City Council

Name: City Council — Manistee, MI
Start: 2020-04-14
End: 2020-04-14
Location: Manistee, MI

Regular Meeting

Manistee, MI · April 14, 2020

Minutes

MANISTEE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES OF APRIL 14, 2020 The Manistee City Council met in a work session on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 at 7:00 pm remotely as authorized by Executive Order of the Governor. MEMBERS PRESENT: Dale Cooper, Lynda Beaton, Roger Zielinski, Jermaine Cipcic, Michael Szymanski, James Grabowski and Erin Martin-Pontiac MEMBERS ABSENT: None ALSO PRESENT: City Manager, Department Directors, Public, and Media The following message was provided by Mayor Zielinski: As an important step in preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, our Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, issued an Executive Order authorizing public boards in Michigan to conduct their meetings remotely. This is a critical step to help stop the spread. All aspects of how this meeting is being run is in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, as modified by the Executive Order, and has been reviewed by the City Attorney. The City of Manistee is taking various steps to do our part during this pandemic, and this is one of them. We need to keep members of the public, our City Council and City Staff healthy. Therefore, no members of the public, City Council or City Staff are present in the Council Chambers. Public Comments: All individuals in attendance of the virtual meeting were in a virtual waiting room, with their microphones muted. When it came time for public comment, each person waiting in the virtual waiting room was called individually by the City Clerk by the last four digits of their telephone number. Individuals were asked if they had a comment or if they were passing. Mayor Zielinski reviewed the items on the agenda for those in attendance that did not have a copy of the agenda. No Comments Received. Discussion on Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget and Capital Improvement Plan. – City Manager Thad N. Taylor and Finance Director Ed Bradford led a discussion on the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget and Capital Improvement Plan. Staff presented a proposed budget which is balanced without the use of fund balance. Taylor explained the uncertainty the City faces with State Statutory, Constitutional, and Gas Tax Revenues due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Staff will work to prepare recommendations for budget shortfalls. Staff is also tracking expenses related to the Council Work Session – April 14, 2020 Page 1 COVID 19 pandemic to submit to FEMA for reimbursement although it is unknown how much will be received. Bradford reiterated the need for flexibility over the next 12-18 months. He provided one positive note that could benefit the City which is lower interest rates when issuing debt. This could be beneficial as we close on RD Phase II and the potential Capital Improvement Bonds. Bradford also stressed the importance for staff to limit spending and preserve cash for the future. Areas of discussion included: • Concerns with making large investments in the Marina during uncertain times; City has applied for State Waterways Grant; information will be available on this around September and guidance will be provided to Council; will be able to decide how to proceed at that time. • Department heads to review budget priorities and provide a range of cuts in proposed budget based on possible cuts to Statutory and Constitutional Revenue Sharing. • Appropriate use of Oil & Gas Funds vs. General Fund Balance. • Marihuana License Fees applied to General Fund Budget; fees are not applied to individual department budgets. • Police Department to maintain current staff; officer pulled from SSCENT team and put back on road patrol duties. Costs incurred from arbitration to be forwarded to Council for review including labor attorney cost and new costs incurred from award. • Blight part time officer removed from budget; plan in place to divide the City into eight districts with an officer assigned to each district for blight enforcement. • $12,000 remains in budget for Blight to be used for demolition of blighted property; Duffy Street property is a priority. • Teen Center appropriation eliminated from budget; duplicate services available to the community through the Armory; only 6-7 teens using teen center daily; looking at possible options for the skating rink; will pursue discussions with MRA and Armory. • Possible reduction to MRA appropriation in exchange for use of the teen center building. There will be a Public Hearing on April 21, 2020 at 7:00pm to provide a chance for the public to comment on the budget and budget discussion by Council will follow on the agenda. Adjourned at 7:47 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Heather Pefley CMC/CMMC, MiCPT City Clerk Council Work Session – April 14, 2020 Page 2

Agenda

MANISTEE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION AGENDA Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 7:00 p.m. – Virtual Meeting Good evening. Today is Tuesday April 14, 2020. I’m Heather Pefley, Clerk for the City of Manistee. The City Council’s April 14, 2020, Work Session, is being conducted remotely; where all members of the City Council are in separate locations and not at the City Hall Council Chambers; will be called to order by Mayor Roger Zielinski shortly. As always, this meeting is being recorded and will be broadcast on Manistee TV Cable Channels 189/190 and available at manisteetv.org. There will be no video associated with this meeting, solely audio. The reason for this is projecting video through Zoom sometimes causes a delay which makes communication in this scenario difficult and awkward. In just a moment, we will start individually unmuting the microphones of each member of the City Council, the City Manager, and the City Attorney. We are unmuting them individually to make sure there is no disruptive audio feedback coming from each of them; doing so individually allows us to easily identify the source of any disruptive audio issues. Finance Director Ed Bradford is assisting me with this meeting, and you may hear his voice if we have an issue that requires his assistance. The microphones of all members of the City Council, the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk will always be live unless there is an audio disruption. I will now begin to unmute and check each microphone that will be live during the meeting. The City Clerk will now activate microphones one by one; and individually call on each City Council Member, City Attorney and City Manager to confirm they can hear and be heard. Once complete, the Clerk will continue reading below. As a reminder Councilmembers, please clearly state your name before speaking. Now that activating the microphones is complete, Mayor Roger Zielinski will call the meeting to order and will share some additional information about how this meeting, and likely City Council meetings for the foreseeable future, will be conducted. Mayor Zielinski, we are ready to proceed with the meeting. I. Call to Order. Meeting Comments As an important step in preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, our Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, issued an Executive Order authorizing public boards in Michigan to conduct their meetings remotely. This is a critical step to help stop the spread. All aspects of how this meeting is being run is in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, as modified by the Executive Order, and has been reviewed by the City Attorney. The City of Manistee is taking various steps to do our part during this pandemic, and this is one of them. We need to keep members of the public, our City Council and City Staff healthy. Therefore, no members of the public, City Council or City Staff are present in the Council Chambers. We will now begin the work session. II. Work Session Items. a.) PUBLIC COMMENTS ON WORK SESSION RELATED ITEMS. All individuals attending the virtual work session wait in a virtual waiting room, with their microphones muted. When it comes time for public comment, each person waiting in the virtual waiting room will be called individually by the City Clerk by the last four digits of their telephone number. Individuals will be asked if they have a comment or if they are passing. It is very important that those giving comment have a good phone connection and no sound or noise whatsoever in the background (televisions and all forms of audio should be muted); otherwise, there will be disruptive audio. If the issue cannot be corrected by the caller, we will move on to the next person in line. Please be aware for those calling that when they first call in, their full telephone number may be visible for a period of time on the recording, although we will work quickly to alter what’s displayed so that it is just the last four digits of your telephone number. We will now take public comments. The work session discussion topics, for those that do not have an agenda are: • DISCUSSION ON FISCAL YEAR 2020-2021 BUDGET AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN The City Clerk will now take over and accept Public Comments on work session agenda items. The City Clerk will unmute and call on each person who has called into the meeting by the last four digits of their phone number; and ask if they would like to comment on agenda items. Once complete, they will turn the meeting back over to the Mayor. b.) DISCUSSION ON FISCAL YEAR 2020-2021 BUDGET AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN. – City Manager Thad N. Taylor and Finance Director Ed Bradford. Councilmembers, please clearly state your name before speaking. c.) OTHER. III. Adjourn. TNT:km

Get email alerts for Manistee

A daily email when new agendas and minutes are posted.

Report an issue with this meeting