CITY VOTES YES ON SILVER BIRCHES, LEGO TEAM WINS AGAIN The Mackinac Island City Council met today in Council Chambers on Market Street for its regularly scheduled meeting. Mayor Doud called the meeting to order and roll call indicated all members present. Bills were paid and minutes were approved without incident. The Mackinac Island Public School Lego Team “The Braille-n-nators” asked to approach Council with a request. The team, which is comprised of elementary school students, asked that the City place some warning signs near the school during snowmobile season to alert and remind snowmobilers that the school has a vision-impaired student that may be on the playground which is of course, adjacent to the beach road. Council was all for the idea and approved the idea on the spot 6-0 and thanked the Lego team for bringing their concern for their fellow student to the City’s attention. As a side note, these same students as part of their team, approached the School Board last Thursday and asked that the classroom doors have signage that contained brail to allow for their school-mate with vision impairment easier navigation throughout the building. The School Board also voted unanimously to accept their recommendation. In correspondence, the City received a letter from the DEQ informing the City that the DEQ had received an application from Ryba Inc to enlarge the head of the Star Line Dock. The letter was placed on file. The City received a letter from the State of Michigan that Cloverland Electric had filed a rate increase of 3 cents per kilowatt-hour. The letter was placed on file. The City approved a resolution of thanks for former City Coucnilman Frank Bloskwick Jr. for his 14 years of service as a City Councilman. Originally elected in April of 2000, Mr. Bloswick (whose father also served as City Councilman) resigned his office this fall to pursue an educational opportunity. On a recommendation from the finance committee, the Council rejected two bids for contracts for the cleaning of the City bathrooms near the Veteran’s Memorial. The two bids were $47,850 and $46,000 respectively. Mayor’s Assistant Frazier informed Council that Star Line Ferry had still not submitted its transient bicycle license fees. Frazier also advised that the streets committee would soon take up discussion again on different ideas in that area, including, selling the licenses directly to the boat companies instead of the companies sending money in. The matter of Silver Birches was again before the Council. This time the Council was charged with whether to approve going forward with conditional zoning for the property based on the 6th draft of the articles as agreed upon by the ad-hoc committee appointed by Mayor Doud. A yes vote tonight would send it again to the Planning Commission for review and then back to the Council for another vote. A no vote would end the process all together save for whatever avenues could be pursued in Court. Alderman Moskwa had some questions about what the total occupancy for special events could be, and whether there could be a cap on total numbers at functions like weddings and receptions. Council woman Myers asked Council members why they are supporting the idea. Councilman Bradley replied that it is a big-picture issue for him, and that he felt the project as a whole was good for Mackinac Island. Councilwoman Hoppenrath said she felt it was unrealistic to keep the zoning at R-1 and was voting in the affirmative for that reason. Discussion went on for some time and end result was an affirmative vote of 5-1 (Myers opposed) to send it on to the next phase which is the Planning Commission for a report. Council was aksed to return a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation for a septic repair at Turtle Park because the repairs have not yet been started and the time limit for funding has expired. Mike Gamble was the high bidder for the 1973 Fire Engine the City was selling, and the Council voted to sell him the Engine for $1,000.00 Mayor Doud reported to Council that the appraisal on the Coal Dock was still not complete and that she would pass on any info when available. The Council voted to table the request to hire Wade Trim and Associates to apply for some grants on the City’s behalf as it was unclear which grants were desired and what amount of money was at stake. Council suspended all motor vehicle permits from 4pm on Friday, December 5, until 8am Tuesday, December 6 (Christmas Bazaar Weekend) and from 5pm December 23rd trhough 8am January 2 for the holidays. The lone exception is snow removal vehicle permits. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 5:16 I had a few errands to run and then in celebration of a successful deer-hunting season I cooked up some venison chops. First I cooked them with some garlic, olive oil, mushroom and onions, just enough to brown them, then I put them in a casserole dish and dumped some cream of mushroom soup over them and put them in the oven and let them go. They came out falling off the bone and I was a happy hunter. Added a side of garlic mashed-potatoes and some French cut greens beans and I was quite pleased. I then typed this report, which I will admit is somewhat short and almost phoned in, but I got a lot on my plate right now with the holidays and trying to finish up some projects for class (my master’s program) anyway, you got a fairly good assessment of the meeting, and you got the news here FAST!!!!!!!!!!! -MINV
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 00:51:55 +0000
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