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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2003-08-21 MINUTES OF THE 149th REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 149th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:10 p.m., Thursday, August 21, 2003 in the 4th floor conference room of City Hall. Members Present: Mr. Scott Grace, Chairman Mr. John Walsh, Vice Chairman Mr. Jerry Wordhouse Mr. Bill Pike Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Stan Anderson Mr. Wes Graff Members Absent: Mayor Kirksey Mr. Dennis Kujawa Mr. Marvin Walkon Mrs. Toni Mette Mr. Duane Wolfgang Others Present: Mr. John Nagy, Director (60 Mr. Michael Slater, Finance Director Mr. Michael Fisher, Assistant City Attorney Mr. Tim Knutsen&Mr. Howard Nauboris, Beckett &Raeder Mr. Steve Levesque, Commercial Mowing Services Mr. James Sauve', Peter A. Basile Sons,Inc. Mr. Bob Weeks, Representative for brick company Mr. Ralph Williams, Citizen Dr. Robert Auth, Citizen Mr. Christopher Martin, Citizen Mrs. Robby Williams, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of 148th Regular Meeting Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, it was #2003-22 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the 148th Regular Meeting, held on July 17, 2003, by the Plymouth Road Development Authority are hereby approved. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Cue 1 3. Comments from the Chairman: I serve on a couple of committees and one that meets only once every two months. What I would like is to receive a list of all the PRDA committees and the chairperson of each committee. I would like to take a look at combining some of the committees. Maybe we can get a little bit more attention of the committees having trouble getting together and possibly create a little more action. 4. Finance Report: Mr. Slater presented the financial report. The monthly statement for July 31, 2003 shows Total Assets of$1,406,261.26, Total Liabilities of$81,061.93 and a Total Fund Balance of$1,325,199.33. The next page shows the list of disbursements for the month of July for a total of$56,331.48. The accounting report shows where we are at here today. We are in decent shape. Mr. Slater asked if there were any questions and Mr. Peterson asked if there was any place where the PRDA is in deep trouble. Mr. Slater responded that the only real concern was with the Beckett &Raeder costs and that he and Mr. Nagy had met with Beckett& Raeder before last months meeting and at that time he did not have a complete list of final numbers in regards to Phase V, Phase VB and miscellaneous expenses and reimbursable expenses. Once I have that information, I will be better able to answer that question. There was general discussion among the board members and Mr. Slater regarding the budget for PRDA for next year and the time frame for when changes could be made to the 2003-2004 budget. Mr. Slater advised the board that changes to the budget could be made no later than the September 5, 2003, deadline he requested. The members of the board asked to have some time to look at the budget and report back to Mr. Slater. Mr. Slater did advise the board that there was a push to get the approval of the board and if changes needed to be made, that they could be made later. Mr. Anderson questioned the heading for "Promotional Program"and requested that it be retitled to "PRDA Newsletter"for clarity. Mr. Slater advised that all of the expenses for the newsletter were combined into this"Promotional"account for that and it was no problem to rename it. On a motion by Mr. Pike, seconded by Mr. Walsh, and unanimously approved, it was #2003-23 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby approve the budget for the Fiscal Year 2003-2004 as prepared. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 5. Charles Irish Tree Replacement Update—Mike Fisher, Assistant City Attorney, reported that he had talked to Charles Irish's attorney, Mark Frankel. Mr. Frankel stated that there were two issues that needed to be discussed. First was what portion of this problem was the landscaping maintenance contractor going to take responsibility for concerning the watering and maintenance? Mr. Frankel also advised Mr. Fisher that the expense for taking up the dead trees should be the responsibility of the landscaping maintenance contractor, Commercial Mowing Services. Board members were looking to Mr. Fisher for his recommendation as to how to proceed. Should they file a lawsuit, send a 2 C letter or have another meeting. Mr. Fisher advised that, "You may not get his attention until a summons and complaint hits his desk." Mr. Fisher advised the board that he could not guarantee a positive out turn in this case. It was suggested that the dead trees be removed but Mr. Fisher advised that that action would be destroying evidence. Mr. Irish stands by his statement that the trees died because the trees were not being watered. Mr. Levesque, Commercial Mowing Services, advised that the trees were infested up to two years before they were planted. On a motion by Jerry Wordhouse, seconded by Mr. Peterson, and unanimously approved, it was #2003-24 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby agree to proceed with a lawsuit against Charles Irish for his failure to fulfill the terms of the warranty provided to cover the trees he planted on the Plymouth Road corridor. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Mr. Wordhouse raised the point if the board wanted to proceed with getting quotes for the tree replacement. The board agreed to start the process by getting quotes. On a motion by Mr. Wordhouse, seconded by Mr. Pike, and unanimously approved, it was Lie #2003-25 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby agree to proceed to get at least three (3) quotes for removal and replacement of the dead ash trees. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 6. Construction Report - Beckett & Raeder: Mr. Howard Nauboris reported that this has been a good month for construction. The contractor has been on site every day. There is a problem with the irrigation. It is not working every day. There are 10 days left and it is critical in reaching substantial completion. Mr. Pike pointed out that at the southwest corner of Merriman and Plymouth, by the bank,that the area was cold patched this morning. Unless it is hard packed,the application won't last. The board was advised that this area was not their responsibility. The work was done by SBC and Mr. Nagy will call their contractor. Mr. Grace questioned why the area where the cement curbs circle around the poles that there is nothing in them. The board was advised that Mr. Levesque has been authorized to fill them in. Mr.Nagy responded that with the use of the chemicals to eliminate the white stain on the brick, it was thought it would be better to plant the flowers after the chemical treatment was completed. Coe 3 Mr. Anderson thought it would be appropriate, at this time,to read a report submitted by Mrs. Melte, since she was not present for the meeting, for the benefit of the representatives of Beckett &Raeder. "(1) At Merriman and Plymouth, the Brake Shop has a white metal lamppost that is very rusted and is half out of the ground at the base and is on a slant. I am not sure it if is even working. It should be removed. (2) The landscapers are working hard with new planting in front of Wonderland all the way down past Merriman. It looks great and they are doing a fine job keeping the new plants watered during this heat and dry spell. The road is looking neat and trimmed and weeded all the way from one end to another. (3) Some of our City banners, not the summer ones with the sun, are either dirty or faded. Can they be cleaned?" Mr. Anderson also raised the issue about items he had questioned in 2002 regarding the replacement of the cement where the poles were. Also,there is a manhole sticking out of the ground at the Deering corner. Mr. Nagy reported that the manhole issue is still up in the air. It was directed by the Mayor to take care of it with the City Engineering office. Mr. Anderson brought up the issue of the pole at Deering and Cardwell with no wires attached to it. The sprinkler is not functioning properly at Inkster and Plymouth. Dr. Auth asked when the street signs in the Inkster area will be installed. Mr.Nagy advised that the work will be done in this Phase. Mr. Nagy advised that there was a problem with locating the signs after they were delivered to Livonia. Mr. Tim Knutsen, Beckett&Raeder, reported on the issue with the bricks and the white marks that are showing up on the bricks and the procedures that were previously used for the installation of the bricks. Some intersections seem to have a worse problem with road salt than other intersections. Treatments can be used to try to remove the white marks or let time takes it course. Mr. Knutsen feels that eventually the salt marks will disappear. It is up to the board as to how they want to handle this. Mr. Sauve', Peter Basile representative, advised that a salt neutralizer could be used. Mr. Bob Weeks reported that the warranty is in effect for one year. Mr. Peterson suggested that the board ask for a one year extension and leave the bricks alone. On a motion by Mr. Peterson, seconded by Mr. Pike, and unanimously approved, it was #2003-26 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority agree not to ask for the cleaning or removal of the bricks for an extended 12 month period conditioned upon receiving from the brick manufacturer an additional one year warranty. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 7. Committee Reports: Public Relations: Stan Anderson—Nothing to report. Vacant Buildings: Scott Grace—Nothing to report. 4 (be Construction Committee: Bill Pike—Nothing to report except that we will probably have a meeting late September or early October to wrap up the 2003-2004 schedule. Development Assistance: Scott Grace—we had four issues come before us today. (1) Phoenix Land Development—regarding the relocation of light poles that we had installed that were being moved because of MDOT requirements. Mr. Pike stated that PRDA would accept up to 1/2 of the cost, $11,200 with receipts, to relocate the eight (8) light poles impacted by the extension of the right turn lane as required by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Mr. Wordhouse explained his disagreement with this request. On a motion by Mr. Peterson, seconded by Mr. Pike, and adopted, it was #2003-27 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does herby approve and authorize a grant to be paid to Phoenix Land Development for 1/2 of the cost,with receipts, for an amount of$11,200, for relocating eight light poles due to MDOT requirements. A roll call vote was taken on the aforementioned resolution with the following results: AYES: Pike, Peterson, Anderson, Walsh, Graff, Grace NAYIS: Wordhouse ABSENT: Mayor Kirksey, Kujawa, Mette, Walkon, Wolfgang Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution approved. The second item to come before the Development Assistance Committee was Orchard, Hiltz and McCliment's request for 1/2 of the cost of demolition to the building the firm acquired on Plymouth Road. Originally I did not feel that we should reimburse for demolishing the windows but they have advised us that they are installing windows all the way down to the ground to provide light in their basement, not counting the interior courtyard which will have lights in the lower level which will bring sunlight into the basement. They did submit bids at the meeting. I have copies of them. Our recommendation is going to be that we approve $25,000 for demolition reimbursement which is less than 50% of the cost for that work. Their total amount was$55,300. Their actual cost turned out to be $58,700. We are capping it off at our limit of$25,000. On a motion by Mr. Pike, seconded by Mr. Peterson, and unanimously approved, it was #2003-28 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby approve and authorize a grant to be paid to Orchard, Hiltz&McCliment for demolition services up to one-half of the cost with a limit of$25,000. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution approved. 5 ,,. The third item is the Town Peddler. They came to us with a revised cost cutting it down from the original$20,880 to $14,880. They have one bid. Mr. Wordhouse questioned what the rules are for applying for a grant in regards to demolition. There is a business he is familiar with that applied for help with his demolition and was turned down. Mr. Pike was familiar with this request and advised the board that the request was for window replacement only and that was why it was denied. Several members of the board asked to see a copy of the policy for this program. Mr. Walsh recommended that this item be tabled until the next PRDA meeting. On a motion by Mr. Peterson, seconded by Mr. Walsh, and unanimously approved, it was #2003-29 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority agrees to table the request for a grant for 1/2 the cost of exterior renovations by Town Peddler until the next meeting, September 18, 2003. Mr. Grace, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. Mr. Nagy advised that he would provide copies of the Development Assistance Guidelines to the board members. The fourth item was regarding Bill Faris and the Modern Building Supply building. We are contacting him. Mr. Grace advised that he did not have enough information and that he will probably have some information at the next meeting. Banner Committee: John Nagy—Have not had any meetings. Inspection: Toni Mette—absent (report given by Mr. Anderson). Great Race: John Walsh- The cable Speed Channel had a nice program covering the Great Race. Susan(Roush) and Dale McClenaghan came in 7`h this year. There were more participants this year than last year. The local hotels were favorably impacted by this event and so were the restaurants and Laurel Park Place. Director's Report: John Nagy—Regarding eWave—Bret Miller, he is suppose to be getting information for the web site. We have had a meeting with Bob Schostak on redevelopment of Wonderland. They will make a presentation at our next board meeting and you can go over their development plans. They are going to ask to leave TIFA district and have their own TIFA district. It is more complicated than I can go into at this time. Polling of Board Members: 6 (sie Mr. Grace asked about the status of the Vieste Building petition. Mr. Peterson advised that it was studied by the City Council at their study meeting of August 19, 2003. There were no additional comments made by any of the board members. 9. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 149th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority was adjourned at 5:00 pm. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on Thursday, September 18, 2003, in the Fourth Floor Conference Room of City Hall. Robby illiams, Secretary /rw C C 7