Belleville gets no sealed bids to fix city hall roof, takes Barnett’s quote

At the Dec. 18 regular meeting of the Belleville City Council, City Manager Jason Smith announced the city had advertised for bids to replace the leaking city hall roof and received no sealed bids.
City Manager Smith said the city sought bids, which it is legally obligated to do, and since it did that and got no bids, the city was free to accept the quote it had received earlier from Barnett Roofing.
Barnett will replace the upper portion of the roof, over the police department offices, for $26,162 and the lower portion over the council chambers for $25,589.
Smith said Barnett will tear off the old roofing and put the new roofing in place, with flashing put in correctly where it isn’t now. The roof drains also will be reset.
When Councilman Randy Priest asked why they are spending the money on the roof if they want to get a new city hall.
“We’d like to have a new city hall, but we don’t know how soon that could be,” said Mayor Ken Voigt, noting they had a MIOSHA complaint about the leaking roof that needed to be addressed.
“I hate spending the money, but we don’t know how long we’ll be here,” Mayor Voigt said.
Building Official Rick Rutherford said since it is a flat roof the most its life could be is 15 years.
Council members said they would like the work to get started as soon as possible and if the weather stays warm it could be done in the winter.
Smith said a Dec. 6 letter from MIOSHA said based on the city’s response to the letter regarding alleged hazardous working conditions, the state feels adequately assured that employee safety and health is not now in jeopardy from the alleged conditions and the issue is resolved.
In other business at the Dec. 18 meeting, the council:
• Presented a proclamation of appreciation to Belleville High School Coach Calvin Norman to recognize the 2023 football team’s outstanding accomplishments;
• Heard presentations from VC3, R Associates Inc. (RAI), and Vector Tech, the bidders on the IT work for the city. The vote will be taken at the Jan. 2 regular meeting of the city council;
• Presented awards to Holiday Light Contest winners;
• Approved the Knights of Columbus Tootsie Roll Sale at Five Points on March 22, 23, and 24 to raise money to assist developmentally and intellectually disabled people in Michigan;
• Approved the mayor’s appointments to boards and commissions: Chris Donley to the DDA with term to expire Dec. 31, 2025; James Courage to the Planning Commission, term to expire Dec. 31, 2025; Michael Hawkins reappointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals, with term to expire Dec. 31, 2026 and to the Planning Commission, with term to expire Dec. 31, 2027; and Randy Priest reappointed to the Board of Review, with term to expire Dec. 31, 2026;
• Learned details of the Transportation Economic Development Fund road grant application. Smith said the city is on step 7 of the procedure and the application has been submitted to MDOT. Rutherford said the city just got approval and should go out for bids after the first of the year;
• Approved the purchase of a camera and equipment for the ballot box as required by State Proposal 2 at a cost of $3,308, plus a second optional camera on the roof outside the door for a total cost of $3,592;
• Received police and fire departments statistics for November, with the total number of runs growing in both departments. Fire Chief Brian Loranger said there have been 788 calls this year to date and usually it is about 600. Fire Chief II Chris Zweng said the duty crew has helped average response time, which was 7-10 minutes and now is down to 2 minutes;
• Approved a four-year contract with WCI for assessing. The contract runs per calendar year and is expiring. The new contract has a 10% increase for 2024 and 5% increases per year for the following three years;
• Approved accounts payable of $90,492.47 and the following departmental puchases in excess of $500: to Atchinson Ford, $1,026.08 for repair of Rescue #456 in the fire department; to Detroit Salt Company, $3,232.28 for road salt; and to Harold J. Love & Associates, $750 for a psych exam for Brent Mytych for the police department;
• Heard City Manager Smith report the new dump truck has arrived. He was given the OK by the council to auction off the old one. He reported FEMA approved the final payment on the new fire truck which should be on the road after the first of the year. He said they are working on a parks master plan and DOT automated cross walks at Third and Main, Third and Liberty, and other intersections. He said people are needed to be on the ballot for the charter revision;
• Heard Clerk Briana Hootman say the city’s two voting precincts at St. Anthony Catholic Church are being consolidated at the same location into one precinct. New voter registration cards will be sent out to reflect the change. She said this will save the city money, since under Proposal 2 the city needs a separate tabulator for nine days previous to the election and they will be able to use one from the precincts. Also they will be able to cut from eight poll workers to four; and
• Heard Councilwoman Julie Kissel report that the fire department and auxiliary had treated two families to a Christmas party earlier that day with gifts for 11 children. She said the families were suggested by the local school.