Village of Constantine
Regular Council Meeting July 6, 2009
Village Hall 8:00 P.M.

NOTE: Most portions of the meeting were of poor quality/unintelligible, President Weiss’ microphone [apparently] being the only one switched on.

President Weiss called the Regular July 6, 2009 Meeting of the Constantine Village Council to order at 8:00PM 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 and Clerk Strawser. The pledge of allegiance followed Roll Call.

President Weiss thanked Council members who supported the 4 th of July.

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

MINUTES
Trustee Brown said he was not satisfied with the accuracy of the Village minutes [as presented] and that he did not see a way to be satisfied with the accuracy of the Village minutes unless they were edited by the Council prior to public review. Trustee Brown said the entire paragraph leading up to the motion re: personal email addresses should be stricken saying the reasons given for including the email addresses were dubious and the paragraph gave the appearance that the Council was doing something wrong. When Clerk Strawser said she did not believe they could [legally] remove the paragraph from the public record, Trustee Brown said that there was precedence. President Weiss asked for clarification as to whether they were also going to strike the [previous meeting’s] motion [to use official email for official business]. Trustee Brown said the motion could remain. Trustee LaFluer asked that Page 3, Paragraph 2, Line 2 be changed, saying that while it might be what she said, that it was not her intent. Clerk Strawser asked if they were making corrections to the minutes as a whole or making corrections motion by motion, as it had never been done that way before. Clerk Strawser asked the trustees wishing to add or reword the minutes to provide her with the wording. Trustee Brown said he trusted her to come up with something.

Motion by Brown, Seconded by Mathers, to approve the Regular June 15, 2009 meeting minutes as corrected. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0. Corrections: Page2, Paragraph 6, Line 2: Motion passed y affirmation 7 – 0. – changed to read – Motion passed by affirmation 7 – 0. Page 3, Paragraph 2, Line 2: Trustee LaFluer asked if there was going to be fireworks. – change to read – Trustee LaFluer asked if everything was set for the fireworks. Page 3, Paragraph 2, Last Line: Manager Honeysett said he would not discuss it further at the meeting. – addition – Manager Honeysett said he would not discuss it further at the meeting, but would be happy to discuss it apart from this meeting.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
No one rose to speak.

UNSAFE BUILDING – 557 OSBORN STREET
Manager Honeysett reported on the Unsafe Building Hearing re: 557 Osborn Street conducted on June 17, 2009 at the Village Hall. Manager Honeysett said the potential purchaser had said at the hearing that she would attend tonight’s meeting, but she was not present. Manager Honeysett reported that State Inspector Rigozzi said State law prohibits the sale of any building against which action is pending for code violations and the Village could take legal action should the mortgage company move forward with the potential land contract. If the property were somehow sold, Inspector Rigozzi urged the Village to require a performance bond. Trustee Harder asked if there were outstanding property taxes; Manager Honeysett said he had not investigated. Treasurer Strawser asked how much it would cost the Village to tear down the structures; Manager Honeysett said the cost would be attached to the property taxes. The property owners have (60) sixty days to respond before demolition.

Motion by Harder, Seconded by Brewer, to authorize the demolition of the home and the garage at 557 Osborn Street, the cost of the demolition to be borne by the owner of the home through the addition of the cost to the tax roll. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

CHIP & SEAL PROJECT
Motion by Mathers, Seconded by Brown, to authorize its manager to contract with the St. Joseph County Road Commission, Centreville MI, to perform chip and seal work on Cherry Street, Plum Street, East Clinton Street and West Third Street at a cost of $11,900.00.

Manager Honeysett said he did not seek open bids as the County Road Commission is usually cheaper. Trustee Mathers said that he had made the motion in the belief that limestone would be used, he preferring that to slag. Manager Honeysett said the bid cost was based on slag, but he saw no problem in delaying the motion to the next meeting so he could find out the cost differences. Questions followed on what was used for previous Village road repairs and the success/difficulty of each, whether pea stone, slag, limestone or slurry seal.

Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Brown, to set aside action on the motion (to authorize its manager to contract with the St. Joseph County Road Commission, Centreville MI, to perform chip and seal work on Cherry Street, Plum Street, East Clinton Street and West Third Street at a cost of $11,900.00) to the next Regular meeting. Motion passed by Roll Call 7 – 0.

OLIVIA MN INVITATION
Manager Honeysett reported receipt of an invitation to attend the Olivia, Minnesota Corn Capital Days festival on July 25, 2009 . When Trustee Moore said she might be interested, President Weiss encouraged her to attend as the Village’s representative and to invite Olivia MN officials to Constantine ’s Harvest Festival.

Adjourned meeting at 8:28PM.

Ruth Strawser
Village Clerk

Included in the packet, but not discussed: May 15, 2009 letter from the Constantine Community Soup Kitchen