BROWNSTOWN, MI

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

7:00PM 

President Wolak called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. All rose for Pledge of Allegiance. Present at roll call: Stirrett, Clark, Coenen, Wolak, Awdey, Ballard, and Cooper. Also present: Clerk Poulos and Treasurer Adair.

 

AGENDA, APPROVAL OF

MOTION by Ballard, seconded by Cooper, to approve agenda as amended.

 

 

All Ayes CARRIED

 

CITIZEN COMMENT

None.

 

COUNCIL COMMENT

None.

PRESENTATIONS

None.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

 

 

1. General Fund $ 9,896.92

2. Water Fund $ 1,883.55

3. Sewer Plant Fund $ 4,449.62

4. Sewer System Fund $ 827.11 5. Major Street Fund $ 926.03

6. Local Street Fund $ 1,304.52

7. Municipal Street Fund $ 0___

Total $ 19,287.75

All Ayes CARRIED

 

None.

 

A. TO ASSIGN SIGNOR(S) FOR CONTRACT NO. 15-5125 BETWEEN MDOT AND THE VILLAGE OF ARMADA FOR THE PROPECT/TIETZ STREET BRIDGE PROJECT

Street Administrator Ballard explained that the contract provided to Council is to assign signors for the Tietz/Prospect Street Bridge Project. He stated that the contract has been reviewed by Doug Skylis at Rowe Incorporated and Attorney Bahorski.

 

MOTION by Ballard, seconded by Clark, to approve the Local Bridge Federal Contract Number 15-5125 between the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Village of Armada and to authorize the Street Administrator, President or Clerk to sign all documents in connection with this agreement.

 

All Ayes CARRIED

 

B. TO ASSIGN SIGNOR(S) TO ACCEPT THE PROPOSAL FROM B S & A TO CONVERT OPERATING SYSTEMS

Treasurer Adair explained that the current program for taxes is on a pervasive engine and B S & A will no longer be supporting so she will be transferring the tax program to a .net engine. She explained that this will all the program to be accessed on line which will free up the time in the office as a large amount of the phone calls to the office are to check tax amounts. She stated that the information could be accessed from the B S & A website and it was recommended that the Village website have directives for the public on how to access this information from B S & S. Trustee Cooper questioned the proposal (page 4) that states that training is available at a cost of $850.00/day plus travel and also page 6 which states the annual fee of $550.00. Adair replied that she does not feel the need for training and that there is an annual fee which is a little more costly.

 

MOTION by Ballard, seconded by Cooper, to approve the proposal from B S & A Software to convert the Village’s pervasive operating system to a .net operating system and authorize the Treasurer to sign on behalf of the Village.

 

All Ayes CARRIED

 

C. BANK RESOLUTION TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT FOR THE PARKS COMMISSION

Treasurer Adair asked Council to allow her to open a bank account for the donations and sponsorships given to the Park to allow for better management of these funds. She explained that there will be no checks or fees involved and will transfer funds to the General Fund when payments need to be made.

 

MOTION by Ballard, seconded by Clark, to approve the attached resolution to allow the Treasurer to open a checking account named the Village of Armada Parks Department.

 

All Ayes CARRIED

 

D. TO SET A PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT AND FUNDING FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECEIVING COMMENTS FROM INTERESTED PERSONS

Treasurer Adair informed Council that Trustees Stirrett and Clark, President Wolak, Clerk Poulos and herself met with Mike Park and Nancy McClain from Giffels Webster to discuss the status of the S-2 Grant and the SRF funding. She stated that the S-2 is nearing completion in its timeframe and requires a public hearing to move forward with the actual construction of this project. The Public Hearing will be in the same retrospect of one that requires a bond and will address the project and timeframe. Adair has spoken to Giffels and they are preparing documents that have been requested several times by Sewer Commissioner Stirrett and she is hoping to receive them tomorrow. She requested that Giffels provide Council with an outline as opposed to numerous pieces of paper to review, that spells out a summary of the project, where we started and where we are to date, what is required to move forward, what we need to do to proceed, what our options are, what costs will be associated with those options, and the relationship between Giffels, the Village and the DEQ regarding who is responsible for what portions, which Giffels agreed to do. She hopes to have all documentation from Giffels to provide Council so any questions that arise can be addressed before the Public Hearing and if Council feels the need to have a Special Meeting prior to the Public Hearing she encourages them to do so. Adair also stated that there is a scheduled meeting with Karen Nichols of the DEQ on Wednesday to discuss the details of bonding process. Trustee Coenen asked if grants were being researched for this project. Adair stated that she did not believe that the Engineers were researching grants but the DEQ is offering low 2.5% SRF bonds linked to the completion of the S-2 which identifies the areas that need repair and compliance issues. Stirrett stated that he met with Giffels about three months ago and had hoped that the issues he discussed then would have been corrected but have not been and he requested that the corrections be made and a copy of the corrected binders be provided to the Village before the meeting with the DEQ on Wednesday. Stirrett stated that from the beginning of this process he was concerned about the timing and he is frustrated that we are nearing completion and there are still issues. Karen Nichols from the DEQ will ultimately sign off on the S-2 so more will be known after the meeting on Wednesday and felt it was very important to meet with the Village so the Village is competent moving forward with the S-2 and projects options are due July 1, 2015. Stirrett stated that he believed that items identified for repair/replacement would be spelled out in the project plan, what was needed, how to do it, and what the cost would be. His concern includes that it is not spelled out that way, it states what needs to be done and a cost. He questions whether the costs align with the repair as there is no way to verify at this point. He stated, in regards to financing, the Village will present a plan which will state that the Village will go forward with financing or pay cash for these projects identified as necessary through the S-2 Grant. Financing can be obtained several different ways (grants, bonding, loans) which will need to be approved by the DEQ and each project can be funded differently. Treasurer Adair stated that the only issue is the application for funding is due June 15, 2015 and July 1, 2015 is when the completed 5 year plan needs to be submitted and as the Engineers (Giffels) are not financial people, a meeting with the DEQ is imperative. As for the approval of the plan for submittal to the DEQ, Giffels Webster informed the Clerk that a Public Hearing must be conducted to approve the plan which needs to be advertised thirty days (30) prior to the Public Hearing date. With that timeframe, the Hearing date must be approved by Council tonight to stay compliant.

 

MOTION by Stirrett, seconded by Ballard, to set a Public Hearing date of June 8, 2015, at 7:00 pm for the proposed sanitary sewer system improvements project and funding for the purpose of receiving comments from interested persons.

 

All Ayes CARRIED

UPCOMING AGENDA ITEMS

 

CITIZENS COMMENTS

None.

 

COUNCIL COMMENTS/COMMUNITY EVENTS

Trustee Stirrett stated that he was notified by a friend a couple of Saturdays ago that his street had been closed for an incident and the K-9 dogs were brought in and utilized.

Police Commissioner Cooper announced that Atos, the new K-9 dog, served his first shift with Officer Vicari on Saturday.

Council was informed that DPW Supervisor Serwatowski has been in contact with SEMCO as he is requiring them to provide plans for the work that is being done all about town.

Members of Council thanked both Trustees Stirrett and Awdey for their services to the board and community and wished them both well in their future endeavors as this was their final meeting. The Clerk informed Council that the one interested to fill a vacancy is still interested as she spoke to her today. Trustee Awdey suggested the Council consider decreasing the Council size from seven to five and after a brief discussion, Council is not interested at this time to decrease.

 

No further business.

 

MOTION by Awdey, seconded by Stirrett, to adjourn the meeting at 7:48 pm.

 

All Ayes CARRIED