HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2013-01-14 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JANUARY 14, 2013
Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present: Thomas Robinson, Maureen
Miller Brosnan, Brandon Kritzman, James McCann, John Pastor, and Laura Toy.
Absent: Joe Laura.
Elected and appointed officials present: Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Mark
Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Don Knapp, City Attorney;
Terry Marecki, City Clerk; and David Varga, Director of Administrative Services.
AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None.
NEW BUSINESS
1. REQUEST TO APPEAL THE FINDINGS OF THE LIVONIA WATER AND
SEWER BOARD AND TO POSTPONE ALL FINDINGS, DETERMINATIONS
AND ACTIONS: S.D. Schubiner, General Properties Company, LLC, re. for the
properties located within the Apple Ridge Apartments, Buildings 5, 77 10 & 11.
At the direction of the Chair, this Item was removed from the Agenda pursuant to
the request of the Department of Law.
2. COLLECTION OF LIVONIA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT TAXES FOR THE
YEAR 2013: Office of the City Clerk, re: forwarding a communication from the
Secretary of the Board of Education requesting the City to continue to collect
one-half of their district's taxes with the summer tax collection and the remaining
one-half with the winter tax collection, commencing July 1, 2013.
Pastor offered the resolution to receive and file this item for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: RECEIVE & FILE CONSENT
Brosnan recognized a student, John Latler, from Redford Union High School,
who was in the audience observing the Council Meeting for one of his classes.
3. REQUEST TO APPROVE LOCATION AND SCHEDULE OF DATES AND
TIMES FOR THE 2013 BOARD OF REVIEW MEETINGS, AS WELL AS
COMPENSATION RATES FOR MEMBERS. Department of Assessment, re:
per the requirements of State statute M.S.A. 7.30 and Act 149 of 1984.
Dawn Borregard, Assistant City Assessor, presented the request to Council. She
noted the amount of compensation has been the same since 1996. She said they
are decreasing the number of meetings to eight (8) meetings. She said the
number of appeals has decreased and eight (8) meetings should be sufficient.
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Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT
4. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS
AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to Section 310 of Title 6, Chapter 04 (Dogs)
and to Section 210 of Title 6, Chapter 06 (Cats) in order to expand the Animal
Review Board's jurisdiction to include animal hoarder cases. (CR 177-05 and
373-07)
Don Knapp, City Attorney, said as Council may recall, back in January about two
years ago the City Council changed its Vicious Animal Ordinance to create an
Animal Review Board so that in instances where you had animals that weren't
vicious but were potentially vicious so that the Animal Review Board could review
work performed by the Animal Control Officer to determine whether or not an
animal was potentially vicious and classify that animal as such. There are certain
requirements that owners of those animals have to follow, such as walked on a
leash, muzzled, and whole list of other requirements. He said that it has worked
very well in instances of vicious animals in the City. The Animal Review Board
plays their role well and helps their effort to control those issues rather than
having them all go through the court process. He said what they are finding is
that occasionally they have animal hoarders, people that have more animals than
the number of animals they are allowed under the ordinance; 3 cats and 3 dogs
are what is permitted. He said there are people who want a number of animals
that is far beyond the 3 and 3 they are permitted. He said when the City is aware
the limit is exceeded; the animals are confiscated and taken to the Humane
Society where there is a charge to the City as long as they are there. He said by
having the Animal Review Board provide some due process in those instances,
they are able to speed up the process by which those animals are determined
whether or not they are going to be adopted out by the Humane Society or in
some unfortunate cases, euthanized, or whether or not they are able to go back
to their owners, of course no more than three. In order to limit the cost to the City
while waiting for the court to rule a decision which may take weeks, this would
allow the Animal Review Board to do that within a very limited period of time and
would empower them to require the pet owner(s) to pay for the fees of boarding
the animal with the Humane Society while a decision is being determined. In the
event the pet owner(s) doesn't pay the fees or request to go before the Animal
Review Board they can proceed by having those animals become the property of
the Humane Society and having them adopted out or handled otherwise.
Pastor offered the approving for a first reading for the Regular Agenda.
DIRECTION: APPROVING FOR FIRST READING REGULAR
AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None.
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Kritzman mentioned that he purchased tickets for the annual Daddy Daughter Dance
and said he looks forward to going. He encouraged anyone interested in purchasing
tickets and attending to contact the Parks and Recreation Department for information or
stop by the Community Recreation Center.
As there were no further questions or comments, President Toy adjourned the Study
Session at 8:17 p.m. on Monday, January 14, 2013.
DATED: January 17, 2013 TERRY A. MARECKI
CITY CLERK