Evan Bonsall, city commissioner, city of Marquette

MARQUETTE — The Marquette City Commission had two proclamations to make, and debated two hot topics at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday.

The first proclamation made was to recognize April 29 through May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week.

“I don’t think people realize some of the issues surrounding this topic, I encourage everyone to research this more and look more into the educational information you can find,” Mayor Pro Tem Cody Mayer said. “These events happen here in the U.P. as well.”

The proclamation states that on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week, the city will commemorate the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, continue to shine a light on this issue, and promote policies that will help solve this pervasive and tragic problem.

The second proclamation made was to recognize the 25th anniversary of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra and officially acknowledge its contributions to the Marquette community.

“I think Marquette is so fortunate to have a community asset like the MSO. They’ve provided so many incredible opportunities to the community, community members and local musicians for the past quarter of a century. I hope that they have 25 more successful years, and many years beyond that in the community,” Commissioner Evan Bonsall said.

The next item of business was to make a motion on a new fire truck purchase. The fire department currently uses a 2004 Pierce Arrow XT fire truck that has exceeded the average useful life of 15 years and is experiencing frame corrosion issues. Commissioners said they had seen the truck up close, and it is decaying. The cost of the truck would be $829,080.61, paid at the time of the order. The funds to pay for the truck would come from the American Rescue Plan Act. The motion passed 6-1, with Commissioner Fred Stonehouse opposed.

While Stonehouse agreed a new fire truck is needed, he was concerned about the city’s deficit. “We also have the big gorilla in the room, which is the $2 million deficit that we have in the coming budget. We do have $1.8, $1.7 million of ARPA money available that could partially plug that hole. If we use the ARPA money to buy a fire truck, we don’t have anything to help plug that hole,” he said.

There is an estimated lead time of 22 months for the truck.

The final item of business regarded a residential curbside recycling cart grant. The city applied for, and was awarded, two grants: the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy recycling infrastructure grant and the recycling partnership residential curbside recycling cart grant. The grants provide 64-gallon recycling carts at no cost to city residents.

The total budget for the project is $355,200, which includes $344,000 for the acquisition, assembly and distribution of the carts, and $11,200 for education and outreach. The EGLE recycling infrastructure grant and the recycling partnership residential recycling cart grant will provide $251,000 and $93,000 respectively for the carts. The recycling partnership residential recycling cart grant will also provide $6,200 for education and outreach and the remaining $5,000 in the education budget will come from the existing city solid waste fund budget. The project includes universal distribution of carts which automatically provides a cart to every residential household that is eligible for garbage service.

“I am on the side for the carts. I think we need to increase recycling if we’re going to stand here and say we are moving forward in environmental practices in Marquette, we need to be pushing for them,” Commissioner Jessica Hanley said.

Stonehouse had concerns about residents being able to store the carts at their residence, as they are fairly large containers. He also noted that a cart that large is not necessary for one- or two-person households.

“I don’t think this is the proper thing for the government to be forcing on its citizens,” Stonehouse said.

Bonsall echoed Stonehouse’s concerns about storage and the containers being too large for most households. He commented he felt it isn’t an efficient use of public resources, even if it isn’t using the city’s own money.

The motion to accept the grants for the carts was passed 4-2, with Bonsall and Stonehouse opposing.

For those who do not want to use the carts, the alternative option for recycling will be to take the recyclables to the transfer station.

A drivers license will need to be provided to show the resident lives in the city. The intention is to distribute the recycling carts this fall.

Taylor Johnson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is tjohnson@miningjournal.net.