Belleville Police Department joins Mobile Field Force team

If a demonstration or protest happens in the city, the Belleville Police Department will be able to call in the Western Wayne County Mobile Field Force Team.
At Monday’s regular meeting via Zoom, the Belleville City Council approved a memo of understanding with the Mobile Field Force Team.
Police Chief Dave Robinson said if his department hears of a planned demonstration he can give a Code White and 60 people in riot gear, trained in crowd control, will come.
“We don’t have anything in our department for crowd control,” he said. “This is harnessing the efforts of the team in time of need.”
He said this team was organized 12-15 years ago by Livonia and Dearborn police departments. Now, the team is trying to establish an actual budget. He said they are working on the budget, but they are assured the cost to Belleville to join the team will not exceed $1,000 annually.
He said he will assign one interested officer and the officer will go to four trainings a year. When asked if the officer was on vacation or maternity leave when a demonstration occurred what would happen. Chief Robinson said the team would come anyway.
He said the team already has received 10 approvals of the 18 police departments involved.
Chief Robinson said the officer only has to provide a Body Dress Uniform and the usual weapons and the team provides the riot gear.
“It’s an insurance policy,” Chief Robinson said. “All I have to do is pick up the phone.”
Councilman Ken Voigt, a retired Belleville police officer, said there was a similar experience in the past when there were demonstrations at Cracker Barrel.
“We hopefully will never have to use it,” Councilman Voigt said of the team. “It’s an insurance policy.”
Chief Robinson said the officer trained would train others in the department. He said he received training in crowd control when he was in the Dearborn department in the early 1990s.
In other business at the hour-long meeting, the council:
• Approved an amended 2021 City Council Meeting Schedule. Planning Commissioner Mike Renaud noticed some errors and alerted the clerk, so it was updated;
• Approved an agreement for the Urban County Community Development Block Grant Program, as requested by Terry Carroll, Wayne County Director of Community Development. Carroll, who was present by Zoom, said the city approved the paperwork in October, the same paperwork approved since 2014, and then in December HUD said it never should have been approved. There now is new wording, approved by HUD lawyers, he said. It has to be back to HUD by Jan. 28. He said Belleville got CDBG funds for its kayak launch and senior citizen services. Carroll apologized for the mixup, but, “You can’t argue with city hall.” He said all 34 communities have to approve the new wording, but Belleville was the only one that invited him to its meeting to explain. He said the change is that the city can’t sell unused CDBG funds to another community and another small item he can’t remember. “We’re a little disappointed in HUD,” he said;
• Removed from the agenda approval of Property Poverty Tax Exemptions at the request of Jennifer Stamper of WCA because she has been alerted recent changes in the state law may affect this;
• Approved compensation change for the city’s only part time police officer to $20.49 per hour, up from $17.94, as recommended by Interim City Manager Tracey Schultz Kobylarz. She said there is zero difference between what a full-time officer and a part-time officer do, but the part-time is paid less per hour. She said they don’t know how that happened. This will be added to the POAM/BPOA collective bargaining agreement. “The risk is the same for part-time and full-time,” said Councilman Voigt. “When you go out on the street, you have a target on your back”;
• Approved accounts payable of $84,938.70 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Superior Township Fire Dept., $1,095 for 10% matching for a
FEMA Grant for nozzles; to Staples, $725.54 for election supplies; and to Morton Salt, $3,238.27 for road maintenance, from DPW budget;
• Heard City Manager Kobylarz give a description of the LakeFest being planned for June 25-27. She said there will not be a carnival associated with LakeFest and participants will be only non-profit organizations and businesses located in the 48111 zip code. She said it will be necessary for the city to determine which licenses and permits will be required by participants and organizers. Activities so far include Dragon Boat Racing, Kids’ Zone, food trucks, two music zones, car show and art show;
• Heard Kobylarz say on Jan. 8, Belleville had a spike of 21 positive COVID cases on the same day. She said the city is looking into this. She said the city may be hosting numbers for all three communities;
• Heard Kobylarz say when the city changed to bi-monthly water billing in April, it changed the billing cycle, but not everything. People were billed on Monday for a bill due on Friday. She said they have had so many requests of late to waive late fees that they just learned about the issue and are dealing with it;
• Sang “Happy Birthday” to Clerk/Treasurer Verna Chapman whose birthday was Jan. 10;
• Heard Councilwoman Kelly Bates say the city earned $1,000 for Veterans Memorial maintenance with the recent veteran banner project. The banners carrying Civil War veterans are being donated to the Belleville Area Museum; and
• Heard Chief Robinson say the previous night, between 4 and 5 a.m., several cars in the city were gone through and items taken. He asked residents to please lock their car doors. He said all the cars involved were unlocked. Mayor Kerreen Conley said when her car was entered all they took was her garage door opener, which, she said, is the key to your house.