City of Belleville seeks input on new recreation plan

A half hour of Monday’s regular Belleville City Council meeting was spent with the consultants from Giffels Webster discussing the proposed new Parks and Recreation Plan and its schedule for adoption.
The city has to have a revised Parks and Recreation Plan in order to qualify for state grants for parks.
Interim city manager Steve Jones said the public survey on recreation was put on social media from June 24 to Oct. 13 and got “no traction at all.” There were five or six total responses, according to different statements in the report from Giffels Webster.
The proposed Parks and Recreation Plan was based on these responses. It will be upgraded after an open house to get more information from the public.
Stephanie Osborn and Eric Kudla from Giffels Webster explained the project timeline, which plans an open house from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3, just before the city council meeting at 6:30 p.m. People will be asked to tell what they want the city’s parks to be like and how they should be funded. Participants will get $100 in fake money to spend on projects they support. There will be no presentation at the open house and people will be free to come and go.
The schedule puts a Nov. 17 city council review of the draft plan and a sharing of the draft plan by Dec. 6 for 30 days. The city council will then adopt the plan on Jan. 5 or 19 and the plan will be submitted no later than Feb. 1 to the DNR website.
Jones said the city’s former Parks and Recreation Committee “died in COVID” and efforts were unsuccessful to get it restarted.
In other business at the 55-minute meeting on Oct. 20, the council:
• Approved the closure of City Hall on Friday, Dec. 26, and to keep it closed over the holidays until the staff returns on Monday, Jan. 5. Jones said the goal is to have the new city hall ready to be occupied by Christmas and so they can move from the old city hall to the new city hall in a day or two and the staff can settle into their new spaces on Jan. 5;
• Approved accounts payable of $420,000.51, which includes $228,071.50 to Davenport Construction for work on the new city hall at 330 Charles St.;
• Heard Jones report that work continues on the new city hall and all the walls and windows are up. He said the office staff took a tour of their future workplaces and were happy to see they would have outside light at their desks. He said the goal is to be in city hall by Jan. 1. He also reported Hennessey engineers said they will have something to show the council on Horizon Park bank stabilization plans in the next couple of meetings;
• Heard clerk/treasurer Briana Papin say those wishing to run for one of the two council seats open in the Nov. 4 election must file as a write-in candidates by Oct. 24. She said those write-in candidates who already filed are current candidates Julie Kissel and Jeremiah Beebe, who are seeking reelection. The election is from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Nov. 4, and both precincts are at St. Anthony Catholic Church. For more information on the election, voters may contact the clerk’s office;
• Heard councilwoman Kissel say there was a long line of kids at the trunk or treat event at the final car show of the season that afternoon; and
• Heard police chief Kris Faull say Main Street will be closed around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31, for the downtown trick or treaters and reopen around 8 p.m. She said Belleville High School is hosting a playoff game at 7 p.m. that night and so there will be a lot of out-of -towners here for the game who will be trying to get to the school while Main Street is closed. Chief Faull said the first couple of hours of the trick or treat street closing should be difficult. After the game, however, the crowd will clear easily. She said reserve officers will be at the trick or treat event first and then go over to work at the football game.
Mayor Ken Voigt and councilman Randy Priest were absent from the Oct. 20 meeting. Mayor-pro-tem Kelly Bates presided at the meeting with a bare quorum of three members, including council members Kissel and Beebe.