Bessemer DDA seeks members

By PAMELA JANSSON

pjansson@yourdailyglobe.com

Bessemer — Members of Bessemer’s Downtown Development Authority underwent a shift in management at their Nov. 13 meeting and also reduced by half the number of meetings scheduled throughout the year.

The DDA also invites potential new members to apply to the authority.

It was the last meeting with Deputy Clerk Samantha Zakovec serving as a part-time administrator to the DDA.

Zakovec reported in a Nov. 15 email to The Globe that City Manager Mandy Lake now will assume the responsibilities that Zakovec has held in recent years.

“Mandy will be taking over officially at the next meeting,” stated Zakovec. “We were both there this week to make it an easy transition.”

Members also reduced by half the number of scheduled meetings in the year 2025, opting to go from monthly sessions to every other month. In 2024, 12 meetings had been scheduled, but five were cancelled, often due to a lack of quorum.

Zacovec emphasized that the DDA is hoping for interest from potential new members.

“They just need to have real interest in the downtown by working at a business downtown or in the industrial area, live in Bessemer, or own land in the downtown or industrial area,” she noted in her email. “We have been functioning with six out of nine members for too long now. We really need more people to apply to join.”

Current DDA members are Chairman David Osier, Stephanie Matonich, Dan Whitburn, Karen Stevens, Harry Swanson and City Council representative Mark Serwe.

The city also is seeking two members for its Planning Commission. Current members are commission chairman George Beninghaus, Richard Babbitt and City Council representative Mayor Peter Tacconelli.

To get an application for either group, visit cityofbessemer.org/government.

In other news, authority members authorized listing for $9,900 the empty lot at 221 S. Sophie St. that once held buildings for the former Gambles hardware store, a former pharmacy and several other prior businesses. The DDA hopes the land will attract commercial interest or use by professional services.

At the DDA’s Sept. 18 meeting, members approved the hiring of Associated Title and Closing Services Agency, Inc. in Ironwood to undergo title searches on seven DDA lots in hopes of marketing them all.

According to Zakovec, the DDA also acted on the following issues at the most recent Nov. 13 meeting:

— Approved a new one-year lease with the Bessemer Area Historical Society for the currently used property at 403 S. Sophie St. The ultimate goal is to move the society’s museum into the City Hall. “It will be a long process to fully integrate the Historical Society into the City Hall,” said Zakovec, but she added that members now wish to proceed with this plan after deciding that building a new facility on other property could result in being too expensive to maintain in the long run.

— Approved payment of up to $1,350 for costs related in refurbishing Christmas ornament lights that are placed throughout the downtown. Members of the city’s Department of Public Works will convert the units for use with LED bulbs.

— Approved a payment of $960 to Foley’s Tree Service LLC of Tomahawk, Wisconsin, for pruning downtown trees and for doing an annual treatment on the birch trees in the Ethnic Commons Park.

The DDA’s next regular meeting will be on Dec. 11 in the City Council chamber of the Bessemer City Hall.