Roy Atkinson, the Chelsea City Council’s choice as its new city manager, will have to wait until Thursday evening, June 9, for his 3-year contract to be discussed and voted upon.
Atkinson was the top choice on May 31 following two rounds of candidate interviews.
The discussion will take place during a 6 p.m. special meeting that was originally called for a different purpose – to develop a police chief candidate profile with consultant Michigan Municipal League.
After contract negotiations that were finalized with Atkinson during the weekend, one city council member requested a little more time to review the 4-page contract document because it was placed on the table at Monday night’s meeting, and another wanted to see any changes from the previous city manager’s contract.
Atkinson, who attended the meeting via Zoom, said he had no problem waiting, and it was also announced at the meeting that he had already passed his background check.
In other business, the city council approved the final recommendations from the Community Public Safety Task Force by a 4-1 vote. Before the vote, Council Member Charles Wiseley expressed his concern about the cost of this whole process, which he said is now reaching $100,000. He was the lone no vote.
Two council members – Peter Feeney and Tony Iannelli – were absent from the meeting, but a quorum was still present.
Among the recommendations from the task force are:
Council shall create and appoint a Public Safety Strategic Planning Group (SPG) to do the longer-term work recommended in the full Public Safety Task Force report (which can be found at the end of this story). This group shall consist of the new police chief, a city council representative and five community members.
The Strategic Planning Group shall research and hire a subject matter expert to facilitate the strategic planning process at an estimated cost of $25,000.
The task force was appointed and formed following the Bobcat Police Operational Audit and was tasked with developing recommendations based on that report for the city council.
In other business, the City Council unanimously adopted the city’s millage rate of 13.155 mills, or $13.155 per $1,000 of taxable value, the DDA millage rate of 1.5302 mills, the new fee schedule and the yearly 1-percent administration fee for collecting city taxes.
Also approved was the city’s FY 2022-2023 budget, which will be available on the city’s website by the end of the week, and a letter of support for WAVE for a grant application for electric buses.
If you would like to listen to the entire meeting, it can be found on the city’s website.
