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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2015-12-02 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD DECEMBER 2, 2015 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Brosnan. Present: Lynda Scheel, Susan Nash, Brandon Kritzman, John Pastor, Brian Meakin, and Maureen Miller Brosnan. Absent: Laura Toy. Elected and appointed officials present: Mark Taormina, Director of Economic Development and Planning; Todd Zilincik, Director of Engineering; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Adriane D. Spencer, Deputy City Clerk; Judy Priebe, Director of Legislative Affairs; Mayor Elect Dennis Wright and Mayor Jack Kirksey. Mayor Kirksey thanked the DPW and DPS for the beautiful holiday light display they had put up and spoke about the well-attended lighting festivities held the night before. He expressed gratitude to the Public Safety Departments for keeping the residents of Livonia safe and then spoke about the tragedy that occurred in San Bernardino and the senseless loss of life that occurred. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS: 1. REQUEST TO WAIVE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Alex and Gina Ali, re. for the newly constructed home at 32555 Greenland Ct. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council and indicated that they had no objections to the request. Vice-President Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT Nash stepped down from the podium at 8:06 p.m. to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. 2. REQUEST TO ESTABLISH SPECIAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICT (SAD): Laurel Woods Condominium, re: consideration and approval for the installation of street lights on University Park Drive. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, said he would wait to comment after Council and the public has had an opportunity to speak on the matter. President Brosnan asked if anyone in the audience wished to comment on this item. 2 Brenda Bartlett, 17901 University Park Drive, President of the Board of Directors, Laurel Woods Condominium, expressed her support for the request for street lights. Joe Berry, 17893 University Park Drive, Vice-President of the Board of Directors, Laurel Woods Condominiums, commented on the need for street lights on University Park Drive and the dangerous conditions that exist due to the lack of proper lighting. Jesse Bartlett, 18047 University Park Drive, expressed his support for the request for street lights and also commented on the dangerous conditions for motorists and pedestrians. Kritzman explained the process for a Special Assessment District, including identifying the need and then identifying the costs and finally rolling the assessment costs into the affected properties taxes. He said he wanted all affected property owners to be aware of the process and understanding that the cost of the project would be borne by the properties that are directly benefited by the street lights. Pastor said he would encourage them to speak to other residents of both condominiums and get their support and see if they are willing to help absorb the cost, as the lighting will be beneficial to many residents, especially those that walk regularly, as well as those who have visitors coming to their residence. Zilincik said he would recommend additional lighting on the site and in the area. He noted there are 2 separate condominiums in that area. He said it would be best to conduct a meeting to discuss the needs at the location and allow for further input and comments of all the residents. Vice-President Meakin offered the resolution referring the matter to Infrastructure and Community Transit Committee for the Regular Agenda. DIRECTION: REFER REQUEST TO ESTABLISH REGULAR SAD — STREET LIGHTING AT LAUREL WOODS CONDOS TO INFRASTRUCTURE & COMMUNITY TRANSIT COMMITTEE Nash returned to the podium at 8:20 p.m. 3. REQUEST FOR ISSUANCE OF A PERMIT FOR WADE SHOWS TO HOLD CARNIVAL AMUSEMENT RIDES AT FORD FIELD AND VETERANS' PARK JUNE 21-26, 2016, DURING REFERENCED HOURS; A PERMIT FOR A FIREWORKS DISPLAY BY AMERICAN FIREWORKS, INC. TO BE HELD AT 3 10:15 P.M. ON JUNE 26, 2016 AT VETERANS' PARK; AND AUTHORIZATION TO USE AND LEASE THE FACILITIES AT FORD FIELD, EDDIE EDGAR ARENA AND STYMELSKI VETERANS' PARK DURING SPREE '66: Rich Skaggs, President, Livonia Anniversary Committee, Inc., re: same. President Brosnan noted that the petitioner was not present in the audience. She also noted that this is a fairly routine request that comes before Council each year and said the paperwork appears to be in order. Scheel offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REQUEST TO CLOSE STARK ROAD FROM THE FAMILY Y (14255 STARK ROAD) TO LYNDON AND LYNDON FROM FARMINGTON ROAD TO STARK ROAD TO TRAFFIC FROM 8:00 A.M. JUNE 207 2016 THROUGH 12:00 NOON ON JUNE 277 2016 (MONDAY THROUGH MONDAY); AND TO REQUEST THAT THE CITY SEEK PERMISSION FROM THE WAYNE COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION TO ALLOW THE CLOSURE OF FARMINGTON ROAD BETWEEN THE 1-96 OVERPASS AND FIVE MILE ROAD FROM 6:30 P.M. THROUGH 11:30 P.M. ON JUNE 267 2016 (SUNDAY) IN CONNECTION WITH SPREE '66: Rich Skaggs, President, Livonia Anniversary Committee, Inc., re. same. President Brosnan noted that this is another housekeeping Spree item. Kritzman offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5. REQUEST TO DISPLAY BANNERS ON FARMINGTON ROAD AND FIVE MILE ROAD AND 4' X 8' SIGNS AT CITY HALL AND FORD FIELD FROM MAY 257 2016 THROUGH JUNE 267 2016: Rich Skaggs, President, Livonia Anniversary Committee, Inc., re: same. President Brosnan noted that this is another housekeeping Spree item. Scheel offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6. DETERMINATION OF THE LOCAL OFFICERS COMPENSATION COMMISSION: Office of the City Clerk, re: the salaries of elected officials for the calendar years 2016 and 2017, in accordance with Section 2.48.030 of Chapter 2.48 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances, as amended. 4 Adriane Spencer, Deputy City Clerk, said they are requesting Council receive and file the information. President Brosnan said this comes before Council every two years, she said if there are no objections this will be received and filed. DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT 7. REQUEST TO APPROVE PURCHASE: Department of Management Information Systems, re: of the LaserFiche Standard Public Portal with the 1St year maintenance, installation and training in the amount of $31,166.00 from budgeted funds. Dan Putman, Director of Management Information Systems, presented the request to Council. Early in 2015 they worked cooperatively with the City Clerk to acquire the LaserFiche Document Management System. This is a system that allows for efficient storage of documents electronically with excellent searching capabilities. The Clerk's office has already loaded into this document management system the City Council Minutes since 1950. The Clerk's office has found that this system provides them with quick reliable access to these documents. They are now loading other public documents on the system. Since these documents are useful to both City Departments and to the public, they now want to add the LaserFiche Standard Public Portal option. This system allows people (up to 25 simultaneous) to access the public documents through a web portal from the City website. This type of solution is an important component in making government more transparent by making public documents available on the web. This system is available to them through DSS Corporation who is the authorized LaserFiche dealer in this area. The software costs $25,000 with an additional $6,166 in maintenance, installation and training costs, bringing the total to $31,166.00. It is the recommendation of the Information Systems Department that Council approve the purchase of the LaserFiche Standard Public Portal with the 1st year maintenance, installation and training in the amount of $31,166.00 from DSS Corporation, 18311 W. Ten Mile Road, Suite 200, Southfield, MI 48075 from the 2015-2016 budget. Kritzman asked if it would eventually include site plans. Putman said it is possible. Kritzman asked if the Inspection Department indicated an interest in this capability. Putman said that he did talk to the Inspection Department personnel and said at this time they are not interested but may possibly be interested in the future. Putman said District Court is another department that may be interested in the future in getting on board with this. Kritzman offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5 8. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF LIVONIA V.E.B.A. PLAN: 16th District Court, re: to ensure that all employees and Judges of the Court are included in the City's V.E.B.A Plan. Sean Kavanagh, Judge, 16th District Count, presented the request to Council. The 16th District Court Judges are requesting approval of an amendment to the City of Livonia V.E.B.A. plan to ensure that all employees and Judges of the Court are included in the City's V.E.B.A. On February 25, 2014, Judges Sean P. Kavanagh and Kathleen McCann authored a letter to the City of Livonia Retirement Board requesting approval of this request. (Copy of letter provided to Council for its review.) The retirement board deferred to the civil service commission. On April 16, 2014, the civil service commission voted to refer the request to outside counsel for their report and recommendation. The former personnel director indicated he would handle the referral to outside counsel. As far as they can tell, nothing was done. The new personnel director was made aware of this request on July 1, 2015. They have not yet heard any response to their request. This issue is important for the employees and Judges of the 16th District Court. They need to make sure that the V.E.B.A. covers all employees and Judges of the 16th District Court who were hired or elected prior to the institution of the Health Savings Account Plan. Currently one Judge is contributing the two percent (2%) wage deferral toward the V.E.B.A. The other Judge was informed by the former personnel director that it was the personnel director's opinion that the second Judge is excluded from the V.E.B.A. because he is not a current member of the Livonia City Pension Plan. Both Judges desire to be members of the V.E.B.A. and are willing to contribute the two percent (2%) of wages to comply. Annual budgets have always included appropriate amounts to pre-fund retirement health care for all employees and both Judges. They respectfully request that Council clarify eligibility for all 16th District Court Employees, hired prior to the implementation of the Health Savings Account Plan, for V.E.B.A. Denise Maier, Director of Human Resources, said she has done much research on this request from Judge Kavanagh and has not come up with an answer yet but will continue to look into the matter. Scheel offered the resolution referring the matter to the Administration requesting a report and recommendation for the Consent Agenda. Kathleen McCann, Judge, 16th District Court, stated that she was present when Judge Kavanagh had asked the former Director of Human Resources, to take his contributions for V.E.B.A., she said he was assured it would be taken care of and said here it is more than 2 years later and it is still unresolved. President Brosnan said that she is confident that the Administration will be able to come to some kind of resolution on the matter and to allow them the opportunity to respond to this request. 6 DIRECTION: REFER TO ADMINISTRATION CONSENT FOR A REPORT & RECOMMENDATION 9. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2015-10-08-16, submitted by MGM Properties, Inc., in connection with a proposal to remodel the exterior of the existing restaurant located on the north side of Plymouth Road between Farmington and Stark Roads (34110 Plymouth Road), in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 28. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the request to Council. This is the former Tony's Kitchen, which received waiver use approval to construct an outdoor dining patio in 2012. The petitioner is the new owner of this facility and is proposing to modify the exterior of the restaurant as well as the interior. This would not alter or increase the seating capacity either inside the restaurant or the patio. And because there will not be any changes to the seating count, the project only requires approval for site plan and building elevation plans. It does not require going back for waiver use approval. In terms of the exterior modifications, the building would be completely remodeled. The petitioner has provided Council with plans showing what the building looks like today and what it will look like after the remodel project. It includes stripping all the materials that currently exist on the exterior of the building and replacing those with new materials, primarily a combination of fiber cement siding, cultured stone and, to a lesser extent, E.I.F.S. The entryway and the tower elements above that will be completely redesigned. The cement siding is the horizontal material that can be seen primarily on the upper parts of the building. The cultured stone is the darker pattern sections. They received a rendered elevation plan, which provides a better visual of what the building will look like. Gregory Marselis, MGM Properties, Inc., 6929 Norway Drive, Troy, Michigan 48085. He said he is one of the owners of the new building at 34110 Plymouth Road. He currently owns a restaurant in Northville with his partner, and they're looking forward to coming to the Livonia neighborhood. They want to be part of the neighborhood. They're very excited to be a part of the neighborhood and the community and they think, as you can see, their architect did a wonderful job. They're really going to enhance the area and bring really something really nice to the neighborhood like they did in Northville. People are really excited there. They really like their concept, the food and the ambiance. It is casual dining so it's more family oriented. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Christopher Martin, 12275 Inkster, spoke in support of the proposed business and wished them good luck. 7 Kritzman noted there wasn't any landscape plans with the proposed development. Taormina said in the correspondence from the Inspection Department it was recommended that the existing landscaping be cleaned up and repaired or restored to the original approved landscape plan for the site. Taormina said that will be incorporated into the approving resolution as a stipulation. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. Kritzman said that he would like to formally request that when site plans are submitted to Council that digital copies of the full set of plans be provided to Council. He said the complete plans provide much more detail than what is presented to Council. Taormina said they could provide those digital plans to Council and Council can forward it in the packets sent to Council. Kritzman offered a resolution referring the subject of filling the elected official vacancies to the Committee of the Whole for its report and recommendation for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: REFER SUBJECT OF FILLING ELECTED CONSENT OFFICIAL VACANCIES TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FOR ITS REPORT & RECOMMENDATION President Brosnan thanked Deputy City Clerk Adriane Spencer for stepping up and filling in as the head of the City Clerk's Office due to the vacancy left by former City Clerk Sue Hoff. As there were no further questions or comments, President Brosnan adjourned the Study Session at 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. DATED: December 10, 2015 ADRIANE D. SPENCER DEPUTY CITY CLERK