Belleville to consider keeping police chief as city manager, too

After a discussion on how to move forward in selecting a new city manager from the 19 remaining candidates, the Belleville City Council agreed to have Mayor Kerreen Conley and Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Marcotte look into the possibility of putting Police Chief Dave Robinson into that position along with his police chief job.
The decision to form a committee was made during a 43-minute special Zoom meeting on March 10. Chief Robinson currently is serving as interim city manager.
“This is a great idea,” said Mayor Conley, who said they could come back with a report in a couple of weeks.
Councilwoman Kelly Bates said Clerk/Treasurer Verna Chapman, Chief Robinson, and DPW Director Rick Rutherford could share their input.
“We have to include all the key players,” agreed Mayor Conley. “Looks like we have a game plan.
“I feel very comfortable going this route,” said Councilman Ken Voigt, a retired city police officer. “I don’t want to just ‘settle’ on somebody… We’re in a good place right now.”
Councilwoman Bates asked Chief Robinson if he was uncomfortable with the council talking about him wearing two hats.
“I’m open to having that conversation,” Chief Robinson replied.
The council spent the first part of the meeting discussing the situation of operating without a city manager since Tracey Schultz Kobylarz has been gone a month.
Mayor Conley said she called the meeting to report on the 20 applicants for the job, with one withdrawing, leaving 19. She had sent a spread sheet to council members on the applicants and thought it would be good to discuss the status of the search with everyone at once.
She said she wanted to know how the council thought things were going with the Chief and Clerk Chapman running the city and to keep everyone in the loop.
Mayor Pro Tem Marcotte said the communication in general has been outstanding over the last two weeks. He said Chief Robinson did outstanding as city manager and he is working on a Community Development Block Grant and things are moving along with no reduction of services.
“I agree with Jesse,” said Councilman Voigt.
“I wanted to make sure the chief is OK,” Mayor Conley said.
“I have great people here supporting me,” Chief Robinson said. “Verna helps me and we’re streamlining things.
“I sat in with her and our banker from Chase and was impressed with her knowledge,” Chief Robinson said, noting very positive things are happening.
And, he said, Rutherford was phenomenal in the meeting earlier that day with the county economic development team. He found every community is entitled to $20,000 in Wayne County and this can go towards an ordinance officer and a federal CDBG grant can fund the rest.
“And, there’s a good chance to get a grant for the demolition of the building next door,” he said. “The county handles everything, including environmental and contractors they use.”
He said since Kobylarz left they have not been just sitting around warming the seat. They have worked harder at communication with the council individually, he said, adding the city is lucky to have a very educated council.
“We’re not going to let you guys down and not let the city down,” Chief Robinson said.
Planning Commissioner Mike Renaud said in the past CDBG would pay for the bumpy crossings at the street corners and it was difficult to get money for other things except for seniors. Renaud asked if they have changed.
“They have completely revamped the system … really got their act together,” Chief Robinson said. “They reached out to us and said you haven’t gotten anything in the last few years…”
“Our meeting this afternoon was awesome,” Rutherford said. “The next meeting was on a water pipe grant … Let’s not go there.”
Rutherford said he needs to get a copy of the deed to the store so they can proceed with the paperwork. The city needs to start planning for grant opportunities for 2022 and beyond, he said.
“Before if it didn’t impact a large senior population, we couldn’t get it,” Renaud said. “Maybe now we could get a flashing light at Columbia Court,” he said, pointing out that is a dangerous crossing.
Mayor Conley asked if a public hearing on the CDBG funds is required and Rutherford said it is recommended but not required.
Mayor Conley then turned to the applications for city manager and asked the council, “Where do we go from here?” She said she put the 19 applicants in three “buckets”: end of careers with salary requests of $130,000 or more, those with municipal experience not always as city manager, and no experience in government as an employee.
“I reviewed all the resumes and three or four are worth talking to,” said Councilman Voigt. “I’m not real impressed with most of them … Don’t know if it would be a waste of time to interview who has applied.”
Marcotte said they need the right person and someone may look good on paper, but in person is different. He described what the city needs is a strong leader, a coach before a critic, a good communications style, able to adapt their style to the changing pace of life, someone with integrity that builds trust, respects self and respects other … “We can’t have a team unless we have a team player.”
Councilman Kelly Bates said she agreed with Voigt and Marcotte.
“We’re looking for someone who’s a forward-thinker,” Councilwoman Bates said, recalling Chief Robinson’s interview where he spelled out how to improve the police department.
Councilman Tom Fielder said a year ago, after City Manager Diana Kollmeyer retired, the city had the same issues and they were deciding between someone with experience or someone with lots of energy who wanted to do things.
“The chief’s done a lot, but he has a full-time job,” Councilman Fielder said.
Chief Robinson pointed out the Belleville police department is small and a lot of his officers have stepped up to help. He said he has assigned tasks and people have specialties. He said in the past there was one person as chief and the rest of the department was on that person’s shoulders. Now certain people have been identified. He said each morning he reads the CLEMIS report, which takes one hour.
“They were hungry for advancement, for policies and procedures,” Chief Robinson said of the police officers. He said he is writing the test for advancement to sergeant and those with the highest test scores will have the orals by May.
“From a police standpoint, we’re operating on all cylinders,” he said.
Fielder said it looks like they’re not going to have someone in the city manager’s role for some time. He asked if Chief Robinson had to be in an all-day meeting, could he leave the police department for a day?
“Yes. I have a lot of help,” Chief Robinson said. “Everything has fallen into place… The main thing is city manager right now… Verna said a lot of this money coming can be used for infrastructure … We’re on it.”
“We can survive for a while, but the charter requires a city manager,” Fielder said.
“Sounds like we have a new city manager,” said Renaud. “Maybe we should advertise for a new police chief.”
“I’m impressed with the administrative abilities of the chief,” said Voigt, reminding the council he had been a city police officer and served briefly as chief. “He came in and immediately identified the two biggest problems in the department and he took care of it … I’m in favor of having him as city manager indefinitely.”
He said the city has had city managers for 42 years and there were a couple of good ones and bad ones.
“With Chief Robinson we have a real gem here … If he was willing to be city manager and police chief and maybe have an assistant city manager to groom to take over … Chief is the kind of administrator that Agnes Frisch was – dedicated to the community and highly competent.”
“The chief does exemplify what Jesse said we needed – looking at a different structure,” Mayor Conley said.
Marcotte said all this conversation has been important. He said he felt it would be wise to form a committee to explore who has applied or “another way to do this.”
Before the meeting started, Mayor Conley said she had emailed Fielder and, “You don’t answer.” Fielder replied, “I didn’t know the reason for removal. What can I say?” Fielder obviously referred to interim city manager Kobylarz, whose contract was not extended.