Belleville mayor Ken Voigt told the council that because the city took the advice of Alan Cruz of Hennessey Engineers to postpone and rebid the watermain project for North Liberty Street the city will now save a half million dollars.
At the Dec. 1 regular meeting of the city council, the council voted unanimously to accept the $983,047 bid of Inner City Contracting of Detroit for the project. With the 10% contingency the total is $1,081,352.
This was the lowest bid of ten bidders.
Mayor Voigt said work is planned to start in January and be fully complete by May. The project consists of about 3,000 linear feet of watermain replacement from Main Street to East Huron River Drive.
Mayor Voigt said the original bid on asphalt from Al’s will be retained. The project was originally planned for this year.
It was noted that North Liberty is concrete with an asphalt cap.
DPW director Nathaniel Johnson said during construction, the street won’t be completely a dirt road but will be directional drilled in some places to reach the pipes on Main Street.
Mayor Voigt said that engineer Cruz also added some fire hydrants since there was only one on North Liberty.
Fire Chief 2 Chris Zweng said there are now four hydrants on the street, since three new ones were put in by the newly developed shopping center.
In other business at the 65-minute meeting on Dec. 1, the council:
• After witnessing 34th District Court Judge Lisa Martin swear in Jeremiah Beebe and Julie Kissel, who had been returned to office in the Nov. 4 election, unanimously reappointed Kelly Bates as mayor pro-tem;
• Heard a presentation from KSpringer Media on social media management for the city and later voted unanimously to pay the firm $500 a month, based on the existing contract with the Downtown Development Authority, which also pays it $500 a month for its work. Mayor pro-tem Bates asked if the DDA dropped its services would KSpringer Media increase the cost to the city and she was told the firm would “talk to you” about it;
• Approved the schedule of 2026 city council meeting dates;
• Heard councilman Randy Priest suggest that the city council have a riser under its table at the new city hall at 330 Charles St., instead of having the council sit at a table on the same level as the audience. The mayor said they want the new council chambers to be like the library’s Cozadd room, all on the same level for multiple uses. “I’ve looked into this and a raised space is a good idea … best practices,” Priest said, noting it is important for the public to see the council and the council see the public at this formal meeting. Interim city manager Steve Jones said he has looked into this and 6’x8’ mobile pieces are available for $1,500 each. They fold up, are on wheels, and can be rolled. He said it would be from $9,000 to $10,000 with shipping. Beebe said there should be a punch list of what is needed or wanted at the new city hall and this can be put on the list. Councilwoman Kissel said they need lots and lots of shelving units for the archives and they don’t have enough yet. Mayor Voigt said they need a comprehensive list and Jones said he would look into as many things as possible and present them at the Dec. 15 meeting;
• Heard Priest also suggest a commemorative brass plaque be put in place at the new city hall and, perhaps, the present brass plaque now at city hall be moved over there, as well. Mayor Voigt said the plaque for the pumphouse cost $1,700 and it should be ordered now so it will be ready when the city wants to have an open house at the new city hall. He said the city manager can order that without a vote of the council;
• Heard Priest also ask about the tax refunds the city council is being asked to approve on the accounts payable list. He said he is on the city committee that considers tax appeals and he knows nothing about it. Clerk/treasurer Briana Papin said they will have to ask the city’s financial officer and the assessor they have hired because they sent over the request for the checks; and
• Learned another member of the fire department graduated with his emergency medical technician certification. He is a senior at Huron High School.
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