City Council honors fire fighter Collette McClinton for 22 years

At the Dec. 16 regular meeting of the Belleville City Council, Collette McClinton was honored for her 22 years of service to the paid-on-call city fire department as she retires.
First, Police Chief Kris Faull presented an engraved plaque praising her professionalism and courage as a fire fighter.
Then, Fire Chief Brian Loranger, who is still on a leave of absence from the chief’s position following his grandchild’s birth, presented McClinton’s regular fire helmet marked F-5, for her to keep. She promptly put it on and posed for a picture with Chief Faull, Chief Loranger, and other members of the fire department.
She said it has been an honor and a pleasure to serve, “But the body is getting a little bit older.”
She said the fire fighter position is paid on call and almost a career, and she also has her own career.
“Two careers. It’s a lot,” she concluded.
In other business at Monday’s almost two-hour meeting, the council:
• Read the list of winners of the holiday lights contest. Nobody was present to receive the awards and there were no awards ready to present;
• Approved the city council meeting schedule for 2025. Meetings will be on the first and third Mondays of each month with some exceptions for holidays. There are Tuesday meetings scheduled for Jan. 21, Feb. 18, April 22, and Sept. 2. There will be only one meeting in January. On Nov. 5, voters approved giving the council power to set the time and dates of meetings, so the council set the meetings for 6:30 p.m. instead of the 7:30 p.m. in the charter;
• Approved the new purchasing policy that allows department supervisors to spend up to $2,500 with approval by the city manager; city manager may spend up to $5,000 on one-time purchases only, with recurring costs to be approved by the city council; purchases of $5,000-$9,999.99 to be approved by city council with quotes provided by the administration; and purchases of $10,000 or more required to go through a bidding process. On Nov. 5 voters approved updating that part of the city charter;
• Approved the mayor’s appointments to the planning commission. To fill the vacant seat, he named Alvis Brigis, with a term to expire Dec. 31, 2025. He also reappointed Becky Hasen, John Juriga, and James O’Keefe to terms that expire Dec. 31, 2027;
• Approved a time clock system from Andrew’s Technology with BS&A interface for employees at a total cost of $34,345 over five years with leased equipment. City manager Jason Smith said the city has to enter everything by hand now, then this goes to the department heads, and then it goes to BS&A for payroll checks. He said a problem with incorrect hours is not a huge issue with salaried employees, but with hourly workers it is. He said right now it is pretty much on the honor system. Some employees wait until the end of the week to fill out their hours, he said. Smith said it will take about 90 days to get started, which includes time for training. He said if it doesn’t work out for some reason, the system can be canceled with 30 days notice;
• Approved purchase of 15 road closure barricades from low-bidder Poco Sales at a cost of $3,525. Smith said following Winterfest it because apparent new Type 3 barricades were needed. He said the current barricades are old, made in-house, and do not reflect light as they should. Mayor Ken Voigt said the city has been dealing with them for 45 years and, “They’re junk, they’re rinky-dink, a pain in the butt.” He said the barricades should not be left out and should be picked up after each use and they might need a dedicated trailer for that;
• Approved accounts payable and departmental expenditures over $500, including: $22,109 to Advanced Roofing for the fire department roof; $1,863.04 to Axon for the police department; $1,868 to CMP Distributors, Inc. for ballistic vest / equipment for the police department; $3,120 to R&R Fire Truck Repair for the fire department; $1,579.12 to Sunbelt Rentals for water main shutoff repair; and $1,500 to Washtenaw Mutual Aid Association for the fire department;
• Went into an almost hour-long closed-door session to discuss collective bargaining for tentative agreements with the POAM and GELC unions. The council reconvened in public session and did not make any motions on the contracts and went on with the meeting;
• Heard city manager Smith announce city hall will be closed Dec. 23 to Jan. 6 for holiday vacation. He announced the city did not get the SMART grant. The audit is almost done and it has been found the city was under budget last year by $200,000. He said he will be attending the Michigan Municipal League’s conference in late January and he has been asked to be in a leadership position;
• Heard councilman Randy Priest ask if any of Winterfest was caught by Channel 4’s Skycam on top of city hall, and received no answer;
• Heard Mayor Voigt say that Winterfest was well done. The soup crawl sold out in half an hour and 13 restaurants took part. He said he volunteered with the soup crawl and the carriage rides and the carriage had a steady stream of riders. The mayor thanked McClinton for her service and thanked the Rotary for lighting the gazebo at Victory Park. He reported he testified on two of Senator Camilleri bills, 936 and 1052, on hazardous waste. He said the bills passed the committee. He said he told them that a worse place couldn’t be found for hazardous waste than the Van Buren Township site which is next to 21% of the world’s fresh water. He also reported they are getting prices to repave High and Liberty streets in the spring, now that they have money, and the city is planning to do in-house repairs with its staff as far as tree cutting and concrete work for sidewalk repairs; and
• Heard Chief Faull thank the fire department for the great dinner it offered at the end of Winterfest. Second Chief Chris Zweng said it was 100% paid for by the fire fighters themselves.
The council used an updated agenda that removed, without public explanation, a social media presentation from K Springer Media and a recommendation from city manager Smith to hire Springer’s firm to serve the city. Also removed in advance of the meeting without public explanation, was an agenda item to purchase a 2024 Chevy Colorado from Bachman Chevrolet for $35,695 plus $500 for delivery to be used as the new DPS Director’s vehicle.