Algonac city manager’s report to the council

Summer events including pool grand opening crowd calendar

By Barb Pert Templeton

At each Algonac City Council meeting, City Manager Artie Bryson has a spot on the agenda to report information to officials about grants, projects and other items of interest. These are some of the things he shared at the June 2 meeting.

Local entertainment arrives this week

The Music in the Park series kicks off Thursday, June 4 at 7 p.m. featuring the Gobies. The free weekly summer concerts on Thursdays along the St. Clair River, welcome everyone to the Algonac Waterfront Park. Bring chairs, blankets and coolers and hang out from 7 to 9 p.m.

Then this weekend, on Saturday, June 6 the 9th Annual “Sip of Summer” event will be held at Riverfront Park in Algonac from 7 to 10 p.m. Visitors can enjoy 150+ cool brews, wines, craft cocktails & seltzers from across the state and around the globe. Enjoy food truck eats available for purchase & live entertainment. “We consistently get between 1,000 and 1,200 people for that event,” Bryson said.

Looking for some grants

Bryson’s working on a state grant for the fire department seeking around $47,000 to purchase 11 sets of turnout gear. “We’ll be hitting that hard in the next day or two,” Bryson told the council.

The city has also applied for an Art Spark Grant with the St. Clair County Community Foundation for a mural at the community pool. Bryson said he doesn’t know if people have noticed but there’s been “a couple lovely ladies doing graffiti all over that wall and so it’s looking good.”

Fees for applications still not on the agenda

Councilman Michael Bembas questioned the city manager about the fact that the topic of late fees for event permits was still not on the agenda. “We don’t have that on our agenda,” Bembas said. To wit Bryson said it will be on the next agenda and he’s working on it. Algonac resident Joanne Dare spoke during public comments and said she agrees with the council’s thoughts about charging fees for late special events permits. She suggested perhaps the city could have a template at the city offices that would reflect how the permits need to be filled out before they are submitted so people know what to do.

Office hours changed

Starting June 1, the Algonac Administration office hours were changed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to a 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. schedule. For almost three months, the city only had three people and two phone calls from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Contractors will like opening a half hour earlier for taking care of permits and other business, Bryson said.

Skate Park funding coming along

The city contains to get increasing interest with some financial backing for refurbishing the Skate Park. “That’s been on the back burner with me for about a week or two and I’m going to escalate that,” Bryson said.

Pool set to open

The city manager said the pool is looking good and is getting ready to open. The lifeguard and concession staffing looks better every day, with maybe just one or two more spots open, Bryson said. The cost for the aerobics class is expected to be $5, as are daily pool passes. A pass for the whole summer is $100 for a family of four, $110 for family of five and $120 for a family of six or more. Individual passes are $60. There will also be a special rate for senior citizens, those 60 and over.

Updates at Riverfront Park

Cortis Brothers donated another three loads of black dirt for the south end our Riverfront Park. Bryson said that should cover the high tree roots that are a trip hazard. He said it will be seeded in time for the art fair. Bryson said they also challenged the DPW to fix the sprinkler system in the city park and they had the pumps up and running. He said the system hasn’t been utilized for a long time but it now looks like they will be running in a few weeks.

Thank-you to volunteers

Last week the city planted lots of flowers in the parks, city office and the Activity Center. Bryson said he wanted to thank all the volunteers that came out to help along with “a big thanks to Wanda from Treasure Gardens for take caring of us,” he said. In addition the landscaping was fixed at the Activity Center off Washington Street and is getting planted.

Light problem at apartments

A resident from Algonac housing spoke during public comments asking if anyone from the city had spoken with Dairy Queen’s manager regarding the spotlight they have directed at the complex. “If it lit up all 50 apartments, you’d probably have 40 people here, there are only nine of us that are affected,” she asked. Bryson said he did send someone over to talk to the manager of the Dairy Queen about the light and they agreed to adjust the tilt of the light so it didn’t shine into the apartments.

Addressing the condition of the boardwalk

Algonac resident Joanne Dare spoke during public comments and asked if the city manager could discuss the city boardwalk during his report. “there’s been a lot of negative Facebook chatter about the boardwalk,” Dare said. During his report to the council Bryson said the city has $50,000 for the boardwalk this year and just to let the board know, he bought a flat of boards for it and “it’s a lot cheaper that way,” Bryson said. The cost was about $14 a board which is cheaper as they usually run about $18 a board. He said the city will be taking the project on soon to replace the boards and Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Davey said she also knows there are residents who have volunteered to help with the project and Bryson said he knows and he’s getting to it.

Thanks to Councilman Skarbek

Bryson said he wanted to give big kudos to Councilman Jake Skarbek for installing flags along the light poles. He said there were about 17 or 18 up so far and there are a couple additional spots where trees are in the way. Skarbek commented that two more will go up at the Dairy Queen soon.