Hello!

…and thanks for your interest in the City of Dexter and its City Council. Since my election to office in November 2020, I have distributed annotated meeting agendas (see below) prior to each Council meeting. These newsletters are my personal effort to make it as quick and easy as possible for interested parties to know what Council will be discussing and considering at each meeting. For the most part, descriptions of agenda items come straight from the meeting packet. Following each meeting (and as soon as the video links are available), I share links to the video recordings of the discussion of each agenda item. Past meeting agendas, packets, minutes, and video links (when available) can be found here.

Hearing from residents is one of my favorite parts of being on Council! If you have questions, comments, or concerns about upcoming Council business or any other Council or City topic, please feel free to email me at my official City email: jgriffin@dextermi.gov.

Sincerely,

Jamie

Dexter City Council
Work Session and Meeting

Monday, January 24, 2022

Work Session @ 6 p.m. / Regular Meeting @ 7 p.m.

3515 Broad Street, Dexter, MI 48130 and via Zoom

WORK SESSION @ 6 p.m.: Fire Station Guiding Principles

(my words) Council is meeting to review and finalize a set of principles to guide its decision making regarding the current fire station and sheriff substation at 8140 Main Street. No formal motions are made or voted on during work sessions; however, Council could move to adopt a set of guiding principles at the regular meeting immediately following this work session (see agenda item below).

Note that there is an opportunity for members of the public to make comments at the beginning of the work session.

Consolidated Guiding Principle Statements (to be discussed)

1. We believe that providing a solid foundation for fire and emergency prevention, preparedness, and response is important.

2. We believe the health, safety, and welfare of our community, including our fire fighters is important.

3. We believe the health, safety, and welfare of our community, including our residents, fire fighters, and neighboring communities, is important.

4. We believe that the development of a timeline for the project as well as for the decisionmaking process is important.

5. We believe that regulations, requirements, and design best practices for fire stations and fire rescue services have changed since the fire station was constructed in the 1950s.

6. We believe that aging infrastructure, increasing fire and rescue response regulations, growing population, and more stringent building code requirements are contributing factors for location and fire station design decisions.

7. We believe that aging infrastructure, increasing fire and rescue response regulations, growing population, more stringent building code requirements, and run times within the DAFD service district are contributing factors for location and fire station design decisions

8. We believe that as elected officials of the City of Dexter, our first and primary obligation is to the residents of the City of Dexter and that the needs of the DAFD service area should be prioritized only when required by the DAFD Interlocal Agreement.

9. We believe that the infrastructure at 8140 Main St. has been adequately evaluated, using a recognized set of criteria up to this point. It is not worth doing it again due to the age and condition of the current Fire Station.

10. We believe that the infrastructure at 8140 Main St. has been adequately evaluated for Council, however a recognized set of criteria has not been agreed upon up to this point.

11. We believe the Needs Assessments that have been presented are supported by third-party research, evidence, or testimony.

12. We believe that the Needs Assessments that have been presented need additional third-party feedback.

13. We believe that, if we determine additional information is needed, the information can come from any entities that are recognized by Council as experts in their field.

14. We believe that, whenever possible, we will look to multiple sources of information for validation or refutation of the premises or conclusions upon which the final policy decision is based.

15. We believe that Council must strive to present a united voice on the recommended solution(s) before asking the public to approve a millage.

16. We believe that we must be good stewards of taxpayer’s funds, endeavor to be fiscally responsible with City funds both now and over the long-term, and make judicious financial decisions.

17. We believe that we must provide our residents with sufficient and accurate information to help them understand the fire station decision-making process.

18. We believe in engaging as much of the public as possible in the decision-making process.

REGULAR MEETING @ 7 p.m.

As always, there are two opportunities for non-arranged public participation: one near the beginning of the meeting and one near the end of the meeting. See the agenda for details.

Council will review (1) minutes of its last meeting (1/10/2022) and (2) the upcoming meeting list. We will also hear various updates from staff, including the City Manager and the Mayor (note that corresponding written reports are included in the meeting packet).

Following the presentation and any discussion of these reports, Council will consider the following items as part of the Consent Agenda. Unless Council votes to do otherwise, these items are voted on as a single bundle without Council discussion.

• Bills & Payroll in the amount of: $340,846.46
• Appointments to Arts, Culture, and Heritage Committee
  • The mayor has recommended the following appointments:
    • Arts, Culture, and Heritage Committee – Term Ending June 2023: Andrew Thomas (new appointment)
    • Arts, Culture, and Heritage Committee – Term Ending June 2022: Rita Holmes (new appointment)
  • Note that there is currently one vacancy on the Economic Development Corporation and one vacancy on the Parks and Recreation Commission. Let me know if you’re interested in serving!

Council will discuss or consider (i.e., take action on) the following new business:

• Fire Station Guiding Principles (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk and Michelle Aniol, Community Development Manager)
  • See details above under “Work Session.”
  • If City Council is comfortable, based on the outcome of the January 24, 2022 work session, City Council could move to adopt a set of guiding principles.
• Award of Second Street Water Main and Sidewalk to Concord Excavating and Grading for an Amount not to Exceed $686,326.69 (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk and Joshua Tanghe, Assistant to the City Manager)
  • This project involves the removal and replacement of water main and storm sewer along Second St., the installation of a new sidewalk along Second St., and an add alternate of new sidewalk connecting Second St. to First Street Park. The proposed project would remove and replace some of the oldest water main in the City.
  • At the deadline, the City received bids from five vendors, with bids ranging from $686,326.69 to $1,376,730.05. The low bidder was Concord Excavating and Grading with a base bid of $660,814.59 and $25,512.10 for the First Street Park sidewalk, for a total bid of $686,326.69. The City previously worked with Concord Excavating in 2015 on the completion of the Border-to-Border Trail near the Department of Public Works, stormwater work in the downtown neighborhoods, and improvements to the Community Park path.
  • This project is proposed to be partially funded through the $490,000 that the City is set to receive from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The balance of the project will come out of the City's Road Funds.
• Emergency Response Cost Recovery Ordinance (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk and Joshua Tanghe, Assistant to the City Manager)
  • As identified at the January 10th City Council meeting, Council Member Michels submitted for Council discussion at the January 24th meeting an item related to the development of an Emergency Response Cost Recovery Ordinance.
  • (Council Member Zach Michels) Cost recovery ordinances allow the local first responder to recover some of the costs associated with responding to an incident, such as HAZMAT, structure fires, false alarms, or burning without a permit. Generally, a community must have such an ordinance for the parties insurance company to issue remittance. It includes a process for waiving or reducing fees for hardships.
  • Draft purpose of ordinance: In order to protect the [insert Municipality] from incurring extraordinary expenses resulting from the utilization of Dexter Area Fire Department resources to respond to an incident including, but not limited to, fire emergencies, hazardous materials, emergency rescue incidents, and routine administrative expenses, the [insert Municipality] authorizes the imposition of charges to recover the reasonable and actual costs incurred by the Dexter Area Fire Department in responding to, mitigation of, and administration cost for such incidents.
• Parks and Recreation Commission (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk)
  • Through 2021, the Parks and Recreation Commission discussed improvements to Mill Creek Park North, including the playground.
  • During Parks and Recreation Commission's discussion of the design development process, the Parks and Recreation Commission would like to issue an invitation to various boards and commissions to: 1) discuss the project, using the questions listed below; and 2) select two representatives to attend a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to provide feedback and participate in design discussions. The boards and committees included in this invitation are: City Council, Planning Commission, Arts, Culture, and Heritage Committee, and the Library Board.
  • Questions posed by the Parks and Recreation Commission regarding Mill Creek Park North:
    • How do we enhance active recreation and play in this park?
    • How do we make this park a centerpiece?
    • How do we integrate the other points of interest in the area (Farmers Market, B2B, downtown, Trail)?
    • How do we make this area accessible?
    • What challenges do you currently see or experience with the park?
    • How would you like to see the park used, and what, if any, are the barriers to that use?
    • With potential improvements to the park, do you foresee any unintended consequences or is there anything that would like to make sure that anything is protected or preserved?

Work Session Agenda: https://files.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2022/Agendas/2022-01-24-CC-A-WS.pdf

Work Session Packet: https://files.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2022/Packets/2022-01-24-CC-WS.pdf

Meeting Agenda: https://files.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2022/Agendas/2022-01-24-CC-A.pdf

Meeting Packet: https://files.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2022/Packets/2022-01-24-CC-P.pdf

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/99542473361

Dial In 877 853 5247 OR 888 788 0099 US Toll-free

Meeting ID: 995 4247 3361#

REMINDER: Video recordings of past Council meetings are now available on the City's website (in addition to the City's YouTube channel): https://www.dextermi.gov/government/cc.php. If there's a particular past discussion you're interested in watching, just let me know and I'll do my best to point you to the relevant excerpt.

**If you would like to receive my personal meeting reminders via email, please visit https://www.griffinfordexter.com/ and scroll to the bottom to enter your email address where directed.