Belleville hires Bruce Wood as new Director of Public Services

Bruce Wood, currently the Department of Public Services Director of Huron Township, was confirmed as Belleville’s new part-time DPS Director at Monday’s regular city council meeting.
Belleville’s DPS Director Keith Tackett has announced he is leaving as of April 7 and he selected Wood as a suitable replacement, since he has known him for many years.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer agreed with Tackett and recommended Wood for hire.
Wood, who is retiring from Huron Township at the end of March, has worked at Huron Township for 33 years, the last six as director.
Wood will get the same part-time hours and pay as Tackett. They will work together April 4-7 to get Wood started.
The council also pproved a new contract for City Manager Diane Kollmeyer. Her original contract expired some time ago and was dated Sept. 15, 2012.
The new contract became effective March 8 and will run until Dec. 31, 2019.
Each council member did an evaluation of her work and she got one comprehensive evaluation. She had no salary adjustments in eight years and has no increase in salary with this new contract.
She does get an increase of the city’s retirement contribution to 15% of base pay and an additional week of vacation.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said Kollmeyer came to the job from being a civil service employee and would have gotten health care after retirement.
“She stepped out of civil service and that’s addressed,” Mayor Conley said. The contract agrees that Kollmeyer is entitled to the same health care options as active employees with the same cost share as active employees until she reaches age 65 at which time she must subscribe to Medicare Parts A and B.
Conley apologized to Kollmeyer for having her work so long without a contract.
In other business at Monday’s 50-minute meeting, the council:
• Approved closing Main Street from Third to Fifth streets for the 17 Monday car shows put on by the Bayou Grill from 5 to 9 p.m. June 6 to Sept. 26. He also will be using the side streets. Brian Copsey also asked for permission to bring in minibikes to display on the Fourth Street Square during the shows with mats underneath them so nothing drips on the square. The council tentatively approved the bikes, turning over the details for the city manager to approve;
• Approved the Belleville Fire Fighters’ “Fill the Boot for Autism” event at Main and High streets from 2 to 7 p.m. on April 2. Fire Fighter Brian Blackburn said the fire fighters raised $2,000 for autism at last year’s collection;
• Approved the annual Tootsie Roll Charity Drive by the Knights of Columbus at Five Points all day March 18, 19, and 20. Linda Leblanc said the Knights of Columbus group covers St. Stephen, St. Anthony, and St. Aloysius churches;
• Approved closing High Street from 5-10 p.m. between the war memorial and the church for nine concerts by Music Lakeside, on Thursdays, June 23-Aug. 25, at Horizon Park. Ken Voigt asked for permission to hang banners on the light poles during the concerts to dress up the park a bit, but permission for that was referred to Thursday’s planning commission meeting where the sign ordinance was to be discussed;
• Approved the disposition of surplus property – police cars – by ebay and other electronic postings, as well as advertising the call for bids in the newspaper of record, the Belleville-Area Independent, in an attempt to get higher bids. Police Chief Hal Berriman said all the cars for sale had liens on them and it was hard getting the liens released because banks kept buying banks and it took a lot of time to trace everything down; and
• Approved accounts payable of $481,469.65 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Council of Western Wayne, $3,406 for 2015/16 dues, from the general fund; to EJ USA, Inc., $1,692.97 for hydrant replacement from the water fund; to J&T Towing, $800 for Auto Auction Funding from the police fund; to Liquiforce Services, $18,418.60 for SRF Sewer from the sewer fund; and to Washtenaw Area Mutual Aid Association, $600 for annual dues from the fire department. Councilwoman Kim Tindall questioned the $360 paid to Fire Fighter Blackburn for software installation and Fire Chief Brian Loranger said it was much less than he would have had to pay elsewhere. Blackburn got $15 an hour for 24 hours of work and probably didn’t charge for all the time he put in, Loranger said.