For the first time since last November, the St. Ignace City Council conducted a regular meeting with a full board with newly elected Paul Fullerton joining Council at his first official meeting Monday, August 21. He fills a vacancy left by Paul Grondin, who is now mayor. Pictured are (in front, from left) City Clerk Renee Vonderwerth, Mayor Paul Grondin, City Manager Eric Dodson; (in back) Mr. Fullerton, along with council members Tom Della-Moretta, Don Gustafson, Susan Tamlyn-Massaway, Willie LaLonde, and Merv Wyse. The job description for a new director of the St. Ignace City Recreation Department will likely be expanded to include marketing the city's Little Bear East Conference Center and Ice Arena. The rest of the job will entail organizing and running the entire recreation program, including the ski hill in Moran Township, and operating and managing the Little Bear East facility, including the mechanical ice maker and heating and cooling systems and hosting wedding receptions and training conferences.

If the person were to be made a department head, then City Council would do the hiring. But Council decided at its meeting Monday, August 21, that the person will be an employee, not a department head, so it will be up to City Manager Eric Dodson to find someone who can successfully do all of that. He will first draw up a job description, and based on discussion at the meeting, the marketing aspect of the job will not be a priority.

"It was made clear at the last Recreation Advisory Committee meeting that the new person may not be called a director, but be made to be a catch-all person," Mr. Dodson continued.

The position will include multiple responsibilities as a programs coordinator and facility manager, said Mr. Dodson. Former Recreation Director Phil Hinkson did that, but promoting the convention center for weddings, conventions, and meetings had been the promised task of the politicians and tourism agencies when the facility was built.

Now, high utility costs and meager revenue at Little Bear are sucking up the recreation budget, so the city wants someone who can find more and better use of the facility. Other recreation programs suffer, in the meantime.

"We will attempt to merge the needs of that position, and that may not be exactly like what Phil did," said Mr. Dodson to Council.

Mr. Hinkson resigned last spring and Mr. Dodson said that, before hiring a replacement, he would do the job while he studied the situation.

Mr. Dodson explained a tight city budget allows for only one person to be hired for a position that can be considered two positions in one. A facility host could also be hired on a part-time basis and act as an assistant, filling in on weekends and some night events, he said.

Councilmen Willie LaLonde and Tom Della-Moretta questioned the Mr. Dodson's verbal description of the job, saying neither thought the job description was emphasizing the marketing aspect of Little Bear East enough.

"That was one of the main concerns from the start," said Mr. LaLonde.

Councilman Don Gustafson, who also chairs the city's Recreation Advisory Committee, said marketing Little Bear East will, indeed, be part of the job description, however, maintaining the seasonal programs the city runs each year is most important.

Mr. Gustafson pointed out after the meeting that the Recreation Advisory Committee's Little Bear East new marketing committee will help brainstorm ideas to bring more use to the facility and, with continued cooperation with the St. Ignace Visitors Bureau and St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce, the marketing skills demanded for the new person may not be so tough.

"If we get those entities working together more, I don't see why the new person can't market the facility to our satisfaction while still maintaining our recreation programs," Mr. Gustafson said.

"The structure, however we do it, will come down to available dollars," Mr. Gustafson said during the meeting. "Our goal is that we hope the person we hire will, first and foremost, coordinate and maintain the recreation programs for the City of St. Ignace. We're not abandoning the marketing theory."

The city's marketing theory may come with low expectations, however.

Mr. Dodson said the marketing aspect of the job may be just calling around and locating people and events to encourage them to travel to St. Ignace and use the facility.

"If he or she can call up and make personal contacts, those are the important and less expensive things that may not cost as much as putting an advertisement in the paper," Mr. Dodson said.

Messrs. LaLonde and DellaMoretta agreed with Mr. Dodson's proposal to include in the job description that the person be willing to market Little Bear East as part of the everyday job.

Motor Home Issue

Continues To Stifle Council

After a long debate on whether the city should amend its zoning ordinance to ban motor homes from vacant residential lots, or to enforce the ordinance which may already do that, Council tabled a decision until it can hear the opinion of city attorney Prentiss M. Brown, who was absent from the meeting.

The issue began a year ago after a seasonal resident complained to the city that his neighbor has been "camping out" in a motor home on

his vacant lot and is not intending to build a home any time soon. The complainant argued it devalues the neighborhood and his neighbor is cheating the zoning system and cheating the city out of tax dollars.

The issue has resurfaced at many city meetings over the past year. Neither Council, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), or the Planning Commission can come to an agreement as to whether the existing zoning ordinance prohibits property owners from parking and living in motor homes on their vacant lots.

The ZBA believes the city ordinance prohibits motor homes from being parked on a vacant lot. The city's Planning Commission believes that the city's zoning ordinance does not specifically name motor homes as being allowed or prohibited. Council, without input from its attorney, has yet to form an opinion.

"I look at the zoning and it tells you what you can do," said Mr. Gustafson. "If it doesn't say it, then I agree (with the ZBA), it's not allowed."

Council agreed there is an obvious gray area in the ordinance, since motor homes are not explicitly defined in it and the ordinance does not state that "all other uses are prohibited."

"The question remains, though," continued Mr. Gustafson, "Can a property owner, if there is no house, be allowed to have a motor home on his or her vacant lot?"

Compounding the issue, Mr. Dodson suggested, "We have to ask ourselves if this is something that we want or don't want to see happening in our community."

Mr. Dodson also said that if Council does decide to pursue an amendment to the ordinance, it must also determine if it should target just residential areas or include the city's other zoned areas, especially its downtown and tourist businessand commercial-zoned areas. He noted that motor homes are parked at the end of the Mill Slip, a commercial-zoned area owned by Arnold Transit Company, and behind the Veterans of Foreign Wars post, where city officials have determined people are living in the motor homes for long periods of time during the summer.

"I don't think anyone here has a problem with home owners having a motor home parked next to their house, just if the lot is vacant," Mr. Dodson explained.

Marina Business Is Down

This Year

Gene Elmer, chairman of the city's harbor committee, told Council that, as of mid-August, the city's marina business is down. He said transient slip usage is down seven percent from last year, the city's boat launch usage is down 10 percent, and seasonal slip holders are not going out as much.

"Most all the marinas in the state are down, as well," Mr. Elmer said. "We're still getting our seasonal trippers, but they're cutting way back on the number of trips they take and how long they go out. We're watching our expenses real tight."

He said Canadian marina business is down 20 percent while marinas in the state are down and average of 10 percent. Fuel revenue for the city marina is down roughly 20 percent, but, said Mr. Elmer, because fuel prices have been fluctuating so much, he will provide Council with the amount of fuel sold in gallons.

Council Wants MDOT

To Re-post Sports Signs

Mr. Dodson will contact Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to discuss re-installing the city's signs that displayed local school sports teams accomplishments, such as the football and girls basketball state championships from years past.

MDOT has been changing many road sign posts from metal to wood and is pushing to remove signs with school sports teams accomplishments from the road to cut down on sign pollution, said Les Therrian, the city's Department of Public Works director.

Mr. Gustafson brought the issue to Council's attention because when he was driving through the western Upper Peninsula on vacation, he saw the signs still up in many of the communities.

"I guess I would like for us to take a more aggressive approach to see what can be done with our athletic accomplishment signs," said Mr. Gustafson, who is also the LaSalle High School principal. "We're proud of our accomplishments and we should get to show it just like other communities are doing."

Mr. Therrian said MDOT wants to remove such signs from all communities.

"We can find out through our politicians if that is a state policy or a local MDOT representative's choice," said Mr. Gustafson.

"If MDOT doesn't want to do that anymore, I'd like to know why, even if they have to attend a meeting to explain it to us," said Mr. LaLonde. Council Is Full for First Time

Since November

Newly-elected Councilman Paul Fullerton was welcomed to his first official meeting by Mayor Paul Grondin. It is the first time Council has had a full board since last November, when Mayor Bruce Dodson retired.

Mr. Grondin, then a councilman, won the mayoral election and vacated his council seat, which Mr. Fullerton now fulfills until it expires in November 2007.

Bus Station Engineers Bid

Close to Winner

Mr. Dodson informed Council that he, Mr. Therrian, and MDOT are close to selecting an engineer for the city's new bus station. The city received seven bidders and, said Mr. Dodson, "we've managed to whittle the list down to two or three finalists."

The city has the authority to select the winning bidder with the approval of MDOT, Mr. Dodson explained.

The city's Real Estate Committee will be involved in the city's final selection. Mayor, City Manager Historical

Compilation List Started

Mayor Paul Grondin passed out a compilation of past mayors and city managers of St. Ignace, which traces the chief politician to 1882, when Brooks B. Hazelton was village president.