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June 2004 Status Report
It is my pleasure to submit my monthly status report to you for your review and consideration. If you should have any questions about any of the items listed, please do not hesitate to contact me. If I failed to mention an item for which you would like additional information, please let me know and I will get that information for you. As you know, these items are not listed in any particular order.
1. Project 2000 Tax Case
On Wednesday we received the brief prepared by attorney Dick Figura in this matter. The brief has been delivered to the Court of Appeals. I believe he has done a very good job of stating the City's position. It is my understanding that the Attorney General will have about 60 days to respond to the brief. We are hoping that the matter will be heard by the Court of Appeals by the end of this year.
2. Old Mission Bridge
I'm sure you have read in the paper that the State of Michigan has refused to allow an at-grade crossing at the current bridge site. Therefore, the Road Commission has decided they will reconstruct the bridge. It is estimated that the construction project will take approximately a year. It is also my understanding that they will be realigning Old Mission Road as it enters onto 127 to make it more of a 90-degree angle and therefore safer to enter onto 127. There may also be a realignment of Deerfield to give more site clearance when you cross the bridge. At this point in time I do not know when they plan to begin the project.
3. Fire Chief Search Process
As you know, we are in the process of hiring a Fire Chief. Interviews of qualified candidates are scheduled for the end of this month. Of course at this point in time we do not know how those interviews will go. I will keep you informed of the selection process.
4. Building Official Search Process
With the retirement of Bill McCracken, we are in the process of hiring a replacement for him. Interviews of qualified candidates were held over the last couple of weeks, and Kathie Grinzinger is in the process of reviewing the interviews and checking references. It is hoped we will make a selection within the next two to three weeks.
5. Okaya Sister City Exchanges
As you know we have had a number of visitors from Okaya over the past couple of months. In May we hosted three staff members of the City of Okaya, and this past week we also served as hosts for 13 citizens from Okaya and adjacent cities. This most recent visit was strictly a pleasure visit for these folks, and I believe they really enjoyed their time here and really like Mt. Pleasant. As you know from a previous report, there are plans underway to have Okaya plant trees in Nelson Park and name the street in the park after our Sister City of Okaya. There are also discussions about sending a delegation to Okaya in August of 2005 to celebrate our fortieth anniversary as Sister Cities.
6. Tallgrass Traffic Control Signal
As you know, we submitted a two percent request for a traffic signal at the entrance to the Tallgrass apartment complex. The reason we submitted the request was because of the number and seriousness of accidents occurring at that drive entrance. We were hoping to be able to work with Yorkshire Commons apartments to realign their drive with Tallgrass and then put in a full traffic control signal at the intersection. Yorkshire declined to realign their street, so the Road Commission has authorized the installation of a three-sided traffic signal that will be activated when cars approach Broomfield from Tallgrass. I do not have a date for the installation of the light at this time.
7. Isabella Road Curb Cuts
As you will recall we had approached the Road Commission about granting us the right to have four curb cuts on the west side of Industrial Park-South. The intent was to allow the property owners to develop the back portions of their lots for additional industrial facilities. The Road Commission initially said we could not have any curb cuts. At that time both the City Commission and County Board of Commissioners passed resolutions requesting that the Road Commission reconsider our request. They looked at the matter over the past couple of months and a week or so ago indicated that they would allow two curb cuts. One is at a current entrance to one of our sanitary sewer lift stations and the other will line up with the new road just south of the Chase Run apartment complex. It is now up to the property owners in the park to determine if they wish to proceed and develop the rear of their properties. George Dunn continues to work on this issue with the property owners.
8. Downtown Blueprint
I would like to take just a minute or so to bring you up to date on the implementation of some of the recommendations in the report. As you will recall, 2004 was to be a planning year with 2005 one of implementation. The Principal Shopping District Management Board was created and they have been meeting. One of its first tasks was to discuss its role and the possible future role of the DCC. They also appointed a hiring committee to work with City staff to develop a job description for the new position of Executive Director.
The Principal Shopping District Management Board met this past Friday. At that meeting they took a number of steps. The first was to approve the hiring of an Executive Director along with the job description for the position. As you may recall we had proposed in the annual budget that this person be hired as a contract employee by the Principal Shopping District Management Board. A question was raised as to whether or not the Board has the authority to employ a staff person. Steve Martineau did a lot of research and determined that the Board is advisory in nature and does not have the authority to hire a staff person. Our Human Resources department also did quite a bit of research into IRS rulings that deal with contract employees. There are number of tests that must be met to qualify a person as a contract employee versus a straight employee. This position did not meet those tests so it was determined that the person would be hired by the City but would report directly to the Board. Part of the information provided to the Board at their Friday meeting was a draft agreement I prepared for the Executive Director position spelling out the hiring arrangement and the fact that they would report directly to the Board.
The Human Resources department also prepared and shared with the Board a schedule of activities and a time frame for hiring the individual. Ads will be placed in area newspapers this weekend as well as on a number of professional websites that possible candidates would most likely check. Resumes will be accepted until July 16 with interviews scheduled for August 10 and 11. It is anticipated that the person will be on the job by the first or second week of September. If you would like a more detailed schedule, please let me know and I will be happy to send it to you.
The other major item of business was the approval of the RFP's for the parking and landscape study. These will also be mailed out this week. There are only a couple of qualified parking consultant firms that will receive the RFP's. There are also a number of landscape designers that will receive a copy of the landscape RFP. They will have three weeks to prepare their proposals which will then be taken to the Board and Commission for approval. It is anticipated that these studies could be completed yet late this fall. If you should require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
9. Washington Street Project
The project is moving along very well, and even with the less-than-perfect weather for construction, Duane Ellis indicates that the project is still pretty much on schedule. Douglas Street is also part of this project, and it is also moving along fairly quickly.
10. High Street
This project was started approximately two weeks ago, and most of the work has been in digging out the old road and working on underground utilities. It is anticipated that this project will be completed in August.
11. State Budget Status
I am sure you have been reading in the paper about the debate in Lansing on the state budget shortfall. As you know, the debate has become somewhat contentious and very partisan. Neither the proposed cigarette tax or liquor tax has been passed at this point, and the Speaker of the House has indicated that it may be difficult for the Governor to get her proposals approved. I have still not heard any further information about what the Governor would plan to do if these additional revenue sources are not approved. We will just have to wait and see what happens. If there is a movement to reduce revenue sharing, we will of course lobby hard to protect revenue sharing.
12. Employees Health Plan Study
I have mentioned previously that we are looking at ways to help control our health care costs. As part of this effort we have hired a consultant who specializes in analyzing company and governmental health care plans to see what we might do differently. We have created a committee of various City employees to work with the consultant on this matter. We held our first meeting a couple of weeks ago and will probably meet with the consultant three to four more times. I will keep you informed of the status of the work of the committee and consultant.
13. Borden Building
We continue to meet with J. E. Johnson on this project. In fact, our latest meeting was this Thursday, at which time we talked about specific information regarding possible inclusion of a new city hall as part of their project. We provided them with quite a bit of technical information, and they are supposed to get back to us by the middle of July with some specific numbers regarding the cost to redevelop the facility. They still seem to be quite interested in the project and are moving forward with their due diligence as part of the project.
14. City Budget
You received in the packet copies of the minutes of our first meeting with the Budget Committee. Nancy Ridley and I are completing our meetings with Division and Department Heads to review all of their budget requests. There is still quite a spread between the requests and the amount of revenue available, so we will be working to bring those two into balance over the next few weeks. If you have any specific budget priorities, I would ask that you let one of the Committee members know or let staff know so that we can discuss them as part of the budget preparation and review process. As you know, it is the responsibility of the City Manager to prepare and submit a balanced budget to the City Commission by the first meeting in September. We will continue to provide you copies of minutes after each of the Committee meetings. If you have any questions at any time about anything regarding the budget process, please do not hesitate to contact me.