| 4 min | from Michelle Aniol, Courtney Nicholls, with Doug Marrin |
Dexter City Manager, Courtney Nicholls, and Community Development Manager, Michelle Aniol, submitted their reports to the city council at its April 27, 2020, meeting. Below are recent updates for the City of Dexter. Their entire reports can be found on the city’s website in the council’s meeting packet.
RSQE Forecast Update – April 2020
The University of Michigan Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics has provided an Interim update to its Forecast for the U.S. and Michigan for 2020-2022. A copy is attached to this report. UM RSQE expects U.S. real GDP to “decline by 7 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter.” UM RSQE forecasts “the national unemployment rate to reach a peak of 16 percent in May and to average 14 percent in the second quarter.” UM RSQE expects unemployment in Michigan to rise to 23 percent for the quarter.
UM RSQE points out that “it is important to understand why this economic contraction is so severe. This recession is very different from previous downturns because limiting the spread of the disease requires many non-essential workers to stay away from their jobs. Therefore, the current reduction in economic activity is an investment in public health. Indeed, the current slowdown is a proactive goal of public policy, despite the jaw-dropping economic statistics. Of course, along with that goal comes the responsibility to cushion the economic hardship inflicted by the pandemic.”
The report also views the federal response to the pandemic as being fast and aggressive, and cited the CARES Act as an example, stating that several provisions (in the Act) “will help to cushion households and businesses from the economic downturn in the second quarter”. UM RSQE also believes “that more assistance will be needed, especially for small businesses and state and local governments, but the aggressive federal response to the pandemic maintains the possibility of a vigorous recovery when public health conditions allow the economy to begin reopening.”
Business Assistance Updates
The Small Business Development Center announced another funding option. It’s called MI CEED (Great Lakes Woman’s Counsel) is offering up 25k loans for working capital. The rate for these is 5% for 5 years and it’s taking about a week to 10 days to process. It’s a loan and not forgivable, however, this is an SBA program and the SBA, will be making the first 6 months of payments, as long the loan is closed before Sept 2020. Here’s the link for their website: https://www.greatlakeswbc.org/ceed-lending.
COVID 19 Economic Impact Survey
The DDA has asked staff to develop a survey, distribute it to all city businesses, and data to determine how the DDA/City may be able to help. Staff is currently working on the survey.
Encore Theatre Conditional Rezoning and Special Land Use Applications
Planning Commission postponed action on the Encore Theatre’s conditional rezoning and special land use requests. The applicant has informed staff it is no longer working with its attorney. Staff wanted to make Council aware that Council Member Cousins is now acting the “point person” for the Encore project. The applicant has submitted a letter in response to the Planning Commission’s concerns and the review letters from the consultants will be sent out to the applicant the week of April 20th.
COVID-19 Related Updates
Waste Management began picking up yard waste again on Monday, April 20, 2020. Bulk item collection is still suspended. Once the Governor issues her next set of rules for May 1st we will revisit the current staffing situation and make any necessary changes. Hopefully we will also be able to get a timeline for our Mill Creek Park Path project once the new order is issued.
Grand/Hudson Reconstruction
The contractor is planning to start work on the Grand/Hudson reconstruction project at the end of May. This timeline is moved up slightly due to the school closure.
Absentee Voter Sign-Up
Voters who wish to be added to the permanent absentee voter list, which means they will receive an absentee ballot application automatically for every election, can now sign up at https://www.washtenaw.org/FormCenter/Clerk-25/Permanent-Absent-Voter-List-Registration-179.
Once the voter enters their information, it is sent to the City Clerk. Absentee voter applications that were returned for the May Election will be used for the August Election. Absentee ballot applications for the August election will be mailed in mid-May.
Ballot Language Filing Deadlines
Ballot language for the August 4, 2020 election is due to the County by May 12, 2020. If Council wishes to change the date of the millage election from August to November they would need to do so by the May 11th meeting.
Budget Work Session
Our first budget work session will be held Wednesday, April 29th at 6 pm via Zoom. Information should be e-mailed out to Council by the end of the day Friday.
Census 2020
The current response rate in the City for the 2020 Census is 70.1%. This is higher than the Washtenaw County rate of 63% and the overall State of Michigan rate of 57.2%.
TED-F Funding
The State of Michigan is taking funding applications for its federal aid program that focuses on truck routes. The funds would be available in the State’s FY 22.
The City will be submitting a project for the remainder of Broad Street. This project would work within our current funding estimates without having to postpone any projects we have discussed. We have received funds from this source before so I’m not sure of our changes.
One additional reason to apply is that if there is a stimulus package for infrastructure the state may use existing programs, such as this, to distribute the money (as they did with the stimulus back in the 2009 time frame).
Central Street Project
A walkthrough of Central Street was done on Wednesday, April 22nd. The contractor may be back in the week of April 27th to start the restoration. Once this is confirmed we will send the info out via the e-mail update.
Charter Amendment Petition
On Monday, March 2nd, staff received a citizen-initiated petition for a proposed Charter amendment from Jamie Griffin on behalf of a group called “Dexter Citizens for Responsible Government.” The Charter amendment proposes to modify Section 13.05 Restriction on Powers to Sell or Lease Property to require that the sale of any public property be approved by a 2/3 vote of City Council and a majority vote of City electors on the sale before closing.
The proposal language and explanatory caption for the amendment was discussed at the April 13, 2020, City Council meeting. Since that meeting staff has forwarded copies of the proposal language and explanatory caption to the Governor’s Office and Attorney General’s Office for review. The deadline to certify the proposal language to the County Clerk’s Office is May 12, 2020.
WRRMA Recycle Project
The Washtenaw Regional Resource Management Authority has received grant funding to study the quality of the recyclables in the member communities. The implementation timing is uncertain due to the pandemic. This project will include a flyer being mailed to all residents notifying them about the project.
Interns will then examine the items in the toters at each residence. They will do this for four weeks in a row. If a homeowner is given two warnings that their materials are not recyclable, the material will be rejected in the third and fourth weeks. Following the four weeks, a flyer will be mailed out informing residents of the top items that were found in the toters that were not recyclable.
Currently, the City is paying $114 per ton for recycling. This is a significantly higher cost than trash tipping fees, so every time people put items in their recycling that end up getting thrown away at the Material Recovery Facility, we are increasing our costs unnecessarily.
Student Representatives
Staff has contacted all of the current Student Representatives to the various boards and commissions to inform them that they will need to submit a new application for the 2020 – 2021 appointment year if they would like to continue serving as student representatives. Staff has also published notices in the Sun Times, Facebook, and E-Mail Update to advertise the openings.
