The Mackinaw City Village Council denied the special event request of Richard Carlson of Harbor Springs to hold a rally Sunday, September 6, citing safety concerns during the council's Thursday, August 20 meeting.

The event, called "March on the Mack, Taking our Country Back," was described as a non-partisan rally to inform the public of recent political events concerning the state and the nation. The decision to attempt to conduct it before Labor Day was to make it more "patriotic," the organizer said, and reach the maximum number of people possible.

According to a special event form submitted to the council, about 2,500 people would be anticipated to join the rally. Village President Ronald Wallin expressed concern about the timing of the event, saying Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest weekends Mackinaw City experiences and such an event would cause crowded conditions and could stretch the police force thin.

The council was assured by the organizer that the impact the rally would have upon the city would be minimal, as it would have its own clean-up crew and that a similar rally had been held in Petoskey without any problems.

Trustee James Alford countered that argument, saying there is a big difference between Petoskey and Mackinaw City.

Mr. Wallin asked if liability insurance had been obtained for the rally, to which the organizer said it had not. The event was identified as a nonprofit venture, but did not possess the appropriate paperwork to be classified as such.

When put to a vote, the council was divided on the issue, resulting in 4-3 decision to deny the request. Mr. Wallin, Mr. Alford, Janelle Bancroft, and Belinda Mollen voted to deny the request. Jeff Hingston, Lana Jaggi, and Matthew Yoder voted against the motion to deny.

Zodiac Boat to be Purchased

The purchase of a 2005 Zodiac inflatable boat for $2,200 from Mackinac State Historic Parks was unanimously approved during the council meeting. The boat will be used by the fire department to respond to water emergencies near shore. The boat is 12 feet long and can hold up to five people.

"We've had a couple of calls this year that were either swimmer related or boat-related that we didn't have access to," Village Manager Jeff Lawson said.

The village receives several offshore rescue calls a year, he said, with about five calls received this year. Rescuers would equip themselves with lifejackets and ropes and swim out to the person needing aid before the purchase of the boat.

An incident occurred where one person who needed to be rescued was relatively far from shore, Mr. Lawson said, which resulted in a private boat from the marina responding to the call.

"You can only go so far when you're swimming off-shore," he said

Mr. Lawson believes the purchase of the boat will improve the village's water rescue capabilities greatly.

Purchase of Matthews

Property Approved The council approved an amendment to the general fund budget to include the future purchase of the Matthews Property, located on West Central Avenue, after a split vote of 4 to 3. The property has several dilapidated structures on it, Mr. Lawson said, which will be removed once the sale is concluded.

No development plans are in the works for the property at this time, he said. Mr. Wallin, Mr. Alford, Mrs. Bancroft, and Mr. Hingston voted in favor of the budget amendment to include the purchase of the property.

The property may be used for future village purposes, Mr. Wallin said. The 10-lot parcel, was initially being sold for $125,000. The price was later reduced to $55,000 which spurred the council to act.

"That's basically $5,000 a lot. That's unheard of in this area," Mr. Wallin said.

The transaction should be complete by the end of August, he said.

Road Project Updates

Reconstruction of M-108 has been scheduled for 2010 along with coordinating it with the East Central road project next spring. While M-108 is worked on, traffic will be re-routed to East Central Avenue for most of the project. While East Central Avenue is paved, traffic is planned to be redirected to Jamet Street, according to the manager's report.

Paving of East Central Avenue is still planned to begin in spring of 2010 as soon as weather permits. While paving is conducted, parking and travel will be constrained to one side of the road.