The Chelsea City Council’s choice for which firm will be hired to perform an operational audit of the Chelsea Police Department was tabled at the April 19 meeting held via Zoom.
Three firms responded to the request for proposal (RFP) – Bobcat Training and Consulting (Tallahassee, Fla.), Hillard Heintze (Chicago) and McGrath Consulting (Wonder Lake, Ill.) with prices for the audit ranging from about $29,800 to about $36,800. (Those proposals can be found here in the city council section.)
The RFP was developed based on a list of items brought forth by Council Member Jennifer Kwas and by a 6-1 vote was approved on Feb. 16. (Council Member Charles Wiseley was the lone no vote.) The full agenda item can be found at the end of the story.
However, on Monday, when a discussion of the firms took place, Council Member Jane Pacheco requested that additional questions be presented and answered by each firm and requested that the City Council conduct interviews of the firms before making a final decision.
Following a lengthy discussion that can be found here, (in city meeting videos) the City Council voted 6-1 to table the motion to hire a firm until the next meeting. Prior to that meeting, standardized questions from City Council members can be submitted for consideration at the May 3 regular meeting.
These questions are expected to be on the agenda, and then to be discussed and voted upon. Depending on the outcome, city staff would then coordinate a date and time to interview the firms and these questions would be asked during that interview.
As he has done in the past, Wiseley voted against the motion.
Before this vote, the City Council heard presentations from Andrew Thomson of Chelsea Community Education and Julia Roberts of Western-Washtenaw Area Value Express, which can be heard here by going to city meeting videos.
In other business items, the City Council held a public hearing for a commercial tax abatement for the Rockwell Building commercial rehabilitation exemption and then unanimously adopted two resolutions pertaining to that exemption. In addition, also by a unanimous vote, the City Council adopted a resolution to approve a brownfield plan for the parcel at 301 N. East Street, where the developer plans to include 51 market value apartments.
In addition, the City Council approved on second reading the rezoning request for two contiguous properties on Buchanan Street and West North Street owned by Jiffy Milling Company.
The request was to change the zoning from RS-2 (moderate density single family) to I-1 (general industrial), and it was previously approved by the Chelsea Planning Commission.
Last on the action item agenda was a utility rate discussion during which City Manager John Hanifan gave an overview of the city’s three utility funds – electric, water and wastewater. No rate increases are planned for these funds, and the full presentation can be found below.
