CITY OF SOUTH LYON

REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

February 27, 2006

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: Dryer, Kivell, Kopkowski, Maida, Morelli and Wedell

City Manager Cook

Attorney Lee

City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke

Department Heads: Collins, Martin & Renwick

Mayor Doyle stated that he would like to welcome Ron Morelli who was appointed to Council at the last meeting. He stated that Ron has been around for a long time serving on the Planning Commission for a number of years as well as the Zoning Board of Appeals. He will be a great addition to the City Council.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Councilman Kivell stated that on page 3, second paragraph, the gentleman’s name is Fred Thomas. Also, it was noted that on page 8 in the first motion, there is an extra 0 on the end. The number should be $60,700.

CM 2-1-06- APPROVAL OF MINUTES – FEBRUARY 13, 2006

Motion by Kopkowski, supported by Wedell

To approve the minutes of the regular meeting of February 13, 2006 as amended

VOTE: MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

APPROVAL OF MONTHLY BILLS: None

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

CM 2-2-06 – APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Motion by Dryer, supported by Maida

To approve the agenda as presented

VOTE: MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

CITIZENS SUGGESTIONS:

Mr. Randy Clark of 415 S. Lafayette stated that he recently received his property tax data and looked at how much his taxes have gone up over the last few years. He would like to bring some things to the Council’s attention. At the last meeting, Council approved an extra $600 for police cars to go through the Macomb County bid versus Oakland County in order to save on some extra paper work. Also, Council Member Maida attempted to bring up some discussion regarding bids for some HRC contracts that were up for approval, yet she could not get a discussion going. He stated that a representative from HRC was present to discuss these projects without worrying about competition. The City has had 20 years of fantastic growth. However, State Revenue Sharing has been reduced, health care costs are going to go up, and the City needs to start looking at ways to reduce the budget, and would encourage Council to think of themselves as the last line of defense for the citizens. Citizens of this community need tax relief.

Mayor Doyle asked Mr. Clark if he was a resident of South Lyon. Mr. Clark stated that he is not a homeowner but owns several commercial properties.

Mayor Doyle stated that the City’s millage rate has not changed over the last eight years. Mr. Clark stated that the general millage has not changed, but we have had multiple bond issues. Discussion was held on the amount in bond issues the Schools has had over the last ten years. Mr. Clark stated that the growth of the City is going to stop soon. We have had a long period of time where we have not had to watch the budget. He discussed other communities which have experienced the lack of growth the last few years and stated that their budgets are now frozen. We will be facing that shortly. He stated that engineering services have not been bid in over 15 years and does not feel that this is right.

Mayor Doyle stated that prior to HRC we had McNamee, Porter and Seeley. At the request of Council Member Kopkowski, a rate comparison was done. Mayor Doyle stated that it is well known that Mr. Clark has had issues of his own in dealing with HRC on his development and asked if this is where this is coming from. Mr. Clark stated that these issues are part of his concern. However, there are a lot of good engineering firms. He stated that the City of Novi has a list of qualified bidders and every time they have a construction project, they go out for bid. They have a separate company that they use for engineering services and consultations. Mayor Doyle stated that he has a difficult time taking the comments that way because Mr. Clark has been on the receiving end of some criticism even though he has been treated the same way as all developers. He stated that there are only a handful of engineering firms that are worth looking at, and they all make mistakes, including HRC. Mr. Clark stated that he his here not as a developer but as a taxpayer.

Mayor Doyle stated that he feels that business owners should have more say as far as voting relating to millage because it affects them directly as taxpayers.

Council Member Kopkowski stated that she too wanted to start discussions regarding the engineers. She stated that she has worked for one of the top engineering/architectural firms in the State of Michigan and she does understand how engineering is bid and done. The problem is that the City’s engineering has not been bid out for a very long time and the economy has changed drastically. There are good engineering firms as well as bad, but we could get a group of firms and let them compete so we know we are getting the best price. Furthermore, HRC oversees their own work. We could hire HRC to oversee everything, but not do the work.

Mayor Doyle stated that everyone was given the rate comparison and nobody said anything. Councilman Kivell stated that it meant almost nothing. Mayor Doyle questioned why nothing was said to the City Manager that this was not sufficient. He assumed everyone was satisfied. If not, we can go through and address it again.

Council Member Maida stated that they have been told in many cases that it is too late to go out for bid. Mayor Doyle stated that because of the time of the year it is, these things need to be bid out in order to get the project accomplished. Further discussion was held on timing issues.

City Manager Cook stated that we do have a time frame to bid out projects if we want to do anything within this calendar year. Now that we have some projects moving forward, we do have some time to look at other engineering firms and go through an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) and we can evaluate some firms that can, if they are interested, bid out with other projects we are going to be doing. With the MDOT project, we needed to move forward and did not have time to go through that process.

Councilman Kivell stated that he was aware of some of the time constraints on the last few projects so there was not really a point in getting into the issue at that time. However, the idea of being given a list of rates from a handful of engineering companies that does not relate to anything and the notion that this is something that we should have acted on is misleading. Council Member Kopkowski stated that any rate information should come from them on their letterhead. City Manager Cook stated that some of them would not provide information. They did not want to give that information out at all. If we went through a Request for Proposal, they will then provide that information.

Mr. Randy Clark stated that he does not want to put any type of negative connotation on HRC. They are a great company. He just feels that the City owes it to the taxpayers to get the most “bang for the buck”. He stated that we need to treat them the same as any supplier.

Council Member Kopkowski stated that she would like this item added to the next agenda. Council Member Morelli stated that he would also like to see a much clearer time frame on these projects.

Discussion was held on the relationship between HRC and the City. City Manager Cook stated that he does not see anything wrong with them being our engineer for basic administrative issues and have other firms being able to quote on jobs, but they should be able to quote on them as well. Council Member Kopkowski stated that it is good business practice not to bid on something you administrate. Mayor Doyle stated that it has been requested that this item be added to the next agenda, and we can discuss it further at that point.

Mr. Gary Butler of 879 West Hills Drive stated that as a resident of the Hidden Creek Subdivision he is aware that there are a lot of homeowners upset that their new assessments are well above the last sale price of any house in their area by tens of thousands of dollars. Furthermore as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, over the course of the last six weeks, he had a number of property owners who do not live in the City but have issues over both the taxes that they pay and the value that those business owners are getting. The other issue is that they feel they are discounted as members of this community because they are not residents and that Council, over the last several years, did not give them a fair hearing when they brought issues forward even though they pay a large tax bill. The Chamber’s standpoint is that there is a movement to look at how they can come together as a single voice and have a fruitful interaction with the City. He stated that a dialogue needs to get going and make sure that it does not get into a name calling session. Councilman Dryer stated that a lot of that could come through the Downtown Development Authority as well as the Chamber.

Mayor Doyle stated that as far as the tax assessments are concerned, the Board of Review will be meeting later next month to hear appeals to those assessments. Councilman Dryer stated that it is every homeowner’s right to go into City Hall and get the worksheet that has the detail of their home. He would also like to remind everyone that the Board of Review is made up of three residents of the community. They are not the ones who did the assessments, but rather to hear the appeals.

Mr. Butler stated that Mr. Jeff Fisher has recently accepted the position of Director for the Chamber of Commerce. He is a resident of Lyon Township and will be starting full time on March 27^th and working part-time during the transition period. He comes with a strong background as a Legislative Aid in Lansing and then started a lobbying office at Wayne State University and has been instrumental in the growth of the Washtenaw Builders’ Association over the last eight years. We will be arranging an opportunity to meet him within the next few weeks.

OLD BUSINESS:

Request to reduce speed limit – Dixboro Road from 9 to 10 Mile Road

Mrs. Susan Cummings of 10089 Longford Ct. stated that she appreciates the opportunity to present information to Council in support for their request. They are looking to lower the speed limit from 55 to 25 miles per hour. She Stated that the speed limit guidelines for gravel roads are based on prima facia rules which means that there needs to be a certain percentage of homes fronting a particular stretch of road in order to have a speed limit posted. Under these guidelines, Dixboro between 9 and 10 Mile does not qualify for a posted speed limit. However, the Oakland County Road Commission indicated that if she could get the two townships and the City of South Lyon to support their request, it would go a long way in getting this request approved. Chris Olson from Lyon Township suggested that she collect signatures to assure that there was community support to lowering the speed limit. She was able to gain 115 signatures from residents who directly access Dixboro Road. Lyon Township has already submitted this petition to the Road Commission, and Green Oak Township passed a resolution at their February 15^th meeting in support and will be forwarding that on to the Road Commission. She stated that she does realize that the City of South Lyon does not directly control or maintain the road, but South Lyon does have the wastewater treatment plant as well as the light industrial development, which front this road. Another concern is the bike path that empties out onto this road, and residents of the City as well as their subdivision and others utilize this bike path on a regular basis. As a concerned citizen, she has done everything within her power to increase the safety of this road. She has followed all recommendations made by all parties. Discussions with the Road Commission has revolved around upgrading this road from secondary road to primary road status, which would improve the maintenance and thereby the safety. However, according to the Road Commission it is highly unlikely that this road would be upgraded because of a mandate within the Road Commission that no gravel roads will be upgraded at this time. She has also talked with Chris Olson about the road being paved, and he has indicated that Dixboro Road is not on any list of potential roads to be paved and has never been considered. Therefore, this action is the only viable option at this time to make Dixboro Road a safer road. It is her understanding that the City of South Lyon is continuing its commitment to fund its portion of the chloride treatment for the upcoming season. Lowering the speed limit goes hand in hand in keeping the dust under control thereby making this a safer road to travel. Therefore on behalf of the 115 people who signed their petition, she is requesting that Council reconsideration their January 9^th decision and support the lowering of the speed limit.

City Manager Cook stated that Dave Allen, Director of Traffic Safety at the Road Commission came out and they drove the road. The area they would deal with is only as far down as the southern entrance of the facility. That area may qualify. Dave Allen has also indicated that there is some pending legislation dealing with posting of speed limits and they will not take any action until that legislation goes through the process. The other issue is that if Council does not change their position, it will not happen at all. They want all three communities’ support. But, again they will only deal with the first ¼ mile. Anything further would remain at 55 miles per hour.

Council Member Maida stated that we have been talking about working together with other communities, and Lyon and Green Oak Townships both have agreed to this, and this would be a good gesture in joining with them.

Council Member Kopkowski stated that at the last meeting Mrs. Cummings stated that she does not believe that it should be 25. Mrs. Cummings stated that at this point in time our only option is 55 or 25 and 25 is much safer. Driving down the road, maybe it should be 35, but that is not an option.

Councilman Wedell asked if the request is to send the matter to the Road Commission for their consideration. Mrs. Cummings stated that they are looking for support of the reduction of the speed limit. Lyon Township has sent a letter of support along with the petition and Green Oak Township has also submitted a resolution.

Councilman Dryer stated if we have an option of 55 or 25, 25 is much safer. This is not a 55 mile an hour road. He feels that we should submit our support and let the County decide.

CM 2-3-06 – DENY REQUEST TO REDUCE SPEED LIMIT – DIXBORO ROAD

Motion by Kivell, supported by Kopkowski

To deny the request for support to reduce the speed limit on Dixboro Road from 9 to 10 mile

Council Member Kopkowski stated that we need to take into consideration that Dixboro is used by many people to avoid downtown traffic thereby lessening our traffic downtown. This alleviates pressure on our growing community, and if we lower that speed limit, many people are not going to take this road causing more people to come through town during peak hours.

Discussion was held on enforcement. Chief Collins stated that we do not put much emphasis on speed enforcement on Dixboro Road, but rather as a matter of travel. He stated that many people say that “speed kills”. In law enforcement, they often say that differential in speed kills. The problem he has is the 25/55 split. A person coming out of the subdivision would have traffic coming from the left approaching at 25, but from the right cars would be traveling 55. He stated that normally, speed is reduced in 10 mile per hour increments because of the time needed to react. Discussion was held on posting signs gradually reducing traffic.

Councilman Kivell stated that it is a rare incident that people drive 55 down Dixboro Road. It is more likely that people would drive in 35 range, which is what we have been talking about as the ideal speed limit. Discussion was held on road conditions. He stated that Chief Collins has already talked about the issue of citing people not having control of their vehicle irrespective of the speed limit. He stated that we are already taking a responsible approach. The idea of impeding people from driving Dixboro, takes this road off of the map except for the rare occasion of people going to the treatment plant or a resident of that subdivision. He does not think that our community can handle a loss of anymore arteries.

Discussion was held on supporting the reduction versus simply allowing the issue to go to the County for their review. Mrs. Cummings stated that their request is to support the lowering of the speed limit. City Manager Cook stated that Council could decide to move this on for the Road Commission’s evaluation, not necessarily that Council supports the 25 mile per hour speed limit.

VOTE: MOTION FAILED

CM 2-4–06 – REQUEST TO REDUCE SPEED LIMIT – DIXBORO ROAD

Motion by Morelli, supported by Dryer

That the request of the residents relating to Dixboro Road be forwarded to the Road Commission for

Oakland County for their consideration and determination

Mayor Doyle asked Mrs. Cummings if this is truly about safety or is it about the dust. Mrs. Cummings stated that the dust is part of the safety issue. She stated that a few years ago, their neighbor’s dog got out on a day the dust was very bad and got run over because the driver could not see him. If you try and cross the road to get to the bike path when traffic is bad, it is extremely hazardous.

The question was asked if Council needs to rescind their action from January 9^th. Attorney Lee stated that we are not dealing with the issue of speed in this new motion, therefore the previous action does not need to be rescinded.

VOTE: MOTION CARRIED (3 OPPOSED)

Community Survey

It was stated that question #19 relating to increasing Council needs to be removed.

Discussion was held on the difficulty of compiling the information when using a scale versus a simple yes or no or a definitive answer. Discussion was held on changing these options.

City Manager Cook stated that it is also very difficult when individuals use the comments sections for very long explanations. Councilman Kivell stated that these could be sent to Council for their evaluation.

Discussion was held on response rate out of the random sample. City Manager Cook stated that we received approximately 180 out of 700 two years ago.

Mayor Doyle stated that two years ago we talked about putting the survey on our website. City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that there are difficulties in doing that as we can not regulate who responds, whether they are an actual resident or not nor can we control how many times one specific individual responds which would misconstrue the information.

Councilman Dryer stated that he would like to add a question. We currently have a question asking if they would support up to two mills for recreation. He would like to add a question asking if they would support up to one mill for recreation. It was stated that “up to” would cover that. Discussion was held on adding a question whether people approve the notion of the Recreation Council becoming an authority. It was stated that we are talking about educating our citizens on this issue and a community survey is not the right place to do that. City Manager Cook stated that on the last survey we did have people respond to the affirmative that they would support the additional millage. The split was not that great. It was not a total rejection. Further discussion was held on re-wording the question. It was suggested that we could list in .5 mill sections.

City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that the survey will be updated for final approval at the next meeting.

Resignation – Ron Morelli from Planning Commission

CM 2-5–06 – ACCEPTANCE OF RESIGNATION FROM THE PLANNING COMMISSION

Motion by Wedell, supported by Kivell

To accept the resignation of Ron Morelli from the Planning Commission with thanks

VOTE: MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

It was stated that we currently have two vacancies on Planning Commission and one on the Zoning Board of Appeals. It was stated that one member of Council could be appointed to the ZBA as a liaison.

Establish meeting date for continuation of Joint Meetings with Lyon Township

Mayor Doyle stated that he has spoken with Lannie Young from Lyon Township to discuss some possible dates. We will be looking at possibly the 2^nd week in March.

NEW BUSINESS:

Establish rate of pay for Board of Review Members

City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that at the request of Council, we looked at several different communities in our area. It does vary considerably from community to community. Our Board of Review currently receives $15 per day. Bringing us closer to the average of other communities, we are recommending $50 per day and $25 per ½ day.

The question was asked how long it had been since this pay has been revised. Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated she is not sure when it was last revised, but it has been well over 15+ years.

Councilman Kivell asked how these figures were arrived at. Clerk/Treasurer stated that some communities pay by the hour and others by the day. There are times that the Board will only meet for a couple of hours. This simply seemed to be the most logical way and brings them up to the average. Council Member Maida stated that Lyon Township pays their Board $10 per hour and if you consider the number of hours, it comes out to be about the same.

CM 2-6- 06 – INCREASE IN BOARD OF REVIEW PAY

Motion by Kivell, supported by Morelli

To approve the increase in pay for Board of Review Members to $50 per day or $25 per 1/2 day

VOTE: MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Mayor Doyle stated that it has been some time since the Compensation Commission has met regarding Council’s pay. Attorney Lee stated that in the 1990s pursuant to State legislation, we established a Compensation Commission. They can only act every two years. The statute gives some very strict rules on how they can meet. They must have recommendation by October and that recommendation automatically becomes effective unless Council votes to reject it.

Discussion was held on the individuals that had been appointed to that commission. Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that those terms would have expired and new appointments would have to be made.

Councilman Kivell stated that irrespective of whether they recommend any kind of an increase, this is something that should be done every two years. He stated that he has never understood why the recommendation automatically goes into place unless they actively vote against it. He would like Council to deliberately approve it. Attorney Lee stated that this is according to statute. Council could repeal the ordinance and go back to setting their own salary, which could be done yearly. Otherwise, you have to accept the provisions as set forth in that statute.

City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that she would gather the pertinent information and have it available in Council’s next packet.

COUNCIL COMMENTS

Council Member Maida stated that at the last meeting, we had a discussion with the residents along Whipple Street who wanted to have something done with regards to controlling the speeding along their street. In her travels, she discovered something she would like to share, which is a digital speed sign. She presented pictures of two of these stationary units in other communities. She stated that she is simply presenting the idea to see if this is something we should look into.

Chief Collins stated that he has seen these units used before, similar to the unit we can attach to a police car. The question was asked if people know there is no police car in the area, would these really have any affect. Chief Collins stated that he does not have sufficient data to comment on them one way or another. He can say that what sometimes happens is that people use them to check their speedometer or check how fast their car can go. He is not speaking negatively about them, it could be potentially a good idea. Further discussion was held on the use of these digital speed signs.

Council Member Kopkowski stated that at the last meeting, the City Manager was not present to speak to a question she had asked about a budget committee. The City Attorney had indicated that we do not have a committee. We were authorizing the purchase of vehicles before we have a budget, and questioned whether we are making a budget based on what we want or are we working with a budget that has been put together. She was surprised that there was no elected representation of the taxpayers with the budget. City Manager Cook stated that he puts together the budget and presents it to Council for their approval. In order to get these purchases ordered to get them into service, we have historically had them approved this time of the year for delivery after the beginning of the fiscal year.

Council Member Kopkowski asked if they get the budget the first week of May and only have one week to approve it. City Manager Cook stated that Council will receive the proposed budget the first week in April. The budget does not get approved until the second week in May. She asked if the City Manager meets with the Department Heads. City Manager Cook stated that the Department Heads have already submitted their budgets and we will be correlating it and putting it together for Council’s review. He stated that Council has the opportunity to meet with him individually to go over the budget. We have not had a budget workshop in a number of years. Council Member Kopkowski stated that given the number of new Council Members, she feels that a workshop session would be beneficial. City Manager Cook stated that he would also encourage members of Council to meet with him individually so that you can get an understanding of the budget and information and have some questions answered. Council Member Kopkowski asked if the Department Heads would be available to answer questions. Mayor Doyle stated that the Department Heads work for the City Manager and the City Manager serves at the pleasure of Council. City Manager Cook stated that typically a workshop session is scheduled the first week in May, then any changes that need to be made can be done, we have public notice to be made and presented for approval the second meeting in May. The workshop would include all of the Department Heads.

Council Member Kopkowski stated that Mr. Fogarty was present at the last meeting asking that his street have some work done. At that time, it was indicated to him that we have a list of streets for repair. She asked if Mr. Fogarty was given that information. Superintendent Renwick stated that a memo was sent to the City Manager, and we are getting some pricing information together before contacting Mr. Fogarty. Council Member Kopkowski stated that Mr. Fogarty had requested some information and we need to let him know where he stands; we need to follow through. Council Member Dryer stated that he is sure that Steve was attempting to get the most complete information, given that his boss was out of town, and was preparing a response. Discussion was held on Council’s need to know the “pecking order” of these streets to be repaired in order to communicate with the community.

Councilman Kivell stated that anyone who requests to be on the agenda should be informed by the Administration that their item is going to be on that agenda. Mayor Doyle stated that he would hope that if someone has something coming up on a future agenda, that they would monitor what is going on.

Councilman Dryer stated that the Parks and Recreation Commission is resurrecting the idea of a mountain bike trail. Anyone interested in participating should contact any member of the Parks and Recreation Commission or himself.

Councilman Dryer stated that the last part of the last meeting did not get out on television. He stated that he would like to see us have the ability to get more than a two-hour meeting out on cable. He also asked as to the status of the TV equipment. City Manager Cook stated that South Lyon TV owns all of the equipment so the City has no involvement in the broadcast equipment that they use. We have a year-to-year contract. The contract is for a minimal amount of hours per month. Council may want to deal with re-writing the contract. The system is run by them.

Councilman Kivell stated that it would be nice to have a more rigid schedule for the broadcast of Council meetings. City Clerk/Treasurer Zemke stated that it starts broadcasting right after the meeting is complete and runs for a 24 hour period. Discussion was held on the length of the tape. It was stated that if you have a two-hour tape and the meeting is 40 minutes, you end up with 120 minutes of blank tape that has to run before it rewinds. The same holds true if you want to use a 4-hour tape to accommodate a meeting longer than 2 hours, and you have a short meeting, you end up with the blank space being much longer than the actual meeting. It was stated that there is nobody available after business hours to change tapes, etc.

Councilman Kivell stated that a number of Council Members recently attended a Michigan Municipal League meeting. There was some pertinent information obtained that may benefit our community.

Discussion was held on the City’s Code of Ethics. Attorney Lee stated that with the change in technology, etc. it may be a good thing to review.

CM 2-7-06 – ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Dryer, supported by Maida

To adjourn the meeting at 9:12 p.m.

VOTE: MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Respectfully Submitted,

_______________________________ ________________________________

John Doyle, Jr. Julie C. Zemke

Mayor City Clerk/Treasurer