is how it got from $9.5 million to $3.8 million. There were two outstanding issues – sewer only customers and non-rate revenue. The judge on those two issues didn't award any damages. It was awarded in the water loss issue. “That dealt with his (O'Brien's) interpretation of a township ordinance,” Hampton continued, “for water that is lost through leaky pipes, water main breaks, water used during construction, that it shouldn't be paid for by water and sewer customers but should be paid for by the township's general fund – so he awarded Kickham Hanley, i.e., the class, $3.8 million.” Hampton said he will recommend the township file an appeal of that award to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The township has 21 days from when the judgement is filed to appeal. Over the last several years, Kickham Hanley PLLC of Royal Oak has filed water and sewer lawsuits against several other municipalities, in the name of a resident, as class
action suits. They came to settlements with Royal Oak, for $2 million; Ferndale, for $4.2 million; Waterford for $1.4 million; and Birmingham, for $2.8 million, among other communities. A class action lawsuit against the city of Westland was dismissed.
RFP for review of city's retail plan set The Birmingham City Commission unanimously approved a request for proposal (RFP) for a review of the downtown retail area, and directed staff to issue the RFP on Monday, August 27. The commission had sent the RFP back to the planning board for revisions and details at their meeting on August 13, and while some commissioners put a magnifying glass to the RFP once again, they did find a consensus after fine-tuning the language in order to make it clear and focused. Planning director Jana Ecker
noted in a memo they had incorporated in the commission's goal to determine how best to organize the existing redline retail district in order to continue developing a pedestrianoriented experience in downtown Birmingham. “Retail isn't dead – it's just changing,” pointed out mayor pro tem Patty Bordman. Commissioner Mark Nickita said it was important in the RFP to “strengthen the downtown retail environment. We also need to find out the size of leasable spaces. We've done things a certain way for 20 years. I don't think this is restricting it at all.”
Unsightly hiccups at Barnum Park ending Birmingham residents living near Barnum Park will hopefully be appeased as new grass takes root and the area bordered by an unsightly fence is decreased, according to Lauren Wood, director of public
services for the city of Birmingham. Wood said the problems began with a regrading project last October 2017. “We were originally redoing all the grassland and open spaces last fall,” she said. “We've found other places” for the users of the soccer, football and baseball fields at the park. The regrading project was originally approved for $21,900 by the Birmingham City Commission in August 2017, for field improvements to be done by Home Field Turf, a landscaping company in Clarkston. The repair and regrading work at Barnum Park began in October. Wood said the issues at the park were not apparent until the spring. “This spring was extremely wet, and we had a lot of heavy rains, warm ups and then cool downs,” she said. “We noticed some ponding water facing Pierce Street in the easterly area.” She said the work had to be redone. “We said 'we should do this right,' so they regraded it again. They added drain tiles so the water won't
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