Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette A public hearing date for a Commercial Rehabilitation District for the Downtowner Motel has been set for Dec. 10 at the Houghton City Council meeting on Wednesday.

HOUGHTON — The Houghton City Council has set up a public hearing for Dec. 10 for the creation of a Commercial Rehabilitation District for the Downtowner Motel and the apartment addition which goes down to Lakeshore Drive. The property, 110 Shelden Ave, appears to be changing hands according to Houghton City Manager Eric Waara.

“But in order to get the process rolling, the new owners would like the council to consider creating a commercial rehabilitation district for that particular part,” he said.

The council discussed the next steps following the November election results regarding the charter amendment to the Conflict of Interest Ordinance. The council will be the entity to implement the ordinance, but it must first be drafted. Waara said the city attorney recommended the council form a committee to create the draft, but to draw on a sample available through the Michigan Municipal League.

“Because the language that’s in there with of all these things that need to happen, there’s a lot of nuances in there especially when the word ‘ethics’ got thrown in there, and you’re going to be writing an ordinance governing ethics, which to me, I might have put it a little bit too flippantly before, but it’s like trying to write an ordinance to govern the weather,” Waara said. “So I think it’s not going to be a simple process, but I think the council should be going into this in measured steps so we get the best result.”

The council will discuss setting up a committee meeting at the Dec. 10 council meeting. The committee meeting will take place sometime in January. After the council approves of the draft, it will send it to the city attorney for review.

In other action, the council reappointed Jim Gentry to the Housing Commission Board and City Council member Mike Needham to the Local Development Finance Authority.