Keep the space that’s for a community center
By Barb Pert Templeton
The Marine City Commission met on Thursday, May 1 and it was one of their shorter meetings. The gathering lasted for just 39-minutes. Commissioner Jacbob Bryson was absent from the meeting.
Here are a few highlights:
City clerks honored
Mayor Jennifer Vandenbossche formally recognized City Clerk Jason Bell and Deputy Clerk Carol Brown with a brief presentation and proclamation at the recent meeting. The 56th Annual Municipal Clerks Week is celebrated from May 4 through May 10. The annual event allows the city to recognize the critical role municipal clerks hold in the community. The proclamation stated that clerks are essential in assuring transparency, efficiency and the smooth operation of local government.
Event for stream cam approved
A special event application sought by the Marine City Chamber of Commerce for an Aug. 15 event at Drake Park was approved by the commission. Chamber Director Laura Merchant made the application noting that the plan was to host a Polynesian themed event during the Stream Time Live Cam Crawl, planned for Aug. 15-17. Merchant’s application noted that the main event that weekend will be on Friday at Drake Park and is designed for ship cam followers and moderators. Tents, tables and chairs will be setup and people can enjoy food, drinks and entertainment all with a Polynesian theme. There will be dancing from 8 to 10 p.m.
Personnel policy adopted
Marine City Attorney Robert Davis told officials he’ll be appearing at a state conference on May 15, 2025.
The Updated Personnel Policies and Procedures document the commission has been looking at for several months was finalized and approved at the recent meeting. Small corrections like spelling errors or missing words need to be cleaned up a bit but otherwise the document was ready to adopt so the commission did so. Commissioner Sean O’Brien added that he thought this final version of the policy was fantastic. “Really great work, very thorough and very comprehensive,” O’Brien said.
Board vacancies plentiful
There are 15 open seats on varies boards in the city and officials are hoping to get the word out so people step forward to fill the spots. Mayor Jennifer Vandenbossche read the list of openings into the record at the recent commission meeting. The list included: two seats on the planning commission; one chamber member spot and one community member at-large seat on the Community and Economic Development Board; one seat on the Historical Commission; Five (two partial terms) spots on the TIFA Board; one on the Marine City Fire Authority Board; four positions on the Art, History and Culture Commission, one being a chamber representative and three being citizens at-large, two of those spots can be non-residents. Applications are being taken until Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at 4 p.m.
Attorney to speak at conference
During his report to the commission Marine City Attorney Robert Davis noted his upcoming appearance at a state conference. On May 15 he’s the keynote speaker at the Michigan Recycling Coalition’s annual meeting in Muskegon. He said he’ll be talking about waste diversion tactics being implemented through county material management planning and how to divert waste from landfills in the State of Michigan. “Kind of applies because you know we have waste contracting and I’ll be trying to look at the issues in our contract and make sure we are trying to divert waste in our landfill systems,” Davis said.
