Request for Proposals: Branding and Marketing Project
March 15, 2024
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
BRANDING AND MARKETING PROJECT
The City of Ishpeming invites qualified branding and marketing firms to submit proposals for the development of a compelling and authentic community brand. This project aims to enhance the city’s visibility, credibility, and market presence through a comprehensive branding and marketing strategy.
Pre-Submission Conference & FAQS
The City will hold a virtual pre-submission conference for interested bidders on March 27, 2024 at 1PM. Attendance is highly encouraged, but not required. To receive a link to the meeting, RSVP at https://bit.ly/IshpemingRFP.
Written questions may be submitted at cathysmith@ishpemingcity.org using the Subject: “Marketing Proposal Questions” until March 30, 2024, 1PM. The City will provide written answers to all questions within 72 hours.
Final Proposals Due
Proposals must be received at Ishpeming City Hall not later than April 9, 2024 at 5PM
Click the link below to view the full Request for Proposals (RFP):
NO COMPOST WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 2024 FROM THE ISHPEMING AREA WASTEWATER FACILITY
March 14, 2024
NO COMPOST WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM THE
ISHPEMING AREA WASTEWATER FACILITY
FOR 2024
Please call 906-486-4391 with any questions.
Notice of Public Hearing: Sale/Transfer of property 429 E. New York Street: Special Council Meeting 3-20-24 at 4:30 pm
March 11, 2024
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Ishpeming City Council Special meeting on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Ishpeming City Hall, 100 E. Division Street, to consider oral or written comments regarding the proposed sale/transfer of the following described public property in the City of Ishpeming:
Lot 4, Assessor’s Plat of East New York Street, Ishpeming, MI, commonly known as 429 East New York Street, Parcel ID No. 52-51-559-004-00
Written comments may be submitted to the City Manager’s office at 100 E. Division Street prior to the meeting. Questions may be directed to the City Manager’s office at the above address or 906/485-1091, Ext. 203.
Notice of Receiving Public Comment for Tennis Court Grant Application: Special Council Meeting 3-20-2024 at 4:30 pm
March 11, 2024
NOTICE OF RECEIVING PUBLIC COMMENT
The City of Ishpeming is applying for a grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for the Tennis Courts Project located at the Ishpeming Playgrounds. The application is requesting funding for improvements to the tennis courts and other site improvements.
The Ishpeming City Council will receive public comment on this grant application at their special meeting on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. in the Ishpeming City Hall Conference Room, 100 E. Division Street, Ishpeming, MI 49849. Written comments can be submitted to the City Manager’s Office at the same address prior to the meeting.
For additional information on the grant application, please contact Ishpeming City Hall at 906-485-1091, Ext. 203.
March 2024 Progress Report / Update for 2022 Audit
March 6, 2024
The 2022 audit highlighted several material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, and issues of non-compliance relating to financial reporting, statutory timelines, and internal controls for the City of Ishpeming. The specific causes named, in the report, for these conditions consisted of staffing shortfalls related to turnover and limited functional knowledge of finance and accounting.
It is crucial for the City of Ishpeming to take these findings seriously, applying immediate and methodical measures to rectify the concerns. Since receiving the audit in summer 2023, City administrators have been hard at work to do just that: addressing the specific issues raised, and strengthening the City Finance Office and its outputs.
The update below includes a reminder of findings presented in August 2023, as well as a new, most recent, update as of March 6, 2024.
Update as shared on August 16, 2023
The City plans to take action to address the financial staffing and functional knowledge concerns that were highlighted in the audit in the following ways:
- Enhanced staffing expertise, especially with the development of Grant Getschow
- Enhanced financial reporting to city council
- Ongoing training and development for all employees working within the City finance department
- Strengthened internal controls related to budgets and banking including bank account reconciliations and more sophisticated invoice processing
- Development of an internal control system to reconcile property tax collections and disbursements
- Collaboration with external experts including accounting firms, other local governments, and Michigan Treasury
- Pursue deficit elimination plans with the council and support of Michigan Treasury
March 6, 2024 Update
The City is continuing to provide ongoing training and development, strengthen internal controls, and collaborate with external experts. Additionally, the City continues to methodically address the 2022 audit concerns and is taking additional action(s) in the following ways:
- Achieved a fully staffed and highly qualified office of financial professionals including a new city treasurer through internal promotion, two new account clerks (DPW and assistant/deputy treasurer), and the reassignment of account clerk (utility billing).
- Segregation of Duties has been strengthened specifically in the accounts payables process where one employee now enters payables into the system, a separate employee journalizes and reviews the invoices, and yet a different employee issues the checks.
- We are continuing to look for ways to strengthen checks and balances, which can be a challenge in a small office. As our new Utility Biller, Treasury Clerk, and DPW Clerks are trained in, the New Treasurer is stepping into their role more. As this happens duties and workflow are being split up between the Finance Director and the Treasurer to separate key functions like data entry and reconciliation and create checks and balances regarding cash disbursement and cash deposits.
- Completed an initial review of all financial policies, procedures, and workflows, with plans to update as necessary.
- Clearly communicating with City residents the results of the water billing internal investigation and what they can expect as the City moves forward with proper billing procedures in place.
One of the main concerns brought to light in the 2022 audit was a lack of timely tax disbursements and an orphaned balance left in the tax collection account that would eventually need to be identified and distributed to the proper entities. As of February 28th, City has successfully reconciled tax disbursements from the 2021 and 2022 tax years and in doing so has identified the undistributed funds in question. Roughly $24k will be distributed to the City’s general fund, $38k to the DDA, $9k to the Cities Utility Funds, and $26k of Delinquent personal property tax receipts from previous tax years collected in 2022 has been distributed to the community. The City is working to calculate interest spreads on the delinquent personal property receipts and has disbursed the funds (completed the week of February 26, 2024). This is a huge benchmark for the rebuilding of the city finance offices and combined with timely disbursements carried out throughout the 2023 tax year puts the city back in excellent standing as a steward of public resources.
The City of Ishpeming will continue to provide relevant updates to the 2022 audit rectifications periodically and expects all concerns raised in the 2022 audit to be fully resolved by summer 2024.
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Water Utility Billing Update (March 2024)
March 6, 2024
Residents and business owners in the City of Ishpeming can expect their water utility bill to be clearer than ever before.
The City has been installing and implementing new radio-read water meters, some of which have been paid for through a Michigan Department of Treasury Financially Distressed Cities, Villages and Townships Grant (program funded October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2024). This equipment improvement will significantly improve timeliness and increase accuracy for water billing by using radio-read technology to achieve “actual reads.” Before this infrastructure upgrade, water billing was sometimes based on “estimated reads.” Up through January 2022 851 new meters in homes had been installed. In January 2023 the total sat at 967. In 2024 we have installed 242 new meters in homes, bringing the total to 1644 to date along with many more radios on existing smart meters, up to 30 in one day this February. Installing these new meters does require an appointment and access to the inside of home.
Additionally, water billing accuracies are now enhanced because all residences and businesses are newly assessed and properly validated and categorized for billing rates. As part of this recent assessment, the staff discovered some businesses were being billed for water usage at a residential rate and corrected the records. Going forward, residences and businesses in the City of Ishpeming will be billed based on actual read data and within their validated rate category.
The City believes residents have a right to timely and accurate billing. This new equipment supports this requirement. It is important to note that the City will not be asking any resident or business owner to back pay for water usage due to a failure to collect accurate readings on the City’s behalf. Credits to accounts will be issued by the City to residents and business owners who have previously been incorrectly billed more than their actual usage before the more accurate radio-read meters were installed. This billing correction will span 2022 to the installation of new radio-read meters, which began during October 2019.
Please direct any questions to the City’s hardworking billing department by calling (906) 485-1091 or by visiting City Hall (101 E Division Street) between 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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NOTICE OF BIDS: WATER SERVICE LINE INVENTORY POTHOLING
March 5, 2024
WATER SERVICE LINE INVENTORY POTHOLING
City of Ishpeming (Owner) is requesting Bids for the construction of the following Project:
Water Service Line Inventory Potholing
I19-02480
Bids for the construction of the Project will be received at the Ishpeming City Hall located at 100 E. Division St., Ishpeming, Michigan 49849, until Wednesday, March 27th 2024 at 1:00 PM local time. At that time the Bids received will be publicly opened and read.
The Project includes the following Work:
Utility pot holing via vacuum extraction for purposes of determining water service material types on the house and street sides of the existing curb stops, as well as determination of the material type at the water main for a random sampling of water service throughout the City of Ishpeming service area.
Bids are requested for the following single prime Contract: City of Ishpeming Water Service Line Inventory Potholing
OBTAINING THE BIDDING DOCUMENTS
The Issuing Office for the Bidding Documents is: U.P. Engineers & Architects, Inc., 424 S. Pine Street, Ishpeming, MI 49849, (906) 485-1011, Kevin Nancarrow, P.E., knancarrow@upea.com
Prospective Bidders may obtain or examine the Bidding Documents at the Issuing Office on Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM Eastern time, and may obtain copies of the Bidding Documents from the Issuing Office as described below. Partial sets of Bidding Documents will not be available from the Issuing Office. Neither Owner nor Engineer will be responsible for full or partial sets of Bidding Documents, including addenda, if any, obtained from sources other than the Issuing Office.
Bidding documents also may be examined at the following Builder Exchanges: Delta County, Iron Mountain, Marquette, Lansing, McGraw -Hill Dodge, and Construction Association of Michigan; and Builder Exchanges are authorized to share the contract documents with other exchanges.
Printed copies of the Bidding Documents may be obtained from the Issuing Office by paying a $100.00 non-refundable handling fee for each set of contract documents. Alternatively, bidding documents are available as portable document format [PDF] files for a non-refundable charge of $50.00. Make deposit checks for Bidding Documents payable to U.P. Engineers & Architects, Inc.
Bid security shall be furnished in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders. The Bid Bond or certified check payable to Owner shall be in an amount no less than 5% of the maximum bid as a guarantee, that if the Bid is accepted, the Bidder will execute and file the Contract, Performance and Payment Bonds, and Insurance Certification, as required by the Contract Documents within (10) days after the Notice of Award.
The Owner reserves the right to waive any informality or to reject any or all bids.
INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS
For all further requirements regarding bid submittal, qualifications, procedures, and contract award, refer to the Instructions to Bidders that are included in the Bidding Documents.
PREBID CONFERENCE
There will NOT be a mandatory prebid meeting for this project. All bidder inquiries are to be directed in writing via email to knancarrow@upea.com. Prebid correspondence will be accepted until Friday, March 7th 2024 at 1:00 PM eastern time zone, at which time a prebid Q&A summary narrative will be compiled and distributed to all interested bidders and exchanges. To ensure you receive this summary, please provide an email request to knancarrow@upea.com.
GOVERNMENT FUNDING
Financing for this project is being provided by the State of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) Grant. EGLE may, therefore, require approval by its representatives of all Contracts, attachments, and similar documents, all partial and final payments, and all change orders. Davis Bacon wage rates are required for this project.
Ishpeming City Manager Open Office Hours
February 27, 2024
You are invited to attend open office hours with Ishpeming City Manager Craig Cugini.
This is an opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns about our city with its city manager in an open communication. Office Hours will take place once every two months in two distinct formats: a drop-in open house style and scheduled meetings for individuals with specific issues/concerns to RSVP for one-on-one conversation with Mr. Cugini.
The first event will be a scheduled time for one-on-one meetings:
Thursday, February 29
Ishpeming City Hall Council Chambers (upstairs)
3:00pm – 5:00pm (Must RSVP)
If you would like to meet with the City Manager, please visit https://calendly.com/citymanagerishpeming/open-office-hours to reserve your time or attend one of the open house dates in the future.
Al Quaal Tubing Hill Update (1/26)
January 26, 2024
Al Quaal Tubing Hill Update
Due to the current warm temperatures and lack of snow, the City does not believe it is safe to operate the Tubing Hill this weekend.
The hill has been groomed and there is enough staff hired to run the hill, however, with current conditions, the bottom portion of the hill is very slushy. The slush and warm temperatures have made the hill slow-going with tubers only able to make it ¾ of the way down the hill and unable to walk to the pick-up point.
Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to evaluate the conditions of the Tubing Hill for its opening.
Public Participation Plan 2023
January 25, 2024
The City of Ishpeming is looking to hear from its residents!
Every year, the City reviews its Public Participation Plan and invites residents to do the same.
It is important that the public be engaged throughout these city planning and development processes as Ishpeming continues to grow. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation shares some ways to stay involved in City planning, including participating in open meetings, getting involved in boards and commissions, and attending public hearings.
The City of Ishpeming’s Public Participation Plan is available for viewing here: