City approves adding local Civil War soldiers to monument

Nineteen new names will be engraved on the Veteran’s Memorial at Horizon Park in Belleville, hopefully in time for Veteran’s Day ceremonies this fall.
At its regular meeting on Monday, the Belleville City Council voted unanimously to approve adding the names of 19 local soldiers who were killed in action in the Civil War. The council was told the back of the monument was left blank from the beginning so their names could be added.
Cornell Anton, representing Veterans of Foreign Wars #4434 and Polish League of American Veterans #167, made the request to move forward with the plan to add the names.
First, he gave a background of the memorial. He said Glenn Silvenis was mayor and he approved building a memorial, but said not to use public funds. So, two ladies hit the streets and raised $90,000 in donations. Ten years later it was rebuilt and the Belleville DDA footed the bill.
“In looking at $180,000 that went into the memorial, not one dime came from Van Buren Township or Sumpter Township, but the city has been more than generous with changing the flags and taking care of the monument,” he said.
Anton said on the front there are the names of 51 people who didn’t make it home. He said he and Councilman Tom Fielder are telling the stories of these soldiers, two at a time at annual Memorial Day services.
Anton said he went to a recent meeting at the Belleville Area Museum, called “Bring Our Boys Home,” a presentation on those local boys who died in the Civil War.
“Ginger Bruder and a group of young ladies presented 19 families whose boys died in the Civil War,” Anton said. He noted at the last Memorial Day ceremony a call was made for donations to get their names engraved on the memorial and $84 was collected.
He presented the list of names that will be engraved, starting with Sirel T. Chilson, who was a 19-year-old who lived in Van Buren Township. His occupation was teacher. His brother Henry also joined up as a drummer, but was mustered out after a month.
Anton said the cost is $3,500 to get the names engraved and the engraver has a down payment of $1,500 of Anton’s money to get started.
When asked if he had an online account where people could make donations with PayPal, he said he didn’t, but people could write checks, make them out to VFW 4434, and send them to 376 Light Tower Ct., Belleville 48111.
Councilman Fielder said the back of the monument was left open because the original purpose was to put Civil War names there.
Anton said he would also like to see the names of those killed in the Spanish American War and World War I. And what about the Indians war, he asked.
He will be making presentations to the BYC and Rotary, he said, seeking donations.
The names of those from the tri-community killed in action in the Civil War that will be engraved are: Sirel T. Chilson, Seth C. Runyan, Jasper Burt, Roderick J. Biddle, George Martin, James L. Crysler, Cornell Crysler, Deforest Carpenter, Reuben Cory, Lewis Spawn, George E. Jewett, Hiram R. Hunt, Albert H. Tyler, Ira Austin, Joseph Davis, Vincent King, Charles Bucklin, Henry H. Mills, and Robert McQuaid.
On Anton’s written request to the city council, he also asked that the rear of the memorial be repaired.
Councilman Fielder agreed the city has to do something to stabilize the site.
In their packets, councilmembers had an estimate of how much it would take to fix the monument, put together by Raymond D Parker, project architect for Hennessey Engineers. The estimate was $41,200 and with a 10% contingency of $4,120, it comes to $45,320.
There was no discussion on the repairs.
In other business at Monday’s 75-minute meeting, the council:
• Started the meeting with a moment of silence in memory of Sumpter Township Clerk Clarence Hoffman, who died over the weekend;
• Approved having the administration negotiate a three-year contract with Town Web to host the city’s web site. City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said she will bring a contract back for their consideration. Clerk Sherri Scharf had compared the bids that came in for the website and made the recommendation to the council. Kollmeyer said the current website was developed by a person on the DDA and the city had to hack into it when that person was no longer with the DDA. Carol Thompson of the DDA has been doing the best she can to help the city with its site since then. Mayor Kerreen Conley said she has been seeking an improved website for years. The cost is expected to be from $8,000 to $11,000, including maintenance, for the three years;
• Approved accounts payable of $171,418.84 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Mueller Systems, $2,750 for annual software maintenance agreement; to Discount Tire, $740 for tires for Rescue 456 fire vehicle; and to Superior Sales and Distribution, $512.85 for leak-stop products for the fire department;
• Heard three residents of North Liberty Street voice disappointment that the council did not have the crumbling sea wall on its agenda, as they were previously advised. Kollmeyer said DPW Director Rick Rutherford could not be at that evening’s meeting because his daughter got married in Virginia. Robert Vandal said those who own homes along the seawall feel a little in the dark and have been unable to get responses from the city. They have quotes, but if they repair their part, it might damage the city’s part. When asked who he didn’t get an answer from, he replied, “I sent an email to you, Kerreen,” addressing the mayor. Mayor Conley replied her email doesn’t work and he needs to talk to Rutherford. Another property owner asked for a copy of the engineering report on the seawall and Councilman Jesse Marcotte said it would be helpful for them to read the report before the August meeting where the seawall will be discussed, and he’s sure it’s available through Rutherford. “A seawall collapse would not be good,” said one of the property owners;
• Heard resident Ruth Bleeker discuss citizen dissatisfaction and impatience with the maintenance of city property, referring to broken cement, overgrown vegetation, and the looks of city hall. She suggested the city rename Belleville Lake as Hidden Lake, since the vegetation is hiding the lake from citizen view. The sprinkler system at Horizon Park has been broken for five years and they can’t fix it because of the cost, but the cost had not been determined, she said. She reminded residents that Tuesday, July 25, at 4 p.m. is the deadline to run for city council;
• Heard Jeff Vernon complain about a street light in front of Hayward’s that had been out, he said, for two years; the lack of a fee schedule for the new events ordinance, although it was supposed to be done in July; the suggestion that another DPW worker is needed (Kollmeyer said that is in the works), and folks telling him they are willing to help as volunteers but feel they would be breaking the law if they went on property they didn’t own. He also asked how to buy land from the city and he was told a bidding process would have to be set up;
• Heard Independent Editor Rosemary Otzman report that the Van Buren Township board would be approving an agreement with the owner of French Landing Dam that would give the township the right to have the lake partially drained for two weeks, probably in about two years. Fire Chief Brian Loranger said draining the lake makes problems for seawalls and, “I’d be leery of that”; and
• Went into closed-door session to discuss pending union negotiations and then came back into regular session to unanimously approve a 2% wage increase for 2017 for the police department employees, retroactive to Jan. 1. Kollmeyer said the increase is in the new budget approved, but the police department budget will have to come up with the retroactive cost of $4,800 to $5,000.