Marine City Commissioners discussed a handful of items having to do with the city’s historic city hall at 300 Broadway St. at their May 17 meeting.
On April 21, commissioners voted to maintain ownership of the building and put in place a committee to oversee the rehabilitation, restoration and use of the structure comprised of one member from the Community and Economic Development Board, one member from the Friends of City Hall, one member from the chamber of commerce, one member from the historic commission, one city commissioner and two members of the public to be chosen by the other five members with two-year terms for each seat on a rotating basis.
Commissioners decided to call the group a committee because the city charter states that board members have to be residents.
At the May 17 meeting, commissioners clarified the procedure for the appointment for the 300 Broadway St. committee.
“A motion to clarify that the Community and Economic Development Board, historical commission, city commission, chamber of commerce, Friends of City Hall will individually nominate and approve their chosen member … to serve on 300 Broadway committee,” Mayor Cheryl Vercammen said. “And then once that committee is formed, then they choose out of the whoever anybody that wants to go from the public, too.”
Commissioner Lisa Hendrick asked if the city commission will approve the nominations like it does the other boards.
“I would like to recommend no,” City Manager Holly Tatman said. “Each individual committee is choosing that person that … has the expertise, the time, the want to sit on this committee and the two applications that come in are going to be chosen by the five that are from the other committees. Really, that board should be slightly autonomous from this commission because they’re going to be looking at plans and directives that will ultimately come to this commission for final approval, so I don’t really know why you would need that. It’s just another step to kind of slow it down because these folks are picking themselves internally anyway.”
Hendrick said that the charter specifies that the commission should be approving board members.
“This isn’t a board, though — it’s a committee,” Mayor Pro Tem Jacob Bryson said. “So the charter doesn’t apply for that part of it.”
“It talks about standing committees in there,” Hendrick said.
Mayor Cheryl Vercammen said that each subcommittee knows their members and that it does not have anything to do with the commission. She said the city needs to get going on the project.
“Could we make the motion that it would be pending a legal check of the charter?” Commissioner Brian Ross asked.
He was told yes.
Hendrick asked if when the committee develops something if it will be brought back to the commission. Tatman said yes.
“The committee has no decision making authority,” City Attorney Robert Davis said, noting that the commission could select its representative that night.
Tatman said she recommended the commission choose its representative at the meeting and said she was going to recommend that the other boards choose their representatives at their May or June meetings.
Ross supported the motion with the addendum of a legal check of the charter. The commission voted 5-1 to approve the motion, with Commissioner William Klaassen dissenting. Commissioner Wendy Kellehan was absent.
Bryson then made a motion that Ross sit on the committee, noting that he has been instrumental in the work group deciding what the property will be and that he has experience with antique homes.
“I’d be willing,” Ross said.
“I think it’s a great choice,” Commissioner John Kreidler said.
Commissioners unanimously approved the motion.
Heritage Square Park
Commissioners also unanimously approved a motion to approve a resolution requesting that the city block known as 300 Broadway St. be recognized as Heritage Square Park and be added back into the Marine City master plan in its next revision.
Mayor Cheryl Vercammen said she thought the item should be tabled until the city reevaluates the master plan later in the year.
“To be fair, it is a resolution to add it back to the master plan, so if it as such when we do the master plan, we’ll have the resolution to legitimize it’s re-addition,” Ross said.
Hendrick asked why the commission would wait.
Tatman said the historical commission’s intent was to send the resolution to the commission to let it know that it is interested in having Heritage Square Park put back into the master plan as a park.
“But that’s something that this commission had voted a while back to remove, so you’re readdressing the master plan issue per se and we are readdressing the master plan this year as it is up for a rewrite or an edit, whatever we want to do with it this year,” she said. “So if you want to backburner this concept to tag along with the actual master plan rewrite, that might be more timely, because that’s exactly what it’s talking about.”
“But if we do it now, then it will be all ready to go when the master plan gets updated,” Hendrick said, noting she saw no reason why the commission should wait.
