[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:02] Good evening. I call to order the August 11, 2026 ported city council meeting and honor of all denominations and personal beliefs. And as we recognize the importance of fair elections to our democracy, we also acknowledge our local poll workers. Please stand for a moment of personal introspection and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.
[0:33] Please join me in the pledge.
[0:35] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
[0:44] one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
[0:53] And if I could please ask the clerk to call the roll.
[0:56] Yes, Madam Mayor, I'll start with Burns.
[0:58] You're led better.
[1:00] Here.
[1:00] Miller.
[1:00] Here.
[1:01] Homestead.
[1:02] Here.
[1:02] here. Randall here and young here. Thank you. All right. We have no
[1:07] proclamations this evening. So we'll move along to the opportunity for
[1:11] statement of citizens. If anyone would like to approach the council now is
[1:15] the appropriate time.
[1:20] Good evening and welcome.
[1:25] My first time here. I've been a
[1:27] 40th resident for 48 years. I'm a retired manager from a new epistolic
[1:33] church on 3600 Westmellum. Last year and the springtime the city had sidewalk and road repair
[1:43] done from I know these from angling road to 131 bridge. They read did some of the sidewalks
[1:52] to drive ways and so forth and our church was one of them. My position in the church is I take
[2:00] of the building, the inside and the outside contractors, and what they did, I've been trying to
[2:10] get a hold of, I got a hold of Kendra from the city here, because a driveway is not right.
[2:18] There is a major, major dip in it, you pull in and it goes like this, and it was not like that before.
[2:26] I have been trying since August of last year to get somebody to come out and look at this.
[2:33] I've been down to the city of Portiture four times.
[2:38] I was here last month on July of the 14th and talked to Kendra, and she said,
[2:44] I'll have an engineer call you.
[2:49] I've heard that since August of last year,
[2:54] we had a funeral there, there's past Saturday
[2:56] a well of 750 people and every car that came out of that parking lot, hit that dip because
[3:06] I stopped the traffic and every car that hit it,
[3:11] that's why I'm here today.
[3:15] I'm asking on behalf of the church if somebody could kindly come out and meet me there
[3:23] to look at it and have a decision be made on what to do with.
[3:27] I'm the only church only driveway on Millum Road that has complained, but we're the only driveway
[3:35] that holds 150 cars at a time, 100 cars at a time.
[3:41] Once somebody sees what I'm talking about, you would justify it, I'm quite sure the problem.
[3:47] They indicated like a 2% grade, that doesn't mean anything to me, I don't know what 2%
[3:53] five percent, 10, 50, whatever it is. I don't know what that is. But I know it was not like
[3:59] that before they started. It was a perfectly dry incline. Now the plow comes in. He's got a
[4:07] his blade comes in. He does this number. I hope he can see the frustration, not just my part, but
[4:15] the whole congregation has asked me to do. They want to know when it's going to be fixed or somebody
[4:21] come and look at it.
[4:24] All right, that's my agenda.
[4:26] You did it.
[4:27] All right, we appreciate you coming in.
[4:29] I'm sorry, you've had a year of frustration
[4:30] with the city.
[4:31] The city council is a great place to come to get a media
[4:33] reaction.
[4:36] Or if you could leave your contact information
[4:39] with the city.
[4:40] Have a great regard to a main name, a number of questions.
[4:42] I'll take one.
[4:42] You'll give one to our interim.
[4:45] Good.
[4:46] I feel like I'm in court here.
[4:48] All right.
[4:49] You're not guilty.
[4:50] You are a victim.
[4:51] and we'll make it right.
[4:54] Yep, thanks for coming in.
[4:55] Thank you for your time.
[4:57] Still an opportunity for statement as citizens
[4:59] if anyone else would like to come forward.
[5:02] Good evening. Welcome.
[5:06] Hello.
[5:07] Hello, Portage City Council.
[5:08] I'm Chandra Kinney.
[5:09] I am the District Manager at the Kalamazoo Conservation District.
[5:13] Every five years, the Kalamazoo Conservation District
[5:15] seeks input on natural resources,
[5:18] conservation concerns within Kalamazoo County.
[5:20] And thus we have just launched our Kalamazoo County Natural Resource Assessment Survey,
[5:27] which I am working to get out into the community.
[5:31] This helps guide the strategic five year long range plan for the Kalamazoo Conservation District.
[5:37] And so we are gathering input from all residents, landowners, farmers, and municipalities across the county.
[5:43] And we would love for many residents and municipality members from the portage area to be included in this feedback.
[5:52] This helps to ensure that our conservation district is growing properly with our community.
[5:58] Thus I have brought some of these guys that has one that QR up code on this side has more information about the programs and services we currently offer.
[6:08] And then on this side here, it is a QR code to take our current survey and then I've also brought some paper versions.
[6:15] Anyone is also able to access this survey on our website at KalamazooConservation.org and I will go ahead and leave some behind as well for you guys to distribute.
[6:24] Thank you. You can leave those with our city clerk. We also have an environmental board that would be very interested in participating.
[6:32] I'm sure. So thank you for joining us this evening.
[6:35] Thank you so much.
[6:38] Still an opportunity for statement as citizens.
[6:42] Good evening.
[6:46] I've lived in forage for 51 years.
[6:49] And I love my city, but there's something that I don't love.
[6:53] And that's the amount of time it takes to get code enforcement issues corrected.
[6:58] The system you're using now was severely outdated.
[7:02] You're relying on the post office to deliver notices to individuals that have violations.
[7:06] And we all know that the post office is not adequate at the best right now.
[7:12] And may I reported a truck in our neighborhood?
[7:15] They had a flat tire.
[7:17] The city came out and made contact with the owner.
[7:19] The owner said the truck belonged to the sun.
[7:23] I don't care that this truck belongs to your son.
[7:26] It's in your driveway.
[7:27] That truck is still there in all.
[7:30] August. It now has two flat tires. The House across the street for me had a sewer repair and as a result a tree had to be taken out and the front lawn was totally destroyed. The lawn was seated, but the house belongs to renters. And without water, grass doesn't grow. Well weeds came in. And I reported the weeds. And in addition to the weeds, we had chairs that suddenly appeared in the parkway. There were three of them. They were there for three months before I ever notified the city.
[8:01] The 45 minutes before the city came out to look at the yard he went out and mowed the weeds.
[8:06] The chairs left today, they finally were gone, but the weeds are back.
[8:11] There's another house on Renberry that was reported for over a month.
[8:15] We looked at weeds that were that high in the front yard.
[8:18] It was mowed a week ago, but it had been that way for over a month.
[8:23] There's a house now that has four cars, two over and the driveway, two over and the side yard.
[8:28] I'm not even going to bother reporting it.
[8:30] It just takes too long.
[8:32] The house with the truck we fought four months last summer
[8:36] with a trailer with a boat on it in the road.
[8:40] The mailman got out of his car truck to put mail
[8:43] in their mailbox because the truck the boat was in the road
[8:45] that long.
[8:47] I don't know what the problem is.
[8:49] I know your procedure because I came to find out
[8:52] that you have to send registered letters,
[8:54] but we're in a digital society.
[8:56] And it seems to me there should be some way that it's more streamlined to get problems
[9:01] corrected than having to wait three, four, five months to get things taken care of.
[9:06] And I'm asking if the city would please look at the current process.
[9:10] Go to another municipality, Ann Arbor, where they have students with violations, I'm sure
[9:17] all the time.
[9:18] Grand Rapids, how do they handle these things?
[9:20] So we're not looking at them for four or five months.
[9:24] I just want my neighborhood to look nice.
[9:28] Thank you for joining us at the beginning of citizen comment time.
[9:32] I feel to say, but you need to state your name and address.
[9:35] Robin Bowley, 7116 Balfour Drive.
[9:37] Okay, thank you for joining us and we'll look into that process.
[9:46] Still an opportunity for statement of citizens, if anyone else.
[9:54] Good evening.
[9:54] Hello,
[9:57] my name is Justin Hasser.
[9:58] I live at 4-3-1-7 Fox Fire Trail, I'm just off of 12-3.
[10:03] I have lived in Portage since about 2012-2011 somewhere in there.
[10:09] I have two concerns today.
[10:10] My first concern is relatively small, but it is one that I am a little bit worried about.
[10:14] My second is a bit more severe.
[10:17] My first concern has to do with an intersection of a certain road that comes from a
[10:24] on 12th Street and goes to, I need you to just bring up the name of the street here because
[10:29] there is a bit of a blind hill that comes down to this particular road and I'm just wondering
[10:35] if it might be worth at least investigating to get a three-way stop there, even if it's a
[10:40] time-limited one perhaps because when I had a commute back from like pop-high or other places
[10:45] that were west of Portage, that left turn was always very nerve-wracking to say at least,
[10:51] I was always a bit worried about being teaboned on that turn, but you know, it's W on Avenue
[10:57] and 12th Street, that particular intersection. Again, it's not that they could deal. I just
[11:02] thought, bring your attention just as concerned. Maybe I'm maybe just me. The second concern
[11:06] is a bit more severe. It is one that I am feel a bit more strongly about. It has to do with
[11:13] contemporary police surveillance measures. It has to do with people say flock cameras, the flock
[11:19] is a brand of cameras that are commonly advertised as license plate readers, but they have a lot
[11:26] more functionality than that. My concern rests with some cases that are in the news about abuse
[11:32] of these systems, having to do with one that was used to look into a juvenile gymnastics room
[11:38] at a community center,
[11:42] and how insecure some of these cameras are, how people who have the skills
[11:47] knowledge could actually hack these cameras and get them to work for themselves.
[11:51] I do not feel safer about these cameras being used, especially without a warrant.
[11:56] As I have also been hearing accounts of people using these cameras to stalk their ex-partners,
[12:03] I have also been hearing accounts of microphones that are, I think they're called,
[12:08] a shot mic, perhaps, that can be set off with a car-back fire and can suddenly drop
[12:13] to them almost like a top priority, which if an organized crime group could probably use that as an exploit.
[12:21] And probably most concerning of all are systems that will utilize CCTV inside of businesses
[12:29] and my biggest concern is sting raise.
[12:32] Special devices used by police to intercept cellular data and examine it freely without a warrant
[12:40] and basically get access to someone's phone without any consent, knowledge, or notification.
[12:46] I am asking you guys here today, a very simple question.
[12:52] What is your position on this surveillance thing?
[12:55] Because we seem to have plenty of these cameras already up, and as since that's my time.
[12:59] Okay, if you could leave your contact information, we do have some information, the safeguards,
[13:04] supported to the Institute and around the flat cameras, and as far as
[13:09] ON and 12th Street, ON is on the side of Texas.
[13:14] So that's not the Portage Road.
[13:16] And I do understand what your blind spot is there.
[13:20] And the county is really not eager to put in three way
[13:23] stops.
[13:25] But thank you for coming this evening.
[13:28] Please leave your email up here so we can forward
[13:30] do that information.
[13:32] It's still an opportunity for statement of citizens.
[13:38] Good evening.
[13:40] I'm Al Hawkins, a live at 10, 5, 10 Sudan Street on a corner of Osterhout.
[13:47] I was here a month ago about the Patrick McKinnis, when you hear, so they look into
[13:55] Southwesternage to Osterhout.
[13:57] So when you go to turn right, it's okay, but when you go to turn left, you have to really
[14:02] pull out. So it's been at least two months. The sign was knocked down. I can
[14:11] early July. Maybe June. I can't remember. Pecks and gowns got flash and light,
[14:16] so everybody knows how to stop, but that got knocked over. And so then they put a
[14:21] stop sign with a saw horse, ground level. Well, what was it two weeks ago, Sunday,
[14:28] there was a pretty bad accident. Nobody was killed. So I'm so thankful, but what
[14:34] at my point is I don't know where we're at, whether he looked into it or not, so that's why I'm
[14:41] back up here again. I think it's a pretty bad intersection, and not only that, but I've lived on
[14:46] that street for 24 years on Sudan, and it's all double-line, so you're not supposed to pass.
[14:54] So I don't know what you can do as a count so I just want to be heard is can we put up
[14:58] no passing signs?
[15:00] Can we patrol it more? I know our police are always busy. I welcome you to set my drive. You'd probably meet your quality if there is one, because it's a 40 mile-hour speed zone, but it's definitely not that.
[15:14] People have constantly passed. There was a horrible accident back in April for it on my house where a vehicle was turning left and a motorcycle decided it wanted to turn left to pass. Fortunately, he wasn't killed, but it was pretty bad.
[15:29] I'm just seeing a more increase because of the new subdivisions going in, I'm not opposed
[15:35] to them and it gets great to have people, you know, I'm pretty social-first, but my
[15:40] point is I've asked to have these trees looked into, especially that intersection of
[15:46] Osterhallen and Westage because if you are going to turn left, you really do have to
[15:51] pull out and it's unfortunate that it took an accident to get the sign back up that needed
[15:56] be there a while ago. So just by concern, and I'll probably back up to something. Does it change?
[16:04] So not faulty new folks. I'm just saying it's just a concern that I've been having for quite a while.
[16:09] The speed restrictions don't seem to be adhered to. Anyway, thank you. Mr. Herringa, we'll get back to
[16:16] this week. We do a traffic engineer and look into that as well. Okay. And just see through our
[16:22] look safety what the traffic accidents have been since all that has
[16:27] transpired. Okay and I've given Erica my info. So thank you.
[16:37] Good evening.
[16:38] Hello John Paver. I'm in Kalamazoo now. So sorry. Fantastic job with the
[16:47] farmers market. It's wonderful. I'm really thrilled now that we have an
[16:52] farmer's market. So great job on that. I'm just here to really talk about just a few housekeeping
[17:00] things. One in particular is the creek. I don't know, it's the one that's behind
[17:07] ridders and kind of extends but behind there and there's, I think there's a green house back
[17:11] there. Since we had the hurricanes that came through, there has been more trees than I can count to
[17:20] fall it into the stream and have slowed its movement down that need to be removed from there
[17:28] and on really hot days I only know because my family and I every Sunday I take the kids up to
[17:32] go get ice cream to ridders and then we walk around the library and things like that and on
[17:36] some really hot days it smells like the living dead just because there's no movement in the stream
[17:43] and that's just because there's just been a lot of debris that's falling down there that has been
[17:50] thing is that we see now more and more people using these e-bikes and e-scooters and
[18:00] I don't really agree with anything that Dearborn does but one of the things that they did is
[18:04] they banned e-bikes and e-scooters from public property because people were writing around them
[18:10] and like gangs of them and then they were just causing a big disturbance and I didn't really take
[18:16] to that until I was walking with my family and there's a lot of blind corners around those trails
[18:24] right there and a guy comes flying on this thing and I have to pull my little girl from that
[18:30] side because she's just like a six-year-old walking around looking up at the sky and I scream and
[18:34] the next thing I know, somebody comes flying through and he doesn't and I'm like whoa and I grab
[18:40] my little girl and he doesn't even take notice that anything was there and he continues on
[18:44] And so obviously there's already a sign or something that says no motorized things, but I don't know if there's something else that we can do or
[18:53] if that's a part of the ordinance of like no motorized things.
[18:56] Some of these things go up to 25 miles an hour.
[18:58] It's very scary.
[18:59] That 25 is fast.
[19:00] I wrote a scooter going 17.
[19:02] That's scary.
[19:05] And so the other thing was like the other young man that had brought up was.
[19:11] There's a lot of stuff with flock.
[19:12] And I support the, oh, I loved it.
[19:17] There's a timer here.
[19:18] And so I fully support, you know,
[19:23] our public safety and their ability to do things.
[19:27] My request is that any new features,
[19:30] because there are a lot of new features
[19:32] like being able to track people's devices
[19:34] through the use of those cameras that are coming through.
[19:37] They're on like contract lists for the New York State now
[19:40] Maryland and so that's just some of my concerns that any of your features I get thrown on these things
[19:45] at least they be brought to you guys so that you can review them so that we know exactly what is going
[19:49] into these cameras and what is not in these cameras. So not against them I fully support them obviously
[19:55] because your favorite. Your time is up. Erica. So quick. Thanks, guys. Thanks for coming.
[20:06] Good evening,
[20:06] welcome. Thank you.
[20:11] My name is Eric Borses. I currently live in Madwan. Do you want that address?
[20:16] Got it.
[20:17] Got it.
[20:18] Thank you.
[20:18] Yeah, you bet.
[20:20] On it, today's agenda number seven, the demolition of 93-03, I'd like to possibly
[20:26] purchase that building.
[20:27] I've been in talks with the person who built it.
[20:30] And it is possible I've been talking to a mover.
[20:33] I just need time to figure out and how to move the lines and things to get it.
[20:39] But if possible, it would be interesting purchasing that building.
[20:43] already own a lot that we need to be approved to move it to in the city. So that's what I'm asking for today.
[20:51] All right. Thank you very much for coming in.
[20:53] Thank you.
[20:56] Still an opportunity for statement of citizens.
[20:59] Seeing no one come forward. I will ask if there are any callers on the line. There are no callers.
[21:06] All right. So we will move on with our meeting to the consent agenda. The consent agenda is available for review by visiting the city
[21:13] website where it can be found under the City Council agenda and minute section. At this time,
[21:20] does anyone on the council wish to have a consent agenda remove for individual consideration?
[21:28] Adam, please.
[21:31] Let's if we may remove havens so we could talk about that, even though I know a lot of
[21:37] in-depth study has been done on the property, but I think we should have a different
[21:43] Okay. Any other items.
[21:48] All right. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented, excluding item number seven, so mode.
[21:56] And roll call please.
[21:58] Start with that better.
[22:00] Miller. Yes.
[22:01] Home set. Yes.
[22:02] Pearson. Yes.
[22:03] Randall. Yes. Young. Yes.
[22:06] And Burns. Yes.
[22:07] Okay.
[22:07] All right, the way that works is that we will be discussing the item under regular business items, which will be after our public hearing, so please stay here with us.
[22:17] We do have a public hearing this evening.
[22:20] It is to consider approving the rezoning amendment 26-27-1 to amend the code of ordinance of the city of Portage.
[22:30] Michigan article 4, zoning of chapter 42 and chapter 44 by adopting a zoning map, amendment to effectuate a citywide
[22:40] rezoning as more specifically described in ordinance 0-4-2026. I'd like to turn this over to our interim city manager, Mr. Adam Herringa.
[22:53] Thank you Madam Mayor, as Council will recall, a few meetings ago they adopted or we adopted
[23:00] the residential text amendment to alter the zoning for residential areas in the city of
[23:06] Portage. This is a follow-on to that. The Planning Commission did vote 602 to recommend
[23:14] approval to this. This is viewed just as a more of a formality as the map would follow the
[23:20] adoption of the of the text amendment. If City Council has any questions, I'm happy to answer
[23:27] and the Chief Development Officer Dam is in the audience as well. But with that, I'd
[23:32] be fine to answer any questions or you can go ahead and open up the public hearing
[23:35] that a mayor.
[23:36] All right. I will currently open the public hearing. If anyone is here this evening and has
[23:40] questions about this item on our agenda, now is the appropriate time to come forward.
[23:48] All right. Seeing no one come forward. I will entertain a motion to close the public
[23:51] hearing. I moved to close the public hearing. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed
[23:58] same sign. We have been working on this for quite some time. Does anyone on council
[24:02] need any clarification before we take a vote? All right. What is the pleasure of the council?
[24:09] Thank you. Please. I move to adopt rezoning amendment 26271 to amend the code of ordinances of
[24:16] to be a part of Michigan article four zoning of chapter 42 in chapter 44 by adopting a zoning map
[24:23] amendment to effectuate a citywide rezoning as more specifically described in ordinance
[24:28] of four 2026. Support and roll call please start with Miller.
[24:37] Yes. Umstead. Yes.
[24:39] Pearson.
[24:42] Yes. Randall. Yes. Young. Yes. Burns. Yes. I'm led better. Yes. Thank you. All right.
[24:49] Now we move on to our regular business agenda items that were removed from the consent.
[24:54] I had Councilwoman Olmsted removed number seven, which was to authorize the demolition
[25:00] of 9303 Portage Road for the reconstruction of our Portage Road corridor and if timing
[25:06] is everything, this is the correct timing to be discussing this with the citizen.
[25:12] So I'll turn it over to Councilmember Olmsted at this time.
[25:15] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[25:18] A lot of work has been done to this 93.03 property.
[25:24] It's just being rented right now for later.
[25:27] $2,000 a month, and the city says that we could make, you know,
[25:33] it's $10,000 a year.
[25:35] Have we ever thought as a city to sell it if there was a buyer,
[25:40] or was this something done back in 24?
[25:44] I mean, is this an even an option just for this gentleman right here, the consider?
[25:50] So we've had a lot of discussion on it in previous years, but I'm always willing to look
[25:54] at something from a different perspective.
[25:56] So I want to turn it over to Mr. Herringa, who gave us a lot of detail in our packet about
[26:02] the property.
[26:04] Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you council member, I'm stead.
[26:07] This is not the first time this property, it's been brought before the city council and every time it's come forward, it is resulted in significant discussion.
[26:17] Whether it was to purchase the property, there was a proposal to sell the property a few years ago.
[26:24] There was also a countervailing opinion that we should demolish the house then, and the council settled down trying to rent it until this day arrived.
[26:33] And the day that it arrived is, we are about to embark on reconstructing Portage Road in this area.
[26:41] And when the engineering was done, it was determined that if we want to maintain traffic in both directions while we do the culvert,
[26:48] if we want to have bike paths on both sides, this house cannot stay where it currently is.
[26:56] It needs to go.
[26:59] And the recommendation and this was why the House was purchased was because it was seen by the council and the administrator at that time that eventually this property where it's located is at a key a key point right on the right on the channel or drain whatever you want to call it and it's on both sides.
[27:18] So it allows us to redo the call bit and allows us to be able to put in the amenities in the infrastructure that have been proposed as part of the Portas Road 360 project.
[27:31] The reason for the recommendation to demolish is time is of the essence at this point where we are going to be designing this fall and putting in to engineering for bid this section of Portas Road.
[27:45] When it was reviewed by our staff, as far as the, the quality of the construction of the home,
[27:51] it was viewed as a home that usually when you see a building moved to relocated.
[27:56] It's historic structure. It's made out of bricks.
[27:58] It's easy to load up and transfer.
[28:02] This home is a split level with a walkout basement garage on slab.
[28:07] An individual would have to somehow brace the bottom, brace the walkout, secure the walls,
[28:13] get it lifted, move it down, portage road, get the permits from the individuals involved,
[28:20] that's located in an area right next to a creek, so there may be some wetlands,
[28:24] some other issues involved, and then get it relocated to a site where then you'd have
[28:28] to have the infrastructure to reconnect the house on the site.
[28:32] So it was viewed as a very unlikely or an overwhelming task to undertake in the time frame
[28:39] that was that were currently at, which is we are now in the process of designing and going out to bid
[28:46] for this particular section of roadway. Chief Officer Dame is here and he may have something else to
[28:52] add along with Director Guinn from our Transportation Newtills Department, Director Hoyle from Parks
[28:58] and Recreation and we have an engineer from Adam Marsh. I'm sorry, Whiteman. I'm so sorry. I apologize,
[29:09] I'm working with the other company on another road project,
[29:12] since they both seem to work on road projects and my apologies,
[29:15] but we do have an engineer from Whiteman,
[29:17] who can also speak to more of the, not necessarily the sale of the property,
[29:22] but more along the need for the space.
[29:24] So with that, Director Dame, if you have anything to add.
[29:28] I did think you did an excellent job of summarizing the need.
[29:31] I honestly don't think that even if it were determined to be feasible
[29:35] to move the house that there's enough time to do it. What I wanted to do was share I had a very similar
[29:44] experience in my last meeting. We offered the house for free. Someone offered to take it. It was
[29:55] three years later the house got moved and I actually have
[30:00] Talk to Eric on the phone, not about this, but he does have real estate background. So, I'm intrigued by the
[30:07] possibility. But just the logistics of trying to get a house moved, you basically have to have
[30:16] the next site all day now, it generally would have to be very close by, because otherwise you're going to
[30:29] and you pay the electric company to every time you lift it.
[30:35] It's a huge undertaking.
[30:38] It sounds really good,
[30:40] but when it comes down to actually doing it,
[30:43] it's if and I tend to think that
[30:49] it's not feasible
[30:50] to move this building, it's a newer construction.
[30:53] I've been in that house.
[30:55] The walls are, you can hear all the trucks
[30:58] from the inside the how it's light construction you're going to end up if even if you try to
[31:06] move it you have to have to redo all the drywall I mean it's I think it would be a nightmare
[31:11] and then we'd be stuck next spring delaying the project at the covert and so I wouldn't recommend
[31:22] it based on my past experience nor the advice that we've gotten about the feasibility of doing it
[31:28] So, that's my two cents they add.
[31:32] Madam Mayor.
[31:35] Question for you.
[31:36] The home is still currently rented and we need to give at least a 60 day notice is that
[31:41] the case is still occupied.
[31:43] Yeah.
[31:43] And it ended 60 months from the end of the current period.
[31:49] Okay.
[31:50] 60 days and that month.
[31:51] So we can't even start getting anything happening on this house.
[31:57] for more than 60 days.
[32:00] So if we vote affirmatively tonight,
[32:02] when would you expect the demolition
[32:03] to occur actually?
[32:07] looking at Kendra,
[32:09] who's going to have to admit it out.
[32:12] Okay.
[32:13] So I guess,
[32:14] my preference would be to provide you
[32:17] that authorization to do the demolition
[32:20] and for you to continue
[32:21] that conversation to,
[32:23] as I don't know whether this home
[32:24] specifically has been,
[32:25] you've heard the proposal
[32:26] for the gentleman who might be interested in purchasing it.
[32:30] So I give you the authorization to demolish,
[32:32] but encourage you to have one more conversation with him
[32:34] to sound, see if it's easier than we imagine.
[32:37] It might be in reality.
[32:39] Have you happened to talk to him lately?
[32:41] Yeah, have a question.
[32:43] So we do sell to him the house and they decide he does want to do it.
[32:45] I would give it to him, frankly, because it's going to cost so much for him.
[32:49] Well, my question is, if he becomes the owner,
[32:52] and then decides not to do anything with it, where are we going to?
[32:56] like, yeah, so is that part two?
[33:02] If I may,
[33:05] it sounds like there's a lot of pieces
[33:07] that would go into moving this.
[33:09] And we need to keep things on track for the Portage Road
[33:12] Project.
[33:13] If, by some means, the gentleman might be able to move it
[33:17] by the date of the demolition, would that be a possibility?
[33:23] Not, because you have to get a site plan
[33:25] approved for the future location.
[33:28] You have to build the foundation.
[33:29] and you have to have everything ready to move the house on to, and that won't happen during
[33:38] the winter. So if you don't have everything all set to move the house on to a completed
[33:44] foundation, you're done. So we would be missing some vital deadlines to keep the ported road
[33:50] project. I just don't think it's possible, but I'd be happy to talk to them. I have a question, Mr.
[33:56] We all know that the construction is not going to start on this project until spring at best.
[34:03] Why would we evict a family instead of allowing them to stay there during the winter?
[34:10] I just don't understand the sense of urgency to demo this.
[34:14] You can still do the site plans.
[34:16] You can still do all that work with that structure on the property.
[34:20] because we want to have it demolished using the heavy trucks with the, in the spring there's a heavy truck prohibition.
[34:30] As soon as that is lifted is when the road construction would begin.
[34:36] So the heavy trucks that you would need to move the house in the spring, or demolish the house in the spring either,
[34:46] It would delay the start of the construction.
[34:49] This project is intended to start as soon as those truck restrictions are lifted in the spring.
[34:56] So we want to have all the work done this year.
[35:00] So just because the development is here, I would like to ask him some questions.
[35:03] If you could just come forward, I don't know how we approve a demolition and approve the opportunity to keep the door open.
[35:12] And we're either doing one or the other tonight, and so we could, if it's, if staff talks
[35:21] there.
[35:24] Good.
[35:24] Eric from Maddoğan.
[35:25] He's got another project on Portas Road that is interesting too, so I think it'll be possible
[35:37] if you're that we could explore it and give a staff a latitude to switch to Eric's plan if it
[35:44] proves to work and if it doesn't we would proceed with demolishing. I think you could structure
[35:51] your amendment that way. Okay so I guess my question to you is have you been in the structure? What
[35:58] your allegiance to the structure and have you had any experience moving homes before? I have no experience
[36:05] moving structures. I do know it's possible. I am at the phase where I have texted pictures to
[36:14] someone I found in line in Michigan who has awards for moving structures on rubber tires.
[36:22] So I'm new to this through what they saw over text message. They are optimistic. They said 60 days
[36:30] to move it and that's with moving all that. I assume their power wires I drove down from
[36:36] the structure I had or that land I have to this and I don't know if we need to move traffic lights
[36:43] anything like that but I'm very I'm at the very beginning stage of this but the person does this
[36:52] things, things we can do it, it's they're not scared of it, is the point that I think I get from them.
[37:00] How far away is your personal?
[37:02] One point, one miles,
[37:07] but I do need to...
[37:08] It's out the north. It's by the celery flats, so north.
[37:12] So I need to get that approved, of course, but there's also other lands available.
[37:18] and I just see it as an opportunity and demolishing it will be this will be a lot cheaper for the city than demolishing it so if I move it most
[37:30] That's a better deal for you guys.
[37:33] Madam Mayor, please. I have two questions. Did you make this determination when she saw this was on the Council's agenda?
[37:42] Okay. So, Madam Mayor, honestly, I am not comfortable making a decision like this.
[37:49] Because, honestly, I think it kind of sets a bad precedent for us that if at any point in time, the city is making a determination on a property, we could have a citizen who comes forward and says,
[37:58] I want to purchase this or I want to X, Y, Z, and this is not personally in the test to you, you happen to be here this evening.
[38:07] I am more comfortable conferring with Catherine, I don't know if this is understandable, if we can do this, if we simply hold the vote and ask for more time to give administration time to do more research.
[38:26] But I am not comfortable taking a vote that would in essence just kind of say, yes, demolish it, or if you find that he's not able to hold up his end of the bargain, then go ahead and demolish it anyway.
[38:41] It feels as though we need to have all of the information here, because if the vote was brought to us, then we still need to be a party to that.
[38:50] And what would your process be for the family living in the home?
[38:55] I think they are happy to stay until we move it.
[39:02] Yeah, I've got doesn't matter to me at all.
[39:06] So when it's available, I mean, I can wait six months to whatever makes sense for.
[39:11] I can take it and I'd say the short term would be 90 days,
[39:15] but I can come get it next year too.
[39:18] So whatever's best, I'm interested in the house.
[39:21] I don't have a timeline for it.
[39:23] I've got dirt available to put it, and that's not going anywhere.
[39:28] So,
[39:32] Madam Mayor, please.
[39:33] I've got a question.
[39:35] So, Mr. Dame has said that the timeline doesn't work because it would take you a long time
[39:41] to get a permit to hook up the house on whatever property you're at.
[39:47] Do you need to do that or could you move the house on the property you own and then go from there
[39:53] to get your permits or whatever you need?
[39:55] I can give you that answer in about next week, I don't know.
[40:00] I do have, I would have to talk to somebody at the city
[40:04] and get that detail figured out.
[40:08] So do you think that if the city just gave you the house,
[40:12] you could still make a profit on moving it to wherever it is,
[40:18] and you understand that Porta's road is going under construction.
[40:23] And I will say this, you know, the city probably just doesn't want to deal with it moving the house.
[40:32] Because it takes a time.
[40:37] But hey, you talked to the city about this or is this the first time you're coming here about it?
[40:41] This is my first time coming here.
[40:43] Okay, so you really need to talk to the city.
[40:46] You know, if we've gotten a memo about all the complications and I don't know if you know about that.
[40:52] But you know, I commend you for coming here,
[40:56] but you need to talk to the city to understand the rationale,
[41:01] besides what they just presented in a couple of minutes.
[41:04] Sure, I agree.
[41:06] Okay, thanks.
[41:08] Mr. Herringa, would it delay the process if we were to defer the vote for one month?
[41:13] I'm not necessarily.
[41:16] Madam Mayor, but we need to make a decision.
[41:19] and while I appreciate him coming forward here,
[41:23] once the property's been in the state's possession for quite some time.
[41:28] And here we are at the last minute and now we have a proposal which
[41:32] we're happy to look into.
[41:37] But there are a lot of bigger factors in here and that is
[41:41] the Portage Road project and the time effort and energy that has gone into that
[41:47] and to ensure the success of that project versus one singular property.
[41:55] What if we were to lay it two weeks?
[42:00] I guess the reason I feel about this is we are in a housing crisis.
[42:04] And this council of which many of us were on it.
[42:07] When we bought the place, I believe we paid about 400,000 for it.
[42:16] you're not doing anything with it, can't at least rent it. And so we rented it, and even though we
[42:20] were getting $2,500 a month, it seemed like the care and the maintenance and the management,
[42:26] it just wasn't yielding more than about $10,000 a year to the residents, so the taxpayers'
[42:31] of support age. So, I mean, I guess, I'm the eternal optimist and what I would expect
[42:38] would be some real definitive financing of availability that you can afford to do this
[42:46] and that you have an understanding of our time commitment and a commitment letter from people
[42:51] that can make this happen. I mean, if we can work with two weeks, I would be supportive of that.
[42:58] And we don't do this often Councilmember Young.
[43:03] This is a very rare situation when we bought this property.
[43:06] And it was not a unanimous vote.
[43:09] It was very, I mean, oh, you were here.
[43:11] I mean, we had talked a lot of being in ice cream stand.
[43:14] And it was too close to the road to draw kids.
[43:17] And it's right in the middle of our park.
[43:20] So anyway, Councilmember Burns.
[43:22] Thank you.
[43:23] Quick question for the city attorney.
[43:25] So assuming tonight we vote affirmatively to authorize the demolition, would that prohibit a subsequent action before the building is actually demolished, if better solution were to become available?
[43:41] Obviously, then Kendra or somebody's going to go out to bid, right?
[43:44] They're going to go out to bid and once a bid is led, then that would be the point where we could not turn back, right?
[43:51] So I don't know how long that would take, but, you know, obviously a couple weeks and something like that.
[43:56] So there is still, you know, time.
[43:59] But once a bid is led and a contract is executed, then there's no turning back to my opinion.
[44:05] So fundamentally, we may have two three weeks to assess the feasibility of moving the building or not.
[44:12] We'll probably know within that time frame just how much effort and trouble it might be.
[44:16] So my inclination is to vote tonight rather than delay things further so that we keep on track.
[44:21] And then let them investigate over the next couple of weeks if they come back and there's a miracle solution.
[44:26] Then we'll hear about that at our next meeting, or the meeting after that.
[44:29] but we'll have the surety of having made the decision that keeps the
[44:33] particular project going.
[44:36] Please.
[44:37] And if City Council does undertake that motion, you have a guarantee that we would
[44:41] knock a lot to bid until there's another presentation to City Council
[44:45] based on any information that we gather.
[44:49] While I wouldn't necessarily ask you for a vote to reauthorize,
[44:53] certainly would come back before you before we
[44:57] and go down the path of North North.
[45:00] Madam Mayor. Please.
[45:03] I have concerns on I applaud him in his vision. But he sent pictures about text. It's a somebody to move
[45:13] a house. Has the person been down to look at them? No, this is in infant stages, but
[45:20] and where are they located? There's somewhere in Michigan. It was the first number I
[45:26] as I said, I'm pretty new at this, but with an idea and it's not voted on yet, so I thought
[45:32] today was the data show up. I'm not appreciated, but it's just like a knee jerk reaction like,
[45:38] you know what I want to do this, and we on the timeline, you sent this somewhere and Michigan to
[45:43] somebody who you just found. You see how it looks to me. They know of the location, they know we're
[45:48] not, you know, in the city of Kalamazoo, which they were originally scared of. And I think if you
[45:54] did give me a timeline to check all my boxes if I can get three out of the five that's probably
[46:03] not going to happen and I'll bow out of it immediately, but I think I've got enough information
[46:09] that it was worth saving the demolition cost for you and something for me at the same time.
[46:17] And I appreciate it, but I think that we still should move forward and like Councilman Burns says
[46:22] become back with some concrete evidence like hey I can do this, then we should take you know
[46:27] look at it at that point, but right now I would vote to continue on the path that we have here
[46:32] just based on you have nothing in concrete. I understand. All right, thank you. Nothing to get you again.
[46:39] Thank you, but I understand. Madam Mayor, please. I do always appreciate an entrepreneur and somebody
[46:45] you know trying something new for the first time with some of the discussion that we've had up here
[46:50] about, you know, authorizing it today, but giving kind of that two weeks, I feel like I'm
[46:56] good with that. I do want to let, you know, about the urgency of it because as many of us have
[47:02] suffered through the Portage Road corridor to have the entire area be held up for something
[47:09] might not be beneficial to all the citizens. So, I'm good with what acting city manager,
[47:17] hearing a has said about the two weeks not putting out for bid to see if it is feasible,
[47:23] at least give you a little bit of time to talk more concrete, get some concrete numbers on
[47:27] what it would cost to move it, and then make that decision or get another report in two weeks.
[47:37] All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[47:39] Joining us. Memory. Please. I'd like to make a motion to authorize the demolition of
[47:43] 9303 Portage Road for the reconstruction of Portage Road.
[47:47] support and roll call please.
[47:53] Let's start with homestead. Yes.
[47:55] Here's some.
[47:57] No. Brando. Yes. Young. Yes.
[48:01] Burns. Yes.
[48:02] Lot better.
[48:04] So we voted to move forward with the amendment that we have.
[48:07] Okay.
[48:08] Was that a yes?
[48:10] Yes to move forward with what we have.
[48:13] Yes.
[48:13] And Miller. Yes.
[48:14] Thank you.
[48:16] All right.
[48:16] Motion passes six to one.
[48:18] I really hope if you can come back with some real concrete, maybe we'll all learn something.
[48:28] All right, time for council committee reports.
[48:31] I'd like to ask if there are any council members who attended a subcommittee that would
[48:35] like to share with the rest of council.
[48:38] Madam, may I have a subcommittee of a subcommittee meeting with the Discovery Council
[48:44] as a master plan, we are continuing to move forward on narrowing down the 19 focus areas
[48:52] and creating the criteria that we are going to use to help us narrow down those focus areas
[48:57] to develop the 10-year master plan going forward for our discovery council.
[49:04] All right. Thank you. Any other subcommittees?
[49:06] Madam Mayor, please. We had our small business committee meeting last week and today we have
[49:12] awarded $191,000 in facade grant improvement funds to small businesses within the city which is
[49:19] excellent over the and so we want to look to increase that number so I want to encourage
[49:24] all businesses to apply for that and then we also prepared for the South West Michigan First
[49:29] Town Hall which was held today myself come to remember Miller Mayor Randall Acting City Manager
[49:36] Mr. Herringa, C. Chief Development Officer, Pete Dame, Assistant to the City Manager at Tom
[49:44] Rossiter and Jonathan Hallberg. We're there and so it was a good time. We covered several
[49:51] topics from small businesses to commercial rezoning, the Portage Road corridor and our
[50:01] farmers market and others that we had been doing and so it was a good conversation piece.
[50:06] the greater air of Kalamazoo Reilters was there as well.
[50:09] So just rounding out that work on small businesses and speaking tomorrow and continuing to
[50:13] keep them active in the community.
[50:17] I'm here for that.
[50:19] Close member Burns.
[50:20] Quick one, attended the Central County Transportation Authority yesterday.
[50:23] I just wanted to post the board on the results of the millage election for the Kalamazoo
[50:29] County Transportation Authority Millage, which funds the Metro transit, dial a ride,
[50:35] the ADA service door-to-door throughout the county and out to the VA Hospital in Malacreek.
[50:41] Pass successfully, about 65% of the vote, 65-35, and was ahead in every precinct
[50:48] imported so good support for that service.
[50:52] Any other council committee reports?
[50:55] Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the reports as presented.
[51:00] So move, Mayor.
[51:01] Second.
[51:02] All in favor say aye.
[51:04] Aye.
[51:04] post-same sign. Thank you all for representing the city outside of council chambers. All right. I'd like to start. I left this evening with statement of city council. And if I could please start with council member on set.
[51:19] Thank you, man. And mayor.
[51:21] I want to thank our city clerk's office for last Tuesday election day. A lot of work went into this month, even and her staff.
[51:29] We have Deputy Director, we have Clerk Erica Eclove, and we have Deputy City Clerk Tammy,
[51:36] and we have Erin, Mandy, Kara, and then some human resource person people.
[51:41] And also, it was so successful that the shortage should be proud.
[51:46] And I'm also thinking the public safety and all the other city departments that helped
[51:50] to make this run smoothly and efficiently, like public works, parks, and rack, and so forth.
[51:56] I greatly appreciate it. Now your dedication. Thank you so much.
[52:01] Thank you. Council member, um, led better.
[52:05] Yeah. Following her coat tells, um, I saw that it was the highest turnout in the
[52:09] Kalamazoo County with 36 percent. Um, that's the highest in the state.
[52:14] Was it? That I don't know. Yeah, I think it was.
[52:19] We're going to go with it. We're going to go with it. We're not going.
[52:21] That's how we roll down here. So good job.
[52:25] That's the night out.
[52:26] It was my first time attending the one in Portage.
[52:29] I didn't even know that.
[52:30] Had one, because when I worked in the city, we went to seven neighborhoods. So I had a good time. It was nice trying out here. So good job with that. And then with the flock, you know, I've always had concerns with that from a law enforcement perspective. And the stories keep coming out just recently in Georgia. And officers just got fired for stalking someone with flock.
[52:58] Matter of fact, I think it's like three or four people in the same department, so it has been very
[53:06] abused
[53:08] policies
[53:10] We got we have cameras and banks with banks still get robbed
[53:15] So just just think about it for a second people said what we got cameras, okay
[53:20] People still get robbed means to the happenings, so you have policies
[53:24] He still have violations, and it probably doesn't mean anything to you now, but if it was you or your loved one, somebody, you cared about who was the victim of that, it'd take on a different sense.
[53:35] So we really need to consider that and then with the new information about the cell phone data, I got to do more research with that.
[53:44] So I can be driving on our street on the phone and they can pick up my information without a search warrant, that's crazy.
[53:50] So, again, it's a good two for investigations, it's great for a lot of things, but then again,
[53:57] it can be abused in a lot of liberties that we have would be taken advantage of, so I think
[54:02] we really need to look at all the information that we can find out the stingray, so any more
[54:09] information that we get, I would love to have that come before the council, so we can make
[54:14] the determination, but research out of cases and police departments, where officers are getting
[54:21] convicted, not just tribe but convicted of tampering with the flock stuff.
[54:29] So some serious.
[54:30] Thank you.
[54:31] All right.
[54:32] Thank you, Vic.
[54:33] Council member Miller.
[54:34] Yes.
[54:35] Thank you.
[54:35] It was great to be at the Southwest Michigan First Portage Town Hall this morning.
[54:38] We did get an update from the mall.
[54:40] Steve, who's the new manager there about a store that's actually expanding within the mall that they're starting some new events
[54:48] for like a collector's market, bringing in, you know, people that collect the different trading cards and different,
[54:55] probably, you know, cars and different collectors items, so they're bringing in an event for that.
[55:00] And they're really reaching out to small businesses to offer them a place to start within the mall.
[55:06] I kind of see like in the business timeline if somebody's starting a business and maybe they are able to start through the farmers market and then we've up to a retail spot
[55:14] I think it could be a good almost like incubator for those small businesses
[55:18] So if you're looking for a storefront option, they said they've got very flexible terms and different openings and different ways to get you out there
[55:27] So make sure to continue to check out them all
[55:31] I did want to talk a little bit about we had a special meeting last week
[55:35] There was a new signature that came through to do a amendment to the city charter.
[55:44] It was put together by community action Michigan and it was in several cities within Michigan.
[55:49] That they went out and got petitions and people to sign to have amendments to their charters.
[55:56] So it's hard to find direct information about community action Michigan, but they want the different cities to amend their charters to put in a citizen health action.
[56:05] community. Well, I empathize with what they're trying to do and bringing attention to health care
[56:10] and health care costs at the city level. It's really not our realm. You know, and they went about
[56:18] creating this new verbage for our portage city charter with no input from the people in
[56:23] portage. They've done this also in Lansing, East Lansing, Kalamazoo. So it's just in Benton Harbor.
[56:31] It just doesn't seem very genuine to me.
[56:37] So we did, because they followed all of the legal actions
[56:40] we did have to put it on the ballot for this November.
[56:45] But it is something that personally I can't get behind the support
[56:48] as much as I do support healthcare.
[56:51] I don't think it's the right spot for it.
[56:54] There are places where it would work a lot more effectively.
[56:59] And I do want to thank Council and City staff for being flexible in working with the gentlemen that was talking about moving the house.
[57:06] It is a big ordeal and maybe a miracle can happen, but at least to give him that two weeks to see if we can continue to have somebody.
[57:15] Be in a house that wasn't in a house and see a let him discover if it's going to cost more than just building new.
[57:22] So thank you everyone for your time in it.
[57:25] Thank you, Council Member Young.
[57:29] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[57:30] I have a few things I'd like to focus on.
[57:34] And first I want to start with some of our citizens received a piece of mail.
[57:39] And it's stated it was from the city of Portage.
[57:42] It called itself an annual water test notice,
[57:45] which included an offered in-home water test kits and free water quality analysis.
[57:52] This is a scam.
[57:53] This is not the city of Portage. Please do not open it leave it alone. We would not send something to you in this nature, and so please be alerted to it
[58:03] You can see a copy of what the scam notice looks like on the city of Portage is official Facebook page
[58:10] Again, do not contact the number if you ever have a question about any mail that states it's from the city of Portage
[58:17] Call the trusted number for the city of Portage if a number looks different to you
[58:22] send an email to any of the council members to our city manager, et cetera.
[58:27] But please be aware that this is targeting we don't know how this came up.
[58:32] It just be courted citizens, but we are not offering these water kids
[58:36] or testing that would typically be something that would come from the county
[58:41] departments that can help to do that.
[58:43] So we are not sending that out to you.
[58:45] So I just want to make sure you're aware of that.
[58:47] I want to thank you to our Youth Advisory Committee,
[58:51] Porter's Public Safety and the Porter's Public Safety Foundation,
[58:54] for a very successful back-to-school batch that they had.
[58:57] They call it their pickout with Public Safety.
[58:59] It was really wonderful. They handed out backpacks and
[59:02] the kids got to play on rise, get face painting,
[59:06] and the administrators for Porter's Public Schools
[59:08] set in the dunk tank. So the kids got to dunk some of their
[59:12] teachers. It was a really wonderful opportunity to see
[59:15] The community come out. The weather was perfect and so just very appreciative of everything that we do.
[59:21] If you didn't get a back act, but you still need one. If you are a family who is a need,
[59:26] please be sure to contact public safety and they'll do their part to take care of you as always.
[59:31] One who encourages our citizens to reach out to City Council if you have concerns.
[59:35] If you are finding that you are attempting to reach a department,
[59:40] It is not, we do not have any ability to handle employees, but we can see what we can do about sending an email forward or trying to see if we can make a phone call for you.
[59:51] So please be sure to reach out to us if there is a concern that you have in the city to try to assist you and so that we can just figure out how we can.
[1:00:00] Connect you, maybe you're calling the wrong department or you just need to figure out how to keep things going.
[1:00:05] I want to remind citizens of our city manager search and that next week, on Wednesday, we will have
[1:00:11] that starting at 3 p.m. So if you are interested in hearing those candidates, we have four candidates coming.
[1:00:17] Please be sure to come out. It would be who view if you want to learn a little bit more about each of those candidates.
[1:00:24] It'll be a long day for us as council, but that'll be a part of us doing our job.
[1:00:29] And as always, thank you to our Acting City Manager Adam.
[1:00:33] We're doing a wonderful job.
[1:00:34] We appreciate you and everything that you're doing.
[1:00:37] So, thanks so much for doing this.
[1:00:40] Thank you, Council Member Burns.
[1:00:41] Yeah, very quick shout out for the August Portageer.
[1:00:44] I don't know which departments may have been involved in the half-page of the full page.
[1:00:51] Right up of the new residential zoning ordinance, but took two hundred and twelve pages of pretty dense ordinance tax and condensed it and do an FAQ and a very understandable
[1:01:03] Digest of what we did as a council, so I just thought that was really well done. I want to say thanks.
[1:01:09] Thank you, Acting City Manager, Mr. Herringa.
[1:01:13] Thank you, Madam Mayor. One of the things, and I'm sure that I'm not sure how many school kids are watching this right now, but
[1:01:20] are with all of our real construction projects,
[1:01:22] we do have the opening of school on the mind.
[1:01:26] And yes, there will be some conflicts with some of the areas,
[1:01:28] but please to report that West Nages
[1:01:31] is open from Senator South Melody,
[1:01:33] South Melody, angling roads should be open
[1:01:36] and the other projects we are working as quickly
[1:01:39] as we can to get those wrapped up
[1:01:41] and also coordinating with public safety
[1:01:43] to make sure that the first week of school
[1:01:46] goes to smooth as possible.
[1:01:48] Speaking of public safety, this past week, they not only placed in fire rescued people,
[1:01:54] property, but also a cat in a chicken.
[1:01:58] So many thanks to them for being the multi-disciplinary approach.
[1:02:05] Since Friday, we talked about housing in the material I provided City Council, we indicated
[1:02:10] that we had closed on five homes.
[1:02:14] Since Friday, we've closed on two more at Stanwood Crossings.
[1:02:16] So I would put our housing efforts up against any community in the state of Michigan and finally just a little bit of good news.
[1:02:25] Recently in the budget city council authorized us to hire an additional mechanic at our Department of Public Works.
[1:02:33] The mechanic that we hired was an intern for us.
[1:02:36] It's a recent graduate of Portas Northern High School and it's just finishing up the K-Risa Career Tech program in their mechanic divisions.
[1:02:44] So this is a story as to why and how the vocational education and technical education programs and partnerships with them work.
[1:02:54] Where our new mechanic went through that program and we extended an offer to him this past week and he signed.
[1:03:01] So hopefully he'll be permanent employee here very soon.
[1:03:03] Thank you Madam Mayor.
[1:03:05] Thank you.
[1:03:05] Mayor Potem, Dr. Pearson.
[1:03:09] Thank you, Mayor.
[1:03:10] I want to add to what council member led better.
[1:03:15] It's said about a falk camera surveillance.
[1:03:21] He's always been wondering if this is a good thing.
[1:03:26] And we had a presentation from the Portage Public Safety
[1:03:29] saying all the safeguards we have.
[1:03:32] But I will say this to Council, you know, there's a lot of reports on the news, and we should
[1:03:37] monitor those reports because, you know, it's coming out that even though the report is
[1:03:43] public safety has a lot of standards in checking the public safety can share the information
[1:03:51] with other cities and other states, and they may not have the safeguards that the public safety
[1:04:01] has. So I'm not taking a stand right now, but I would encourage city council members just
[1:04:06] to monitor what's going on in the public eye of Fox camera systems. Thank you.
[1:04:13] All right. I'm checking things off. My list of already been said, but I do want to acknowledge
[1:04:16] the engaged citizens tree that we had come forward this evening. We had a wide range of issues.
[1:04:23] And usually it's a solo topic that we just get hammered on. So I would just ask Mr.
[1:04:30] hearing if you could just keep us all in the loop on how the the church driveway is addressed
[1:04:37] and I know you've sent things to me on flat cameras maybe just dispense that when you
[1:04:43] give it to the council speeding passing the conservation survey I'm sure would appeal to many
[1:04:49] people. Code violations are we addressing them in the manner that's appropriate for 2026 is there
[1:04:56] anything that we can do to make sure that what our goal is in neighborhoods is that we're
[1:05:02] maintaining it and not letting one house determine the rest for the street, especially if
[1:05:07] they're rentals.
[1:05:08] So, I guess all I'm asking is that all of Council be kept abreast on these and you always
[1:05:13] do a great job of that.
[1:05:15] I wanted to say that the Council should be extremely proud of Council members, young and
[1:05:20] They have really ran with the Small Business Committee and everything from our charge card program to the facade improvement.
[1:05:29] They both addressed a town hall at the mall this morning.
[1:05:34] And just very informative, very concise and you made me very proud.
[1:05:39] Councilmember Miller and I did attend a kindly place.
[1:05:42] It's a land-like piece of property developed by AVB.
[1:05:47] There are 49 new homes there.
[1:05:50] We'll be, whether time the project is done.
[1:05:52] And it just shows you that our builders are taking land
[1:05:54] that is not easily accessible to develop.
[1:05:58] And so we are doing our part with our zoning
[1:06:02] and with our development office to really make sure
[1:06:07] that we are using our land wisely.
[1:06:10] And in closing, I attended a mayor's conference last week in Farmington, and all I can say as I'm really glad that I live in Portage and the amenities that we have here.
[1:06:20] Many communities are struggling with some of the same things we are, but I think we really have a handle on what we're trying to do.
[1:06:27] Data centers was a big concern of flat cameras came up. Many subjects like that, but it always made me happy to know that when I came home, this is where I wanted to be.
[1:06:38] And with that, the meeting is adjourned.