City Commission Holds Two Hour Meeting Monday Night

IRONWOOD, MI - Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - The Ironwood City Commission held a grueling 2 hour, 27 item agenda meeting Monday night in the Commission Chambers on the second floor of the Ironwood Memorial Building. The regular meeting was prefaced by ten public hearings dealing with the establishment of the Western U.P. Revolving Loan Fund Consortium; two Revolving Loan Fund requests; two Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund grant requests; and five condemnation considerations.

The public hearings began at 4:35 PM and the regular meeting was called to order as soon as the last hearing was adjourned. Following the opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, City Clerk Karen Gullan called roll. All of the Commissioners were present. Seated from left to right were: Kim Corcoran; Gemma Lamb; Mayor Bob Burchell; William Lucius; and Rick Semo. Other City Officials attending the meeting included: City Manager, Scott Erickson; City Clerk, Karen Gullan; City Attorney, A. Dennis Cossi; Working Foreman of the Department of Public Works, Joe Madgziak; City Financial Director, Julie Frederickson; Utilities Director, Bob Tervonen; Building Inspector/City Assessor, Dennis Hewitt; and the Director of Public Safety, Bob Erspamer. Representing the press were Ralph Ansami, Daily Globe, and yours truly.

The first order of business for the Commission was the Approval of the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda is designed to be a list of routine and mundane agenda items that require no discussion. Items in the Consent Agenda included: (1) the Approval of the minutes for the March 8th Regular City Commission meeting; (2) Review and Place on File (a) the Ironwood Planning Commission Meeting Minutes for February 3rd; (3) the Approval of the Sale of (a) American Legion Auxiliary "Poppy Days" on May 20 & 21, 2020 and (b) American Legion "Flag Day" on Jule 11 & 12, 2010; (4) Authorizing advertisement to purchase of a new police vehicle and fire related equipment with a USDA Grant; Approve Grant Application for Qualified Voter File's Electronic Poll Book, Laptop & Accessories Purchase and authorize City Clerk to sign name; Consider Resolutions #10-012 through #10-015 Scheduling Public Hearings for Monday April 12, 2010 to hear comment relative to the condemnation of structures at (a) 914 Washington Street at 5:10 PM, 479 East Houk Street at 5:15 PM, 816 East Ayer Street at 5:20 PM and 818 East Ayer Street at 5:25 PM.

Prior to voting on the Consent Agenda, Mayor Bob Burchell pointed out that Item 4 was also on the regular agenda, so the Consent Agenda Item was removed. Commissioner Gemma Lamb made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda and Commissioner William Lucius seconded that motion. A roll call vote was taken and the amended Consent Agenda was unanimously approved.

Following the approval of the Consent Agenda, City Financial Director gave a brief presentation to the Commission regarding the Statement of Revenue & Expenditures and the Monthly Cash Reports. She explained that the City has under budget in most areas with 67% or 2/3's of the City's fiscal year completed. According to Frederickson the General Fund Balance at the end of February was $1.2 million dollars.

William Lucius asked two questions regarding expenditures which Frederickson was quickly able to answer. The first question regarded the manner in which items were posted. Lucius noticed a relatively large amount for "traffic signals" posted to Xcel Energy. Frederickson pointed out that descriptions for expenditures only reflect the last item entered. She explained that the payment was actually for several utility bills paid to Xcel by the City. Lucius also questioned payments to local restaurants for meals. Frederickson explained that City DPW workers who work beyond their scheduled hours were given a meal allowance at local restaurants. Following Frederickson's report, Commissioner Kim Corcoran made a motion to receive and place on file, the Statement of Revenue and Expenditures and the Monthly Cash Report. Gemma Lamb seconded the motion and the Commission voted unanimoulsy to approve the motion.

Before the Regular Agenda was amended, Mayor Bob Burchell announced that Item F1 was to be added. This item was a presentation of a water award to the City by Bob Tervonen. It R on the agenda was also change from "seeking advertisements for" to "approving the purchase of" a police vehicle and fire related equipment. Commissioner Lamb made a motion to approve the Agenda as amended. Commissioner Lucius seconded Lamb's motion and the Commission unaimously voted to approved the amended agenda.

Mayor Burchell then gave audience members a chance to voice their opinions on Agenda Items. Tom Olsen, Iron Mountain Michigan, addressed the Commission. He handed out bid proposals to the Commisioners from his company and he said he wished to address Item V, "Discuss and Consider awarding the lowest bid to Miller-Bradford for a new Case Loader 821E with Henke plow wing combo in the amount of $201,125 and authorize Julie Frederickson, Finance Director, to secure financing." Mr. Olsen represents Fabco Impliment, a company out of Marquette and Negaunee that submitted a bid for a Catepillar with similar specs. He urged the Commission to weigh out the differences and the value of the two bids. He said he believed he could prove that his bid was a much better value that the one they were to consider later on in the meeting.

Steve Frank told the Commission he would like to address Item S on the agenda, "Discuss and Consider ATV use on Trail #2." Frank wanted ask several questions regarding the trail: (1) Where will the trail run? He states it was moved for snowmobiles during the winter; (2) Who owns the Depot property crossed by the trail? (3) Who authorized the dumping of asphalt on the trail? and (4) Who is responsible for cleaning the the asphalt chunks scattered on the Depot lawn and other places?

Ross Kolesar told the Commission that he might wish to talk on Item S as well. Kolesar questioned why the topic was being discussed when the minutes from the previous meeting state the issue would be discussed in October of 2010.

Greg Pisani asked the Commission if they had any idea what the costs would be to resurface the tennis courts and how much grant money was available. Pisani went on to say that he was not opposed to improvements to the tennis courts, realizing that there are many people who use them and enjoy them. He said, however, that it is very difficult for the Commission to vote on an item such as this without having all the facts. He said that he's attended many meetings and often the necessary information isn't available prior to the vote. He said that everybody needs to be completely informed as to the total costs and the actual costs to the City and the taxpayers. He asked if the school system was ever approached regarding courts. Pisani reasoned that they may be willing to build courts by the high school as part of their new expansion.

Mr. Pisani expressed concern that, all too often, issues are put through the system without the public being properly informed. He told the Commission that they need to be concerned because they were elected by the people of Ironwood. "When you are making a decision," Pisani said, "You have to look at it and say, 'Are we making this decision for the whole City, all the people, or are we making this decision just for a group?'"

Pisani went on to say that he has witnessed times things were voted on that weren't on the agenda and the people weren't familiar with. He also said that, too often, items aren't acted on soon enough. He used the emergency sirens as an example. He explained that the issue was on the agenda for three years, and nothing was done. And even though two of the current Commissioners and the City Manager were familiar with the situation action was taken at the last minute without the three new Commissioners having all the information.

City Receives Water Award