City Of Albion

Goal Setting Study Session

March 3, 2015

CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Joseph Domingo opened the regular session at 6:00 p.m.

II. ROLL CALL

Lenn Reid (2), Cheryl Krause (5), Andrew French (6) and Mayor Joseph Domingo. Maurice Barnes (1) arrived at 6:03 p.m. and Garrett Brown (3) arrived at 6:04 p.m. William Wheaton (4) was absent.

Staff Present:

Sheryl Mitchell, City Manager; Jill Domingo, City Clerk, John Tracy, Code Enforcement Officer; Jim Lenardson, Director of Public Works, Scott Kipp, Public Safety Chief, Peggy Sindt, EDC Director, Neely Kent, EDC Office Manager, Larry Williams, Recreation Coordinator and Cullen Harkness, City Attorney.

III.	ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL DISCUSSION

A. Opening Remarks-City Manager Mitchell

City Manager gave a brief overview of the goal setting session, thanking Peggy

Sindt and the EDC for the use of the board room for the goal setting sessions. She

introduced Larry Williams, Recreation Coordinator. Mr. Williams stated he was

thankful for the opportunity to come home and work.

City Manager also announced a change in the agenda stating that a representative

from Maple Grove would not be able to attend the meeting due to weather.

B. EDC

Peggy Sindt, EDC President Development Corporation gave a brief presentation on

The Economic Development. The highlights are as follows:

She thanked the mayor and council for approving the request to go to the Albion Trust to help with monies for the Food Hub. The kitchen will be for commercial use and the funds have been secured for that project.

George Erickcek, economist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute

in Kalamazoo will present his 2015 Economic Forecast for Albion and

Calhoun County on Thursday evening, March 5, 2015.

She is working with the developer on land agreement for the downtown hotel project and the packet is ready to go to the State of Michigan for incentives

for the project.

She is also working with the developer and the College on the 101 N. Superior St property. Albion College will house the following departments in this building: Build Albion Fellows, Gerald R. Ford Institute, Carl A. Gerstacker Institute and the Meeker Space.

This will bring the students downtown and increase the foot traffic in the

downtown area.

The building located at 105-107 S. Superior St. will be closing this Friday, March 6, 2015.

The asphalt plant is still planning on building a plant this spring.

The developer would like to break ground on the new hotel this summer.

It will take approximately 12 to 18 months to complete the project with an

opening date of May 2017.

Redevelopment Ready Communities Program. It’s a state-wide certification program that supports communities to become development ready and competitive in today’s economy. Local municipalities receive assistance in establishing a solid foundation for development to occur in their communities. Several entities and citizens will be involved in the process. If the city attains certification, the state is making those communities their top redevelopment sites.

Comments were received from Council Members French, Brown, Krause and

Reid, City Manager Mitchell, EDC Office Manager Kent and Art Kale, EDC Board

Member.

C. Albion Building Authority (ABA)

Council raised the question of the Trust ending in 2016 and what would be done.

Mayor Domingo stated the Trust would not affect the ABA or its board.

City Attorney Harkness stated that board changes be made when setting up the new

trust.

Comments were received from Council Members Reid, French, Barnes and Brown;

City Attorney Harkness; Mayor Domingo and Chris Farmer, ABA Board member.

D. Maple Grove

Council Member Brown raised the question of the bed bug situation at Maple Grove.

City Manager Mitchell stated the bed bugs are being dealt with as they find a

problem. They are unable to spray the entire building at once but are checking each

unit on a monthly basis.

Comments were received from Council Members Reid, French, Barnes and Brown;

City Attorney Harkness; Mayor Domingo and Chris Farmer, ABA Board member.

E. Recreation

City Manager Mitchell stated the 2015 Goals for the recreation department are as

follows:

Continue to provide recreation services

Educate citizens on the upcoming renewal of the millage to insure all programs will continue

Partner will other entities

Will not replace full time director position-will instead use available funds for programming

Start Recreation Master Plan

Start advisory committee for Parks & Recreation

Comments were received from Council Member Brown and Mayor Domingo.

F. City Manager

City Manager Mitchell stated her goals are as follows:

Increase financial resources/reduce expenses

Sale of Surplus City Property

Support Retention & Growth of Local Businesses

Community Wide Marketing Plan

Complete Comprehensive Master Plan

Cost Effective Alternatives to Current Leaf Pickup Program

Streets Improvements

Infrastructure & Capital Improvements

Performance Measures for Departments/Divisions

Maintain a General Fund balance that is at least 15% of expenditures

Monthly Financial Reports to Council

Complete Restructuring of Recreation Department

Move towards adopting a 5 year budgetary plan along with the annual budget

Expand data added to Munetrix to provide citizens with financial and service level information

Priority Based Budgeting-Bring long-term financial planning process and strategies to the budgeting process focusing on citizens public priorities

Start holding Town Hall meetings

Restructure the City Website

Expand quality of information of Government Access Channel

Digitizing & Archiving Documents & Records

Update Telephone System

Comments were received from Council Members French, Barnes, Krause, Brown

and Reid; Public Safety Chief Kipp; City Attorney Harkness, Chris Farmer, ABA

Board Member and Mayor Domingo.

G. City Council

Council Member Barnes would like to consider the Honeywell project to update the

City Hall building.

Council Member French would like to have discussions regarding the two dams.

H. Questions/Discussion

Chris Farmer asked about the fluoride the City puts in the water.

Comments were received from Council Members Krause and French and

DPW Director Lenardson.

Council Member Brown had concerns about dissolving the leaf pickup service for

the citizens. He would like to have council consider using a single trash hauler for

the entire city that would include garbage, leaf pickup and recycling services.

Comments were received from Council Members French and Krause.

IV.	PUBLIC COMMENT

No comments were received.

V.	ADJOURNMENT

Krause moved, Barnes supported, CARRIED, to Adjourn the Study Session. (6-0,

vv)

Mayor Domingo adjourned Regular Session at 7:30 p.m.

____________	_________________________

Date	Jill Domingo

City Clerk