HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-01-06
CITY OF LIVONIA – CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JANUARY 6, 2020
Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Kathleen McIntyre. Present:
Scott Bahr, Brandon McCullough, Rob Donovic, Jim Jolly, Laura Toy, and Kathleen
McIntyre. Absent: Cathy White.
Elected and appointed officials present: Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and
Economic Development; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Paul Bernier, City Attorney; Susan
M. Nash, City Clerk; Lynda Scheel, City Treasurer; Denise Maier, Director of Human
Resources; Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation; Don Rohraff, Director of
Public Works; Dave Varga, Director of Administrative Services; and Mayor Maureen Miller
Brosnan.
Councilmember Toy sent condolences to Chief Curtis Caid and his wife Lori and their
family on the passing of Monica Nehasil, his mother-in-law. She stated her life will be
celebrated at St. Aidan’s Catholic Church at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020.
She also mentioned the passing of two of her former Bentley classmates, Sherrie Liedel,
and Sara Geiger and sent condolences to both families on their loss.
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Councilmember Jolly announced on January 18, 2020 at 11:00 a.m., the 6 Annual PTA
Dads’ Chili Cook Off will be held at Franklin High School. There will be a basket raffle,
face painting, prizes, bake sale and a 50/50 raffle. He stated Brandon McCullough will
be representing Buchanan Elementary School and Jolly will be representing Hoover
Elementary School. He indicated tickets are $5.00 and welcomed all to attend. The
winner of the Chili Cook Off will receive a $500 grant for their child’s school, the grant
being provided by the Kiwanis Club.
Councilmember Donovic stated he wanted to say thank you, he thinks his father is
watching at home tonight, it’s his first Council meeting study session, it’s quite an honor,
and he is looking forward to serving with his fellow Council members.
Councilmember McCullough indicated his wife and daughter are in the audience for his
first Council meeting and he thanked them for staying up late to attend.
President McIntyre welcomed everyone.
AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION:
During Audience Communication Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan welcomed everyone
and congratulated all in their new role moving into 2020 as true leaders in our community.
She stated to those of you who are new sitting in those chairs, she is sure that minute by
minute as you’re sitting there, you’re feeling the honor that truly comes with being a leader
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and a representative in this community. To those who have the honor of coming back
and returning again, she is sure it is not any less thrilling to sit there and be able to do the
work that you do. For herself, standing on the other side of the dais, feels very, very
different and is thrilling as well. She stated she wanted to just take the opportunity again
to welcome everybody to the new year, 2020, and to let you know that we are well into
the first week of transition, that she had an opportunity last week to actually sit in the
office, find her way to the restroom on Thursday and Friday, and this week they’ve begun
to meet with each one of the Department Heads. She had an opportunity last week to
meet with Council President McIntyre, it was the very first meeting she wanted to hold,
and that was with real intent. And the intent is that there’s a very strong working
relationship between the Mayor and the Council moving forward as we take on many of
the challenges that are before us. She stated she knows you’ve heard her talk about
what those challenges are, but just for the sake of setting a really strong agenda as we
move into 2020, she knows that together they’re committed to solving the Police and Fire
shortage of officers and firefighters in our force right now and again, that is the number
one priority for this administration and until we get our arms around that, not too much
else is going to get as full of attention from the Mayor’s office right now.
The second thing that we’re really going to be working hard at is developing the Work
Force Development effort in our City to make sure that there are jobs for our young people
and that there is a direct price line to many of the fantastic jobs that are available here in
the City of Livonia, for those people who are graduating from high school that perhaps
aren’t bound for college right away. So we’re looking forward to working with the
Chamber, our leading businesses, our educational organizations, our high schools and
our colleges within the City of Livonia to make that happen.
And then the third area of focus is going to be roads and making sure that we get our fair
share of road dollars. She indicated she had a chance, along with Todd Zilincik, to attend
the Wayne County meeting on road funding and to let folks know that we are going to
play hard, we needed to make sure that we were at the top of the list and that we were
getting our fair share, so I think we definitely made an impression. She knows Todd over
the years has made an impression, word is they don’t like him very much, but she likes
him a lot.
So those are our three main issues. Of course there are all sorts of other things that we
want to be able to get our arms around and one of the ways that I think that we’re going
to be able to get our arms around many of these issues and move ahead further and
faster is to really embrace innovation and technology as we move forward in advancing
some of these ideas throughout the City. That along with some really hard proven data
driven results and overall good communication, and that’s what I think that you have come
to expect, not only from the Mayor’s office but from all the Department Heads in the City,
is that stellar communication.
So you won’t see me at many of your meetings, and Council President McIntyre and I
talked about this, you are extremely well represented with Department Heads and they
have amazing information to share with you. But should you need me to attend a meeting,
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please let me know in advance, I’d be happy to be here. But I respect the positions that
you’re in, I’ve sat in those seats before, this is your meeting, you know everything that
there is to know about leading the City and moving it forward and moving the agenda
forward for the City of Livonia. So I trust that together we’re going to be able to make that
happen and we’re going to be able to make exciting things happen in the City.
Along those lines, one of the first things that I need to draw your attention to is our Census
and I’m hoping that we get a chance to really work together in all of us serving as
ambassadors as we engage in getting people to respond to the Census. You know the
Census is vitally important for a City like ours in making sure that everybody is counted,
so again we get our fair share of Federal, State and local district money that’s available.
There’s 675 billion dollars in Federal funding that’s out there to be captured and if we
don’t get ourselves counted correctly, we don’t capture our fair share. So when we last
had our Census which was ten years ago, Livonia had the highly coveted position of being
the number one responder. We had the best response rate nationwide. We intend to do
that again but that will take a full court press on behalf of all of us. So as you approach
your civic associations, as you get chances to talk with your schools and you’re out there
publicly talking to residents in our community, if you remember to put the Census in as a
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plug line. What we’re doing is we’re coming up on some deadlines in March, March 12
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for example, between the 12 and the 20, every household is going to receive an
invitation to respond to the Census either online or by phone. The big Census day, in
terms of that there will be reminders and things like that, but the big day that we’re
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shooting for is April 1, that’s Census day and that’s when we’re hoping that all of the
responses are really in by. Census takers will begin to visit homes, especially where
seniors are residing, trying to make sure that students on campus and senior citizens are
all counted in the Census. But between March and April is really where we’re pushing for
people to stay alert, mail their information in or respond online or respond by phone.
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There will be follow-ups to all of that that will go pretty much through May 1, but at that
point we’re really hoping that everybody is counted. So I ask for your help in these efforts,
I know all of you have amazing contacts in the community, if you would employ and
implore them to make sure that they raise their hand, get counted, it’s going to go a long
way to making sure that once again Livonia is the number one community, so I thank you
in advance for your help.
Have a good evening and a fantastic meeting. Any questions?
Vice President Bahr asked if we are limited to just getting the message out or do we
actually have access during that March to April timeframe to data to actually go after
people that haven’t replied?
Mayor Brosnan replied no, that really our role is as a messenger or a marketing force
getting the word out. Now we do work and try to collaborate and pull together groups that
can help us to do that. Dave Varga is going to be our lead in this effort, he was our lead
the last time, nobody knows this better than he does. So we’ll be talking to special groups
within the community really trying hard to push out groups that might not be as willing to
respond. You know, I think there’s no doubt about it, things have changed since we last
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went out and took the Census ten years ago. People are a little bit more skittish about
responding to online requests for information, to phone requests for information. You
know we have a lot more that people need to be aware of. So some of the things that
we’re trying to make people aware of is that first of all is that anybody that’s collecting
Census data is not going to ask for your Social Security number. That’s really important.
So, you know we’re trying to avoid any type of fraud and people getting entrapped by any
type of fraud. People will not be taking Census data asking for credit card numbers or
credit card information and people taking Census data and collecting data will not be
asking for your political party affiliation. Those are three areas where we see where
people may come in posing as one thing and really operating in a different capacity, so
we want to make sure that our residents are aware, that really all we’re trying to do is
make sure how many people are living in your home, whether or not you own or rent your
home, and information about people living in your home, their gender, their age, their
relationship to you, their race and ethnic origin. If you have any questions, I’m available
but the expert on this is going to be Dave Varga. Thank you and have a great meeting.
President McIntyre welcomed her and thanked the Mayor for the excellent update she
provided.
During Audience Communication, Steve Munro, 36450 Northfield, came to the podium
and stated he wanted to bring to Council’s attention that the property formerly known as
Camelot Nursing Home is now shifting over to Detroit Rescue Mission and that he’s a
little concerned because of the proximity to the homes and the schools.
Mike Kelly, from Westland, came to the podium and stated his son lives on Northfield in
the subdivision right behind Livonia Churchill High School, he couldn’t come tonight. He
stated he has the same concerns the former gentleman had. He stated he has two
grandchildren and he doesn’t want them playing in a neighborhood where there might be
some transients roaming around and they don’t have bus service according to my
daughter-in-law, that the kids have to walk to school and that school is right up on Ann
Arbor Trail and it’s just not a good fit. And one of the reasons my son bought this house
four years ago is Livonia is a well-run City, but more importantly is the safety, so it’s not
a good fit, we don’t need that.
Councilmember Jolly responded by saying that Council is aware of the issue that was
brought up by the two audience members and at this point it is his understanding that he
Administration and the Law Department have been referred this matter. Currently there
is nothing before the City Council or the City in terms of an approval or any kind of request
pending, so right now this is a change in ownership and that’s as much as we know at
this point as well. So, it’s on the radar, we will keep apprised of what’s going on just as
you are and we’ll go from there. Thank you both for coming out.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. REQUEST TO AMEND COUNCIL RESOLUTION 306-19: Paul F. Bohn, Fausone
Bohn, LLP, re: to specify the beginning date of the approved Commercial
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Rehabilitation Exemption Certificate to be December 31, 2020, for Schoolcraft
Lodge, Inc., for the rehabilitation of the obsolete property located at 31501
Schoolcraft Road.
Brandon Grysko, from Fausone Bohn, on behalf of Paul Bohn who couldn’t make
it tonight, presented this request to Council. He stated essentially this is, as you
said, Madam President, this is a request to amend the resolution just to reflect a
beginning date. The State Tax Commission now has a policy in place where in
certain situations they will backdate certificates and we’re trying to avoid that which
was our intent all along, I believe. The City Administration is on the same page
with that.
President McIntyre asked if the issue was that the initial resolution did not have the
date and Grysko replied in the affirmative. McIntyre then confirmed that this is just
a correction to the resolution to bring it in line with the requirements and Grysko
replied yes.
Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
2. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR THE WAYNE COUNTY ZOOLOGICAL AUTHORITY
FOR THE YEAR 2019: Office of the City Clerk, re: to set the rate of tax to be
levied and requesting that it be collected as a winter tax.
Susan Nash, City Clerk, presented this request to Council. She stated this is a bit
of housekeeping, this gives Council the ability to give the Treasurer approval to put
it on the tax bill, and that would be the same for the following two items.
Vice President offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT
3. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR THE WAYNE COUNTY ART INSTITUTE
AUTHORITY FOR THE YEAR 2019: Office of the City Clerk, re: to set the rate of
tax to be levied and requesting that it be collected as a winter tax.
Vice President Bahr offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT
4. TAX RATE REQUEST FOR HURON CLINTON METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY
FOR THE YEAR 2019: Office of the City Clerk, re: to set the rate of tax to be levied
and requesting that it be collected as a winter tax.
Councilmember Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
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DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT
5. REQUEST TO APPROVE LOCATION AND SCHEDULE OF DATES AND TIMES
FOR THE 2020 BOARD OF REVIEW MEETINGS, AS WELL AS
COMPENSATION RATES FOR MEMBERS: Department of Assessment, re: per
the requirements of State of Michigan Statute MCL 211.30.
Linda Gosselin, City Assessor, presented this request to Council. She stated the
item before Council is a request to approve the dates and times of the March Board
of Review as well as the compensation. The Board will meet seven days this year
to hear valuation issues as well as hardship circumstances. Of those seven
meetings there will be one meeting that will be held one day for evening meetings
only.
Councilmember Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
Christopher Martin, 11037 Hubbard, Livonia, came to the podium and stated he
just wanted to let the citizens on this particular item here, that these are open
meetings, anyone can attend, just like this is an open meeting. He went on to state
a number of years ago, those of you who might be in TV land watching this, know
that I ran for City Council on a number of occasions. And one of the things that I
tried to do was to learn as much as I possibly could. So in my attempt to attend
these particular meetings, I initially was barred from doing that. And then I could
sit in the meeting, hear the Petitioner, but then they wanted me to leave when they
made a decision. Also, and that was later changed by the way. Also, as I sat there,
it took me a while to get a chair because I was told I could stand in the corner, so
anyway I eventually got a chair, sat down. Every Petitioner that came in was asked
do you mind if Mr. Martin sits here and watches this? Not one person said no. But
keep in mind, it’s an open meeting. No one is barred from an open meeting or
shouldn’t be. Other cities have these, not in a small room but in a regular Council
meeting area where anyone can sit, anyone can watch. There might be some
people that have a hardship, if they did I would have got up and left. But there was
not one person in the five or six days that I sat there and watched this that said no
to me being there, not one, it’s an open meeting. The only ones who objected
were people in the Assessor’s office, so I wanted to let you know what took place,
anyone can go to those meetings.
President McIntyre thanked Martin for the clarification.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
6. PROPOSED TEMPORARY CLASSIFICATIONS WAGE INCREASE AS A
RESULT OF AN INCREASE IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN MINIMUM WAGE
RATE: Civil Service Department, re: effective January 1, 2020 for classifications
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of College Co-Op, High School Co-Op, Library Page, Seasonal Clerk and Student
Page.
Denise Maier, Director of Human Resources, presented this request to Council.
She stated the item before you is indeed in relation to the recent increase in the
Michigan minimum hourly wage rate, it went from $9.45 per hour to $9.65 per hour,
therefore it required an increase for any of our hourly employees that were at the
$9.45 rate. It also caused us to review all of the other hourly rates so that we could
keep the differentials the same. And before you you have a three-year schedule
that we would like you to consider keeping in mind that if the Michigan minimum
wage rate does not go up, and that would mean that unemployment was greater
than 8.5%, then we would come back to seek approval for the increases for City
of Livonia employees.
Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
7. REQUEST TO WAIVE THE CITY’S COMPETITIVE BID PROCESS AND TO
AWARD BID RECEIVED THROUGH THE TRI-COUNTY PUBLIC PURCHASING
COOPERATIVE: Public Service Division, re: for gasoline and diesel fuel for the
period February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2022.
Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works, presented this request to Council. He
stated as mentioned, this is for the fuel for the City of Livonia. The Cooperative is
hosted by Sterling Heights which includes twenty communities. We’ve been part
of this Cooperative for many years and it’s been a great benefit and a really good
deal for the City. The bids were advertised on MITN for the years as you
mentioned, 2020 through 2022, with an option to extend for an additional two years
upon mutual agreement. Fuel is paid for based on the price per gallon wholesale
rack average as published by the Oil Price Information System or OPIS, the Detroit
rack average, plus the mark-up for delivery per gallon. Prices change daily on this,
just like they do at the local gas stations. There are two forms of delivery that we
use for this program, first being a truck transport which are for orders over 5,000
gallons; and secondly, for delivery tank wagon for orders that are under 5,000
gallons. The recommendation being made by the Cooperative is to split the award
of the bid among three bidders. For the truck transport portion of the bid, the
recommendation is to award the bid to RKA Petroleum, Inc. and Ports Petroleum
Company, Inc., the two low bidders meeting the bid specifications. For the tank
wagon portion of the bid, the recommendation is being made to award RKA
Petroleum and Atlas Oil Company, also the two low bidders meeting the specs.
Awarding the two low bidders will allow the participating members the ability to
leverage favorable pricing based upon the type of quantity and fuel being
purchased. The Department has received fuel from all of the listed suppliers
historically and we’ve had no issues with any of them. All companies perform well
all the way up to the contract specifications. It is the recommendation of the
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division that Council proceed as follows: Award the contract for truck transport
over 5,000 gallons to RKA Petroleum to supply the City with gasoline and diesel
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fuel under the terms and conditions of the bid for the period of February 1, 2020,
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through January 31 of 2022, with the option to extend the terms and conditions
for an additional two years upon mutual consent.
Number two, and I’m not sure if you want me to read the verbiage for every one of
these all the way through but they’re consistent all the way through.
President McIntyre stated she doesn’t think that’s necessary but that there is a
question from one Councilmember.
Director Rohraff went on to state with that they’d like to waive the formal bidding
process in accordance with Section 3.04.140.D.4 of the Livonia Code of
Ordinances as amended since no advantage to the City would result from a
separate competitive bidding process. No special appropriation is needed since
funds have been budgeted in the Public Service Gas and Oil Account, as well as
the Police and Fire Gas and Oil Account.
Vice President Bahr stated this is well laid out and easy to understand and thanked
Rohraff for preparing that for Council. He indicated he has one question, when
we’re offering the bid to two low bidders and the sentence in the packet that was
given was “awarding to the two low bidders will allow participating members the
ability to leverage favorable pricing based on the type and quantity of fuel being
purchased.” He then asked if you have two people that won the bid and yet it
sounds like we’re still going to be offering leveraging against one another, is that
the way it’s read?
Rohraff replied what they’re saying that if there is a community out there that wants
– and then again, if you went through and you look through the bid tabs, there’s
different numbers for every portion of over 5,000, under 5,000, and depending on
how they want to package that together, they may find it more advantageous to
maybe pair up Atlas with RKA or something like that when they’re doing their
deliveries. So the reason that they do that is also if there is a strain on the delivery
for one of the companies, that they have the other one that’s available as well.
Bahr then asked if one had First Right of Refusal over the other or what?
Rohraff replied it’s totally by community who you choose to have the supplier bring
you the fuel.
Bahr then asked hypothetically, we have two providers here, RKA and Petroleum
Traders Corporation that are both winning the bid for truck transport unmetered
over 5,000 gallons, so it’s the same thing. Hypothetically speaking could you give
all the business to one and none to the other or is there something that governs a
certain amount that each gets? It just seems odd to me that two would win the bid.
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Rohraff replied from their end of it, we’re just going with whatever the lowest
number is per provider. There may be other communities, maybe it’s a delivery, a
time issue of how quickly some of them can get there or past relationships that
maybe they have used in there. He stated for them they’re bottom line, low bidder
for each one, that’s who we use.
Bahr then stated they basically won the right to be considered and Rohraff replied
correct. Rohraff then went on to state he is not anticipating a lot of people paying
more just because it’s there.
Bahr then asked out of curiosity what is the wholesale price roughly for gasoline
relative to the retail price that we all pay?
Rohraff replied that varies drastically on a daily basis.
Bahr asked if it’s a 1.50, is it a buck?
Rohraff replied it’s about $1.50 right now.
Vice President Bahr then stated if there is no objections he would offer an
approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
President McIntyre then clarified for the benefit of the new Councilmembers, that
sometimes when people hear that we’re waiving the competitive business process,
that the MITN process and Sterling Heights running this Cooperative, is in itself a
competitive bidding process and it involves twenty communities. So what we did
is we joined in as one of those twenty communities which ensures that we get the
absolute best price possible based on a much higher volume than if we had bid it
ourselves. Did I summarize that correctly?
Rohraff replied yes, the Cooperative is about 3 million gallons and we’ll be in the
range of about 340,000, so for us to put that out on the street we would be paying
a higher number for sure.
President McIntyre then stated so it was a competitive bidding process, just not
our Livonia and Rohraff replied that it was on MITN.
Councilmember Donovic asked for clarification if there is a difference in the quality
of the fuel and Rohraff replied absolutely not.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
8. REQUEST TO CHANGE AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE TO DWRF
PROJECT NO. 7452-01: Public Service Division, re: in order to allow for the
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seamless reporting required for the improvements to the existing water treatment
and distribution system.
Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He congratulated
the new Councilmembers and stated he is looking forward working with everyone.
He stated just a little history on the DWRF Project, previously back in 2015 we
were awarded a 3.1 million dollar project that we did, Coventry Gardens, which is
one of our older subdivisions. The second one we did was just under 7 million for
a portion of Old Rosedale Gardens and areas east of Middlebelt, south of West
Chicago. And our third one is going to be 10.25 million which is going to
encompass Sections 35 to 36 and a portion at Six Mile and Middlebelt. Again, so
we’re very pleased to get low interest loans from the State for the funding. This
allows us again to get reimbursement. I’ve done the previous two DWRF projects
administration-wise, working closely with the Finance Department to make sure
that we get the reimbursements and get our money back from the State and then
obviously make sure we pass the Auditors that everything is in order. So, the
previous representative was Jacob Rushlow, who handled getting this thing off and
running for us to then review for design, we’re looking to go out again for bids this
year and they are just asking for the City Council’s approval to change it from Jacob
Rushlow, Superintendent, to my designation, so that way we’ll get all the emails
and all the information directly to me so I can work directly with the representative
from EGLE to get our DWRF funding.
Councilmember Toy offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
9. REQUEST TO AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE: Public
Service Division, re: to enable payment to Belfor USA for materials, equipment
and labor necessary to perform the emergency clean-up of the ceiling collapse at
Fox Creek from budgeted funds.
Don Rohraff, Director of Public Works, presented this request to Council. He
stated as you’re probably aware, there was an emergency repair at the Fox Creek
Golf Course Restaurant. The ceiling collapsed overnight causing a very unsafe
situation that resulted in closing of the restaurant until all the materials could be
safely removed. Belfor USA was called to perform the emergency removal and
the clean-up work. The removal was pretty intense, they had to remove the entire
acoustical ceiling system which were the tiles, the electrical fixtures, the cable runs,
insulation and all of the ceiling grid that was there. So in accordance with Section
3.04.140.D.1 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances as amended, we hereby are
notifying you of this emergency and we are requesting the City Council authorize
the payment of $25,806.60 to Belfor USA for the materials, equipment and labor
necessary to perform the emergency clean-up of the ceiling collapse at Fox Creek.
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Councilmember McCullough asked if there was a timeline or ETA on replacement
of any kind of grid system or drop ceiling?
Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, came to the podium to answer
the question. He stated they’re anticipating right now, the bid specifications are
being written right now to put this out to bid, they’re hoping that the project is
completed in the month of March prior to our golf season. So right now they’re
working with Finance and Purchasing and with Facility Maintenance to create the
bid specifications, get that out on MITN and then we’ll know more and we’ll know
more of the costs and we’ll come back before Council requesting the expenditures.
Councilmember Jolly asked in terms of the loss suffered by the City, is that covered
to an extent by our insurance, is it covered by the private business’ insurance, and
also are we on the hook for any loss of business that Coach’s Corner is suffering
or do they have business interruption insurance? I’m just kind of looking at is this
a bigger thing that will come before us later on or is this something that will be a
relatively simple fix; ultimately are we paying, are the residents paying, who’s
paying?
Davis replied this is an insurance claim but we are self-insured so again, at the
end of the day we are going to pay for it, meaning the City. As far as the tavern or
the business having business interruption insurance, they do have that but their
claims adjustor has already contacted the City and I’m sure there’s going to be
some sort of recourse, because when this repair does occur, the business is more
than likely, Coach’s Corner is going to be closed for a week to ten days while
scaffolding is put in, all new electrical is installed and a new drop ceiling is installed
so there’s going to be further interruption there. How much again we just don’t
know right now, we’re guessing, we’re estimating a week to ten days additional.
Jolly then said this is a little bit off the subject here but along these lines, when we
rent a City-owned facility to a private business or private entity, to what extent do
we require them to have private insurance? Do we require them to have private
liability insurance or is that us as a City versus the facility’s insurance?
City Attorney Bernier stated part of the contract is that they had to have business
interruption insurance and they had to have insurance for anything that happens
on the premises. The facility itself, as I understand it, is our responsibility on that.
As far as the conversation you were having before about the business interruption
and Mr. Davis mentioned maybe the insurance carrier was going to come to us,
that’s a conversation we’re having with Mr. Fisher, Mr. Davis and myself and quite
frankly, we’re getting up to speed on this, this just happened. That’s a conversation
we’ll be having with the insurance company that I don’t feel real comfortable
discussing now.
Jolly said he can appreciate that, I guess it’s just one of these things when we are
renting out the inside of a facility and ultimately providing control of the facility to a
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private outside entity, there might be some reason to look into whether or not they
should have some insurance responsibility for the internal structure that we’re not
in control of on a day-to-day basis where they are.
Bernier replied he looked at the contract and they do have responsibilities when
their negligence has created a problem with it. But when it’s a problem much like
this which is a longer term problem before they had the lease, it’s more of our
responsibility on that. But that is all included into the lease agreement, it specifies
when there’s negligence or their acts create the problem, who is responsible. It’s
in all of our leases as well as requirements for different types of insurance.
Councilmember Donovic stated that was his question, is there a reason
determined why the drop ceiling fell, was there some sort of negligence there, any
reason why to that?
Superintendent Davis welcomed Councilmember Donovic to City Council and
stated that’s a great question and they simply don’t know the answer. That was
not installed by the City to our knowledge or by Coach’s Corner. So, it was installed
prior to 2006 and we simply don’t have any records on it. Now, how it was
suspended, I don’t think we’d do that the same way today, obviously we’d have it
inspected but that wasn’t the case prior to ’06, so you know we just don’t have a
great answer on that right now.
Councilmember Jolly stated he had a follow-up question. With these facilities that
we own but we are renting presently, are we often inspecting these facilities?
Bernier replied are we inspecting them for purposes so this doesn’t happen or are
we inspecting them much like the Health Department does?
Jolly stated no, are we inspecting them for situations like this?
Bernier stated he doesn’t know the answer to that, we would probably have to ask
Mr. Hanna or Mr. Rohraff.
Rohraff replied the answer to the question is that is in the discussion phase right
now of going through and trying to look at every building that has a drop ceiling.
And as Mr. Davis had mentioned, prior to this this was the drop ceiling that was in
there wasn’t of any concern to anyone at that particular point in time. To answer
your question directly, in the past have we done that, there has not been, to my
knowledge, any type and I think as you all probably know we’ve talked about
different positions in the City and all of the buildings that we own, that that should
become an important part of moving forward of doing an inspection on those
buildings. Currently at this point that situation was not something that was
inspected prior, but the discussions are in process now of putting together a plan
to get through and at least do initial on the surface inspections of a lot of the
buildings that we have. Obviously we have over 100 buildings in the City that are
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owned and to get to those will take a little bit of time but that is something that we
are looking into to make sure that we start to move down that road.
Jolly said he appreciates that and he thinks that might be the silver lining in this
incident, to see if we can avoid future incidents.
Councilmember Toy said in past times we have talked about project manager for
all the buildings that we have in the City. Do you feel that perhaps this would be
part of that person’s role if we were to move in those directions?
Rohraff replied he’s not sure he makes that decision but in his opinion, since he
has Building Maintenance that works under him, the situation itself when you start
talking about buildings and everything that’s incorporated into buildings with HVAC
systems, roofs, etc., etc., I think it’s definitely something that would fall under that
title or that category for that particular position. I think what you’re really talking
about is an asset management plan that is actually incorporating all of the buildings
and the facilities that the City is in control of. That is obviously something that is
larger than myself or my Building Maintenance people can try to tackle, but I think
the discussions of that facility manager or that project manager would definitely be
right up there at the top of the list of getting an inventory and doing that kind of
evaluation on all of the buildings.
Councilmember McCullough offered an approving resolution for the Consent
Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
10. REQUEST TO APPROVE FINAL COST INFORMATION AND TO AUTHORIZE
ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE: Engineering Division, re:
for the 2018 Sidewalk Program - Contract 18-G. (CR 102-18)
Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated this is a
final detailed list of the costs, it obviously helps out our auditors, he had hoped to
get this on the December Council meeting. But it’s before you, basically if you flip
to the second page it kind of gives an overall breakdown of the construction costs
were tallied at $557,262.22; we add a 10% amnesty onto that. We do have some
locations done by Precision Cutting, bringing the total cutting costs of $617,990.85
to help make sure our sidewalks are safe out there and prevent liability for
obviously our residents and our taxpayers. As you look to the first item, the single
lot assessments, that tells you basically we’re assessing the residents for repairs.
Some ask for additional costs, if you look down to line item, 22 locations were
asked for additional work at $10,709.79 and if you follow through the rest of then
it basically follows through as far as the budgeted numbers. But I just wanted to
let you know that we’ll be coming in March for the addresses for the 2020 program
so we can put them on the tax role in case they sell their house or people move or
something happens to them that we can do assessments at a later date. I will be
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bringing the 2019 summary to you guys on January 27, so hopefully again we’re
trying to get everything in order for the auditors who will be coming through the
Finance Department.
Vice President Bahr indicated as was explained this is a project, the scope of
which we’ve already approved, this is just time to pay for it and he then offered
an approving for Consent if there’s no objection.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
11. WAIVER PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2019-09-02-14 submitted
by ARCO Construction Company, Inc., to construct and operate a senior assisted
living facility located on the south side of Eight Mile Road between Farmington and
Gill Roads (33579 Eight Mile Road) in the Northeast ¼ of Section 4.
Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented this
request to Council. He stated this is a request to construct and operate a senior
assisted living facility on a vacant parcel that is located just south of Eight Mile
Road and west of Farmington Road. As you can see from the Zoning Map, it’s an
L-shaped parcel. It was originally or previously approved as a second phase of
Northridge Commons Shopping Center. The Shopping Center is immediately to
the west of this site. To the south is an area zoned R-7, multi-family, it’s part of
On the Pond Condominiums. There are other commercial properties to the north
and to the east of the subject property. Nursing and convalescent centers are
treated as a waiver use under Section 11.03(n)(1) of the Zoning Ordinance.
There’s only one special requirement that applies to this type of use and that is it
must be at least 1-acre in size and have 500 square feet of land per bed. Again
this is a 3.5 acre site. It’s a proposed 58-bed facility, so it is well within the density
allowance of that provision of the Zoning Ordinance. The building would be one-
story in height, and it’s about 40,000 square feet in total size. This is the site plan
showing you the location of the building in relationship to the parcel boundaries as
well as the other site improvements. This building will be setback about 340 feet
from Eight Mile Road, about 88 feet from the south boundary, both of these are
well within the setback allowance of the Zoning Ordinance. There would be no
direct access from the site to Eight Mile Road. It would rely on access from the
shopping center where there is a cross access and parking agreement in place.
The complex again would have 58 total beds. This would be 54 units divided into
40 assisted living units as well as 14 memory care units. Parking is based on one
space for every three beds plus one per employee, this would require a total of 54
parking spaces altogether. The site plan shows 46 spaces including 34 that would
be striped initially as part of the first phase of construction, twelve additional spaces
could be added later but what’s important to realize again here is the cross parking
and access agreement with the shopping center to the west, there’s ample parking
available next door and we do not foresee any parking issues with this property.
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In terms of the building itself, this is an item that the Planning Commission reviewed
over the course of several meetings. It would be a combination of brick, fiber
cement siding, and cultured stone. The Petitioner went back to the drawing board
a couple of times to add additional masonry products to the facility. As you can
see, too, it will have a gabled roof, it will be asphalt shingled. Back to the site plan,
all the service area would be located to the rear of the complex, so this is the area
bordering the commercial to the east, there will be a service drive as well as some
ground mounted mechanical equipment. The trash enclosure area, all those areas
would be effectively screened with a 6-foot or 7-foot high masonry wall. There’s
an existing masonry wall that is located along the south boundary line that
separates this property from the residential to the south. Storm water management
would be handled within an existing basin along the eastside of the property. That
basin would have to be reshaped a little bit in order to accommodate the proposed
use. And then lastly, with respect to signage, that’s something that was not
reviewed as part of this petition, that would have to come back for additional review
by either the Inspection Department or the Planning Commission depending on
the extent of signage. The Planning Commission is recommending approval of the
plans as submitted.
Councilmember Donovic asked for the parking, if the entrance is off of Eight Mile
through the parking lot, the shopping center next door or is it off of Farmington?
Taormina replied it is off of Eight Mile and if you look at this aerial photograph you’ll
see the what would be the main easterly drive to the shopping center that runs
along the western boundaries of this property. That aisleway, if you will, would
effectively provide access to the site.
Donovic asked if that is a tight area for emergency vehicles to travel through and
Taormina replied not at all, no, and that our Fire Marshal has reviewed the plans,
they’ve provided input into the design.
Councilmember Toy asked Taormina if this is the same Petitioner that had the
Eight Mile and Middlebelt proposal on a nursing center; do you recall that?
Taormina replied no, and if he recalls the project that you’re referring to it is not the
same. The Clear Path is a new entry into the Livonia market; however they have
significant experience in this area, I believe they have at least nine facilities across
the country and Jim Eisenhart, on behalf of the Petitioner, stated they have fifteen,
including Michigan, West Bloomfield and Grand Rapids.
Donovic then asked on the south side where it abuts up to residential, regarding
the photometric plan, has the Petitioner considered any light screens on those
streetlights just to reduce any light pollution that would hit the residential behind?
Taormina stated that is a good question and he will check with the approving
resolution that was presented to Council from the Planning Commission, but
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typically they’d have a condition that requires those shields be installed to prevent
that light from trespassing across the property.
President McIntyre indicated it is present in the resolution under Item No. 9. She
then called the Petitioner to the podium.
Jim Eisenhart, 204 Park Road, St. Louis, Missouri, representative of Clear Path,
came to the podium. He stated they’re a development company and also the
owner of the facility. The brand would be Provision Living. He thanked Taormina
for giving the detailed introduction. He went on to state they are planning on fifty-
two apartments, although there will be fifty-eight beds. It will be a 38,000 square
foot, single story, all private pay. They typically have a lot of amenities such as
bistros, cafes, there’s also a rehab space that they have, but other than that he’s
happy to answer any questions Council may have, it’s assisted living and memory
care.
Councilmember Donovic asked if this is a long term facility or how long does a
traditional patient stay there for?
Eisenhart replied that their average stay is about three years, but they’re monthly
leases but they typically stay for three years. They either move on to go to a nursing
home or they pass away in our facility.
Councilmember Jolly stated he thinks the site plan looks good, it’s a very nice
looking building, something that is desired here in Livonia, something that’s
probably necessary in Livonia as well, and he then offered an approving resolution
and if there are no objections he is asking for it to go on the Consent Agenda.
Vice President Bahr stated he doesn’t think he has any objections but he’d prefer
it stay on the Regular, he doesn’t anticipate any objections.
President McIntyre asked the Petitioner if he is able to return for the meeting on
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January 15 and Eisenhart replied if not him, another representative would be in
attendance.
Councilmember Jolly asked where the Petitioner would be coming from and he
replied St. Louis.
Vice President Bahr then agreed to have it put on the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
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AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION
During Audience Communication Chris Martin, 11037 Hubbard, came to the podium and
stated he is kind of excited about the election last November and is looking forward to
some changes being made. He stated he is somewhat familiar with the City; he’s been
here quite some time. A number of years ago the Mayor at the time, Jack Engebretson,
tried to put Maureen on the Planning Commission and she couldn’t get four votes from
City Council, it was that petty, petty politics. But you’ve got to keep in mind, too, is just a
recommendation, it doesn’t have a whole lot of authority, it’s just a recommendation to
Council; couldn’t get on the Planning Commission, now she’s Mayor. Things change. I
think it’s a change for the best. Thank you.
As there were no further questions or comments, President McIntyre adjourned
the Study Session at 9:01 p.m. on Monday, January 6, 2020.
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For the 1,888 Regular Meeting of January 15, 2020
DATED: January 10, 2020 SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK