June 24th’s City of Hart Council meeting saw a proposal from prospective business owners, a grant to revitalize downtown Hart and the first steps towards finding a replacement for City Manager Rob Splane, who recently announced his resignation from the post.
Lauren and Tony Dematteo represented their company, Dark Water Coffee Roasters, and are interested in expanding their operations to their own manufacturing facility in Hart. They are interested in purchasing a parcel of land - which is city-owned - in the Industrial Park where they can operate, produce and provide another destination for tourism. Their products, at the moment, are available in a variety of local establishments.
The council read over the Dematteos’ proposal, listened to their presentation and expressed excitement to see another business come to Hart to employ locals and contribute to the city’s economy. They approved the purchase of city property and will pass the business owners along to the planning commission to square away construction plans.
Resolution 2025-19, the adoption of the 2025 budget amendments, was approved unanimously following Splane’s explanation of the minimal changes to the budget.
The following Resolution 2025-20, sparked more discussion. The City of Hart will be awarded a grant of $1 million to complete the proposed downtown streetscape design, should the city follow three conditions set by TIFA. These conditions include the removal of the Main Street Market chalets in front of the Tin Man to expand the adjacent parking lot, the ADA compliance of said parking lot and a promise to renew TIFA for another 15 years when the time comes to renew in 2027.
There were some considerations to be had, such as feedback from affected businesses and previous grant providers, the completion of a traffic study for the expansion of the lot, and TIFA’s current lack of its next 15-year plan. If the council did not approve of these conditions, the following Resolution 2025-21 was drafted to pursue an alternative funding source.
This discussion to accept the TIFA conditions was spearheaded by member Andrew Mullen, who championed this grant and encouraged his fellow council members to “get something [down] on paper so that we don’t miss out on this grant opportunity. There’s a million dollars on the line that will really help us pay for a downtown revitalization that hasn’t happened since I was born.”
Mullen also explained that the chalets would need to be removed anyway while construction took place to allow delivery trucks to service Main Street business owners and that there was little interest from any involved parties in replacing them where they are now.
Splane reminded the council that the chalets were part of a USDA grant, which would need their approval before moving them elsewhere. A complete removal of the chalets may require Hart to pay back the USDA grant. Member Jim Cunningham believed the USDA would not discourage the moving of the chalets: “I don’t see any government agencies saying, ‘you’re going to lose a million dollars because you move these [chalets] across the street for the betterment of the community.’” Cunningham agreed with Mullen that the council should accept the TIFA conditions.
In terms of implementing ADA-compliant parking, member Betty Root said that, as someone who would utilize handicap parking, the implementation would be very helpful. Mullen also spoke to the importance of ADA compliance and that “handicap accessible parking spaces just make sense with the demographics of who we have in our community.”
As of now, the parking lot, which has replaced Walker’s Bar, has two handicap parking spaces.
Mayor Amanda Klotz asked, should the chalets be moved and their location turned back into a parking lot, if there were any concerns about safety around the Tin Man sculpture. Mullen assured the topic had been discussed, but it was part of the many small items that were “bogging down” the discussion when the focus should rather be on approving conditions to receive the grant. For now, specifics about the Tin Man and the chalets’ new location will be decided at a later time.
Following the lengthy discussion, the council unanimously approved accepting the conditions laid out by TIFA in order to receive the funding for the streetscape project. This rendered Resolution 2025-21, considering alternative funding, moot.
Finally, the council unanimously decided to use the recruitment firm, Double Haul Solutions, to find a new city manager to replace Splane. Of the three firms that offered the City of Hart their services - Double Haul Solutions, Pivot Group and the Michigan Municipal League - Double Haul was the middle choice in terms of costs and services. They were also the most locally based group, who seemed to put community and finding an applicant to match, as a priority. Member Catalina Burillo deferred to Splane on which firm he believed would deliver the best applicant, and while he believed all would produce adequate results, he believed Double Haul and those who work there, one of whom Splane knows personally, would do right by the city.
