Committee formed to select next PD Chief

Sgt. Repshas serving as Interim Chief

 

ALMONT — The process to select the new Almont Police Chief is moving along.

During the regular meeting of the Almont Village Council on June 4, council members took steps to form an “Interim Police Chief Interview Selection Committee” for the purpose of screening and interviewing candidates for the vacant position.

The job posting carried a filing deadline through May 30, and Almont PD Sgt. Dave Repshas has been filling the role of chief since the retirement of former chief Andy Martin.

Martin began his career in law enforcement in Almont in 2001, and served as chief since 2017.

During the Village Council’s meeting on May 28, President Steve Schneider suggested the formation of the ad hoc interview committee, with the topic tabled until the June 4 meeting in order to gather more information.

Schneider said he sought a legal opinion about the committee from the village’s labor attorney, who informed him that “the hiring and firing [is] based on recommendations from our village manager, and salary, that is a budgetary item for our village manager.”

Because of that opinion, Schneider renewed his recommendation to approve the formation of the ad hoc committee, consisting of Village Council President Pro-Tem Tim Dyke, council member Melinda Steffler, and Schneider himself.

The committee also includes Interim Village Manager Dale Kerbyson as well as Lapeer County Prosecutor John Miller.

Schneider said he aims to also fill out the committee with “hopefully a police chief or somebody with law enforcement command experience.” The committee will together interview the applicants to the vacant police chief position.

The formation of the committee was approved in a 3-1 vote, with Schneider abstaining from the vote and council member Peter Feldman voting no, citing “personal reasons” for the dissension.

In other Almont Village Council news: Craig Hilliker, owner of downtown Almont eatery Roots, was on hand to speak to council members regarding his business’s application for a Social District permit.

Roots will make use of the pocket park adjacent to the restaurant as well as participating in various summer events and activities. The application was approved unanimously.

Roots will be celebrating the six-year anniversary of its ribbon-cutting next month.

The council unanimously approved a number of motions related to the budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025 that includes increases to water and sewer rates in the village.

The changes are effective July 1, 2024 and are in line with a long-term rate step plan based on a water rate analysis created in 2021.

The rate increases are also comparable to increases from the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).

The overall budget for the 2024-2025 was also approved unanimously, with Kerbyson commenting that the council “once again proposed a balanced budget, [and] each fund has a stable fund balance that is well within the state’s recommended dollar or percent values.”

Kerbyson said that the budget “is pretty comprehensive but includes work throughout the community and leaves us with good fund balance to move forward on anything else that may come up.”

The Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) is offering communities a grant opportunity for sidewalk rehabilitation “outside their normal realm of business,” said Kerbyson, applicable not only to MDOT roads but other major streets as well.

Kerbyson said there has been discussion related to “extending a section of sidewalk” that connects St. Clair Street to a newly built subdivision on Kidder Road (Drakeshire Blvd) south of the intersection of the two roads.

As part of the grant requirements, MDOT seeks “public support,” said Kerbyson, and said “sidewalks are a very important item to the community as well as the Council.”

The project will be mostly in the road’s right-of-way, but Kerbyson said there are “two cases where we will have to get permission from those property owners, where we will have to go up into their property.”

Kerbyson visited with the two property owners last week and received a signed “letter of support” from both.

He said the cost of the project is estimated to be $500,000, with the grant covering up to $200,000 of that cost.

The remaining cost would come from the village’s fund balance, with Kerbyson saying the village would be “fiscally sound in absorbing that cost if we have to.”

The council unanimously approved a motion to allow Kerbyson to apply for the MDOT grant.