August 24, 2009 Council Minutes

VILLAGE OF MATTAWAN
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
AUGUST 24, 2009

MINUTES
                                                                                               

1.    CALL TO ORDER @ 7:00 pm

2.    PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

3.    ATTENDANCE

Present: Ashbaugh, Kirklin, Kucinich, Spulick and McLean

Absent: Bemer, and Markle

Motion by Kucinich, support by Spulick, to excuse Bemer and Markle. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

4.    WELCOME TO THE PUBLIC

5.    ANNOUNCEMENT OF MEETING BEING RECORDED

6.    ADDITIONS TO AGENDA

There were no additions to the agenda

7.        APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Motion by Spulick, support by Kirklin, to approve the agenda. All members voted in favor.
Motion carried.

8.    APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF AUGUST 10, 2009

Motion by Ashbaugh, support by Spulick, to approve the minutes of August 10, 2009.
All members voted in favor. Motion carried. 

9.      BILLS TO BE APPROVED IN THE AMOUNT OF $52,036.17

Motion by Ashbaugh, support by Kucinich, to pay the bills in the amount of $52,036.17. Roll call vote All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

10.    LIMITED PUBLIC COMMENT ON ANY AGENDA ITEM

Joe Alexander stated that on the agenda under item F, ordinance changes and density issues, that there
wasn’t any action taken except to reverse  R2 and R3. He is concerned and still thinks that this area needs
to be addressed.

11.    BOARD AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

    A.  PLANNING COMMISSION – LIAISON MARKLE

Liaison Markle was not in attendance.  Please read the minutes.

    B.  DPW COMMITTEE – CHAIR KUCINICH

Chair Kucinich reported on the DPW meeting that was held on August 20, 2009. She stated that they discussed the bids for the crack sealing bid and for the gravel for 26th Street. They had two bids for the graveling and recommended to use Lounsbury.

12.      STAFF REPORTS

A.  POLICE REPORT – CHIEF VERHAGE

Chief VerHage stated that there were 83 service calls and 63 citations made for the month of July.

13.    OLD BUSINESS
   
    A.  BRACE BUSINESS RESOURCES & COUNSELING FOR ENTREPRENEURES 

Brace would like to come on Tuesday September 15, 2009 at 10:00 am.  Council can make the decision if you feel this is something you want to present to the community and businesses or not, and I will let them know. Please see enclosed e-mail.  If you do decide to do this I will send out notices to all businesses and do a public notice in the Courier and post at Antwerp Township, Post Office and Bank.

Motion by Spulick, support by Kirklin, to table this for now and to look at other dates. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.
 
B.      SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL

Ms. LaGrow will have bound copies of the final draft to hand out on Monday.

Ms. LaGrow stated that the final survey results are missing in the handouts, but should be done by the end of this week. We are now ready to apply for funding through MDOT. There is no deadline on the grant and the money is available until the end of this year. She also extended her gratitude to be able to work on this project.

       C.    CRACK SEALING BIDS

Received one bid from Pavement Restoration of Michigan for $ 9,631.31.   See bid enclosed.

Motion was made by Kirklin, support by Spulick, for crack sealing bids to go to Pavement Restoration of Michigan for the sum of $9,631.31. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.  

    D.   GRAVEL FOR 26TH STREET BIDS

Received two bids for the gravel on 26th Street.  Lounsbury Excavating bid $5,350 and Peters Construction bid $6,304.80.  See bids enclosed.

Motion  made by Kucinich, support by Kirklin, to give the gravel bid to Lounsbury Excavating for $5350.00. Roll call vote taken.  All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

    E.  CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN

This needs to go to DPW Committee for review and recommendation.

Motion by Spulick, support by Ashbaugh, to send the Capital Improvement Plan to DPW. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

    F.  ORDINANCE CHANGES & DENSITY ISSUE & PUBLIC HEARING

At the Planning Commission meeting of August 19, 2009 the Commission is recommending to Council to have Karl Freed write up an amendment to the R-2 & R-3 and all corresponding ordinances regarding the density in those areas to clean up the wording as there have been numerous problems and misunderstanding  with the wording.   They also recommend Council to schedule a public hearing date of September 14, 2009 for the ordinance zoning changes and changes that were made prior that are included.  Commission also made the recommendation to not change or add any density zones at this time.  Will need a motion for Karl to do the amendment to the R-2 & R-3 and one to schedule the public hearing. 

Motion by Kucinich, support by Ashbaugh, to have Karl Freed to draft the amendment to R-2 & R-3. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

Motion by Ashbaugh, support by Kirklin, to table the public hearing that was scheduled for September 14, 2009. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

14.      NEW BUSINESS 

    A.  SERVER NETWORK MONITORING

Gene Butler of Butler Computers has offered a Server Network Monitoring plan for our computers. Butler can at this time, get into our computer to fix at their facility with my permission.  If they can’t fix in house they make a service call to the Village. I checked to see the last two years what it cost us to have them come on an as needed basis.  In 2008 it costs us $1,462, and in 2009 it cost $1,279.   The cost of this plan for a year is $2,880. There are two options offered with the cost of the second option yet to be determined. Please read the enclosed e-mail provided by Butler.  Our server is 4 years old as it was replaced in 2005 when Manager Kaplan was here. The life of a server is between 6-7 years.    This would also monitor all our computers as well as the police computers.  This is something we have talked about before, however, cost wise you may want to continue on a fix as needed basis.  I think this is a good plan and maybe something we can budget for next year if Council decides to wait.

Motion by Spulick, support by Kirklin, to table and then put it in next year’s budget. Roll call vote. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.
 
B.    PURCHASE OF NEW POLICE VEHICLE AND EQUIPMENT

Chief VerHage is getting bids on a new police vehicle and would like this to go to the Law Enforcement Committee for review and recommendation.

Motion by Kirklin, support by Spulick, to send the items to Law Enforcement Committee. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

15.    COMMUNICATIONS
   
    a.  MML Legislative Link for August 11, & 18, 2009
    b.  Letter from VB County Drain Commissioner regarding Bob-O-Link drain
    c.  Letter from Medicom regarding rate increases
    d.  Parks Information    

  16.    COMMENTS FROM VISITORS

Chris Ballingall stated that January 18, 2010 is the 50th Anniversary of the Village being incorporated.

Joe Alexander stated that the grand opening for McGillen’s Crossing is Tuesday and everyone is welcome.

  C.  CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS PENDING LITIGATION

Motion by Spulick, support by Kucinich, to move to closed session. At 7:33. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

Motion by Kirklin, support by Spulick, to move to open session at 7:45. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.
 

17.       COMMENTS FROM COUNCIL

Councilperson Ashbaugh asked the Council about having different Cable Companies and how it work and do we get paid for it. Attorney Graham explained that Media Com is a franchise and we do not receive any income for it and it was the only company that came to the Village for the franchise.

     18.    ADJOURNMENT

    The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm.