Adrian City Commission OK's 3 street work special assessment districts
ADRIAN — After receiving comments and feedback from the public last week, the Adrian City Commission moved ahead with confirming the costs associated with three street improvement projects and adding those costs to the city’s special assessment district tax rolls.
A fourth road project was not acted upon by the commission and was tabled until the commission’s next meeting Monday, Feb. 20.
Public hearings were conducted by the city commission during its Feb. 6 regular meeting to hear comments regarding the reconstruction of Cherry Street from West Maple Avenue to River Street, Summer Street from West Maple Avenue to River Street, South Scott Street from College Avenue to Vine Street, and Maumee Court.
The commission did not act on the Maumee Court reconstruction project, citing revisions to the original calculations of the project costs, Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott said. There was some feedback heard from residents regarding the road work on Maumee Court. Residents who have additional comments about the Maumee Court road work will be able to express those Feb. 20 when the public hearing for that specific project reopens. The commission will take those comments into consideration when acting upon the special assessment rolls.
Four people addressed the city commission about the costs of the special assessment projects. There were no residents who spoke on behalf of the work planned for South Scott Street.
The cost of each project are:
For the Cherry Street, the total cost of the project is $69,844. Of that amount, $31,789.92 will be assessed on properties according to the frontage of land benefiting from the improvement, a memorandum from the city said. The city will pay $38,054.08 through local street funds.
For the Summer Street reconstruction, the total cost of the project is $56,923.61. Of that amount, $24,692.39 will be assessed. The city will pay $32,231.22 through local street funds.
For the South Scott Street reconstruction, the total cost of the project is $438,495.28. Of that amount, $69,337.59 will be assessed. The city will pay $369,157.69 through local street funds.
Revised calculated amounts pertaining to Maumee Court have been mailed out to residents in that area, Elliott said.
Special assessment districts are a designated area where a majority of property owners agree to allow a government agency to levy a property tax in exchange for a specific service. In this case, the service that was provided was the improvement of public roads, which consisted of the installation of curb and gutters, resurfacing and base stabilization.
With authorization of the assessments by the city commission, costs of the projects levied against those homeowners will be divided into 10 equal installments, a memo from the city said, with the rate of interest being set at 6% annually, according to Adrian’s code of ordinances.
Residents who spoke during last week’s meeting generally agreed that each of the roads needed some kind of improvement. However, residents raised concerns about the fees, assessment charges and what some called a lack of communication from the city regarding the special assessment district labeling. One of the public speakers called the quality of the workmanship along Maumee Court, “poor at best.”
Each of the three special assessment districts were approved by the commission following the public hearings in a 5-1 roll vote. Commissioner Mary Roberts was absent from the meeting. The lone “no” vote for Cherry, Summer and South Scott streets came from Commissioner Gordon Gauss.
“The issues (expressed by the residents) came up during public comment and I think we should consider those further,” Gauss said. “The problem I have with the way we ran the agenda, not just tonight, but how we usually do, is we open a public hearing and we say we are going to take comments and consider them. And then we immediately have the vote. I think that I would rather see us have the public hearing, listen to the comments, consider them and vote at the next meeting. That way we have time to really consider the comments and take a look at these issues.
“I would just like more time to consider (the public comments) and get a legal opinion, if need be.”
Gauss said he has expressed such a frustration of his to the commission in the past when it comes to the way in which public hearings are conducted.
“I hope that the process will change in the future,” he said.
In regards to Maumee Court, Gauss clarified, the street is a circular roadway, whereas Cherry, Summer and South Scott streets are straight line roads. Adrian’s engineering services department, he said, requested a re-measurement of Maumee Court to make sure it is correct with the final amount of the special assessment roll, which was originally calculated out to a total cost of $228,737.82. Of that amount, $53,908.74 was to have been assessed on properties. The city was then to have paid the remaining $174,829.08 through local street funds.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian City Commission approves 3 street special assessments
