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August 2004 Status Report
It is my pleasure to once again provide you with my monthly status report. If you have any questions about any of the items listed here, please do not hesitate to contact me.
1. Budget
We are at that time of year when we are putting the final touches on the proposed 2005 Annual Budget. We have provided the City Commission with the minutes from the various Budget Committee meetings we have held. If you have any questions about any of the information we have supplied you, please do not hesitate to contact either members of the Budget Committee or myself and we will attempt to answer those for you. The budget will be presented to you at your first meeting in September. In discussions with the Budget Committee we felt it would be appropriate to hold work sessions on the off Mondays in October so we have more time to talk about the proposed budget. If you have any concerns about this proposed schedule, please do not hesitate to let me know.
2. Borden Building
We continue to meet with the J. E. Johnson Group on the project. Staff from both the Johnson Group and the City have been working closely together over the past few weeks looking at various layouts for space for City Hall in the facility. While it is a unique building, that in and of itself presents some problems with layout for office staff. It also offers opportunities for unique office space design. We will keep you informed of the progress of our meetings with J. E. Johnson.
3. Downtown Development Director
We are moving ever closer to selecting a person for the position. Interviews were held the week of August 9th and references are currently being checked. We are still hopeful someone will be on board in September.
4. River Of Time Clock
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Rotary Club for their kind donation of a clock for the River of Time. It is a very nice addition to the Bronze Art gallery. It is my understanding that they will be holding some sort of formal dedication of the clock in the next few months.
5. Construction Projects
Construction projects are beginning to wind down. The first asphalt course has been laid on Washington Street with the final course to be laid sometime within the next few days. Work on Preston Street continues with completion anticipated within the next week. The High Street project in front of the Public Safety Building is behind schedule. We are working with the contractor to try to get him to move faster on the project. Sidewalk construction has proceeded very nicely this year, and we have received a number of positive comments about the contractor, the quality of their work and their relationship with the homeowners.
6. Fire Chief Selection Process
I am also pleased to advise you that we are coming very close to hiring an individual for the Fire Chief position. Since the terms have not been finalized I am reluctant at this point to share a name with you; however, as soon as it becomes official I will notify you of the person we have selected. I recognize that it has taken quite some time to hire this person; however, we wanted to make sure we had the right person for the job and therefore we went through a very exhaustive selection process.
7. Rivers Bluff Project
I don't know if you are aware of the action of the Zoning Board of Appeals since there was no newspaper coverage on this item. Essentially the project was given a green light by the ZBA. As you know, we still have the upcoming vote on the PILOT ordinance in November.
8. Family Recreation Center
Chris Bundy continues to meet with the Task Force on this project. Most of their effort in the last month or two has been on developing the scope of the project, i.e. the facilities that would be included in the building, along with cost estimates for the facility and finally, possible locations. I would expect within the next month or two that the Task Force will finish its work and make its formal recommendation, first to the Liaison Committee and then to both the City and the County boards. Chris has been doing a yeoman's job on this project, and my compliments to him for the job he has been doing.
9. Project 2000 Tax Case
I received a call from our attorney the other day indicating that the Attorney General's office had asked for another delay in submitting their response to our brief filed earlier on this case. The reason for their request was because the A.G. handling the case had injured his leg and required surgery. We granted his request for an extension, as our attorney did not feel it would delay the anticipated hearing date. When I get a hearing date I will let you know.
10. State Budget Problems
I am sure you have been reading the newspaper and the e-mails sent to us by the Michigan Municipal League on this matter. It appears that a budget is taking shape in Lansing that at least at this point protects the City's revenue sharing. There has been no movement that I am aware of on the issue of fire funding, so I anticipate that we probably will not see any increases or restoration of funds in the coming budget year. Obviously we will continue to work on this issue, but with the climate as it is in Lansing I think it will be very difficult.
11. National Night Out
My compliments to the Public Safety Department and particularly Sgt. LaLone for the great job they did in putting on another very successful National Night Out. It is always fun to go and see all of the people having such a good time, especially the children. I also want to thank the other public safety agencies and other agencies that joined us in putting on this program. My compliments to all involved.
12. In-House Health Committee
As you know, we have created an in-house health committee to look at possible ways to control our ever-increasing health care costs. We have had a couple of presentations by our consultant, and they are now in the process of drafting a report containing all of their recommendations. Our next meeting with the consultant is scheduled for the first week in September, and after that time I will be happy to share their findings with you. Even after receiving the report, I am sure a lot of work will remain for the Committee to see what is doable and in the best interest of the City and our employees.
13. State Shared Revenue
I mentioned previously in this report that it appears at this point that the City's revenue sharing will be protected in the State's 2005 Budget; however, we thought it would be interesting to share some information with you about previous revenue sharing cuts. This will also give you an indication of why it is more difficult to balance this year's budget than it has been in the past. When you compare 2001 actual revenues from State Shared Revenue and fire funding to what we currently project for 2004, we will receive $754,000 less in 2004 than we did in 2001. This represents a 19 percent reduction. Needless to say this is a serious reduction of funds for our budget. Hopefully this matter will reverse itself in the coming years, but at least in the near future we are not very hopeful.
14. City Of Mt. Pleasant-CMU Liaison Committee Meeting
Our most recent meeting with the University was in June. At that time we talked about a number of items. They indicated they do not intend to add any more parking in 2004-5. They are still concerned about and dealing with the issue of traffic and speeds along Broomfield Road. We then talked about Western Weekend plans. This year Western Weekend is a month earlier and it is on Halloween weekend to boot. We are planning for and will be prepared with a police presence on that evening. We also talked about the status of fire funding and the University indicated they continue their support for additional fire funding for the City. We also talked about the proposed nuisance light trespass ordinance, and they indicated their support for the ordinance. They also talked about football stadium seating changes and replacement of the field as well as the field at the baseball stadium.
15. Central Michigan University
We received a notice from the President's Office that Central Michigan University was ranked 43rd in the nation on a Consumer's Digest report of the top 50 best values among public universities. According to the article this ranking is based not only on cost, but on the quality of education as well. Obviously this is good news for the University, and I think an indication of why enrollment continues to increase at CMU.
16. City-County Liaison Meeting
Our last meeting with the County was on July 15th. At that time we had quite a bit of discussion regarding road issues in the City and the County. One of our first concerns is replacement of the Old Mission bridge. Construction of the new bridge should begin before the end of the year. Crawford and Three Leaves Drive will be one of the detour routes, which will present a major problem at the corner of Broomfield and Crawford. We had been in line for a traffic signal at that intersection along with lane widening, but we did not receive the grant. We talked about the need to install the light before the detour is set in place for the bridge construction. They indicated they would look at this, and the last indication is that a traffic light should be installed by the end of this year.
We also talked about the intersection at Broomfield and Elva. This intersection is very difficult to exit, particularly for the seniors who live in Winchester Towers. The Road Commission indicated they would not install a traffic control signal at this intersection because of its proximity to Mission Street. We also talked about the Isabella Road south connection to US-127, and it was decided we need to talk to our federal legislators about this matter.