July 28th Muskegon City Council Meeting
By: Emily Guiles
The Muskegon City Council met on July 28th and on the agenda was discussion to buy new police cruisers, and a resolution in support of the new parking strategy.
Regarding the new police cruisers, the council moved to approve the purchase of three Chevy Caprice cruisers from Berger Chevrolet, which is the Mi-Deal contract holder. The total purchase price of these three new vehicles would be 84,993 dollars, which is coming out of the equipment budget.
The police force decided to go with the Chevy caprice because it is one of the only police vehicles left that has remained rear wheel drive. 25 percent of the police’s fleet is SUVS, however some parts of the city have been having trouble with their vehicles.
Commissioner German was concerned about all of the cars being black, and the citizens not being able to see the police cruisers at night, and suggested that they put more reflectors on each car.
Also up for discussion was the resolution in support of the new parking strategy. The new parking strategy is a long term plan that the planning department has recently completed its final draft of, and would like to adopt it into the city’s master plan. The plan will help developers and citizens in the future. Enabling them to build easily and develop the Muskegon Area. It was agreed upon by the council to approve the new parking plans, however they will not go into effect right away. The new plan must be reviewed by other entities and neighboring townships before it can be adopted. These entities will have 42 days to review the plan, after 42 days there will be a public hearing at the planning commission, where they will make a recommendation to the city council to proceed or to deny.
Also on the agenda was the purchase of two Henderson One Way Front Snow Plows as per specification. The delivery of the two snow plows is to be made in mid January. The staff recommendation is to authorize the order/purchase. However the council decided to discuss this matter in a private meeting to take place after the public council meeting. The Council also decided to discuss the City Manager’s annual performance review in a private meeting as well.