Approval of Agenda

Council Member Jones made a motion to approve the agenda as presented, supported by Council Member Scheid.

The question on the motion was called and the result of the voting is as follows:

            Ayes:               Council Members Feuerstein, Scheid, Lallo, Jones and Gunderson.

            Nays:               None.

Public Comments

There were no public comments.

Consent Agenda

Reports by Council Liaisons

Council Member Scheid stated he had no report, as the Belding Housing Commission has not met.

Council Member Lallo stated today was the Tri River Historical Museums luncheon.  On August 5, 2014, the Labor Day Committee will bring their requests to city council.   

Council Member Jones stated the Rec Board had a meeting on July 7, 2014.  A memorial tree was planted for Devon and Jerry Lallo has been the key person working with Lowell Granite to get a stone to set up there.  Smash Park has three holes to finish for a full eighteen hole course.  The course will be done by Labor Day and a tournament will be held.  A ribbon cutting was held for the skate park.  It is beautiful and there are a lot of kids down there all the time.  There has been some discussion on a Phase II.  A couple of people will pursue that.  The city received one bid on the Belhaven trail dock, and when the permits are done they will start the project.  The Main Street bridge will be torn up and he hopes the project moves smoothly and rapidly.  There is no recent information on the Silk City Nature Trail Extension.  They are doing the engineering and design. 

Council Member Feuerstein stated they went over a lot at the Master Plan meeting.  They will talk about it tomorrow night at the Planning Commission meeting and have a site plan review on a drive through for the bank. 

Mayor Gunderson stated the ribbon cutting for Rails to Trails will be held on August 16, 2014 at 11 a.m. at the depot.   

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business.

New Business

B.     Approve Minutes:  Regular scheduled meeting, July 1, 2014

Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the regular scheduled meeting minutes from July 1, 2014, supported by Council Member Lallo.

The question on the motion was called and the result of the voting is as follows:

            Ayes:               Council Members Scheid, Lallo, Jones and Gunderson.

            Nays:               None.

            Abstain:           Council Member Feuerstein.

C.    Approve Minutes:  Closed Session, July 1, 2014

Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the closed session meeting minutes from July 1, 2014, supported by Council Member Lallo.

The question on the motion was called and the result of the voting is as follows:

            Ayes:               Council Members Scheid, Lallo, Jones and Gunderson.

            Nays:               None.

            Abstain:           Council Member Feuerstein.

Public Comments

David Hodges, 4833 Flat River Trail, stated he was running for county commissioner.  The primary is August 5, which will elect the next county commissioner.  He served 8 years on the school board, 2 years on the Otisco Township Planning Commission, 5 years as a Belding Police Reserve and the Voice of Belding Football for 10 years.  The township board asked him to run.  It is important that the boards are kept up to date at the county level.  He will bring minutes from the township meetings.  He will ask their opinion on how an issue will affect the township and the City of Belding.

Debra Bach, Dumon Road, stated she is running for county commissioner.  She was a school board member for 9 years.  She is active in the community.  She enjoys public service.  She enjoys policy and writing policy and strategic planning.  Communication is a big issue.  She wants to hear local opinions and represent those at the county.  She has the time and energy to do so.

Mark Hoople, Silk City Saloon, spoke about the Boobs & Tubes coordinator.  They quit in Newaygo because of the numbers.  They wanted to start and end on private land.  They worked with the DNR and Ionia County Police.  He called the city twelve times with no answer.  There was a big mobilization by the police this last Saturday.  They will not come back to Belding.  They could not float through the City of Belding.  Why do they want to drive them away?  They want to come back next year.  Boobs & Tubes is a charity event supporting breast cancer.  They want Belding to grow. 

Kim Doran, 709 Harrison Street, stated there was damage done to her car.  She played a recording of a voice mail she received from Keven Krieger. He stated that Precision Collision looked like the best bid.  He stated anything over the estimate would be her responsibility.  He left his call number.  She stated this is not a final bill, just an estimate.  She has a police report.  She should have a rental car while it is being fixed.  She has been dealing with Keven since February.  

Mayor Gunderson stated she should contact the city manager to go over it.  He would be glad to attend too, if she wanted him to.

City Manager’s Comments

City Manager Mullendore stated the city has been upgraded from an A to an A+ rating for bonding through Standard and Poors.  It will put the city in a better position if they need to bond and the interest rates will be lower. 

Proposal 1 on the August ballot is not a tax increase and eliminates the personal property tax liability for business.  It replaces revenues with expiring state tax credits and revenue from out of state suppliers.  No one is opposed to the proposal.  All of the media has endorsed its passage.  From a municipal viewpoint, the end of the personal property tax has an impact on the General Fund.  This does not create a tax burden.  The revenue will be replaced in its entirety by the state. The state does not disburse this funding.  It will be very controlled.  She would encourage all of council to encourage everyone to support Proposal 1, as will benefit municipalities, as well as taxpayers. 

Council Comments

Council Member Lallo stated he worked with Jeff from Lowell Granite on the stone for Devon D. Morrison, and wished to thank them. 

At the Boobs & Tubes event there was no one there from any organization that they support, either Breast Cancer nor Gilda’s Club.  There was quite a bit of drinking during registration.  Security checked coolers for bottles.  There were several women there from a Gentleman’s Club. The t-shirts promoted nudity.  He doesn’t know if this is the type of event they want.  He hopes to get feedback from people along the river to see what happened.  He asked the DNR officer and he had to remove them from state land while using a generator.  When they launched, there was a lot of drinking when the busses brought them from Dumon Rd.  Overall it was peaceful.  If they bring it here, it should be a community wide event and they should have people here from the charities.  The mobilization was for dive training.  They were trying to locate a gun that was thrown over a bridge. 

Council Member Lallo stated he had prepared a statement that he already shared with council and wanted to be included in the record. 

4 years ago when I met my girlfriend, she was living at Flats on the River, we took walks along the river, and met a lot great people.  We went to the Labor Day Celebration and I thought the fireworks were some of the best I have ever seen.  It was nice being able to walk to the local stores and get what you needed.  We would have breakfast at Millie’s and Tacos on Tuesdays at the Driftway.  These were some of the reasons we moved to Belding, this City has so many amazing qualities.  These positive things are the reason we purchased my first home in the City of Belding.  Last year when the tragic accident happened to Devon and I saw this community come together the way it did, it just made me want to stay here even more and these are the reasons I wanted to serve on the city council to help our city grow.

I had a concern about how our community would move forward whether or not Officer Cooper got his job back or not, and here we are, Cooper is back to work; but we are not moving forward!

The question we have to ask ourselves as political leaders, business leaders, and citizens, what are we doing to help in this process.  Because what is going on here is embarrassing and I am ashamed of what I am seeing and hearing.  This is not the reason I wanted to make my home here.  A lot of negative comments that are being made are from people that do not even live or work in our city.  As I mentioned, Belding has so much to offer.  When you talk to someone and tell them you live in Belding, you should be able to talk about the positives, like the trail, the skate park, Lightning Bend Disc Golf Course, Labor Day Celebration, and the home of Gus Macker.  These are the things that need to be in the news!  We all need to move forward and help our city grow, because there is so much more potential for our community.

The things that keep us from growing is the negativity.  Just yesterday someone posted on social media pictures and commented about how disgusting all the weeds and everything looked downtown.  I absolutely agree 100 percent.  What I was appalled with the most were some of the personal comments that were made toward the city manager.  Someone commented that Meg is “evil” and another person commented and I quote “ I have dubbed Meg a dirty pirate hooker”.  I do appreciate that the post was removed.  But how many people read that before it was removed? As I said, I don’t like the way the ground looks either, but it doesn’t give anyone the right to make those comments, there are other ways to make your point.  You have every right to be concerned about the way our city looks and I applaud and encourage those concerns, but I urge you to be part of the solution and not the problem.  I will tell you though, that the clean-up will be taking place soon.

It is my understanding that there will be a recall effort on the Mayor and myself.  I have only been here for 16 meetings and there is already talk of recalling me, and you have a right to do that.  As far as the Mayor, you will not find a better Mayor to lead our community.  Mayor Gunderson does so much for this city and would do anything for anyone, and not once has he ever asked to be compensated for anything.  I dare you to try to find another Mayor that cares so much for a town, and the same can be said for Mr. Feuerstein.  I for one, as a citizen as well, am proud these gentlemen are on the city council.

I will continue to listen to whoever wants to talk with me, but when it comes to any decisions, I will make up my own mind.  I do know that it may be impossible to make every citizen or business owner happy, but I will try very hard and be as fair as I can be with any decision I have to make.  I just want what is best for our city. 

I encourage our political leaders, business leaders, community leaders, citizens and city hall to work together for the good of our city.

If we all work together, we will be successful, divided we will fail. 

The City logo:  Live, Grow, Naturally

Council Member Jones stated there are plans underway to do the cleanup in the mall parking lot area. He would encourage the city to make sure to have someone identify the plants from the weeds.  Craig Crebessa from Natures Needs has been cleaning up East Riverside Park.  Some of the grasses may have been mowed over.  It is really looking nice.  Gary Steere was on the Personnel Board.  Council Member Jones inquired about the board.

City Clerk Thomas stated the Personnel Board is not active at this time.  All the boards and commissions are listed on the city website, with the names of members, contact information and term expiration dates. 

Council Member Jones stated that the Belding Bugle newsletter was talking about a city wide yard sale.  He asked if the city had an ordinance to issue permits for yard sales?  There was a $5.00 fee for a permit and a $10.00 late fee.

City Manager Mullendore stated the fee was for advertising and maps.  That cost cannot be absorbed by the city.   Advertising would be done in the Grand Rapids Press, Daily News and Sentinel Standard.  There would be numbers on a map for each location.  The neighbor who does buy the permit could conflict with those that didn’t.  She was asked to do this and the chamber is involved.    

Council Member Jones stated maybe a local business would support it in the paper. 

Council Member Lallo asked what would prevent one from having a garage sale without a permit?  He would like to announce it as a community yard sale without a fee.  It was not thought through very thoroughly.

Council Member Feuerstein stated he goes to garage sales, and they don’t make them illegal and shut them down.  The last part was not right.  It is a fee to get on the map, but they can’t stop them if they are not on the map. 

Council Member Scheid stated he had no comments. 

Mayor Gunderson stated it was amazing that Evergreen came in and did a fantastic job in a short amount of time on the skatepark.  They allowed kids on it before it was even done.  He would highly recommend them.  Their attitude was very good toward the people who showed up.  He took pictures, but they moved ahead very quickly. 

Council Member Jones stated Evergreen was impressed by the community.

Mayor Gunderson stated the roads are closed around town.  He asked everyone to be patient and bear with the city.  These projects have been on the books for three to four years.  He would appreciate everyone attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for the trail on Bridge #2 behind the VFW on August 16.  He appreciates everyone’s input. 

Adjournment

Council Member Jones moved to adjourn the meeting, supported by Council Member Lallo.

Ayes:               Council Members Feuerstein, Scheid, Lallo, Jones and Gunderson.

            Nays:               None.

The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 7:51 p.m.