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Good evening. I call to order the August 11, 2026 ported city council meeting and honor of all denominations and personal beliefs. And as we recognize the importance of fair elections to our democracy, we also acknowledge our local poll workers. Please stand for a moment of personal introspection and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.

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Please join me in the pledge.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

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And if I could please ask the clerk to call the roll.

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Yes, Madam Mayor, I'll start with Burns.

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Here.

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We have no proclamations this evening, so we will move along to the opportunity for statement of citizens, if anyone would like to approach the council, now is the appropriate time.

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Good evening, welcome.

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My first time here.

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I've been a 40s resident for 48 years.

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I'm a retired minister from the new Epistolic Church on 3600 Westmellum.

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Last year in the springtime, the city had sidewalk and road repair done from.

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I know these from angling road to 131 bridge.

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They re-did some of the sidewalks to drive ways and so forth, and our church was one of them.

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My position in the church is I take care of the building, the inside the outside contractors,

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and what they did, I've been trying to get ahold of, I got ahold of Kendra from the city here,

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Because a driveway is not right. There is a major major dip in it. You pull in and it goes like this, and

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It was not like that before. I

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Have been trying since August of last year to get somebody to come out and look at this

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I've been down to the city of Portiture four times

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I was here last month on July the 14th and talked to Kendra and

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And she said, I'll have an engineer call you.

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I've heard that since August of last year.

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We had a funeral there, there's passed Saturday,

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a well of 750 people.

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And every car that came out of that parking lot,

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hit that dip because I stopped the traffic.

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And every car that hit it, it just,

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that's why I'm here today.

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I'm asking on behalf of the church, if somebody could kindly come out and meet me there to look at it and have a decision be made on what to do with.

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I'm the only church, only driveway, on Millum Road, that has complaint.

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But we're the only driveway that holds 150 cars at a time, 100 cars at a time.

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Once somebody sees what I'm talking about, you would justify it. I'm quite sure the problem.

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They indicated like a 2% grade, that doesn't mean anything to me.

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I don't know what 2%, 5%, 10, 50, whatever it is. I don't know what that is.

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But I know it was not like that before they started. It was a perfectly dry incline.

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Now the plow comes in, he's got a, his blade comes in, he does this number.

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And it's just, I hope he can see the frustration, not just my part, but the whole congregation

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has asked me to do, they want to know when it's going to be fixed or somebody come and look

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at it.

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All right.

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That's by Agenda.

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You did it.

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All right.

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We appreciate you coming in.

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I'm sorry.

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You've had a year of frustration with the city.

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The city council is a great place to come to get immediate reaction or if you could

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your contact information with the city.

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Have a great regard to my name, a number, and I'll take one.

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You'll give one to our interim.

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Good.

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Hello, Portage City Council. I'm Chandra Kinney. I am the district manager at the Kalamazoo Conservation District.

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Every five years, the Kalamazoo Conservation District seeks input on natural resources, conservation concerns within Kalamazoo County.

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And thus we have just launched our Kalamazoo County Natural Resource Assessment Survey, which I am working to get out into the community.

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This helps guide the strategic five-year-long range plan for the Kalamazoo Conservation District and so we are gathering input from all residents, landowners, farmers, and municipalities across the county.

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And we would love for many residents and municipality members from the Portage area to be included in this feedback.

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This helps to ensure that our conservation district is growing properly with our community.

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Thus, I have brought some of these guys that has one that QRL code on this side has more

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information about the programs and services we currently offer and then on this side here it

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is a QR code to take our current survey and then I've also brought some paper versions.

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Anyone is also able to access this survey on our website at Kalamazoo Conservation.org and I will

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ahead and leave some behind us. Well, for you guys to distribute. Thank you. You can leave

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both of those with our city clerk. We also have an environmental board that would be very interested

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in participating. I'm sure. So thank you for joining us this evening.

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Perfect. Thank you so much. Still an opportunity for statement as citizens.

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Good evening.

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I've lived in forwardage for 51 years and I love my city but there's something that I don't love

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And that's the amount of time it takes to get code enforcement issues corrected.

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The system you're using now was severely outdated.

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You're relying on the post office to deliver notices to individuals that have violations.

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And we all know that the post office is not adequate at the best right now.

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And may I reported a truck in our neighborhood that had a flat tire.

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The city came out and made contact with the owner, the owner said the truck belonged to the sun.

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I don't care that this truck belongs to your son.

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It's in your driveway. That truck is still there in August.

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It now has two flat tires.

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The house across the street for me had a sewer repair,

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and as a result a tree had to be taken out and the front lawn was totally destroyed.

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The lawn was seated, but the house belongs to renters.

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and without water, grass doesn't grow.

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Well, weeds came in, and I reported the weeds.

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And in addition to the weeds, we had chairs

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that suddenly appeared in the parkway.

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There were three of them.

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They were there for three months

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before I ever notified the city.

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The 45 minutes before the city came out

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to look at the yard, he went out and mowed the weeds.

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The chairs left today, they finally were gone,

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but the weeds are back.

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There's another house on Renberry that was reported for over a month.

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We looked at weeds that were that high in the front yard.

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It was mode a week ago, but it had been that way for over a month.

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There's a house now that has four cars, two of them are in the driveway, two of them are in the side yard.

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I'm not even going to bother reporting it.

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It just takes two long.

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The house with the truck we fought four months last summer with a trailer with a boat on it in the road.

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The mailman got out of his car truck to put mail in their mailbox because the truck boat was in the road that long.

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I don't know what the problem is, I don't know, I know your procedure because I came to find out that you have to send registered letters, but we're in a digital society.

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And it seems to me there should be some way that it's more streamlined to get problems corrected than having to wait three, four, five months to get things taken care of.

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And I'm asking if the city would please look at the current process, go to another

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municipality, Ann Arbor, where they have students with violations. I'm sure all the time.

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Grand Rapids, how do they handle these things? So we're not looking at them for four or five months.

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I just want my neighborhood to look nice. Don't thank you. Thank you for joining us at the

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beginning of citizen comment time. I feel to say, but you need to stay your name and address.

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Oh, Robin Bowley, 7116 Balford Drive.

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Okay, I think you've sent me an email or two.

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Yes, I did.

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You can respond.

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All right.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for joining us.

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And we'll look into that process.

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Still an opportunity for statement of citizens,

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if anyone else.

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Good evening.

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Hello.

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My name is Justin Hasser.

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I live at 437 Foxfart Trail.

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I have 123.

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I have lives in portage since about 2012, 2011 somewhere in there.

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I have two concerns today.

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My first concern is relatively small, but it is one that I am a little bit worried about.

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My second is a bit more severe.

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My first concern has to do with an intersection of a certain road that comes from a

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it's on 12th Street and goes to, I need to just bring up the name of the street here,

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because there is a bit of a blind hill that comes down to this particular road,

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and I'm just wondering if it might be worth at least investigating to get a three-way stop there.

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even if it's a time limited one perhaps because when I had a commute back from like

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pop-up or other places that were west-apportage, that left turn was always very nerve-wracking

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to say at least. I was always a bit of working on that turn. But you know, oh, I have the

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it's W on Avenue and 12th Street that particular intersection. Again, it's not that they could

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deal. I just thought I'd bring to your attention just as concerned. Maybe I'm maybe just me.

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The second concern is a bit more severe.

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It is one that I am feeling a bit more strongly about.

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It has to do with contemporary police surveillance measures.

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It has to do with people say flock cameras, but flock is a brand of cameras that are commonly

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advertised as licensed plate raiders, but they have a lot more functionality than that.

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My concern rests with some cases that are in the news about abuse of these systems having

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to do with one that was used to look into a juvenile gymnastics room at a community center.

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And how insecure some of these cameras are has people who have the skill of knowledge

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could actually hack these cameras and get them to work for themselves.

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I do not feel safer about these cameras being used, especially without a warrant, as I have

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also been hearing of people using these cameras to stalk their ex-partners.

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I've also been hearing accounts of microphones that are caught, I think they're called

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a shot mic, perhaps, that can be set off with a car backfire and can suddenly drop

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police to them almost like a top priority, which if an organized crime group could

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probably use that as an exploit and probably most concerning of all are systems that will

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utilize CCTV inside of businesses and my biggest concern is sting rays, special devices used

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by police to intercept cellular data and examine it freely without a warrant and basically

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get access to someone's phone without any consent and knowledge or identification.

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I have asked you guys here today, a very simple question.

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What is your position on this surveillance thing because we seem to have plenty of these cameras already up since that's my time?

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Okay.

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If you could leave your contact information, we do have some information on the safeguards that ported to the Institute and around the flat cameras.

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And as far as

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ON and 12th Street, ON is on the side of Texas.

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So that's not the Portage Road.

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And I do understand what your blind spot is there.

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And the county is really not eager to put in three way stops.

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So, but thank you for coming this evening.

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Please leave your email up here so we can forward you that information.

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Still an opportunity for statement as citizens.

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Good evening.

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I'm Al Hawkins, I live at 10-5-10 Sudan Street on a corner of poster-hout.

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I was here a month ago about the Patrick McKinnis, when you hear, so they look into

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Southwesternage to Osterhout.

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So when you go to turn right, it's okay, but when you go to turn left, you have to really pull

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out. So it's been at least two months. The sign was knocked down. I can early July. Maybe

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June. I can't remember. Hexigan's got flash and lights. Everybody knows how to stop, but

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that got knocked over. And so then they put a stop sign with a saw horse, ground level. Well,

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what was it two weeks ago, Sunday there was a pretty bad accident. Nobody was killed. So I'm

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So thankful, but what at my point is, I don't know where we're at whether he looked into it or not.

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So that's why I'm back up here again.

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I think it's a pretty bad intersection and not only that, but I've lived on that street for 24 years on Sudan.

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And it's all double line, so you're not supposed to pass.

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So I don't know what you can do as a count.

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So I just want to be heard is can we put up no passing signs?

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Can we patrol it more? I know our police are always busy. I welcome you to set my drive. You'd probably meet your cold if there is one, because it's a 40 mile-hour speed zone, but it's definitely not that. People have constantly passed. There was a horrible accident back in April for it on my house where a vehicle was turning left and a motorcycle decided it wanted to turn left to pass. Fortunately, he wasn't killed, but it was pretty bad.

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I'm just seeing a more increase because of the new subdivisions going in, I'm not opposed

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to them and it gets great to have people, you know, I'm pretty social-first, but my

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point is I've asked to have these trees looked into, especially that intersection of

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Osterhallen and Westage, because if you are going to turn left, you really do have to

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pull out.

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And it's unfortunate that it took an accident to get the sign back up that needed to be

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a while ago. So just by concern, and I'll probably back up to something, does it change? So

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not faulting you folks. I'm just saying it's just a concern that I've been having for quite a while.

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The speed restrictions don't seem to be adhered to. Anyway, thank you. Mr. Herringa, we'll get back to

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this week. We do a traffic engineer and look into that as well. Okay. And just see

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through our public safety what the traffic accidents have been since all that has

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transpired. Okay, and I've given Erica my info. Perfect, so thank you.

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Good evening.

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Hello John Paver. I'm in Kalamazoo now. So sorry. Fantastic job with the farmer's market. It's

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wonderful. I'm really thrilled now. We have an actual farmer's market. So great job on that.

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I'm just here to really talk about just a few housekeeping things.

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One in particular is the creek.

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I don't know, it's the one that's behind ridders and kind of extends behind there,

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and there's, I think there's a green house back there.

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Since we had the hurricanes that came through,

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there has been more trees than I can count to have fallen into the stream

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and have slowed its movement down

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That need to be just removed from there and on really hot days. I only know because of my family and I every Sunday

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I take the kids up to go get ice cream to ridders and then we walk around in the library and things like that and on some really hot days

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It smells like the living dead just because there's no movement, you know in in the stream

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And that's just because there's just been a lot of debris that's fallen down there. There hasn't been picked up

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And so that's just like an awareness thing and then the other thing

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Is that

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We see now more and more people using these e-bikes and e-scooters, and

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I don't really agree with anything that Dearborn does, but one of the things that they did is they banned e-bikes and e-scooters from public property

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Because people were writing around them in like gangs of them and then they were just causing a big disturbance and

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I didn't really take note of that until I was walking with my family and

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And there's a lot of blind corners around those trails right there.

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And a guy comes flying on this thing.

215
00:18:27,540 --> 00:18:31,920
And I have to pull my little girl from that side because she's just like a six year old

216
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:33,940
walking around looking up at the sky and I scream.

217
00:18:34,580 --> 00:18:36,960
And the next thing I know, somebody comes flying through.

218
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,880
And he doesn't, and I'm like, whoa, and I grab my little girl.

219
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,920
And he doesn't even take notice that anything was there and he continues on.

220
00:18:45,780 --> 00:18:49,120
And so obviously there's already a sign or something that says no,

221
00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:54,400
old-rise things, but I don't know if there's something else that we can do or if that's

222
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:58,220
a part of the ordinance of like no mode-rise things, so many things go up to 25 miles an hour.

223
00:18:58,740 --> 00:18:59,100
It's very scary.

224
00:18:59,220 --> 00:19:00,080
That 25 is fast.

225
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,820
I wrote it's scooter going 17, that's scary.

226
00:19:05,100 --> 00:19:11,720
And so the other thing was like the other young man that had brought up was there is a lot

227
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:17,820
of stuff with flock and I support the, oh, I love that there's a timer here.

228
00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:36,820
And so, I fully support, you know, our public safety in their ability to do things, my request is that any new features, because there are a lot of new features like being able to track people's devices through the use of those cameras that are coming through.

229
00:19:37,460 --> 00:19:43,560
They're on like contract lists for the New York State now in Maryland and so that's just some of my concerns

230
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,840
That any of you features I get thrown on these things. It at least they be brought to you guys

231
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:51,760
So that you can review them so that we know exactly what is going into these cameras and what is not in these cameras

232
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:57,940
So not against them. I fully support them. Obviously because your favorite. Your time is up

233
00:19:58,820 --> 00:20:00,620
Erica. So quick

234
00:20:00,620 --> 00:20:02,740
Thanks God. Thanks for coming

235
00:20:05,740 --> 00:20:07,660
Good evening. Welcome. Thank you

236
00:20:10,910 --> 00:20:14,950
My name is Eric Borses, I currently live in Madwan, do you want that address?

237
00:20:17,180 --> 00:20:17,480
Got it?

238
00:20:17,740 --> 00:20:18,680
Got it, thank you.

239
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:19,660
Yeah, you bet.

240
00:20:20,660 --> 00:20:24,180
Today's agenda number seven, the demolition of 93-03.

241
00:20:24,940 --> 00:20:27,420
I'd like to possibly purchase that building.

242
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,920
I've been in talks with the person who built it.

243
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,020
And it is possible I've been talking to a mover.

244
00:20:33,260 --> 00:20:39,080
I just need time to figure out and how to move the lines and things to get it.

245
00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:42,120
But if possible, it would be interesting

246
00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:44,400
purchasing that building already on a lot

247
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,460
that would have need to be approved to move it to in the city.

248
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,320
So that's what I'm asking for today.

249
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:53,460
All right, thank you very much for coming in.

250
00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:54,400
Thank you.

251
00:20:56,900 --> 00:20:58,940
Still an opportunity for statement of citizens.

252
00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:02,220
Seeing no one come forward, I will ask if there are any

253
00:21:02,220 --> 00:21:03,220
colors on the line.

254
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:04,300
There are no colors.

255
00:21:06,540 --> 00:21:08,940
All right, so we will move on with our meeting

256
00:21:08,940 --> 00:21:14,600
to the consent agenda, the consent agenda is available for review by visiting the City of Portage website

257
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,420
where it can be found under the City Council agenda and minute section.

258
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,960
At this time, does anyone on the council wish to have a consent agenda

259
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,300
remove for individual consideration?

260
00:21:28,900 --> 00:21:29,800
Adam, please.

261
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:37,700
Let's, if we may remove seven, so we could talk about that, even I know a lot of in-depth study

262
00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:43,800
It's been done on the property, but I think we should have a different topic and that put it on the consent.

263
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:45,860
Okay. Any other items?

264
00:21:48,230 --> 00:21:53,810
All right. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented, excluding item number seven.

265
00:21:53,910 --> 00:21:54,490
So moved.

266
00:21:54,670 --> 00:21:54,990
Second.

267
00:21:56,090 --> 00:21:57,550
And roll call please.

268
00:21:58,370 --> 00:21:59,170
Start with light better.

269
00:22:00,150 --> 00:22:01,270
Miller. Yes.

270
00:22:01,330 --> 00:22:01,850
Homestead.

271
00:22:02,090 --> 00:22:02,250
Yes.

272
00:22:02,530 --> 00:22:03,470
Pearson. Yes.

273
00:22:03,670 --> 00:22:05,810
Randall. Yes. Young. Yes.

274
00:22:06,050 --> 00:22:06,450
And Burns.

275
00:22:06,730 --> 00:22:07,010
Yes.

276
00:22:07,010 --> 00:22:17,010
Thank you. All right, the way that works is that we will be discussing the item under regular business items, which will be after our public hearing, so please stay here with us.

277
00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:19,730
We do have a public hearing this evening.

278
00:22:21,430 --> 00:22:30,010
It is to consider approving the rezoning amendment 26-27-1 to amend the code of ordinance of the city of Portage.

279
00:22:30,010 --> 00:22:38,310
Michigan article 4, zoning of chapter 42 and chapter 44 by adopting a zoning map, amendment

280
00:22:38,310 --> 00:22:46,210
to effectuate a city-wide rezoning as more specifically described in ordinance 0-4-2026.

281
00:22:46,950 --> 00:22:52,810
I'd like to turn this over to our interim city manager, Mr. Adam Herringa.

282
00:22:53,510 --> 00:22:59,650
Thank you, Madam Mayor, as Council will recall, few meetings ago they adopted or we adopted

283
00:22:59,650 --> 00:23:06,790
the residential text amendment to all to the zoning for residential areas in the city of

284
00:23:06,790 --> 00:23:14,390
Portage. This is a follow on to that. The Planning Commission did vote 602 to recommend

285
00:23:14,390 --> 00:23:20,790
approval to this. This is viewed just as a more of a formality as the map would follow the adoption

286
00:23:21,670 --> 00:23:27,710
of the text amendment. If City Council has any questions, I'm happy to answer and the Chief

287
00:23:27,710 --> 00:23:30,290
development officer, Dan, is in the audience as well.

288
00:23:31,290 --> 00:23:33,990
But with that, I'd be fine answer to questions,

289
00:23:34,130 --> 00:23:35,730
or you can go ahead and open up the public hearing

290
00:23:35,730 --> 00:23:36,370
out of Mayer.

291
00:23:36,710 --> 00:23:37,010
All right.

292
00:23:37,510 --> 00:23:39,310
I will currently open the public hearing.

293
00:23:39,410 --> 00:23:41,390
If anyone is here this evening and has questions

294
00:23:41,390 --> 00:23:42,930
about this item on our agenda,

295
00:23:42,930 --> 00:23:44,750
now is the appropriate time to come forward.

296
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:49,440
All right, seeing no one come forward.

297
00:23:49,500 --> 00:23:51,960
I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

298
00:23:52,860 --> 00:23:54,180
I move to close the public hearing.

299
00:23:54,620 --> 00:23:57,040
Second, all in favor say aye.

300
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:06,040
We have been working on this for quite some time, does anyone on council need any clarification before we take a vote?

301
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:07,920
All right.

302
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:09,360
What is the pleasure of the council?

303
00:24:09,660 --> 00:24:10,000
Madam Mayor.

304
00:24:10,900 --> 00:24:16,920
I move to adopt rezoning amendment 26271 to amend the code of ordinances of the city of port.

305
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,580
Michigan article four zoning of chapter 42 in chapter 44.

306
00:24:22,260 --> 00:24:25,980
By adopting a zoning map, a amendment to effectuate a citywide rezoning.

307
00:24:25,980 --> 00:24:30,300
as more specifically described in Ordnance of for 2026.

308
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,300
Support. And roll call please. Start with Miller.

309
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,880
Yes. Umstead. Yes. Pearson.

310
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,240
Yes. Randall. Yes. Young. Yes.

311
00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:50,640
Burns. Yes. I'm led better. Yes. Thank you. All right. Now we move on to our regular

312
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:56,580
business agenda items that were removed from the consent. I had console woman. Um,

313
00:24:56,580 --> 00:25:03,000
state remove number seven, which was to authorize the demolition of 9303 Portage Road for the

314
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:09,080
reconstruction of our Portage Road corridor. And if timing is everything, this is the correct

315
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:14,200
timing to be discussing this with the citizen. So I'll turn it over to council member,

316
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:20,760
Olmsted, at this time. Thank you, Madam Mayor. A lot of work has been done to

317
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:29,760
to this 93.03 property, it's just being rented right now for like $2,000 a month.

318
00:25:30,780 --> 00:25:35,220
And the city says that we could make, you know, it's $10,000 a year.

319
00:25:35,580 --> 00:25:41,500
Have we ever thought as a city to sell that if there was a buyer or was this something

320
00:25:41,500 --> 00:25:42,860
done back in 24?

321
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,920
I mean, is this an even an option just for this gentleman right here?

322
00:25:50,220 --> 00:25:55,620
So we've had a lot of discussion on it in previous years, but I'm always willing to look at something from a different perspective.

323
00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:03,280
So I want to turn it over to Mr. Herringa, who gave us a lot of detail in our packet about the property.

324
00:26:04,260 --> 00:26:06,800
Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Council member, I'm stead.

325
00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:16,640
This is not the first time this property has been brought before the city council, and every time it's come forward, it is resulted in significant discussion.

326
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:23,160
Whether it was to purchase the property, there was a proposal to sell the property a few years ago.

327
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:28,700
There was also a countervailing opinion that we should demolish the house then,

328
00:26:29,340 --> 00:26:33,140
and the council settled down trying to rent it until this day arrived.

329
00:26:33,940 --> 00:26:40,440
And the day that it arrived is, we are about to embark on reconstructing Portage Road in this area.

330
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:48,400
And when the engineering was done, it was determined that if we want to maintain traffic in both directions while we redo the culvert,

331
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:55,660
if we want to have bike paths on both sides, this house cannot stay where it currently is.

332
00:26:56,260 --> 00:26:57,780
It needs to go.

333
00:26:58,420 --> 00:27:07,820
And the recommendation, and this was why the house was purchased was because it was seen by the council and the administrator at that time,

334
00:27:07,820 --> 00:27:15,120
that eventually this property where it's located is at a key point right on the right on the

335
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:19,860
channel or drain whatever you want to call it and it's on both sides so it allows

336
00:27:19,860 --> 00:27:26,700
us to redo the call it and allows us to be able to put in the amenities in the infrastructure

337
00:27:26,700 --> 00:27:33,160
that have been proposed as part of the Portas Road 360 project. The reason for the recommendation

338
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:40,560
to demolish is time is of the essence at this point where we are going to be designing this fall

339
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:48,160
and putting in to engineering for bid this section of portage road. When it was reviewed by our staff

340
00:27:48,740 --> 00:27:53,480
as far as the quality of the construction of the home, it was viewed as a home that usually when

341
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,640
you see a building moved or relocated. It's historic structure. It's made out of bricks.

342
00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:02,820
It's

343
00:28:02,820 --> 00:28:09,900
a split level with a walkout basement garage on slab, an individual would have to somehow brace

344
00:28:09,900 --> 00:28:16,540
the bottom, brace the walkout, secure the walls, get it lifted, move it down, portage

345
00:28:16,540 --> 00:28:21,840
road, get the permits from the individuals involved that's located in an area right next

346
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:26,660
to a creek, so there may be some wetlands, some other issues involved, and then get it relocated

347
00:28:26,660 --> 00:28:32,180
to a site where then you'd have to have the infrastructure to reconnect the house on the site.

348
00:28:32,180 --> 00:28:35,280
So it was viewed as a very unlikely

349
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:39,380
or an overwhelming task to undertake in the time frame

350
00:28:39,380 --> 00:28:41,540
that was that we're currently at,

351
00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:45,760
which is we are now in the process of designing

352
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,880
and going out to bid for this particular section of roadway.

353
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,280
Chief Officer Dame is here and he may have something else to add

354
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,520
along with director Goin from our transportation

355
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,620
Newtil is department, director Hoyle from Parks and Recreation,

356
00:28:59,620 --> 00:29:01,620
And we have an engineer from Adon Marsh.

357
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:03,760
I'm sorry, Whiteman.

358
00:29:04,100 --> 00:29:05,640
I'm so sorry.

359
00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:07,580
I apologize, they're competitors.

360
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,560
I'm working with the other company on another road project,

361
00:29:12,700 --> 00:29:14,320
since they both seem to work on road projects

362
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,800
and my apologies, but we do have an engineer from Whiteman,

363
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,520
who can also speak to more of the,

364
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,120
not necessarily the sale of the property,

365
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:24,180
but more along the need for the space.

366
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:26,520
So with that, Director Damien, if you have anything to add.

367
00:29:27,540 --> 00:29:31,320
I did think you did an excellent job of summarizing the need.

368
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:38,960
I honestly don't think that even if it were determined to be feasible to move the house that there's enough time to do it.

369
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:46,700
What I wanted to do is share I had a very similar experience in my last meeting.

370
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,360
We offered the house for free.

371
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:59,980
Someone offered to take it, it was a three years later, the house got moved and I actually have...

372
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:07,700
Talk to Eric on the phone, not about this, but he does have real estate background. So I'm intrigued by the

373
00:30:07,700 --> 00:30:16,800
possibility. But just the logistics of trying to get a house move, you basically have to have the

374
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:22,480
next site all laid out. It generally would have to be very close by because otherwise you're going

375
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:29,760
type traffic everywhere, having to lift signals, lift wires, all at a cost of please power,

376
00:30:31,100 --> 00:30:37,580
and you pay the electric company to every time you lift it. It's a huge undertaking.

377
00:30:38,300 --> 00:30:45,640
It sounds really good, but when it comes down to actually doing it, it's, if, and I tend

378
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:46,720
to think that

379
00:30:49,310 --> 00:30:53,870
it's not feasible to move this building. It's a newer construction. I've

380
00:30:53,870 --> 00:31:00,550
In that house, the walls are, you can hear all the trucks from the inside the, it's light

381
00:31:00,550 --> 00:31:01,450
construction.

382
00:31:03,890 --> 00:31:08,330
You're going to end up, even if you tried to move it, you have to redo all

383
00:31:08,330 --> 00:31:13,630
the drywall. I mean, it's, I think it would be a nightmare, and then we'd be stuck next

384
00:31:13,630 --> 00:31:23,390
spring, delaying the project at the covert, and so I wouldn't recommend it based on my

385
00:31:23,390 --> 00:31:31,410
that's experienced in the place that we've gotten about the feasibility of doing it, so that's my two

386
00:31:31,410 --> 00:31:32,510
sense to add.

387
00:31:33,010 --> 00:31:33,690
Madam Mayor?

388
00:31:33,730 --> 00:31:34,110
Please.

389
00:31:35,570 --> 00:31:40,490
The question for you, the home is still currently rented and we need to give at least a 60-day

390
00:31:40,490 --> 00:31:42,670
notice is that the case is still occupied.

391
00:31:43,270 --> 00:31:50,870
Yeah, so, and it's 60 months from the end of the current period, so essentially, 60 days

392
00:31:50,870 --> 00:31:51,350
not much.

393
00:31:51,590 --> 00:32:00,070
So we can't even start getting anything happening on this house for more than 60 days.

394
00:32:00,230 --> 00:32:04,990
So if we vote affirmatively tonight, when would you expect the demolition to occur actually?

395
00:32:06,130 --> 00:32:12,410
Um, November, I'm looking at countries who's going to have to bid it out, but um, okay.

396
00:32:13,110 --> 00:32:20,250
So I guess, um, my preference would be to provide you that authorization to do the demolition

397
00:32:20,250 --> 00:32:25,790
and for you to continue that conversation as I don't know whether this home specifically has been

398
00:32:25,790 --> 00:32:30,010
you've heard of the proposal for the gentleman who might be interested in purchasing it.

399
00:32:30,110 --> 00:32:35,170
So I give you the authorization to demolish, but I encourage you to have one more conversation with him to sound

400
00:32:35,170 --> 00:32:38,910
see if it's easier than we imagine it might be in reality.

401
00:32:39,770 --> 00:32:41,490
No, I'm happy to talk to him right now.

402
00:32:41,510 --> 00:32:42,090
I have a question.

403
00:32:43,090 --> 00:32:45,630
So we do sell to him the house and they decide he does want to.

404
00:32:45,630 --> 00:32:49,250
I would give it to him frankly because it's going to cost so much for him.

405
00:32:49,250 --> 00:32:52,270
Well, my question is, if he becomes the owner

406
00:32:52,270 --> 00:32:55,710
and then decides not to do anything with it,

407
00:32:55,750 --> 00:32:56,590
where are we going to look?

408
00:32:57,690 --> 00:32:59,870
So is that part two?

409
00:33:02,220 --> 00:33:03,000
If I may,

410
00:33:05,740 --> 00:33:07,480
it sounds like there's a lot of pieces

411
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:09,060
that would go into moving this.

412
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,100
And we need to keep things on track for the Portage Road

413
00:33:12,100 --> 00:33:16,320
Project if, by some means, the gentleman

414
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,400
might be able to move it by the date of the demolition,

415
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:22,760
How would that be a possibility?

416
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:29,760
Because you have to get a site plan approved for the future location, you have to build the foundation,

417
00:33:30,700 --> 00:33:34,600
you have to have everything ready to move the house onto.

418
00:33:36,180 --> 00:33:39,080
And that won't happen during the winter.

419
00:33:39,780 --> 00:33:46,260
So if you don't have everything all set to move the house onto a completed foundation, you're done.

420
00:33:46,260 --> 00:33:50,480
So we would be missing some vital deadlines to keep the ported road project.

421
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,080
I don't think it's possible, but I'd be happy to talk to them.

422
00:33:54,180 --> 00:33:55,700
I have a question, Mr. Dame.

423
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:02,640
We all know that the construction is not going to start on this project until spring at best.

424
00:34:03,140 --> 00:34:08,980
Why would we evict a family instead of allowing them to stay there during the winter?

425
00:34:09,900 --> 00:34:14,160
I just don't understand the sense of urgency to demo this.

426
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:20,360
You can still do the site plans, you can still do all that work with that structure on the property.

427
00:34:21,720 --> 00:34:30,220
Because we want to have it demolished, using the heavy trucks in the spring, there's a heavy truck prohibition.

428
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:35,620
As soon as that is lifted, it is when the road construction would begin.

429
00:34:35,620 --> 00:34:45,740
So the heavy trucks that you would need to move the house in the spring, or demolish the house in the spring either.

430
00:34:47,380 --> 00:34:48,980
It would delay the start of the construction.

431
00:34:49,420 --> 00:34:56,380
This project is intended to start as soon as those truck restrictions are lifted in the spring.

432
00:34:56,780 --> 00:34:59,240
So we want to have all the work done this year.

433
00:34:59,980 --> 00:35:12,100
So just because the gentleman is here, I would like to ask him some questions if you could just come forward, I, you know, I don't know how we approve a demolition and approve the opportunity to keep the door open.

434
00:35:12,100 --> 00:35:22,240
We're either doing one or the other tonight and so we could, if it's, if staff talks to Eric.

435
00:35:33,940 --> 00:35:45,820
I think it could be possible if you're that we could explore it and give a staff the latitude to switch to Eric's plan if it proves to work.

436
00:35:46,700 --> 00:35:50,500
And if it doesn't, we would proceed with demolishing.

437
00:35:50,740 --> 00:35:53,720
I think you could structure your amendment that way.

438
00:35:54,300 --> 00:35:57,720
Okay, so I guess my question to you is, have you been in the structure?

439
00:35:58,240 --> 00:35:59,620
What's your allegiance to the structure?

440
00:35:59,940 --> 00:36:03,360
And have you had any experience moving homes before?

441
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,360
I have no experience moving structures.

442
00:36:06,660 --> 00:36:08,000
I do know it's possible.

443
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:20,780
I am at the phase where I have texted pictures to someone I found in line in Michigan, who has awards for moving structures on rubber tires.

444
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:28,340
So I am new to this through what they saw over text message, they are optimistic.

445
00:36:29,220 --> 00:36:33,080
They said 60 days to move it and that's with moving all that.

446
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:41,860
I assume their power wire is I drove down from the structure of a hat or that land I have to this and I don't know if we need to move

447
00:36:42,860 --> 00:36:47,220
Traffic lights anything like that, but I am very

448
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,000
I'm at the very beginning stage of this, but the person does this

449
00:36:54,100 --> 00:37:01,740
Things we can do it. It's they're not scared of it is the point that I think I get from them. How far away is your personal?

450
00:37:01,740 --> 00:37:04,580
one point, one miles,

451
00:37:07,350 --> 00:37:10,350
but I do need to, it's out to north. It's by the

452
00:37:10,350 --> 00:37:16,770
celery flats, so north. So I need to get that approved of course, but there's

453
00:37:16,770 --> 00:37:23,050
also other lands available and I just see it as an opportunity and demolishing it

454
00:37:23,050 --> 00:37:33,430
will be, this will be a lot cheaper for the city than demolishing it. So if I

455
00:37:33,430 --> 00:37:39,590
Madam Mayor, please. I have two questions. Did you make this determination when she saw

456
00:37:39,590 --> 00:37:46,610
this was on the Council's agenda? Yes. Okay, so Madam Mayor, honestly, I am not comfortable

457
00:37:46,610 --> 00:37:52,550
making a decision like this, because honestly, I think it kind of sets a bad precedent for us

458
00:37:52,550 --> 00:37:57,370
that if at any point in time the city is making a determination on a property we could have a

459
00:37:57,370 --> 00:38:02,690
and who comes forward and says, hey, I want to purchase this or I want to X, Y, Z.

460
00:38:03,270 --> 00:38:06,730
And this is not personally in the test to you. You happen to be here this evening.

461
00:38:07,870 --> 00:38:13,410
I am more comfortable conferring with Catherine. I don't know if this is understandable.

462
00:38:14,110 --> 00:38:26,270
If we can do this, if we simply hold the vote and ask for more time to give administration time to do more research.

463
00:38:26,870 --> 00:38:40,290
But I am not comfortable taking a vote that would in essence just kind of say, yes, demolish it, or if you find that he's not able to hold up his end of the bargain, then go ahead and demolish it anyway.

464
00:38:41,370 --> 00:38:49,910
It feels as though we need to have all of the information here because if the vote was brought to us, then we still need to be a party to that.

465
00:38:50,630 --> 00:38:54,410
And what would your process be for the family living in the home?

466
00:38:55,650 --> 00:38:59,490
I date, they're happy to stay until we move it.

467
00:39:01,990 --> 00:39:05,650
Yeah, I've got, doesn't matter to me at all.

468
00:39:06,050 --> 00:39:09,090
So when it's available, I mean, I can wait six months too.

469
00:39:09,230 --> 00:39:13,070
Whatever makes sense for, I can take it in,

470
00:39:13,090 --> 00:39:15,090
I'd say the short term would be 90 days,

471
00:39:15,510 --> 00:39:18,150
but you know, I can come get it next year too.

472
00:39:18,570 --> 00:39:20,410
So whatever, whatever's best,

473
00:39:21,050 --> 00:39:21,990
I'm interested in the house.

474
00:39:21,990 --> 00:39:23,570
I don't have a timeline for it.

475
00:39:23,570 --> 00:39:27,750
I've got dirt available to put it, and that's not going anywhere.

476
00:39:28,670 --> 00:39:28,670
So,

477
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:33,280
Madam Mayor, please.

478
00:39:33,540 --> 00:39:40,760
I've got a question, so Mr. Dame has said that the timeline doesn't work because it would take you

479
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:47,960
a long time to get a permit to hook up the house on whatever property you're at. Do you need to

480
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:53,900
do that or could you move the house on the property you own and then go from there to get your

481
00:39:53,900 --> 00:39:55,420
permits or whatever you need.

482
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,820
I can give you that answer in about next week.

483
00:39:59,060 --> 00:39:59,860
I don't know.

484
00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:04,100
I do have, I would have to talk to somebody at the city

485
00:40:04,100 --> 00:40:07,260
and get that detail figured out.

486
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,240
So do you think that if the city just gave you the house,

487
00:40:12,660 --> 00:40:17,280
you could still make a profit on moving it to wherever it is.

488
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:22,260
And you understand that Porta's road

489
00:40:22,260 --> 00:40:23,700
is going under construction.

490
00:40:25,460 --> 00:40:30,840
And I will say this, you know, the city probably just doesn't want to deal with it

491
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,780
a move in the house because it takes time.

492
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:41,340
But hey, you talked to the city about this or is this the first time you're coming here

493
00:40:41,340 --> 00:40:41,900
about it?

494
00:40:41,900 --> 00:40:43,480
This is my first time coming here.

495
00:40:43,540 --> 00:40:46,040
Okay, so you really need to talk to the city.

496
00:40:46,620 --> 00:40:51,360
You know, we've gotten the memo about all the complications and I don't know if you

497
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:58,500
know about that. But you, you know, I commend you for coming here, but you need to talk to

498
00:40:58,500 --> 00:41:04,260
the city to understand the rationale besides what they just presented in a couple of minutes.

499
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:05,880
Four, I agree.

500
00:41:06,340 --> 00:41:07,420
Okay, thanks.

501
00:41:08,020 --> 00:41:12,380
Mr. Herringa, would it delay the process if we were to defer the vote for one month?

502
00:41:13,940 --> 00:41:20,900
I'm not necessarily met a mayor, but we need to make a decision, and while I appreciate

503
00:41:20,900 --> 00:41:27,820
him coming forward here, the property spent in the city's possession for quite some time.

504
00:41:28,540 --> 00:41:35,360
Here we are at the last minute, now we have a proposal which we're happy to look into,

505
00:41:37,220 --> 00:41:55,660
But there are a lot of bigger factors in here and that is the Portage Road project and the time effort and energy that has gone into that and to ensuring the success of that project versus one singular property.

506
00:41:55,660 --> 00:41:58,120
What if we were to lay it two weeks?

507
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:08,760
I guess the reason I feel about this is we are in a housing crisis and this council of which many of us were on it when we bought the place.

508
00:42:08,980 --> 00:42:12,160
I believe we paid about 400,000 for it.

509
00:42:12,260 --> 00:42:18,900
If that's right from my memory and a gentleman came forward and said you're not doing anything with it, can't at least rent it.

510
00:42:18,900 --> 00:42:23,680
And so we rented it, and even though we were getting $2,500 a month, it seemed like the

511
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:28,980
care and the maintenance and the management, it just wasn't yielding more than about $10,000

512
00:42:28,980 --> 00:42:32,060
a year to the residents, so the taxpayer is a portage.

513
00:42:33,060 --> 00:42:41,400
So, I mean, I guess I'm the eternal optimist, and what I would expect would be some real definitive

514
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:49,140
financing availability that you can afford to do this and that you have an understanding of our

515
00:42:49,140 --> 00:42:56,160
time commitment and a commitment letter from people that can make this happen. I mean, if we can

516
00:42:56,160 --> 00:43:02,580
work with two weeks, I would be supportive of that. And we don't do this often Council Member

517
00:43:02,580 --> 00:43:08,700
Young. This is a very rare situation when we bought this property and it was not a unanimous vote.

518
00:43:08,700 --> 00:43:10,820
It was very, I mean, oh, you were here.

519
00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:13,980
I mean, we had talks a lot of being an ice cream stand

520
00:43:13,980 --> 00:43:16,940
and it was too close to the road to draw kids

521
00:43:16,940 --> 00:43:19,160
and it's right in the middle of our park.

522
00:43:20,820 --> 00:43:22,720
So anyway, councilmember Burns.

523
00:43:22,820 --> 00:43:25,380
Anyway, quick question for the city attorney.

524
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:28,940
So assuming tonight, we vote affirmatively

525
00:43:28,940 --> 00:43:31,060
to authorize the demolition.

526
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:34,600
Would that prohibit a subsequent action

527
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:36,880
before the building is actually demolished

528
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,820
if a better solution were to be kind of available.

529
00:43:41,180 --> 00:43:44,760
Obviously, then Kendra or somebody's going to go out to bid, right?

530
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:46,920
They're going to go out to bid and once a bid is let,

531
00:43:47,240 --> 00:43:50,300
then then that would be the point where we could not turn back, right?

532
00:43:51,300 --> 00:43:53,300
So I don't know how long that would take,

533
00:43:53,820 --> 00:43:56,820
but you know, obviously a couple weeks and something like that.

534
00:43:56,820 --> 00:43:59,020
So there is still, you know, time.

535
00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:01,820
But once a bid is let, and a contract's executed,

536
00:44:02,980 --> 00:44:04,500
then there's no turning back.

537
00:44:05,180 --> 00:44:11,880
So fundamentally we may have two three weeks to assess the feasibility of moving the building or not.

538
00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,920
We'll probably know within that time frame just how much effort and trouble it might be.

539
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:21,280
So my inclination is to vote tonight rather than delay things further so that we keep on track.

540
00:44:21,900 --> 00:44:26,180
And then let them investigate over the next couple of weeks if they come back and there's a miracle solution.

541
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,600
Then we'll hear about that at our next meeting or the meeting after that.

542
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:33,800
but we'll have the surety of having made the decision that keeps the

543
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:35,640
part of your project going.

544
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,740
And if City Council does undertake that motion, you have a guarantee that we would

545
00:44:41,740 --> 00:44:45,860
not go out to bid until there's another presentation to City Council

546
00:44:45,860 --> 00:44:48,320
based on any information that we gather.

547
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:53,000
While I wouldn't necessarily ask you for a vote to reauthorize,

548
00:44:53,060 --> 00:44:57,220
certainly would come back before you before we

549
00:44:57,220 --> 00:44:59,980
and go down the path in the reach.

550
00:45:00,780 --> 00:45:13,580
I have concerns on our paude him in his vision, but he sent pictures about text. It's a somebody to move

551
00:45:13,580 --> 00:45:20,680
a house. Has the person been down to look at them? No, this is in infant stages, but where are

552
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:27,600
they located? There's somewhere in Michigan. It was the first number I called, as I said, I'm pretty

553
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:34,270
new at this but with an idea and it's not voted I'm yet so I thought today was the data show up.

554
00:45:34,980 --> 00:45:39,340
I'm not and I appreciate it but it's just like a knee jerk reaction like you know what I want to do

555
00:45:39,340 --> 00:45:44,860
this and we on the timeline you sent this somewhere and Michigan to somebody who you just found.

556
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:49,420
You see how you see how it looks to me and they know of the location they know we're not

557
00:45:49,420 --> 00:45:55,280
you know in the city of Kalamazoo which they were originally scared of and I think if you did give

558
00:45:55,280 --> 00:46:02,240
me a timeline to check all my boxes if, you know, if I can get three out of the five

559
00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:07,000
that's probably not going to happen and I'll bow out of it immediately.

560
00:46:07,380 --> 00:46:14,360
But I think I got enough information that it was worth saving the demolition cost for you

561
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,020
and something for me at the same time.

562
00:46:17,140 --> 00:46:18,100
And I appreciate it.

563
00:46:18,100 --> 00:46:23,040
But I think that we still should move forward and like Councilman Burns says to become

564
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:27,600
back with some concrete evidence like, hey, I can do this, then we should take, you know,

565
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:32,040
look at it at that point, but right now, I would vote to continue on the path that we have

566
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:35,200
here, just based on you have nothing in concrete.

567
00:46:35,620 --> 00:46:36,300
I understand.

568
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:36,680
All right.

569
00:46:36,900 --> 00:46:37,640
Thank you.

570
00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:38,600
Nothing to get you again.

571
00:46:38,660 --> 00:46:39,160
Thank you.

572
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:40,040
I understand.

573
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:41,180
Madam Mayor.

574
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:46,760
I, I do always appreciate and I'm a entrepreneur and somebody, you know, trying something new

575
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:51,560
for the first time with some of the discussion that we've had up here about, you know,

576
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:57,480
authorizing it today, but giving kind of that two weeks, I feel like I'm good with that.

577
00:46:58,060 --> 00:47:02,860
I do want to let you know about the urgency of it because as many of us have suffered through

578
00:47:02,860 --> 00:47:10,500
the Portage Road corridor to have the entire area be held up for something might not be beneficial

579
00:47:10,500 --> 00:47:19,040
to all the citizens. So I'm good with what Acting City Manager, Herringa has said about the two

580
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:24,620
not putting out for bid to see if it is feasible, at least give you a little bit of time to talk

581
00:47:24,620 --> 00:47:30,920
more concrete, get some concrete numbers on what it would cost to move it, and then, you know,

582
00:47:31,100 --> 00:47:35,200
make that decision or get another report in two weeks.

583
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:38,840
All right. Thank you.

584
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:43,960
Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to authorize the demolition of 9303

585
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:47,260
for the reconstruction of part of the road.

586
00:47:47,860 --> 00:47:51,330
Support and roll call, please.

587
00:47:53,610 --> 00:47:54,430
Let's start with Homestead.

588
00:47:55,130 --> 00:47:55,190
Yes.

589
00:47:55,690 --> 00:47:56,210
Here's some.

590
00:47:57,490 --> 00:47:57,790
No.

591
00:47:58,370 --> 00:47:58,870
Brando.

592
00:47:59,950 --> 00:48:00,170
Young.

593
00:48:00,590 --> 00:48:00,790
Yes.

594
00:48:01,270 --> 00:48:01,570
Burns.

595
00:48:01,830 --> 00:48:02,070
Yes.

596
00:48:02,430 --> 00:48:03,030
Led better.

597
00:48:04,010 --> 00:48:06,550
So we vote into move forward with the amendment that we have.

598
00:48:06,990 --> 00:48:07,290
Yes.

599
00:48:08,870 --> 00:48:09,730
Was that a yes?

600
00:48:10,970 --> 00:48:12,710
Yes to move forward with what we have.

601
00:48:13,130 --> 00:48:13,510
And Miller.

602
00:48:14,150 --> 00:48:14,210
Yes.

603
00:48:14,430 --> 00:48:15,290
Thank you.

604
00:48:16,150 --> 00:48:16,470
All right.

605
00:48:16,470 --> 00:48:22,270
motion passes six to one I really hope if you I really hope if you can come back with some

606
00:48:22,270 --> 00:48:30,630
roll count crime concrete. Maybe we'll all learn something. All right time for council committee

607
00:48:30,630 --> 00:48:35,870
reports I would like to ask if there are any council members who attended a subcommittee that would

608
00:48:35,870 --> 00:48:43,670
like to share with the rest of council. Madam Mayor, please. I had a subcommittee of a subcommittee

609
00:48:43,670 --> 00:48:46,310
meeting with the Discovery Council, Missouri Tourism Master Plan.

610
00:48:47,190 --> 00:48:53,990
We are continuing to move forward on narrowing down the 19 focus areas and creating the

611
00:48:53,990 --> 00:48:58,210
criteria that we are going to use to help us narrow down those focus areas to develop the

612
00:48:58,210 --> 00:49:01,730
10-year Master Plan going forward for Discovery Council.

613
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:04,400
All right.

614
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:05,020
Thank you.

615
00:49:05,060 --> 00:49:06,380
Any other subcommittees?

616
00:49:06,660 --> 00:49:07,140
Madam Mayor.

617
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:14,880
We had our small business committee meeting last week and to date we have awarded $191,000 in

618
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:22,360
a side grant improvement funds to small businesses within the city, which is excellent, and so

619
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:25,940
we want to look to increase that number, so I want to encourage all businesses to apply for

620
00:49:25,940 --> 00:49:31,400
that, and then we also prepared for the Southwest Michigan First Town Hall, which was held today.

621
00:49:31,720 --> 00:49:38,440
Myself, come to remember Miller, Mayor Randall, Acting City Manager, Mr. Herringa,

622
00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:46,840
seat chief development officer, Pete Dame, assistant to the City Manager at Tom Roster and Jonathan

623
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:47,660
Hallberg.

624
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,300
We're there and so it was a good time.

625
00:49:50,420 --> 00:49:59,300
We covered several topics from small businesses to commercial rezoning, the portage road

626
00:49:59,300 --> 00:50:04,960
corridor and our farmers market and others that we had been doing and so it was a good

627
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:09,660
conversation piece, the greater air of Kalamazoo Reilters was there as well, so just rounding

628
00:50:09,660 --> 00:50:14,240
out that work on small businesses and speaking tomorrow and continuing to keep them active

629
00:50:14,240 --> 00:50:15,240
in the community.

630
00:50:18,030 --> 00:50:18,570
I'm here for that.

631
00:50:19,350 --> 00:50:19,930
Post number burns.

632
00:50:20,210 --> 00:50:24,050
A quick one, attended the Central County Transportation Authority yesterday, just wanted

633
00:50:24,050 --> 00:50:30,150
to post the board on the results of the millage election for the Kalamazoo County Transportation

634
00:50:30,150 --> 00:50:37,150
Authority Millage, which funds the Metro transit, dial a ride, a ADA service,

635
00:50:37,150 --> 00:50:41,630
door to door throughout the county and out to the VA Hospital in Bale Creek.

636
00:50:42,150 --> 00:50:48,590
Pass successfully, about 65% of the vote, 65-35, and was ahead in every precinct

637
00:50:48,590 --> 00:50:51,510
imported so good support for that service. Thanks.

638
00:50:52,910 --> 00:50:54,430
Any other council committee reports?

639
00:50:55,230 --> 00:51:00,170
Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the reports as presented.

640
00:51:00,470 --> 00:51:01,830
So, move, Mayor. Second.

641
00:51:02,630 --> 00:51:03,790
All in favor, say aye.

642
00:51:03,790 --> 00:51:17,950
and I post same sign. Thank you all for representing the city outside of council chambers. All right. I'd like to start. I left this evening with statement of city council. And if I could please start with council member on said.

643
00:51:19,090 --> 00:51:33,770
Thank you, man. And mayor. I want to thank our city clerk's office for last Tuesday election day. A lot of work went into this month. Even and her staff. We have deputy direct way of clerk Erica at club and we have

644
00:51:33,790 --> 00:51:41,330
WD City Clerk, Tammy, and you have Aaron, Mandy, Kara, and then some human resource first people.

645
00:51:41,870 --> 00:51:45,990
And also, it was so successful that the shortage should be proud.

646
00:51:46,130 --> 00:51:50,950
And I'm also thinking the public safety and all the other city departments that helped

647
00:51:50,950 --> 00:51:56,210
make this run smoothly and efficiently, like public works, Parks and Rack, and so forth.

648
00:51:57,110 --> 00:51:58,990
I greatly appreciate it, and all your dedication.

649
00:51:59,230 --> 00:52:00,010
Thank you so much.

650
00:52:01,530 --> 00:52:06,910
Thank you. Council member, um, led better. Yeah, following our

651
00:52:06,910 --> 00:52:09,570
co-tails, um, I saw that it was the highest turnout in the

652
00:52:09,570 --> 00:52:14,430
Kalamazoo County with 36 percent. Um, that's the highest in the

653
00:52:14,430 --> 00:52:19,370
state. Was it? That I don't know. Yeah, I think it was. We're going to

654
00:52:19,370 --> 00:52:22,170
go with it. We're going to go with it. We're not going. That's how we

655
00:52:22,170 --> 00:52:27,050
rolled down here. So good job. Um, national night out was my first

656
00:52:27,050 --> 00:52:31,350
time attending the one in portage. I didn't even know to have one because when I

657
00:52:31,350 --> 00:52:37,250
worked in the city, we went to seven neighborhoods. So I had a good time. It was

658
00:52:37,250 --> 00:52:42,370
nice trying out here. So good job with that. And then with the flop, you know, I've

659
00:52:42,370 --> 00:52:48,210
always had concerns with that from a law enforcement perspective. And the stories

660
00:52:48,210 --> 00:52:55,470
keep coming out just recently in Georgia. And officers just got fired for stalking

661
00:52:55,470 --> 00:53:01,610
one with flock. Matter of fact, I think it's like three or four people in the same department.

662
00:53:03,190 --> 00:53:14,330
So it has been very abused policies. We have cameras and banks with banks still get robbed.

663
00:53:15,670 --> 00:53:21,270
So just think about it for a second. People said what we got cameras. Okay? People still get

664
00:53:21,270 --> 00:53:26,970
things to the happens. So you have policies, you still have violations, and

665
00:53:26,970 --> 00:53:30,490
it probably doesn't mean anything to you now, but if it was you or your loved one

666
00:53:30,490 --> 00:53:35,010
or somebody you cared about who was the victim of that, it would take on a

667
00:53:35,010 --> 00:53:39,770
different sense. So we really need to consider that and then with the new

668
00:53:39,770 --> 00:53:44,690
information about the cell phone data, I got to do more research with that. So I

669
00:53:44,690 --> 00:53:47,270
can be driving on our street on the phone and they can pick up my

670
00:53:47,270 --> 00:53:53,830
information without a search warrant, that's crazy. So again, it's a good two for investigations.

671
00:53:54,910 --> 00:54:02,550
It's great for a lot of things, but then again, it can be abused and a lot of liberties that we have would be taken advantage of.

672
00:54:02,690 --> 00:54:07,850
So I think we really need to look at all the information that we can find out the stingray.

673
00:54:08,690 --> 00:54:13,530
So any more information that we get I would love to have that come before the council.

674
00:54:13,530 --> 00:54:16,670
so we could make a determination, but research

675
00:54:17,230 --> 00:54:20,150
out of cases in police departments where officers

676
00:54:20,730 --> 00:54:22,110
are getting convicted.

677
00:54:22,710 --> 00:54:27,110
Not just tribe, but convicted of tampering

678
00:54:27,110 --> 00:54:28,490
with the flock stuff.

679
00:54:29,250 --> 00:54:31,530
So some serious, thank you.

680
00:54:31,790 --> 00:54:32,790
All right, thank you, Vic.

681
00:54:33,130 --> 00:54:34,030
Council member Miller.

682
00:54:34,750 --> 00:54:35,530
Yes, thank you.

683
00:54:35,930 --> 00:54:37,470
It was great to be at the Southwest Michigan First

684
00:54:37,470 --> 00:54:38,670
Portage Town Hall this morning.

685
00:54:38,850 --> 00:54:40,690
We did get an update from the mall.

686
00:54:41,130 --> 00:54:42,770
Steve, who's the new manager there,

687
00:54:42,770 --> 00:54:46,150
about a store that's actually expanding within the mall

688
00:54:46,150 --> 00:54:50,330
that they're starting some new events for like a collector's market

689
00:54:50,330 --> 00:54:53,390
bringing in, you know, people that collect

690
00:54:53,390 --> 00:54:57,690
the different trading cards and different, probably, you know,

691
00:54:57,970 --> 00:55:00,690
cars and different collectors items so they're bringing in an event for that

692
00:55:00,690 --> 00:55:03,010
and they're really reaching out to small businesses

693
00:55:03,010 --> 00:55:06,850
to offer them a place to start within the mall.

694
00:55:07,170 --> 00:55:10,990
I kind of see like in the business timeline if somebody's starting a business

695
00:55:10,990 --> 00:55:15,170
and maybe they are able to start through the farmers market and then move up to a retail spot.

696
00:55:15,230 --> 00:55:20,310
I think it could be a good almost like incubator for those small businesses. So if you're looking

697
00:55:20,310 --> 00:55:24,950
for a storefront option, they said they've got very flexible terms and different openings and

698
00:55:24,950 --> 00:55:32,770
different ways to get you out there. So make sure to continue to check out them all. I did want to

699
00:55:32,770 --> 00:55:39,410
talk a little bit about we had a special meeting last week. There was a new

700
00:55:39,410 --> 00:55:55,110
Signatures that came through to do a amendment to the city charter it was put together by community action Michigan and it was in several cities within Michigan that they went out and got petitions and people to sign to have amendments to their charters.

701
00:55:56,010 --> 00:56:06,330
So it's hard to find direct information about community action Michigan but they want the different cities to amend their charters to put in a citizen health action committee.

702
00:56:06,330 --> 00:56:13,210
Well, I empathize with what they're trying to do and bringing attention to healthcare and healthcare costs at the city level.

703
00:56:13,370 --> 00:56:15,050
It's really not our realm.

704
00:56:16,570 --> 00:56:23,930
You know, and they went about creating this new verbage for our portage city charter with no input from the people in portage.

705
00:56:24,050 --> 00:56:28,350
They've done this also in Lansing, East Lansing, Kalamazoo.

706
00:56:29,290 --> 00:56:36,490
So it's just invent and harbor, it just doesn't seem very genuine to me.

707
00:56:37,510 --> 00:56:44,250
So we did, because they followed all of the legal actions we did have to put it on the ballot for this November.

708
00:56:45,310 --> 00:56:50,230
But it is something that personally I can't get behind and support as much as I do support healthcare.

709
00:56:51,510 --> 00:56:58,010
I don't think it's the right spot for it.

710
00:56:59,010 --> 00:57:04,010
And I do want to thank Council and City staff for being flexible in working with the gentleman

711
00:57:04,010 --> 00:57:05,750
that was talking about moving the house.

712
00:57:06,010 --> 00:57:12,170
It is a big ordeal and maybe a miracle can happen but at least to give him that two weeks

713
00:57:12,170 --> 00:57:17,790
to see if we can continue to have somebody be in a house that wasn't in a house and see

714
00:57:17,790 --> 00:57:22,170
let him discover if it's going to cost more than just building new.

715
00:57:22,710 --> 00:57:24,730
So thank you everyone for your time today.

716
00:57:24,730 --> 00:57:27,190
Thank you, Councilmember Young.

717
00:57:29,110 --> 00:57:29,910
Thank you, Madam Mayor.

718
00:57:30,450 --> 00:57:33,970
I have a few things I'd like to focus on.

719
00:57:34,270 --> 00:57:39,690
And first, I want to start with some of our citizens received a piece of mail.

720
00:57:39,890 --> 00:57:42,130
And it's stated it was from the city of Portage.

721
00:57:42,250 --> 00:57:52,070
It called itself an annual water test notice, which included an offered in-home water test kits and free water quality analysis.

722
00:57:52,070 --> 00:57:59,010
this is a scam. This is not the City of Portage. Please do not open it, leave it alone. We would not

723
00:57:59,010 --> 00:58:06,090
send something to you in this nature and so please be alerted to it. You can see a copy of what the scam

724
00:58:06,090 --> 00:58:13,290
notice looks like on the City of Portages official Facebook page. Again, do not contact the number.

725
00:58:13,650 --> 00:58:18,370
If you ever have a question about any mail that states it's from the City of Portage call,

726
00:58:18,370 --> 00:58:20,390
the trusted number for the city of borders,

727
00:58:20,470 --> 00:58:23,890
if a number looks different to you, send an email

728
00:58:23,890 --> 00:58:26,530
to any of the council members to our city manager,

729
00:58:27,150 --> 00:58:30,490
et cetera, but please be aware that this is targeting

730
00:58:30,490 --> 00:58:32,750
we don't know how this came up,

731
00:58:32,870 --> 00:58:33,890
it just be courted citizens,

732
00:58:34,310 --> 00:58:37,210
but we are not offering these water kits or testing

733
00:58:37,790 --> 00:58:39,090
that would typically be something

734
00:58:39,090 --> 00:58:42,070
that would come from the county departments

735
00:58:42,070 --> 00:58:43,230
that can help to do that.

736
00:58:43,290 --> 00:58:45,310
So we are not sending that out to you.

737
00:58:45,710 --> 00:58:47,630
So I just want to make sure you're aware of that.

738
00:58:47,630 --> 00:58:53,790
want to thank you to our youth advisory committee, Porter's Public Safety and the Porter's Public Safety Foundation

739
00:58:53,790 --> 00:58:59,190
for a very successful back-to-school batch that they had. They call it their pick-out with Public Safety.

740
00:58:59,450 --> 00:59:05,790
It was really wonderful. They handed out back-packs and the kids got to play on rise, get face-painting,

741
00:59:06,150 --> 00:59:10,110
and the administrators for Porter's Public Schools set in the dunk tank. So the kids got to

742
00:59:10,110 --> 00:59:16,470
dunk some other teachers. It was a really wonderful opportunity to see the community come out.

743
00:59:16,470 --> 00:59:22,150
weather was perfect and so just very appreciative of everything that we do if you didn't get

744
00:59:22,150 --> 00:59:27,290
a back act but you still need one. If you are a family who is a need, please be sure to contact

745
00:59:27,290 --> 00:59:30,310
public safety and they'll do the part to take care of you as always.

746
00:59:32,010 --> 00:59:36,250
One who encourages our citizens to reach out to city council if you have concerns. If you are

747
00:59:36,250 --> 00:59:44,570
finding that you are attempting to reach a department, it is not, we do not have any ability to handle

748
00:59:44,570 --> 00:59:49,710
employees, but we can see what we can do about sending an email forward or trying to see if we can

749
00:59:49,710 --> 00:59:54,630
make a phone call for you. So please be sure to reach out to us if there's a concern that you have

750
00:59:54,630 --> 00:59:59,970
in the city to try to assist you and so that we can just figure out how we can.

751
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:04,740
We connect you, maybe you're calling the wrong department and you just need to figure out how to keep things going.

752
01:00:05,160 --> 01:00:12,340
Want to remind citizens of our city manager search and that next week on Wednesday, we will have that starting at 3 p.m.

753
01:00:12,460 --> 01:00:16,740
So if you are interested in hearing those candidates, we have four candidates coming.

754
01:00:17,800 --> 01:00:28,700
Please be sure to come out. It would be who view if you want to learn a little bit more about each of those candidates. It will be a long day for us as council, but that will be a part of us doing our job.

755
01:00:28,700 --> 01:00:33,160
As always, thank you to our Acting City Manager Adam.

756
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:34,540
We're doing a wonderful job.

757
01:00:34,540 --> 01:00:36,960
We appreciate you and everything that you're doing.

758
01:00:37,260 --> 01:00:39,720
So, thanks so much for doing this.

759
01:00:40,260 --> 01:00:41,480
Thank you, Council Member Burns.

760
01:00:41,820 --> 01:00:44,800
Yeah, very quick shout out for the August Portageer.

761
01:00:44,980 --> 01:00:50,400
I don't know which departments may have been involved in the half-page of the full page.

762
01:00:51,940 --> 01:00:58,380
Right up of the new residential zoning ordinance, but took 212 pages of pretty dense ordinance text.

763
01:00:58,380 --> 01:01:05,020
and condense it and do an FAQ and a very understandable digest of what we did as a council.

764
01:01:05,500 --> 01:01:06,520
So I just thought that was really well done.

765
01:01:06,660 --> 01:01:07,460
I'm going to say thanks.

766
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:12,480
Thank you, Acting City Manager, Mr. Herringa.

767
01:01:13,140 --> 01:01:13,980
Thank you, Madam Mayor.

768
01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:19,520
One of the things, and I'm sure that I'm not sure how many school kids are watching this right now,

769
01:01:20,220 --> 01:01:25,160
but with all of our remote construction projects, we do have the opening of school on the mind.

770
01:01:26,100 --> 01:01:28,280
And yes, there will be some conflicts with some of the areas,

771
01:01:28,280 --> 01:01:32,720
but please to report that West Nages is open from Senate to South

772
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:38,180
Melody, South to Melody, angling roads should be open and the other projects we

773
01:01:38,180 --> 01:01:42,880
are working as quickly as we can to get those wrapped up and also coordinating with

774
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:47,520
public safety to make sure that the first week of school goes to smooth as

775
01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:51,400
possible. Speaking of public safety this past week, they not only

776
01:01:51,400 --> 01:01:55,680
place in fire, rescued people, property, but also a cat in a chicken.

777
01:01:58,500 --> 01:02:03,900
So, so many thanks to them for being the multi-disciplinary approach.

778
01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:09,860
Since Friday, we talked about housing in the material I provided City Council

779
01:02:09,860 --> 01:02:15,820
we indicated that we had closed on five homes, since Friday we've closed on two more at

780
01:02:15,820 --> 01:02:23,120
would crossings. So I would put our housing efforts up against any community in the state of Michigan and

781
01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:30,120
finally just a little bit of good news. Recently in the budget city council authorized us to

782
01:02:30,120 --> 01:02:35,280
hire an additional mechanic at our Department of Public Works. The mechanic that we hired was an

783
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:40,180
intern for us. He is a recent graduate of Porter's Northern High School and is just finishing up

784
01:02:40,180 --> 01:02:44,140
K-Risa Career Tech program in their mechanic divisions.

785
01:02:44,380 --> 01:02:51,100
So this is a story as to why and how the vocational education and technical education programs

786
01:02:51,100 --> 01:02:53,620
and partnerships with them work.

787
01:02:54,160 --> 01:02:59,000
Where our new mechanic went through that program and we extended it off for two of them this

788
01:02:59,000 --> 01:03:00,540
past week and he signed.

789
01:03:01,040 --> 01:03:03,680
So hopefully he'll be permanent employee here very soon.

790
01:03:03,960 --> 01:03:04,540
Thank you, Madam Mayor.

791
01:03:04,980 --> 01:03:06,040
Thank you.

792
01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:08,520
Mayor Potem, Dr. Pearson.

793
01:03:09,220 --> 01:03:09,660
Thank you, Mayor.

794
01:03:09,660 --> 01:03:16,660
I want to add to what council member led better, had said about

795
01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:20,740
Falk camera surveillance.

796
01:03:21,060 --> 01:03:24,820
He's always been wondering if this is a good thing,

797
01:03:26,220 --> 01:03:29,880
and we had a presentation from the Portage Public Safety

798
01:03:29,880 --> 01:03:32,400
saying all the safeguards we have.

799
01:03:32,660 --> 01:03:34,200
But I will say this to council.

800
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:36,480
There's a lot of reports on the news,

801
01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:42,920
And we should monitor those reports, because, you know, it's coming out that even though

802
01:03:42,920 --> 01:03:50,040
Portage Public Safety has a lot of standards in checking, Portage Public Safety can

803
01:03:50,040 --> 01:03:58,160
share the information with other cities and other states, and they may not have this

804
01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:04,880
safeguards that Portage Public Safety has, so I'm not taking a stand right now, but I would

805
01:04:04,880 --> 01:04:10,280
encourage city council members, just to monitor what's going on in the public eye of

806
01:04:10,280 --> 01:04:11,860
Fox camera systems. Thank you.

807
01:04:13,420 --> 01:04:16,960
All right, I'm checking things off. My list of already been said, but I do want to acknowledge

808
01:04:16,960 --> 01:04:23,360
the engaged citizens tree that we had come forward this evening. We had a wide range of issues

809
01:04:23,360 --> 01:04:30,920
and usually it's a solo topic that we just get hammered on. So I would just ask Mr. Herringa,

810
01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:38,800
if you could just keep us all in the loop on how the church driveway is addressed and I know

811
01:04:38,800 --> 01:04:44,160
you've sent things to me on flat cameras, maybe just dispense that when you give it to the

812
01:04:44,160 --> 01:04:49,680
council, speeding passing, the conservation survey, I'm sure it would appeal to many people.

813
01:04:49,920 --> 01:04:56,360
Code violations, are we addressing them in the manner that's appropriate for 2026? Is there anything

814
01:04:56,360 --> 01:05:02,840
that we can do to make sure that what what our goal is in neighborhoods is that we're maintaining

815
01:05:02,840 --> 01:05:08,080
it and not letting one house determine the rest for the street, especially if they're rentals.

816
01:05:08,700 --> 01:05:13,840
So I guess all I'm asking is that all of council be kept abreast on these and you always do a

817
01:05:13,840 --> 01:05:19,360
great job of that. I wanted to say that the council should be extremely proud of council members

818
01:05:19,360 --> 01:05:25,740
young and Miller. They have really ran with this small business committee and everything from

819
01:05:25,740 --> 01:05:32,240
our charge card program to the facade improvement. They both addressed a town hall at the

820
01:05:32,240 --> 01:05:37,620
mall this morning and just very informative, very concise and you made me very proud.

821
01:05:39,300 --> 01:05:44,960
Council Member Miller and I did attend a kindly place. It was a land-like piece of property

822
01:05:44,960 --> 01:05:52,420
developed by AVB. There are 49 new homes there. We'll be whether time the project is done and it

823
01:05:52,420 --> 01:05:57,920
just shows you that our builders are taking land that is not easily acceptable accessible to

824
01:05:57,920 --> 01:06:07,140
develop. And so we are doing our part with our zoning and with our development office to really

825
01:06:07,140 --> 01:06:14,080
make sure that we are using our land wisely. And in closing I attended a mayor's conference last week

826
01:06:14,080 --> 01:06:19,060
farming team, and all I can say is I'm really glad that I live in Portage and the amenities

827
01:06:19,060 --> 01:06:24,420
that we have here. Many communities are struggling with some of the same things we are,

828
01:06:24,500 --> 01:06:29,340
but I think we really have a handle on what we're trying to do. Data centers was a big concern

829
01:06:29,340 --> 01:06:36,280
of flat cameras came up. Many subjects like that, but it always made me happy to know that when I

830
01:06:36,280 --> 01:06:40,100
came home, this is where I wanted to be. And with that, the meeting is adjourned.