A Blessing of the Fleet event has been scheduled for 2 p.m., Sunday June 6, at the Horizon Park boardwalk in downtown Belleville on the lake.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, the Rev. Gregory Zurakowski, new pastor at Belleville Presbyterian Church, explained the project, which was endorsed unanimously by the council.
Rev. Zurakowski said his church, in cooperation with Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Anthony Catholic Church, First United Methodist Church and other area churches have come together to hold the blessing.
“The blessing of the fleet is a time-honored event in many waterfront communities around the Great Lakes and on the coasts of the United States,” and the world, Rev. Zurakowski told the council.
He said he will work with Van Buren Township’s Marine Officer Chris Hayes to develop the safest and most efficient format for the blessing.
He said, in general, they foresee boats passing in review by a fixed point at which area clergy will offer a blessing to each vessel and her crew, or boats will gather in a loose rafting arrangement at a fixed point on the waterfront and a mass blessing is offered.
“The area clergy and I believe that this event could serve the community beyond its religious significance by bringing increased focus on the lake as a community asset, and hope to have this become an annual event,” Zurakowski said, suggesting some kind of maritime festival could evolve in the future.
Zurakowski wore a jacket with a Coast Guard emblem on it and explained he was retired from the Coast Guard.
He said the religious leaders hope that the event will bring the community together in a faith-based manner.
He said since he is a newcomer to the community, perhaps he can get away with saying the community doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of its precious lake as a drawing point and it could be like Torch Lake and other resort communities.
Mayor Richard Smith supported the event, adding that he always encourages anything pointing out the use of the lake.
Resident John Juriga said Belleville has had the lake for 90 years and, “We’ve used it, abused it, but never celebrated it, to my knowledge.”
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
* Set a public hearing for 7:30 p.m., June 7 to discuss the $2,145,682.79 proposed 2010-11 budget, that currently will need $46,000 taken from the savings account (fund balance) to balance. Tapping into the fund balance was not a popular move and so the council and audience discussed other options, which included raising taxes (also not popular), moving a $25,000 contingency fund into the general fund budget, sharing fire department services with Van Buren Township, charging a $100 fee for annual inspections of rental units, and working at cutting costs after the balanced budget is approved so money doesn’t really have to be taken from the fund balance. To bring the budget closer to balance, the city already moved the 1.3 mill (about $86,000) capital expenditure money to the general fund for this year. That means the house at 420 Savage, recently purchased by the city, will not be slated for demolition this year, but money remains in that fund for projects already committed to;
* Heard 34th District Court Chief Judge Tina Brooks Green present the court’s proposed $3.8 million budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year. She was accompanied by Judges Brian Oakley and David Parrott. She said the overall budget went down 5% from last year because a couple of years ago financial consultants Plante Moran made them set aside $300,000 for prefunding of retiree health care, but now the court no longer has to do it because Plante Moran changed its mind, saying no one else in the state, except Romulus and the court, were complying with the prefunding rule so they didn’t have to do it, either;
* Approved without discussion signing the Michigan Uniform Video Service Local Franchise Agreement with Comcast that pays a 5% franchise fee to the city;
* Tabled until the next meeting a proposal to sign contracts with the Michigan Department of Transportation for grants to the city for the downtown projects. City attorney John Day wanted to delay action to give him time to coordinate language on reimbursement by the Downtown Development Authority;
* Approved accounts payable of $27,898.78 including departmental purchases in excess of $500 to: Blue Ribbon for “dump leaves” at $3,200; Evans Electric for repair light poles at $895; Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, P.C. for water advertisement at $802.13; Hennessey Engineers for general work at $3,224; ICMA renewal of membership at $598.40; Michigan Municipal League dues at $2,389; and Oakland Co. Treasurer for CLEMIS at $1,932.75; and
* Went into executive session to discuss negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.