By Barb Pert Templeton
The Jan. 18 meeting of the Marine City Commission included a crowded agenda and took an hour and 43 minutes to complete. It was the only meeting this month but officials will return to their bi-weekly meetings in February, meeting on the first and third Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Zoning Board of Appeals Ordinance change
Marine City Manager Scott Adkins said it recently came to his attention that the state statute calls for five members and two alternates on the Zoning Board of Appeals but the city’s ordinance doesn’t have the alternate stipulation. He asked members of the commission to just allow him and the city attorney Robert Davis, to amend the city ordinance to say they will appoint two alternates which are needed for a quorum. “If there’s no qualms from the commission myself and Mr. Davis will do a very simple little amendment just adding in that we’ll also appoint two alternates,” Adkins said. The commission didn’t do a formal vote on the matter but instead instructed Adkins and Davis to make the change and bring it back to the board.
New lighting on Ward Street
The city got a call from the Department of Public Services about a concern for lighting on Ward Street, near several local school entrances. City Manager Scott Adkins said it was extremely dark out there and the school parking lots didn’t extend enough to cover the lighting spots. Since the lighting is provided through DTE the city contacted them and they came out and did a study to see what was lacking. DTE then put a proposal together which was an amendment to the master street light plan and Adkins was asking the commission for approval for the agreement with the two lights added on. He said the city gets a discount from DTE and the one-time cost for the installation of the lights would be $967 and then the lights would be added onto the service plan at a cost of $79 annually. “In the spirit of safety, I’m requesting that the commission consider approving the master agreement as presented by DTE and have these two lights installed,” Adkins said. The commission unanimously approved the plan.
The Marine City Commission meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 p.m.
Mayor Pro Tem asks for update from attorney
The portion of the commission agenda that offers time for city administrators to report things to the board also includes that option for City Attorney Robert Davis. When he declined his time to do so at the recent meeting it prompted Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Hendrick to ask if the commission is going to get updates on a number of outstanding items including any litigation taking place with the city. “You can have an update on anything you want,” Davis replied with a chuckle. Hendrick laughed and stated good because there are a number of items that need to be updated. Davis said that an update will be coming soon.
City Manager on the mend
During his administrative report to the city commission City Manager Scott Adkins said he’d been quite ill battling a respiratory infection, one he characterized as being worse than his COVID-19 diagnosis a couple of years ago. “It was brutal, I tried to maintain still working every day and it wasn’t always happening here at the city offices and so I appreciate your understanding,” Adkins said. He noted that while he didn’t have a lot to update the officials on right now, there are many good things coming up for the city.
Update on the upcoming election
City Clerk Jason Bell told the city commission that the equipment for the election that he requested via a grant has arrived in the city, including a “cool” touch screen voting machine.
Early voting is set for Feb. 17 thought the 25th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Guy Community Center at 260 South Parker. Bell said early voting will run just like a regular election day, you sign in and show ID and vote. He also informed the commission that the city was required to send out new voter ID cards to 1,900 people and he’s gotten a huge amount of those back because the ink rubbed off taking off addresses. Bell said the cards were fine when they left the city offices but the post office has since told the city that the card ink came off when they were put through sorters. Anyone still needing an ID card can contact the city clerk at (810)765-8830.
