ROLL CALL: Mayor Gatt, Mayor Pro Tem Staudt, Council Members Casey, Fischer, Margolis, Mutch, Wrobel

ALSO PRESENT: Clay Pearson, City Manager

Victor Cardenas, Assistant City Manager

Tom Schultz, City Attorney

1. MANAGER/STAFF - None

2. ATTORNEY - None

AUDIENCE COMMENT – NONE

A. Approve Minutes of:

1. November 28, 2011 – Regular meeting

B. Approval of Amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement between and among participants in the 2009 Federal Bureau of Justice Edward Byrne Assistance Grant.

C. Approval to amend the authorization of Offer to Purchase for a permanent easement and temporary grading permit on the Comau, Inc. property (parcel 50-22-23-376-008) from the previously approved amount of $2,105 to a new offer of $3,000 for the purpose of construction a pedestrian safety path on the north side of Ten Mile Road between Catherine Industrial Road and the CSX Railroad.

D. Approval of Traffic Control Order 11-40 requiring the realigned portion of northbound Gen-Mar to yield to the existing east-west portion of Gen-Mar.

E. Approval to award a contract to Power Engineers for Cityworks asset management system implementation and integration services for a lump sum of $83,987, subject to final review and approval as to form by the City Manager and City Attorney.

F. Approval to purchase Cityworks software from Azteca Systems, a sole-source provider, to support the City’s asset management system for a total price of $59,365.

G. Approval to purchase ArcGIS Server Standard Enterprise software from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in support the City’s asset management system for a total price of $18,000 under the State of Michigan’s purchasing contract.

H. Approval of Claims and Accounts – Warrant No. 857

1. Appointments to Boards and Commissions

1. Discussion of City Council Early Input Budget Session Process.

Mr. Pearson spoke about the background memo he presented to Council on the budget session process to make sure everyone was in agreement. He said Saturday January 7^th was viable to meet to begin the process. He asked the Council’s opinion on whether they would like an outside facilitator or continue use of the present technology for budget input for the sessions. He gave a background on what the input is used for and what they wanted to accomplish. He explained in January we will spend time on goals and to clarify what we want to accomplish. Further, they will get the recommended budget in April and will be adopted in May. He explained that was when specific goals are identified as to what they would like to accomplish in the next fiscal year. He recommended that Council could have a separate resolution to recognize and accept the specific objectives for next year’s budget to clarify their goals.

Mayor Gatt commented he received some feedback on last year’s budget that the goals were too broad. He wanted Council’s discussion on whether they would like an outside facilitator or continue to use the present technology.

Most of the Council members that spoke were in agreement with the present technology. Some of the items that resulted from the discussion were summarized by Mr. Pearson. He agreed that there was not enough motivation to go with an outside facilitator. The first meeting of the budget process, they could go over the fiscal analysis that they will have prior to the meeting. They did not have that information in prior years. It was agreed it would be a great tool to see goals consistent and realistic with the budget. He added the idea of strategic planning with short-term goals, as well as, long-term goals. He would be able to add to the fiscal analysis to further the discussions and process.

AUDIENCE COMMENT – NONE

There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at 7:23 P.M.

________________________________ ________________________________

Robert J. Gatt, Mayor                       Maryanne Cornelius, City Clerk

________________________________ Date approved: December 19, 2011

Transcribed by Jane Keller