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HomeMy WebLinkAboutS10162023 MinutesCITY OF LIVONIA – CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD OCTOBER 16, 2023 Meeting was called to order at 8:50 p.m. by Council President Jim Jolly. Present: Scott Morgan, Brandon McCullough, Kathleen McIntyre, Vice President Toy, Scott Bahr, Rob Donovic,and President Jim Jolly. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Susan Nash, City Clerk; Paul Bernier, City Attorney;Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspection; Benjamin McDermott, Deputy Police Chief; Doug Moore, Assistant Director of Public Works; Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation; and Kristin Houchens, Interim Director of Community Resources and Cummunications. Councilmember Morgan led the Pledge of Allegiance. During audience Communication, Christopher Martin thanked Council for the freedom of speech during the meeting and spoke about Item #12 on the Regular meeting agenda and the upcoming election. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION NEW BUSINESS REQUEST TO WAIVE THE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Razvan T. Ghiorghiu, re: for the newly constructed home at 11401 Hubbell St. Razvan Ghiorghiu, petitioner, presented the request to Council. Councilmember McCullough offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT REQUEST TO WAIVE THE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Richard Hurley, Soave/Oro Construction, LLC, re: for the newly constructed home at 19619 Angling Road. Vanessa, representative for the petitioner, presented the request to Council. Councilmember Donovic offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE ONE (1) 2023 DODGE CHARGER UTILIZING STATE OF MICHIGAN BID PRICING: Division of Police, re: to replace a high-mileage existing vehicle, from budgeted funds. Deputy Chief McDermott, Livonia Police Department, presented the request to Council. Vice President Toy offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL Consent AWARD OF BID: Community Resources and Communications Department, re: for the purchase, installation, and training of camera equipment to be used by the Cable Department, from budgeted funds. Kristin Houchins, Interim Director of Community Resources and Communications presented the request to Council. Councilmember McIntyre offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE FOUR (4) FORD ESCAPES UTILIZING STATE OF MICHIGAN BID PRICING: Inspection Department, re: to replace current, outdated vehicles, from budgeted funds. Jerome Hanna, Director of Inspections, presented the request to Council. Vice President Toy confirmed all vehicles will all be white. Councilmember Bahr asked if the opportunity with these vehicles is that they are cheaper than expected. He also asked for the mileage of the vehicles being replaced and if they need repairs. Mr. Hanna said the opportunity is that they are at the dealership and ready to deliver. The vehicles being replaced range from 65,000 to 87,000 miles and two of the vehicles need three to four thousand dollars in repairs. Councilmember Donovic said he understands that the wait on vehicles could be one or two years due to manufacturing shortages. Mr. Hanna said he cannot get any Escapes until 2025 if he doesn’t take these. Vice President Toy offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT AWARD OF BID: Department of Parks and Recreation, re: for the planning and design of the Golf Course Master Plan for the three Livonia courses, from budgeted funds. Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, presented the request to Council. President Jolly confirmed this plan would be paid for out of Enterprise Funds. Councilmember McIntyre offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT AWARD OF BID: Department of Parks and Recreation, re: for wayfinding fabrication and installation of signage throughout the parks system, from budgeted funds. Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, presented the request to Council. Councilmember McCullough offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT FOR CONSERVATION EASEMENT: Department of Parks and Recreation, re: an EGLE Conservation Easement along the Bell Branch of the Rouge River within Blue Grass Park. Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, presented the request to Council. Kyle Morton, Ashley Capital, explained they are looking to do stream mitigation on the DenmarDrain behind Hoover. This project willbe fully paid for and is stream mitigation that would involve stabilizing excessive bank erosion, stream restoration, and native plantings at no cost to the city. The tradeoff here is they need a long-term conservation easement. EGLE wants to make sure once the money is spent that Livonia doesn't change its mind and decideto build a bridge and remove the work that's been done. RobMyllyoja, ECT Ann Arbor, indicated they did a preliminary site assessment and identified it as a critical erosion site. There is about a quarter mile of stream here with severe bank erosion. The banks are vertical andsix to twelve feet high. It’s a great opportunity to take a safety issue and turn that liability into an asset for the community. They need to restore the entire 1,450 feet of stream to get the number of credits needed for the site. It's a three or four to one ratio to achieve the credit required for the EGLE Stream Mitigation Program. The program is new, and it's only been in place for about two years. The EPA requires them to have a conservation easement in place, so they must have approval for it. Councilmember Donovic asked them to explain the access and thanked Ashley Capital for investing in this project. Mr. Myllyoja indicated there is an existing guardrail at the dead end of Hicks Road.It will be easy to get access to this existing turf grass area, come in alongside the tennis courtthrough theopen space, and then will come around the tree line through the existing curved grass at the far end. They expect to need some gravel and other natural types of material to do the construction. Thiswill allowaccess to the wooded area along the stream court itself. There will be some grading and some tree removal required and they will be replacing anything removed with native vegetation. Councilmember McIntyre asked them to leave the drawing or send one to Council. She would like to know more about how grants come about. Councilmember Bahr and Councilmember McCullough thanked Ashley Capital. Mr. Myllyoja indicated there will be an additional five years of monitoring and maintenance required on top of the construction, which will take place next summer, due to the fisheries windows. Mr. Morton indicated here's a verysmall section of the stream, owned by MDOT. They may ask for a letter of support from the city so Ashley Capital can facilitate MDOT giving it to the City of Livonia. President Jolly verified they could use the letter now. Councilmember Donovic offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda for the letter. President Jolly indicated they will put the letter request on the Regular agenda. Councilmember Bahr offered an approving motion for grant on the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENTREGULAR REQUEST TO WAIVE THE FORMAL BIDDING PROCESS AND AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF SPLASH PAD FEATURES AT JACK E. KIRKSEY RECREATION CENTER THROUGH THE SOURCEWELL PURCHASING PROGRAM: Department of Parks and Recreation, re: to replace existing features, from budgeted funds. Ted Davis, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, presented the request to Council. Councilmember Bahr asked if the splash pad gets a lot of use. Mr. Davis indicated it does and it would probably get more use if it were updated. Councilmember Morgan offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT REQUEST TO EXTEND CONTRACT WITH ERG ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES: Department of Public Works, re: for Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off for a four-year extension, from the Municipal Refuse Fund. (CR 361-19) Doug Moore, Assistant Director of Public Works presented the request to Council. Councilmember Bahr verified that the per drop fee is in addition to the $5 copay from the resident. He asked if the contract amounts per year are actual or estimated. Mr. Moore said they are estimated but our maximum is $182,000 and if that is reached the program will be shut down. Councilmember Bahr said 5% increase a year for the past four years and four years into the future seems high and strikes him as unreasonable. He asked if they were the only bidder and if he had any idea what the demand for this service will be in the winter months. Mr. Moore indicated ERG will have labor costs, costs to get rid of material and they were the only bidder. He doesn’t know what the winter demand will be as it typically starts in March but drops off as the season progresses. Councilmember Bahr asked Mr. Moore if he expects to see additional demand. He also asked if it would make more sense to do this year-round for a year or two and reassess the program. Mr. Moore said it would be at Council’s discretion as DPW asked ERG for bid pricing for the next four years. President Jolly said he took items from his garage and some of his neighbors, and it cost him about $200.00. He indicated it is not well detailed on the city website as to weight limits and other applicable limitations. Mr. Moore indicated the city pays for the first 100 pounds and it is seventy-five cents a pound cost to the resident after that. Residents can be notified by social media as well as the city website of the charges and limitations. He asked how we can get this information out to the residents. Councilmember Bahr offered an approving motion for a four-year term with only two years of year-round service. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT REQUEST TO ACCEPT STORM WATER FACILITIES MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT: Engineering Division, re: from The Salvation Army, in conjunction with the construction of a storm drain system that provides adequate drainage for the newly renovated Salvation Army located at 33600 Plymouth Road, in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 28. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council. Vice President Toy offered an approving motion for the Consent agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVAL CONSENT There was no audience communication at the end of the meeting. Adjourned at 9:41 p.m. For the Regular Meeting of November 1, 2023.SUSAN M. NASH, CITY CLERK