Neighborhood Planning Council 11 - Lakeview east

February 26th Meeting Minutes Minges Brook/Riverside Neighborhood Planning Council (NPC) #11 Riverside Elementary School Library 650 Riverside Drive Battle Creek, MI 49015 Wednesday – February 26, 2014 1. 7:00 PM – Welcome and opening – Randall Champlin 2. Attendance sheet: Dave Hawks, Jan Barry, Jim Haadsma (County Commissioner), Norma Mayo, Randall Champlin, Rick Baron, Rudy Barda, Tim Martinovich, Ward 4 Commissioner Mike Sherzer, Mayor Dave Walters, Talia Champlin, City Rep: Susan Bedsole, County Commissioner Terris Todd, County Commissioner Art Kale, BC Police Dept Rep: Mark Tillman, Superintendent of Schools Dave Peterson. 3. Additions or deletions to this agenda: none 4. Approval of the previous month’s meeting’s minutes. Dave Hawks moved to approve and Rick Baron supported the motion. Passed unanimously. 5. Correspondence sent/received • Wednesday, Feb, 26: 4:00 PM Planning Commission Mtg. • Friday, Feb, 28: 12:00 AM Petition Deadline for Planning Commission March Mtg. • Tuesday, Mar, 04: 7:00 PM City Commission meeting • Thursday, Mar, 06: 4:00 PM Goguac Lake Board Meeting • Monday, Mar, 10: 4:00 PM CANCELED - Historic District Commission Mtg. (No petitions for review) • Tuesday, Mar, 11: 4:00 PM CANCELED - Zoning Board Mtg.(No Petitions for review) • Friday, Mar, 14: 12:00 AM Zoning Board Petition Deadline for April Mtg. • Tuesday, Mar, 18: 7:00 PM City Commission meeting • Friday, Mar, 21: 12:00 AM Historic District Petition Deadline for April Mtg. • Wednesday, Mar, 26: 4:00 PM Planning Commission Mtg 6. City staff reports: • Police Department Report - Officer Tillman (typically works the Post Addition) reported a decline in felonious assaults. There hasn’t been any spike in parking lot assaults – they are isolated instances. Media decides what is reported, but residents can always request information on assaults. • City Representative Report – • Susan assured us that police officers renewing their commitment to attend monthly NPC meetings, unless the assigned officer is on a call during the meeting time. • The Police Department is implementing new information systems, and is trying to pull accurate reports for us. • A city inspector had Julia Fellow, a news reporter, go along to look at enforcement of snow removal on sidewalks. This is a serious safety issue as someone was killed walking on Columbia this winter. Residents need to  remove snow from sidewalks, especially anywhere near the schools. Some commissioners are trying to coordinate volunteers to help neighbors who need aid in clearing walks. The city is enforcing the ordnance as it always has however, this winter is more sever and the snow is not melting away. This is causing more violations. • Property surveys will begin again in April. • Question about areas with no sidewalks – City does not have a way of plowing a walking lane for roadways with no sidewalks. • Question regarding Enbridge Energy’s progress on the river. Enbridge is not responsible for reporting to the city. EPA oversees this process. Susan will see if there is an update she can share. • Question regarding condemned buildings at 411 and 415 Capital Ave NE. Asbestos removal is currently in process. Demolition is eminent. Capital Ave traffic will be impacted during the demolition. • City/County Commissioners’ reports • Mayor Dave Walters announced Detective Jim Blocker’s assignment as interim Police Chief. A panel has been appointed consisting of Commissioners Owens, Baldwin, Sherzer and Newsome to decide how the City will proceed in hiring a new City Manager. Goal setting session scheduled for Feb 11 had to be rescheduled when City Manager Ken Tsuchiyama gave his notice to retire, but the Commission intends to begin the process again soon. Budget process has begun with a Wish List, and will now proceed with prioritizing and valuing before a budget is established. Mayor Walters with John Bryant, CEO of the Kellogg Company and Kris Charles, VP of Global Communications. The question was asked, How does Kellogg’s learn from this and how does the City of Battle Creek learn from this [situation in which Kellogg decided to move 600+/- jobs without consulting the city]? They have opened lines of communication to make sure the Mayor can have easier access to corporate information. The City is making an effort to keep current jobs and make sure future jobs could come here. City will take possession of the Soapy’s location by the end of March. It will be demolished. • Commissioner Mike Sherzer - Above-referenced panel will proceed by getting plenty of citizen input. Commission voted to extend the Waste Management contract for two years. Commissioner Sherzer will advocate in 18 months to open up the competitive bidding process before decisions are made on the next contract. Commissioner Sherzer asked for suggestions from membership on goal setting and prioritization. He feels that the City learned from the Kellogg situation that we have to be prepared to use our resources effectively. • County Commissioners Jim Haadsma and Terris Todd – Care Here Clinic is a collaboration with city, county and Toyota Tusho (public/private partnership) to help reduce health care costs with preventative medicine. The county and state have changed/reallocated the way roads would be maintained among city, county, and state. If Board votes positively in April, ground could be broken on new public services building. Working on grants of $2 million to reimburse municipalities who are collaborating in the construction of this building. No word on what will happen with the crumbling State Police post at Columbia and LaVista. • Chairman, County Commission, Art Kale: The County meets regularly with municipalities to make sure they are coordinating on issues of mutual interest as often as possible. For  instance, Care Here may be able to save as much as $4 million in health care costs over a 3-year period. The county has blasted through the budgeted amount for road maintenance, and we are only a few months into the budget year. The State is considering an allocation to aid counties with these costs, and our portion would be in the $525,000 – $550,000 range. We are anticipating significant heaving caused by the deep frost level over this winter. County would like to institute a program for equipment replacement, as heavy equipment typically needs to be replaced about every 12 years, and much of our current equipment is in deplorable condition. • Dave Peterson, Superintendent of Lakeview Schools – The high school is considering a 6-period 3-trimester schedule to let students take more classes and possibly reduce some teaching spots without increasing class sizes. 8th graders will be taking more high school classes. District has contracted with Project 2020 to get input from the community on what they want from their schools. The process hasn’t done in 15 years. School has hired a Pace for Change consultant to help the district address diversity issues. Poverty in the area is sky rocketing, and although the student population is much more diverse, our teaching staff is 98% Caucasian. Training is meant to help teachers respond empathetically to students from a variety of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. 7. Committee reports: • Beautiful Battle Creek Award – Ann Wyson – not present • Neighborhoods and Land Use– John Godfrey – not present • NPC 11 Programs – James Haadsma – Linda Holderbaum from the Art Center of Battle Creek will be presenting at the March meeting. 8. Old business: None 9. New business: • This Month’s Program: Susan Schroder, Willard Library Helen Warner Branch Manager – The branch has been open 10 years. • The library is considering their “third branch” to be a non-bricks and mortar site – their website. Members can get books, movies, tv shows, and audios. Pre-loaded iPads are also available for check out. Residents can log in with their library cards to download books – best sellers, e-books, children’s books, whatever they like to read. The ap “Overdrive” is very easy to use – set up in an Amazon style so you can easily browse by genre. “Hoopla” allows members to download TV shows and movies for 3-day periods and albums for 2 weeks. Since these items are downloaded and not streamed, viewers do not need an internet connection to watch them. “Zinio” offers digital magazines that can be kept on your device without expiration. In addition, you can save articles on a clipboard rather than save the whole magazine. If residents need assistance in accessing these programs, they can bring their devices in and staff will help. • The summer reading program has been set up in anticipation of children on summer break • Local History Events include a Genealogy Lock In program Friday 2/28, 6:30 – 10:00pm, and local historian George Livingston will enthusiastically help interested residents at any time. 10. Public comments: During the meeting, Susan Bedsole pulled the monthly Enbridge report and Randall will send it out to attendees. 11. Members’ comments: Several in attendance expressed disappointment with Kellogg’s unilateral move of 600 jobs without seriously considering the City or openly communicating their needs and intentions first. 12. Next meeting: 7:00 Wednesday March 26, 2014 at Riverside Elementary School Library. Program: Linda Holderbaum from the Art Center of Battle Creek 13. Adjournment – 8:10 PM