Belleville DDA agrees to pay more to city in new maintenance agreement

An updated maintenance and service-provider agreement between the Belleville Downtown Development Authority and the City of Belleville — that brings more than two and a half times the amount back to the city for services to the DDA — was approved unanimously as presented at the DDA’s regular meeting on March 16.
The current agreement that brought $103,488 to the city for all the services performed in 2021 for the DDA expires June 30.
The new, three-year agreement that starts July 1 will bring an estimated $275,461.61 in payments to the city in 2022. At its March 21 meeting, the city council also approved the agreement.
The DDA captured a total of $858,883.90 for 2021-22, with $458,296.12 of that captured from the City of Belleville.
The current maintenance agreement has been in effect since 2017 and since then the level of service that the city provides to the DDA has not changed, said Tim McLean, deputy city manager/DDA Director, in a memo. He said the percent of property tax revenue given by the DDA to the city to perform those services has decreased in each year of the agreement. Additionally, he wrote, the cost to perform those services has increased.
City administration worked with accountant Kelly Howey of Plante Moran to review the associated costs to provide all of these services for the DDA. It was determined that the costs to provide the current level of service to the DDA exceed the amounts being paid back to the city by the DDA.
DDA chairperson Alicia McGovern and City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson had several meetings to iron out the details before presenting it to the DDA and the city council.
The DDA held a special meeting on March 9 to discuss proposed changes to the agreement. The DDA asked for language to be added stating there would be monthly reporting on work completed in the DDA district by the Department of Public Works. The DPW has started daily logs of its work, City Manager Robinson said.
The services include maintenance performed by the DPW in the district, administrative services, tax roll preparation, liability and property insurance, the annual audit, and financial / accounting services. It also includes the upstairs DDA office space with computer at a cost of $200 per month.
The agreement also allows for adjustments to payments based on the rate of inflation not to exceed 5%.
In other business at the one-hour-and-13-minute meeting, the DDA:
• Heard chairperson McGovern announce the citizen comments for both agenda and non-agenda items would now be at the beginning of the meeting and there would be no citizen comments during the meeting or at the end;
• Approved allocating up to $3,000 to purchase 35 new hanging baskets with water reservoirs in the bottom that will reduce the costs and efforts of watering. They can be watered every other day instead of every day. After discussion, the color green was requested for the baskets. The baskets were recommended by Joyce Rochowiak of Garden Fantasy which provides the hanging baskets filled with flowers for the summer. She said the new baskets are expected to last 15-20 years and a lot of cities are using these. She said the baskets are made by Eckert’s Greenhouse in Sterling Heights, so there will be no supply-chain problem in getting them, and she will pick up the baskets so there will be no delivery charge;
• Unanimously passed a resolution pledging the DDA’s tax increment revenues to pay the interest and principal for the Streetscape Bonds for the 2022 Refunding procedure. The city is in the process of refinancing the existing bond debt to achieve considerable savings. It was estimated the projected tax increment revenues available would be $800,000 per year from the 2022-23 to 2028/29 fiscal years to pay off the bonds;
• After discussion, tabled the purchasing policy presented by DDA Director McLean and directed him to be more specific and update the policy for the April 20 meeting;
• Approved a $8,500 contract with GMS Sealcoating for Main Street restriping from N. Liberty Street to Five Points, with the DDA paying $4,250 of that and the city paying $4,250 out of its Major Streets Fund. GMS would be able to complete the work on a Sunday, striping yellow curbs, yellow strips down the middle of Main Street, white parking spots and crosswalk. GMS said the city will street sweep Main Street and leave out blockades. They will start at Hayward’s to High Street, then move forwards from High to Third and then Third to City Hall;
• Discussed electrical work that needs to be done in the Fourth Street Square and Fourth Street Place with McLean recommending installation of an electrical cabinet in Fourth Street Place and to pursue repairs to the existing outlets in Fourth Street Square that are currently inoperable. The suggested removal of the existing pole in Fourth Street Square to put lines underground would be both time- and cost-prohibitive, he said. Mayor Kerreen Conley, who sits on the DDA, said she has an issue with electrical boxes and she wants to know where it’s going to be and what it looks like. McLean said the Fourth Street Place electrical box would be in the parking lot. Councilman Steve Jones said there are no poles on Fourth Street Place and tree grates only there, with lights planned for the base of the trees. McGovern advised Jones that they are not having public comments during the meetings now. DDA member Jim Chudzinski asked how much power is needed at Fourth Street Square for the stage and Jones said it was two, 110-volt units. McLean said he is talking with electricians and McGovern said they will discuss this subject at the next meeting;
• Heard Director McLean report that Pioneer Landscaping has begun work on the parks and put fresh mulch in Victory Park. He also noted that the DDA’s attorney Kevin Kilby of McGraw Morris is raising his rates from $135 an hour to $170 an hour as of April 1. DDA Treasurer Sabrina Richardson-Williams asked McLean to make a ledger of their checks and dates of service because some of those on the voucher list for payment at that meeting were from last October. McLean said he would, and noted the DDA was just invoiced from Garden Fantasy for the two she mentioned;
• Heard McGovern say that the DDA agenda is on the website and can be picked up at the door at the meeting and so people can comment on issues at the beginning of the meeting. She said this was the last night for comments at the end of the meeting. Richardson-Williams said she was not comfortable with the new rule because if they don’t comment how do you know what people want? McGovern said they need to keep an orderly meeting and Richardson-Williams replied, “We serve the public.” DDA member Valerie Kelley-Bonner said this is not the public’s meeting, it’s the DDA meeting and they need to tighten it up so it goes efficiently. McGovern said if anyone has an issue he or she could contact McLean and it could be put on the agenda. Chudzinski said if Jones hadn’t spoken up and told the DDA that they need two 110 services they wouldn’t know. That was useful information, he said. Richardson-Williams said she wants to go on record as being against this;
• Heard Councilman Jones say that 39 different schools are coming to join the Belleville High School team in competitions for FIRST Robotics with registration and set up on March 24 and competitions on March 25 and 26 at BHS. The public is encouraged to attend;
• Heard City Manager Robinson say he is working on a grant for improvements to Victory Park. He also said they will have to figure out how to handle the new city employees he will hire who will be working two to three months prior to the end of the fourth quarter. McGovern agreed an addendum to the previous contract would be best; and
• Heard Planning Commissioner Tom Fielder said it’s the job of the chairman of the board to stay on task at the meetings and he asked if McGovern made the decision by herself to limit public comments to the beginning of the meeting and, if so, is that permissible? McGovern said she checked it out and never found that it needs to be approved by the board. Fielder said he disagrees and will check it out himself. McGovern said in previous meetings citizens have taken the meeting “way off the train tracks.” She said anyone with an issue can send it to McLean to be put on the agenda. “Valuable information was not available to the board,” Fielder said, referring to comments from Councilman Jones, and DDA member Kelly McWilliams said public comments aren’t always correct and need to be checked out. Fielder asked, “People making comments is a dangerous thing?” McGovern said, “We still have to check.” Fielder accused them of telling him to shut up and DDA members accused him of trying to put words in their mouths. As the argument continued, Richardson-Williams made a motion to adjourn and the meeting adjourned.