City Council Highlights: City Council Continues to Seek Proposal 1 Comment, Portion of S. Broadway Work Put on Hold

Monday’s City Council meeting was attended by about 20 people and lasted just over 90 minutes.  The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing the completion of work on S. Broadway and whether the City should opt out of allowing commercial establishments selling recreational marijuana within its boundaries.  

Vacant City Council Seat Applications
The resignation of Councilmember Jeff Phillips was made official during this week’s City Council meeting.  The board has 30 days to fill the vacancy. The first step is to accept and review applications. Interested parties should contact City Hall for an application.  Applicants must be of voting age, a resident of the City for at least one year, and not in default with the City.

Applications will be accepted until 5pm on Thursday, November 29.  City Council will review and discuss applications at their December 3rd meeting where they will determine if someone is appointed at that time or if an interview process should take place.  The determination on how they will proceed after receiving applications hinge on the number of applicants. So far they have already received two letters of interest for the City Council appointment.  

Public Comment After Proposal 1 Passes
Three people spoke during public comment regarding whether or not the City should opt out when it comes to allow retail establishments within its boundaries.  Two spoke in favor of allowing them – one lives in the community but outside City limits and the other lives in Montcalm County. One person, a Lowell City resident, spoke against allowing businesses which sell marijuana.  

Councilmembers are still seeking comments for and against on the issue.  They will be holding a special meeting on Wednesday, November 28 at 4pm in Council Chambers.  During this meeting they will take public comment on the matter and will then vote whether or not they would like to opt out of allowing a retail storefront for the sale of marijuana.  

Regardless of their decision, recreational use of marijuana was made legal after the vote of Michigan residents.  This is different from a vote of Michiganders to allow a medical use of marijuana legal in the past.

All four current members of City Council will need to vote to opt out in order for the motion to carry as a fifth member will not be appointed by the time of the special meeting.  A super-majority of four is needed because an ordinance prohibiting the establishment of commercial recreational facilities would need to be passed under an emergency situation to take immediate effect.  Typically an ordinance does not become law until 10 days after it has been published.

Broadway Project Amendments – Working with Prein and Newhof
The S. Broadway project has been done in conjunction with King Milling as they develop the site of the old Michigan Wire property.  Prein and Newhof has been working on behalf of the City on their portion of the infrastructure upgrades. They proposed postponing laying of a new road and sidewalks between Ottawa and the railroad tracks until Spring 2019.  This will allow King Milling to complete their project. Additionally, due to a lockout by the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, which involved Operating Engineers Local 324, a backlog of work has occurred resulting in an increase in the price to complete work prior to the end of the 2018 construction season.  The S. Broadway project ended up being ahead of schedule but the installation of road and sidewalks was delayed to accommodate King Milling in an effort to not have their construction damage new city infrastructure.

Councilmembers Canfield and Chambers questioned why the road and sidewalk portion of the project wasn’t included in the original bid, wondering if waiting will end up costing the city more money.  “I see no sense of urgency.” said Chambers. His concern over the city waiting to put in the road and sidewalk is residents will continue not to have easy access from Main Street to Recreation Park.  He mentioned the recent Christmas Through Lowell event and how it would have been nice for participants to have a sidewalk to use. He looks at Prein and Newhof to hold responsibility for not ensuring the project continued to move forward.  

During the discussion surrounding the road and sidewalk, it was also brought up that during this project a water supply was taken out after being damaged.  Chambers and Canfield questioned why it was not fixed. The Prein and Newhof representative indicated the line was old and out of date. However, the two councilmembers challenged this saying it was still a working line, which is now not available and installation of something new will come at a cost to the City.  

Lastly, the addition of a light at Bowes Road and S. Hudson was not in the original scope of the project and the bond which funded the work is not structured to include a new traffic signal.  The City’s portion of responsibility for the light is $60,000. Council members voted to transfer funds from the Major Street Fund to compensate for the deficit in addition to waiting until spring to complete the road and sidewalk portion of the project.  

Out of this incident came a discussion of reviewing city contracts to determine whether or not the City is paying the best prices.  It was noted by Canfield that Prein and Newhof have performed well overall for the City but bringing back the topic of reviewing contracts and potentially sending out request for proposals sometime after the first of the year would be a good task to ensure the City is working with the best contractors for the best prices.  

Other Agenda Items
City Council reviewed and approved a revised Planned Unit Development ordinance, which was amended by the Planning Commission with the help of Williams and Works.  

Throughout the past several months, the Downtown District Authority and City staff have worked to review a Downtown Master Plan.  Work on the plan originally began in 2015, however, with changes in City management, it was never formally approved. Council approved the revised Downtown Master Plan and will use it as guidance as the Downtown District is improved.  Portions of the findings from the City’s Walkability Study were incorporated.  

One bid was received to complete work on sidewalk improvements on City properties.  ADA accessibility at City parks will be part of the scope of these improvements. The total cost of the the project is $30,548.05 with $27,600 being paid for via a grant from the Lowell Cable TV Endowment fund, which was awarded in 2016.  

Meeting Information
The next City Council meeting will take place in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall on Monday, December 3 at 7pm.  Meeting minutes, agendas and links to video recordings of meetings can be found on the city’s website.  Or check in with Lowell’s First Look after each meeting for a recap of what happened.

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