Council Hears More on Rustic Owl Display Dispute

By DIANNE ALWARD-BIERY

Cleaver Senior Staff Writer

HARRISON – Actions taken by Harrison City Council at its Sept. 9 meeting began with adoption of Aug. 19 Council meeting minutes and adoption of the day’s Council bills. That was followed by the Mayor’s Report, in which Dan Sullivan thanked everyone at City Hall for all they do, as well as all those who came out to the Street Fair and for all the work that was put into making it a successful event. Sullivan also nominated Jenna Bristol and Leif Smith for appointment to the Downtown Development Authority Board, and those appointments were motioned, seconded and unanimously approved by Council.

The only visitor listed on the agenda was Malisa Dinnan, owner of The Rustic Owl located at the corner of West Main and Second streets (former Harrison District Library location). She began by apologizing for missing a previous meeting, saying that she had been operating under the assumption that if there was a problem, she would have been notified. Dinnan also said the zoning ordinance clarifications regarding outdoor displays of merchandise had moved in a direction she did not agree with, particularly for the items she displays on the Second Street side of her business. She went on to describe herself as a woman of her word, and that she has kept her display clean, organized and respectful for Harrison. Dinnan also spoke of the customers she believes she and her team have brought into the city by virtue of the outdoor merchandise display.

“And if you make me take our stuff in, it’s going to affect our business,” Dinnan said. “We pay takes on that corner – they’re paid already. We bought our building. I don’t feel I’m doing anything to show shame to Harrison. I feel I’m adding to Harrison – and I don’t even live in Harrison – but I believe this is where we should be. And I feel we’re being punished.”

Dinnan then assured that she would be at the next Harrison Planning Commission meeting, and continue on until the issue is resolved – after which she would not promise anything.

Council member Karen Hulliberger clarified that the actions will be those of the Planning Commission, and Council member Connie Huffman assured that Council understood Dinnan had tried to stay within the bounds of the guidelines as the ordinance is stated.

“But mostly what we’ve discussed is winter, the time when if stuff is out it can either be a liability for the City or a liability for you,” Huffman said. “Or injuries to people inadvertently happening because of stuff being out. So that’s why the ordinance is in place in the first place, and if the Planning Commission wants to change it or make an exception, we’d have to go with that. But we have to go with what the ordinance says.”

Dinnan continued to make her case for managing her displays as she felt was responsible, including being mindful of windy weather and potential damage, and acting according to her own judgement. She also spoke of customers who are drawn into her business, in turn becoming more aware of the other businesses on Second Street.

“I’m trying to get the people off the Main drag to come down and realize what Second Street has to offer,” she said. “They’re not going to come in if there’s nothing on the [Main Street] side.”

Mayor Pro Tem Angela Kellogg-Henry explained that no one on Council or the Planning Commission thinks the problem is Dinnan as her business displays look beautiful, but that there is an obligation to be fair. She cited the “give an inch, take a mile” scenarios of the neighboring plumbing business lining the sidewalk in front of their business with toilets, or “Junk Yard Joe” starting a business and setting out things. She said the City’s obligation is to be fair, and if Dinnan has been doing things conscientiously, but those additional entities don’t do the same – then the City has a problem. Kellogg-Henry urged Dinnan not to take the situation personally, as it is simply what every municipality has to do.

One of the Rustic Owl’s vendors also attended and spoke of the community mindedness of the business and its vendors, as well as the common desire to be a positive part of the Harrison community.

The meeting then moved on to Reports of Committees and Department Heads, beginning with Fire Chief Chris Damvelt who reported 330 runs year-to-date. He said 37 of those runs were from 3 p.m. to midnight on Aug. 27, which included M-61 West being shut down at Phil’s Canoe Livery for 14 hours due to a downed power line.

“Dealing with a lot of irate people, because there’s no good detour out there,” Damvelt said. “You’re either in the dirt, in the two-track, or you come back to town. So, we had some fun there.”

Speaking of the Street Fair, Damvelt noted that he and Bob Stewart had served up snow cones to 300 people, along with popcorn, in addition to participating in the Kids Carnival. He also spoke of the planned 9/11 Walk to be held at the high school athletic field, with 37 laps equaling 9.11 miles. Damvelt reminded that the fire department’s annual golf outing would be Sept. 21, as will be the Firemen’s Memorial in Roscommon where the late Dan Little’s name will be placed on the wall.

In his report, DPW Superintendent Sam Russell noted maintaining grass and trash, and that the old Remedy lot had been amended with topsoil and hydroseeded – and after 12 days was starting to look good. At that point, Council member Phil Duggan suggested that all the in-house work done on the Remedy project had likely saved the City of Harrison at least $50,000. Russell also informed that the stop signs for the new 4-way at the Second and Beech streets intersection would likely be going up that same week. He said that due to the fully hard-surfaced areas and the subsurface fiber and gas mains, etc., the DPW would be fabricating brackets for the two existing power poles for mounting the two additional stop signs.

Utilities Clerk Kathy Maharas reported that things went smoothly for Street Fair, and informed that Gail Garrity had won the Robotics prize and had worn her Harrison sweatshirt on the Mackinac Bridge Walk – which Maharas called good advertising for Harrison. She also declared that the Water Department is not just good, but “waterful.”

It was also noted that 172 cars came into town during the Old 29 Car Tour event: a number arrived at by the diligent counting of City Manager/Clerk Justin Cavanaugh.

Ordinance Enforcement Officer Mike Freeman reported things as being pretty quiet around town, with a few small things which are usually taken care of by the next day.

Treasurer Tracy Wheeler-Clay reported that taxes were due Aug. 14, and the next additional penalty to accrue – if the taxes were not yet paid – would be Sept. 16 [due to Sept. 14 being on Saturday]. She urged those who had not yet paid to do so, also urging low-income seniors to come in so they could sign a deferment which would avoid a penalty and allow more time to pay.

In his report, Cavanaugh informed that he had met with the Budget Committee to start working on the budget but that was slightly stalled due to waiting on health insurance information. In the vein of budgeting, Cavanaugh noted that in the process of doing the wage analysis an employee, who is also on the fire department, was identified as receiving more for hourly fire runs than he was making with the City. Thus, Cavanaugh was seeking to raise that wage by $1 per hour to make the positions more wage comparable.

Under New Business, Council moved to approve setting the official trick-or-treating hours for Halloween in Harrison as 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 31, and to close N. Second Street from Main Street to Beech Street during that time for Halloween celebrations.

Also approved was the $1 per hour wage adjustment for Remi Lipovsky to be reflected on the employee’s next paycheck.

Harrison City Council will meet next at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23 at Harrison City Hall, 2105 Sullivan Drive.