VILLAGE OF HOLLY



VILLAGE OF HOLLY

VILLAGE COUNCIL MEETING

February 14, 2017

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Village Council of the Village of Holly was called to order by President Perkins at 7:00 P.M. in the Village of Holly Council Chambers located at 300 East Street, Holly, Michigan.

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Council Members Present

Jim Perkins

Dave Cruickshank

Suzanne L. Heiple

Ryan Shiel

Debra Musgrave

Chris Rankin

Bob Allsop

Excused/Absent

Staff Present

Jerry L. Walker

Deborah J. Bigger

Brian Klaassen

Steve McGee

Mike Story

Others Present

See attached

President Perkins called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Interim Clerk/Treasurer Bigger called the roll.

CONSENT AGENDA

1. Agenda Approval

2. Consideration of the Approval of the Council Meeting Minutes of January 24, 2017.

3. Consideration of the Approval of the Charter & Ordinance Minutes of January 24, 2017.

4. Consideration of the Approval of the Charter & Ordinance Minutes of February 7, 2017.

5. Consideration of the Approval of Warrant 2017-003 in the amount of $169,268.66.

6. Business Registration – Elysian Emporium.

7. Consideration of excusing the Village Attorney from tonight’s meeting.

CHANGES TO AGENDA:

President Perkins asked to add consent agenda item number 7; to excuse the Village Attorney from tonight’s meeting.

CM 2017-020 Motion by Musgrave, second by Shiel to approve the consent agenda as amended.

Motion carried by a voice vote of all ayes and no nays.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Tony Engelberg, 115 Cogshall, said he would like to formally ask the Charter and Ordinance Committee that they review our chicken ordinance. He said if you have three and one dies, you need to bring in two at a time. You can’t leave one bird out there by itself. And he said you can’t get baby chickens all year round. He said he would like it to be increased to four or six because you need to introduce them in pairs. People are not allowed to let their chickens run free during the day. He thinks common sense is you don’t allow roosters, because of the noise and you don’t allow slaughter at home. He said he gives away his eggs. He is asking if the Charter & Ordinance Committee could bring it up at the next meeting.

Councilor Cruickshank said the next meeting is March 14th. He asked if there is a number that is appropriate.

Mr. Engelberg said it depends on the coop size. He thinks six is a good number. He could let them out and supervise them. He thinks four to six would be a good number. He knows people in town that already have five or six.

Pat Feeney, 210 Franklin Street, said he would like to ask Chief McGee if he has rescued any more ostriches. He would like to get a total cost of the water main break that we had in December. The total cost of that and how it affected our water fund. He thinks it would be a good tool for people to see.

President Perkins asked if Director Klaassen had a brief ball park on what it costs.

DPW Director Klaassen said we had two breaks. He said they were here until 10 o’clock at night for the two breaks.

Manager Walker said we can provide a report at the next meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

None.

NEW BUSINESS

Manager Walker said this is the first budget study session. He said tonight is safety night. Chief McGee and Chief Story will give an overview of what they do day to day. And they will lay out some of their budget requests. He said tonight is not going to be any approval of their budgets.

Manager Walker said he provided to Council eight pages. He said we rely heavily on Munetrix to help us adhere to dashboard requirements. He said we provide information on our website. How we spend money in order to be transparent. We also list what our long term responsibilities are.

Manager Walker stated that the first two graphs are ones Ms. bigger provided. Page number three is a copy of our home page on our website. On the bottom section of the page, Munetrix will give you information of what we have done in the past years. It is a great aid in preparing future budgets and a great aid in telling us what we have done in the past.

He said we are at low risk in all categories. This current year, we are in pretty good standing. He said it shows 2006 to 2018, revenue, expenditures, fund balance and long term debt. The next page is the breakdown of the general fund. He said you can track the different years up to what we project for 2018. The last page is the most important, because it is about the pension system. Pensions are a big deal. Lots of promises were made in the past with the unions and the employees. He said there was a huge difference in the revenues brought in by all municipalities from 2007 to date. We had revenues just over 4 million. Now we have only 2.7 million. This pension piece is an important piece. He said we will talk about this in every budget study session. If the Chiefs mention something, you can reference it. The police department has a lot of retirees because they have provided many years of excellent service. He said this year it is going to increase over $100,000. We have to balance that in the general fund budget. You can make your decisions based on our recommendations. He said if anyone would like a copy of the packet, stop by the Village Offices.

#1. BUDGET STUDY SESSION

Holly Police Department:

Chief Story said that he has twenty four people serving in his department. The Department is open to public Monday thru Saturday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. He said his current expenditure budget is 1.368 million. That includes the clerical support and his police officers. He said they have eight full time sworn personnel.

He said they are a full service department. He said they respond to private property accidents and they maintain operating systems involving record keeping and CLEMIS. They do that electronically to save some time. He said the fleet has seven vehicles. Five are for road patrol use, two are for administration. He said we have one more year left to pay on our lease for the three new cars.

He said all five cars have video. The allocation was for $41,700. Fortunately we received a RAP grant for the cameras and storage. With the grant we received $11,200. He said the actual cost is $29,600. He said they ended up getting in a little bit under budget.

Chief Story said the system that was purchased can be expanded to include body cameras for officers.

He said they have had four instances where the recordings were used in the prosecutor’s officer. He said it was easier to get warrants. One was for a pursuit we had in the Village. He said two cars got rammed.

In this year, he said he has hired three part time officers. As a result of our part time issues, our contract now says we don’t have to have a one to one ratio. We are in the process of accepting applications, but the pool is shrinking. As our budget stood at the end of December, the three budgets show 49.8, 51% and 40%. Dispatch will be exact because it is contractual. He said the part time budget will be going up.

He said they are replacing the MDC’s with Dell laptops recommended by CLEMIS. They are a portion of the cost of an MDC. He said they are having good results.

Chief Story said they also changed out and incorporated IT Right and they have done a wonderful job for us. He said he had to purchase three AED’s.

He said he believes that we are in good standing right now. He has no reason to think he will go over budget.

He said he would like to have a full time officer replaced. We have been on a downward slide since 2009. He is currently running the 12 hour shifts. He said it makes it difficult to deal with sickness. He can only keep them four more hours and can’t touch them the next day. He said he can only work part time 128 hours a month. All but one of his part timers has another job or sometimes two. He said we run into problems with vacations.

He is looking at the hours for the part time officers and he has two officers that are over 1400 hours. He said two are near 1000. It is something to deal with every day. A new officer will be 2080 hours per year that he doesn’t have to fill with possible over time. He makes this request because he believes it is necessary. He has a few part times that say they would like to work full time. He believes a full time officer is a better officer. He is a lot more beholden to the community.

He said he would like to enhance coverage in his police station. His station is only open Monday to Saturday. He is looking at it having a detrimental effect on his department. He realizes that this is a staffing and money issue. He has an issue with the contact with the community. He said it is stronger when they can come in and put a face to an officer. Also he is looking at the number of arrests. He said we are at a point where OCJ will only accept certain offenses. Basically the others we just write them a ticket and let them leave. They are not on bond and not violating any bond conditions. If we can keep them in the station, we can bond them out when they are sober. He could get an investigator in and let them talk to them. He said we have the facilities for holding. He has a camera system. The training is some basic medical knowledge and some training in the LEIN system.

He said there are issues with juvenile holding. We can only hold them for six hours. We can’t put them in a holding cell. We have to have eyes on them, either a monitor or line of sight. We can’t lock them in, but we can shut the door. He believes it is a quality of life issue for the village. The PD is a 24/7 operation. We could refer them or see that their concerns are addressed.

He said he is not asking for 24/7. Just whatever staffing he could get would be appreciated. He would like to have someone at the station on Sunday. He believes the Village would be served very well if there is any way to get the station staffed.

He said he still needs some equipment replaced. Some of the MPC’s are failing. They need to be replaced. The replacement parts take forever. When Fenton went to the Dells, they gave us some equipment. He would like to purchase two AED’s. He said we only have three and he would like to have four. One is required to be kept in the station at all times.

He said his last desire would be to start trading out his Tasers. They are three generations old. He said that he can’t find the parts to repair them. He said it is getting to the point where the replacement of them is necessary. He is going to ask for at least three of them.

Councilor Cruickshank asked if there are needs of vehicles in the next three years.

Chief Story said we have another $33,000 to pay for the last three. As it stands right now, the charger is still fine. It will be okay for another year maybe two.

President Perkins asked if the Dells are the same ones that MSP switched to.

Chief Story said yes.

Councilor Cruickshank said the number of arrests are steadily declining. He asked if crime was going down or are we not making the arrests we could.

Chief Story said we are not making the arrests we could.

Councilor Allsop asked why he can’t keep the jail open 24/7.

President Perkins said you have to have someone there.

Councilor Allsop said the jail should be open.

Chief Story said he is requesting that.

Councilor Shiel asked about a couple vehicles that are in poor to good condition. The detective car and Chief Story’s.

Chief Story said they are not used as regular patrol cars.

Councilor Rankin said we went form 362 arrests down to 80 arrests. He asked if that is a function of not having the officers on the road, or a combination with the Village being a safer place to live.

Chief Story said there were 90 where we apprehended and released on our own warrants. With the 362 total, any arrest will create the paperwork. As a gateway community, we run into a lot of warrants from other communities.

Councilor Rankin said some of the decline is because we don’t have enough bodies on the road.

Chief Story said it is also our inability to house those people.

Councilor Cruickshank said the hours of the road officers have not changed, it is the ability to bring them in.

Councilor Rankin asked if we had more than two officers on the road at one time.

Chief Story said when we had 15 officers, we had two shifts.

Councilor Rankin said the patrol hours have not decreased, but the officers have.

Councilor Musgrave asked how many holding cells we have.

Chief Story said we have two and an interview room/juvenile room.

Councilor Cruickshank said the part time is in increase of $35,000, that is cash, not including benefits. The total would be about $45,000 conversion rate to change a part time to a full time.

Chief Story said he realizes with the bump in MERS it is a huge obstacle to overcome.

Councilor Cruickshank said the contract allows more part timers now.

Chief Story said this won’t resolve all of his issues. But if he has two extra bodies, he is fine with that. He is just looking for manpower.

Councilor Heiple said you are not asking for anything unreasonable.

Councilor Musgrave asked if for the part time is he looking for trainees.

Chief Story said that is not his first choice. He has had luck with that. The way staffing is, if you have anything on the ball, someone will give you a full time job. He said retired officers are easier to train. They can only work 128 hours a month. He said he has some great part timers.

Holly Fire Department

Chief McGee said that in 2008, we started combining the Groveland and Holly departments. The first year we saved close to $200,000 for the Village. He said we saved money by personnel, they train together. Because of that, we have highly trained, highly qualified personnel.

He said the Village is a first responder department. He said they work very closely with the police department. He said they run between 750 and 800 calls per year. This last year, he said we have had a lot of the heroin overdoses. They make it in China and bring it in through Canada.

Chief McGee said they respond to around one structure fire a month. From the time a resident picks up the phone, we start the clock. It is always under eight minutes. Most communities don’t use that as a guide. We like to keep the pressure on dispatch. We need someone there as quick as we can so we keep pushing them.

He said that we staff the Village station every day of the week, 7:00 am to 5:00 pm with a part time paid person. They are there to respond to emergencies. The Village empties out during the daytime, so by having someone there, they get there quickly. At night we have two people on stand-by. He said we only need a couple of people to go to a house for a medical emergency.

Chief McGee said that in Holly and in Groveland everyone is trained to the same level. We provide building inspector duties, code enforcement. Every building is inspected annually for fire extinguishers. We started small so it was obtainable. He said everyone is doing a very good job. He said he believes in the cadet program. They have talked about meeting with the superintendent and starting a public safety cadet program. We would train them as a public safety officer. And they would go one way or the other.

He said right now we have two ambulances. They all know the basics of cardiology.

Chief McGee said that we do joint purchasing of medical supplies with Oakland County.

He said our ambulances can talk directly to the hospital. We use McLaren Clarkston because we can get the patients in very quickly. You can’t take the bigger emergencies there, they have to go to Genesis.

He said that all staff have the required immunizations. He said that all of the engines and rescues are licensed as first responders, so if both ambulances are out, we can take out an engine.

Chief McGee said that they train twice a month on EMS. We have to keep our credits up. We currently have, if we transport in our ambulance, Groveland bills for that. In six or eight months, we will get checks twice a month.

He said that we do our own training. Five of them are firefighter trainers. They can train officers, hazmat and pump operations. We can do those in house and not have to pay for anyone else to do it.

He said that ISO is the insurance rating on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 is super. Most communities are a 6 or a 7. We are a 5. A lot of it is because of the DPW keeping all of the documentation on the water system.

Chief McGee said we have received grants in the past and we are in for another one. The complete firefighter outfit is about $3,000. He said he thinks they have a good shot at the grant.

Councilor Heiple asked how much the grant if for.

Chief McGee said asked for over $15, 0000. He said the personnel donate hundreds of hours. We have a great group of firefighters. The personnel of both departments are able to work in both places. We are all trained the same.

He said we have a couple of engines, Bravo 5-11 is the older ambulance. It is still in service. Bravo 5-12 is new. The State inspection will be soon.

Chief McGee said that Rescue 51 carries all the supplies. He said the utility truck was bought last year. And the ATV was purchased with the police department. He said it is used mostly behind Holly High School.

He said he knows that there is only so much money. He said Manager Walker makes sure that we do this correctly. We have to wait and take our turn. So maybe not this year, but next year, possibly adding on to the station. Or adding onto 504 ½. He said they have considered adding on to the police station or adding onto the fire station. The station is 50x50. It still doesn’t give us enough bays. We need seven or eight bays. He proposed to go off the back and kind of a lean-to on the side. Two bays in the front and one bay in the back. We have one backed in that follows the other one out. We have two or three medicals a day. He said yesterday they had three at once. The rescue sits outside. That would be covered area. He thought to use the old council room for training and meetings.

He said the new ambulance is wedged in there. It is tight.

Chief McGee said the DPW gave us some room over there. It is drained, so it is out of service.

He said that they use 504 ½ for the ATV and the boat. It would be nice if everything were in one place. In the future that is something to think about.

Chief McGee said the budget is just a few line items changed. He said utilities went up a little. We are only asking for around $1,500 more than last year. He believes they will be around $10,000 under budget. He wouldn’t want to go backward, he said if he doesn’t need it, he will ask to keep it for next year. He said nothing huge, just some money in equipment. $20,000 for the 5% match for the grant. He said everything else is status quo.

Councilor Rankin asked about the repairs to the ladder truck.

Chief McGee said it is repaired. One of the outriggers broke.

Councilor Cruickshank asked about the cross training public safety officer. He asked if we could put a lot of weight in that down the road.

Chief McGee said Manager Walker was a Police Chief and Fire Chief in the community he worked in. We have talked recently about if we have an incident during the day, we just need people. He thinks going forward you might see more than that. But to stay certified, it is a lot of training

PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

REPORTS:

Village Manager

Manager Walker said that this was the first budget study session. At the next one we will cover the DPW and the WWTP and some general things. He said public safety departments are expensive departments by nature of what they do. These study sessions will be good, but as we move forward, we need to schedule meetings outside of our regular council meetings. So we need to schedule two evening meetings or one Saturday when we get closer to March.

He said the application periods are closing for the DDA and the Clerk/Treasure. The process closes on the 23rd. The screening will start ASAP and interviews will start the beginning of March. During this interim period, Ms. Bigger has done an outstanding job. She has stepped outside of her area of expertise and experience. Our partnership with Plante Moran has been excellent.

Manager Walker said that in early spring 2016 Council authorized a study committee to look at a 425 agreement, which is a contract between two municipalities. The committee included former President Bladzik, Councilor Musgrave, Councilor Rankin and himself. The committee contacted Holly Township, who formed their own committee. The purpose was to talk about the feasibility of the Township and the Village coming to terms about the Pulte subdivision. Basically the undeveloped portions between Quick road and almost over to the Shiawassee River. Discussions occurred about the feasibility of the Village providing services to those areas, it would more than likely spur development of those areas.

Manger Walker said that these are more urban type areas, so people would be moving from other urban areas and they would be used to those services. He said they came up with a rough draft that we thought this arrangement should look like. Tomorrow night at the Holly Township board meeting, they will present an update about the findings.

He said we hope to continue on with our corporative agreement with them, not just for the Village of Holly or the Township of Holly, but for the community of Holly. A stronger economic base works best for everyone. We will meet with Holly Township and do a presentation.

Manager Walker said this has been a slow process, but that is what we wanted it to be. We wanted it to be interactive with the Township and Village. He will be able to provide an update at the next Council meeting. He will be asking if we can have public meetings.

Attorney

Village Clerk/Treasurer

Nothing to add at this time.

Boards and Commissions

Planning - Councilor Cruickshank said there is a meeting next Thursday.

Zoning – Councilor Allsop said nothing to report at this time.

Historic – Councilor Shiel said he will have a meeting this week.

Parks – Councilor Rankin said at the Parks meeting we went over items we want to present with our budget this year. Some improvements for Lakeside Park. Music programs in Crapo Park. He said they talked about some solutions for the building at Water Works Park. And some ideas for the flowers planted along Saginaw.

DDA – President Perkins said DDA had no new business.

Charter & Ordinance – Councilor Cruickshank said we are discussing amending some ordinances and we will have another meeting on the 14th.

COUNCIL COMMENTS

Councilor Cruickshank said there was a story in the news about a program called hope and not handcuffs. Drug addiction is growing, but the idea is a lot of officers are realizing you can’t arrest your way out of drug addictions. This allows people to come in and ask for help. They will get help, not be arrested. He said he reached out to Manager Walker and some people on the Community Coalition. He said it is a very important program because drug addiction isn’t a criminal issue.

Councilor Heiple said all Council members received an email and she asked it to be read at the meeting. It is from Monica McAllister. She said she received a message from the President asking her to be on the Parks Commission. But she was not added to the agenda. Tonight is the second meeting since being asked and she is still not on the agenda. She said she is growing concerned about the lack of communication and the loss of progress.

Councilor Shiel said that they are having a health fair coming up. He thinks it is here at Karl Richter Center.

PUBLIC COMMENT

John Lauve, 200 N. Saginaw, asked what major crimes we have had taken place and what hours do they take place. He said many people have combined fire and police. He wondered what more could be done to supplement the work force with this combination of the two. He said he doesn’t understand why Holly Township has a fire department with a new fire hall and the Village has a fire department. We should combine them and be more efficient.

Buster Weinbrenner, 409 North Street, said he retired in 2007. He said back then we had a number of full time employees and a full time dispatch. Back then we had cells that could be opened. Men and women could go out and do their job. Make their arrests. Today, the numbers have gone down. Because our jail cells are not open, we have no one to watch them. The men and women of the Holly Police Department are not doing their job, because the facility is not there. This happened because we got rid of our dispatch. We need to help them do their jobs. We need to bring people in on these warrants. Give Chief Story the opportunity to do his job.

Pat Feeney, 210 Franklin, said he was wondering if he could request some accounting of what kind of commercial properties in the business district are owned by Village employees. Themselves and their family members. He doesn’t think it is fair if employees are demonized for having properties. He thinks if it is out there, it illuminates all of the nonsense. Generally just what is and what is not. We have people pointing fingers and that is not fair. Village employees have the right to participate in business activities. There are a lot of people that have heard stories. He thinks it would be a fair thing for the residents to hear and fair to the employees.

ADJOURNMENT:

With nothing further to discuss, President Perkins adjourned the meeting at 8:45 PM.

Jim Perkins, Village President

Deborah J. Bigger, Interim Clerk/Treasurer

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