City Council Minutes

CITY OF GRANDVILLE

REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010

The Grandville City Council Regular Meeting of May 24, 2010 was called to order by Mayor James Buck at 7:00 pm.

Present were Council Members Randal Gelderloos, Steve Kauffman, Steve Maas, Joshua Meringa, Carole Pettijohn, Dick Richards and Mayor James Buck. Absent: None

Also attending: Kenneth Krombeen, City Manager; Matthew Butts, Assistant City Manager; Mary Meines, City Clerk; Tammy Hopman, Treasurer/Finance Director; Randy Kraker, City Attorney; and Dennis Santo, Police Chief.

Rev. Brian Jones, Grandville Bible Church, gave the invocation; and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Motion made by Council Member Pettijohn, supported by Council Member Richards, to approve the May 24, 2010 agenda as presented. The motion was APPROVED.

Motion made by Council Member Meringa, supported by Council Member Maas, to waive the reading of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 10, 2010 and to approve as presented. The motion was APPROVED.

Motion made by Council Member Maas, supported by Council Member Pettijohn, that bills for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 totaling $504,738.32 as presented by the City Manager, be allowed and authorize the Treasurer to pay the same. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by roll call vote.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Todd Polavin, 3648 Big Rock Ct., addressed City Council re: the City budget. He does not feel all the cuts that could have been made have been made. He also asked if there could be some sort of “sunset” clause on the millage increase.

Randy Zuidema, 3056 Locke, feels the City of Grandville operates within its budget and is happy for the new trails and park. He did request that a sign be put up at the spring cleanup indicating for only Grandville residents.

Russ Ripma, 3965 Johnson Lane, extended an invitation to the Senior Neighbors lasagna dinner on June 17 from 5-6:30 pm. He also thanked the City for everything that is done for the Senior Neighbors.

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

Treasurer/Finance Director Hopman explained the reason for increasing the sewer ready to serve charges. Motion made by Council Member Pettijohn, supported by Council Member Maas, to approve Resolution No. 2927 approving a change in the sewer ready to serve charges effective with the July 2010 billing. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by roll call vote.

Ms. Hopman explained why it is necessary to approve the levy of an additional millage rate. The City’s millage rate will increase to 9.154 mills (8.2017 mills for the General Fund and 0.9523 mills for the Major and Local Street Funds) out of the authorized 20 mills the City could levy. For FY 2010-2011, the City will levy an “additional millage rate” of 0.2951 mills as defined in Act 5. Motion by Council Member Maas, supported made by Council Member Richards, to approve Resolution No. 2928, approving the levy of an additional millage rate. The motion was APPROVED by a 5-2 roll call vote (Yeas: Kauffman, Maas, Pettijohn, Richards and Mayor Buck. Nays: Gelderloos and Meringa).

Finance Director Hopman indicated the only changes made to the FY 2010-2011 budget since the public hearing on May 10 were to remove $18,000 for resurfacing of the Calvin Crest tennis courts and $10,000 in the DDA budget for façade improvements. Motion made by Council Member Maas, supported by Council Member Pettijohn, to approve Resolution No. 2929, adopting the budget for Fiscal Year 2010-2011. The motion was APPROVED by a 5-2 roll call vote (Yeas: Kauffman, Maas, Pettijohn, Richards and Mayor Buck. Nays: Gelderloos and Meringa).

Comments from City Council regarding the budget included:

· Maas – as a condition of voting for a millage increase he will forego his Council salary for the remainder of his term to demonstrate that the Council does not take a millage increase lightly but found it was necessary this year - he expressed appreciation to Finance Director Hopman

· Kauffman – feels more cuts could have been made but will support the budget with reservations

· Pettijohn – appreciated the work staff has done - the budget process was not easy and making cuts are hard to make but was a good process and would like to have a unified Council in the future

· Gelderloos – feels it is too easy to raise taxes - don’t think enough cuts were made - need to look at making structural changes or the City will continue to face the same problems in the future

· Meringa – feels good cuts were made but there are more that could be done – if you are asking the citizens to sacrifice by increasing the millage, the City needs to make a proportionate sacrifice – voted no on the budget because there has not been a meeting with union groups regarding health care contribution and cannot see anything being in place by July 1 – does not feel it is fair to the administrative staff to impose a wage freeze and to require a health care contribution when do not have an answer from the union groups

· Richards – encouraging to be able to review the millage rate every year – can ask for union concessions but can’t expect them to give up something in the middle of a contract – staff has done a good job on the budget and Council has done the best they can

· Mayor Buck – appreciate the efforts of everyone on the budget

CONSENT AGENDA

Items presented under the Consent Agenda included:

Reports: CWP (April), Investments (April)
Minutes: Park and Rec (April 22)

Planning Commission (May 5)

Downtown Development Authority (May 13)

Historical Commission (May 17)

Miscellaneous Purchase Orders and Requests:

a. DPW: Leaf Bags – PABCO Ind. - $7,984.20

Motion made by Council Member Maas, supported by Council Member Richards, to approve the Consent Agenda as presented in the best interest of the City. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by roll call vote.

COUNCIL COMMENTS

· Special Olympics in Mt. Pleasant on June 4

· Veterans Family Picnic on May 27 at Wedgwood Park

· City BBQ was a success

· Peck St. Park meeting

· Thank you to Probation Dept.

· DDA radio advertisements re: streetscape

· Growing Community Conference on June 10 at Prince Conference Center

· 4^th of July Fireworks sponsors

ADJOURNMENT

Motion made by Council Member Maas, supported by Council Member Meringa, to adjourn at 7:46 pm to Executive Session for purposes of collective bargaining negotiations and strategy. The motion was unanimously APPROVED by roll call vote.

Mary L. Meines

City Clerk

Approved by City Council: June 14, 2010

Help - Home
Search - Site Map
Community - Government
Services - Business
Reference Desk

Contact the webmaster by clicking here.
Comments regarding website technical problems can be sent here.

An online community since 2000.

City of Grandville
3195 Wilson Avenue SW
Grandville, MI 49418
(616) 531-3030

Site Use Policy

Site Design/
Development by