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REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NOVI
Mayor Gatt called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ROLL CALL:
Mayor Gatt, Mayor Pro Tem
Staudt, Council Members Casey, Fischer, Margolis, Mutch*, Wrobel
ALSO PRESENT:
Clay Pearson, City Manager
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
CM-12-05-065 Moved by
Fischer, seconded by Margolis; MOTION CARRIED: 6-0
To
approve the Agenda as presented
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-065
Yeas: Staudt, Casey, Fischer, Margolis,
Wrobel, Gatt
Member Mutch arrived at 7:01 P.M.
PUBLIC HEARING
1. Annual Fiscal Year Budget
2012-2013
Call to the Public at 7:02:
No public comment received.
Mayor Gatt closed the Call to the Public.
PRESENTATIONS
1. Introduction of local
government executives from Sweden on study tour – Clay J. Pearson
City Manager
Pearson introduced a group of local government executives from Sweden.
They are a part of a leadership program that is done by Price,
Waterhouse, Cooper in Sweden. They have learned various leadership
involvement skills and policy making.
The capstone is to come to Southeast Michigan.
Mayor Jacob
Spangenberg spoke about how pleased they were with the generosity of the
staff and others they have met.
Novi is a fantastic community.
Novi is developing fast in its current growth phase. He thought Novi has a
great future. They were honored to be at the meeting.
2. Novi Public
Library Clothing Drive May 14 – 19, 2012 – Nishant Kakar, Library Board
Student Representative
Nishant Kakar
wanted to brief everyone about the Clothing Drive they are organizing.
He has been on the Board for about two years.
It was a way for him to give back to the Community and use it as a
learning experience. They gained a partnership with the Holy Family Church
who will receive the clothing after collected at the Library. The Youth
Interact branch of Rotary within the Walled Lake Western High School and
Novi High School will also be assisting with the clothing drive. Clean
clothing and shoes will be accepted. Tax donation receipts will be provided.
3.
Proclamation in recognition of National Letter Carriers Food Drive,
Saturday, May 12, 2012 – Sherri McIntosh, Coordinator
Sherri McIntosh, Coordinator of the food drive, thanked Mayor Gatt and
Council members for advocating that the residents of Novi leave non-perishable
food at their mailboxes on Saturday, May 12, 2012.
This is the 20th year that
the Letter Carriers have been collecting food.
All the food that is collected in Novi remains here locally and is
distributed to two Novi Churches, St. James Church and Faith Community
Church.
4.
Proclamation in recognition of National Police Week, May 13 – 19,
2012 and Peace Officers’ Memorial Day, May 15, 2012 – David Molloy
Chief of Police
Molloy accepted the proclamation on behalf of all the men and women who
serve. He appreciated the recognition
of the service. He said they are
the ones that respond to situations that others run away from.
It is a reminder that they represent
everyone, even the officers that have given that ultimate sacrifice in the
line of duty. It was an honor
for him to lead them and to be able to serve on the behalf of this
community.
REPORTS:
1. MANAGER/STAFF - None
2. ATTORNEY - None
AUDIENCE COMMENT – None
CONSENT AGENDA REMOVALS
CM-12-05-066 Moved by
Fischer, seconded by Margolis; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:
To
approve the Consent Agenda as presented
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-066
Yeas:
Casey, Fischer, Margolis, Mutch, Wrobel, Gatt, Staudt
A.
Approve Minutes of:
B.
Approval of a Construction Agreement with CSX Transportation, Inc. related
to the construction of the portion of the Ten Mile Road Pathway project (CSX
Railroad to Catherine Industrial Road) located within the CSX railroad
right-of-way at an estimated cost of $29,460.
C.
Approval to award a construction contract for the DPS/Field Services Complex
Window and Door Replacement project to Axiom Construction Services, LLC, the
low bidder, in the amount of $90,700.
D.
Approval to award an amendment to the engineering services agreement
with Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. for construction engineering
services related to the Woodham Road Water Main Extension SAD 176, in the
amount of $11,181.
E.
Approval to award a construction contract for the Woodham Road Water
Main Extension SAD 176 to FTL Construction, Inc., the low bidder, in the
amount of $83,480.
F.
Approval of Revised Resolution No. 5 for Special Assessment District
No. 176 (Woodham Road Water Main Extension) approving the special assessment
roll and authorizing construction of the project—(10% reduction in project
cost).
G.
Approval of Revised Resolution No. 3 for Special Assessment District
No, 176 (Woodham Road Water Main Extension) approving the preliminary plans
and cost estimate, designating the special assessment district and directing
the City Assessor to prepare a proposed special assessment roll—(10%
reduction in project cost).
H.
Adoption of resolution to participate in the State of Michigan’s Fire
Insurance Withholding Program, under MCL 500.2227 of the State Insurance
Code.
I.
Approval to extend the 2008 Telephone System Maintenance and Services
contract with SunTel Services for two years based on the same terms,
conditions and pricing as the original contract at $18,994
($9,497 per year). This is the second and final renewal option for
this contract.
J.
Approval to award an amendment to the contract for design engineering
services for the 2012 Pathway Gap and ADA Compliance Annual Implementation
to Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc. in the amount of $2,700.
K.
Approval to award an amendment to the engineering services contract
for additional design engineering services related to the Meadowbrook Road
and Nine Mile Road Traffic Signal reconstruction project to Orchard, Hiltz &
McCliment, Inc. in the amount of $4,500.
L.
Approval of recommendations from the Interview Committee for
Appointments to Youth Council and Youth Boards & Commissions
Representatives.
M.
Approval of resolution to set a public hearing for May 21, 2012 for
the vacation of part of Orchard Avenue/Paul Bunyan Drive, also known as
Sixth Gate, east of Novi Road and south of Grand River Avenue.
N.
Approval of Claims and Warrants – Warrant No. 867.
MATTERS FOR COUNCIL ACTION
1.
Approval of Resolution for 2012 Millage Rates.
CM-12-05-067 Moved by
Mutch, seconded by Margolis; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:
To
approve Resolution for 2012 Millage Rates
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-067
Yeas:
Fischer, Margolis, Mutch, Wrobel, Gatt, Staudt, Casey
City Manager Pearson said the City is moving away from the 10.5416 to a much
easier 10.2 millage rate. It is
important that they are able to do it at this time with the generally lower
property values which the City depends for essential services.
2.
Approval of Resolution for 2012-13 Budget.
CM-12-05-068 Moved by
Margolis, seconded by Staudt; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:
To
approve Resolution for 2012-13 Budget
City Manager Pearson said this has been the result of work that has gone on
for months. He appreciated Council’s diligent review of the budget. The
budget reflects all of the changes from the budget meetings.
The actual start of projects will be
July 1, 2012.
Member Margolis thanked the staff for all of their hard work.
The staff does a great job and Council appreciates it.
It makes Council’s job easier. She appreciated that they came to a
compromise where they still have some money to continue on the Ring Road.
Mayor Gatt appreciated the hard work of the staff and his colleagues.
He felt the process went smoothly.
In the end, he believed that it is the best deal for the citizens of
Novi as they had pledged to do.
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-068
Yeas:
Margolis, Mutch, Wrobel, Gatt, Staudt, Casey, Fischer
3.
Approval of Resolution Acknowledging the Multi-Year Budget Including
Projections of Future Fiscal Years Ending 2013-14 and 2014-15.
CM-12-05-069 Moved by
Fischer, seconded by Casey; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:
To
approve Resolution acknowledging the Multi-Year Budget Including Projections
of Future Fiscal Years Ending 2013-14 and 2014-15.
City Manager Pearson said this is new to the budget.
Previous years, they have had a
fiscal analysis. During the budget process, they amplified and brought it in
the budget document to a more prominent place.
This action is to have Council pass a resolution acknowledging that
piece of the budget as a planning document. It is a projection for the next
two years and is a starting point.
Member Fischer thanked the staff for the hard work as it is difficult for
the Finance staff to put in numbers for future years. City Council, in the
past, has used the fiscal analysis to make decisions during the Budget year
based on those projections. This year it is being formalized and brought
forward in the budget. It used
to be an appendix and now it is an important document in the packet. He
thanked Mayor Gatt for his leadership on the multi-year budget.
There were great discussions and
deliberations. He thought that part of the Ring Road discussion showed that
there is a learning curve and things they can learn from the budget process.
He would have liked to have seen something for the Ring Road funding put in
the multi-year.
Member Mutch acknowledged Mayor Gatt’s work on the multi-year budget. He
liked the incorporation of the Capital Improvement Projects into the
multi-year budget. It gives them
a more accurate and useful document for the long term budget needs.
He liked the fact that they will use it periodically in the future.
He was glad to see it come forward.
Mayor Gatt thanked the staff and his colleagues.
He admired and respects Brooks Patterson of Oakland County.
He has done this multi-year for the past several years and seemed to
work for him. Now, Novi is the
first municipality in the State of Michigan to have a multi-year budget.
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-069
Yeas:
Mutch, Wrobel, Gatt, Staudt, Casey, Fischer, Margolis
4.
Approval and adoption of “Red Box” Objectives/Goals Resolution for FY
2012-13.
City Manager Pearson suggested they adopt the “Red Box” objectives and goals
to get done through the fiscal year. It is encompassed by program strategy
areas of the programs and projects that they would like to get accomplished.
They set this up prior to the last budget meeting. He asked that they come
up with language to accomplish the downstream storm water work for 2012-13,
rather than for the actual Ring Road project at this time. This represents a
way to show the community the tangible things that are getting done with
their dollars.
CM-12-05-070 Moved by
Fischer, seconded by Margolis; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:
To
approve and adopt “Red Box” Objectives/Goals Resolution for FY 2012-13 with
a change of verbiage surrounding the Ring Road to put in place what Council
approved in the budget.
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-070
Yeas:
Wrobel, Gatt, Staudt, Casey, Fischer, Margolis, Mutch
5.
Consideration to adopt resolution placing a question on the August
2012 ballot whether to amend the Novi City Charter, Section 9.1(b) to
increase the maximum millage amount for specific street and highway
improvement purposes from 1.0 mills (reduced by the Headlee Amendment to
.7719 mills) to 1.5 mills, beginning with the 2013 tax year.
City Manager Pearson noted that anyone who cares about the community will
recognize that this is a big deal.
This will make a difference for a decade on how this City serves
residents, how to keep them safe in terms of the road network; transmit
traffic around town and how businesses conduct themselves.
We have been limited with the prior 1.0 millage cap that was reduced
with roll backs. We have accomplished a lot with our road system.
They have been efficient as they could.
The only way our road network is going to get better was to increase
the millage. He was excited with
the potential. They would be
able to build next year’s budget reflecting these numbers and get more done
on the neighborhood roads and they could pull ahead with some of the
projects in the CIP. The municipal
street fund has flexibility for neighborhood and county roads and also
allows them to do intersection improvements, sidewalks and motorized
pathways. With the existing language in the municipal street funds, they
have been able to use those funds for the non-motorized pathways. He noted
that with the ITC Corridor project, they are safe because they plan on using
general or parks funds for the City match.
If they want to change the ballot to change the language to
incorporate or recognize non-motorized pathways, it could be done, but not
necessary. If Council wanted
language to encompass that, we could work through it. The deadline for
language is May 29th.
City Attorney Joppich felt comfortable with the status quo of sidewalks and
pathways that are in the ROW adjacent to streets.
It is acceptable to use the millage funds that have been used in the
past for those purposes other than ITC corridor that are outside the ROW.
It was whether you would want this millage fund to be used for those
additional pathways. If it is
not necessary, Council doesn’t need to do anything and proceed with language
as is. If you want to expand it, then there would need to be some
modification to the language. The
Attorney General’s office spent time with them as to how it would look if
Council wanted to go in that direction.
Member Margolis said that they have talked about this a number of times that
she felt she was repeating herself. It
puts them in a good situation to be able to do this millage request.
The City had financed projects in the past by issuance of debt. The
goal of the City was to get to a point where the City was using current
dollars. To be in this situation to
ask the voters to dedicate this money of current dollars towards road
projects rather than having to issue bonds or debt was because they’ve
reduced our debt so much that it will be easy to get this millage increase
under the decrease millage rate of 10.2 from 10.5416.
It will benefit the City.
They had a comprehensive report that determined how much money needs to go
towards our roads in order to maintain them.
She didn’t like the idea to delay this to use this for sidewalks even
though the City has a policy of complete streets. She felt the language
should be clear for voters.
There will be in the general fund to do the pathways that are not covered
under the millage. She wanted to
keep the language as clean as possible.
CM-12-05-071 Moved by
Margolis, seconded by Casey; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:
To
adopt resolution placing a question on the August 2012 ballot whether to
amend the Novi City Charter, Section 9.1(b) to increase the maximum millage
amount for specific street and highway improvement purposes from 1.0 mills
(reduced by the Headlee Amendment to .7719 mills) to 1.5 mills, beginning
with the 2013 tax year.
Member Fischer echoed Member Margolis’ summary. He asked if they needed to
add a maximum of 1.5 mills to the language set by Council.
City Attorney Joppich said the idea is to amend the Charter language to be
consistent with what is in there now.
Member Wrobel mentioned that the residents ask him about the quality of the
roads. We have had the studies done which shows we will be getting behind as
the time goes on to the current levels.
They need to increase the road millage to 1.5 mills.
He will support it and hoped the residents will see this is one of
the ways to get the roads fixed without raising the general millage rate.
Mayor Pro Tem Staudt was concerned about putting this on the August ballot
because of potential items from the State with contentious issues. This may
cause the voters not to take them apart from this one.
Council needs to let the voters speak on this issue. This is
something that needs to be done based on the timing of the report from the
City Staff on roads. There is a
downward slide in the deterioration of our roads, which we may not be able
to recover from, if we don’t fund additional improvements. It will allow
them to do additional things also.
He will support it.
Member Mutch said that they have two months to educate Novi voters about the
charter amendment. It is
important to be consistent in the message and clear in the needs.
A key point would be that the City has been operating on the same
millage amount for City roads since 1972 and the City has increased
tremendously with a street system to maintain that has grown exponentially.
It is a critical piece of our financial structure for the City that supports
a wide range of activities. Going back to 2008-2009 budget year, the
municipal street fund raised 2.7 million dollars in property tax revenue,
this year it is 2.2 million. The
City has lost a half million dollars in funding in just a few years. Our
street system has not decreased in that time. This request will allow the
City to get back to where the City was just a few years ago. Residents need
to understand with the decline in property values there is a decline in the
amount of money that they have to fund our local roads.
The dollars that will be paid for this increase will go right back
into neighborhood streets that will be a benefit for all ages.
They are investing back into our City, into our homes, and businesses
for long term. He asked for the
community’s support. He also had
a concern about the August date with other requests and expressed the need
to work harder to get the message out to support this.
Mayor Gatt said it is critical that the City maintain its road structure in
the way the Novi residents have come to expect and deserve.
The City has had the same millage rate since 1972, when most of the
roads were dirt and in disrepair.
We want to look forward and maintain the beautiful community that it
is.
Roll call vote on CM-12-05-071
Yeas:
Gatt, Staudt, Casey, Fischer, Margolis, Mutch, Wrobel
AUDIENCE COMMENT:
Victor Cassis commended Council on their actions that evening and with their
prudent wisdom and fortitude scaled down the millage and did a three year
budget. Everyone is aware of
fiscal problem ravaging Michigan and the United States.
Council has demonstrated that they have underlined the wisdom and
caring of the Community. He was
overwhelmed and thanked them. He
had worked in the past on this issue.
The people of the community will uphold Council’s wisdom.
COMMITTEE REPORTS - None
MAYOR AND COUNCIL ISSUES - None
CONSENT AGENDA REMOVALS FOR COUNCIL ACTION - None
COMMUNICATIONS - None
ADJOURNMENT
There being no
further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at 7:52
P.M.
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