City Council Minutes

Mayor 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 Pro Tem Carolann Ayers, Councilmembers Kevin Hartshorne, and Thomas Swigart

Absent: Councilmember Jerome Mittman (excused)

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

Approve City Council Minutes:

Regular Meeting of September 15, 2003

Approve Bills List:
Checks #33976 to #34115,
#34116 to #34221, and
#34222 to 34305

Receive Board and Commission Minutes:

Housing Commission: 8/13/03

Youth Assistance: 8/12/03

Receive Departmental Reports:

Police Department: 8/03

Youth Assistance: 8/03

Housing Commission: Sue Ellen Hooper (reappointment)

Downtown Development Authority: Louis LaChance, Gregory Presley (reappointments)

Acceptance of Bids for Used Municipal Equipment

Disposal of Used Equipment

Temporary Sign Placement Request / Annual Scouting for Food Drive

Resolution Supporting the Juvenile Court in the District Court Program

The City of Northville Downtown Development Authority (DDA) was created in 1978 by ordinance of the Northville City Council. Subsequently, the DDA and the City Council approved and adopted the original Development and Tax Increment Financing Plan, which contained a list of projects to be undertaken by the DDA in cooperation with the City. In 1993, the Plan was amended with additional projects along with an expanded vision for the redevelopment of the downtown area. In 1998, the Plan was again amended to allow for captured revenues to be used for marketing purposes and to hire DDA professional staff. The 2003 Plan amendment summarizes the DDA’s financial commitments and provides the City and other taxing jurisdictions with updated information regarding the capture and use of tax increment revenues by the Authority.

The DDA is proposing to expand the parking system in the downtown through the construction of a multi-level parking deck. The proposed deck would be financed in part through the issuance of limited tax general obligation bonds. The DDA has committed to pay debt service on bonds issued by the City through their final maturity in 2024. As such, it is necessary that the DDA be in existence at least until 2024 in order to collect the funds to service the bonds.

State statute requires that the Citizens District Council (CDC) be reactivated by the City Council for the purpose of reviewing the Plan amendments and offering the governing body input on the proposed amendments. As such, Staff recommended that the City Council wait to take action on the proposed amendments until public input has been received by the CDC. It is anticipated that the Plan amendments would return for action the October 20, 2003 City Council meeting.

Mayor Johnson offered a slide presentation showing how the downtown has transformed over 30 years from deteriorated buildings, overly large signage and declining businesses, into the viable, historic downtown of today.

Lori Ward, DDA Executive Director, reviewed the proposed Plan amendments, which would extend the DDA’s existence until 2024.

Council Comments / Discussion: Comments noted that the Act creating Downtown Development Authorities was a perfect fit for the City of Northville and that the slide presentation reinforces the purpose of the Northville DDA.

It is expected that the City Council will take action on the proposed Plan amendments at the October 20, 2003 regular meeting.

At its September 15, 2003 regular meeting, the City Council introduced for first reading an ordinance amending Chapter 42 Historical Preservation (Historic District Ordinance) of the Northville Code of Ordinances. The current Historic District ordinance is outdated and inconsistent with state statutes governing local Historic District ordinances. In 2002, the City retained the services of Lis Knibbe Architects to assist the Northville Historic District Commission in amending the City’s Historical Preservation ordinance. The ordinance amendment repeals Chapter 42 in its entirety and replaces it with an ordinance that conforms to state law. Further, the proposed ordinance offers a revised boundary description to precisely define the Historic District boundaries. Following Council’s comments at the September 15^th meeting, the proposed ordinance was modified to incorporate comments from City Council relative to identifying the HDC chairperson. Staff revised the ordinance sections numbers to conform to the current format of the City’s Code of Ordinances.

Council Comments / Discussion: Discussion ensued relative to the appeals procedure outlined in the proposed ordinance amendment, the seriousness of Historic District Commission (HDC) decisions, the option for denied applicants to take the City to court, and the prospect of defending HDC decisions in court. As such, it was suggested that the City Council consider a joint meeting with the Historic District Commission to discuss and clarify the direction of the HDC compared to the direction of the City Council.

Further comments noted that recent seminars, as well as the Secretary of the Interior Standards, have assisted the HDC in understanding its role in historic preservation. The HDC works within the structure of the standards in evaluating the completeness of an application. Applicants representing complex projects have the option to appear before the Commission for a "discussion only" meeting, to get a feel for the HDC’s direction. Exercising this option delays any HDC decision, allowing the applicant the opportunity to revise their project.

Following further discussion, it was suggested that a joint meeting be held in November or December.

Motion Swigart, seconded by Hartshorne to repeal Chapter 42 Historical Preservation in its entirety, waive second reading, and adopt the Historic Preservation Ordinance, Chapter 42, Article 1 and 2, Sections 42-1 through 42-33, and provide for penalties for violations thereof. The ordinance will be effective within ten days upon publication. Motion carried unanimously.

The Historic District Commission (HDC) is charged with preserving the architectural and historic integrity of the Northville Historic District. From time to time, the HDC considers requests to remove or demolish structures within the Northville Historic District. With the assistance of Lis Knibbe Architects, the HDC has developed demolition guidelines to aid the HDC in objectively evaluating demolition requests.

Motion Swigart, seconded by Hartshorne to adopt a resolution approving the Guidelines for the Consideration of Applications for the Demolition or Moving of Structures within the Northville Historic District. Motion carried unanimously.

Beth Bialy, Chris Jones, and Kris Wood, of Plante & Moran, summarized the Audited Finance Report with Required Supplementary Information and Other Supplemental Information for the Fiscal Year June 30, 2003 and the Management Letter. Comments included:

• Changes to the City’s financial statements resulting from GASB No. 34 include the addition of a Management’s Discussion and Analysis section, preparation of full accrual government-wide financial statements, and budget comparisons. These statements show capital and infrastructure assets, as well as long-term debt as part of the City’s financial picture and allow a financial statement reader to see the City from a long term perspective. In light of the new financial statements, it was noted that the City should continue to focus on the fund-based statements.
• Property taxes continue to be the City’s single, largest source of revenue. The City’s tax base, net of captured taxable value, for fiscal year 2003 was $292,612,335, which represents an increase of $20,428,718 or 7.5%. The increase in the property tax base is a result of inflationary increases in existing parcels and new construction. There has been no increase in the operating millage rate and the total City millage rate continues to be at its lowest rate in over ten years.
• During FY 2003, decreases experienced in several revenue categories, including state-shared revenue, investment earnings, and building permit activity, were due to statewide economic conditions. State shared revenue accounts for approximately 12% of the City’s total General Fund revenue. State-shared revenue for FY 2003 was reduced by 8% from the prior year and the City altered its expenditures appropriately. Given the State’s continued budgetary difficulties, the future of the statutory portion of revenue sharing is still uncertain. The City was urged to continue to be conservative in its estimation of state shared revenue as this line item in the State’s budget remains vulnerable.
• The City continues to make great progress in building a healthy fund balance, making the City well positioned in the short-run to weather the downturn of major revenue sources. The City was encouraged to make every effort to protect and maintain the level of fund balance.
• The City continues to proactively monitor the water system, which previously resulted in the annual water loss rate decreasing to around 11%, a favorable rate for a mature water system. During FY2003, as a result of two large main breaks, the water loss rate increased to 32%. It was noted that the loss rate might have been even worse had the water usage not been closely monitored. The City was commended for implementing procedures to successfully monitor water loss and encouraged to continue this process.
• It was reminded that the Municipal Finance Act (Act 34 of 2001) requires the City to file an annual Municipal Finance Qualifying Statement by December 31^st of each year.

Nicolette Bateson, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director, summarized the FY 2003 Annual Investment Report. It was noted that all investment activity conformed to the City’s policy, earnings on investments exceeded the City’s benchmark of the U.S. Treasury Bill rate for short-term investments, and interest earnings continue to grow each year, providing an alternative to taxation as a source of revenue.

Council Comments / Discussion: Questions were raised relative to state-shared revenue, pension plan funding, compensated absence liabilities, public safety debt administration, and post-employment benefits. The finance department was commended on an excellent job of preparing for and assisting in the audit process.

Motion Ayers, seconded by Hartshorne to accept the City of Northville Fiscal Year 2003 financial statements and Plante & Moran’s Audit Report of those financial statements. Further, City Staff is directed to place a copy of the reports on file in the City Clerks office. Motion carried unanimously.

Plante & Moran submitted a proposal to continue as auditors for the City’s current fiscal year ending June 30, 2004. The proposed fee is a not-to-exceed estimate amount of $34,300. The fee reflects an inflation increase of 2.7%, expanded scope of auditing services related to GASB 34, and expanded audit requirements based upon auditing standards.

Motion Ayers, seconded by Swigart to reappoint Plante & Moran as the City’s auditors for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004 under the terms identified in their appointment request letter dated September 24, 2003, in the amount not-to-exceed $34,300. Motion carried unanimously.

On June 18, 2002, the City accepted bids for Dubuar Street improvements. ABC Paving submitted a bid of $282,060, which was reduced at the time of the award to $134,034. The contract reduction amount was a result of unsuccessful negotiations to run the storm sewer across a private developer’s property. As such, the project was redesigned to run the storm sewer for Dubuar Street completely within the City’s public right-of-way.

Due to the complexity of the Dubuar Street storm sewer construction, several design and field modifications were necessary in order to place the new storm sewer between existing utilities within the limited right-of-way. The changes extended the contract length, added additional work for the contractor and project engineers, and resulted in additional cost to the City.

Dietrich, Bailey and Associates, P.C. (DBA) has prepared a final contract change order. The change order of $48,414.62 to ABC Paving Co. and $7,117.66 to DBA lists the actual quantities of work performed, including storm sewer realignment and sanitary sewer repairs. Funding for the contract increases would come from the Street, Drainage & Sidewalk Improvement Fund.

Motion Swigart, seconded by Hartshorne to approve a contract change order for the Dubuar Street Improvement Project, increasing the contract amount to $182,448.62 for ABC Paving Company, and increasing engineering fees by $7,117.66 for Dietrich, Bailey and Associates, P.C. Further, the Public Works Director is authorized to sign the project contract change order with ABC Paving Company on behalf of the City. Motion carried unanimously.

The Downtown Development Authority is proposing an amendment to the Development and Tax Increment Financing Plan, which would allow the DDA to continue to operate for an additional 20 years until the year 2024. In addition, the proposed Plan amendment highlights the DDA’s commitment to parking in the downtown through the expansion of the City’s current parking system with additional surface lot spaces and the construction of a parking deck. State statute requires the establishment of a "development area citizens council" if more than 100 people live in the development area. The Northville Citizens District Council was established for the Mainstreet ’93 project. The CDC was reactivated in 1998 and has not met since June 1998. As such, all of the members’ terms have expired.

Motion Ayers, seconded by Swigart to reactivate the Citizens District Council (CDC) by appointing the following to serve on the CDC: Joy T. Blake, Ron F. Bodnar, Robert Buckhave, Marvin Conrad, William S. Demray, Lindsey A. Dogonski, Debbie Simmons, Gary Simmons, and William Wood, and appoint the City Manager as the Secretary of the CDC. Motion carried unanimously.

As part of the review of the Historic Preservation Ordinance (Historic District Ordinance), and formulation of the Historic District demolition guidelines, the Historic District Commission (HDC) worked with Lis Knibbe Architects to develop rules of procedure for the HDC. The HDC reviewed the rules and has forwarded them to the City Council for approval.

Motion Hartshorne, seconded by Swigart to concur with the recommendation of the Northville Historic District Commission and approve the City of Northville Historic District Commission Rules and Regulations as presented. Motion carried unanimously.

The City Charter requires that one member of the City Council, who shall not be a candidate for elective office at the election, be appointed to serve on the Election Commission. A commissioner is needed for the November 4, 2003 City Regular Election.

Motion Ayers, seconded by Swigart to appoint Councilmember Kevin Hartshorne to the Election Commission for the November 4, 2003 City Regular Election. Motion carried unanimously.

Patricia Curtis, 20367 Lexington Blvd., submitted a letter to the City Council relative to the anticipated use of a helicopter pad at 590 Dubuar St. The letter requests that the City create or revise the appropriate ordinances to prohibit the parking of a helicopter within a residential zone, prohibit the issuance of Special Storage Permits for the purpose of storing a helicopter within a residential zone, and prohibit the storage of aircraft fuel within a residential zone. The request was referred to City Administration for a report and recommendation.

Mayor Johnson noted that the DDA will hold a public information meeting on Monday, October 13, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers to provide information relative to the proposed parking deck.

B. Staff Communications None

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

Respectfully submitted,

Dianne Massa
City Clerk