Dexter City Council Virtual Meeting on Monday, June 28, 2021 @ 6p via Zoom.

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.

During pre-arranged participation, City resident and Dexter Daze Committee representative Julie Wilkinson will address Council. (Note: Those who notify the City office before 5:00p Monday of the week preceding the meeting will be included on the agenda under pre-arranged participation.)

Council will consider and discuss the following (with clarifying excerpts from the packet):

• City Council Vacancy
  • Following two recommendations that did not receive majority support, the Mayor is recommending Sanam Arab to fill the vacancy created by Julie Knight in March 2021. The term ends in November 2022.
• General Appropriations Act to Adopt the FY 2021-2022 Budget (Justin Breyer, Interim City Manager and City Clerk)
  • The City of Dexter creates budgets for the following funds: 101 General Fund, 202 Major Streets, 203 Local Streets, 204 Municipal Streets, 226 Solid Waste Collection Fund, 275 Tree Replacement Fund, 352 Facilities Bond Debt Service Fund, 353 Road Bond Debt Service Fund, 401 Special Projects, 402 Equipment Replacement Fund, 590 Sewer Enterprise Fund, and 591 Water Enterprise Fund.
  • City Council is asked to consider the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget as per the General Appropriations Act.
  • See the end of this document for screenshots of the budget.
• Setting a Public Hearing on July 26, 2021 for the Conflict of Interest Ordinance (Justin Breyer, Interim City Manager and City Clerk)
  • During the May 24, 2021 discussion on the draft Conflict of Interest Ordinance, Council Member Griffin indicated that she would provide suggested edits to the Ordinance for the June 14, 2021 meeting. She has provided those draft edits and an accompanying memo, which are attached. If City Council is comfortable with the draft ordinance, or the draft ordinance with edits, then City Council is asked to consider setting a public hearing for the July 26, 2021 meeting to consider the Ordinance.
  • Definition of Private Gain (Per our City Charter Section 5.06: The use of public office for private gain or the appearance of private gain is prohibited.)
    • Original
      • Private Gain – a direct or indirect financial benefit accruing to the Public Official or the immediate family (spouse, children, or step-children) of the Public Official, which benefit is or could be created or enhanced by the Public Official’s status as a Public Official, and which benefit is not shared with a substantial segment of the public.
    • My revision (new text in bold)
      • Private Gain – a direct or indirect financial benefit accruing to the Public Official; the immediate family (spouse, children, or step-children) of the Public Official; an organization or entity which the Public Official serves as officer, director, trustee, or general partner; or persons with whom the Public Official has or seeks employment or business relations which benefit is or could be created or enhanced by the Public Official’s status as a Public Official, and which benefit is not shared with a substantial segment of City of Dexter residents.
  • Questions I posed to Council in my memo:
    • Are there other relationships involving Private Gain or the appearance of Private Gain that we want to expressly prohibit (e.g., friends, other relatives)?
    • Which of the following behaviors do we want to prohibit in Section 4(1) and (2)? Should the list of prohibited behaviors be consistent throughout?
      • Section 4 originally and currently prohibits the following behaviors: a. and shall not vote on, b. or participate in any deliberations on
      • Section 5(1c)(2c)(3c) also prohibits the following behaviors: a. i) participate during discussion of the matter at any meeting where the matter is considered; b. ii) participate in any other City process where the matter may be considered; c. iii) take any other action that could affect the outcome or process in the decision-making process; and d. iv) shall leave the meeting room until discussion or consideration of the matter is finished.
    • How should direction (regarding conflicts of interest that do not involve Private Gain) be given? By majority vote?
    • Do we need to explicitly mention when/how fines and imprisonment occur (to meet the requirements of our City Charter)?
      • Per the Charter: This ordinance shall include a statement of purpose and shall provide for reasonable public disclosure of finances by officials and staff who provide input into the decision of making significant monetary expenditures, contractor selection and regulatory matters, and insofar as permissible under state law shall provide for fines and imprisonment for violations.
    • I have added reference to MCL 15.341-15.342e, the State of Michigan State Ethics Act.
      • Except as provided in section 2a, a public officer or employee shall not participate in the negotiation or execution of contracts, making of loans, granting of subsidies, fixing of rates, issuance of permits or certificates, or other regulation or supervision relating to a business entity in which the public officer or employee has a financial or personal interest.
        • Given that this prohibition exists in the State Ethics Act, I want to be sure that (1) our conflict of interest ordinance does not imply anything to the contrary and (2) that everyone to whom this Act applies understands what this Act prohibits. Can the City Attorney discuss what sort of relationships between a Public Official and business entity would constitute a financial or personal interest? For example, would the relationships outlined in the Federal Code of Regulations (nonprofit organizations of which the employee is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations) apply here?
• Setting a Public Hearing on July 26, 2021 to Consider an Amendment to the General Code of Ordinances for Small Cell Wireless Infrastructure Regulation (Michelle Aniol, Community Development Manager)
  • Staff is requesting that Council review and discuss a new ordinance to regulate Small Cell Wireless Infrastructure to the extent permitted by law. As city council may recall, just prior to the COVID pandemic, the state enacted new laws that severely limits a municipalities’ rights to regulate and control the installation of the new small cell wireless devices with the city’s rights-of-way (ROW). Municipal groups and advocates have protested and initiated legal action to re-instate the rights of municipalities to control their own ROW. Those efforts, unfortunately, have not achieved the desired outcome. Thus, small cell wireless providers and wireless infrastructure providers have nearly unfettered access to municipal ROWs, including attachment of equipment to municipally owned infrastructure, such as, but not limited to light poles and the ability to install new poles. Adding insult to injury, the laws also restrict the fees municipalities can charge to these providers for the use of/access to the ROW and municipally owned property. Continued opposition and legal challenges to the law are anticipated to continue; however, it would not be in the city’s best interest to wait for a positive ruling. It’s staff’s opinion that a set of regulations be implemented to the extent possible.
• Proposal from OHM Advisors for Retainer-Based As-Needed Staff Assistance for an Amount not to Exceed $18,400 (Justin Breyer, Interim City Manager and City Clerk)
  • In 2014, following the departure of the former Village Manager, the Assistant to the City Manager position sat vacant for several months. At that time, the incoming Village Manager reached-out to OHM for assistance in mitigating the impact on day-to-day operations from being down a full-time staff member. In response, OHM was able to provide an engineer to work in the office and provide project management assistance until a new Assistant to the City Manager could start work.
  • As of the writing of this memo, the City Office has been missing a full-time staff member for approximately 7.5 months. During this period all of the City’s staff, including the Department of Public Works and Utilities staff, have come together to do a commendable job in keeping-up with the day-to-day operations of the City while also continuing to move projects forward. As the City moves into summer, the quantity and scope of projects will only continue to increase. So, staff reached out to OHM to request a scope of work similar to the 2014 proposal. The services as proposed would provide an engineer to work in the City Office for 24-hours (three days) per week for a period of at least four weeks. The engineer would assist with day-to-day activities along with project oversight. A short list of some of the possible projects is included in the attached proposal.
• Seeking the Support of an External Facilitator (Justin Breyer, Interim City Manager and City Clerk)
  • Council Member Griffin requested that an item be included on the June 28, 2021 City Council agenda related to seeking the support of an external facilitator. Council Member Griffin has also provided a memo and supporting documentation.
  • Excerpts from my memo:
    • At the end of our meeting on Monday, June 14, I made the following statement. (see full text in packet) Though I think the statement speaks for itself, I do want to add that my motivation in making the statement and sharing additional information via this memo is to help us work better together as we resume conversations about addressing the needs of our fire station, sheriff substation, and fire and police staff.
    • What I hope an external facilitator can help us accomplish is the better communication and understanding of what each of our guiding principles are, how they relate to the facts at hand, and how we can navigate any personal differences productively.
    • I reached out to the Michigan Municipal League and Michigan State University Extension Office to learn what sort of resources might be available. Please see the email and documentation below for additional details.

• CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS PENDING LITIGATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH MCL 15.268 SEC. 8 (Justin Breyer, Interim City Manager and City Clerk)
  • A Closed Session opportunity is provided for City Council to meet with City Attorney Scott Munzel regarding the Dexter Shoppes Tax Appeal.

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.

Meeting Agenda: https://www.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2021/Agendas/2021-06-28-CC-A.pdf

Meeting Packet: https://www.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2021/Packets/2021-06-28-CC-P.pdf

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