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SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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February 16, 2017
B
ELLEVILLE
- R
OMULUS
Rotary Club serves buffet
Local man faces murder charge
MINUTES OF REGULAR ROMULUS CITY COUNCIL MEETING
January 23, 2017
Romulus City Hall Council Chambers, 11111 Wayne Rd. Romulus, MI 48174
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Mayor Pro Tem John Barden.
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
Present:
John Barden, Linda Choate, Harry Crout, Sylvia Makowski, Celeste Roscoe, William Wadsworth.
Excused:
Kathleen Abdo.
Administrative Officials in Attendance:
LeRoy D. Burcroff, Mayor
Stacy Paige, Treasurer
Ellen L. Craig-Bragg, Clerk
1.
Moved by
Crout,
seconded by
Roscoe
to accept the agenda as amended.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-014 2A.
Moved by
Wadsworth,
seconded by
Makowski
to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the
Romulus City Council held on January 9, 2017
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-015 2B.
Moved by
Makowski,
seconded by
Crout
to approve the minutes of the special meeting of the
Romulus City Council held on January 9, 2017 – 6:30 p.m. study session, Financial Report for Fiscal Year Ended
June 30, 2016.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
3. Petitioner: None.
4. Chairperson’s Report
17-016 4A.
Moved by
Crout,
seconded by
Makowski
to adopt a memorial resolution for the family of Irma
Wells.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-017 4B.
Moved by
Choate,
seconded by
Crout
to adopt a memorial resolution for the family of
Thomas Drayton.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
4.
Moved by
Roscoe,
seconded by
Wadsworth
to accept the Chairperson’s Report.
Motion Carried
Unanimously
.
5. Mayor’s Report:
Dennis Davidson presented a list of upcoming events in the City of Romulus.
17-018 5A1.
Moved by
Wadsworth,
seconded by
Makowski
to concur with the administration and authorize
the mayor and clerk to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Romulus and the Trenton
Fire Department to participate in a collaborative grant application for the purchase of various sizes and quanti-
ties of fire hoses at a required match estimated cost of $2,309.00.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-019 5A2.
Moved by
Crout,
seconded by
Makowski
to concur with the administration and authorize Kevin
Krause, Deputy Fire Chief, to represent the City of Romulus Fire Department for the purpose of the collabora-
tive grant application with the Trenton Fire Department for the purchase of various sizes and quantities of fire
hoses as stipulated under the terms of the agreement.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-020 5B.
Moved by
Makowski,
seconded by
Roscoe
to concur with the administration and authorize the Fire
Department to waive the bidding process in order to purchase seven (7) replacement task force tips nozzles for
the Fire Department from Time Emergency Equipment in the amount of $6,329.65.
Motion Carried
Unanimously
.
17-021 5C.
Moved by
Wadsworth,
seconded by
Crout
to concur with the administration and re-appoint Robert
McCraight to the Romulus Housing Commission with a term to expire on February 26, 2021.
Motion Carried
Unanimously
.
17-022 5D.
Moved by
Makowski,
seconded by
Roscoe
to reallocate the Honeywell Service contracts currently
in place to the appropriate activities; additionally, to provide for Building Maintenance funding for other City
facilities.
FUND/DEPT.
CURRENT
AMENDED
ACCOUNT NO.
ACCOUNT NAME
BUDGET AMENDMENT BUDGET
General Fund
Expense
101-265-920.000 Building & Grounds - Utilities
200,000 (50,000) 150,000
101-265-932.000
Building & Grounds - Heating & Cooling 146,247 (62,000) 84,247
101-265-935.000
Building & Grounds - Building Maintenance 59,700 (9,000) 50,700
101-301-932.000
Police - Heating & Cooling
5,000 19,000 24,000
101-336-932.000
Fire - Hearing & Cooling
5,000 8,000 13,000
101-430-932.000
Animal Shelter - Heating & Cooling - 2,000 2,000
101-441-932.000
DPW - Heating & Cooling
5,000 28,000 33,000
101-752-932.000
Senior Center - Heating & Cooling - 5,000 5,000
101-430-920.000
Animal Shelter - Utilities
- 15,000 15,000
101-430-935.000
Animal Shelter - Building Maintenance - 3,000 3,000
101-751-920.000
Parks & Recreation - Utilities - 8,000 8,000
101-752-920.000
Senior Center - Utilities - 27,000 27,000
101-752-935.000
Senior Center - Building Maintenance 380 6,000 6,380
To reallocate the Honeywell Service contracts currently in place to the appropriate activities; additionally, to
provide for Building Maintenance funding for other City facilities. This has no impact to General Fund fund
balance.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-023 5E.
Moved by
Crout,
seconded by
Makowski
to transfer funds from the Major Roads Fund to the Local
Streets Fund to partially cover a local street concrete pavement project.
FUND/DEPT.
CURRENT
AMENDED
ACCOUNT NO.
ACCOUNT NAME
BUDGET AMENDMENT BUDGET
LOCAL STREETS
Expenditures:
203-463-980.000
Local Roads Project Cost
- 121,500.00 121,500.00
Revenues
203-000-699.202
Transfer In - Major Streets
245,000.00 121,500.00 366,500.00
MAJOR ROADS
Expenditures:
202-463-823.000
Major Rds Engineering
190,000.00 (41,500.00) 148,500.00
202-463-818.000
Major Rds Contractural Svcs
90,000.00 (80,000.00) 10,000.00
Expenditures
202-966-999.203
Transfer Out-Local Streets
245,000.00 121,500.00 366,500.00
To transfer funds from the Major Roads Fund to the Local Streets Fund to partially cover a local street concrete
pavement project.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
17-024 .
Moved by
Makowski,
seconded by
Wadsworth
to concur with the administration and approve no-fee
permits issued by the City for any permits associated with the renovations of the DDA building located at 36542
Goddard Rd.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
6A. Clerk’s Report:
City Clerk, Ellen Craig-Bragg, thanked everyone who participated in the Martin Luther King Day Celebration.
17-025 6A1.
Moved by
Makowski,
seconded by
Roscoe
to schedule a public hearing to hear comments regard-
ing Daehan Solutions, Michigan LLC, 10401 Harrison Rd. - request for a new IFT Exemption Certificate.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
6B. Treasurer’s Report:
No report this evening.
7. Public Comment:
Gina Steward, President of the Western Chapter of the NAACP, announced that the February NAACP
meeting will be held in the City of Inkster instead of Garden City.
8. Unfinished Business
9. New Business:
Councilwoman Makowski spoke about Black History Month, in particular, a program that will be held on
Thursday, February 9, 2017, 6:30 p.m. at the Romulus Public Library.
10. Communication
17-026 11.
Moved by
Choate,
seconded by
Crout
to pay Warrant 17-02 in the amount of $952,636.36.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
12.
Moved by
Wadsworth,
seconded by
Makowski
to adjourn the regular meeting of the Romulus City Council.
Motion Carried Unanimously
.
I, Ellen L. Craig-Bragg, Clerk for the City of Romulus, Michigan do hereby certify the foregoing to be a true
copy of the minutes of the regular meeting of the Romulus City Council held on January 23, 2017.
RM0142 - 021617 2.5 x 13.931
CITY OF ROMULUS INVITATION TO BID
ITB 16/17-23 - Project #0155-11-0030 FOURTH STREET ROAD REPAIRS
The City of Romulus, is requesting sealed bids for the Fourth Street Road Repairs (ITB 16/17-23).
The work includes concrete road patching, ADA ramp upgrades and restoration. No pre-bid meeting
is scheduled for this project.
Sealed bids will be received at the office of the City of Romulus Clerk until 2:00 PM local time, on
February 28, 2017. All bids should be clearly addressed:
ITB 16/17-23 - Project #0155-11-0030 Fourth Street Road Repairs
City of Romulus Clerk's Office
11111 Wayne Road
Romulus, MI 48174
Contract documents for this project shall be on file on and after 4:00 PM, February 13, 2017, at the
City of Romulus Clerk's Office or may also be examined and/or purchased (prepaid, non-refundable
$40.00 for documents and additional $10.00 prepaid, non-refundable charge for mailing) from the
City's Engineers, OHMAdvisors, 34000 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI 48150 or can be downloaded
from The Michigan Inter-governmental Trade Network website:
/. Bid security
in the form of a Certified or Cashier's Check or bid bond for a sum no less than five percent (5%) of
the amount of the Bid will be required with each Bid. The City of Romulus reserves the right to
accept or reject any bid, or waive irregularities in Bids. No Bid may be withdrawn for a period of
one hundred twenty (120) calendar days after the scheduled closing time for receipt of the Bids.
Neither the submission of nor acceptance of any bid shall constitute a contract between any bidder
and the City of Romulus. No such contract shall exist unless and until all required bonds and proof
of insurances and copies of endorsements have been received by the City and an agreement is signed
by authorized representatives of the City of Romulus and the successful Bidder. Questions regard-
ing the project or the ITB documents should be directed to Marcus McNamara of OHM Advisors at
734-522-6711 or
.
Publish: 2/16/17
RM0140 - 021617 2.5 x 4.042
CITY OF ROMULUS INVITATION TO BID
ITB 16/17-24 ROMULUS POLICE DEPARTMENT DUTY & PRACTICE AMMUNITION
The City of Romulus Police Department is seeking fixed pricing for the purchase of duty and prac-
tice ammunition for use by its officers.
(1) Qualified individuals and firms wishing to submit a bid
must use the forms provided by the City.
Bid forms and specifications may be obtained from the MITN system @
/.
Bids may be rejected unless made on the forms included with the bidding documents.
(2) Clarifications, modifications, or amendments may be made to this solicitation at the discretion of
the City. Any and all addenda issued by the City will be posted on the MITN system. All inter-
ested parties are instructed to view the MITN website regularly for any issued addenda. It is the
responsibility of the bidder to obtain the any issued addenda and acknowledge any issued adden-
da by including a printed copy of the addendum as part of the required documents for this solic-
itation and list the addendum in the bid's Table of Contents if required.
(3) Two (2) copies of the bids must be submitted in a sealed envelope and returned to the
City Clerk's
Office
no later than 2:30 P.M., Tuesday,
March 14, 2017
. Bids should be submitted in a sealed
envelope and addressed using the Bid package label provided in the ITB documents.
(4) At approximately 2:45 p.m., local time all timely received bids are to be publicly opened and
read.
(5) The successful Bidder will be required to submit proof of all insurance required by the ITB doc-
uments and copies of all required endorsements.
(6) The City reserves the right to postpone the opening without notification and also reserves the
right to reject all bids and proposals and to waive any minor informality or irregularity in pro-
posals received.
(7) For additional information contact Lynn A, Conway, City of Romulus, Purchasing Director, by
calling (734) 955-4568 or by emailing
Publish: February 16, 2017
RM0141 - 021617 2.5 x 3.933
A Romulus facility that once
faced closure due to a lack of
funding is on the rebound and
getting better than ever.
Patty Braden, director of the
Romulus Public Library, gave an
update to the Romulus City
Council members last week
about the success of the library
in 2016, beginning with extended
hours and expanded services for
the community. The library is
now open six days a week, for a
total of 54 hours.
“We now offer more open
hours than any time in the
library's history,” she said. “This
is something we worked very
hard to achieve and we're
pleased to provide to the commu-
nity.”
The library has more online
resources and a larger social
media presence than ever
before, she added. The facility
saw many improvements to the
children's area last year, includ-
ing a new puppet theater, more
puzzles, games, information
board and programming. The
improvements were funded
through cooperative efforts from
the Friends of the Library and
the Romulus Rotary, she added,
not tax dollars.
“These upgrades were com-
pleted at no cost to the resi-
dents,” she said.
Through the enhanced servic-
es and hours, she said the library
saw an 83-percent increase in
ebook lending, 26-percent
increase in emagazines, a 6-per-
cent increase in public computer
use and an additional 24 percent
use in the public wi-fi system.
Summer programs were more
popular than ever, with a 44-per-
cent increase in youth atten-
dance and 54-percent increase in
adult attendance.
An additional 1,461 library
cards were issued, bringing the
total number tomore than 12,500.
The library sawmore than 64,000
patron visits last year, with more
than 54,000 items being checked
out. Also added was a free music
downloading service, which
allows library card holders to
download or stream more than 3
million songs, free of charge.
“Circulation of our materials
is up virtually every month from
the same month in the previous
year,” Braden added. “We're one
of the few libraries in our area to
see this regular increase in circu-
lation.”
The library staff was recog-
nized for quality service in
human resources, governance
and administration, collection
development, technology, facili-
ties and equipment as well as
public relations andmarketing.
City Councilman William
Wadsworth said he was
impressed how far the library
had come in since 2010, when the
city could not afford to keep it
open. He congratulated the 10
staff members, 25 volunteers as
well as groups like the Friends,
the Rotary, the library board and
the council for working together
tomaintain and improve the vital
facility.
“A lot of people said it would
never open up again, but the peo-
ple got together and it's opened
back up and it's bigger and better
than ever,” Wadsworth said. “I
compliment anyone that's been
involved with it. A city that can't
have a library really isn't a city.
There's certain building blocks in
a city that prove you're on a posi-
tive track for the residents that
live here. The building is open
and it's flourishing.”
This year, Braden said the
library staff would continue to
expand the collection, work to
improve online access of the
Romulus Roman newspaper,
update the website, look at a
potential upgrade of the library
front entrance doors, design a
new brand campaign and logo
and start developing a 5-year
strategic plan.
“We're very proud of the
library. We've come a long, long
way and we're continuing to get
better and better,” said Romulus
Mayor Leroy Burcroff. “I love the
things they're doing there.
Whatever is going on in Romulus
is reflected in the library. It's the
backbone of the community.”
The Belleville Rotary Club will host
their ninth annual Italian Dinner Buffet
from 4:30-7:30 p.m. on Fat Tuesday, Feb.
28, at the Van Buren Eagles, 9961 Beck
Road. The Rotarians are cooking up a
host of Mediterranean delights for hungry
diners. The pre-Lenten meal features
soup, salads, a pasta bar with several
sauces including meat and vegetarian.
Soda and paczki will also be available -
sold separately. Tickets are $12 for adults
and $6 for children 12 and younger can be
purchased from any Rotarian, or at the
door. Carry-outswill be available.
Proceeds from the dinner and raffles
support local Rotary Club projects which
benefit the Belleville, Sumpter, VanBuren
community, VanBuren Public Schools, the
SalvationArmy and other local charities.
The club also annually provides schol-
arships to graduates of Belleville High
School.
A Belleville man has been arrested
and charged with first-degree murder in
the deal of anYpsilanti resident.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L.
Worthy has charged Arndola Charles
Lewis, 44 of Belleville in connection with
the homicide of Samer TahaAbukaff, 37.
According to reports from the prosecu-
tor's office, Van Buren Township Police
were called to an apartment on the 48000
block of Denton Road in Belleville at
about 5:36 p.m. Jan. 29.
When the police officers arrived on the
scene, they observed the body of Abukaff
inside the apartment. Prosecutors said
that a police investigation indicated that
Lewis and Abukaff had an argument and
a physical altercation ensued in the resi-
dence. As the victim was leaving the
apartment, prosecutors claim, Lewis
walked behind Abukaff and fatally shot
him in the head with a handgun. The
defendant was arrested and taken into
custody without incident at the scene,
according to reports from the prosecutor's
office.
Lewis has been charged with first
degree premeditated murder, felon in
possession of a firearm and felony
firearmsecond offense.
He was arraigned Feb. 8 in 34th
District Court in Romulus before Judge
Brian Oakley who set his bond at
$500,000.
These upgrades were
completed at
no cost to the residents.
”
Success story
Romulus library rebounds with new programs, services, books
