Council has recently scheduled a public hearing to receive public comment on the draft domestic fowl ordinance to be held on Monday, March 8, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.  A copy of the draft ordinance can be found at this link, and also below as part of my earlier post on this subject.  Despite reports in the Grand Rapids Press, Council has not approved any aspect of the ordinance.  After receiving public comment, I would expect Council to deliberate this matter further before ultimately making a decision in the next several months.  If you are unable to attend the public hearing but would still like to provide comments, please do not hesitate to post to my blog or send me an email directly at myoung@rockford.mi.us.

 The Rockford City Council met on February 8, 2010, as part of their regularly scheduled City Council meeting.  As discussed above, Council scheduled a formal public hearing to receive public comment on the proposed domesticated fowl ordinance.  Council also adopted an ordinance placing a six (6) month moratorium on any approvals associated with the new medical marijuana law.  During this six (6) month moratorium period, staff will research this subject matter in great detail and ultimately propose a draft ordinance, which would put standards on the distribution of medical marijuana as allowed by state statute.  Finally, Council adopted an ordinance clarifying an earlier regulation that prohibits the installation of private wells within the City limits or by customers of the City’s water system.

City residents have notified City Hall of recent calls being made soliciting donations for the “Rockford Area Fire Fighters Association.”    While this may be a valid fund raising event it is not sanctioned by the Rockford Fire Department and any monies raised will not benefit your local fire department. Please contact the Rockford Fire Department at 616-866-1553 with any questions you may have.

Over the past six (6) months, the City has received several requests from residents to allow the keeping of domesticated chickens.  Our current City ordinance restricts the keeping of animals other than customary house pets such as dogs, cats, birds, fish, hamsters, etc.  We are not alone in this request and I have been following the many communities throughout the State and how they evaluate the pros and cons of allowing the keeping of domesticated chickens on residential properties.  Based on my research, I have prepared a draft ordinance amendment for discussion purposes to begin this public dialog. (download a copy here)  I would expect that in the near future Council will ask for formal public comment at one of their upcoming Council meetings, which could be as early as February.  I will certainly let the public know through my blog the status of their review.  In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding this subject, we would welcome your input.  I will post any comments that come in on my blog and hopefully we can initiate a community discussion electronically prior to Council formally taking up this matter.

The City of Rockford is proud to announce that we have recently developed the first comprehensive municipal iPod Application in the country. The application can be downloaded free of charge from the iPod App Store by typing, Discover Rockford Michigan in the search engine.

This application provides information on shopping, dining, parks, Rockford Public School District, municipal services, and a wide variety of topics. There is even a section where residents and visitors can report a problem such as potholes, downed trees, or any other issue needing attention.

I would expect that we would provide a second update to this application early next year as new businesses sign up.

After a lengthy process, the Rockford City Council recently adopted the fiscal year 2009-10 budget.  Despite challenging financial times, the Council is very proud to present a budget that maintains the current millage rate at 10.9 mills.  This is the 20th year in a row the City of Rockford has either lowered or maintained its millage rate.  The City of Rockford’s millage is the third lowest in the County for those communities that do not levy an income tax.  The total budget represents $7.25 million including transfers for seventeen (17) separate funds.  The upcoming budget will see $478,000 in capital expenditures.  A significant portion of that amount will go towards the purchase of a new fire engine.  To help balance the budget, Council has authorized the utilization of the Budget Stabilization Fund that was created many years ago for just such an economic situation as we find ourselves in today.  This budget is part of a two year strategy to weather the financial crisis we are experiencing throughout the State.

As mentioned above, this year’s process was very challenging, which has been aggravated by reductions in funding from the State of Michigan.  This is the seventh year in a row that we have seen no increase in State funding and in fact, the Governor recently cut $40 million in State shared revenue, which is designed to go to local communities.  In 2009, 80% of all of our parcels saw a decrease in value.  As a result, this is the second year in a row that we saw an overall reduction in revenues.  State funding for road maintenance/construction has been reduced for a fourth year in a row and the stagnant growth in new construction has also affected tax revenue.  We have seen a two-thirds reduction in new construction since 2006.   Despite these challenges and a reduction in investment earnings due to a sluggish economy, we are pleased to present a budget that does not reduce services to our taxpayers.

Notable projects that will be initiated in the upcoming year include renovations to Garden Club Park, the installation of energy efficient lights and windows at City Hall, resurfacing of several roads including Gibraltar, Marcell Drive, and South Monroe Street, the purchase of a new fire truck, repairs to the Rockford Dam, and the Rum Creek bridges over Main and Monroe Street, upgrades to our Water Treatment Plant, painting of the interior of the Wolverine water tower and remodeling of the Krause Memorial Library.

As we have reported over the last several months, the closing of the Wolverine World Wide (WWW) tannery has been a significant hit to the City’s Sewer Fund.  The closing of the tannery has resulted in a 25% reduction in revenues to the Sewer Fund.  As a result of the tannery closing and inflationary increase in operating the sewer system, Council has recently approved a 28% sewer rate increase.  This equates to approximately $10 per household per month.  The sewer budget that was presented to Council includes no capital expenditures and the elimination of the Utility Director position in an effort to reduce cost.  Certainly the ultimate redevelopment of the Wolverine tannery property will have a positive impact on the sewer fund.  Rates are evaluated each year based on actual cost so additional revenue associated with the redevelopment of the tannery property will have a positive effect on the Sewer Fund.  Looking forward, we also have a large bond issue of approximately $200,000 per year that will be paid off in four (4) years, which will also have a positive impact on the Sewer Fund.  On the water side, the water fund is more stable and as a result, Council has approved a 3% rate increase for the upcoming fiscal year.