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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL STUDY - 2014-10-06 CITY OF LIVONIA— CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF STUDY MEETING HELD OCTOBER 6, 2014 Meeting was called to order at 8:00 p.m. by President Brosnan. Present: Brandon Kritzman, John Pastor, Brian Meakin, Laura Toy, Lynda Scheel, Susan Nash, and Maureen Miller Brosnan. Absent: None. Elected and appointed officials present: Todd Zilincik, City Engineer; Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development; Don Knapp, City Attorney; Judy Priebe, Director of Legislative Affairs; Terry Marecki, City Clerk; and Mayor Jack Ki rksey. President Brosnan recognized Boy Scout Troop #782 in the audience. President Brosnan announced there is new data on Item #3. Vice-President Meakin announced Livonia Community Foundation will be having a fundraiser, The Best Craft Beers in Michigan, on Wednesday, October 29, 2014, from 7:00 — 8:30 PM at One Under Bar & Grill, tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased at the Livonia Chamber of Commerce or his office, Meakin and Associates, 33300 Five Mile Road, Suite 102, Livonia. Additional information is available by calling (734) 425-7555. President Brosnan announced the Livonia Jaycees will be hosting the "Lagers for Lunches" fundraising event to be held Friday, November 21, 2014 from 7:00 p.m. — 11:00 p.m. at One Under Banquet Hall. Tickets are $40 per person; proceeds to pay off lunch debts of schools within Livonia. AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: Christopher Martin, 11037 Hubbard, expressed his concerns with the contractor D & G Cement Corp. who according to Mr. Martin, is doing work at his neighbor's house. His concern is they violating the law by dumping concrete onto the newly asphalted City Street in front of his house. He would like this contractor prosecuted and fined for impeding traffic and dumping. 1. BLOCK PARTY: Helen Balmforth, re: for a Halloween party to be held on Friday, October 31, 2014, from 6:00 p.m. to midnight on Bennett, between Westbrook and Parklane, no rain date scheduled. Helen Balmforth, 17558 Westbrook, presented her request to Council. She was ready to answer any questions Council may have. Vice-President Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. 2 DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 2. REQUEST TO WAIVE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Jeff R. Pelon, re: for the proposed single family home to be built at 20320 Purlingbrook St. Jeff Pelon, presented his request to Council and was ready to answer any questions Council may have. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 3. REQUEST TO WAIVE SIDEWALK REQUIREMENT: Enrico E. Soave, Esq., Kucyk Soave & Fernandes, PLLC, re: for the single family home located at 33831 Orangelawn. Joe Durso, 20022 Shadyside was present on behalf of Mr. Soave. He was ready to answer any questions Council may have. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 4. REQUEST TO RENEW STANDARD SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT WITH NEW WORLD SYSTEMS: Department of Management Information Systems, re: for the period December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2019 from budgeted funds. Dan Putman, Director of Information Systems, said this is a request to renew our maintenance agreement with the City's software provider, New World Systems, 888 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, Michigan, 48084-4749, for the period December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2019. The following services are provided under this agreement- 1. greement:1. Upgrades, including new releases, to the licensed standard software. 2. Temporary fixes to Licensed Standard Software. 3. Revisions to Licensed Documentation. 4. Reasonable telephone support for Licensed Standard Software on Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (Eastern Time Zone) 5. Invitation to and participation in user group meetings. The annual cost of the proposed maintenance agreement is: $100,040 for 12/1/2014 to 11/30/2015 $102,040 for 12/1/2015 to 11/30/2016 3 $104,080 for 12/1/2016 to 11/30/2017 $106,162 for 12/1/2017 to 11/30/2018 $108,285 for 12/1/2018 to 11/30/2019 The total cost for the five years is $520,607. The annual cost of the final year of our current three-year agreement was $98.078. This schedule does reflect a 2% per year for the next five years. It is the recommendation of the Management Information Systems Department that Council approve the purchase of the five-year New World Systems Standard Software Maintenance Agreement in the amount of $520,607 (invoiced annually) from New World Systems Corporation, 888 West Big Beaver, Suite 600, Troy, MI 48084; and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the Standard Software Maintenance Agreement on behalf of the City. No additional appropriation in 2015 is necessary since sufficient funds are budgeted. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Vice-Present Meakin thanked Putman for bringing the five year agreement before Council. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 5. REQUEST TO APPROVE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW FEES FOR LIBRARY SERVICES: Library Commission, re: to charge a $25.00 fee to non- residents and a $10.00 fee to residents per exam for test proctoring and a $5.00 per half-hour fee for genealogical research for all library patrons. Toni LaPorte, Acting City Librarian, presented the request to Council. The Livonia Library Commission at their regular meeting of August 18, 2014 adopted the following resolution: #16-14 RESOLVED, that the Livonia Library Commission recommends Livonia Libraries charge non-residents a $25.00 fee per exam for test proctoring. The Commission also recommends that Livonia Libraries charge a $5.00 per half-hour fee for genealogical research for all patrons regardless of residency. The Livonia Library commission at their regular meeting of September 15, 2014 adopted the following resolution: #18-14 RESOLVED, that the Livonia Library Commission recommends Livonia Libraries charge residents a $10.00 fee per exam for test proctoring services. 4 LaPorte said they have contacted area libraries and these amounts are in line with the fees that they are charging. Many Libraries do not proctor exams for non-residents; and some do not proctor at all, resulting in more people coming to Livonia to have exams proctored. More and more professional genealogists are coming to them for information so they do not have to do the actual work for their clients. They currently do not charge for providing this information. They feel that $5.00 per half-hour is a reasonable amount for this services Some libraries are charging $10.00 and up for this informations Kritzman asked through the Chair to LaPorte, exactly what does library staff do for genealogy services. LaPorte replied they look up obituaries on microfilm / microfiche from the Observer and Detroit News. Kritzman said that is a service he is not familiar with a library typically providing. He said his first inclination is $5.00 even enough. Kritzman asked LaPorte if they could hand over the microfilm / microfiche to a library patron and have them look it up themselves. LaPorte said yes, however, she did indicate that the requests they receive are sometimes through the mail or from a person who is not computer literate. He said he can understand the library staff helping patrons but said he would hate for us to be providing a service that benefits a business while at the same time takes advantage of the library. He said he is wondering if maybe they need to up the fee in that regard or restrict use of the service if possible. Vice-President Meakin asked LaPorte if they know which patrons or users of this service are commercial users. LaPorte said most of the requests for this service come via mail, e-mail, and over the phone. She said she doesn't believe they do any screening asking whether or not they are residents of Livonia. She said the staff member that does the genealogy look-ups has a fair amount of regulars; she probably can do two (2) look-ups per half hour. They feel that the fee of $5.00 per half hour is a reasonable charge. Vice-President Meakin expressed concern over non-residents utilizing the library and its staff for this type of service. He asked LaPorte if it would be a problem for them to implement asking whether or not they are residents. He said he doesn't see any problem providing the service to a resident but non-residents he does have a problem with providing this service to them. LaPorte said they can certainly screen the requestors to determine whether or not they are Livonia residents. She said however, if they are not and are an elderly woman looking for an obituary would they be denied. Vice-President Meakin said if they are not a resident, yes. LaPorte said she knows a few libraries charge for the genealogy service, like Detroit Public Library charges $15.00. She said a lot of the libraries don't charge anything but the help they provide is very limited, basically just directing where to look for the information. 5 Scheel asked LaPorte if they are charging for this service now. LaPorte replied, no. Scheel said so this will be a brand new fee for this service. LaPorte replied, yes. Scheel said it looks like the Library Commission met and put these resolutions together that they are recommending to Council. LaPorte said that was correct. Scheel offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. Toy asked LaPorte if she or the Library Commission looked at the local colleges and universities to see if they offered proctoring and how their fees compared. LaPorte said Schoolcraft College does offer proctoring at a higher fee; she wasn't sure about Madonna University. Toy said she doesn't have a problem with charging a fee but thinks perhaps some more research should be done and perhaps they should consider resident vs. non-resident rates being implemented. Nash asked LaPorte if the requests coming to Livonia Library were because the person resided or passed away in Livonia or is it because the obituary was in the Detroit News. LaPorte said the majority of requests are because the person passed away in Livonia or resided in Livonia at some time. She said people call them regarding obituaries in the Detroit News but those are more difficult and they are usually turned down. Especially because Detroit Public Library charges so much they think some of their patrons are coming to them because they don't charge a fee. President Brosnan asked LaPorte if she could provide Council with a more detailed description of the policy they plan to implement the charge prior to the voting meeting. President Brosnan said with the proctoring she said there is a potential for the Library to generate some revenue and encouraged LaPorte to pursue that possibility. President Brosnan said she would like to keep this Item on the Regular Agenda in case there are any further questions regarding the matter. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 6. AWARD OF BID: Livonia Fire & Rescue, re: for a three (3) year contract for Emergency Medical Billing Services, with a two (2) year option to renew under the same terms and conditions. Shadd Whitehead, Fire Chief, presented the request to Council. Requests for proposals (RFP's) were advertised, posted on the MITN e-procurement site and publicly opened on Tuesday, November 11, 2013 for Emergency Medical Billing Services. The cooperative RFP included the communities of Livonia, Farmington Hills, St. Clair Shores and Northville Township with additional extension made 6 available to Fire Rescue Agencies throughout southeastern Michigan. Notification was sent to over one-hundred (100) vendors with eight (8) responding. Those responding included Accumed Billing, DMC Billing Service, Fidelis EMS Billing, Intermedix, Lifequest, Medicount, Mobile Health Resources and Parastar. The Livonia Fire Department transports over 4,500 patients per year. The City utilizes a billing agency to process the billing and collection for these EMS transports. The billing agency manages each claim from initiation through payment. For this service the billing agency retains a contracted percentage of each collected payment. It is our number one priority to provide quality patient care. We also endeavor to provide excellent customer service for each patient during and after transport. It is imperative that the City partner with a company who utilizes best practices with regard to data collection, customer service, cash handling and training. All receivables management must meet or exceed guidelines set forth in the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act, which dictates appropriate practices in the patient information industry. The evaluation committee included City staff and representatives from all four (4) fire departments. To ensure the committee focused on best practices, the RFP was done in a multi-step process. First, the group evaluated all proposals and chose three (3) companies whose responses best demonstrated their ability to collect receivables, safeguard the data collected and provide customer service in an ethical, professional and responsible manner. Second, the agencies evaluated the ePCR software for ease of use, intuitiveness and speed. Third, the group interviewed all three (3) companies to confirm information and ask questions. The final step was to open pricing proposals from those firms that the committee felt were qualified for award. Only those firms that scored a minimum of 80 points out of 100 in step one were invited to participate in steps 2-4. Step one scoring was; Accumed Billing- 94, Intermedix- 90, Medicount- 84, LifeQuest- 77, Mobile Health Resources- 74, Fidelis EMS Billing - 45, Parastar- 42, DMC Billing - 16. The evaluation committee determined that Accumed Billing was the most qualified and best value firm. Their ePCR software was very easy to use with an intuitive interface. In fact, it was found that Accumed's ePCR proved to take approximately 25% less time to complete a report than the existing ePCR program. These efficiencies will allow for crews to be in service for the next incident quicker, allow the Paid Call personnel to return home sooner and ultimately reduce payroll costs. With continued use, it is believed that additional time savings will be recognized. Additionally, Accumed utilizes a comprehensive full service medical claims management model which covers from PreDispatch consultation to final account reconciliation. Their commitment to customer service and compliance is demonstrated by their employment of a full-time Compliance Officer. Their cash handling procedures are exceptional. Their Transition plan was thorough with no charge for current patient information transfer and their references were excellent. Many other local fire agencies including West Bloomfield and Rochester Hills utilize Accumed and were highly complementary. Although Accumed's collection fee percentage of 7.2% is higher than our current 6.6%, staff is confident that the efficiencies brought by their ePCR program, their best practice strategies for more complete billing and their ability to understand 7 the sensitive issues associated with this type of service will benefit the City and ultimately patient care. In view of the above, it is recommended that City Council authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to sign a three (3) year contract with Accumed Billing, Inc., PO Box 2122, Riverview, MI 48192, for Emergency Medical Billing Services at 7.29%. In addition, it is recommended that City Council authorize the Mayor to renew for an additional two (2) year period at 7.29% or lower under the same terms and conditions upon mutual consent by the City and Accumed Billing. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 7. REQUEST TO APPROVE THE CITY OF LIVONIA HEALTH REIMBURSEMENT ARRANGEMENT PLAN: Civil Service Department, re: for the dental and optical reimbursement program that has been in place for many years with represented and non-represented employees, in order to keep the plan a qualified plan that is compliant with applicable Internal Revenue Code sections 105 and 106. Robert Biga, Human Resources Director, presented the request to Council. The City of Livonia has had dental and optical reimbursement programs for many years with its represented and non-represented employees. Recently, the City's health care consultant has recommended that the City adopt a formal plan even though both the Civil Service Commission and City Council have approved the plan as part of approving collective bargaining agreements and resolutions extending these benefits to non-represented employees. This action will keep the plan a qualified plan which is compliant with applicable Internal Revenue Code sections 105 and 106. Therefore, it is respectfully requested that the Civil Service Commission adopt a resolution approving the City of Livonia Health Reimbursement Arrangement Plan and forward it to the City Council for its concurrence. Nash offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 8. REQUEST TO MERGE THE TWO PART-TIME POSITIONS OF DEPUTY CLERK AND ELECTIONS COORDINATOR INTO ONE FULL-TIME POSITON OF DEPUTY CLERK, AND THE APPOINTMENT OF SUSAN HOFF TO SAME: Office of the City Clerk, re: to create a full-time position that will better fit the function of this office going forward. (CR 279-11) Terry Marecki, City Clerk, presented the request to Council. On August 24, 2011, you approved my request to create the position of part-time Deputy Clerk, replacing the open position of part-time Assistant City Clerk. (CR #279-11) I also, due to budget cuts, reduced the position of Elections Coordinator to part-time. 8 Those two part-time positions were then filled by Sue Hoff, thus creating a full- time position. In doing so, I was able to reduce my budget for the last three years without laying off any of my staff. Sue Hoff has been working in these positions since that time. She has been paid two part-time salaries, but has received full- time status and benefits. Over the past three years, Sue has successfully merged the work of the two positions into one position. It is a benefit to our office to have the Deputy Clerk involved with elections and to also have a thorough knowledge of all that our office oversees. As I look to the future of this office, it has become apparent that if Sue were to retire or leave for any other reason, it would be difficult if not impossible to fill her current "two-part-time" position status. I am therefore requesting that the position be completely merged into one position, that of Deputy Clerk. And that the salary be the full salary of a Deputy Clerk, which is the same as the current Deputy Treasurer. This would provide for some consistency between the two offices and would also make this a position that could be filled when it becomes necessary. It is requested that Council approve the following: 1) That the current position of part-time Deputy Clerk be made into a full-time Deputy Clerk, and that the full-time salary for this position would be $62,192.00, or equal to that of the Deputy Treasurer. 2) That Susan Hoff retain her appointment as Deputy Clerk. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. President Brosnan asked Marecki if this position was coming full circle. She said she seemed to recall this office did have a full time Deputy Clerk. Marecki said yes that is correct and she did say that personally she found it very advantageous as City Clerk to be able to choose who she wanted as her Deputy Clerk. President Brosnan asked Mr. Biga for some history on this position. Mr. Biga said by Charter, the classification of Deputy Clerk is created and has been used for many years. Positions were filled as an appointee. There was a Plante Moran study done and they suggested that it be created as classified Civil Service job which they did and hired someone however, due to budget cuts the person was laid off. It was then filled by a former Assistant City Clerk who split her time between this job and the Council office, she eventually retired. At that point, the City Clerk asked what her options were and he informed her she could resurrect the Deputy Clerk classification and appoint someone or fill it through the civil service process as a part-time Assistant City Clerk. The position was filled from within the department when the Elections Coordinator position was reduced to a part-time job. The person spent half the time working elections and half the time as Deputy Clerk. He said Marecki now would like to make it a full-time Deputy Clerk appointed position. She said thinking of the future it would be much easier to market the position should it become necessary. 9 President Brosnan noted that there appears to be parity with the salary for this position and the Deputy Treasurer position. She asked if they are both appointed positions, Biga replied yes. President Brosnan asked if there is parity with the salary of the Clerk and Treasurer as well. Biga said to his recollection it is several thousand dollars apart. Marecki responded indicating it is only $2,000 apart. She said the Treasurer's salary is $74,000 annually and the Clerk's salary is $72,000 annually. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 9. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE ONE (1) 2015 SEWER CLEANING JET TRUCK UTILIZING THE NATIONAL JOINT POWERS ALLIANCE (NJPA) PURCHASING CONTRACT: Public Service Division, re: to replace a current vehicle, from budgeted funds. Donald Rohraff, Superintendent of Public Services, presented the request to Council. The 2014 approved capital outlay budget includes the purchase of one (1) Sewer Cleaning Jet Truck for the Water and Sewer Department. Arrangements were made to incorporate the new vehicle purchase through the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA). The NJPA is a National Cooperative purchasing contract which gives municipalities the purchasing leverage to receive a 3% price reduction under buying direct from a local distributor. The NJPA does meet the Finance Ordinance requirements for the City's bidding process. The NJPA contract was awarded to Jack Doheny Companies. (NJPA contract# 022014-SCA). The department has purchased equipment from Jack Doheny Companies in the past and have no issues with the product or service they have provided. The Jet Truck will not be increasing the fleet it will be replacing a 2004 Jet Truck which has far exceeded its useful life. The normal life expectancy for this type of equipment is usually 8-10 years. The old Jet Truck will be disposed of through the auction process. It is the recommendation of the Water and Sewer Board that City Council authorize the purchase from Jack Doheny Companies, 777 Doheny Court, Northville, Michigan 48167, for a grand total of $207,267.84, one (1) 2015 Sewer Cleaning Jet Truck for a total of $207,267.84 from funds already approved in the Water and Sewer Capital Outlay Fund. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 10. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE ONE (1) 2015 CASE 580SN 2WD BACKHOE/LOADER UTILIZING THE NATIONAL JOINT POWERS ALLIANCE (NJPA) PURCHASING CONTRACT: Public Service Division, re: to replace a current vehicle, from budgeted funds. 10 Donald Rohraff, Superintendent of Public Services, presented the request to Council. The 2014 approved capital outlay budget includes the purchase of one (1) Backhoe/Loader for the Water and Sewer Department. Arrangements were made to incorporate the new vehicle purchase through the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA). The NJPA is a National Cooperative purchasing contract which gives municipalities the purchasing leverage to receive a 3% price reduction under buying direct from a local distributor. The NJPA does meet the Finance Ordinance requirements for the City's bidding process. The NJPA contract was awarded to Southeastern Equipment Co., Inc. (NJPA member #40280). The department has purchased and leased equipment from Southeastern Equipment Co., Inc. in the past and have no issues with the product or service they have provided. The backhoe will not be increasing the fleet it will be replacing a 1999 backhoe which has far exceeded its useful life. The normal life expectancy for this type of equipment is usually around 10 years. The old backhoe will be disposed of through the auction process. It is the recommendation of the Water and Sewer Board that City Council authorize the purchase from Southeastern Equipment Co., Inc., 48545 Grand River Avenue, Novi, Michigan 48374, for a grand total of $83,601.20, one (1) 2015 Case Backhoe/Loader for a total of $83,601.20 from funds already approved in the Water and Sewer Capital Outlay Fund. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 11. REQUEST TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (MDOT) AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA FOR THE MODERNIZATION OF THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL AT 1-275/1-96 NB RAMP AT SEVEN MILE ROAD: Engineering Division, re: last upgraded in 2006, the City's only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of $225.00. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council. The Engineering Division has recently received a request from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to execute the modernization agreement for the subject traffic signal, upgraded in 2006. It is recommended that the City Council authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute this traffic agreement on behalf of the City. Please note that the only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of$225 which represents the City's 67% share. Scheel offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 11 12. REQUEST TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (MDOT) AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA FOR THE MODERNIZATION OF THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL AT OLD M-14 (ANN ARBOR ROAD) AT NEWBURGH ROAD: Engineering Division, re: last upgraded in 2002, the City's only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of$576.00. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council. The Engineering Division has recently received a request from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to execute the modernization agreement for the subject traffic signal, upgraded in 2002. It is recommended that the City Council authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute this traffic agreement on behalf of the City. Please note that the only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of$576 which represents the City's 50% share. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 13. REQUEST TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (MDOT) AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA FOR THE MODERNIZATION OF THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL AT OLD M-14 (ANN ARBOR ROAD) AT ANN ARBOR TRAIL: Engineering Division, re: last upgraded in 2003, the City's only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of$528.00. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council. Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 14. REQUEST TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (MDOT) AND THE CITY OF LIVONIA FOR THE MODERNIZATION OF THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL AT OLD M-14 (PLYMOUTH ROAD) AT LEVAN ROAD: Engineering Division, re: last upgraded in 2013, the City's only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of $576.00. Todd Zilincik, City Engineer, presented the request to Council. The Engineering Division has recently received a request from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to execute the modernization agreement for the subject traffic signal, upgraded in 2003. It is recommended that the City Council authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute this traffic agreement on behalf of the City. Please note that the only charge will be the annual energy and maintenance fee of$528 which represents the City's 50% share. 12 Pastor offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 15. SIGN PERMIT APPLICATION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2014-08-SN- 02 submitted by WorkForce Software, for the four-story office building (Seven Mile Crossing), located on the south side of Seven Mile Road between the 1- 275/96 Expressway and Haggerty Road (38705 Seven Mile Road) in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 7. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the request to Council. WorkForce Software is seeking approval to install a wall sign on one of the office buildings that make up the Seven Mile Crossing office complex. Seven Mile Crossing is located on the south side of Seven Mile Road between the 1-275/96 Expressway and Haggerty Road, and consists of three (3) similar-looking high-rise office buildings (38695, 38701 & 38705 Seven Mile Rd.) that front on Seven Mile Road. WorkForce Software occupies approximately one- half of a four-story office building situated on the west half of the site. The subject property is zoned PO (High Rise Professional Office). Signage in a PO district is regulated pursuant to Section 18.50G of the Zoning Ordinance. Multi-tenant office buildings are permitted one (1) wall sign not to exceed one (1) square foot for each two (2) lineal feet of building frontage or 100 square feet, whichever is less. This building, because of the length of its front elevation, is allowed a 100 square foot wall sign. The wall sign proposed by WorkForce Software would be installed on the front (south elevation) of the building facing Seven Mile Road. The sign would read "WorkForce Software"and the dimensions of the sign would total 199 square feet in sign area. Currently, there is no wall sign on the building. The other two (2) buildings that make up Seven Mile Crossing each have a wall sign that total approximately 100 square feet in sign area. Because the proposed signage is in excess of what is allowed by the Sign Ordinance, a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals would be required. Vice-President Meakin asked Taormina if they could condition this approval limiting it to just this tenant. Taormina said yes, he said that is something typically the Zoning Board of Appeals does but Council can also do that unless the Law Department says otherwise. Don Knapp, City Attorney, said he thinks that is fine. Matthew Yacoub, WorkForce Solutions, 38705 Seven Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan 48152. All right. To give you a little bit of background, he said they are a human resource management software provider. They provide software to some of the largest public institutions and other private and corporate enterprises across the world. They are a global company. They are headquartered here in Livonia. They are growing. They are one of the fastest growing companies in the 13 State. They were named the third largest job creator in the State of Michigan over the period from 2012 to 2013. In 2009 they moved into this building. Since they have moved in, they had the option from the owner of the building to put a sign on the building but more recently as they have grown. They are up to 50 percent, as Mr. Taormina said, and soon planning to expand to about 60 or so percent of the building. They have now decided they would like to have the sign on the building. As he said, they are looking for a larger sign than the standard rules would permit. There are a few reasons for that. One is the size of the frontage of the building; it's 345 feet of frontage. So the sign would fit better, look better, in that peak area of the front of the building. It's also pretty far back off of Seven Mile Road and there's quite a few trees along Seven Mile Road. They want to make sure it's visible for their customers and, as they are growing so fast, actually they have more interviewees coming to the building. It's really a constant stream of visitors. Vice-President Meakin asked Yacoub if he had any problem with them restricting the signage strictly to this tenant; Yacoub replied, no. Vice-President Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT 16. SITE PLAN PETITION: Planning Commission, re: Petition 2014-08-08-10 submitted by Rose Grisa, to remodel the exterior of the commercial/office building (Mark E. Building - O'Malley's Bar & Grill), located on the west side of Farmington Road between Lyndon Avenue and Five Mile Road (15231 Farmington Road), in the Northwest 1/4 of Section 21. Mark Taormina, Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented the request to Council. This is a request to renovate the exterior of the first floor of the Mark E Building. This two story multi-tenant retail/office building is located on the west side of Farmington Road between Lyndon Street, and Five Mile Road. The first floor of the building is occupied by O'Malley's Bar & Grill and Neon Village dry cleaners. The second floor is utilized primarily as office space. The subject site is zoned C-2 (General Business). Currently, the exterior of the first floor is finished with wood siding set in a diagonal pattern. The planned changes would affect the lower level of the building's north, east and west elevations. The first floor exterior of the south elevation, which partially abuts another commercial building, consists of painted block. The south elevation and the upper half of the building, which is covered by E.I.F.S., would remain as is. The second story was refinished in 2000 (CR #813-00). The Petitioner would like to remove the existing wood siding in order to expose the original brick fagade. According to the Petitioner, the underlying brick is in good condition. The brick would appear in sections located between intermittent bands of E.I.F.S. A note on the plan indicates that the E.I.F.S. would be similar to the second floor exterior walls of the building. The sections of E.I.F.S. would be separated from the ground by a 14 one and half foot (1' 6") concrete ledge that would extend across the base of the building. A series of stone sills would be used to separate the concrete ledge from the bands of E.I.F.S. Windows would be installed throughout the three elevations to offer natural light into the units of the lower level. Part of the renovation also includes relocating the main entrance to O'Malley's. The new entryway would remain on the north facing side of the building, but would be shifted about 55 feet to the west. The Petitioner believes that this location is more visible to customers from the parking lot. The new entrance would contain an "air lock" vestibule. To help define the entrance, a stone veneer material would outline the entryway and an arch element would be created over the door. No other site changes or improvements are proposed as part of this petition. Frank Grisa, 34175 Oakdale, Livonia, Michigan. The petitioner is actually his mother. He's here on her behalf. She owns the building. The drawing that Council has is just a split. They just want everybody to be able to see what was there. It's a soffit, basically, that's existing, and it runs all the way across the building and down the east and west elevation as well. That dark band there, basically now it is a metal roof about a foot long that you see on the diagram and then a wood enclosed soffit that has lights underneath it. What they're proposing is, they're going to remove the wood and cover it with E.I.F.S. They're trying to breathe a little life into it. He said the wood siding was very chic in the urban cowboy days, but it's a little tired and he thinks they can be a little more inviting. And they also want to put some windows in because they want to let the light inside. They've been told by many customers it would be nice to have some natural light in there, so they thought that might be the way to do it. Kritzman likes the idea of pulling the wood siding off of there; however, he expressed some concerns with the plan. Specifically with brick piers, and 16" concrete wall and sill. Kritzman said this property is located in a special development control district. He said he thinks those districts are in place so that Council pays close attention to any renovations being made within those districts. He said he doesn't want to restrictions to be too prohibitive and prevent him from doing his project but at the same time he's struggling with a little bit of the detail in the renovation. Toy said she believes it's up to the business owner to decide what they can afford to do and believes that it is Council's role to guide them and she hopes that Mr. Grisa will get together with Kritzman who can give him some helpful guidance that won't break his renovation budget prior to the voting meeting. Toy offered the approving resolution for the Regular Agenda. Taormina said he shares Kritzman's concerns. He said until they pull all the wood off it is unknown what is underneath all of it. Also, it is unknown what condition it will all be in and whether or not more work may be needed. He said they could work with Council in order to facilitate this request in a timely manner. 15 Pastor agrees that some work will most likely need to be done on the underlying brick. He feels that Taormina can oversee those field changes without any problem. Vice-President Meakin asked that it be noted in the resolution that Taormina is empowered to oversee those changes on the plan. Knapp said they can add some language to the resolution authorizing the Planning Director to make certain level changes should Council wish to grant that authority. President Brosnan asked Toy, the maker of the motion if she agreed with Vice- President Meakin's request to amend the resolution with that change. Toy said she was fine with that. DIRECTION: APPROVING REGULAR 17. REQUEST TO SCHEDULE A LOCAL OFFICERS COMPENSATION COMMISSION MEETING: Office of the Council, re: for the purpose of discussing the clarification and possible verbiage change to Resolution #06-13 in regards to absences of the City Councilmembers at meetings. Vice-President Meakin presented the request to Council. This is a request to have the Local Officers Compensation Commission meet to discuss the clarification and possible verbiage change to Council Resolution #06-13 in regards to absences of the City Councilmembers at meetings. Vice-President Meakin offered the approving resolution for the Consent Agenda. DIRECTION: APPROVING CONSENT AUDIENCE COMMUNICATION: None. Vice-President Meakin thanked the Boy Scouts in the audience who stayed for the end of both meetings. Toy wished everyone a Happy Christopher Columbus Day next Monday, October 13th. As there were no further questions or comments, President Brosnan adjourned the Study Session at 9:11 p.m. on Monday, October 6, 2014. DATED: October 17, 2014 TERRY A. MARECKI CITY CLERK