December 28, 2010

VILLAGE OF MATTAWAN
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING           
DECEMBER 28, 2009

                                                       MINUTES
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

1.    CALL TO ORDER @ 7:00 pm

2.    PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

3.    ATTENDANCE

Present: Kucinich, Kirklin, Mclean, Markle, Spulick, Ashbaugh, Bemer

Others present: Attorney Graham, Tim Woodhams, Officer Boehme, Claudia Spulick and others.

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 Markle, support by Spulick, to approve the agenda as printed. All members voted In favor. Motion carried.

8.    APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 14, 2009

Motion by Kucinich, support by Markle, to approve the minutes of December 14, 2009 as printed. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.
.
9.      BILLS TO BE APPROVED IN THE AMOUNT OF $ 85,682.07

Motion by Kirklin, support by Ashbaugh, to pay the bills in the amount of $85,682.07. Roll call vote
 taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

10.    LIMITED PUBLIC COMMENT ON ANY AGENDA ITEM

There were no public comments.

11.    BOARD AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

12.      STAFF REPORTS

    A.  POLICE REPORT – CHIEF VERHAGE

Officer Boehme gave the police report in Chief VerHages absence. There were 82 calls of service and 48 citations given in the month of November.

13.    OLD BUSINESS

    A.  APPROVE MEETING FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Superintendent Anthony would like to schedule another Capital Improvement Plan meeting preliminary draft approval.  Jamie Harmon of Wightman has the following dates available.  Wednesday January 6, after 7PM, Thursday January 7, Monday January 11, (Council Meeting) Wednesday January 13, and Thursday January 14. 

Council decided to hold the Capital Improvement plan meeting Monday, January 11, 2010 at the regular Council meeting. 

B.    MDOT ROUND A BOUTS

Please refer to Superintendent Anthony’s memo regarding the base meeting at the Coloma Transportation Center on Friday January 8, 2009 at 9:00 AM and his findings from MDOT regarding the drive way issues.    The other information on the memo is informational only.

14.      NEW BUSINESS 

    A.  DISSOLUTION OF LDFA

Attorney Graham is prepared to give comment on the possible consideration for dissolution of the LDFA.

Attorney Graham stated that the statue is very clear that if the LDFA is dissolved the monies go back to the municipality that is sponsoring it, which would be the Village. He has looked everywhere to see if that has been modified by any agreement and he has not found any so if the LDFA was dissolved the money would come to the Village. We should hold a meeting with the LDFA to see if it thinks that it has finished all of its work or whether it wishes to do any additional things. The other possibility is that the LDFA thinks its work is done and it has no reason to exist. The third possibility is that we don’t get a quorum, which is pretty common and if that happens then the business can be conducted and the answers can be reported back to the Council.  When the Council has a report from the LDFA, whether it is for action, no action, or no quorum then Council can consider whether or not the time has come to dissolve the LDFA. If it comes to that then the best thing to do is to use the money for improvements that would benefit all the taxing entities which have essentially contributed.

Motion by Ashbaugh, support by Bemer, to conduct a LDFA meeting to determine whether or not there are any projects the LDFA wishes to undertake or whether the LDFA has completed its work. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.
 

    B.  MARK BOVEN PUD PROJECT

Attorney Graham would like to openly discuss the upcoming PUD project for Mr. Boven.

Mr. Boven did not attend this meeting so there wasn’t any discussion. Attorney Graham stated that now the PUD ordinance is a two step process. First is the pre application conference and then the final approval.
The ordinance states the planning commission may also approve a preliminary PUD concept plan for projects having multiple phases. That language seems to indicate that the two step process would apply to a single phase PUD and that the Planning Commission may have some additional latitude in approving phases of a multi phase. Graham stated that he thinks the PUD ordinance needs to be changed. It needs to be rewritten so that it has flexibility and offers different avenues and different scenarios. That should start with the Planning Commission with recommendations from appropriate people, and have Article 13 redrafted to take away the ambiguity that we have.

Motion by Spulick, support by Kucinich , to have the Planning Commission work on a revised PUD ordinance, with giving the Planning Commission the resources to work with Attorney Graham and Tim Woodhams. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried. 

15.       COMMUNICATIONS
   
       a.  MML Legislative Links for December 22, 2009
           b.  Memo from Chief VerHage regarding Officer Todd Oliver
           c.  E-Mail from MDOT regarding the January 8, meeting
   
 16.      COMMENTS FROM VISITORS

Chris Ballingall asked the Council to do something with the old DPW building so it could be used maybe as an addition to the Police Department, or fix it up and use it for cold storage for DPW equipment, and to do something with the old salt barn. She thought that maybe it could be used for storage of the Christmas decorations.  Ballingall also spoke about reconsidering of getting a part time Manager and about the gates that aren’t being used and the gate that was supposed to be replaced at 25th Street that hasn’t been replaced yet.
 
17.        COMMENTS FROM COUNCIL

President McLean stated that she had received a notice that EPC has notified 31 employees that their date of separation would be January 10, 2010.

Bemer requested a DPW meeting scheduled if possible to find out why the gates haven’t been closed and why they haven’t been taken care of.

Motion by Bemer, support by Spulick, to schedule a DPW meeting to investigate the problems with the gate and getting other things done. Roll call vote taken. All members voted in favor. Motion carried.

                18.    ADJOURNMENT
   
    Meeting adjourned at 7:38 P.M.