At a meeting on Monday, Feb. 4, the Hillsdale City Council approved a new city clerk and the purchase of a new dump truck, and discussed the maintenance of contaminated former industrial sites.
The council required a new clerk due to the resignation of Julie Kast, the previous clerk, before the expiration of her term. Kast had selected Michelle Marn as Deputy Clerk to fill her vacated position, but council still had to vote to accept Kast’s resignation and Marn’s appointment. Motions on both issues passed unanimously.
The process provoked further discussion among council members over whether the position of city clerk should be elected or simply appointed.
Mayor Doug Moon said that the latter made much more sense.
“There is no advantage for keeping the city clerk an elected position,” Moon said. “Right now, there are no qualifications for that job other than getting elected.
“If it were appointed, then we could get someone we know is capable of doing the job, and it wouldn’t change every four years.”
Councilperson Mary Wolfram agreed.
“It’s important for us to have someone in there day-to-day who’s detail-oriented to keep those records,” she said.
The council voted to move discussion of the issue to the operation & governance committee, which handles internal city government affairs.
The council also approved the purchase of a new dump truck for $116,736 by the Department of Public Services after testimony from Keith Richard, the head of DPS. Richards said the truck would replace one of a fleet of six used for various winter-weather related functions, and that the sale of one of the current trucks would be used, in part, to cover the cost of the new truck for which the city budget does not provide.
Councilperson Scott Sessions voted against the purchase, leading Moon to ask council to be more open about their “no” votes.
“If there’s something that’s causing you to vote against a motion, then let us know,’’ Moon said. “Maybe you can sway a few votes.”
Wolfram also led discussion about contaminated former industrial sites in Hillsdale. Wolfram and City Manager Linda Brown met with officials from the State Department of Environmental Quality to deal with the issue. Wolfram said that it was a revealing experience.
“I can’t tell you specific details about the sites, because it’s proprietary, but it’s been really eye-opening for me,” she said.
Wolfram said that such sites, a problem in other municipalities as well, provide a barrier to entry for other businesses to locate, as they are required to fill out various environmental forms.
“It’s certainly much more of a hassle,” she said.
When asked by Councilperson William Arnold why property owners aren’t liable for the environmental damage, Wolfram said it was more complicated than that.
“In most cases, the company responsible has gone out of business several owners before,” she said. “This particular problem is from years and years and years ago.”
jbutler@hillsdale.edu
