Note: links to the video recording and the council packet can be found at the bottom of this post. Please note any errors or omissions in the comments. Anything noted between brackets was inserted by Clarkston Sunshine.
Meeting:
The rules for conducting the virtual meeting were on screen but were not read aloud in the video recording.
Agenda Item #1, Call to Order (Video time mark 0:00:00):
Meeting called to order by Wylie.
Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:04):
Pledge of Allegiance said.
Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:25):
Eric Haven, Al Avery, Ed Bonser, Jason Kniesc, Joe Luginski, and Sue Wylie were present. Gary Casey was absent.
Wylie said she is chairing the meeting at Haven’s request because he has some congestion and didn’t want to subject everyone to his symptoms.
Agenda Item #4, Motion: Approval of Agenda (Video time mark 0:01:06):
Motion to approve agenda passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (Video time mark 0:01:51):
Chet Pardee:
-
- Pardee thanked Clerk Jennifer Speagle for her work on the primary election and getting the absentee ballots out. Her efforts allowed people to follow their ballot and track every step on the publicly available Michigan vote website.
- Transparency seems to plague Clarkston city officials. Do city officials understand that council records before 2017 are no longer on the city’s website? In contrast, the Planning Commission records go back to 2006 and Zoning Commission records go back to 2004. It’s unclear when the records disappeared, what caused them to disappear, who was involved in the disappearance, how many documents have disappeared, and what effort will be required to make them available to the public again. Pardee became aware of the issue in March 2020 at which time he was told that the records before 2017 were archived and not easily accessed. The clues to the 18 withheld documents that were contained in City Attorney Tom Ryan’s 2015 billing are no longer available to the public.
Speagle thanked Pardee for his comments regarding the election.
Speagle said she spoke to CivicPlus today for over an hour and a half, and they created a ticket for the problem. There are 283 unpublished agenda minutes. That doesn’t mean that there are 283 separate agendas; it just means the agenda and any amendments that were done to any agenda back to 2015.
Clarkston started working with CivicPlus in 2015. Speagle asked them why there are only partial 2015 records rather than 2004, 2006, and 2011 like the Planning Commission and the HDC, and CivicPlus said that they migrated those earlier minutes and agendas. CivicPlus is going to see if they can do a bulk transfer of the archives. If they can’t, then Speagle will have to go through a five-step process to bring each of them back. When they do come back, you will see multiples of one agenda, not just one agenda with all the amendments attached.
Civic Plus is going to find out when and why the records were archived the way they were. Speagle should have all of them available on the website by the end of the week.
Pardee asked if 283 agendas meant 283 packets. Speagle said no, you will see separate entries for agendas and amendments, and you’ll have to go through all of them. CivicPlus said that you can search for them by date, but Speagle wasn’t able to do so. She plans to have them all brought to the forefront in a way that won’t require searching. Pardee and Speagle had additional discussion regarding how the minutes will appear on the website.
Pardee asked the council to consider whether CivicPlus has some liability and whether they should reimburse the city for Speagle’s efforts. Speagle said no, everything was archived internally by the city. Speagle said that once we know when the documents were archived, we will have an idea of who did it and how it happened. It’s also possible that CivicPlus may have migrated the minutes before 2015 under a different path.
Wylie thought that Speagle had answered the question, and if she doesn’t have things completed by the end of the week, Pardee should give her a call.
Luginski wanted to know when and if the council can go back to in-person meetings. They were talking about doing it at the end of June, and then it was not until at least through July. Is there an update on that? Smith said that from a technical standpoint, he assumed that there would be live in-person meetings combined with GoToMeeting. Smith thought a solution would be to have everyone planning to be physically in the room bring a laptop or an iPad to view the documents since we haven’t purchased a screen for the wall yet. We also need some sort of microphone or speaker system, because if everyone had their microphones turned on, that might create a feedback problem. The ultimate goal is to have a TV screen, and Smith is investigating costs and will bring it back to the council at a future meeting. Smith needs approximately 2-3 weeks to get everything in place.
Luginski agreed that if everyone had to use their own devices, they would have to mute their speakers. There are a number of low-cost options, such as Bluetooth speakers. There is also a USB speaker and microphone that you can plug into a laptop and put in the middle of a table. Luginski didn’t know if one of those would work or whether two would need to be daisy chained together. They are relatively inexpensive, and you can get them for as little as $50 each so it might cost $100-$150 to set it up. It’s an easy fix.
Luginski asked Ryan where things stood regarding in-person meetings from a legal standpoint. Ryan said that the Governor changed the meeting restrictions again, downsizing the outdoor population to 100 and the indoor population to 10. When she first allowed virtual meetings, she would set a date and then would extend the time before the date expired. The last executive order allowing virtual meetings didn’t set a date; it just indicated that in-person meetings would be allowed when the executive orders expired. We don’t have a firm date; we just need to see how the state responds to the virus. Luginski asked if Ryan’s interpretation was that no in-person meetings are allowed, and Ryan said that was his interpretation. [Ryan made a correction to his interpretation during the discussion of the City Manager’s report, discussed below.]
No additional public comments.
Agenda Item #6, FYI (Video time mark 0:16:47):
No items.
Agenda Item #7, City Manager Report (Video time mark 0:16:58; page 3/35 of the council packet):
Smith had nothing specific that he wanted to mention but was available for questions.
Wylie asked about the $50,000 matching grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources – do we have $50,000 set aside to match it? Smith said we have more than that because one of the features of the grant is that you can utilize in-kind hours and materials toward the total.
Wylie asked if the grant was for the pathway in Depot Park. Smith said that the primary goal of the project is to put in new pathways, but another component is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility in the park, especially for the gazebo which presents challenges given its height. ADA ramps have to adhere to a certain slope guideline, so it would be a very long ramp. That led to a discussion regarding whether it’s time to rebuild the gazebo at a lower level that would lessen the length of the ramp. This wasn’t something planned for discussion tonight, but it’s something that needs to be addressed with regard to how we are going to achieve that part of the grant.
Wylie asked how long we had to complete the project and spend the money. Haven said we have two years.
Wylie asked about the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor resolution. They’d discussed having a resolution perhaps by the August 24th city meeting. Maybe we can have a discussion at the same time about how we are going to manage this and our sewers in the future. Smith said he would try to get it all together for the next meeting.
Ryan wanted to correct something that he’d said to Luginski about in-person meetings. You can have an in-person meeting if there aren’t more than ten people there, and everyone including staff is counted in that number. Luginski said that the Historic District Commission and Planning Commission have five people each and could get into a room together if they wanted to. Ryan noted that they would have to practice social distancing. Luginski said that the council could do that as well and have a hybrid solution that allowed other people to join who didn’t want to attend in-person.
Luginski said he was just making a public comment so it’s not necessarily for discussion. At some point, we should be thinking about this and can add it as an agenda item for the next meeting. Wylie said that it sounded like a good agenda item.
Bonser asked about speed signs. He noted that we are waiting on MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) and asked if they gave us a timeframe for permit approval. Smith said that there is no timeframe, but they do have fairly specific requests of us regarding where the signs will be installed right down to the inch. They want to know the latitude, longitude, height, and information about the type of signpost. Even though the signs are portable, we aren’t allowed to move them unless we get a change in the work permit. Bonser wanted to know how long it would take to gather the requested information, and Smith thought that it would take a week to ten days unless MDOT comes back with more questions.
Pardee wanted more information about a contractor working on north Holcomb who brought four or five vehicles and blocked lanes today. Smith was not aware of this. Pardee said that they were working in a manhole and the name of the contractor is Pipeline. Smith said that if they are there tomorrow, he will come by and look. Luginski confirmed that they were there around 2:30. Smith noted that there are a lot of issues with aging gas lines and it may have been Consumer’s Power who could have subbed this out to another contractor. Pardee said that it was in front of the Detkowski house.
No further comments.
Agenda Item #8, Motion: Acceptance of the Consent Agenda As Presented (Video time mark 0:26:49)
-
- 07-13-2020 Final Minutes (page 4/35 of the council packet)
- 07-23-2020 Final Minutes, including Resolution for Temporary Closing of E. Church Street (page 6/35 of the council packet)
- 07-27-2020 Draft Minutes (page 12/35 of the council packet)
- 08-04-2020 Draft Minutes (page 14/35 of the council packet)
- Treasurer’s Report for City Council Meeting (page 16/35 of the council packet)
- Check Disbursement Report from 07/01/2020-07/31/2020 (page 17/35 of the council packet)
- Carlisle/Wortman, invoice for the month of July 2020 (page 23/35 of the council packet)
- Thomas J. Ryan, PC, invoices for the month of July 2020 (page 24/35 of the council packet)
Wylie had a question about the Carlisle/Wortman bill indicating that there was a sign and a fencing regulation issue at 20 W. Washington; Wylie wondered if that was a business or a personal residence. Smith said that it is a residence; Speagle said it is the Mills Building. Smith said that there has been some work with a sign company that has been asking a lot of questions regarding signage in front of the Mills Building and he had Carlisle/Wortman step in and answer. Smith said that the fencing issue pertained to a different address.
Pardee asked for more information about a charge for $3,512 for professional and contractual services on the first page of the check register. Smith said he would have to research and get back to him.
The motion to accept the consent agenda passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #9, Old Business
Item 9a, Discussion: Election Updates; Updates on 08-04-2020 Primary and 11-03-2020 Presidential Election (Video time mark 0:31:07)
-
- 08-24-2020 Primary Election Wrap Up! (page 28/35 of the council packet)
- Clarkston vote totals, Primary Election (page 29/35 of the council packet)
- 11-03-2020 election, city council candidates (page 30/35 of the council packet)
- Write-in Candidate Declaration of Intent, blank form (page 31/35 of the council packet)
Speagle read from the primary election wrap-up in the packet. She thanked everyone who voted. She also thanked those who voted in person for following social distancing rules and wearing a mask. She thanked election workers Toni Smith, Catherine Hrit, and Cara Catallo. Speagle also thanked Lieutenant Hill for sending an officer to take the city’s final information to the Oakland County elections office.
There were 358 voters. 229 voted absentee and 129 voted in person.
258 absentee ballots were issued, which is an increase of 147 from the March 2020 election. 220 of the absentee ballots were returned by 8:00 pm on election day, leaving approximately 50 ballots that were not returned. Sometimes people change their mind about voting or their mailed ballots don’t arrive on time. Speagle works closely with Springfield and Independence Township to get misdirected ballots where they need to go.
Speagle provided a spreadsheet of Clarkston-only election results.
Wylie thanked Speagle and said that she was able to track her ballot online. Wylie wanted to know how the absentee ballots were returned, and Speagle said that it was a mix of in-person, by mail, or through the drop box.
Speagle said that the presidential election is sure to be record breaking, both for absentee and in person. She will be looking to add election workers to her team. A full day is 17-18 hours, but people can also work half days. If anyone is interested in how elections work behind the scenes, please call her.
The deadline for write-in candidates is October 23rd by 4:00 pm. Interested people can fill out a Declaration of Intent form. The form is included in the packet and available on the website under elections.
Smith wanted to note that election workers are paid. Speagle said that workers receive an extra $50 for a full day and $25 for a half-day as hazard pay due to a resolution passed by Oakland County.
Agenda Item #10, New Business
Item 10a, Resolution: Depot Park Treatment of Buckthorn (Video time mark 0:37:21)
-
- Resolution – Depot Park Treatment of Buckthorn (page 32/35 of the council packet)
- 07-08-2020 letter from Cardo, Subject: Depot Park Natural Area Management (page 33/35 of the council packet)
Smith said that buckthorn is an invasive species, not nearly as popular as phragmites, but nonetheless, we have quite a bit of it in Depot Park in the wetland area. It’s considered a woody version of an invasive species and can grow into a small tree, up to 30-35 feet in height. Buckthorn can block a lot of the view and choke out native plants. You can’t just spray it – it has to be cut down with a hand saw, and a chemical must be applied to the trunk to stop it from growing. You could leave the cut buckthorn on the ground because it won’t proliferate further, but it is unsightly. It’s more time-consuming than phragmites.
We have a multi-year contract with Cardno [invasive species specialist]. Smith and Emily Duthinh met with Cardno and noted that there were quite a few areas where the trees were 25-30 feet tall and starting to choke out other trees. Duthinh is not only a member of the Friends of Depot Park (FDOP), she’s is also a member of the Oakland County CISMA [Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas] and was the chair for many years. She is strongly recommending that we address the problem before it gets worse. The FDOP also agree that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Smith did not put the job out for bid because we have a contract with Cardno. Cardno originally provided an $8,000 estimate but cut it in half to $4,000 since DPW can help with some of the tree removal. Smith said that his recommendation is to accept the $4,000 estimate for treatment of the buckthorn, with $2,000 funded from the FDOP and $2,000 from professional contractual services.
Bonser wanted to know how many trees would be cut down and whether they were different sizes. Smith said that the trees were different sizes and estimated that approximately 100-200 trees would be cut.
Wylie asked if taking $2,000 from the FDOP would harm any of their other plans for the future. Smith said that they have $6,000 in funds that aren’t earmarked that they use to try to help out but asked Haven for his thoughts. Haven said that he has mixed emotions about these kinds of things. Much of the FDOP’s money was raised for the grant initiative and other things. Their charter is for adding amenities to enhance the park, and this type of thing falls under maintenance. However, you have to maintain amenities.
Haven said that phragmites are different because they are in your face. Middle Lake was hidden for a long time and we could see a difference when the phragmites were removed. Buckthorn is more of a passive thing, and he has some on his own property. Buckthorn is translated in old English as a thicket. It’s very dense, woody, sharp, and thorny, and when it gets into tree form, the trees are 2-4 inches in diameter. It’s not fast growing.
Haven thought that Cardno has been proactive and aren’t overcharging. Smith agreed – they are top notch, high quality, polite, respectful people. Haven thinks we should get out in front of this. If Cardno finds that the work to be done is more than what was estimated, we will reach the end of the budget really quickly. Haven plans to vote yes.
Wylie wanted to know where the buckthorn was located. Smith said that it’s most pervasive right at the end of the Depot Road where it bends into south Holcomb. If you go off to the left, walking toward the beach on the pathway, it would be on your left.
Smith noted that this would be a winter project starting in November and going through March. Haven wanted to know why that was significant, and Smith said it’s easier to get in there to remove it at that time since a lot of the other trees have died back for the winter.
Wylie said that a lot of other parks are talking about clearing buckthorn with volunteers. Smith talked to Cardno about a group of volunteers helping with cutting. Cardno said that most volunteers shy away from applying the chemical.
Haven liked the proposal, the openness of winter months is good, and Cardno is the expert. He thought that we have the same issues on the west bank and suggested that Cardno could spray orange paint to identify the trees, volunteers could cut them, and then Cardno could apply the chemical. Smith said that the only challenge is that the chemical needs to be applied within 2-3 hours of cutting or the plant seals itself off. Haven didn’t see an issue with Cardno coming behind the volunteers.
Wylie asked if Haven was suggesting a different proposal other than Smith’s proposal. Haven said that he wanted us to work with Cardno and try to eradicate the buckthorn in the most economic way with a combination of volunteers cutting, Cardno applying the chemical, and maybe DPW grinding, chopping and hauling away.
Smith said that he would talk with Patrick at Cardno. They are very responsive, and Smith thought we could get a team of volunteers together with Cardno applying the chemical. That might reduce the cost, but his recommendation would be to approve this, and any savings from using volunteers would result in a lower cost. Wylie thought it would be hard to coordinate volunteers with Cardno’s schedule.
Ryan said that it’s implicit in the motion that because it’s a specialty professional service and we have a relationship with this vendor, the council would not be seeking competitive bids and feels comfortable that the price received is very advantageous for the city. Haven said that would be his assumption in making the motion.
Resolution was approved unanimously.
Agenda Item #11, Adjourn (Video time mark 0:54:44)
Motion to adjourn was approved unanimously.
Resources:
-
- Link to video recording – http://216.11.46.126/VOD/3233-ClarkstonCity-8-10-2020-v1/vod.mp4
- 20200810 – Council packet