Belleville City Council approves TOWN Web design contract

A new web site with lots of special features is expected to on line in six weeks to serve the City of Belleville.
At Monday’s regular meeting, the city council approved a three-year contract with TOWN Web Design, LLC, of Madison, WI, at an initial cost of $5,058 and costs of $1,563 each year after that.
According to the contract, the web site will contain meeting minutes, agenda, forms and permits, links, calendar, a contact-us form, and frequently asked questions, besides pictures and graphics.
The new site is expected to improve communication by email. Residents have complained that they have emailed the mayor over and over again and got no response. Mayor Kerreen Conley said she did not get those emails because her email service at city hall is broken and doesn’t work.
It is expected to be easy to use so that residents and visitors, regardless of computer expertise, can easily navigate through the web site. The site is said to be easy to expand, if the city wants to add features such as shopping cart, podcasts, etc.
The original web site contract was reviewed by the city attorney and improved with changes, said City Clerk Sherri Scharf. She also reported she checked the references.
“Six weeks from Friday expect to see our new web site,” said City Manager Diana Kollmeyer. She said the city will have the opportunity to review what they have done in stages along the way.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the city council:
• Approved the annual Battle for Belleville by the Yankee Air Museum crews on Main Street in front of the Belleville Area Museum from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1. The council approved closing Main Street from Third to Fifth, as well as Roys and Fourth streets. There will be a World War II battle reenactment and military vehicle display. Police Chief Hal Berriman said at 4:30 p.m. his officers will begin setting up the no-parking along Main Street. He said last year they had trouble moving parkers in front of the pub. He said Irishmen are hard to move;
• Introduced an updated ordinance for the International Property Maintenance Code and set the public hearing on the ordinance for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 5;
• Heard Councilman Jesse Marcotte give his idea for improving the council’s Follow-up List by including a “CANed” report. He said they have that where he works and it stands for “conditions, actions, needs” and is a way of project management to keep the council up to date. He read the first item on the Follow-up List, which is City Hall Security, which has a proposed action of “analysis of current building security” and has been on the list since Aug. 1, 2011. He said since he has only been on the council since November there are some things on which he doesn’t have background;
• Heard Fire Chief Brian Loranger say that the Belleville High School athletic department had a scrimmage last Saturday and a tournament on Sunday and the city fire department didn’t know these were planned. He said on Sunday there was a broken arm and the fire lane was all blocked with parked cars. Chief Berriman said Cpl. Kris Faull would be addressing that with the school in the morning. He said the athletic department did not alert the city to the events and there was just one officer on duty and, “He had his hands full.” He did write handicapped parking tickets, the chief said;
• Approved accounts payable of $225,371.28 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Oakland County, $2,495 for CLEMIS membership, quarterly payment, police; to BS&A Software, $1,515 for training/new employee, general fund; to Wayne County, $1,295 for Dickerson Facility Lodging, police; to Wise Technologies, $607.50 for computer support for June/July, general fund/police; to Osborne Concrete, $601 for hydrant repair/road-curb replacement, water fund. Also, a $2,520 payment to Action Training for its annual agreement with the fire department was approved but will not be dispersed until Councilman Marcotte can meet with Fire Chief Loranger on an alternative training program. Marcotte had the item removed from the Aug. 7 agenda in order to meet with Loranger on the training, but he said he had been unable to talk with Loranger about it. Loranger said it expires the end of the month. “Will this screw everything up?” Councilman Tom Fielder asked of the delay and Loranger said, “I hope not. We’ve been in this for a while”; and
• Heard Councilman Fielder give a report on his work with the Substance Use Disorder Board for Wayne County. He stated Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara was named to a related group, the Detroit Wayne Mental Health Board.