Approval of Agenda

Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the agenda as presented, supported by Council Member Feehan.

The question on the motion was called and the result of the voting is as follows:

            Ayes:               Council Members Cooper, Scheid, Feehan and Gunderson

            Nays:               None

Workshop

A.                FY 2016/17 Budget

Council Member Feehan stated he would like to do a full time employee for DPW.  He would also like to work on removal of the dead and diseased trees.

DPW Director Thomas stated last winter they removed fifty some ash trees.  They have a couple more ash trees.  When they remove trees, they do it in the wintertime.  He can do whatever they want done, but has to stop something else. 

Council Member Feehan stated maybe do a couple a year of diseased to catch up. 

DPW Director Thomas stated they targeted the ash trees.  He has a list of 30-35 trees which are slated to be removed next. 

Council Member Cooper asked if they would outsource Bill Ribbens?

City Manager Brown stated they would, as he retires in January.

Mayor Gunderson inquired about council chairs.

City Manager Brown stated the city hall improvement plan has money for the chairs.  He met with the chair guy, and while the chairs are normally $700-$800 apiece, the city will pay $230 a chair. 

Fund 172 - City Manager - Mayor Gunderson asked where the extra money would come from for the new city manager when he retires?  The FY 2016/17 budget contains the funding for the current city manager, who is scheduled to retire in August, 2017. 

Fund 258 - Central Municipal Activities - was increased from $1,000 to $2,500 for marketing because the city manager wants to upgrade the newsletter a bit. 

Fund 276 – Cemetery - Council Member Feehan inquired about full time wages in the cemetery fund. 

DPW Director Thomas stated to balance the budget, a lot of wages are paid by the water and sewer funds.  The salary amount in cemetery is for the individuals that are doing the mowing.    

Police Chief Nelson stated they are replacing one police car and getting one police car.  They are trying to get one car a year to keep the mileage under 100,000.  They got rid of two cars last month, one with 200,000 miles and one with 170,000 miles.  He will research the Ford Explorer, as there is more room for drivers and passengers, and more room for equipment.  It is more adaptable than the cars.

Mayor Gunderson asked if there was anything out there for FEMA grants, or only for a catastrophy?

Deputy Chief Childs stated he would expect that Gregg would apply for something.  The results on the current grant applications are coming out soon.    

Fund 442 – Park Maintenance - Mayor Gunderson stated pathway repair had $1,000.  He thinks those were done with Act 51 monies, so they have to maintain them.  He is concerned about the cracks and would like crack sealing. 

DPW Director Thomas stated the funding is just out of the parks, not Act 51 funds. 

Mayor Gunderson stated he would like the larger cracks filled over by the substation.  It is kind of a danger.  They need another $1,000 in there, minimum.

DPW Director Thomas stated it is best to cut out 1-1/2 feet and re-blacktop as there is too much movement for crack filling.  It would probably be around $1,000 to fix a group of them.

Mayor Gunderson stated he would like to add $1,000, as there are lots of strollers and buggies.

Finance Director Schlienz stated she could move the $1,000 over to next year from this year.

Mayor Gunderson stated he would like to add $2,000 for FY 2016/17.

Fund 691 - Belrockton – Finance Director Schlienz stated repairs come out of the 631 account.

Fund 800 - Community Promotions – includes $400 which the Gardeneers will use by the end of the year, as well as funding for Music in the Park.

Fund 801 – Planning and Community Development – under Professional and Contractual, City Manager Brown stated the Wade Trim contract ends in June and then it will be done internally.

City Manager Brown stated he hears complaints a lot that people are reluctant to allow kids into Central Riverside, with drugs and language.  They talked about putting an officer there part time for the summer.  It would cost $8,000 for the summer.  The presence of authority would help reduce anxiety about the park.  He would suggest they try it for a summer and see if it has impact. 

Police Chief Nelson stated when they have two afternoon cars, one comes in earlier in the day for park detail at Central, Demorest, East, Water Street and Lightning Bend.  They are making the effort to make a presence in the park.  A seasonal officer would be a good thing. 

With the rec director, they could work together to make sure there are activities in the park.  It drives undesirables out of the park.  They want the public to know they are there.  If they can’t get a good seasonal officer, he would recommend someone to be a park ranger to identify issues. It would be a presence and they could report back to the police department.   

Mayor Gunderson stated if a ranger was there, they would have no right to arrest. 

Police Chief Nelson stated they are a set of eyes and ears and they raise awareness to full time officers to get them down there for perpetrators. 

Mayor Gunderson stated last year for patrolling the parks, they did away with the voucher for trash.

Police Chief Nelson stated the position was absorbed and is doing the park detail now.  Another officer is doing code enforcement.   A new position would be called seasonal police officer.

Council Member Feehan asked if there were grants for homeowners to apply for funds?

City Manager Bruce stated he should see him. 

Fund 202 - Major Street – DPW Director Thomas stated the striping was done last year and it held up. 

Fund 203 - Local Street – DPW Director Thomas stated he was told to hold off on blacktopping this year.  City Manager Brown said to spend it and they would talk about it.  He just did a survey of the street conditions and there are significant street issues to start addressing.

Fund 248 – DDA - Becky, Sharon, Bruce and Rick worked on the numbers.

Fund 249 – Building Inspections – City Manager Brown sent an email to Bert as the city was supposed to get a percentage.

Fund 269 – Drug Forfeiture – Police Chief Nelson stated if there was a significant bust and environmental cleanup, they take care of the costs.  When CMET (Central Michigan Enforcement Team) gets funds, it reduces the city contribution.

Fund 271 – Library – their board handles the budget

Fund 276 - Museum Fund – their board handles the budget

Fund 402 – Capital Improvement Fund – DPW Director Thomas stated the city will have to front $375,000 for the South Bridge Street project until the funds for the second year of the grant are released next year.    

Fund 588 – Dial-A-Ride – DART Director Krieger stated there would be an increase in fares and the Job Access fund.

Fund 590 - Sewer – DPW Director Thomas stated the city has to pay 10% of the $900,000 for the Saw Grant.  A lot of the work is being done out of this year’s budget.  On June 7-9, an employee will attend classes for the new equipment.  Bill does a great job in keeping the water clean and in compliance.  DEQ is happy if you keep moving forward.

Fund 591 – Water Fund – DPW Director Thomas stated there is generally ten years between well rehabs and they just completed the last one in January of this year.  An inspection will be done on each tower soon.  They will run bacties before the towers go back into service. 

Fund 631 – Building and Grounds Maintenance – City Manager Brown stated carpeting will be installed up the steps, the walls will be painted and they will be cleaning things up.  The vestibule, lobby and conference room have been painted.  The painter is from Belmont.  The city received a gift from Bill Braman in the amount of $25,000. 

Fund 661 – Motor Pool – DPW Director Thomas stated the city will get a mower and bagger, and if they don’t hire a city employee to replace Bill, DPW will get his truck back.  The mowers are also used as snow machines.  One machine will be replaced.  If money was available, they would get another machine, as maintenance is very expensive.  The pickup is also used for snow removal.

Finance Director Schlienz stated they could increase from getting a pickup to a plow truck, move up to $130,000.

DPW Director Thomas stated vehicles are purchased through MiDEAL, the state purchasing program, at very good prices.

DPW Director Thomas stated they will use Hawley Highway as a detour route and Ionia County wants reimbursement for grading and brining.  The culvert has a hole in it at Hawley Highway.  If he can fix it, he will, but if not, he would have to have the culvert replaced.  It is a city culvert. 

DART Director Krieger stated the Rural Task Force met and there is $350,000 in funding to offer up, and he put both buses in there.  5359 funding is limited.  They may be able to get both buses through them, through 2019.  He applied for roof replacement as a high priority, and they may give funding according to their priority list.  He could ask for funds for building and maintenance.  To tear the roof off, it would be around $16,000 for the whole building.

Deputy Fire Chief Childs stated they would do the utmost to hold the line.

Finance Director Schlienz had no comments. 

City Manager Brown stated he was happy as could be, as it was a good budget.

Mayor Gunderson stated the public hearing would be held next Tuesday with public input.

Council Member Feehan had no comments. 

Council Member Cooper thanked Bruce and Becky.

Council Member Scheid said ditto.

Mayor Gunderson stated it went kind of smooth and they will make adjustments.  He thanked the department heads for being involved.

Adjournment

Council Member Scheid moved to adjourn the meeting, supported by Council Member Cooper.

Ayes:   Council Members Cooper, Scheid, Feehan and Gunderson

            Nays:   None

The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 7:16 p.m.