VILLAGE OF CONSTANTINE

Regular Meeting, April 20, 2009

Council Room, 7:30 pm

NOTE: Tape problems caused some parts of the meeting to be unrecorded.

NOTE: Tape problems caused some parts of the meeting to be unrecorded.

President Weiss called the Regular April 20, 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, Rental Inspector Lammott and Clerk Strawser. The pledge of allegiance followed Roll Call.

AGENDA
Motion by Mathers, Seconded by Brewer, to adopt the agenda as presented. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.

MINUTES
Motion by Brewer, Seconded by LaFluer, to approve the Regular April 6, 2009 minutes as corrected. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

Correction: Page 1, Paragraph 9, Line 1 - Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Mathers, to approve the Regular April 16, 2009 Meeting minutes as corrected. - to - Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Mathers, to approve the Regular March 16, 2009 Meeting minutes as corrected. Correction: Page 1, Paragraph 13, Line 2 - Trustees Brown, LaFluer and Mathers raised concerns that Village policy would have prevented removal if the tree was in a resident’s right-of-way and that the majority of people contacting them favored keeping the tree.

- to - Trustees Brown, LaFluer and Mathers raised concerns that Village policy would have prevented removal if the tree was in a resident’s right-of-way.Trustees LaFluer and Mathers said that the majority of people contacting them favored keeping the tree.

PAYMENT OF THE BILLS
In response to questions from Trustee Brewer regarding the $1,195.00 insurance for the new squad car, Manager Honeysett said he would check to see if the insurance should be included under the Village fleet insurance instead of separately. Clerk Strawser reminded the Council that the State Treasurer had previously informed officials that taxpayer money could not be used to pay for private floral arrangements.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Mathers, to pay the bills and make the necessary transfers totaling $71,736.24. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Treasurer Strawser repeated her concern that the Three Rivers' sewer bills and reports are not being submitted on time.

CONSENT AGENDA
Treasurer Strawser restated her concern and the reasons for reading the Manager and Commissioners reports aloud instead of simply accepting them on a regular basis. President Weiss repeated her view that since it was acceptable practice, it would speed up the meeting and offered to share her copies should anyone be interested.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Harder, to accept the reports on the Consent Agenda. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.

THREE RIVERS HEALTH
Three Rivers Health CEO Matt Chambers gave a PowerPoint presentation and handouts, seeking support for the hospital’s 2 mills tax request from area voters.

MSHDA GRANT
Manager Honeysett said that it has taken longer than originally expected to close out on the requirements for the MSHDA grants (the Ryan building and the Patterson/Myers building) because of staffing changes in Lansing , but that the grant recipients were now ready.

Motion by Mathers, Seconded by Brown, to set a Public Hearing for the purpose of closing out the MSHDA Signature Building Initiative Grant for Monday, May 18, 2009 at 8:05PM at the Village Hall. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

MAYOR EXCHANGE DAY
Manager Honeysett asked for a headcount for this year’s Mayor Exchange with Coloma,
Coloma to visit Constantine on Tuesday, June 16 th, and Constantine to visit Coloma on Tuesday, June 23 rd.

MEETING SCHEDULE REMINDER
Manager Honeysett reminded everyone that the Village Council meets at 8:00PM , May through September.

VILLAGE HALL TREE
Manager Honeysett said that while the Council had voted to cut down the tree as soon as possible, after discussions with Trustee Harder and DPW foreman Hamminga, he had decided to wait until November to make time for the nesting birds and so the Garden Club use the boughs for the annual Christmas wreath project. When asked if they needed to revisit the original motion, he said that it wasn’t necessary since they were all in agreement [to delay until November].

DPW TRACTOR PURCHASE
In response to questions, Manager Honeysett said the DPW rotated tractors about every ten (10) years and that the particular tractor being traded in was running out of life at approx. 2,000 hours of use. In response to Trustee Brewer’s inquiry, it was learned that the quoted purchase price did not include a warranty/guarantee and that the quote’s time limit had expired.

Motion by Harder, Seconded by Weiss, to authorize the purchase of a John Deere Model 3320 Tractor equipped with a mowing deck and snow blower from Great Lakes Green power, 14591 US-12, Union, Michigan at a cost, including trade-in of $17,795.00. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

DPW LEAF MACHINE
Motion by Mathers, Seconded by Brown, to authorize the Village staff to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a leaf machine motor. Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0.

Adjourned meeting at 8:30PM .

Ruth Strawser
Village Clerk