Untitled Document

President Weiss called the Regular April 21, 2008 meeting of the Constantine Village Council to order at 7:30PM at the Village Hall.

Present at Roll Call: Trustees Brewer, Brown, Harder, Larrance, Mathers and Witek, and President Weiss. Also present: Manager Honeysett, Treasurer Strawser, Rental Inspector Lammott and Clerk Strawser. (Fire Chief Haydon entered at 8:00PM .) The pledge of allegiance followed Roll Call.

Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Harder, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.

Motion by Mathers, Seconded by Larrance, to approve the Regular April 7, 2008 Minutes as corrected. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0. Corrections in bold : 1) Page A, Paragraph 2, Remove – Absent: Trustee Harder. 2) Page A, Paragraph 4, Remove – …some agenda item memos did not contain the [Council-mandated] informational paragraph. 3) Page A, Paragraph 9, Line 1 – Trustee Witek asked how Kendall Electric was on the bills… -to- Trustee Witek asked how K&B Plumbing was on the bills… 4) Page B, Paragraph 2, Line 1 – Fire Commissioner Brown reported that the Sewer Ad Hoc… -to- Trustee Brown reported that the Sewer Ad Hoc…5) Page B, Paragraph 3, Line 3 - …RFP on the well repair saved the Village $3,000. –to- RFP on the well repair saved the Village $11,000.

Trustee Brown and President Weiss asked for an explanation of charges on the LaSalle bank credit card. Treasurer Strawser explained the difference between the Three Rivers Sewer bill report and the Three Rivers Sewer Invoice. Discussion ensued re: continued lack of timely submitting of both invoice and sewer report from Three Rivers. Manager Honeysett promised to confirm that authorized payment was made on the February and March Three Rivers Sewer bills.

Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Witek, to pay the bills and make the necessary transfers totaling $38,281.95. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

Ursula Bernhardt, 440 Cass Street , presented photographs and sought remedy of two neighborhood properties – one [apparently] running an illegal auto repair business out of the residence and the second in [apparent] code violation because of continuing deterioration. She said that discussions with the Village Manager had not corrected the activities, but that the residents must have heard she was attending tonight’s meeting as they began removing the vehicles that day. Discussion ensued with Manager Honeysett saying he would continue to investigate both complaints and take corrective steps, and that over 30 ordinance violations tickets had been recently written in the Village.

Austin Cooper, 260 White Pigeon Street , asked who was responsible for correcting lawn damage caused by Village snowplowing. Discussion ensued with Manager Honeysett saying that he would speak with the DPW foreman, but that since snowplowing was a service to residents, any such repair was the responsibility of the landowner.

President Weiss called the Public Hearing on possible Street Name Change of either White Pigeon Street or White Pigeon Road to order at 7:50PM .

Duane Baldwin, 920 White Pigeon Road , said that he was not in favor of changing his street’s name, citing all of the paperwork changes such action would entail.
Sharon Parman, 365 White Pigeon Street , asked the reason for the possible street name change and said that while she was initially opposed, she might be willing to undergo all the paperwork changes such action would entail, if the change was for a good reason. {Manager Honeysett explained the reasons Don and Shontell King asked the Council to consider changing either of the street names.)
Susan Baldwin, 920 & 940 White Pigeon Road , said she opposed the change because of the paperwork, not only for herself, but also for her children.
Dara Baldwin, 920 White Pigeon Road , said she was opposed for the same paperwork reasons and concern over her job’s insurance enrollment rules.
James Wright, 740 White Pigeon Street , said that since White Pigeon Road had fewer residences, and since the request came from a family on White Pigeon Road , that street should make the change if necessary.
Pat Outman, 1025 White Pigeon Road , said she could not see any advantage to the proposed name change and expressed the same paperwork concerns and wondered if a change could affect credit.
Marvin Vercler, 380 South Washington Street , was opposed to the change. He shared history on street name changes within the Village and cited other examples of communities with similar/same named streets.
Don King, 660 White Pigeon Road , explained the events leading to his family’s request for the street name change and that they had tried other alternatives to many problems including misdirected, lost and stolen mail/deliveries, near [errant] SemCo shutoff, misdirected ambulance, etc. without success. The County said they cannot change the house number. They have a special needs child with medical issues. He said the problems have gotten out of hand in the last six to eight months.
Shontell King, 660 White Pigeon Road , said that as a bank teller, she knows that banking, credit and loans would not be adversely affected by a street name change and the paperwork concerns are small things compared to the health and safety of her special needs daughter and asked everyone to consider need versus inconvenience.
Joanna Wright, 740 White Pigeon Road, said that while she empathizes with the family, mail delivery problems are because our is a “training post office” and that her grandson, a LifeCare (ambulance) employee says that with their training and imaging devices, drivers have no excuse for going to the wrong house.
Les Iseminger, 745 White Pigeon Street , opposed to the change, asked if the Village could override County denials by petitioning the State for a single house number change.
Austin Cooper, 260 White Pigeon Street , said he was neither for nor against the proposal, but suggested by making some change, the Village might avoid a larger problem such as a lawsuit.
Constantine Fire Chief Mike Haydon favored a street name change saying mistakes sometimes happen due to the similar street names with identical house numbers, especially when trying to get accurate information from excited or late night emergency callers or with responders unfamiliar with the area, and that every second counts in an emergency. He said that 9-1-1 can only “tag” a specific house if it has a landline telephone. He said that there are a number of homes on both streets with the same house number, any of which might have an emergency.
Tod Witek , 130 White Pigeon Street , said he was speaking as a private citizen as he felt he might have a conflict of interest since he lives on one of the streets facing a possible name change. He said he uses a post office box.
President Weiss read letters opposing the name change of either street from:

Bob Hochstetler, 545 White Pigeon Road ,
Larry & Mary Shingledecker, 460 White Pigeon Road ,
Sandra Garton, 915 White Pigeon Road ,
Devon and Diana Wyman, 825 White Pigeon Road , and
Scott and Teresa Chiddister, 440 White Pigeon Road .

Discussion ensued on how to help the King family when the majority opinion opposes any name change. Trustee Brown said the important part of the discussion was about the King’s daughter and ways to make them more secure with emergency services personnel. [NOTE: Tape stopped working at 9:00PM ; new tape running at 9:03PM .) The Council directed the Village Manager to research every alternative short of a name change, with all useful entities.

Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Brown, to table action on a Street Name Change for either White Pigeon Street or White Pigeon Road to the next meeting and to direct the Village Manager to provide answers to the council’s inquiries. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

Manager Honeysett read the list of meetings he attended in March 2008. In response to trustee discussion, Clerk Strawser outlined the basic rules for committee minutes. Manager Honeysett said that such minutes would be included in the next regular meeting packet.

Police Commissioner Brewer synopsized the March 2008 Police Report, pointing out that the number of citations was written with only (3) three on-duty officers. Discussion ensued on complaints re: dog droppings in public parks and nighttime burning in relation to the burning ordinance.

DPW Commissioner Harder read the March 2008 DPW Report. Trustee Brewer initiated discussion on the portable sewer pump at the [first] lift station. Manager Honeysett said the lift station pump is still being repaired and that Three Rivers WWTP foreman Rozeboom has not given a target date for the repair. Manager Honeysett said the large pumps were damaged by grit and the baskets had not been kept adequately cleaned. He said the grate was lost in the wet well and would have to be retrieved before the repaired pump could be put back in. Sewer Ad Hoc Committee chairperson Trustee Brown said the Village is circumventing the grinders while using the portable pump, possibly increasing grit damage to the pipeline, but that every effort was being made to do the right thing.

Fire Commissioner Brown read the March 2008 Fire Department Report. He reminded everyone that the Fire Board would meet Wednesday. He reported that a comparison of service runs to participating municipality financial subsidy was extremely similar.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Witek, to accept and file the Manager’s and Commissioners’ reports as presented. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.

Trustee Witek referred the Council to the April 16, 2008 memo from MDOT’s Jason Latham regarding future publishing and distribution of bypass information since the signing of the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Discussion ensued as to whether all requested information was being provided in a timely manner and if all Council questions were being answered.

Discussion ensued regarding replacing Glen Oaks’ Dennis McCarthy with a local businessperson versus another Glen Oaks representative. President Weiss said her nominee was very qualified and that she anticipated additional DDA resignations that would render the discussion moot.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Mathers, to accept Dennis McCarthy’s letter of resignation from the Constantine Downtown Development Authority with deep appreciation and regret. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.

Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Harder, to appoint Larry Hass of Glen Oaks Community College to the Constantine Downtown Development Authority. Motion passed by affirmation 6 –1. Voting YES: Trustees Brewer, Brown, Harder, Larrance, Mathers and President Weiss. Voting NO: Trustee Witek.

Trustees were reminded that the next meeting, May 5 th, begins the summer schedule – Village Council meetings will begin at 8:00PM until October.

Included in the packet, but not formally discussed: March 2008 Three Rivers Sewer Services bill.