WHITEHALL — The Whitehall city council appointed retired former police chief Roger Squiers to its ranks at Tuesday's regular meeting to fill the vacant seat left behind by Tom Ziemer upon his election as mayor.
Squiers finished fourth among the eight candidates who ran for three city council seats in the Nov. 4 election, and the six other council members - including new council member Bryan Mahan - unanimously agreed to appoint him on that basis.
"When I came here (as police chief), I came here to serve the community, and I continue to desire to," Squiers said upon taking his council seat.
Squiers' first act on the council was to nominate Jeff Holmstrom, who along with Scott Brown was re-elected to his seat, to continue in his prior post as mayor pro tem, and the council unanimously approved the move.
Ziemer also gave a brief speech about his election as mayor. He compared his own election to several other leadership positions in the city changing hands this year, including new police chief Brandon Mahoney, new city manager Dan Tavernier, new treasurer Crystal Budde, and Don Bond's impending promotion to leading the Department of Public Works when Brian Armstrong moves into retirement. Ziemer especially pointed out new Whitehall school superintendent CJ Van Wieren, given his "wanting to form a closer bond with the city," an example Ziemer said he is also aiming to follow.
"I hope people feel a new level of care going into the city," Ziemer said. "In a year or two, hopefully you'll be able to feel the difference."
The council discussed potential remedies for fixing 200 feet of hand railing and posts at the Goodrich Park marina that Tavernier described as "leaning over," though he added it is not an imminent danger to anyone. Several dock corners also need to be repaired. Tavernier said he's received one bid, for about $60,000, to fix the two issues thus far; any such expense will be covered by the city's marina fund.
Also on the topic of the marina, Tavernier shared that transient slip rentals were down 50% this past year. The marina board approved an attempt to improve those figures by getting the city a subscription to an app called Dockwa, which will boost the city marina's visibility for boaters looking for a place to park their boats. The move will cost $2,000 annually, and Tavernier said he believes it's a worthy attempt to try to boost rentals next year.
The council unanimously approved deleting a planned bathroom structure and a "shade sail," designed to protect a planned stage from the elements and sunlight, from the West Colby Promenade plan to save money, but not without a lengthy discussion about the pending project. There was discussion about potential safety hazards of the stage given its proximity to Colby Street, though Mahan, whose band The Substitutes often performs locally, said in his experience he does not consider it an issue. Holmstrom expressed the hope that a concrete pad, outfiited for games such as checkers, chess and backgammon, could go where the bathroom was originally slated. Concrete cornhole boards are already part of the plan. He added the possibility of a screen that would make the stage a good place to show movies on occasion, similar to events in Fruitport and Norton Shores. He compared the future promenade to Hart Commons in Hart, "bringing the city to the lake and the lake to the city."
Several council members complimented the Whitehall DPW for being on top of the leaf pickup even amid uneven weather this week.
