Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette
Houghton City Manager Eric Waara received a 92% evaluation from the city’s personnel committee. He was briefed on the evaluation prior to Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

HOUGHTON — Houghton City Manager Eric Waara again received high marks during his performance review.

Waara received 92% in his evaluation, Mayor Brian Irizarry said during Wednesday’s meeting.

“Hopefully that translates to support for what we have accomplished, and what we’re going to accomplish,” Waara said after the meeting.

Council members praised Waara’s performance during the meeting.

“We’re fortunate to have the city manager we have,” Backon said. “He’s doing an excellent job for his whole community. And we should try to give him as much of our support as we possibly can.”

Megowen agreed.

“Creating a team is a tough job, especially over the past three, six, eight years,” he said.

Waara also complimented the job the Department of Public Works had done in setup and takedown for Winter Carnival and Jibba Jabba on successive weekends.

Councilor Robert Megowen said organizers at Rhythm and Mont Ripley had been impressed by DPW’s dedication.

“They really thought that was a big part of it, that Public Works was so enthused about helping build that, ” he said. “…They built it quick, and they had fun building it, and it showed their pride.”

In a letter to the council, Visit Keweenaw Executive Director Brad Barnett thanked the city, as well as Megowen for championing the return of Jibba Jabba after a decade away. An estimated 1,000 people attended in person, with another 12,000 watching Visit Keweenaw’s livestream, Barnett said.

The council also approved Huntington Bank’s bid for bonds for the city’s $1.5 million city match for the Lakeshore Drive corridor rehabilitation project. The council chose a 15-year payback option for the bonds, which will be used to fund the teardown of the deck this spring.

Plans for the parking deck removal and rehabilitation of the area will be finalized this week, Waara said. Bidding will be released the first week of March, with bids due in April.

The week of April 10, consultants from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. will meet with owners of deck-facing businesses on Lakeshore Drive for resiliency planning.

With the deck coming down, parking will also be an issue. Police Chief John Donnelly, Clerk Ann Vollrath and DPW Supervisor Ryan Avent met to discuss how parking will be handled after the deck.

Instead of 150 spots under the deck, there will be about 300 outdoor spots, Donnelly said. With no deck, cars will need to be moved back and forth periodically for plowing.

“It’s going to be a challenge, but we’re going to try to get ahead of it and not wait until December of next year to figure out where we’re all going to park,” he said.

Prior to the meeting, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a setback variance request for 501 Memorial Dr. The owners of the property, Dairyland Operations, plan to demolish the existing building, formerly used by Hardeee’s and other restaurants, in order to construct a smaller building for a new Dunkin’ Donuts.

Waara said the new structure would have a better location and improved traffic flow over the current building.

The next step will be site plan review by the Planning Commission.

Several proposed ordinances discussed at the previous meeting, including restrictions on beekeeping and definitions for pollinator garden, were originally intended to be discussed Wednesday. However, that will be delayed so the council can make further revisions, Waara said. The city had received feedback as recently as Wednesday morning, Waara said.

“We’re going to take that input, some of which is going to incite a little bit more research here and there on somethings, and have some new drafts and discussion points next month,” he said.

The council also voted to condense agenda sections on future agenda items and announcements into a miscellaneous section. The resolution passed 5-2. Voting against it were Mayor Brian Irizarry and Councilor Virginia Cole. Irizarry said the announcements could limit speech by other councilors who were not able to debate or discuss the speech; Cole said she wanted to have a time limit on comments, similar to those for public comment.