Owosso finance director Brad Barrett leaving, city manager says

Owosso is losing its finance director. City Manager Nathan Henne told the City Council on Aug. 17 that Finance Director Brad Barrett "will be moving on to a larger community," according to the meeting minutes, which the council approved Sept. 8. Henne said Barrett will be missed, encouraged people to thank him, and said he anticipates that finding a new finance director will be challenging.

The minutes do not give Barrett's last day, name the community he is going to, or say how the city will cover the job in the meantime.

The same meeting put a house on the west end of town on the clock. Council members voted 7-0 to declare 1405 W. Main St. a public nuisance and authorize the city to clean it up if the owner does not. Community Development Director Tanya S. Buckelew investigated the property and recommended the action; the resolution says code enforcement red-tagged the premises for not having potable water and personally informed the owners of the surrounding hazardous conditions on or about July 13.

Under the resolution, the owner gets formal written notice and 10 days to fix the conditions. If that deadline passes, city crews or a hired contractor can enter the property and do the work, and the full cost — labor, contractor fees, administrative expenses, legal fees and notice costs — gets charged against the property as a special assessment and collected like taxes. The estimated cost is $5,000.

That is the same mechanism now catching up with three other Owosso properties. The Current reported that the council held hearings Sept. 8 on $116,107 in unpaid cleanup costs at 117 W. Exchange St., 321 E. Williams St. and 326 S. Dewey St. The Aug. 17 consent agenda is where those three rolls were reset: the council rescinded the earlier resolutions and adopted new ones renumbering the districts from 2026 to 2027 and setting the Sept. 8 hearing date. The balances listed were $54,578.12 at 117 W. Exchange, $26,591.90 at 321 E. Williams and $34,937.40 at 326 S. Dewey.

The consent agenda, approved 7-0 on a roll call by Councilmembers Christopher D. Owens, Emily S. Olson, Carl C. Ludington, Rachel M. Osmer and Janae L. Fear, Mayor Pro-Tem Jerome C. Haber and Mayor Robert J. Teich, Jr., also carried three spending items. The city locked in five years of Cisco Webex Calling phone service through Logicalis, Inc. at $9,910.08 a year, or $49,550.40 total, and bought CrowdStrike Falcon identity-threat and exposure-management software from CDW Government LLC for $20,530. Both skipped competitive bidding under cooperative purchasing contracts.

The third was a housing item that grew before the vote. Council amended the agenda to raise CDBG Round 1 Contractors' Quotes #7 from $39,141.86 to $91,541.86 — an increase of $52,400 — "to accommodate the quotes submitted." The money comes from a $926,300 Community Development Block Grant for interior and exterior home repairs, and the resolution itemizes the work: $20,000 to CLE Construction on Broadway, $4,900 to CLE for an emergency change order on N. Chipman, $27,500 to CLE on Huntington, $28,500 to Keyes Quality Construction on W. South St. and $10,641.86 to Weather Vane on S. Park St.

Ludington stepped out for one vote. The council voted 6-0 to let him abstain from contracts with Ludington Electric, Inc., citing a conflict of interest, and he left the room at 7:09 p.m. The remaining six then approved $2,345.86 in July billings from the firm — $1,825.44 for final electrical work at the splash pad, $400.42 for a DPW hookup and $120 to diagnose plant equipment. He returned at 7:10 p.m.

Two residents raised neighborhood complaints. Kate Neese of 815 N. Chipman St. spoke in favor of a single trash hauler, citing wear on streets from multiple haulers and the lack of curbside recycling. Jerry Hittle of 821 Walnut St. said he has not seen fewer minibikes on his streets and asked for stepped-up enforcement, and asked that the DPW sweep his street more often because intersections flood in rain. Teich said Owosso police impounded a couple of minibikes that weekend but officers have to witness violations, and urged residents to keep calling the non-emergency dispatch line. Utilities Director Glenn Suchanek said the DPW targets areas with the street sweeper when rain is expected. A third resident, Daniel Vargas of 715 Lynn Street, criticized the splash pad replacement and a ticket he received, and the minutes record that he was asked to leave the meeting by the Public Safety Director.

What happens next: the 10-day notice period at 1405 W. Main St. determines whether the city hires the work out and assesses the cost. The council's next regular meeting after Aug. 17 was Sept. 8, and eight seats remain open on city boards and commissions, including three on the Planning Commission. The Current has asked no one yet about Barrett's departure date; the minutes are the only record so far.