Recap: Ferndale City Council Aug. 27 Meeting

Here are some highlights from Ferndale City Council's Monday evening meeting at .

Interim DPW director services

Council members voted to approve a contract with engineering and planning firm OHM to provide interim Director of Public Works services for the city and to move forward with permanently filling the Director of Public Works position.

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Ferndale City Manager April Lynch introduced Bill Kostick and Loyd Curetonhe, who will be working with the department as part of the contract. Cureton will serve as the interim Director of Public Works and Kostick will assist as-needed.

"I'm very impressed, it's a great city," Cureton said at the meeting. "I look forward to doing my part and helping continue that."

Contracts approved for police chief, fire chief

Council members approved two-year employment contracts for Ferndale Police Chief Tim Collins and Ferndale Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan. Both chiefs were under two-year contract agreements, which came up for renewal this month, Lynch said. No wage increases are included in the contracts.

Council members also unanimously approved a contract with Elster Water to replace the automatic water meter reading system with a stronger system as it was discovered that not all of the meters were being read automatically.

Lynch said Elster will pay for the upgrade and the project will be completed within eight to ten months. The replacements will take place outdoors and will not require workers to enter residents' homes, Lynch said.

Also at the meeting, council members decided to postpone action on an updated Other Post-Employment Benefits Investment Policy.

Downtown Ferndale updates

Chris Hughes, communications and marketing manager for the , discussed the DIY Street Fair and Funky Ferndale Art Fair coming up Sept. 13, 14 and 15.

"When these two shows come together, downtown Ferndale becomes the host of one of the best art fair weekends in the entire state," she said. Learn more about the event here.

Hughes also announced a new big-screen outdoor movie event coming to downtown Ferndale on Sept. 20 as part of the city's Third Thursday initiative. She said the specific movie is still being worked out and said they hope to set up the event on Vester Street.

The same night, the DDA will announce the top 10 finalists for the downtown Ferndale video contest, Hughes said. .

Hughes also announced that five more on-street bike racks are going in sometime after Labor Day.

Also at the meeting, Peggy Snow of the Ferndale Beautification Commission presented the August Beautification Awards. You can view the list of recipients here.

Public comment

The - Amy Butters, Jim O'Donnell, Raylon Leaks-May and Kevin Deegan-Krause - each spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. "We just wanted to come introduce ourselves to the council and to the community at large," Butters said.

CLEAR member and former council member Kate Baker also spoke about the school board election. She encouraged residents to look at the entire ballot since this is the first time Ferndale voters will see a school board race on the November ballot.

"Please remember that you have local initiatives and local candidates on this ballot," Baker said.

Four of the school board seats are up for election this year. There are also .

The next Ferndale City Council meeting will be held Sept. 10.