VILLAGE OF CONSTANTINE
Regular Meeting, January 19, 2009
Council Room, 7:30 PM

President Weiss called the Regular January 19, 2009 Meeting of the Constantine Village Council to order at 7:30PM at the Village Hall.

ROLL CALL
Present at Roll Call: Trustees Brewer, Brown, Harder, LaFluer, Mathers, Moore and President Weiss. Also present: Manager Honeysett, Treasurer Strawser, Rental Inspector Lammott and Clerk Strawser. The pledge of allegiance followed Roll Call.

AGENDA
Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Mathers, to adopt the agenda as amended. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0. Add under New Business – Mayor’s Exchange Day

MINUTES
Motion by Brown, Seconded by Harder, to approve the Regular January 5, 2009 Meeting minutes as corrected. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0. Corrections: Page 1, Paragraph 7, Line 1 – typographical error – …at the Council failure… changed to - …at the Council’s failure…

PAYMENT OF BILLS
In response to Trustee Brewer’s questions, Manager Honeysett said that the DPW dump truck underwent extensive repair. Fire Chief Haydon said the townships would reimburse the Village their shared cost of the annual software support. Manager Honeysett said he would remind Heffner’s Tree Service to submit future bills in itemized form. Treasurer Strawser said to include the invoice in this month’s approval.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by LaFluer, to approve the bills and make the necessary transfers totaling $36,945.88. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Treasurer Strawser urged stronger action be taken to ensure sewer bills and reports are received from Three Rivers in a timely fashion; Three Rivers is currently three billing cycles behind. Manager Honeysett said he would speak with Three Rivers in the morning. Jeff Bailey, 114 E. Water Street , asked the cost of Santa pictures at Christmas in Constantine . Manager Honeysett said it cost the Village nothing except printing costs and that the volunteer Santa is paid a restaurant gift certificate. Mr. Bailey said local photographer, including himself, had not been approached, and that he was afforded minimal notice of the event or he might have been able to better participate. Manager Honeysett invited him to join the Downtown Brainstormers group, explaining that the new group of mostly merchants were taking over not only Christmas in Constantine , but monthly events to help draw people to the downtown. When questioned, Manager Honeysett responded that the new group was not the DDA, nor the Cool Cities Committee, but an independent citizens group separate from the Village government, and like the Cool Cities Committee, would not need to follow Village rules or present meeting minutes. Clerk Strawser said that she expected all Village committees, including the Cool Cities Committee, to meet the legal requirement to present minutes.

CONSENT AGENDA
Manager Honeysett read the list of meetings he attended in December. Responding to Trustee Brown’s question, he explained that a CAFO is a concentrated animal feeding operation and that he was very impressed with Fennville site; the St. Joseph County EDC is trying to decide whether to support such a site in our county. Manager Honeysett said that they had problems closing out the financials on the Harvest Festival and therefore he could not present a final report, though he estimated they had a $600 checkbook balance. He promised a final report at the next meeting. In response to questions from Trustee Brewer, Manager Honeysett said that the Village got rid of all the furniture and bikes at the October property sale.

Police Commissioner Brewer gave a synopsis of the December 2008 Police Department report.

Fire Commissioner Moore read the December 2008 Fire Department report. Fire Chief Haydon thanked everyone involved in fighting the fire at the Jaxon building (former Nickell building), saying the damaged structure could be repaired without demolition. Manager Honeysett said the owners commended the firefighters. The Jaxon Company has been given temporary office space in the Incubator, but is also in need of 10-15,000 sq. ft. of storage space and a loading dock during repairs to their building.

DPW Commissioner Harder gave a synopsis of the December 2008 DPW report. Manager Honeysett said the Village paid $4,000 in overtime salaries in one week due to snow removal and that the Village needed to look for ways to save, if possible.

VILLAGE MANAGER CONTRACT
Personnel Committee Chairman, Trustee Brewer, said that the committee made most of the changes to the Village Manager’s contract, requested by the Council. Trustee Brewer said that one person was concerned with the cost of the contract, but that he felt it only fair to give the raise since Manager Honeysett has donated many hours of his own time. Trustee Brown said that the provision to split the Manager and Police Chief’s job in one year was not a reflection on Manager Honeysett’s performance, only that the workload is for two people. Treasurer Strawser asked how the Council expected to pay for two separate positions without some reduction in the Manager’s contract, and asked if anyone knew the total cost of the contract package. When they did not, Manager Honeysett agreed with the Treasurer that it was close to $75,000 for the Manager. He stated to expect an additional $48-50,000 cost for a Police Lieutenant or Chief.

Jeff Bailey asked what improvements could the Village expect for the separation of offices. Manager Honeysett said that it would allow him to do more of what he was already doing, restoring downtown vitality. Trustee Brewer said it would allow Manager Honeysett to not have to put in so much overtime.

Motion by Mathers, Seconded by Moore, to approve the Employment Agreement between the Village of Constantine and Mark D. Honeysett, dated January 19, 2009 as presented. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

CHRISTMAS IN CONSTANTINE
Manager Honeysett said the Christmas in Constantine meeting was well attended, including Village officials, and that they have many good ideas including a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. He said that the re-named Downtown Brainstormers would meet every month, with Diana Lammott, who said the next meeting is February 4 th at 6:00P.M . Manager Honeysett, in response to Jeff Bailey’s golf cart questions, said that since the Secretary of State’s office refuses to license golf carts as on-road vehicles, they are banned from street usage, except on closed streets, such as during some festivals. Mr. Bailey also wondered how to slow down traffic to make crossing downtown streets safe. President Weiss said that the US-131 Bypass would alleviate the danger, but asked Manager Honeysett to discover, in the meantime, why MDOT had failed to complete the promised crosswalk. President Weiss agreed with Mr., Bailey that the Village had a small window of opportunity in which to develop destination spots before the Bypass routes traffic away from the Village.

NEW POLICE CRUISER
Manager Honeysett reported that he had ordered the 2009 Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser with Seelye Ford of Kalamazoo, but that delivery might not be until the end of February, and to expect him to return with a request for more money to cover the cost of outfitting the new unit. Clerk Strawser reminded him that the Council had awarded the bid to Gorno Ford of Woodhaven MI, and that any change had to be re-presented for Council approval, and that as discussed before, such a change only allowed only if Gorno Ford had not been officially notified of its winning bid award. Manager Honeysett said Gorno Ford had not been notified.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Weiss, to authorize the Village Manager to purchase a 2009 Ford Crown Victoria from Seelye-Wright, Kalamazoo, MI at a cost of $20,107.00. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

NEW BUSINESS
President Weiss and Trustee Brown urged participation in the MML’s Mayor’s Exchange Day. Clerk Strawser asked they request Parchment, as her exchanges via the Clerk’s ListServe have been interesting and informative. The Michigan Municipal League makes the final match-up. The Village will look into hosting one year and visiting the next.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Weiss, to participate in the MML Mayor’s Exchange Day. Motion passed by Roll call 7 – 0.

Adjourned meeting at 8:27PM .

Ruth Strawser
Village Clerk

Included in the packet, but not discussed: A request to recycle manila packet envelopes as a cost-saving measure; 12 page Revenue/Expenditure Report for the period of 4/1/2008-12/31/2008.