[0:28] e e

[1:06] call the city council meeting to order clerk please call the role council

[1:10] person LaMore present Felder here haer here strave here Vining here Germany

[1:17] here mayor Clark pres and ask we all please rise to the indication me stand

[1:20] up for the Pledge of Allegiance as we come together this

[1:23] evening help us engage in meaningful discussion allow us to grow closer as a

[1:27] group and and nurture the bonds of community

[1:32] pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[1:37] Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and

[1:42] justice for

[1:48] all next item please next item on the agenda is the um approval of the regular

[1:54] agenda and I did want to call attention to there is no item 14 that just was a a

[2:01] typo from the programming so we probably need to remove that from the

[2:06] agenda manager Robinson any uh comments on the

[2:10] agenda nothing besides uh item 14 it looks like it was added accidentally if

[2:15] we could remove that ask comments on the agenda if not a motion with the

[2:21] recognition to the removal uh C more your honor I I make a motion that we

[2:25] approve the agenda as written uh and subtract item number 14

[2:30] thank you motion by Council Lor sport by councilman still grave to approve the

[2:35] regular agenda as stated with the amendment clerk please call the RO yes

[2:40] Felder yes haer strave yes Bing Germany yes mayor Clark yes next item please the

[2:48] next item on the agenda is the consent agenda and for Item B approval of

[2:52] payments to vendors in the amount of it should read

[2:55] 1,861 9727 18 61

[3:02] 97207 thank you are there any items on the consent agenda that Council wishes

[3:07] to have pulled for further discussion any items on the consent

[3:11] agenda seeing none are there any items on the consent agenda those present here

[3:16] this evening wish to have pulled for further discussion items on the consent

[3:21] agenda seeing on a motion would be an order Council M Felder yes your H I'd

[3:27] like to make a motion that all items on the consent agenda be accepted placed on

[3:30] file recommendations carried out and resolutions adopted motion by councilman

[3:34] Felder supported by councilman lore that all items on the consent agender be

[3:38] accepted placed on file recommendations carried out

[3:42] resolutions adopted clerk please call the role council person lore yes Felder

[3:47] haer strave Vining gerain yes mayor Clark yes next item please the next item

[3:54] on the agenda is under presentations Communications and public hearings it's

[3:58] item 4969 soyer Homestead annual report thank you uh manager Robinson is this a

[4:03] presentation or a communication this evening this is simply a communication

[4:07] pursuant to their lease agreement the Sawyer H the Sawyer Homestead is

[4:10] required to provide an annual financial statement which they have done so for

[4:15] your review we uh attached it in this packet for the public and as well as

[4:20] your review thank you any questions from

[4:23] Council I appreciate that the uh Finance report was attached to that as well it's

[4:27] my thanks to the soyer homestead group for their uh submitting this annual

[4:31] report if there's no other comments a motion would be in

[4:35] order well I guess there's no motion we just accept it as is there's no motion

[4:39] sorry Clerk's looking at me okay uh cler Council more you have a question no okay

[4:46] uh next item please the next item under Council action 4971 resolution approving

[4:52] act 342 contract and publication of notice thank you um manager

[4:57] Robinson to ask the assistant uh city manager Finance

[5:02] director Ed cells uh to explain what this Encompass this this financial

[5:08] contract thank you Mr cell good evening everybody uh for the record Ed cell

[5:14] assistant city manager Finance director so I basically what this is is you're

[5:19] being asked to prove a debt issue for the Wastewater system um it's a little

[5:24] different than what we would do for other City uh financings

[5:30] uh normally like with the fire station or one you're probably going to be doing

[5:33] um in the next month or so where the city does it itself you you first adopt

[5:38] a notice a a a resolution that sets a referendum period and then you also

[5:44] adopt a bond authorizing resolution and you do everything with the Wastewater

[5:49] system because it's um covers not only the city but also Frenchtown Township

[5:54] and Monroe Township that's covered by a master agreement that was entered into

[5:58] in 2001 that basically says that any Capital Improvements that require debt

[6:03] financing are to be issued by the Monroe County drain commissioner so what this

[6:07] resolution would do is it approves uh number one an agreement between the city

[6:12] and the the drain commissioner to allow those uh bonds to be issued and it also

[6:18] to allow the really the drain commissioner to manage the project uh at

[6:21] that point as well but then it also does set a referendum period within the city

[6:26] as well and and both of the townships would also be adopting this agreement as

[6:30] well um it's being requested to authorize the financing up to $13

[6:36] million um at this point that's a high amount we hope because we're only at

[6:40] about a 60% design um phase when we uh in the process of Designing the

[6:47] improvements to be done under this um so we can't be real specific yet so we've

[6:52] set it high to make sure we have enough there and we don't have to come back and

[6:54] do this over again but originally this project was thought to be around $9.5

[6:58] million and and uh Barry and his staff along with some Consultants applied for

[7:05] uh financing through the state uh the Clean Water State revolving fund program

[7:09] so we're getting a really low interest rate on it it's either two and a half or

[7:13] 2.75% depending on the term that we ultimately uh pick which would be 20 or

[7:18] 30 years and that term will be determined by how the bids look at the

[7:22] end of the project if it and how once we get those bids how the financing fits

[7:27] into the the rate model for the Wastewater system so basically you're

[7:30] being asked to adopt the resolution which would approve the contract and

[7:34] also uh publ publish the notice uh to start the referendum

[7:41] period any questions any questions for Mr

[7:46] cell regarding this resolution in the ACT 342

[7:52] contract there was some information in the fact sheet about what's being do

[7:56] done with the funds and the financing but if you have questions about that

[7:59] barries your

[8:04] man all right thank you thank you Mr C if there's no questions

[8:10] um um motion read an order Council mure yes you make a motion

[8:16] to approve the resolution approving act 342 contract and publication of notice

[8:20] second moot by Council Mo supp by councilwoman Germania on item 4971

[8:25] resolution approving act 342 contract and publication of notice clerk please

[8:31] call the RO council person LaMore yes Felder ha strave fining gerain yes mayor

[8:38] Clark yes next item please the next item is 4966 Woodland Beach sanitary sewer

[8:44] lining bid award man Robinson yes your honoring Council usually these these

[8:50] type of items since it's on you approved a grant from uh the county of Monroe

[8:57] through the Monroe County business Alliance from their arpa funding back in

[9:02] September for $750 so you you accepted that that grant money well this is

[9:08] actually supposed to go to the sunset the the Woodland Beach sanitary sewer

[9:13] lining Bid And so when we did our bids the bids came back and the the low

[9:19] bidder we're looking for it was a vis vuur LLC out of Wisconsin at at

[9:27] 87464 which was actually 34.8% below what our uh Engineers

[9:33] estimate was going to be so we're asking you to approve uh to to to move that

[9:39] that contract for that would be for a total of $960,000

[9:44] it to which includes a 10%

[9:48] contingency thank you any questions for U manager Robinson from

[9:55] Council questions or comments if not it's on the agenda for Action

[10:01] councilwoman gerain I'll make a motion move to set a contract for the

[10:07] Woodland Beach sanitary sewer lining project be awarded to vissu sewer LLC in

[10:13] the amount of

[10:16] $874,000 that a total of 960,000 be encumbered to include a 10% contingency

[10:24] that the mayor and clerk Treasurer be authorized to execute the contracts on

[10:28] behalf of the city and that Director of Finance be authorized to set up any

[10:32] necessary accounts and make any necessary budget amendments

[10:39] second there's motion by uh councilwoman germani supported by councilman lore and

[10:45] item 4966 the Woodland Beach sanary sewer

[10:49] lining bid award clerk please call the role council

[10:54] person LaMore yes Felder yes haer yes still grave Bing gerain yes mayor Clark

[11:01] yes next item please the next item is item 4972 Downtown Development Authority

[11:07] budget amendment thank you uh manager Robinson any uh updates yes your

[11:11] honoring councel the the DDA who you know is is um working on the Old Monroe

[11:17] Optical building at 13 West Front Street and as the DDA in a work session held in

[11:22] July they they were making decisions on how far they were going to take in in

[11:27] the renovations before they put it to Market and they the DDA board has made

[11:32] the decision that they were going to continue with uh with making sure they

[11:37] did the facade all the windows all the all those other changes they want and

[11:42] they're asking and they approved it their board to move $70,000 from their

[11:47] fund balance to the building uh and building improvements account at their

[11:52] October 16th meeting so we're asking city council to approve the DDA budget

[11:58] uh Amendment moving that $70,000 from their fund balance to the building

[12:02] Improvement account thank you uh any questions from

[12:07] Council obviously we approve their budget when they make a request for an

[12:11] amendment or a change that comes to us councilman Felder yes uh first I want to

[12:16] say I'm not opposed to this project but I do think that there's uh some points

[12:20] on it that that probably need to be highlighted

[12:23] um as we all know we've been you know any any of us who've been with the city

[12:28] for some time understand the development that's happened over the DDA over the

[12:32] course of the last decade or so um moving from uh on the ground projects to

[12:38] more development uh sort of activities more Capital Improvement sort of

[12:42] activities in the downtown to try and promote spaces for businesses to move in

[12:47] and this sort of white boxing is a is a very Hands-On way of tradition uh

[12:52] transitioning the uh Economic Development strategy of the DDA and it's

[12:57] uh gathered some interest from our own

[13:01] Economic Development teams in terms of options that the city itself might want

[13:04] to explore with some of its properties and how they're

[13:07] offloaded um so as as I believe that this is a a project that I think is is

[13:13] worthwhile I think it also can potentially be a model uh or at least a

[13:18] study of the exploration of the feasibility of these sorts of projects

[13:22] in the future uh taking a taking a building

[13:25] white boxing it promoting it for development and then seeing if we can

[13:28] break even on the costs or uh make some money over a course of uh years by

[13:33] putting it back on the tax roles at a higher value and a better use than it

[13:38] was when we uh took control of the property I think that that in a nutshell

[13:42] sort of surrounds our the city's Economic Development strategy that it's

[13:46] been engaging in these past couple of years and we all know that the city owns

[13:51] a number of properties with which we're trying to promote and develop and and

[13:54] turn over um so as we're pursuing the process I think that we need to be

[14:00] cognizant of uh the financial feasibility of projects like this and

[14:06] then assess them after the fact it would be lovely to have an after action report

[14:10] from the DDA on this project for us going forward to assess

[14:16] similar projects and if they could be approached in the same way was this an

[14:19] effective way to do the project were we able to get our taxes back within 10

[14:24] years you know is this a long-term investment in the Tiff funds that the

[14:27] DDA receives for its fund fing you know um we all want to accelerate the

[14:33] economic development that happens in our in our community but we also want to

[14:37] make sure that that development happens in a fiscally responsible manner

[14:41] so other questions or comments I just want to add that one of the items that

[14:46] was within this uh discussion was uh right from the start as we started

[14:51] thinking of this project is the funds that were available through the for the

[14:55] tax capture for the Downtown Development Authority was uh was well over what

[15:00] would be a reserve fund and and part of their as I say their middle name is

[15:04] development and and this as councilman Feller said an opportunity that the the

[15:08] board looked at but this still maintains a uh the base funding uh as a reserve

[15:13] fund within their uh fund balance to look at as they prepare for again what

[15:19] they uh DDA might do uh next year one other item that was part of this project

[15:24] was the discussion on a fire line extension of a fire line in front of the

[15:27] building uh and just have it that as an option availability for uh the downtown

[15:34] to start looking at how buildings could be um fire suppression uh and I think

[15:41] that that's going to be something that's going to be come from the state in the

[15:44] future so this was a a way to step into that to make it another item available

[15:48] for a developer or business to move in then if they wish to choose to do that

[15:53] it we're making it available so that's my additional comments if there's no

[15:58] further um motion would be in order oh Council Felder yes I'd like to make a a

[16:03] move to approve the DDA budget amendment moving $70,000 from fund balance to the

[16:08] building and building improvements account uh resulting in an overall

[16:12] overall fiscal year 20242 budget increase from

[16:16] $214,000 to

[16:20] $284,000 it's a motion by Council F supported by uh councilman haer on item

[16:25] 4972 the Downtown Development Authority budget amendment clerk please call the

[16:30] RO council person LaMore yes fder yes haer strave Bing gery yes Clark yeah

[16:37] next item please um I have no further items okay Council comments is November

[16:45] Council Lam more thank you honor uh in L of it being election day tomorrow I'm

[16:49] going to reserve my comments and just say good luck to all the

[16:52] candidates Council Felder uh please vote tomorrow if you haven't already and then

[16:57] remember that veteran Day is coming up on the 11th and we have a parade

[17:01] downtown here on the 9th is that did I do I get that right I think it is the

[17:06] n9th yes okay so uh it's another important holiday coming right up as

[17:11] well that's all I have for this evening thank you sir thank you counsilman hater

[17:15] um just uh make sure that if you haven't voted yet you exercise your right to

[17:19] vote and uh good luck to all the candidates also thank you councilor

[17:23] melgrave same here get out and vote and good luck to all the

[17:27] candidates Council inviting yes um I hope to see everyone at the poll

[17:33] tomorrow that's all I have Cil German thank you um yes next week is

[17:40] Veterans Day on Monday so thank the veteran for your freedoms and also get

[17:46] out the vote it's very important and good luck to

[17:50] everybody very good so my comments are the same if you haven't voted please do

[17:55] so uh and I know that the clerk will have some additional Maybe comments

[17:59] about that as she makes her comments but um next was the Veterans Day uh as

[18:05] corrected the parade is on Saturday the the 9th from 300 p.m. and to 400 p.m. is

[18:10] the time it usually takes and it's going to start at St Mary's Park and walk

[18:16] south to Jones Avenue so just so everybody has the the routes of where

[18:20] they find their seats and pick they know which way they're going uh and uh again

[18:25] Veterans Day on the 11th please uh it's a it's a it's a I'll say a national

[18:30] holiday but it's a day of remembrance of a a day of thanking veterans so uh

[18:35] through the weekend and through the Monday if you see veterans please thank

[18:38] them for their service and and give them the recognition so well deserved for all

[18:43] the men and women that serve our country councilman I'm sorry clerk Le Bo yeah I

[18:49] have my hands full with clerk so um uh just a reminder that the precincts open

[18:54] in the city of mono all over the state and all over the country basically at

[18:58] 7:00 a.m. in the morning we will close at 8:00 p.m. if you're in line by 8:00

[19:02] on Election Day then you will um be eligible to vote if you need to register

[19:07] to vote and you're hearing this please come to uh and you live in the city come

[19:10] to City Hall uh with proof of residency that's really critical and um we'll get

[19:15] you registered to vote and you will if you have proof of residency um you will

[19:20] be able to vote in this election we have uh all of our precincts open so you

[19:25] should just be able to go where where you always do but if you have any

[19:28] question just call the clerk's office at 734 384

[19:33] 9140 and we've the team in the office at the clerk's office has done a really

[19:39] great job they've worked very hard I don't know if you noticed but they snuck

[19:42] by as they were leaving there have been many late nights and I appreciate all of

[19:45] their efforts and um I think we're very well prepared and the reason I say think

[19:51] is because obviously election day is um like any really big event you just never

[19:56] know what might come up but we've prepared with for all the contingencies

[19:59] that we could imagine and um and we have things in place so if even if even if

[20:04] the unimaginable happens we we should be ready for it so I just encourage

[20:08] everyone to come out to vote I always think it's interesting that it does

[20:11] these big elections fall so close to Veterans Day and while the timing is

[20:15] purely coincidental and just happened um I think it it they reinforce each other

[20:22] um so we I want to thank the veterans and everyone who has worked really hard

[20:27] to make sure that we have the right to vote and I want to thank everyone who

[20:30] has showed up and who will show up tomorrow um elections only happen

[20:35] because people choose to participate so thank you and we'll be ready for you and

[20:39] if you have any questions you can always call me directly 734 49753 119 that's my

[20:45] cell phone um and I will do my best to answer uh any questions that I receive

[20:51] thank you thank you Council

[20:55] Vine the clerk uh brought something something to my remembrance I've heard

[21:00] several people in the last few weeks say that they wouldn't be voting because

[21:05] they were felons so I just wanted to clarify with the clerk felons have the

[21:11] right to vote in the state of Michigan correct so if they've served their their

[21:15] time as long as they're not currently serving yeah incarcerated then yes they

[21:19] can okay I just wanted to clear that up cuz we want everybody who can to come on

[21:24] down and vote thank you thank you thank you city manager Robinson comments the

[21:31] only comment again is is Veterans Day on that Monday and City Hall will be closed

[21:35] that day that's

[21:38] it next is uh citizens comments any comments from those present here this

[21:43] evening please step forward state your name and provide us with your

[21:47] jurisdiction of residence thank you hello everybody my name is Tony Panza I

[21:51] am the proud new owner of 11 East Front Street my wife and I just won it during

[21:55] the auction on August 20th and we're happy to hear that uh working with here

[22:01] to be working with the city to get that building back up in order and let you

[22:05] know where our minds are and that is to get that building up and running so

[22:08] thank you for your time I appreciate it thank you very much well thank you for

[22:11] being here advising us appreciate it yes sir other comments from those present

[22:16] here this evening why you looking at me man I'm looking there's somebody there's

[22:20] somebody sitting behind you Mr James but you're welcome to step up

[22:24] first Elliot James 633 Stone Street uh I've got

[22:30] two comments uh on my street which is

[22:36] Stone uh that leads into

[22:41] uh cograph um

[22:45] when the toe place was open they had a big sign there and it it cover the

[22:53] intersection since the tow place is gone the sign's gone and there's a very dark

[23:00] spot where you don't know when you're turning

[23:04] into can I'm have the city look into that sure I Mr Robinson's taking a note

[23:13] I'm sure he'll speak with Mr Lewis about uh what appropriate signage might be

[23:17] necessary or needed but you're make sure you you chat with him Before you depart

[23:21] today too second thing is my uh bike path walk path through the East

[23:30] Side uh I haven't had a chance to talk to uh the people that own the land yet

[23:40] that's uh what is it by the river um the

[23:48] owner that owns all that property well anyway uh been I've been running so much

[23:57] for these elections soon as the election's over with I will

[24:01] be talking to the Port Authority about the

[24:06] land and I'll be getting back with the city council what I learned from that so

[24:13] that would be helping us out quite a bit on how we going

[24:18] to do the walking path sure all right thank you Mr James one more thing Mr

[24:26] James uh we have I I'm Lea to the Port Commission and our meetings are at 8:00

[24:31] a.m. on the 3 Wednesday of the month so if you impossible for me that's

[24:38] impossible okay yeah i' be in dialysis at that time from 5:30 to

[24:44] 10 I won't be able to get away we that that's when they have their public

[24:48] meetings and you're more than welcome to attend if you're available all right

[24:52] thank you other comments from those present

[24:56] here this evening further comments

[25:01] motion to adjourn motion

[25:05] toj motion by Council lore supported by councilwoman strave to adjourn clerk

[25:09] please call rooll council person lore yes Felder haer strave yes Vining gery

[25:16] yes mayor Clark yes

Monroe City Council Regular Meeting 11/04/24

Transcript