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February 2002 Status Report
It is my pleasure to submit for your review and consideration the monthly status report. As you know, I do not list these items in any particular order or priority, and as always, if you should have any questions about any of the items listed, please do not hesitate to contact me. Since this monthly report follows on the heels of the more in-depth annual report, it will not be nearly as comprehensive.
1. City Goals
At the last Commission meeting I passed out the notes from the leadership and goals sessions that we held a few weeks ago. At that time I requested that you let me know if the notes accurately reflect what we agreed to pertaining to the goals. While there is no specific item on the agenda Monday night, I would appreciate it if you would let me know at that meeting if you would like to see any changes in the material submitted to you. If not, then staff will proceed under the timeline contained in the document. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
2. Phone System
As you know, we experienced some difficulties with the phones this week. The direct cause of the problem that began on Monday afternoon was some wiring that we were doing in City Hall which resulted in an inadvertent "pulling of the plug", so to speak, on the system. That problem was discovered fairly quickly and corrected. However, when we tried to reboot the system, for some reason it would not hold. It is our belief that there was some other problem other than the inadvertent disconnect that caused our problems on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday.
Verizon did respond and worked with our staff to try to resolve the problem. We also contacted Nortel which supplies the hardware and software for the system. Through the efforts of Tom Robinson, the phones were up and running again by ten o'clock Tuesday night. I want to take this opportunity to thank Tom and Jeremy Howard of our I.T. Department for the great job they did in getting us back up and running. On Monday night they were here until about 1:00 a.m., and then Tom stayed until about ten o'clock on Tuesday night. My thanks to both of them for working so hard to resolve the problem.
3. Wastewater Treatment Plant
Construction continues and Dave Goffnett told me this morning they are concentrating most of their efforts now on the upgrades to the main building. He anticipates that the project should be completed this May subject to the installation of sluice gates which helps to control the flow in the plant. The supplier has had some financial difficulties, but the gates should come in sometime in the next couple of months. As I have indicated before, City staff has been pleased with the quality of work from the contractor.
4. Public Safety Building
This project is also on schedule. According to Andy Theisen they are anticipating the new fire apparatus bays will be ready for use by the end of March. In fact, I drove by the building the other day and they were pouring concrete floors in the bays. It is also my understanding that sometime within the next couple of weeks they will be pouring the new concrete driveways for the bays.
5. Joint Meeting With Planning Commission, City Commission And ZBA
I thought the meeting went very well, and I think a lot was accomplished. I received a number of positive comments about the nice job Tony Kulick and Steve Martineau did. I agree they did a very good job and the meeting was much more productive because of their prep work and the information they provided to all of the participants. My compliments to everyone involved.
6. Michigan Municipal League
I have been appointed to the Legislative Affairs and Public Policy Committee of the Michigan Municipal League. Our first meeting was held in Lansing last Friday. At that time we reviewed a number of pending bills. We do not see any bills that would erode our Home Rule power. However, one of the major bills being considered is the Telecommunications Right-Of-Way bill. Scott Schrager, on the Legislative staff of the League, reported that the bill changes almost daily. One of the intents of the bill is to set consistent fees throughout the state for use of city rights-of-way. He anticipates there will be more changes to the bill, and I will keep you informed. This committee meets three times a year to review legislation, give input to the League as to whether or not we would support the legislation, and make recommendations for any changes we feel appropriate in pending bills.
7. Construction Projects
Duane Ellis tells me the Engineering Department is hard at work preparing bid specifications and contracts for this year's construction work. He indicated they will be proposing the use of relining of sewers and trenching of water mains whenever possible. These methods lessen disruption of city streets and costs can be the same or cheaper than trenching. As you know, Duane does his own monthly status report, and I am sure he will be covering specific projects in detail.
8. Bear
The Parks and Recreation Commission held their final public forum on the question of whether or not to replace the bear on February 20th. It is my understanding that they will discuss this issue at their meeting later this week and will most likely have their recommendation to the Commission by your next meeting. I want to take this opportunity to thank staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission for scheduling three separate meetings to obtain this public input. This required time out of the Commission members' hectic schedules, and their extra effort is appreciated.
9. Liaison Meetings
We held our first liaison meeting with the Charter Township of Union this month. As you can see from the agenda, I have included the minutes from that meeting. If you should have any questions about the meeting, please don't hesitate to contact Adam Miller, Mike Pittsley or me.