REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NOVI
 MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2005 AT 7:00 P.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS – NOVI CIVIC CENTER – 45175 W. TEN MILE ROAD

Mayor Csordas called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.

ROLL CALL: Mayor Csordas, Mayor Pro Tem Landry, Council Members Capello, Gatt-absent/excused, Lorenzo, Nagy, Paul

ALSO PRESENT: Richard Helwig, City Manager

Clay Pearson, Assistant City Manager

Tom Schultz, City Attorney

Rob Hayes, City Engineer

Rob Petty, IT Director

Randy Auler, Director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry

Member Capello added under Mayor and Council Issues, #2 The Dredging of Village Oaks Lake.

Member Lorenzo added under Mayor and Council Issues, #3, Hummer Dealership Status of Temporary Certificate of Occupancy conditions.

Member Lorenzo added, under Presentations, Parting words.

Member Nagy added, under Mayor and Council Issues, #4 Spalding Conflict

Member Lorenzo spoke to the citizens first and foremost, saying she appreciated the opportunity to serve them for the past eight years. She asked that they stay informed and involved, as government worked best when they participated, and to keep this Council and future Councils focused on what is important.

Member Lorenzo said to her colleague’s present and past, administration, members of staff, and consultants, that she would always be very proud of the many positive accomplishments they had achieved working together. From furthering open government, improving City services, strengthening environmental protection, adopting ordinances and forming partnerships that preserve more open space, and particularly in the past six months, adopting policies, strategies, and directives that will lead Novi on a steady course of financial stability through the next decade of financial uncertainty.

Member Lorenzo spoke to the new Council and asked that they 1) remember their first obligation is to the taxpayers and fiscal responsibility 2) when funds are limited stick to the basics, 3) don’t ever take the taxpayers for granted, you will need their trust and support in the coming years and the decisions that you make can make or break that trust, and 4) stay the course. Member Lorenzo wished them all well.

Senator Cassis stated she and Speaker of the House DeRoche were present to honor two members of Council from whence both she and Speaker DeRoche once sat. Senator Cassis started with a special State of Michigan tribute for Member Lorenzo. She said she has known Member Lorenzo personally for at least twenty years and they first met through a mutual friend, Joe Brett, who was on the Planning Board of the City of Novi in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Senator Cassis said Member Lorenzo had amazing talent for attention to detail, selfless devotion, and her advocacy on the part of all Novi homeowners for almost twenty years. She is an extensive reader and researcher; she does her homework very conscientiously, and is extremely well prepared. Member Lorenzo has also had the honor of being a Planning Commissioner in our City and its Chair. Senator Cassis said they wanted to extend a very special, heartfelt thank you on behalf of all the citizens of Novi and the State of Michigan, because it is people like Member Lorenzo who give their time and volunteer so extensively that makes our communities and Novi especially, as great as they are. Thank you so much.

Speaker DeRoche said it was an honor to wish Laura Lorenzo well. She is someone he sat with on Council when sworn in in 1997. Speaker DeRoche said frequently they didn’t agree on the issues and occasionally had loud and passionate disagreements. However, he had always appreciated Member Lorenzo for her commitment to Novi. It was always two very clear, passionate, and thoughtful views on how to accomplish the same end. He said it had been a privilege to serve with her and to watch her since he has been gone, especially with the words she said for her goodbye as a Council Member to the City in reminding the people of the importance of fiscal discipline, which is something that he has taken with him from here. He said that was the original fight that he and Member Lorenzo took up at their first budget meetings. Speaker DeRoche said he operates at a different place now in a different capacity, and a lot of people have asked him because of his relative inexperience at the State level, how he kept up with the Governor when going around and around with issues, and he said she was no match for Member Lorenzo. He said it was great to serve with Member Lorenzo, to negotiate and try to take our sides of the issues, and see them all the way through for good, which he believes the Governor has in her heart as well. Speaker DeRoche said it was a privilege to serve with Member Lorenzo with her passion, and attention to details is something that he hoped the City would continue with the current Council Members and those that follow her. Member Lorenzo was presented with a tribute signed by Senator Cassis, Speaker DeRoche and Governor Jennifer Granholm.

Senator Cassis said Lou Csordas has been a member of City Council since 1999, but has lived in this community since 1978. She said he is a warm hearted man who brings people together on different sides of the issue. His wit and humor have marked his excellence and will be greatly missed. She said all his endeavors on behalf of the City have been selfless, and have had nothing more to say than to uphold the highest ideals of the City of Novi. She said his fiscal integrity stands out and she hoped along with Member Lorenzo’s contributions to that

end that all new Council Members will remember their words. Senator Cassis said on behalf of herself and Speaker DeRoche she wanted to read part of the presentation.

"Your dedication on behalf of the City of Novi has inspired all those around you. During the time that you have served, you have demonstrated qualities, adaptability, fairness and friendship to all. Lou is a true gentleman Mayor who has shown tremendous dedication to fiscal responsibility on behalf of Novi’s residents and businesses. Mayor Csordas led the City with a positive, always optimistic outlook. He respected Novi citizens and responded to their issues with concern and follow through. Mayor Csordas is well thought of and personally liked by Council colleagues, City Administrators and staff. He developed excellent working relationships with State legislators, and County officials to move Novi’s agenda forward. Thank you so much for focusing on the infrastructure improvements and supporting quality business investment in our City. You have played an active role in so many different organizations, and we find that kind of volunteerism almost immeasurable, in terms of what you have given to the City that loves you and honors you." Therefore, in support of all your efforts and all future efforts, she asked the Mayor to accept their gratitude signed by herself and Speaker DeRoche and the honorable Governor Granholm.

Speaker DeRoche echoed what Senator Cassis said. He said Mayor Csordas came in at a very turbulent time, and he couldn’t tell him the calming affect that he has had on the City of Novi. He said Mayor Csordas was elected in 1999 when we were at a crossroads, and many people in the public will never know the depth and magnitude of the decisions that had to be made to transition this City from being a small town to becoming what it had planned to become. We were compounded with decisions on how the City was going to run, and faced with legal decisions outside of our discretion. Mayor Csordas rose to that challenge, kept a steady hand, and communicated to the public an air of confidence at such an important time for our City. The voters rewarded him for that by electing him Mayor. Speaker DeRoche said he could only imagine what he has had to do over these last two years, but however much work it was, he never let on to the public that it was anything but easy for him. Speaker DeRoche said he knew it wasn’t easy, but a calming period is what the City so desperately needed in the transition. He said, as Speaker of the House, how important it was and how much he appreciated his leadership, as well as the Administration and Council, this last couple of years when the City has struggled with so many things that he remembered struggling with in 1997 and 1999 when they were having problems in Novi. Mayor Csordas’ leadership, along with those who served with him has really put those problems in the rearview mirror of the City of Novi. He wished and hoped that they could get there in the State of Michigan as well, but back here in Novi he is proud everyday to come home to cut ribbons on hospitals, roads, and all the hard work that Mayor Csordas has been a part of coming to fruition.

Speaker DeRoche said in 1999 they immediately took a liking to each other, not only professionally but personally in their endeavors, which is difficult to do sometimes in politics and he will always value his friendship. He said Mayor Csordas’ willingness to put himself forward, run for Mayor and serve these last two years have meant a lot to him and his wife Stacy. He said they wished him nothing but the best and thanked him for his public service.

Mayor Csordas said these two fine people are just an example of the people that I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with. It has been hard and a lot of fun and he thanked everyone for their kind words and for allowing him to spend time with them and the Administration. He said he has spent nine years thanking the residents, City Council, business people, the attorneys, thanking the Senator and the Speaker. He thought he had thanked everybody but one thing he had never done in nine years was thank one very special person who helped him through the whole thing. He said he made it a point to never thank her even once, because he knew he would have a chance to do it when it was most important. He said she stood by him, debated with him even though he never listened to a thing she said, but would probably have done a lot better if he had. His two sons have supported him all the way too, but he wanted to thank his wife Cheryl.

Mr. Helwig said the official ribbon cutting was at 11 A.M. this morning, and Senator Cassis, Speaker DeRoche and many others were there. The interchange is well signed and functioning well, and he thought he could say Novi is unplugged in a major way because of this improvement. He said first and foremost we are filled with gratitude to the voters of Novi, Mayor Csordas and Member Lorenzo who were involved that summer of 2000, as were many residents and businesses as part of our focus groups to recompose the road bond that the voters approved in November of 2000. It was a presidential election year and the largest turn out ever experienced in a four year cycle, and it was approved by 60%. He said that provided the wherewithal first and foremost, for the expanded neighborhood paving program, which this Council has been judiciously applying now to the tune of almost $7 million out an $18.4 million road bond plus interest earned. Also, included was the $6 million for this interchange project. He said that was five years ago, and if you ever wonder about the importance of this body, and your oversight and long range strategic thinking, he could think of no greater decision during this period of time that has produced so many dividends for our community than the way that issue was composed and presented to the voters. It is living proof that at a time when the State is suffering budget difficulties, as well as many municipalities, the Federal government is now providing the road funds that are needed, and here we are putting the finishing touches on what will be nearly $90 million of road improvements funded privately, locally and by the State and the Federal government. He was very proud of this accomplishment and saluted Council and the residents of Novi for making this happen.

Mr. Helwig extended heartfelt thanks to Member Lorenzo and Mayor Csordas for all of their hard work. He said when thinking of what they have dealt with in the last five and a half years, it has been extraordinary. Mr. Helwig said they are two outstanding people who kept giving, and giving and giving and must be leaving with a wonderful sense of accomplishment. God bless, God speed and many, many thanks.

Mayor Csordas said they are all so blessed to be very well represented in Lansing by our State Senator Nancy Cassis and by Speaker of the House Craig DeRoche. He said they were more instrumental than anyone else in making sure that the bridge was put back on the agenda and completed, and we were all very fortunate to cut that ribbon today. There were a lot of people behind that, but Senator Cassis and Speaker DeRoche were the two people who took the lead and made sure it came back and was put on the schedule.

Mr. Schultz advised Council that as of this afternoon they held the closing on the sale of the corner at Grand River and Novi Road. Mr. Quinn’s client delivered the purchase price plus the additional costs of $3,500, and we have delivered the deed.

Robyn Veros, 31135 Wellington Ct., #21303, was present to ask Council to review and change Chapter 20 of the Zoning Ordinance regarding massage therapy. She said she is a certified myo-massologist, and would like to establish a home occupation in Novi doing two disciplines called Reiki and Shiatsu. She said having looked at the City criteria this is a little different and doesn’t directly fit into massage therapy. Reiki and Shiatsu are energy based principles. She said she had a home occupation business in Farmington Hills for seven years without any problems. It was based on health and wellness, injury rehab and prevention within her scope. She used massage techniques combined with the Reiki and Shiatsu and found Reiki to be helpful to her clients. The clients she had seen were people with chronic conditions from when she had worked at physical therapy clinics, referrals and insurance company programs. She is limited in what she can do in a physical therapy clinic, because she has a different scope than a physical therapist. She said spas or salons are not necessarily about rehab or injury prevention and wellness. It is more about pampering. She said she is trying to cut the cost down so that people who really need the work can afford it. Ms. Veros said she has price locations in the business district, and for what she wants to do she would have to charge twice what she would if she had a home occupation. She is trying to work with the insurance companies to see if they can do an injury prevention and wellness program to make it affordable for people if they need to come more often, or are trying to do other things within the health care industry to lower their costs for stress management. She put together a pamphlet on the Reiki and tried to put it in more of a western scope, because it is an eastern philosophy, and would be willing to give that information to Council as well as information regarding Shiatsu.

Mayor Csordas said he is familiar with Reiki and Shiatsu, and it is a very ancient and scientific art and wished her luck with consideration of a future Council. She said she would bring the information to the City Clerk to be copied for Council.

Donna Zalewski, 39500 Orchard Hill Place, International Transmission Co., thanked Mayor Csordas for his support of the community and new businesses coming into Novi. She said he has been an ally of ITC and it has been their privilege to work with him. She said they made Mayor Csordas an honorary operator of the International Transmission Company.

Becky Staab, 41887 Cherry Hill Rod, addressed the Brooktown contract, specifically page 5 where it started with deviations from ordinance standards and #5, which is the waiver to eliminate the 6 foot berm. She said the statement was made the last time Council talked about this, that it was community to community noise. She said the home she lives in is across from the community center, which might include a tennis court, swimming pool or any other amenity they have. That won’t be neighborhood noise if the community center is rented out for parties that go into the evening. Ms. Staab said when the 50’s festival is held, they can hear the noise from their porch on Cherry Hill. So, if they can hear it from Main Street, she is sure she will hear it from the community center. Also, the buildings are placed so that they face driveways, so people in these buildings will see the lights of cars pulling in and out. Ms. Staab said they were asking Council not to eliminate the six foot berm. It says "subject to planting", they are taking out 80% of the planting and putting in new planting, which brings her to the wetland mitigation on page 7. It was brought up that because the trees have been there a long time, they acted as a sponge, and in this part you’re going to get general and unrestricted use, if they don’t mitigate on part of this property, it might cause flooding in Bishop Creek. They would not want a problem on Bishop Creek or on Cherry Hill. She said they had not seen a feasibility study to prove that when they take the trees out there won’t be flooding on Cherry Hill. They would like to know that at least for the first 5 years, the money could be used by Meadowbrook Glens residents if they have flooding in their basements or backyards. They thought Cherry Hill should be taken care of first, and then after the first five years the money that is left could go wherever else unrestricted in the City it needs to be. She said she made three calls to the Building Department to get the contract but they were unreturned. She got the contract through Ms. Place immediately.

Mayor Csordas advised there was one item to be added to the Consent Agenda, Approval to set a Public Hearing on November 14, 2005 for the 2006 Community Development Block Grant Fund Program.

Member Lorenzo removed Items E and F.

A. Approve Minutes of:

1. October 10, 2005 – Regular meeting

B. Approval of request of Novi Investment Co. I, LLC for approval of the First Amendment to Tuscany Reserve Residential Unit Development (RUD) Agreement. The subject property is located on 77 acres on the north side of Eight Mile Road and east of Garfield Road in the Residential Acreage (RA) District.

C. Approval to award the bid for the design and printing of the Recreation Guide to Johnston Litho, the lowest qualified bidder, in the amount of $27,701.

D. Approval to purchase a Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust System for Fire Stations #1, 2 and 3 from Hastings Energy Control, Inc., a sole source provider, in the amount of $65,326.59.

G. Approval of Claims and Accounts – Warrant No. 707

H. Approval to set a Public Hearing on November 14, 2005 for the 2006 Community

Development Block Grant Fund Program.

Matt Quinn said he, ADCO, the City Attorney and planning staff have worked diligently to put together the proposed Special Development Option Agreement Contract, and believed it accurately reflected the approval granted by Council with the directive that it be put into written form. They looked forward to approval of this contract. The attachments are the plans and specifications that become part of this contract, it will be signed by everyone, recorded at the Oakland County Registrar of Deeds, and would serve as the mandate for the preliminary site plans, which will follow and be approved in accordance with this Special Development Option Agreement.

Member Nagy stated, in response to the lady who spoke during audience participation, she thought the development has very carefully taken into consideration all the housing around it. Unfortunately, one of the facts of life is that we do have neighbors and there will be regular noise. She felt that Council, consultants and staff have taken into very careful consideration the questions raised.

needed. Also, add "provided that this shall not preclude an

add opacity shall be 80 winter and 90 summer. Page 4, E, "the City may require owner" change "may" to "shall"

Member Capello expressed concern with the elevations A3, A5 and A7 in the residential. He thought the problem was the way it was coming across on the blueprints. He asked if they had any color renderings tonight. He thought A7 was the worst example showing elevation C or building C. He thought a color rendering would show more roof lines and instead of a solid dark roof. Mr. Piccinini stated it’s on the new drawings, but Member Capello could go and look at one of their buildings or they

could provide photographs. There is an example of this in a development in Southgate and in Novi some of the materials and products have been upgraded per the ordinances. It works with the site and is very attractive. Member Capello was also concerned about there only being 116 sq ft. for work use. Mr. Quinn said it is 300 sq ft. or 11.5 x 26 ft.

Member Capello said he wanted to make a general amendment to the motion and wanted to make sure it worked for them. He wanted the zoning restrictions strict enough that there will be no residential uses in the work use. He said it says "to allow residential occupancy on the top two floors while requiring the ground floor portion to be primarily used for the non residential office use purposes." He asked why "primarily used" was in there. Mr. Quinn noted if an attorney had an office there he would have a couch, chair and a restroom and that is close to residential uses, so they specifically said "primarily used for", and then limit it to no sleeping. Member Capello said any residential use must be strictly incidental, and not include sleeping areas. He purposed that they strike "any residential use" and the primarily language be changed to "solely used for non residential uses." Member Capello asked if changing that language would be consistent with the uses they wanted to have in the work area. Mr. Quinn said the problem is that this is such a new area, this live/work concept. He thought it was a struggle to understand how it will work, and they didn’t want a user to be in the position of having it appear residential, and avoid a building inspector stating it appears residential. He said this language limits, and says it is principally a business purpose. Member Capello said it should only be a business purpose. Nobody is going to say it is a residential purpose if there is a chair or couch in your office. He didn’t think it would be difficult for the Building Inspector to make a determination. He said if you can’t sell this because it’s vacant, then come back to Council and we’ll fix it. We need to start with something clear enough that we know what the use is, and thought it was kind of gutsy to start with that anyway, but if you are going to do it, you need to do it right.

Member Capello said you are either going to have it for office or not and asked them to make up their mind now. Mr. Piccinini stated they definitely didn’t want any storage and they didn’t want it to be someone’s bedroom, and that will be in the deed restrictions. Member Capello said instead of using "solely for non residential office" allow for a home office. Is that what you are getting at? Mr. Piccinini said it might be a manufacture’s rep that doesn’t have a lot of people coming. Also, there must be signage on the office, which will be in the condo documents too. Member Capello said let’s just include home office language in the uses to make sure that it is clear, take out primarily and say "solely" and allow home office use, and take out any residential use to the ground floor

must be strictly incidental, and add some sort of sign designating the business use is required."

Member Nagy asked how this will be taxed if the word home office is in there. Mr. Lemmon stated since this is a new concept he would have to look into this. Member Nagy said she read the agreement and didn’t have a problem with it, and didn’t know if she wanted to put home office in there. She felt this was different from a home office, and wasn’t comfortable with it saying home office. Mr. Lemmon stated if someone has an office in their home, it’s an incidental use to the residential nature of the property.

Member Nagy said she doesn’t like the word home office; it is a new use. This area is a live/work unit so the person would live on top and have an office on the bottom. She asked Mr. Schultz for suggestions to alleviate the use of "home office".

Mr. Schultz said they had originally taken the easy way out, and had the first draft say solely non residential. If asked the question by Mr. Lemmon, he would suggest that the first floor is commercial, commercial office and not residential. Then he would have to do a calculation based on the area and value of the whole structure, but it would not be like the typical area set aside in your own home. In terms of how to deal with the home office question, he wondered if the use of that term "home office" was immediately inconsistent with saying it is non residential. It is a little different to say it shall not preclude a use that doesn’t have traffic to the building but has characteristics similar to a home office, like computers and equipment related to the business. Maybe a different term with that idea there, as he thought there would be some potential users that don’t get a lot of traffic, but you could see that it was a separate part from their home.

Mr. Schultz said they could try to change the language tonight, but he thought he had an idea of what Member Capello wanted. Member Capello said he thought they understood that home office was used to identify that they are not having customers and clients coming through the door on a daily basis.

Member Nagy said she would prefer not to accept the language. Member Capello asked if they could accept the concept with the language coming back to Council with that understanding at the time of site plan approval. Member Nagy, maker of the motion said she would accept that.

Mr. Schultz said what he was contemplating was he would make the change and send it out in an off week packet to make sure there are no objections. He said of the three changes he heard, two of them are easily dealt with. The change "primarily" to solely, remove the language about residential use being strictly incidental, and put language in that says there has to be a sign appropriate to the business approved by the Building official. Then the only question would be the language about the home office, which they can try to do at the table or they can take away the spirit of it, as he understood it is "provided that this shall not preclude an office use where no regular customer traffic occurs but other typical instruments of an office are present and no residential use of the first floor."

Member Capello asked if it could be approved with general language like that. Mr. Schultz suggested that if there is agreement to that being the spirit, Council could approve it with that change, and work on the language with Mr. Quinn, and he would circulate that to Council Thursday. Member Capello said they had talked about signage, that wall or window signage is required and permitted, so they would not have to come back for variances. He said that is the rest of his motion.

Mayor Csordas asked if the maker of the motion accepted that amendment. Member Nagy said she did.

Member Lorenzo said her concern was more about taxation. If it is commercial it should be taxed on commercial, because commercial gives the City more taxes than residential. She wanted to be sure there was a very clear distinction that it is taxed commercially and not residentially. She would eliminate any home office in there, it is an office use, non residential and it should be left at that, and then there would be no confusion.

Member Lorenzo expressed other concerns. On page 4, letter E, "the city may require owner to provide reasonable performance and financial guarantees for the completion of improvements", change may to "shall". On page 8, she asked the applicant if the roads were intended to be public or private. Mr. Piccinini said the internal roads in the condominium are going to be private. Member Lorenzo suggested that Mr. Schultz include language similar to what was accomplished in Tuscany, making sure that the ownership and the City understands that it is private so that there is no misunderstanding in future years, and the people come in and request that they be made public.

Member Lorenzo said in regard to Mrs. Staab’s concern regarding the buffering, it was her understanding that the buffering was going to be enhanced in order to meet the opacity requirements. She asked where that was in the agreement.

Mr. Schultz said it was covered on page 7, VIII Landscaping. Member Lorenzo added opacity shall be 80 winter and 90 summer. She explained to Ms. Staab that the buffer area would be enhanced to meet those requirements. If not, they would get a six foot berm, and she assumed that all of the buffering would have to be removed in order to accomplish a landscaped berm. However, what they are trying to accomplish is to

maintain the natural buffer and enhance it to meet the requirements. Member Lorenzo said with that she would support the project.

Mr. Schultz asked whether or not that was a formal amendment. Member Lorenzo said she would make that a friendly amendment to the motion, and Member Nagy accepted.

Member Paul said she was very excited about this project and thought it was great that they had a large assembled piece of property. It is attractive, it is a new use and to have that live/work space will be very positive. She thanked them for the proposed wetland mitigation, the proposal to enhance Bishop Creek, and the increased opacity for residents on Cherry Hill.

Mayor Pro Tem Landry agreed with all previous comments, and will be looking very closely at the preliminary site plan for the opacity requirements of 80-90, as he knew that would go a long way with the residents to the south. He said with respect to the live/work units, he would rather restrict them to non-residential use and have the

individual people deal with it. He would rather have the more stringent language and deal with the individual cases as they arise.

Mayor Csordas thanked the applicant for bringing this kind of development to the City. He thought it was very interesting and unique, and thought it would be an outstanding project.

Matt Quinn said he was the seventh Mayor of this City and noted he appointed Laura Lorenzo to the Planning Commission. He thanked her for her dedication to the citizens of Novi for the last 13 years. He said Mayor Csordas is the tenth Mayor of the City, and there is no doubt that he has kept up the tradition and character of his predecessors. As the figure head in charge of the City of Novi, he has done an outstanding job and he thought all of his predecessors are proud of his accomplishments, the way he carried himself, and proud of the way he ran the Council.

Member Capello said it seemed that they knew when this project was undertaken, before any testing was done, that the road had problems, the base of the road had problems and there were drainage problems. He said everything in this memo now indicating that there is a change of scope, is nothing new to him. He wondered why something that he knew driving down the road is new to the engineers.

Mr. Helwig said on August 22^nd this matter was discussed further with Council after the soil boring tests had been made. The policy direction was given that it would be a complete reconstruction rather than a repaving. So, it involves a new base, three lanes, curb and gutter and storm sewer. He said their task then was to bring to Council a financial plan for that scope of work. This was the last road project that Council added to the Capital Improvement Program and the Taft Road project was moved off to accommodate it. It was $785,000. The estimate now to do this complete reconstruction in the spring, and it would overlap the fiscal years, is now $1,663,000, which is more than double. The engineering work will be presented by Mr. Hayes. Mr. Helwig said this was ready for Council’s consideration in August, and Council asked that a financial plan be put together on how this would be paid for.

Member Capello said he specifically remembered, because of budget time, they had heavy discussions, and he ended up with a compromise from Council for the third lane. He thought at that time, they discussed using curb and gutter and closing the open storm water drainage system. He asked if the engineering contract was awarded before all those discussions took place. Mr. Helwig said it was awarded after but it was strictly presented as a repaving, it was not presented as a reconstruction. Mr. Helwig said they didn’t know what the sub-base produced until they tested it, and the $785,000 was a wild guess at that time. It was an add on at the end of the budget discussions, and they didn’t know what the depth of that would be. He said they returned to Council in August and they knew, going that route, the engineering fees would be increased.

Member Capello said when the engineering contract was awarded, did we know we were going to put curb and gutter and underground storm sewer in. Mr. Helwig said yes, but we did not know we were going to completely remove the sub-base. Member Capello asked if this should be sent out for re-bid, and asked if any money had been spent with Fishbeck up to date. Mr. Helwig said yes, in terms of the first contract that was awarded to them, and brought back the information for Council’s August policy decision.

Mr. Hayes said Fishbeck has done the survey and geotechnical work for the mile length of road. Member Capello asked if they had spent the full $87,559 in the first contract.

Dave Eno said the original design budget was approximately $40,000 including geotechnical work, and of that approximately $30,000 has been spent. $10,000 of that was geotechnical and the remainder was preparation of the base plans. The original intent was to try to build something this year; so we proceeded quickly until they discovered how bad the soils were, and then work was stopped.

Member Capello said wouldn’t they have known that as soon as the soil borings came back. Mr. Eno replied yes. Member Capello said isn’t that the first thing you do. Mr. Eno said the original intent was to build this job in October so the survey and preliminary design was started before the geotechnical information was available. Mr. Eno said they were working under the assumptions that the existing pavement could be maintained, and build adjacent to it to widen the road. As soon as the soil information was received it was passed on to Mr. Hayes and the engineering department for review.

Mr. Hayes said the work in the first engineering contract, which included a lot of the preliminary design work, has essentially been completed. Because they have expanded the scope they have doubled the construction costs with is a similar increase in the engineering fees. In fact they have a little more than doubled, because of the increased inspection time that will be done. He said Mr. Eno estimated the design level of effort is about double, but the construction inspection, because we are going with full reconstruction over a full mile and over three full lanes, is going to be almost three times as much. He said that is why there is not a linear increase in costs as compared to what the construction costs are going to be. They are well into the preliminary design and if approval is granted this evening they will continue on with the full design of this scope.

Member Capello was concerned that they went that far with the design before the soil tests came back. He said Council knew, without engineering reports, there was trouble with the underlying conditions of the road. He said it was obvious. He also thought that only half way down was Novi’s responsibility and asked if that had changed now. Mr. Hayes said no, that was the original scope and it is the same today, which is to go from 8 Mile to 9 Mile. Member Capello thought there had been discussion that only half of that was Novi’s liability and the other half was Northville’s. Mr. Hayes said from 81/2 Mile to 8 Mile the eastern half of the right-of-way is the City of Northville’s responsibility. Member Capello asked if we were constructing that portion and if Northville was contributing. Mr. Hayes said they indicated they were willing to consider making a contribution when they do their budget meeting in early 2006, but they didn’t make any commitment.

Member Lorenzo referred to a memo from Ms. McBeth to Mr. Hayes dated April 14, 2005 and quoted "we have a lot of alternatives here and this is the one we chose. Widen Beck to three lanes over a one mile distance. The alternative would include the mill overlay option above plus the addition of a third lane to allow a center left turn lane."

She said it talked about adequate right-of-way and "a conservative estimate of costs for the alternative is $785,000 for engineering and construction". Then Fishbeck was hired, they did soil borings, and now we are looking at a $1.6 million project. She agreed

with the previous speaker that the soil borings should have been done first so that they knew what they were looking at. Mr. Hayes said that is exactly what they did. She asked how much they cost. Mr. Hayes said about $10,000. She asked how much of

that contract was spent, and Mr. Hayes said approximately $30,000 and there is about $40,000 left.

Member Lorenzo said she was very much in favor of this project, but what changed everything for her was Ms. Smith-Roy’s memo dated October 11, 2005. She said her

rule is it is always about priorities, and if we do this we will probably not have much if any money for the neighborhood road program next spring and summer. Ms. Smith-Roy’s memo said "based on estimates, the total funds available is $1.9 million". Member Lorenzo said she strongly recommends setting aside 10% of that for contingency for the current year’s expenditures, which would leave $891,000, which would have to last this Council until June 30, 2006. She said in August of 2006 she expects $2.3 million to be coming in which has to last until June 30, 2007 and there is $891,000 left out of this year. We have been spending $1.5 million for neighborhood streets for the last five years. Member Lorenzo recommended that this project be postponed and this next Council dedicates much of these funds to neighborhood streets. The Council will also have roughly an additional $900,000 in the General Fund, because when all was said and done the General Fund was left with $900,000 over our 14% goal. She said the pledge, adopted by Council, states that the monies can be used towards the Headlee rollback, neighborhood streets, and the unfunded health care liability. She thought the project should be postponed until the next budget. She strongly recommended setting a side a large part of it for neighborhood streets, then looking at whatever is left with the General Fund overage and road funds, and come up with a plan of putting some towards the unfunded liability and some towards streets. She thought there might be staffing problems at Station #4 and possibly a sleepover program that might have to be instituted. She felt these things were the priorities in the next fiscal year.

Member Capello asked if her motion was to postpone the decision on the issue, which he felt was appropriate, but not a motion to postpone the project. Member Lorenzo said, in effect, that’s what this does. Mayor Pro Tem Landry withdrew his motion and the seconder accepted.

Member Nagy agreed with the motion and the comments made. She was also disappointed with the cost, and she recommended that this be re-bid when it is

addressed again. She said there had been some enhancements made at Nine Mile and Beck and she thought they would last a while. She thought some wise financial choices had to be made, and with the road bond that retired this year, she thought it might have to be held off.

Mr. Helwig said the DPW has been doing some very thin overlays near Providence Hospital and the area under discussion this evening, which are intended to get through

another winter. They are not intended to do anything more than that. They look great but will not last beyond this winter. This is the type of compression of funds that is happening in terms of roads now that the five year road bond is coming to this point.

Member Paul asked if they would pursue this project between now and budget time if Northville will contribute. She felt it was fair that they have some financial wherewithal to put into this budget. We have improved lights that have enhanced their areas as well. We could look forward to discussion with Northville, look for some financial

commitment, and then move forward with this in our budget time frame. She did think Beck Road is of need and we also stopped the pursuit of paving Taft for the same reasons. Member Paul said Council would have some important decisions to move forward on the streets, but if Northville will contribute she would like that information for the next go around.

Caren Collins, SWOCC, said the City of Farmington Hills has already passed such a resolution and cities across the country are passing these kinds of resolutions because the telephone companies are asserting that it is so difficult to obtain a franchise in a city, and cities are barriers to entry. This is totally not true, and this would be a strong statement from the City that we do invite and want competition.

Member Lorenzo said she has seen a lot of statements on the motion sheet, in attorney’s letter and in correspondence from Mr. Hayes with regard to the condition of the streets. However, what she doesn’t see is a letter from Mr. Hayes’ department or a letter from DPW specifically calling out an inspection and condition of the streets. She asked if that was available.

Mr. Hayes said they have reports provided by our consulting engineer, JCK, which document that the condition of the streets is acceptable. Member Lorenzo asked when he received that. Mr. Hayes said late 2004. She asked if anyone had inspected those streets this year. Mr. Hayes said there have been several visual inspections of the streets to verify that the conditions are essentially the same as they were back in late 2004. She asked what condition they are in, were they cracked, pot holes, spauling, pitting or other deteriorations. Mr. Hayes said there are, because there will always be some degree of cracking whether or not there is construction on going or not. He said he and Mr. Staup were out inspecting today, and found a total of three transverse cracks in the whole subdivision. There were a couple of curbs with minor cracks, but over all the condition of the streets are very acceptable.

Member Lorenzo asked why the homeowner’s association or the petitioner weren’t responsible for those cracks prior to acceptance. Mr. Hayes said that is one way to approach the situation. She said that is the way this Council has been consistently approaching it in the last year or two. Mr. Hayes thought it was such an insignificant issue, three minor hairline cracks in the surface course in an entire subdivision, that it really didn’t warrant requiring the petitioner to go out and make that repair. Member Lorenzo asked what he thought the life expectancy was of these streets. Mr. Hayes said they would normally expect 18 years. She figured these roads should have 14 or 15 more years and Mr. Hayes agreed.

Member Lorenzo asked what ability of the roads to withstand construction traffic meant. Mr. Hayes said it means that the roads were designed properly and in accordance with our City standards, which are fairly stringent, and if they meet those two criteria they can withstand construction traffic. This means heavy trucks and any wheeled vehicle on the streets. Now tracked vehicles, such as bulldozers, excavators, etc., are a different story. She asked if he could guarantee Council tonight that the condition of the roads today would not be any different after the construction of the 40 plus homes that are to be built. Mr. Hayes said no one could certify that because he didn’t know the type of vehicles or loads that a contractor would put on the streets in the future. He said as long as the loads are not exceeded he could certify that, but there is no way to verify that we don’t have excessive loading imposed on those streets. He said that’s why there is a $5,000 bond per lot/construction site that is the responsibility of the builders, and is why there is a $30,000 soil erosion bond that is being converted over to a site restoration bond and a maintenance and guarantee bond.

Member Lorenzo said it was her understanding that the $160,000 for the $5,000 per lot pertains to damage to individual building sites. She said that won’t address the extra wear and tear from construction vehicles and equipment on all of the streets. Mr. Hayes said that would pertain just to the road directly in front of that parcel. Member Lorenzo said the only way she would support this is if there was a very clear understanding between the homeowners in Park Place and the City of Novi that if we are going to accept these streets, knowing there will be heavy construction vehicles on them for the duration of construction, there needs to be a clear understanding that the City will not be responsible to reconstruct those streets for the 15 years. It is unfortunate that the developer has left the neighborhood and the City at a disadvantage. It is a matter of fairness that the older subdivisions, because of normal wear and tear are due rehabilitation before brand new subdivisions with premature deterioration because of construction vehicles. Member Lorenzo made a motion to accept the streets with the proviso that there is a clear understanding between the developer, the homeowners association, the City and City Council that the streets will not be rehabilitated or reconstructed within 15 years.

Member Lorenzo said the City has an expensive patchmobile that would be available to all subdivisions not on the immediate list for reconstruction.

A resident wanted to speak and Mayor Csordas accommodated him.

President of Park Place Homeowners Subdivision said there have been a lot of concerns about the condition of the streets. He thought it was critical to understand that the position of the homeowners association is that they expect whoever is responsible for the streets to see to it that when construction is done they are in proper order. He said to wait for a 15 year period for repair of damages that might occur, is just not acceptable.

Member Nagy noted her roads are private and are asphalt and asphalt does not last 18 years. There are also times when asphalt does crack and it has to be filled, and she assumed that the patchmobile could do that. She didn’t think Member Lorenzo was excluding a cosmetic repair like that. She said excessive loading during the summer months could cause damage and imprint the asphalt. She thought that the intention of the motion was that every 2 or 3 years fine hairline cracks could be repaired. It isn’t that Council doesn’t want you to have any reconstruction it’s just that there are subdivisions that have priorities for paving.

Member Paul said she appreciated the predicament they are in. They had snow removal by an error in the City, and then the City realized their error, and the snow removal was pulled. The developer said they would not do snow removal for them so they had to have the snow removal done privately. She asked about a catch basin that was failing and asked Mr. Hayes if that was still a problem. Mr. Hayes said there were areas of the storm system where it was backing up, and it was a problem with the silt

sacks not being cleaned out, and they have since been cleaned out. Member Paul said she would support accepting these roads because she didn’t want to get into another winter where these residents have difficulty. Member Paul said she wanted to make

sure that the $160,000 plus the $30,000 will do some repair if there is something major that happens to these roads. She said the money will be put in escrow and will earn interest, and asked Mr. Hayes if he was comfortable that amount would cover a major repair. Mr. Hayes said the construction has been ongoing for four years, the sub is about two thirds built out and he saw no evidence of any damage by any construction traffic during the last four years. He said if there happens to be any damage hopefully it will occur in front of a building site so it can be assigned to the builder. Any other areas, common areas or areas that are already built out would be covered by the $30,000 bond and if it is a defect it would be covered by the maintenance bond. He stated he is comfortable with the financial bonds in place. Member Paul asked if there was any more money remaining from the developer. Mr. Schultz stated he didn’t believe so. Member Paul asked how much is in the bonds. Mr. Schultz stated the $30,000 will be a bond, no cash, the $5,000 is posted by each builder for each building permit and then is kept by the City until final C of O, at which point they get those deposits back. Ms. Smith-Roy said all escrow accounts interest is posted to the General Fund interest; it is not site or project specific. Member Paul said she would support the motion because she didn’t them to have health, safety and welfare issues in their subdivision.

Member Capello spoke with Doug Necci, from their subdivision, for the last year about this. He said if the City accepts these streets the City will plow them, but there will be no requirement that the City or the developer will be responsible to repair the streets as a result of any construction damage. He said that would be taken care of out of the $5,000 bond that each new home builder will post. He said the City can’t be out there all the time, so if a homeowner sees damages, contact the City so we can try to use this bond to repair the street. Let other homeowners know and help us monitor it.

Mayor Pro Tem Landry said every lot builder would post $5,000 and is only responsible for damage to the road that touches their lot, and the $30,000 Soil Erosion Sedimentation Bond will shift into a right-of-way bond. So if that particular builder’s truck traffic destroys something four or five houses down the way that’s an already built house, we can go after that $30,000 bond to make that repair. Mr. Hayes said he was correct and Mayor Pro Tem Landry said he would support the motion. Mr. Schultz stated the ordinance creates a presumption that if it’s in front of that house it is the builders fault for that house. If we were able to identify a builder who did damage elsewhere, the City would take the position, he presumed that the City would use that $5,000, with proof.

CONSENT AGENDA REMOVALS FOR COUNCIL ACTION: Consent Agenda items which have been removed for discussion and/or action.

Member Lorenzo said there appeared to be a discrepancy between a letter from Mr. Gillam, dated October 7^th, in which he indicated that the software license agreement, which is non

exclusive and non transferable by the City, authorizes the City to install and use TAN Software at a cost of $3,735, discounted from $22,500. Then in the material tonight it says $8,775, who can explain that discrepancy. Mr. Petty said what we have is a company that is going through a transition. They recently purchased Class, the original company was Active Networks which has our Rec Ware software that we currently use. As a result of that they are meshing their accounting systems and what we have is what we have had all along with a fixed price of $35,000 for the project. He said we set forth what our goals were, they came back with that $35,000 number and it was within our budget. Mr. Petty said what is going on now is a little bit of shifting on their part to fit our goal into their pricing scheme that they committed to previously. He said that is where the difference is in those numbers. The overall dollar amount has not changed.

Member Lorenzo said her concern was that if something was supposed to cost $3,735, from her perspective, when we allocated up to $35,000 it was up to $35,000, and obviously if we can get it for less then that’s what this Council expects to do. She said $3,735 is less than $8,775 and she didn’t understand the shifting. Mr. Petty said normally you’d get a pricing and at the bottom you’d get the discount. He said for some reason they break it up into three different factors, which is their maintenance, service hours and their licensing. Under the new system they are only allowed to apply a discount to their licensing. Member Lorenzo said so in other words we were going to get a break and then they merged with another company, and can’t give as great a discount. Mr. Petty said no, they are giving the same discount. They are just giving us a portion of it under the licensing, and then they are reconfiguring the serviceable hours they are going to provide to produce the results of the project. Member Lorenzo asked where the City would receive the rest of the discount, in terms of the dollar amount. Mr. Petty said the service hours have been reduced from the original amount of $25,640 to $20,600. Member Lorenzo said that explains that, and asked if the $20,000 and the $8,000 were one time costs. Mr. Petty said absolutely. She asked how long he expected this to be viable. Mr. Petty said one of the advantages to their maintenance policy is they refer to it as an evergreen policy. He said the City would continue, based on our maintenance fees, to get not only incremental updates, but if there is a full product revision, we get that at no charge.

Member Lorenzo said she read Mr. Gillam’s letter, and became aware that there is going to be a yearly maintenance charge of $5,625. She said Council was not informed of that when they first endeavored to purchase this, however, at this point it is what it is. Mr. Petty said they currently pay a maintenance cost for the existing program that is similar. Member Lorenzo said then basically that is a wash and Mr. Petty said it is fairly close and over time he would have expected to pay a little more. Member Lorenzo said with regard to the fees they will be charging "when transactions are entered by a member of the agency", who is the agency. Mr. Petty said the contract is used for two different purposes. They offer a service where you can

move the entire program to their organization, they will do everything and a fee would be incurred on every transaction. Member Lorenzo said then #5 of the Hosted Global Services Agreement doesn’t apply to us. Mr. Petty said the convenience fee does apply, meaning if he went online and registered for an activity, there would be a convenience fee associated with that. If the transaction is under $150 there is a 6 ½% plus fifty cents convenience fee. She said if it is between $150 and $500 it is 3.5%, and Mr. Petty said correct. Member Lorenzo said then it will cost our citizens for the convenience of doing business on line and Mr. Petty

said correct, and he had found through his research that it is an acceptable practice. Mr. Petty said they can still walk in and register here and not pay a fee over and above the registration.

Member Lorenzo asked how this would be promoted and would the citizens be aware that a fee would be charged if they registered online. Mr. Auler said that would be included in the promotion material, in the recreation guide, and would be added online.

Mr. Helwig said the next issue of Update Novi will have an article about this and all this information will be included.

Member Capello asked who was making the determination that our citizens have to pay a fee to use the convenience of the online system. We pay enough in taxes and asked why there had to be a charge to use it. He asked if that was something that should have been decided at budget time, as opposed to just telling us that the residents would pay more money.

Mr. Helwig said if you are going to offer online it is like offering credit card services. Anything that makes it easier for the individual to not have to come to City Hall there is a convenience fee. It is a transaction, it needs to be processed, and there is overhead associated with it so there’s a user fee for the ability to use it. He said we do the same thing in finance if you pay your property taxes with a credit card. Member Capello asked if it was a fee that we are charged by an outside entity or are we making money on the registration.

Mr. Petty said we will receive our entire activity registration fee, and that is what the company is charging to provide that service. Member Capello said then we are just passing on the fee that we are charged, and Mr. Petty said yes.

Member Lorenzo said the information on the sheet Council received says "as previously discussed in the 2005-2006 City Council budget discussions, the staffing levels of the department will be reduced by one position by attrition, by virtue of going through this process."

Member Lorenzo said that it appeared that the original contract was $290,283.53 and the total construction expenditures were $332,439.11, which appears to be a $42,156 over budget and she asked why. Mr. Hayes said they transferred the contract for the boxed beams, which was a separate contract. It appeared there was one contract but there were two.

Mayor Csordas said he forwarded this to Mr. Helwig to place in the packets for Council’s information. He said that did not mean that he supported this, but he had promised he would bring this to the attention of Council, and they could do whatever they wished. He asked if Council wanted to consider it.

Member Capello thought the concept was something worth pursuing but was not in favor of this particular project. There’s a company with five or six acres of land, they can cut down a thousand trees, build a building, and replant those thousand trees or leave them and give us parkland. The issue is what value the parkland is to us. We have a lot of money in the Tree Replacement Fund and have used it for something contradictory to the Tree Replacement Fund; we have used it to replace street trees. He said we need to do that, but it’s not truly what the fund should have been used for. That being said he didn’t think there was much difference in using tree replacement money to buy additional parkland, which we really would be doing in offsetting these trees. Member Capello said he didn’t like their project but thought it was something worth looking at in the future. We could create a partnership with developers to acquire additional parkland for the City. He would like to see it come back in about 60 days when thing settle down, and we can take another look at it on a policy basis not on a particular basis for Northern Equities.

Member Lorenzo said she didn’t support this for all of the reasons that both Mr. Shipman and our woodlands consultant expressed. Basically, we do use the monies out of the tree fund for the street tree program, it is replacing trees and trees are trees. We don’t usually replace woodlands with that money, we usually replace trees. This Council, about four to six weeks ago, adopted a policy that for the long term future the City would be responsible for the replacement of street trees, since they are in public

right-of-way and not on private property. This is a City sponsored endeavor of the street trees within the subdivisions. She said she is a proponent of open space, but she thought they have been told by the residents of Novi that street tree replacement is a very high priority to them. It is all about priorities. She would not support this concept because it would do damage to the ordinance and tree replacement. This piece of property is probably unbuildable as Mr. Shipman and the consultants stated, and she thought that this property might be offered to the City anyway. This would not be the right path for the next Council to take in accordance to what residents tell us over and over again that their priority is street tree replacement.

Member Nagy agreed with Member Lorenzo’s comments. She reminded Council to think about the fact that we have parkland and parks now that we are not able to totally fund. So, she thought it was a matter of priorities and Council needs to take care of what we have before purchasing something else. Member Nagy noted it was not in accordance with our woodlands ordinances.

Mayor Csordas said there is no support for this issue.

2. The Dredging of Village Oaks Lake – Member Capello

Member Capello said a letter went out to Lakewood residents from the President and Vice President of the Lakewood community. It expressed some concerns in regard to the dredging of Village Oaks Lake this coming spring. Village Oaks Lake is abutted by Lakewood and Village Oaks Subdivision. He said the letter concerned him because the letter advised the residents that 1.35 acres of muck coming out of the lake when it’s dredged would be placed on Lakewood Property and left there for months during the summertime so they couldn’t utilize the park area and there would be an odor. He asked what is going on with that.

Mr. Helwig said he heard of this concern from Member Nagy several months ago. He said no bids were received the first time around so the proposal to the neighborhood association had been to do as Member Capello had said. Mr. Helwig said that is all up for grabs now as we go through the winter months, we still have to work with the neighborhood, and it is still unclear whether we even have the right to use the land we are talking about. This is all in a rethink mode. We have learned a lot from the Meadowbrook Road dredging and at this point it is to be continued and to be further discussed as we approach the next construction season. He asked if there was any way to haul the muck that is probably 90% water, other than bringing it up on shore and letting it dry out. Mr. Hayes stated a hydraulic dredge (vacuum) would take it to the shore and the muck would be placed into geo-textile bags and then allowed to free drain out of the holes in the geo-textile back toward the lake. This would be a 1 to 2 month process with the goal of having everything completed by late May. It would be a batch process; as one bag is drained and hauled off they will start filling the next one. Member Capello asked if there were enough residents complaining that they don’t want their lake dredged and to leave it as is. Mr. Hayes said the consensus is they want it done.

Mr. Helwig stated there has been a lot of news coverage of this process at Quarton Lake in Birmingham, which went on for two construction seasons. They did onsite

dewatering of the sledge and muck and it took much longer than anticipated. He thought our staff has watched the pros and cons of how they did it and how it could be applied here. There needs to be continued dialogue with the neighborhoods involved. It has to go back out to bid again, and it has to have revised specs, because there were no bidders last time. This will all be coming back to City Council for review.

Member Nagy stated this was proposed on their site before, and a lot of research has been done by the association on how the pond muck would affect them. When the President and Vice President went to the meeting they were not given the opportunity, by the Board of Directors, to make a decision as they were in the past, as to whether or

not they wanted that on their property. Member Nagy said they were told it was going to be placed on their property. She said there is a great concern in her area, not because they don’t want the lake dredged because we don’t have use of the shoreline, or boats, but Village Oaks Lake homeowners want their lake dredged, and they have a park area as well. However, that was never an area they asked to used, it was our area and probably because it is the easier access. Member Nagy said they do want it dredged, but the concern the association has is that there are a lot of things that can come into play for that two or three month period. This is their concern, and when the time comes they will address that concern.

Mayor Pro Tem Landry stated the City would do everything in its power to make sure there would be no smelly muck on anyone’s property for any length of time. Mr. Helwig said that is a given, and a process has to be worked out that is in sync with the neighborhood. Mayor Pro Tem Landry said that will happen before anything comes to Council and Mr. Helwig agreed.

Member Paul asked when the project would go out to bid. Mr. Hayes stated there would be revised specifications ready to go out on the street by early winter, probably in January 2006. He said this is a specialized trade and the contractors that do this are booking work for the upcoming construction season. He said that is probably why they didn’t get any response on the bids this fall. She appreciated him bidding this out in winter, because it would help avoid timing problems.

Member Lorenzo asked for the updated status as today is the end of the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy. Mr. Helwig didn’t know the outcome and would check with Mr. Saven tomorrow and report to her. She said particularly all those remaining things to be done as she would like to see this come to a close.

Member Nagy said in last Thursday’s packet there were some areas of conflict that Spalding had. She asked if those areas would be sent out to bid to other contractors. Mr. Helwig said the process is that we ask for that disclosure upfront before their December 1^st conversion takes place. So, any business that is being done in the community, we understand where that is and the City and Spalding DeDecker must avoid any perception of conflicts of interest. He said that is putting everyone on notice that they have contracts with. We have had that with

attorneys, etc. and it is a very routine process to safeguard any potential perception of conflicts.

Mayor Pro Tem Landry said he has served on City Council with Mayor Csordas for four years, two years as his Mayor Pro Tem, and it has been his absolute privilege and honor to sit next to him and serve with him. He said they have agreed and disagreed but Mayor Csordas has always had the highest level of integrity, and has set the highest standards for this Council and the City. The residents owe Mayor Csordas a debt of gratitude, and he wanted to place it on the record that it has been his pleasure to serve as his Mayor Pro Tem.

Mayor Pro Tem Landry said, likewise, he had served with Member Lorenzo for four years. While the record reflects that we have not always agreed, he wanted her to know that he had never, for one minute, doubted her sincerity. Mayor Pro Tem Landry said it was never about Member Lorenzo, it was always about the City and the taxpayers. It has been a pleasure to sit next to her and share this responsibility with her.

Member Capello said it has been a policy of Council that if they were going to ask anyone in Administration to do any in depth study or report that they get consensus of Council. He didn’t think this would be a difficult study but did think it should be brought to the table. He said we have a very nice report from Chief Molloy, 2004 Crime Statistics, and it showed out of the 55 violent crimes 40 were aggravated assaults. He wondered how many of those 40 aggravated assaults were domestic assaults or between related parties. He felt that would bring that item of safety in Novi down much lower if they were related or aggravated. He asked Chief Molloy to return with this information within the next 30 days.

Member Capello said Mayor Csordas has served as his Chairman on the Planning Commission and his Mayor and he appreciated it, and they have become good friends through politics and will remain friends after politics.

Member Capello said he and Member Lorenzo started way back on the HCD Committee, Planning Commission and City Council. He said the one most honorable and best thing he could say about her is that she is true, honest and sincere, and wherever her position was he could trust her position. He thanked her for that.

Member Nagy said she was on the Planning Commission and watched Member Lorenzo on City Council, and has now served with her on Council for two years. Member Nagy said she greatly respected her work ethic and the fact that her first interest has always been the City of Novi residents and taxpayers. She didn’t think that anyone would ever be able to match the amount of research Member Lorenzo would do on a subject. As a citizen of this community she appreciated her efforts, and as a Council Member she wanted her to know how much she respected her.

Member Nagy said she has known Mayor Csordas for quite a while and they have not always seen eye to eye. She said she had never in her life had such an enjoyable time at a very difficult thing, which is called City Council, and all the work. She said she appreciated that he had the interests of the City at heart, his humor, his intelligence and she most certainly appreciated his foresight. She thought that some of the things he brought to this City were invaluable and would save the City a lot of financial problems in the future. She said he has been a delight to serve with on Council, and he ran the meetings exceedingly well. Member

Nagy noted every event she had attended where he had spoken he had done so with sincerity, and with the best sense of humor she had ever heard. She said she is very proud to have served with him.

Member Paul thanked Mayor Csordas for his two years of commitment to this City. She said his unfunded pension liability, that he brought forward, and insurance knowledge with all of the different contracts has been insurmountable. She said many people ask what each person has offered to this Council, and that fiscal responsibility will be something they will look to in the future, and hopefully match some of the business practices that are being done throughout the Country.

Member Paul said Member Lorenzo’s fiscal responsibility and amount of work and research is unbelievable. The thing she admired most about Member Lorenzo was how she let any issue just roll off her back, and once the vote was done she was done. She said that was an honor to her. Member Paul wished them both well and hoped that they would stay active.

Member Lorenzo said it has been a pleasure to serve with Mayor Csordas. She thought he ran the meetings exceedingly well, he has been everywhere and been everything to everybody in this City. She could understand why he was tired after two years, because he has made an extraordinary effort as our Mayor, and has made her and this City proud. She is especially proud of their endeavors in the fiscal responsibility area. She said they have agreed and disagreed on issues, but when it came to fiscal responsibility and financial matters they have been like a tag team. She really appreciated his friendship and it’s been wonderful serving with him.

Mayor Csordas said he appreciated Member Lorenzo’s comments and greatly valued them. He said he appreciated all the comments of Council and it has been a true delight. He thought about where they came from since they got together two years ago. It is true he has been working with Member Lorenzo and Member Capello for nine years and others for shorter periods of time. He said it is a proven fact in business that when you go to these team building sessions they say if you have a team of seven and one person changes you have to go back to the original dynamic and build that forward. He said he was very proud of the fact that he had the opportunity to serve with this Council, and in his opinion it has been the greatest Council. It has been a real delight.

Mayor Csordas said when Mr. Helwig’s resume came in he was very anxious to see who the man was on the other side of the resume. He thought that he and Member Lorenzo did a real good service to this community by offering him the opportunity to serve Novi. He said that is clearly an understatement, the team that he has built, the things he has instilled, the business practices, the strong people he has brought in, and how he has done everything possible to train people that needed training, and he has led this community with a high level of dignity. He thanked Mr. Helwig and his staff, and the sterling team he has built and a high tide in Mayor Csordas’ life to have spent nine years working with all of you.

There being no further business to come before Council, the meeting was adjourned at

9:27 P.M.

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Lou Csordas, Mayor Maryanne Cornelius, City Clerk

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Transcribed by Charlene Mc Lean Date approved: November 14, 2005