Belleville DDA selects low-bidder Davenport to extend city parking lot

On Aug. 21, the Belleville Downtown Development Authority selected low-bidder Davenport Construction of Belleville to tear down the buildings behind the former hardware store on Main Street and construct an extension of the city parking lot there.
Total cost, including a 10% contingency, is $316,091, and that includes demolition of the buildings.
Five firms bid on the project. The base bids were:
• Davenport – $287,355;
• True North – $309,086;
• ASI – $325,495;
• Brencal — $381,176.59; and
• T&M – $424,312.25.
Mayor Ken Voigt, who sits on the DDA, said that Davenport did that original city parking lot 12-15 years ago. A light was put on Rae Thom’s property and the city had to pay for a right of way because of the engineers’ mistake. He said Thom was nice about it and he emphasized the mistake was not made by Hennessey, the city’s current engineer.
In other business at the one-hour meeting, the DDA:
• Voted to sponsor the book signing arranged by DDA member Kelly McWilliams for noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 19 in front of the museum or library. The book, “The Enchanted Season,” is by Tiger catcher Lance Parrish and Tom Gage telling the story of the 1984 season. McWilliams said her business Team Designs will pay whatever costs are involved;
• Reviewed a video promoting Belleville put together by the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) under the direction of DDA member Chris Donley. The video was presented to the city for whatever use it had. Assistant City Manager Steve Jones tried to show the video on the big screen in the Cozadd Room at the library, where the meeting was taking place, but even with help from library staff it couldn’t be shown that way. City Clerk Brianna Hootman showed it to them on her laptop computer. Mayor Voigt said he and city manager Jason Smith were at a SEMCOG meeting and saw the offer and then kept asking until they agreed to do Belleville. He said they turned it over to Donley, who took the crew around town and set up shots;
• Heard Donley give a Marketing Committee report, saying the proposals for a marketing program were down to five and out-of-state companies have been eliminated. Jones said the top five will be presented to the marketing committee and the committee will select the top two or three to present to the full board with a recommendation. Donley said he had questions about the proposals. He said the winning firm will take 4-8 months making a plan to give to the DDA, but he wants to find out what they actually will do for the DDA. He suggested hiring a local person to start promoting the DDA district on social media and that could start immediately. Mayor Voigt said the city has a lot of empty space and business recruitment should be the first step. He suggested the current filled/empty ratio might be 60/40. Donley said after getting a plan, the DDA might be able to hire someone next year. He said he was surprised that with the boat races at the 2022 Lake Fest, not one radio station was present;
• Heard Jones report that the art supplies for painting the front windows of the hardware store were obtained earlier that day and he expects the painting to begin at the end of the following week;
• Approved $69,060.82 in accounts payable for August;
• Heard Jones report that the city will pull all the flower pots out of their places for the winter and assess them. He also said he is trying to get a joint meeting with the Van Buren Township DDA;
• Learned the city’s Department of Public Services is power washing the sidewalks, with the new power washer bought this summer. They have also power washed the streetscape at Five Points, the Fourth Street Square, and two park restrooms. Jones said the plan is to paint the restrooms at the end of the following week. Mayor Voigt asked if the Billy Goat vacuum is still around. He said it was purchased by the DDA and is a small vacuum with a bag that was used to clean up the small debris in the downtown;
• Heard part-time worker Doug Dyer is assigned to cleaning up just the DDA district; and
• Heard Mayor Voigt said he is glad to see the “overgrown, crummy trees” around the lake have been cut, so people can see the lake. He said they are prioritizing and road work will be done on Church Street and the Harbour Pointe horseshoe. “Things are starting to look better,” Mayor Voigt said. “We want Belleville to look excellent.”
Absent and excused from the Aug. 21 meeting were chairperson Alicia McGovern, secretary Denise Baker, Valerie Kelley-Bonner, and Mike Gatteri. Vice-chairman John Winter presided over the meeting.