General Meeting

The consent agenda was approved.

There will be a public hearing on Monday, August 2nd at 7pm for a rezoning request of the Speedway at Merriman and Schoolcraft: https://www.livonia.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=1550&month=8…

Public comments included several residents from the Willow Wood subdivision who have experienced flooding for decades and are seeking city intervention. Their request will be reviewed in a Committee of the Whole meeting. 

On June 30th the Finance and Budget Committee went over the Annual Audit Reports from Dec. 2019 to Nov. 2020 and no errors were found. The City’s pension fund is in good shape.

On July 19th the Public Safety, Health and Environment Committee met to discuss two topics. 

• Grant opportunities from EGLE to support recycling education efforts and service expansion. This matter is referred to the Mayor’s office for further action. 
• Public Safety updates from Livonia Police and Fire. The LPD is currently short 31 officers and dispatch staff. Full-employment is 189 people. There are on-going recruitment efforts and the reinstatement of pensions is expected to help. The Fire Department is short 2 staff.

[Interesting Note: The Livonia Police Department has previously hosted Citizens Police Academy, you can learn more about it here – https://www.facebook.com/…/a.396155400…/2573970669386021]

City Council approved the motion that the law department draft language for a Livonia Vision 21 Zoning Ordinance. Learn more about Vision 21 here: https://www.livoniavision21.com/

Upcoming Events: 

• SPN Survivors will host a ribbon cutting for their new permanent location on Tuesday, August 10th at 4pm. 
• Livonia AM Rotary will host its annual festival on September 16th -19th.

The Study Meeting session previews what you can expect to hear more about in future Regular Meetings. 

Several block parties put on consent agenda.

Parks & Recreation Department had several issues to discuss:

• The Livonia Civic Arena’s lease payments for Eddie Eager will be suspended for 12 months. The organization suffered substantial financial losses last year and provide significant benefits to the City by maintaining the ice and building. 
• The ADA Access Audit (paid for with a grant from Healthy Livonia) has identified several areas of improvement at Parks & Recreation facilities and parks that will be addressed moving forward. A couple areas that will see improvement sooner than later is Bicentennial Park and the establishment of a complaint procedure.
• An employment shortage has forced the early closure of Sheldon and Botsford pools this summer and limited Parks and Rec’s capacity to provide other services. To attract workers, there will be a temporary wage increase of $1.50 to $2.50 for employees and a 90 days signing bonus of $500 that will cost the Rec Center a total of $350,000. By investing in the services offered, it’s expected that the Recreation Center will be able to maintain membership levels and services to the community as a whole. [This issue will be discussed at the next Council meeting]

Friendly reminder, you can watch Council Meetings on YouTube (both live and past meetings): https://www.youtube.com/user/LivoniaTV/featuredJ