After a long and arduous search process for Belleville's next city manager - officials are now back at square one.
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During last week's City Council meeting, board members agreed to offer Eric Wiederhold, a city administrator with Geneseo, Ill., a contract for a negotiable $62,000 annual salary. Several days later, the city had its answer and it was "no."
Acting City Manager and Clerk Diana Kollmeyer said Wiederhold cited personal reasons for not taking the position. Kollmeyer said that Wiederhold didn't feel it was the right career move for him and his family at the moment.
"(Mayor Richard Smith) talked to him a day or two after the last meeting, they had been talking back and forth, and he eventually told him that he was not going to accept the offer," Kollmeyer said.
Council members praised Wiederhold's experience throughout a number of past positions held in Missouri and Illinois. They also praised his enthusiasm shown during the interview held March 15.
Kollmeyer said she didn't know what the Council will want to do now.
"I haven't gotten a feeling about the next step," she said. "We have two City Council members out of state right now so I imagine that we will wait until the April 7 regular meeting for discussion."
Wiederhold holds an MBA from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Mo., a master's of public policy administration from the University of Missouri, a bachelor of arts from Olivet College in Michigan and a certificate from the Missouri Municipal Leadership Program. He is responsible for a number of governmental administrative responsibilities in his current position at Geneseo.
In other business, City Council members paved the way for the continued landscape and amenities improvements at Horizon Park. During its March 17 meeting, John Hennessy from Hennessy Engineers made a presentation about their plans to improve the park area by adding a pavilion, kiosk, permanent monument signs, new park benches and extending the dock space by 150 feet.
Hennessy said the highlight of the park will be the new pavilion which will have electricity for nighttime citywide events, and with the extended dock space people boating in from Belleville Lake will be able to access the park from the water.
In addition to the improvements, Hennessy will provide regular maintenance on the park and they have plans to install a sprinkler system.
The price tag for the Horizon Park project comes in at around $470,000 and that is in addition to the riverbank stabilization that already is underway and nearly completed, according to Department of Public Services Director Keith Boc. All of the funds came from state recreation improvement grants.
For more information on the City of Belleville, visit the Web site www.belleville-mi.us or call 697-9323.
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