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Work Session
Discussion Items
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Additional agenda items, or changes to
the Regular Agenda, to follow.
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Continued Council Discussion on Concerns
Received About Alden Street End Public Use (Council discussion only; no
further community input at this point).
The Village Council
heard suggestions from nearby neighbors at the last work session. Tonight’s discussion will primarily enable
the Village Council to process the information received.
If any changes are
desired, the Council could place this item on the September 19th
Council meeting for a public hearing followed by possible voting action.
Relatedly, I called
the grants staff at the State Michigan Department of Natural Resources to
receive their input on the stone-dust apron.
Attached is their response.
If the trees die,
replacement trees will be necessary.
The party responsible will be asked by the Village administration to
replace them with dwarf trees.
It was reported that
two lights were out on the bollard light posts at the last meeting; one light
was replaced and the other bollard light
has a part on order.
Attached is
information provided in the last work session agenda for your reference. Also attached is recent
correspondence.
One new neighbor
concern was whether the Village had a hidden agenda:
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Staff’s earlier agenda was to provide an
additional canoe/kayak launch earlier than expected in the Recreation Plan
at virtually no cost to the taxpayer.
Future Agendas
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A secondary agenda is to ensure that the
trees will be replaced if they do not survive.
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A third agenda is to have the irrigation
line removed from public property and to maintain this Street End.
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There is no hidden agenda to proceed
with any high cost launching facility, as stated as a low priority in the Recreation
Plan.
Village staff seeks
specific Village Council direction on all of the above. At a minimum, it is suggested that Council
schedule a public hearing on this matter for September 19th at
7:30 PM followed by possible voting action.
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Discussion of the Annual Village Council
Tour
I received input that
suggested a Village Council tour might not be necessary this year.
Your discussion and
conclusion is invited.
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Review of the Plans for Extension of
Lakeside Trail, North of the Lake Pointe Project.
The engineer’s cost
estimate is far below staff projections.
The engineer’s cost estimate is $10,373. If a healthy contingency of 35% for staging and unforeseen
conditions is included, the cost is still just $14,000 for about 300 feet, or
$47 per foot.
A total of $200,000
is reserved for the entire 2,200 feet.
At this rate, the remaining pathway needed would only cost about
$90,000 additional dollars. The above
does not included pathway lighting.
It includes only low maintenance, sand dune-type landscaping. The lighting would likely cost another
$10,000. It may not be necessary once
the restaurant and patio are located to the south.
Village Council
discussion on the plan and the timetable to proceed is requested. The project owners would prefer the
Village wait until spring for the construction.
If the Council would
like to proceed, I will get an estimate from the Lake Pointe contractors
since it would be cost advantageous to us to use them.
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Review of Changes to the Current Village
of Spring Lake Retirement System
The current plan has
existed for about fifteen years. With
the continuing downturn in the economy and the stock market sluggishness, the
Village staff is interested in converting their contributions and the
Village’s from the present defined contribution retirement plan to a defined benefit plan. The Police recently negotiated the same
change at no new cost to the Village.
One function of the
state is to operate the Michigan Employment Retirement System (MERS). It is the most commonly used defined
benefit retirement vehicle used for public employees in the state.
My discussions with
staff have focused on what nearby communities are doing on retirement.
Ferrysburg may be a
good model. They utilized MERS for
many years. This plan is paid for by
contributions from the Ferrysburg staff at 5% along with contributions from
the City of just over 11%. Their
current plan is called B-3. This
means that a person’s defined benefit is 2.25% times their years of service
after vesting (ten years).
Current Village
Defined Contribution System: If the
Village’s employees contribute at least 1% to a the plan now, than the
Village contributes 5%. Some
employees contribute 1% and some contribute 5%.
At the same time that
the Administration is organizing meetings with the MERS representatives to
better understand the options, I wanted to brief the Village Council and hear
your discussion. This work session is
provided to inform Council on the nature of these discussions and the likely
costs.
I will be
recommending some change if the employees continue to want to convert to a
defined benefit plan. The challenge
will be to transition this matter in a way that is financially prudent.
Both the
contributions of most employees and the Village would need to increase in
next year’s budget if a change were to be made. I am optimistic an appropriate conversion plan can be worked
out, however.
Attached is
additional information. Council
discussion is requested.
Status Reports
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Expansion of Municipal Services Garage
Status Report (John Hansen)
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Local Street Rehabilitation Program
Status Report (John Hansen)
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No Trucks on Exchange, Liberty, River
and Fruitport Road?(Chief DeYoung)
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Timetable and actions for Storm water
Management Plan
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Illicit Discharge plan
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Illicit Discharge ordinance
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Illicit Discharge observation and
testing
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Public compliance
Upcoming Agenda Items (Tentative)
September 19, 2005
TBD
October 3
(TBD)
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