The city’s Ordinance Committee on Mackinac Island will recommend waiting a year before implementing the sticker ban after hearing a plea from the owner of the Butterfly House, Bob Gale.

During a committee meeting Wednesday, January 18, Mr. Gale explained that he would be willing to work with the city to find a creative solution to the use of stickers to advertise his business that end up being pasted to public and private property around town.

“I have to get customers to the butterfly house,” Mr. Gale said. “I’ve tried advertisements, flyers, billboards, and the most help has always been that sticker.

“It’ll really affect us financially if we lost the sticker.”

The round stickers originally served two purposes, to advertise the business and as a ticket to allow customers to visit the butterfly house multiple times. He now uses the stickers solely for advertising purposes, as a giveaway.

If his business was in the downtown area, he added, he wouldn’t need the stickers. Customers would see his business while exploring downtown. But its location on McGulpin Street behind Ste. Anne’s Catholic Church removes his business from the path of most foot traffic.

Since his stickers were so popular, he said, other businesses on Mackinac Island have started their own sticker campaigns, but Mr. Gale said the other businesses giving away stickers don’t need the same kind of advertising because of their downtown location.

“I wish it were just my stickers we were worried about,” Mr. Gale said.

He also wants the opportunity to self-regulate the stickers, instead of an outright ban. He plans to talk to the other business using stickers to solve the problem.

He has looked at purchasing biodegradable stickers, with less adhesive, and is willing to experiment. He also noticed that the large groups tend to be the hardest to control, so he plans not to distribute stickers to larger groups.

Council member Armin Porter asked whether the Butterfly House has considered buttons, and Mr. Gale said he didn’t want to risk the liability of sharp pins with younger children.

Committee members Anneke Myers, Mike Hart, and Mr. Porter agreed to wait a year on the sticker ban.

“It’s good to see that you’re willing to help fix the problem,” Mrs. Myers said, “but the others aren’t.”

“I’m glad you realize that it’s an issue,” Mr. Hart agreed. “We’re all for voluntary action. We’d prefer not passing another ordinance if we don’t have to.”

The committee’s recommendation will go to the city council for approval. The committee did warn Mr. Gale that if he couldn’t find a solution with significant results, they would move forward the ordinance banning businesses from distributing stickers.

Board of Public Works Chairman Steve Moskwa and its director, Bruce Zimmerman, proposed an idea requiring property owners to be responsible for outstanding water and sewer bills.

Leaseholders are responsible for paying the bills, but when a renter of a home or business leaves, they sometimes forget to cancel service. When they receive a bill for the service later, they refuse to pay since they no longer use the service.

Making the landowner or state leaseholder responsible for the water and sewer bill would probably be the best way for the city, said city attorney Tom Evashevski.

“Everyone on the DPW board seems to think it’s a good idea,” Mr. Moskwa said. “They were all definitely in favor.”

Current discussion has focused on residential renters, Mr. Zimmerman told The St. Ignace News, but the board will also consider business owners who rent commercial space.

Although all committee members agreed with the idea, Mrs. Myers asked that the department attempt collecting any outstanding balances before requiring the property owners to claim responsibility.

The committee supported the idea of creating a new residential zone for Harrisonville. During the January 10 Planning Commission meeting, discussion of a new fence ordinance raised concerns that strict fencing requirements shouldn’t apply to Harrisonville.

A number of special exemptions in the zoning ordinance are already in place for Harrisonville, Mr. Evashevski pointed out.

The changes in the zoning ordinance could wait until other issues before the planning commission and city council have been resolved, he said, and roll the new zoning district in with a number of other started projects, or the commission and the council could start working on a new zoning district right away.

“I don’t see any reason to hold this up,” Mrs. Myers said. “This could open a lot of avenues for us to solve other issues.”