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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2009-06-15 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD JUNE 15, 2009 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. Present: Joe Laura, Brian Meakin, Tom Robinson, James McCann, John Pastor, Terry Godfroid-Marecki. Absent: Laura Toy. Elected and appointed officials present: Mayor Jack Kirksey; Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Mark Taormina, City Planner; and Maureen Cosgrove, Assistant City Clerk. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. NEW BUSINESS: 1. BLOCK PARTY: Judy Buzette, re: to be held Saturday, July 4, 2009, from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Oxbow, between Orangelawn and Elmira, with no rain date requested. Judy Buzette, 11077 Oxbow, was present to request permission to have a block party. This is her 91h or 10th annual party. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. BLOCK PARTY: James Rumrill, re: to be held Saturday, August 22, 2009, from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Brentwood between Meadowlark and Jacquelyn, with a rain date requested of Sunday, August 23, 2009. Petitioner was not present. McCann offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. BLOCK PARTY: Ray Dock, re: to be held Sunday, June 28, 2009, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. for the Spree Fireworks on Ashurst between Five Mile and Coventry, with no rain date requested. Dorothy Hanlon, 15367 Ashurst, and Ray Dock's wife, 15335 Ashurst, were present to request permission to have a block party, and to revise the start time to 1:00 P.M. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. 2 DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REQUEST FOR BARRICADING OF CITY STREETS: Nancy C. Klein, re: during the Spree Fireworks on Sunday, June 28, 2009, from 5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Myrna Court and Farmington, Woodring and Rayburn, Rayburn and Loveland, and Myrna Drive and Loveland, in the Woodcreek Farms Subdivision, with no rain date requested. Nancy Klein, 33373 Myrna Court, was present to request a street barricade during the Livonia Spree fireworks on Sunday, June 28, 2009. She has had a tremendous activity with vandalism, burglary and trespassing over the years, due to the Livonia Spree, and she is trying to avoid these problems from happening again this year. She met with Officer Novak, and he suggested barricading the streets mentioned above. She would at least like something at Farmington and Myrna Court, and at Broadway Court and Woodring. She also mentioned there are no street lights in her neighborhood. If approved, she would send a letter to all her neighbors letting them know of the barricading. Captain Benjamin McDermott of the police department said the police are usually not in favor of blocking a public thoroughfare, especially a number of them, but having heard the problems that have been encountered by this particular loop, he suggested blocking just Myrna Court at Farmington Road eastbound, and also isolate the particular subdivision where the petitioner lives (westbound Broadmore at Woodring). He agreed they do not have streetlights, and he stated one of his officers lives in that area and has had similar problems. Usually for a block party they don't have a problem, but this is unique just asking for the streets to be barricaded. Normally they do not approve of this, because they are public streets. He asked Council to consider the amount of problems they have had there, and that this would only be for a short period of time. He said they really don't have man power to man that area, however, if approved, they would just put up large barricades. McCann said that this was a little different, because the petitioner is asking to blockade streets, and not for a street party, where it's normally just a small spot, and not multiple streets. He would like a report from the Administration for the next meeting, to look at this as a whole. He stated the Mayor lives on Barkley, just off of Lyndon, which is one of the most effected subdivisions. He thought if we started to barricade streets for fireworks night, many of the other subs may think that it was a good idea. He asked where it would all stop and how would the police department be able to handle all of this. He would also like a report from the Fire Department, because there will be an extra 50,000 people in Livonia for the fireworks that night, and he wanted to be sure they would able to respond adequately if the streets are barricaded. He is trying to look at this as a global thing. Meakin asked the petitioner to put a petition together from the other neighbors requesting the barricade. 3 McCann offered an approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. McCann offered a denying resolution for the Regular Agenda. McCann offered a resolution referring to the Administration for its report and recommendation for the Regular Agenda. McCann offered a resolution referring to the Fire Department for its report and recommendation for the Regular Agenda. DIRECTION: (1) APPROVING REGULAR (2) DENYING (3) REFER TO THE ADMINISTRATION (4) REFER TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT 5. REQUEST TO WAIVE THE CITY'S NOISE ORDINANCE: Suzanne Boyd, Studio Manager, Madonna University, re: to allow a live concert to perform from approximately 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at Madonna University on Saturday, July 18, 2009, to benefit the new Science and Media Building. Suzanne Boyd, 36600 Schoolcraft Road, was present to ask that the noise ordinance be waived for an outdoor Italian Concert to be held on the campus of Madonna University, Saturday, July 18, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. She invites everyone in the Community. She stated that this is a free concert, but they will be selling water. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 6. APPLICATION FOR MASSAGE THERAPIST PERMIT: Office of the City Clerk, re: submitted by Margaret Brooks in accordance with Chapter 5.49 of the Livonia Code of Ordinances, as amended. Margaret Brooks, 15365 Hubbard, was present to request a Massage Therapist Permit. She has a nutritional based business where they do posture analysis, massage therapy, and infrared saunas. They try and make the body better without the use of medications. Laura offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7. APPOINTMENT OF JEFFREY STAEBLER TO THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: Office of the Mayor, re: to serve as a Resident Member at Large for a four-year term which shall expire on May 16, 2013. 4 Mayor Kirksey was present to recommend Jeffrey Staebler, a candidate to fill a vacancy for the residential appointment. Mayor stated Mr. Staebler is extremely well qualified to sit on the very dedicated body of volunteers. He works on the Plymouth Road corridor for Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment, Inc. (OHM) and is well qualified to know the problems and work towards solutions to improve that very vital area of our City. He has a history of volunteerism and has been very involved in the Clements Circle Civic Association, which is one of the most active associations in Livonia, and very involved in feedback for the corridor. Jeffrey Staebler, 28920 West Chicago, was present to say he and his daughters frequent all the businesses along Plymouth Road. He spends a lot of time running and biking along the Plymouth Road corridor, and he would love the opportunity to help sustain the corridor, and all the benefit it brings to all the families and residents in the area. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 8. REQUEST TO APPROVE SUBMITTAL OF AN ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION BLOCK GRANT (EECBG) APPLICATION TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: Office of the Mayor, re: in the amount of $971,100.00 to create and implement strategies to reduce energy consumption, improve energy efficiency and develop future energy policies/programs. Jim Inglis, Housing Director, was present to request a grant in the amount of $971,100.00 by June 25, 2009. He stated that on May 12, 2009 the Department of Energy notified the City of Livonia that they were eligible to receive $971,100.00 through the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act of 2009. The grant is a formula grant given to 46 Michigan communities and ten counties. Michigan received close to $76,000,000.00 through this Recovery Grant. It is designed for the municipalities and counties to develop energy strategies to work on city buildings, and to work on community service programs that would improve energy efficiency and energy conservation here in the City of Livonia. The application must be submitted by June 25, 2009, and an energy strategy must be submitted 120 days thereafter, which will design specific programs, and energy efficiency conservation measures to improve the energy efficiency of City buildings, and disseminate information to the community regarding the importance of energy efficiency and conservation. Robinson stated that he thought the $971,000.00 was a lot of money. He requested an executive summary of the conditions and/or future commitments for this grant before the next meeting. McCann offered the request approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. 5 DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 9. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE: Division of Police, re- forty-two (42) thermal printers and other hardware related to a vehicle-mounted, electronic ticketing system from a pre-negotiated contract with Oakland County CLEMIS and the Police Department's association with the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System consortium from budgeted funds. Captain Benjamin McDermott, Livonia Police Department, was present to request authorization to purchase 42 thermal printers and other hardware relating to a vehicle mounted electronic ticketing system. This proposed purchase would utilize $37,777.58 in budgeted funds. They are using the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System consortium and their bid for this purchase utilizing a pre-negotiated existing contract with them. McCann stated that he thought this was a little expensive, compared to what Costco would charge for a printer. He asked if this was a sole source for these type of printers. Officer Paul Baroff, Livonia Police Department, stated that this was the only company that CLEMIS felt comfortable deploying to their 1500 mobile units. This is a very small thermal printer that is ruggedized and can operate under extreme heat temperatures. This model was thoroughly tested as well as the thermal paper. They've already deployed over 500 of them to many of the other agencies nearby. The officer's love it. It saves a great deal of time. Currently writing a ticket takes 15-20 minutes, but with the new system it will take 2-3 minutes. The police administration like it for record keeping and the courts are very happy because it saves them time. They no longer have to enter tickets anymore. As soon as the officer completes his ticket, it's available electronically to all. CLEMIS is currently in negotiations to obtain the proper statutory regulations which will enable the violator to pay his/her fine online minutes after it's issued, which is a possible revenue source to reduce the CLEMIS membership. This is a web based operation. There will be no additional fees. The computer vehicle and the Police Department will be maintaining this system. This will be more accurate and more efficient. Currently the officer is using a pen to write the ticket, and his handwriting can be sloppy. After he writes the ticket it goes through several different processes, which will be streamlined and/or eliminated. The officer will bar-code and swipe the information into the system, which will eliminate errors and key strokes. McCann offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 10. REQUEST TO APPROVE EXPANDING INTERNET CONTRACT WITH BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS: Department of Community Resources, re: for the delivery of the City's government channel to AT&T's UVerse system. 6 Evelyn Goudreau, Department of Community Resources, Cable Division, presented to Council a means to deliver City Channel 8 to AT&T's UVerse system. Under the 2006 legislation the City is responsible for the costs incurred to deliver this product. They have worked closely with the IT Department, and have determined the best way to deliver this product is through Bright House Networks. They received quotes from AT&T and Bright House. Since the City currently has a contract with Bright House to provide internet service, they quoted the Cable Division an additional $300.00 a month to boost the City's internet speed from 5 Megabits to 10 Megabits for the delivery of the channel to AT&T. AT&T quoted $589.00 per month for an internet capacity of 1.54 Megabits. They chose to go with Bright House, but by expanding this contract, it puts them over the $15,000.00 dollar limit, which requires Council's approval. They are still looking at encoder's from AT&T's approved list. There are approximately 20 to choose from. They cost approximately $7,000.00 each and the City may need two (2). They are looking at more than just the delivery of AT&T. Ultimately they would like to use the encoder to web stream the channel live, however, they don't feel they are ready to do this yet, because of the cost, but they are hoping to in the next couple of years. They have also talked to other communities that have purchased encoder's and found that some have been more successful than others. They are trying to be sure that what they get now, will be good for the future as well. The plan is that by the end of July to have the City programs on UVerse, however, it may be sooner. The City channel will no longer be known as Channel 8. There is a meeting on Monday, trying to work up logo's and names. Most communities are staying away from channel numbers. This should not delay the process. They plan on voting on the new name at the July Cable Commission meeting. Ms. Goudreau feels confident that the new channel will be up by the end of July, 2009. Council Vice President Godfroid-Marecki asked if the programming could be monitored. Ms. Goudreau said, that according to John Peterson from AT&T, they don't monitor for quality, they just monitor to see if something is coming down the pipe. Bright House will be doing the same, and they will know if it is completely down, but the ultimate judge will be the consumer, and if there is a problem, hopefully someone will call. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 11. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Engineering Division, re: for Construction Engineering Services for Lyndon Avenue (Middlebelt to Henry Ruff) and Schoolcraft Road (WB 1-96 Service Drive from Scone to bridge over 1-96) and enter into a third party agreement with MDOT. 7 Todd Zillincik, City Engineer, stated that the Engineering Division, as part of the previous approval to do the road projects, went out for RFQ on May 18, 2009, and received proposals from three (3) consultants on both projects on May 26, 2009. As part of the Lyndon Avenue Project, they received there (3) proposals from Northwest Consultants, Inc., Canton, Orchard Hiltz & McCliment, Inc., Livonia, and Wade Trim, Taylor, in addition for the Schoolcraft Project, they received proposals from Northwest Consultants, Inc., Canton, Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc., Rochester Hills, and Wade Trim, Taylor. Based on the information provided to them, and a review from the staff, they recommend the Lyndon portion be given to OHM, and the Schoolcraft portion to Spalding DeDecker Associates, Inc, Rochester Hills. They require that the fee does not exceed 15% of the engineers construction estimate, and they give the authority to the Mayor and Clerk, to execute the third party agreements from MDOT as part of the project. Both of these companies had to provide qualifications that they have done previous construction, they have used the software that MDOT requires, be sure they keep up with the quantities, and follow up with the paperwork, to ensure the bills are paid on time. This project will include totally removing the existing concrete roadway and replacing it. Unfortunately, as part of the road project and to meet federal guidelines, parking on the north side of the street will have to be eliminated. They are hoping to have this bid out in October of 2009, for construction in June of 2010, and completed by September of 2010. Robinson asked to elaborate on the parking on one side of the street. He wanted to know who required this. Kevin Maillard answered that the existing width of Lyndon would have made the lanes 14' wide. MDOT will not allow 14' wide lanes; therefore they have parking on one side of the street, and end up with 13' lanes. There would not be enough room for parking on both sides with the 13' lanes. This has always been a requirement with MDOT. Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. As there were no further questions or comments, Council Vice President Godfroid- Marecki adjourned the Study Session at 8:46 p.m. on Monday, June 15, 2009. DATED: June 17, 2009 LINDA GRIMSBY, CITY CLERK