The East Lansing City Council will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 410 Abbot Road, to approve the proposed budget for the 2012-13 financial year and to decide on the future of the East Lansing Public Library.
However, before the scheduled weekly meeting, the council first will hold a work session to meet with Strathmore Development Co. President Scott Chappelle, who is orchestrating the $105 million City Center II redevelopment project.
Strathmore was granted a predevelopment agreement with the city to allow demolition of the current building located at 303 Abbot Road, but could not move forward with construction until Chappelle completed a due-diligence report. Councilmember Don Power said Chappelle had some concerns with making some of the information requested by council public.
“He took the list of all the due diligence and wanted to restrict a large percentage of essential items to not being publicly disclosed, or at a date after the sale, which would be too late to change anything,” Power said. “(But) that would be imprudent on our part.”
Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett said it would be the first meeting the council has had with Chappelle in a formal session since voting to allow the predevelopment process.
“(It) is an opportunity for the council to have a public meeting to set parameters with how to deal with proprietary or otherwise private information,” he said.
The project has been moving forward since April, when the due-diligence period first was agreed on. Chappelle said in an email that he has received approval for an asbestos remediation contract, allowing for workers to move forward with a process that will take about five weeks.
“The building will then be demolished, thereby completing the first phase of demolition sometime in late July,” he said.
In the second meeting, council will determine whether the preliminary budget for 2013 is approved and also will vote to approve a millage that will help fund the East Lansing Public Library.
Triplett introduced the proposed millage, which would occur over two years. The first would be a one-mill levy to support the library for the 2012-13 budget, followed by a second mill to be voted on by citizens.
The budget has been discussed by council members and city staff during the council’s budget work sessions, which began in March. Throughout that period, the council worked to hash out some of the finer details, fine-tuning the document to best suit the city’s interests.
Triplett said the proposed budget is tailored to help the city beyond 2013.
“There’s a tendency to look at budgets as one-year snapshots rather than as long term,” he said. “And this budget is a continuation of how to help us reach our obligation of higher service.”
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