Approval of Agenda

Mayor Gunderson asked to add Bill Bates as a Guest.

Council Member Cooper asked to add 703 S. Bridge under New Business, for reimbursement of sewer and water charges.

Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the agenda as amended, supported by Council Member Cooper.

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

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

            Nays:               None

Guest – Bill Bates

Bill Bates thanked council for allowing him to talk, and stated he would be taking a 60 mile walk on September 18 & 19, 2015, beginning and finishing in Belding.  It will be a memorial fundraiser for his wife who died in November of last year.  He started raising funds door to door. He has raised approximately $6,000 with two weeks to go.  If anyone would like to donate, it would be to the St. Mary’s Foundation or Lack’s Cancer Foundation.  He will complete the walk in 19 hours.  He will be joined on the walk by his granddaughter from Wisconsin and brother-in-law Jim Dryer.  He will be 69 a week after the walk.  He will finish at the Veteran’s Memorial between noon and 2 p.m.  He was walking anyway, and wanted to put his walking to good use so he had his wife choose a charity. Gus Macker got him started this year with a donation of $500.  Belding has been very generous to him.  He is also going through Greenville seeking donations.  He thanked everyone for hearing his plans.  He asked that everyone be out there on the 19^th if they can.  If he can, he will run the last one-half mile.  He will be coming down Ellis, and then Bridge Street to the Veteran’s Monument.  His daughter will be in the support car. 

Council Member Lallo asked if they could get a police escort from Ellis on? 

Public Comments

There were no public comments.

Consent Agenda

Reports by Council Liaisons

Council Member Jones stated the Planning Commission met last Tuesday.  The chairman talked about the home occupancy ordinance.  They are short two members and Max is retiring in December.  It is a seven member board, but they may change it to a five member board.  They have two potential members.  John LaClear had talked about putting an application in. They discussed the state planning conference.  Janis Johnson from Wade Trim was asked to start on the zoning classifications.  They will tackle the B-1 and B-2 business districts first, and will do a comparison.  They will find common ground and work with the DDA.  There was information about the sidewalk memo, and where they are at for sidewalk requirements. 

Council Member Cooper stated there was no Recreation Board meeting since the last meeting.

Council Member Scheid stated he was out of town for the last Housing Commission meeting.  The next meeting is on September 17, 2015.

Council Member Lallo stated regarding Museum Board, there will be seven barn quilts displayed in the Belding area.  The brochure will be out by December.  Tri River will be hosting a fall bus tour on October 13, 2015.  $50 is due by September 15, 2015.  The museum will be open this Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 1-4 p.m.  He asked that everyone visit the Peaceful People display.  Bruce Brown was there talking about parking alternatives instead of the Masonic Temple.  For Labor Day, all vehicles on the east side of the mall should be moved by Thursday at 4 p.m.  There will be $15 wrist bands on Friday, and $20 for all day Saturday and Sunday.  He stated he had a type of schedule.  The brochures will come out Thursday or Friday.

Mayor Gunderson stated the Library Board approved the bills for payment.  There are six applications for the Library Director position.  They are also looking for a Youth Director.  The DDA is meeting this Thursday at noon. 

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business.

New Business

Reimbursement for 703 S. Bridge sewer and water charges

Council Member Cooper made a motion to bring the reimbursement for 703 S. Bridge for sewer and water charges to the floor for discussion, supported by Council Member Scheid. 

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

            Nays:               None

Mayor Gunderson stated it was not the business of council, as the city manager makes these decisions. 

Council Member Cooper stated Bruce said council would have to agree.  The tenant had the water bill in their name at 703 S. Bridge St.  The tenant did not pay the bill.  It should have been shut off after the 45 day payment period.  They were billed subsequently, and he had an issue with that.  The bill should not have been allowed to accrue.  He wanted reimbursement of subsequent quarters.  It doesn’t matter why it was not shut off. 

Mayor Gunderson stated if this was the email, this is not an action council should take.  This is not their decision.  It is not at the city council level.  From what he has read, the water was left on because of the winter months and trickling.  That would make a difference.  He would like to postpone this at a minimum. 

City Manager Brown stated there was an application for a water service at this address, signed by Dwight.  He read the statement that the billings would follow the property.  He signed and acknowledged that any bills that were accrued he was responsible for.  At some point in time, the landlord has to take responsibility.

Council Member Cooper stated if the city doesn’t follow its own policies, they can’t expect the citizens and businesses to follow them. 

Council Member Scheid asked when the bill was missed?

City Manager Brown stated he could get that. 

Council Member Scheid asked if the city notified Dwight?

City Manager Brown stated there are many accounts and some landlords are not paying attention to their obligation.

Mayor Gunderson asked what if it freezes up the service line and main?  He doesn’t understand why they are debating at council level.  He doesn’t want to take up time until they have more information. 

Council Member Jones stated they could table it to the next meeting.  Bruce could bring information on the sequence of things.

Mayor Gunderson stated Bruce is under them and he runs the city.

City Manager Brown stated he could not make a decision to reimburse a part of this bill.

Mayor Gunderson stated it should be postponed until the next council meeting.

Council Member Jones stated he wants to make sure they followed the city procedures.  If they say shut off, even in the winter, there would not be flow from the main to the house.  He should find out if the policy was followed. 

Council Member Jones made a motion to table 703 S. Bridge, reimbursement for sewer and water charges, until there is more information, supported by Council Member Scheid.

Ayes:               Council Members Scheid, Lallo and Jones

Nays:               Council Members Cooper and Gunderson

Public Comments

Mariana Arellano, 302 E. Coffren, Greenville, wished to give thanks to the city for going the extra mile to make the surrounding area so nice.  She thanked everyone on behalf of the Covered Mall.  When people come together they can make wonderful things happen.

City Manager Brown stated she made mention of what happened out here.  It is a cool thing for their city.  11 individuals and businesses volunteered to do 17 areas of the landscaping.  This all started out as a concern that it looked tacky and people were coming for the Labor Day event.  Everyone pitched it.  He thanked Katherine Henry, who organized the volunteers.  It is a good thing for the city.

City Manager Comments

A.    Saw Grant Update – Ernie Thomas

DPW Director Ernie Thomas stated the State of Michigan made the Saw Grant funds available to help evaluate the sanitary sewer system.  A lot of the system is old and has issues.  They have monitoring devices, a transducer, in 25 sanitary sewer manholes.  The rain guage is located on Water St.  They download the information every month, which measures rainfall.  They found the proper manholes to place those in.  They want to determine infiltration.  There was a report six weeks ago.  There is a large area in the downtown area where roof drains are tied into the sanitary sewer.  It is a violation and must be separated.  They want to relieve the amount of flow to the lagoons.  The lagoons can process 1.5 million gallons per day, and currently are processing 800,000 gallons with no rain.  It goes over 1.5 million gallons per day with rain.  There was a lot of separation done in the late 80’s, especially in the downtown.  There are a lot of parking lots and roof drains.  Smoke testing will be done.  Some will be easy, inexpensive fixes.  Some could be quite costly.  It was a $900,000 grant.  The city has to pay 10%.  It will take from 1-1/2 to 2 years to get all the facts for the work list.  A work list of corrections will be prepared and submitted to DEQ.  Corrections will have to be made, but they can be stretched out maybe to 20 years.  When completed they will have a nice and tight sanitary sewer system.  There is infiltration in the manholes during rains.  Some camera work is being done to discover problems they have.  They will wrap up monitoring of sewer manholes in October.  There will be a map to look at.  Next spring and summer will be the second phase of investigation.  They will prepare a work plan for the city and DEQ.  Around 1980, the NE corner received mostly new sanitary sewer, so that area does not have many issues.  The Washington Street project helped, but roof drains may be tied in.  Residents on Kenwood and Orchard have sump pumps.  There is some storm sewer in that area.  They can work through it together for a good product.  Asbestos cement pipe was put in the lagoon systems during the 1960s.  Some have failures, as it is not a forever pipe.  That may have to be replaced.  Overall it will be a good project.  There will be more detailed information later on.  There will be a plot printer with a GIS system.  Police and fire will also be able to participate.  It would be a benefit to locate the fire hydrants.  They will be able to overlay maps, which will be beneficial for the city. 

Council Comments

Council Member Cooper stated if the city tries to enforce policies for business and they don’t enforce themselves, it is not much of a head scratcher.

Council Member Scheid gave kudos to the people who did the work downtown.  He asked if there was a chance of getting the graffiti off the wall?  He will check the warehouse for product. 

Council Member Jones stated they could check with Jerry’s Paint.  Greenville may have an answer, as they had problems at the high school and other sites.  They can use a soda blaster, but it takes the paint off. 

Council Member Scheid wished everyone a good holiday weekend and asked that they come downtown.  His family will come to town and he will enjoy that.  He thanked everyone for coming.

Council Member Lallo congratulated the Miss Beldings, also the Kiddie King and Kiddie Queen and other participants.  The girls work hard for the pageant, and it was an amazing event over the weekend.  He thanked Miss Belding 2014, Allison Harrison, and wished her the best of luck.  He thanked the Labor Day Committee, judges, volunteers and pageant committee for allowing him to participate.  They are very lucky to have these girls and young man to represent the city. 

Council Member Jones thanked the staff for their work over the weekend, police, fire and DPW.  He thanked the committee for the work on the flower gardens and area around the mall.  He thanked the committee who put Labor Day together for all their hard work in the community.  It is nice to see people working together, rather than tearing things apart.

Mayor Gunderson stated he would echo the comments.  DPW is getting things around.  He thanked everyone for what they did around the mall.  It brought the downtown together and people will focus on it.  He asked that everyone come down and enjoy themselves this weekend.  He thanked Bill for his dedication in what he has done

Adjournment

Council Member Scheid moved to adjourn the meeting, supported by Council Member Cooper.

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

            Nays:               None

The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 7:48 p.m.