MINUTES – REGULAR MEETING
FREMONT CITY COUNCIL
Monday, December 5, 2005 – 7:00 PM
Mayor James Rynberg called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM. Councilmember Richard Conley gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.
Present at Roll Call: Mayor James Rynberg and Councilmembers Dick Conley, Jane Drake, Larry Breuker and James Breinling
Staff Present: City Manager Chris Yonker
Public Present: Brian and Cindy Scarbrough (Lakeshore Signs)
Motion by Councilmember Breinling, seconded by Councilmember Drake to approve the meeting agenda with the addition of Item #8.5: “Payment for Yahaba Artist”; motion approved.
Motion by Councilmember Breinling, seconded by Councilmember Drake and carried to remove Item # 3.2: “Resolution R-05-42” and approve the following remaining consent action items:
Motion by Councilmember Drake, seconded by Councilmember Conley to approve Resolution R-05-42: “Setting of Calendar Year 2006 Fremont Guidelines for Poverty Property Tax Exemptions.” Following discussion, a substitute motion was made by Councilmember Drake, seconded by Councilmember Breuker to table this item until the next City Council meeting on December 19, 2005; substitute motion carried.
Motion by Councilmember Drake, seconded by Councilmember Conley to approve the accounts payable check register report dated December 2, 2005 totaling $79,830.35; motion approved.
Those present at the meeting made no comments.
Motion by Councilmember Conley, seconded by Councilmember Drake to adopt Resolution
R-05-41: “Approving an Application for a Transfer of an Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption for Lakeshore Signs, LLC.
Brian and Cindy Scarbrough, new owners of Lakeshore Signs, summarized their firm’s operations at their site in the Fremont Industrial Park. They recently purchased the business and its assets from George Vogel. The City Council granted the original 12-year IFT Certificate in 1999; the transfer would be for the remaining six years of the abatement. Council approved the original motion.
Motion by Councilmember Drake, seconded by Councilmember Conley to authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the proposed Agreement with Lakeshore Signs, LLC; motion carried.
Motion by Councilmember Breuker, seconded by Councilmember Breinling to approve Christmas Bonuses of $100 for full-time regular employees and $75 for firefighters, police reserves & crossing guards who have worked at least 96 hours in the past year; motion approved.
Staff submitted renderings of possible designs for a new City Flag. Several were based on the design suggestions from the City Council at the November 21, 2005 meeting incorporating the City’s decorative light masts into the design. Council consensus was to enlarge the light graphic, and to remove the white circular background and City motto from the design. Staff will return with several additional design renderings at a later City Council meeting.
Councilmember Drake summarized the events that have resulted in the approval of a design for the public art to be created and located in front of City Hall at the northeast corner of the intersection of Main Street and Merchant Avenue. The original proposal was to have Fremont cover the expenses of a Yahaba artist to provide the initial rendering and, once approved, the final design drawings and specifications for its construction. The City budgeted $10,000 for this expense.
The Friendship City Public Art Selection Committee recommends that City Council structure the payments as follows:
Council consensus was to accept the Selection Committee’s payment recommendations.
City Manager Yonker reported that he received today the final executed copies of the Collective Bargaining Agreement from the Police Officers Labor Council (POLC). He also summarized the recent meetings with representatives of NCEDO, the Fremont Area Community Foundation and the Grand Rapids Right Place, Inc. regarding on-going and new partnership opportunities based on the inclusion of Newaygo County in the Consolidated Statistical Area of Grand Rapids and on NCEDO’s status as an “investor” in the Right Place organization. Birgit Klohs, President of the Right Place offered at no cost the assistance of her key staff person to assist the County with the creation of a county-wide Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
Mayor Rynberg noted that he had attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation & expansion of the Newaygo County Medical Care Facility (NCMCF) east of town in Sherman Township. No formal request was ever received from the NCMCF, Newaygo County or Sherman Township for access to City-owned water & sewer utilities. The Council discussed the concern of whether the existing sanitary sewer main serving the east end of town and the NCMCF had available capacity to service additional living units both at the Facility’s complex and elsewhere within the main’s drainage area.
Staff had already contracted for a brief review of the capacity of this service area by the City’s water/wastewater engineering firm of Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber. Initial results of the study would be available in a couple weeks. Council consensus was to allow the issuance of permits for the connection to both the sanitary sewer and water mains for the expansion of the existing building and the construction of only the first of the three planned “Trillium Springs” independent senior living apartment buildings on the site of the NCMCF. Consideration of providing water & sewer services for the remaining two buildings was withheld until results of the study are received and analyzed and further discussions are held between the City, NCMCF leadership and Sherman Township. Staff will prepare a Utility Service Agreement for the entire NCMCF complex to allow for the City to service the property in the township.
Adjournment
Motion by Councilmember Breinling, seconded by Councilmember Breuker to adjourn the meeting at 8:47 PM; motion approved.
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James M. Rynberg, Mayor
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Chris A. Yonker, City Manager and
Acting City Clerk