Neighborhood Planning Council 11 - Lakeview east

Minutes Minges Brook/Riverside Neighborhood Planning Council (NPC) #11 Minges Brook Elementary School Library 435 Lincoln Hill Drive, Battle Creek, MI 49015 Wednesday – May 22nd, 2013 1. 7:00 PM – Welcome and opening by Chairman Randall Champlin 2. Attendance sheet: Nola Baker, Jan Barry, Randall Champlin, Frank Egland, Dave Hawks, Tim Martinovich, Norma Mayo, Wendy Rominger, Beverly Vallillee, George Vallillee, City Representative Susan Bedsole, Vice-Mayor Elizabeth Fulton (Ward 4), Commissioner Jeff Domenico (Ward 5), Guests: Dawn Hawks, Josh Cushman (BCFD), Michael Fleisher (BCFD), Cody Titus (BCFD), Clifford Hill (BCFD) 3. Additions or deletions to this agenda – None 4. Approval of the March meeting’s minutes – Dave Hawks moved to approve, George Vallillee supported the motion. The minutes were approved. 5. Correspondence sent/received – April 2013 Battle Creek Area Transportation Study (BCATS) flyer, 6. City staff reports: 6.1. Police Department Report: none 6.2. City representative Report – Susan Bedsole . 6.2.1. Code compliance expects to have a new code officer available this week. 6.2.2. Q: I just got a new number from ComCast and started getting robo-calls. How do you complain about a business? A: Recommendation is to contact the BBB if you have not had success dealing directly with the business. . 6.2.3. Q: What is being done about the for-profit collection boxes around the city? A: There is going to be an ordinance based on Portage, MI ordinance.. The collection boxes will be licensed, will have to be maintained and will have to say if they are non-profit or not. The box owner will have to have written permission from the property owner that it is ok to put the box there. Violation will be a Class F misdemeanor with a $500 penalty. 6.2.4. Q: There is a big limb hanging parallel to the ground over Capital Ave. near the country club. Is this a safety hazard? .. A: Possibly. The city will have the tree guy take a look. 6.2.5. Comment: There is a large number of street lights out. Susan stated that there is a link on the left side of the City’s web home page. The like takes you to Consumer’s Power site for reporting street lights that are out. The responsibility for the lights belongs to Consumer’s Power. The city pays Consumer’s for this service. Susan thinks the number of lights out is now below 30%. When making a report try to include the number of the light pole. This will help the repair folks find the right lamp in the day time. 6.2.6. Parking near the Village Inn has new parking signs. .. bottle neck is resolved in the loading zone area around the apartments 6.3. City/County Commissioners’ reports 6.3.1. Vice -Mayor Elizabeth Fulton 6.3.1.1. Welcomes Precinct 8 to Ward 4 after ward lines were changes to even out the population among te wards. Precinct 8 will keep the same polling station. The City of Battle Creek will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materials being considered in the meeting upon reasonable notice to the City of Battle Creek. Individuals with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the City of Battle Creek by writing or calling the following: City Clerk’s Office (269) 966-3348/TDD  6.3.1.2. Calhoun County Safe Schools Alliance will be .. June 14th. 6.3.1.3. Vicki Dickinson “Kids Free Fun Day” will be held June 1 from noon to 4 p.m. at Mike’s Place (former Post School) with the CIR, Red Wagon, bounce houses, slide, dunk tank plus more. The event raises funds to send Battle Creek area at- risk children ages 10-15 to a Michigan Summer Camp. The event is held in honor and memory of Vicki's son, SSG. Michael A. Dickinson II, who was killed in action in Ramadi, Iraq July 17, 2006 6.3.1.4. Q: Given what happened in Oklahoma, How many Schools have shelters? A: none of the Elementary Schools do. The rules are at the state and fed level. 6.3.2. City Commissioner Jeff Domenico 6.3.2.1. Jeff mentioned that Battle Creek received an honorable mention this year as a bicycle-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists 6.3.2.2. The Commission voted to take on $16M in new debt to give a face lift to city parks and liner path, a rail quiet zone and other facility improvements 6.3.2.3. Fire Chief search: IO solutions will be used to help find a new Fire Chief. All candidates will be considered. 6.3.2.4. Question “Why are we spending money, going into debt, on the Kellogg arena?”. Commissioner Domenico: We had to balance cost of keeping it up vs letting it deteriorate. Vice Mayor Fulton: Has ask Assistant City Manager Jim Ritsma to put together a summary of how the facility is used. BC may not have the population to support the facility. The facility may need better planning on how it is used. 6.3.2.5. Q: When was the last citizen survey? … Susan Bedsole: We think it was 2009. The position that did the survey before was cut to save money. 6.3.2.6. The “Rink” was sold to investors that are trying to make improvements. 7. Committee reports: 7.1. Beautiful Battle Creek Award: NPC 11 Nominates Rick & Tammy Bicknell of 351 E. Hamilton Ln. for the award. 7.2. Neighborhoods and Land Use: John Godfrey sent an email stating that the May meeting was canceled due to no new business. 7.3. NPC 11 Programs: No update 8. Old business from previous meetings: Motion that was postponed from last meeting was reintroduced by Beverly Vallillee to have NPC 11 to encourage the City Commission and Mayor to support the goals of “Mayors Against Illegal Guns”. The motion was seconded by George Vallillee. There was discussion. The motion failed to get majority support. 9. New business: Program Topic : 9.1. New Member Nomination: Randall Champlin moved to nominate Laura Herzing of 131 Minges Circle and Nola Baker of 126 Peachtree Dr. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. 9.2. NPC officer elections George Vallillee moved to keep Randall Champlin as Chair and Jim Haadsma as Vice Chair. Dave Hawks supported the motion. The motion passed. The position of NPC 11 Secretary is open. 10. Public comments: None 11. Members’ comments: The City of Battle Creek will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materials being considered in the meeting upon reasonable notice to the City of Battle Creek. Individuals with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the City of Battle Creek by writing or calling the following: City Clerk’s Office (269) 966-3348/TDD  11.1. Some of the money spent on downtown development is not well spent. Full Blast .etc. .. it was noted the recent downtown transformation was funded with $85M in private donations. The city streets are looking to be in pretty good repair. 11.2. The inner pool at flash flood will be open on the weekends. And eventually every day through the summer. 11.3. One member ask what the cause of the big boom that you hear now and then in our neighborhood. Someone heard one today. Someone else mentioned that in another city this was caused by a sonic booms from a nearby airport. 11.4. Tim gave another reminder that the Calhoun County Safe Schools Alliance will hold a summit June 14 on making schools safer for children at 7:30 p.m. at W.K. Kellogg Auditorium. The keynote speaker will be Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, West Point psychology professor and expert on human aggression and violence. Tim also mentioned that the “Watch D.O.G.S.” is running at Riverside Elementary school. D.O.G.S. stands for “Dads Of Great Students”. The volunteers do a security “walk around” and also help with students that need some extra help with school work. This is all volunteer effort. You can get more information on the program at www.fathers.com. 12. Next meeting: 7:00 September 25th, 2013. Program TBD 13. Adjournment – 8:15 PM The City of Battle Creek will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materials being considered in the meeting upon reasonable notice to the City of Battle Creek. Individuals with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the City of Battle Creek by writing or calling the following: City Clerk’s Office (269) 966-3348/TDD