February 13, 2023, City Council Meeting

Introduction:

Though public comments can sometimes irritate the city council, there is value to both the council and the public in hearing them. While they can’t eliminate public comments entirely without violating the Open Meetings Act, your city council has decided not to acknowledge public comments during a city council meeting unless the person submitting the comments also appears at the meeting (in-person or electronically) to personally read them, but this is a rule that they occasionally adhere to (or not). Mayor Eric Haven has also cut people off for exceeding the city council’s arbitrary three-minute time limit (it’s arbitrary because no time limits are required by the Open Meetings Act), another rule that they occasionally adhere to (or not).

If your public comments were submitted to the council but not read, or if you tried to make public comments but your comments were cut short by the mayor, please email them to clarkstonsunshine@gmail.com and I will include them in my informal meeting summaries either under public comments or under the specific agenda item that you want to speak to.

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.

Agenda Item #1, Call to Order

The meeting was not formally called to order. Eric Haven said there it is, let’s stand and say the pledge shall we, as we open our meeting.

Agenda Item #2, Pledge of Allegiance (Video time mark 0:00:07):

Pledge said.

Agenda Item #3, Roll Call (Video time mark 0:00:22):

Haven asked Karen DeLorge (clerk) to please take the roll.

Bruce Fuller, Gary Casey, Eric Haven, Mark Lamphier, Amanda Forte, Laura Rodgers, and Sue Wylie were present.

Haven and DeLorge said there was a full council. Haven said it was very nice. It’s been a while since they’ve had that.

Agenda Item #4, Approval of Agenda (Video time mark 0:00:47):

Haven said he would entertain a motion to approve the agenda as it has been presented to them in their packet.

Motion by Wylie; second Lamphier.

Haven asked if there was any discussion. Now is the time if they want to change it or something. They can make an amendment to it.

No discussion.

Motion to approve agenda passed by unanimous voice vote.

Agenda Item #5, Public Comments (Video time mark 0:01:13):

• • 01-31-2023 Letter from Neil Wallace, Fulcrum Clarkston, LLC (re: Depot Road Parking Lot), page 3/33 of the council packet)
  • 02-09-2023 Email from Giselle Graham, Director of Kindermusik Program, Clarkston Conservatory of Music (re: Depot Parking Lot, page 4/33 of the council packet)

Haven read the rules for public comments.

Haven said he assumed they were not online. DeLorge said she didn’t have it on, but the meeting is being recorded. Haven said he knew it was being recorded by Independence Television. DeLorge said she didn’t have video. Haven made an unintelligible comment and then noted that Jonathan [Smith, city manager] is out of town and he assumes it’s vacation. DeLorge said yes, he’s left town but he’s always working. Haven said that Tom Ryan, their attorney, isn’t there tonight either, but they have a light agenda so they will forge through together. Haven asked if there were any public comments.

No public comments.

Haven said OK, hearing none, let’s move on to the next item on our agenda, which is – (interrupting Haven), Forte said wait; they should talk about the emails they got.

Haven asked Forte if she wanted to make a public comment. Forte said yes, and Haven said sure, go ahead. Forte asked if she could do it from her seat at the table or did she need to stand at the podium. Haven said she could do it from the table; she’s on council. Forte said perfect.

Forte said so, they got two emails regarding parking, and she thinks they should go over it as council. She thinks both of them brought up good points, and even if they can’t come to the meetings, they should talk about it – Haven said OK – (continuing), Forte said as representatives. So, one email that they got ahead of time was from Neil Wallace and he established that he has the rights to some of the parking spots behind – (interrupting Forte, who had paused), Haven and Fuller said behind the building. Forte agreed. Haven said they are all marked. Forte said and then he brought up the fact that the neighbor might own a few spots and you already know this. Haven said yes. Forte said and then in addition to that, we had the building next door, one of the people who works in that building email us. Fuller said Forte is speaking about the conservatory. Forte said yes. She printed it off. Haven said so that wasn’t in your packet? Forte said Giselle [Graham, Kindermusik program director]. Haven said that Graham is here. Rodgers said it’s in there. Forte said she requested one spot for her Clarkston Conservatory. Haven agreed and said on the corner. Forte said so, she just wanted to bring that up and see how you thought about that and what are the next steps, like obviously, we’ve got the kiosk. Haven agreed.

Forte said that Haven had said via email that he was thinking about putting a parking advisory board together. Haven agreed. Forte asked if Haven put that together yet, or what’s the plan. Haven said it’s in process, and again, this is to help Smith with some issues because we have residents and we also have businesses, so they have their interests, obviously, moving forward. Forte agreed. Haven said he did that to give Smith support because he gets in the middle of some of these situations, you know, and it’s good to have more eyes and ears on the situation. Forte said so, has that group been put together? Haven said no, it’s in process. Forte asked who Haven was thinking about for that. Haven said he would announce it when he’s ready. He’s not ready to do that now. Forte said OK, so Haven is appointing those individuals? Haven said he was not, you know. And again, it can be unofficial, it can be just someone that Smith agrees with, or we can make it official. It’s up to council if they would like to do that, that’s fine. Forte asked Haven if people should just reach out to Smith if they want to be on that. Haven said yes, that’s a good idea. Forte said OK. Haven said because Smith is the administrator. Forte said OK. Haven said we’re governance, and governance sets the policy. That’s what we do here. We don’t get involved in the details of that kind of thing. And he does the day to day, OK? Administrative policy. So, that’s his role.

[See Clarkston Sunshine comment below.]

Forte said OK, she just wanted to figure out what the next steps are. Haven said that there are some things that Smith said in his report, the city manager’s report, there’s some things to be worked out yet before he opens it for paid parking, OK? He’s talking about mid-March, Haven thinks. Haven asked if Forte had read that, the report. Forte said yes.

Rodgers said so these are the things he’s talking about. Haven agreed. Rodgers said addressing these – (interrupting Rodgers), Haven said these, and he doesn’t know what all he has in mind. Rodgers said one thing that she did want to mention is she noticed in Graham’s email that she talks about people that work for the Union Joints and they don’t have the money to pay for it. Rodgers said she does know that the Union Joints has worked out an agreement and it’s been ongoing for before the pandemic with the Clarkston United Methodist Church. Haven agreed. Rodgers said in exchange, they have a coffee shop there that Rodgers just happens to run. The Union Joints gives them coffee, coffee beans, in exchange for allowing their staff to park at the parking lot because they have that huge parking lot. And it’s not like it’s right in town, but it’s not even a mile away, less than a half mile away. So, there is that parking for everybody and anybody who wants to be in town as well is able to park there. So, there is that and that’s been in existence for since, she wants to say 2020. (Casey made an unintelligible comment.) Rodgers said she didn’t think it – Casey said maybe 2/10 of a mile or something. Rodgers said maybe. Haven said it’s close. Rodgers said so there is that.

Forte said they should put a kiosk behind Honchos for that parking lot. Rodgers said yes, she was reading that to see if they were charging. It just says that if you’re going to park in that parking lot these are the places that you should be shopping at. She thinks there must be people that are parking in there that (unintelligible). Fuller said the people who live in those apartments up above Essence, they have no assigned parking. Forte said she didn’t think about that. Fuller said his son lived up there for a long time and it was a pain to find parking. Rodgers agreed. Haven said Curt [Catallo] owns the lot. Fuller agreed. Haven said that’s his property. Rodgers agreed. Fuller said and the owner of the portion, Essence and those stores there, has no parking. Rodgers agreed. Wylie said she thought Society owned something. Haven said they own a little bit. Rodgers said she thought they had two, that’s what she does, plotting, and they have two or three spots (unintelligible crosstalk). (Continuing), Rodgers said that say Society on it. Fuller said the residents of the apartments do not have parking. Rodgers said interesting. Forte said crazy. Wylie said that’s not the only apartment in existence that doesn’t have parking. Rodgers said that don’t. Wylie said there are plenty of apartment buildings that don’t. Fuller said (unintelligible) when, you know, once upon a time, 30-40 years ago, this was not this kind of an issue. We didn’t have this type of traffic in residences and businesses and so forth that have grown up here over these past few years, and you know, at one point, yeah, you could park in the parking lot, not a problem. But then that became a (unintelligible) and it became a problem, a real problem.

Haven said so these are the issues that need to be worked out, and Smith can use some help from business representatives as well as residential. That’s the idea of the administration. There’s a lot of things, details to work out. Forte said yeah, she thinks it’s good to have people that really care be in that group. Haven agreed and said yes, that’s for sure.

Haven said he would hear from the audience.

An unidentified man [later identified as Eric Lines] said he wanted to clarify a couple of things. Haven asked him to step up to the podium and provide his name.

Eric Lines stepped up to the podium, identified himself, provided his address and said he works for Union Joints. [Union Joints is owned by Curt Catallo.] Haven said hello. He didn’t recognize Lines.

Lines said he wanted to clarify a couple of things as far as the what’s behind, in the parking lot. Honcho and Woodshop own most of that parking. Society owns some and also the dentist office owns some. And that’s why the hub is there now, is to protect that parking for businesses. As Mr. Fuller said, we used to always allow people to park back there and as Catallo said, we’ve never asked a car to move, but we need to make sure that our guests, and again, the dentist office guests and Society’s guests, are the ones that are using it because we obviously believe that with paid parking, it’s going to force people to come to those spots. So, just to clarify what’s going on back there.

Lines said he guesses what the question is, with this parking advisory board, does that mean that paid parking won’t go into effect until after that board puts its (unintelligible). Haven said no, no, this is just helpful to Smith to get perspective, you know, as he makes decisions. Lines said so, is he the one that would enforce it, or starts paid parking? Haven said he’s the administrator, yes. He administrates. Lines said and obviously, in his management report, he said it shouldn’t start until March, but it doesn’t say any time in March, so it could start March 1^st or March 31^st. Haven said no. When we get the issues worked out, then yes. He’ll start when he’s ready. Lines said so the issues will be worked out before it starts. Haven said yes, that’s what it says in the manager’s report. Lines said that’s what he wanted to hear.

Haven said he will read that to Lines, so that everybody is sort of up to speed on it. Haven said it’s #8 on the agenda, it’s a two-page report this time. Rodgers said it’s on the opposite page of the Independence substation. (Wylie pointed out the section of the report for Haven.)

(Haven read from the first paragraph of the report under the heading “Depot Road Parking Lot Parking Kiosk” with additional comments): “The Depot Road Parking Lot Parking Kiosk. Installation of the new Depot Road parking payment kiosk is now complete” – Haven said you may see it out there on the corner – “but there are more details still to be worked out before it can be activated. The telecommunications connections are still to be completed as are signage.” Haven said you may have seen some signage out there. There’s some signage on the poles as well. “City Attorney Tom Ryan recommends that we take the time needed to ensure signage” – Haven said he didn’t know if there are more than what are out there already, but anyway ensure that “- particularly for the 12 privately owned spaces in the lot” – Haven said that those are Neil Wallace’s spots that are being talked about there, those are “fully installed before attempting to launch. Several business owners have contacted the office recently expressing concern over employee parking. I am currently estimating launch sometime in March.” Haven said OK, so that’s what he says. A month and a half, something. OK, so that’s the latest from Smith.

Haven asked if there was any more discussion about this.

No discussion.

Haven said let’s move on then. So, that’s public comment. They will call public comment to a close then and move on to item #6.

Agenda Item #6, FYI (Video time mark 0:12:00):

Haven said that this is For Your Information and is the time for announcements. Haven said he doesn’t have any, except for Valentine’s Day is coming. Beyond that, does anyone have any other announcements.

Forte said she does. They’re doing a trivia night at the Union in the basement on Wednesday. Wylie said really, she loves trivia. Fuller said yes, she knows, it’s brought to you by, and she’s going to botch her name, the downtown Clarkston group and then the library. They’re doing a partnership to really bring some social involvement to downtown. Wylie asked if it was every Wednesday. Fuller asked if Forte was talking about Cara [Cara Catallo, Curt Catallo’s sister, who is working with Main Street Clarkston, the nonprofit that taxpayers provided some financial support to]. Forte said yes. Rodgers said and it’s Wednesdays where? Forte said at the Union, and so you can, and there’s like posters and stuff. Haven asked Eric Lines if he knew anything about this. Lines said the downstairs area at the Union. Forte agreed. Wylie asked Lines if he knew what time. Lines said 6:00. Wylie asked if it was every Wednesday. Lines said he should say 6:00 or 6:30. Wylie said kind of get started. Lines agreed. Wylie asked Lines if he knew if it was every Wednesday. Lines said he thinks it’s once a month. Wylie said OK. Lines said they used to have it at the library, and they were looking for another area to (unintelligible) and they were more than happy to. Wylie said awesome, she loves the idea. Lines said and he thinks its Main Street Clarkston, is the organization. Forte said thank you, that’s it. Lines said (unintelligible) be at the library. Forte said bring our U.S. history knowledge. Wylie said we can find out, probably the library on their website has more details like which Wednesday it would happen. Forte said they have like a poster she saw at least in Essence on Main like on their front desk counter. Wylie said OK, perfect, thank you so much.

Rodgers said that she did get some comments this past week about the Christmas Market. She knows it was in December, but the gentleman that was the farmer that took the kids around for free. Haven said tractor hayride. Rodgers said thank you, hayride, he was telling Rodgers that one of the gals that had her grandson on it came up to him and said that she had never been able to take her grandson to see Santa because it always cost too much, like everybody charges now, and like they just don’t have, and he said she was very teary-eyed and she was so thankful that that night was totally free for people that came. Rodgers said and then like just the very next day, a gal that works for her who is trying to get custody of her grandchildren, similar situation, her kids are middle schoolers though, and they don’t, you know, middle schoolers are a tough crowd, she said that they just had such a wonderful time and she never had to tell them “no” all night, like whatever they wanted to do, they were able to do. So, those are just two comments that Rodgers thinks that really influences it that are on her list that (unintelligible) well spent. Haven agreed.

Rodgers said the other thing is that she is having more and more people commenting about the lights out here (gesturing), and that’s why she asked Smith about them. There was a big conversation of people that Rodgers doesn’t even really know that was brought to her attention about like “boy, I hope they’ll keep these up year ‘round now.” We really, it just adds so much sparkle, it would be nice in the summer to have them on, blah blah blah. So, just some, you know, kudos to money well spent, the thousand dollars that city council gave towards that thing, and she thinks it was a good thing. Haven said OK, that was used for it. Rodgers said yes. Haven said that’s very cool and noted that Rodgers received some other money too. Rodgers said yes, they got a fair amount, she thinks they got a total of maybe two thousand extra dollars, but they already have people that are offering to be donators for December. Marlow, who is the owner of Yellow Dog, she, Rodgers just happened to go there on Saturday because she likes that store, and they were doing a special like Super Bowl thing, and she was raffling off a poster that had like, it was filled with lotto tickets and it was behind glass, so it was like a framed maybe twenty or thirty different lotto tickets, and she was raffling it off for $5. All of the proceeds will come to the Christmas Market, she’ll donate to the Christmas Market, and she said that she’s going to do that a couple of times between now and Christmas because she sold out of her wares that she was selling. She was one of the vendors that was there, and so, yes, we should be able to get even more. So, we were hoping to have a reindeer and hoping to do some more festive things, maybe spend some money if we can’t get it into the budget on lighting up the playground part because people said their kids liked, enjoyed playing over there during that time. So, all good stuff. Haven said these are park issues, and we’ve talked about lighting of the park, even more permanent lighting in the park over time because we lack some, but we’ve had it over on the far side, but this near side is a little dark basically, and so on. Rodgers agreed. Haven said so, we want to keep this discussion going and Rodgers can interface with the Friends of Depot Park about this. Rodgers said that’s a great idea. Haven said he would help carry Rodger’s banner for her.

To the audience, Haven asked if they liked the idea of lights in the park. (No comments.) Haven said that would be nice. (Haven and Casey made unintelligible comments.) Casey said he thinks there’s a lot of light pollution around here. Haven said they would do it right, for sure. Casey said they ought to go off at some point or there ought to be hoods on them. (Unintelligible cross talk.) Haven asked Rodgers what she thought about those things. (Fuller made an unintelligible comment.)

Haven said well good, this is a good discussion. Let’s move on, shall we. That was For Your Information.

Agenda Item #7, Sheriff Report for January 2023 (Video time mark 0:17:41; page 7/33 of the council packet):

Haven said there’s a Sheriff report in their packet as well, and it’s really early in the year so it’s not really very heavily populated yet. The only two items – (interrupting Haven), Wylie said that the deputy is here.

Haven said oh, yes, you are here. Thank you very much. (Unintelligible crosstalk.) Haven said you did, oh my goodness sakes, the badge is there, that’s right, very much so, so we can ask you any hard questions about this report.

Haven said monthly citations, 51 of them year to date, which is January. And then calls for service, 261, that’s a fairly healthy, to what would he attribute some of those volumes. Sergeant John Ashley said well, that could be – (officer indicated he would go up to the podium). Haven said please come on. The officer said he would introduce himself for those that don’t know him. Haven said exactly. Sergeant Ashley introduced himself and said he was new to the Independence substation. He’s only been there since December, but he started his 29^th year with the department, so he’s been around a little bit. He hasn’t worked in Independence a lot.

Sergeant Ashley said the calls for service could be anything. They could be more, just whatever we have going. Haven said nothing specific. Sergeant Ashley said nothing specific. Nothing is jumping out right away. It could be just anything. Neighbor problems, noises, complaints, anything like that. Haven said he could perhaps inform them on this over time. He knows he’s been very active. Sergeant Ashley said yes. Haven said so take a look at that. Sergeant Ashley said yes. Haven said see if there’s some categories. Sergeant Ashley said sure, he could do that, pull up some stuff, and come to the next meeting with it. Haven said sure, that would be helpful.

Wylie said compared to the year before though, is that just January of 2022? Sergeant Ashley said he did not see the sheet yet and asked if he could borrow it. Wylie said actually, it’s a lot smaller than, a lot fewer calls than 2022 year to date. Rodgers said but that’s one month. Wylie said so, it says year to date 2022. Haven said that’s total. Wylie said so that should be January. Haven said no, he doesn’t think so. Haven and Rodgers said year to year. Sergeant Ashley said so year to date might be the citations. Those are just the tickets they’re writing. So, they’re already at 51.

Rodgers said she was going to ask what’s that about? All of 2022, we had 80, and we had 51 for the month of January. Sergeant Ashley said it’s just, you know, they get new people into the sub[station], you know, they tell them, hey, hit the area. Rodgers said and they do. Sergeant Ashley said and they’re doing it. (Laughter.) Haven said we don’t want to be known as the – (interrupting Haven), Sergeant Ashley said yes, that could be it too. Obviously, there are four crashes so far year to date. There were 26 last year. Yes, the ticket count is up. It all depends on the personnel. They do have a lot of new personnel at the sub. They have a lot of younger people, which tend to be a little more go-getters, he guesses, you know.

Rodgers said at least their presence is here. Sergeant Ashley said yes, oh yes, definitely their presence is here.

Haven said so this is in the village exclusively. It’s not outside the village. Sergeant Ashley said this is for you guys. Yes, it is, it’s for the village, yes. Haven said Sergeant Ashley is very good at this. He thinks that Sergeant Ashley is going to be great to work with on this. Sergeant Ashley (unintelligible) would like to think so. He thinks they’re doing OK. Haven asked Sergeant Ashley to help them learn about our community, because he takes the pulse on a daily basis. Sergeant Ashley said sure. Haven said when we look at these things, population, little clusters of things, help us understand, and this we can do together perhaps. Sergeant Ashley said well, it’s a good thing that we have no felonies or misdemeanor arrests. Haven said let’s keep it that way. Sergeant Ashley said exactly. He said he did experience his first parade this year, the Christmas parade, which he thought went really well. He saw a few minor tweaks he wants to do for next year. Haven said can work with (unintelligible) but with the park, the market, and with Rodgers. Sergeant Ashley said yes, exactly. He’s looking forward to the Taste of Clarkston and everything else. It’s going to be good. Haven said sure, yes. Let’s strike up a really lively dialogue about these things going forward. Sergeant Ashley said oh, yes, we will, definitely.

Haven said traffic calming is a big issue on Main Street as well. Sergeant Ashley agreed. Haven said it means they’ve tried to do some things with signage and so on that may or may not be working kind of thing, you know. Sergeant Ashley nodded. Haven said as well as heavy trucks.

Sergeant Ashley said going back a little bit, he had a gentleman that was a deputy with them that actually helped you guys get all the parking stuff and actually was helping with the last mayor that you had there and was able to put in, a very smart guy who works with them in their department. He knows city stuff and everything else, so Sergeant Ashley said hey, why don’t you go talk to them, and so, that was one of the things that helped out. Sergeant Ashley thinks it was pretty good and brings in some revenue. Haven said he knows, that’s the whole idea. Sergeant Ashley said it was pretty good.

Sergeant Ashley said he does not live far. He’s in White Lake, so he does have a stake in the community too. Haven said that’s nice. Sergeant Ashley said that’s also kind of nice. Haven said they can always reach him through the substation, right? Sergeant Ashley said oh yes, definitely. You guys have his number, he thinks, or he will give it to them afterwards if they need it. Haven said he would like to have it. Sergeant Ashley said yes, not a problem. Haven asked if Sergeant Yon comes too still or not? Sergeant Ashley said they sold the sergeant on eBay. (Laughter.) Sergeant Ashley said Sergeant Yon got moved. He went to another substation. Sergeant Ashley was in the Highland substation before this. Haven said OK. Sergeant Ashley said now, he’s over here in Independence. Haven said all right. Sergeant Ashley said he hopes to stay here. Haven said they appreciate him and thanked him.

Haven asked if anybody else had anymore questions or comments for Sergeant Ashley.

No questions or comments.

Sergeant Ashley said let him know. Haven said great. Sergeant Ashley said he would be here, so feel free to talk to him after. Haven thanked Sergeant Ashley.

Agenda Item #8, City Manager Report (Video time mark 0:22:47; page 8/33 of the council packet):]

Haven said the next item on the agenda is the city manager’s report and that they have in their packet. He said he will just walk everyone through that since they don’t necessarily have it in front of them.

Haven said they read the paragraph on Depot Road lot parking kiosk.

Haven said notary service. DeLorge is with us. We have notary service here in the village, so thank you for getting that certification. DeLorge said she used it today. Haven said good, it’s very, very helpful, and during elections as well. We have to go somewhere else to get our petitions notarized and so on, so, very interesting. Anyway, it’s a nice service for people.

Haven said our budget process will be underway here. They are counting down to July 31^st, which is the end of their fiscal year. [The fiscal year ends on June 30^th. Charter, section 7.1.] And so, they will be meeting, the finance committee, they will be meeting between now and then, probably once a month or so, working with Smith and Greg Coté [treasurer] in putting our budget together. Smith says in his report that he is working with department heads to get their inputs for the budget. If any of you have things you’d like to be considered for the budget, please let Smith know.

Haven said the East Alley storm drain, that’s behind the buildings we were talking about over here. It’s a very old storm drain, shallow and deteriorating. It’s been camera’d and there are several badly deteriorated sections. Hubbell, Roth & Clark, our engineering firm, is seeking contractor bids for repair and replacement of the storm drain, and that goes through the alley there. That’s all private property, so that will be a cooperative effort with the businesses there as well with the city which owns out by the sidewalk, that portion.

Haven said Community Development Block Grant Funding is something they deal with on a yearly basis. This is federal funding that comes down through the county. Haven said he didn’t know what it is this year and asked DeLorge if it was $5 or $7,000, something like that. DeLorge said hopefully it will be $8,000. Haven said more, that would be great. DeLorge said 2021 and 2022 were $7,000. Haven said OK. DeLorge said they are hoping for 2023 to be $8,000. Haven said it’s been going up, for sure. They have in the past given money to the senior center and to youth assistance, but there could be others that would maybe make application for those funds, so that’s there for you to note.

Haven said radon test kits are still available. They had them available for quite a while, right, and so you still have a supply of them here? DeLorge said yes, they do. Haven said if you don’t know if you have radon in your house, he would recommend that you check it, because they have two pumps at his house. You just never know, and it’s cancer-causing, tasteless and odorless gas, so you might want to check that out with a kit.

Haven said with regard to other project updates, Smith said they are waiting on EGLE. This is Environmental, Great Lakes, and Energy Department of the state which oversees environmental issues. We’ve submitted a $106,000 grant application to them to establish a lake level for the pond out here. That has to be established, and what they do is they consider basements and septic fields and everything else and that kind of thing to find the ideal level. And then for half of the engineering costs and half of the development cost for moving toward construction change, and what really has been proposed by the county is a standpipe out in the middle of the pond, so when the water reaches a certain level, it flows over the standpipe and under the dam, making unnecessary any of the valving that’s been there over time. And the county then would own it once that is done. But we’ve applied for half, probably half, maybe half, we’ll see how the construction costs come in, but we applied for at least that much to get it rolling. And we think it’s a high priority and EGLE will probably honor us with that. It’s a lot of money for starters.

Haven said number two, steps to become a certificated local government Smith says are currently being discussed. Haven wasn’t aware of the follow up from that meeting. They had a presentation on certified local government. Haven asked DeLorge if she knew who he was talking to about that, the HDC would be involved for sure, Historic District Commission. DeLorge said right. Haven said he talked with Jim Meloche [HDC Chair]. DeLorge said she didn’t know. Haven said she didn’t have to, it’s OK. DeLorge said she didn’t know last names. Haven said yes, a lot of this is new for DeLorge.

Haven said number three, representatives of the Planning Commission and city planning, Carlisle/Wortman, will attend the February 28^th meeting to recommend proceeding with a rental home inspection ordinance, which planning has been working on. [The next city council meeting is on February 27^th.] This is some provision, an ordinance provision, to make sure all of our residential properties are up to standard.

Haven said efforts to install, number four, the previously approved EV [electric vehicle] charging stations are moving forward. No ETA, no estimated time of arrival as of yet for those, but we bought, we were given three of them if memory serves him, and so we’re underway in trying to get those in place. Two down here and one up on Main, what was it, Washington and Main. Wylie said that’s her recollection. Haven said yes, he thought so.

Haven said OK, and then a status report from our ordinance enforcement officer is currently being prepared and will be presented to council in the February 27^th meeting. That’s good. We’ll all look forward to that.

Haven said property taxes are due on February 14^th. If you haven’t gotten them in yet, we recommend you do that. That would be like tomorrow. (Laughter.) Somewhat late notice, but we wanted to let everyone know that. Casey said happy Valentine’s Day. Haven said that’s right.

Haven said and then the office is closed on Monday, February 20^th because of Presidents’ Day.

Haven said respectfully submitted, Jonathan Smith.

Haven asked if there are any comments (unintelligible).

No comments.

Agenda Item #9 – Motion: Acceptance of the Consent Agenda as Presented (Video time mark 0:28:43):

• • 01-23-2023 Draft Minutes (page 10/33 of the council packet)
  • 01-09-2023 Final Minutes (page 12/33 of the council packet)
  • 02-13-2023 Treasurer’s Report (page 14/33 of the council packet)
  • 02-01-2023 Check Disbursement Report, 01-01-2023 – 01-31-2023 (page 15/33 of the council packet)
  • Carlisle/Wortman January invoices (page 24/33 of the council packet)
  • Hubbell, Roth & Clark January invoice (page 26/33 of the council packet)
  • Thomas J. Ryan, PC January invoices (page 28/33 of the council packet)

Haven said this is their consent agenda. A consent agenda usually has two meeting minutes on it. They have the draft minutes from January 23^rd and they have the final minutes from January 9^th, which is the previous meeting to be accepted, and the treasurer’s report from February 13, 2023. They put all these together. If council wants to separate anything out, having looked at their consent, their bills and so on, what’s in their packet, they can pull something out and talk about that separately, but basically, they try and dispose of this as one motion. Haven said he would entertain a motion to accept their consent agenda as it has been presented to start. Who would like to move.

Motion by Wylie; second Forte.

Haven asked if there was any discussion.

Wylie had a question on Hubbell, Roth and since Smith is not there, they probably can’t get an answer on this. The Hubbell, Roth & Clark bill, and maybe Haven knows, but it says this was for Depot Park trail nature trail, study plan review, and Wylie just wanted to clarify where the funds came from. Haven said Wylie will have to ask Smith. Wylie said OK. Haven said it may be, Friends of Depot Park has some money that they are able to spend. Part of this is park maintenance, OK? Looking forward, and the only other place he can think of is they may have some money in the Depot Park kitty. Wylie said her recollection, and she did not go back and look at it, her recollection was that it did come from Friends of Depot Park, but she wanted to clarify that. Haven agreed and said that this is for an informal tour, if you will, of what might become eventually, hopefully, a walking trail, boardwalk, a riverwalk from Depot Park here all the way through the wetlands down to Deer Lake Beach. Wylie said OK. Haven said that’s the hope.

Wylie said she didn’t know, since she does have a question on this, do we pull that part out. Haven said they can approve it without it, or she can ask Smith on the side, whatever she wants to do. Wylie said she’d like to talk about it at a meeting. Haven said OK, pull it out. Wylie said let’s pull it out.

Haven said he would entertain approving the entire consent agenda without that item. Wylie said OK, and that’s the Hubbell, Roth & Clark bill. Haven said yes, DeLorge has that, and then (unintelligible) separately on the next consent agenda. Wylie said thank you. Haven said OK.

Haven asked if there were any other comments or thoughts about the consent agenda.

Wylie asked if they had to have anybody, do they have to approve – Forte asked if she had to re-second. Wylie asked if they had to do anything official about pulling this out of the consent agenda. Haven said they can, certainly. He asked Wylie if she wanted to change her motion.

Wylie said she would make a motion to the remove the Hubbell, Roth & Clark bill or statement from the consent agenda. (To Forte), Haven said and then you’ll second it? Forte second.

Haven asked if there was any other discussion.

No further discussion.

Motion passed by unanimous voice vote. Haven said the motion carries.

Haven said alright, the old business – (interrupting Haven), Wylie said they haven’t voted yet, don’t they have to vote on the consent agenda, approving it, they made motions on it. Haven said he thought they were voting on the amended agenda. Wylie said oh, she thought they were voting on pulling that portion out. Haven said OK, we can do that. Wylie said now they had to vote on the consent agenda.

Haven said all in favor of pulling that out, say aye.

Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

Haven said the motion carries.

Haven said then vote on the rest of the consent agenda, all in favor say aye.

Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

Haven said the motion carries.

Wylie said thank you. Haven said OK.

Agenda Item #10, Old Business

Item 10a – Resolution: Downtown Trash Receptacle Refurbishment (Video time mark 0:32:25):

• • Resolution – Downtown Trash Receptacle Refurbishment (page 31/33 of the council packet)
  • GT Performance Coating Invoice (page 32/33 of the council packet)
  • Before and After Photograph, Clarkston Downtown Trash Receptacle (page 33/33 of the council packet)

Haven said old business. 10a, a resolution for downtown trash receptacle refurbishment. Smith told them about this last time. They have a proposal in their packet which has (unintelligible). He noted that fourteen receptacles to be powder coated – sandblasted, powder coated, and painted – powder coated would be the painting. Casey agreed. Haven said for $125 apiece, times fourteen, would be $1,750. So, because its money involved, they have to take a roll call on this.

Haven said he would entertain a motion to adopt this resolution first. Who’d like to move that it be adopted.

Forte said wait, can she ask some questions. Haven said you have to move, have a motion and second.

Wylie said she would make a motion. Haven thanked her. Forte apologized. Wylie said and then you can ask your questions. Haven said and then you can, did she want to second motion. Rodgers second.

Haven said OK, a motion to adopt and a second.

Haven asked if there was any discussion about this. Forte?

Forte said yes, where will the funds come from for this. Haven said he has it right there. Typically, he puts it in there. Wylie said professional and contractual services budget, so there’s money budgeted for that. Forte said right, because she saw that he had this community development block grant. Haven said that’s different. Forte said OK. Haven said that’s totally different. That’s federal money coming to just to be an asset to the village, a gift to the village, really. Forte said OK. Fuller said typically we don’t spend that block grant development money on capital projects. Haven said Fuller may have had that in school. Did they have that in the school system? Community development block grant? Fuller said no, they aren’t a community. Haven repeated they aren’t a community, so that makes sense. Fuller said they got grants, but not that one.

(To Fuller), Haven said that the line item is right at the end of the paragraph there (indicating). Forte said OK. Haven said it’s 401-901[-805-001], OK. Forte agreed. Haven said so that’s where it is.

Haven said all right. So, any further discussion about whether we want to powder coat, sandblast and powder coat, our trash cans. We want them to look nice. We got big, expensive ones so we could keep them up. Fuller said that Smith discussed this at the last meeting. He discussed how rusted and bad they look, and the price to get them sandblasted and powder coated, to Fuller, is unbelievably cheap. Casey said yes, it’s a good deal. Haven said $125. Bright new, shiny ones. Casey said that powder coating is really durable. Haven said yes, it is. Tough stuff. Fuller said they went to look to get some powder coated iron fencing and got sticker shock, for sure. So, for them to do it at this price. He’d like to know if they put in railing and fences. (Laughter.) Haven said check with the vendor (unintelligible).

Haven said all right. He asked if there was any discussion.

No additional discussion.

Haven asked DeLorge to please take the roll.

Casey, Fuller, Haven, Forte, Lamphier, Wylie, and Rodgers voted yes. DeLorge said all yes. Haven said excellent. The resolution carries.

Haven said so that is – he gets in trouble at this moment. He’ll see if there’s anything on the agenda. This appears to be the last item on their agenda with the exception of a motion to adjourn.

Agenda Item #11, New Business

[This agenda item was not referenced during the meeting. No new business items were listed.]

Agenda Item #12, Adjourn (Video time mark 0:35:39):

Haven asked if anyone would like to move to adjourn.

Motion by Wylie; second Forte.

Haven asked if there was any discussion.

No discussion.

Motion to adjourn by unanimous voice vote.

Haven said they are adjourned and thanked everyone for coming.

Resources:

• • Link to video recording:
    http://216.11.46.126/CablecastPublicSite/show/4031?site=1
  • 02-13-2023 City Council packet