mayor Kerreen Conley voting no; and approved accounts payable and a check of $1,700 to TNT Tree Service.