Vanessa Dietz/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton City Police Chief John Donnelly, City Manager Eric Waara and Treasurer Jodi Reynolds discuss the purchase of a new police vehicle at Wednesday's council meeting.

HOUGHTON — Houghton City Council tackled a hodgepodge of business in a less than half-hour meeting Wednesday evening.

After a brief public hearing on another matter, the council approved spending $21,000 on a new police vehicle and any necessary equipment, which will also be augmented by a $14,000 grant from Rural Development, for a total cost of $35,000.

“Our vehicles are old,” said Police Chief John Donnelly. “We want to keep them on the road.”

At least some of the standard add-ons won’t be needed.

“We can just transfer the radio and other equipment to the new vehicle,” said City Manager Eric Waara.

In other news, females working on the third floor of the City Centre can look forward to not waiting in line as long for the bathroom.

The council accepted a bid from LJJ Construction, of Houghton, for $15,899 to remodel and add a toilet to the third floor women’s bathroom, which Waara said hasn’t been updated in years. The work will be done between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. at the request of Midwest Loan, which will pick up $1,019 of the tab; the difference in the price of having the work done during the day.

In addition, the council appointed several people to some of its boards: Debra Zei to the Housing Commission for five years; Gary Lubinski to the Planning Commission’s recreational tourism segment, and Gernot Joachim to the Planning Commission’s industrial economic segment, both for three years; Mike Tomasi and Richard Gray to the Downtown Development Authority for four years; Illa Garver to the Board of Review for three years; David Plowe and Robert Megowen to the Portage Lake Water and Sewage Authority for two years; and Dan Salo to the Local Development Finance Authority. Their terms begin Jan. 1.

Travis Pierce also applied for a spot on the Planning Commission, but it had only two openings. Waara said the council would welcome him the next time a seat opens.

The council scheduled a “re-hearing” on Jan. 25 to consider adopting a slightly amended parking ordinance aimed at closing a potential loophole.