[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.

Emmet County BOC Regular Meeting - 8/20/2026

Transcript