By Dennis Minich
On Monday night, the Adrian Board of Aldermen approved two special projects to be held in the downtown area.
The board gave the go-ahead to the Chamber of Commerce for the Fall Festival set for Oct. 17 and also approved the annual Sight and Safety Night on Halloween.
The Adrian Chamber had voted Monday afternoon to proceed with the festival with some changes from previous years to accommodate COVID-19 precautions. It will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be stricter controls on food vendors and there will be fees for vendors and for the car show. There will be no tractor show this year.
Youngsters will be able to trick or treat from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 31. The only ordinance on the board of aldermen’s agenda was concerning regulations for medical marijuana in the city, but because certain elements of the ordinance are unclear, it was tabled until the October meeting. That meeting will be Oct. 13 because the regular Monday night falls on Columbus Day.
The board passed a motion allowing the city clerk to pay the city’s credit card bill without waiting for the board’s monthly vote to approve. It was explained by board member Sue Miller said the city has paid late fees “several times” in recent months because the bill did not come until after the meeting. The late fees were $137 each month.
After examining bills, there did appear to be an issue with a late payment which caused the problem, but it was likely not caused by waiting for a vote. But the board agreed it was best to pay the bill as it came in.
The board was told the fees had been paid to reopen the city’s webpage adrianmo.org, but there was no content on it at this time. It was also discussed that an idea to allow online bill paying for the city’s water bill was not possible because the bill also covers trash collections.
Members of the board said they will explore how other cities in the area handle such collections.
