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: https://dextermi.gov/government/cc.php.

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. If you would rather share your thoughts anonymously, please respond here: https://polco.us/n/res/vote/councilwoman-jamie-griffin/i-value-your-input.

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.

Sincerely,

Jamie

Dexter City Council Meeting

Monday, March 14, 2022 @ 7 p.m.

3515 Broad Street, Dexter, MI 48130 and via Zoom

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https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88662219627

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Meeting ID: 886 6221 9627#

Meeting Agenda: https://files.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2022/Agendas/2022-03-14-CC-A.pdf

Meeting Packet: https://files.dextermi.gov/City_Council/2022/Agendas/2022-03-14-CC-P.pdf

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 most recent meeting and work sessions 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: $288,893.21
• Art Selection Committee Appointments
  • Mayor Keough has made the following recommendations for the Art Selection Committee – Term Ending June 2023 (* denotes re-appointment)
    • Ray Tell*
    • Rich Bellas*
    • Wa-Louisa Hubbard*
    • Toni Henkemeyer*
    • Meredith Giltner*
    • Phil Arbour*
    • Rita Holmes
• Road Closures for Dexter Daze on August 10 & 13
  • The proposed dates for the Dexter Daze Festival are Friday, August 12 – Saturday, August 13.
  • Block off Central Street from Main Street to Fifth Street on Wednesday, August 10th after
    morning rush hour to begin booth arrangement.
  • Assist the Sheriff’s department in closing off Ann Arbor Street and Main Street on Saturday, August 13th from 9:45 a.m. to approximately 11:45 a.m. from Kensington to Alpine Street for the parade, which starts at 10:00 a.m.
• Closure of Central Street for Garden Club Plant Sale on May 14
  • The event is to be held on May 14, going from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The proposed closure would be Central Street between Fifth and Main Street between 6:00 am to 4:00 pm to allow for the unloading and loading of plants and materials before and after the event.
  • 
• Road Closures for Memorial Day Parade on May 30
  • Dexter-Ann Arbor Road between Kensington and Alpine from 10:00 am until noon
  • Central Street between Fifth Street and Main Street from 9:00 am until noon
  • 
• Road Closure for Ann Arbor Velo Club Bike Events in the Dexter Business & Research Park
  • Per their permit request, select roads in the Industrial Park be closed on the following days:
    • Sunday, April 10, 2022 from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
    • Sunday, April 24, 2022 from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
    • Sunday, May 1, 2022 from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
    • Sunday, May 15, 2022 from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
    • Sunday, May 22, 2022 from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm
  • 

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

• Community Survey
  • (my words) Over the past several weeks, Council has been discussing the details of a City-sponsored city-wide survey to be administered in the near future. We will be discussing final tweaks to the survey.

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

• Three Year Contract with BioTech for Sludge Hauling (Dan Schlaff, Superintendent of Public Services and Tim Stewart, Assistant Superintendent of Public Services)
  • A part of the City of Dexter WasteWater Treatment Plant operations is that we have to haul sludge from our secondary digester twice a year. Our current contract is with BioTech Agronomics, which is due to expire on March 14th, 2022.
  • From the attached proposed contract, Bio Tech’s proposal is less than all but 2, Chelsea and Milan, which are both in the last year of their current contracts.
• Fire Station Opportunity Statement (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk and Joshua Tanghe, Assistant to the City Manager)
  • As discussed during the February 14, 2022 Work Session, City Council indicated a desire to relabel the "Problem Statement" concept to "Opportunity Statement." City Council proposed the following to be the Fire Station Opportunity Statement:
    • "The current City of Dexter fire station is functionally obsolete for the demands of a modern fire and rescue station in 2022. The service delivered out of the station is excellent, however, the current station needs significant renovation or we need a new station to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of our firefighters and our residents."
  • Council Member Griffin has provided the following for consideration:
    • The current City of Dexter fire station is functionally obsolete for the demands of a modern fire and rescue station in 2022. Nevertheless, the service delivered out of the station is excellent and that is a credit to our tremendous fire and rescue personnel. To ensure the health, safety, and welfare of our firefighters and our residents, the current station needs to be significantly renovated or replaced.
  • From Michelle Aniol, Community Development Manager:
    • "The level of service delivered out of the station is excellent; however, the current City of Dexter fire station is functionally obsolete to meet the demands of a modern fire and rescue station, in 2022. Therefore, the City of Dexter City Council has determined the current station needs significant renovation or a new fire station needs to be constructed, to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of our firefighters and our residents."
• Smith Preserve Agreement Request (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk and Joshua Tanghe, Assistant to the City Manager)
  • Washtenaw County has expressed an interest in possibly using a portion of the Miller Smith Preserve for a piece of the Border-to-Border Trail connecting Dexter and Chelsea. In 1993 the Smith Woods property was donated to the Village of Dexter by the Smith family. In 2008, the Village of Dexter donated the former Smith Woods property to the County's Natural Area Preservation Program (NAPP). This property was packaged along with the Miller property to create the Miller-Smith Preserve. When the Village donated the property to Washtenaw County, it did so through an Agreement for Donation of Property. As this property has been in use as a preserve, there may be challenges to the installation of hard-surface material for non-motorized trail purposes. Due to the donation agreement, per the Washtenaw County Attorney's review, the Donation Agreement would potentially need to be amended. If City Council does not have an objection to this effort, staff will contact City Attorney Scott Munzel to have him review the appropriate documentation and Donation Agreement. Staff and the City Attorney will then work with Washtenaw County to draft an appropriate amendment to the Donation Agreement.
  • 
• Road Tasks #1 & #2 Report (Justin Breyer, City Manager and City Clerk and Joshua Tanghe, Assistant to the City Manager)
  • As requested and approved by City Council, OHM Advisors has completed their evaluation of proposed Tasks: 1) Main St. and Baker Rd. intersection, and 2) Dexter-Ann Arbor Rd. and Dan Hoey intersection. OHM evaluated the signal timings at these two intersections to determine whether there is currently a sufficient amount of time for pedestrians to cross the road and/or whether signal timing with a specific look at the addition of a Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI). An evaluation memo from OHM is attached.
  • The following were findings and recommendations from the OHM report:
    • Task #1 – The addition of a Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI) would overall degrade vehicular operations but would also increase pedestrian safety. OHM did note however that the only periods where traffic is over capacity with the LPI was in peak AM and peak PM periods. For the rest of the day, the LPI would have minimal traffic impact.
    • Task #2 – OHM recommends that the pedestrian clearance timing for Dexter Ann Arbor Road approaches to be adjusted to provide a WALK interval of 10 seconds and a FDW interval of 21 seconds per MDOT’s Signal Timing Spreadsheet.
• Recommendation from Planning Commission to Approve Millennium Place Planned Unit Development (PUD) Final Site Plan and PUD Agreement (Michelle Aniol, Community Development Manager)
  • On August 1, 2021 the Planning Commission considered an Application for Planned Unit Development (PUD) and Final Site Plan, for a 3-story, 23-unit urban residential condominium development, targeted to active adults and working professionals, on properties located at 7956 & 7960 Grand Street.
  • Per the PUD application, the following benefits will be achieved by the development Millennium Place:
    • Achievement of Master Plan Goals and Objectives
    • Improved streetscape along Grand Street
    • Additional parking along Grand Street
    • Improved access to sanitary sewer
    • Increased tax base
    • Facilitates additional redevelopment
    • Improves surrounding property values
    • Increase in population for more economic stability for Dexter businesses
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