 |
|
November 2004 Status Report
It is my pleasure to once again submit my monthly status report for your review and consideration. If you should have any questions or comments about any of the items listed, please do not hesitate to contact me. As you know, these items are not listed in any priority ranking.
1. Family Recreation Center
The Family Recreation Center Committee is continuing to meet, and over the last couple of meetings their focus has been on choosing a preferred location for the facility. I would like to advise you of the upcoming schedule of meetings for the City and County on this issue, and would ask that you put them on your calendar. More formal notices of the meetings will be sent out at a later date.
On December 14th the City-County Liaison Committee will meet with members of the task force and consultant Ken Ballard for a presentation on the proposed project. We would then like to schedule a meeting with both the City Commission and the County Board of Commissioners on December 15th at 5:00 p.m. to hear a presentation from the task force and Mr. Ballard on their recommendations. We would anticipate that another joint meeting of the City and County will be required after that meeting, to talk in more detail about where we go from here. We can agree on a meeting date at the December 15th meeting.
2. Downtown Blueprint
As I was preparing this status report our Downtown Development Director, Michelle Sponseller, was receiving her new furniture, so she now has a complete office. As you will recall, the office is located in the Dave McGuire building adjacent to the parking lot on West Broadway. Both the landscape and parking consultants have begun their work, and both have held public meetings to gather information from interested parties on each of these issues. We would anticipate having their reports within the next couple of months. Michelle has really hit the ground running, and is working with the downtown merchants on the upcoming Dickens' Christmas celebration.
3. Fire Chief Selection Process
We held interviews with candidates for the Fire Chief position on the 18th. In the meantime, Glenn Feldhauser has been serving as Acting Fire Chief and has been doing a very nice job for us. We will keep you updated on the selection process.
4. Project 2000 Tax Case
No date has been scheduled as yet for our hearing before the Court of Appeals. As soon as I get a date I will let you know.
5. City-County Liaison Committee Meetings
There is not much new to report. Our last meeting was a presentation by the Family Recreation Center Committee and the consultant on their progress to date. As mentioned above, our next joint meeting will also focus on the Family Recreation Center as well.
6. River Of Time Clock Dedication
You have previously received an e-mail from Michelle Sponseller advising you of the clock dedication at the River Of Time gallery. Just as a reminder, it is scheduled for Friday, December 3rd, at 6:00 p.m. during the Dickens' Christmas festivities. The whole ceremony is to take no longer than 30 minutes.
7. Rivers Bluff Project
It is my understanding that Mr. Seybert will break ground on this project shortly. I do not have a completion date for the project, but I assume it would take about six to nine months to complete.
8. New Company Located At CMU
Beginning in January 2005 a new start-up company at Central Michigan University will provide detection and diagnostic commercial testing services to a wide range of local and regional organizations, such as medical, clinical and veterinarian offices; public health institutions; and the agricultural food industry. MultiGen Diagnostic, Inc. is a subsidiary of Bio-ID Diagnostic, Inc., a Saskatchewan-based firm that specializes in the development of new DNA-based technology used for the detection and diagnosis of microbes and biological threats. MultiGen will be housed in CMU's Health Professions Building and is the latest addition to a growing field of nanotechnology researchers on the CMU campus. The president of the company indicated this was an ideal location for their business because of the exciting work being done in the field of dendrimer nanotechnology on the campus of CMU.
9. South Mission Bridge Repair
I report on this because the bridge replacement will have an impact on the City with the proposed detour route being Crawford and Broomfield. I spoke this week to the County Road Commission engineer, who told me their intent is to have the traffic signal installed at the corner of Crawford and Broomfield prior to the start of bridge construction. They have selected an engineer to design the traffic signal. It is anticipated that his work will be completed by January, and that the light will be installed in the latter part of January or in February. The bridge work will begin some time in late January or in February. As you may recall from earlier reports on this project, construction of the new bridge should take approximately one year.
10. Okaya-Mt. Pleasant Sister City Anniversary
As you know, next year we will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of our Sister City relationship. As you also know, Okaya has offered to cover the cost of planting a number of trees in Nelson Park. We are also going to name the circular drive in Nelson Park after our Sister City.
I recently received an e mail from Okaya indicating that Mayor Hayashi will be coming to Mt. Pleasant the week of April 17th. During his visit we will hold the dedication of the trees and naming of the street. As part of the project in Nelson Park we have decided to find an appropriate stone that we can place in the park with a plaque denoting the 40th Anniversary of our relationship.
As you also know, we have been invited to attend a celebration of our anniversary in Okaya in August. I have requested information from their office of international relations to see how many people they will be able to host. We are looking forward to these anniversary celebrations.
11. In-House Health Committee
As I reported to you in previous status reports, an in-house health committee was appointed to work with the consultant we hired to look at our current health care program. Based on the findings and recommendations of the consultant, the committee has come up with both short-term and long-term issues that we need to examine. The short-term issues or benefits that we will look at include:
Ÿ bidding a new third party administrator and benefit manager
Ÿ consider establishing a disease management program
Ÿ expand our ongoing worksite wellness program and include a health risk assessment
Ÿ specialize prescription benefit management
Ÿ mandatory mail order for maintenance drugsWe also looked at some long-term issues that will require more study. The first is consumer-driven health care. This is a new program that takes advantage of the new health reimbursement and health savings accounts that are now permitted under IRS rules. We are receiving a quote from a consultant to help us study this concept in more detail. We will also look at what is known as step therapy for the new biotech drugs that are on the market. The other issue we will be looking at is a proposal by the Municipal Employees' Retirement System to develop a health insurance program for its members.
12. Construction Projects
As I mentioned in my last status report, our construction projects have been completed for this year. Our staff is now beginning the process all over again and beginning to engineer street and sidewalk projects that are proposed for 2005, with bidding to take place in the winter and spring after the budget is approved. We will have another busy construction year in 2005.
13. Solid Waste Pick-Up
Duane Ellis discussed this issue at the last City Commission work session. We are starting our educational effort to advise people of the appropriate size container they are to use. In this packet for your consideration are the proposed amendments to the Solid Waste Ordinance.
14. Water Plant Security
As you know, we have been upgrading the security at the water plant. We have recently installed surveillance equipment at the plant which provides us the next level of security.