City Council Minutes

Mayor Christopher Johnson called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:30 p.m. in the Northville City Hall Council Chambers, 215 West Main Street, Northville, Michigan.

Present: Mayor Christopher Johnson, Mayor ProTem Carolann Ayers, Councilmembers Kevin Hartshorne, Jerome Mittman, and Thomas Swigart

Absent: None

Also Present: City Manager Gary Word, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Nicolette Bateson, Director of Public Works James Gallogly, Police Chief James Petres, Fire Chief James Allen, Parks and Recreation Director Traci Sincock, Housing Director Joanne Inglis, DDA Director Lori Ward, Youth Assistance Director Mary Ellen King; Housing Commissioners Butch Casterline, Sue Hooper, Bob Buckhave, and Charles Jerzycke; Dave Hamilton of George Auch Company, and Reporter Pauline Lupercio.

A. Citizen Comments: None

Proposed FY 2002 Public Improvement Fund Designations was added to the agenda as New Business 9I.

Motion Ayers, seconded by Mittman to approve the agenda and consent agenda as amended. Consent agenda as follows:

Approve City Council Minutes:

Regular Meeting of January 21, 2003

Approve Bills List: Checks #30508 to #30630

Checks #30631 to #30722

Checks #20723 to #30790

Receive Board and Commission Minutes:

Arts Commission: 1/18/03

Housing Commission: 12/11/02, 1/13/03, 1/14/03, 1/22/03

Parks and Recreation: 1/8/03

Senior Advisory Council: 1/16/03

Youth Assistance: 12/10/02

Receive Departmental Reports:

Fire Department: 12/02

Police Department: 12/02

Youth Assistance: 12/02

Board and Commission Appointments:

Planning Commission: Nancy Chiri

Youth Assistance: John Bernardo

Proposed Amendments to the 2002-03 Budget through December 31, 2002 and

Investment Report

2003 School Tax Collection

2003 "Welcome to Northville" Signs

Annual Parade / Proclamation / April as Month of the Young Child

The City of Northville is expected to receive approximately $65,000 from the Wayne County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for fiscal year 2003. CDBG funds are to be used to assist low to moderate-income residents, eliminate community slums or blight, or to provide an urgent community need. The category of senior citizens qualifies as a presumed benefit group eligible for CDBG funds. It is recommended that the use of the funds be allocated in the following manner:

Senior Center Renovation - $52,000

Program Administration - $ 6,500

Planning – City Wide Planning Projects - $ 6,500

Motion Ayers, seconded by Hartshorne to allocate the FY2003 Wayne County Community Development Block Grant funds as proposed. Motion carried unanimously.

In November 2002, City voters approved ballot language backing the issuance of unlimited general tax obligation bonds for $1,375,000 in improvements to Allen Terrace. These improvements include replacing the heating and air conditioning units, replacing windows and door walls, renovating the kitchens, activity room, and elevator, and repairing the parking lot.

Over the past several weeks, Housing Commissioners and City Staff have interviewed four architectural firms and two construction manager firms to provide non-staff professional expertise. The Housing Commission voted to recommend the hiring of M.C. Smith Associates and Architectural Group Inc. from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Implicit in the decision is the recommendation to follow the general contractor approach to complete the project. Due to the potential cost risks of the renovation project, the City Manager favors a construction manager approach. As such, he approached the George Auch Company to provide a contract for professional services. The George Auch Company provided the lowest overall proposal of services at $217,000. The Auch Company has suggested that the City secure the services of the architectural firm of Mielock and Associates for this project. Both firms have provided standard contracts for consideration by the City Council. The City Attorney has reviewed the agreements and finds them acceptable for signing.

Housing Commission Chairman Butch Casterline read a statement which enumerated the objections to the recommendation of George Auch Company as Construction Manager, and Mielock and Associates as Architect. Basically, the objections stemmed from the perceived lack of experience of both firms in senior housing construction, and in their proposed possible displacement of the seniors from their residences for a period of five days during construction. Casterline reviewed the reasons the Housing Commissioners favored M.C. Smith and the general contractor approach to construction.

An extensive discussion took place between the City Council and Housing Commissioners with regard to the general contractor versus the construction manager approach to construction. Statements favoring the general contractor included:

- Belief the project does not warrant the complexity of the construction manager overlay.

- Belief that all needed repairs will not be affordable with the expense of the construction manager approach.

- Suggestion to hire a project manager to manage the four trades involved in the project.

Statements favoring the construction manager approach included:

- The construction manager approach is less adversarial in that it is a cooperative effort between the construction manager, architect, and the City.

- All costs and fees are revealed with the construction manager approach.

- Past experience with general contractor was very frustrating because of additional costs associated with how business is conducted, such as in dealing with change orders.

- Construction manager has more clout with the trades because of repeat business and the process of pre-qualifying the bidders.

Dave Hamilton of George Auch Company spoke and withdrew his proposal for construction manager. He stated that the strong objections to his firm were unfortunate, and he felt it would be a detriment to a fruitful working relationship. He cautioned, however, against choosing an architect or construction manager that is based 250 miles from Northville.

Further discussion was held in an effort to clarify the financial ramifications between the general contractor approach and the construction manager approach.

Motion by Ayers, seconded by Swigart to contract with M.C. Smith Associates and Architectural Group, Inc. to be the architect on the Allen Terrace renovation and have the administration begin contacting construction managers to determine who might be interested, as well as consult with M.C. Smith Company regarding construction managers.

Motion amended by Ayers, seconded by Swigart to contract with M.C. Smith Architectural Group, Inc. to be the architect on Allen Terrace renovation and with J. S. Vig Construction Company as construction manager subsequent to appropriate reference checks. Yes: Ayers, Johnson, Hartshorne, Swigart. No: Mittman. Motion carried.

In December 2002, a report from the Open Space Committee, comprised of Matt Cowles, Marc Russell, Jerry Mittman, and Traci Sincock, was presented to City Council. The report inventoried and evaluated potential uses of City-owned and non-City owned open space. Staff was asked to research the procedure for designating or creating a park, as well as the procedure for "undesignating" a park. The City Attorney had clarified that "undesignating" a park requires approval of 3/5’s of electors voting at a general or special election.

Council discussion:

- An additional piece of vacant land was identified as Allen Drive Lot which is in the flood plain between Allen Drive and Novi Road apartments.

- Suggestion to defer action of specific recommendations of report until the long-term strategy process is completed.

- Question as to the known ramifications of declaring a property as a park.

- Request to sharpen the descriptions given and add specific characteristics of the parcels.

- Suggestion to research deed restrictions for Ford Field, Ford Field East, and Mill Race Village.

- Suggestion to accept document as an inventory list only at this time.

- Suggestion to research questions and return to Council in Fall 2003 after the Long-Term Strategy Project report is submitted.

Motion Hartshorne, seconded by Mittman to accept the report from the Open Space Committee for historical reference. Motion carried unanimously.

In 1997, the voters of the City of Northville approved a millage dedicated for streets, sidewalk and storm drainage improvements, resulting in an approximate $500,000 per year improvement program. For FY03-04 (the summer of 2003), it is proposed to undertake a modest street improvement program in an effort to accumulate funding for a significant Taft Road improvement project to be conducted in the summer of 2004. Staff is asking direction from Council as to whether Taft Road should be resurfaced or reconstructed. Resurfacing Taft Road would allow the reconstruction of Springfield and Lexington Boulevard in the next two years. Reconstruction of Taft Road would postpone the Springfield / Lexington projects for several years.

Council discussion: Questions ensued regarding the conditions of the roads and the impact of reconstructing Taft Road. It was suggested to defer action on this item until Council members could study the drawings of Taft Road.

Motion Hartshorne, seconded by Swigart to defer action on this item until the meeting of March 3, 2003, with City Council meeting at 7:00 p.m. to study the engineering drawings of Taft Road. Motion carried unanimously.

In 1996, the City’s employee benefit program was reviewed and identified as a potentially significant existing liability was post retirement healthcare costs. In 1996, it was estimated that the City’s liability in this area amounted to over $3M. In 1998, City Council authorized staff to establish a "Post Retirement Healthcare Trust Fund." Since then, transfers have been made to that fund based upon internal charges through the payroll system. The amount of the transfer has been based upon budgeting constraints.

Due to the significance of retiree healthcare costs, setting up a plan to prefund that commitment is a recommended practice for local governments. The State of Michigan recognized that this retirement benefit should be given as much consideration as managing a pension system. Act 149 PA 1999 allows the assets of an established plan to be invested. In addition, GASB 34 requires that the liability for post-retirement healthcare be disclosed in the financial statements. In order to properly move forward with implementing the post-retirement healthcare system, two specific areas of expertise are needed: actuarial services and legal services. Research has been done and recommendations are tendered for Gabriel, Roeder, Smith and Company for actuarial services; and VanOverbeke, Michaud & Timmony, P.C. for legal services.

Council discussion: Questions were asked regarding amounts already invested, annual fees, and the mechanics of implementation.

Motion Mittman, seconded by Ayers to authorize City Staff to proceed with implementation of the City of Northville Post Retirement Healthcare Funding Plan by engaging the actuarial services of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith and Company in an amount not-to-exceed $12,000 and the legal services of VanOverbeke, Michaud, & Timmony, P. C. in an amount not-to-exceed $13,000. Motion carried unanimously.

The Public Works Department annually cleans approximately20% of the city’s sanitary sewer collection system. The FY03 budget included funding to contract out additional sewer cleaning, and video inspection of problem sewers in the City. In an effort to further diminish the possibility of future sewer backups and subsequent liability, DPW is working toward a goal of increasing the amount of sewer cleaning from 20% to 50% each year.

The City has received bids for the 2003 Sewer Cleaning and Inspection Program. The project includes the cleaning of approximately 35,000 feet of sewer, and video inspecting approximately 16,000 feet of sewer. Three bids were received:

Inland Water Pollution Control $124,720.50

Metro Sewer Cleaners, Inc. $ 32,102.50

National Industrial Maintenance, Inc. $ 48,925.00

The low bidder, however, failed to provide the required bid security with the bid as required. The City Attorney advised that this irregularity could be waived based on specific wording inserted in the request for bid.

Motion Hartshorne, seconded by Swigart to waive the bid bond requirement and award a contract in the amount of $32,102.50 to Metro Sewer Cleaners, Inc. for the 2003 Sewer Cleaning and Inspection Program, and authorize the City Manager to sign this contract on behalf of the City of Northville. Motion carried unanimously.

As of June 1999, the City of Northville has been under a Certificate of Coverage as part of the Voluntary General Stormwater Permit in the Rouge River Watershed. Wayne County has assisted the City of Northville in maintaining this Certificate of Coverage by securing federal funding for the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project. Unfortunately, the Project, with its federal funding, will be phasing out over the next few years. Therefore, it has been identified that there is a need to develop a Rouge River Watershed Local Management Assembly. This Assembly would respond to U. S. District Court concerns, meet storm water permit requirements, reduce implementation costs, maximize the use of Rouge Project grants, and create a collective voice for local government.

An Agreement has been created for appropriate governmental entities. The local cost of joining the Assembly is $300,000 to be split amongst all participating communities. This amount will be determined based on the community’s acreage/population in the watershed. The City of Northville’s approximate annual cost will be $1,782. This amount will change significantly once the Rouge grant funds are depleted in approximately three years. Each year, Northville may have the option of opting out of the Assembly if the cost becomes too high.

Motion Hartshorne, seconded by Swigart to approve a resolution supporting the City of Northville’s membership for one year beginning July 1, 2003 into the Rouge River Watershed Local Management Assembly with the fee not to exceed $2000, and further appoint City Manager Gary Word and DPW Director James Gallogly as member and alternate to represent the City on this Assembly. Motion carried unanimously.

From time to time, the City desires to dispose of equipment that is no longer of use to the City. A process has been instituted to uniformly dispose of such equipment. At this time, four items are listed: an Okidata Pacemark dot matrix printer, a Pentium 100 PC, an HP LaserJet 6P printer, and an HP DeskJet 710C printer.

Motion Swigart, seconded by Hartshorne to authorize the disposal of used equipment as indicated above. Motion carried unanimously.

The fiscal year 2004 budget schedule should be designed to conform with the requirements of the City Charter and the State of Michigan Tax and Budget laws.

Motion Ayers, seconded by Mittman to set the dates for the fiscal year 2004 budget review meetings as follows: Session #1 on Tuesday, April 8; Session #2 on Monday, April 28; Session #3 on Wednesday, April 30, all at 7:30 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.

Motion Swigart, seconded by Ayers to approve the designation of the FY 2002 racetrack breakage funds of $368,344 as follows:

- Cemetery Expansion $100,000

- Pedestrian Walkway (Partner with Northville Township) 52,000

- Future Senior Center Project 75,000

- Replace All City Entrance Signs 35,000

- S. Wing Street Properties 20,000

- Tree Removal and Replacements (Emerald Ash Borer) 43,490

- 8 Mile and Novi Road Entrance Landscaping 5,000

- Mill Pond Restoration 5,000

- Reverse 911 System Reserve 15,000

- Contingency / Grant Match 17,854

Swigart: School Board was very complimentary of the Fire Department’s handling of the fire at Cooke School. There is an opening on the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Mittman: Northville Community Foundation has created an Endowment Fund for restoring the Maybury Farm after the recent fire.

Ayers: Mentioned Governor Granholm’s recent comments on favoring increased gambling at racetracks for additional State revenue.

Johnson: Will be absent from the March 3, 2003 Council meeting.

Staff: None.

There being no further business before Council, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol T. Kasprowicz
Deputy City Clerk