City Manager praises women staff for helping two local families

“I’m proud of them,” Belleville City Manager Diana Kollmeyer told the city council at its regular meeting Dec. 17, as she wiped away a tear.
She was referring to the women in the office who raised more than $600 to help two families this Christmas.
City Manager Kollmeyer said those in the office paid $1 a day to wear jeans and they sold candy at the counter to raise money for the project.
In other business at the 25-minute meeting, the council:
• Presented awards to the winners of the Holiday Home Decorating Contest [see page one];
• Approved a five-year contract with WCA Assessing of Westland, with a 4% change to rates each year. The current contract was for three years with two one-year renewals and rate changes based on yearly CPI up to 5% a year. Wayne County stopped its assessing three years ago and WCA is the only one available for the service;
• Following the surplus property policy, council approved posting ads for two weeks on Craig’s List and in the Independent to try to sell the former office copier which is unlikely to sell at auction because of its age and lack of parts available. Ricoh, who sold the city the new copier, which was to be delivered Dec. 20, would charge $250 to take the old Ricoh copier off the city’s hands. The old copier also could be given away, if all else fails;
• Approved accounts payable of $125,535 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to CDW Government, $3,255 from the drug forfeiture account for modems for police vehicles; to ElectionSource, $845.50 for ballot testing; and to Jayne Carter, $675 for grave buyback;
• Heard Kollmeyer say the DPW is down to one employee right now and a Civil Service Commission meeting will be set to help fill the spots open. She said earlier that day they had a sewer issue and the city hired Blue Ribbon to take care of it;
• Heard Kollmeyer announce that there is a yard waste container at the DPW yard and residents can still bring their leaves and dump them in the container. Mike Renaud said leaves are packed along the curb on Main Street and they should be removed before they block drains. Kollmeyer said as soon as they get more employees it will be taken care of;
• Heard Gary Johnson, who lives across from Horizon Park, ask when the lights at the park are going to be fixed. He said 13 lights at Horizon Park have been on 24/7 for the last three years. He figured the city was throwing away $350 per month for electricity for these lights. Mayor Kerreen Conley said he should contact the city manager when he has concerns and he said he has done that and got no replies. He also said a sewer line under the Belleville Bridge is leaking into the lake and onto boats and Kollmeyer said it was a water line. Fire Chief Brian Loranger said that he doesn’t know why the lights can’t be fixed. He said at his office he has mechanical timers that sometimes fail and have to be fixed; and
• Was reminded that the city offices would be closed for the holidays on Mondays and Tuesdays for the next two weeks: Dec. 24 and 25 and Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.