Belleville Council accepts resignation of city clerk/treasurer

At the Aug. 17 Zoom meeting of the Belleville City Council, the resignation letter of City Clerk/Treasurer Sherri Scharf, effective Sept. 4, was unanimously accepted.
Councilman Tom Fielder was absent from the meeting.
No comment was made on the reason for her resignation, but members of the council praised her work.
Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Marcotte said she has been “very helpful, very productive and very approachable.” He asked if the city conducted exit interviews and City Manager Tracey Schultz Kobylarz said she plans to have a talk with her.
City Manager Kobylarz showed her left arm in a cast from a wrist injury and said Scharf had been very helpful with her filing and other jobs now difficult for Kobylarz.
“She talks about things that have or have not happened during her tenure,” Kobylarz said.
Mayor Kerreen Conley thanked Scharf for all that she’s done for the city.
Councilman Ken Voigt said Scharf was the embodiment of what you’d want in customer service with her warm smile and helpful attitude.
Scharf was hired as clerk/treasurer in May 2016 after the departure of Lisa Long.
At the time, Scharf said her family was looking to move back to Michigan and she flew in from North Carolina for her interview. She was serving as executive assistant to the township manager in Aiken, SC, with a population of 5,000 and double-digit poverty. She had county and state government experience, but the local government is close to the people, without buffers, which she said she likes. She said she knew computer programs. She said she had another interview with a municipality the next day and an interview with the state the next week.
Kobylarz was authorized to conduct the search for a new city clerk/treasurer.
In other business at the Aug. 17 52-minute meeting, the council.
• Approved adding the name of Kobylarz as a signatory to warrants issued for city purchases, payroll, payments, and other official documents effective immediately. Two signatures are required and Mayor Conley, Councilman Tom Fielder and Scharf had been approved signatories. Scharf was removed;
• Unanimously approved holding the annual city-wide yard sales on Sept. 12 and 13, following social distancing and using masks;
• Accepted the donations of two sculptures, possibly to be placed in Horizon Park. Councilman Ken Voigt presented the offer, with one from Justin Juriga of the Upsidedown Man he had offered to the city eight to ten years earlier and nobody could figure out what to do with it. Councilman Voigt said the 400-pound sculpture is of sheet metal and it has to be repainted because it was damaged in the city’s custody. The second sculpture is by Tim Elden and is of recycled rebar. Voigt said the Arts Council purchased it from Elden and would like to donate it to the city;
• Voted to set up a strategic planning committee to look into the MEDC Development Ready Community program to see if it would benefit Belleville. Voigt presented the idea and the council agreed. They will seek two committee volunteers each from the city council, planning commission, and downtown development authority, along with the city manager, DPW, police chief and fire chief. Voigt agreed to be one of the council volunteers;
• Approved accounts payable of $163,907.37 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Watertap, Inc., $7,220 for water valve insertion on East Huron River Drive on Aug. 3; to Oakland County Treasurer, $4,077.08 from police dept. for CLEMIS membership for the second quarter; to Blue Ribbon Contracting, $3,080 for water line replacement on Dec. 26 at 351 Edison St.; to Metro Environmental, $1,585 for vactor work on water main on Aug. 2 near 314 East Huron River Dr., and $1,350 to WorkNGear for DPW uniforms;
• Heard council members say they are keeping their neighbors in Sumpter Township in their thoughts and prayers because of the tragedy over the weekend. Marcotte said, “Our community is there for their community.” Voigt said he was a cop for a long time and never had that happen. He especially was concerned with the first responders who had to deal with it;
• Heard Voigt say the 75th anniversity of Belleville becoming a city was coming up and he would like to see it commemorated. He said the police department was established at that time. Councilwoman Kelly Bates looked it up on Wikipedia and found it became a city in 1946 so they have a year to plan;
• Heard Voigt also praise the Central Business Community, and particularly Janet Millard, for doing a great job with the farmer’s market held each Monday afternoon at the Fourth Street Square. He said they have quite a few vendors and they are next to two restaurants so there it is quite a hub of activity. “It’s the only ceremonial space in the city used like that,” he said;
• Heard Councilwoman Bates say she has been advised that the kayak launch has finally been installed. She also announced she has applied for a Michigan Municipal League microgrant to help with the reinvention of the Strawberry Festival or whatever it turns out to be. She also noted the 100-year anniversary of the vote for woman on Aug. 18. She added it took until 1965 for women of all races to get the vote;
• Heard Fire Chief Brian Loranger announce he has won a grant for the department for an $8,000 thermal imaging camera that will cost the department just $500; and
• Heard Mike Renaud recall how the city had planned to come back in August on the plan to either raze or rehab the building it owns next to city hall. Kobylarz said another person had come in to look at it and they found the roof has leaked even more and destroyed the freezer element the city was considering selling.