City council adopts ordinance against feeding wildlife in parks

On May 19 at its regular meeting the Belleville City Council unanimously passed the second reading and final adoption of a new ordinance to keep people from feeding wildlife.
The city had put up a sign telling people in the parks not to feed wildlife since it was against a city ordinance. Then they found there was no such ordinance so they decided to make an ordinance.
They left the signs up and wrote up an ordinance.
That was the explanation of city manager Jason Smith. Assistant city manager Steve Jones said some people persist in feeding the geese at Horizon Park which makes them stay, even though the city was paying to get rid of the geese.
In other business at the May 19 meeting, the council:
• Honored Fire Chief Brian Loranger as he retires after 37 years on the fire department, the last 13 as fire chief. The public is invited to a retirement party for him from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, at the Belleville Yacht Club;
• Heard budget presentations from DPW director Melissa Frierson and clerk/treasurer Briana Hootman for the administration;
• Set a special council meeting for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, to consider the full budget;
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance on trees, which was greeted with disapproval by members of the audience who said people shouldn’t have to get a permit to plant any tree they want in their own yard – or to replace a tree if they don’t want a tree in their yard. Mayor Ken Voigt said changes can still be made in the ordinance before the second reading. He said older people in the town can’t afford this. In order to be named a Tree City by the Arbor Day Foundation such an ordinance is needed to be in place with money set aside for trees. “Focus on public property and let the people alone,” said Mike Renaud. “If people want to plant a tree they shouldn’t need a permit. [To get named Tree City] this is a pretty heavy price to pay”;
• Awarded the bid for construction manager for the work on new city hall at 330 Charles St. to Davenport Construction although it wasn’t low bidder. City manager Smith said C&S Construction was the apparent low bidder at $126,400, but it did not include the bid bond, but even if that was added in it was still low bidder. Mayor Voigt said that not having the bid bond would automatically disqualify them. Davenport of Belleville was within 10% of the low bid and so it was awarded the contract for $145,900. Two other bidders were higher;
• Gave its blessing to Chris Donley who wants to raise money to make an iron nine-foot-tall, six-foot wide wing sculpture to place on a pad in place at Horizon Park to honor the memory of Harper Mathis of Belleville who died May 12 at the age of 15. He said it will cost $6,500 to get the sculpture created by a local artist and about $500 for a plaque and it will not cost the city anything because he will raise the funds;
• Approved purchase of wood fiber costing $9,675 for Victory Park and $6,075 for Village Park, with the hope that the Downtown Development Authority will reimburse the city since it takes care of parks in its district. Whether or not the DDA covers the cost, the wood fiber needs to be put down for the play equipment, council members agreed and the quote is soon to expire;
• Approved paying $31,325 at first and 3,325 annually with a 5% increase in the fifth year for Municode which will update and put in place digitized ordinances so people can find the correct current information on their own. Mayor Voigt said the city is 20 years behind in this and the last time it codified its ordinances was in the late 1990s;
• Tabled for more information the request to pay HydroCorp $54,064.02 over five years to check residential cross-connections since this is required by EGLE (the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) and EGLE is putting the hammer down on the requirement. The city currently does zero checks on residential cross connections;
• Approved the mayor’s appointment of Tara Edwards of Victoria Comnmons to a term on the planning commission that expires Dec. 31, 2025 and reappointed Theresa Ceccarelli to the Civil Service Commission with a term that expires May 31, 2031;
• Approved accepting a $4,200 parks grant from the millage Wayne County levies for parks to pay for one bench and four picnic tables made of metal for Victory Park;
• Heard a woman from the audience say that she had complained about having her water shutoff buried under the sidewalk for years. She said she wanted to say the DPW has uncovered it. It’s done;
• Heard Mike Renaud ask when the water meters will be fully online reading real numbers instead billing estimates and Smith said about 85.5% of the meters have been installed and the system will be in place with the coming billing cycle. When the mayor asked how many meters are not yet scheduled to be changed, Smith said 57;
• Head councilman Randy Priest say the council has been paid the same since 1982 and he could like to see a compensation committee be set up. Smith said he will see if the Civil Service Commission can do this. Priest also complained about the looks of Hayward’s at the entrance to the city. Smith said the city has been working on it and will continue to work on it;
• Heard councilwoman Julie Kissel say the Fire Auxiliary will become the Public Safety Auxiliary at the retirement party for Fire Chief Brian Loranger at the BYC on May 22; and
• Heard Chris Donley say about 1,000 people came to Harper Mathis’ funeral at the church. He said the family is grateful to the citizens of this city. “It’s a testimony to the people of Belleville – how tight and special it is,” Donley said.