Meeting Minutes: Winter Preparations, West Downtown Demolition Set to Begin

Dearborn City Council met Tuesday evening at for their regular meeting, passing several resolutions having to do with library purchases, preparations for winter and the demolition of a building in west downtown Dearborn.

1. More than $200,000 was approved for the purchase of materials for Dearborn Public Library through five separate purchases. The diversity of providers, Council President Tom Tafelski explained, is due to the fact that the materials purchased varied widely in terms of their category, including books, adult periodicals and more.

The purchases were competitively bid out and will be made through the Michigan Library Cooperative Directors Association Program.

2. Though it’s barely past Labor Day, the city council approved several contracts for services and materials related to de-icing and plowing for this winter.

“We’re into September and unfortunately, summer’s over,” Tafelski said, adding that the early purchases mean better prices for the city.

Two orders for road salt–one for $291,900 from Morton Salt Division; the other for $46,090 from the Detroit Salt Company–were approved. Also, a contract with Evergreen Exteriors was renewed for $44,475 in plowing services. The company specifically plows the east and west downtown parking lots, which the Dearborn Department of Public Works does not handle.

3. The fiscal year 2011-12 budget was amended to include appropriations for year-end purchase requests made by various departments, including legal, DPW, the police department, the libraries and others.

The amount includes 3.7 million, 2.7 million of which is to be used for IT replacement for the city. Another $50,000 will be provided to the recreation department from the general fund balance to be used for operation and equipment for the .

4.  Demolition of the old Brothers Tuxedo, Guiliano’s and Bally Total Fitness building in west Dearborn will begin this week with the Guiliano’s space city council approved. Though discussion of the demolition has gone on for some time, re-approval was needed due to a request by DVP Development to alter the demolition agreement.

“The city’s been dealing with it for some time, and they entered into an agreement a while back and want to modify the agreement,” Tafelski explained.

By the end of the year, Mayor Jack O’Reilly added, the demolition must be complete–per an agreement reached between the city and the developers in May. By February, a plan for the new project for the space must be submitted to the city and the state.

“Each of those steps has to be achieved, or it terminates,” O’Reilly said. “If they don’t build anything, they don’t get those (Brownfield tax) credits.”

5. The city council approved a request by the Church World Service and Cherry Hill Baptist Church of Dearborn Heights to host their annual CROP Hunger Walk on Saturday, Oct. 2 in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. For more information, visit the Hunger Walk website.