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May 2002 Status Report
I am pleased to submit my monthly status report for your information. If you have any questions about any of the items listed, or I failed to address an issue for which you would like some additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
1. Public Safety Building
The easterly portion of the new building is essentially completed and the Fire Department is currently moving some of their equipment over to the new portion of the building. As soon as the equipment is relocated they will start on the renovation of the west side of the building. I toured the new portion of the building just prior to dictating this status report. I am quite impressed with the facility and the quality of construction. It is anticipated that it will still be late fall before the building is completed.
2. Wastewater Treatment Plant/EPA
As I mentioned in my last status report, we have received a draft permit from the EPA for our new plant. As I also indicated, it does not appear we will have to make any changes to our current construction project to meet their proposed permit limits. We have an opportunity to comment on the draft permit. In our response to them we had some technical issues dealing with the testing of sludge for land application. We also expressed our concern about the need to submit reports to the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. We already have to report to the EPA and to MDEQ for their permits. We have not heard if the State intends to file an appeal on the question of who has jurisdiction for issuing the permit, the State of Michigan or EPA. There are still a number of procedural steps that the EPA must go through before they issue the final permit.
3. Microphones In Commission Chambers
I mentioned in my last status report that we were looking into installing two additional microphones as well as mute buttons for the system. We have received a quote from a supplier, and the question that has been posed is how does the Commission want the mute buttons. We can have either a red or green signal light on all the time, except while the button is depressed to mute the microphone, or you can have no light until the button is pressed, indicating that the microphone is now muted. It would seem to me the most logical to have the light on all of the time except when the button is pressed to mute the microphone. Unless I hear differently, we will proceed to order the system that way. If you have any questions or concerns about how we are to proceed with this, please don't hesitate to contact me.
4. Work Sessions
I indicated in my previous status report that we intend to schedule a few work sessions over the next few meetings to bring you up to date on some issues and projects that are outstanding. I would appreciate any comments you might have about the work sessions, and if you have any suggestions for future work sessions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
5. Park Projects
As you know we took and approved bids last week for our park projects. Greg Baderschneider tells me the contractors will begin work shortly on the various components of the project. Needless to say there will be a lot of construction activity going on in our parks this summer.
6. Project 2000 Tax Case
As I have indicated to you in previous memos, we are waiting for the Attorney General handling this matter to visit the city to look at the property. Dave Rowley tells me the A.G. has requested some additional information which has been sent to him. It is hopeful that the A.G. will visit the community and the site in June, and then hopefully after that we can sit down to talk about the possible settlement of this case.
7. SmartZone
There are a couple of items I would like to brief you on regarding this project. The incubator building, now known as the Center for Applied Research and Technology, is essentially completed. In fact, there will be a ribbon-cutting and open house on June 13th at 10:00 a.m. George Dunn tells me that formal invitations for this event will be mailed shortly. As I mentioned before, we have been successful in attracting three businesses to the building, with room for five start-up companies in the facility.
I would also like to comment briefly on the financial status of the project. As you may recall, it was originally anticipated that we would use tax capture from existing companies in the park to help finance some of the ongoing cost for the project. Unfortunately the amount of investment we had originally anticipated by some of those companies did not occur this past year, so our budgets will be very tight for ongoing operational costs such as lawn maintenance, repairs and other related items. Fortunately, as you may recall, the State converted the original $2 million loan for the development of the project into a $2 million grant. That means we are not obligated to repay any of those funds, and while we may be struggling for a year or so, once development occurs we should be in good financial shape.
8. Phone System
Staff met with Verizon a day or two after award of the bid for replacement of the phone system. Staff laid out our expectations for Verizon for the upcoming project. It is still anticipated that the installation will occur in the fall of this year.
9. Boards And Commissions Appreciation Picnic
A suggestion was made that we may want to hold some kind of appreciation event for all of our board and commission volunteers. We have scheduled a picnic for August 13th at 6:00 p.m. in Island Park. I realize it is early, but you may want to get it on your calendar now. Formal invitations will follow later.
10. City-County Liaison Meeting
The committee met last week. We heard a presentation from City and County recreation staff regarding a family recreation center. We asked Chris Bundy and SueAnn Kopmeyer to bring back some additional information by late summer. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for June.
11. City Commission Website Addresses
In response to a Commissioner's request, we have been told by our Information Technology staff that they can set up a separate e-mail address on the City's web site for each City Commission member using the same address format as City staff (first letter of first name and first six of surname, i.e. ppresto@mt-pleasant.org). As specified by each Commission member, e-mail received at these addresses would be forwarded to either your personal e-mail address, or to the City Manager's office, which currently receives all e-mail addressed to the City Commission through the City's web site. The system would provide greater privacy and timeliness. Please contact Jana to let us know whether you would like your e-mail forwarded and, if so, where.