THE CORUNNA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING November 19, 2012 Present: Absent: Guests: Horton, Johnson, Sliwa, Bennett, Reichert. Sarrazin. Tim Crawford, Superintendent of Public Works; Merilee Lawson, Planner/Assessor; Jamie Rivette, Yeo & Yeo; Justin Horvath and Brent Jones; SEDP; Bob Morehouse; Diane Johnson. The meeting was called to order in the council chambers of Corunna City Hall by Mayor Kerridge at 7:00 p.m. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING: Bennett moved, Johnson seconded, to approve the minutes of the October 15, 2012 regular council meeting. Yes: Johnson, Sliwa, Bennett, Reichert, Horton. AGENDA APPROVAL: Reichert moved, Horton seconded, to approve the agenda as presented with the addition of #1a. Excuse Councilperson Sarrazin due to work conflict, #1b. Discussion on SEDP Renaissance Zone and #6. Consider purchase of top soil screener. Yes: Sliwa, Bennett, Reichert, Horton, Johnson. APPROVAL OF VENDOR DISPERSEMENTS: Bennett moved, Johnson seconded, to approve vendor dispersements from 10-12-12 through 10-25-12 and 10-26-12 through 11-08-12. Yes: Bennett, Reichert, Horton, Johnson, Sliwa. CALL TO THE AUDIENCE: No audience comments. MANAGER S REPORT: Sawyer stated that the MERS evaluation has come in for this year. He stated that the city has made tremendous progress in reducing our health care costs for retirees, but MERS has been much harder with the stock market fluctuations. There has been a slight increase in the unfunded liabilities even though we pay more than the minimum payment. We are currently 63% funded with a $1.7 million unfunded liability.
EXCUSE COUNCILPERSON SARRAZIN DUE TO WORK CONFLICT: Bennett moved, Horton seconded, to excuse Councilperson Sarrazin due to work conflict. Yes: Sliwa, Reichert, Horton, Johnson, Bennett. DISCUSSION OF SHIAWASSEE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP RENAISSANCE ZONE: Justin Horvath discussed the I-69 International Trade Corridor. Sawyer is a member of that board and Shiawassee County has 12 representatives on the board out of a total of 35 reps. across four counties. This is a regional collaboration to share transportation and other assets to attract and expand businesses with an emphasis on Canadian businesses. The state economic organization has now come through with a grant for marketing to help the group get noticed and he felt there was a lot of forward momentum to this project. What SEDP wanted council to consider was a Renaissance Zone. This would be a tax free zone, exempting businesses who located there from certain taxes. It is a tool to convince businesses to locate in an area. Horvath asked council to consider if they would put some or all of their industrial property into this designation. Owosso and Perry are not interested in pursuing this, but Durand is looking into it. Right now, they are only looking to designate possible Ren. Zone areas. When a project is interested in a site, it would come back to the community for a vote, and then go through the process for approval. Sawyer stated that it is not our desire to have 200 acres of tax exempt land but the first step is to decide if we want to be eligible for a Ren. Zone or not. There is a one-time submission to the state on this issue for the four county area and he did not know if there would be another opportunity to add land once the Ren. Zone is established in our area. Sawyer s feeling was that, if land is set aside for the Ren. Zone, we should include the Eppert land. When we get to the point of setting criteria, we could set that only a certain percentage of land would become part of the Ren. Zone. The city would not lose its say as to what the land could be used for. The state will also be setting criteria for these zones in addition to ours. Johnson stated that she was concerned that the city has put a lot of money into that area and she does not want to see it given away for free. Sawyer stated there are a lot of other upgrades that need to be done to the industrial park. C2AE is working with the city on a phased plan for development which will not happen without grants. The Ren. Zone designation might help us with the grant process. The bottom line is that if Corunna puts part or all of its industrial area into this, the land would become one of 12 spotlighted areas in the corridor that would be marketed to prospective businesses. If a prospect is found, the city would still have control as to terms and criteria. Sawyer said he would get more information for council to look over about this issue. 2011-2012 AUDIT PRESENTATION: Jamie Rivette from Yeo & Yeo presented an overview of the audit for 2011-2012. She stated that the only things they found were that a formal city credit card policy is needed and where funds are collected outside of the city offices, the city needs to be sure that the city controls are being followed. There were 10 adjusting entries for errors. There were no material weakness and no significant deficiencies. The city was given an unqualified opinion which is the highest level of
assurance given. The city s fund balance is in very good shape. For the first year with Yeo & Yeo, everything went very smoothly. Johnson moved, Reichert seconded, to accept the audit as presented by Yeo & Yeo. Yes: Bennett, Johnson, Horton, Sliwa, Reichert. CONSIDER WEB SITE UPGRADES: Sawyer stated that the city web site is very dated. He recently received messages from the state and the FBI that the program was vulnerable to hackers. A hacker would not be able to get into the servers, but they could hijack our site and pretend that they were us. Craig Weaver, the owner of the company who hosts our web site, Mucaro Inc., was contacted and he can upgrade our site to solve the security problems for $1575. Sawyer also asked Weaver to do regular upgrades to the program. Reichert moved, Johnson seconded, to approve payment to Mucaro Inc. in the amount of $1,575 for web site upgrades. Yes: Horton, Johnson, Sliwa, Reichert, Bennett. CONSIDER UPGRADE TO ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM: Sawyer stated that this proposal comes from I.T. Right. The current program used at city hall is about to expire. Sawyer stated that this was not in the budget so he wanted council to approve it. Johnson moved, Reichert seconded to approve payment of $270 to I.T. Right for upgrades to the antivirus program. Yes: Reichert, Horton, Bennett, Sliwa, Johnson.. CONSIDER PAYMENT TO HOLZHAUSEN EXCAVATING COMPANY: Sawyer stated that Councilperson Bennett completed work in the brush and leaf drop off area, but there was miscommunication about payment and the cost of this work was not anticipated. Reichert and Johnson both stated that the city needed a policy in place for cases like this and wondered if the job should have been put out for bids. Reichert also wondered what the public perception would be to have a councilperson get a job that was not first put out for bids. Sawyer stated that the contractual services line will be over budget if this bill is paid and that is one of the reasons he wanted council to vote on this. Sawyer agreed that, over the seven years of improvements, we have gotten a lot more work done than we anticipated, but there was miscommunication as to where the work should stop on this project. Horton stated that she thought Bennett said during a council meeting that he would volunteer to do the work. Bennett stated that he never intended to do the all of the work without some compensation, but stated that he would not take offense if council voted not to pay him. Bennett stated that he would like to abstain from voting on
this issue. Johnson moved, Reichert seconded, to allow Councilperson Bennett to abstain from voting due on the issue of payment to Holzhausen Excavating Company. Yes: Sliwa, Bennett, Johnson, Reichert, Horton. Johnson moved, Reichert seconded, to approve payment of $2,500 to Holzhauzen Excavation for dozing at the brush and leaf drop off. Yes: Johnson, Reichert. No: Horton, Sliwa. Motion FAILED. Reichert moved, Johnson seconded to have city hall create a policy on work and materials rendered by councilmembers and a policy for councilmembers volunteering work. Yes: Reichert Horton, Bennett, Sliwa, Johnson. DISCUSSION ON PHASE II CITY HALL IMPROVEMENTS: Sawyer was looking for direction from council on the Phase II renovations to city hall. Phase I was done to the front customer service area. Phase II deals with remodeling the police department, adding a conference room, a new work area for the building inspector, a new kitchen area, and a police evidence room. If the city does the remodeling now, council chambers would be moved to the Olmstead Building. Sawyer wondered if the city should remodel the Olmstead room now for council use. However, that would reduce the Friends of the Library s area in the building. There is also the lower level of the Community Center that could be used for council meetings although that still needs flooring and bathroom remodeling. Sawyer will put together three plans of action and get back with council. CONSIDER PURCHASE OF TOP SOIL SCREENER: Perrin Construction was contacted to screen the top soil in the brush and leaf drop off. However, their screener is too large to bring to the city to be cost effective. Sawyer showed photographs of a screener that is going up for auction at the end of the week. It would need some work, but it is operable. Johnson asked if it breaks down, can it be fixed, and Bennett stated yes. Sawyer stated that they were looking for approval to try to buy the screener, if it can be purchased at a good price. Reichert moved, Horton seconded, to authorize the city manager to bid on the top soil screener for an appropriate price with guidance from the DPW supervisor. Yes: Horton, Johnson, Sliwa, Reichert, Bennett.
CALL TO THE AUDIENCE: Bob Morehouse suggested that Mr. Kuchar on Bennington Rd. might have something like that the screener at his property. Diane Johnson wondered where the screened soil is going to go. Sawyer stated that the soil will go to public facilities first and then made available to city residents. ROUNDTABLE: Councilperson Reichert: He wondered about Sawyer and Cowdrey s impressions with Yeo & Yeo since this was their first year working with them. Both were happy with the process. Sawyer stated that they were not trying to change us to work with them. They worked with us and our programs. Kerridge said he got a call from the auditors and they were happy working with the city. Councilperson Horton: Nothing to report. Councilperson Johnson: Wanted to thank the church group for putting up the lights downtown and congratulated Sawyer and Cowdrey for a good audit. Councilperson Bennett: Asked Horton if there were still items in the sled hill hot house and she said that it was being moved out. Councilperson Sliwa: Asked if the for rent sign was up yet at H & H and she was told no. She also asked about revisiting the No Left Turn sign issue at the old K-Mart building. Sawyer stated that there have been no issues yet, but it will be monitored. Horton and Sliwa both stated that they have gone through there at times where there are cars who want to turn left into the parking lot facing off with cars wanting to turn left to go to the bank. It was suggested that the police watch the area and see if there is a problem. Sliwa also said she was not happy about the Cat House on Corunna Ave. The history of problems with the owner was discussed. Bennett stated that it can t be helping him sell the property with that there. Lawson stated there could be a signage issue, but you pick your battles. Mayor Kerridge: Thanked Jason Yerian and his youth group, Edge Ministries, for putting up the lights. ADJOURN: Johnson moved, Sliwa seconded to adjourn. Yes: Bennett, Reichert, Horton, Johnson, Sliwa. Time was 9:03 p.m. Charles Kerridge, Mayor Nichole Cowdrey, City Clerk