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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-04 CITY OF LIVONIA — CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD NOVEMBER 4, 2020 Meeting was called to order via Zoom remote technology at 8:41 p.m. by President Kathleen McIntyre. Present: Brandon McCullough, Jim Jolly, Laura Toy, Scott Bahr, Cathy White, and Kathleen McIntyre. Absent: Rob Donovic. Councilmember McCullough led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance. Elected and appointed officials present: Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Paul Bernier, City Attorney; Mike Slater, Director of Finance; Denise Maier, Director of Human Resources; Casey O'Neil, Director of Information Systems; and Jacob Rushlow, Director of Public Works President McIntyre thanked City Clerk Susie Nash and her staff for their hard work during the General Election. Councilmember Toy also commended Clerk Nash and her office members and thanked all of the voters their participation in the election. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION None heard. NEW BUSINESS 1) REQUEST FOR ONE-YEAR EXTENSION OF MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH NEXGEN E9-1-1: Division of Police, re: for maintenance of our NexGen E9-1-1 system for the period of 06-15-2020 to 06-14-2021. From budgeted funds. Curtis Caid, Chief of Police, presented this request to Council. He stated the item before Council is a request for authorization to extend the maintenance agreement with their Public Safety Dispatch Center, the E9-1-1 System, for one year. Their current agreement expired in June of this year and they are asking for an extension to June of 2021. Should Council approve this extension of the maintenance agreement, funds are appropriated for this extension in the special account fund which is specific to the Public Safety Communication System within Livonia, so no general funds are utilized for this, and again, if approved they will continue their agreement with Intrado/West Safety Solutions, which has been the provider for us for a number of years. Going into next year we anticipate an upgrade, a substantial upgrade of the system. Our current 911 system is really combined with the Conference of Western Wayne and other standalone public safety answering points in Western Wayne County and really throughout southeast Michigan which includes Text 911 and many other features. But this maintenance agreement extension would allow us to continue with this relationship with Intrado/West Safety Solutions to ensure the service provided to our community. 2 Vice President Bahr asked Caid why he is only requesting a one-year extension When the previous one was five years. Chief Caid replied that he anticipates that next year they will be coming before Council for another new system basically, a whole new upgrade. So this is really a band-aid to keep us going through to address any kind of issues that might realize over this time period until we're ready to upgrade to the greatest and best that they have to offer at that particular time. Vice President Bahr then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2) REQUEST TO APPROVE INCREASE IN COMPENSATION FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION: Department of Civil Service, re: to be in the same compensation range as other Directors in the City. Denise Maier, Director of Human Resources, presented this request to Council. She stated the item before Council this evening from the Civil Service Commission, is part of a reorganization plan that was implemented at the City and what they are looking for is Council's approval of a modification to the compensation range for the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation position due to the increased responsibilities this position has been assigned as part of the reorganization. This request is not unprecedented, it was equivalent to the compensation change that was made when our Planning Director took on the economic development responsibilities and became the Economic Development and Planning Director. Council has been provided the different salary ranges, it's not a new salary range, it's a salary range that is currently in effect for the Finance Director, the Economic Development and Planning Director, and the Director of Public Works. So it's not a new compensation range, it is in place right now. And it's due to the, as mentioned, the increase in responsibilities as part of the reorganization. Councilmember Toy stated all the words and attributes Denise gave to this new position so to speak are well read and well-studied information. She then stated she would like to offer an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Jolly stated that even before taking on the responsibilities of Greenmead, the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation was probably underpaid before those responsibilities were added, the person who is currently in that role, obviously Ted Davis is doing an excellent job, but taking him out of it personally, the person who has those roles as the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, it's really the face of Livonia in so many different ways, he has many different programs that impact our residents on such an extreme level. We should be compensating this person more for the time and the effort they're putting forth, and the vast responsibilities that they have, now, of course, but even before this took place. And the same is true for the Assistant Superintendent that will be coming up as the next agenda item as well. He said that having this in line with the other department heads is absolutely appropriate. 3 DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3) REQUEST TO APPROVE INCREASE IN COMPENSATION FOR THE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION: Department of Civil Service, re: to be within the same range as the Assistant Planning Director. Denise Maier, Director of Human Resources, presented this request to Council. She stated this item is for the Assistant Superintendent of Parks and Rec, who is also as part of this reorganization, has increased the responsibilities of this position, increased direct reports, and this request came from the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, and it has been through the Commission and they have submitted it to Council for your review and approval. Councilmember Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda citing the same rationale as previously stated. President McIntyre stated she is happy to see that we are working to ensure that the leadership of the Parks and Recreation Department is now expanded to include the Senior Center and Greenmead and other responsibilities. She said while we're doing that she also thinks it's appropriate that we look at the compensation down the line of the other members of the staff of that department, and specifically at the Senior Center. I know that that we've eliminated a head over at the Senior Center, and conventional wisdom would say well, we have a lot less programming because the Center is not open like it usually is. We still have a lot of programming going on there. The program that we have requires a lot more communication and a lot more coordination because there are reservations, there are all kinds of requirements about social distancing, there's just a lot of compliance issues that fall on the staff over there. And again, they no longer have ahead. And it also goes to a quality of work and the ability to find joy in work, and I think that people that work for a City, part of it is when you take a job, you have expectations of how the job is going to be and that's true. Everyone in the City, everyone in every job everywhere has had to cope with changes due to Covid. Our custodial staff has got extra cleaning. Our DPW, everyone has had an extra workload. And it's somewhat unique at the Senior Center and I think to a certain extent probably over at Parks and Rec but I'm not as familiar with the programming over there is the normal activities that they do that really do provide a lot of joy, and those are the celebrations. Those are the book clubs, a lot of events over there they provide a lot of intrinsic, satisfaction to the staff, that's all gone. The primary driver of my request is we've taken a Department Head out of the department, and one other thing I understand and expect, is Senior Services now belong to a larger portfolio, that that team is being ask to look at their jobs more broadly and look more broadly on how they can contribute and have additional perspective as to what goes on in all of the City's recreational community program. She then asked the Administration to look at the compensation levels over at the Senior Center. 4 Councilmember Toy stated she supports Councilmember Jolly's motion, but she also wants to state that the Senior Center is by far, honestly, we have a lot of good things going on in our City, but I've got to tell you in my other elective job I serve four or five other communities when I was in the Senate, and I can't begin to tell you how inventive, how creative, how patient, how unbelievable the people that worked there and dealing with our seniors on different levels. I can't even begin to tell you when I've been over there some of the issues they've had to deal with. At one time they had a little problem with some card playing over there and they also had some problems with some hygiene, some real sensitive issues that I don't think many of us see or we want to see. And I think your points, Madam President, are well put in regard to what's going on there as well as with this type of virus situation we're all facing. Because they're probably the ones that are most affected by it in our community, not that we all aren't. But I mean because of their age, because of some of their health conditions, things like that, I guess I can start relating to some of this. But anyhow, in all seriousness, your points are well taken and I'd like to see some opinions on that as well and some compensation. So to your point, Madam Chair, and thank you for bringing it up and obviously thank Jim for his support on that as well, and I don't want to bring these other departments because then we get into a lot of comparisons and I don't want to do that, but I think some of these point that have been brought up you and others have been just excellent. And just in my own experience living in this community for this many years and going over there quite a bit, you can see some of the unbelievable kind of things that they deal with on a daily basis as well, so thank you very much. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4) REQUEST TO RENEW THE CITY'S LIABILITY AND PROPERTY INSURANCE COVERAGE: Department of Finance, re: with the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority (MMRMA) for the period from December 1, 2020 to November 30, 2022. Mike Slater, Director of Finance, presented this request to Council. He stated before you tonight is a request for renewal of our property liability insurance, the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority. We've been long time members of that organization and they've provided outstanding services to us at a really value price. The renewal for next year the quote was for $1,207,156.00, however, as it happened for a number of years now that cost is offset by a net asset distribution, so for next year the amount could be $968,035.00, so the net cost is very low to us. And as I said in terms of the Risk control services, the plan administration, there's a whole bunch of other services they provide for us other than just pay for our claims. They've been an outstanding organization. So with that I'd be happy to answer any questions, but our recommendation is to remain as described. Councilmember White asked if two years is the usual time requested for the coverage and Slater replied it has been that way for as long as he can remember. 5 Councilmember White then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5) REQUEST APPROVAL OF BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 2020:Department of Finance, re: for additional contribution to the VEBA Fund and the Building Improvement Capital Projects Funds (418). Mike Slater, Director of Finance, presented this request to Council. He stated what is before Council tonight is a request to move some money around that is in the budget. They've done a review of the budget to actual comparison for our current fiscal year to date, and we've identified areas where our results have been favorable and these funds can be reallocated for other purposes. The total amount that we're talking about reallocating here is a little over $4,000,000.00 and it comes from a variety of sources that you can see in the communication in your packets. By far the biggest item on this list of items is the Care Act Grant revenue that we received which is just under $2.9 million dollars. And then various other categories, the LTSA revenue, cell tower revenue, Youth Assistance, telephone expenses less than expected and a reduction in seasonal labor due to Covid this year. The last item which is really not reallocation but it's additional appropriation and acknowledgement is something that has been discussed previously, that was the $50,000.00 gift from Masco which we're proposing be used for the diversity inclusion and unconscious bias training going forward. So in regard to the $4 million that I initially described, our proposal is to take that and reallocate it to two different places. Fifty percent of it would be allocated to an additional contribution to our VEBA Fund which is the retiree health care trust fund. That fund is currently $95,000,000.00 unfunded, so this would cut into that a little bit. And the other $2 million we're proposing would be moved to the building improvement Capital Projects Fund and this fund was established a few years ago in order to set money aside for future building improvements which we know we're going to need to deal with aging City buildings. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Vice President Bahr commented stated he is really pleased with this, that he had a conversation about this leading up to this meeting. And as I expressed when we talked about the budget either last meeting or the meeting before, one of my disappointments with an overall really good budget was that we hadn't allocated money in that budget for the building Capital Improvement Fund and I accepted the explanation that was given for that but I am really thrilled that we're putting some money towards that here. And then also the VEBA. One of the things I mentioned to Mr. Slater when he and I were talking, I said both of these uses for this windfall, it's not a windfall, but it's for this found money, so much that my biggest struggle with this whether we should be putting 100% of the funds into one of those two funds and so I struggled with that so I guess it makes sense to split it down the middle. You know the last few years I've really appreciated this Council's focus on boosting funding on the VEBA to get ahead of that, and this continues that. I just think this is a great use of this money. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. 6 DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6) REQUEST TO ACCEPT QUOTATION FOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE: Department of Finance, re: with The ASU Group, to provide claims administration services and with Midwest Employers Casualty Company to provide excess insurance coverage when losses from any one claim reaches $600,000, for the period from December 1, 2020 to November 30, 2022. Mike Slater, Director of Finance, presented this request to Council. He stated this item to renew our Workers' Compensation Excess Insurance and Claims Administration Services which expires November 30th of this year. In regard to the Claims Administration Services, the recommendation is to enter into a contract with The ASU Group for a full premium of $35,500.00 per year. That's a decrease from our current costs of around 10% so that's a good thing. The City's long time provider, York Risk Services, was purchased by an outfit called Sedgwick in 2019. Since then, they've had many staff defections and very poor service to the City, so we're happy to be looking at other alternatives here and the Civil Service Department is the primary earpiece with the Claims Administrator, conducted interviews with four different providers and The ASU Group was the recommended firm. In regard to the excess insurance which is the insurance that pays claims in one phase until they reach a certain level, in this case over $600,000.00. They solicited claims for that also and their recommendation is to enter into a contract with Midwest Employers Casualty Company, again for Covid related claims which is in excess of $600,000.00 and the total estimated annual premium for that is $163,374.00. That's an increase over our current rate of 20%. With that, I'll be happy to answer any question. Councilmember White offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7) REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE ONE (1) 2021 FREIGHTLINER, CAB AND CHASSIS TO BE BUILT AS A VACTOR TRUCK, THROUGH THE SOURCEWELL (FORMERLY NJPA) PURCHASING AGREEMENT: Public Service Division, re: a replacement vehicle to be used by the Water and Sewer Departments, from budgeted funds. Jacob Rushlow, Superintendent of Public Service, presented this request to Council. He stated the Vactor Truck that they're looking to purchase is a replacement of an existing Vactor Truck in our fleet that is outdated and has really surpassed its life expectancy and that truck will be disposed through the auction process. The Vactor truck is really a multi-faceted piece of equipment used in the Sewer Division for routine preventative maintenance and cleaning of sewer pipes as well as assisting with water main breaks and utility service locating it through excavation. Funding was previously approved in the DPW Capital Outlay Budget and as you mentioned pricing for this was set through the Sourcewell Purchasing Agreement which saved 7 the City just over $10,500.00 through that purchasing group. With that it is our recommendation that Council proceed to authorize the purchase of this freightliner model 114SD Cab and Chassis to be built with the Vactor truck from Jack Doheny Company in the amount of $448,520.45. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions if there are any. Councilmember McCullough stated that obviously it's coming from budgeted funds, it's a cooperative purchasing agreement, and Vactor trucks are the hardest working vehicles we have in our fleet considering some of the stuff that it does. He then offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 8) REQUEST TO AMEND CONTRACT WITH OHM ADVISORS AND AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE: Public Service Division, re: for the 2021 Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) water main projects, Project 7453- 01,to provide engineering design, administration and soils investigation services, from budgeted funds. (CR 365-16). Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated as Council is aware, this is the fifth continuous year of the DWSRF State Revolving Funds, the opportunity to upgrade our infrastructure, water main infrastructure. As you recall we've been down to Conventry Gardens, Old Rosedale Gardens, Eight Mile, and we've been over now into Section 35 and that will be finished up next year. So this is an opportunity for us extending this program with OHM Advisors, who's been handling this since 2014, it's been successful. We're asking for $5.2 million dollars of water main improvements and this portion will handle designs in Project Areas 4, 5 and 6 that was approved back in 2019 with the Priority Project Plan with EGLE and where we'll be looking at to do improvements is going to be in Section 1 on Angling, Antago, Deering, Ridge, Rensellor and Saint Francis. We will also be looking to do improvements in Section 12 on Floral and Lathers, and again, in Section 12 on Golf and Pershing Streets. We're asking for your approval tonight in the amount of$307,000.00 for OHM Advisors, Jessica Caters and her team to continue on with getting design plans completed for submittal to EGLE to meet the milestones that have been approved and set by EGLE and looking for construction in 2022. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have and Jessica Caters from OHM is in attendance at the meeting as well. President McIntyre stated that it is always appreciated when members of the team such as Jessica Caters from OHM in attendance at the meetings. Councilmember Jolly offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda, stating this is an item that Council has been accustomed to seeing as a Council and as a City. We, as you just mentioned, we obviously know from the personalities involved and we know OHM Advisors is a great partner of the City. When we're talking about the DWSRF Project, Jessica Caters really deserves a big shout out, this is really her baby 8 on the side of OHM and she is a resident and I think she takes great pride in doing this work for her City as well so we thank her and we congratulate her for the success we've had so far and look forward to going forward. Thank you. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9) REQUEST TO RESCIND COUNCIL RESOLUTION 230-20 WHICH ACCEPTED A PUBLIC UTILITY EASEMENT FOR SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT AT 31800 ENTERPRISE DRIVE IN THE SOUTH 1/2 OF SECTION 27 AND HAVE THE UTILITY SERVICE REMAIN PRIVATE: Engineering Division, re: request from the owner, Livonia Estates Ltd. for the sanitary sewer to remain private. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated that he hates to do this but the owners changed their mind on keeping their sewer private here bulkheaded. Obviously if you're hooking up to a public sewer main we want to make sure we have it up to our standards and specifications, so walk away, little or low maintenance to the system itself. So they've done a great job over there in the development there west of Merriman Road and north of Plymouth on their development over the last couple of years, so we appreciate all of the investment they've done to those buildings over three phases with Nowac& Fraus and just looking for your approval to rescind the easement that was supposed to be public, it did not get recorded down at Wayne County, this is just a bit of housekeeping. Vice President Bahr offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 10) REQUEST TO RESCIND COUNCIL RESOLUTION 231-20 WHICH ACCEPTED A PUBLIC UTILITY EASEMENT FOR SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT AT 11870 HUBBARD ROAD IN THE SOUTH 1/2 OF SECTION 27 AND HAVE THE UTILITY SERVICE REMAIN PRIVATE: Engineering Division, re: request from the owner, Livonia Estates Ltd. for the sanitary sewer to remain private. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented this request to Council. He stated this item has the same explanation as before on the previous item, just again housekeeping to make sure that we get it clear that we're not accepting the public easement for us to take future maintenance. They're going to make it private; they're going to have their own liability to maintain that certain segment. Councilmember White offered an approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9 11) PROPOSED 2021 CITY COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE: City Council President Kathleen E. McIntyre, re: in accordance with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, 1976 P.A. 267, as amended. President McIntyre presented this request to Council. She stated that Vice President Bahr had a suggestion to modify the submitted schedule and asked if no one has objections he is suggesting that their first meeting on Wednesday, January 6t", versus Monday, January 4t" as it offers a little bit more scheduling flexibility for families coming out of the break. President McIntyre stated she had received an email suggesting that the November 3, 2021 meeting be changed as it is the day after the election and move it to Monday, November 8t" 2021. Councilmember Jolly stated that he has no objection but that it is a longstanding tradition to have a Council meeting the day after an election. Vice President Bahr questioned Jolly's statement stating that he thought it was just coincidental and Jolly called on Councilmember Toy for her understanding. Toy said it has been longstanding but that it doesn't mean you can't break it. Bahr asked if there is anything that keeps Council from scheduling meetings in consecutive weeks, that he knows there has to be two per month but he likes President McIntyre's idea of avoiding after election day, but if they could for one time do it on consecutive weeks that would just keep that Thanksgiving week open for people. President McIntyre commented that Council Chambers had always been used for the election to house their counting boards. Vice President Bahr stated that he is suggesting to hold the meetings on November 8t" and then on the 15t" President McIntyre stated she would like to look into this more and ask for input from both the Council Office and the Clerk's Office on the dates. City Engineer Zilincik stated that there should be sufficient time for turn around instead of having X items for two consecutive weeks. Councilmember Toy stated that when they were changing meetings, the Agenda items got a little slim so they decided to condense it down and hold the Regular Meeting at 7:00 and the Study Meeting at 8:00 and that over time it worked over well. 10 Vice President Bahr stated that he would like to take President McIntyre's change to the January 4, 2021 and move it to January 6, 2021 and adopt the change that she suggested in November and leave that on the Regular and work out the details in the interim. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION Councilmember Toy stated she would like Council to look at grid for charges for rentals and fees to be discussed at a Committee of the Whole Meeting. Following discussion by Council, a decision was made to wait until Parks and Recreations submits a plan for fees. As there were no further questions or comments, President McIntyre adjourned the Study Session at 9:32 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, 2020. For the 1,909t" Regular Meeting of November 16, 2020 DATED: November 6, 2020 SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK