Belleville City Council approves Lake Fest activities June 26-28

At the May 4 meeting of the Belleville City Council, the events for this year’s Lake Fest, put on by the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce, were approved by the council for June 26-28 in the downtown area.
Fitness activities and a possible zipline, boat demos and ski show are set for Horizon Park/High Street, live music stage and food trucks on Fourth Street Square and Fourth Street Place, and a market on Main with nonprofit tents between Roys and Third streets.
Chamber president Dinara Strikis said this year’s boat show will be in Lakeview Plaza.
In other business at the May 4 meeting, the council:
• Heard mayor Ken Voigt chastise the administration for not making the citizen comments at the beginning of the meeting marked specifically as “non-agenda items” so people could comment and leave. He said he had asked this to be changed and it wasn’t. He said in his meetings, people can comment throughout the meeting as the issues are discussed and at the end of the meeting as well. He said the way it is on that night’s agenda puts a damper on public comment. He said this was changed without consulting the council. “It’s wrong and I’m mad about it,” he said;
• Heard a 10-minute presentation on what the Third Circuit Court does by Circuit Court Judge Charise Anderson, who presides in criminal court. She said the court is reaching out to explain its job to communities. She said circuit court has 50 judges and 25 referees;
• Approved a resolution accepting the donation of a memorial sculpture known as “Harper’s Wings of Hope” from the Harper Strong Foundation. It will be placed in Horizon Park in memory of Belleville resident Harper Mathis;
• Approved the documents provided for the sale of the city’s Savage Road property and directed the mayor to sign them;
• Heard presentations on wishes for the city budget being prepared from public safety director Kris Faull who spoke for the police and fire departments, DPW director Nathan Robinson, and clerk/treasurer Briana Papin. The budget will be considered at a 6 p.m., May 26 meeting. A special meeting also could be called, if necessary;
• Heard council members praise plans for the police budget that entailed a proposed agreement with the no-kill Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue where the city’s 12 or so strays it gets a year could be taken at an agreed cost;
• Heard interim city manager Steve Jones say mill and fill and paving of North Liberty Street is expected to be begin on May 20 or 21 and be done by the end of the month. Work on upgrades to Horizon Park’s shoreline is expected to begin in August or September, he said; and
• Learned the city got a Community Development Block Grant of $32,000 for ordinance enforcement. Faull said police officer Norm Brooks will be doing that job and he started on Monday.