By Barb Pert Templeton
The Algonac City Council met on June 16 for a meeting that lasted an hour and 16 minutes. All seven members of the council were present.
Here are some highlights:
Storm update by Chief Doan
Mayor Rocky Gillis asked Fire Chief Joseph Doan to share the city’s response to a big storm during the night in the city on the evening of June 11.
“I know you guys worked your butts off all night long,” Gillis said.
“Yes, we had the honor or serving from about 1:30 in the morning until about 11 o’clock in the morning,” Doan said.
He said the team ran 16 storm related incidents, had several trees down, a few power lines down and DTE was remarkable in their response to those outages and helped the DPW get the roads open in a timely manner.
“We didn’t have anything major like our surrounding communities, Clay Township got hit worse than us and Marine City,” Doan said. “Even thought we were busy we did fair out pretty well.”
Summertime in the Nac’ permit approved
Algonac Summer in the Nac will include 60 vendors and six food trucks at the Waterfront Park in Algonac on July 25.
The first Algonac Summer in the Nac’ vendor show, sponsored by Jacob’s Ladder Farm & Home LLC, will include over 60 vendors, food trucks and music. The event will be held at the Algonac Waterfront Park on Saturday, July 25 from 12 to 7 p.m. The special event permit in the meeting packet stated there will be 60 vendors and six food trucks, with spots available for rent for $40. The idea behind the event is to promote family fun and support small businesses. The council unanimously approved the permit.
Michigan Teal campaign participation okayed
The Michigan Teal campaign is a state-wide Ovarian Cancer Awareness campaign hosted during the month of September and members of the council agreed to participate in the event. Organizers sought approval to tie teal ribbons on the lamp posts along Riverfront Park and distribute information during the month of September. There’s no cost to the city and the ribbons will be removed after at the end of the month.
The event is sponsored by the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Alliance. Teal is the color representing ovarian cancer; one of the deadliest cancers affecting women. There are no early detection tests and symptoms are often so subtle and hard to distinguish that the disease is hard to diagnose leading to poor long-term survival rates. A woman’s risk of getting ovarian cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 91.
Algonac has participated in the Michigan Teal Campaign for National Ovarian Cancer Awareness since 2021.
Eight new pedestrian signs to be purchased
A memo in the meeting packet from City Manager Artie Bryson and DPW Foreman Joe Vernier, asked the council to approve the purchase of new pedestrian signs. The signs will be installed at pedestrian crosswalk locations along St. Clair River Drive to improve visibility and increase driver awareness at marked crossings. The signs will provide additional safety measure to help protect residents and visitors crossing the roadway. The city administrators asked for authorization to purchase eight spring-loaded pedestrian crossing signs and bases from Dornbos Sign, Inc at a cost of $2,838. The memo also noted that the city got another quote for the signs from Emedco for $3,560 but recommended the Dornbos bid which was a $722 savings and the best value for the city. Having the spring-loaded designed signs allows the signs to return to an upright position after incidental vehicle contact, which will reduce maintenance costs and extend the life of the signs.
Board and commission reappointments all set
City Clerk Lisa Borgacz placed a memo in the meeting packet informing the council about individuals wishing to be re-appointed to board positions. Chris Robb was seeking reappointment to the housing commission for a five-year term that will end on June 30, 2031. Joanne Dare, Amanada Hass and Mark Thompson sought reappointment to the planning commission and all three will serve terms ending on July 17, 2029. For the Dangerous Buildings Commission Bill Hass and Mark Thompson were reappointed to three-year terms that will end on July 1, 2029.
In her memo to officials Borgacz reminded the council that the police for appointments to boards and commissions states that new applicants will not be sought out in the case of requested reappointments, unless by a majority vote of the council.
In this recent case, all board and commission reappointments were unanimously approved.
