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NILES — The Niles City Council met as scheduled Monday evening. However, instead of the usual location at the Niles Fire Department building, or even the last alternative location of the Niles Utilities Service Center building, the council members met virtually. As the COVID-19 pandemic — and its accompanying mandates and precautions — continue, so do the adaptations of public meetings to online formats.

With all council members present but council member William Weimer, the meeting was hosted in the online Zoom format, which allowed the public to attend and submit questions and comments during the agenda’s citizen participation times. When the opportunity presented, the council allowed two minutes for questions and comments to be submitted, and the meeting progressed when there were none.

The council unanimously passed their agenda of six items, which included the usual approval of minutes from the March 23 meeting and paying of bills dated April 6.

At the close of the meeting, council members were invited to give reports and comments. Most used the time to thanked James Stump for getting the Zoom meeting organized and set up for the council members, and thanked citizens for taking care to heed the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order.

Council member Daniel VandenHeede acknowledged that there is confusion about the executive orders coming down from the governor’s office.

“I just ask people to have a little bit of patience and a little bit of faith in that the leaders don’t know everything, but they know more than we do,” VandenHeede said. “Just try to abide by [the executive orders] the best you can. If you have questions, then reach out to people who might have answers for you, although we have to accept that none of us have the perfect answers to the situation.”

Council member John DiCostanzo said that while he was grateful for the measures that were put in place, and how safe the essential businesses felt when he visited, that he felt the measures were becoming too heavy.

“As we gather data, we may be finding that the virus is not as dangerous as originally thought,” DiCostanzo said, “I think it is a mistake on the governor’s part to treat our area like the counties near Detroit.”

He went on to acknowledge that he is in the high-risk health groups for contracting COVID-19, but that he felt very safe with the precautions taken in the community. He doubled down as he criticized “one-size fits-all decisions” that he felt could create more harm to communities than the spread of the virus.

“People who are in the high-risk categories should be allowed to make their own decisions, as well as the folks in the low-risk categories,” DiCostanzo said. “If we go into a deep recession or a depression, we’re going to have a lot more harm caused to our communities than by maintaining this lockdown.”

Also Monday, the council voted to authorize Mayor Nick Shelton to execute the Certified Local Government Certification Agreement with the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, as well as the National Parks Service. This will allow Niles to have access to additional funding to continue working on historic preservation issues in historical structures owned by the city.

Additionally, the city approved the entering into a Mutual Aid Memorandum of Understanding with investor-owned utilities in Michigan. This allowed the utilities manager to sign the memorandum. Memorandums such as these provide aid in times of disaster, including the current pandemic. Utilities, like water, have been ordered not to be shut off by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive Order 2020-28. Niles had begun restoring utilities to those who had had them shut off due to non-payment as early as March 30.

The final point on the agenda for the council to consider was also voted on unanimously. The council adopted a resolution to approve the improvement of Grant Street, from west city limits to Lincoln Avenue, and Wayne Street, from Front Street to M-51 North. These improvements would include concrete sidewalk ramp work and related necessary work. The city’s share of this cost is $104, 000.