Belleville Mayor swears in city clerk/treasurer Briana Hootman

At the Monday, Aug. 16, meeting of the Belleville City Council, Mayor Kerreen Conley swore in the city’s new clerk/treasurer Briana Hootman.
The council approved the appointment unanimously. She will be on probation for one year.
Hootman will get $47,000 per year until the successful completion of Election Official certification from the State of Michigan and successful completion of the November 2021 election process. Then her pay will rise to $52,000 per year.
Hootman had been serving as records clerk in the police department and City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson recommended her for the clerk/treasurer position because of her skills.
“I’m going to miss her in the office,” he said. “She’s proven herself to be very, very capable with her command of technology and ability” to learn quickly.
The Civil Service Commission approved her employment status change on Aug. 12.
At the end of the meeting, Clerk Hootman said she was looking forward to serving the city.
In other business at the 51-minute meeting, the council:
• Approved the low bid of Randy Brown landscaping for $5,450 for bringing goats for two weeks to trim the vegetation along the bank at Horizon Park, plus $300 for spraying of the hill after the goats are done. It would be $500 for the spraying for years two and three. Salisbury Landscape Group of Dexter bid $29,775 for option 1 to cut everything now with brush cutters and weed whips and $9,775 for option 2 to trim back the worst now and come back between Sept. 30 and Nov. 15 to finish the clearing after the growing season is over. Approved spray per season would be $5,550;
• Heard Councilman Ken Voigt say that he’d like to look at something to make the bank more attractive once the vegetation is cut. He suggested a power wash and said that area isn’t very boat friendly because there’s only one place to dock. “Whoever designed it wasn’t a boater,” he said. He suggested planting the bank with something like daylilies to make it more attractive. He said from the water this area now looks like an abandoned park. There was discussion on getting a project shovel-ready for the park bank in case it qualifies for federal funding. Deputy Administrator Tim McLean also said a couple of available grants comes off the top of his head. Voigt also suggested rehabbing the bathrooms;
• Approved a resolution recognizing the donation of $5,000 worth of office furniture for the city clerk’s office. City Manager/Police Chief Robinson said Roger Cadaret, an attorney practicing in Romulus, was retiring and he donated two desks, a hutch, and a bookcase. Mayor Conley said that the furniture that had been in the clerk’s office previously had been donated from the Van Buren Township Public Safety Department in the 1990s. It was purple, she said, “a strange color,” and city employees went over and picked it up;
• Approved the annual city-wide yard sale for the weekend after Labor Day, Sept. 11 and 12, when sales can be held without permits;
• Approved the annual Monster Mutt Walk put on by the Belleville Central Business Community. It is set for noon to 2 p.m. on Oct. 23 in Fourth Street Place. City Manager/Police Chief Robinson said he was thinking about dragging his two dogs to the event;
• Approved Halloween downtown from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 29. City Manager/Police Chief Robinson said he believes Main Street should be closed for the safety of those involved. “I always want to err on the side of caution. I want it closed,” he said. Councilman Voigt agreed saying the city is lucky it didn’t have a tragedy all the years the street was left open for the trick or treaters. Main Street will be closed starting at 3 p.m.;
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $117,417.41 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to Blue Ribbon Contracting, $1,850 for repair of a water main valve on Savage Road; to Hennessey Engineers, $4,567.50 from escrow for inspection of the Early Childhood Center; to Osborne Concrete, $649 for concrete for cemetery footings; to Pirtek, $529.30 for hydraulic hose for the DPW backhoe; and to R&R Fire Truck Repair, $3,786.41 for emergency repairs to Engine 451;
• Heard City Manager/Police Chief Robinson congratulate Deputy Administrator McLean on the birth of his daughter. He also noted there are positive vibes in city hall and he welcomes everyone to come in and visit. McLean said he had been at city hall for a month now and he, too, praised the positive vibes at city hall; and
• Heard Mike Renaud mention that the trees in Fourth Street Place are “really hurting.” DPW Director Rick Rutherford said he asked the person who waters the flowers to water the trees, too. “Somebody ran over one with a car,” Rutherford said. He suggested with all the rain they may have been getting too much water. Robinson said the city’s landscaping people are now watching over the trees.
This meeting was held with a hybrid mixture of in-person and virtual attendance, with Mayor Conley and Councilman Voigt present in person and the rest of the council present virtually. There were seven people in person in the council chambers.