Belleville City Council designates 100 N. Liberty as a Pocket Park

At its Aug. 12 regular meeting, the Belleville City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution designating 100 N. Liberty as a Pocket Park.
Mayor Ken Voigt said the park idea started when Belleville Yacht Club members volunteered to fix up the exterior of the former pump station at the site and clean the shoreline there.
He said the DPW tilled the soil and the Belleville Area Garden Club planted the pollinator garden with a grant from the Belleville Rotary Club’s Cozadd Foundation. The city added a bench and trash receptable, already on hand, and now there is a park.
John Juriga said from the audience that former councilwoman Kay Atkins had talked about the pocket park in the past. But city officials told Juriga there is no record that it ever was officially designated a park.
In other business at the 65-minute meeting, the council:
• Approved a three-year, interlocal agreement with Van Buren Township for police and fire dispatch and lockup. The agreement is the same except for the price which goes up 3% a year. For 2024, cost is $204,372, for 2025 it is $210,502 and for 2026, it is $216,816;
• Accepted the low bid of Nationwide Construction Group of Richmond, MI, at $20,887 for the new fence at Victory Park. That was the lowest of nine bidders and one bidder was disqualified from the process because its bid was incomplete. This item was not on the agenda, but was added by assistant city manager Steve Jones after the meeting started;
• Discussed putting city funds in the Michigan Class Investment program. A resolution on this will be ready for the next meeting;
• Approved having Beacon Meter Reading Consultants oversee the water meter installation swaps of BSA utility billing software at a cost of $5,000;
• Approved the Belleville Area Council for the Arts using the annual city wide yard sale at Victory Park as a fund raiser. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 7 and 8, BACA member Reg Ion will rent spaces for community members to have their yard sales at the park. BACA will make sure the park is cleaned up after the event, as it did last time it managed the event;
• Approved the Aug. 17 Margaritas in the Ville in the Fourth Street Square from noon to 10 p.m. No information was presented on this, with assistant city manager Steve Jones verbally adding the event to the agenda;
• Tabled the proposal from Leffler Property Maintenance to remove trees at Church and Third streets (one tree, $2,000), Edgemont Ave. (three trees at $1,800) and Hillside Cemetery (four trees at $2,800) at a total cost of $6,600. It was unknown whether the proposal included removal of the stumps, so this item was moved to the next meeting on Aug. 19;
• Approved the purchase of a 1991 Vac-Con Dual Enginer Combination Sewer Cleaner truck and extra accessories from Best Equipment for $16,500. This truck would allow the city to clean and jet its sewer system, bringing a routine maintenance piece back into the DPS scope and eliminating the need to contract out the work, according to city manager Smith;
• Put off until after the sewer cleaner truck is on hand, the consideration of the televising and cleaning of the north section of the city. More precise location also is requested;
• Tabled the proposal to give the Belleville High School Dance Team $1,500 for painting fire hydrants in the city. Mayor Voigt said he had no problem with the amount, but he needed to know how many they painted, how many hydrants are in the city, how many students are working, and other details. The team cleaned the Fourth Street Square last year and was given $1,000 for its work;
• Heard Mayor Voigt explain that the cemetery now has water after DPW employee Mike suggest they use solar to power the pump that had been damaged in the past. He said it took less than $1,000 to get the solar-powered pump working after all these years without water;
• Heard the mayor also note that R&R, that repairs fire engines, is now in the city’s industrial park and so people will see lots of fire trucks from out of town in the city — especially many from Detroit;
• Heard Fire Chief Brian Loranger announce that the new fire truck #451 is in service now. He said a few things need to be added, but it is operational as is. He said in a few days they also will get approval for medial runs with the truck. He also announced he has hired three new fire fighters, Ray, Isabella and Ellen, making 17. He would like 21, he said. New fire fighter Ray Miller announced a fire department open house on Aug. 24 from noon to 3 p.m.;
• Removed from accounts payable $28,256.94 to CRG Electric for a full-building generator for the fire department because Mayor Voigt said it should be put out for bids;
• Accepted accounts payable of $832,588.60 (minus the fire department’s electric generator) and the following departmental expenditures over $500: D&N Heavy Equipment, $4,700 to repair the original street sweeper to get it back in service; Batteries Plus, $551.15 to replace batteries that were causing the breaker to trip, and $1,475.98 for four-year warranty for batteries for the Hummer; to Cradlepoint Netcloud, $3,688.40, for computer software; Crawford Door Sales, $14,400 for two new garage doors for police department; to MacQueen, $4,432.95 for turnout gear for fire fighter Wisniewski; Pioneer Landscape, $1,750 to mow and weed whip cemetery twice; R&R Fire Truck Repair, $1,589.51 for annual maintenance and pump testing; through county grant with 12 communities, $14,873.40, for emergency vehicle safety; and West Shore Fire, $1,289, to replace air bottle for the Scott Airpack; and
• Heard city manager Jason Smith report that the attorney general has approved the charter amendments the city presented and the questions will be put on the November ballot. He also reported Harbour Pointe roadwork will begin in September, the trash bin swaps will be done towards the end of the first week in September, Priority Waste stopped picking up when it didn’t get the city’s contract so Stevens came through and picked up on Saturday, all the new water meters have arrived, and new Public Works Director Tony Bollino has been dismissed and no longer works for the city.