View Agenda for this meeting

REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NOVI  
 MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2002 AT 7:30 PM
NOVI CIVIC CENTER – COUNCIL CHAMBERS – 45175 W. TEN MILE ROAD

Mayor Clark called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Cub Scout Pack #54 – Wolf Den #1

ROLL CALL Mayor Clark, Mayor Pro Tem Bononi, Council Members Capello-absent/excused, Csordas, DeRoche-absent/excused, Landry, Lorenzo

ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Helwig, Assistant City Manager Pearson, City Engineer McLain, Parks, Recreation & Forestry Director Auler

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

CM-02-12-333 Moved by Csordas, seconded by Landry; MOTION CARRIED:

To approve the agenda as presented.

DISCUSSION

Member Lorenzo Island Lake and the hiring of three police officers were

postponed from other agendas to be placed on tonight’s agenda and she asked Mr.

Helwig why they were not on this agenda?

Mr. Helwig said Toll Brothers was listed for the November 12th agenda and due to the

lateness of the evening, fullness of the agenda and the amount of time that several

items took, Member Capello requested the items be deferred until December 2nd when

he would be available. Member Capello called on November 13th and a memo was

issued to Council on November 14th saying that he would also miss the December 2nd

meeting. Mr. Helwig noted he contacted Toll Brothers and representatives of the Novi

Schools and moved those items to the December 16th agenda when there would be a

full Council.

Regarding the consideration of the police officers, that started back in October and was

deferred by a motion of Council and was put back on the agenda for November 12th and

again due to the lateness of the evening, it was not addressed. He spoke with Mayor

Clark while going through this agenda and it was decided to defer until a full Council

was available on December 16th.

Member Lorenzo said the minutes of the meeting said it would be postponed to this

date and Member Landry requested it to be postponed to this date. She requested

that, in the future, when the minutes reflect a decision or direction made by Council,

that it be placed on the agenda and if Council wanted to postpone it again, it would be

their prerogative to do so.

Member Lorenzo noted that, as a courtesy to Member Capello there had been two

postponements and that had resulted in a discourtesy to the Council, as they are being

asked to start the December 16th meeting earlier and it might adjourn later. She hoped

in the future there would be consideration to the full Council and not to just certain

individuals or certain applicants.

Mayor Clark said the same courtesy extended to Member Capello would be extended to

any Council member. The applicants involved were not opposed to the adjournment. It

would have been different if the applicants were not agreeable. He felt the last meeting

of the year would move along expeditiously. Mayor Clark said he offered to have three

meetings a month, which would mean shorter agendas, but there was no consensus.

Member Lorenzo noted according to their Council Organization Rules and Order of

Business "the Mayor and administration will strive to have agendas resulting in

consistent length of meetings" and she would appreciate that. If on the 16th there is

no full Council, will these items be postponed again? Mayor Clark said if a Council

member requested a postponement and the applicant was amenable, he would

cooperate with any member of Council.

Mayor Pro Tem Bononi noted there was nothing in the Council Organizational Rules

that addressed these courtesies. She thought there was a very fine line in asking for a

courtesy and crossing over into manipulating Council agendas and suggesting that a full

Council was needed for matters that do not require five Council votes in order to expend

funds. She said when she was on vacation and issues came before Council that she

was very interested in, she didn’t expect Council to change the agenda to suit her. If

Council was going to be in the habit of doing that, the Council rules should be amended

to reflect that. She said it was not a courtesy; it is meddling with our rules, suggesting

that votes are counted before issues were brought to the table and she didn’t want to

see Council move in that direction. Secondly, the length of meetings is ruled by

planning. She doesn’t have the option of the day off or to go in to work late the day after a Council meeting and to expect anyone to come in early and stay until 1:15 a.m. is not part of what we get elected to Council to do. To suggest that because different folks want to be here on a certain night, that we are going to be here until 2 am is just bad planning and has nothing to do with anything else. She didn’t feel it was a reasonable request. It had nothing to do with devotion or expectation, but it does have to do with management and she was looking for better management.

Member Landry stated Council members were elected to do a job and that they were

not governed by the clock. He thought they owed an obligation to do the best job they

could in whatever time it took to do it. He didn’t think it was a big deal and he didn’t

think it was a big deal to offer someone a courtesy so there could be a full Council with

seven viewpoints and discussion. He found nothing inappropriate about any of this.

Member Lorenzo said the Council Organizational Rules do speak to the goal of

adjourning by 11:30 PM and she expected the rules to be adhered to. She said she

would not be there until 2 AM. She devoted a lot of time to this job, but she would not

devote her life to it and she would not devote 2 AM to it because it is not reasonable to

the public, the applicants and the Council.

Vote on CM-02-12-333 Yeas: Clark, Bononi, Csordas, Landry

Nays: Lorenzo

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

SPECIAL REPORTS - None

COMMITTEE REPORTS - None

PRESENTATIONS - None

PUBLIC HEARINGS - None

REPORTS

CITY MANAGER

Consideration of starting December 16, 2002 City Council meeting earlier (e.g. 6:30p.m.)

Mr. Helwig requested Council consideration to begin the December 16th meeting earlier and suggested 6:30 PM because of the lengthy agenda. Mayor Pro Tem Bononi said she would not be here at 6:30 and Member Lorenzo said she might not be here either. Mayor Clark stated the meeting would start at 7:30 PM.

Member Csordas asked Mr. Helwig for an update on Fire Station #4 on December 16th.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

"Ringing in the Holidays" – December 5, 2002 6-9 p.m. – Main Street

Mr. Auler invited Council and residents to attend the event that will begin at 6 PM with food vendors and choir groups along the street. At 6:30 PM the first annual electric light parade will begin with 17 entries and a horse drawn carriage would be available for rides. Indoors, there will be a Kris Kringle Make-a-Gift Workshop where children can make gifts for their family members, a Jingle Bell Craft Boutique with 30 vendors and Santa will be there for photos free of charge. T-Mobile will be available with their call home free to family members program.

ATTORNEY REPORT- None

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION - None

CONSENT AGENDA (Approval/Removals)

CM-02-12-334 Moved by Bononi, seconded by Lorenzo; CARRIED

UNANIMOUSLY: To approve the Consent Agenda as

presented.

Roll Call vote on CM-02-12-334 Yeas: Clark, Bononi, Csordas, Landry, Lorenzo

Nays: None

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

A. Approval of Minutes of November 12, 2002, Regular meeting

Approval of Minutes of November 25, 2002, Regular meeting

B. Approval of claims and accounts on Warrant 638

MATTERS FOR COUNCIL ACTION – PART I

1. Approval of Fiscal Year 2002/2003 Fee Schedule for Birchler Arroyo to provide Professional Traffic and Planning Services. (Consultant Review Committee recommendation)

 

CM-02-12-335 Moved by Landry, seconded by Csordas; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:

To approve Fiscal Year 2002/2003 Fee Schedule for Birchler Arroyo

to provide Professional Traffic and Planning Services. (Consultant

Review Committee recommendation)

DISCUSSION

Member Lorenzo asked if the committee endorsed the rate change for Mr. Arroyo? Mayor Clark responded that they did. She asked if there was any consideration for the rate that he would charge to attend Planning Commission, Council or other meetings? Mr. Helwig said it would be the same. Member Lorenzo commented that her expectation was that if the consultant prepared a review, that consultant should be at the meeting that is considering the application for the review. She was disappointed that Mr. Arroyo was not present when the Planning Commission reviewed the site plan for the Novi Expo Center. Mr. Pearson stated he would check the minutes, but thought Mr. Arroyo was in attendance.

Roll call vote on CM-02-12-335 Yeas: Clark, Bononi, Csordas, Landry, Lorenzo

Nays: None

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

2. Acceptance of streets and utilities in the Bristol Corners West Subdivision No. 3 and adoption of Act 51 New Street Resolution confirming acceptance of streets in Bristol Corners West Subdivision No. 3.

Member Csordas asked if the bond was enough to cover whatever happened at the end?

Mr. Pearson said yes, the punch list item was well below that. These streets have been built for sometime and in the past, Council has said that the full two years would not be necessary if the City hasn’t accepted the streets and they have already been in place. In this case the developer is offering to renew another full two-year maintenance bond.

Member Csordas asked Mr. Helwig how his streets were holding up. He said fine, but there was some spalling of concrete in Phase II but not in Phase III and that needed to be attended to.

CM-02-12-336 Moved by Csordas, seconded by Lorenzo; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY:

To accept streets and utilities in the Bristol Corners West

Subdivision No. 3 and adoption of Act 51 New Street Resolution

confirming acceptance of streets in Bristol Corners West

Subdivision No. 3.

DISCUSSION

Mayor Pro Tem Bononi noted we seem to be absent an engineer’s actual certification with the engineer’s seal with regard to the acceptance of the streets as constructed. She didn’t know that the qualification of the persons name listed as an observer got anywhere near that certification. She wanted to see Council move forward with regard to an engineer’s

certification for all public improvements that Council accepted. She asked if they were any where near that process. She also asked for an update.

Ms. McLain said they had been working on that language and she was looking at it along with Haim Schlick and it had been sent over to JCK to see if there was any additional language that was needed. She expected it to be ready to go to the attorneys within a week or two. The final acceptance for the document would be shortly after the beginning of the new year if not the middle of January. Mayor Pro Tem Bononi said she would look forward to it.

Roll call vote on CM-02-12-336 Yeas: Bononi, Csordas, Landry, Lorenzo, Clark

Nays: None

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

3. Authorization to prepare a 2-year Professional Services Agreement with Nordstrom Samson Associates for Façade Architectural Services. (Consultant Review Committee recommendation)

CM-02-12-337 Moved by Lorenzo, seconded by Bononi; CARRIED

UNANIMOUSLY: To approve authorization to prepare a 2-year

Professional Services Agreement with Nordstrom Samson Associates for Façade Architectural Services. (Consultant Review Committee recommendation)

DISCUSSION

Member Csordas asked if this was one of the issues where our current consultant was required not to do any business within the City? Mayor Clark said this is strictly dealing with the Façade Architectural Services. The committee has not interviewed candidates for the Civil Engineering portion. Member Csordas asked if that was required for façade?

Mr. Pearson said he understood that was a longstanding desire and practice for obvious reasons, but he had not seen anything where that is an absolute requirement of the Council. He said given approval tonight, he would try to formalize that in the services agreement Council would see on the 16th. The Consultant Review Committee said they would like to have that kind of clause. The recommended firm Nordstrom Samson is doing work such as Fire Station #4 and obviously there are some projects that would have to be grandfathered in and he would work with them regarding whether or not that is an absolute ban on any independent work in the City or if there could be some accommodation made for special projects or instances. Member Csordas said he knew it was a longstanding policy. He was glad to hear that the Consultant Review Committee was considering continuing it, as there was probably value to it to avoid conflict of interest.

Roll call vote on CM-02-12-337 Yeas: Csordas, Landry, Lorenzo, Clark, Bononi

Nays: None

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

 

4. Authorization to prepare a 2-year Professional Services Agreement with Tilton & Associates for Environmental Wetland Services. (Consultant Review Committee recommendation)

CM-02-12-338 Moved by Bononi, seconded by Lorenzo; CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY: To approve authorization to prepare a

2-year Professional Services Agreement with Tilton &

Associates for Environmental Wetland Services. (Consultant

Review Committee recommendation)

Roll call vote on CM-02-12-388 Yeas: Landry, Lorenzo, Clark, Bononi, Csordas

Nays: None

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

5. Approval of Time Warner Franchise Transfer request – Southwest Oakland

Cable Commission (SWOCC)

CM-02-12-389 Moved by Csordas, seconded by Landry; CARRIED

UNANIMOUSLY: To approve the Time Warner Franchise

Transfer request – Southwest Oakland Cable Commission

(SWOCC)

DISCUSSION

Member Lorenzo asked if the $45,000 represented the full amount of outstanding fees?

Member Csordas said that was debated. There was an audit done by SWOCC, which landed in the $94,000 to $96,000 range, and there was an audit done by Time Warner that landed in the $14,000 to $15,000 range. A couple issues were in there including the question if SWOCC was entitled to a percentage of profits on the investments that the cable company derives. The bottom line was that the offer made at the meeting by the Chair of the Cable Commission was to split it in half. Member Lorenzo asked if he thought it was a fair compromise? He said yes, because it was very nebulous and the bottom line was that SWOCC had spent so much on legal fees over a two-year period that it seemed like the prudent thing to do.

Roll call vote on CM-02-12-389 Yeas: Lorenzo, Clark, Bononi, Csordas, Landry

Nays: None

Absent: Capello, DeRoche

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION - None

CONSENT AGENDA REMOVALS FOR COUNCIL ACTION - None

MAYOR AND COUNCIL ISSUES - None

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION - None

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

_______________________________ ____________________________

Richard J. Clark, Mayor Maryanne Cornelius, City Clerk

Transcribed by: ______________________________

Charlene Mc Lean

Date approved: December 16, 2002