Meeting Minutes: City Council Approves Crowley Park Update, DPW Truck Repairs

Dearborn City Council approved several resolutions Monday evening at their regular meeting, relating mostly to city improvements and department-specific contracts.

1. New chain-link fencing was approved for , which Council President Tom Tafelski explained is part of a larger project to upgrade the west-side park.

“This is part of ongoing improvements at Crowley Park,” he said, adding that the city also recently updated the park’s soccer fields.

The contract was awarded to Future Fence Company in the amount of $32,754.

2. A seawall will be removed from Lake No. 5 at  Camp Dearborn, with demolition costs of $71,330.65. The affected lake is a beach lake inside of tent village, Tafelski explained. “It had come under disrepair as of late and so we need to remove it,” he said.

3. The Dearborn Department of Public Works was granted repair and parts work to their fleet of service trucks in two separate measures approved Monday night.

A purchase order to Tri-County International Truck for $78,000 was approved for truck repairs, parts and supplies. Likewise, a purchase with Bell Equipment Company was approved for $40,000 worth of parts and repairs.

The measures will go toward repairing the city’s fleet of street sweepers and salt spreaders. Though the city, as of this year, is contracting out residential street sweeping services, some trucks are still needed for cleaning up after special events such as Dearborn Homecoming.

4. The Dearborn Public Library was granted several measures Monday evening. First, their membership with the Michigan Library Association was renewed for 2011-12. The cost of $2,160 will allow library workers to participate in workshops, learn about library updates and be part of national conferences.

Additionally, the library was granted the purchase of $30,000 worth of reference materials and online databases.

“As the city improves technology in the libraries and we move more toward online reference materials, this is a purchase they recommend we make to move more toward an online database,” Council President Tafelski explained.

5. The slightly revised ballot language was approved for the Nov. 8 election. –one to authorize a temporary 3.5 millage increase, the other to eliminate the city’s Civil Service System–were sent to the attorney general’s office after being adopted by City Council in July.

The final proposals will now officially appear on November’s ballot in Dearborn.