|
REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NOVI MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1995 AT 8:00 PM EST COUNCIL CHAMBERS - NOVI CIVIC CENTER - 45175 TEN MILE ROAD
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM with Mayor McLallen presiding.
Council pledged allegiance to the flag.
ROLL CALL: Council Members Crawford (absent excused), Mason (present), Mitzel (present), Pope (present), Schmid (present), Toth (present) and Mayor McLallen (present)
Present (6) Absent (1-Crawford)
-ooo-
ALSO PRESENT: Edward F. Kriewall - City Manager David Fried - City Attorney Geraldine Stipp - City Clerk
-ooo-
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Councilman Mitzel said he was informed that Mr. Neiman was present for Item #4 and he had another appointment and asked that Item #4 be moved to Item #1. Councilman Mitzel also wanted to add Attorney's Opinions to Item #6.
Councilman Pope asked if the Attorney's Opinion which Councilman Mitzel wanted to discuss was available for the Council.
Councilman Mitzel stated the Council had received it previously and that it was a written opinion.
Councilwoman Mason suggested that Item #9 be added to possibly appoint the people that were interviewed before this meeting for the different boards and commissions positions available.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Schmid Seconded by Councilwoman Mason
That the agenda be approved as amended.
Yes (6-Mason, Mitzel No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Pope, Schmid, Toth, McLallen Motion carried
SPECIAL REPORTS
1. Lakes Area Police Academy
Mayor McLallen said this issue had come about as a result of a Council question on the financing of this Academy.
Chief Shaeffer, Novi Police Department, said there had been a great deal of interest expressed in the Lakes Area Citizens Police Academy and the possibility of starting another academy tentatively in March.
Chief Shaeffer, said this program was originally designed by Novi, Walled Lake and Wixom in early 1994. He said the project was discussed as being able to carry out a Citizens Police Academy and orientation towards police community services, activities for an orientation for the people that live or work within one of the three communities.
Chief Shaeffer said the concept was designed to be an equally sharing concept in all costs and in all terms of participation; that each community would be equally represented. He said that had been the way they have attempted to practice.
He said the location would rotate from place to place depending on each week of the meeting and the costs would be born equally by each of the three communities for any of the expenses involved. He said the personnel costs are exempt from that since each community had their own unique personnel cost items in terms of basic salary all the way up to contract provisions that require the payment of overtime, comp time and other such provisions.
Chief Shaeffer said there have been two sessions; a Spring Session and a Fall Session in 1994. He said 24 people from Novi have attended and the combined three communities have had 60 people involved in the program. He said it was a 10 or 11 week program depending on how it was designed. He said it roughly represents meeting one evening a week for approximately three hours and has been held on Wednesday evenings but there had been discussion of moving it to Thursdays.
Chief Shaeffer said he had previously provided Council with cost estimates of the program. He said these are approximations as stated in the memo. He said he is having an exact detailed cost itemization compiled and if it errors it will error to the high side. He said it is a $7,228.00 cost for the combination of both Academy's or roughly $360.00 per student. He said the exact cost is being compiled and he would provide it to Council as soon as it was available.
He said the largest cost involved was for the overtime and particularly for the Class Coordinator Facilitator and then for the instructors that are involved. He said based on the inquiry that was made he had analyzed the costs and has looked for ways to cause rate reductions. He said the first way with the largest potential was in the overtime accounts; particularly the Class Facilitator who had attended every one of the class sessions which were held beyond his work hours. Chief Shaeffer said he ordered him to flex his hours so that he would be on duty when the classes were held and his Union filed a grievance and said it was not allowed under contract. He said he denied his grievances, he said he was the one that issued the order and they did appeal the grievance and it has been sustained and he cannot order the officer to flex his hours.
Chief Shaeffer said they have taken other means to control expenses. He said one of those was by only having the Class Facilitator attend the classes when they meet in Novi and then we could realize approximately a $2,000 savings.
He said all the other items could be cut up to a certain point as indicated in the memo. He said the Graduation Ceremony and Banquet, T-Shirts and Coffee Mug could be cut.
He said in the final analysis, to run a Police Academy for a year, two sessions, if everything that could be eliminated from the operation of the Police Academy was, it would still cost roughly $3,200.00 for two session and/or about $160.00 cost per student.
Councilman Toth said he was the one that blew the whistle the first time around. He said he asked about a $500 expenditure on the Warrant List and directed that question to the City Manager. He said the City Manager was not aware of what that expense was for and he investigated it. He said he does not support or vote for the warrants because in his opinion he doesn't have enough information. He said he thought it was inadequate the way the information was presented; this was one example of that.
He said the $500 which was being paid to the City of Wixom was to cover a $1,500 tab for a luncheon or dinner. He said subsequently he found out the costs were $7,228 for a total of 20 or 21 students from the City of Novi at a cost of $361.00 per student. Councilman Toth said this was not funded or budgeted by Council and he felt those figures were extremely high. He said for Council to do this for everyone in the City would cost approximately $14.5 Million. He said we never received a mandate from the citizens of this community to go out and spend that kind of money on PR. He said right now well over one man month has been spent on this program, 173 hours that was basically officers time. Councilman Toth said this was time that the officers should have been in a subdivision. He said, according to his figures, there was also over $5,266.00 in overtime just on this one program.
Councilman Toth said the real serious problem he had was this program went on for almost a year and nobody knew what these costs were until he called. He said the City Manager and Council didn't know until the cost were presented in a memo for them and we found out exactly how much of this was being spent. He said if they have that kind of time to spend on this project what happened to the time they should have been spending on other things. He asked why wasn't this ever put on TV. He said if it was put out once why didn't it go on Cable TV; a larger audience could have been reached, it would have been far cheaper and all of this should have been carried over.
Councilman Toth said he personally thought it was a great program for the people that went through it and had $361.00 spent on them. He said he could not sit at the Council table and say that he would do this for everyone in the City. He asked are we going to take a certain segment of Novi, a certain elite and put them through this program. Councilman Toth said over $7,200 was spent and that was half of a patrol car.
He said he had some real concerns about this and was really going to bring it up at budget time because if the Finance Director and the City Manager and Council do not have checks to be able to tell when well over $5,000 in overtime was spent on one program there is something wrong. He said when he read the Novi News and the Editors have better ideas then the Administration has given him on this program it is ridiculous. He said what would he tell the citizen or the senior citizen who can't afford taxes and ask for affordable housing. He said the reason the bond issue fell off in Walled Lake is probably because they don't trust the officials.
Councilman Toth said when this kind of money is spent we add fuel to that kind of fire; because we are paying an extravagant amount of money for this program with no checks and balances. He said he would not support this program. He said the concept may be great but he could not support the cost.
Councilwoman Mason said that she thought the program was a good program. She heard from three citizens this week since the paper came out and a letter in Council's packet says it is a wonderful program. She said the citizens thought may be a way to do this would be to have the police officers attend the meetings with citizens, the Homeowners Association or to have it through Parks and Recreation or to have some kind of funding with the people.
Councilman Pope said we have created a culture in government where elected officials are rewarded when they find the $900 hammer and that is the way it should be; the $900 hammer in the Defense Department or the $300 a person program fee. He said that is the way it should be and that is our job. He said Councilman Toth should be praised for asking the tough question but he did not agree with Councilman Toth's conclusion.
He spoke to Chief Shaeffer and said it was under a different administration but it wasn't long ago that your department forced your Dare Officer to raise funds for the T-Shirts and different things they wanted to hand out. He said it wasn't long ago that we didn't provide things for incentives for the kids in the Dare program. He said in contrast some of the things that the Chief had agreed to cut out and the things he had looked at Councilman Pope felt were appropriate to cut out of a program like this.
Councilman Pope said this is really a management issue. He said one Council Member has said that we did not budget; he said we have budgeted the police department. Councilman Pope did not think it was an accurate statement that Council hadn't budgeted dollars; he felt they had. He wanted to tell Chief Shaeffer it was a good program for a couple of reasons. He said it is inter-governmental and he felt that it was good because it may lead to further joint efforts. He felt that was better in cost savings that when we can combine dispatches, jail time and save other dollars when those bonds are built with other police agencies. He said he knew Chief Holland in Wixom felt very strongly about these things. He felt also that the citizen involvement was good.
Councilman Pope said most importantly is when you begin to put people in a program like this, there is not something necessarily wrong with putting it on cable. He felt it did build bonds between the people and the program and provided future leadership. Councilman Pope said they could sit at this table or other boards and commissions and they would be more educated. He said he was not ready to offer anything but praise for both the Council Member who raised this issue and the changes the Chief had made. He said the program is good, there are good people in it and sometimes government can do good things.
Councilman Mitzel said it sounded like a good program. He asked if they could look at the alternative of making it a program that you register for and have a registration fee as partial or all of the funding. He did know if this was feasible and asked that it be explored.
Councilman Schmid said he thought that Councilman Toth was absolutely right. He said it was to expensive on an individual basis at $361.00 per person. He felt that a ten week academy was pretty indepth and we could almost have a mini officer when done with it. He thought by spending the same amount of money or less you could get in a lot more people on a informational type program that would last 5 or 6 weeks. He said give them all the basics they are getting on this 10 week program but involve a whole lot more people. He asked that it be considered and asked Chief Shaeffer for any other suggestions he might have. He said it was a great program but one could argue whether it was cost effective and Council had to look at that.
Councilman Toth said he did not say anything against the program; he didn't have time to attend the program. He said he was concerned that the cost of $361 per person was something that was not known until after two classes were taken. Secondly, there were no Administrative checks throughout the course of almost a year that anyone knew where these costs were going. He said from the Administrative side of the house he was concerned that no one knew this. He said from what he had heard the course was excellent but the problem is the cost overruns that took place and did not stop or were not identified until he asked. He said he would press this at budget time with the Administration. Councilman Toth said his big concern is the fact that this money was spent with no knowledge of the Finance Department or the City Manager's office.
Councilwoman Mason asked Mr. Kriewall how much of that money came out of General Fund and how much out of the Chief's own budget.
Mr. Kriewall said it came out of the General Fund. She asked if all $7,000 came out of it. He said it did. Chief Shaeffer said it came out of the Police Department budget. Councilwoman Mason asked if it came out of their own budget. Mr. Kriewall said that was right. Councilwoman Mason said we didn't take it out of the General Fund and give it to them. Mr. Kriewall so no.
Councilwoman Mason then asked where it was taken out of the Department Fund.
Chief Shaeffer said the over time costs were paid out of the overtime expenses and personnel expenses. He said the other expenses or portions of them were taken out of the appropriate line item account.
Councilwoman Mason said then you didn't request money out of the General Fund; it all came out of your own budget.
Chief Shaeffer said it all came out well within the Police Department budget.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Eugene Ayskieardo, said he attended the academy the first time around. He said he was a teacher of history and government and he defended and supported the program and he was thankful for the it. He said in regards to cost effectiveness; if we are following the guidelines set forth by various publications it takes between $34,000 and $37,000 to keep one person in prison for one year. He said if by having this program we have informed our local citizens, we have better police/community relations, we have picked up additional information and in his case for his students. He said may be we have kept just one person out of jail for 6 months thereby saving $17,000 to $18,500.
He said during this program there was an article in the Detroit News about gangs, including gangs in Novi. He said he teaches in the inter-City of Detroit in the southwest area where there are 86 gangs. He said because of this program he was able to provide limited information to the police department which perhaps he would not have done had he not been in the program.
He said the money spent had also created better police and community relations. He talked to several of his neighbors over the past several months regarding this program and was able to provide them with some local information. He was on the Board for the Homeowners Association for 2 years and was able to bring information to those meetings as well.
He said regarding overtime costs; he was sure that many of the officers also put in time of their own at home preparing these lectures, writing the material, etc.
He said the Novi News, a few years ago, asked the citizens to list the ratings of the various citizen services in our City. He said the Novi Police Department was in the top four on the list in that particular survey. He said as a former Detroit resident he wished to say that he is more than satisfied with all of the services he had received as a resident of Novi from the Police Department and not just the Academy. He said our Novi Police Department is the best in southeast Michigan.
Mary Yager said she came to the meeting not as a resident of Novi. She said she was visiting in Novi Sunday, February 5th and to go to the Expo Center. She said the whole situation there concerned her a great deal. She said she was a resident of the City of Detroit and has been a Detroit Police Officer for better than 20 years and is approaching retirement.
Ms. Yager said the situation that she incurred when she got to Novi was such a safety problem that she was amazed. She said when she came off of I-696 onto westbound I-96, where you have to move to the right and make the double merge to get off at Novi Road along side Twelve Oaks Mall, it took almost 40 minutes to get from I-696 off the freeway to the front of the Big Boy. She timed it on the speedometer coming in tonight and it was 1.6 miles. She said traffic was backed up in the exit ramp; people were stopping in the right hand traffic lane waiting to get into the traffic on the exit ramp. She said this presents a major safety problem on the freeway itself. Ms. Yager saw no less then four very near misses. She said when she got to the top of the ramp she could see what the problem was; the traffic on southbound Novi going towards Grand River was blowing the light at the top of the exit ramp. She said people coming off the ramp could not make the straight across move to go onto the feeder road behind the Sheraton; they couldn't make the left turn. She said she was finally able to push her way through to get onto Novi Road and was never able to get over to the right to get into the Expo Center. She had to go into Town Center and come back and shoot across Novi Road. She said once she got on to the feeder road it was a 20 minute wait to get to the parking booth. Ms. Yager said once she got to the parking booth they were pushing cars through there three at a time into the parking area and there was no parking. She said a valiant effort had been made to clear snow so the parking area was dry and as clear as they could make it.
Ms. Yager said trying to find a parking place a car backed out in front of her and she started to pull in and a guy in an orange suit said she could not park there is was handicapped. She said there were no markings as required by State Law; no blue wheelchair stenciled on the pavement, no blue lines and no signage. She stated her point that if it is not marked it's not handicapped and was told they could do whatever they felt like doing, it was handicapped and she could not park there. She said she drove every isle trying to park so she could go in and finally gave up. She said then she had to go back through the main line to get her money back to leave. Ms. Yager said Novi Road was backed up from north of Twelve Oaks to Grand River and the freeway exits were backed up from the M-5 Connector up to Novi Road and as she crossed the freeway on Novi Road it was backed up over the hill eastbound.
Ms. Yager said this presented a terrific safety hazard and she could not imagine what would have happened at the Expo Center if there had been an emergency. She said if there had been a fire or accident that required a major amount of emergency response was necessary they could not have entered.
Ms. Yager said she thought it important to draw this to Council's attention as a police officer for better than 20 years she was appalled. She said the traffic jam was beyond the capability of the Novi Police Department to handle. She said Novi has a fine police department and she wished she could be associated with a police department that was that good but if something wasn't done there is going to be a major problem there.
Gary Zak, Lakes Area Residents Association, said Ms. Yager couldn't have been a better lead in to what he had to say. He said he was present to express his support for Mr. Bonaventura. He said there was an editorial in the Novi News on January 12th exposing a slow down in the growth and the more orderly growth and planning of our area. He said the Novi Road intersection just shows the problem. He said it took him 45 minutes to get home Sunday morning because he had to go through the traffic on Novi Road and he pointed out that he had to go through this everyday. Mr. Zak said Friday, coming home from work, he waited through the backup all the way to I-275, 45 minutes just to get off the exit, then sit in grid lock on Novi Road. Mr. Zak said we keep continuing to add more and more development to that area; Vic's Market is going in, a 10% population increase in businesses. He said hated to imagine what Novi Road and I-96 would be like 3 or 4 years from now. He said he agreed with everything Mr. Bonaventura said. He said one thing he would say is that once it is developed you can't undevelop it. He said you can always develop at a later date and didn't know if we had to rush head long into developing every parcel without planning for the growth. He said his quality of life is greatly degraded having to go through the traffic everyday and perhaps he would have to move to another location.
James Korte, Shawood Lake, under Matters for Council Action - Part I, Item #2 regarding Port Papadapalis. Mr. Korte said he read through the application and question 14 and 17 of the application had to do with the specific site and how it was going to relate to the world as we know it. He said for Mr. Andris to presume and for Council to believe that building that restaurant is going to do better than any other kind of establishment in traffic flow is a little ridiculous. He said unfortunately whatever is built on the property is going to generate traffic. He said a 220 seat restaurant is going to generate traffic.
Mr. Korte said that whenever, in the past, Mr. Andris wanted to do a little threatening we heard about the DNR. He said he had talked with the State and we are all somewhat frightened by the fact that the State might like to have something on Walled Lake. He said that particular site is the most undesirable marina site on the face of the earth; so please do not be misled by those threats again. He said it is offensive to many of us when the Frigate Inn is referred to as a Dance Bar. He said it is not a dance bar, never was and it never will be a dance bar; you may dance there but it is a far different situation. He said he was not quite sure when and if this new restaurant is built there won't be a minor dance floor and if there is and it is to be a quality place that would not be out of line. He asked if that would make it a dance restaurant.
He said Mr. Andris was talking about boat traffic and the only people using boat traffic would be the Walled Lake frontal people. He said for those people to get in their boat and come over to the residentially zoned property is illegal. He said since 1986 everyone has been in court over the illegality of using that residential for commercial.
Chris Shultz, Village Oaks, wanted to discuss the Lakes Area Police Academy. He said he was a 23 year resident of Novi and a graduate of the 2nd Police Academy and felt his input would be beneficial to any decision regarding this academy.
He said the idea of community policing was a necessity in todays crime ridden society. He said we have all heard the stories of criminals wreaking havoc in the streets while citizens stand by and watch. He said criminals know no one will stop them because law abiding citizens do live in fear. He said while Novi isn't know as the drive by shooting capitol of Michigan the crime rate is growing as well as the population; with the population growth there will be a growth in crime.
Mr. Shultz said Novi could be a role model for a real crime control solution. He said crime control can't be regulated federally as proven by the crime bill and can only be done successfully on a local level. He said getting people involved, showing them they can make a difference, allowing them to relate to the police force on a personal level would be a cornerstone of this model.
He said this is just one thing that the Citizens Police Academy accomplishes. He said it would bring confidence and a caring relationship with the community as a whole; thereby replacing the current laissez-faire attitude. He said in addition the Citizens Police Academy had now come up as a budget related issue and he asked why. He said the money for the two completed academies was budgeted from the police departments overtime fund. He said since the fund hadn't gone beyond its set budget limit wasn't this a non-issue; unless there is some kind hidden agenda. He said in his opinion, a more pressing issue, would be the fact that the police department had been working without a contract for over a year. He said that was never mentioned at the Academy but he felt it was a little more important than a $7,000 item. He said $7,000 per year is nothing compared to the dividends that this program is going to pay back to the community.
Warren Jocz, 10 Mile Rd., wanted to talk about a memo Council received in their packets. He said it was from Rod Arroyo, Birchler Arroyo Associates to City Manager Edward Kriewall. He said the subject was 10 Mile Road widening. He said this memo was, he believed, in response to several of the questions he had been asking over the last few months. He said he had been challenging some of the facts that are coming in the master plan. He said he wanted to give Council some comments on the memo and he started out by reading the key element of the memo and then addressed some of the points that it brought out.
"The question is why is there a conflict between the traffic projections and the City's thoroughfare plan and the traffic mile that SEMCOG uses. When the Planning and Community Development Department first established the City's traffic mile as part of the 1993 Master Plan update City staff obtained the same model and data base used by SEMCOG and MDOT to model traffic in southeast Michigan. Because the SEMCOG model is regional in nature it is somewhat generalized. For example, when traffic modeling is done geographic areas are divided into traffic analysis zones. Therefore, the City of Novi further refined the model to create smaller traffic analysis zones." He said basically what they are saying is they took SEMCOG's model and refined it; they said it was generalized.
Mr. Jocz wanted to give the Council some facts because he was questioning the word generalized. He said the Master Plan according to Birchler/Arroyo says that in the year 2010 Ten Mile between Haggerty and Meadowbrook can expect 39,000 cars a day. He said SEMCOG is predicting 5 years later only 21,500 cars a day. He said to verify the SEMCOG model they gave him two analysis to show that they are not a generalized model. He said they also gave him a prediction for 1990. He said what is so important about a prediction for 1990 is that there is actual Oakland County road data for that year. He said in 1990 the SEMCOG model predicted within 11% the actual results of a daily traffic volume count; 11% was well within the error of a traffic survey. He said that is not grossly generalized and if you predict for the year 2010 the Master Plan was saying that SEMCOG was in error by 68% of that value. He said they are talking 39,000 cars a day on 10 Mile versus 23,186 that SEMCOG is predicting.
Mr. Jocz said his whole point in bringing this up was that he didn't think there was a true understanding of the traffic situation in Novi. He believed the Master Plan predictions are incorrect. He asked Council to amend the MDOT Contract they are using for preliminary engineering and get a handle on what is really happening to Novi's traffic volume.
Ruth Ann Jurasik, 23624 Willowbrook, stated that she had the privilege of attending the first Lakes Area Police Academy. She said the knowledge and insight that she gained from the Academy was invaluable. She said Lte. Dave Butler and two other coordinating officers put together an outstanding program that disseminated information to the community in a positive pro-active manner. She said there is a demand for this type of activity and people are willing to make a 10 week commitment to attend; which is amazing with the variety of other activities that people have available to them. She said Novi is one of the fastest growing communities in Oakland County and it is imperative that the citizens are able to have positive contact with its law enforcement officers. She felt this provided them with an understanding of the functions and duties that continue to insure our safety and allow for a community oriented policing program. She said there is no immediate way to measure the success of the Academy; one will not see a drastic drop in the crime rate but one may be able to measure the results similar to D.A.R.E., the drug resistance program, as both the citizens, Police Academy and the D.A.R.E. program are education based programs.
Ms. Jurasik said the academy allowed for the officers to inform the community through a positive avenue that is otherwise not available. She said factions of the law enforcement division that are not in direct contact with the average citizen on a daily basis, such as domestic violence counselors, juvenile officers and the drug enforcement team, are allowed a means in which to educate the general public. She said you cannot put a price tag on the value that comes from a community that has faith in their police department. She said in maintaining confidence and open lines of communication all factions of the community will benefit. She said one of the best means of this continued communication is the Lakes Area Citizens Police Academy. Ms. Jurasik said the Academy retained the most knowledgeable officers to speak to their specialty area and that should be continued in the tri-cities. She said Novi gained State encouragement at the first graduation when Governor John Engler recognized and commended the program having presented an executive declaration to all those who graduated. She said U.S. Congressman Joseph Knollenberg spoke at the academies second graduation and praised the three cities for taking the initiative and piloting the program and encouraging the communities to continue to move forward with the endeavor. Ms. Jurasik said we are fortunate to have a police department that embraces pro-active measures and to have officers dedicated to improving our community.
Les Harding, 24151 Lynwood, said the argument concerning the police academy is not on it's worth; the tragedy is a very small fraction of the Academy is about cost. He said $6,000 or $7,000 to this City is nothing, nothing; it's an argument. He told the Council there was more spent at every Council meeting on something that had to do with the well being of the City then the cost of this Academy. He said $300 plus per person you can't get a course at a University for that and you don't get the quality of the education that these people got from the Oakland County Prosecutor down to the Oakland County Coroner to the FBI to the State Police to our own Police Officer's of Novi, Wixom and Walled Lake. Mr. Harding said there comes a point in argument when he thought there should be an executive Council meeting; not aired out to dry here. Mr. Harding said this is a fantastic program, put on by three communities, jointly. He said he remembered when Novi, Wixom and Walled Lake wouldn't talk to one another and now they are. He asked Council to support it; it didn't come out of the General Budget, it came out of the police budget. He asked for a far more quieter, more judicious, gentler look at things. He said thank God that we have people who are still very forwarded minded in Novi and your Police Department is one of them.
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approval of Minutes of Special Meeting of December 5th 2. Approval to change voting Precinct #10 location from Fire Station No. 3 to Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church at Nine Mile and Meadowbrook Road 3. Resolution No. 1 - Sanitary Sewer Special Assessment District requested by Robert Rich and K. Matthew Scott - Section 1 SAD 144
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Novi has been presented with a petition requesting the following public improvement as described in Exhibit A attached hereto and made part hereof.
AND WHEREAS, said petition is in proper form and has been certified by the City Clerk as having been signed by property owners whose property in the aggregate in the proposed special assessment was assessed for not less than fifty-one percent (51%) of the total assessed value of privately owned real property located therein and is in accordance with Section 30-4 of the City Code.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
1. The City manager is hereby directed to cause to be prepared a report which shall include preliminary plans, profiles, specifications and estimates of cost, an estimate of the life of the improvement, a description of the assessment district, recommendations as to what portion of the cost of the project must be borne by the Special Assessment District and the portion, if any, to be borne by the City at large, and such other pertinent information as will permit the Council to decide the cost, extent and necessity of the improvement proposed and what part or proportion thereof should be paid by special assessments upon the property especially benefitted and what part,if any should be paid by the City at large.
2. When the aforesaid report is completed, the City Manager shall file the same with the City Clerk for presentation to the Council.
3. All resolutions and parts of resolutions insofar as they conflict with the provisions of this resolution be and the same hereby are rescinded.
4. Request from Selective Group for variance from Subdivision Ordinance requirement of extension of final preliminary approval - Barclay Estates No. 2 5. Resolution - Recommendation of approval of request to transfer of 1994 12 Month Resort Class C licensed business with Dance Permit from Marquette to Epoch Enterprises (Too Chez) 6. Acceptance of Deeds and Easements from Lyon Sand & Gravel for Wixom Road Extension 7. Resolution - Good Faith Offer - Parcel 14, 13 Mile Right of Way to Sidney & Harriet Hiller in the Amount of $80,000.00
WHEREAS, present conditions in the City of Novi, Oakland County, Michigan, necessitate the relocation and improvement of the Thirteen Mile Road near Haggerty Road in the City of of Novi; and
WHEREAS, proposed plans showing said relocation and improvement have been prepared; and
WHEREAS, it has been determined that said relocation and improvement is necessary for the use and benefit of the public; and
WHEREAS, in order to construct said improvement, it is necessary that the City acquire the fee in certain real estate described in the original minutes and hereinafter referred to as the "subject property"; and
WHEREAS, it has been determined to be in the best interest of the City of Novi to offer to purchase the subject property from the owners of such property.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor of the City is hereby authorized to execute, on behalf of the City, a good faith offer to purchase, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "1", calling for the payment of $80,000.00 for the subject property. The above amount has been established as just compensation for the acquisition of the property, based upon an appraisal of the property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that after the execution of the good faith offer to purchase the Mayor, the good faith offer to purchase shall be submitted to the owners of the property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all resolutions and parts of resolutions insofar as they conflict with the provisions of this Resolution be and the same hereby are rescinded.
8. Resolution to make Good Faith Offer - Dinser Greenhouse - $18,000 - 20-301-011
WHEREAS, present conditions in the City of Novi, Oakland County, Michigan, necessitate the relocation and improvement of Wixom Road near Ten Mile Road in the City of Novi; and
WHEREAS, proposed plans showing said relocation and improvement have been prepared by the City Engineer and are attached hereto as Appendix A; and
WHEREAS, after evaluating the plans, it has been determined that said relocation and improvement is necessary for the use and benefit of the public; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the authority vested in the City of Novi by law, that it is hereby declared and determined that it is necessary to relocate and improve Wixom Road in the vicinity of Ten Mile Road within the City of Novi in accordance with the plans attached hereto as Appendix A, and that said improvement is necessary for the use and benefit of the public; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Manager is hereby authorized to execute the Declaration of Taking, which is attached to the original minutes;
Land in the City of Novi, County of Oakland, State of Michigan, hereinafter referred to as the "subject property"; and
WHEREAS, it has been determined to be in the best interest of the City of Novi to offer to purchase the subject property from the owners of such property.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor of the City is hereby authorized to execute, on behalf of the City, a good faith offer to purchase a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "1", calling for the payment of $18,000.00 for the subject property. The above amount has been established as just compensation for the acquisition of the property, based upon an appraisal of the property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that after the execution of the good faith offer to purchase by the Mayor, the good faith offer to purchase shall be submitted to the owners of the property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all resolutions and parts of resolutions insofar as they conflict with the provisions of this Resolution be and the same hereby are rescinded.
9. Resolution to make Good Faith Offer - Michael & Kathy Dinser - $18,000 - 20-301-011
WHEREAS, present conditions in the City of Novi, Oakland County, Michigan, necessitate the relocation and improvement of Wixom Road near Ten Mile Road in the City of Novi; and
WHEREAS, proposed plans showing said relocation and improve- ment have been prepared by the City Engineer and are attached hereto as Appendix A; and
WHEREAS, after evaluating the plans, it has been determined that said relocation and improvement is necessary for the use and benefit of the public; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the authority vested in the City of Novi by law, that it is hereby declared and determined that it is necessary to relocate and improve Wixom Road in the vicinity of Ten Mile road within the City of Novi in accordance with the plans attached hereto as Appendix A, and that said improvement is necessary for the use and benefit of the public; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Manager is hereby authorized to execute the Declaration of Taking, which is attached to the original minutes;
Land in the City of Novi, County of Oakland, State of Michigan, hereinafter referred to as the "subject property"; and
WHEREAS, it has been determined to be in the best interest of the City of Novi to offer to purchase the subject property from the owners of such property.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor of the City is hereby authorized to execute, on behalf of the City, a good faith offer to purchase, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "1", calling for the payment of $18,000.00 for the subject property. The above amount has been established as just compensation for the acquisition of the property, based upon an appraisal of the property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that after the execution of the good faith offer to purchase by the Mayor, the good faith offer to purchase shall be submitted to the owners of the property.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all resolutions and parts of resolutions insofar as they conflict with the provisions of this Resolution be and the same hereby are rescinded.
10. Approval of Guidelines for Poverty Exemptions - 211 7u - General Property Tax Law 11. Resolution - Budget Amendment #4 - Owani, Japan Representative and Conferences and Workshops 12. Resolution - Budget Amendment #5 - Personnel Changes 13. Renewal of Massage Parlor License - Visions Salon - subject to final inspection by the Fire Marshal 14. Resolution - Street Tree Fees
WHEREAS, Section 4.03B2d of Ordinance No. 77-45, as amended, the City of Novi Subdivision Ordinance, provides that the City Council shall set by resolution various fees associated with the installation of street trees and island and boulevard landscaping within subdivisions, to wit, fees for plan review, fees for trees to be installed by the City, and inspection fees; and
WHEREAS, Section 2407.3B of the City of Novi Zoning Ordinance provides for the imposition of the same substantive requirements for site condominiums as are provided for subdivision, while permitting developer installed trees in private rights-of-way; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has reviewed the following schedule of fees and determined that the amounts provided therein are reasonable fees for the designated purposes.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the following schedule of fees shall be adhered to in connection with the installation of street trees and island and boulevard landscaping in subdivisions and site condominiums:
A. Payable upon Submission of Improvement Plans at Community Development
Plan Review - Street Tree Plan to DPS $100.00 Plan Review - Island/Boulevard Landscaping to DPS $100.00
B. Payable upon Submission of Final Plat or Upon Issuance of First Building Permit (Site Condominium)
Street Trees (When planted by City of Novi Department of Public Services
Installation Fee $225.00/tree Maintenance Fee $ 25.00/tree
Financial Guarantee (Trees planted by developer-private site condominium right-of-way) $225.00/tree
Inspection Fees (Trees planted by developer-private site condominium right-of- way) $ 20.00/tree
Landscape Fee to be collected as Cash Bond
Landscape Inspection Fee As Per Site Plan Manual
Administrative Fee $100.00/Sub- mittal of fees
15. Schedule Special Meeting - Toll Gate Center - 6:00 PM, Monday, February 13th - Charter Administrative Employees Selection Process 16. Schedule Special Meeting - Council Goal Session - Monday, February 13th, Toll Gate Center - 7:00 PM 17. Schedule Special Meeting for Thursday, March 16th at 7:30 PM for Public Hearing on Taft Road Extension 18. Schedule Special Meeting for Thursday, February 9th at 7:30 PM, Activities Room - Council Rules
Councilman Pope removed Item #11 Councilman Toth removed Item #12, #17 and #18 Councilwoman Mason removed Item #15 Councilman Mitzel removed Item #1 and #5
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Schmid Seconded by Councilman Toth
That Consent Agenda Items 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 16 be approved.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford)
Motion carried
MATTERS FOR COUNCIL - PART I
4. Mayor McLallen stated the item before Council at this time in order to accommodate Mr. Neiman, who was present at the Mayor's request, is Item #4 under Matters for Council Action - Part I, Resolution - Notice of Intent - $1,700,000 Special Assessment Bond Issue - Main Street Project Streetscape Improvements.
Dennis Neiman said he was here to answer any questions that the Council would have in connection with the agenda item.
Mayor McLallen said the Council had requested the legal explanation as to why this particular item had to be done at this time.
Mr. Neiman said he had met with members of staff, members of the City Attorney's office and engineers with respect to the Main Street Project. He said he was neither an advocate nor an opponent to the Main Street project he was present as one of the City's consultants.
Mr. Neiman said the process by which bonds are issued, Special Assessment Bonds particularly, under state law, involves some statutory procedures. He said one of them involves the publication of a Notice of Intent, the adoption by the City Council and the publication by the City Clerk of the Notice of Intent and the expiration of a referendum period. He said this has been done approximately 30 or 40 times in the City in previous transactions for a variety of things including Sand Stone and a variety of Special Assessments Districts going back into the 1960's. He said back in December when the staff, City Attorney's office, engineers and himself worked out tentative time tables which had the Resolution of Intent being adopted with the Council in the middle of January. He said it did not make the January Agenda. He said there was no requirement that it be adopted tonight but there is a requirement that it be adopted and published in advance of bonds being issued.
Councilwoman Mason said one question, in the packet information, was how the right of way acquisition portion affect the proposed "Notice of Intent" Resolution and vice versa. She said the answer was it did not affect the action but construction could not be started until they owned the right of way. She said she can't find the mesh and did not understand this.
Mr. Neiman said the actual right of way acquisition, the actual construction is a separate procedure from the statutory steps required with respect to the issuance of bonds. He said they can move a long parallel paths; the acquisition can take place after the statutory procedures have commenced but one is not conditioned upon the other. He said until such time as acquisition had been completed he did not think the City was in a position to issue bonds. He said this is a preliminary step this merely starts the statutory procedures.
Councilwoman Mason said unless we have the right of way we would not issue bonds and asked if that was correct.
Mr. Neiman said that was correct because you couldn't construct the project.
Councilwoman Mason asked if it would be a financial danger to the City.
Mr. Neiman said he didn't think the City Attorney's office would allow it and that he certainly would concur with them. He said they have worked very closely together for a lot of years and would not put the City in a position of having bonds out where you could not build a project.
Councilwoman Mason stated there were some environmental concerns about some property and there would be some money spent. She asked if people who own the property won't pay it and the City couldn't pay it is that part of any type of pay back or bond or is that kept outside of any bonding issue.
Mr. Neiman said he was not aware of that being any part of a bond and that it was separate and distinct. He said bonds can't be issued for environmental reasons and he would assume it is outside of that. He said at this point he was not saying it can't be but he was unaware of it ever being raised to him or in any of the meetings that he has had.
Mr. Fried said it had nothing to do with the issuance of bonds. He said Mr. Neiman needed to look at this a little harder.
Councilman Pope said this SAD will be for Main Street and Mr. Neiman said it would. Councilman Pope said this project at some point will be fully within one ownership at its beginning stage and Mr. Neiman said that was correct. He said the SAD Notice of Intent Resolution before Council is just for the Street Scape which would be trees, park benches, lamps, sidewalks, etc. and does not include the road. Mr. Neiman said it did not. Councilman Pope asked why it didn't include the road.
Mr. Neiman said the Special Assessments that the Council will impose by contract and will agree with by contract was not what was before Council this evening. He said they had bifurcated the project because the streets would be done with Michigan Transportation Fund Bonds; that was the recommended alternative that would be paid for by the Special Assessments. He said there would be two Special Assessment Districts; one for the streets which would pay the Michigan Transportation Fund Bonds and one for the Streetscape which would pay the Special Assessment Bonds. He said the difference was that portion which would be funded by the streets would be tax exempt. He said that portion that would be funded by the Streetscape would be taxable.
Councilman Pope said the Michigan Transportation Bonds will provide a better advantage to the developer to be able to provide a tax free vehicle. He asked on what other occasion we had done this. Mr. Neiman said the signalization of Novi Road.
Councilman Pope asked if that was a City project and Mr. Neiman said it was. Councilman Pope said this provides a further incentive to the developer and a tax advantage to the developer. He said it would cost him more in the long term and pay the SAD off if it was done some other way.
Councilman Pope said the question before Council is a Notice of Intent Resolution and he wanted to come back to the Transportation Bonds. He asked at what point do the bonds need to be approved by the Council; and if Council could wait and do the Intent Resolution in March or April.
Mr. Neiman said it depended on the time frame this project is to be constructed in but it is fair to assume that the Notice of Intent Resolution and the publication by the City Clerk is the first step in the process. He said you had to figure from there 75 to 105 days. He said it could be done in March or April; all that does is move the sale and construction back whatever period of time it is.
Councilman Pope asked Mr. Nieman if he had received a schedule from the City on when the City plans on going out on these bonds.
Mr. Neiman said no but they worked a tentative time frame which had the construction in the spring of 1995.
Councilman Pope said his question was in the roadway where, in his opinion, we are giving $600,000 to $1 Million worth of right of way, the Michigan Transportation Bonds will fund that improvement and is that referendable by the voters.
Mr. Neiman said it was not but as a practical matter he viewed these as linked and it seemed to him that if one caused a referendum, then you don't build the street without the streetscape.
Councilman Pope said but recognizing there is a political decision that, if one place the Street Scape is up, the developer is going to say "you don't want me to pay the $1.7 Million in streetscape with my own money" and that is the issue before the voters.
Mr. Neiman said it is a political question which is far more easily answered in the purview of the Council. He said his understanding of the project was that they are linked and that if one portion doesn't go the other doesn't go either.
Councilman Pope said the decision to run this Notice of Intent Resolution in February which gives 45 days in the middle of 10 degree weather had nothing to do with the ability of individuals to go out and circulate petitions in this weather.
Mr. Neiman said he has a non-political mind, one does not practice around the state for 25 years and have a political agenda. He said it was not his intent and if this Council feels it more appropriate to wait till April with the delay in terms of construction that is well beyond his decision making or desire either way. He said that was Council's call.
Councilman Pope asked if the City could do the road through a normal SAD without using Transportation Bonds.
Mr. Neiman said there could have been a second Notice of Intent for the road and the difference would have been that it would have been taxable. He said it was felt to be financially advantageous to do it this way.
Councilman Pope asked Mr. Fried if the passage of the Notice of Intent Resolution required a majority vote.
Mr. Fried said it did.
Councilman Pope said the five people that support this project have shown political courage in the face of five attempts at recall which are wrong, in his opinion. He said that he respected their courage on this issue even though he disagreed with the decision but he believed that the individual should have a right to a referendum. He said he did recognize that it would be an advantage to Mr. Chin not to go the taxable route. He said when you make this decision he did not think they were making a decision purposely to hide a chance at a referendum and he was not implying that. He said he believed it was better to allow the voters a right to this referendum as the residents near Metro Airport took their right to referendum when Metro Airport was going to be expanded and they chose their ability to have a referendum. He said it has happened where people will petition so he wanted to say that he was not saying that this Council was doing this purposely to avoid a referendum; however he felt it was unfortunate that we don't give the voters a chance at a referendum if they so wish. He said there were people who hade signed a petition regarding this project.
Councilman Schmid said Councilman Pope had consistently and to his credit rather well opposed this project and he is apparently going to oppose it right down until the construction and the concrete is poured, the road is in and we have the opening day ceremony. He said the issue tonight with Mr. Neiman is very simple. He said the Transportation Bonds that we will seek are in fact cheaper because of the tax exempt part of it. He said the developers and the people that buy and rent these buildings and the citizens of Novi are going to be able to put these buildings up and do a cheaper job than what the highway is talking about and what they would if we went the other method. He said it could be thousands and thousands of dollars cheaper and that is why Council is going this way and he assumed that was why Mr. Neimen was recommending it. He said as Councilman Pope pointed out it is not an intent to allow a referendum or not there is still going to be a referendum possibility on the streetscape bonding issue. He said he thought it would be foolish to not take advantage of the transportation bonding in order to save a substantial amount of dollars.
Mr. Neimen said it certainly would be cheaper.
Mayor McLallen said the issue before us and the issue for Mr. Neiman is the Notice of Intent that is on the agenda tonight. She said the other issues we can continue with later.
Councilman Toth said this was for the streetscape, side walks, trees, street lights and benches that are going to be put in this area. He said Councilman Pope is trying to explain that this is bad for us to try and put trees and sidewalks in this area through an SAD that we are not going to pay for; the property owners effectively will pay off these bonds. He said to have someone say they are dead set against 115 trees being planted in this area, putting 16 benches, 80 lights, a fountain and a plaza is really something bad for the City if we are going to put it in. He said if we allow a developer to put in the road at a little cheaper cost that is bad too. He said he did not want to paint that picture to these residents. He said we are giving them something they are going to be able to enjoy and use in the future and this has been on the books to complete this segment of that road in Town Center for well over 20-25 years and he thought it was a step in the right direction and Council should consider it tonight.
Councilwoman Mason said that the citizens want benches, they want these things; the citizens don't want to pay for them. She asked Mr. Neiman if when we did Cresent Blvd. and anything else under this type of bonding, those were all public roads.
Mr. Neiman said this is going to be a public road as well. He said they had talked about the necessity of having the State designate it a major road.
Councilwoman Mason asked if they were looking at it as a completion into Town Center 1 and back around.
Mr. Neiman said what was suggested was that financing in terms of the Michigan Transportation Fund Bonds is contingent upon the State designating it as a major road as built. He said MDOT will designate it as a major road assuming that it was built with these specifications, etc. He said we don't tell them what it will be we ask for a designation that it will be considered a major road if certain specifications are met.
Councilwoman Mason asked what the difference in cost between building a road that is designated as a major road specification and building a road that would be like the side roads in Town Center. She was told there would be no difference.
Councilman Mitzel asked if the Council would have to take action in the future concerning the bonds for the actual construction of the roadway, the transportation bonds and would that be a separate resolution.
Mr. Neiman said assuming that this proceeds; there would be a number of steps the Council would have to take. He said Council would still have to go through the Special Assessment proceedings, the Council action on the contract, a resolution with respect to the MTF Bonds and its authorization; and the same thing with respect to the Special Assessment Bonds if they were to go forward.
Councilman Mitzel stated that in the future Council would have to go through all the normal contract SAD resolutions and hearings for the streetscape and the roadway part and any other SAD that would be created in that area.
Mr. Neiman said that was correct.
Councilman Mitzel thanked Mr. Neiman for the information he gave Council and also thanked the Administration for the way this was handled by getting this information to Council a couple weeks early so that we had time to look it over, ask questions and get answers within the material in our packet.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Mitzel Seconded by Councilman Toth
That the following Resolution of Notice of Intent for the Main Street Project Streetscape Improvements be adopted.
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City intends to authorize the issuance of special assessment bonds for the purpose of defraying the Main Street Special Assessment District's share of the cost in connection with certain streetscape improvements in said Special Assessment District in the City; and
WHEREAS, notice of intent to issue bonds must be published at least forty-five (45) days before the issuance of the same in order to comply with the requirements of Section 5 (g) of Act 279, Public Acts of Michigan, 1909, as amended;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
1. The City Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish a notice of intent to issue bonds in the Novi News, a newspaper of general circulation in the City, as a display advertisement at least one-quarter page in size.
2. Said notice of intent so published shall be in substantially the following form:
OFFICIAL NOTICE TO ELECTORS AND TAXPAYERS OF THE CITY OF NOVI OF INTENT TO ISSUE BONDS SECURED BY THE TAXING POWER OF THE CITY AND RIGHT OF REFERENDUM THEREON
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the City Council of the City of Novi, County of Oakland, Michigan, intends to issue special assessment bonds of the City, in total principal amount of not to exceed $1,700,000 for the purpose of defraying the Main Street Special Assessment District's share of the cost of streetscape improvements in said Special Assessment District in the City. Said bonds shall mature serially in not to exceed fifteen (15) annual installments with interest payable on the unpaid balance at a rate of not to exceed 9% per annum or such higher rate as may be permitted by law.
SOURCE OF PAYMENT OF BONDS
THE PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST OF THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT BONDS shall be payable primarily from collections of an equal amount of special assessments against benefitted lands in the Special Assessment District and the bonds shall also pledge the limited tax full faith and credit of the City of Novi.
IN CASE OF THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS, THE PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST ON SAID BONDS SHALL BE PAYABLE FROM THE GENERAL FUNDS OF THE CITY LAWFULLY AVAILABLE FOR SUCH PURPOSE.
RIGHT OF REFERENDUM
THE BONDS will be issued without vote of the electors unless a PETITION requesting an election on the question of issuing either or both series of bonds, signed by not less than 10% OF THE REGISTERED ELECTORS in the City is filled with the City Council by depositing with the City Clerk WITHIN FORTY-FIVE (45) DAYS after publication of this notice. If such a petition is filed, the bonds affected cannot be issued without an approving vote by a majority of electors voting on the question.
THIS NOTICE is given pursuant to the requirements of Section 5 (g) of Act 279, Public Acts of Michigan, 1909, as amended. Further information concerning the matters set out in this notice may be secured from the City Clerk's office.
3. The City Council does hereby determine that the foregoing form of notice of intent to issue bonds and the manner of publication directed is adequate notice to the electors and taxpayers of the City and is well calculated to inform them of the intention of the City to issue the bonds, the purpose of the bond issues, the security for the bonds, and the right of referendum of the electors with respect thereto under all of the circumstances, and that the provision of forty-five (45) days within which to file a referendum petition is necessary and adequate to insure that the City's electors may exercise their right of referendum with respect to the bonds.
4. The City Clerk and the Finance Director be and are each hereby authorized to file a Notice of Intent to Issue an Obligation along with the appropriate filing fee with the Michigan Department of Treasury or to file for approval with the Michigan Department of Treasury.
5. All resolutions and parts of resolutions insofar as they conflict with the provisions of this resolution be and the same hereby are rescinded.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Pope said against his better judgement he had two points. He said he would vote for the Vic's Liquor License and that he was the fourth vote to approve his site plan. He said he is not opposed to the project; he was opposed to the corporate welfare of $600,000 at least to the developer for the right of way. He said if that issue was resolved he would support the project. He said it was disappointing when he had made that point clear many times that it still gets fogged. He said he did not advocate a referendum on the streetscape, in fact, he pointed out that it would be a ridiculous argument to make that trees should go to a referendum when the developer wants to pay for it. He said the item he is saying should allow the voters a referendum is the fact that the City is giving away land to the developer and that is the sole issue and debate here. Councilman Pope said he has tried to keep the debate positive in pointing that out, he hoped it didn't change that, it at least showed consistently what his position has been.
Councilman Schmid said he respected Councilman Pope extremely but when he says the City is giving away land to the developer it is absolutely false and he knows that. He said the City exchanging one piece of land for another piece of land in order to put in a road is a far cry from giving away land. He said it was wrong to put out to the public that the City is giving away land.
Yes (4-Schmid, Toth No (2-Pope, Mason) Absent (1-Crawford) Mitzel, McLallen Motion carried
1. Request of Robert Langan to accept Deer Run Street as a Public Street.
It was then,
Moved by Councilwoman Mason Seconded by Councilman Toth
That the City accept Deer Run Street as a public street subject to the memo of February 2nd from Chris Pargoff that the acceptance of the street should be conditioned upon a cash deposit for the street trees, etc.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Mitzel said he noticed in the packet for the culdesac hearing it was granted by the Construction Board of Appeals and he wanted to know if that was the policy prior to the current ordinance.
Geraldine Stipp, City Clerk, said Council referred it to the Construction Board of Appeals.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford)
MOTION CARRIED
Mr. Seiber said he received the memo from Chris Pargoff on Saturday regarding the requirements for street trees. He said he was a bit surprised at the fact that they have 6 lots being proposed and are required to install 84 trees. He said in light of the fact that they are proposing 10 acre lots he thought the requirement of 84 street trees was grossly excessive and certainly was not intended for this type of development. He said they intend to appeal this to the Zoning Board of Appeals if that is the appropriate body.
Councilman Schmid asked if 84 trees would be any different if the lots were smaller.
Mr. Seiber said 80 foot lots if zoned R-4 it would be the same number of trees.
Councilman Schmid said you are putting more trees on each of these lots.
Mr. Seiber said that the new Ordinance that was amended two weeks ago requires spacing of 35 foot centers for these trees. He said with the vast amount of open space that travelers on this road will view that there is not the need for that kind of street trees for this kind of development.
Councilman Mitzel said he thought the street tree requirement is good because we are trying to get a lot of trees planted in the City and he thought it was a good policy to plant 84 trees.
2. Request for new Resort Class C license - Port Papadapalis, Inc. - East Lake Drive South of 14 Mile Road
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Council Schmid
That the following Resolution be adopted:
That the request from Port Papadapalis, Inc. for a new 12 Months Resort Class C license to be located at East Lake, Novi, MI, Oakland County, subject to final inspection of the building and adherence to all Ordinances be adopted.
DISCUSSION
Councilwoman Mason asked how can Council grant a Resort Class C License for a property that does not have a street address.
Mr. John Carlin, representing the applicant, said it was customary that they would get a street address at the time they get the building permits.
Councilwoman Mason said for acceptance in the City they should have an actual address.
Mr. Fried asked if the property was identified in the application. It was identified as East Lake Drive and 14 Mile Rd.
Mr. Carlin said the approval of the Liquor Commission would be subject to final inspection by the City Council or City Staff and subject to the verification of the correct street address. He said they would not actually issue the license until they actually gave them an address.
Councilwoman Mason said the addresses are City issued now and not through Edison so it shouldn't be difficult to get an address.
Mr. Kriewall said addresses are not issued until they come in for a building permit.
Councilwoman Mason said we would accept a Resort License without any building permits and then if the building is never built .....
Mr. Carlin said if the building is not built they wouldn't get the liquor license. He said they do this quite frequently; its been done with all the restaurants on Cresent Blvd., Fudruckers, etc. and have never had addresses on any of them.
Councilwoman Mason asked if Council was assured that the restaurant is going to be in the place where the restaurant belongs.
Mr. Carlin said it will be where ever the Planning Commission approved it and the building permits will say where it is going to be.
Councilwoman Mason asked Mr. Fried if Council was through with everything else that we have to do with this particular piece of property; any litigation and so forth.
Mr. Fried said the property as far as Council is concerned is not in litigation.
Councilwoman Mason asked if we were assured that this restaurant is on the off water side of the street.
Mr. Fried said the site plan that has been approved is on the off water side of the street.
Mr. Carlin said they would not be building a restaurant on the lake side of the street.
Councilman Mitzel said he noticed that the Ordinance also required the approval of the Building Department and the Fire Department. He asked how this motion should be conditioned.
Mr. Fried said the license will not be granted until the Liquor Control Commission is assured that the building has been constructed and an occupancy permit is issued.
Councilman Mitzel said the motion didn't make reference to the other requirements in the Ordinance, the Building Department and the Fire Department inspection. He asked that it be incorporated into the motion and asked if he needed to do it by formal amendment. He said he understood what Mr. Fried and Mr. Carlin said that the State goes through their normal checks and balances and the City does too. He said, however, the Ordinance states that before the Council acts that they have a report from the Police Department, Building Department, Fire Department and any other department as determined by the City Manager. He said Council does not have those documents and in talking with the City Clerk it was discussed that the Fire Department and the Building Department ones would be done at the time it was built. He said he just wanted to make sure that that was in the motion because there are two others tonight; one in construction and the other one is already constructed and we do not have the Fire Department and Building Department reports as required by ordinance.
Mr. Fried said for many years we consented to these transfers subject to the Building Department; then Mr. Carlin ran into a problem on one.
Mr. Carlin said the Liquor Commission will not accept a conditional resolution from the City Council. He said what they will accept is a conditional recommendation by the Police Department and there is a space on their form to actually check it and do it that way. He said it says "that the ultimate issuance of the license is subject by the final inspection by the Police Department to determine that the building has been constructed and meets all the requirements of the City of Novi". He said they had no problem doing that and that it was done frequently. Mr. Carlin said the problem with the recommendation that is given by Council, if it is conditional, the Liquor Commission comes back to them and says that any approval is subject to a final inspection by the City Council. He said if Council would just let their Police Department and Building Department take care of it it works and it has been done in the past.
Councilman Pope accepted the amendment.
Councilman Mitzel said his problem is what the ordinance says and it directs how Council has to proceed.
Mr. Carlin said they would be back at a later date.
Mr. Kriewall asked if this just has to be noted on the police report.
Councilman Pope said that is correct and the way Mr. Carlin just described it provides the authority of the City to be able to handle it. He said Councilman Mitzel pointed out a very appropriate technical matter that should be referred to the City Attorney to correct.
Councilman Mitzel asked if technically a waiver had to be made from the ordinance requirements.
Mr. Fried said the motion could be a waiver. He said he thought Councilman Mitzel was right and the ordinance had to be amended.
Mayor McLallen said the Ordinance Section in discussion is Section 3.14 Subsection E, Page 220 and is referred to the City Attorney for correction.
Councilman Toth said to Mr. Fried that Item #9, #11, #12, #14 and #17 of the Liquor License Applicants form for Ordinance 91-149 imply that this is based on the lake. He said Item #14 refers to it as saying "if this were instead to be used as a DNR Marina." He asked, with those thoughts in mind, how binding are those words that are in these various forms that are in here. He said if you look at Item #14 the last sentence where it says "if this were instead to be used as a DNR Marina facility, it would not only affect street traffic but would also affect the number of boats", etc. He said to Mr. Fried that this implies that the building is going to be on a shoreline.
Mr. Fried said it would not be because the site plan approved provides that it is across the road from the water and it is the only site plan that had been approved for this project. He said Mr. Andris wanted a different site plan and brought one in and it was rejected.
Councilman Toth said all three of these applications had the same language and he was concerned regarding how binding was the language if the Council passes the application.
Mr. Fried said the language would not change the site plan one iota.
Mr. Carlin said they understood that.
Councilman Toth said then none of this language is binding on the Council.
Mr. Fried said absolutely not.
Mr. Carlin said he would stipulate and agree with the City Council that the approval from Council is conditioned on the site plan that has been approved by the Planning Commission which spells out that the restaurant is going to be on the east side of Lake St.
Yes (4-Schmid, Pope No (2-Mason, Toth) Absent (1-Crawford) Mitzel, Mc Lallen Motion carried
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Mitzel
That the agenda be amended to move to Item #5 of the Consent Agenda.
Yes (5-McLallen, Pope, No (1-Mason) Absent (1-Crawford) Schmid, Mitzel Toth) Motion carried
5. Consent Agenda Item #5 - Resolution - Recommendation of approval of request to transfer ownership of 1994 12 month Resort Class C licensed business with Dance Permit from Marquette to Epoch Enterprises (Too Chez)
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Toth
That the following Resolution be adopted:
That the request from Epoch Enterprises, Inc. to transfer ownership of 1994 12 Months Resort Class C licensed business with Dance Permit, located at Co. Rd. 550, Star Route 550, Marquette, MI 49855, Powell Township, Marquette County, from Sara Jane Pelto; transfer location (governmental unit) to 27155 Sheraton, Novi, MI 48375, Oakland County; and request a new Entertainment Permit without dressing rooms (Step II) subject to final inspection by the Police Department be adopted.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
3. Request for Class C License - Vic-East, Inc. - 42875 Grand River - Victor J. Ventimiglia, Jr.
Gerald Kirchner, representing Victor Ventimiglia, Jr., said Mr. Ventimiglia's experience is very extensive in this area; he has owned restaurants of a similar nature downtown in Trappers Alley and was the former owner of the Oyster Alley. He said these were similar situations; one restaurant which is part of a whole arena of stores. He said presently Mr. Ventimiglia is the owner of Vic's Quality Fruit Market in Beverly Hills and that market has proved very successful by expanding its base of operations. He said it started as a simple fruit market and has expanded as a gourmet market for consumers who want more than a place to go for fruit. Mr. Kirchner said they believe Novi consumers want more than just a place to go for fruit and gourmet food. He said they want a place to eat and other things in front of them at the same time and they are a little more demanding.
Mr. Kirchner said it would provide a place for the consumer to come and shop and to relax for a few minutes in the middle of the day or evening and to have a meal. He said it would also create a number of jobs for the Novi community; in the restaurant itself with 175 seats it is likely to employ 30 to 40 people alone. He said this is a European style market place and it will create a landmark for the City.
Councilman Schmid said he assumed that this would be a restaurant within a building with its own wall, doors, etc.
Mr. Kirchner said it would have no exterior door other than a fire door. He said there would be a door that is more dedicated to the restaurant on the end of the building but it can be accessed through a stairway or an elevator from the market, from an exterior door and a foyer. He said in the foyer there will be other things such as a coffee and espresso bar and a relaxation area for customers to sit and chat a little bit. He said the building will be entered from one of a number of locations and proceed to one end of the building where the stairway and elevator is. He said you will then go upstairs in the foyer area and go into the restaurant or to the cooking school.
Councilman Schmid asked about the facade of the restaurant.
Mr. Kirchner said the facade would be that of a separate restaurant from the exterior. He said the whole front of the building gives the appearance of being a number of markets.
Councilman Schmid asked what the name would be and what kind of menu and how large the kitchen was.
Mr. Kirchner said they didn't have the final name yet but it would be Vic's Cafe or Vic's Market Cafe or something a long those lines. He said it would be a light menu of pizza, pasta, salads, sandwiches; things that are contemporary menu's for the 90's. He said the kitchen was approximately 6,800 square feet; half of which is going to be the cooking school or the meeting room area. He said approximately 3,400 or 3,600 square feet would be the restaurant area and close to 1,000 square feet would be the kitchen.
Councilman Schmid requested that, not withstanding this gentleman, when these things come before the City Council that the Petitioners are given a little clearer understanding of what would be desirable for the City Council to make a decision to give up one of their two major Class C licenses.
Councilwoman Mason asked if it was true that as the population grew we become eligible for more Class C.
Mr. Kriewall said that was correct and we will run a mid decade census if the State allows it in 1996 and we should probably pick up four to five more liquor licenses.
Councilwoman Mason said she would vote for this and the reason was that she thought that the important thing was the liquor license and not whether it's a Resort or whether it is one that is allotted to us. She said everything that Councilman Schmid mentioned to this gentleman about his people should have been mentioned the last time to someone who didn't have an address, got all the ordinances waived and just happened to know people.
Councilman Mitzel expressed his frustration as a member of the Council, it has nothing to do with the applicant, it is just that this type of submittal got placed on our agenda without the Administration properly telling the applicant what they should have had so that the Council could have made a decision as required by the ordinances. He said we have to do our business by what is in the Ordinances and what is in the Charter. He said to often these are coming to Council table, taking up a lot of our time that wouldn't need to be taken up if they had been properly prepared before hand and also causing frustration on Council's part and on the part of the applicant. He thanked the applicant for his patience and asked that the Administration seriously correct this problem.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Schmid
That the following resolution be adopted:
That the request from Vic-Eat, Inc. for a new Class C license to be located at 42875 Grand River, Novi, Michigan, 48375, subject to final inspection and adherence to all Ordinances be adopted.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
5. Resolution - Utility Extension to Novi Township
Mayor Mc Lallen said the Township of Novi requested a single extension of utilities so that the City will have an established policy to follow and it was her understanding that the Township Supervisor has also been contacted so that the Township is aware of this.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Toth Seconded by Councilman Mason
That the following Utility Extension to Novi Township Resolution be adopted:
WHEREAS, the City of Novi periodically receives requests for utility service to Novi Township, and,
WHEREAS, past requests for utility service have been for isolated lots within Brookland Farms subdivision, and,
WHEREAS, isolated service to individual lots is not in keeping with sound utility planning and construction, and the Council will consider Health & Safety matters; and
WHEREAS, the Novi City Council has discussed the aspect of isolated utility service extension to Novi Township,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the policy of the City of Novi is to not consider individual service to isolated lots in Novi Township, however, the Council will consider Health & Safety matters.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Pope asked if this resolution, which says "we will not look at individual services in Novi Township" means that if someone has a failed septic system and is unable to correct it in any other form that this City will not consider health concerns.
Councilman Toth and Councilwoman Mason said that was correct.
Councilman Pope said he would vote against this because regardless of the artificial boundaries of a Township and a City if an individual has a problem with a health concern he thought the City should look into it even if they are not a direct resident of the City.
Councilwoman Mason said that the houses that are in the Township do have enough room on the lots for a replacement septic field.
Councilman Mitzel said if this is a Council Resolution the Council could change it in the future. He said when and if this passes he would appreciate it if it could be included with all the other Council policies that have been gathered with the Rules Committee. He said when this first came up he voted against extending the sewer line because Mr. Kriewall was going to try to get a policy on how it would be done or if the whole Township wanted to come in. He said he agreed with Councilman Pope that if there was a true need and true health and safety reason for utility extension we should consider it if it was paid for by the resident. He said with that in mind he would support the resolution but would like the record to reflect that if there is truly a health and safety need that this Council would consider changing that policy.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Mitzel Seconded by Councilman Pope
That the third paragraph of the Resolution be amended to say that the Council would consider true health and safety needs.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Toth said we cannot go around being the catch all for every ones problems. He said the people in the Township of Novi decided they would not become part of the City of Novi. He said we have a limited amount of capacity and funds. He said if a case comes up they should contact their Township Supervisor and he should contact the City Manager and handle it at the Administrative level.
Councilman Pope asked Mr. Kriewall if at any point the City Council approved accepting capacity from the City of Livonia. He asked what our agreement was with the City of Livonia.
Mr. Kriewall said the City of Livonia gave the City of Novi some temporary capacity for the sanitary sewer.
Councilman Pope asked if we have an agreement with Commerce and what it was.
Mr. Kriewall said we did and we traded sewer capacity to Commerce.
Councilman Pope asked if we have an agreement with Walled Lake.
Mr. Kriewall said we share capacity.
Councilman Pope said it was neighbors helping neighbors and that was his point.
Councilman Schmid said it was all done at the Administrative level and we were not doing this on a one by one basis.
Mr. Kriewall said the Township Supervisor from Novi Township prefers this type of resolution. He said they don't want people coming to the City as individual residents with problems. He said they know they should be handling it on a system wide district basis in their own community and they support this position.
Councilman Pope said government likes control; they don't like to give it to the individual they like to keep control.
Mayor McLallen said the policy states it will not consider individual requests and the amendment said with the exception of hardships.
Councilman Schmid said he thought the intent of the resolution was merely to discourage the Township individuals to come to the City and request tap ins. He thought Councilman Toth was correct; if it became an absolute problem with one of the homeowners in the Township that they couldn't correct their own problem that they go to the Township Supervisor and he would talk with the City Manager. He said it would then come before Council and Council could then make exception to the ordinance. He was afraid if they put an exception in the ordinance it would weaken the ordinance.
Councilman Mitzel said the process just described was what he was envisioning.
Vote on the amended resolution:
Yes (4-Mitzel, No (2-Schmid, Toth) Absent (1-Crawford) Pope, Mason, McLallen Motion carried
Vote on the main motion:
Yes (5-Mason, Pope, No (1-Toth) Absent (1-Crawford) Mitzel, Schmid, Mc Lallen) Motion carried
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Rosemary Denton, Glyme Dr., wanted to tell Councilman Toth that she appreciated his comments earlier on cable in regards to the Police Academy. She said the Police Academy sounded like it was a very worthwhile opportunity for the citizens of Novi especially in regards to the education aspect. She said she always supports education in every way that she can but in this day of escalating costs the cost benefit ratio has got to be factored in. She said first of all there are no free lunches and it seemed that the citizens interested in pursuing more knowledge in regards to police work need to incur part or all of those costs. She said Novi is an affluent community and the first select groups that have gone through this program she ventured to guess were part of that affluent community. She said she didn't think there were to many people who could really benefit from the educational aspect; the people on the fringes, possibly. She said the ones who have a fear of the police because possibly they could end up in prison. She didn't think that in those initial two groups you would find to many who were headed to Jackson. She suggested that we really reach out to the fringe people and we really publicize this program to them if it is going to continue and get some of those people into it.
Ms. Denton said when she read the comments in the Novi News she became very irritated. She didn't think the majority of people in Novi had to know that now there was a comfort level that is achieved in the community because of this class they attended. She said she has lived in Novi for 3 years and has had three occasions to deal with the Novi Police. She said at no time was she uncomfortable or not at ease. She said the Police were there when she needed them, she called and they came and everything worked out well and she didn't take any class that cost several hundred dollars. She said she didn't understand why it was necessary to go to this class and shoot $50 worth of ammunition to know that policemen carry guns to protect themselves and other people. She said if people want to take this class and shoot guns then they should cover the cost of the ammunition.
Ms. Denton said she read about coffee mugs, $1,000 dinners, T-Shirts. She stated that she worked hard for things she wanted and she didn't expect anyone to hand it to her. She said if people want coffee mugs, T-Shirts and dinners then they need to pay for those items.
She didn't feel they should just be handed out. She said she objects to the fluff; it is great to be educated but do we really need a 10 week course, 4 hours a night to know what the police officer is all about. She said they should be junior police officers or volunteer police officers, like there are in some of these other communities, if they need intense knowledge of what police work is all about. She said this is a worthwhile program and the PR that is disseminated is very positive but she didn't think we were reaching the right people.
Ms. Denton said her confidence in City government had taken a great tumble. She said it was very tragic all this had to be uncovered because Councilman Toth asked what a $500 check was about. She said she appreciated and applauded his efforts. She said she applauded the Novi Police Department and Wixom and Walled Lake for their innovative program. She just felt it needed to be pursued to reach the people who could really benefit from this information; not some of the people who went through initially who she thought had a fine knowledge of what police work was all about.
Nadwa Breda, Salon Nadwa Day Spa, asked what the Council had done in finding information from other cities about changing the Ordinance.
Mr. Fried said he knew his office and the police department were working on it but did not know if there would be any changes or not.
Mayor Mc Lallen said that it would come back to Ordinance Review in their February meeting and would come back to Council in March.
Mrs. Breda asked who she would talk to if she called the police department.
Mr. Fried suggested she call his office and talk with Dennis Watson.
MATTERS FOR COUNCIL ACTION - PART II
6. Schedule Executive Session to follow meeting to discuss pending litigation and property acquisition
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Schmid Seconded by Councilman Toth
That an executive session be scheduled following Council meeting to discuss pending litigation, property acquisition and a written attorney's opinion.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford)
Motion carried
7. Appointments to the Computer Advisory Committee
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Mitzel
That Anne Kohut for a 2 year term, Gary Alexander for a 3 year term, Vincent Marino for a 3 year term, Ken Schell for a 1 year term and Matthew Weisberg for a 2 year term be appointed to the Computer Advisory Committee be approved.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford)
Motion carried
Councilman Mitzel said Councilman Toth will stay on the Computer Committee and Councilman Mitzel will take his place on the Stormwater Committee if that is acceptable to the Council.
Councilman Pope said he would support it tonight but he thought in the goals discussion there was discussion that all Council Members would be removed from Committees and at that time he would support that.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Schmid
That Councilman Toth remain a member of the Computer Advisory Committee and Councilman Mitzel be appointed to the Stormwater Committee.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
8. Claims and Accounts - Warrant No. 430
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Schmid
That Claims and Accounts Warrant No. 430 be approved.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Mason asked why we are paying for work performed in July now in February. Mr. Kriewall said they were slow billing and we were slow paying.
She asked about 4 Star Building Maintenance, $4,682 and if that was a quarterly statement. Mr. Kriewall said he would look at it.
Councilman Toth said he would not support this because Council did not have good knowledge of what information was in here. He did point out that Item #127 to the Michigan Elevator Company. He said those that follow the Council know that for many years he took a stand against the $256 that is paid out every month for maintenance of the elevator. He said he wanted to commend the City Administration for charging us only $76 a month now. He didn't know where they got the bargain from but was happy they did.
Yes (4-McLallen, Pope No (2-Mason, Absent (1-Crawford) Mitzel, Schmid) Toth)
Motion carried
9. Appointments to Boards and Commissions
Mayor Mc Lallen said there seemed to be some misunderstanding on Council; when this was put on the requesting party wanted the appointments done tonight. She said they had interviews and incumbents for the Board of Review. She said Mrs. Jenkins did show up late because she had to work indicating she was still interested in the Board of Review. Mayor Mc Lallen said the Zoning Board of Appeals had two applicants and an applicant that applied for both Board of Review and Construction Board of Appeals. She said there were two applicants for Board of Appeals and one applicant for the Beautification Commission. She said there were no applicants for the Economic Development Committee
Councilman Mitzel asked if the alternates were interested in the ZBA.
Councilman Pope said Mr. Pheiffer sent a letter saying he would not be re-applying.
Councilman Mitzel asked if this would include the four people who interviewed for the Beautification Commission back in October. They would be included.
Councilman Schmid said he thought it was up for discussion. He said the agenda and everything in the packet suggested that we were going to have interviews this evening at 6:30 PM and then at the next meeting we would make appointments. He said he didn't understand the emergency and urgency of it.
Councilwoman Mason said she suggested it because two of them ran out in January, 1995.
Councilman Pope asked Mr. Fried if a member of ZBA or Board of Review legally sit and make decisions or do we put the City at jeopardy in their decisions.
Mr. Fried said their positions carry over until their successor is appointed.
Councilwoman Mason said it carries over even though their term was up in January, 1995.
Mr. Fried said that was correct.
Councilwoman Mason asked if there was a reading or something Council could get that would show that.
Mr. Fried said at least two opinions have been written about that.
Councilwoman Mason said she wanted to see something that said that when you are on a board you carry over.
Mr. Fried said they had written opinions on that and he was sure the Clerk could get a copy of it and send it to her.
Councilwoman Mason said she would like something more than an opinion. She wanted a law, a policy or an Ordinance regarding this. She said Council is constantly by-passing Ordinances and laws and making up opinions and she could not accept that.
Mayor Mc Lallen said that the opinion rendered by the City Attorney indicated that until the Council appointed another member the sitting member would remain in office.
Councilwoman Mason said what if the sitting member doesn't remain in office.
Mayor Mc Lallen said then there is a vacancy but if they can continue physically to fill the office he can do so until replaced by appointment.
Councilwoman Mason said if the person doesn't want to and is done the 31st of January then that means we have an open position.
Mayor Mc Lallen said there is a vacancy until the Council appoints.
Mayor Mc Lallen said the issue is there are several incumbents that could be reappointed and there are obviously some concerns that Council Members would like to consider. She said on two boards the appointments have run out. She said on the Board of Review incumbents wish to be reappointed and that is fairly simple because there were no other applicants.
She said the Zoning Board of Appeals appeared to be one that could be held off until the next meeting to check with the alternate to see if she would like to move up.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Mitzel
That Robert Churella and Denise Jenkins be reappointed to their positions on the Board of Review and that each position be a term of 3 years to expire January 31, 1998.
Yes (5-Mitzel, Pope, No (1-Schmid) Absent (1-Crawford) Mason, Toth, Mc Lallen) Motion carried
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilwoman Mason
That James Harrington, III be reappointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Schmid said if we are going to vote let's vote and if we are going to make motions let's make motions.
Councilman Mitzel said Councilman Schmid had a good point; we normally vote by ballot.
Councilman Pope withdrew his motion.
Mayor Mc Lallen said the agenda was amended to allow for appointments this evening and the normal procedure is the circling of a name on a ballot. She asked that the ballots be passed to the Clerk unless there was an objection by the majority.
Councilman Mitzel said he question a couple of them because on EDC and HCD no one applied so we are re-advertising. Mayor Mc Lallen said that was correct. Councilman Mitzel asked if we could then appoint the other positions. Mayor Mc Lallen said that was correct.
Councilman Mitzel asked Council why the interviews were held after the terms had already expired. He said it seemed that the interviews should be held before the terms expire so we don't run into this.
Mayor Mc Lallen said probably could be done by planning farther in advance on a quarterly basis looking at who's appointments are up. She said typically Council had been running right up to the wall and then running into Council's already scheduled meetings.
Mayor Mc Lallen asked for all those in favor of moving forward with the appointments to the Boards that had applicants this evening signify by saying Aye.
Yes (3) No (3) Absent (1-Crawford)
Could not discern from tape what way Council Members voted.
Mayor Mc Lallen stated this was deadlocked and would be taken up at the next meeting.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION - None
COMMITTEE REPORTS
COMPUTER COMMITTEE
Councilman Toth said under Phase I Infrastructure, the host computer is installed a long with the software. He said they are also working on establishing the wide-area network. He said they should have it by the next meeting. He said the new computer work station bids will be opened February 7th and will be back to Council with the prices of those against the money we were budgeted for. Councilman Toth said the "dumb" terminals that are used with the host computer will be replaced. He said they would be addressing that in the next 30 to 60 days and in the same period of time be addressing the purchase of new software. He said a sub-committee had been established under Gary Alexander for the Police Department and he had already talked with the Police Chief and they will start going through that process shortly. He said they will be addressing the City wide data base and also the computer support staffing and training and as these things are resolved they will come back to Council.
ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE
Councilman Mitzel said the committee met two weeks ago and discussed RV's and the parking of the RV's in front yards and streets and the Massage Ordinance. They basically just referred them back to the staff for additional information and nothing was resolve.
He said he also tried to get another memo concerning traffic lights to the Council to refer to the Ordinance Review Committee. He said there was a copy in Council's packet. He said speaking with Mr. Nowicki he had seen the memo and if we wished to have a Council policy of mast arm signals an Ordinance may not be the place for it and it may be else where.
Councilman Mitzel said he raised two other questions. He said he thought that the little arms that were on the poles at 12 Mile and Meadowbrook were going to be fore street lights but he was told they were for traffic sensors. He said he would like to look into a way that at least one or two streets lights could be put in at that intersection; and the same with the M-5 exit. He said they are busy intersections and deserve a couple of street lights to help illuminate them.
Mayor Mc Lallen asked Mr. Kriewall to research the cost estimates and the funding sources for those issues.
Mr. Kriewall said he would bring it back at the next regular meeting.
MANAGER'S REPORT
1. Taft Road Extension
Mayor Mc Lallen said there was some concern from Council with a presentation at this time when the entire presentation will come forward on the 16th. She said the Council felt comfortable that an adequate amount of information had been presented and the majority have chosen not to see the full blown presentation if it is the same presentation that is going to be given on the 16th.
Mr. Kriewall said they would like to give Council a 5 minute demonstration.
Mr. Kriewall said they were up to 15 alternates and essentially they break down into two groups. He said one is the group of alternates that is west of the C & O Tracks and that has been addressed in our prior meetings. He said based on the public hearing that we have already had with the residents most of these routes have been deemed relatively unacceptable except for possibly one that comes furthest to the east. He said alternate #5 picks up West Road at its southern terminus and comes down to the southwest and back over to a connection with 12 Mile which is further to the east. He said it was an alternative that was looked at before and is one of the few alternatives that remains in consideration for west of the C & O Tracks as we saw it before. Mr. Kriewall said they feel that the other alternatives based on the public hearing input were to far to the west.
Mr. Kriewall said one of the preferred alternatives to this point is alternative #11. He said this particular alternative, even though it is higher in cost and over the budget that we have, does make a connection with West Road very near South Lake Drive. He said it comes to the south following our mitigation property north of the treatment plant and south across a wetlands area and dives southwest and makes a 90 degree intersection with the CSX Tracks. It then follows a normal curvature, which it must maintain from a design standpoint, and it touches down on 12 Mile Road at a point which is very far to the east and should be acceptable from a termination standpoint to 12 Mile Road. He said they like this particular route plus a couple of others that they would show.
Mr. Kriewall presented one that City Council wanted them to look at. He said it formed the same connection with West Road near the southerly tip and headed straight for a destination of paralleling the CXS Tracks. He said it then came down parallel to the tracks and dives into the parkland property and made a connection with 12 Mile Road. He said they also met with the DNR on this particular route and they can probably support routing a long side of the tracks. He said, however, the cost might be the most expensive of anything we have looked at and run as high as $17 Million. He said these cost have a wide range because we are not able to take soil borings at this point in the design process. He said they would not recommend this until Council picked a route because they are very expensive for all of these routes.
Mr. Kriewall presented alternate #13. He said it intercepts West Road about half way north of the prior projects. It comes down to the treatment plant road and immediately heads east into the tree farm property. Then it comes, this is all wetland area at the north end of this route, down and picks up some good land and crosses one wetland area and dives straight down towards Dixon Road and follows the Dixon Road alignment. He said they had a modification of this which is alternate #15.
Mayor Mc Lallen said she understood all the alignments. She asked if there were other issues on these 15 alternatives. She said they appreciate the technology that is going on and she thought it would make the public presentation much more visible on to 16th for anyone attending. She asked if there were other issues that he would like the Council to be aware of when he went through the research choosing these 15 alignments.
Mr. Kriewall said primarily they wanted to be sure that all the alternatives were looked at before getting to the hearing. He said if any members of Council see any additional routes that they would like explored tentatively they would like to hear from them.
Mayor Mc Lallen said two other questions that were brought up in Council discussions were the issue of the remaining funds within the 1990 Road Bond as they pertain to this project and to the three other uncompleted roads. She said Council would like an update on where the funding stands for potential expenditure and if there was inadequate funding where would this issue go from here. She asked what the alternate sources of funding would be because there is no State, Federal or other pocket that can be looked at for this road.
Mr. Kriewall said he would get Council a detailed breakdown.
Councilwoman Mason asked if that road becomes a road to West Road and becomes a truck route or a road that is used for heavy industry then is there State funding for it.
Mr. Kriewall said we would have to compete in the FAUS categories for funding but he understood there is nothing available for new routes. He said we might be able to get funding for West Road if it remains an industrial area where we can widen or improve it. He said it was his understanding that for a new route there is no funding.
Councilwoman Mason said there is only one of these routes that we have enough money for in the bonding.
Mr. Kriewall said there may be 2 or 3, the ones that we presented earlier that were the shortened routes.
Councilwoman Mason said any other route that would be acceptable or from the public opinion it would mean more money would have to be bonded to do this project.
Mr. Kriewall said that was correct and he said they are coming to the conclusion that we would probably have to vote a subsequent bond issue to fund anything much different than we have already presented or not do it at all.
Councilman Mitzel said when we have the Public Hearing it would be helpful, at least from his perspective, to know of the other impacts that are involved. He said this presented a very good case of showing the alignments and some preliminary cost information. Councilman Mitzel said it was hard to discern from the map and drawings where the wetlands woodland, the regional storm water basins were; all those will be impacted. He said the Planning Department had finalized the habitat study which gave a lot of information on the environmental impacts that would be in this area and it would be very helpful to incorporate those into the presentation. He felt it was important to look at all the impacts and not just which route looked the best and the cost but also the community impacts and even where the parklands are located.
Councilman Schmid said for Alternative #8 it was east of the railroad but why can't it move up parallel to the railroad.
Mr. Kriewall said that would essentially be the most expensive part of the project because there would be pylons every 20 to 30 feet. He said we would try to shorten that area of paralleling the tracks.
Councilman Schmid said starting east of the railroad on 12 Mile road by making an S or U curve are you staying out of wetlands there.
Mr. Kriewall said there was a strategic crossing of some wetlands and there will be an eventual bridge on 12 Mile Road and we need adequate distance away from the bridge.
Mayor Mc Lallen agreed with Councilman Mitzel's request for a kind of qualitative review of each segment on its cost, environmental and land use impacts. She thought just ranking them might be helpful for everyone. She said the most cost effective in dollars might be the most highly priced in terms of environment. She said those are decisions that the Council would have to come to.
Councilman Toth commented on the Detroit traffic cop that came and talked about the Expo Center. He said he had talked to a number of people and he felt part of the problem laid with the Expo Center. He thought the other part of the problem laid with the City of Novi. He said everybody he talked to had not seen any Police Officers out there directing traffic. He said when we get that much traffic out there, he expected the City of Novi to have the Novi Police out there moving some of that traffic out of the way, especially if it is on Novi Road, Town Center Road or any of those roads. He said someone has got to be there in a position of authority to be able to handle the traffic and if there are costs involved, maybe we will pass them on to the Expo Center. He said the first thing is to make sure that the traffic moves and moves properly.
Mr. Kriewall said he was up there over the weekend and the biggest problem is really Saturday and Sunday from about 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM each day. He said the popularity of the Builders Show is becoming a problem itself; but they handled it better this year then last year. He said he wrote a letter to the Builders Association of Southeast Michigan and the Expo Center and said it ought to be a 10 day affair. He said the subsequent major shows, the RV show and the Outdoorama are over 10 days and there won't be a problem at all.
Councilman Toth said the Expo Center should address the problem. He said when that lot is full people should not be allowed to travel through it. He said we needed to be sure that there is access for emergency vehicles.
Mr. Kriewall said the Police Department closed off the 50's festival when it got full and he thought we needed to do that during other activities also.
Councilman Mitzel thanked Mr. Kriewall for the response in their packets regarding the Autumn Park entryway sign and that Administration had addressed the procedure so that won't happen again.
He had two items concerning roads. He said the Administration has installed truck route signs on Taft Road. The last he recalled when Beck Road was discussed back in March, Taft Road did not have through truck traffic allowed. He said at Nine Mile and Taft there is a truck route sign and also in the Department of Public Services January monthly report it is indicated from the DPW that they installed truck route signs on Taft Road.
Councilman Mitzel said once again on Friday night someone had moved the Decker Road barricades and opened up the road, it was still open way early Saturday morning. He said today half the barricades are laying on their sides. He said it is not acceptable and he didn't feel it was up to Council to find the solution. He felt that Administration to come forward with the proper barricade that will last the time and look attractive.
Councilwoman Mason said the traffic on Novi Road is not bad just between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. She said she travels that all week end and the Expo Center should do the same thing as Twelve Oaks Mall. They pay to have our Police Officers out there and they pay them the overtime. She said when we get congested at Christmas time we close off the Novi Road entrance and they have to go down around Beck and come back up and that is what has to be done. She said this is the third year that we have had the Builders Show and it gets worse every year.
Councilman Pope said we do have an agreement with the Expo Center and the Police Chief is able to implement that. He thought what Councilwoman Mason was saying was that the Police Chief should implement that.
Councilman Pope said he was in E. Lansing for a graduation ceremony and Roger Stimple was the speaker and he got a chance to talk to him. He said he was introduced as a Novi City Council Member and the first thing Mr. Stimple was "what about that Expo Center traffic." He suggested that a tape of this meeting with Ms. Yager's comments on video tape be presented to the lobbyist to see if they would present a very articulate police official demonstrating that this is a regional facility. Councilman Pope wanted to allow the lobbyist to decide when to provide it to the legislators who would be meeting soon with him on this issue.
Councilman Pope said going east bound on 12 Mile Road the first exit ramp for M-5 there is a sign that says Detroit. He said you can get to Detroit or you can get to Lansing/Brighton. He said people are getting confuse by that sign. He said it may be appropriate to ask MDOT about it. He also felt there might not be enough publicity about M-5 and felt that the City Public Information Officer should be providing information to the traffic copters that M-5 can get people to 12 Mile and Twelve Oaks.
ATTORNEY'S REPORTS
1. Representation of Terry Morrone
Mr. Fried said he wrote a letter to the Council explaining that they were asked to represent Terry Morrone, a City employee, on a non-related matter. He said he didn't think it was any violation of ethics or impropriety but it might have given the perception of impropriety. He said therefore, he asked Council to note that they received an objection from a Council Member to their representing Mr. Morrone and so they will not be representing him.
Councilwoman Mason stated she had written to Mr. Kriewall saying that she did not think it a good idea for the consulting attorney for the City to represent any City employee. She felt there could be an opportunity or time when that City employee might have a reason to sue the City.
Mr. Fried said they have taken what Councilwoman Mason has said and will not represent Mr. Morrone.
Councilman Mitzel said late last year he had sent Mr. Fried questions concerning Robins Nest and the Subdivision Ordinance with the variances and how those are suppose to be handled. He also sent the process for site condos within a platted subdivision and he said he was looking forward to the response from Mr. Fried or possibly response from the City Administration.
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approval of Minutes of Special Meeting of December 5th
Councilman Mitzel said there was a minor correction on Page 13; his vote had been on the same side as the Mayor's.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilwoman Mason
That the minutes of Special Meeting of December 5th be approved as amended.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
11. Resolution - Budget Amendment #4 - Owani, Japan Representative and Conferences and Workshops
Councilman Pope felt some policy on the conferences and workshop might be appropriate. He said some Council Members have used 35% of the budget, some 2% or 3% and others have used 0. He said he was not questioning those members using it; he thought that if there was going to be an amount maybe there needed to be a set amount within the budget per Council Member. He felt then Council would have an idea that those dollars would be there and that they would stay within budget.
Councilwoman Mason pointed out that we had the Police Academy that spent $7,228 that benefitted some citizens and now we have a City Council who wants $8,000 taken out of the General Fund to go on different workshops which is more than what 20 or 30 citizens used. She said last year when Council did Owani, the reason they allotted money to that was because the school people came in front of Council and said we should send a member from Council. She said they were very short of funds and she agreed to do it this time but didn't say we were going to do it every year. She said she is against this and is against the whole $8,000.
Councilman Schmid said regarding the issue of sending a representative to Japan, if we are going to fund this he would like feedback from those who have gone and want to go or from the Committee itself to tell him what the benefit to the City is. He said he had not seen anything from those who had attended as to what was learned, what the benefits were and why this was so important. He thought it might be more important to send someone to California and find a way to get some business here. He felt Council needed more information before they got into funding this every year or two.
Councilman Toth agreed with Council Members Schmid, Pope and Mason. He said there is a concern of spending this money every other year. He said if we are going to spend the money there should be discussion on it and thought that the heart of the matter was that we didn't have any discussion and this is suddenly before us. He said Council did talk about it two years ago when the Council sent the Mayor.
He had concern that there was a facilitator for $1,000, which he never discussed; and all of a sudden Council has a $1,000 bill laying on the table. He said he had gone through a number of facilitators and he had a problem with it. He thought the first step should be to sit down amongst themselves and see if they can resolve it and then go to a facilitator.
He said there should be some discussion on the Japanese Representative and Council should decide if they want to continue with the program or try it in some kind of modified form. He said also the idea of the facilitator and people of this type spending that kind of money supposedly comes out of our accounts; why don't we talk about our accounts before it goes out. He thought when money was spent out of the account it should be done by a majority of the Council.
Councilman Pope said there was strong consensus that Council should look at the Owani situation. He said he would move to decrease Budget Resolution #95-4 by $2,400 which would take it down to a $5,600; that would be deleting Owani Japan for a later discussion.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Schmid
That the following Resolution be adopted:
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the following 1994- 1995 budget amendment is authorized to provide for the additional funds needed for various council conferences and workshops
GENERAL FUND Increase (Decrease)
CITY COUNCIL (other services and charges) $5,600
CONTINGENCIES (new balance $359,674) $5,600
DISCUSSION
Councilwoman Mason said may be at the beginning of the year whoever wants to go to a conference they could put in for that requisition. She said it could appear on the Warrants under the person requesting and then Council can see where it is being spent. She said Item #11 does not say who is going so the citizens won't know who is spending the money.
Mayor Mc Lallen said there has been quite a bit of discussion on the Council addressing its own budget. She said the Council has some grave concerns about its own budgeting process and would obviously like to formulate some policy on going on trips. She said she had probably spent most of the budget because she had gone to several national conventions this year as the Mayor. She said she felt that at budget time Council would like to present its own budget to the Administration for the operations of Council.
Yes (5-Mc Lallen No (1-Toth) Absent (1-Crawford) Schmid, Pope Mason, Mitzel Motion carried
12. Resolution - Budget Amendment #95-5 - Personnel Changes
Councilman Toth removed because they were dipping into Fund Balance for $45,200 and transferring that to Police and Fire Fund to cover $35,515.00. He was disgusted by the fact that Council was allowing them to dip into the General Fund and they can spend $5,200 in overtime. He said this was paying for the people that retired and that was for the people that are left to pay for their unused time; the Deputy Assessor, Appraiser and Police Sergeant and Police Detective. He said he had a problem of not knowing if they could take it out of their budget rather than taking it out of fund balance.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Toth
That Resolution for Budget Amendment #95-5, Personnel Changes be tabled so that the Administration could bring back additional information to Council at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
15. Schedule Special Meeting - Toll Gate Center - 6:00 PM, Monday, February 13th - Charter Administrative Employees Selection Process
Councilwoman Mason said she could not go at 6:00 PM she had this marked down for 7:00 PM.
Mayor Mc Lallen said some issues had come up and she was trying to find a time and a place where the Council as a whole could discuss establishing a policy and a procedure for dealing with retirement of Administrative people.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Mitzel
That a Special Meeting be scheduled at 7:00 PM at Toll Gate Center, Monday, February 13th regarding Item #15, Charter Administration Employees Selection Process and Item #16 Council Goal Session.
DISCUSSION
Councilman Mitzel said he thought that the Goals Session should be the priority.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
17. Schedule Special Meeting for Thursday, March 16th at 7:30 PM for Public Hearing on Taft Road Extension.
Councilman Toth removed because Thursdays are bad for him.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Mitzel
That a Special Meeting be schedule for Monday, March 27th at 7:30 for a public hearing on the Taft Road Extension.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
18. Schedule Special Meeting for Thursday, February 9th at 7:30 PM, Activities Room - Council Rules
Again Thursdays are bad for Councilman Toth and for Councilwoman Mason and it was decided to refer back to Administration to come back with another date.
19. Board of Review
Mayor Mc Lallen said the Assessor had requested that Board of Review schedule be added to the agenda.
The recommended dates are:
Monday, March 13th 9 AM to 6 PM Tuesday, March 14th 12 PM to 9 PM Wednesday, March 15th 9 AM to 6 PM Thursday, March 16th 9 AM to 6 PM Friday, March 17th 9 AM to 6 PM
The meetings are to be held in the Council Chambers.
It was then,
Moved by Councilman Pope Seconded by Councilman Mitzel
That Council accept the Board of Review times and location as presented by Mr. Klausmeyer.
Yes (6) No (0) Absent (1-Crawford) Motion carried
COMMUNICATIONS
Councilman Mitzel asked that #2 under Communications be sent to the Senior Housing Committee. Councilman Mitzel advised Council that he had placed notes on the Council table regarding the seminar he attended February 4th on the Open Meetings Act and Parliamentary Procedures. He said Council may want to read through these notes. He said there was one concerning giving names and address in open meetings that Council may want to look at. He said another would be held at the Sheraton on March 18th if anyone is interested.
1. Letter from Arnold Konzal, David Schroeder and John Kuenzel Re: Entrance sign at Andover Pointe #1 Subdivision
2. Memo from David Fried Rd: Senior Housing Building Authority
3. Memo from Paul Cervenak, Providence Hospital, withdrawing rezoning request for property at 10 Mile and Haggerty
4. Letter from Harry Avagian Re: Lakes Area Residents Association Committee on Fishing Shanties
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at 11:35 PM
MAYOR
CITY CLERK
Date approved:
|