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 usual introductory remarks from City Manager Jonathan Smith were not included on the video recording.
Agenda item #1, Call to Order (Video time mark 0:00:00):
Meeting called to order by Eric Haven.
Agenda item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:04):
Pledge said.
Agenda item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:28):
Eric Haven, Al Avery, Ed Bonser, Gary Casey, Jason Kniesc, Joseph Luginski, and Sue Wylie were all present in Clarkston, Michigan.
Agenda item #4, Motion: Approval of Agenda (Video time mark 0:01:10):
Motion to approve agenda by Casey; second by Avery.
No discussion.
Motion to approve the agenda passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (Video time mark 0:02:01):
Haven wanted to start public comments with Lieutenant Hill. There was some discussion about the traffic on Main Street the last time, and the Lieutenant may have other comments. Haven asked if there any questions for Lieutenant Hill, or would he like to tell us about any of his observations as of late?
Lieutenant Hill:
Lieutenant Hill tries to make it to every meeting and apologized for not being at the last meeting. He spoke to Smith and there was a question about the increase in calls for service – specifically arrests, misdemeanor arrests, and some other items between the February and March reports. Mainly, the difference was the increase in a couple of different areas, and some of them had just minor increases. We’ve had some things that we hadn’t had in February, though we had them in March, but the bigger areas included an increase in medical calls. He thought we had one natural death, one overdose, and just an overall increase in medical calls from one to twelve calls. Miscellaneous complaints went from fourteen to twenty-two calls, and some noncriminal complaints went from nineteen to fifty-four calls. Traffic went from seven to fourteen. Basically, when an officer calls out a traffic stop, they like to call that where they land. It’s where the call initially goes through, regardless of where the actual ticket is written. The infraction may have occurred within the city or have occurred outside of the city. These are just general office stats. He hated to start throwing out percentages and numbers, because looking at something that went from zero to one is a 100% increase but the difference is just one incident. That’s the general, broad overview. Lieutenant Hill thinks that it’s important to look at stats with a grain of salt. Stats can provide a better overall look when you are looking at more than just one particular month compared to another month. Last year was kind of an anomaly year, and we saw a significant decrease in some areas but an increase in others. We actually saw a slight decrease in criminal activity, such as home invasions and larceny from autos because people were home, but we may have seen an increase in different calls for service for ordinance violations and so forth. 2020 is not really a great year to compare stats to.
Lieutenant Hill wanted to remind everyone that if someone is not sure that his/her issue is a 911 issue, s/he should always call the dispatch number. A lot of times, people will call the substation, and while he appreciates that and has no problem talking to people, if you want or need a deputy to respond to your area or you have a complaint about something in that area, you should call dispatch directly. That’s the fastest way for them to get a deputy to you. There are things that Lieutenant Hill can do to track things, like response times, and so forth. That nonemergency number is on the website and is 248/858-4950. If you listen to all the prompts the first time through, you’ll realize that 8 brings you into dispatch, so as soon as you hear the message start, just press 8 and your call will go right to a dispatcher.
Clerk Jennifer Speagle said they get a lot of calls to the city office because people think that they are the police station. She was always told to tell people to call dispatch and to give out 248/858-4911 so someone could get directly to dispatch without hitting any numbers – is that OK? Lieutenant Hill said it was. There are a handful of nonemergency numbers, and he will verify what one it is because he would like to give out the 4911 as well because it’s easier to remember. He believed that number also had a prompt with recordings to guide someone in the proper direction. If it’s an emergency or you’re debating back and forth whether or not it’s an emergency, then Lieutenant Hill would call it an emergency. You don’t have to wait until someone is actually on fire to call 911. If you’re really sure it’s not an emergency, then you should call the non-emergency dispatch number because it helps cue things faster in the call center. It’s the same operator answering the phone, but there’s a difference in the manner in which they would answer. Lieutenant Hill utilizes the nonemergency number on a regular basis. They get calls at the substation and that’s why he likes to make sure that he advises people to do that. Some of the messages are in the middle of the night and say, “come quick, someone’s on my front porch” and they just hang up. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the ability to call the number back. Calling dispatch is the fastest way for Lieutenant Hill to get a deputy to a location. It’s even faster than calling him and talking to him on the phone, because he would have to act as dispatch. Dispatch is actually typing as someone speaks. The dispatcher is at a different terminal and as the call is being typed in, they can actually dispatch from that real-time information as the caller is still on the phone. A lot of times callers will get a little bit upset because they are being asked all of these questions, but they don’t understand that while they’re answering those questions, another dispatcher is reading or translating those notes and dispatching a patrol car out.
Haven said he appreciated Lieutenant Hill attending the meeting, and Lieutenant Hill said he would remain on the line in case they needed something.
Chet Pardee:
Why does it seem that City council members have little interest in infrastructure maintenance? More time is spent discussing Depot Park pathway additions than on repairing existing streets and sidewalks. Have no recent proposals been approved because there are no proposals? Funds exist in the budget, but there are no approved plans.
What is the hot rubber crack fill plan? When will the covered-over-by-new roadway crosswalk markings be replaced? What will happen beneath East Washington at East Alley? Does HRC (Hubbell, Roth & Clark) need to present their updated priorities from their Road Asset Management Plan (RAMP) report? Is there a plan to preserve the additional pavement edges of the east end of Miller and newly paved N. Holcomb pavement edges? They will be crumbling soon without some drainage plan.
What is the current count of sidewalk sections requiring repair? At what estimated costs? Can some be ground? The 37 sections of broken sidewalk on Miller at Lower Mill Pond have existed for several years. What is the engineering solution that would permit the west end of Miller road surface to be redone?
The City Manager seems to favor waiting for MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) to resolve the Clarkston Road storm water drainage issue. M-15 is not in MDOT’s five-year plan. How can MDOT re-do that portion of M-15 with the four “Restricted Excavation” markers in place? Any M-15 storm water solution risks putting 148 N. Main contamination into Parke Lake. RCOC (Road Commission of Oakland County) has acknowledged that Clarkston Road at N. Main could be resurfaced without a storm water solution at 148 N. Main, and a contractor will be resurfacing township portions of Clarkston Road this summer.
Will the N. Holcomb Road contractor repair the “leveled, now sinking” manhole covers on newly paved N. Holcomb as the city paid for?
Should Council reconsider paid parking for Fridays and Saturdays based on recent residential parking overflow? The revenue will be helpful for infrastructure repair.
Pardee said he would be happy to answer any questions.
Wylie asked Pardee to explain what he meant by his comment about “paid parking for Fridays and Saturdays based on recent residential parking overflow.” Pardee said that the Washington parking lot was full on both Friday and Saturday, and people were parking in residential areas because they couldn’t get into the Washington parking lot. Pardee saw that as an indicator that there were more people than the Washington lot capacity in town for entertainment. Pardee said that maybe it’s only a Friday and Saturday thing as opposed to multiple days per week. Wylie asked if Pardee knew if the Depot Road parking lot or the Washington Management parking lots were filled. Pardee said he didn’t know.
No other public comments.
Agenda Item #6, FYI, Clarkston Optimist Club Flags For Kids Project 2021 (Video time mark 0:13:29):
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- Clarkston Optimist Club Flags-For-Kids-Project 2021 (page 3/48 of the council packet)
Haven said it’s always a great time of year when we see the Optimists getting ready to do their kids flag program. Memorial Day will be the first of six dates that they will be putting flags out for the people who have subscribed to this opportunity and service. Memorial Day is Monday, May 31st, so there is about a month to get ready for this. It certainly enhances our town, especially on these six holidays and more, as they give us a few days around each holiday for this. If you’d like to purchase a flag for those holidays this year, he thinks it’s $40, you can contact them at the clarkstonoptimists.org website. So, get your subscriptions in early, and we will really have a great-looking downtown with these flags for celebration this year.
Agenda Item #6a, FYI: Planning Commission Public Hearing 05-17-2021 – Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on 05-17-2021 at 7:00 p.m. regarding RPDD (Residential Planned Development District). This meeting will be held via GoTo Meeting. Please visit our website for call/log in information. (Video time mark 0:14:47)
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- Public Notice, Planning Commission, Public Hearing, Monday, May 17, 2021, 7:00 PM (page (4/48 of the council packet)
Haven said that this is one other “For Your Information” item. The Planning Commission’s regular meeting on May 3rd has been canceled, and it is being postponed and perhaps supplemented by a meeting on May 17th. This is a virtual meeting on GoToMeeting. The issue being discussed at the public meeting primarily is in regard to the Residential Planned Development District (RPDD). This issue is interesting to a lot of people, so Haven encouraged everyone to attend that meeting if possible on May 17th at 7:00 p.m.
Agenda Item #7, City Manager Report (Video time mark 0:15:29; page 6/48 of the council packet):
Bonser had a comment regarding the Clarkston Optimist program. He thought that would be something that would be beneficial to include in the City Manager’s weekly email that he sends out to Village residents. Smith said that was a good point and he would do that this week. Haven thought that was a very valuable tool and thanked Bonser for bringing it up. Smith does a great job of informing everyone what’s going on in the Village.
Haven said that Smith said that April 19th would be the day that signs would be installed, and Haven thought he saw some installation activity today at the north end – are they underway? Smith said yes, they are underway this week. Today’s activity was pouring the cement foundations for the “Welcome to Clarkston” signs. Those are bigger signs, and they need to be bolted to a cement foundation. There are six locations for the “Welcome to Clarkston” signs, and those were poured today. Starting tomorrow, they’re going to change gears while the concrete is drying and start installing the corner signs throughout town. Those will be the signs that have the road names, like North Holcomb and Miller, for example. Not all signposts will be replaced. This is the first phase, and this gets us all the “Welcome to Clarkston” signs and the directional signs. If there are other signs, such as a stop sign only, or a no parking sign, the replacement of those posts with the black metal posts will come later. They may finish those as early as this week. Haven said our town will be spruced up with those new signs and it will be beautiful.
Smith said that he wanted to make some comments.
Last week, Judge Leo Bowman signed the order for dismissal for the Bisio v Clarkston lawsuit, so that is now 100% closed out. Smith included a copy of the dismissal behind his city manager’s report. [See Clarkston Sunshine comment #1.]
Smith also included a summary of the case that the city would like to make that is being sent to the Clarkston News as well, and as far as Smith knew, it would be published in the Clarkston News this week. This is intended to be very factually based, no emotions, no slants on one side or the other, and is just intended to be a factual summary of the case that our residents can read through. There are even some Q & As in here. [See Clarkston Sunshine comment #2.]
The last point that Smith wanted to make is that they are always open for questions, always open for people to come into the city office and ask questions, and that’s never been more true that it is right now. [See Clarkston Sunshine comment #3.]
Smith said that residents who have questions are welcome to submit a FOIA request, but they’re also just welcome to come in and talk to him and the staff on any day that they’re open, Monday through Thursday. Or you can come to the city council meeting on the second and fourth Monday and ask your question there. [See Clarkston Sunshine comment #4.]
Smith said that he really wanted to emphasize that the city is open to addressing all questions and are interested in being as transparent as possible. They are always open to new and improved ways of being transparent. This lawsuit has taught the city that, and they are open to doing just that. If you have something that would help you as a resident, something that the city could do to be more transparent, more open, more sharing, by all means let the city know that. [See Clarkston Sunshine comment #5.]
Smith said that he also included a letter that went out last week, and it’s about the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain bill. The math is explained in the letter. Smith said that he knew that any kind of increase is not welcome, we’re all taxpayers, we’re all going to have to pay this. No one likes to pay almost $44 a quarter for the next four quarters. No one wants to do that, but given the circumstances, given that our sewer fund is underfunded, this is our only alternative. [See Clarkston Sunshine comment #6.]
In the last paragraph of the letter, Smith said he made mention of a letter from the Water Resources Commission that just came in last week that referred to sweeping increases in sewage disposal rates. This will hit all of Oakland County, and Smith believes that it will include Macomb County as well. We are all going to be looking at increases ranging from 2%-6%, and Clarkston is probably going to be on the high end of that range. There’s nothing that we can do about it; this is strictly a pass-through cost. Smith talked at length to one resident today who was very passionate about this subject and unfortunately, Smith had to explain that this is a pass-through. This is not something that the city council just decides or that any of us just decide to bill our customers. Processing of sewage is not an inexpensive endeavor. When they pass these costs along to the city, we unfortunately have to pass them along to our customers and residents.
Smith said that we have not raised rates for awhile and Smith has asked our Treasurer, Greg Coté, to do a deep dive into how much we are charging our customers and how much in turn the Great Lakes Water Authority is charging us. Smith said he needs to understand that and will bring a proposal to council so we can find the right rates that will allow us to pay our bills without losing money or without charging too much on the other end of the spectrum. There will be more to come on this, and Smith hoped to have a recommendation from our Treasurer in a future council meeting regarding how much our rates should go up after doing a full analysis of our costs.
Haven thanked Smith for the explanation and the written detail. Haven also wanted to tell people who are listening that they can always access information that is part of the packet and they can subscribe on the website to notifications to the meetings. He encouraged everyone to open the packet and look at all these documents on their home screens.
Wylie asked Smith why he said that we would be on the high end of any rate increase that is expected in July of this year. Smith said that the preliminary schedule that the Water Resources Commission sent out to all the communities showed Independence Township being given a 5.5% increase. There is a lot of math that goes into that number that Smith doesn’t understand, but they did provide some examples of rate increases ranging from 0% all the way up to 6%. Independence Township was 5.5%, and because they do our processing, it’s very likely that same 5.5% increase will apply to us as well. It’s really too early to tell, but Smith wanted to be forthcoming with the information and share what he knew right now. Wylie was wondering if it’s because we are further away and paying for pumps, but who knows at this point. They did their calculations, and it could be age of equipment or all sorts of different things. Smith said it’s a good point, and we will get all of that information. We need to understand exactly why some communities are being charged more than others so we can provide an answer to our residents about why there is a difference.
No additional comments.
Agenda Item #8, Motion: Acceptance of the Consent Agenda as Presented (Video time mark 0:25:50)
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- 03-22-2021 Final Minutes (page 13/48 of the council packet)
- 03-30-2021 Final Minutes (page 17/48 of the council packet)
- 04-12-2021 Draft Minutes (page 19/48 of the council packet)
- 04-26-2021 Treasurer’s Report as of 03-21-2021 (page 21/48 of the council packet)
- 04-22-2021 Revenue and Expenditure Report as of 03-21-2021 (page 22/48 of the council packet)
- Carlisle-Wortman invoices for March 2021 (page 28/48 of the council packet)
- Thomas J. Ryan, P.C. invoices for March 2021 (page 31/48 of the council packet)
Motion to accept the consent agenda by Bonser; second by Wylie.
Pardee asked about #7 on the Treasurer’s document listing regarding other checks for review. The last item is for Howard and Howard, but there is no amount in the right-hand column. Does that mean that we haven’t received an invoice from Attorney Peyser for his work on behalf of the city in the month of March and through the 26th of April? Smith said that he talked with Peyser yesterday and one bill will be sent for both March and April. That was just a carry-over line item; sometimes Coté will use the left side of the spreadsheet even if it’s zero.
Motion to accept the consent agenda passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #9, Old Business (Video time mark 0:28:00)
No old business.
Agenda Item #10, New Business
Item 10a, Resolution: Budget Amendment (Video time mark 0:28:03)
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- Resolution – Budget Amendment (re: DTE Street Lighting) (page 35/48 of the council packet)
Haven said that this was for $2,500 to realign or reassign the excess grant writing budget over to the DTE street lighting category. Smith said that was correct.
Motion to adopt the resolution by Wylie; second by Casey.
Bonser said that it looked like the costs increased by $2,500 and wanted to know if we know why – is it because electricity is more expensive or because we are using more electricity? Smith said that he didn’t think we were using more electricity. We’ve seen a pretty high fluctuation in this account on a percentage basis. Over the last four years, it’s been as low as $11,000 and as high as $16,000, so it’s been tough to estimate and forecast what the next year will be. Last year was on the lower side, so we kept the budget forecast down at $11,000. Here we are in April, and we will fall short when the May bill comes in. Unfortunately, we estimate that we are going to need around another $2,500, given that the majority of the fiscal year is under our belt. The reason for this is largely due to the old-style, metal halite bulbs that are very expensive to run. We want to do more upgrading to LEDs. We’ve asked to be at the top of the list to convert some of our old metal halite bulbs to LEDs, but DTE makes that decision solely on their own. Smith knows that when our existing fixtures have broken and been deemed to be unrepairable, they have been replaced with LEDs at that time. We will get there slowly, but in the meantime, we have some pretty sizeable electric bills that we just have to find a way to pay.
Pardee said that maybe Luginski can help with the history because he recalled that four-five years ago, we had significant expenditures to convert our street lighting to be more economical. Smith said that was Main Street lighting, those lights use corn cob LEDs, and they are very efficient. The lights Smith was referring to are predominantly what they call the community lighting, or lights that hang over parking lots and streets. The decorative lights on Main Street that were converted have helped significantly and was the right thing to do. This issue is from the other community lighting.
Pardee thought it may be helpful to ask DTE for an explanation of the year-to-year. Pardee also recalled that we were having significant DTE interruption issues this past year in 2020, perhaps on Depot or somewhere close to that. Smith wasn’t sure what Pardee meant about interruption issues. Smith said that we’ve had some lights go out and it’s taken a while to get them repaired.
Smith said that he would follow up with DTE. Occasionally, they send out a representative and they meet and talk, but it often comes back to the same thing – we need to stand in line with everyone else in terms of getting the updates done.
Pardee said that he was surprised that we missed the budget by 25%. Smith said he was too.
The resolution was adopted unanimously.
Item 10b, Resolution: Board of Review Poverty Exemption Update (Video time mark 0:33:55):
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- Draft – Adopted Policy Relative to the Review and Granting of Poverty Exemptions by the City of the Village of Clarkston Board of Review (page 37/48 of the council packet)
- 2021 Poverty/Hardship Exemption Application (page 40/48 of the council packet)
Haven said that this was another resolution in front of the council relative to Public Act 253 of 2020 to adopt guidelines and to make the public aware of them for poverty exemptions on property assessments. The resolution is in front of everyone with all the supporting forms for people to apply on an annual basis. Haven thought it was pretty straightforward but asked if Smith had anything to add.
Smith agreed that it was pretty straightforward. This was provided to us as a service to send to our residents should it be applicable by the Oakland County Assessor, Rob Doyle, who does all of our assessing. It’s something that gets updated periodically, so we are just passing it along. It needs to be resolved and approved.
Speagle said that she spoke with Doyle about it, and he said that it’s basically the same as it always has been. The State just wants to standardize the application across the board for all municipalities. He said that the biggest change is that they are not allowing any extenuating circumstances. You have to fall under a certain yearly income in order to qualify for this, and in the past, if you were a couple hundred dollars over, they would make exceptions. Now they aren’t making any exceptions whatsoever. You have to fall within that dollar amount to qualify. Other than that one change, it’s pretty much the same as it always has been.
Motion to adopt the resolution by Wylie; second by Avery.
Bonser noted that the dollar amount is $50,000 as stated in the second paragraph of the second page. Smith said yes, household income. Pardee said that he thought that number was for a family of eight.
Motion to adopt the resolution passed unanimously.
Agenda Item #11, Adjourn (Video time mark 0:37:29):
Bonser asked whether the 4th of July parade has been officially canceled. Speagle said she talked to the head of the Optimists and they aren’t going to go forward with it. It’s not for the participants, but mainly because of the large crowd that it draws in and the social distancing requirements that we are under.
Motion to adjourn by Avery; second by Bonser.
No discussion.
Motion to adjourn was approved unanimously.
Resources:
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- Link to video recording: