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St. Ignace City Council Meeting Minutes Council Proceedings (Official) The regular meeting of the St. Ignace City Council was held on Monday, October 15, 2007 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building.The meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by Mayor Grondin with the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember Wyse gave the invocation. Present: Councilmember Della- Moretta, Fullerton, Gustafson, LaLonde, Tamlyn-Massaway, Wyse, Mayor Grondin. Absent: None. Staff Present: Eric Dodson, City Manager, Prentiss M. Brown, Jr., City Attorney; Renee' Vonderwerth, City Clerk; Eugene Elmer, Assessor/ Treasurer; Les Therrian, Superintendent of Utilities; Tim Matelski, Chief of Police; Paul Sved, Bldg. Insp; Erica Mattson, Recreation Dept. Minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 1, 2007 were approved as presented. Additions to the Agenda: 7. Deb Evashevski - Resolution 1. WATER TOWER REPORT: City Manager Dodson updated Council on the status of the water tower, stating that the exterior and interior construction project is completed; however, the painting needs to be finished before final inspections can be completed. In addition, once Dixon is satisfied and its time for the City to consider accepting the tower into the system; the Sault Tribe will need to sign off on the project before final payment is made and Bill Dixon will attend a Council meeting to answer any questions the Council may have. 2. REAL ESTATE COMMITTEE REPORT/RECOMMENDATION a. PARK PROPERTY: City Manager Dodson stated that the Real Estate Committee met to review the two bids received for the appraisal of the property adjacent to the American Legion Park. One bid was from Michigan Venture Capital for an amount of $1,000 and one from G.R. Gotshall Associates for an amount of $3,350. He added that the committee reviewed timeliness, experience, background and price and is recommending G. R. Gotshall Associates, Inc. based on them being on the list of approved appraisers by the DNR and experience of being versed in the specific details involved with this type of grant application from the DNR Trust fund. In addition, City Manager Dodson stated that the DDA has agreed to pay $1675 from their budget and stated that the other half will be paid from the City's Boardwalk Improvement fund. It was moved by Councilmember Wyse, seconded by Councilmember Tamlyn Massaway to accept the recommendation of the Real Estate Committee; have the appraisal done with funds coming from the DDA and the Boardwalk; report the results to the Real Estate Committee for review and have the Real Estate Committee report to Council. Motion carried. Councilmember Gustafson opposed the motion. b. M/V ATKINSON: City Manager Dodson informed Council that he did not receive a recommendation from the Real Estate committee, but did some investigation on the vessel and presented pictures to Council for review. In addition, City Manager Dodson stated he couldn't recommend putting this vessel on the waterfront as it is, with the idea of storing a million and a half tires. It was the consensus of Council to deny any further requests regarding this issue. 3. MACKINAC ISLAND STATE PARK COMMISSION: City Manager Dodson informed Council that Mayor Grondin, the Village President of Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island and he, have contacted Father Jim, a member of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, in regards to a movement towards closing the triangle of history and getting the Mackinac Island State Park Commission involved with the City of St. Ignace. There will be meetings throughout the winter to discuss the former location of the Father Marquette museum and to discuss how this triangle could be treated as a region as opposed to individual communities. In addition, City Manager Dodson stated that Gary MacDowell has stated that he has put together legislation that would allow St. Ignace to have a representative on that board. 4. PRISONER WORK CREW UPDATE: City Manager Dodson updated Council on the status of the prisoner work crews, adding that he has contacted several legislatures, and MML, to discuss the specific purpose of getting the prison work crews back into the communities. However, at this time there has been no money appropriated to that line item in the budget. In addition, City Manager Dodson stated he will continue to update Council and encouraged them to contact the legislators as well. 5. WATER/SEWER REPORT: City Manager Dodson updated Council on the status of the Water and Sewer Department, stating that the Water Fund now has a positive cash balance, but will drop back in the negative in January when a $283,000 bond payment is due. The sewer is still in the negative; however, there is no bond payment due this year and both funds are following the flow of the original projections. 6. MARINA REPORT: Eugene Elmer, stated that the Marina did well in September because the weather was beautiful. In addition, there is a 20% increase over 2006 in September and 15% up over all for the year. 7. DEB EVASHEVSKI - RESOLUTION: RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT RESOLUTION APPROVING SALE OF PROPERTY The following Resolution was offered for adoption by Councilmember Gustafson, and supported by Councilmember LaLonde: WHEREAS, the City of St. Ignace, Downtown Development Authority (DDA) owns the property located at 3 Glashaw, St. Ignace, Michigan, and WHEREAS, the DDA has been given the authority to buy and sell property through Act 197 of Michigan Public Acts of 1975, and WHEREAS, the DDA Board held a public hearing at their December 10, 2004 board meeting to hear public input over the sale of said property and after hearing no objections, voted to sell said property, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of St. Ignace does hereby authorize the City of St. Ignace, Downtown Development Authority to sell the property located at 3 Glashaw, St. Ignace, Michigan. Roll Call Vote: Yes: Councilmember Fullerton, Gustafson, LaLonde, Tamlyn-Massaway, Wyse, Mayor Grondin, Councilmember Della-Moretta. No: None. Absent: None. Resolution declared Adopted. Consideration of Bills: There were no considerations. Public Comment: Mary Nichols addressed the Mayor and Council stating that the Charter states, " at the first meeting in October there shall be a recommended budget provided by the City Manager", and inquired if there was an explanation for that. City Manager Dodson stated that the process has been discussed by Council in previous meeting and a work session is set for November 5th. In addition, department heads have been working together to create some financial modeling towards that goal and will be presented on November 5th. Councilmember Gustafson informed Ms. Nichols that the reason it has been moved later in the year is because of the uncertainties of expenses and revenues and more accurate financial data received later in the year helps for better decision making with the budget. At this time, Councilmember Tamlyn- Massaway stated that this goes back to her prior suggestion that the Charter needs to be reviewed for amendments, and so far, this has not been done. In addition, Councilmember Tamlyn- Massaway feels that the City Manager should start the process of addressing amendments that need to be made in the Charter, adding that it's time, as the Charter is 37 years old and needs to be reviewed. Councilmember Della-Moretta reiterated that the way the budget process is being done now is for very practical reasons; however, that does not answer Mary's question. In addition, Councilmember Della-Moretta stated they are trying to do the best possible job and maybe the best possible job is to re-exam the language that is in the Charter. Mary Nichols encouraged Council to do a comprehensive review of the Charter.
The following bills were presented to Council for payment: Mayor Paul Grondin Renee Vonderwerth, City Clerk |
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