THE CITY OF THE VILLAGE OF DOUGLAS
MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
Monday, February 4, 2008
7:00 p.m.

1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:11 p.m. by Mayor Balmer

2. Roll Call
Members Present: Balmer, Harvath, Hoexter, Mayer, Waddell
Absent: Bailey, Moore
Also Present: Manager Kowal and Clerk Neve

3. Pledge of Allegiance - Mayor

4. Changes/Additions/Deletions to Agenda
A Add item 8-b Verbal: John Rinaldi discussion on paving Wall Street
B. Add email communication from Mr. Brent DeRose as item 11A-3
C. Delete item 10B: Resolution No. 12-2008 approving entering into
settlement agreement with Fleis & VandenBrink, Ron Meyer Associates
and Aggregate Industries regarding Center Street.

5. Approval of Minutes
A. Committee of the Whole Meeting of January 21, 2008
B. Regular Meeting of City Council of January 21, 2008
C. Closed Session Minutes of January 21, 2008
Motion by Mayer with support from Waddell to approve
all meeting minutes of January 21, 2008. Motion carried.

6. Appointments /Resignations
None

7. Proclamations/Awards
A. Proclamation Recognizing the Contributions of Mr. Walter Klimeck and
Offering Sincere Thanks for His Donation of the “Douglas Christmas
Ornament Tree” and for His Considerable Time and Talents on Behalf
of the City of the Village of Douglas.

8. Public Communications (Limit of three minutes for comments regarding
agenda items)
Verbal:
A. Arthur Frederick offered a Cynthia McKean sculpture to be donated
in memory of Priscilla Mueller. The sculpture titled “Sea Gulls” would be lighted and placed at Douglas Beach.
Motion by Hoexter with support from Harvath to accept the very generous offer of the sculpture. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.
B. John Rinaldi, Wall Street, asked to speak to council about the paving of
Wall Street. Mr. Rinaldi related he is willing to put down three-inch
black top paving on Wall St. from Union to his home at his expense.
Manager Kowal asked Fleis & VandenBrink to prepare cost estimates for
paving and installing storm drains. If the City could tie the paving of Union Street with Wall Street costs would go down.
Rinaldi related he has already put crushed concrete down twice at a cost of
over $5,000. He stated he is willing to work with the City and asked how to expedite the issue.
Kowal responded this is a City street, not the responsibility of a home owner. Fleis & VandenBrink will be contacted to determine what can be done to stabilize the street. Kowal is willing to continue to work with Rinaldi on the issue. This is another question of how a building permit was issued without provisions for road improvement. This again shows a need for getting the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) in place.
Rinaldi commented on the noise from the bell chimes at St. Peters Church and the glare from the parking lot lights at Harbor Condos.

Written:
A. Michigan Municipal League (MML) Elected Officials Training Seminars;
February 2008
B. Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Saugatuck Township Fire District
Board of December 10, 2007
C. Letter from Greg Janik, Deputy Fire Chief / Fire Inspector, to VanGuard
Fire and Security, Inc. dated January 15, 2008 RE: Old Schoolhouse
Renovation Fire Protection Plan
D. Letter from the Department of Army, Corps of Engineers, to City Manager
Kowal dated January 16, 2008 RE: Response to Request by the City of the
Village of Douglas for a Public Hearing Regarding Application for Permit
Relating to Proposed West Shore Cottages Project
E. Letter from Tom Desmet, Kalamazoo Lake Sewer & Water Authority
(KLSWA), to Mr. R.J. Peterson dated January 22, 2008 RE: Denial of
Request to Extend Sewer and Water Service to Tower Marine at the
Expense of KLSWA
F. Douglas Police Department 2007 Year End Report (complete report
available upon request in City Clerk’s Office)
G. Letter from Interurban Transit Authority (R.G. Poetsch, Board Member)
dated January 30, 2008 RE: Annual Audited Financial Statements and other Matters of Importance (complete copy of Annual Financial Statements are available upon request in the City Clerk’s Office)
Written communications noted as filed and received.

9. Unfinished Business
None

10. New Business
A. Motion to Adopt Resolution No. 11-2008 Authorizing Consumers
Energy Company (“Company”) to Make Changes in the Streetlighting
Service as provided in the Standard Steetlighting Contract between the Company and the City of the Village of Douglas dated November
4, 1986, in Accordance with the Authorization for Change in Standard
Streetlighting Contract dated as of February 4, 2008
Motion by Hoexter to adopt Resolution No. 11-2008 authorizing Consumers Energy Company to make changes in the streetlighting service as provided in the standard streetlighting contract between Consumers and the City of the Village of Douglas. Motion died for lack of support.
Balmer asked about the possibility of looking into purchasing energy from another source. Zeeland has their own Power and Light Company.

B. Motion to Adopt Resolution No. 12-2008 Approving Entering into a
Settlement Agreement with Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering, Inc..
Aggregate Industries, and Ron Meyer & Associates Excavating Inc.
Regarding Center Street (to be forwarded Monday, February 4, 2008)
Deleted from agenda.

C. Motion to Adopt Resolution No. 13-2008 Denying the Rezoning of
Property Known as 201-261 Randolph Street, Douglas, MI. (Douglas
Elementary School Property)
Motion by Waddell with support from Harvath to adopt Resolution No.
13-2008 denying the rezoning of property known as 201-261 Randolph
Street (Douglas Elementary School Property). Motion carried
unanimously by roll call vote.

11. Staff Reports
A. Building/Planning/Zoning/Enforcement:
1. Letter from City Attorney VanderVeen to Attorney William
Sikkel dated January 23, 2008 RE: Saugatuck Storage Proposed
Amended Site Plan (Dean Borland)
The letter from Attorney VanderVeen listed 6 items that were
required to be addressed by February 1st. With no response from
Dean Borland or William Sikkel Attorney VanderVeen will
pursue further enforcement action.

2. Email Communication between Mr. Brent DeRose, Nederveld,
and City Manager Kowal dated January 28/29, 2008 RE: Proposed
Boardwalk at Swing Bridge Project
3. Second email communication from Mr. Brent DeRose and
Manager Kowal.
FYI - Mr. Scott, Swing Bridge is still reviewing for PUD or
Land division.

12. Committee Reports
A. Zoning Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee
Waddell reported a draft ordinance of the zoning ordinance rewrite
has been given to the Planning Commission for review.

B. Planning Commission
Next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, February 6th.

C. Tri-Community Joint Planning Commission
Next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, February 12th.

D. Community Recreation Advisory Board
Kowal reported he attended the Advisory Board meeting last week. The
current joint recreation plan has expired. The Plan needs to be updated to
keep the Recreation Department eligible for certain grants. There will be
a Community Attitude Survey available by February 15th.

13. Council Comments
Hoexter expressed her sadness and frustration that the City has so many costly
road and bridge projects.
Mayer feels the same. She commented this was a very discouraging meeting.
Mayer complimented the DPW on the terrific job on the roads.
Waddell commented the invoices from GMS are very large but understandably so
considering the weather. Now that our DPW is fully staffed Waddell would like
to revisit hiring out the upkeep of the downtown sidewalks and parking.
Waddell would like to ask the Recreation Department why it has abandoned
Douglas and is not maintaining the ice rink.
Harvath also added the ice rink has not been maintained and he has not seen one
person using it. There is no base of ice to maintain.

14. Mayor’s Report/Comments
Compliments to the DPW. They have done an extraordinary job.

15. Approval of Invoices
A. Consideration of Approval of Invoices dated 1/31/08
Motion by Hoexter with support from Mayer to approve invoices dated 1/31/08 in the amount of $78,557.92. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.
B. Consideration of Approval of Payroll for the Month Ended January 31,
2008.
Motion by Waddell with support from Hoexter to approve
payroll for the month ended January 31, 2008. Motion carried
unanimously by roll call vote.

16. Manager’s Report
A. GMS bills are quite high. We will be looking at formalizing agreement
with the DDA and a repayment schedule. GMS should be paid at least in
part by the DDA. As our DPW becomes more evolved we will have discussions that they may be able to take over more. Council will take a look at the DDA budget for next year to approve and authorize expenditures. An attorney from Doug Callander’s office will be helping direct DDA matters in the future.
B. The candidate for the Zoning Administrators position has been offered
employment and given a deadline to accept. He is looking for a firm
commitment from the City Manager because he doesn’t want to come
on board if the Manager leaves. If this candidate does not accept the
position we will continue the arrangement with Williams & Works.
C. The applications for the Treasurer position are disappointing. We have
not received many and none are very impressive.
Mayer asked if there were any applicants that could work out if we offered
additional training for their weaknesses.
D. The compliments to the DPW will be passed along to the crew.

17. Hear from the Audience (Limit three minutes for general comments)
No comments.

18. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by:

Jean E. Neve, CMC
Clerk

Approved by: ____________________________________________________________
Matt Balmer, Mayor

Certification of Minutes

I hereby certify that the attached is a true and correct copy of the minutes of a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of the Village of Douglas held on February 4, 2008. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present.

________________________________________ __________________
Jean E. Neve, City Clerk Date