[3:35] I'd like to call the meeting to order tonight, Monday, February 23rd,

[3:39] 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the commission chambers. Uh please rise for

[3:44] the Pledge of Allegiance.

[3:47] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the

[3:52] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[3:58] justice for all.

[4:03] Thank you. Uh roll call, city clerk. Commissioner Davis. Here.

[4:08] Commissioner Gottlieb. Commissioner Hanley. Here. Commissioner

[4:12] Larson. Here. Commissioner Mayor. Here. Mayor pro tem Ottaway. Here. And Mayor

[4:17] Schlegel. Here. All right, commissioners, do we have a

[4:20] motion to excuse Commissioner Gottlieb for the evening?

[4:25] Uh Sorry. Commissioner Davis.

[4:29] Commissioner Davis. I move that we excuse Commissioner

[4:33] Gottlieb for personal reasons. >> Is there a second?

[4:36] Pro tem. Second. Uh any discussion?

[4:40] Okay, all in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, no.

[4:44] Motion passes six to nothing. Thank you for that. Um we've got our

[4:49] agenda in front of us. Is there a motion to accept or change

[4:53] the agenda?

[4:55] Commissioner Davis, you have this one again.

[4:58] I move we accept the agenda as presented. Thank you. Second, please.

[5:02] Commissioner Hanley. I second. Thank you. Any discussion?

[5:07] Okay, all in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, no.

[5:11] Motion passes again six to nothing. For the announcements tonight,

[5:17] I just we don't really have anything that's coming officially from

[5:22] uh any other work that's being done in the

[5:25] city right now, but I would like to thank all the volunteers that are coming

[5:28] out to help with the uh trying to locate our missing person,

[5:32] uh young student from Northern Michigan University. Um we've had hundreds of

[5:37] people come out and assist with that. Um we want to thank them for their efforts.

[5:42] I know that everybody's doing the very best that they can with the resources

[5:46] that they have. They don't necessarily need more volunteers, but the point is

[5:50] is that the overwhelming response is very much appreciated, and we're hoping

[5:54] for the best possible outcome that we can

[5:57] come across with such a very

[6:00] uh difficult topic. So, thank you for that.

[6:05] Um brings us to boards and committees.

[6:08] We've got a couple of appointments tonight. Is there a

[6:10] motion, please?

[6:14] Commissioner Hanley. I move that we appoint Michael Tuman

[6:18] into the Board of Zoning Appeals for a term ending 215 of 29,

[6:22] Ashley Sarri to the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee for a term for an

[6:26] unexpired term ending 61 of 28, and Susan Hester to the Arts and Culture

[6:30] Advisory Committee for an unexpired term ending 61 of 26 and the subsequent term

[6:35] ending 61 of 29. Thank you. Is there a second?

[6:39] Mayor pro tem. Second. Any discussion? No, I would just like to

[6:43] really thank everyone for being involved and staying involved. It's always good

[6:46] to see a lot of appointments on our boards and committees. Hopefully one day

[6:49] we can fill them all. Anything, brother?

[6:53] It's good. Great. Uh I'd like to just echo that.

[6:56] It's great to see uh three of these come across our desk this this uh meeting.

[7:00] Hopefully there's a couple more in the next one.

[7:02] Uh with that being said, all in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, no.

[7:07] Motion passes six to zero. Thank you. We have one reappointment. Is

[7:11] there a motion?

[7:13] Commissioner Larson. Uh I move that we reappoint Jim Compton

[7:17] to the Marquette Area Wastewater Treatment Advisory Board for a term

[7:20] ending 2129.

[7:23] Thank you. Is there a second? Commissioner Mayor. Second.

[7:29] Discussion, please. Nope. Anything?

[7:33] Hearing none, uh seeing none, I will move that to a

[7:36] vote. All in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, no. Motion passes six to zero.

[7:45] All right, that gets us to public comment. Um

[7:50] public comment cannot exceed 3 minutes per person. Please state your name and

[7:54] physical address when you come up to the podium. Anyone for public comment this

[7:58] evening?

[8:02] This is hard to believe.

[8:05] Anyone for public comment? Third time, public comment is closed.

[8:12] Uh we have a presentation tonight. Exciting to see that we're going to hear

[8:15] from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Chair Amanda Gobert. Amanda.

[8:24] Good evening, everyone. Um I apologize in advance. I'm in the process of

[8:28] getting over bronchitis, so if I start coughing in the middle and step away for

[8:32] a moment, I apologize for that.

[8:36] As stated, my name is Amanda Gobert. I am the chair of the Parks and Rec

[8:40] Advisory Board. Uh we meet the second or third Monday of each month in the

[8:46] Citizens Forum at Lakeview Arena at 5:45.

[8:51] Uh presented before you is our list of board members. We currently have 13

[8:59] board members. We in the last couple of years combined

[9:03] the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, the Harbor Advisory Committee, and the

[9:06] Presque Isle Park Advisory Committee. And by doing so, our board size did

[9:13] greatly increase. We do have direction that our board needs to be down to 11

[9:19] members by 2027. At this point, we're not thinking that's

[9:24] going to be an issue. We do have a couple who've expressed the fact that

[9:28] they are ready to be done, and also some are

[9:31] going to term limit out. So, we should not see any issue with that moving

[9:34] forward.

[9:39] Our general purpose is to oversee implementation and guidance on the Parks

[9:47] and Recreation Master Plan within the City of Marquette,

[9:51] as well as to offer our support or suggestion to

[9:56] commission-approved and recommended things within the park system and

[10:01] recreation system within the city.

[10:05] We currently have seven rentable facilities and 21 parks

[10:11] within the city. Um that's approximately 2,810 acres.

[10:16] That's a lot of park.

[10:19] We also have a community garden. We actually have two with 75 garden sites

[10:25] available. We provide outdoor athletic fields in

[10:28] the form of baseball and softball, soccer, and basketball,

[10:32] as well as quite an extensive trail network in partnership with the

[10:36] Noquemanon Trail System to groom.

[10:44] The Parks and Rec Advisory Board offers um feedback on project development,

[10:50] grant information, and all of the recommendations that come directly from

[10:55] the commission in regards to projects throughout the city park system. I know

[10:59] that this is very small to read, but the items that are listed in yellow

[11:05] we're working on grant and funding, and items in green are either projects that

[11:10] are currently in progress toward completion or have been completed.

[11:17] Some of the highlights of that over the course of time are projects at

[11:23] um Kids Cove was something big for this up past year.

[11:29] Um in progress are some replacement and things at Lakeview Arena.

[11:35] Um you'll hear some about this later, but we're working they're working

[11:39] diligently to fund a new Zamboni. Um desperately needed. We are also

[11:45] um in supporting the projects at the Cultural Arts and Trail Center as well

[11:51] as the bandshell out at Presque Isle.

[12:00] So over the course of 2025 we completed the 5-year Parks and Rec Master Plan. Uh

[12:08] we solicited community input. We worked diligently as a group to review and

[12:14] offer input into that. We helped with supporting the amendment

[12:20] of our special events policy. We did some naming things with the skate

[12:26] park, as well as the naming rights to the

[12:29] bandshell, and the support for the fundraising effort for that.

[12:34] We have supported, although we love dogs in the city and all of us are dog lovers

[12:40] on our group, um we did recognize that with the pour-in-place safety services

[12:46] at the playgrounds dogs are not a good environment for

[12:49] that, and so we did support an ordinance to not allow dogs directly on those

[12:55] surfaces. We're currently working on grant

[12:59] funding, um support of grant funding to replace the piers at the Cinder Mon Pond

[13:05] Marina. And we also had three members of our

[13:09] group who volunteered to participate in the recently completed e-bike task

[13:14] force, and they provided monthly input directly

[13:18] back to our committee and took our committee suggestions to that task force

[13:23] to attempt to bring

[13:26] some regulations and such to the commission for consideration.

[13:32] For this upcoming year we want to continue to work with the city on those

[13:36] changes for the e-bikes and other forms of transportation on the city trails and

[13:41] paths. We are in the process of working on a

[13:44] recommendation for a fiscal policy for the city marinas as well as the capital

[13:50] improvements that are going to be needed in the short and long term at those

[13:54] locations. We support grant initiatives as they

[13:57] become available and put our input behind issues and

[14:03] concerns as they do arise.

[14:08] Lastly, we do have a few things that come up on the issue and discussion list

[14:13] for us within our group. Um we realize that grant funding

[14:19] and such is not always going to be available,

[14:23] and so we're looking at the possibilities of other ways to

[14:28] outside fund some of the projects that we want to fund,

[14:31] um whether it be private fundraising or other

[14:35] alternatives such as charging the user groups that are using

[14:39] those facilities. Um to continue with the implementation

[14:43] of the 5-year plan,

[14:47] we are looking to definitely make sure that we are protecting the balance of

[14:52] natural resource out there, as well as still allowing development to

[14:56] happen. Um a very good example of that is the building of the bandshell at

[15:01] Presque Isle Park. Presque Isle is a natural beauty,

[15:05] and with the building of the bandshell we did not want to see that interfere

[15:11] any more than the bandshell originally had been implemented into there. So we

[15:15] did offer a lot of suggestions to help them with that. Uh parking lot paving is

[15:21] always on the top of the list. Um the potholes even on the city streets

[15:26] sometimes get to be big enough to swallow your car. Um

[15:30] definitely something that needs to be looked at.

[15:33] Continued concerns for the multi-use path and how to best regulate to allow

[15:38] all members and all users to be able to use those safely.

[15:44] Um there are some issues with unpermitted

[15:48] uses in our public parks. Um weddings happen at Presque Isle on a

[15:52] regular basis during the summer, and technically that's not allowed

[15:57] unless you've gotten that approved prior to doing so.

[16:02] Not to mention the fact that the parking at Black Rocks is only so

[16:07] big, and when you have an entire wedding

[16:10] group that wants to go down there to take pictures and you're interfering

[16:13] with other people who are visiting the area

[16:16] and locals who want us to participate there as well.

[16:20] Um staffing is always an issue. Staffing is an issue everywhere.

[16:25] The city is no exception, and it makes operation and maintenance

[16:29] difficult, and so we have definitely had several conversations about is there a

[16:33] better way? Is there something we could suggest?

[16:38] And lastly, that did not make it onto this slide, but one of the things that

[16:41] we also had brought up was the fact that um

[16:45] communication, although it is getting better between the commission and the

[16:50] boards, still needs to be improved. We're

[16:53] finding we get a lot of recommendation questions

[16:58] very few days before our meetings, and we don't have the information to make an

[17:01] educated decision. And we want to be able to represent

[17:06] the residents of the city of Marquette in those decisions, and it's very hard

[17:10] when we don't have a chance to ask questions.

[17:14] Any questions for me?

[17:20] All right. Thank you, Amanda. Um

[17:24] want to go run down the line? Anybody have anything down this side?

[17:27] Yep.

[17:30] Mr. Larson. I don't have any questions. However, you just uh you know, you

[17:33] certainly have a large group of folks there, and I certainly understand

[17:36] certainly shrink it down, but you know, it just goes to show that, you know,

[17:39] parks parks are really uh you know, the commons, you know, of the city, and they

[17:43] they belong to everyone. And so I know everybody's trying, you know, having a

[17:46] large group being able to help make some of these decisions is really looking out

[17:51] for the best interest of the community. And so thank you for doing that, and I

[17:54] appreciate the presentation tonight. Thank you.

[17:59] Thanks, Commissioner Deaver. Thank you, Amanda. Yes, excuse me. Your committee

[18:02] has a lot going on, especially after combining all three of those groups.

[18:07] Um I noticed that on your list of members that some of them are assigned

[18:11] to specific things, like the waterfront or hockey. And as you decrease the

[18:15] number in your of your committee, do you maintain that those representatives will

[18:20] stay there, or do you just take whoever has to leave? We will be aiming to keep

[18:26] representatives within those specific areas, um whether someone who's on the

[18:31] committee wants to step up as a specific representative, because obviously

[18:35] waterfront is a is a big one. We had many members from the other two

[18:39] committees that and one being the Harbor Advisory Committee who joined us. If

[18:43] they're not technically currently listed as a waterfront member, and someone

[18:47] steps down, they want to step up, or those would be spots we would attempt to

[18:51] fill, because we really do want that repre- representation, and that is still

[18:55] the intent of having individual spots for those. Yes.

[18:58] » that you do that. So I on your the list of the capital projects, how often do

[19:03] you renew this list? Because as I look at, you know, the green ones, some of

[19:07] them were done several years ago. So I'm wondering why they just haven't been

[19:10] taken off the list. >> That was a question that we had asked,

[19:14] and apparently it has something to do, as I was explained, that there is a very

[19:18] lengthy spreadsheet, and by removing line items from the spreadsheet before

[19:23] it's imported into the presentation, it tends to degrade the spreadsheet itself.

[19:29] So um our city liaison is actually looking at a better way for future

[19:34] presentations to be able to pull more pertinent information and not

[19:39] projects that have been done for 5 or 6 years. It'd be nice to see the you know,

[19:42] the the things that have been done in the last two or three years.

[19:46] » And we we did mention that as well. Okay, so you're thinking like I am.

[19:51] Okay, good. It's just It's as I looked at that it's like it's a long sheet and

[19:55] there's a lot to do. Um but those that are done

[20:00] you know >> We We like I said, we did discuss that

[20:02] and and unfortunately spreadsheet integrity was important at the immediate

[20:06] moment, but we are looking at better options for future presentations. So,

[20:10] next year's presentation might have a better update.

[20:13] » Good. I'll look forward to it. Thank you so much for the work that you do on this

[20:16] committee and I know it's a very active committee and there's lots to do. Thank

[20:20] you. Yeah, I've got a couple things.

[20:23] Um first of all, you kind of touched on the

[20:26] main topic of joining all these groups together, all these other advisory

[20:29] roles. So, my question is is how is that um working out for you as far as the new

[20:34] group? Is it been pretty smooth or are you finding that maybe you uh it was a

[20:39] good idea versus a not so good idea? What do you think?

[20:42] We are actually finding that it is a very good thing. Um it gives a better

[20:47] opportunity for, first of all, those voices from those other groups to be

[20:52] heard within the whole group because as we viewed it, Parks and Rec kind of

[20:57] oversaw them to begin with. And so, this way they feel like they've got a greater

[21:02] voice in what's going on with decision-making that's being directed to

[21:07] the Parks and Rec Advisory Board. And it actually has spawned some pretty

[21:11] decent discussions within our group because they offer different

[21:15] perspectives that some of the rest of us who are not avid boaters or not, you

[21:21] know, actively involved in certain other things might not think about. So, it's

[21:25] actually helped stimulate some pretty intense discussions, actually.

[21:32] That's good to hear and I would I would hope that that was the reason for doing

[21:35] it and I'm glad to hear that's the the resolve.

[21:38] Um one of the items that I'm passionate about is the dog park or the dog

[21:42] recreation space. And I know that there's

[21:46] uh property that's been allocated for this for the future

[21:49] and that there is a design that's um been put together and I'm wondering if

[21:53] there's going to be a time for public comment on that or some input from those

[21:57] people that are you know, part of that that uh

[22:02] group that goes and and takes advantage of the the winter dog park at uh

[22:06] uh Tourist Park. There absolutely is the plan to have a a

[22:11] public announcement go out when we further discuss this. At our last

[22:15] meeting, we approved the recommendation to of the commission um continue to

[22:22] explore and to further put their plan together based on what was presented to

[22:26] us. And we decided as a group that once we had um a little bit more information

[22:32] on um cost and um true layout and things like that cuz we didn't get a lot of

[22:39] information until a few days before the meeting. We do want to put it back on

[22:44] our agenda to be able to invite the public to offer their input. We do have

[22:49] several dog park users on our board who actually have already expressed their

[22:53] opinions to us and have decided we we know we need to hear from the general

[22:58] public as far as what their interest and how they feel

[23:02] and thoughts on the whole subject. So, yes.

[23:05] That's good to hear. Um biggest issue that I'm running across

[23:09] with conversation that I have with people when I'm there with my dog is you

[23:12] know, who's going to pay for it? Obviously, um it's the obligation of the

[23:17] the users to to pay for it um to fundraise and that's going to take a

[23:22] little bit of time. So, uh the sooner that that can be

[23:26] there can be a package put together that that

[23:30] finally put a group of people to to kind of champion that the the the better

[23:34] because it's going to take a lot of money and a lot of effort on on those

[23:38] people's part to do that and uh uh I just think that the sooner the

[23:43] better because, you know, I was hoping that that that group might

[23:46] be able to to start working on things yet this season

[23:49] knowing that we're going into a very short summer.

[23:52] Uh it would be great to to see some

[23:54] traction there. So, if you can >> And And we are definitely looking at

[23:57] that. I do believe the topic was discussed potentially for our next

[24:01] meeting um to have a further discussion on it and hopefully by at the latest our

[24:06] April meeting to have an open forum with the public to let them know that we're

[24:11] going to talk about it. Good. And I think I'm glad to hear you talking about

[24:14] communication. I know when I was on Prescott Advisory Board years ago, um

[24:18] not to say that it wasn't effective, but there's always

[24:21] um room for improvement when it comes to

[24:23] that communication and I hope that you kind of put the cattle prod to whatever

[24:27] it takes to get that energized a little bit. So, We very much appreciate the

[24:32] fact that the form was designed for us to use when we had something to come to

[24:38] you guys. Um that I found has helped our group a lot because we can put something

[24:43] in concrete writing and we know it gets there.

[24:46] Whereas previously it was, "Okay, well, so-and-so's going to go ahead and take

[24:50] care of making sure that the commission hears that we talked about this." And

[24:52] then it's, "Did so-and-so forget? And who did they talk to?" And there was no

[24:57] paper trail. And I know in the age of electronics, I'm still about the paper

[25:02] trail, whether it be an electronic paper trail or a physical paper trail. I like

[25:05] to know that the communication is happening to be able to say

[25:11] "What happened to this? Did somebody Did this get lost?" So on and so forth and

[25:16] so, we know it's a work in progress, but things have improved and we're hoping

[25:20] for further improvement. Good. Well, thanks for the presentation and

[25:24] please go back to the the board and let them know how much we appreciate the

[25:27] work they're doing. Will do. >> Keep up the good work. Thank you.

[25:30] Perfect.

[25:33] Excellent. Uh moves us on to the consent agenda.

[25:37] Looking for a motion for the consent agenda, please.

[25:43] All right, Mr. Larson. Commissioner Larson, please.

[25:45] I move that we accept the consent agenda as presented. Is there a second?

[25:51] Mr. Mayor. Second. Thank you. Any discussion?

[25:56] Okay. Seeing none, all in favor, please say

[25:59] yes. Yes. Opposed, no. Motion passes 6-0.

[26:07] Uh that brings us to new business. We have one item of new business and are we

[26:12] going to get some background on this or do we want to

[26:16] I can I can read a paragraph to you. That'd be great. Thank you. It's a short

[26:20] paragraph. Thank you, Mayor. Uh due to an anticipated scheduling conflict

[26:24] involving multiple commissioners, the first regular City Commission meeting in

[26:27] March needs to be rescheduled. The proposed reschedule date is Monday,

[26:31] March 16th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Fiscal effect, none by this action.

[26:36] Recommendation, approve rescheduling the first regular City Commission meeting in

[26:40] March to Monday, March 16th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Alternatives, as determined by

[26:46] the commission. Thank you, City Clerk. Uh is there a

[26:50] motion?

[26:54] Commissioner Davis, didn't see the hand, sorry. I move that we approve

[26:58] rescheduling the first regular City Commission meeting in March to Monday,

[27:02] March 16th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Thank you. Is there a second?

[27:07] Pro tem. Second. Any discussion?

[27:11] I don't think I have any. Thank you. I don't have any, either.

[27:15] I would just like to say thank you for everybody to work around the schedule.

[27:18] Um There were a number of us that were

[27:20] going to be out of town. Uh it would have been a pretty pretty

[27:23] close to not having a quorum. So, I think that uh

[27:26] it's the best thing for us as far as getting effective business done and look

[27:30] forward to moving that that meeting forward.

[27:34] Uh with that being said, all in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Opposed, no.

[27:39] Motion passes 6-0.

[27:43] That brings us to public comment number two.

[27:45] This is it. We can do it. Again, comments cannot

[27:49] exceed more than three minutes per person. Please state your name and

[27:52] physical address when you come up to the podium. Anybody for public comment?

[27:58] It's a quiet night. Too many too many hours

[28:03] shoveling snow. Any other public comment?

[28:07] Okay, seeing none, public comment is closed. That brings us to comments from

[28:11] the commission. We're going to start with Commissioner Larson tonight.

[28:18] So, I think you've already you've already said, you know, the the the

[28:22] mayor, how the community has really come together tonight or these last few days

[28:27] in search of our our missing the missing student here. So, I just want you know,

[28:30] want to express my gratitude uh to all the volunteers, to the police, to

[28:35] everybody that is that is putting forth the effort to do it. It really shows

[28:39] that our community cares about those that live here and are able

[28:43] to kind of put out the effort uh to um put aside, you know, differences and

[28:48] times and schedules out of their day uh to really step up and and help this

[28:53] family that's in need. So, I certainly appreciate that.

[28:56] Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor.

[29:05] Yeah, I mean uh I don't think I really have too much more to add to that. Just

[29:08] um it it really has been incredible seeing the community rally to help find

[29:12] Trenton and uh um the amount of different agencies that

[29:16] are all collaborating together and big shout-out to uh our chief police and our

[29:20] city staff here that have been coordinating with a lot of different

[29:23] agencies, both local and state and technically federal. Um

[29:29] and uh you know, it's there's so many people out there looking and it's

[29:32] fantastic. Uh if folks are watching at home, if you know people that are out

[29:36] looking, uh it just, you know, maybe check in on

[29:39] them later today and make sure they actually got back home from searching,

[29:43] especially as it's getting darker out. Um

[29:46] yeah, other than that, thanks. Thank you, Commissioner Davis.

[29:50] Yeah, well, I will do both of those comments, but I also want to recognize

[29:54] all of those that are keeping our streets cleared. It's a huge snow year.

[29:59] I like to see this. Even I'm getting a little tired of it,

[30:03] but the work that's being done to keep our

[30:06] roads cleared and the machines going is is just really phenomenal and

[30:12] I know that people get frustrated and garbage cans get tipped over by snow

[30:17] plows, but but we can all just be a little more patient and appreciate that

[30:21] we have that service. Truly.

[30:25] Thank you, Commissioner Hamari. I don't have much to add that everyone already

[30:28] hasn't said. Again, thank you to the community for coming together and all of

[30:31] the staff. And also I know that no one else in this room

[30:34] that's not in this room looking this way can see it for the massive snow year

[30:37] that we're having, but I just glanced at our window in the corner and realized

[30:41] the snow is all the way up to but maybe 3 in of the top of it, 4 in. And it's

[30:46] overwhelming. And we're seeing that everywhere. We

[30:49] don't have places to put snow. We don't have things we can do and plows are

[30:52] having the same issues on the roads trying to clear snow when there's no

[30:55] place for that snow to go. So, just be a little bit more forgiving of our city

[30:58] staff who's working tirelessly to try and clear those roads and do what they

[31:02] can. I know it's taking longer, but it didn't stop snowing all weekend at

[31:07] any point that I saw. It just kept snowing.

[31:10] And as much as I like winter sports, I want to be warm again, so I'm ready for

[31:15] summer now if anyone's taking requests. Um other than that, that's all I have.

[31:20] Thank you, Pro Tem Modlin. Yeah, I'll echo the the other comments

[31:25] from everyone. It's it's very prideful to see our

[31:29] community come together in a time of need.

[31:32] In South Marquette today, I witnessed numerous probably NMU H

[31:36] students walking up and down streets really looking for the missing person

[31:41] and it it just once again echoes to the type of community we live in.

[31:46] So, huge thank you to Chief Grimm who's who's leading that

[31:50] effort and I hope we we get some good news later on.

[31:54] Um one quick announcement Marquette Area Public Schools has two

[31:58] upcoming open houses to provide information for their bond proposal that

[32:04] will be on the ballot on May 5th. Uh it is very important that you educate

[32:10] yourself because that will be on the ballot and you're going to have the

[32:13] opportunity to do that whether you want to support that or not support it.

[32:17] They're going to try to provide information that's factual to to really

[32:20] get out there what that those bond proposal or that bond proposal is for.

[32:25] March 2nd and March 3rd at Bothwell and Marquette Senior High School. There will

[32:30] be a tour at 3:30 p.m. followed by a presentation at 5:00.

[32:35] I urge all members of the public, all voters to get out and and listen to what

[32:40] the public schools has to say. If you can't do that, go ahead and look online,

[32:44] try to research the information yourself and

[32:47] most importantly, make sure you vote on May 5th because that is a very

[32:53] different time for people to vote. So, there's something important on the

[32:56] ballot be present. Thank you. Thank you.

[33:01] Great great point, thanks for bringing that

[33:03] up. I've got a couple things. Number one on

[33:07] the brighter side, we had an amazing event

[33:11] with the sled dogs last week and I just want to thank

[33:16] Ross and and his crew for putting on such an amazing event. The hundreds of

[33:21] volunteers, the the vet techs, the trail bosses, the

[33:25] you name it. I mean, it's just a bottomless pit of effort. I I just I

[33:29] don't know how they can make that thing go off without uh

[33:32] uh seeming like it's you know, it's really second hat for them. So, that was

[33:37] an incredible event. Um I've got

[33:41] comments from one of our residents and I kind of wanted to just wanted to bring

[33:45] it up. You know, as we deal with all the snow and all the plowing and all the

[33:48] wind that comes with these types of weather events

[33:51] people are talking a lot about the trash bins and things and it's pretty

[33:54] sensitive topic. I get a lot of contact in regards to these these bins and they

[34:01] said, you know, why don't we just have them wait to put something out a week?

[34:04] And I thought you know, I think we're all smart enough to figure that out, but

[34:08] I thought I'd bring it up anyway to just say, you know, if you got to have a bin

[34:12] and you don't have to put it out and you know that the weather's not going to be

[34:14] great save us save yourself the the effort and and maybe wait a week.

[34:19] Little things like that or positioning your your bins in a fashion that the

[34:23] heavier trash bin is going to be buffer buffer the the snow plows that comes by

[34:27] with instead of taking out the lighter recycling. Something, you know, along

[34:32] those lines, just little tidbits of advice that people might or may not uh

[34:37] have thought of, but just thought I'd bring it up because I can

[34:40] and kind of go from there.

[34:43] That's all I have. City Manager, do you have anything?

[34:46] I thought we knew you were talking about social media and the snow you were going

[34:48] to talk about my shoes maybe, but

[34:51] while we are talking about the snow, I do want to just mention that it's been

[34:56] a wild winter here and um city crew

[35:00] actually I've heard it's been a normal winter, but that's we'll we'll call it

[35:03] wild for now cuz we're still in it. But city crews have been working extended

[35:06] hours throughout the winter to keep up with significant snowfall

[35:09] that we've had and we've have a night shift that does work and they started

[35:14] working at the end of November, early December

[35:17] and we have a full team working

[35:21] pretty much around the clock. So, heavy snow comes when it wants to come.

[35:25] We can't plan it all the time. So, this last snowstorm brought in very heavy

[35:29] snow and working our our

[35:34] eight routes takes longer sometimes than the

[35:37] 10 to 12 hours that we have on shift. So, sometimes we can get through an

[35:42] entire route, sometimes we can't. But we do eventually get to those areas. So, we

[35:48] are asking for a little bit of patience when it does come to the heavy snow.

[35:52] I also just wanted to mention because we've we've received several emails

[35:55] about this and and social media posts we do see

[35:58] um our plow truck drivers are not out to plow you in your driveway.

[36:03] Um maybe only me, but

[36:07] they they are not out there trying to to plow all of you in. So,

[36:11] it is very frustrating and I hear all of you. We we very much understand how

[36:16] frustrating it is to clear your driveway and then have the plow truck come by

[36:20] a few times. So,

[36:23] we are working on on other strategies in the future, but for now those are the

[36:28] plow routes and we are working through it. So,

[36:31] help your neighbors out. Help each other out. Um

[36:34] I'm willing to come and lend a hand if need be as well. So,

[36:38] just please the snow is making everybody go mad. So,

[36:41] let's let's take a breath here and and and see the beauty that we have outside

[36:45] that's covering up the dirty snow now. Um

[36:48] we I think I've covered all of that. The

[36:51] sidewalks are still being worked on as well. Our our

[36:55] school routes are obviously first priority and our bike path multi-use

[37:00] path sometimes ends up being a little bit

[37:03] last, but we do recognize that people use it for transportation or travel. So,

[37:06] we are working on getting that cleared as fast as we can, but roads are going

[37:09] to be first priority and those snow banks are coming in as a

[37:13] hot second. So, um

[37:15] you will we will start getting to those snow banks here um

[37:19] very shortly, possibly even tonight. So, um keep an eye out for that.

[37:25] So, great job to our plow truck drivers and our our road crews out there. So,

[37:29] thank you. Thank you and with that, we are

[37:33] adjourned at 6:34.

Marquette City Commission Meeting 02-23-26

Transcript