City Council reorganizes after swearing in

The former Belleville City Council, that included Mayor Kerreen Conley and Councilman Tom Fielder, was seated at a meeting table at the front of the Cozadd room at the Belleville Area District Library on Monday.
After roll call and comments from the outgoing mayor, the new city council was sworn in by 34th District Court Judge Lisa Martin and seated, as Conley and Fielder left the table.
A new roll call was held with the new council in place: Mayor Ken Voigt, reelected council members Kelly Bates and Jeremiah Beebe and new council members Julie Kissel and Randy Priest.
Then, the new police chief Kris Faull was sworn in and her husband Mark Schlund pinned on her new badge. She has been with the city police department for 24 years, she said.
After all the reorganization was completed, the council went on to its business.
The council:
• Elected council member Bates as new mayor pro-tem. She was nominated by councilwoman Kissel, with a second by Priest;
• Approved Mayor Voigt’s appointments to boards and commissions. City manager Jason Smith was named to the Election Commission with a term to expire Dec. 31, 2025 and Mike Gatteri was named to the Downtown Development Authority with a term to expire Dec. 31, 2026;
• Approved the 2024 city council meeting schedule;
• Approved a change to the signatory policy. The city had required two signatures on warrants issued and they were Mayor Conley, Mayor Voigt, and City Clerk/Treasurer Briana Hootman. Since Mayor Conley’s term has expired, the city has taken her off the list and added the city manager, project administrator, chief of police, fire department chief, and DPS supervisor as signatories as of Dec. 5. Mayor Voigt said this has been approved by the city’s financial auditor;
• Approved accounts payable in the amount of $213,649.58 and the following departmental purchase in excess of $500: to Vena’s Nursery, $4,000 for cutting/removal of tree in Hillside Cemetery on Nov. 20 due to storm damage, from DPW account. This price was $2,500 less than other bids, noted Building Official Rick Rutherford;
• Removed from the agenda before the meeting a proclamation recognizing Belleville High School’s 2023 football team on its outstanding accomplishments. This will be presented at an upcoming meeting. Officials from the school were unable to make this meeting, said city manager Jason Smith;
• Heard city manager Smith announce that the South Street lights are back on. He said DTE had a glitch and had never assigned that electric bill to the city and billed it to a South Street and Wabash Street address. The bill got returned so DTE shut off the power. That has been rectified, he said;
• Heard Smith announce that nominating petitions to run for a seat on the charter commission is 4 p.m., April 23. Also, there are bids from Michigan and Texas for the internet project and the water read collector is still having problems. He said he hasn’t heard back from other communities on their experiences with a WDIV skycam;
• Witnessed a representative from Congresswoman Debbie Dingell’s office present a framed copy of the Congressional Record telling of former Mayor Conley’s decades of work;
• Heard councilman Beebe invite the crowd to attend regular council meetings at city hall to see how government works. He said the city allows the public to have its fair share of comment time, not like other communities. He said the speakers also get a real hearing from council members; and
• Heard Tyrone, a musician who is a blind city resident, say he needs rides. He said on his corner of Liberty Street he has a hard time crossing because he has to listen for cars. He said it’s scary and usually he stands there until somebody takes him across. He said he thinks it might help if they put up a sign “Blind Person in Area” so people would watch out for him crossing. “I need a little help,” he said. He also said if anyone needs any music to just let him know.