Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2010-10-11 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD OCTOBER 11, 2010 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present: Joe Laura, Laura Toy, Maureen Miller Brosnan, Conrad Schwartz, John Pastor, Brian Meakin, and James McCann. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Mayor Jack Kirksey; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Mark Taormina, City Planner; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; and Terry Marecki, City Clerk. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS 1. REQUEST FROM THE MICHIGAN LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE REQUEST FROM TARGET CORPORATION (A MINNESOTA CORPORATION) FOR A NEW SDM LICENSE AND A NEW DIRECT CONNECTION: Division of Police, re: for the business located at 29451 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI 48150. Joelle Forbes, Target Store Team Leader, 29451 Plymouth Road, was present on behalf of Target to answer any questions from Council. President McCann confirmed with Don Knapp, City Attorney, that this request for approval is for the license only. Brosnan asked what the "new direct connection" was; Knapp said off hand he was unsure and said it was part of the petition and assumed it was part of Target's store. Forbes stated she was not sure what the direct connection was and said essentially what they are seeking is license approval for the sale of beer and wine in the store. Brosnan said she wanted to be sure there was no difference in the license they were asking for in contrast to any other SDM licenses that Council has approved in the City. Forbes said she was not aware of difference. She did note that the other Target store in Livonia is also seeking an approval for an SDM license. She also passed out copies of a letter from the Target Corporation to each Council member. President McCann said the Chair would receive and file the letter dated October 87 2010 from Target signed by Joan Addenburg, re: a SDM license at the Target store. President McCann said the letter doesn't address the new direct connection; he asked Knapp if perhaps it had to do with the direct sales. Knapp suggested if Council wanted they could put it on the Regular Agenda and said they could follow-up and advise Council prior to the voting meeting. Brosnan offered the approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. 2 Meakin through the Chair asked Forbes if she had a list of all of the Target stores in Michigan that have SDM licenses. She replied yes and gave the list to President McCann. President McCann said the Chair would receive and file the list of Target stores with SDM licenses. DIRECTION: 1) RECEIVE AND FILE REGULAR 2) APPROVING 2. REQUEST TO EXTEND WEED CUTTING CONTRACT 99-A: Inspection Department, re: with Michigan Grounds Management for the 2011 and 2012 seasons under the same rates, terms and conditions that were approved in 1999. (CR 173-99) Alex Bishop, Director of Inspection, said the contractor upgraded his equipment as he agreed to at the time of the last extension. He said the contractor does an excellent job. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. REQUEST TO EXTEND CONTRACT: Public Service Division, re: with Branch Tree Service, Inc. for the 2011 Municipal Tree Trimming Program at the 2010 reduced prices. (CR 412-09) Brian Wilson, Superintendent of Public Service, said they are asking for Council to consider extending the contract with Branch Tree Service. He said they have extended their 2010 reduced prices. He said this covers municipal tree trimming services for City owned trees on rights-of-ways and on parks and recreation properties. They provide tree maintenance service for citizen's requests that may have an issue with trees in the right of way on their properties. They also provide emergency service which can include downed or damaged trees. He said they provided excellent service in the past and are very responsive. Meakin offered a resolution referring to the Committee of the Whole for its report and recommendation on the Regular Agenda. Laura offered the approving resolution on the Regular Agenda. Ken Secluna, 33170 Hampshire, was present on behalf of Ashton Tree Service located at 30443 Industrial. He said they have been waiting a long time for the City to go out for bid for these services and would like the opportunity to bid. DIRECTION: (1) REFER TO THE COMMITTEE REGULAR OF THE WHOLE (2) APPROVING 3 4. REQUEST TO EXTEND CONTRACT WITH BRENDEL'S SEPTIC TANK SERVICE, LLC: Public Service Division, re: to provide portable toilet service for the 2011 season at the unit prices bid in their proposal, dated February 5, 2007 with a $5.00 per unit reduction for monthly handicap units. (CR 165-07) Brian Wilson, Superintendent of Public Services, stated Council awarded a contract to Brendel's Septic Tank Service in February 2007. He said at that time Brendel's was the second low bidder. The low bidder at that time had been providing service to the City for a number of years and the service had slowly deteriorated. They had discussions with the low bidder at that time and they ended up withdrawing their bid. He said Brendel's has provided the service for the last four years and their service has been excellent and they have been very responsive to the City's needs. This is one of those services that it's best to not hear anything about it. He said they have had experiences in the past where they have had poor service with some of these portable units and it reflects poorly on the City's recreational facilities; they hear quite a bit of complaints about them. He said they have not heard any complaints about Brendel's service. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Meakin said he is out at the ball fields frequently and prior to Brendel's the portable units were atrocious. He said Brendel's does provide excellent service to their portable units and does a great job. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5. REQUEST TO ACCEPT PROPOSALS FOR CONTRACTED SNOW REMOVAL SERVICE FOR MAJOR STORMS: Public Service Division, re: to assist in plowing City streets for the 2010-2011 season. Brian Wilson, Superintendent of Public Services, introduced Donald Rohraff, Superintendent of Public Service, Environmental and Utilities. Rohraff presented the proposed list of contractors they would like to use to assist in plowing City streets for the 2010-2011 season; they are asking Council for their approval. He said the same three contractors that bid last year bid again this year along with one new contractor that is willing to work if we need their services. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6. REQUEST TO APPROVE A FIVE YEAR CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LIVONIA AND WASTE MANAGEMENT: Public Service Division, re: for solid waste/recycling services for the period of December 1, 2010 through November 30, 2015. (CR 279-10) 4 Brian Wilson, Superintendent of Public Service, stated requests for proposal were previously solicited and reviewed with the Council re: the new five year contract. As directed by Council, the Department met with representatives from Waste Management re: a new agreement. During these discussions with Waste Management it was agreed that the annual increases in their proposal would be reduced to 1'/2% per year. They also have 26 trash receptacles on Plymouth Road that were previously under the domain of the Plymouth Road Development Authority and in their discussions with Waste Management they agreed to put those receptacles into the park facilities program at no additional charge to the City. They will also be upgrading the recycling containers at several Livonia condominiums. Waste Management also offered to provide the City with four solar compactor units. Wilson said they are looking at deploying those at some of the high volume trash areas such as Ford Field or Bicentennial Park. He said that may cut back on the service needs for those areas. Waste Management will also provide the City with 100 bagsters for renovation projects at no additional cost. Wilson said the contractor has provided the City with excellent and reliable service under the current agreement. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Brosnan stated that the fantastic negotiations with Waste Management and their willingness to pick-up service for the Plymouth Road corridor should serve as a model template of how negotiations for additional services should also include the Plymouth Road corridor. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7. REQUEST TO AUTHORIZE ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES: Water and Sewer Board, re: to increase the 2010 Sidewalk and Pavement Replacement Program — Water Main Breaks contract for an additional $15,000.00 to complete remaining outstanding water main break pavement repairs, sidewalks and related items. (CR 82-10) Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, said they are requesting Council approval for authorization for an additional $15,000.00 to complete the remaining outstanding water main break pavement repairs, sidewalks and related items. He said they hope to have all of the work completed by October 30, 2010. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5 8. REQUEST TO APPROVE FINAL COST INFORMATION AND TO AUTHORIZE ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES: Engineering Division, re: to close out the project of the reconstruction of Schoolcraft Road from 1-96 to Scone Court. (CR 413-09) Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, said in an effort to not jeopardize their Act 51 funds, they have been requested by MDOT to pay a portion of funding of the project. Unfortunately it is a 2009 and 2010 funding; they tried to wait as long as possible for the federal funds to be appropriated. At this time they can not wait any longer and do not want to jeopardize their Act 51 funds. They are asking Council to approve the final cost and authorize additional appropriations and expenditures to MDOT in the amount of $108,709.09 of which a large portion of that will be reimbursed at a later date, probably within the next six months. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9 SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2010-08-08-03 submitted by Nizam Abazid in connection with a proposal to remodel the exterior of the commercial/office center (Livonia Plymouth Plaza) on property located on the south side of Plymouth Road, between Harrison Avenue and Middlebelt Road (28801 Plymouth Road), in the Northwest '/4 of Section 36. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, said this is a petition to renovate a building that is on the south side of Plymouth Road, between Harrison and Middlebelt Roads. This site is just east of Garden Avenue, the building was formerly occupied by Furniture Express. He said it is about 40,000 square feet. The new owners of the building would like to remodel the interior as well as the exterior of the building. Most of the building is currently vacant. They will be occupying about 20% of the building and then preparing the remaining portions for speculative lease. Currently the building is plain in appearance. They propose to change the exterior by removing or replacing much of the E.I.F.S. and extending the parapet walls. They would provide an appearance of a variety of storefronts, similar in character to what is at Wonderland Village. The rear and sides of the building will be modified as well since the building sits close to Plymouth Road and parking is in the rear of the building. They also plan to redo the parking, currently it's an angled layout and they would modify that to all 90 degree parking and would resurface the lot and fix some of the lights as well as the landscaping and probably increase the total number of parking spaces by about 10 or 12. He said overall the Planning Commission liked the plan is recommending Council approval with some minor conditions. 6 Ziad EI-Baba, 674 Gauthier, Tecumseh, Ontario, said he is one of the engineers working on the project. He said the new owners would like to upgrade the building and reface it so it looks more like other nearby upgraded buildings to be competitive. The building is 10% occupied; the owner is already occupying three units. They have already repaired the parking lot. It is has been patched, sealed, repaired and striped. He indicated the followed the inspectors recommendations and did 10 foot wide parking spots and double striped them. He said they are aware of the need to repair or replace the landscaping in front of the building and have promised to do so. He showed some of the samples of the materials they intend to use for the proposed upgrade. Toy suggested they think about putting a walk-through hallway or a common area with benches. She said that may make the site a little more modern and said it is more welcoming to patrons. Brosnan asked the petitioner what types of tenants they are hoping to attract. EI- Baba said they would love to see a retail store on the end in one of the larger spaces and said the adjacent parking should appeal to a retailer. He said an accountant and a lawyer have shown interest in leasing some space. Ali Abdallah, said he is planning to open another franchise real estate office here in Livonia at this location. Meakin asked the petitioner how long they planned on doing the renovations. Abdallah said the renovation will be done in two phases. He said the exterior renovations will be done all at one time. The interior build-outs will be done one at a time; he said they already have seven spaces ready to be occupied. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Toy asked the petitioner if they were members of the Livonia Chamber of Commerce. They replied no. Laura asked for that this item be placed on Regular Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 10. REQUEST TO AUTHORIZE A SETTLEMENT: Department of Law, re: for damages caused by a sewer backup on June 30, 2010, on property located at 19491 Rensellor Street. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said there was a sewer backup and actually there were about five houses affected. He said claims were made to the City through the MMRMA. The other four claims have been resolved. One claim remains unresolved. Council is being asked to authorize a settlement in the amount of 7 $20,839.58. This home suffered a water backup in the finished basement. Toy asked Knapp what was the cause of the backup; he replied a rain event. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Meakin asked if this was precedent setting for any future rain events. Knapp said no it was not precedent setting. He added that it is highly unusual to have sewer backups in Livonia from a heavy rain event. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 11. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to add Chapter 42 (Installation and Maintenance of Great Interceptors; Discharge Prohibitions) to Title 13 to ensure the proper capture and disposal of fats, oils and grease ("FOG") rather than being disposed of in the sanitary sewer system. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said this was a suggestion from the City Engineer who being familiar with other ordinances in other municipalities suggested this type of regulation. Businesses such as restaurants and bakeries are required to have grease interceptors according to the plumbing code. However, quite often there is not a lot of regulation of those grease interceptors and if there is too much discharge into the sanitary sewer system it can cause a backup. This proposed ordinance would require that they test the water being discharged into the sanitary sewer system and have those test results provided to the City once every six months to ensure compliance. It also requires that they maintain their cleanouts on a routine basis and keep logs so that in the event there is a question about those grease interceptors being properly maintained there is a log that would show their maintenance schedule. There is a $75.00 fee to cover the cost to the City for ensuring compliance with the ordinance but it was drafted in conjunction with the Inspection Department and the City Engineer to ensure that the City was adequately regulating these potential discharges in the sanitary sewer without being overly burdensome. Pastor asked through the Chair to Zilincik if this was required by state or federal law. Zilincik said there are other municipalities that do have an ordinance for FOG. He said basically it is an effort to reduce the City's cost of maintenance of sanitary sewer leads of businesses that cause undue grease and ensures that businesses become compliant. Pastor said if anything the businesses system will become plugged up first. Pastor felt this would be an additional burden on business owners who are barely managing to survive as it is with the current hard economic times. Zilincik said if the businesses don't maintain their system or are not aware of their system, the burden is being placed on the City. He said this is an effort to reduce that burden from the City. He said if they don't fix their system then City has to spend its dollars to clean out the lines or vactor out the grease and then it comes back to the taxpayers. Pastor asked Zilincik whether or 8 not the City already had an ordinance against it that if a business discharges grease into the City sanitary sewer line that they can be charged for the actual cost for removing the grease from the system. Zilincik said this was an extra tool. Pastor asked Zilincik again whether or not the City had already had an ordinance that would allow the City to go after a business now for getting grease into the City's sanitary sewer system. Zilincik said there is certain criterion that has to be met before the City can go after a business for discharging grease into the system. He said this proposed ordinance will help bolster those criteria. Rohraff through the Chair to Pastor said it has been his experience that most of the time it is not always the case where the backups occur in the restaurant or business first before it is discharged into the City's system. He said it actually pushes it through their lead and into the City's sanitary sewer main prior to it blocking up their own individual lead. Pastor said he disagreed and said all restaurants have grease traps and that is what they are designed for to trap the grease there first. Pastor said usually the leads from where the business is at to where it actually hits the City's sewer system is a long lead and it is going to back up the business's system before it hits the City's system. Rohraff said he would agree with that statement as long as the baffles are cleaned on a regular basis and everything is working properly in that grease trap. Rohraff said a lot of the times when they get out there it's the City's main that is backed up and the businesses lead is still pushing more grease into it as it cools. Pastor said if the City is out there then they can find out where it is coming from and who is responsible and charge them appropriately. Rohraff said from a camera-using perspective that is correct. Pastor offered the denying resolution for the Regular Agenda. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. Alex Bishop, Director of Inspection, wanted to add a comment on the above item. He said when they collectively looked at this; they did not have the tools to effectively combat this type of a situation. He said part of this ordinance was so they would have the tools to combat this type of a situation. Bishop said the Inspection Department will be the enforcement arm to take someone to task that has cost the City thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future. Pastor said he has no problem giving them the tools but making all business owners pay for a couple offenders is not something he agrees with. Bishop said without the fees, who does it then? Pastor said the same way it should be done now. He said the City would go out, camera the backup and find out who is responsible and bill them accordingly. Bishop said currently the City does not have the tools to do that. DIRECTION: 1) APPROVING REGULAR 2) DENYING 9 12. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LIVONIA CODE OF ORDINANCES, AS AMENDED: Department of Law, re: to Section 240 of Title 10, Chapter 21 (Traffic Violations) to add an administrative processing fee for processing impounded vehicles resulting from an arrest, private property impounds and vehicles considered abandoned in the roadway. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said this is a request to amend the ordinance to add an administrative processing fee for processing impounded vehicles. Toy asked if this was an additional fee on top of the fees for towing and storage. Knapp said yes this is merely to cover the associated cost with the Police Department involvement with that process. Toy offered the approving and denying resolution for the Regular Agenda. Laura asked Knapp how this came about. Knapp said it was a suggestion from the Police Department. He said all Departments have been asked to look at ways to recover some of the costs associated with the services their Department provides. Pastor asked if a police report had to be filed prior to a vehicle being impounded. Knapp said there is more involved than just writing a police report. He said impounding vehicles is a part of their job. DIRECTION: 1) APPROVING REGULAR 2) DENYING 13. PROPOSED 2011 CITY COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE: City Council President James C. McCann, re: in accordance with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, 1976 P.A. 267, as amended. President McCann presented the proposed 2011 City Council Meeting Schedule. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT Toy mentioned former employee of the Livonia Police Department, Don Vandersloot, who is also the husband of former City Clerk Val Vandersloot, will be undergoing serious heart surgery in the near future and wished him well and said her prayers go out to them. President McCann wished Don Vandersloot good luck with his surgery. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. 10 As there were no further questions or comments, Council President McCann adjourned the Study Session at 9:13 p.m. on Monday, October 11, 2010. DATED: October 19, 2010 TERRY A. MARECKI CITY CLERK