[24:42] Order.
[28:37] Roll call.
[28:40] I'm not recording, so, um,
[28:43] Fullertons?
[28:44] Here.
[28:45] Christensen?
[28:46] Present.
[28:47] Chin?
[28:48] Here.
[28:48] Kormatt, absent.
[28:51] Here.
[28:52] Rodriguez is absent. Newman?
[28:54] Here.
[28:56] Okay, Mayor Fullertons .
[28:58] Thank you. Invocation tonight by Dwight Ezop from St.
[29:02] Mary's Catholic
[29:03] Church.
[29:09] Let us bow our heads to pray.
[29:14] Lord, our God, you're the maker of all things human and divine.
[29:18] All times and seasons obey your laws, and yet you have created
[29:22] us to be the stewards of your creation, caring for the world and its
[29:26] peoples and all their wonder. We come before you as your
[29:29] servants. Our time of service to others may seem without
[29:33] end,
[29:34] and so we pray that you help us to accept that all that is involved in this
[29:38] office, for which your servants have been chosen.
[29:42] Allow us to offer you devoted service as we seek to meet the needs of our brothers
[29:45] and sisters we have in you. Keep our hearts open to the mystery
[29:49] of your presence in our lives, in the midst of the service we offer on behalf of
[29:53] others. Unlock for us, we pray, the secret of how, in
[29:57] such service, we may always give honor, praise, and glory to
[30:00] you. As your servants, we bow before you
[30:04] and the mystery of your will. We pray that you bless our efforts
[30:09] today and each day.
[30:11] We make this prayer through the mystery of your Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy
[30:15] Spirit. Amen.
[30:17] Amen.
[30:19] Thank you. All rise for the
[30:21] pledge.
[30:26] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
[30:30] America, and to the Republic for which it stands,
[30:34] one nation under God, indivisible, with
[30:37] liberty and justice for all.
[30:43] ... Next, we have approval of the minutes from the February 9th meeting.
[30:47] Is there a motion?
[30:49] So moved.
[30:49] Second.
[30:50] Moved and seconded. Any corrections?
[30:53] Yes, I have one. Um, council member
[30:56] committee reports
[30:59] on page two of five, um,
[31:03] at the, at the end, it says, "Council Member Chinn also reported the planning
[31:06] committee meeting had no quorum." The, the, um- I'm
[31:10] not involved with the planning committee, but the Brownfield Redevelopment
[31:14] Committee had no quorum.
[31:17] Okay.
[31:23] Anything else?
[31:25] Mr. Chinn, anything else?
[31:26] Nope.
[31:28] Mr. Neumann?
[31:29] Uh, page three of five, my last name is spelled
[31:33] incorrectly.
[31:35] Where? Where?
[31:36] Uh, council member, it's on the left-hand column, second
[31:40] paragraph.
[31:40] Towards the bottom?
[31:40] Yep, going towards the bottom.
[31:43] It's a new man.
[31:44] It's a new man, yes.
[31:45] Not a new one.
[31:50] That's all I've got.
[31:52] The only thing that I saw was that on page
[31:55] four, it talks about public comment.
[31:58] There was no public comment at the last meeting, but then there's three or four
[32:02] paragraphs there that came from a meeting sometime in
[32:05] December. So
[32:09] there wasn't any pub- public comment at the last meeting.
[32:11] So, Madam Clerk, do you want to see that one?
[32:14] I will get it fixed.
[32:15] There's like... Talks about Nicole, John Lopp, Copper
[32:19] Frost, and Jody
[32:20] Pruden.
[32:26] Okay, so the motion will stand to approve them
[32:30] as corrected. All those in favor say, "Aye."
[32:33] Aye.
[32:33] Aye.
[32:33] Aye.
[32:34] Opposed? Motion carries.
[32:38] Absence of council members, I've heard from Councilman
[32:41] Brummett. His father-in-law passed away,
[32:45] therefore, he, he's at visitation tonight.
[32:48] Councilman Rodriquez called and said that he had
[32:53] things to do at work, but he would be here probably ten to fifteen minutes
[32:56] late.
[32:57] I'd move to excuse the absent
[33:00] members.
[33:01] Both, both of them?
[33:04] Both.
[33:05] Second.
[33:07] Moved and seconded to excuse the two absent members.
[33:10] All in favor say, "Aye."
[33:11] Aye.
[33:12] Aye.
[33:12] Opposed?
[33:14] They're excused.
[33:17] That brings us down to public comment.
[33:21] Anyone from the public here that we have want to
[33:23] speak?
[33:29] How about anybody online?
[33:30] I can't get online. I'm still trying to load it.
[33:33] What'd you say?
[33:34] I'm still trying to load online. I can't get it to pick
[33:36] up.
[33:39] All right.
[33:39] I don't think there's anybody on there.
[33:41] We'll move on. Approval of the
[33:44] agenda.
[33:45] Hello?
[33:47] So moved.
[33:48] Is there a second?
[33:49] Um-
[33:49] Second.
[33:50] Moved and seconded, approved agenda as printed.
[33:54] Any discussions or requests to remove something?
[34:00] All those in favor say, "Aye."
[34:01] Aye.
[34:02] Aye.
[34:02] Aye.
[34:02] Opposed?
[34:04] Agenda's approved. Communications and committee reports.
[34:08] Manager report.
[34:09] Yeah, just a few items, uh, that I, um, included last week
[34:13] is a board and committee, uh, particularly the Brownfield and, uh,
[34:17] local development authority. Now, after I was writing this, I realize you have
[34:20] re-established, uh, at least the Brownfield, and, and I think that's good.
[34:24] Uh, a- a- and I want to reiterate the, uh, two meetings ago
[34:28] with the ninety-something thousand payment to Shift Industries,
[34:32] that was a twenty twenty-three, uh, payment.
[34:35] Uh, so
[34:37] we're catching up on it, but there are some things that as a committee, that we
[34:40] gotta kinda go through. When, when it was established in two thousand and
[34:43] seventeen, uh, for the current Brownfield, everything looked like it
[34:47] rolled pretty good, and then there somewhere along the way, things started,
[34:51] uh, because of turnover, more than likely.
[34:53] Um, but there's a, a revolving fund that you have, as well as an
[34:57] administrative fund, and I've, I've talked with the finance director, uh,
[35:01] Christina Horton, that, that we're gonna try and reconcile where it should be.
[35:05] Uh, you got one other payment that's gonna be coming up at the end of this tax
[35:08] season, probably in, in March, and it's probably in the range of another ninety
[35:11] thousand. Um, but at that point, you're still gonna have probably close to a
[35:15] hundred and fifty thousand in that account.
[35:17] And so we kinda wanna make sure where all of it belongs, uh, because
[35:21] there's a couple of different designations.
[35:23] But it does give you some funding that you could work with, whether it's a study,
[35:27] uh, some planning activities, or, or even helping with some remediation.
[35:31] So that's why I think it's good if we can get this, you know, back, uh,
[35:34] functioning. There is some resources that you have to, you know, address some, some
[35:38] problems. Uh, the other is the LDFA. Are you...
[35:41] I- I think, is it combined, where the, the Brownfield and LDF
[35:45] together? Okay. All right.
[35:48] No.
[35:49] So-
[35:49] It's separate.
[35:50] They're separate. Okay, all right.
[35:52] But you got a, you know, healthy fund balance in there.
[35:54] I know it's been discussed about a project in the future, but I think if
[35:58] periodically, they should at least meet once a year just to reinforce the fact that
[36:01] it's, uh, there for that purpose. Uh, otherwise, you know, I always worry
[36:05] about, you know, somebody wanting to grab it
[36:08] and refund it back to the taxing entity.
[36:11] So, um, so anyways, that's, uh, with the board and committees, uh,
[36:16] proposals for the manager search come in tomorrow.
[36:19] Um, there's been some discussion about, uh, um,
[36:23] maybe meeting on Thursday. Um, Mr. uh...
[36:26] That would be ideal just to do a quick review, uh, and in doing
[36:30] so, um, I'll, I'll, I'll get in touch after the meeting to see what time
[36:34] would be good. I'll work with the clerk as far as posting a meeting, but I
[36:38] usually in these, uh, that they'll be posted, even though there's not a
[36:42] quorum, there's a
[36:44] state supreme court, uh, rule-...
[36:46] decision a couple years ago that said, yeah, well, even if it's leading to a
[36:50] recommendation, you should post it.
[36:51] And so if the rest of the council members are inclined to sit in on it,
[36:55] there- it'll be noted, uh, that, uh, uh, they're meeting.
[36:59] And, and at that point, if you wanted to sit there on Thursday when they, they
[37:02] finally meet to review them,
[37:05] don't worry about the public notice.
[37:06] We'll have that taken care of, so. Pay classification
[37:10] study, um, you know, there's, um, I'm looking to
[37:14] go forward with just doing a, a, a study, and I say
[37:18] study, but it's essentially an update of, uh, job
[37:22] descriptions, responsibilities, um, for,
[37:26] uh, the non-union department head positions.
[37:29] Uh, and I- there's two purposes for it.
[37:32] One is to set a structure in place where you have internal pay
[37:35] equity. The other part is to, to look outside to make sure you're
[37:39] competitive in the marketplace. Uh, and so there is funding
[37:43] in the, uh, manager's, uh, budget for it.
[37:46] You're not paying any more health insurance, uh, uh,
[37:49] for the rest of the fiscal year, no more pension, retirement
[37:53] contributions, uh, uh, those type of things.
[37:56] So when you look at it, we should be able to...
[37:59] Now, because it's under the 15 or 20,000, and I'm guessing it's gonna be in the
[38:02] range, I would just, uh, go forward with it, but certainly keep, uh, the
[38:06] council apprised of where we end up.
[38:08] I would solicit bids for the, you know, for the study itself.
[38:12] So thoughts, comments?
[38:17] I have a comment backing up to the shift payment.
[38:20] Um, I'm just wondering if, if this is something else, I mean,
[38:24] that we're gonna create an Excel spreadsheet for other entities that
[38:28] fall into this category of brownfield and
[38:31] are-
[38:34] There, yeah, there has been. The, the spreadsheet in the past was very good, to be
[38:37] honest with you, when it started. Uh, and it looked like it ran really well for a
[38:41] few years, and then it just kind of...
[38:43] I couldn't follow it after that.
[38:45] I guess I'm asking, we need to re-engage with the spreadsheet?
[38:47] Yes, we do.
[38:48] Yes, we do.
[38:49] Yeah, yeah.
[38:49] All right.
[38:49] Because there is some resources that you have to work with.
[38:52] Mm-hmm.
[38:52] It's just-
[38:53] Indeed
[38:53] ... trying to figure out which, what, what are, what, how it's
[38:55] classified.
[38:59] Uh-
[39:00] Been warned.
[39:01] Title, uh, IV, uh, policy. Recently, we responded to a
[39:05] complaint, uh, that was initiated, uh, back in December.
[39:09] Uh, um, did you have something to follow up on that or... Oh, okay.
[39:12] Um,
[39:13] in talking with the attorney that, uh, led the, through the investigation,
[39:17] uh, uh, with our past policy, uh, and it, in some
[39:21] ways, dictated by the Federal Highway Administration, is that, uh, you, we
[39:25] had to do an investigation. Now, that's changed.
[39:28] Uh, if there is a complaint, uh, we forward it on to MDOT, who forwards
[39:32] it on to, uh, Highway, Federal Highway Administration for review of
[39:36] the complaint. So we put resources into the, you know, the
[39:39] investigation, uh, responded to it, but, but going forward, uh,
[39:43] that's going to change, and I would look to put some sort of either resolution or
[39:46] motion just acknowledging that, uh, that'll be the process going forward.
[39:50] Still required to comply with, uh, you know, Title
[39:54] VI, but, uh, by the same token, it's not...
[39:56] It's just the investigative component that, that would be changing,
[40:00] so. I'll have that at pr- uh, the intent is to have it at the next
[40:04] meeting.
[40:05] And then last, just a zoning update.
[40:07] Uh, uh, talked with the, uh, city attorney.
[40:11] Uh, he's coming back, uh, today, uh, from Mexico.
[40:14] Uh, uh, they've completed a review internally.
[40:17] He wants to do one more review of it, uh, and then with, uh,
[40:21] um,
[40:22] uh, Tiger, we'll, uh, schedule, uh, the, the readings with
[40:26] the city council, as well as the planning commission, and, and we're hopeful to
[40:30] have it adopted by the end of April.
[40:32] So, uh-
[40:34] Very good. Any more questions for the manager?
[40:36] Good.
[40:36] I have just one.
[40:37] Yep.
[40:37] You're talking about the meeting on Thursday.
[40:39] There's a committee of three, correct?
[40:41] Mm-hmm.
[40:42] That's already been formed. That's who you're gonna meet with-
[40:45] Yeah, yeah
[40:45] ... you, and then the committee's gonna bring back a recommendation to us anyway?
[40:49] Yes.
[40:49] So I don't, I don't see a need for any of me to go, at least.
[40:53] Yeah.
[40:53] So I'll let the committee do their work.
[40:56] Okay, I just want to be clear on that.
[41:01] Also, just tell me, is this too much of a report?
[41:03] 'Cause I can shorten it up.
[41:05] No, you were, you were at two minutes.
[41:06] All right.
[41:09] I was watching.
[41:10] Okay. Keep me in line.
[41:13] Okay. Council
[41:17] Member rings this. There's no- the only staff here, she's gonna report in just a
[41:20] minute, so, um, council member committee report.
[41:24] Somebody's been to a committee and want to report on something that happened at
[41:27] that committee.
[41:29] Yes, uh, E Tran met, and, uh, a decision was made to
[41:33] hire the interim manager,
[41:36] who has been the treasurer for a long time,
[41:40] uh, and has stepped in previously as a, a interim
[41:43] manager, uh, to offer her the position of
[41:47] manager, and then go out for, uh, and look for
[41:51] a new finance director, uh, for E Tran.
[41:54] So that, uh, was, uh, a major thing that, uh, was
[41:58] accomplished there. Uh, we
[42:02] had originally scheduled a, uh, housing committee
[42:06] or a brownfield redevelopment committee, uh,
[42:09] meeting, um, that we had to cancel and
[42:13] move because, uh, the, uh, person from the state that was
[42:17] gonna present to us, um, was not, uh...
[42:21] Ended up having a sick child, so we, we have to re-, uh,
[42:25] redo it. So as soon as, uh, Selena gets it back on
[42:29] board, uh, we'll, we'll meet. So that's
[42:33] it.
[42:38] Uh, move on to the consent agenda.
[42:42] Move to approve.
[42:44] Second.
[42:47] ... On the consent agenda
[42:49] is the approval of claims and expenditures totaling
[42:51] 382,274.83.
[42:57] Approve renumbering of 2,026 resolutions
[43:01] that were just- they were just misnumbered.
[43:03] That's just a cleanup in the clerk's office.
[43:07] And ap- approve a request to apply for body camera
[43:09] grant from the police department, so that we know
[43:13] that... We don't know the price yet, how much, but we do know that they
[43:17] may be able to get a substantial amount of the grant.
[43:21] And the last is to approve a resolution, 202609, to close
[43:25] the 100 block of East Ceres for Needful Things anniversary
[43:30] eighth to May 10th, and that's just the 100 block.
[43:33] They're gonna have, uh, tents and
[43:37] food trucks and whatever, so it'll be... It's a good thing.
[43:40] Any questions on the consent agenda?
[43:45] All those in favor say aye.
[43:46] Aye.
[43:46] Aye.
[43:47] Opposed?
[43:50] Consent agenda's approved. Business agenda.
[43:54] Consider approval and adoption of the Community Development Block Grant Procurement
[43:58] Policy.
[44:00] Pretty much one more jumble,
[44:02] but-
[44:02] Yeah.
[44:04] Move to approve.
[44:05] So moved.
[44:06] Been moved and seconded to approve the procurement for that.
[44:10] Any discussion?
[44:13] Uh, I was hoping, uh, to have a little presentation on that,
[44:17] but I thought it read beautifully. Um, and it's...
[44:20] I don't know, for me, it's, it's kind of just what we've been looking for and
[44:23] working toward for the last year, so it's great.
[44:26] It's moving in the correct direction in what we're trying to do.
[44:30] Okay.
[44:34] Nothing more to add.
[44:34] Other comments?
[44:37] We're getting ready to... We've, we've voted on the consent agenda, now we're at
[44:42] A, approving the Community Development Block Grant Procurement
[44:45] Policy.
[44:46] It's leaving.
[44:46] Perfect. Thank you. Everything with that?
[44:49] Thanks.
[44:49] Did you have any comments on that?
[44:51] Oh, um, uh, can you say that again real quick?
[44:54] The procurement policy. Selena's been working on it.
[44:58] Job.
[44:58] You're good.
[45:00] All those in favor of the motion to approve, say aye.
[45:02] Aye.
[45:02] Aye.
[45:03] Opposed? Motion carries. Nice.
[45:07] Consider approval of sole source authorization, flow monitoring, and
[45:11] hydraulic modeling from Fishbeck.
[45:14] Is there a motion?
[45:15] Motion.
[45:16] Second.
[45:17] Second.
[45:17] Move. Second. Stephanie, you
[45:21] wanna come up and explain all this to us?
[45:24] Please.
[45:27] Sure.
[45:27] She's good.
[45:28] Tell us, just tell them what is- what- why are we having to do
[45:32] this, and... There's a, there's...
[45:36] Oh, she's got her own mic. She'll have to come up.
[45:37] Yeah.
[45:38] I'm sorry.
[45:39] Um, I guess I can give you a basic overview.
[45:42] Um, does anybody have questions, I guess, first?
[45:44] If there's specific questions I can answer,
[45:48] the- so I can try to cover those after-
[45:50] Why don't you, why don't you cover what the overview first, and then, 'cause
[45:54] Councilman Rodriguez has got some questions.
[45:57] Okay, so I think everybody's aware that the city would like to
[46:00] expand, um, including all the city staff.
[46:04] To do that, we need to make sure that the Lansing Lift Station can
[46:08] handle the capacity for all the, for all- everything that we'd
[46:11] like to add into the city that goes to that lift station.
[46:14] So, for instance, the one apartment complex that's coming to the
[46:19] planning commission, I think, for pre-approval, there's another
[46:22] apartment complex that wants to go in behind that, which is significantly
[46:26] larger. The Lansing Lift Station also is control-
[46:30] has all of the industrial park in it.
[46:32] I don't know if anybody's aware, but I'm applying for an EDA
[46:36] grant, which will pay for the industrial road to get
[46:40] in, um, the same thing we were asking for through Tom Barrett's
[46:43] office. Um, but this grant will also include,
[46:47] um, updating all of the wastewater
[46:50] infrastructure, including the Lansing Lift Station.
[46:53] Now, with that being said, all of these places, um, their sanitary
[46:57] sewer goes into this, to the Lansing Lift Station.
[46:59] So adding the apartment complexes,
[47:03] expanding the industrial park like we'd like to do, adding more industry out
[47:07] there, um, we have the Michigan Can line, who's
[47:11] not fully up and running yet. They still have about 50,000 gallons a day that
[47:15] they're gonna dump into, um, the Lansing Lift
[47:19] Station that they're not even doing yet.
[47:21] So
[47:22] with that being said, we need to have this study
[47:26] done to tell us where the
[47:29] capacity of that Lansing- of the Lansing Lift Station is, and what
[47:33] direction we need to move in to make sure that we are set up for the
[47:36] future, um, and whatever that
[47:39] entails.
[47:43] Do you have questions, Rodriguez? Go ahead.
[47:45] Yeah. Um, so
[47:47] one of the... And this is just purely because I'm, I most
[47:51] likely not educated on this, but, um,
[47:55] I mean, it's, it sounds like a good idea to work towards this
[47:59] process, but I worry about spending
[48:02] $52,000
[48:05] for first, you know, projects that are maybe.
[48:08] So, like, how, how confident are we that these projects
[48:12] would go through, I guess, would be my first question.
[48:15] Do we have any kind of promises from them that, you know, they're
[48:18] gonna build? I mean, obviously, it hasn't gone through planning commission, so-
[48:22] The one apartment complex is going through planning commission, I think, at this
[48:25] next meeting. Um, and the other one is in the
[48:29] works. They've got the, it all laid out and all of that stuff, so...
[48:33] Like, but how, how confident are we that this, this
[48:37] is going to happen?
[48:39] I'm not sure that I can answer that.
[48:41] Um, but besides that, I, I don't really think it matters.
[48:44] Okay.
[48:44] I think if we wanna do any expansion in any portion of the city-
[48:48] ... this study's gonna have to be done.
[48:50] Yeah, that lead to my second question then, and that is, what kind of
[48:54] costs are we talking about to possibly
[48:57] have to upgrade this? Because that's another question.
[49:01] You can do a study, and you can get information, but my-
[49:05] I'm imagining it's gonna cost a lot, and if you don't actually have
[49:08] a, um, you know, the money to do it, well, then we also
[49:12] paid 52,000 for a study that now we're not gonna use,
[49:16] which a few of us up here, we've been here a while, we've paid for
[49:20] a few studies that we ended up not using forever, and, and
[49:24] we feel like, okay, this is a giant waste.
[49:26] So
[49:27] what is, uh... I guess, what kind of expenses are we
[49:30] looking at
[49:32] if we do have to try to upgrade these?
[49:35] Wi- once the study's done, they'll, they'll provide an engineering
[49:38] estimate for, first and foremost, what the
[49:42] capacity upgrade needs to be, because you can't really base it on anything
[49:46] until you know what it is. Uh, but ballpark figures, I was talking
[49:50] with Vince earlier, is probably about a million dollars.
[49:53] But again, if you don't, if you don't in- if we don't invest it into the
[49:57] infrastructure, we're never expanding...
[50:00] we're never gonna be able to expand, and I think that is the main
[50:03] goal I thought of most of you up there.
[50:07] Yeah. Well, I definitely... Oh, I'm sorry. Click it to you.
[50:10] Yeah, I, I, I'm absolutely for expanding.
[50:13] I just, I'm nervous about spending 52,000
[50:18] when we have no promises of anybody actually expanding right
[50:21] now. And then also, I don't know where the money would come to do the
[50:25] upgrades that we would need to do. Would that have to come from, from a grant, or
[50:28] would we pull that from the, you know, water and sewer fund?
[50:32] 'Cause I, I don't really know exactly right now what the
[50:36] liquid or unassigned funds are for.
[50:39] So with the EDA, uh, grant I'm applying for right now, this will be in the
[50:43] grant package. Um, we- if we don't get the grant, it'll come
[50:47] from water and sewer funds, and we have the fund balance for that.
[50:50] Okay. Is this something... Just 'cause I don't know, is this something that you
[50:53] could, um... Like, typically when it comes to
[50:57] getting a grant, is the, you know, professional
[51:01] services to look into that, could that be something that's included into a
[51:05] grant, or are most grants gonna expect you to already have this, this study
[51:08] done?
[51:09] It depends, but the EDA grant in particular that we're going after right
[51:13] now will not include engineering design services.
[51:16] It's just the c- the construct.
[51:18] All right. I, I think that's all my questions for now. Thanks.
[51:21] I'd like to answer two of those questions that haven't been covered.
[51:24] One is that we've, in the last year, we've spent, um, this
[51:28] piece of property, or these pieces of property, have risen to the top
[51:32] as clearly the lowest hanging fruit and the most
[51:35] delicious fruit for developers in the area.
[51:39] They want it. It's not us, it's the developers.
[51:42] So you can't call that a promise, but I can tell you that they're
[51:46] talking to each other to see who wants to partner with whom for these specific
[51:50] pieces of property.
[51:52] So if anything's gonna be built, this is first.
[51:56] Uh, what was the second one? Let me see.
[51:58] I do have something to add to that.
[51:59] Yeah, go ahead.
[51:59] Charlotte, Charlotte Anodizing out at the, um, at the industrial park
[52:03] has made a commitment, and actually, it's gonna be in part of their letter that
[52:07] they do for the EDA grant, a commitment to, um, buy
[52:11] the land out there and build, build to fit structure.
[52:13] So they'll have to say, "We are going to commit X million
[52:16] dollars for the industrial park if this road gets built." So
[52:20] there is investment.
[52:22] Well, the other, just a, uh, it, it's, it's the basis of why I
[52:26] asked the brownfield question, because this is a development in a brownfield, and
[52:29] this, this he- and I'm, I'm curious as to
[52:33] if, if we are getting the same arrangement out of that with these developers as
[52:37] we are with Shift, et cetera, et cetera.
[52:39] And I'd be anxious looking, like, what's the tax policy for this? What...
[52:43] How does this work out?
[52:44] Yeah, that, that may very well be a consideration, where you do provide some
[52:47] incentive related to some of the reimbursement for whatever environmental
[52:51] remediation may take place. But certainly through the brownfield as well
[52:55] as the council, uh, that's a decision that you would make, uh,
[52:59] and sometimes that's just what gets projects over the top, is, uh, that sort of
[53:03] incentive, so.
[53:05] And, and it has been part of the conversations we've been having with the
[53:08] developers-
[53:08] Yeah
[53:09] ... and, and, you know, we call it stacking.
[53:10] But yeah-
[53:11] Yeah
[53:11] ... that's one, that's one of the reasons this piece of property looks prime to
[53:14] these people. Um, anyway, that's it.
[53:19] Mr. Christensen.
[53:20] Thank you. I think there's been quite a thirst in this town for
[53:24] housing, and it's, this has been building for a while.
[53:27] We've, we've talked about it, and, you know, they've expressed their concerns to
[53:30] the county. That's in the process of changing.
[53:33] Uh, so these folks are willing and able to come in and spend some dollars and
[53:37] make some investments. Uh, um,
[53:40] I mean, if, if it won't flow, we can't grow. It's that simple.
[53:44] So, I mean, I think this is a no-brainer for us.
[53:47] Um, you know, we were the ones sitting here
[53:51] wanting for this to happen, and I, I wanna- I don't see where we wanna hold
[53:55] anything up if, uh... I don't want it on my watch anyway.
[53:58] So, thanks.
[54:00] Mr. Avery, do you have something?
[54:03] Yeah, just, um, you know, and, and talking, uh, w- with
[54:07] the, the, the, uh, developers that we have, um,
[54:11] the question of infrastructure, uh, does rise to the
[54:15] top. And, and, you know, they wanna know, um,
[54:19] because that's, that's a concern of theirs, is the, the cost if
[54:23] they have to do all the infrastructure.
[54:25] Uh, in order for us to be competitive in the marketplace with other
[54:29] cities or other locations, uh, we need to
[54:33] demonstrate that we have the capacity to do, do
[54:36] that. Uh, and, you know, that's, that's one of
[54:40] the, the key issues that, uh, we're dealing with, uh,
[54:44] with some of these developers, a- as well as, uh,
[54:48] the, the fact that
[54:50] um-
[54:51] ... you know, with the
[54:53] issue with the brownfield, uh, sites and, and what we can do with
[54:56] those, and, um, that, that type of thing.
[54:59] So, uh, it's important. I, I think the, the
[55:03] issue, uh, is that we need to know what
[55:07] w- what capacity that we have before we start
[55:10] promising some of these developers that we can take care of it,
[55:14] and fin- find out that, uh, w- we're way short,
[55:18] and we've got to do something, uh, about it.
[55:21] So, uh, this study is, is certainly one that
[55:25] will give us that information. Uh, the only issue that I
[55:29] have is, and, and, uh, e- even though I'm in
[55:32] strong support, uh, the f- the issue of sole
[55:36] source is, again, uh, a big issue for me.
[55:40] Uh, and, uh, I, I don't see it meeting
[55:43] the, uh, policy requirements, uh,
[55:47] from the, the standpoint of, uh, what was
[55:51] established in the, in the purchasing policy.
[55:54] So, um, a- again, uh, no-bid service
[55:58] contracts are a big issue for me because of the fact
[56:01] that everyone that I've pushed to bid
[56:05] has ended up costing far less than w- uh, what
[56:09] was, uh, uh,
[56:12] proposed in the first place. So, uh, I don't see
[56:15] that, uh, having, uh, a bid, uh,
[56:20] for the services, uh,
[56:24] does anything but make sure that, uh, the amount of money that we're
[56:27] spending is, is in line. Uh, the other
[56:31] thing, though, is, and I didn't see it in, in the paperwork, and
[56:35] I'll open it up, uh, for the manager
[56:39] to, to tell me that, uh, Fishbeck is the only
[56:42] company that knows how to do and, and have- are
[56:45] qualified, uh, to do this type of, uh,
[56:49] uh, service. Um, are there other
[56:53] companies out there that do the same kind of work, uh, from that
[56:57] standpoint? So, that's all.
[57:00] Do you have an answer for that?
[57:01] Yes. Uh, there are other firms that can do the work.
[57:04] Uh, one of the reasons I support the sole source is that, uh, Fishbeck does
[57:08] have our GIS system, our water reliability, our water
[57:12] system modeled, and, and I think, uh, the cost of if you
[57:16] brought it out with another firm, trying to incorporate that in will add some
[57:19] additional cost, taking data from one engineering company to another.
[57:23] I do believe it's good to have a consulting, uh, a base
[57:27] consulting firm, you know, for these type of relationships.
[57:31] But, you know, even last week, Stephanie and I had a discussion
[57:34] about, uh, can we go out and just do a quality-based selection process
[57:38] for, for specific- for projects in general, and where you
[57:42] have four or five, which is not uncommon, and then when a project comes up
[57:45] here, uh, the four or five can compete, that we're
[57:49] pre-qualified and selected to be part of a process.
[57:51] But, but this one here, because of the GIS system that we have, uh, that they
[57:55] maintain for us, uh, uh, as well as, uh, the water,
[57:59] uh, modeling that, uh, that's already in place, I think it, it makes sense
[58:03] just from that sole source standpoint.
[58:07] Mr. Rodriguez, you have a question?
[58:09] Yeah, I have first have a question for you.
[58:11] In, in the past, you've talked about, I think, that property back there, something
[58:14] about the property not being suitable.
[58:17] There's an old, uh, junk site or something.
[58:19] Is that, is that the same property we're talking about or something else?
[58:22] That's the same property, but with the brown-
[58:24] But they are able to build on it?
[58:26] Yeah, the brownfield redevelopment would be able to...
[58:28] They would be able to use the money to get rid of all the bad
[58:31] soil-
[58:32] Mm-hmm
[58:33] ... and then use it as buildable ground.
[58:36] Okay. Um, I also have a question around, like,
[58:39] uh, cost recovery analysis, right?
[58:42] So if you do- if you
[58:46] expand the housing base, you increase, you know, taxable
[58:50] revenue. Like, do we have an idea realistically of,
[58:54] okay, these properties go in, what's the realistic
[58:57] timeline between getting our million dollars for upgrading
[59:01] this service and our other fifty-two thousand for doing this, uh,
[59:05] study? Like, what's the timeline for actually recouping that money?
[59:09] Um,
[59:10] is that something we've, we've looked at, or no?
[59:13] Because-
[59:13] Well, you can make some scenarios.
[59:15] I mean, part of it is you have to identify what kind of development and
[59:18] intensity you would expect long term, not just with this site, but other
[59:22] areas, like in the industrial site.
[59:24] Mm-hmm.
[59:24] You probably want to carry it forward just for the entire rest of the city.
[59:28] Uh, think of this as just one of, what, six collection systems that you
[59:31] have. And, and so some of it's just based on
[59:35] some assumptions that you're going to make. Uh, how's the economy going?
[59:38] Uh, you know, sometimes, uh, you- you're rolling pretty good, and then you have a
[59:42] great recession, and things slow down for four or five years, and then you get
[59:46] a, a pandemic, and it slows down again.
[59:49] And so there's, there- but you make assumptions as to, you know, how fast it can
[59:53] happen, uh, uh, whether it comes to fruition, positive or
[59:56] negative, it's just a function of mar- uh, marketplace and environment.
[1:00:00] But, uh, but we can make assumptions that, uh, you know, with the, the
[1:00:04] development in the area that you're looking about, what the intensity would look
[1:00:07] like and what the long-term payback is, uh, uh, for
[1:00:10] that. Uh, but there, you know, to get a precise, uh, a quick
[1:00:14] turnaround, uh, you know, I think there's a start, and these
[1:00:18] things take momentum, too. Once when the snowball's rolling, it, it goes pretty
[1:00:21] quick. Uh, if you're con- perceived as being
[1:00:25] very, um, easy to work with,
[1:00:28] reasonable, developers talk, and,
[1:00:32] and you're in great-
[1:00:34] you're really in a good spot in relationship to where Lansing is.
[1:00:36] Easy access, uh, to anywhere in the Lansing
[1:00:40] area, and it's affordable. I think those are the certain qualities
[1:00:44] that, that, uh, that they look in the marketplace.
[1:00:47] The rest is something that you can help with, uh, in making it that much more
[1:00:50] attractive for them, so.
[1:00:52] ... I'm not sure I gave you a straight answer, but, uh, but it, uh-
[1:00:55] No, I actually appreciate that answer, and it actually made me think of, uh,
[1:00:59] something I didn't think of, and that is, of course, you know, upgrading the
[1:01:01] systems is not just for this one project.
[1:01:04] Obviously, it does- it can carry over into other projects, which I don't know why I
[1:01:07] wasn't thinking of. Um, the last thing I think it was brought up about
[1:01:11] the, the road that we're putting into the industrial park,
[1:01:15] isn't... I, I know it's kind of off topic, but it's sort of there.
[1:01:18] It was brought up. Um, the, isn't there specific
[1:01:23] funds that we can only use towards the industrial
[1:01:27] park, and is money from- is that money being used for that, and
[1:01:31] do we-
[1:01:32] So the LDFA, and that will be the grant match
[1:01:36] for the grant that we're going after, if we get it.
[1:01:38] So the million dollars in the LDFA will be our grant match, and then
[1:01:42] the Michigan Infrastructure Office gave us $500,000.
[1:01:45] So we'll go in with a $1.5 million match for this grant.
[1:01:49] When you say this grant, you're talking about the-
[1:01:51] EDA grant.
[1:01:53] I haven't applied for it yet.
[1:01:54] Oh.
[1:01:55] That's coming next... I'll bring that to you guys next council meeting.
[1:01:57] We're waiting on some, some final numbers for budgeting, but-
[1:02:00] So the EDA grant... Sorry, I'm-
[1:02:03] Disaster fund. I came to you with the build grant the last time for this downtown
[1:02:07] reconstruct.
[1:02:08] Mm-hmm.
[1:02:08] The EDA disaster fund grant is a different grant.
[1:02:12] That's, I'm hoping to submit for on March 12th.
[1:02:15] And that's gonna go towards this?
[1:02:17] And all the wastewater stuff. Yep.
[1:02:19] Okay.
[1:02:21] All right.
[1:02:23] Mr. Christenson.
[1:02:25] Just a quick question. Now, let's say we have the study
[1:02:28] done. They determine that it won't handle
[1:02:31] it. Are we gonna be able to in- do something to
[1:02:35] increase with what we have with some addition, or would we
[1:02:39] be talking about a complete reconstruct for something that can handle it
[1:02:43] if that number happens to be high? I guess I'm just a little confused how much that
[1:02:47] can be upgraded.
[1:02:48] I don't know.
[1:02:49] Okay.
[1:02:49] I don't know.
[1:02:50] I think, I think we need to all pull back from...
[1:02:53] You know, the, the vote is for the, the study.
[1:02:56] The study might come back and say, "You got enough room."
[1:02:59] Mm-hmm.
[1:03:00] Yep. Yep.
[1:03:00] And, you know, I wanna go clear back to the start of this, too.
[1:03:03] When we talk about lift stations, a lot of people don't know, this is actually a
[1:03:07] pump station, and here, this... Because everything drains to this one,
[1:03:11] this, in this area, and then it's force fed,
[1:03:14] pumped, clear down to Shepard Street, and then it gravity feeds clear to
[1:03:18] Terrell, then comes back to the plant.
[1:03:21] Yeah.
[1:03:21] So there's a lot of open things. If it's a 10-inch main, it's, it's pumped
[1:03:25] through, that's probably quite a lot of room in that.
[1:03:28] You know, maybe an upgrade, if we had to do an upgrade, maybe it's, uh, another
[1:03:32] pump or two. I don't know. But you need to get the study
[1:03:35] done before you can
[1:03:39] decide what you wanna do or even think about how you're gonna pay for
[1:03:42] it. Um, the, I d- I don't see... I
[1:03:46] mean, obviously, I agree with Mr. Chinn
[1:03:50] that it'd be great, but
[1:03:53] bid it out. But in this case, to get it timely
[1:03:56] done, I, I'm, I, I think, yeah, the...
[1:04:00] I agree with the manager on that one, that the company probably
[1:04:04] is gonna be our best bet, uh, to get it done, though, having to
[1:04:08] bid it out. 'Cause you're talking a few months, and I know they
[1:04:12] talked about the, uh... Some, if you read through
[1:04:16] that, you know, they talked about
[1:04:18] stormwater and things like that when the storm comes, and that's because
[1:04:23] stormwater can leak into the sanitary sewer system,
[1:04:27] and then, then that has to be processed also, and that's why they
[1:04:30] need to do that. So we're not talking about looking at our storm sewer.
[1:04:33] We don't care what they drain off. The parking lot goes to the Butternut Creek or
[1:04:37] down to the Battle Creek. It gets there, there's big mains that go through
[1:04:41] that. But so I think we need to focus on, do you wanna do
[1:04:45] a study, and do you want to... I think we all wanna do a study,
[1:04:48] but do we want to allow it to be done as a sole
[1:04:52] surface- sole source purchase? That's really what we're
[1:04:56] voting on. Mr. Rodriguez.
[1:04:59] I, I, I think I probably agree with
[1:05:02] Mr. Chinn here mostly. I'm still not sure how I feel about the sole
[1:05:05] source, but I feel like I'm leaning that way.
[1:05:08] Perhaps I, I need to be, you know, given more
[1:05:11] information or there's something I'm not understanding.
[1:05:14] The other question I wanna ask, though, is,
[1:05:17] um, was this study
[1:05:21] planned in advance? I can't, I can't remember if this was part of our
[1:05:25] budget or if this is something that's come up as a result of the
[1:05:28] housing committee and the work that everybody's been
[1:05:31] doing.
[1:05:33] No, it wasn't planned for. This is a result of all of the...
[1:05:37] Everybody wanting to come in here and build.
[1:05:39] Yeah.
[1:05:39] It just has to be done.
[1:05:42] And, um,
[1:05:44] and so would this just be paid from fund balance of the general
[1:05:47] fund?
[1:05:48] Water and sewer funds, unless we get the grant.
[1:05:51] All right. I have no further questions. Thank you.
[1:05:53] Come on, the enterprise fund.
[1:05:54] Can I just do one?
[1:05:55] Mr. Scott.
[1:05:56] I just wanna clarify what she just said.
[1:05:59] The reason we're talking about this space is, regardless of what we were all
[1:06:02] thinking on the housing committee of where we thought houses would go and should go
[1:06:06] in this town, this is the place where the builders who are actually coming into
[1:06:09] town have decided they want them to go, and nobody has said a
[1:06:13] word about the places that we desire.
[1:06:15] This is where they desire.
[1:06:18] Mr. Newlon.
[1:06:19] Um, just one more thing on, you know, the sole,
[1:06:23] um, bids and, and that sort of thing.
[1:06:26] Uh, you know, being in environmental field and, and
[1:06:30] that sort of thing,
[1:06:31] once you establish with, you know, an environmental, uh,
[1:06:35] consulting firm, uh, usually, you know, they're, they're going
[1:06:39] out and, and providing these costs and, and that sort of
[1:06:43] thing, you know? But I'm sure that along the way, they've bid
[1:06:47] against other, uh, consulting firms and
[1:06:51] that sort of thing for other projects within the city, and
[1:06:54] evidently, we- they have won bids, you know, along the
[1:06:58] years of doing this. So they've kinda got a proven track record that
[1:07:02] they're gonna come in as probably one of the best-...
[1:07:05] priced, uh, you know, agencies or consulting firms, you know, out
[1:07:09] there. So that kind of gives me a little, you know,
[1:07:13] uh, uh, confidence that, you know, we're in the
[1:07:17] ballpark of where we need to be, you know, within, you know, maybe a
[1:07:20] couple thousand dollars. But, uh, you know, with the history that we've got
[1:07:24] identified here and, and, you know, all the other stuff that's
[1:07:28] going on, it, it makes me pretty confident that, you know, Fishbeck
[1:07:32] is, is providing a, a fair and, and reliable
[1:07:35] quote.
[1:07:39] Okay.
[1:07:41] Um, so the motion would be that we...
[1:07:43] And the motion was made to, would actually authorize the public works
[1:07:47] director to execute the professional service agreement with Fishbeck on a sole
[1:07:51] source basis in the amount not to exceed
[1:07:54] 52,000. Take a roll call
[1:07:56] vote.
[1:07:59] Fullerton?
[1:08:00] Yes.
[1:08:00] Chin?
[1:08:01] No.
[1:08:02] Newman?
[1:08:03] Yes.
[1:08:04] Christensen? Yes.
[1:08:06] Scott?
[1:08:07] Yes.
[1:08:08] Rodrigues?
[1:08:09] Yes.
[1:08:11] And let's end.
[1:08:12] Okay, motion carries.
[1:08:15] Next is consider approval
[1:08:18] of a request, requested input from the clerk's office,
[1:08:22] and I'll give you just a little history of that, why we're doing
[1:08:25] this. And I know we went through the budget last
[1:08:29] year, and we cut out of the, uh, conference and
[1:08:33] registration from the council, and we cut it down,
[1:08:37] and we put $5,000 in there. So during this year,
[1:08:41] the 5,000 was spent, and 1,900 was
[1:08:44] added. That was spent, and now we still owe
[1:08:48] 2,000 that has to be transferred. Um,
[1:08:51] so, you know, when we come to this budget this year, if we got, you
[1:08:55] know... It's okay, but we gotta remember
[1:08:59] that... I guess what I'm saying, that my, my old department
[1:09:02] head is coming out of me now. If, if I was a department head coming back here and
[1:09:06] saying, "Well, I need to- I need some more money, I already spent it," is that
[1:09:10] all right with you guys? It'd be a little late, wouldn't it?
[1:09:13] So everything's gonna go through the clerk's office.
[1:09:16] She's gonna be the keeper of the records,
[1:09:20] and we will have to move some money to, because there's
[1:09:23] another couple conferences coming up that have already
[1:09:27] been booked. But what she's asking for is, you
[1:09:31] know, go through her, and then by
[1:09:35] March, I'm s- uh-
[1:09:38] 3rd
[1:09:38] ... Third, she'd like an idea of what you're gonna do next year.
[1:09:41] So if you think you're gonna go to one or two or three or four conferences,
[1:09:45] put them into her, because she's in charge of putting money in that budget,
[1:09:50] and then we can look at it as a council after that.
[1:09:53] But that's really, that's where it came from.
[1:09:57] Um,
[1:09:58] it's just that we've- the council's overspent their conference,
[1:10:02] workshop, and education budget. And, but I do also remember that
[1:10:06] when we cut it to five, we said, "If we need more, we'll have to put more in
[1:10:09] there."
[1:10:10] That's right.
[1:10:10] I remember we talked about that, so... Mr. Christensen.
[1:10:13] Just to give her an idea, I know from my aspect, uh, when I kind of
[1:10:18] look at the year through education and in keeping up to
[1:10:21] date through MML, um, winter
[1:10:25] conference, which is generally like we had just last weekend, it's an
[1:10:28] online. Spring conference, which is usually we
[1:10:32] attend. CAPCON, which is coming up in a few weeks, that's a
[1:10:36] semi... Well, that's an annual event.
[1:10:38] Um, CAPCON, and then we have our annual
[1:10:41] convention, uh, which this year will be in Traverse
[1:10:45] City. Uh, those are the four
[1:10:48] main
[1:10:49] components for, for experience. And now the new guys, they've been
[1:10:53] through the newly elected, and they'll hit some core
[1:10:57] courses before they'll jump up to the advanced.
[1:11:00] But, uh, I, from my aspect, I would,
[1:11:03] uh, uh,
[1:11:05] I have taken this education to heart.
[1:11:08] It's, uh, it's worthwhile for the time and investment
[1:11:11] to, to be up to speed on this stuff. It changes so
[1:11:14] quickly. Um, different numbers are coming from
[1:11:17] Lansing. There's just a lot of barrage that hits, and kind of having
[1:11:21] a heads-up from attending these and being able to bring that back to council, I
[1:11:25] think is a good thing.
[1:11:27] There'll be time to discuss that too. So the, really, what...
[1:11:30] We don't need a motion here. We need to agree that we're going to
[1:11:34] put, give your stuff to the clerk by next week or the week after next,
[1:11:38] for this next year. That's really what- She needs an idea.
[1:11:41] Is it gonna be 25,000, or are you gonna keep it at six or seven?
[1:11:45] Mr. Rodrigues, you had something you want to say?
[1:11:47] Yeah, um, uh, I just want to put this out there that,
[1:11:51] um, I'm not sure I'm in favor of continuing to spend money
[1:11:55] towards these trainings. I think they're, they're very important for
[1:11:59] new members, and I'm, I'm in favor of new members
[1:12:02] going in. I know if, if you've never been on council, I remember the first year I
[1:12:06] was on council, um, it's a giant learning curve, and I, I
[1:12:10] think these introductory courses are important.
[1:12:13] But at the end of the day, like, I, I would really like-
[1:12:17] if, if people really want to continue this, I would like to
[1:12:20] see some tangible examples of information that was gathered or
[1:12:24] training that was got, and what was the result of that
[1:12:28] training? Because
[1:12:30] I'm not sure that I can quantify, "I went
[1:12:34] to this seminar, and I took this training, and this is what I learned for, from it,
[1:12:37] and this is how it's made things better." And I...
[1:12:40] If, if that can't be explained to me, I can't explain it
[1:12:44] to, you know, the constituents who will probably never ask me
[1:12:48] about it, but I still wanna know about it anyway.
[1:12:50] So, um, I've been to a few trainings myself, the introductory level ones.
[1:12:54] I thought they were great, and they are very important.
[1:12:58] But, I, I'm- honestly,
[1:13:02] I think if I was gonna spend money towards training, I would really like to
[1:13:05] see a more comprehensive plan in our next budget
[1:13:08] around-... training the,
[1:13:12] the, you know, people are gonna leave.
[1:13:14] Training the people underneath, a replacement policy, next man up kind of
[1:13:17] thing. Um, you know, what happens when a city manager leaves?
[1:13:21] Are we training someone in the wings, and is there certifications and training and
[1:13:25] classes, courses that they should be taking?
[1:13:28] I, I feel like that would be a, a, a better investment.
[1:13:32] So that's just where I'm at, um, but I'm happy to, to have my mind swayed
[1:13:36] there. Thanks.
[1:13:37] Any other quick comments?
[1:13:39] I just wanna say, the votes we took tonight were in no small way a
[1:13:43] result of the training that we had in SEDUM and
[1:13:47] other places. So I see a direct result between the
[1:13:51] meetings that I've gone to-
[1:13:52] Mm
[1:13:52] ... and the votes we just took tonight.
[1:13:54] Um, a very clear result.
[1:13:57] Mr. Chair?
[1:14:01] You know, the list that, uh, Councilman Christensen
[1:14:05] gave is pretty much my list as well, in terms of,
[1:14:09] um, the education pieces. Like, uh, this,
[1:14:13] this past weekend, it was a vir- a virtual, uh, and, and the
[1:14:16] topics that they covered, uh, really I think
[1:14:20] helped me understand a little bit more in terms...
[1:14:23] It was on budgeting, uh, from that
[1:14:26] standpoint. Uh, but w- I also look
[1:14:30] for, and if you look at my calendar month-to-month, uh,
[1:14:34] a lot of free training from different organizations
[1:14:38] virtually that, uh, I attend. I, I devote
[1:14:41] a lot of hours to, to those, uh, those
[1:14:45] trainings. And, um, I certainly understand where
[1:14:49] Councilman Rodriguez, uh, stands on
[1:14:52] this, and, uh,
[1:14:54] I kinda agree with him that, you know, after the conference,
[1:14:58] uh, if we have a report back on, you know, what we
[1:15:02] covered, and I mean, I don't have a problem with, with that at all from
[1:15:06] that, that standpoint. Um, and, a- and as Councilman
[1:15:10] Curtis said, you know, some of the, the stuff we, we,
[1:15:14] uh, learned, uh, from SEDUM, uh, which is another
[1:15:18] organization, uh, that has a couple of conferences in
[1:15:21] Lansing, uh, it's fo- focused on
[1:15:25] housing, and, and the opportunities and
[1:15:28] financing and et cetera, that are out there, that
[1:15:32] helps us, uh, understand. I, I, we've-
[1:15:36] I've got, got a, a SEDUM conference coming up on
[1:15:40] one, uh, one topic that we're struggling with, and that
[1:15:44] is the stacking of funding. And, and this, this
[1:15:49] conference is gonna talk about stacking, uh, for funding,
[1:15:53] uh, that, uh, will help us understand where we have to
[1:15:57] go for the additional funds to fund, uh,
[1:16:01] you know, and help, uh, get some of these, uh, developers
[1:16:05] to, to take the step and, and, and, uh, go ahead,
[1:16:08] uh, on this. Because, you know, they're, they're investing a lot of money,
[1:16:12] but they're also wanting to see if the city is interested
[1:16:16] in investing, uh, as well, uh, from that
[1:16:20] standpoint. So, uh, and, and, and again, I, I think
[1:16:24] it's a great idea that we submit everything with the understanding
[1:16:27] that, um,
[1:16:30] the, the, the clerk should have a
[1:16:34] pretty good idea what these cost because of, of previously.
[1:16:38] Um, but there might be one or, you know, and something else that, that
[1:16:42] comes up on, on a topic that, uh, you know,
[1:16:46] if, if we, you know, if we can add, uh, to it, um,
[1:16:50] that'd be great as well.
[1:16:51] I think that can be handled in the budget-
[1:16:53] Yeah
[1:16:53] ... when we talk about the budget.
[1:16:54] Right.
[1:16:55] This, this, this will give her an idea of what to bring, and she'll put a number
[1:16:57] down.
[1:16:58] Yep.
[1:16:58] You guys can either raise it or lower it, or whatever you want.
[1:17:01] Yeah.
[1:17:01] Personally, I've never taken any, and I don't anticipate any.
[1:17:05] Mm-hmm.
[1:17:05] I'm pretty cheap.
[1:17:06] Yeah.
[1:17:08] 53 years will help that.
[1:17:09] Very much.
[1:17:10] Um, I just want, uh... And like when we go to CAPCON in a f- in a few
[1:17:14] weeks, when we go, we don't attend all the same
[1:17:18] classes. There's a multitude of classes-
[1:17:20] Yeah
[1:17:20] ... and we usually split up so that we can cover as many
[1:17:24] educational opportunities, plus the breakout sessions that we can.
[1:17:27] Mm-hmm.
[1:17:28] Uh, I try to come home with as much knowledge as we can.
[1:17:30] Yeah. We usually sit at the, uh, the breakfast and at the beginning of
[1:17:34] the thing and say, "Okay, w- which one are you going
[1:17:38] to?" And, you know, and we kinda divide up, uh, where, where we're
[1:17:42] going from that standpoint, so-
[1:17:44] If you don't give the clerk something by March 3rd-
[1:17:46] Yep
[1:17:46] ... I don't expect it to be in the budget. How's that?
[1:17:50] Here's my list on the bottom.
[1:17:54] Um, discussion of fiscal year 2026-27 budget
[1:17:58] priorities, that would be the interim manager
[1:18:00] astute.
[1:18:02] Place those down here and, uh-
[1:18:05] I actually have one already.
[1:18:08] Oh, did you?
[1:18:08] Mm-hmm.
[1:18:09] Oh, okay.
[1:18:10] Yeah. Whoa!
[1:18:12] Well, great. That's why I'm short.
[1:18:14] So I, um, part of it is, uh, got to apologize for
[1:18:18] the challenges we had, uh, with the, uh,
[1:18:22] uh-
[1:18:23] Email
[1:18:23] ... transition from Google to, uh, Outlook, uh, but eventually
[1:18:27] we got everybody's, uh, comments in here.
[1:18:30] So I just listed what they are. I staggered them so that one wasn't concentrated
[1:18:34] with, uh, one council member, so I tried to spread it the best that I could.
[1:18:38] Um,
[1:18:40] and, you know, there's a lot of common themes through it.
[1:18:42] Uh, you can look through, uh, um, that, and then on the
[1:18:46] fourth page, I basically just said, "Look, here's the general themes:
[1:18:50] infrastructure, water, sewer, streets, parks,
[1:18:53] facilities." Um, if you look at the financing,
[1:18:57] pensions, uh, came up a few times, rainy day fund, water,
[1:19:01] sewer rates, uh, public safety millage.
[1:19:04] Um, or I should say public safety assessment.
[1:19:08] Uh, let me clarify that. Um, community,
[1:19:10] placemaking, uh, support for community events, gateway
[1:19:14] signs, parks, um, re-... housing, human
[1:19:18] services. Interestingly enough, when you get to the housing, uh, tech
[1:19:22] TIF, um,
[1:19:24] the, uh, consultant with Beckett & Raeder, John Icangeli, who had worked with
[1:19:28] the planning commission in developing, uh, the,
[1:19:32] uh, the master plan, uh, he was a council member of
[1:19:36] mine in Monroe, and John was always kinda leaning on, uh,
[1:19:39] myself and the staff to set up a neighborhood TIF.
[1:19:42] And so there, there is some merit to it, uh, um,
[1:19:47] I just never got around to it at the end, but, but, uh, but certainly he's a, a
[1:19:51] big proponent of it, uh, uh, where you can reinvest back into the
[1:19:55] community a portion of that additional tax fund.
[1:19:57] So, um, so there is some, you know, merit to it.
[1:20:00] Uh, you know, the housing authority, you know, we're talking, there is land
[1:20:04] that you own. Um, and so while you don't have the what I would consider
[1:20:08] to be a traditional housing, uh, authority, that,
[1:20:12] uh, but there are communities, uh, much like Monroe and, uh,
[1:20:16] Belding, um, where I worked, uh, had a, a housing
[1:20:19] authority, uh, in which, you know, they had units that they, uh,
[1:20:22] provided. So that's something long-term that you can consider.
[1:20:26] Uh, again, in part, you may find some, uh,
[1:20:29] grants, uh, through MSHDA that may be supplementing a cost, if you
[1:20:33] would. But at the same time, they're a separate legal entity, but they are a
[1:20:37] municipal, uh, local government that get incorporated into
[1:20:41] your audit. So it's just something that if you're, if you're looking
[1:20:45] in that direction in the future, there is a, a path, I think, if,
[1:20:49] uh, to, to get there. Uh, emergency shelters, energy in-
[1:20:53] independence,
[1:20:54] uh, economic development came up frequently, DDA, uh,
[1:20:59] PA 425 agreements, a, a real good
[1:21:02] tool. Upper floor apartments, I'm gonna talk a little bit about that,
[1:21:06] uh, on one of the other hand, uh, pages.
[1:21:09] And then just organizational concerns, and in a general sense, police, fire, human
[1:21:13] resources, uh, IT, communications, grant
[1:21:17] administration, areas where I think, uh, you know, just in my short
[1:21:21] term, it'd be nice if we could bolster aspects of all of them
[1:21:24] in, in, in some capacity. So,
[1:21:29] um, I'm just ki- I'm kinda going through it quick.
[1:21:32] Uh, so just give you an overview, and then we can just have the, the, if you don't
[1:21:35] mind, the discussion. Healthy fund balances, particularly in the general
[1:21:39] fund, major local street fund. Um,
[1:21:43] and the following page, uh, page five, is just pulled from the
[1:21:47] audit. Um, you can see where, uh, where the fund
[1:21:50] balances are. Um, but in the general fund, um, you've got
[1:21:54] an ending balance of a little over two point seven five, uh,
[1:21:58] million, for a seven million dollar, uh, general fund
[1:22:01] budget, which is what you have this current fiscal year, '25, '26.
[1:22:05] Uh, your seventeen percent target, you would need one point, uh, almost one
[1:22:09] point two million. If you kept it at two- at, uh, twenty-five
[1:22:13] percent, which is conservatively high and very good, um,
[1:22:18] you know, you could pull a million dollars out of there.
[1:22:21] Uh, use it for a one-time expenditure.
[1:22:23] If you notice, I put, uh, in parentheses and
[1:22:28] bold and capital, uh, capital, "One-time
[1:22:31] expenditures." Uh, now, you're gonna have a big one coming up, and that
[1:22:34] is, uh, the HVAC replacement. So how you go about
[1:22:38] maybe allocating some money toward that, uh, or, you know, maybe doing an
[1:22:42] installment purchase, uh, to, to, to complete it, but there is
[1:22:46] a, a, a, a means by which you, you could utilize some of that fund balance.
[1:22:50] And, and some of the other asks out here, you know, the, that, that came
[1:22:54] up, uh, could be falling into that.
[1:22:57] Uh, uh, major local street funds. Um, again, you got,
[1:23:01] uh, almost two point five million in the major street fund.
[1:23:05] Target, um, I've used in the past is fifty
[1:23:08] percent of Act 51 revenues. Uh, in that case, if
[1:23:12] you took your Act 51 revenues, that fund balance out
[1:23:16] target would be, you know, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
[1:23:20] I'll be honest with you, basically, in those street funds, what you need is just
[1:23:24] enough to, to carry you through a couple of bad winters.
[1:23:27] And I gotta tell you, four hundred and fifty thousand will get you through bad,
[1:23:30] couple of bad winters. Uh, so I, I wouldn't recommend that you go
[1:23:34] spend it all. Part of it is, uh, with, uh, Stephanie, we've talked
[1:23:38] about it, is some streets you can do the mill and fill, and you can do a lot of
[1:23:41] those. Um, but you also have some that are basically in
[1:23:45] such condition, uh, you need to reconstruct it, uh, and make sure that
[1:23:49] the underground is, is... You don't wanna spend money and then rip it
[1:23:53] up, obviously, stating that. But, but you got probably close to, you
[1:23:57] know, I'd say probably close to almost a couple million dollars,
[1:24:01] uh, maybe two point five million dollars if you wanted to spend it on there and
[1:24:05] still be what I would consider fiscally responsible with an ending
[1:24:09] balance that you have. So it's just something, uh, to consider a- and
[1:24:13] talk about. I know Stephanie's doing some work.
[1:24:15] In fact, we might talk a little bit-- Are we gonna talk about it tonight?
[1:24:18] Uh, the re-prioritizing?
[1:24:21] We can.
[1:24:22] Yeah, hold on a sec. Well, let me finish-
[1:24:24] Okay
[1:24:24] ... up a little bit, we'll come back to it.
[1:24:25] Um, focus on economic development, uh, PA
[1:24:29] 425 agreements. You actually have a actually, and, and I think one of it
[1:24:33] was, uh, the review of the policy, but I went back and looked at what you had, uh,
[1:24:37] with, uh, Eaton Township and, and Carmel
[1:24:41] Township. They go back to like '98, 2000.
[1:24:43] Those are actually really good, good agreements.
[1:24:47] Uh, they look like a win-win to me, and that's really what you're doing.
[1:24:50] And in part, uh, I've done it on a couple of occasions,
[1:24:53] uh, where, um, basically, as part
[1:24:57] of it, uh, you know, you basically cover the cost of whatever
[1:25:01] millage that they're levying, and
[1:25:04] with- because we're levying a higher millage, um, you give them a
[1:25:08] portion back. Their tax base, their revenue grow based on your
[1:25:12] investment in the infrastructure and the development, but it, it does
[1:25:16] add value to, to the community with, with the 425.
[1:25:19] So, you know, I think in some ways, what you have there is, is not a bad outlay,
[1:25:23] but we- you need to look through the policy and, and...
[1:25:26] But more importantly is-... you know the players.
[1:25:30] Uh, you have to have a working relationship with the townships for this to succeed,
[1:25:33] and I, I, I'm clueless. I, I don't know.
[1:25:37] Uh, you would, you would know better than I do.
[1:25:39] But, uh, but there's, you know, really great opportunities out there.
[1:25:42] Uh, um, you know, Tiger and, uh, Dan, uh, gave
[1:25:46] me a tour, uh, the other day, and wow, there's a lot of
[1:25:50] opportunities out there. Uh, pretty remarkable.
[1:25:53] So, um,
[1:25:55] housing, um,
[1:25:59] you know, a couple of things I've heard about the DDA, uh,
[1:26:03] um, upper floor apartments, uh, on a couple of, uh,
[1:26:06] occasions, uh, some infill development, Brownfield
[1:26:09] Authority. Um, you know, one of the things I,
[1:26:12] um... If you could flip to page five, I, I just wanna point one out
[1:26:16] here. Um,
[1:26:19] so if you see down there in the, the, the general fund, you see the two point
[1:26:22] seven five that I highlighted. Um, that's really what you have as
[1:26:26] far as your discretionary fund balance.
[1:26:29] The number above it, assigned, I think that's the
[1:26:33] settlement that you had, uh, where you
[1:26:36] can't draw it down, but you can use it as long as it gets reimbursed, uh-
[1:26:40] DOI fund? Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah.
[1:26:43] Where is that?
[1:26:46] It's eight, eight hundred and something.
[1:26:48] Eight, yes, eight hundred and fifty-nine thousand is- Eight fifty-nine thousand or
[1:26:51] something like that. The significance of it is, is, is, you know, again, it goes
[1:26:54] back to some of the stacking conversations.
[1:26:56] I know Council Member Jenna and I were talking about it, but there is interest
[1:27:00] with one of the local banks, and, and so you may partner in some
[1:27:03] capacity where you take, I don't know, maybe a, a, you know, a
[1:27:07] subordinated lien on it to a certain extent to try and get these things
[1:27:11] going. You know, the bank has some, some investment in it, the, the city
[1:27:15] could have some investment in it, uh, but ultimately it would flow back.
[1:27:19] So there's some leverage that you can use with funds like that for, for an economic
[1:27:22] development, and it also could be used in other capacities as well. I know Mr.
[1:27:26] Hilliard said, you know, we may use some of that for the, uh, HVAC
[1:27:30] system, and just you have to pay it back over time, but, but, but the thought's
[1:27:34] there. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a resource that you have that, you know, can
[1:27:38] be deployed in, in, in a couple of capacities.
[1:27:41] Um, and then Brownfield Authority, you know, used for blight, uh, demolition of
[1:27:45] blighted, dangerous, and functionally obsolete properties.
[1:27:48] Uh, there's, you know, a handful of them in town in, in
[1:27:53] desirable locations. Um, and so, uh, with
[1:27:56] that in place, uh... But where I go with this is, you know, a strong
[1:28:00] economic
[1:28:04] staffing and support is what you would need.
[1:28:06] Um, there's, there's maybe something from a budgetary standpoint
[1:28:10] that you, you really focus in, somebody that has, uh, you know, the
[1:28:14] experience of bringing these together.
[1:28:17] It's a sales job as, you know, much as what you've had with the
[1:28:20] developers, uh, but also the carry-through with the,
[1:28:24] uh, administration end of it, whether it's working with a, an environmental
[1:28:28] consultant, uh, to do the, you know, assess the remediation
[1:28:31] necessary, put together the cost, and those type of things, and then stacking the
[1:28:35] financing, uh, you know, committees that you have.
[1:28:38] So something to consider, you know, certainly I think, but based on the feedback I
[1:28:42] got, I'm thinking, "Okay, I can leave it at that,"
[1:28:45] uh. And then debt, you don't really have a whole lot of outstanding debt.
[1:28:49] In fact, uh, just the west, uh, fire station is, is really what you
[1:28:52] have. But it may be something you're gonna contemplate in the future, uh,
[1:28:56] particularly with the water and sewer.
[1:28:58] You may have to, to, to come to that, uh, realization that, uh,
[1:29:02] there is some merit to doing some of these large projects, uh, at once
[1:29:06] from a, a mobilization and, and cost standpoint.
[1:29:10] A- and don't lose sight of the fact, the LDFA, if you get a few more properties in
[1:29:14] there, you can, you know, leverage some of that.
[1:29:17] I mean, I did a industrial park, and gone
[1:29:21] twenty-nine years from clear, but, uh, we basically did an
[1:29:25] LDFA. We got a company to come in and relocate to the
[1:29:28] industrial park, and we built a, a truck route and extended water and
[1:29:32] sewer, uh, kinda looped the system there.
[1:29:35] And so
[1:29:36] it's a great source to be able to address not only, uh,
[1:29:40] um, the development end of it, but also help, uh, address some of
[1:29:44] the existing infrastructure challenges that might be there.
[1:29:47] So
[1:29:49] in a nutshell, that just... You know, you have some resources to work with.
[1:29:52] The other thing with the-- If you turn to page six, um,
[1:29:56] what I did was, uh... A- and again, it's kind of a function of a
[1:30:00] couple of comments related to the, um, the fire, uh,
[1:30:04] assessment that's been out there.
[1:30:06] Um, if you look at the, the, uh, the city's, uh, millage, uh, it's
[1:30:10] a charter millage of fifteen mills.
[1:30:13] It's been reduced, if you look to the far right, by Headlee over the
[1:30:16] years. Uh, so you're leaving- and, and let
[1:30:19] me, just for qualify- to qualify this, this is the two thousand and
[1:30:23] three. I could not find the two thousand and twenty-five, which is the most recent
[1:30:27] one. I don't think it's changed a whole lot, but it, it serves its purpose
[1:30:31] for illustration that I'm gonna make with you.
[1:30:34] But down below, you see I highlighted the, uh, PA thirty-three,
[1:30:38] uh, fire, uh, protection assessment, and then highlighted
[1:30:42] the... I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure how you can get away from it.
[1:30:46] You're, you're pretty well capped out, uh, with your, your millage.
[1:30:50] Um, the other millages that you have there, the, the fire,
[1:30:53] uh, debt, that's a unlimited tax general
[1:30:57] obligation. It doesn't apply to your charter or your
[1:31:00] statutory levy. Uh, you're- you know, so in this case
[1:31:04] here, you can levy it till you no longer need it.
[1:31:07] And then the recycling, again, doesn't apply to your s- your, uh, charter
[1:31:11] limit or the s- state statutory limit regarding twenty mil
[1:31:14] levy. So, uh, my point of it is, I think try- uh,
[1:31:18] the challenge to, to do much with it, uh, uh, would only come at the
[1:31:22] expense of public safety operations.
[1:31:25] Uh, I'm not sure what else, given, uh, the circumstance that you have at this
[1:31:28] point in time, uh, uh, what other alternatives you might have
[1:31:32] other than cut. That would be it.
[1:31:40] ... Did you want him to ask questions now, or did you-
[1:31:43] Yeah, the, just if I could just flip one more page, just...
[1:31:46] You've actually had pretty good growth in your taxable value.
[1:31:48] Uh, if you look on the following page, I went back five years, and, you know, over
[1:31:52] the last five years, uh, you've been pushing up, you know, in the 30, uh, or
[1:31:56] 28%, uh, uh, growth from- So, you know, back
[1:32:00] out the numbers, you're probably looking somewhere in the six-plus range as far as
[1:32:04] annualized increases. And then I put the, the real property, which is
[1:32:08] applied to the assessment. So I just kinda wanted to make those points, uh, going
[1:32:12] into the budget, you know, for thoughts, considerations, and comments.
[1:32:17] Thank you.
[1:32:21] Who wants to be first?
[1:32:23] I-
[1:32:23] Jim?
[1:32:26] Where, where, where do we stand with the, uh, pension issue, um,
[1:32:30] funding of the pension and healthcare?
[1:32:34] And, and where does that, that, uh,
[1:32:37] show up here on this, uh, balance sheet?
[1:32:39] It, it doesn't.
[1:32:41] Okay.
[1:32:41] Um, from a pension standpoint, uh, you'll see that in the footnotes, uh,
[1:32:46] with the a- audit that comes in. Plus, you should be getting an
[1:32:49] actuarial, uh, evaluation for the end of
[1:32:52] '25. Merce usually sends it out probably three, four
[1:32:56] months afterwards. Uh, the last one was above 60%,
[1:33:00] uh, uh, but they're implicit in their, uh, um,
[1:33:05] you know, the, the, uh, calculations as to what
[1:33:09] your annual required contribution is a function that you're paying it
[1:33:12] down internally with them as well over a period of, I probably, I'm
[1:33:16] guessing maybe 15, 16 years, something like that.
[1:33:19] It's just kind of declining balance on it.
[1:33:22] Uh, but, but it's built into the, uh, above and beyond the normal
[1:33:26] cost that you would pay for that, uh, for the pension itself.
[1:33:30] Uh, the other with the, the healthcare is, I think the last time I saw it
[1:33:34] was, looked at it, it was 20-something percent, uh...
[1:33:38] I, I haven't looked at it a little bit further, but, uh, it's-
[1:33:42] Yeah, and could... W- The, um, copy of the
[1:33:46] plan, um, to, to fully
[1:33:50] fund, you know, that was submitted by the
[1:33:54] city to the state and said by '20-something, we'll
[1:33:58] be fully funded. And I'm just, uh, you know, uh,
[1:34:03] before we start using up some of this extra money, I wanna
[1:34:07] make sure that, uh, somebody's cognizant of the,
[1:34:11] the plan, what was submitted-
[1:34:14] Yep
[1:34:14] ... the date that we're supposed to be at 100%, and, and the
[1:34:18] plan to extend to, to that date.
[1:34:21] What was the date on it? I looked at it once.
[1:34:23] Was it '32 or something like-
[1:34:24] '24.
[1:34:25] '30.
[1:34:25] Oh, 30-something?
[1:34:26] It was in the '30s, I think.
[1:34:28] It was in the '30s.
[1:34:29] Yeah, okay.
[1:34:29] Yeah, yeah.
[1:34:33] Which was closer than I thought.
[1:34:34] Yeah.
[1:34:34] '30, '35.
[1:34:35] When we get to 100%.
[1:34:37] Yeah.
[1:34:40] Oh, okay.
[1:34:41] Well, you can m- you can go on, and I'll, I'll see if I have that.
[1:34:45] You have comments? Go ahead.
[1:34:47] I know we're talking about this, and I, I think the last meeting, uh, Councilman
[1:34:51] Chinn had give a little bit of number that he thought
[1:34:55] once the, uh, the budget come out, and then with the, uh,
[1:35:00] uh, addition of the Neighborhood Roads Fund, we would probably come out a little
[1:35:04] bit ahead of what we had in the past.
[1:35:07] But, uh, if I read it right, and based on
[1:35:11] the road, the road money that they're estimating for the next three
[1:35:15] years, I think it showed we come out ahead by, like,
[1:35:17] 2.1%, something in that range, from, uh,
[1:35:22] from what we never had gotten. So we did improve, although
[1:35:26] it didn't... I thought it was gonna be a little bit more than that.
[1:35:28] I was hopeful for the road dollars anyway, but, uh, the road
[1:35:32] dollars to me looked like about the same, uh, as if we were
[1:35:36] continuing on, on what we were getting from the county.
[1:35:39] Mm-hmm.
[1:35:40] Now that that's, I think that's over now.
[1:35:41] They have to bring that back up again if they do, I
[1:35:43] think.
[1:35:45] Yeah, they're gonna take it back out for another millage.
[1:35:47] Okay.
[1:35:53] Other comments?
[1:35:54] Uh, go ahead.
[1:35:56] Did you, did you say the expected, um, I guess, net
[1:36:00] revenues are, are going up by, like, 6% each year?
[1:36:04] Is that what you said, or what was that 6%?
[1:36:06] The taxable value over the last five years has been running in the six-plus range.
[1:36:10] Um, and so I'll- we'll know probably by next meeting, uh,
[1:36:14] what those numbers came in at. The numbers, finalizing the
[1:36:18] details, border review starts...
[1:36:19] In fact, did- have, have you got your notices yet?
[1:36:22] Yeah.
[1:36:22] Yeah, okay. Yeah, so you may have very well...
[1:36:24] I, uh, talked to Andy in the office to get what
[1:36:28] the preliminary numbers look like.
[1:36:30] You know, there'll be some border review adjustments, but
[1:36:33] usually they're pretty negligible.
[1:36:35] The, uh, I need a refresher here. The PA 425
[1:36:39] agreement has something to do with partnering with townships
[1:36:43] and land transfer or something? Uh, what is that exactly?
[1:36:47] 'Cause I don't remember.
[1:36:49] It's a jurisdictional transfer. Some- it's not quite an annex, but, but has, uh,
[1:36:53] elements of it, uh, but, uh, in which, uh, you
[1:36:57] know, the city would be involved with, uh, providing the
[1:37:00] services, the taxes collected there, uh, within that,
[1:37:04] uh, within the township, what's currently.
[1:37:07] Uh, there's two aspects from a term standpoint.
[1:37:09] You can go 50 year, up to fifty years with a another fifty-year
[1:37:12] renewal, which seems to be the case that most, uh, agreements
[1:37:16] have. Um, and then you just argue over who, where reversion
[1:37:20] back to, whether it's the city or the township, uh...
[1:37:23] But what happens in those where, you know, if you're about a 15
[1:37:27] mil levy, and they're levying, you know, three mils or whatever, you're paying
[1:37:31] back the three or... I think the agreements with here is two mils.
[1:37:34] Um, pay that back, and you keep the other 15 based on the, on the
[1:37:38] growth. And so, um, a lot of communities have done that,
[1:37:42] uh, and a lot of townships have gone, "Well, that's a good deal for us
[1:37:45] if-... um, helps us, you know, grow our tax
[1:37:49] base, uh, without, uh, based on the investment and
[1:37:53] effort of
[1:37:55] the, uh, adjoining city.
[1:37:58] Got it. And just to make sure, 'cause when acronyms are thrown around, you never
[1:38:01] know, but, um, the HVHC, is that for, like, City
[1:38:05] Hall, the air conditioning, heating, all that stuff that we need to
[1:38:09] do?
[1:38:10] Mm-hmm.
[1:38:11] I don't remember what we were expecting that cost to come out to.
[1:38:14] It was pretty big, right? I don't remember-
[1:38:17] Mm
[1:38:17] ... the numbers we were talking for that.
[1:38:19] I heard 1.4. Is that the number you got, too? Yeah.
[1:38:22] A lot.
[1:38:23] A lot.
[1:38:23] A lot.
[1:38:24] Yeah.
[1:38:24] Yeah.
[1:38:25] But you gotta remember-
[1:38:26] 'Cause I know-
[1:38:26] it was put in here in 1975-
[1:38:29] Yeah
[1:38:29] ... '76.
[1:38:30] Okay. I've heard about, I've heard about
[1:38:33] it. I hear it's bad.
[1:38:37] So the, the percentage of, on the health insurance
[1:38:40] plan, you said we're at 20-
[1:38:43] I think it's somewhere in the 20% range.
[1:38:44] Yeah. So, um, the filed
[1:38:49] re- um, plan of acts, correct, the plan of action
[1:38:53] calls for us to be at least 40%
[1:38:57] by fiscal 2034. So-
[1:39:00] Okay
[1:39:00] ... we got a little ways to go, but we gonna keep that in
[1:39:03] mind. Uh, the MERS pension plan, uh,
[1:39:08] 60% by fiscal 2030, and I think we're at 60-
[1:39:11] Yeah, yeah
[1:39:12] ... uh, already. And
[1:39:14] then
[1:39:17] this is a combined, I, and I'm not sure
[1:39:21] w- why these are different, but it says, "The MERS,
[1:39:25] um,
[1:39:27] 60, 60% for pension or 40% for
[1:39:30] OPEB by fiscal 2030."
[1:39:34] And this report says, "Retiree healthcare
[1:39:38] OPEB," and I don't know what OPEB means, but
[1:39:41] 2031. So those are the
[1:39:44] dates of the corrective action plan with the state.
[1:39:48] OPEB is Other Post-Employment Benefits, uh,
[1:39:51] primarily, uh, healthcare, uh, but there's maybe some other benefits
[1:39:55] that are included, dental and vision
[1:39:57] and...
[1:40:01] Um,
[1:40:03] could you help us understand, um, now that you've gathered from all of us
[1:40:07] kind of what our thoughts are, um, kind of what is your
[1:40:11] next plan of action, and what are you expecting next from
[1:40:14] us?
[1:40:16] Well, for... What I, what I got out of it is, you know, similar to what
[1:40:20] I think, uh, what others internally, uh, you know, staff-wise, and
[1:40:24] just my quick observations, uh, but to try and formulate
[1:40:28] a, a budget to try and hit as many of the targets you gave us.
[1:40:32] Um, you know, I think it, uh, um, so
[1:40:36] that's part of the feedback that I, you know, look for is, "Okay, what's important
[1:40:39] to you?" And, and I think in a general sense, uh, and, and, you know, what
[1:40:43] is doable, too. Uh, there may be areas where, uh,
[1:40:47] uh, you know, it can't be achieved, but at least you know where, you know, we took
[1:40:51] a look at it, and, and it helps me to, to, uh, you
[1:40:55] know, formulate a, a proposed budget is to, to get...
[1:40:58] You know, normally we probably would, it's, you know, and you did some of that, uh,
[1:41:01] but you'd have a strategic plan or goals and objectives, and I've used that to
[1:41:05] build my budgets in the past based on what the council provides,
[1:41:09] and we usually do it over a two-year cycle.
[1:41:12] That way, you know, you, you start lining everything up and to, to try and fit
[1:41:16] the best that you can. So, uh, this gives me good, good feedback, you
[1:41:20] know, sim- in a similar manner.
[1:41:23] Two things.
[1:41:23] Yeah.
[1:41:24] The first one is, um, obviously, we're gonna be leaning on
[1:41:28] your expertise and staff to
[1:41:32] obviously go through all these ideas and kind of say, "Okay, these are the ones
[1:41:36] that I think are the most important, the most realistic, the farthest we can get."
[1:41:39] So obviously, some things will need to be cut, and we'd love to know, you
[1:41:43] know, you know, why that is, and-
[1:41:45] Sure
[1:41:46] ... a lot of times it's gonna be budget, but we're obviously gonna be leaning on
[1:41:49] you. A lot of this stuff is our giant wish list, of course, but
[1:41:53] it's also doable. Like, we have opportunities.
[1:41:55] So-
[1:41:56] Yeah
[1:41:56] ... we'll lean on you. The other two questions I have, one is
[1:41:59] about, um,
[1:42:02] which, uh, I sent in an email on, and you did get, but
[1:42:05] concerning the new roads that we have and the maintenance
[1:42:09] around those roads. So could you inform us as to what your
[1:42:12] plan is for those and, uh, how you, how you plan to,
[1:42:16] um, maintain them and take care of them?
[1:42:18] Sure. It's a good question. It, uh, you know, Stephanie, I'll let
[1:42:21] her...
[1:42:24] Yeah. So,
[1:42:25] um, right
[1:42:28] now, there is a product called
[1:42:31] Reclamite. It's a pavement conditioner, and there was a
[1:42:35] study on it. Um, hello?
[1:42:39] The battery died.
[1:42:44] Dang! There was a study done on it, and if you, if you
[1:42:47] use this Reclamite within the first year of laying your pavement
[1:42:51] down, it can give you, um, four to five years
[1:42:55] of longevity on your pavement. Now, take that,
[1:42:59] you can Reclamite, you can crack seal, and then you can Reclamite
[1:43:03] again. So the longevity of your roads, you're talking
[1:43:06] about probably, like, eight to ten extra years
[1:43:09] of-
[1:43:18] Eight, eight to ten... It's not on
[1:43:20] either? Hello?
[1:43:24] Just talk to us.
[1:43:25] Okay. Oh, here we are. Thanks, Tyler.
[1:43:29] Um, so you're talking about, like, eight to ten years extra
[1:43:33] longevity on top of a road that probably, depending on
[1:43:38] where it's at now, well, with the new roads, crush and shape, mill and fill, those
[1:43:42] type of things, Lincoln Street, that's probably gonna be even a longer longevity
[1:43:46] on that road because we rebuilt the subbase and the base
[1:43:50] of it.... Um, so you're talking eight to 10 years of extra longevity on top of
[1:43:53] these roads that we're, we're paving.
[1:43:55] But I think the methodology of reclinometering and crack
[1:43:58] sealing, 'cause everybody know- if you don't know, everyone hopefully knows, if you
[1:44:02] don't fill the cracks, the water gets underneath the pavement, and this is how we
[1:44:06] have potholes. Yes. So I think a combination
[1:44:09] of
[1:44:12] reclinometer, crack sealing, maybe throwing in some slurry sealing here and there,
[1:44:16] I'm gonna get with the county on that, see what I can do, um,
[1:44:20] what streets that would best suit for slurry sealing.
[1:44:23] Um, just a combination of things.
[1:44:28] You know, one of the things, if I might just add to it, is, uh, one of the benefits
[1:44:31] of PACER rating as it's developed over the years is
[1:44:35] that it has become abundantly clear it's not just putting
[1:44:39] in or paving a new road, do you have a maintenance plan afterwards?
[1:44:43] It's critical to the extending the value life of that, uh, that, that new
[1:44:47] asset, so. Uh, but there's one of the other benefits of it is, is
[1:44:51] that it's become pretty common knowledge, and just about every public
[1:44:54] works director and engineer knows that, "Okay, now we have it here, we've gotta
[1:44:58] take care of it just to..." And it's really not expensive, it just
[1:45:01] is, just gotta be programmed, a- and you gotta be, you
[1:45:05] know, um, judicious in making sure that you, you take care of
[1:45:09] it the way you should, and it'll- you'll get the life out of it.
[1:45:12] Um...
[1:45:13] Well, I look forward to seeing that in the budget.
[1:45:17] Um, definitely, for sure. Thank you very much.
[1:45:20] Yep.
[1:45:21] Do you want me to stop here? You wanna talk about-
[1:45:25] I can continue.
[1:45:25] Mr. Scott.
[1:45:27] I just have a, a burning question. Uh, over the
[1:45:30] last year and a half or, that we've been doing this housing thing, we've been
[1:45:34] looking at a lot of properties, and, and it seems to me, I can think of a couple
[1:45:37] that are four twenty-five agreements that, uh,
[1:45:41] were completed to a point, and, and
[1:45:45] clearly there was an intention to go further than that.
[1:45:48] And I'm just wondering, do you have to redo the process in a four
[1:45:52] twenty-five agreement that you only did, built half the project
[1:45:55] of?
[1:45:58] You know, I, um, I'd have to go look in more detail about,
[1:46:02] uh, because a lot of times they identify a specific parcel area,
[1:46:06] sometimes there's a term associated with it, and so there may be areas,
[1:46:10] if they didn't develop, uh, twenty-five years ago, that you
[1:46:14] may have to renew it. And, and that's, you know,
[1:46:18] not... I'm not gonna say it's uncommon.
[1:46:19] I'm just trying to make the process easier.
[1:46:21] Yeah.
[1:46:21] What can I sp- you know?
[1:46:23] Yeah. Yeah, no, it's good. It's, it'll require a little more research on my part.
[1:46:26] Yeah.
[1:46:26] Um, but yeah, it's... The ones I've dealt with, too, are very
[1:46:30] specific, uh, in the past, you know, where, where you know they were going to
[1:46:34] develop and, you know, townships and...
[1:46:36] But I think it's becoming more common where townships are willing to have a
[1:46:39] broader, uh, um, area, land area to, for
[1:46:43] that development. Uh, but, but I, you know, I think you had a good system in
[1:46:47] place, so when those were put together, and it's just a matter of looking and
[1:46:50] updating it, uh-
[1:46:52] Mm-hmm
[1:46:53] ... um, for today's circumstances.
[1:46:55] Cool.
[1:46:56] And to be honest with you, on those four twenty-five agreements, part of the idea
[1:46:59] there was, we used to have a book, so if somebody come in, we might have three or
[1:47:03] four of those a year or more, and-
[1:47:05] Oh
[1:47:06] ... we had a book, you open up, here's the, here's the pages, this is what you
[1:47:09] gotta fill out, and there was a little
[1:47:11] list there, this is the order you had to do these things, so that you didn't goof
[1:47:15] them up. That, unless you found it?
[1:47:18] I haven't found it, uh-
[1:47:19] Oh
[1:47:19] ... but I'm gonna have to look now.
[1:47:21] Oh. If somebody came in today and said, "I wanna do a four twenty-five agreement,"
[1:47:24] everybody would be going, "Uh, okay, how do we do
[1:47:28] that?" So that was the point of,
[1:47:32] "Let's, let's get back to the simple way.
[1:47:34] When somebody comes in, we take a book out, this is what you do." And
[1:47:38] that takes some- somebody with expertise and time to...
[1:47:42] It, it was, it was a process.
[1:47:44] Yep.
[1:47:45] It, it, it is, like, the township doesn't have to give up their land,
[1:47:50] you know?
[1:47:50] Mm-hmm.
[1:47:51] They still, it's still in the township, but it's, in
[1:47:55] essence, annexed, but it's not. And if they run the agreement
[1:47:59] out, and they, or the development...
[1:48:00] There's, there's a clause in all of those, if the development doesn't take place in
[1:48:03] so many da- or so many years,
[1:48:06] it reverts back to the township, and the four twenty-five agreement goes away.
[1:48:10] Otherwise, you'd have people all around us, just four twenty-fiving in, if they
[1:48:14] could. But on the other hand, a developer or somebody else
[1:48:18] who wants that to be four twenty-fived in, is gonna start paying s- the
[1:48:22] city tax rate. We're gonna give a portion of that to the
[1:48:26] township, whatever they've been collecting anyway, and sometimes depends
[1:48:30] on what it is, a little less, little... It's always negotiable.
[1:48:33] But, so if somebody wants to four twenty-five a piece of property in, they can
[1:48:37] start paying city taxes on it, they are gonna wanna develop
[1:48:41] it. That's the good thing about it.
[1:48:43] And then once you get it developed, then, you
[1:48:47] know, they get water and sewer. That's, that's the whole holdup is,
[1:48:52] the city, if you wanted to do a development outside the city, they're gonna need
[1:48:55] water and sewer.
[1:48:57] Right.
[1:48:57] So the city will say,
[1:48:59] "No, you're not. You're gonna annex in, or we'll do a four
[1:49:03] twenty-five, and we'll give you water and sewer." That's the whole
[1:49:07] process. So it stays in the township, they get their tax
[1:49:11] money on a higher... Because they developed it, then they get their tax
[1:49:14] dollars on a higher amount of assessment, but
[1:49:18] the city gets
[1:49:20] 12 mills or 11 for the city
[1:49:24] services.
[1:49:25] I really want your speed plan.
[1:49:28] So do I, but I don't know where it went.
[1:49:29] Let us get that book.
[1:49:31] It was in a book. Mr. Christensen?
[1:49:34] I just wanted to ask Stephanie, uh, this process you were talking about
[1:49:38] for, to help give longevity to the streets, would that apply
[1:49:42] to our parking lots as well?
[1:49:44] Mm.
[1:49:46] I noticed the parking lots, we're starting to see a lot of cracks in them, and I'm
[1:49:48] just wondering if that's a possibility.
[1:49:51] ... Yeah, so I plan on putting the parking lots in my, um,
[1:49:56] longevity plan, if you will call it.
[1:49:58] Um,
[1:50:00] probably about 75% of the parking lots are not even at maintenance level right now,
[1:50:04] and they need to be redone, so I can put them into a
[1:50:08] rotation. My goal is to have streets on a
[1:50:12] rotation, right? So this year I know I'm doing these
[1:50:15] streets' maintenance work, right? I'm just talking about maintenance work.
[1:50:19] This year, these are- this is what gets maintenanced, right?
[1:50:21] A road doesn't need to be maintenanced every year if you take care of them from the
[1:50:24] start. Um,
[1:50:27] for the most part, I mean, there might be some light crack sealing and stuff like
[1:50:30] that, but to get them on a rotation, including the parking lots, is the goal, the
[1:50:33] idea anyways.
[1:50:38] Good. Thank you.
[1:50:39] Before we, um, con- uh, I'm sorry.
[1:50:41] Go ahead.
[1:50:42] We were gonna talk, uh... Stephanie had gotten, uh, last year,
[1:50:46] uh, uh, the city had bid out, um, paving,
[1:50:49] uh, services. Reeth Riley was the low bidder
[1:50:53] by 13, 14%, something like that. They approached
[1:50:57] her about, uh, whether the, the city would be willing to, uh,
[1:51:01] accept, uh, hol- they would hold the cost-
[1:51:04] Yeah
[1:51:04] ... uh, of which they were the low bid, uh, to do some spring, uh,
[1:51:08] paving work. So, uh, you know, again, they were the low bid pretty
[1:51:12] substantially, you know, I thought last year with, uh, four other bidders, and
[1:51:16] they're a very legitimate, uh, paving company.
[1:51:19] And, and so, you know, Stephanie and I had the conversation that we'll bring it up
[1:51:23] and see if the con-, uh, council's pleasure is there.
[1:51:26] But they're willing to hold the per- the unit prices that they provided last
[1:51:29] year, uh, and eventually be looking at some
[1:51:32] spring, you know, some, some work done this year.
[1:51:35] We'd have to pull it out of some of our fund balance, but, um, and Stephanie could
[1:51:39] identify which, which roads that we'd probably be looking at.
[1:51:42] Mm, yes, I can.
[1:51:43] What's that?
[1:51:43] I said, yes, I can.
[1:51:45] Yep.
[1:51:45] Right.
[1:51:46] So is there a willingness, uh, for council to consider that if we brought that
[1:51:49] back, um, you know, in that, that form?
[1:51:52] We could just ex- extend the contract.
[1:51:54] Yeah.
[1:51:54] And to remind you all, the HMA prices in that contract were around
[1:51:57] $70 a ton. Normally, it's $110. So, for instance,
[1:52:01] like Lincoln Street, the engineer's estimate that- estimate on that, based off
[1:52:05] of the prices that we paid for these streets
[1:52:09] right out here, Washington, Oliver, and Stoddard, was about a
[1:52:13] $840,000 job. We did it for
[1:52:16] $500,000 with that contract last year, or
[1:52:19] this... Yeah, this, this past fall.
[1:52:22] Sweet.
[1:52:23] And that I did send him the streets.
[1:52:26] I can tell you them if you'd like. Um, but I also
[1:52:30] included all the parking lots down Washington, city parking lots,
[1:52:34] um, and then the West End Fire Station, 'cause that needs some help.
[1:52:38] The parking lots over here off of Bostwick are not as in bad of
[1:52:41] shape, and like I said, getting everything on a rotation means
[1:52:45] I can't do them all at once. I don't want to do them all at once, 'cause then the
[1:52:49] rotation's gonna be that much harder for
[1:52:52] dollars every year. So if I can get them on a staggered rotation,
[1:52:56] it'll be easier.
[1:53:00] Which brings up a question in those Washington parking lots.
[1:53:04] I was working with Rob a month ago or whatever, uh, to
[1:53:07] get some handicap parking at John's end of
[1:53:10] that, uh, parking lot-
[1:53:14] Mm-hmm
[1:53:14] ... uh, for the businesses that are
[1:53:17] on- They basically have no-
[1:53:20] Lovett?
[1:53:20] ... handicap parking. Yeah.
[1:53:22] At the Lovett.
[1:53:22] Lovett end.
[1:53:23] Got you.
[1:53:24] Right, and, uh, I don't know where that is.
[1:53:26] Um, but I was wondering if-
[1:53:28] Never heard of it.
[1:53:29] Right, which is why I'm bringing it up right now.
[1:53:33] Lovett.
[1:53:33] Right, uh, that, that's where we were on that, as a business owner right down there
[1:53:36] was, was saying, "Man, w- we got people in wheelchairs getting out of their cars,
[1:53:40] having to go around the block because we can't...
[1:53:42] You know, we need, we need a place to park."
[1:53:43] Yeah. Not sure I didn't hear about that.
[1:53:45] Right. We'll talk about it.
[1:53:46] Yeah.
[1:53:46] Okay. Thank you.
[1:53:47] That's as easy as painting-
[1:53:48] Yes, right
[1:53:48] ... by the way. We've got the paint at the garage.
[1:53:50] That's what I told them as well.
[1:53:51] Get that work if you're obligated anyways to, to meet the requirement-
[1:53:54] Yeah
[1:53:54] ... of handicap space.
[1:53:55] There's ADA compliance stuff-
[1:53:57] Yeah
[1:53:57] ... that's supposed to be followed, so-
[1:53:59] Yeah.
[1:53:59] Yeah.
[1:54:00] So, uh, to, to answer your question, um,
[1:54:05] I, I mean, I think I'm interested in that for sure.
[1:54:08] Um,
[1:54:09] that sounds good. And then I have another thing.
[1:54:13] I guess this kind of goes to the housing committee, but somebody put in
[1:54:17] infill development, which to me brings the, the greatest
[1:54:21] bang for its buck when you talk to- when you're talking about, like,
[1:54:25] housing and expanding housing, where you already have stuff, where you don't have
[1:54:29] to annex in and run water to it. There's a lot of
[1:54:33] space, even downtown, even in my own business, where you could fit four
[1:54:36] apartments, just above my karate school, you know?
[1:54:39] So there's-
[1:54:39] Mm-hmm
[1:54:40] ... getting the infilling done, and people ask me, "Why haven't you had
[1:54:43] apartments up there?" Well, it's very cost- it's very
[1:54:47] costly because the upstairs are not in good condition at all.
[1:54:51] They, um, they need a lot of rework, so hopefully, you
[1:54:55] guys continue to focus on that. I'm glad to see that came
[1:54:58] up.
[1:55:00] We'll put in-
[1:55:00] Well, I guess where we're at then, M- Mr. Tin, did you have something else?
[1:55:04] Y- y-
[1:55:05] well,
[1:55:07] what I would like to suggest is that now that this document
[1:55:11] is out,
[1:55:12] uh, certainly having a list of, what, 40-some things
[1:55:16] is unrealistic. Uh, we need
[1:55:20] to, um, concentrate,
[1:55:24] uh, and, and slim this down for what, what do we expect
[1:55:28] that we can do in this coming year, in this coming
[1:55:31] budget?
[1:55:33] But I think that, that, uh... And I don't know if it's ever been done,
[1:55:37] but I would suggest that we have a town hall
[1:55:40] with, uh, the
[1:55:43] public invited
[1:55:45] to tell us what,
[1:55:48] uh, on this list are important to them and get some feedback,
[1:55:52] or that we do a survey-... on the website
[1:55:56] and says, you know, "Pick your top 10," or whatever
[1:56:00] from that standpoint, and, and try to get as much input as we can from
[1:56:04] the citizens, um, on, on what we should try
[1:56:08] to accomplish next year.
[1:56:11] So that, that would be m- my suggestion to, to,
[1:56:15] uh, try to get some input from, from our citizens, you know, as
[1:56:19] well as to have a list that's, uh...
[1:56:23] And, and the city manager will have to tell us, is, is it realistic or
[1:56:27] not from that standpoint? And then we can, we can go
[1:56:31] from there. 'Cause we, we, we know how much money, um, revenue
[1:56:35] sharing that we're gonna be getting, which will be cut a little bit.
[1:56:38] Uh, we know that we'll have more money, uh, from transportation
[1:56:42] for the roads. Exactly what that number is, we don't
[1:56:46] know. They've ha- they've done, uh, revenue estimates,
[1:56:50] uh, for that, um,
[1:56:53] and, and what, uh, we should expect, uh,
[1:56:56] money-wise, and then, uh, the fire and
[1:57:00] police, uh, dollars as well. So,
[1:57:03] uh,
[1:57:05] that, that would be my suggestion, uh.
[1:57:08] Okay, so
[1:57:10] really what I'm hearing is that the manager supplied us this list,
[1:57:15] and what he said was that this gives him something to go with.
[1:57:19] If we let the manager manage and let the, uh,
[1:57:22] department heads work with him, and then at the same time, if he finds
[1:57:26] a way that he can get public input on-
[1:57:28] Yep
[1:57:28] ... some of these things, or cut some of them out, or whatever that you don't think
[1:57:32] are... I think this, this could make the budget a lot simpler
[1:57:36] for us if we let him run with what he thinks and
[1:57:40] get the departments involved and, and
[1:57:44] see what he comes up with. I mean, that would be,
[1:57:47] uh... I think that's... Unless you're looking for something else?
[1:57:51] No, I think the feedback I've got is good.
[1:57:53] Uh, and a lot of times there's things that you, you'll have some...
[1:57:56] You know, part of it is I'm just following up with, uh, you know, thinking through
[1:58:00] Councilman Chinn's suggestion. Um, there is
[1:58:04] public hearings required, uh, to adapt the budget.
[1:58:06] You know, how do you get that feedback once you kind of get the core of it in
[1:58:10] place? I mean, there's some discretionary items that the council, you
[1:58:14] know, may, you know, have to make some decisions on one way or the
[1:58:17] other. You know, like the HVAC system, that type of thing.
[1:58:21] You know, how do you apply, you know, do the financing and, uh, if you're
[1:58:25] gonna go forward with it, and those type of things.
[1:58:27] So there is, there is, there's some decisions that you'll have, and I can give you,
[1:58:31] like, little decision
[1:58:33] packages that you can, you know, contemplate whether you wanna put that in or
[1:58:37] take something out, so that type of thing.
[1:58:40] Uh-
[1:58:40] Sounds like a good idea.
[1:58:41] Yeah, and that way you get public input from it as well.
[1:58:45] Um...
[1:58:48] Okay, so you'll proceed forward then, correct?
[1:58:50] I got plenty to do.
[1:58:51] All right.
[1:58:55] brings us to public comment.
[1:59:00] Mr. Public, do you wanna comment?
[1:59:02] John. Anyone? John?
[1:59:04] Duck in s- in case the ax comes out.
[1:59:08] Bueller.
[1:59:10] Anybody online this time?
[1:59:11] I think Jody was on there earlier.
[1:59:14] An opening? Did he announce it?
[1:59:18] I think I'm unmuted. Can you hear me?
[1:59:20] He announced you're opening.
[1:59:24] So Jody's on the, online?
[1:59:28] Jody, go ahead.
[1:59:29] Can you hear me okay? Um, it's,
[1:59:33] it's showing that I'm unmuted. So, um, there's three things I wanted to
[1:59:37] say. First of all, um, I wanted to just, um, say
[1:59:40] that, uh, I haven't heard it, so Michaela did such a wonderful
[1:59:44] job of filling in, um, in the absence of
[1:59:48] our, um,
[1:59:50] our clerk be- until we got our new one, and it sounds like,
[1:59:54] um, things are getting taken over pretty well.
[1:59:56] But I wanna give a big shout-out to Michaela for what she
[1:59:59] did. Um, the second thing I wanted to say
[2:00:03] is, the city manager report, as far as transparency goes,
[2:00:07] perfect. That's wonderful, because we get to see what's going
[2:00:10] on. And the third thing is, I'm not 100% sure on this, so I
[2:00:14] need to ask, are our storm and, um,
[2:00:18] sewers combined, or have they been separated?
[2:00:21] And if they have been separated, as we're going down and, and
[2:00:25] redoing the complete infrastructure, is that taking
[2:00:28] place? Um, along with that, Fishbeck, um, has
[2:00:32] been doing this for a very long time.
[2:00:34] Fishbeck was a major part of the big,
[2:00:37] huge, um, sanitary stormwater separation
[2:00:40] project back in the '90s for the city of Lansing.
[2:00:43] Um, so I also thought that I had read that they had put in a
[2:00:47] bid when it went out, but nobody else
[2:00:50] responded. So yes, they are our sole source, but that would be
[2:00:54] because nobody else responded, too.
[2:00:56] So I'm wondering if that's already been covered. So thank you.
[2:00:59] I think that's all I have for today.
[2:01:03] And the, the answer to Jody's question is absolutely, it's very simple.
[2:01:07] We have separate storm drainage, and we have separate sanitary
[2:01:11] sewer drainage, so they all are separated.
[2:01:14] In fact, I can remember when we used to...
[2:01:17] We went around the city for
[2:01:19] I don't know how long in the '80s, and we put smoke in the
[2:01:23] sanitary sewer, and then we would spot houses that looked
[2:01:27] like they were on fire. We got calls of that.
[2:01:30] It was the smoke coming out of the sanitary sewer that went to their eavetroughs,
[2:01:34] so then they had to disconnect those.
[2:01:35] So yes, we have, we have separate storm, and we have separate
[2:01:39] sanitary sewer.
[2:01:40] Sanitary.
[2:01:41] So
[2:01:44] nobody else online, I assume.
[2:01:47] Staff comments. You wanna comment anymore?
[2:01:50] You're the only staff. And
[2:01:54] then mayor and council, and I just was... I talked to the clerk about this.
[2:01:57] She said she'd be the timekeeper. We'll try to stick to that two-minute number,
[2:02:01] and-... We're s- we're starting over.
[2:02:03] We started down there la- you got a long, long time to prepare.
[2:02:08] Mr. Christensen?
[2:02:10] Thank you, sir. Uh, thanks to those of you that made your way here tonight and
[2:02:14] online.
[2:02:15] Uh, let's see. Last Saturday night, uh, we attended
[2:02:19] the soft opening at Viking Edge downtown.
[2:02:23] I had a great time. I, I think it's gonna be a wonderful addition to our
[2:02:26] downtown. Uh, i- i- it's, it's a unique
[2:02:29] experience to throw an axe, I will say that.
[2:02:33] Um,
[2:02:35] uh, and speaking of, uh, Viking's Edge, Friday at four o'clock is a ribbon cutting
[2:02:39] downtown at, uh, their location. Nordic Fire
[2:02:42] Festival this weekend, so, uh, I think town's gonna be pretty busy
[2:02:46] without a doubt. Uh, uh, and I, and I hope it's bigger than last
[2:02:50] year. Uh, I had the opportunity to attend the,
[2:02:54] uh, Coordinated Response, uh, Pipeline Safety
[2:02:57] Program
[2:02:59] up in Lansing, which is, uh, coordinated with Miss Dig
[2:03:02] 811. Learned a lot of things. I always thought
[2:03:06] living in town, in, in my little yard, if I needed to dig
[2:03:10] a trench with my shovel, it's not a big deal.
[2:03:13] But, but I learned, if you're gonna dig anything in your yard, even with a hand
[2:03:17] tool, you need to call 811, because you can create yourself a lot of
[2:03:21] problems. So, um, definitely keep that in
[2:03:24] mind. Uh, that's all I have. Thanks.
[2:03:29] I have nothing.
[2:03:31] Uh,
[2:03:32] you?
[2:03:33] Well... I- the only thing I
[2:03:37] have is I, I just wanna reit- reiterate, I, I think having a
[2:03:41] town hall meeting would be a, would be a great idea.
[2:03:44] I would, I would suggest getting it out of this building.
[2:03:46] I, I th- I, I've been arguing for, for years that the Methodist Church across the
[2:03:50] street is just, like, built for town hall meetings.
[2:03:53] It just looks like it. And I, I think we should do more of that.
[2:03:57] Um, it... This is, uh, I've been on council for over two years,
[2:04:01] and I, I really haven't played with any of these people much o- on the side, and we
[2:04:05] haven't- we don't see each other outside the building, and we're scared to death to
[2:04:08] meet in, you know, more than twos. So, uh, it- I
[2:04:12] don't know. I think we need to get out and be with the people a, a little more
[2:04:16] often, since they clearly won't come in and play with us, except for John and my
[2:04:20] wife. That's all I have.
[2:04:22] Mr. Chen?
[2:04:25] Uh, tomorrow at five o'clock, I'll be at the, uh, Charlotte
[2:04:29] Library with Senator Anthony, uh, as
[2:04:33] she, uh, is coming into town to talk about what's going on
[2:04:37] with the state and the state budget.
[2:04:39] Um,
[2:04:40] MML, um,
[2:04:43] we have, uh, a panic going on, uh,
[2:04:47] regarding the fact that the, the House introduced five
[2:04:51] bills that literally will take zoning out of the hands
[2:04:55] of the locals and, uh, have the state dictate, uh,
[2:04:59] zoning, uh, for housing. So, uh, they've
[2:05:03] asked, uh, all of the members to, um,
[2:05:07] you know, write a letter, contact your, uh, representative,
[2:05:11] and, and let them know that, uh,
[2:05:14] that's- we need to keep control, s- city
[2:05:18] control, uh, over zoning, uh, from that
[2:05:21] standpoint. Um, for the police department, and I
[2:05:25] don't know, um, I'll be asking, uh, the city
[2:05:28] manager, um, the issue of the flock cameras
[2:05:32] has, has keeps coming up. Uh,
[2:05:36] the legislature has, uh, in, in their
[2:05:39] possession now, uh, the fact that, uh, they,
[2:05:43] they, uh, are looking at establishing strict
[2:05:46] policies, uh, for the use of flock
[2:05:50] cameras. I know w- we've been using them, and my question is,
[2:05:54] is whether or not, uh, we have a written policy of how those
[2:05:58] cameras are used. And it, and it talks about the fact that,
[2:06:02] uh, some, um... You know, how
[2:06:06] long you can keep it, what you can use it for, et cetera.
[2:06:10] And they're suggesting that, uh, we better have one, uh, or
[2:06:14] they'll pass legislation to tell
[2:06:18] us, uh, how we can go about
[2:06:21] there. Uh, I, uh, I had asked this earlier, but
[2:06:26] I'm not sure, uh, who, who, uh, is tracking
[2:06:30] the requirements, whether the requirements are being met for our
[2:06:34] TIFs.
[2:06:35] Uh, I don't need an answer, but that's a question I've- I
[2:06:39] always ask. Uh, I don't know how many TIFs we got out there
[2:06:43] and, and, uh, you know what? I, I know the three
[2:06:47] that, uh, I've approved on, on council, I think two
[2:06:51] before this council, one at, at the council,
[2:06:54] uh, on whether or not, uh, you know, some of them are tied
[2:06:58] to employees, how many employees they have
[2:07:01] guaranteed, uh, and whether or not the, the- those are being
[2:07:05] met. Um, the other is
[2:07:08] the, uh, I would like to, to get a
[2:07:12] report down the line here of the, um,
[2:07:15] audit findings and some of the corrections that have to be
[2:07:19] made. Uh, and, and I don't know whether or not,
[2:07:23] uh, that's being tracked or how that's being reported to make
[2:07:26] sure that we're addressing the audit issues that
[2:07:30] have br- brought up. Uh, and of course, the, the
[2:07:34] governor's budget, um, it, it,
[2:07:37] you know, it's, it is what it is now.
[2:07:40] And, uh, uh, fortunately, uh, Charlotte's not
[2:07:44] gonna get hurt, uh, too bad with it.
[2:07:46] Uh, actually, we're, we're in the positive, uh, from that
[2:07:50] standpoint. Um,
[2:07:52] the
[2:07:54] application, somebody asked me to look into the application that,
[2:07:57] uh, on the Barrett, uh, issue. I don't know if you've heard
[2:08:01] back o- on that, but I don't... I think we,
[2:08:05] uh, w- we did not get-... um,
[2:08:10] anything from that, so, um-
[2:08:12] The one after the, the one in the EDA, EDA
[2:08:15] grant.
[2:08:17] Yep. Um, and I, and I'll get with you on that, so
[2:08:21] I can... Is, is that a state, federal?
[2:08:26] Okay. We still, we still have a couple of senators
[2:08:30] that I can tap for trying to
[2:08:35] get some recognition that we have something in front of them.
[2:08:39] Um, the other thing is, um, during the interim period here,
[2:08:43] I know that, uh, with the hiring of the, uh,
[2:08:47] manager, we made some changes. Uh, and certainly
[2:08:51] one of them that, uh, still concerns me is the,
[2:08:55] um,
[2:08:56] going to 20,000, uh, in, uh, for the
[2:08:59] purchasing, uh, bid policy. Uh, and,
[2:09:03] and I believe that's, for a city our size and, and our
[2:09:07] budget, in comparison to other cities, that that's the
[2:09:10] highest, uh, authorization of any city
[2:09:14] in Michigan. Uh,
[2:09:17] so I'd like to, uh, the council to
[2:09:20] consider and, uh, um,
[2:09:24] in, in a future meeting of bringing that back down to
[2:09:28] 10,000, uh, that it was originally, uh, set
[2:09:31] at. That's it.
[2:09:35] You used up your two minutes.
[2:09:40] Mr. Rodriguez?
[2:09:41] Uh, Mr. Chinn and myself have both brought up the, uh, TIFs,
[2:09:45] and there was an expectation of job
[2:09:48] creation, uh, jobs for those, and so I, I too wonder
[2:09:52] if those are being met.
[2:09:54] Um, I would like us to stay on top of the flock, uh, security
[2:09:57] cameras. I did vote against those, and I still stand against
[2:10:01] them. Um, with that said, it's probably a good idea for
[2:10:05] us to have a good policy in place on the rules, although- ...
[2:10:09] I think that's probably all going through the court system and probably
[2:10:13] heading its way right on up there to possibly the Supreme Court.
[2:10:16] So perhaps that'll be decided, uh, for us.
[2:10:20] And then a, a question I asked earlier with a bunch of other questions
[2:10:24] is, uh, what does the city manager expect from the
[2:10:27] council next? So I think we got your plan, what you're gonna go and
[2:10:31] do,
[2:10:32] but, uh, whatever our next step is, uh, whatever you see as
[2:10:36] our next step would, would be good.
[2:10:38] Although I have, uh, I've been through this process a few times, in
[2:10:42] recent years, we haven't really been able to follow the budget
[2:10:46] plan and timeline that, uh, that I,
[2:10:49] uh, I went through at least, what, three years ago, given our
[2:10:53] current- given our situations in recent years.
[2:10:56] So, um, seeing what your proposed timeline would
[2:10:59] be, and I can send you over what, what my thoughts would
[2:11:03] be as well, if that's what you want.
[2:11:05] But, you know, getting it from you and then allowing the council to kind of see
[2:11:08] that and agree to it would probably be pretty good. That's it. Thanks.
[2:11:12] Yep. Okay, and then
[2:11:16] I think
[2:11:17] I was pretty clear. I think you're gonna go to work without any more input from the
[2:11:21] council, aren't you?
[2:11:22] Well, I'll bring it back... Yeah, I, I got kind of a general idea and try and fit
[2:11:25] as much as I can in there, and-
[2:11:27] Yeah
[2:11:27] ... but there's still gonna be some discretion where, you know, look, here's a,
[2:11:31] here's a package where you guys can give me the-
[2:11:33] Gonna give you the option. Gonna give you the option
[2:11:35] ... uh, based on your priorities.
[2:11:37] Yeah.
[2:11:37] Cool. That's it.
[2:11:39] Motion to adjourn?
[2:11:41] So moved.
[2:11:41] Second.
[2:11:42] Second. All in favor say, "Aye."
[2:11:44] Aye.
[2:11:45] Meeting adjourned.
[2:11:46] What time Thursday would you be back?