City Council provides full faith and credit for DDA’s land purchases

At its Feb. 5 regular meeting, the Belleville City Council passed a resolution providing the city’s full faith and credit for the Downtown Development Authority’s purchase of parcels of property at 458 Main St. and 25 Fifth St. Mayor Ken Voigt was absent.
City Manager Jason Smith said to secure the deal the DDA has been asked by the property seller to have the city pledge its full faith and credit.
He explained, “Full faith and credit is a phrase used to describe one entity’s unconditional guarantee or commitment to back the interest and principal of another entity’s debt. The full faith and credit commitment is typically employed by a government to help lower borrowing costs of a smaller, less stable government or of a government-sponsored agency.”
City Manager Smith said essentially the city promises to ensure the debt is paid up, even it it means raising taxes or issuing a bond.
“While the DDA is not truly a ‘less stable’ entity, and their revenues are very sound, they are a smaller, quasi-governmental organization that could, in theory, be dissolved.
“While that is not the case here in Belleville, pledging the full faith and credit of the city is a strong commitment that should anything unforeseen in the future happen, the debt would still be paid,” he said.
When council members voiced concern, Assistant City Manager Steve Jones said the city is a backup anyway because of the legal language of the organization of the downtown development authority.
City Manager Smith said this full faith and credit language applies to the specific debt of the purchase of the two parcels. Jones added that the mayor had suggested this.
“Never heard of Visteon?” Mike Renaud called out from the audience. He referred to the millions of dollars Van Buren Township has had to loan the Local Development Finance Authority to pay off the bonds it took out to help Visteon develop its headquarters and then couldn’t pay off the bonds because of changes that occurred.
Smith said the seller of the property requested this and if this is what it takes to seal the deal it should be considered.
In other action at the one-hour-and-17-minute meeting on Monday, the council:
• Put off until the next meeting approval of the contract with Police Chief Kristin Faull. Compensation is $86,000 per year ($41.346/hr.). As a working chief she will be eligible for overtime. The salary would be adjusted back to July 2023 when Chief Faull was named interim chief. The contract also spells out $350 annual uniform allowance, retirement and health benefits and her paid time off balance will carry over at a total of 380 hours per year. Also, her professional meetings, travel, and other functions (such as training and conferences) shall be covered by the city. The employment is at-will and can be terminated by either side without cause. The council agreed to put off the vote until Mayor Voigt was present;
• Made it easier for residents to use their boats in the summer by allowing parking them in their driveways during the boating season. The amendment to the ordinance was approved by a unanimous vote of the council on a recommendation from the planning commission and some changes to make it more readable. Also, two drawings were added to help determine measurements. City Manager Smith said he and Rick Rutherford, director of public services, would enforce the ordinance with the help of police who they would “deputize.” Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Bates, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of the mayor, explained the change was based on the 220 homes in Victoria Commons having back yards that couldn’t be used to pull the boats into as required by the ordinance;
• Approved a special event application for Girl Scout Cookie Booths for troop D1101 on Feb. 18 and 24 and March 2 and 24 at Fourth Street Square and March 3 and April 7 at Victory Park. Time is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and they will have drive-up booths at Victory Park. Troop leader Taiwan Harvard was present to present the application;
• Directed the city manager to negotiate the final agreement with WDIV for a television camera on the roof of city hall, with a hold-harmless agreement added. The agreement will be brought back for consideration by the city council;
• Passed a resolution approving a sergeant’s pay and benefits agreement to be on a par with wages and benefits afforded to the POAM Collective Bargaining Agreement. This was negotiated by former Police Chief Dave Robinson before he left. It was not brought before the council for action until now;
• Approved a resolution updating the Title VI Complaint Procedures for protected classes for being a subrecipient of federal highway funds as required by the state. Rutherford said the city always signs a similar agreement in order to get Act 56 state dollars;
• Discussed having a Consent Agenda, which would list items that don’t need to be discussed to be approved with one motion to save time in the meeting. City Manager Smith said any item on the list can be pulled off for discussion on its own. The council agreed to give the Consent Agenda a try and Smith said he would use it for the next meeting to see how they liked it;
• Approved the digital communications policy to put in the employee handbook. The city attorney had put it into legal language. Smith said one of his colleagues ran afoul and went to the supreme court and now what needs to be in the policy is spelled out;
• Heard Police Chief Faull announce the city has hired a new officer that started that same evening. She said Mark Beaudreau had worked for Belleville before and since then he worked at Adrian and other small departments. She said the department is also in the process of hiring another officer;
• Approved paying accounts payable of $1,222,892.60;
• Learned city hall will be closed on Friday, Feb. 9, for internet upgrades throughout the building;
• Heard a report from Smith on seeking to get new equipment for the lights at Five Points which is very old, seeking information on necessary water meter updates, putting together a call for proposals for legal counsel, exploring getting a SAW grant to find out where all the city pipes are underground since they are not on maps, considering putting water charges older than six months on property taxes at the next meeting, consideration of 15 applicants for DPS position, working on the injury policy for non-union personnel, and efforts to get $200,000 from the state’s new budget for lake bank stabilization;
• Heard Rutherford report that during the recent snowstorm the DPS had to deal with the backup of 400 feet of sanitary sewer that was not on the city maps; and
• Heard Jones explain that the modem isn’t working on the digital sign at the corner of Main and High streets and the city can’t communicate with it. The original sign was installed 16 years ago and usually the life cycle for a LED sign is 10-12 years. The frame was built by Contract Welding and just the LED portion needs to be replaced. Mayor Pro-Tem Bates and Councilwoman Julie Kissel suggested they just turn it off for now, since what is on there is from the holidays. “We may have to do that,” Jones said.