FEBRUARY 11, 2002

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A regular meeting of the Council for the City of Crystal Falls was held in the Council Chambers of the City Hall on Monday, February 11, 2002, at 4:30 P.M. Central Time.

Roll call: Mayor Cram, Councilors Hendrickson, Benda, Nylund and Lind

Also Present: City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk.

Mayor Cram opened the meeting by leading all present in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Lind moved to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 14, 2002.

Motion carried.

Councilor Lind requested the addition of the Crystal Falls Billboard as agenda item "F".

There was no representative to report from the Downtown Development Authority.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Benda moved to adopt the following resolution:

RESOLUTION of RECOGNITION

of

WALTER KRAJEWSKI

 

Whereas, the Council for the City of Crystal Falls is deeply saddened by the passing of Walter Krajewski, a model citizen of the Crystal Falls community, and

 

Whereas, The Council for the City of Crystal Falls wishes to recognize the late Walter Krajewski for his 5,000 plus volunteered hours, leadership, and commitment to the procurement and refurbishment of the Crystal Theatre, and

 

Whereas, Walter was instrumental in the procurement, restoration and installation of the mighty Moeller Theater Organ, a significant contribution to the overall success of the Crystal Theatre’s completion and popularity, and

 

Whereas, due to Walter’s talents and efforts the Crystal Theatre has realized a "Breath of New Life" and become the cultural center of downtown Crystal Falls for enjoyment by young and old alike,

 

Now Therefore Be it Resolved, that the Council for the City of Crystal Falls hereby honors the memory of the life of this visionary, Walter Krajewski, truly a shining example of this city’s slogan, "City of Community Pride", and

 

Further Be It Resolved, that this Council expressly thanks Walter’s family for sharing him, allowing his talents and efforts at the Crystal Theatre to have so positively impacted citizens of all ages, making Crystal Falls an even better place to live.

 

Resolution Adopted.

 

Manager Nordeman updated the Council on matters regarding the Riverwalk project. He noted the school system will be unable to participate in the construction of the boardwalk and asked for community volunteers to complete the project. He also asked the Council’s opinion on changing a portion of the railing construction to wood instead of metal, an idea all agreed to.

Manager Nordeman informed the Council that Mike Casanova would be in attendance at the March meeting to present his plans regarding the construction of a campground on his property on the West side of the Paint River. It was also noted Mr. Casanova is requesting permission to connect to the water, sewer and electric services of the City. The Council expressed no objections to Mr. Casanova’s plans.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Benda moved to approve the following Freedom of Information policy:

CITY OF CRYSTAL FALLS

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT POLICY

 

The Council adopted this policy for the City of Crystal Falls on February 11, 2002. The policy identifies the procedures that City officers and employees are to follow when processing a request in accordance with Act No. 442 of the Public Acts of 1976, as amended (the "Act").

Section 1. Definitions

Act: The Michigan Freedom of Information Act No. 442 of the Public Acts of 1976 as amended.

 

FOIA: Freedom of Information Act.

 

FOIA Coordinator: The individual designated by the City Council, who is responsible for accepting and processing requests for public records as outlined in this policy and the Act, and who is responsible for approving denials or requests, or that individual’s designee as provided.

 

Person: An individual, corporation, organization, or other legal entity, as modified by the Act.

 

Public Body: The City of Crystal Falls and it’s duly constituted departments, councils, boards or committees.

 

Public Record: A writing which is prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function from the time it is created and as otherwise defined by the Act.

 

Unusual Circumstances: Entails the need to search for, collect, or appropriately examine or review a voluminous amount of public records and/or the need to collect public records from numerous locations apart from the processing office.

 

Where not otherwise defined, the words and phrases contained in this policy shall have the meaning given to them, if any, by the Act.

 

Section 2. Right to Records

 

A person has the right to submit a written request for public record(s) from the City and its departments. The request must sufficiently describe the public record to enable the FOIA coordinator to identify the requested public record.

 

A person has the right to inspect a public record, unless exempted by law or court order, in accordance with Section 15.233 of the Act.

 

Original public records will not be released from the City offices where the public records are secured. A person may request that copies of a public record be provided subject to the payment of fees outlined in Section 4 of this policy.

 

Section 3. Rights and Obligations of the Public Body.

 

The FOIA Coordinator shall provide reasonable facilities and opportunities for the person(s) to inspect public records.

 

The FOIA Coordinator shall provide a certified copy of a public record if a person request the same in writing.

 

Neither the public body nor the FOIA coordinator is obligated to create a record, list, compilation, or summary of information that does not already exist. This includes analyzing, compiling, or summarizing existing information into a new format. Neither the Public Body nor the FOIA Coordinator are obligated to provide answers to oral or written questions.

 

The FOIA Coordinator shall provide copies of any public records as provided for in the Act and shall retain a copy of all written requests on file for a period of not less than one (1) year. The FOIA Coordinator will follow the provisions of Section 4 of this policy.

 

Section 4. Provisions for copying public records.

 

All FOIA requests submitted pursuant to the Act may be subject to fees and charges as follows:

 

Exact cost of postage, envelopes, and/or other containers used for mailing copies of the public records requested may be charged.

 

Labor cost may be charged as permitted by the Act and determined by the FOIA Coordinator based on Section 15.234 of the Act, using the wages of the lowest paid, full-time public body employee capable of retrieving the records requested.

 

A Deposit will be required in advance of compilation of the public records if it is determined by the FOIA Coordinator that the anticipated total cost will exceed $50.00. The deposit will be 50% of the total anticipated cost. In the event a deposit is required, the FOIA Coordinator will not begin compilation of the public records until the deposit is received. The balance must be paid prior to the release of the public record copies. The cost will be determined with the completion of a Freedom of Information Worksheet for Determination of Charges prior to the compilation of the requested public record(s).

 

The City of Crystal Falls has limited in-house capabilities for copying photographs, audio or videotapes, microforms, maps or plans. If a person requests that copies be made of these or large documents which must be copied off-site, the FOIA Coordinator will determine and assess those costs. If an employee of the public body is required to deliver and/or pick up the public records and/or copies of public records, the labor hours spent and applicable mileage (at current City rates) will also be applied to the charges to the person(s) requesting the public records.

 

Copy fees will be charged at the rate of $.25 per sheet.

 

Copy fees and mailing charges for future issuances of regularly published public records will be arranged through the FOIA Coordinator. A person can request that a public record, which is regularly published, be sent to them or they may be called for pick up of the public record for a period of time, not to exceed six months, unless extended. An escrow deposit of $25.00 may be charged to the applicant to cover the costs of this service as determined by the FOIA Coordinator. The FOIA Coordinator must sign the request form (The Freedom of Information Act Worksheet for Future Issuances) to confirm that the public record is one that is regularly published.

 

Section 5. Procedures of the Public Body to Process the FOIA Request.

 

After a person has made a written request for a public record in accordance with the Act, the FOIA Coordinator shall respond within five (5) business days in one of four (4) ways:

 

Grant the request

Issue a written notice denying the request.

Grant the request in part and issue a written notice to the requesting person denying the request in part.

Issue a notice extending for not more than 10 business days the period during which the City shall respond to the request. The City shall not issue more than 1 notice of extension for a particular request.

 

Section 6. Procedures for Separation of Records.

 

If a request is made for an existing public record that includes information which is exempt from disclosure under the Act and information which is not exempt, the FOIA Coordinator must separate the material and make the non-exempt material available for examination and/or copying. Additionally, the FOIA Coordinator is directed to generally describe the material which had to be separated, unless doing so would reveal the contents of the exempt information and thus defeat the purpose of the exemption. The labor cost associated with such procedures shall be treated in accordance with Section 4.

 

Section 7. Designation of FOIA Coordinator.

 

The City Clerk/Treasurer is hereby designated to be the City of Crystal Falls’ FOIA Coordinator. In addition, the following officers shall be authorized to act as FOIA Coordinator designees: The City Manager, the Deputy City Clerk/Treasurer, and the Chief of Police. The FOIA Coordinator and designees shall be responsible to accept and process request for public records and approve denials in accordance with Sections 5(4) and (5) of the Act.

 

Section 8. Appeals.

 

In accordance with the Act, where a person’s request for a public record is denied, in whole or in part, the person shall be entitled to file a written appeal of the decision as follows:

 

The person shall be advised by the FOIA Coordinator of the right to file a written appeal to the City Council.

 

Where a written appeal is received by the City Council in accordance with the Act, the City council shall either (a) place the appeal on the agenda for the next regularly scheduled meeting where unusual circumstances are found to exist; or (b) consider and decide the appeal at the meeting at which it was received; or (c) direct that a special meeting to consider the appeal be scheduled. In its consideration of any appeal, the City Council shall review the materials submitted by the appellant, any written comments received from the FOIA Coordinator, and such other information as the City Council deems necessary.

The City Council may deliberate and take one of the following actions in response to the filing of an appeal: 

i) Reverse the disclosure denial.

ii) Issue a written notice to the requesting person affirming the disclosure denial.

iii) Reverse the disclosure denial in part and issue a written notice to the requesting person affirming the denial in part.

 

Motion carried.

Mayor Cram appointed a Councilors Hendrickson & Benda, and Clerk Olson to serve as a committee to draft council rules for Council consideration.

A lengthy discussion ensued regarding the Fire Authority Agreement between the City and Township. Councilor Nylund supported by Councilor Benda moved to enter into a five (5) year agreement with a 50/50 split of the remaining budget after Mastodon Township’s 2% and Mansfield Township’s 6% participation.

Ayes: Councilors Benda & Nylund

Nays: Mayor Cram, Councilors Hendrickson & Lind

Motion defeated.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Lind, moved to accept the bid of $25,151.00 submitted by Baraga Telephone for the property owned by the City to the South of the Industrial Park.

Ayes: Mayor Cram and Councilor Lind

Nays: Councilors Benda, Nylund and Hendrickson

Motion defeated.

Councilor Lind supported by Councilor Nylund moved to authorize Manager Nordeman to make a counter offer to Baraga Telephone for the property owned by the City to the South of the Industrial Park.

Motion carried.

Councilor Lind moved to insert a waiver clause into the "City of Crystal Falls Policy for Solicitation of Bids for the Sale of City Property & Equipment", in particular the sale of Industrial Park property. This motion died for lack of support.

Councilor Hendrickson supported by Mayor Cram moved to accept the annual report from the Crystal Theatre and authorized the release of the City’s annual contribution of $2,200.00 to the Crystal Theatre.

Motion carried.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Benda moved to accept the Crystal Falls Planning Commission recommendations to make sidewalk replacement along the M-69 and US-2 corridors a priority over other sidewalk replacements.

Motion carried.

Manager Nordeman presented the Council with proposed amendments to City Ordinance No. 2.12, an ordinance regulating cross connections with the public water supply system. The amendments would update the ordinance to comply with state statutes. Mayor Cram set March 11, 2002 as the date for the Public Hearing regarding the consideration of the ordinance amendments and instructed the Clerk to publish a notice of said hearing.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Nylund moved to pay annual membership dues to the Crystal Falls Business Association in the amount of $60.00.

Motion carried.

Councilor Hendrickson supported by Councilor Benda moved to accept the annual report from the Crystal Falls Contemporary Center and release the annual contribution of $1,100.00 to the center.

Motion carried.

Councilor Lind supported by Mayor Cram to authorize Manager Nordeman to negotiate the purchase and placement of a billboard "Welcome" sign at a site near Fire Tower Road on U.S. 2 at a cost not to exceed $4,000.00.

Ayes: Mayor Cram & Councilor Lind

Nays: Councilors Benda, Nylund, and Hendrickson

Motion defeated.

Councilor Hendrickson supported by Councilor Lind moved that the payrolls and disbursements in the amount of $353,120.27 for the month of January 2002 be approved, and the City Clerk be instructed to draw checks on the City Treasury in payment of same.

Motion carried.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Nylund, moved to accept the following reports for the month of January 2002:

Police Chief’s report indicating 128 complaints, 18 of which were closed by arrest and 3,118 patrolled miles.

Joint Fire Authority report submitted by Fire Chief John Ahola indicating answering 2 fire calls; spending approximately 44.5 man-hours fighting fires; and holding 1 practice and training session.

Chief Electrician’s report of department activities.

Public Work foreman’s report on department activities.

Motion carried.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Benda moved to initiate a power plant automation study at the cost of approximately $21,328.00.

Motion carried.

Manager Nordeman advised the Council that D. A. MacPherson has expressed interest in the purchase of additional acreage in the Industrial Park. Mayor Cram, Councilor Nylund and Manager Nordeman set Friday, February 15th at 8:00 a.m. to meet as a committee regarding this request.

Mayor Cram supported by Councilor Benda moved to approve the payment to the Fire Authority for the 2nd Quarter fire protection costs in the amount of $28,405.77 due March 1, 2002.

Motion carried.

There being no further business to come before the Council, meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m.