City Council Meeting Date: July 5, 2016
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Title
Consideration of Waterford Township Settlement Agreement Regarding Annexation Agreement.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council pass a motion to direct Mayor Graham and the City Staff to consider negotiating a new orderly annexation agreement with Waterford Township in addition to the settlement and release agreement between the City and Waterford Township as outlined in Council Member Zweifel’s motion dated February 1, 2016.
Summary Report:
The Waterford Township Board is requesting the Northfield City Council consider their proposal as outlined in attachment 1 “Waterford 1” that includes supplemental information including a court ruling they presented as supporting their position. Additionally, the Waterford Township Board provided the existing annexation agreement with this as shown on attachment 2. Their concept of additional twenty-five year payout included in their framework proposal was based on the Greenvale Annexation of 2009. See attachment 3 “Greenvale Township Annex Agr Resolution 2009-015 (2)” as highlighted in yellow for the relevant section.
The Mayor and City Administrator are recommending the Council alternatively pass a motion to direct Mayor Graham and the City Staff to negotiate a new orderly annexation agreement with Waterford Township in addition to the previously authorized negotiation of a settlement and release agreement between the City and Waterford Township as outlined in Council Member Zweifel’s motion dated February 1, 2016. The prior action to designate the Mayor and staff did not explicitly give the authority to include orderly annexation terms and conditions within the negotiations. The Mayor and City Administrator are suggesting that a final agreement be negotiated directly to bring back to council rather than considering action to the Council for each proposal. The City Council ultimately has the authority to accept or reject as does Waterford Township.
The Mayor and City Administrator initially met with the township on May 26 to introduce ourselves and to entertain the previous action of the City Council of February 2, 2016 (see attachment 5 “Motion M2016-029 - Waterford Township”). It was a productive meeting and Waterford Township was open to a settlement agreement but indicated they had an expectation that there must also be an orderly annexation agreement to be approved with any settlement agreement. Waterford Township Board had a work session on June 2, 2016 to discuss potential terms and conditions to bring forward. The Mayor and City Administrator met again at their township board meeting of June 16, 2016 at which time they presented the proposal previously mentioned. They indicated that they were requesting this to go the full Northfield City Council for consideration rather than considering a counterproposal from the Mayor and City Administrator.
The Mayor and City Administrator are not suggesting discussing the legal arguments or other terms and conditions proposed at the regular council meeting. Alternatively, the Mayor and City Administrator feel a more productive and likely resolution will result by re-committing to the process previously suggested by the City Council to have the designees attempt to work toward a final agreement to bring back for consideration. There has been positive goodwill established to this point so we feel that it is beneficial to continue this effort.
Staff has provided a matrix of Council actions and discussions for reference (attachment 4) if the Council would like to reference back to more historical actions. The 2010 action of the City Council was included as a reference as attachment number 7 “Res. 2010-079” that is the last official position of the City.
Alternative Options:
Discuss individual positions to attempt to create a majority approval direction on a settlement agreement during regular meeting. This is not recommended as outlined in the memorandum.
Financial Impacts:
N/A
Tentative Timelines:
The Mayor and City Administrator would consider this an ongoing priority project to place attention to work toward resolve in a timely manner. If approved by the council as recommended, we’d request a follow up meeting with Waterford Township to continue the negotiations.