[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