CITY OF SOUTH LYON
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
September 10, 2007
Mayor Doyle called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Mayor Doyle led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
PRESENT:
Mayor Doyle
Council Members: Kivell, Kopkowski,
Maida, Morelli and Rodman
City Manager Cook
Attorney Lee
City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke
Department Heads: Collins, Martin & Renwick
ABSENT:
Council Member Wedell
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Council Member Rodman stated that on page 2, the alternate for the MML should be
Councilman Morelli, not Rodman.
Councilman Kivell stated that on page 5 it indicates that we investigated
building a new cell tower, and it should actually be water tower.
Council Member Maida pointed out a typo on the last page, first paragraph
“cannot”.
CM 9-1-07- APPROVAL OF MINUTES – AUGUST 27, 2007
Motion by
Rodman, supported by Morelli
To approve the
minutes of the regular meeting of August 27, 2007 as amended
VOTE:
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
APPROVAL OF MONTHLY BILLS:
Council Member Maida questioned the two new employees.
City Manager Cook stated that these are laborer positions for DPW.
Council Member Maida questioned the two earnest money deposits for the Nettles
property. City Manager Cook stated
that we had to re-write the check, they were made out wrong.
It was actually done twice and the checks were returned and voided.
Councilman Kivell stated that he was disappointed to see the final payment made
for the Whipple Street project.
Councilman Kivell questioned the payment to Brighton Ford for a seat repair and
the small amount charged to administration.
Superintendent Martin stated that this was a seat repair for his truck.
We purchased a used seat from Brighton Ford.
Councilman Kivell questioned the payment to Ultra Unlimited for mowing of the 40
acres on Mill Street. He asked if
this is a re-occurring situation.
City Clerk/Treasurer stated that it is an on-going issue.
Discussion was held on the charges to the property owner.
Councilman Kivell stated that there is a charge from HRC for a Wastewater
Treatment Project Plan.
Superintendent Martin stated that this is a budgeted item because the State of
Michigan requires the City to perform a “Projection Performance” to prove that
the plant is doing what it is designed to do.
Whenever you use SRF monies you have to defend the project.
It has been done and we passed with flying colors.
He further stated that we budgeted $10,000 and we were able to accomplish
this at a cost of $7,000.
CM 9-2-07- APPROVAL OF MONTHLY BILLS
Motion by Kivell,
supported by Maida
To approve the
monthly bills as presented
VOTE:
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Mayor Doyle stated that he
would like to remove the Executive Session from the agenda as Council Member
Wedell is absent. Council Member
Kopkowski stated that she would not be present at the next meeting, therefore
she would like it deferred from that meeting as well.
City Manager Cook stated that he will not be present at the following
meeting.
CM 9-3-07 – APPROVAL OF
AGENDA
Motion by
Kivell, supported by Kopkowski
To approve
the agenda as amended by removing Executive Session
VOTE:
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
CITIZENS SUGGESTIONS:
Mr. Dick Selden of 62401-1
Raleigh Ct. stated that he would like to speak about a topic that greatly
bothers him, which is the damage done at McHattie Park and the Depot.
Such behavior should not be tolerated and people need to be held
accountable for their actions. He
stated that he understands that survellience cameras can be very expensive, but
there is something on the market that will record with motion sensors.
He stated that he would suggest these be investigated.
He would further ask Council to establish a $500 reward to catch these
people.
Chief Collins presented
pictures of the damage. He stated
that the incident was discovered by the night-shift.
There was a piece of glass broken in one of the sign boards.
There were a couple of benches taken off their anchors and there were
signs removed from the ground, but not broken.
Two air conditioning units were tipped over.
The officers that found it corrected a lot of the items.
They have had few problems at the depot this year, due in part to the
second cadet that we had doing park duty.
This particular incident happened well beyond the hours he would have
worked. The night-shift is busy in
the park including using the night vision that we received from the Federal
Government, however it is a matter of being in the right place at the right time
to catch the people. That same
night they did arrest three people in a bar fight at Bugsy’s and although we
could not prove anything, a notation was made on the report that the Sergeant
believed that those individuals were responsible for the incident in the park.
The question was asked
regarding the condition of the air conditioning units.
Chief Collins stated that he did think there would be some damage, but
Mr. Renwick has indicated that they are working.
Discussion was held on
incidents and problems in the past.
Chief Collins stated that in prior years we have had some incidents and we had a
couple of minor incidents at the beginning of the year which is why he assigned
the second cadet to that area.
Since that time, this is the first significant incident.
Discussion was held on
cameras, their placement and size.
Mayor Doyle stated that the Historical Commission at one time looked into this.
City Manager Cook stated that, to his knowledge, they have not done
anything further. Discussion
was held on whose area this would fall under; Council or the Historical
Commission. City Manager Cook
stated that we would probably want some input from the Commission.
Mr. Selden stated that he
believes that establishing a reward would ensure that people will realize that
there will be a problem if they do it again.
If you do not catch anyone, it has not cost anything.
Discussion was held on how
this would be funded. Chief Collins
stated that there is nothing in the budget for rewards, but money could be taken
out of operating. The question was
asked how this was done when we had the vandalism in the Cemetery.
City Manager Cook stated that we never distributed any rewards.
The question was asked what
the penalty is for vandalism.
Attorney Lee stated that if it is just vandalism, the fine would be $500, but
there is civil action that can be taken against the parents of a minor for up to
$2,500.
Council Member Kopkowski
stated that she does not believe that we should install cameras unless we are
going to follow through.
Councilman Rodman stated
that with vandalism like this, even a smaller reward tends to put peer pressure
on people and have them turn in their peers.
CM9-4-07 – ESTABLISH REWARD
FOR VANDALISM
Motion by
Rodman, supported by Morelli
To establish a
reward system for any type of vandalism to City property
Councilman Kivell stated
that he believes that the motion is too broad and should address an actual event
or protection of a particular property.
Councilman Morelli stated
that he would agree that the idea is good, but needs to be fine-tuned or
possibly the City Attorney can look at specific wording.
Discussion was held on the event specific reward that was established for
the cemetery damage. City Manager
Cook stated that we ultimately caught the two young boys who did the damage, but
he believes they were caught due to the investigation, not someone turning them
in.
Discussion was held on doing
this as events occur. Councilman
Rodman stated that possibly we need to set a schedule so that the reward is
equal to the damage up to $500.
This way we do not have to continuously discuss how to handle it.
The tool would be in place.
Mr. Selden stated that he
believes that if you do it by incident, there are not that many, it would have a
greater impact.
The question was asked if
there are any communities that have such an ordinance.
Attorney Lee stated that you could establish a simple ordinance that says
that the City shall post a reward for the arrest and conviction of persons found
guilty of vandalizing municipal property.
He further stated that when we do arrest these people, one of the things
our judges are very good at is forcing them to make restitution.
City Manager Cook discussed
the City’s liability insurance and the deductibles associated.
He stated the deductible is $1,000 per incident.
Councilman Morelli stated
that perhaps we should put this on a future agenda for further discussion.
He stated that possibly the City Attorney could bring back what other
cities are doing, etc.
Councilman Rodman withdrew
his motion and Councilman Morelli withdrew his support.
OLD BUSINESS:
1.
Land Acquisition- Proposed Method of
payment
City Manager Cook stated
that we have to decide how we are going to pay for the property purchase.
He stated that he would propose that we appropriate funds from Land
Acquisition and General Fund. We
would continue to be a landlord and take the revenues being generated from the
rents and the billboard. We cannot
sell tax-exempt bonds and be landlords.
Councilman Morelli asked
whether we know that the renters currently in the house vacate, are the units
rentable. City Manager Cook stated
that they are older homes, but are in decent condition.
Councilman Morelli asked if
we cannot be landlords for the buildings, would that also include the billboard.
City Manager Cook stated that once we see the contract, we can make a
determination whether we have any ability to go after the billboard.
City Attorney Lee stated
that we should announce that the Nettles have accepted our offer to purchase and
have signed the purchase agreement.
Council Member Maida stated
that she agrees with the proposal to pay cash.
We can generate some cash flow to help with repairs and maintenance.
Councilman Rodman agreed that we should try to recoup some of the monies
spent from the Land Acquisition Fund.
Councilman Kivell stated
that in under 3 years, this could be paid off.
Discussion was held on the
current lease agreements on the homes.
City Manager Cook stated that they are month to month.
The question was asked if we could offer them long-term agreements.
City Manager Cook stated that we could, but he did not get any indication
that the renters were going anywhere.
Further discussion was held on the benefit of security by signing a
long-term agreement versus flexibility on the part of the renters.
CM 9-5-07 – METHOD OF
PAYMENT – LAND ACQUISITION
Motion by
Kivell, supported by Morelli
That the method
of payment to be used for the purchase of the Nettles Property located at 464 S.
Lafayette be
$275,000 from the Land Acquisition Fund and the balance from the General Fund
VOTE:
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
City Manager Cook stated
that he will come back with a budget amendment at a future meeting as there is
nothing budgeted at this time.
2.
Increase in minimum fines for violations
Attorney Lee stated that
Council has been presented with the current set of fines for Civil Infraction
with the maximum $500 and we cannot change that as it is a State Constitutional
limitation.
Councilman Morelli stated
that when somebody does not pull a permit they have to come before ZBA because
it is not according to code. They
had a builder move over a house 5 feet.
They pay the $200 fee and you have a family in the audience crying
because they cannot move into their new home, etc.,and they get approved.
The $200 is barely a slap on the wrist.
Another example is the Building Inspector was out in Carriage Trace doing
an inspection and noticed an air conditioner on the side of the house installed
without a permit. It was a
reputable heating and cooling person, but the homeowner requested that they not
pull a permit and to put it on the side of the house.
Since that time, they did their landscaping, etc. in the back yard and
they get approved by the ZBA.
Essentially, he paid $200 to get what he wanted.
He did it and waited to see if he got caught.
Attorney Lee stated that if
we do not want them to have the variance, we can go to court and compel them to
tear it down or remove it, and he would be in favor of that.
Recently we had an individual come in and obtained a sign permit then
blatantly went out and did what he wanted in violation of the sign ordinance.
Had he been authorized, Attorney Lee would have taken him to court and
made him tear it down.
Councilman Kivell stated
that with all the bad intent on the part of the individual who should have
pulled a permit, the ZBA still gives approval of the variance.
That should not be taking place.
The rules should be loose enough that people can enjoy their own property
as long as they are not creating a hazard for the community or their neighbors.
Councilman Rodman stated that is precisely why we have ordinances to
ensure that the person knows that he has to take due diligence that he is not
encroaching on his neighbor. They come into the ZBA and say that his grievance
is that it is already built and it cost me $30,000.
That is not a grievance.
Councilman Morelli stated that a lot of the time there is little or no hardship,
but it is done. Nobody wants to
tell them to take it out. At ZBA,
they need to get tougher.
Attorney Lee stated that it
is true with ZBAs everywhere that people want to be good neighbors and they
grant things when there are no hardships or there are no functional disabling
issues and they give the variance anyway.
The way the law is supposed to work is that when there is no hardship and
there is no fundamental reason for granting the variance, it is denied.
Then the City Administration would issue a ticket and we go to court and
ask the court to tear it down or force them to do something that reasonably
comes into some conformity with the rules.
The question was asked how
much this would cost the City to go to court for this type of issue.
Attorney Lee stated that it would be approximately $1,500.
Often the court will assess fines and costs.
Councilman Kivell stated
that if we were functioning the way it was intended, this would not be an issue.
He stated that his primary concern is the situation where a contractor
does something not in conformance then walks away leaving the homeowner stuck
with the violation. Attorney Lee
stated that this would be hardship versus a violation.
Our ZBA is not effective in weeding out the two.
When you grant a variance where there is no hardship then shame on us.
If we were to do the proper thing and deny the variance, then the
Building Department is equipped to take the next step which is to compel
compliance.
Councilman Rodman stated
that all the tools are in place for the ZBA to say “no”, but that is not
happening. Discussion was held on
enforcement and continuity of the ZBA.
Attorney Lee stated that we have the ZBA to act as a quasi-judicial body
and collectively make a judgment as to whether there is a hardship or not.
Mayor Doyle stated that the
fee schedule for civil infractions was last reviewed November 1994.
We can go through and adjust this.
Attorney Lee stated that you can adjust the lower numbers for inflation,
but $500 is the maximum.
Councilman Kivell stated
that he does not want to overly penalize people who did not understand as
opposed to the egregious violator who deliberately tried to “pull the wool over
our eyes”. He stated that in
reading in the minutes of the ZBA he can see how frustrated they are with the
City being played, but to end up over reacting because of a couple of cases is
more dangerous.
Discussion was held on
increasing the first and second offenses to $150 and $300 with $500 for the
third offense. Discussion was held
on repeat offenders. Councilman
Morelli stated that this would include those people who were ticketed and given
a reasonable period of time to correct the situation and does not, that would be
the second and third offense and subsequent offenses.
Attorney Lee stated that the object is compliance, not to punish people.
City Manager Cook stated
that we can check with surrounding communities to see what they charge given
that it was 1994 since we last looked at it.
Council concurred.
New Business:
1.
Street Closure- Pumpkinfest Parade- Oct.
6, 2007- 10 a.m.
Chief Collins stated that he
is actually combining two events into the one road closure request.
The first one is the Pumpkinfest Parade which is the standard route down
Pontiac Trail. The new road closure
is a portion of 9 Mile Road near Centennial.
This will be a very brief closure for the Pumpkinfest Run to cross from
the Volunteer Park side to the trail side north of 9 Mile.
These are worthwhile community events and he would recommend approval of
the street closures.
CM 9-6-07 – APPROVAL OF ROAD CLOSURE – 2007 PUMPKINFEST PARADE
Motion by Maida,
supported by Kopkowski
Resolved That Julie Zemke, City Clerk/Treasurer is hereby authorized make
application to the Road Commission for Oakland County on behalf of the City of
South Lyon in the County of Oakland, Michigan for the necessary permits to
conduct the 2007 Pumpkinfest Parade and Run on October 6, 2007 at 9:20 a.m. and
the related road closures:
·
Warren from Bartlett Elementary School to Whipple Street
·
Whipple from Warren to Lafayette
·
Lafayette from Whipple to Russel Lane
·
9 Mile Road between Dean and Birchway Ct.
And that the City of South Lyon in the County of Oakland, Michigan will
faithfully fulfill all permit requirements, and shall save harmless, indemnify,
defend and represent the Board against any and all claims for bodily injury or
property damage, or any other claim arising out of or related to operations
authorized by such permits as issued.
VOTE:
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
Council Comments
Council
Member Maida thanked Chief Collins for working with the group on the Pumpkinfest
Run.
Councilman Kivell stated that he had brought up the fact that from the City’s
website you cannot access Council meeting minutes and agendas.
He stated that there are actually 42 documents that you cannot access.
City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that these documents are for prior
years, not current. We are in the
process of upgrading our program, which is no longer supported.
There is no sense in going through and re-linking those documents until
the program is updated. She stated
that if everyone could be patient, we will get that done.
We did have a program failure that we were not aware of until Councilman
Kivell brought it to our attention.
Councilman Kivell stated that in driving through town, he could not help but
notice how much dirt and twigs, etc. is on the streets.
He asked if there is something wrong with the streetsweeper.
Superintendent Renwick stated that it is functioning.
Council Member Kopkowski stated that the streets in our City are very
dirty. It should always be clean,
but we will have a lot of people out for Pumpkinfest.
Council
Member Maida stated that she would like to thank the Historical Society for
Depot Days which was a great success.
Mayor
Doyle stated that they have closed the railroad tracks on Pontiac Trail.
City Manager Cook stated that their estimate is that it will be closed
for 10 days. Mayor Doyle stated
that the detour is easy to get around and should not cause that much disruption.
City
Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that she would like to remind everyone that summer
taxes are due September 28, 2007, which is the last business day of the month.
She further stated that she would like
to remind people that if they wish, they can now pay their taxes by credit card
using the County’s website. There
is a link from our website or they can call City Hall for more information,
Executive Session-
City Manager Evaluation – Removed from the agenda
CM 8-16-07 – ADJOURNMENT
Motion by
Morelli, supported by Rodman
To adjourn the meeting at
8:34 p.m.
VOTE:
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
Respectfully Submitted,
_
___________________________
_______________________________
John
Doyle, Jr.
Julie C. Zemke
Mayor
City Clerk/Treasurer