Mount Clemens commission approves delinquent-bill assessments, raises election worker pay, renews stop-loss insurance; introduces repeal of Cable Commission

The Mount Clemens City Commission voted on a package of administrative and fiscal measures and introduced an ordinance to dissolve the city’s cable commission after the school district ended its intergovernmental agreement.

Special assessments for collection: the commission approved placing delinquent accounts on the 2024 summer tax roll, with staff reporting $18,177.94 in delinquent utility bills and $103,800.38 in delinquent general bills. Staff broke down delinquent general bill types as follows: blight removal $447.30; false alarms $21,712.50; downtown maintenance $14,008.36; sidewalks approximately $4,690; weed cutting $23,009.66; vacant registrations $18,000; rental registrations $9,008.25; delinquent enforcement $10,003.22. Staff noted a 15% transfer fee applies to delinquent billings except sidewalk invoices. The motion to place the assessments on the tax roll passed on roll call.

Election worker compensation: the commission unanimously approved a resolution increasing pay for election workers effective July 1, 2024. The new rates: precinct and absentee counting board chairpersons $275 per day (up from $200); precinct election inspectors $225 per day (up from $165); absentee counting board inspectors $200 per day (up from $150); early voting receiving board $75 per day (new). City staff said the increase would add about $2,660 per election and that the change was included in the February budget. A city official noted the last increase occurred in 2021.

Stop-loss insurance renewal: the commission authorized option 1 of the Sun Life stop-loss renewal and directed city officials to execute the agreement. Staff explained that the city participates in a Pareto Health group captive (Legend RE) with Sun Life as the funding carrier. Staff said fixed fees are expected to increase about 9% (roughly $35,600) for the contract period 07/01/2024–06/30/2025, and that total stop-loss premium rose about 1.4% from the prior year; the increase in the updated renewal reflected a corrected employee count (packet listed 89 employees; updated renewal listed 102). Staff emphasized stop-loss insurance protects the city against catastrophic claims and that declining to renew would leave the city exposed to large claims.

Cable commission repeal (first reading): commissioners introduced an ordinance to repeal and dissolve the City of Mount Clemens Cable Commission. Staff said the 1991 agreement between the city and Mount Clemens schools, which created the commission to provide programming for public education/government channels, ended when Mount Clemens schools terminated the agreement effective 06/30/2024, and that termination removed the need for the commission. The motion set the ordinance for second reading and publication July 1 and specified it would be effective upon publication. Commissioners and community members thanked the volunteers for decades of service and expressed regret the commission is ending.

Other items: the commission approved the schedule of regular meetings for fiscal 2024–2025, approved purchases and payments on consent, and heard a city manager report listing downtown street repairs, recreation programming and a SEMCOG grant application to assess downtown sidewalks.

The motions passed by roll call; the ordinance to dissolve the cable commission was introduced and set for a second reading and publication July 1.