FALL NEWSLETTER 2019www.brightoncity.org

The official Newsletter

of the City of Brighton!

Dear Valued Resident,

I know that my fellow Councilmembers would agree with me, your Mayor, that following through on the commitments we have made to our community is important. Nearly a year ago City Council reflected on the outcome of the August 2018 millage election and began laying out a new path to address the City’s fiscal realities; specifically, needed investment in public streets. City Council heard that the August 2019 request for a full Headlee override was too much, too long, and not specific enough. Considering this feedback, City Council proposed a new reduced millage expected to raise approximately $1.15 million annually for streets infrastructure for seven (7) years. Thanks to our voters, this new millage was approved in May of this year.

Despite this, the City requires a new funding stream closer to $2 million annually. In order to reach this goal, we will need to augment the new reduced millage with a series of expenditure cuts and other revenue strategies, such as economic development. These fiscal initiatives are needed to not only address the City’s extensive infrastructure investment needs, but to address the growing structural challenge of the City’s pension and retiree health care liabilities.

According to most recently obtained actuarial reports, the City’s total unfunded retirement liabilities have increased to over $24 million, which is up 13% over last year or nearly $3 million. The growth in these annual costs and liabilities is unsustainable, affecting City services and the long-term financial stability of the City. While this sounds daunting, I would like to ensure you that City Council is making headway on its efforts to address these rising costs and is committed to finding solutions.

I am pleased to highlight some of City Council’s recent accomplishments that follow through on these community commitments. First, City Council has committed the new 2019 millage revenue to be focused on local neighborhood streets. This commitment can be seen with the selection of, and progress on, the first two major street projects (more information inside). Second, City Council has implemented a series of expenditure cuts and revenue enhancements to support increased infrastructure investments. These strategies follow the outline presented in the October 29, 2018 e-newsletter, which included efforts to address rising pension and retiree health care costs.

To help address our difficult fiscal reality, while protecting the commitments made to the City’s employees and retirees, additional steps have been taken to put the City on a much more fiscally sustainable path. In addition to eliminating retiree health care benefits for new employees, recently City Council has successfully closed its pension plan for all newly hired non-union, clerical, and public services employees and has replaced these benefits with a 401(a) defined contribution plan. Additionally, the City has reduced the future pension benefit of its current non-union employees and increased the employee pension contributions of its clerical and public services employees. Together, these changes reflect an estimated annual savings of approximately $85,000 and a reduction in the City’s unfunded pension liability of over $1 million.

My fellow City Councilmembers and I, with support from the City’s Management Team, remain resolute in our commitment to find long-term structural solutions that address both unfunded retirement liabilities and the City’s extensive infrastructure investment needs. Although there is more work to be done, we are seeing a clearer path towards a more fiscally stable future. If at any time you have questions, feel free to contact any of your City Council members, or your City Manager.

T H I S I S S U E

MAYOR’S MESSAGE

DPS INSIGHT &

ROUNDABOUT SAFETY

ABOUT THE DDA

STREETS INFO

eNEWSLETTER UPDATE

M A N A G E M E N T S TA F F

Robert Bradford, Chief of Police

Tara Brown, City Clerk

Mike Caruso, Community Development Manager

Nate Geinzer, City Manager

Marcel Goch, DPS Director

Gretchen Gomolka, Finance Director

Michelle Miller, Human Resources

YO U R C I T Y C O U N C I L

City of Brighton • 200 N. First Street • Brighton, MI 48116 • 810-227-1911 • www.brightoncity.org

James R. Muzzin City Mayor

Shawn PipolyMayor Pro Tem

Jon Emaus

Renee Pettengill

Kristoffer L. Tobbe

James Bohn

Susan Gardner

MAYOR’S MESSAGE

City of

Brighton Michigan

One of the vital services provided to City residents is leaf pickup. In order to keep water off the streets and keep our drainage system clean, leaf pickup is a necessity. Do you ever wonder what the City does with all of the leaves they pick up each fall? Once the

leaves are collected and deposited at our DPW yard, they are hauled to a composting facility. Each year Public Works is responsible for removing roughly 3,000 to 3,500 yards of leaves from the roadway, which is 150 to 200 dump truck loads

in two months. Picked up from approximately October 1st until the beginning of December every year, this service takes the majority of our staff to perform and typically ends when winter maintenance begins. The DPW puts out information and neighborhood maps indicating where staff will be so residents will know when crews will be in their area. This information will be on the City website and social media and of course, residents can always call the Public Services office at 810-225-8001 if they have questions.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICES DOES FOR YOU?

C O M M O N R O U N D A B O U T M I S TA K E S When approaching a roundabout, it is important to pay attention to traffic signs and pavement markings. Ignoring them can lead

to fender benders and land you a traffic citation. Here are the three common mistakes to avoid when navigating a roundabout:

1. Entering a roundabout without yielding to circulating traffic (failure to yield)Yield signs are posted at a roundabout’s entries to designate the right-of-way. At roundabouts, traffic circulating inside the roundabout always has the right of way. When approaching a roundabout, slow down, yield to traffic circulating inside the roundabout, stop if necessary and only enter when there is a safe gap in circulating traffic. Never merge into a roundabout assuming others will slow down for you to “fit in”. Always wait for a safe gap to enter.

2. Crossing a lane of traffic to get to your exit At multi-lane roundabouts (two or more circulating lanes, e.g., Lee Road), it is important to get into the correct lane before you enter the roundabout. As you approach a roundabout you will see signage that will instruct you which lane to select. You will also see arrows on the pavement designed to guide you into the correct lane before entering. Turning from the wrong lane from within a roundabout disrupts the flow of traffic, and can cause a side-swipe collision. If you enter the roundabout in the incorrect lane, exit the roundabout from the lane you selected, make a legal turn around, and re-enter the roundabout in the correct lane.

3. Unnecessarily stopping inside the roundabout Stopping while circulating inside the roundabout increases your chance of a rear-end collision and disrupts the flow of traffic. Remember, circulating traffic always has the right of way in a roundabout. Only stop inside of the roundabout to avoid a collision. If an emergency response vehicle has their lights and sirens on, exit the roundabout first and then pull over to the side of the road.

THE RULES OF ROUNDABOUTS H O W T O A V O I D C O M M O N M I S TA K E S W H E N

T R A V E L I N G B R I G H T O N C I T Y ' S R O U N D A B O U T.

The Rules of RoundaboutsHow to avoid common mistakes when traveling Brighton City's roundabout.

Roundabout ahead, slow down!

At multi-lane roundabouts, advance

guide signs will indicate which lane to select before you enter the

roundabout.

Yield to traffic circulating inside the

roundabout and wait for a safe gap to enter.

Roundabout traffic travels one-way.

Obey Signs & MarkingsAs you approach a roundabout it is important

to pay attention to signs and arrows, especially in multi-lane roundabouts. Signage

will help you determine which lane to use before you enter a roundabout.

Regarding Traffic Violations:810 227-2700 Brighton Police Dept.

For more about Roundabouts: Livingston Co. Road Commision 517-546-4250

http://livingstonroads.org/NEWSEVENTS/RoundaboutGuide.aspx

Questions or Concerns:

O B E Y S I G N S & M A R K I N G SAs you approach a roundabout it is important to pay attention to signs and arrows, especially in multi-lane roundabouts. Signage will help you

determine which lane to use before you enter a roundabout.

City of

Brighton Michigan

With the passage of the 2019 Streets Millage, the City will now be able to ratchet up its investments in local neighborhood streets, per City Council’s commitments. As your City Manager, it is my responsibility to help ensure City Council’s commitments are met and to provide our constituents with the status and accounting of these funds. I want to thank you for your support and I would like you to know we are wasting no time in moving forward! In Spring of 2020, we will be working on the Alpine/Third Street/Fairway Trails area and the long awaited Northwest Neighborhoods project is expected to begin in Spring 2021.

Using existing funding sources, the City will continue to expand upon annual maintenance activities and apply new maintenance best practices to maximize the longevity of the City’s street investments. Regular maintenance makes good business sense and will always be a priority. In addition to our local streets needs, there are still numerous major streets that the City is responsible for maintaining including Grand River, Main Street, Rickett Road and others. Again, existing funding sources, outside of the recently passed streets millage, will be relied upon to address infrastructure needs outside of our neighborhoods.

We appreciate your patience as orange barrels become more frequent throughout the community. We have a lot of work ahead of us and it is going to take time. Residents will see an annual update on our progress in each fall issue of the Brighton Bulletin. Additionally, www.brightoncity.org/streets is a resource that will be updated regularly. It will be a useful tool to track the City’s progress and will provide access to the latest construction updates. As always, you are welcome to reach out to me or Marcel Goch our Department of Public Services Director with any questions as we move through the next seven (7) years of the 2019 Streets Millage.

Nate Geinzer - City Manager

C U R R E N T & P R O J E C T E D C O N D I T I O N SAccording to the most recent PASER ratings, 24 miles of the 30 miles of streets in the City of Brighton are rated “Poor”. While the average rating for all street miles in 2018 was 4.334, the projected average rating for 2019 is 3.568. As we work to improve the City’s public street network, we will keep you informed of our progress. For information please visit www.brightoncity.org/streets.

PUTTING YOUR STREETS MILLAGE DOLLARS TO WORK

Poor18.78 Miles

Fair9.326 Miles

Good2.065 Miles

2018 - Actual

Poor24.357 Miles

Fair4.035 Miles

Good 1.779 Miles

2019 - Projected

Utilized by the State of Michigan’s Transportation Asset Management Council (TAMC), the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating system (PASER) is a method of road assessment conducted by visual survey. After observing a road, a rating is given on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being a Failed condition and 10 being in Excellent condition. Roads with a rating from 1 to 4 are considered to be in Poor condition, 5 to 7 in Fair condition, and 8 to 10 in Good/Excellent condition.

Bi-annually, a trained team of road quality inspectors from the City evaluate our roads and records the rating. The current PASER ratings for the City of Brighton are posted on our website in an interactive map, which is color coded. This map shows current PASER ratings for all City streets, as well as, projected PASER ratings. For further information on PASER, please visit the State of Michigan’s website at: www.michigan.gov/tamc/

The 2019 Streets Millage was created to specifically fund street improvements. As you can see, we are projecting approximately $1,172,000 to be collected each year. Please note, these projects are in the early stages and additional investments will be committed as the projects progress. Despite being in the early stages, each project is featured on the City’s dedicated Streets page of our website. Please visit www.brightoncity.org/streets to view road condition information, track project progress, get updates, and see maps of the work area. Project costs will also be reported and updated on a regular basis as information becomes available. For more information on these projects or the Streets Millage overall, please visit www.brightoncity.org/streets OR contact City Hall at 810-227-1911.

H O W A R E R O A D S E V A L U AT E D ?

G O O D / E X C E L L E N T F A I R P O O R

The 2019 Streets Millage was created to specifically fund street improvements. As you can see, we are projec�ng approximately $1,172,000 to be collected each year. Please note, these projects are in the early stages and more money will be commi�ed as the projects progress. Despite being in the early stages, each project is featured on the City’s dedicated Streets page on our website. Please visit www.brightoncity.org/streets to view road condi�on informa�on, track project progress, get updates, and see maps of the work area. Project costs will also be reported and updated on a regular basis as informa�on becomes available.

For more information on these projects or the Streets Millage overall, please visit www.brightoncity.org/streets OR contact City Hall at 810-227-1911.

Streets Millage Funds Tracking (As of Sept. 2019)

Est. Fiscal Year 2019/2020 Revenues: Apprx. $1,172,000

Pending Projects

Map of Project Affected Area

Status: Est. Timeline:

Work Planned:

Current Expenditures:

Apprx. TOTAL Expenditures to Date:

Design Engineering Spring 2021 Street Reconstruc�on Curb & Gu�er Sidewalks Water & Wastewater Stormwater Replacement $114,000 (Preliminary Engineering) $30,000 (Design Engineering $144,000

Northwest Neighborhoods

Map of Project Affected Area

Current Status: Est. Timeline:

Work Planned:

Current Expenditures: Apprx. TOTAL Expenditures to Date:

Planning Engineering Spring 2020 Mill & Fill Curb Replacement as Needed ADA ramp addi�ons $30,000 (Preliminary/Design Engineering) $30,000

Alpine St./Third St./Fairway Trail

How Are Roads Evaluated?

U�lized by the State of Michigan’s Transporta�on Asset Management Council (TAMC), The Pavement Surface Evalua�on and Ra�ng system (PASER) is a method of road assessment conducted by visual survey. A�er observing a road, a ra�ng is given on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being a Failed condi�on and 10 being an Excellent condi�on. Roads with a ra�ng from 1 to 4 are considered to be in Poor condi�on, 5 to 7 in Fair condi�on, and 8 to 10 in Good/Excellent condi�on.

Bi-annually, a trained team of road quality inspectors from the City evaluate our roads and records the ra�ng. The current PASER ra�ngs for the City of Brighton are posted on our website in an interac�ve map which is color coded. This map shows current PASER ra�ngs for all City streets, as well as, projected PASER ra�ngs. For further informa�on on PASER, please visit the State of Michigan’s website at: h�p://www.michigan.gov/tamc/

Good/Excellent Fair Poor

N

N

State St.

Walnut St.

Chestnut St.

N. 6th. St.

N. 7th. St.

N. 5th. St.

N. 4th. St.

N. 3rd. St.

1st. St.

S T R E E T S M I L L A G E F U N D S T R A C K I N G ( A S O F S E P T. 2 0 1 9 )

City of

Brighton Michigan

Replacement

CITY COUNCIL1st & 3rd Thursdays / 7:30 p.m. / City HallStudy session begins at 6:30 p.m.

DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY3rd Tuesdays / 7:15 a.m. / City Hall

PRINCIPAL SHOPPING DISTRICT1st Tuesdays / 7:45 a.m. / City Hall

BRIGHTON ARTS & CULTURE COMMISSION2nd Mondays / 5:30 p.m. / City Hall

PLANNING COMMISSION1st & 3rd Mondays / 7:00 p.m. / City Hall

ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS2nd Thursdays (as needed) / 7:00 p.m. / City Hall

Established in 1988, the City’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) works to maximize the economic potential of Downtown Brighton. Efforts focus on initiating and facilitating economic development/redevelopment and through the enhancement of the Downtown’s public spaces. The DDA has spearheaded numerous public improvements over its history including the original downtown streetscape, which is nearing 25 years of age, the ever-popular Tridge, multiple parking improvements, and The AMP, which has wrapped up its first concert season. These public amenities play an important role in supporting the availability of quality public spaces and the mix of uses that supports the City’s overall quality of life.

These investments are very visible and public. Oftentimes, these investments can prompt questions as to how they werepaid for. The DDA is funded through a financial tool called Tax Increment Financing (TIF). TIF Districts are an extremely common economic development tool used all across the United States. Put quite simply, the concept is, investment begets more investment. When new development occurs within select areas of the DDA, 50% of the growth in City property taxes is captured to be later reinvested within the district. The City continues to collect the original taxes (the base), plus the other 50% of growth.

In prioritizing the investment of these funds, the DDA takes a very collaborative and pragmatic approach. Focusing mostly on capital improvements, the DDA reviews City Council established vision and goals, existing needs, City planning documents, such as the Comprehensive Master Plan, existing and potential economic development opportunities, and other factors to identify its project priorities. What is not always realized, like the City, the DDA in recent years has made the City’s streets network an investment priority. The DDA has supported the resurfacing of Grand River Avenue from I-96 to Ore Creek, the reconstruction of Challis Road, and the reconstruction of Second Street. Additionally, the DDA has begun the planning process for the reconstruction of Main Street.

When it comes to enhancing the City of Brighton’s quality of life, the DDA and City Council share common goals rooted in adopted City Council goals and the Comprehensive Master Plan. The DDA is one of the many individuals/bodies that make up the exceptional team we have here in the City of Brighton. For more information visit www.downtownbrighton.org.

With each print newsletter, we will review the roles of the various departments/commissions/boards that make up and support Team Brighton. The Spring Issue will focus on the City’s Planning Commission.

DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULEF O R A G E N D A S & M I N U T E S S E E B R I G H T O N C I T Y. O R G

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CONTACT INFO200 N. FIRST ST. BRIGHTON, MI 48116 / 810-227-1911 / BRIGHTONCITY.ORG

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City of Brighton200 N. First Street Brighton, MI 48116