[0:28] Good evening. I'd like to welcome you to
the August 20th, 2026 board of
[0:33] commissioners meeting and please ask you
to rise for the pledge of allegiance.
[0:40] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:45] republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:51] justice for all.
[0:57] » Roll call, please.
>> Commissioner Law,
[0:59] » here.
>> Commissioner Gooding
[1:00] » here. Commissioner Mates here.
>> Commissioner Gup here. Commissioner
[1:04] » here. Commissioner White here.
>> Commissioner Coops
[1:06] » here.
Commissioners, before we approve the
[1:10] agenda, I know we have a many people
here to talk about the data center
[1:15] deferral resolution. So, I would like to
move that up to number one in new
[1:19] business and ask for a motion to approve
the agenda as amended.
[1:23] » I'll make a motion.
>> I will second. [clears throat]
[1:27] » We have motion support. Any discussion?
Hearing none. All in favor say I. I.
[1:33] Post. Same sign.
Next is our consent agenda. We have one
[1:38] item on the two items. No, one item on
the agenda, which is the
[1:44] We don't have any consent agenda items.
I'm sorry. Uh we'll move down to the
[1:48] approval of the August 10th, 2026
minutes.
[1:53] If there are no corrections, looking for
a motion to approve.
[1:59] I'll make the motion. I'll second.
Motion to support.
[2:03] Any discussion
[2:08] hearing? None. All in favor say I.
>> I.
[2:10] » I.
>> Oppos. Same sign. We've now come to our
[2:14] first public comment. Anyone wishing to
address the commission, please come
[2:16] forward. You have three minutes. If we
have a lot on the data center. If people
[2:21] start repeating themselves for time
factors, I'd like to deal with that. Go
[2:27] ahead, sir. State your name.
>> My name is Daniel Hire. I live on
[2:32] Lincoln Place and a resident of Paskki.
Uh before I make a few comments about
[2:38] the data center moratorum,
I'd like to share why my perspective
[2:42] might be important.
I'm trained to see the moving parts. I'm
[2:46] an engineer, a statistician, an actuary,
and a financial quant. My whole career
[2:52] has been about taking apart complex
projects and understanding how the
[2:56] pieces actually fit and where they often
fail.
[3:00] I manage risk for a living. Risk at real
scale. I've run multi-billion dollar
[3:05] investment portfolios. I manage credit
risk for one of the largest insurance
[3:09] companies in the world. My job is to
tell the difference between a promise
[3:14] and a guarantee. Between a number on a
slide and a dollar in our pockets.
[3:21] [snorts] I deal with these people. I sit
across from the table from firms like
[3:25] the ones that are likely to court us. I
know how they think, how they model a
[3:30] deal, and what they're really optimizing
for.
[3:34] I know what we're committed to the
community really means on their
[3:37] spreadsheet and what it doesn't.
So, I'm not here out of fear or
[3:43] sentiment. I'm here because I understand
what they're offering and I want you all
[3:48] to see what I see before you make your
own decisions.
[3:56] The big takeaway is know the devil
before you do business with him.
[4:01] No business team drives this far for the
scenery. Before we enter any entertain
[4:07] any discussion with a firm like this, we
need to understand why they want us.
[4:13] Here's the real value that they hope to
extract. They want our cheap land
[4:18] because it's cheap. Remote acreage.
Remote acorage is exactly what they need
[4:23] and exactly what we can't get back. What
reads is a bargain to them is our
[4:29] irreplaceable asset sold at a discount.
They want our water and power access
[4:35] quietly. Data centers are thirsty and
power hungry. They'll draw on the same
[4:40] resources that sustain our wild spaces
and our residents, the cost of which
[4:45] lands on us long after the deal is done.
They want a weak counterparty. A small
[4:52] remote county with a modest staff is
easier to out lawyer, outweight, and out
[4:57] negotiate than a city. Our size isn't a
courtesy to them. It's the reason we're
[5:03] on their map.
They want the light footprint on their
[5:06] books. A remote site is a line item to
be optimized or abandoned. To them,
[5:13] we're not a community. We're a capacity.
bought when it's convenient and dropped
[5:18] immediately when the market turns.
They want in before the rules exist.
[5:24] Move fast, lock in terms, set precedent
while we're still figuring out what to
[5:29] even ask. Our lack of preparation is
their leverage.
[5:34] Am I done?
>> You can wrap up if you'd like. Final
[5:36] comment.
>> I will just say briefly, uh, keep in
[5:40] mind what our real needs are. We're not
short on money. We have a balanced
[5:45] budget. We run a frequent equity at the
end of the year. We're short on
[5:50] resources. Cash doesn't build houses,
train workers, or conjure contractors
[5:55] out of thin air. A corporate check lands
in a few pockets, but it doesn't solve
[6:00] the remoteness or the thin labor, the
thin housing, or thin services that
[6:04] actually constrain us. Thank you.
[applause]
[6:10] ANYONE
[6:15] else wishing to address the board?
>> I do.
[6:22] » Good evening. Good to see some of you
again. My name is Dale Scott. I uh am
[6:28] from Friendship Township, one of the
townships that uh is totally involved or
[6:34] under uh county zoning. I'm a former
supervisor for 10 years of of the
[6:39] township and I currently serve on the
tunnel of trees committee um that uh
[6:45] oversees the tunnel of trees. First of
all um has the commission determined
[6:52] whether or not the citizens of of EMTT
County are in favor of the placement of
[6:57] data centers in this county.
I know you won't answer those questions.
[7:03] This should be a determining factor in
your decision on the resolution that
[7:07] you're considering. It appears that an
approval decision tonight was
[7:12] essentially set the wheels
turning to create a road map for
[7:17] development of data centers. Perhaps the
citizenry would prefer that data centers
[7:22] not even be mentioned in our zoning
ordinance. Are data centers mentioned in
[7:27] our current county master plan? I don't
know. Will they be mentioned in our
[7:33] soontobe renewed master plan?
If so, how aggressively was the public's
[7:40] opinion pursued on the subject?
Secondly, is there any difference
[7:44] between what a data center developer
would face today if applying to build
[7:50] than he or she would face if he applied
after this resolution was put in place?
[7:57] Is there really any difference? The
resolution allows a property owner to
[8:02] who shall feel agrieved by a deferral of
action, I quote, to appeal to the county
[8:08] commission for relief to be granted from
the deferment described in the
[8:12] resolution. So, is there any real
difference between the way it is now and
[8:17] what would happen after the resolution?
And finally, it appears to me that this
[8:22] resolution will create a roadmap for the
placement of data centers in EMTT County
[8:27] while not applying significant
roadblocks to developments that may very
[8:33] well be unwanted by the population.
Thank you.
[8:38] [applause]
[8:47] » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is
Karen Ulik. I grew up here in Bataski. I
[8:52] just moved back to Bear Creek Township
after 33 years in Tucson, 14 of which I
[9:00] served on the Tucson City Council. And
last year we had our first data center
[9:05] proposal.
And uh so I urge you to have an ironclad
[9:14] pause to give us time to make sure that
the protections are in place that are
[9:20] needed.
I'm concerned because what we faced in
[9:25] Tucson was an immediate demand for a
non-disclosure agreement in order to
[9:31] engage with a prospective development
and it prevented us
[9:37] from doing our job in sharing
information with the public. I I can't
[9:42] tell you how much sleep I lost and how
devastating it was to face the prospect
[9:48] of a power user that would have doubled
the demand on our power grid. Tucson is
[9:54] a city of half a million people and one
data center built out would have doubled
[10:01] the demand on our power grid. Water in
the desert, as you know, is a whole
[10:07] another matter. But I I just um urge you
to not only pass a moratorum, but as
[10:16] these incredibly well-informed speakers
have noted, that moratorum needs to be
[10:21] very clear that any prospective
development which exceeds a defined
[10:29] threshold in water or power use cannot
be approved without additional
[10:37] time for you to study and for the public
to understand the impacts. I appreciate
[10:45] your service and protecting our
beautiful environment and the great
[10:50] people of this community. And I just
urge you and Mr. Attorney, please make
[10:56] sure that the language of any resolution
passed does not have loopholes. And I
[11:04] understand property owner rights.
Arizona has the strongest property
[11:09] rights. All we did was said any project
that exceeds
[11:15] the traditional
water and power use in a warehouse or
[11:20] light industrial or other zoning.
Anything that exceeds what has
[11:26] historically been seen needs additional
approvals. You're not taking anybody's
[11:31] rights away. What you're saying is that
these incredibly
[11:38] uh consequential projects
require much more scrutiny. Thank you.
[11:46] [applause]
[11:51] [applause]
>> Anyone else wish to address the board?
[11:56] » I think I have a minute left.
>> Uh I don't know. I want to
[12:04] There's another there's another comment
period coming up
[12:06] » real quick and you could go maybe give
you a quick break from important data
[12:11] center comments. My name's Carrie May.
I'm the owner of Bo Engineering and
[12:16] Design. I'm here tonight to address the
storage text amendment. Uh I've designed
[12:21] 10 different storage facilities in the
last 5 years uh that include commercial,
[12:27] self storage, uh private storage. So, I
wanted to emphasize to this board just a
[12:33] few of my practical concerns that remain
after the public hearing process at the
[12:37] planning commission level. First, this
text as it exists uh creates new legally
[12:44] non-conforming uses out of existing
recently approved developments
[12:48] unnecessarily.
This is because the proposed rules do
[12:51] not target impact concerns directly.
Rather, they incorporate large blanket
[12:56] setbacks, height restrictions, story
limitations, and unusual access
[13:01] requirements that will act as
exclusionary zones, prohibiting a
[13:05] legitimate land use that satisfies an
important market driven need in the
[13:09] community. The height, story, and access
uh requirements also exceed existing
[13:15] districts zoning standards for other
more intensive uses along with, to my
[13:20] knowledge, the state building code and
an international fire code. I certainly
[13:24] support considerations of life and
safety measures and IFC standards, but
[13:28] what has been implemented thus far is
excessive.
[13:32] I also do not believe that the
commission has adequately considered how
[13:35] these regulations will specifically
limit economic growth in the form of
[13:39] infill development and redevelopment of
vacant or distressed properties. Storage
[13:45] is an excellent use of these properties
because it's flexible and transformable.
[13:51] If this tax is adopted, storage will for
some unknown reason be disallowed,
[13:55] largely disallowed within 200 to 300
feet along the state highway corridor in
[14:00] business and industrial districts and in
existing vacant buildings that will not
[14:05] typically meet the new standards. If
there are other preferable commercial
[14:10] and industrial uses wanting to make use
of these numerous vacant buildings and
[14:14] properties, they have had the
opportunity but have not done so. I'm
[14:19] asking the board to send this amendment
back to the planning commission with
[14:22] direction for them to set up a
subcommittee to engage with stakeholders
[14:26] in a back and forth manner. Four of my
clients with very recently approved
[14:31] projects could and should have been
contacted for their input on these
[14:35] amendments. All were unaware of the
process until the week of the public
[14:39] hearing. None of their developments were
included in the examples studied by the
[14:43] commission and all have will have
non-conforming land uses if the text is
[14:48] adopted.
Finally, I just believe if adopted, this
[14:51] amendment will have an overall negative
effect on county residents by limiting
[14:56] the availability of marketdriven storage
needs and services by increasing the
[15:01] cost of storage because of artificial
limitation of supply by restricting
[15:06] opportunities for infill development and
redevelopment. by creating
[15:10] non-conforming uses wi-i which affect
property value and may be not be
[15:14] replaced if excessively damaged. One by
unintentionally dispersing the storage
[15:20] of material deemed to be of concern by
the fire chief across the county. By
[15:25] intentionally leading to the acquisition
of large farm forest parcels for
[15:29] personal storage that could have been
concentrated in appropriate business and
[15:33] industrial districts. and by
intentionally forcing significant
[15:37] additional paved surfaces and expensive
blanket landscape screening requirements
[15:42] from buildings to roadways.
Thank you.
[15:45] » Thank you.
[applause]
[15:48] » Anyone else wishing to address the
board?
[15:52] You have a second room, too. So, when
you're down in here, if you would call
[15:55] for them, please.
>> Yes, ma'am.
[16:01] [clears throat]
>> Hi, thank you. My name is Lee Novak. I
[16:05] grew up in Paskki. I also moved away for
about 30 years and came back because of
[16:11] the scenery and the wildlife and the
natural resources.
[16:15] I spent 30 over 30 years as a planner
with Forest Service largescale landscape
[16:21] planning and I understand master plans.
I understand visions, goals, objectives.
[16:28] When I looked at the EMTT County plan,
um it was clear what the what this area
[16:35] is all about, what the vision is. It's
wildlife, it's water, it's air, it's
[16:41] wildlife, it's tourism.
I also looked at some of the goals under
[16:47] that vision, one being economic
and it talked about small businesses and
[16:55] light industrial. When I looked at the
definition of light industrial,
[17:01] it looked like it was low noise,
low impacts,
[17:08] and um a light footprint. I'm not sure
data centers would meet any of those.
[17:15] So I guess my question would be if we're
going to go to the trouble of having a
[17:19] master plan
>> and getting input on that master plan, I
[17:24] would strongly suggest that we look at
this proposal. And maybe it's not a
[17:31] formal proposal yet, but it's definitely
on the horizon. Something we need to be
[17:35] thinking about in a vision. Um, so I
would just ask that we incorporate that
[17:42] sort of thinking into the final master
plan.
[17:46] » Thank you. [applause]
[17:52] » Anyone else wishing to address the
board? Yes, ma'am.
[17:57] [clears throat]
>> My name is Vanza Hollow Peter. I'm out
[18:00] of Springville Township. I've been up
here 5 years. Originally from downstate,
[18:05] grew up in the same kind of rural area.
Scotier, it's about same distance from
[18:10] my house, Paskki.
I'm just getting started as a small
[18:13] farmer up here. My husband's in the
trades. He's been here all of his life.
[18:19] We've got four kids, all daughters. One
day I'm going to have grandkids just
[18:23] like everybody else behind me. Leier is
going through the same thing right now.
[18:28] I'm in my early 30s. I'm on TikTok. I'm
on Facebook. I'm on YouTube. I talk with
[18:32] other creators. You're talking from
California to New York down to Texas,
[18:36] Florida. I'm watching what everybody's
going through, especially the farmers.
[18:41] I'm seeing what this is doing to crops,
rivers, animals. This stuff with any
[18:47] type of sound puts off frequency. It
distresses all of our wildlife. So
[18:52] everything that our DNR does to protect
the wildlife,
[18:56] all the licensing we have to go through
if we want to be able to go get a deer
[19:00] like we've all traditionally done, what
deers there going to be? What fish are
[19:04] there going to be?
We have the hatchery. What good's that
[19:07] going to do? We got pifas and Pelston
companies like data centers, they love
[19:14] airports. Also gives them eminent
domain. 2021 to 2022 was put into
[19:19] legislation where private companies are
able to get eminent donating. We don't
[19:23] have those protections anymore.
How are they all funded? Executive
[19:28] order, what number was it that the
president put in? Central space, by the
[19:32] way. 401ks, pensions that are now
publicly traded, that is all part of the
[19:38] investment. Do we all stand for that?
[19:43] » Every one of you are for the public. We
are the public. Our public doesn't need
[19:47] this not even five generations from now.
None of us know truly what it's going to
[19:51] be for, what they're going to use it
for, what it does. What are they going
[19:55] to do after they start it once that
ground breaks? How much control are you
[19:58] guys going to have? Or are they going to
take it above your head?
[20:03] Everybody talks about line five. Yet a
data center anywhere in this county,
[20:08] anywhere in Michigan for that matter.
We're surrounded by how many inland
[20:11] lakes, waterways, great lakes.
They're already allowing it down state
[20:16] and you should hear from our community
members down state what's already
[20:19] happening
>> and NDAs.
[20:25] » Yeah. No, that's easily discoverable as
well. It's not worth it. Not for you,
[20:30] not for us, not for the future.
Thank you. [applause]
[20:40] » I saw you back there. Thank you. Thank
you. Good evening. My name is Zach
[20:44] Stewart. I'm an attorney atward and
Fischer in Traverse City. Uh my firm
[20:47] represents uh Walker's Mountain View,
who's the owner of uh the luxury garages
[20:51] at Hearthside 31 Garages. Um I'm here
tonight to talk about the uh storage
[20:56] amendment ordinance. I I've been a
president at the last two planning
[21:01] commission meetings uh and and uh we've
expressed our concerns at the last two
[21:06] planning commission meetings about the
ordinance updates. And uh one of the
[21:11] things I said at the first planning
commission meeting that I was attending
[21:14] was, you know, it's important to
remember that uh good lawmakers
[21:19] pass good laws and that's why you guys
are in the seats that you're in right
[21:22] now, right? And I think you're hearing
it from everybody in the community with
[21:25] respect to the storage or excuse me the
day the data center um information and
[21:30] the requests that you're hearing from
everybody here and and I guess that uh
[21:34] the stakeholders with with their um with
their rights and the money and the
[21:39] privileges that they've put into these
storage units. They ask you guys to put
[21:43] the same effort into that as we ask you
to put in with the data centers. Uh
[21:47] right now the ordinance amendments uh
are vague in parts. They're overburding
[21:52] cement parts. They their their setback
requirements. Their their fire lane
[21:57] issues. These are all things that are
concerns. I we understand. Uh but the
[22:02] numbers seem to be taken out of thin air
and not rationally related to a
[22:06] legitimate public concern of the health,
safety, and welfare of the citizens of
[22:09] this community. Uh and so, um another
big issue that was addressed by uh Krie
[22:16] May is the the creation of more
non-conforming lots. and and that's
[22:20] truly what is going to happen uh with
these ordinance updates. Uh we just ask
[22:24] that the the county commissioners uh do
what's right here. Um we don't need to
[22:30] pass something just because uh there's
an artificial time limit that we've
[22:35] created. Let's let's pass laws that do
the right thing for the right
[22:39] circumstances and benefit the community.
And that's all that the stakeholders
[22:42] have been asking since day one. Uh so we
ask that you do not pass the ordinance
[22:47] amendments tonight. Let's pass it back
back down to the planning commission and
[22:50] let's uh further discuss and revise and
make sure that when we do revise the
[22:54] storage ordinance uh we do we do it in
the right way. So thank you
[23:00] [applause]
[23:05] » thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh good evening
commissioners, staff, and uh let's not
[23:11] forget all the public. As Miss May and
uh Zachary the attorney, I just heard we
[23:18] I'm not here for data centers, although
I interested in that conversation. I
[23:22] don't want to get it confused with the
storage text amendments that have been
[23:26] going on since January.
And as you know, I've been here a few
[23:30] times in front of you guys as well. Uh
I'm here again tonight to share my
[23:35] concerns regarding the proposed tax
amendments for the storage uses. I see
[23:39] the recommendation by Mr. Ber to extend
the moratorum until December 1st, 2026.
[23:45] [snorts] This is obviously being
suggested for various reasons. In my
[23:49] opinion, the reason is the process has
been grossly flawed. Someone might say
[23:54] different, but this is what I call the
adult conversation.
[23:59] My experience and observation is the
current ordinance is not broken and it
[24:04] has historically been used without any
objection until the December 12th 4th,
[24:09] 2025 EMT County Planning Commission
meeting when a moratorium was requested
[24:15] by a certain business owner.
I agree the definitions of different
[24:20] storage and warehousing uses can be
updated and clarified. I feel this is
[24:24] very important.
However, the supplemental regulations
[24:29] being discussed are ownorous and
egregious.
[24:33] For example, restricting the
historically acceptable height of 30 ft
[24:37] to 20 ft as proposed is without
justification.
[24:42] Clearly, no one has reviewed not only
the impact on new development, but the
[24:46] additional nonconformities it will
create, especially in the industrial
[24:50] districts and for what reason. And I'm
not just talking about the highways. I'm
[24:54] talking about interior industrial
districts will be affected.
[25:04] It was not until the August 6th meeting
that height was an issue in the
[25:09] industrial district. None of this makes
sense and the amount of time wasted of
[25:13] the county staff expenses incurred,
including paying legal fees to review
[25:17] text and write resolutions after 8
months. What are the results? All this
[25:23] could have been avoided if guided by
common sense and reason. As a member of
[25:27] this community, I have spent many hours
on this issue, so I can truly understand
[25:31] how hard it is to read and review all of
the information.
[25:36] Tonight's packet alone is 70 plus pages,
and that is not everything which has
[25:41] been compiled over the course of this
suspension period.
[25:46] The two motions voted during the August
11th meeting were split 43 and 34 with
[25:53] two members absent. Any attorney will
agree
[25:57] when working on text amendments, which
is legislative law, the preferred
[26:02] outcome and goal should be unanimous
decisions. For this reason, we
[26:06] respectfully request this board of
commissioners to let the issue expire
[26:11] and allow the current code to live.
Respectfully, Paul and Annie Meridian,
[26:15] my position is a little bit different
than what I heard out of Miss May and
[26:19] Attorney Stewart. Uh, a postponement.
What is it going to do for 90 more days?
[26:27] » Thank you.
>> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to
[26:31] address the board?
Anyone in Sir, go ahead.
[26:45] Hello,
I'm Cameron Chup. I live on the south
[26:50] side of Paskki. I've lived here for
about three and a half years now.
[26:55] I
love our areas. I'm talking about data
[26:59] centers. I figured I'd [laughter]
[snorts]
[27:03] uh when we pledged allegiance, we pledge
allegiance
[27:08] under God. And for the majority of Emma
County, God is Jesus Christ.
[27:14] So I would like to remind you of some
teachings of God.
[27:19] Do unto others as you would have done
unto yourself. If you've seen any of the
[27:25] destruction that's caused by these data
centers, I've seen videos of people down
[27:29] in Dejac. They have 60 dB of noise on
their porch. That's not what I want for
[27:34] my neighbors.
I'm supposed to love my neighbors as
[27:38] myself. I
I could never do that to somebody. I
[27:45] I don't think that that would be a good
thing to do. I think
[27:52] that it's bad. We shouldn't have this in
Emma County. Emma County is
[27:58] perfect and pure and that's not
something that aligns with our values. I
[28:04] know we can't zone it out and we should
talk to the state to figure out how we
[28:09] can.
This is not something that we want.
[28:18] Oh, that that's all I got. I I just
don't think we should do THIS
[28:22] [clears throat]
[28:24] [applause]
[28:29] in the room [applause] before I call the
auxiliary.
[28:33] May I just pass this to the recorder,
please? Sorry for
[28:37] » Mike. Is there anyone in the auxiliary
court?
[28:43] Come on up. Come on up.
[28:48] She didn't raise her hand.
[28:52] » Tana Baldwin, Bear Creek Township. I'd
like to speak on both of these two
[28:56] things tonight. Um first of all on data
centers I think there's an overwhelming
[29:02] number of people who are opposed to them
but we seem to have two camps on how
[29:07] about how to go about dealing with it.
Um
[29:11] you know Tammy came up to the to Bliss
and talked about things that could be
[29:16] done through planning and that's kind of
where we're at now but there's also the
[29:20] feeling of a lot of people who have
heard that we should say nothing or that
[29:24] we shouldn't address it. So I think the
real confusion is what is the best way
[29:30] to go about doing this? Do we want to
put something in the master plan? Do we
[29:34] want to create zoning ordinances that
can restrict things or are we better off
[29:41] not to have me and mentioned as some
other people have said and I'm not sure
[29:46] which that is but I think you should
definitely pass the
[29:51] I don't want to say that word
moratorium. um [laughter]
[29:54] the pause um for us to figure it out to
figure out what the best way to go about
[30:00] it is. And I just saw an article today
about a town downstate that is getting
[30:06] sued because they did applause. The
reason is they did applause after they
[30:10] already had an application. So I think
it's better we do it now than later.
[30:16] Secondly, on the um storage issue, I sat
in planning commissions for nine months
[30:23] as we talked about the storage issue and
from my perspective, we have very
[30:29] limited business space along the
corridors
[30:33] and storage does not require those.
And if they don't have the place to put
[30:39] businesses along our business corridors,
they're going to want to push out to
[30:43] where my house is. And I would like to
keep it where it belongs, near town, in
[30:48] the business corridors and not have the
businesses trying to stretch out south
[30:55] of Innertown or wherever else they're
going to push into. And by keeping
[31:00] storage separate from that, I think it's
important. And I think the planning
[31:03] commission went over and over this for
nine months trying to come up with a
[31:08] solution. And I would very much urge you
to pass that. Thank you.
[31:13] » [applause]
[31:16] » GO AHEAD. COME FORWARD.
[31:23] » HELLO, I'm Violet Vanderver. I rent a
house on um Division Road in Paskki.
[31:28] I've been here for 6 years. I didn't
prepare anything, but I wanted to make
[31:33] uh my position known. I don't support
any data centers in the area. Um, we
[31:38] have
herand that visit our backyard on
[31:42] Division Road. We have a bobcat. We
have, um, malards. We have all sorts of
[31:47] beautiful wildlife. I think data centers
would really, really suck. Um, and, uh,
[31:53] I think you're going to see a lot of
brain drain if you pass anything um,
[31:57] related to data centers here. Um, and I
think you're going to see people
[32:01] leaving. I think you'll see quality of
life really affected deeply. um all
[32:05] sorts of wildlife affected in very
negative ways. Um and it sounds like a
[32:10] nightmare. So that's my opinion. THANKS.
[applause]
[32:27] » Good evening. Thank you for listening to
the public. Um I'm John Pickering. I've
[32:32] lived uh here south of Paskki on Indian
Garden Road for 31 years. Uh before that
[32:38] I lived in Charavoy for about seven. Um
I moved to this area because I'm an
[32:45] environmentalist and this is an
incredibly beautiful place. I, as an
[32:52] environmentalist, I
think that wind power is a good thing,
[32:58] but we I heard a long time ago that we
had a restriction of 35 dB over property
[33:03] lines and that was a kind of a backdoor
way that no windmills were able to be
[33:10] put up in Emma County. Um, I recently
drove over to Wisconsin to see my aunt
[33:17] and uncle and along Highway 43, they're
building a data center and it is
[33:22] horrendous. It's about a half a mile
long and everything for a mile on each
[33:28] side of it is totally destroyed. I there
is no respect for the environment. Um,
[33:36] aside from all the other facts that you
know about them, I
[33:42] just want to say that that
does not fit what I see as our strength
[33:50] in this community. And
I don't care what you have to do, don't
[33:58] let it happen.
>> Yeah.
[33:59] » Thank you. [applause]
[34:06] » [applause]
>> YES, MA'AM.
[34:11] » GOODBYE.
[34:17] » HI, EVERYBODY. Thank you for all the
hard work that you do. My name is Denise
[34:21] Cruz. I've been in Paskki for four
years. I love it up here. It's heaven.
[34:28] Okay. I just have a big question.
>> Why is our love of money greater than
[34:35] our love of our world and environment?
[applause] Please. NO.
[34:46] » Thank you. Anyone else? Anything new on
the data centers we haven't heard?
[34:51] 30 seconds.
>> Somebody there.
[34:57] Well, when I became supervisor, I
mentioned that I was earlier.
[35:01] I was set off to for training to learn
about how my job was to focus on the
[35:09] protection of private property rights.
[35:13] And I hoped, you know, that after that
that at some point along the line, I
[35:19] would be trained in uh how to protect
what I like to call public planetary
[35:23] rights, fresh water, clean air, the
right to not have uh uh landfills um uh
[35:32] being filled up by data center rejects
after three years. They're going to last
[35:38] about 3 to 5 years. They're going to
have to be put in a dump. So, I
[35:43] recommend that you guys,
they're all guys.
[35:48] » Yeah, they are.
>> Reconsider this. Take this resolution
[35:55] back back to your homes, back to your
meetings, and consider the whole planet
[36:03] and the public
rights that we have for these
[36:08] commodities like fresh air and fresh
water like this woman just spoke to. So
[36:13] that's my request.
Thank you.
[36:17] [applause]
ANYONE
[36:23] ELSE?
[36:26] Seeing no one, we'll close public
hearing or public comment depend on
[36:30] public hearing [laughter] and go to our
first appearance which is the community
[36:34] resource recovery alliance.
[36:51] » [laughter]
[36:53] » Sorry.
[37:06] Come on.
[37:18] We had it a second ago. Just kidding.
[37:29] [snorts]
[37:31] » There you go.
[37:35] [laughter]
>> I was like,
[37:37] » can you space through it?
>> Yeah, I think I can do something here.
[37:39] I'm gonna My screen is upside down for
whatever [laughter] reason. There we go.
[37:43] All right.
>> Good evening, commissioners. My name is
[37:48] Caitlyn Kuski and I am the executive
director of Community Recovery Alliance.
[37:52] And we're going to totally change gears
for a second and I just wanted to update
[37:55] the commission on kind of who we are and
what we're doing. Um, we are a recovery
[38:00] community organization in Pitaski. Um,
we've been around since late 2018, early
[38:06] 2019. Um, and our mission is to serve
anyone seeking recovery from substance
[38:10] use concerns with or without mental
health complications by creating safe
[38:14] and healthy recovery friendly
communities in lower northern Michigan.
[38:18] And um, we are actually one of the
opioid settlement recipients as well
[38:24] with you guys. So um, and we've been
able to we've really had to change gears
[38:28] a little bit this year. So we wanted to
take an opportunity um, to to tell the
[38:32] commissioners and the public about what
we're kind of doing. Um, but we are
[38:36] what's called a recovery community
organization or an RCO. And that just
[38:40] means that we are grassroots. We're led
by people in recovery. So, our board of
[38:45] directors are people in recovery as
well. Um, and we work in the education,
[38:52] outreach, and advocacy. We are not
treatment and we're not prevention. Um,
[38:56] and we really are one of the driving
forces behind multiple pathways of
[39:00] recovery. Most people know about AA and
NA, which are 12step traditions. We also
[39:05] talk about other traditions um and other
pathways to recovery such as smart
[39:10] recovery or dharma recovery because just
like we don't all we don't have just
[39:13] McDonald's to go eat at. We have lots of
different fast food restaurants. There's
[39:17] lots of different ways to find and
sustain recovery. And um we've
[39:21] traditionally been located in downtown
Pitaski, but we were in one of the
[39:25] buildings that was condemned. Um it was
closed by the city. I'm sorry. I should
[39:29] say it was closed because of uh it was
deemed unsafe for occupancy and um in
[39:35] downtown Pitaski even though we are not
treatment we don't serve people who are
[39:39] in active use we are helping people
sustain their recovery there is still a
[39:43] lot of stigma in our community about
those we serve and we were continually
[39:47] continually told we were not allowed to
rent from different vendor uh different
[39:51] landlords in town um which is why we
ended up in the building we did um and
[39:56] it lasted a year and a half so in the
last four years we've had to move three
[40:00] times. Um, but because of all this, if
you know the recovery community, we are
[40:04] nothing if not perseverant. So, um, we
persevered and we actually were able to
[40:09] purchase our own location this year. So,
we have a permanent home. We're not
[40:13] going anywhere. Um, and it's still under
construction. Um, but we will be
[40:18] opening. So, this is our building
without any of our signage on it yet. I
[40:22] was hoping I would have more signs, but
you know, construction takes a while. So
[40:26] um we are open during construction and
we are still serving people in recovery.
[40:31] We hope that the community center space
will be open by octo by mid-occtober of
[40:36] this year. Um and then we will continue
to like go on into the next phase of
[40:40] construction and doing our
administrative wing. Um our what our
[40:45] hours are changing um as we start to be
open more. Um but you can find all that
[40:50] on our website and on our social media
pages. um kind of what we do at at CRA
[40:57] um we offer peer recovery coaching which
is um non treatment non-clinical
[41:02] services um you can do it in person or
by zoom and um and there's no and all of
[41:09] our services are offered at no cost. So
oftent times our population um fall
[41:14] through the cracks of insurance. You
know they might not qualify for private
[41:17] insurance but they make too much to
qualify for Medicaid. And so all of our
[41:21] services are offered at no cost. There's
no um you don't have to come in and do a
[41:26] medical intake with us. You just come in
and say we say, "How's it going today?"
[41:29] And you tell us what's going on and we
can talk about whatever barriers are
[41:32] you're facing in your recovery right
now. We offer multiple pathway meetings.
[41:36] We offer community space that's open for
other recovery groups to use as well. Um
[41:41] we are also one of the training sites in
Northern Michigan for the recovery
[41:44] friendly workplace initiative. So any
business owners who um have ever hired
[41:49] somebody in recovery, which if you hire
more than one person, you are going to
[41:52] hire somebody in recovery at some point.
So we're training businesses on how to
[41:56] support people in recovery on your team.
And it really is more about being
[42:00] employee friendly than just recovery
friendly. We just like to frame it in
[42:03] the in the terms of recovery friendly.
So we're talking about how we can
[42:07] support employees and help people stay
in their jobs um and and grow in their
[42:12] positions as well. Um, and then we do a
lot of fun and sober events. We're a
[42:18] rural community. A lot of people, what
do you do on a Friday night? You go to
[42:22] the bar. Um, if you're in recovery, you
might not want to go to the bar. So, we
[42:26] are really focusing on building a space,
a community space that will be
[42:30] substancefree that people can come to
and build that community and find
[42:34] like-minded individuals and just hang
out. So, um, it will be a great space
[42:40] when we finally get it up and running.
Um, I already mentioned the recovery
[42:44] friendly workplace initiative. It's no
cost to the employers. They get state
[42:48] level recognition. Um, it's just a
really great program um to help
[42:54] employers and the employees as well. We
always know businesses that are looking
[42:58] for new employees and we have a whole
pool of people in recovery who have just
[43:03] completed treatment, maybe they're
getting out of jail or incarceration and
[43:06] are looking for work. So, we help
connect those dots between we have
[43:10] employees who need jobs and we have
employers who need employees. So, let's
[43:13] connect those and get them together. Um,
one of the big events this year is we're
[43:18] doing a stigma reduction event called
Beyond Labels. It will be Saturday,
[43:22] August 29th, and we wanted to extend an
invitation to everyone. We will have a
[43:27] panel of speakers which include Brandon
HooL coming up from MDHHS to speak about
[43:31] harm reduction and the stigma around
that. Um and then we also have three
[43:36] local um business and community leaders
that will be talking um on different
[43:42] aspects of um stigma around recovery. So
Laura is from Kilwins. She's the HR
[43:48] director with Kilwin. She will be
presenting um uh Mr. Shuda never say his
[43:53] last name right the will be speaking as
well um from the legal side of things
[43:58] and then uh Kelly will be speaking from
the treatment and and uh services side
[44:02] of things. So, I know that there's a
whole lot of things going on tonight, so
[44:06] I wanted to keep it really short and
sweet, but we wanted to thank the county
[44:10] commissioners for your support through
opioid settlement dollars. And we look
[44:13] forward to being able to continue to use
those opioid settlement dollars to
[44:17] increase our uh new space and we hope
that everyone comes and visit us visits
[44:22] when we get it open. We will have lots
of free good coffee. So, please come and
[44:26] see us.
>> [laughter and clears throat]
[44:27] » Uh, Caitlyn, could you talk a little bit
more about your new space and and how
[44:31] that is go, how that remodeling process
is going? I stopped by there a couple
[44:35] weeks ago.
>> Yeah, it's great. So, we are actually we
[44:37] were fortunate enough to find a space.
We did have to leave downtown. Um, most
[44:41] of our people don't have transportation,
so we were really worried about where we
[44:45] could go, where our people would still
be able to walk or bike to get to us.
[44:50] Um, and we are now located up um on East
Mitchell, right across from the new
[44:54] Salvation Army building, which has been
it's great. It's becoming this like
[44:58] human services hub corner up there. Like
there's so many nonprofits right in that
[45:03] area. So, we'll be able to cross refer
to each other all the time. Um, we have
[45:08] um just shy of 4,000 square ft and um
the it's been a very long and slow
[45:13] process, but it's coming along. In the
next couple of weeks, they'll be
[45:17] finishing up the community center space.
So, we will have a a big room that can
[45:22] divide down the middle so we can have
recovery meetings on one side and the
[45:25] community space going on the other side.
Um, and then we'll have administrative
[45:29] offices and trauma in trauma-informed
coaching offices in the back half of the
[45:34] building as well. And that's we're
trying to operate in the space. We were
[45:38] um kind of transient for a few months as
we had to kind of move our offices while
[45:43] we were waiting to find a new space. Um,
so we just were really anxious to get
[45:47] started. So we're operating while
construction is happening. You know,
[45:50] we're on a call. Sorry about the
construction noise in the background,
[45:53] but everybody gets it. So, um, yeah,
it's going to be a beautiful space. Um,
[45:57] we're located kind of right next to
where the old Harbor Hall building used
[46:00] to be. Um, and it'll be open to the
public very soon.
[46:03] » How's your funding process for that?
>> Yes. So, most of our funding, we were
[46:07] very fortunate that we received funding
from the Michigan Department of Health
[46:11] and Human Services this year. um from
they were able to issue a lot of a chunk
[46:17] of funding for organizations like us
from the recovery um from the health and
[46:22] from the healing and recovery funding
which is the state's level of opioid
[46:27] settlement dollars. So that fund they
were able to give us funding. So that
[46:31] helped fund the first phase of
construction. We are now looking for
[46:35] funding to support the second phase of
construction and building that up as we
[46:40] go. So we have some state funding for
that. Um, if you're familiar with
[46:43] grants, grants don't always like to
support capital expenses, and after
[46:47] going through this, I understand why,
but um, it's a harder one. You know,
[46:51] programming is pretty easy to find
funding and grants for, but the
[46:54] construction process is a lot harder to
find funding for. So, we are seeking
[46:58] funding and we have a campaign out
called building roots of recovery where
[47:02] we're trying to get the community buyin
into our space and get some community
[47:05] support and donations for that as well.
[47:11] We'll be at funding. Applications will
be out probably late September, so we'll
[47:16] be able to look forward to that.
>> Perfect.
[47:18] » Any questions for Caitlyn?
>> Thank you.
[47:22] » Thank you so much. And thank you for
allowing me to switch gears here a
[47:24] little bit. [applause]
[47:29] » Now, move on to the administrator
report.
[47:31] » Yeah, my applause. [laughter]
>> My report tonight will be brief. Um, I
[47:35] gave you the uh staffing report. You'll
see um up front we have three positions.
[47:40] Open EMS as a paramedic uh corrections
officer and a data data specialist for
[47:45] our GIS department. Um you can see the
hires. We uh we've been hiring people
[47:50] and uh that's good. We're getting people
applying for our jobs. Construction
[47:54] resources uh department uh that oversees
our building electrical mechanical and
[47:59] plumbing inspections. was see July was
down a bit from permits over last year,
[48:05] but overall this year we're about a 1%
increase. So, we continue to build in
[48:09] the community and and continue to uh get
permits. So, that's good to see. FEMA
[48:14] offices are uh open to the end of this
month. If you had any um issues with the
[48:20] flooding, we please ask you to go to the
Lancen Fire Department Monday through
[48:24] Saturday, 10 to 6. Uh there are staff
there to help you with uh any recovery
[48:29] you might have from flooding that
happened earlier this spring.
[48:34] Locks are open. Uh water levels are are
finally to normal levels. It's only
[48:39] taken us till July 20th to get to that
point,
[48:42] » but uh that is good news that uh the
water levels are are finally down. Big
[48:47] uh week next week. It's the EMTT County
Fair. Um, we've got a lot of events
[48:51] going on and uh, if you drive by there
right now, you'll see the setup going on
[48:56] right now. Um, Tuesday night and Tuesday
is really the opening day. Carnival
[49:01] rides open up at 4:00. We've got a
cornhole tournament Tuesday night.
[49:05] Travis Trip concert on Wednesday night.
I think we have about 1,600 tickets sold
[49:10] for that. We have the rodeo on Thursday
night. We have almost 1,800 tickets sold
[49:16] for that. So, the grand stands will be
full. That's a new event this year. Uh
[49:20] monster trucks are back on Friday night.
Autocross and all the activities of 4
[49:25] will be going on. I did include in there
a schedule of all the events. So if
[49:29] you're interested in what's going on the
fair, um you can look at our website and
[49:34] there's a whole list of activities that
4 has all the animals and everything
[49:38] that goes on. If you have not been to
the fair, we please encourage you to go
[49:41] out there and enjoy your time at the
fair. That is my report.
[49:44] » Thank you. Any questions for Mr.
[49:49] Mrs. Gibson, the financial report.
>> All right. Well, this report shows now
[49:54] we're halfway through 2026 already. It's
hard to believe. Um, we're currently at
[50:01] 11% of our revenues, which is to be
expected because we don't start
[50:05] receiving tax dollars until July,
August. So, we'll start seeing that
[50:11] climb. Um, our expenditures are at 34%.
And we have a lot of capital um,
[50:21] projects that have been going on. Just
for the month of June, we spent $1.3
[50:27] million on capital projects. So, uh, our
facilities and assets, um, Dave Analik
[50:35] has been very busy.
So with all these projects and
[50:41] other than that we are doing really well
for this time of year and I have nothing
[50:46] else for my report. Any questions?
>> Questions for Mrs. Gibson?
[50:54] » Thank you.
Our next item on the agenda since we
[50:58] have no unfinished business are are the
claims for committee and travel
[51:02] vouchers.
Would
[51:09] you like a motion, please?
>> I move to or maybe start over. I move
[51:14] for the payment of the claims in the
amount of 4,225,
[51:19] $965.90
and for the payment of a committee and
[51:24] travel vouchers in the amount of
6678.72.
[51:30] » Second. We have a motion and support.
Any discussion?
[51:34] » [clears throat]
>> Hearing no discussion. Roll call,
[51:37] please.
>> Commissioner Coats,
[51:38] » yes.
>> Commissioner White,
[51:40] » yes.
>> Commissioner Katowski,
[51:41] » yes.
>> Commissioner Gup,
[51:43] » yes.
>> Commissioner Mates,
[51:44] » yes.
>> Mr. Gooding,
[51:45] » yes.
>> Mr. L,
[51:47] » yes.
>> Motion carries. We're now into new
[51:50] business.
As I did at the earlier part, I amended
[51:54] the agenda.
And so, our first item will be the data
[51:59] center deferral resolution. Mr. Ber, are
you starting yourself on this?
[52:04] » Timmy, do you want to Timmy Dornberg is
our planning administrator and we will
[52:10] jump in and uh attorney Steve Jobic will
help us out too.
[52:14] » Tammy,
>> thank you chairman and board. Um over
[52:18] the last several months, nine months was
mentioned um our department has been
[52:23] reviewing with the planning commission
uh zoning ordinance text amendment which
[52:26] is for um commercial storage operations.
And during that time, we had had um
[52:33] several people come in and talk to the
planning commission about data centers
[52:36] and the desire to um prohibit data data
centers in our county or severely limit
[52:42] them and where they could go. So um over
the course of that time, we we at the
[52:47] planning commission level have reviewed
some documents that were prepared by our
[52:51] legal by our um legal council and we
plan to go into close session to talk
[52:57] about that in September. We've also
reviewed information prepared by our
[53:02] planning and zoning consultant um with
regard to possible standards to enter
[53:06] into our zoning ordinance. At our last
meeting in um in August, uh the planning
[53:13] commission made a um motion to recommend
that this county board of commissioners
[53:19] consider a resolution deferring reviews
and decisions regarding uh data centers
[53:23] to allow time for the planning
commission to review our zoning
[53:27] ordinance and make recommendations to
this board. Um that was passed
[53:32] unanimously 7 to zero by the members
that were present at that meeting. I did
[53:36] want to mention that I received several
calls today and I told these people that
[53:39] I would pass along um they're opposed to
data sensors in EMT County. That would
[53:43] be Susan Schulty, Julia Fogerty, Ran
Markwart from Alansen who um supports
[53:49] the moratorum so-called um John Eli from
Paskki who is against data centers and
[53:55] Chris Elki as well. So, um the
recommendation from the planning
[54:00] commission is to um pass a resolution
deferring any decisions or reviews of
[54:05] data centers for a period of time while
we can review our our zoning ordinance
[54:09] and and determine options for regulation
or not um within the zoning ordinance.
[54:15] » Questions for Mr. Dorber?
So uh I guess Tammy my understanding of
[54:21] this uh resolution is that uh we don't
have any applications for data centers
[54:27] now but we want to be prepared for when
we do. Is that what I understand
[54:31] [laughter]
how I read it and understand it?
[54:33] » Yes.
>> And uh
[54:36] I also understand that the planning
commission needs this time. So we're
[54:40] going to pause any applications or
reviewing applications until we can come
[54:44] up with some sort of ordinances in
effect. Is that am I understanding that
[54:48] correctly?
>> That is correct. Yes.
[54:50] » Okay. Thank you. Yes,
>> I can. Mr. Chair, just just very briefly
[54:55] my mic on
>> red light.
[54:58] » Yes. Okay. Um if the decision is
definitely deferred, no decisions can be
[55:05] made regarding data centers if you adopt
this this resolution.
[55:10] » Um go ahead.
>> That should deter anybody applying
[55:14] because why would you apply if you're
not going to get a decision? But um you
[55:18] know it it if a party does want to apply
and run the risk that they're they know
[55:25] they're not going to get a decision on
it, they can submit an application. Uh
[55:30] the question then becomes what are they
going to submit for? Because part of the
[55:34] discussion is the ordinance doesn't, you
know, has issues with it in terms of
[55:39] does it really apply to data centers? do
we as a county have regulations in place
[55:44] that will apply to them? Um, so I would
think any potential property owner uh
[55:51] wanting to submit an application would
have that same question and it would be
[55:54] in their interest to wait until they see
what the regulations uh or where the
[55:59] county is going to come down on this. Um
so to the point about being prepared,
[56:04] yes, need to get ourselves prepared if
um you know, if the industry does choose
[56:10] to come to Emtt County to we're trying
the idea is to get ahead of it and and
[56:15] get yourself prepared. Get your
regulations in place uh and not take any
[56:21] action on anybody's requests if they do
come along and request it. It says
[56:26] you're not going to take any actions. Um
and uh uh I I'll leave it at that for
[56:32] now because I just wanted to make that
clear in terms of that possibility I
[56:37] suppose.
>> So this really is a proactive stance
[56:40] that the uh that the planning commission
is taking in anticipation of the of the
[56:46] possibility of applications and the
figure taking the time to figure out the
[56:51] best way to deal with that and to uh
>> that's correct
[56:56] » see where we go with that. Okay. Yeah.
And and if I may really quickly follow
[56:59] up and I Yeah. Just to kind of
>> um maybe help explain this a little bit
[57:05] further. The the resolution uses the
term defer uh on purpose um because it's
[57:11] a procedural thing. A lot of uh people
around the state you other communities
[57:16] have used the term moratorum. I'm not
sure what they're doing in terms of
[57:19] their what they're adopting. Um this is
not called a moratorum. This is a
[57:27] deferral of action. Uh I'd liken it to a
procedural action that you sometimes do
[57:32] which is you defer decisions sometimes
for a month, sometimes for two or three
[57:37] months to get more information. That is
kind that is basically what this is.
[57:42] You're deferring it to a point in the
future. It's temporary in nature to
[57:47] allow you to get the information uh and
in this case possible legislation to be
[57:53] prepared to address the issue. So I just
wanted to put context
[57:57] » that whole process will go through the
planning commission and come back
[58:01] » with the public hearing too.
>> Yeah. Okay.
[58:03] » Any other comments?
>> Tammy, is March 1st enough?
[58:08] » Time will tell. It took a long time to
get where we are with um commercial
[58:12] storage operations and we will be asking
for additional time this evening, but um
[58:18] that was the recommendation of legal
counsel.
[58:22] » You don't feel we could extend it
further out? Yeah. What what I would
[58:26] recommend and and there is some case law
in Michigan on um well the case law
[58:32] talks a lot about moratoriums. This is a
I think it's a little different.
[58:36] Regardless, the case law talks about uh
as quickly as possible and as you you
[58:42] can't delay action on the legislation
because you're dealing with private
[58:46] property rights, right? And and that's
significant in America. That's
[58:50] important. uh you're the government and
you're affecting private property rights
[58:54] by doing this. So what the case law says
is you have to move fast as fast as you
[58:59] can under the circumstances. This is a
big project. It's a big undertaking. I
[59:04] agree. [clears throat] Um I recommend
starting with 6 months, working as fast
[59:10] as you can, getting as far as you can.
And if you can't get there, extend it
[59:15] for another three or maybe even a
six-month period, depending on where
[59:18] you're at at that point. take the
temperature again. Uh we really uh try
[59:23] to keep it within a year as best we can.
I I recommend starting with a year um
[59:29] just to keep keep the pressure on, keep
it moving. So if there is a court review
[59:33] of this for some reason, and I hope
there's not, and I don't expect one, but
[59:36] if there is, we want to be able to
>> to show the court we are moving fast, as
[59:40] fast as we can.
>> And Mr. Chair, if I might, we have been
[59:43] providing information to the planning
commission over the past several months
[59:46] so that they are equipped with some
background and um we will be talking
[59:52] with legal counsel uh on certain um
specific as aspects that were brought up
[59:57] during the public meetings that we've
held.
[1:00:00] » All right.
Any questions? If not, what's the
[1:00:04] commission's?
>> Mr. Chair, I'm prepared to make a
[1:00:09] motion.
>> Go ahead.
[1:00:11] I move that the Emtt County Board of
Commissioners adopt the resolution
[1:00:14] temporarily deferring and postponing
decisions regarding the data center
[1:00:18] usage until March 2027 as presented.
>> Second motion to second. Any discussion
[1:00:24] on the motion?
>> So I just Yeah, Chair. So I've had uh
[1:00:29] overwhelming uh contact with
constituents this week, emails and phone
[1:00:34] calls and whatnot. uh people in
opposition to data centers in EMTT
[1:00:39] County. Uh I haven't heard one person
that's contacted me that said, "I want a
[1:00:45] data center." And uh usually when we
have something that's
[1:00:51] brings a lot of public interest to this
board, I hear people that have one idea
[1:00:55] and another idea. And so I see this
motion as the best way. I'm also share
[1:01:02] the sentiment of all the people that
called me this week and I see this
[1:01:06] motion as the best way to prepare for uh
what could come to Emtt County and
[1:01:11] that's why I support it uh as a
potential um
[1:01:18] if these things are coming to the to
Michigan I think we need to be prepared
[1:01:22] to to uh deal with it.
>> I agree. I have another thought. I
[1:01:28] piggyback on what Matt is saying is that
I haven't had anybody contact me and
[1:01:35] say, "Yeah, let's do this." Okay. I've
had I've had everybody contact me and
[1:01:40] say, "No." With an exception, we some of
them are saying, "We need more time to
[1:01:46] decide and make sure you take time to
get it right. This is something we don't
[1:01:51] want to regret um a decision making."
Tammy has done a good job in zoning as
[1:01:58] keeping us updated the best she can.
She's very busy. Um, and
[1:02:04] the planning commission is asking for
time to to make sure we get it right.
[1:02:07] There's things that we won't be able to
do if we wait until the application is
[1:02:13] filed. So,
>> just to clarify, Brett, when you said uh
[1:02:16] you hadn't had anybody that contact you
and said, "Let's do this." Meaning you
[1:02:20] hadn't had anybody contact you that
said, "Let's build a data center." Is
[1:02:22] that kind of Yeah. Okay. Right. All
right. I would,
[1:02:24] » you know, we got people out there are
saying they're calling me saying, "Hey,
[1:02:28] we don't know if I they believe
everything they're hearing. They want us
[1:02:32] to investigate it and make an educated
decision." Um, uh, but overwhelmingly,
[1:02:39] as I think the rest of you, um, has been
anti-data center.
[1:02:45] » Thank you.
>> I'm on comments. I'm on the Northern
[1:02:50] Michigan Counties Association meeting
and this this was a big topic u at our
[1:02:56] last meeting. So,
>> a lot of the northern counties are are
[1:02:59] dealing with it.
>> I just um more for the public because I
[1:03:03] think you all know understand and
realize this, but um this would impact
[1:03:07] only those townships that have county
zoning. So, there's four townships that
[1:03:11] have their own zoning. Resort, West
Travers, Little Travers, and Pleasant
[1:03:14] View. And then the cities of Paskki and
Harbor Springs and the villages of
[1:03:17] Pelston, Alansen, and Meno City also
have their own zoning. So this would
[1:03:22] only apply to those townships that have
county zoning.
[1:03:24] » So those townships and cities would have
to pass their own clause.
[1:03:28] » That's correct. They operate under their
own zoning ordinances.
[1:03:32] Steve,
>> just um thought it might be helpful to
[1:03:36] also mention here um in this forum that
um
[1:03:41] your power to zone comes from the state
of Michigan, right? The state through
[1:03:46] legislation grants you the authority to
zone. That also comes from the federal
[1:03:50] government zoning or actually at the
100redy year anniversary of a US court
[1:03:54] of court uh supreme court decision that
said zoning as long you can zone you can
[1:04:00] regulate private property with zoning
ordinances. So 2026 is actually 100
[1:04:06] years 150 years before that
um there were a lot of arguments saying
[1:04:12] you can't regulate people's right to use
property. So, we're 100 years in and it
[1:04:17] comes from the state and it also comes
from the federal government. I give that
[1:04:20] backdrop because right now I do know
that there is some legislation in the
[1:04:25] state of Michigan and Lancing that is
looking at adopting some state
[1:04:29] legislation addressing data centers.
I've also heard I have not seen but I
[1:04:34] heard there's um proposals for some
federal legislation as well. Um, so your
[1:04:40] your legislators at at the county level,
but there is there your legislators in
[1:04:45] Lancing and and in DC are uh uh uh
considering legislation that
[1:04:52] is intended to help uh support and and
regulate at that um I'll just say higher
[1:04:59] level, okay? Because they do authorize
you to to zone. are looking to establish
[1:05:06] state and perhaps federal laws that are
going to support regulations at the
[1:05:11] local level that address a lot of the
issues being discussed, uh, energy, uh,
[1:05:17] water, uh, noise and so forth, they're
looking at that. So, um, you know, to
[1:05:23] the extent there's any communications
with your legislators, that's something
[1:05:27] that you can communicate to them as
well. And, and of course, the
[1:05:29] constituents can as well. So, want to
mention that. So then it's necessarily
[1:05:33] not true that the state could overrule
any decision that we would possibly make
[1:05:38] concerning data centers because we're
allowed to legislate our own zoning as
[1:05:44] of now. Correct.
>> Well, not tonight, but
[1:05:48] » no, I know I' I've heard rumors probably
these are around the country, not
[1:05:51] necessarily to missing it, but I thought
one was basically where the state
[1:05:54] overruled a local. But that could happen
of course that where they give where
[1:06:00] they give authority to you they can also
take away authority or preempt authority
[1:06:05] and we've seen that there's a lot of
preeemption talk in lancing and whatnot
[1:06:09] uh preempting local zoning to some
extent and it has happened in some areas
[1:06:15] um and uh so that is yes that is
possible. I haven't honestly haven't
[1:06:19] heard about that. I've heard the other
direction where it's legislation to to
[1:06:23] more positively impact and support. I
hope that's the way it goes and we get
[1:06:27] there before that I think could happen.
Yeah.
[1:06:31] » State law would not necessarily
supersede whatever we decide to do or
[1:06:36] » not I'm sorry if I can not necessarily
but it could it could.
[1:06:41] » Yeah, I would expect it would I guess. I
don't know
[1:06:44] » what I what I understand at the state
level is it's not intending to supersede
[1:06:48] but support.
>> Okay. and ena and further enable provide
[1:06:53] some some uh strength at the state level
addressing you know requiring issues
[1:06:58] like water and energy especially to be
addressed properly. So uh you know
[1:07:04] environmental concerns and things of
that nature and and also specifically
[1:07:09] not preempting.
So, but it could happen that they could
[1:07:12] go a different route and end up taking
total control over it and preempting the
[1:07:16] local regulation. And if you had
ordinances in place at that point, they
[1:07:20] would be superseded if they contradicted
with the state law. We just don't know
[1:07:23] what's going to happen.
>> Yeah.
[1:07:25] » But a lot has to do as everybody knows
with communication with legislators and
[1:07:29] whatnot.
>> All right. So, yeah. So, my thought is
[1:07:33] I'm all these people came here to talk
to us tonight, but it doesn't sound
[1:07:37] like, you know, we can make
[clears throat]
[1:07:39] uh I support the resolution. We'll be
voting on that here in a second, but
[1:07:44] then there's several several other
governmental ent entities within our
[1:07:47] county that this won't be affected by.
So, all of you need to realize that
[1:07:54] that the decision we make here tonight
doesn't cover the whole county. So,
[1:08:01] It gives a good framework for the other
areas. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm sure they'll
[1:08:05] probably follow us or what we did
tonight.
[1:08:09] » Any other questions or comments?
>> Roll call.
[1:08:14] » Commissioner Laugh.
>> Yes.
[1:08:16] » Commissioner Goody.
>> Yes.
[1:08:17] » Commissioner Mes.
>> Yes.
[1:08:18] » Commissioner Ginup.
>> Yes. Yes. [clears throat]
[1:08:21] » Commissioner Gatowski.
>> Yes.
[1:08:22] » Commissioner White.
>> Yes.
[1:08:24] » Commissioner Coats.
>> Yes.
[1:08:27] » We have put a temporary
deferring till March 1st, 2027.
[1:08:35] [applause]
[1:08:42] Moving on, our second item of the agenda
is an ENF EMS ambulance purchase for
[1:08:49] 2027.
>> Yes. before you tonight. Uh the EMS has
[1:08:53] gone out for an RFP looking request for
proposal looking for a new ambulance um
[1:08:58] replacing [clears throat] an existing
one that is going to be coming out of
[1:09:01] service. It's already had a remount and
it is done with its life. Uh proposals
[1:09:06] uh were out and um McQueen Emergency
submitted the lowest uh price proposal
[1:09:13] that was awarded. Their cost came in at
$319,881
[1:09:19] for the for the uh truck that is similar
to the fleet that we currently have. Um
[1:09:25] this is in our 5-year capital plan as
you see that this is going to be in
[1:09:28] budget 2027. The year I think we're
looking at the year build time. Is that
[1:09:33] right? Brian Patton, our EMS director is
here tonight.
[1:09:37] » Yeah. We're not expecting this to come
in until um late spring, early summer of
[1:09:41] next year. um which is actually a little
bit more ahead of what newer uh in the
[1:09:44] pipeline now. If we were to place a
brand new order now without going
[1:09:47] through a process of reaching out with
RFP, we'd be looking at three years. Um
[1:09:50] so this is um thankfully with
administration, everybody, we have a
[1:09:54] pretty good 5-year plan of how to keep
our fleet running and reliable. And this
[1:09:57] kind of falls within that as far as our
adapting to make sure that happens.
[1:10:01] » And you see exactly what he says. We're
p purchasing these a year or two years
[1:10:05] in advance um and budgeting. The money
is there in our capital plan. Um, but
[1:10:09] that way we get it when he needs it.
>> Thank you. Any questions for Dave
[1:10:14] O'Brien? Not we. We have a motion.
Chair, I'd like to make the motion. I
[1:10:18] move to approve the purchase of one new
type 3 ambulance from McQueen Emergency
[1:10:22] in the amount of $319,881
[1:10:26] pending a suitable agreement as
determined by the county administrator
[1:10:29] and civil council and authorize the
county administrator to execute the
[1:10:33] agreement on behalf of the county.
>> Second.
[1:10:36] » Motion support. Is there any discussion
or questions regarding the motion or the
[1:10:41] purchase?
Hearing none. Roll call, please.
[1:10:44] » Commissioner Gup,
>> yes.
[1:10:46] » Commissioner Mes,
>> yes.
[1:10:47] » Mr. Gowski,
>> yes.
[1:10:49] » Mr. White,
>> yes.
[1:10:50] » Mr. Gooding,
>> yes.
[1:10:52] » Mr. Lone,
>> yes.
[1:10:53] » Mr. Coats,
>> yes.
[1:10:55] » Motion carries. Next item on the agenda
is the DPW resource recycling systems
[1:11:00] change order. Mr. B.
>> Yes. as part of a state regulation, they
[1:11:06] asked that we create a county material
management plan. It's something that's
[1:11:09] been in the work and uh two of the
members sit on the DPW board, so they
[1:11:14] can also talk about that. Um we've been
working on this plan um for quite some
[1:11:20] time. It's a very lengthy procedure to
go through. Um they are requesting that
[1:11:25] we do an extension until December. It's
up in excuse me until December. It's up
[1:11:30] in uh in September. We've already done
one adjustment to that and this is fully
[1:11:36] funded through um the Eagle Materials
grant that we get. We're looking at
[1:11:40] extension that would um increase the
total by $39,600
[1:11:46] and uh hopefully uh get this plan
completed. Uh it would address some of
[1:11:52] the county's ordinance language and
review that to make sure we're in
[1:11:55] compliance and help with any of the
revisions to the final plan that has to
[1:11:58] be submitted to the state.
This was approved by the department,
[1:12:04] excuse me, by the DPW board and looking
for approval tonight to do an extension.
[1:12:09] » Any questions for Dave before I ask for
the motion?
[1:12:13] » Hearing none, anyone wishing to make the
motion?
[1:12:15] » Mr. Chair, I move to approve change
order number two with resource recycling
[1:12:19] systems for continued materials
management plan support through December
[1:12:23] 31st, 2026 in the amount of $39,600
pending a suitable contract amendment as
[1:12:30] determined by civil council and county
administrator and authorize the county
[1:12:33] administrator to exit the amendment on
behalf of the county.
[1:12:36] » I'll second motion in support. Any
additional questions or questions on the
[1:12:42] motion?
>> Commissioner Coops. Yes,
[1:12:46] » Commissioner Lomb.
>> Yes,
[1:12:47] » Commissioner Gooding.
>> Yes,
[1:12:49] » Commissioner White.
>> Yes,
[1:12:50] » Commissioner Gowski.
>> Yes,
[1:12:52] » Commissioner Mates.
>> Yes,
[1:12:53] » Mr. Gil.
>> Yes.
[1:12:55] » Motion carries.
Our next item on the agenda is the
[1:12:59] Pelston Airport flat flat roof
restoration.
[1:13:03] » As you know, we've been spending a lot
of money at Pelson Airport uh
[1:13:06] remodeling. We did the shingle roofs and
what was left is a flat roof. Uh we did
[1:13:10] go out request for proposals about 6,500
square ft of flat roof that is leaking
[1:13:16] um and needs to be replaced. We received
three proposals. CNI Building
[1:13:21] Maintenance Inc. submitted the lowest
proposal at $141,440.
[1:13:27] Uh we have worked uh with CNI. Uh the uh
DPW, they've done three roofs from
[1:13:33] theirs. uh they've done good work and uh
we would like to move forward with the
[1:13:39] uh proposal before you tonight. They are
asking for a 10% contingency of $14,144
[1:13:47] in case any unforeseen damage comes up
uh putting the total price at $154,584
[1:13:55] not to exceed that dollar amount.
>> Questions?
[1:13:58] » This money is in our capital plan and uh
is in our budget.
[1:14:02] » Questions for Mr.
[1:14:05] is there a motion?
>> I can make that motion. Chair, I move to
[1:14:11] approve the Pelston Airport flat roof
restoration project with CNI Building
[1:14:15] Maintenance Incorporated for $141,440
plus a 10% contingency for a total not
[1:14:23] to exceed $155,000
or $155,584
[1:14:29] pending a suitable agreement as
determined by civil council and the
[1:14:32] county administrator and authorize the
county administrator to execute the
[1:14:37] agreement.
I'll second that.
[1:14:40] » Have a motion in support. Any just
further questions, discussion?
[1:14:45] » Roll call.
>> Commissioner Mes,
[1:14:47] » yes.
>> Commissioner Gowski,
[1:14:49] » yes.
>> Commissioner Coats,
[1:14:50] » yes.
>> Commissioner Lam,
[1:14:52] » yes.
>> Commissioner Gooding,
[1:14:53] » yes.
>> Commissioner Gup,
[1:14:55] » yes.
>> Commissioner White,
[1:14:56] » yes.
>> Motion carries. Next is the
[1:15:01] consideration of an agreement regarding
the purchase of property vacant 10.2 2
[1:15:05] acre portion of parcel 4410 3440002
in Pelston.
[1:15:11] » Yes, the um village of Palson is uh
desires to purchase 10.2 acres of
[1:15:17] property that we have in Palston. Um it
is part of a a 39 acre parcel that we
[1:15:24] have in town. Uh what the village is is
looking at doing is swapping this piece
[1:15:30] of property that the county owns with
the school system to uh build their
[1:15:35] water system um on site. So the school
is looking for another piece of
[1:15:39] property. They're going to the village
would take the 10 acres from the school.
[1:15:43] The school in turn needs 10 acres to for
a future building site. Um we've looked
[1:15:48] at this. Um the Pelson has received a
grant for $44 million to put in the
[1:15:53] water system to address the PAS in the
community. And this is a phase that
[1:15:58] needs to be completed so that they will
be able to uh start the work and have
[1:16:04] the property to put these wells on. They
have started they've done test wells
[1:16:09] there, but this finalizes the agreements
and then the village would own that
[1:16:12] property and the schools would own the
county's property.
[1:16:16] » Well, you guys are laughing at me.
Sorry. I was just I was feeling
[1:16:20] » temperature [laughter]
>> asking if it was just me.
[1:16:23] » Questions for Dave.
>> Did you have anything Steve you want to
[1:16:25] add on this?
>> No. No. I think you covered it. Mr.
[1:16:28] Boyer. So if there are any questions be
happy to answer it.
[1:16:32] » This is the same property that you
reviewed with us.
[1:16:34] » That's correct.
>> Yes.
[1:16:38] » Any other questions? If not, there's a
motion.
[1:16:44] » Mr. Chair, I move to determine that the
county sale or disposal of property
[1:16:49] policies do not apply to this proposed
sale of property and to approve and
[1:16:53] authorize the county administrator to on
behalf of EMTT County. One, enter into
[1:16:58] the real estate purchase agreement as
presented between EMTT County and the
[1:17:01] village of Pelston involving the sale of
the identified 10.2 2acre portion of
[1:17:06] parcel number 44-10-34-400-002
[1:17:14] to the village and second take uh such
actions as necessary to complete the due
[1:17:20] diligence contingencies under the set
agreement and three upon the
[1:17:24] satisfaction of such contingencies
attend and execute all necessary or
[1:17:29] required documents at the closing of the
transaction under the agreement and four
[1:17:33] otherwise take such actions as are
necessary to fulfill the county's
[1:17:38] obligations under set agreement for the
sale of the subject property.
[1:17:42] » A second.
>> We have a motion in support. Any
[1:17:45] discussion? [laughter]
>> Uh just that I'm really happy to see
[1:17:49] progress on the Pelston water system and
moving forward. Long waited for you.
[1:17:54] » Thank you Dave for working on that.
>> Any other questions, comments? Call.
[1:17:59] » Commissioner White.
>> Yes.
[1:18:01] » Commissioner Gup.
>> Yes.
[1:18:02] » Commissioner Goodning.
>> Yes.
[1:18:04] » Mr.
Yes.
[1:18:05] » Commissioner Coz.
>> Yes.
[1:18:06] » Commissioner Gowski.
>> Yes.
[1:18:08] » Commissioner Ms.
>> Yes.
[1:18:10] Motion carries. Our next item is
uh the Emtt County Planning Commission
[1:18:18] commercial storage text amendment.
[1:18:23] » Start.
>> Oh, I don't know if I don't know if I
[1:18:27] wanted to start out.
>> Can I have uh Tammy come up and give us
[1:18:31] an overview?
>> Give us an overview, please.
[1:18:36] Thank you, commissioners. Um, this is a
project that started in December last
[1:18:41] year when the planning commission was
approached by a citizen asking that we
[1:18:45] review the zoning ordinance regarding
definitions and land use regulations for
[1:18:50] commercial storage facilities. And so,
starting in January, the planning
[1:18:55] commission um, as directed by this board
um, has been reviewing the zoning
[1:19:00] ordinance. Um we've reviewed other
ordinances within the the state. We've
[1:19:04] reviewed um recommendations from our
planning consultant. Um the planning
[1:19:08] commission went through different
versions of proposed texts line by line
[1:19:13] um June, July and two meetings in
August. And at the special meeting held
[1:19:19] last Tuesday, the planning commission
recommended that um that this board
[1:19:26] first adopt a the resolution extend the
resolution by 30 days that deferred
[1:19:31] reviews and decisions regarding
commercial storage uses pending
[1:19:34] completion of the zoning ordinance
review and amendment. Um extending it to
[1:19:39] October 1st. Um that motion passed but
it was on a 4 to3 vote. Um they further
[1:19:46] suggested or or made a motion and um it
passed on a 4 to3 vote as well to move
[1:19:51] forward a text amendment to you um
regarding commercial storage operations
[1:19:56] and that was in your packet. Um
concern that I have is that legal
[1:20:01] counsel has not thoroughly reviewed what
has what has been proposed both at the
[1:20:07] August 6th meeting and and at the August
11th special meeting. Um so I would ask
[1:20:12] that you consider adopting extending the
resolution to allow time for legal
[1:20:18] counsel to review and then further um
legal counsel has recommended that the
[1:20:23] the deferral be longer than just to
October 1st to allow additional time in
[1:20:27] case this board decides they wanted to
send the text back to the planning
[1:20:31] commission for whatever reason or if
there are other other considerations
[1:20:34] that have to be made. Um so that those
are the two recommendations that came
[1:20:39] out of the planning commission um at
their special meeting on August 11th. In
[1:20:44] your packets there were were compilation
of all of the meeting minutes um
[1:20:49] starting with the August 6th and then
the August 11th um public hearings and
[1:20:54] then going back from December all the
way to the July meetings um this the
[1:20:59] public meetings that we held and the
public comments that were received um
[1:21:02] throughout that entire process. So that
is a 57page document that was included
[1:21:07] in your packet online. Hopefully you had
a time some time to look at that. Um
[1:21:11] something else that we did for the
planning commission as we were going
[1:21:14] through the review process was we
applied the proposed text to several
[1:21:18] different um existing facilities within
our county and some that are not in our
[1:21:23] county as well that were provided. We
had pictures provided by um citizens
[1:21:27] showing um operations in other areas.
And so we provided graphics and and
[1:21:33] examples and those are included as well
in the PowerPoint presentations that
[1:21:37] were included in the packets for you all
to consider. So for tonight um the
[1:21:41] request is for consideration of the
resolution that would extend the time
[1:21:47] frame to allow continued review of this
um by by legal counsel.
[1:21:51] » And I have a couple questions.
>> Yes, sir.
[1:21:55] » So couple things. If we approve the text
amendment tonight, could not the uh
[1:22:00] legal legal council review it after we
approve it tonight?
[1:22:04] » If you if we were to approve the
amendment amended text tonight,
[1:22:12] could the legal council review it after
we approve it?
[1:22:18] » I think I'd be happy to answer that.
Sure.
[1:22:21] » Certainly.
>> Well, certainly. Yes. We we could
[1:22:24] conduct that review, but you would have
adopted legislation and if any part of
[1:22:30] that zoning ordin the ordinance changes
uh need to be adjusted uh even a single
[1:22:36] word, it would have to start over all
over again. Uh definitely go back to the
[1:22:41] planning commission and go through a
public hearing process and so forth. Um,
[1:22:47] additionally,
you know, we we um,
[1:22:54] as as you heard during public comment,
there is there are some attorney letters
[1:23:00] that have been provided. Uh, I don't
know if they've
[1:23:03] » two letters came in today. There was one
that came in at 2 o'clock, four o'clock.
[1:23:07] I think all the commissioners got both
of them. Um, the clerk has them and
[1:23:10] we'll enter that in. There's a lot of
questions within both of those letters
[1:23:14] that uh need to be addressed and
reviewed. Um, and I think it's important
[1:23:19] that we look at this and have a re view
uh in place so we can go through this
[1:23:24] and look at it. There was changes made
up until the I think the August 14th
[1:23:28] date. There was
>> August 11th.
[1:23:30] » There's excuse me, August 11th. There
was I I don't know if you've had a
[1:23:35] chance to review everything. I know our
our legal department has not and and we
[1:23:39] would recommend giving time for that
review.
[1:23:43] » So the second question I had was at the
uh planning commission meeting special
[1:23:48] hearing
we put forth recommendations to come to
[1:23:53] the board two different things. One to
defer or ask for an extension and the
[1:23:59] other was to approve. Are we not going
to even discuss approving it tonight? Is
[1:24:03] that what I'm hearing?
[1:24:07] what we have in there uh what we have
before you tonight is a deferral so we
[1:24:12] can have a thorough review of what's
been proposed and then the two the the
[1:24:18] information that we received today.
>> So the answer is no. We're not going to
[1:24:24] do both those. We're just going to do
the
[1:24:25] » I can't say what motion that you could
make. The motion that is presented
[1:24:30] tonight is for a deferral. Okay,
that's all I have.
[1:24:37] » Any other questions
[clears throat] for Tammy or Steve?
[1:24:43] If not, there's a motion before us and
Mr. Goody just mentioned also. So, what
[1:24:48] is a motion someone would like to make?
>> Mr. Chair, I move to adopt the
[1:24:54] resolution extending deferral regarding
commercial storage uses as presented.
[1:25:00] I second that.
>> Motion to support discussion.
[1:25:06] » Uh yes, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
say a few things about this. I don't
[1:25:11] think this should be passed in its
current form as presented by the staff
[1:25:15] and um I'll give you a few examples.
EMTT County in my opinion is very
[1:25:21] difficult to do business right now and
and a lot of these rules and regulations
[1:25:26] that are proposed here would make it
much more difficult.
[1:25:30] And my first example here is indoor
lighting.
[1:25:35] This would regulate indoor lighting.
It would police indoor lighting. And I
[1:25:41] don't think we need to start doing that.
Lights have one main purpose and that's
[1:25:46] safety.
Article two limits loading docks to
[1:25:50] three per facility. I'm not in favor of
that.
[1:25:57] Subsection 26.3.8
[1:26:02] makes it
[1:26:05] illegal to have any storage on land
properties bordering lakes and rivers.
[1:26:14] I think that's unreasonable. I think
there should be a reasonable setback and
[1:26:17] I suggested 200 ft
of subsection 2630B.1
[1:26:25] C
says that storage building should be one
[1:26:29] story. I agree with that
but I think the height should be
[1:26:34] increased from 20 ft and proposed to 24
ft.
[1:26:40] The next section,
subsection 2630B.1
[1:26:46] D limits the total floor space to 10,000
ft. I I think that should be doubled to
[1:26:53] 20,000 square ft.
Subsection 2630.B.2.B
[1:27:02] has a setback of 300 ft
on long state highways.
[1:27:08] I think 150 ft plus the road railway is
more than adequate.
[1:27:14] The next section I want to refer to
2630.1
[1:27:19] screening
calls for continued screening for
[1:27:23] overhead doors over 80 square ft.
I think that would create a hardship on
[1:27:29] business and I don't make I don't want
to require all that screening.
[1:27:34] It seems to me the county is going in a
direction of creating huge walls to hide
[1:27:41] garage doors and buildings storage
building.
[1:27:45] The next subsection I disagree with is
26.30
[1:27:51] point G 2 point B wants people to uh
plant tall trees uh 12 feet high.
[1:27:59] uh big trees transplanted uh when
they're that big do not survive well.
[1:28:05] Uh point number nine I want to make is
forcing people to build solid walls to
[1:28:11] hide buildings. I'm not in favor of
that. Uh subsection 2630.D
[1:28:18] D uh talks about the fire code, which
I'm in favor of limiting the storage
[1:28:24] buildings to one story, but it talks
about a fire lane needed all the way
[1:28:29] around the building of 25 ft.
I think 20 ft is more of an adequate.
[1:28:36] The next point I disagree with in 26.42,
all storage buildings shall be fully
[1:28:42] obscured from view from public roads and
homes. I don't think that's reasonable.
[1:28:50] Um, point number 12 I want to make is
not allowing any sales or servicing out
[1:28:55] of storage buildings.
That would prohibit citizens from uh
[1:29:02] working on their projects, selling them
uh in the offseason like for example
[1:29:06] bolts and winterizing them. Uh point
number 13 I want to make is
[1:29:15] having property size of 10 acres or more
for storage buildings. I think four
[1:29:20] acres would be reasonable.
Uh setbacks.
[1:29:25] My next point is requiring a setback of
100 ft. I think 50 ft from existing off-
[1:29:32] premise dwellings is more than enough.
[1:29:39] And the last point I want to make is in
subsection 26.09.3.8.5
[1:29:48] uh limiting storage commercial buildings
maximum size uh acreage to u
[1:29:57] 20 acres. I I think 10 acres is more
than enough. I don't think they had the
[1:30:03] uh lot has to be 20 acres or more in
size. 10 acres should be enough. I think
[1:30:08] this uh storage thing needs more uh
review, more work done on it and I'm
[1:30:13] very much in favor of extending this out
a little ways so we can do that. Thank
[1:30:19] you.
>> Any other comments?
[1:30:22] » Yeah, I'd like to address some of those.
Um
[1:30:26] although I don't know what the use is to
address them tonight, but the lighting
[1:30:30] that he's speaking of as far as
regulating the inside, they're talking
[1:30:34] about how much is actually shining out
from those buildings. And where that
[1:30:39] came from was some of the examples that
uh the zoning department had showed
[1:30:45] showed us uh for some of their examples.
Uh the loading docks. Uh the reason that
[1:30:51] was limited to three, they're trying to
we're trying to uh differentiate
[1:30:56] um the possibility of a commercial
warehouse actually being used as a motor
[1:31:00] freight terminal, which I think you can
see that a mortar freight terminal
[1:31:05] terminal would bring in a lot more
intensity in traffic, truck traffic. Um
[1:31:10] so that's why we went to three and four
loading docks and truck wells would be
[1:31:15] actually more of the water freight
terminal. As I said many times in the
[1:31:19] planning commission, I think I'd rather
uh sleep next to a uh commercial
[1:31:23] warehouse as opposed to a a freight
terminal. Um he talked about the uh size
[1:31:30] of the uh building, 10,000 square ft.
That's a pretty good size uh warehouse
[1:31:34] for inside a commercial B2 district. uh
the 300 ft uh setback off of State
[1:31:41] Highway um that was designed, it wasn't
just pulled out of the air, that was
[1:31:46] designed so hopefully that B2 district
could also have a a business in front of
[1:31:51] it uh which would be a screening for for
that as opposed to a solid wall. So that
[1:31:58] would bring you could put a dentist
office or something on that. regarding
[1:32:02] that. Um when we talked about the uh the
height
[1:32:07] um the height the fire lanes that the
stories um fit went in fit right into
[1:32:15] the seven concerns that was brought
through on the public uh comments as far
[1:32:21] as public safety and welfare.
It was brought up to me last week, well,
[1:32:26] you can have a a much taller hotel. If
you listen to the fire chiefs, a hotel
[1:32:32] has known causes in it. Whereas a
twostory, threetory, or a very tall uh
[1:32:39] warehouse, you don't know what's stored
in that. You could have lithium
[1:32:44] batteries, you could have a very intense
fire, and the fire chiefs have come
[1:32:48] forward worried about their fire safety.
So, um, there was a lot of consideration
[1:32:54] put into this. Some of the, uh, comments
that I heard from tonight, it wasn't
[1:33:00] just one, uh, business owner that
brought these concerns. We had a whole
[1:33:07] group of people ask us to look at this.
Um, and so I I I really feel like some
[1:33:14] some of us were getting misled just a
little bit. We had a whole group of
[1:33:18] different business owners come forward
and talk about the uses of the B2 uh
[1:33:24] districts.
Tanya here commented about that.
[1:33:30] Personally, I would think that there
might be regrets in some of the resort
[1:33:34] towns that put all kinds of buildings
along the waterfront years ago and now
[1:33:39] wish they had some better uses of that.
And these restrictions were put in this
[1:33:46] to address what we might need in 5 years
as opposed to having storage units all
[1:33:54] the way down our our business corridors.
Um, personally, I I I was willing to uh
[1:34:01] put forth a motion to approve the tax
amendment as as uh sent up, but uh
[1:34:12] I guess we can't do that. So,
here I am.
[1:34:19] This was not a halfbacked baked idea.
We've been working on this for for
[1:34:24] months. Some people didn't get involved
into it until the third or fourth month.
[1:34:29] Um but uh that's not on any fault of the
planning group.
[1:34:37] Any other comments
[1:34:41] roll?
>> Commissioner Ms.
[1:34:46] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Gowski.
[1:34:48] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Coons.
[1:34:50] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Laugh.
[1:34:52] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Goody.
[1:34:53] » No. Commissioner Gup.
>> Yes.
[1:34:56] » Commissioner White,
>> yes.
[1:34:59] Motion carries.
We take a break.
[1:35:03] » Mr. Gup has asked for a short break, so
we'll take a five minutes.
[1:35:33] Put your mic up.
[1:35:48] I'm so tense. [laughter]
[1:36:02] [laughter]
[1:36:29] I didn't put my seat in and it's so dry.
[1:36:39] » [laughter]
[1:36:51] » Even if they did,
[1:37:16] I know, right? You don't have
[1:37:23] to learn my lesson.
[1:37:27] [clears throat]
>> Feel like I'm sheltered. investments.
[1:37:34] » That's true.
>> I know. You got to keep up.
[1:37:38] » No tie though.
>> I'm not allowed to wear a tie.
[1:37:43] » You're not.
[1:37:50] [laughter]
[1:37:58] I did this when I graduated.
[clears throat]
[1:38:03] » I bet it included a tie when you
graduated.
[1:38:07] » I like it much better than
[1:38:17] [clears throat]
[1:38:33] All right, I'm going to call this back
into order.
[1:38:35] » Yeah.
>> And we'll move down to our appointments.
[1:38:37] The first is advisory committee on aging
resignation. We need a motion to accept
[1:38:43] Martha Lancaster's resignation.
So moved. Have a motion to support.
[1:38:51] » Thank you, Brian. Y we have a motion to
support. Any discussion hearing? None.
[1:38:56] All in favor say I.
>> I.
[1:38:58] » I. Opposed. Same sign. Next we have a
Veterans Affair Board resignation from
[1:39:04] Ryan Bachelor. Need a motion to accept
Ryan's resignation. I get motion. Have a
[1:39:08] motion. So support.
>> Support.
[1:39:10] » We have support. Any discussion?
>> All in favor say I. I.
[1:39:15] » Oppos. Same sign. Now Veterans Affairs.
We have a we have an appointment of
[1:39:22] Casey Noiki or Sherry Marshall. What's
the pleasure of the board?
[1:39:26] » Aren't those reappointments?
>> Uh, chair, there's actually Sher
[1:39:30] Marshall's a reappoint.
>> Okay.
[1:39:32] » And then there's an additional opening
due to Ryan Bachelor's resignation.
[1:39:36] » Okay. So, Casey and Sherry are
reappoints.
[1:39:38] » Casey is not currently on the board.
>> Casey's currently not on, but he would
[1:39:42] be a replacement for
>> We have two spots if you choose to. Yes.
[1:39:46] » So, do we have a motion to approve Sher
Marshall's reappoint?
[1:39:49] » Also,
>> move support.
[1:39:52] » I'll support.
>> Motion support.
[1:39:55] » All in favor say I.
>> I. Oppose. Same sign.
[1:39:59] » Is there a motion to appoint Cary Niki
to the board of veterans?
[1:40:04] » I I'll second it. [clears throat]
>> Motion and multiple support pick one.
[1:40:10] » Any discussion?
>> Hearing none. All in favor say I.
[1:40:14] » I. I
>> oppose same sign.
[1:40:19] We have Courtney Graham appoint this a
reappoint.
[1:40:23] » Yes, sir.
>> We have a reappoint of Courtney Graham
[1:40:25] to the historical commission. Is there a
motion to reappoint?
[1:40:29] » I move to reappoint Courtney Graham to
the historical commission
[1:40:32] » and I'll support. Have a motion to
support. Any discussion on the motion?
[1:40:37] Hearing none. All in favor say I.
>> I.
[1:40:40] » Post same sign. That is our
appointments. We're done communications.
[1:40:45] Are there any other communication
besides the two attorney letters that we
[1:40:48] received?
>> No, those were submitted to the clerk
[1:40:51] and they'll be available.
>> They'll be in the record. Is that right?
[1:40:55] » All right. Committee reports.
Mr. Lbomb, start us off.
[1:41:00] » Okay.
I attended the uh regular meeting the
[1:41:04] Emtt County Planning Commission here
August 6 7 p.m. There was a lot of
[1:41:09] discussion on the storage text
amendments articles 2 8 11 14 18 and 26
[1:41:16] the first hearing uh some talk about the
master plan a lot of talk about data
[1:41:21] centers especially from the um audience
and we called a special meeting for
[1:41:29] August 11th here at 7 p.m. attended that
meeting. Also,
[1:41:36] there was a lot more talk on commercial
storage text amendments
[1:41:40] for those articles I mentioned already.
A lot more talk about data centers.
[1:41:50] On Tuesday, July 28th
at 9:30 in the morning at the Pollson
[1:41:55] Airport Terminal Building, I attended
the airport committee meeting
[1:41:59] and we heard from a member of the
public. his name was Scott. We uh
[1:42:05] approved the minutes from the previous
[snorts] June 23rd meeting. Uh we
[1:42:10] learned that passenger arrival and
departure was down 11% this year from
[1:42:15] last year. Uh we also talked about
projects need to be bid out if they're
[1:42:20] over $25,000.
Uh the taxiway project is in progress
[1:42:26] right now. Uh we uh received a new
runway sweeper and snowb blower
[1:42:33] and after the meeting we went over and
inspected those and those are two very
[1:42:38] big impressive machines. They were made
by the um company that used to be called
[1:42:44] Oshkosh out of Oshkosh Wisconsin. They
are famous for very rugged dependable
[1:42:50] equipment but not operator friendly. Uh
the company has been taken over by a
[1:42:54] company called MB now and they are uh
trying to make their equipment more uh
[1:43:00] operator uh friendly.
And the next meeting here is next
[1:43:04] Tuesday uh for the airport at the
airport uh conference room upstairs at
[1:43:09] the airport. That's also at 9:30. That's
on Tuesday, August 25th.
[1:43:17] And then I attended the um Paradise Lake
Improvement Board regular meeting August
[1:43:22] 12th
uh up in Karp Lake at the township hall.
[1:43:28] And we heard correspondence. We had a
Gmail from Jackie Cameron. She wanted to
[1:43:35] know what chemicals are used in Paradise
Lake to control the weeds. And the
[1:43:40] answer was uh two different ones. Duquat
and Pela core. We heard the treasures
[1:43:48] report. We have a balance up there of
$161,582.
[1:43:55] And I might mention one more thing about
these chemicals and these weeds. Uh they
[1:44:00] are very selective herbicides. They do
not kill good weeds, only the bad weeds
[1:44:05] that we are trying to get rid of. and
they have are approved by the EPA.
[1:44:10] Uh there was a lot of talk about the
audit. We've done an audit every year
[1:44:14] for uh several years and each audit
costs $7,000
[1:44:19] and the auditor that we've been using,
Rasmusen from Bataski here, is no longer
[1:44:25] able to continue in that capacity. Our
chairman Paul Tiki spoke to Dan Smith
[1:44:32] uh out of Shboen. He said that by state
law we do not need to do an annual audit
[1:44:38] um anymore and that he suggests that we
for what few invoices we have we just
[1:44:45] keep a hard copy in the office and they
are available for inspection by the
[1:44:50] public
and the um lake was treated this year 69
[1:44:56] acres were treated for the mill for we
we eat very successfully that cost us
[1:45:01] $47,495
5 hours and a survey done after that
[1:45:06] showed that there was a high rate of
kill very successful and very few weeds
[1:45:12] are left and there will be no need for
second treatment this fall as needed
[1:45:16] sometimes
and at the close of the meeting one of
[1:45:21] the members Ardan Bachley that's been on
the board for many years and also is our
[1:45:26] EMT county drain commission commissioner
expressed a concern with an old dam on
[1:45:31] Paradise
I did not know there was one up there.
[1:45:35] I'm not sure where it's at. It's maybe
in Shabboan County, but he said it's old
[1:45:39] and he's concerned about the uh
condition of it. And he said if that dam
[1:45:43] gives out that it would be very bad for
Paradise Lake. He's very concerned about
[1:45:48] it. And we decided to cut our meetings
down next year uh from 4 down to 2. They
[1:45:55] will be May 12th and August 11th at the
township hall up there. They all start
[1:46:01] at 7 o'clock
and if we need to add one more meeting
[1:46:05] we will. And that is the end of my
report.
[1:46:09] » Thank you commissioner. Commissioner
Mr. Lone Bomb took care of the planning
[1:46:15] commission report. Um and I do not have
a zoning board of appeals report as I
[1:46:24] did not attend then the appeals hearing.
Okay.
[1:46:29] Right.
Um, I attended the board of health
[1:46:32] meeting on August 4th. I'm going to let
Matt uh do the report on that one. I was
[1:46:37] unable to attend the August 6th meeting
of the DPW.
[1:46:41] The solid waste committee meeting uh on
81 was cancelled. We're still waiting
[1:46:44] for information to come back from the
state on that uh road commission uh
[1:46:49] meeting uh on the 13th of August. They
discussed
[1:46:54] uh uh M119 guardrail installation. Um
they're looking to award a bid on that
[1:46:59] later this year and that's not anything
to do with the the road collapse but
[1:47:04] that's other sections of guardrail on
the winding curve section part. Uh they
[1:47:09] discussed policy 100-021
which is a bidding procedure allowing
[1:47:13] the threshold to rise from 75,000 to
250,000.
[1:47:18] Uh they discuss and approve Brent to
sign the annual cert certification of
[1:47:22] employment conditions and also they
discuss large truck purchases that are
[1:47:27] upcoming. They're looking to get rid of
[clears throat] trucks that are over 20
[1:47:30] z 20 years old in their fleet and they
currently have three of those left.
[1:47:35] U by the end of August, Click Road
bridge will become a one lane till
[1:47:39] they're able to rebid and repair that
bridge. They also announced that all
[1:47:42] bridges over 20 feet long will be
reinspected.
[1:47:47] Uh Bablos had a meeting this morning.
They're holding steady with occupa
[1:47:51] occupancy at 85% and because they're
still experiencing staff shortages. Uh
[1:47:56] they can't find good people that want to
work or won't work nights.
[1:48:01] The hospitals are main source of
competition for nurses and the college
[1:48:04] is the main source of nurses, but they
can't graduate those fast enough and the
[1:48:09] waiting list is is growing. Uh they were
notified last week that starting October
[1:48:14] 1st, the state and federal reimbursement
was changing with the feds no longer
[1:48:18] contributing and the state changing
their formulas.
[1:48:21] Uh so uh they're scrambling right now to
figure out uh
[1:48:28] what their uh income is going to look
like for the rest of the year. That's
[1:48:32] takes effect the 1 of October. Uh they
continued with their strategic planning.
[1:48:38] Uh
uh they have had good they had good
[1:48:41] discussions this morning regarding who
they serve, services they provide,
[1:48:45] capacity to serve and what the future
holds.
[1:48:49] And that is all I have for reports.
Thank you, Mr. Get.
[1:48:54] I attended on August 13th the the TAC
meeting for the uh uh communication for
[1:49:03] our 911. Um and uh it was a quite a long
tack meeting talking about uh getting
[1:49:14] closer to making everything go live with
this new software equipment. And one of
[1:49:20] the big things was they're uh turning
off at 30 days the modems that are not
[1:49:26] registered
uh through 911. So uh there may be some
[1:49:35] some and all of the the agencies knows
that know this but there may be
[1:49:40] something that got missed. So we're
working forward to moving moving along
[1:49:45] with this. So other than that, uh that
was uh and then I went to the meeting
[1:49:49] yesterday, but I'll let you give that
report
[1:49:52] for the uh board meeting.
>> Okay.
[1:49:57] » Yep. That's very important.
>> Just adding on to Chuck's uh there are
[1:50:01] four uh afterhour gates that are used by
by pilots. Uh, and I guess four of them,
[1:50:09] uh, of the four, two are working better
than the other two, uh, we found out
[1:50:14] that we're going to be updating, uh,
those gates to Johnson Controls, uh, or
[1:50:19] we're moving away from Johnson Controls
and, uh, getting, uh, we got a quote for
[1:50:24] $20,500 to update those gates on on on,
you know, with with the new new company.
[1:50:32] The committee uh did recommend to
install cameras on all those gates. Uh
[1:50:37] DPW was held uh August 6. Janna let us
know that DPW was fully staffed. The
[1:50:44] title project is uh being delayed until
September or October just to let the
[1:50:48] traffic uh come through. Uh the traffic
flow RFP is due in September uh along
[1:50:54] Buzzview Road. The roof project part two
is currently going on with summer
[1:50:59] roofing. a lands and drop site is
staying at the fire hall, but it's being
[1:51:04] moved to the south of its current
location. Uh the RFP for the two open
[1:51:09] top row rolloff containers is due on
August 24th. Eagle will be shooting an
[1:51:14] educational video on the life cycle of
an aluminum can at the transfer station.
[1:51:19] So that'll be kind of cool. Um
[clears throat]
[1:51:21] state of Michigan. So the house
household hazardous waste collection day
[1:51:25] is scheduled for August 22nd. There'll
be uh additional signing at the entrance
[1:51:30] to direct to direct traffic uh onto the
exit lane to the right. Janice said the
[1:51:35] prices of recycle materials are starting
to rebound. Uh parks and wreck was held
[1:51:40] Tuesday uh July 7th at the headlands.
Ryan announced that they hired Mike
[1:51:46] Casey as camp park camped park manager.
Uh Michael was a park ranger at Paskki
[1:51:53] State Park. The crooked uh lock is now
fully staffed, but we will be losing a
[1:51:58] few of those to college in the upcoming
weeks. Both revenue expenses were down
[1:52:03] from 2025, but the parks and wreck is
doing very well. Local roofers started
[1:52:08] the repairs on the T- bar roof at the
fairgrounds, and the wind damage that
[1:52:12] occurred in November should be completed
in the next couple of weeks, and I hope
[1:52:15] they're not done.
>> Uh the electrical upgrade is close close
[1:52:19] to being done. Uh
>> it's done.
[1:52:21] » It's done. Okay. Gibson Excavating
started the capital project repair and
[1:52:26] realigned the water
and electric and gray gray lines. There
[1:52:31] were seven events at the headline with
over 500 people attending those events.
[1:52:34] The lights out challenge was to take
place August 12th. Uh with the peak of
[1:52:39] the perse
meteor shower, there were 521
[1:52:43] reservations July at Camp Pacea. Staff
was able to install five more pro turf
[1:52:50] pads at the disc golf course. Staff will
be uh doing the final eight at the end
[1:52:55] of the season. The crooked lock at the
time was 2 and a half inches above
[1:53:00] normal.
Uh no fair. We're going to meet next
[1:53:05] week. Uh Michigan Association of
Counties or Michigan Northern Michigan
[1:53:11] Counties Association. We held their
meeting uh at Rascam County and Zoom on
[1:53:16] August 17th. I attended via Zoom.
Representative John Roth uh was present
[1:53:23] uh and he heard that the townships in
his district are concerned about the new
[1:53:27] zoning law and do not have landslit
ordinances. Uh Jeff Lawson, county
[1:53:33] administrator from Shboen, gave a
presentation in countywide zoning. Uh
[1:53:37] Dena gave an update on the budget. uh
Senate and the House uh gave their a
[1:53:43] bunch of amendments, gave the House a
bunch of amendments. The House will act
[1:53:47] on a final budget uh next week which
next week. Uh discussion ensued on
[1:53:53] consumers energy selling the dams to a
third party and the next uh October
[1:53:58] meeting is going to be held touring and
data center down in Grand Rapids area.
[1:54:02] So I think I might attend that. Uh the
meeting was held uh the transportation
[1:54:08] asset management council meeting was
held via zoom. Uh I attended that uh
[1:54:12] written remotely. They also had it uh in
lancing. Uh council reviewed the data
[1:54:18] coming in for remote agencies through
the state. We also reviewed the
[1:54:21] priorities for the agencies to
concentrate on for 2027 and we discussed
[1:54:26] agenda items for the state meeting that
is coming up along with the water asset
[1:54:30] management council in Lemonia. That is
my report. Thank you, Commissioner.
[1:54:36] » Thank you, Brian. I'd like to confirm
that the uh disc golf pads, teapads at
[1:54:40] the uh turf pads are been very well
received by the disc golf community.
[1:54:43] They're doing a great job. So, anyway,
uh the board of health met August 4th.
[1:54:49] The board received the annual report for
2025 from the health officer. Highlights
[1:54:53] included food safety inspections, the
Seal Michigan program which provides
[1:54:57] dental sealants to children through uh
school-based preventive care, the breast
[1:55:02] and cervical cancer control navigation
program which provides free or low cost
[1:55:06] lowcost cancer screenings and the school
health team prov uh which provides
[1:55:10] various important health services to
students. We also approved bills and
[1:55:15] employee expenses as recommended by the
finance committee. Uh there was nothing
[1:55:19] uh regarding the termination of the
contract with dental clinics north on
[1:55:22] the agenda. Uh but the process uh of
moving to in-house management of dental
[1:55:28] clinics is moving forward. Uh I continue
to hear from many individuals at the end
[1:55:33] of July and early August who are
concerned about the new situation. Uh
[1:55:37] the community corrections advisory board
met August 13th. We received the fiscal
[1:55:42] year 2027
state grant award update. There was a
[1:55:46] significant grant reduction
approximately 50% with an approved uh
[1:55:51] budget of 65,000. Grant funding was
approved uh for the same programs we
[1:55:55] have currently which include cognitive
life skills, pre-trial supervision,
[1:56:00] practice assessment, and substance use
testing. The state recommended use of
[1:56:05] local funding sources like PA2 funds and
opioid settlement funds to make up the
[1:56:09] difference. Uh the state has offered an
option to apply for more grant funding
[1:56:13] midyear if needed. So, we'll see how all
that works out. And the board approved
[1:56:18] the fiscal year 2026 third quarter
report as presented.
[1:56:22] That's my report.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Coots. Uh my
[1:56:26] reports, I'd like to thank um
Commissioner Lbomb and Gowski for the
[1:56:31] airport report and also Commissioner Mes
for the road commission. U area aging of
[1:56:38] Northwest Michigan met in Traverse City
on the 6th. They passed the multi-year
[1:56:43] 2027-29 update which we addressed and
also had an annual code of ethics
[1:56:49] conflict declaration that we had to sign
with board members and we had a annual
[1:56:54] fraud, waste and abuse training which is
required by the state of Michigan. We
[1:56:58] received a presentation on caregiver
case management program presentation and
[1:57:05] a program that area aging has which is a
you can contact them and they have
[1:57:10] respit for caregivers. They say many
people take care of family members
[1:57:14] spouses and the caregiver needs to have
a break as well as the person that
[1:57:18] they're caring for and area aging has a
program that they can address that.
[1:57:23] Uh, as Commissioner Gup said last night,
we met for a very short meeting of 911.
[1:57:31] Uh, main action item, we have a new
finance director, top person. We were
[1:57:35] lucky to get her. Uh, that put that put
the budget together for us, Mrs. Gibson.
[1:57:40] Uh, there was discussion and the the
operating budget for 2027 was approved
[1:57:46] with work is continuing on the capital
process. I'm happy to say that all three
[1:57:51] counties are working together to get
things going. So, we had two we had two
[1:57:57] other action items. A hexon hexagon
change order number seven, which is
[1:58:01] basically changing the name of a
provider from one to another. And then
[1:58:07] we had a request from to go to the US
bank card uh away from Fifth Third,
[1:58:12] which is what we approved last meeting,
I think.
[1:58:16] » And uh we were out of there in a half an
hour.
[1:58:19] uh deferred compensation board met on
July 29th. Uh we got a second quarter
[1:58:26] fiduciary investment review. Uh we're
still doing very well with our with our
[1:58:31] uh investments in the in the uh in the
review.
[1:58:36] The other item was a 401A plan
which will come to the board in October
[1:58:42] or November to be adopted.
[1:58:47] I would comment that on July 29th we had
our first ever budget workshop for 911.
[1:58:52] I thought that was worth noting
[1:58:58] airports and direct
[1:59:05] and that is my report. Uh we're now to
our second public comment. Anyone
[1:59:10] wishing to address the board? Mr. Morin.
[clears throat]
[1:59:13] » Thank you Mr. Chairman. chair, staff,
and the remaining public. Just a few
[1:59:19] comments based on some of the uh
comments that were made this evening. Uh
[1:59:23] [clears throat] first of all, I'd like
to uh say with Mrs. Baldwin's comments
[1:59:28] about the B2 general uses, that's a
truth. We need areas for that kind of
[1:59:33] stuff. But I've also learned over the
years that there can be more than one
[1:59:37] truth to a situation.
And the other truth is small businesses
[1:59:44] are dying. And um you look at the city
of Paskki, they have empty storefronts.
[1:59:50] We have empty buildings along our
corridors. And another truth to that is
[1:59:54] the type of growth we're getting. They
might be small businesses, but what are
[1:59:58] we considering small businesses? Are
they Taco Bells? Are they credit unions?
[2:00:03] What are they? And so we have market
demands and and the market that's
[2:00:09] another truth the market dictates uses.
Another truth people have property
[2:00:15] rights and these property rights have
been around for a long time and when we
[2:00:20] have drastic changes it does have
adverse effects on people. So that's one
[2:00:24] item. The second item I'll clear up the
whole data storage thing. Two different
[2:00:29] animals right? I mean we know I don't
know enough about data storage right now
[2:00:34] but it's obviously concern it's a huge
impact use commercial storage commercial
[2:00:41] warehouses self storage it's I think I
don't need to say it it's a low impact
[2:00:47] use they are two different animals
apples and oranges right simplicity
[2:00:53] I do appreciate the fact although I
would prefer that we just allow the
[2:00:58] existing document to continue to live. I
appreciate the fact that we're going to
[2:01:03] have a period of time to further review.
I hope that that allows stakeholders at
[2:01:11] the round table, not just 3 minutes.
And lastly, to clear up any concerns of
[2:01:18] misleading information or comments.
It's in your packet. It's in the
[2:01:23] documents. It's a fact. There was one
person who spoke on behalf of the
[2:01:29] request in the December meeting. It's in
your documents.
[2:01:34] It's a fact in your documents that in
January the planning commission made a
[2:01:40] recommendation to this board. That was
all the discussion.
[2:01:44] It's a fact that in February and March
there was no discussion of anything more
[2:01:49] than a moment or two as staff was
compiling information during January,
[2:01:54] February, and March. so that dialogue
could start. And it's a fact that when
[2:01:59] that took place starting in April, I've
been to every meeting along with
[2:02:03] multiple meetings at this table. Thank
you very much.
[2:02:09] Anyone else wishing to address the
board? Yes, sir.
[2:02:21] Uh David McBride, a 50y year almost 50-y
year resident of En County business
[2:02:27] owner. Um I have one clar clarification
I'd like to get and then I want to speak
[2:02:33] on a totally different subject. Um,
is the deferment just to review the
[2:02:39] proposed
amendment or is the deferment to allow
[2:02:44] the amendment that's been proposed to
get remodified and uh changed over the
[2:02:51] next two or three months?
Mr.
[2:02:55] answer that
>> the way I read it or
[2:02:57] » that
>> well because you've got something you're
[2:02:59] going to present to the legal council
and then they're going to make a motion
[2:03:02] or they're going to review it
and
[2:03:06] » my understanding is they're going to
review it.
[2:03:08] » Okay. And then they'll present it to the
review to you
[2:03:12] » to board
>> to your to your board. So there won't be
[2:03:15] any more planning commission meetings on
this
[2:03:17] » unless the unless the attorney
recommends it go back to the planning
[2:03:20] commission.
>> Okay. So, we're we're waiting then for
[2:03:22] the attorney to kind of guide the ship.
>> That's what we asked for tonight,
[2:03:26] correct?
>> Okay. I just need some I you know, uh
[2:03:29] this is a little new to me and um I just
want to make sure that
[2:03:33] » how everybody presented it that they
agree on that. Switching gears
[2:03:37] completely,
Don Mapes brought up something about Bay
[2:03:42] Bluffs. I'm the chairman of the Friends
of the Hospice of Little Travers Bay and
[2:03:47] many of you know that I led the cause to
save the Highland Cottage.
[2:03:52] We pivoted and thanks to Lisa Ashley and
so many great people in this community,
[2:04:00] we were able to provide the resources to
create those services at Bay Bluffs.
[2:04:06] And I want to thank everybody in this
community for supporting those services
[2:04:13] because end of life care is very
important to everybody and I'm so proud
[2:04:18] to be a member of this community and
we're going to continue to support Blade
[2:04:22] Bluffs. We've got a lot of creative ways
that we're going to do it. But I just
[2:04:27] want to bring that out into light that
um things are happening that you might
[2:04:31] not know but they're positive things and
there's a lot of support for it. So,
[2:04:35] thank you and thank you for what you're
doing, too.
[2:04:37] » Thank you for that update. I appreciate
it. Thank you.
[2:04:40] » Anyone else wishing to address the
board?
[2:04:45] » I'm sorry. Just one point of
clarification. Um, Commissioner Laugh
[2:04:49] Bomb indicated that the the draft
presented to you for the text amendment
[2:04:54] was staff presented. This was not staff
presenting. It was the planning
[2:04:58] commission on a 4-3 vote that presented
that draft to you. So, I just wanted to
[2:05:02] make that point of clarification. Anyone
else?
[2:05:09] Why don't you pass the flat roof and
leave it?
[2:05:13] » I think it was Pam's report.
>> Yeah.
[2:05:16] » Hearing no other public comment, the
next board of commissioners meeting will
[2:05:19] be held September 14th, 6 p.m. September
uh here in the board of commissioners on
[2:05:24] Division Street. So motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion to adjurnn.
[2:05:28] » Second. Second. Motion. Second. We are
journalis.