City Council Special Meeting

City Council Special Meeting Madison Heights, Michigan January 12, 2023 A City Council Special Meeting was held on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 6:00 PM at Fire Station #1 Training Room, 31313 Brush St. PRESENT Mayor Roslyn Grafstein Mayor Pro Tem Mark Bliss Councilwoman Toya Aaron Councilman Sean Fleming Councilor Emily Rohrbach Councilor Quinn Wright ABSENT Councilman David Soltis OTHERS PRESENT City Manager Marsh City Attorney Sherman City Clerk Rottmann Community and Economic Development Director Tucker Finance Director Kunath Fire Chief Lelito Human Resources Director Misczak Library Director Verdun-Morris Deputy City Manager/Police Chief Haines Director of Public Services Almas MEETING OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: There were no members of the public wishing to speak. Strategic Plan 2024-2028 Mayor Grafstein opened the Strategic Planning meeting and City Manager Marsh gave an overview of tonight’s meeting agenda including presenting the financial forecast, top six goal areas, a review of the current strategic plan items and major projects that are already in the plans. Staff will also update Council on their departmental needs. Financial Forecast Ms. Marsh reviewed the City’s financial forecast. She noted that two main issues affecting the City budget are housing and inflation. A housing downturn is expected for December 2023 and inflation is outpacing the ability of revenues from keeping up with the majority of our expenses. 1 01-12-23 Strategic Areas of Focus Based on a survey of City Council, the following is a ranking of the six strategic priorities: Public Safety 4.67 Economic Development 4.17 Financial Stability and Efficient City Services 4.0 Quality of Life 3.5 Infrastructure/Capital Assets 3.33 Environmental Stability 1.33 City Manager Marsh reviewed the proposed Strategic Plan with Council. It was the consensus to keep Environmental Stability in the strategic areas of focus with the intent of incorporating environmental sustainability into each other areas of focus. City Manager Marsh reviewed potential new positions within the City along with cost related to personnel. A discussion was had on the cost of returning some contracted services back as City personnel, including assessing, information technology, and building inspection/building official. It was the consensus to continue to evaluate roles and positions to see if the City can provide the services better, more efficiently and provide cost savings. Discussion followed on recycling and trash carts including the cost of purchasing each type, the potential for grant funding and total estimated cost. It was the consensus to include recycling bins into the budget contingent upon the City obtaining both grants discussed. Discussion was held on new parks projects and Council’s direction was to continue funding special park projects. Mayor Pro Tem Bliss spoke in favor of an additional lending library; increasing funding for special projects; incorporating a minimum City staff time to be included when working on a special event/program for a board or commission with anything over the minimum time billed to the group; and funding for digitization of historical documents. Councilor Rohrbach spoke in favor of studying any steps that the City may be able to take to increase the safety of students at schools during times of high traffic volume. Councilor Wright suggested more focus on providing warming stations and generators to those in need during power outages. Departmental Summaries The following City Departments highlighted their areas of importance for the next fiscal year: Department of Public Services - gave a presentation on what has been accomplished to date and new park features; upcoming projects; and conceptual ideas. Mr. Almas also noted that street lighting improvements are needed on Dequindre to improve traffic and pedestrian safety. City Clerk – advised that the implementation of nine days of early voting as approved by Michigan voters in 2022 may cost approximately $15,000 - $20,000 per election. This number is very preliminary as the details of how the law will be enacted are forthcoming. Police Department – as noted in the Strategic Plan, the HVAC unit replacement is needed. 2 01-12-23 Community and Economic Development Department – noted that the City is looking into a Streetscape Study with the goal of making the DDA more walkable and determining how we want it to look. Mr. Tucker also provided an update on the status of the Zoning Ordinance rewrite. Next Steps City Manager Marsh stated that these initiatives discussed this evening will be given to staff to create action items for the 2025 Fiscal Year Budget. ADJOURNMENT: Having no further business, Mayor Grafstein adjourned the meeting at 8:16 p.m. Roslyn Grafstein Cheryl E. Rottmann Mayor City Clerk 3 01-12-23