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ISHPEMING -- Ishpeming residents can now meet with the mayor for evening coffee.
To provide more opportunities for residents who work during the day, Mayor Jason Chapman is offering an evening version of his monthly coffee hour.
He said coffee hours are a place for open communication between residents and himself.
"Residents drive the conversations," Chapman said. "We discuss the good and bad going on."
The first evening coffee hour, held at the Ishpeming Senior Center, was on Monday.
At coffee hours, residents are able to ask questions and bring up concerns they have with what is going on in the city.
One concern brought up on Monday was snow plowing in the city.
Despite the lack of snow so far this winter, Chapman said snow plowing will look a little different this year.
At the end of October, the Ishpeming City Council held a special meeting to discuss the city's snow control plan. Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Firby brought up the prioritization of alleyways in the snow control plan.
"I think there are some alleyways that need to be higher priority ... because they are the only access point to people's homes," she said.
For residents with primary access to their home being an alleyway, those alleys would be treated like a roadway.
"There were some instances where we ordered them (Department of Public Works) to make some changes to their plowing strategies (and) spend a little more money in certain areas to get it done," Chapman said.
Residents will also see salt on the roads this year instead of sand. Chapman said a reason for the switch was to help make it easier to clean the roads.
Another concern brought up at the evening coffee hour was the status of Third Street.
Chapman said the city is looking at a grant that would help replace the storm system underneath and repave the road. He said he's not sure where they are at in the process, whether the application was still being looked at or denied.
He also gave an update on the U.S. 41/M-28 roundabout project.
According to a news release from the Michigan Department of Transportation, work on the project has been suspended for the season. Chapman said work will resume in the spring.
Until then, all lanes on U.S. 41/M-28 will be reopened to traffic. The detour of North Lakeshore Drive will be lifted and temporary traffic signals at the intersection of U.S. 41/M-28 and Country Lane will be deactivated.
MDOT invested $6.4 million to build the roundabout, widen the bridge over the Carp River and perform drainage work, as well as install guardrails, retaining walls, lighting, signs and pavement markings.
Work began in September and the overall project completion is scheduled for late October.
Ishpeming resident Claudia Demarest brought up an Ishpeming City Council closed session last week.
Due to a technical glitch, the closed session was broadcast on Channel 189. Demarest said pay raises for DPW general foreman Bill Anderson and Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library director Jessica Shirtz were discussed during that session.
According to the minutes of the April 25 special meeting, Ishpeming City Council voted to accept tentative agreements with the DPW chapter, clerical chapter and supervisory chapter of AFSCME Local 1282.
Chapman explained that part of the contract negotiations and contract language stated that once the new job descriptions were completed and language was cleaned up, Anderson and Shirtz would be given raises based on comparable communities with the same job descriptions and qualifications.
Chapman said one reason for the raise for Anderson was the addition of a water license that "took a lot of time and gives him more responsibility." He said the license is an important thing to have.
"It was a promised thing that we would be doing this. So we finally got all the language done and the job descriptions done, and we added a lot to the job description for the both of them as well," Chapman said. "When we came out of closed session, we made a motion to give him a $10,000 raise, as it was promised. So that, yes, that does finalize the contracts."
According to city officials, after the regular meeting, the city council directed management to continue with the direction from closed session as it related to the memorandum of understanding with the supervisory chapter. Management advised union representatives of the direction given and is in the process of preparing the letter of agreement to be reviewed by both the union and management.
"This document has not been signed by either party as it is still in development," city officials said. "Mayor Jason Chapman has not reviewed or signed this document."
He said Shirtz received a $5,000 raise based on comparable libraries and performance.
"Comparing our libraries to other libraries of this size, and some that have much larger populations, we have, in some instances, hundreds of more programs offered by the library," Chapman said. "Our library director is doing a fantasic job. Each year, there are more and more and more people coming to those programs, they find different programs, bring in different guests to the library and we service many different townships as well."
Chapman said the library is a source of pride because the library operates with far less people than other communities of its size on a much smaller budget. He noted ICPL's budget is $271,000 a year compared to other libraries whose operating budgets are up to $700,000 a year.
"So for them to be doing everything over there on that type of budget, and bringing in hundreds of more programs and thousands more people into the library for a year, based on all of that, we did give her a $5,000 raise," Chapman said. "And I do stick by both of them because they were a promise, and when you make a promise, you keep it."
He said both raises were included in the city's budget.
Residents interested in attending coffee hours can find dates on Chapman's Facebook page at facebook.com/chapmanforIshpeming.