This week’s City Council meeting was held on Tuesday, February 18 due to the Presidents’ Day holiday. The meeting lasted nearly an hour and 45 minutes with much of the discussion surrounding the 990 N. Washington, a city property that has been rented for the past 40 years.
Ware Road Update
Joseph Berlin of BLDI, an environmental engineering consulting firm presented an update on the well monitoring conducted at the Ware Road location, which was previously a landfill owned by the City of Lowell, last fall. The land had been used as a landfill in the 1950s until the 1970s.
BLDI has been working with Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) to work on the landfill contamination at the location. While the issue was discovered in the 80s and brought to the attention of the city, nothing was done. Last April it was put on the radar again with a notice to the city from EGLE that the contamination needed to be addressed.
BLDI was brought in to work with EGLE to take samples, install additional monitoring wells, and determine what future monitoring and potential action may be needed.
Last fall nine additional monitoring wells were installed in addition to the three already on site. Depending on topographic changes, the wells were dug down 42-92 feet in depth. In two areas tested contaminants were higher concentration than standards. Methylene Chloride was found to be 130 ug/L and the standard for drinking water is 100. Tetrachloroethene was found to be 1,400 ug/L with 100 again being the standard for drinking water. Berlin said while these two findings were above standards, they were not cause for immediate alarm. Helping the situation is the flow of the groundwater in the area does not go toward residential areas.
The suggestion from BLDI and ELGE is to conduct another round of testing this spring and then determine a frequency of continued testing as well as figure out what, if anything, needs to be done about the contamination levels. BLDI’s report will be available on the City of Lowell’s website for public review. During the city manager’s report, Mike Burns indicated that he, on behalf of the city, had submitted an application for $60,000 in grant money from the Lowell Cable TV Fund to help pay for additional testing.
Direction on 990 N. Washington
In January the issue of rental property owned by the city was brought up as a 10-year lease is set to expire on June 30, 2020. In a memo to City Councilmember City Manager Mike Burns said he “did not understand what the justification was to rent property for all of these years”. There are no current City Councilmembers serving who were involved when the last lease was an issue. After some discussion the item was tabled last month as only three of the five councilmembers were present. The topic was tabled again at the first meeting in February so that the tenant could be present to provide further information.
Gary Dietzel and Sandy Bartlett have lived in a house on 990 N. Washington since 1979 when they moved in under the knowledge of the City Manager at the time, Ray Quada, without a formal rental agreement in place. After 25 years this agreement was brought to the city’s attention and a more formal lease was established. The last time the lease was renewed was in 2010 for an additional 10 years.
This council, much like the one 10 years ago, is faced with what to do with the property. In doing research it was unclear whether the council seated 10 years ago entered a 10 year lease with the intent of severing the agreement when the lease was up or review and continue with a new lease extension while updating certain parameters. While the current council is in agreement that the couple should not be kicked out of their residence of over four decades in a matter of months, there was some divide on the length of a new lease for Dietzel and Bartlett and whether the city should continue as a landlord with this property.
Another aspect councilmembers agreed upon is splitting up the three acre property into three parcels. The property is in Vergennes Township, therefore the city pays property taxes to the township. The value of the property has been calculated incorrectly. Currently the city has been paying about $500 in taxes each fiscal year. This amount will jump to a little over $3,000 in the 2021 tax year once the property is assessed properly. It was determined by councilmembers to direct the City Manager to work toward splitting the property into a one acre parcel with the house and two one acre parcels of vacant land. This will decrease the taxable value of the property with the home as only that parcel will be subject to property tax. The home falls under the city’s insurance policy and is believed to be in need of various building code updates.
At the end of the discussion it was determined to direct Burns to draft a 24 month lease where rent would increase from $450/month to $500/month the first year and raise by $20/month the second year. Council will then use this time to determine what to do with the property. Councilmembers Canfield and Yankovich were supportive of offering another 10-year lease to the couple. Mayor DeVore was in favor of a shorter lease ending with the tenants vacating or purchasing the property at its conclusion. Councilmember Salzwedel indicated he understood both sides and sometimes you have to look at things from a business perspective rather than a personal one. He was more in favor of a shorter term lease. Councilmember Chambers was not at the meeting but it was indicated he had talked with Salzwedel and Burns about a 12-18 month lease as a compromise.
It’s still unclear what will happen to the parcel with the home in the future. If the city sells the property, it has to be put out for bid, even if the tenants would like to purchase it. At that point it would be up to City Council to accept a bid. Burns indicated he already had eight offers for the land but told all of those who have contacted the city that a determination had not been made yet on how things will move forward. Dietzel was at the meeting and provided some history on the property. He looks at his relationship with the City of Lowell as stewardship rather than a landlord and tenant. He indicated that he and Bartlett would like to remain in the home on a long-term basis.
It is anticipated that a new 24 month lease will be brought before council at their next meeting for further discussion and potential vote.
Other Items of Business
In other action, Lowell City Council did the following:
- Lisa Plank provided an update of activities from 2019 including an increase in museum and website visitors and 35 artifacts were donated
- Councilmembers approved a resolution needed to continue participating in the Redevelopment Ready Communities Program
- A resolution was passed to address future pension and other post-employment benefits for those employed by the City of Lowell
- The Lowell Light & Power board adopted a resolution to name the utility’s General Manager as signatory for MERS Contracts and Service Credit Purchase Approvals and brought before City Council for final approval
Meeting Information
City Council will meet again on Monday, March 2 at 7pm on the second floor of City Hall. Meeting agendas, packets, and recordings can be found on the Lowell City website. The city has also been providing a live stream of meetings on their Facebook page. Videos of meetings can also be found at the City of Lowell’s YouTube page. Or check in with Lowell’s First Look for recaps following each meeting.
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