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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2001-04-19 MINUTES OF THE 124tH REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 124th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:05 p.m., Thursday,April 19, 2001 in the 4th Floor Conference Room at City Hall. Members Present: Mayor Jack E. Kirksey Mr. Jerry Wordhouse, Chairman Mr. Duane Wolfgang, Vice Chairman Mr. Stan Anderson Mr. Scott Grace Mr. Dennis Kujawa Ms. Toni Mette Mr. Lowell Peterson Mr. Bill Pike Mr.Adelard Raby Mr. Michael Polsinelli Members Absent: Mr. Rod Crider(Excused) Mr. Marvin Walkon(Excused) Coo, Others Present: Mr. John Nagy, P.R.D.A. Director Dr. Robert Auth, Rosedale Gardens Civic Association Mrs. JoAnn Marshall,BRI Mr. Scott Reinholt,BRI Mr. Ralph Williams,Livonia Citizen Ms. Susan Annibal, Secretary 1. Roll was called. 2. Adoption of the March 15, 2001 Minutes: On a motion duly made, seconded unanimously adopted, it was #2001-11 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the 123rd Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on March 15,2001 are approved. Mr. Wordhouse, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 3. Comments from Chairman: Mr. Wordhouse thanked Mr. Wolfgang for `taking care' of the meeting last month.. 4. Budget Report — Mike Slater: Copies of financial statements of the P.R.D.A.'s Special Revenue Fund for the months of December, 2000 and January and February, 2001 were distributed to Board members for their perusal. Total liabilities and fund balance for December, (hie 2000 is $4,441,959.79. Regarding this years expenditures, Mr. Slater will meet with the Construction Committee to discuss how to assure that the Authority doesn't commit to things for which we don't have the funds to do. Mr. Peterson noticed that the Authority had not been mentioned or given any recognition at the City Booth the P.R.D.A. helped sponsor at the Livonia 2 Loy Chamber of Commerce Business Expo and asked that the P.R.D.A. at least be recognized,having footed 2/3 of the cost for the event. The January Total Liabilities are $4,405,852.73. The beginning Fund Balance at the time was $2.6 million, and now the year-to-date liability figure at the end of February is $832,717.54. That is what we have to spend through the end of the year. If we get all the money in, we'll have $200,000 at the end of the year. Mr. Wordhouse commented that these expenditures are something we need to monitor very closely and know where we're at before doing anything. One area we might be able to cut back is on water for sprinklers on the Corridor during wet periods. JoAnn Marshall commented that the contractor is on-site and can make adjustments for wet periods. We don't have rain gauges, as we've found they are not very accurate. We will have to monitor that. 5. Beckett& Raeder—Construction Progress Report: JoAnn Marshall had submitted a Design/ Construction Review, a copy of which was received by all Board members. The Grounds Maintenance Contract has been awarded to CMS Landscaping, who is on board pending finalization of their contract. They are ordering supplies for this project now. Monte Costella is on the job this week. Discussion followed with regard to the ongoing problems with the unsightliness of torn banners along the Corridor. These are the colored banners that are not intended to be frequently changed. An agreement has been worked out with Banner Sign to take care of the repairs, a section at a time, reinforcing the seams and brackets. Dr. Robert Auth stated the banners were poorly designed. One of the problems is the eyelet closest to the pole, which was originally constructed of nylon. Banner Sign is looking at other designs that they believe will keep those banners neat. Also, some of the banner arms are missing the pole on the end. Ms. Marshall stated that it is a very critical problem, which will have to be checked on. (ire There were two sets of screws; now there will be four, so there is no reason why that problem should continue. Another problem persists with the light poles that are being taken out, in that when they are removed, it leaves a hole in the sidewalk. Hopefully, these problems will occur while Basile is on the job, since they will be filling with gravel now. Basile will make that patch. They are coming down Merriman and down Plymouth. John Nagy has been handling that with Worldcom (which is MCI) and Bill Pike, and they have worked out a system. They had been blocking a lane on Merriman one-half to three-quarters of a mile at a time. They are replacing sod to match the same sod that is in the area. John Nagy stated that there have been a couple of other issues. In their permit received from MDOT, there were no lane closures. They will have to place their equipment on the sod panel. Now, MDOT has amended the permit. We have learned that because ours is a private system, it is not on the system for Miss Dig information. When we ask someone to come out and stake our lines, we will have to pay an appropriate cost for their service. Bill Pike said we had a particularly decent meeting with them regarding what we would and would not want while they are coming down Plymouth Road. The brick supply for the walls and brick work should be in by the end of the month. Also we have called many times, we are still waiting for shipment of the poles from Holophane. A couple of the old big poles will always stay there until the traffic signals go in, if they go in at all. Most of the wood poles are coming out, although the really big ones will probably stay. The new poles are supposed to be shipped on the 23`d from Dallas. We are expected to receive them in our area on the 24th or 25th. In response to an inquiry from Scott Grace, John Nagy stated that First Federal of Michigan at the Merriman-Plymouth corner has filed an appeal with the ZBA to seek relief for a second wall sign on the building, which would provide signage on the east and north of the building that will allow us to remove their ground sign, which conflicts with our plaza (hri design. Mr. Nagy will be at the ZBA meeting to speak on the matter. A resolution was thought in order. On a motion by Mr. Polsinelli, seconded by Mr. Pike, and unanimously approved, it was 3 #2001-12 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby support the proposal by First Federal of Michigan requesting a second wall sign for the easterly side of their existing building located at 31441 Plymouth Road, as, in consideration for the additional wall sign,the ground sign will be removed that conflicts with the proposed streetscape improvement for that corner of Merriman and Plymouth Road. Mr. Wordhouse, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. With regard to Phase V, Middlebelt to Farmington back of the sidewalk, it has been a long time under review by MDOT. We should have correspondence back next week and will go out for bid next month. Ms. Mette asked whether we will have an extended guarantee on our street trees planted in February. JoAnn Marshall stated that although we didn't get anything in writing, we are confident that the trees should be OK, since we've had a wet spring. Irish is a good company, but we will ask them to write a letter to make sure of tree replacement. 6. Ratification of Grounds Maintenance Contract—CMS Landscaping: Bill Pike reported that the three prospective bidders had been interviewed for the Grounds Maintenance Contract, the low bidder and the other two, to see if they had the capabilities to perform under the contract. Because of time constraints, the Board asked the Construction Committee to interview them and, if satisfied, to make a decision as to the selection of the contractor. John Nagy, Bill Pike, Mike Polsinelli and a representative from BRI met for the interviews. They found that the low bidder could handle this work, and made the decision to go with CMS Landscaping, if they could (Poie hold to contract prices for the next season, as well, which they agreed to do. This is a young contractor. Should anyone see something that is not right, call John Nagy right away, and he will seek to rectify it. CMS will clean the sidewalk and gutters of trash and pick up grass clippings (not just blow it around)and empty all trash containers. On a motion by Mr. Raby, seconded by Mr. Peterson and unanimously approved, it was #2001-13 RESOLVED,that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby accept the low bid of$151,481.00 submitted by CMS Landscaping for the Plymouth Road Streetscape Grounds Maintenance Contract such work to commence April 4, 2001 to April 3,2002 with potential additional year based on performance and quality of work. Mr. Wordhouse, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution is adopted. 7. Reports from Committees: Public Relations—Mr.Anderson: The newsletter is being printed today. You will get copies of it at the next meeting. I think it's a good one this time. I talked with John about brightening up the pictures, because we are showing what good improvements can be done with an older building when you fix it up properly. I think that for a little bit more money we can have better color for these pictures, and I think you'll appreciate the difference. (As the printer, Ms. Mette confirmed that this is digital and all on disk.) Vacant Buildings—Mr. Grace: Nothing to report. Construction Committee—Mr. Pike Nothing to report. 4 Inspection—Mr. Raby: Nothing to report. Development Assistance — Mr. Grace: We have a request from Commercial Lawnmower, actually the first request we've had that did not reach the limit of our grant. The Committee recommends a grant of$8,450 for reimbursement of 50% of the demolition costs of removing a portion of the building at the old House of Maple site. Commercial Lawnmower came to us before we had the committee and the policy in place. This should just be for our record. It was suggested that when the check for $8,400 be presented to Commercial Lawnmower that the P.R.D.A. Chairman, Mayor Kirksey and the entire Board be on hand, along with the Livonia Observer, in a commemorative ceremony, so that business people in the area will see that we are doing this. We want the small business person in the area to be aware that grants and loans are available. Sue Lang interviewed the owner of this new building and is very willing to give us the history and dimensions of the building. Mr. Anderson suggested that rather than calling a building vacant, a better idea is to say that these buildings are opportunities for other business people to step in and make good things happen there. On a motion by Mr. Polsinelli, seconded by Mr. Pike and unanimously approved, it was #2001-14 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby approve and authorize a grant to be paid to Commercial Lawnmower in the amount of$8,450.00 representing 50% of the demolition costs incurred, as shown on invoices dated 11-24-99 and 11-30-99 numbers 9166 and 9175 by Blue Star Inc., for their building located at 32098 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI. AYE: Wordhouse, Wolfgang,Anderson, Grace,Mette,Peterson, Pike,Raby and Polsinelli NAY: None ABSENT: Crider, Walkon ABSTAIN: Kujawa Mr. Wordhouse,Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution is adopted. Construction Committee—Mr. Pike: Nothing to add. Web Site Committee—Mr. Polsinelli: We have received a fair amount of information. Board members received a hand-out with explanation of various aspects of setting up and maintaining the web site and related data. Shown is a summary of various rates and fees submitted by the six bidders contacted, except one who did not respond. Included in basic features for Phase I of this project is the initial web site development, a home page, mission statement, business assistance program, newsletter, business directory, event calendar and schedule and miscellaneous other options. Estimated time for completing the initial set-up ranged from 2 week to 8 weeks, with one indefinite timeframe. Fisher Creative Services which organizes the layout of the P.R.D.A. Newsletter is among the bidders, as well as VR Metro Mall who offered a presentation to Board Members in March. Low bid submitted on this initial set-up is $1,715 from Amazing Web Sites toe of Howell, MI. None have been interviewed by the Board yet. Another key point will be the bottom line for monthly expense. Once the package is proposed and implemented, those numbers represent the proposed monthly expenditure for maintaining, updating and keeping the page current. A fairly wide range of $50 to $350 is quoted per month. Also included is an alternative provided for scope of services. P.R.D.A. would be responsible to provide the logo, 5 business names and categorizing same, information on our Development Assistance Program, schedule of work and progress of project(s), detailed calendar events, photos, information via digital format, etc. Mr. Polsinelli will be setting up meetings with these people and ask the right questions so that the Committee can come back to the Board with the recommendation of a firm for the next P.R.D.A. Board meeting. Also provided were two sample home pages in color similar to what our home page might look like. Further discussion followed. John stated that Dan Putman has seen the five proposals that have come in and will assist us in the interview process. 8. Director's Report—John Nagy: Earlier I covered the bulk of the issues we've been involved in with the cable company (Worldcom) and with the Grounds Maintenance contractor. The Mayor's Ball is scheduled. Last year we had a table for Board Members and will be happy to proceed with that again this year. On a sadder note, one of the team members, JoAnn Marshall, is leaving. We want her to know that we have appreciated all of her hard work and commitment to the Plymouth Road project. JoAnn Marshall commented, "I do want to thank you for your patience and cooperation on this project. I do appreciate those outings." Others joined in to wish her well and all the best in her new position with Canon Rousseau, a landscaping contractor. Adieu,JoAnn. 9. Polling of Board Members: Mr. Wolfgang: We met with the Mayor a while back. Our plant is laying off 318 people. We lost the Windstar business to our Van Dyke plant. It is a temporary layoff(TL). They can opt to 4IW go out and will get 95% of their pay and be off until September. Then we'll reassess the situation in September. It could turn into a permanent layoff. The expansion to go to 450 more machines has been put on hold. We had sunk $220 million out of$290 million and just shelved the whole thing. It's a difficult thing. The industry will continue to thrive, but the market share is the problem. Mr. Roby Just to reinforce, our enrollments have jumped significantly and people are going back to school. This could be trying times. Also, our bus trip could be in June or July. We'll be able to see what's been done. Mr. Polsinelli: Passed. Mr. Pike: Passed. Mayor Kirksey: We're looking forward to those of you that can make it to the Mayor's Ball. 'Just an opportunity to get people together. Mr. Grace: Passed. Mr.Kujawa: Passed. Mr. Peterson: I enjoy the area at Plymouth and Middlebelt and what's happening down there. I'm just waiting to see it all done. Ms. Melte: I thought it was great working with JoAnn, and we'll miss her. There seems to be a little activity at Roush Industries. I wondered if Roush is doing anything on that and are they thinking of leasing it? Mr. Wordhouse interjected that Roush just had a major layoff, as well. We are now talking about working out a construction contract on the west corner with them. The 6 L, word is that it will be done. If they hire us or somebody else, it looks like it will be eight weeks. It will be another entrance on the westerly side of the building. I think they do machinery set-up for test work for the Big Three. (Mr. Pike said the Mayor had done a great job on the State of the City address.) Mr.Anderson: The Mayor and Mike Slater did a very fine job in being able to finance our loan at a very favorable rate. Livonia always ends up as a community of integrity. The Mayor stated that there are times that others take every opportunity they can to diminish our image. (Resume Mr. Anderson's commentary.) We had our civic association board meeting, and someone came up with the question, `Is the Wonderland Shopping Center about to be closed in its entirety and sold at auction?' Mr. Polsinelli said it was not. The comment was probably about the Ward's building and property. Wonderland is still talking to Burlington and some other interested people, as well as looking into some other concepts, as well. 10. Audience Communication: None. 11. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted,the 124th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on April 19, 2001 was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on May 17, 2001 in the 4th Floor Conference Room at City Hall . sieG,47 'Susan Annibal, Secretary C