Belleville Fire Dept. announces promotions at city council meeting

Belleville Fire Captain Chris Zweng was promoted to Chief II and was honored before the city council at Monday’s regular meeting.
Fire Chief Brian Loranger said because of a loss of personnel in the department he was making changes in positions. Aaron Zehel was promoted to Captain (C1) and Richard Landskroener to Lieutenant (L1).
In other business at the 58-minute meeting, the council:
• Set a public hearing for April 3 on the General Marijuana Ordinance that was put in place by a citizen-initiated charter amendment vote on Nov. 8. Also on that agenda will be the Marijuana Zoning Ordinance on which a public hearing was held before the planning commission and was recommended to the council for approval. The ordinances will go into effect 10 days after approval;
• Approved the special event application by Cub Scout Pack 793 for Easter flower sales from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Palm Sunday, April 2, at the Fourth Street Square;
• Approved the special event application by the Fire Department Association for a Fill the Boot for Autism event from noon to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 3, at Main and High Streets. The group also was permitted to use unit #457 of the fire department fleet. Money raised will go the the Autism Alliance of Michigan and last year $4,200 was raised;
• Set the following special city council meetings to consider the upcoming city budget: at 6 p.m. on April 27, May 22, and May 25 (if needed). The new budget has to be adopted by June 30;
• Approved an additional Music Lakeside concert for 7 p.m., June 15, as recommended by Mayor Pro-Tem Ken Voigt. He said the time the goats would be eating the shrubbery along Belleville Lake at Horizon Park was changed after the concerts were put in place and, “There should be a concert while the goats are there”;
• Approved accounts payable of $153,639.21 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Downriver Hitch & Truck, $573.95 for the cutting edge for the DPW snow plow; and to Ford Motor Credit, $17,291.95 for the first payment on police department vehicle #223, lease to own;
• Heard City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson report that he has applied for two separate grants through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. He said he is seeking money for pickleball courts at Village Park to replace the unused hockey area and money to supplement the ARPA funds for Victory Park upgrades to put in a basketball hoop and pickleball court. He said CDBG is strict on its guidelines and those parks are the only areas that qualify for grant funding. He said he hopes to get grant funding for eight summer youth workers and the Downtown Development Authority is hiring two separately for the summer. He said the DDA approved $35,000 in site furnishings for the DDA district and the project administrator did some studies on what is needed. He said they should see visual upgrades in the downtown;
• Heard Councilwoman Kelly Bates report that there was a good turnout that evening for the free VegMichigan! items offered. She said 37 signed up and 35 showed up to pick up their free items;
• Heard Councilman Tom Fielder praise city project administrator Steve Jones for getting all the information and numbers together for the DDA so they could make an easy decision on the site furnishings. He said he went to a Growth Works meeting on March 16 and the group has seen the need for some time for juvenile residential facilities and is working to create its own facilities in Western Wayne County. He also reported he went to a meeting in Detroit that day where he learned the use of cocaine and heroin is down and everyone is using fentanyl and some versions of the drug are made to look like Skittles candy;
• Heard Councilman Jeremiah Beebe ask if the city manager has heard anything about the proposed left-turn signal at Main and N. Liberty. Robinson said there is no word on the signal, but engineers say it’s a capacity and timing problem and they have other remedies, such as having the traffic merge closer to Quirk Road. He said their legitimate concern is the six-to-seven-second delay that would be caused by a left-turn signal to cycle through. He said it’s not about the Denton Road Bridge. It’s a capacity problem. Councilman Fielder agreed it was not a bridge problem. He said the city already had two lanes merging into one lane and it was suggested taking the parking off the right side of the first block into the city. “The solution should be longterm,” Fielder said;
• Heard Mayor Kerreen Conley speak about the robotics competition at Belleville High School the previous weekend. She said Steve Jones was a great help and, “We did not come in last.” She said the passion the student competitors had was unbelievable. She thanked the sponsors and everybody who made that happen. She said she was invited to the Strategic Planning Session for the schools. Steve Jones said the mayor, who was the only speaker at the opening event of the robotics competition, engaged the crowd and got everyone psyched up; and
• Heard Allen Foulkes of West Columbia Avenue explain how hard his four children train for their Tae Kwon Do skills and they earned four gold medals in the recent state competition for black belts. He was asked by council members to talk about how they train. He said they work three-to- five-hours a day, five days a week, and have two personal trainers. He said his goal is to have them be able to teach the skills to law enforcement and others.