[0:31] Welcome to the regularly scheduled downtown development, 30 minutes Rochester for Wednesday, August 19, 2026. Madam, recording secretary, the roll, please. Missy, please. Here, Lisa Germani, William, Eric, Diana, Bob Bloomingdale, Paul Hague, Roger, Nat, Tony LaPouma, Mayor Jones, Chair Giovanelli, Jessica Clawcer, Bob Di Tommaso, Dan Sinkowitz, Kristi Tervaro, here, there is a quorum. Fantastic, and I was thinking

[1:01] I'm thinking that man, it's so beautiful out, it's going to be a struggle, but thank you everyone for making time for us, so we appreciate your commitment to the DEA Board.

[1:10] First thing on the agenda, the approval of the minutes from our meeting from June 17th, 2026, is there any questions or a motion in our future?

[1:18] I'd like to make a motion.

[1:19] Motion by Eric.

[1:21] Second.

[1:22] Second.

[1:22] Second by the Vice Chair. All in favor, aye.

[1:25] Aye.

[1:26] Any opposed?

[1:27] Motion carries.

[1:29] Audience comments, I don't think Jeremy's got any questions.

[1:34] Jordan's on the agenda, so we're good.

[1:37] Liaison reports, Ms. Clauseur is not here.

[1:40] No, we're just asking her.

[1:41] You may have to freestyle Madam Mayor.

[1:44] Oh, jeez, freestyle.

[1:46] I am ill prepared.

[1:49] What is going on?

[1:50] Well, you just heard us about the amplifier.

[1:52] We just had a grand opening for this afternoon.

[1:55] are ribbon-cutting, actually, officially.

[1:57] Other than that, I think we've got a couple things

[2:00] that came before us.

[2:02] We're probably going to talk about the social district

[2:04] and I assume that's something we were just working on.

[2:07] We have something a little contentious

[2:09] that we're going to be deciding at the next council meeting,

[2:12] which is whether or not dogs should be allowed in the cemetery.

[2:15] So if you have an opinion either way,

[2:18] come to Monday nights meeting and speak your piece about that.

[2:21] We also are going to discuss not requiring permits to have a dog in the park anymore.

[2:28] So we will still require licenses, that's something that you don't, others do, through Auckland County, we do it ourselves here.

[2:35] So there will be welcome public comment to that on Monday night, I guess those are two of the biggest things that are important to the community right now.

[2:44] We are starting and have moved forward with no walk your wheels on Main Street and so

[2:52] fire.

[2:52] I don't know.

[2:53] I've got some feedback.

[2:54] We have not gotten any negative feedback from it.

[2:57] It just started with the chief will come in front of us to give us an update about a month

[3:02] into it.

[3:03] I know there was signage discussion.

[3:05] They had made some signs but Emma said no, no, no, you can't put signs up.

[3:11] You know, we want you to put a particular sign up that I think they are making, and Christy might know more about that, but it seems like so far we've had positive feedback about not having bikes riding on Main Street, just as a little too tight and too dangerous, so.

[3:25] Certainly not unique to Rochester, that's for sure.

[3:27] No, Boine City allows, I was just up there, no bikes, no walking them, no bikes on Main Street, so I think this was a good compromise, and so hopefully it'll work out.

[3:37] to the extent that it isn't, we'll stop up the politeness, right?

[3:40] That's right. Exactly.

[3:43] I would say that's about it.

[3:44] I'm interested. Thank you for that update.

[3:45] We appreciate the freestyle.

[3:47] We know you guys are killing it for us,

[3:49] and we appreciate all of your efforts there.

[3:51] Chrissy, did you have something to add on the sign thing

[3:55] to since it's sort of...

[3:56] So, I was working with Jason Warner

[3:58] over at the city regarding the signage.

[3:59] MDOT is very particular about it.

[4:01] When we get to the social district conversation

[4:03] based on Jason's experience with MDOT,

[4:05] I have some different thoughts about the signage

[4:07] for the social district of where that might be placed.

[4:10] All right, we'll put him in that.

[4:11] He'll come back.

[4:12] Fantastic.

[4:13] All right.

[4:13] Next up the bat, Chamber of Commerce, Mr. D.

[4:16] Jamassel, good evening.

[4:17] Good evening.

[4:18] So, 2026 will be the 20th year of the Sunrise Pinnacle Awards.

[4:24] Wow.

[4:25] And the nominations and registration are now open.

[4:30] They usually take place in October.

[4:31] I don't know if they've probably secured a date,

[4:34] but I haven't got that.

[4:35] But starting now, you can register and make nominations for the 20th annual Sunrise Pinnacle Awards, and that is the crux of my fantastic, that's, that's, that's, that's good stuff there, so thank you for that.

[4:49] We appreciate that.

[4:51] Next up to bat, Mr. Sinkowitz, historical commission.

[4:54] Good evening, everyone, Mayor.

[4:56] Thank you.

[5:00] First I'll start off with giving a summary of the meeting that was held for the Harrison

[5:06] project.

[5:07] I've already talked to Bob and Bob will jump in there or the mayor can add to it.

[5:13] The meeting was attended by about 75 people at the Community House on August 5th.

[5:20] The meeting was very professional, well organized and well managed.

[5:24] Each table had five to six attendants at each table, along with a no-taker and a

[5:30] spoke person which I had.

[5:34] Very good one. So that worked out well and they used

[5:39] an electronic surveilant surveying tool so they counted all the inputs and

[5:46] then tabulated and that'll be part of the the Harris then proposal. The first

[5:52] The first half of the meeting was gathering input from the group about what they thought the future of the property should be.

[5:57] About 75% believe the community resource center was the best use for that particular piece of property.

[6:06] During the second half of the meeting, the leaders presented plans for the building that would include rental space,

[6:11] non-profits and community gathering places, a business plan was presented,

[6:19] outlining the experiences from two other similar projects, one in Detroit and

[6:23] one in Pontiac. Proposals are due to the Rochester community schools at the end

[6:29] of August and the school board will make its selection by the end of October.

[6:33] That's a schedule currently.

[6:37] From there, the selected project will work with the

[6:39] plan and commission in the city council.

[6:41] An interesting point was that the most recent city master plan specifically points out that

[6:47] the property should be used for community benefit and that the historical building should

[6:52] be preserved.

[6:55] Twelve members of the historical center proposal committee have handled a publicity including

[7:01] We've Facebook post post card distribution at the library post office, Starbucks location,

[7:08] Rochester, Rochester Hill City Halls.

[7:12] Stories were in the Oakland press and also the C&G newspaper.

[7:16] Fires were also distributed to about 500 homes within the Rochester community.

[7:22] I'll change now to some of the other activities.

[7:26] Can I just hand one quick thing to that, just while you're on that topic, correct me if I'm wrong?

[7:30] I think what the Board of Ed is going to do is pick three of the projects that were presented

[7:36] and then there will be public form for comments on those three, is that correct?

[7:43] I'm not sure about the public form.

[7:45] I know that the proposals I do August 31st, sometime in September, they'll review them and

[7:52] then select three finalists and then in October they'll interview the three finalists in an

[7:58] award winner.

[7:59] but I've heard at some point it was going to be done publicly, but I haven't seen anything

[8:04] that confirms that.

[8:06] Nothing in the RFP says that.

[8:09] Thanks.

[8:10] All right.

[8:10] That's it.

[8:11] Is there anybody that doesn't know what the Harrison Center project is?

[8:15] Okay.

[8:16] Then that's easy.

[8:19] Every ported earlier, at other meetings, Founders Day will be held again in 2020-26.

[8:27] the date is March 21st and the Historical Commission is waiting to hear back for a final agreement

[8:36] from a speaker regarding the Underground Railroad.

[8:39] The topic's being suggested at this time are the Underground Railroad speakers and the

[8:43] Tony Stoney Creek School House.

[8:46] Again, the tentative date is March 21st, possibly at the ground, or still at it'll be done.

[8:57] Yeah, that's the pressure. I'm sorry. What date? What date are you looking for? It's next year. He'll be fine. March 21. You said?

[9:07] March 21. Yeah. Okay. Long is not same Patrick's day. Long is not a Saturday because that would interfere with item number six. See. So yes. We're happy to help if we can.

[9:20] It should be on a Sunday, we'll know.

[9:22] Okay.

[9:23] It was also stated that one of the speakers for the founder's day is a painting a list

[9:30] of possible candidates who, if any, in our cemetery, qualifies for what they call pathway

[9:36] to Freedom Marker, working with the sons of the American Revolution, one person buried

[9:42] in the Mount Avon Cemetery has been identified and qualified.

[9:47] but they did not harbor any slaves. So it sounds like they they assisted in the

[9:53] passing through of people more information. They are currently documenting the

[9:58] gravesite and the city will take on the cost of the plaque and the ceremony will

[10:06] be held at a later date. That's more probably from the

[10:09] cemetery commission and from the historical commission but since it came up in

[10:14] And in the meeting, I figured it would be a good point of interest.

[10:18] And again, heritage days will be held on June 5th and 6th.

[10:23] A lot of the people that have attended in the past, the participated in the past are

[10:27] very excited already.

[10:29] I've received several emails and phone calls confirming the dates and so that's encouraging

[10:37] to know that people are really excited about it continuing next year.

[10:42] We're also at our meeting at the Rochester Historical Commission meeting.

[10:46] We had a couple special guests.

[10:48] They were students from the International Academy of Schools, and that's part of their

[10:52] studies and their class assignment, so it was very interesting to have them participate

[10:57] and listen.

[10:59] That's fantastic.

[11:01] Any questions?

[11:01] Any questions for our liaison?

[11:04] As usually, guys, we're getting after it, so we appreciate all of that, especially with

[11:08] the multiple projects at once.

[11:10] So thank you for your effort and the report. We appreciate it. Thank you very good. All right, on to general business

[11:17] The market

[11:18] Oh, well, and Christie's gonna handle that was guess I you know, I we've been gone too long

[11:26] So you gotta cut me a little bit of slack, right? Yeah, but yeah, I apologize. I apologize. Maybe that's okay

[11:32] So for the PSD

[11:34] Going to chief George is Halloween and sugar treat downtown and the Halloween fest

[11:40] No changes to last year's event that we are going to keep the Halloween Fest on the top of the East Parking Platform.

[11:46] It just seemed we started a little bit earlier and just the flow of it being a big oval seemed to work really well.

[11:53] Collette's already started on bordering all of the community organizations to be a part of that and we're getting a really great response from it.

[11:58] So that was on the agenda and then Rochester posed.

[12:01] We've already been recruiting people this year's theme is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[12:06] So we're very excited. We've also been struck by the lack of females in the rock

[12:10] and roll Hall of Fame. So it's going to be an interesting, yeah. Let's put it this way.

[12:15] Even had to take Brenda Lee if that tells you anything. But she's doing it. So, very

[12:21] interesting. So that's all out there. Also, we discussed a lot of holiday things. The

[12:24] Cookie Stroll Tins are already in. That was in Collette's report as well. We did a

[12:29] community survey on our social with three different designs and they picked this

[12:33] kind of winter, woodland, Scandinavian look kind of thing, which was fun. So those are in.

[12:38] We also started Festival Tree's designer recruitment and sponsor recruitment. So that's all

[12:43] going on as well. And Kris Kringle market applications at the PSD meeting, we announced that they were

[12:48] live. They are now closed. And we're cooking. We're full. The bus is full. That's great.

[12:56] Once every year just that event, girls, right? So yeah, we're trying to get a little bit earlier

[13:00] We hear this year collect because, you know, she's new.

[13:02] She wanted to dive right in.

[13:04] And I said, go ahead.

[13:05] Yes.

[13:06] Something I don't have to do.

[13:07] That's off you go.

[13:08] Yes.

[13:09] Very good.

[13:10] Anything else?

[13:11] No, sir.

[13:11] Thank you for that update.

[13:13] We appreciate it.

[13:14] All right.

[13:14] Now we can move on to the general business.

[13:16] All right.

[13:17] So we haven't been here.

[13:19] We skipped July just because it wasn't a ton to do.

[13:21] And literally, I know everybody's on vacation.

[13:23] So I mean, even hurting a few cats was hard.

[13:26] So I figured we'll just pass and end.

[13:27] but thank you again for coming this evening.

[13:30] Since we're nearing the due date here in very short order,

[13:34] we figured we would bring the Esther of Ceremonies,

[13:37] or Jordan Ceremon from Frank Rewald to come,

[13:41] and sort of give us a little update onto the project

[13:45] where we stand, me telling you where we're at,

[13:48] it's coming like third hand, I tried to stay away

[13:51] from the sausage-making part of making sausage.

[13:55] Christie, Tony, and Bob and Jordan have just been killing it

[13:57] and Jordan's been doing a fantastic job.

[14:00] Can't thank you enough.

[14:00] You've been taking a lot of boats for the team

[14:02] and we appreciate it.

[14:03] But if you want to come up to the podium there

[14:04] and just kind of, I guess, introduce yourself

[14:08] to the rest of the board since we're sending

[14:09] checks your way, they might not know who you are.

[14:12] That's fair.

[14:13] Yeah, hi, everybody.

[14:14] My name is Jordan Serhan.

[14:16] I'm with Frank Rewald and Sons.

[14:18] I'm the project manager for the Market Grant Project.

[14:22] So first of all, thank you for having me tonight.

[14:24] And thank you for trusting us with the project.

[14:26] We, of course, love to represent Rochester.

[14:29] We have for many years and we're always just honored and honored to be a part of any one

[14:34] of these projects.

[14:34] So thank you very much for trusting us.

[14:37] The job is going great, it's going outstanding.

[14:41] I think we've been having a lot of fun along the way as well, which is always good.

[14:44] So with that, kind of a schedule update, we're roughly 80% through the project.

[14:53] We're on track to be completed in September 30th.

[14:57] We expect to be pretty much done, done, move and read.

[15:02] So, we're on track there. That was a pretty big lift early on. As you guys know, we've went through a lot to make the job go. And the efforts from some other people in the office, like Sean and Brad and Frank and Jason, of course, a lot, a lot of stuff in and our client alert, a lot of a lot of collaboration happened to make the job go and get an under budget. And so now that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it feels good that we're going to meet our date here.

[15:29] So a lot of work to continue doing in the next six weeks, as you can see, but we are feeling comfortable about where we're at.

[15:35] So we are on the interior side of things. You know what you've seen, we've got the side of not by the exterior, you've seen we've got the addition up.

[15:44] So some of that stuff's in the rear view at this point. We've gotten our brick and our windows up around the addition and we've put some of the windows up on the existing building on the interior.

[15:55] we've had the rough trades in their mechanical electrical plumbing they're

[16:00] pretty well done with their rough in the bathroom addition so the drywalls were

[16:04] in there this week and we're expecting them to be finished with drywall

[16:08] mud tape and sanded and to this week or maybe early next week and then we'll

[16:13] start getting some of the finished trades in there like the painter and the

[16:16] tile people and the millwork and the countertops and the bathroom fixtures and

[16:20] that in the in the big event space similar status not as not as much to do in

[16:28] there though we've got our walls built mechanical room is all built the

[16:32] equipment is mostly set the big ductwork is hanging in the ceiling there

[16:38] electricians continuing to provide power and lighting and get all this stuff

[16:42] run and in a couple weeks here we'll start looking at getting a floor and

[16:48] And again, just getting the finished trades in there for kind of the month of

[16:52] September to wrap things up. Back again on the exterior, our brick mason is on

[16:58] the, what you can see there on the south elevation, the kind of decorative facade

[17:02] there on the south side. I think they'll be setting the Graham stone.

[17:08] Derrick's, I should be there at 8.30 tomorrow morning, which I will be.

[17:12] Yep, I'm plugging away at that and it's been cool. I got a close look at them doing the

[17:17] is there and very intricate work there so they're taking their time and it's

[17:21] going to look really nice. We got all of our steel set shortly before this for

[17:27] the the two entrance can of these there so we'll start looking at getting our

[17:30] roof on the three. The addition and the two can of these there will get our metal

[17:35] roof on there. Got DTE was a little bit of a it always is getting the utilities

[17:42] lined up as always a little bit of a struggle or an unknown but we did finally get

[17:46] confirmation that they do have a schedule for next week so we'll get powered

[17:50] up, we'll get the transformer set, get powered up and start firing up our

[17:53] equipment and getting things going. Our overhead doors are expected in a couple

[17:58] weeks so with that and with finishing the facade here and getting the rest of the

[18:03] windows in we'll finally be closed in and we'll have an opportunity to control

[18:09] the heat and humidity and air conditioning in the space so that we can control

[18:12] our our finishes get installed and make sure they're not going to swell or shrink due to temperatures

[18:19] as we start getting into the fall here. On the exterior on the site we we're in a position now

[18:27] that we're done kind of run heavy-year equipment around the rest of the building we've got our site

[18:31] contractor back he's installing underground storm utilities I believe he's finished with that as

[18:36] of today and you start and remove all the existing pavement out there so we'll be replacing

[18:42] that pavement with concrete in the next couple weeks and yeah again I'm track for substantial

[18:50] completion September 30th the budget side of things budget is fully in line we should expect

[18:57] to have some savings at the end of the job here we spent a lot of time on the front end as

[19:03] you know, getting the job to go and value engineering we call, you know, instead of buying

[19:09] this super expensive thing, what can we do to still achieve the function as well as

[19:13] achieve a look that's desirable, but do it for a more cost effective way. We did a lot

[19:18] of that stuff up front to make sure that there was enough money to build the job. And then

[19:22] as we kind of got through buying out all the contracts and making some more smart decisions,

[19:27] We were able to save some money and so for the last few weeks we've got a chance to work with Tony and Bob and

[19:36] Christie and Bannon and

[19:37] Make some decisions about some some things to add to the job. So we're replacing all the pavement on the project with a new concrete instead of leaving

[19:46] Some of that old asphalt there, which is going to look really really good. So that'll be a brand new facelift there

[19:53] We added the epoxy flooring in the event space instead of just the sealed concrete, which is what we were going to have in there.

[19:59] So we're going to have a nice colored solid epoxy in there with a cold base going up the walls, which makes it friendly for cleaning.

[20:09] We're looking at replacing the roof on the existing building. We're working through some options there.

[20:14] It's not quite as simple as just slapping on a new roof. We've had to take some design things into consideration.

[20:21] We're working on a few options there so hopefully we'll be able to get that figured out before the end of the job and get a nice new roof on there to just match the aesthetics of the rest of the building.

[20:32] And we were able to get in touch with some audio visual companies and security companies to kind of complete the package and make sure that you guys had screens and speaker systems and PA systems in there as needed for the events.

[20:46] with that a lot more a lot to go still a lot of hard work to do in the next six

[20:51] weeks but it does appear like we're we're sitting pretty good with money so we

[20:54] had some some allowances set aside that we don't appear we're gonna need in

[20:59] full so we'll work with you folks and decide if there's more stuff you want to

[21:03] look at adding to the job or if you just want to have some money to leave with the

[21:07] end of the job for whatever you may need operations or future furniture or my

[21:13] 12 years on council tells me it's going to be the latter. So let's just talk about that later.

[21:18] To the extent that we can do that. But Jordan, I just want to thank you. You have been

[21:23] the consonant taskmaster and going through this and the regular communications and the scheduling

[21:28] and the hurting of the cats and all that's a thankless job and you are killing it. So I just

[21:31] wanted to thank you for that hard work. It's obvious. Chris, do you have a decked or some pictures?

[21:36] I do. I do. So we're going to show some pictures too because I don't know if I mean people have

[21:39] been driving by and seeing that but not everybody's available to speak and sign and get a peek.

[21:43] out off the press stuff. So let's, uh, and then if you got any questions for Jordan,

[21:47] we'll keep on running. You can't leave just yet. Sorry.

[21:50] Sorry. So this kind of takes us from the beginning.

[21:52] This was what happens when I left on the chap road in the, uh, rewalled trailer.

[21:57] I was like, Oh, hard hat. Oh, drawings. So there's that. Anyway. Um,

[22:01] so this is where we started, if anyone remembers this building seems like forever.

[22:06] And then it became this. That was when we thought we were keeping the walls.

[22:11] not so much. Still thought we were keeping the walls.

[22:16] And then we started working on the parking lot. Still head walls.

[22:20] Now we realize the walls don't work. So taking down the walls, almost all the walls down except for the back.

[22:29] And here we are with no walls.

[22:31] But a really good roof. This de-walled into everyone stopping the farmers' work and saying, the canopy, is it going to be done soon? That canopy. It's a building.

[22:39] the pavilion. It's a billion. I kept showing him that picture. I'm like, no, it's a building.

[22:43] They're like, where? I'm like, there. This is our farmer's market one day. This is one of the

[22:47] historic walking tours. I don't know how many securities he has seen these. I think it's 40 people,

[22:51] but most people have the thing. We're asking, what's that? So I thought it was a fun picture. So there's

[22:55] and then they started happening. We started pouring concrete around the site and then we started

[23:01] painting things and started getting some framing on the walls and more walls and more walls

[23:11] and an addition interior shot and this is just a couple weeks ago as you the

[23:16] photos you're gonna see now are literally from like the last month because it

[23:19] started cooking really fast. There's the addition and there's the addition and the

[23:27] front. Windows came in, so I started working on those. There's the front, again,

[23:34] more of the front and the canopies. This is today. So this is literally as of

[23:40] an hour ago. So this is the interior of the space. This is me push back in the

[23:45] corner looking south. This is the drywall that George was just mentioning that

[23:49] went up, so that's all again. The one to the farthest you're right with the

[23:54] little door. That is actually our little mini kitchen that has the fridge and the dishwasher

[23:58] and the sink and some storage. And then next to it is our big, big HVAC unit for the

[24:03] whole building. And then on the very end the door on the left side, that's our storage

[24:07] for tables and chairs and whatnot. This is the bathroom, not with walls. This is the lady's

[24:13] side. There's an inside too. And there's also a family rest. And then this is, as of me,

[24:18] stomping through there with my heels. This is what it looks like. And so you can see the

[24:21] There are two ways that Jordan was mentioning and right above that is where the 1817 is going to go right beneath those three little windows right there and that will be starting in the morning.

[24:30] So that is literally the most recent as of 45 minutes ago.

[24:34] That's great.

[24:35] The one of the regrets I have, I wish we would have put up a time lapse up in the tree or something to kind of let it.

[24:42] That's always fun.

[24:43] This is just as good.

[24:45] This is just as good.

[24:46] Yeah, so anyway, my thought was listening to me drone on,

[24:52] bring in Jordan, and Tony, and Bob, and Christie, who really have been driving,

[24:55] again, the decisions on finish, and this, that, and the other thing.

[25:00] But my main concern is to be a tiebreaker, and a pointer of reality,

[25:07] to kind of rub everybody in.

[25:09] But Jordan has done a fantastic job, and Tony, and Christie,

[25:15] doing those value things that were able to save money and not trip over a dollar to save

[25:21] a dime for the future durability and maintenance and longevity and all those things.

[25:29] So I think we've had a really good compromise.

[25:33] And the good news is it'll be, I see of all, on September 30th, it's fantastic.

[25:38] So that's great.

[25:39] We have talked about certain things to possibly be for our grand opening.

[25:45] The mayor and I have had some fun discussions, so I don't know if we've had some thoughts

[25:51] as to doing possibly the state of the city there.

[25:54] So which is mid-October, I don't know if the date's been picked yet, but that would be a

[25:58] fun time to do both the grand opening, because we're going to have all the dignitaries there,

[26:02] and then let the mayor take a big champagne bottle and smash it on the side of the building

[26:07] there.

[26:07] and like Christine and everybody drink it.

[26:09] Yeah, right exactly, yes.

[26:10] It's in October.

[26:12] Yeah, so I don't know, have you ever said a little bit?

[26:14] We haven't, no, we haven't said a day

[26:15] and next time vacation right now, but really when you're comfortable,

[26:19] we kind of will go with your date, too, honest.

[26:21] Okay, like, if you want a way to week or two,

[26:23] after September, it's a very good thing.

[26:25] Well, I told Jordan that we're doing it on October 19,

[26:26] so that way, he had a date to be done for us

[26:28] because my experience with trades over my 35 years

[26:31] in business has been without a due date.

[26:33] Nothing gets done.

[26:34] Not that you wouldn't do it.

[26:35] I'm just saying, it's always good to have that.

[26:37] Yeah, and you guys can invest the date.

[26:39] We can work around that.

[26:40] Okay, we're 19 to the worst threshold

[26:41] as long as the majority of council is available

[26:42] and they would like it.

[26:44] We do.

[26:45] We're very available.

[26:45] I will pass it on.

[26:46] Other than a booking on March 21st for a founder's date,

[26:49] you're very available.

[26:53] So anyways, that's sort of all of the updates all positive.

[26:57] There's anytime any kind of negativity

[27:01] or a thing that could have gone either direction.

[27:03] George handled it masterfully in Bob and Tony and Kristi have been in there just to kind

[27:08] of pull it through Abby at A.K.A. He's done a great job too. So it's just for whatever

[27:13] reason every time I see emails, kind of because I'm on the thread, so I see everything

[27:16] that's going on. And it seems like all the time we got to get engineering in there. I'm sick

[27:21] of paying engineers. I'm going to come back to my next life as an engineer for these things.

[27:25] So that's the one issue we've got with the roof right now because depending on which direction

[27:29] and we go, we got to, anyway, so.

[27:31] But, Jordan's got it under control.

[27:33] I have my full faith and confidence in him and Frank's team,

[27:36] so I've done a fantastic job.

[27:38] So, I just want to thank you as the represent of the board,

[27:41] you know, for all of your guys' efforts

[27:43] and, of course, FRS has just been a fantastic partner

[27:46] of ours for years.

[27:48] So, you know, it's, it's great,

[27:50] and it's going to be super fun when it's done

[27:52] in that whole area.

[27:53] Now, Frank's got to do the parking lot over there

[27:55] and then the, on the other side over there

[27:58] by the fire station and it won't have the little central district that we've long hoped for,

[28:05] so it's going to be great. So anyway, thank you for that. Anybody have any questions for Jordan

[28:08] with respect to the project and any other details? I'd just like to echo what you said and say,

[28:14] Jordan, you got a great team. I mean, and they have been really good. I've been on a lot of projects,

[28:19] and I haven't seen one run this smoothly in a long time once we got it rolling. Once they got,

[28:24] We should have gave them the design, but it's so refreshing.

[28:28] It's kind of a project to have somebody say, well, if we have made a lot of

[28:32] improvements and upgrades to say, well, there's might be a little bit of money

[28:35] left over. You never hear that right? What we're going to be on time and there might

[28:39] be a little bit of money left over. Yeah, so that's been a pleasure.

[28:45] Yeah, for sure. And you guys too, Antonio, I'm sorry, go ahead.

[28:48] Sure, and you guys rewalled. I give you guys an A plus. When he picked

[28:52] September. I left here saying this guy is fricking dreaming. I mean, you guys, like today

[28:58] you went through the heating guys there, the brick layers there, the painters there,

[29:03] the drywallers there, the excavators put in the storm and sanitarium. I said, where do

[29:08] you see that? You never see that. You guys kicked that job in the butt. A plus. A plus for

[29:14] you guys. Tom Hanks and Shelley Long into the money pit with all the trades now. All I got

[29:18] two weeks. It's great. But again, thanks for that. And we just wanted to have you, you know,

[29:24] show your face to the board so they can see who's really the master of ceremonies. But the

[29:28] bad news is, Sean takes all the credit for your hard work, so that's why. But no, we appreciate

[29:34] you guys, you know, extend our thanks to, you know, to the Rewald family for you guys taking

[29:39] good care of us, so we appreciate that. For sure. All right. You can, you're off the hook now.

[29:44] Yeah, I'm sure if you stay, if you want, I mean, it's fascinating.

[29:51] Yes, sir.

[29:52] Yeah, have a good night.

[29:54] Okay, next up on deck is Paul Nairgaden at the Graham.

[29:56] I thought.

[29:59] Oh, there we go.

[30:00] So I let Marilyn know she had offered and I let her know it was on the agenda tonight, but she hadn't responded. So I'm assuming that she was busy, but she had offered to us because she had emailed Ben and I because she had offered early on. If there's an opportunity, she'd love to add a pollinator guard, might even be able to find some funding and some labor to help us with that. So she had reintroduce that offer to Ben and I via email. So Ben said, we'll throw it on the next agenda. So the area that we had been thinking about, and this is the map that was in your packet, is that ramp that's coming down.

[30:29] Right in the out, it's just a really great little garden area that we thought would be a great place for the pollinator garden because it has

[30:35] Nice exposure. It's gonna a lot of people will see it and it's a nice focal point of the place

[30:41] So I just wanted to see how everyone felt about that. This is area. We're talking about if everyone's interested in that then I can

[30:47] Start working with Maryland to make that happen. That'll be a savings on the job as well

[30:51] If they are able to fund part of it because there was there is landscaping slated to go in here

[30:55] So then that would be a savings. I talked to Jordan. We're not too late to not order some of the things that go here

[31:01] So that would be another savings on the job if we could do that

[31:05] So because this wouldn't require a roll cover

[31:08] It's not we're not spending money or in theory saving money, right? Like correct as far as I know if something changes in Maryland

[31:14] Decides that it would cost something

[31:16] We just look at what we already have budgeted within the grand project for plantings and see if there's a delta if there's more

[31:24] that would have to be in there, then that would have to be a discussion, but I did not get that impression.

[31:28] Do we need to take a temporary vote or...?

[31:31] I don't think so. No, this was more information, unless someone has some strong feelings about putting a pollinator garden in this location.

[31:38] The more pollinated garden is the better, as far as I'm concerned.

[31:41] Yes, it's right over there. Yeah, exactly. It's right where that cat bulldozer thing is.

[31:47] That's literally parked where the pollinator goes.

[31:48] It's a positive, a hundred percent.

[31:51] No, we're a positive and I was saved by it.

[31:53] I was going to say the money saver and the poll and everything else.

[31:57] That's great.

[31:57] Thumbs up on that.

[31:59] And Chris, he's about as literally just going to say, it's already in the budget.

[32:02] The landscaping is already there.

[32:03] So to the extent that it was over, you know, we may have to do some horse trading,

[32:06] but I can't imagine that to be the case.

[32:07] It's actually going to be a savings.

[32:09] Oh, yeah.

[32:09] Well, this is great.

[32:10] And the more people we can get involved in the project, the more ownership we have in it,

[32:14] and it's going to be great.

[32:15] All right, so with that, yes, March forward with the pollinator team pollinator and get back to us and let us know.

[32:25] Next up on deck, Saturday market at the Grand Madam Director.

[32:29] So as we've been getting closer, a lot of people, honestly, from even just being a shelter, are you going to do a year round market?

[32:35] I'm like, I don't even have walls. Hang on. Then the walls came up. I'm like, I don't even have doors.

[32:39] I've been kind of pushing people out because I was waiting for Jordan to say, yes, September

[32:44] 30 is real, because as you know, with any construction projects something can happen,

[32:47] the last thing I wanted to do is set an expectation and not be able to fulfill it.

[32:53] I'm feeling a little saucy now, feeling like we are at that point.

[32:55] So a couple of weeks ago, I've been working at the Farmer's Market every Saturday, kind

[32:59] of reintroducing myself to the vendors and getting those relationships going again, and making

[33:03] new relationships with some of the newer vendors, and I was talking to them about if we were

[33:07] to do a winter market on Saturdays, would you be interested?

[33:11] And it was just a casual discussion, a lot of enthusiasm for it.

[33:14] And of course, we have some of our bigger farmers that say,

[33:17] I don't grow in the winter.

[33:18] And the winter I take the winter off, which is fine.

[33:20] But we do have some other vendors that say, yeah,

[33:22] I still grow hot house.

[33:24] I still grow some lettuces, some onion, some other little things.

[33:27] But a lot of our prepared food people have said, yes.

[33:30] When some people tell me that when they're not at our market

[33:32] for the six months, they don't do anything

[33:34] until we reopen in May.

[33:36] So this would be a big game changer for them.

[33:39] So having said that, in your packet I listed with the, after that I sent an actual electronic survey

[33:45] just to kind of quantify everything, even though I had the little handwritten notes of what everyone had told me.

[33:49] But as of right now I have 13 of our existing farmers market vendors that said that they would do a full season in the Graham if we did it.

[33:57] Half season, I had four vendors say that so that's like an every other week which those are the,

[34:01] we have three things that we offer at the farmers market currently full season, half season.

[34:05] or then select dates.

[34:06] So just you can pick a date, you know, some people do once a month, some people just pick

[34:09] around vacations, whatever.

[34:11] And I have 10 of our vendors that said that they would do select dates.

[34:14] When I went and measured everything out, which is my cute little diagram right here, such

[34:19] as it is, I was able to look, I think we can accommodate 22 vendors, maybe 24, but I'd rather

[34:26] undershoot and then if we have to push a little bit more, we can, they're 8 foot by 8 foot

[34:30] spaces within the space in space. So what I was proposing for the market at the

[34:36] grant because we do have festival trees was going to be our kickoff event in

[34:40] there that was it's in November which I thought that was safe but now we're

[34:44] going to be doing state of the city things like that. We're actually with the

[34:47] festival trees going to able to build in there rather than build the studio and

[34:50] then move tree trees. I don't know if anyone has ever moved a fully decorated

[34:54] Christmas tree. Well Dana has. Bob has. I have. It's not super fun. When you have

[35:00] to move them from building to building to building.

[35:02] So it's really great that we can build them in place.

[35:04] So having said all of that and we wanted

[35:06] to give it its own launching pad.

[35:07] We were proposing to start it on November 28th,

[35:10] which is also small business Saturday.

[35:13] It's a big weekend for downtown.

[35:15] We have a lot of people already built in

[35:16] and rather just throwing it on a random day

[35:19] and talking with a lot of the vendors.

[35:20] They like the 28th as well.

[35:21] They thought that that would be an interesting, you know,

[35:24] because of course, they're all small businesses.

[35:25] It's all local so it all just kind of makes sense

[35:27] and gives us a new wrinkle for small business Saturday,

[35:29] which, quite frankly, the promotions committee has been looking for.

[35:33] In addition to that, we started looking at the pricing structure because obviously this

[35:38] is going to be changing.

[35:39] So you may notice it says Graham inaugural, I would like to look at these prices next year

[35:45] for the full market season to really identify where we want to go with things.

[35:51] We are, generally as I've been doing some surveys of other markets, we are on the low side,

[35:56] To be honest, but I don't want to then go crazy and then all of a sudden the vendors that were with us forever decide they can find somebody

[36:02] Some place better. So I tried to strike a balance with that. So our current market rates daily is $30

[36:08] I have season which is 26 weeks is 200 or I'm sorry, it's 13 weeks is $250 and a full season for $400

[36:19] Anyway, what I was proposing for the inaugural is up in the daily to 40 because they are getting indoors

[36:25] is electricity, they're getting a lot by being inside now.

[36:29] Going for the half season at $2.75, it would be for 11 weeks.

[36:33] So only really a $25 difference, but they're getting less weeks.

[36:37] But it all evens out, they're still getting a discount based on paying ahead.

[36:41] And then full season going from $400 to $450.

[36:45] Like I said, I don't want to put anybody off and think, that's really expensive.

[36:49] I don't want to do it.

[36:49] I want to make sure that we can fill and then prove value because we are unproven.

[36:53] And we haven't done this before.

[36:55] I feel fairly confident that it's going to be successful

[36:58] because this is literally the first question

[37:00] that I get when I arrive at the market

[37:02] and the last question I get when I leave.

[37:04] This is all people want to know about

[37:05] as the year round market.

[37:06] So I feel like we're going to have success,

[37:08] but I wanted to see how the board feels about it.

[37:11] And if you like this pricing structure,

[37:14] this layout, this approach, this everything.

[37:17] So this is what I know.

[37:18] I'm going to stop talking now.

[37:19] There we are.

[37:21] Oh, thank you.

[37:22] I have agnized over this.

[37:24] So it's fairly self-explanatory.

[37:26] Is there any questions for the director or any opinions on this?

[37:32] Well, you guys go ahead first and I'll say it won't be last.

[37:35] I just think this was the original goal.

[37:37] One of the original goals I should say.

[37:39] And so you're fulfilling what the plan was.

[37:43] And you know better, I think, than probably us up here

[37:46] as far as how much to charge.

[37:47] So I feel like we have to respect your math on that,

[37:50] How many tables or how many sections fit in there? I think it's super exciting. Just when you said that I just thought about the winners

[37:57] Like and seeing people going there just as an event on a Saturday because it's winners hard here

[38:04] So I think it will do really well

[38:07] Yeah, and you said it exactly right. We're not calling it a winter market

[38:12] We're calling Saturday market at the Graham because we want that to continue throughout because when we get to April

[38:17] it's not winter. Right. And winter, I feel like, has a little bit of a negative thing.

[38:20] After you get through fire and ice, everything, everything, everybody's sick of winter.

[38:23] So it's Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. So it's always that marketing

[38:25] that there's always something happening on Saturdays at the ground.

[38:28] So I certainly highly support this.

[38:30] Yeah. I'm Paul.

[38:32] I have a question. Are you going to have downtown merchants have a space?

[38:36] As of right now, I don't, since we're such limited space and I have enough vendors,

[38:40] I'm going to say no at this time. But if there is opportunity, once we see how everybody sets up,

[38:46] If there's more room and I don't have enough vendors to fill, then I think that's an opportunity that is something we do at the current farmer's market, but I have

[38:54] 48 spaces versus 22. So it's a little different. So that'll definitely that continues now. I know you guys already have a space book

[39:00] But I think on Halloween and then and that'll continue with the big market if we have an opportunity that I can't fill a week

[39:07] That I think we would open it to downtown businesses, but based on my conversation with the farmers. I don't think that's going to be an issue for us right now

[39:13] as long as we're full of farmers.

[39:15] Yeah, I don't think it's going to be an issue.

[39:17] Yeah, for sure.

[39:19] And like we talked about in the very beginning,

[39:21] this is we're going to sort of ease into it.

[39:24] We're going to spend some time on it.

[39:26] And it's like buying a house.

[39:27] You don't do everything and all the designing right away.

[39:30] You kind of live in it for a little while and figure out

[39:32] what works and what doesn't work.

[39:33] So yeah, the only thing that I would say

[39:36] is with respect to pricing, just make sure everybody understands

[39:38] this is just a stab for us right now.

[39:40] And it may change next year.

[39:41] We just don't know. So I mean, it's it's only fair.

[39:45] Well, the good news is is that, you know, we're only heating it one day, right?

[39:48] It's not like it's going to be, you know, 78 and sunny inside there.

[39:52] All right, very good. So direction.

[39:57] The direction forward with this.

[39:59] No, I was just actually going to ask if you have like, I think the chairman just,

[40:04] if it's only one day, I don't see like a large increment in cost because

[40:09] as we're only running the heating for one day.

[40:11] So it was more of a, hey, have we projected like,

[40:14] or do you have a break even for how much each booth needs

[40:18] to generate and revenue to at least break even?

[40:22] Yeah, no, I'm hoping that if they,

[40:25] with the discounted rate, it's about $25.

[40:27] So if they can't do that, then it's a problem.

[40:33] So, just to give, I don't want to give exact in which vendor it was,

[40:37] but I had a long discussion with one of our farmers and they sell eggs and they sold 153 dozen eggs at the market on Saturday.

[40:46] And they pay $30 to be there and she's extremely happy and thinks she has to buy more chickens.

[40:51] Because she currently has 300 chickens, this is my life now.

[40:55] She has 300 chickens and to do our market and another market she doesn't have enough chickens to produce that but she was one of the

[41:01] see some people that signed on an under-products bond in all capital letters eggs through exclamation

[41:07] points.

[41:07] Yeah.

[41:08] That's awesome.

[41:09] Didn't you charge like nine bucks with that?

[41:11] Nine dollars a dozen.

[41:12] Yeah.

[41:13] Hold on.

[41:14] I just did the math.

[41:15] So let's see.

[41:16] Wow.

[41:17] Yeah.

[41:18] Yeah.

[41:18] Wow.

[41:19] All right.

[41:22] So the direction for the direction for the director to proceed with this, any question on pricing

[41:30] or anything else like that, we're good.

[41:32] Again, we don't know what we don't know at this point,

[41:35] and we're going to figure out as we go along.

[41:36] So we'll be conservative, but only to a point,

[41:40] we want to keep the place full.

[41:41] And I know each event's going to get more and more stuff

[41:44] going on there, and more and more things added, and whatever.

[41:48] So I know how our team rolls, so it's

[41:51] going to involve quite lovely.

[41:53] And I think, you know, come February when it's just

[41:55] miserable, all people are going to just be digging it.

[41:57] So the hot cocoa stand for $10 a shot, it'll be great.

[42:02] For the $20 for a dozen eggs.

[42:05] Well, yeah, you know, it's just the magic eggs, right?

[42:08] Did you want to roll into D since it's related to C?

[42:10] Sure.

[42:12] So part of this is obviously since everything's getting real now,

[42:16] one of the things that I've had the opportunity

[42:18] to do when Taylor left is I haven't really touch farmers

[42:21] markets since, basically, for 27 years,

[42:23] because I started the farmers market

[42:25] and then it got handed over to other people

[42:26] and I never worked on it other than starting it, so I was always on the periphery, so this year

[42:31] I've been there every Saturday and I've enjoyed the heck out of it because I really felt

[42:35] now in hindsight it's like everything happens for a reason, I should have been there because

[42:40] it allowed me to really see things from a perspective both of the farmers and also the customers.

[42:45] Everybody coming up every week, I was so excited we finally got the back on the building

[42:49] because they're like whoa something's happening because every week we were doing the underground

[42:52] And I knew we were moving forward, but everybody else was like, looks the same as last week.

[42:57] I'm like, it's happening. Trust me.

[42:59] Came back at the 4th of July, and we had walls, and people thought it was crazy,

[43:02] something they'd ever seen. It was amazing.

[43:04] But so in doing that, working with our market managers, we always have seasonal market managers

[43:08] that work with us. They alternate weeks a lot of times.

[43:11] We work together just because there's so many things happening.

[43:13] And somebody has to be there to run EBT.

[43:15] Somebody's out there with the vendors, so that I'm just kind of floating around doing whatever I'm doing.

[43:19] So, as we've been doing this, I found that during the week, taking over tailors, I spent at least two days a week on market, and I could probably spend more.

[43:29] That's basically, you know, doing all the reporting for the EBT, getting all the stuff ready for the next week, scheduling all the vendors, sending out the invoices, doing all the paperwork to the city, all of that, maps for everything online, all the social.

[43:41] That's two days for me, and I know I could be spending more time on it.

[43:45] I'm fortunate because I've really started building our bench early, so my recruitment

[43:49] I did a lot of it back in May and June, so we're seeing the fruits of that now.

[43:53] But what I can say is that going forward, I can see that if we had someone dedicated to

[43:58] that position that was spending those couple days plus their day at the market, I think

[44:03] there would be a great value to us because I know I could probably be doing more, but I'm

[44:06] doing all these other things that I'm supposed to be doing.

[44:09] And I feel like if I could dedicate more, someone could dedicate more, it would be more meaningful.

[44:14] One of our market managers is starting with us this year.

[44:16] She started Mayer Name's Caroline Hill.

[44:18] She works with us on Saturdays, about seven hours a Saturday.

[44:21] She's coming back into the workforce, she's raised her kids.

[44:24] They're getting older, she wants to start working again,

[44:27] and she's very passionate about the market.

[44:29] She's forming all these great relationships with the vendors,

[44:32] and she's shown interest if we were able to,

[44:35] if we ever wanted to do something more with the position

[44:38] that she'd like to see it beyond the season of working with us.

[44:41] so in speaking with Ben and kind of talking about where I think we're going and how he knows that

[44:45] this is going to continue to grow. It isn't just going to be a Saturday's only at the market kind

[44:49] of situation. If the board would be interested in elevating Caroline from seasonal part time to

[44:55] regular part time and increasing her hours to an average not to

[45:00] The seat of 24 hours a week. There would be no benefits included in this position. As I indicated in my memo, I spoke with Joel and Haynes, so the city's HR director, as long as her hours do not exceed. Thank you, 30 hours. And there's a total of 15, 60 per year. So she can go over 30 hours as an average. So, but it's 1500 and 60 hours per year. We do not have to offer benefits. The only other implication on the budget would be for every 30 hours work.

[45:29] she earns one hour of sick time, which is really negligible.

[45:33] And as Ben said, when we were talking about an executive committee from a budgetary

[45:37] sandboy because we did have a shorter staff this year, there is money still in the personnel

[45:43] line item, so we wouldn't have to go for a budget amendment to allow this to happen, but

[45:48] I haven't asked for a new person a long time, and it's still just part time because we're

[45:53] just like I said, we're getting up and rolling.

[45:54] We want to walk before we run, but I think this would be a great asset to the ground and to get somebody focused on this to make sure that this continues to grow.

[46:06] Yes.

[46:07] The official ask is for permission or for approval to bring Caroline on full year part time.

[46:18] Four-year break it's the phrases regular part time is what you want to say right now. She's to catarise a seasonal part time

[46:23] Yeah, just so any allowers not to exceed

[46:26] 1,560 per year

[46:30] We've got unfortunately fortunately we've got more of that up money in the budget because we were little we're good

[46:36] We lost and lost some bodies early on that yeah

[46:40] Everything happens for a reason like you said. So this is good

[46:44] So that would be sort of the motion to to authorize that I

[46:48] I think it is monetary, so we would need to do a roll call ball, even though it's already in a budget that's already been approved.

[46:56] It feels more appropriate to go ahead and do it, but a minimum correct Secretary.

[47:01] I would just make a suggestion that you leave the name out of it and create the position.

[47:05] Gotcha, perfect.

[47:06] Oh, perfect.

[47:06] Yeah, question.

[47:07] Thanks, Susan.

[47:09] Paul, I'll make a motion.

[47:10] Oh, okay. Motion by Hague.

[47:12] Oh, second.

[47:14] Everybody seconds.

[47:14] Oh my goodness, there are lots of seconds to have been said.

[47:18] Thank you.

[47:18] Thank you, Juan, whoever your favorite is.

[47:20] Since it's an expenditure of dollars,

[47:23] we'll see what we'll call about, shall we?

[47:25] By Bloomingdale.

[47:26] Yes.

[47:26] Eric Diana.

[47:27] Yes.

[47:28] Lisa Germani Williams.

[47:29] Yes.

[47:29] Missy Place.

[47:30] Yes.

[47:30] Tony LaPuma.

[47:31] Yes.

[47:31] Roger Natt.

[47:32] Who's Paul Hague.

[47:33] Yes.

[47:34] Mayor Jones.

[47:34] Yes.

[47:35] Churchill Vanelli.

[47:35] Yes.

[47:36] Motion Capace.

[47:37] Fantastic.

[47:38] And so, over time, and understand that, you know, like Christy just said, we're taking revenue in from this and other things that are going to be happening there.

[47:46] So, this would not shock me to see this position.

[47:51] The way I feel about the Graham and how it's just going to continue to grow and more and more stuff going on there.

[47:57] This position could easily be back here in six months saying, hey, we're so slammed, she needs to be here full time and whatever.

[48:03] I hope that's the case, but the good news in that is that, you know, by and large, it's almost a self-funded position because of the fees that are being charged and that's right.

[48:12] So anyway, just sort of a preview of coming to actions, but yeah, it's going to be great to have somebody dedicated to it that is, you know, well, I would say 24-7, but it would be a 12-focus.

[48:26] Yeah well focused right yeah so perfect and she's great too so that you know

[48:30] again the position that was standing the person that's going to be doing is also awesome too so

[48:35] all right so that's great do you have sufficient direction in that I do that one

[48:39] yeah all right shifting completely gears social district update madam director so at the

[48:48] last house meeting it was second reading and adoption and the social district pass but of course as

[48:54] As you know, anything that deals with state government moves a little bit slower.

[48:59] So now our next step is that we are sending it up to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.

[49:03] Chief George is doing that.

[49:05] They have to approve the social district.

[49:07] And then the restaurants can go ahead and fill out their applications.

[49:10] We have to get them on a future City Council agenda so they can get that sign-offs because

[49:15] on the form it says that it was voted on at this meeting, gays, nays, all that good stuff.

[49:20] And then each restaurant has to send it up to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and get

[49:23] the approvals. So it's a little bit of a slow walk, but our goal is to have everything

[49:27] ready by line up. So November, there's not a lot of people at MLCC chasing social districts

[49:32] right now, because they did that five, six years ago. So the line is short. We have to

[49:37] make sure it works. Yes, so the line is short, but George is on that. Everything, because

[49:42] you have to get something to notarize to a couple different maps after you've sent

[49:45] a couple different things. So that's going up to Lansing this week. And then we'll be going

[49:52] from there. So we're cooking. Fantastic. Everybody knows what the social district is, right?

[49:57] So, okay. I'll be talking about it, but I've been away for a couple months and you don't think so.

[50:01] Yes. Well, in the whole, in the packet, the reason I know it's a lot, but one of the things that's

[50:05] required is a management and maintenance plan. And I will say that Chief George really knocked it out

[50:09] of the park with us. I offered to write it and he said, no, no, I'll do it. And I said, okay.

[50:14] And I'm so glad I did because he did a beautiful job with that. There's no way I would have been

[50:18] able to achieve this because he really did all the research talk to all the other chiefs and really

[50:21] put together a great document, so a lot of AI assistants there.

[50:27] He did, but I was going for the information.

[50:31] Yeah, right.

[50:32] No, no.

[50:32] I mean, he can't be a graphic designer, too.

[50:36] That's hilarious.

[50:37] Yeah.

[50:38] Great job.

[50:38] Yeah.

[50:39] No, I did a fantastic job.

[50:40] And Chief Jarges, of course, been just a great hire and has been super helpful and he's

[50:44] been great.

[50:44] So many different things.

[50:45] But this one has been great.

[50:48] So fingers crossed.

[50:49] We wait for the state. Oh, what was about the signs? Oh, so in the district, you have to have it at

[50:55] Entrance and exit points to say you're entering the social district, you're leaving the social district in the map

[51:00] And I don't know if you can really see it very well in this, but the map that I created had little dots and actually

[51:07] There's only four dots on Main Street. And so what I was suggesting to chief George we go

[51:13] There's a little star up here where we are going to put it and down here and what he had suggested and

[51:19] He said one about a frames because their temporary signs, I'm like sure, but then you know I know they blow it down in the winter, they get hit like that kind of stuff, but if we did sidewalk decals, then we don't have to talk them because they're on the ground.

[51:35] They're not good because they're concerned about people looking and seeing them size if they can get hit, breakaway values, all the kind of stuff. It's stuck to the sidewalk.

[51:42] We just have to make sure that in the winter that it is.

[51:45] They don't fall on their butts.

[51:46] There does well they have one's attraction. Yeah, they had but they're visible

[51:49] So we just have to make sure that the two areas of the yards by the bridge and then by the two bridges basically

[51:55] That the snow when it's removed that you can see them. So we're talking about that. So George has a few ideas too

[52:00] So we'll perfect we'll get there

[52:01] But yes, and all our team is always coming up with creative solutions to

[52:07] We're done. So all right. That's great

[52:09] So can I ask you a quick question about the signage just looking at the map?

[52:13] Do we have I know we've talked in the past about

[52:16] Not overdoing the sign, you know, like so there's everywhere. Do we have to really like block it off from the so for example

[52:23] We don't have university as part of the social district. Correct. Do we have to have signs at the two

[52:32] like at Main Street, East and West

[52:35] Because we don't like there's a bunch of spots. I noticed on the map that don't have signs

[52:39] Yeah, so is that gonna be coming later on to talk about exactly where they have to go

[52:42] They're marked by the stars all those stars are signs and that's where George says we need them

[52:47] So see how there's okay by question that I guess is on so on main street

[52:51] Mm-hmm. If you were to go east or west on university, there's no stars there correct

[52:56] Because you're out of the social district. Do you have to have a sign saying you're out of the social district?

[53:01] We probably would like right here is what you're asking. I can't if they're gonna cross

[53:05] Yeah, yeah, like like probably but I mean you can cross the street

[53:08] But you can't like you don't want people walking down university towards the library, right?

[53:12] right, right? Yeah, we're gonna go walk it, but if we did, I would get try to get them

[53:17] out of the right of way, out to University, and that means right. Yeah, yeah. I just

[53:21] didn't know how specific they were gonna require. Yeah, we're supposed to walk it to Georgia

[53:26] and I and look at some things, so I'll point that out to him because he put the stars where

[53:30] there are. So if he wants them someplace different, I will be happy to put them there.

[53:33] I just don't know if we need more. Like, again, we don't want to have it, right?

[53:36] Because, you know, science everywhere, but if we need to make sure we deal in it where

[53:41] it starts and ends. Yeah, I'll make sure I bring that to his attention and see where we go.

[53:45] Just put them on these the signs you're entering Rochester. I was in Boine City on Friday night

[53:54] and I did they do have a social district and they have an event on Friday nights too and I did

[53:59] partake in the social district and I didn't see one single sign but it really was very you were

[54:06] and it will be in our town too was very obvious where it would stop and where it would star.

[54:10] Yeah, but I saw no signage now that you say that so I'm not sure how they handle that

[54:14] But I think people will quickly understand you signs are necessary for sure

[54:19] But or the education of right just what is the social awareness exactly you know once it gets going

[54:26] I think it'll be fine. I just didn't know how how like specific the state was with certain things

[54:30] I'm yeah

[54:31] And those honestly if we can get them on just behind the sidewalk kind of university and then we don't have to talk them down

[54:37] that could be a different thing because we do have light poles right there that we could attach

[54:40] something to. Laser beam sensors as you triple that. And I also don't think that winter will

[54:47] be quite as busy in the social district, probably summer. So yes. Yeah, I haven't done as much on this,

[54:53] but can we have all the places that are providing liquor hand out cards that are give the locations of

[55:02] where everything is. I don't know. We certainly could. I think we'll put a million cups.

[55:09] Not because the man's is lost. It might be nice.

[55:16] You're like a cracker jack box. We got

[55:18] the thing. You know, like buy it. You know, give a hundred bucks to love local one. You can

[55:24] have your own cup that shows you exactly where everything is. Well, it's like the mills

[55:30] I think they're bigger than 16 ounces now, right?

[55:32] Yeah, I think we are in good shape.

[55:37] I want to thank Council for their support in this.

[55:40] I think it's, you know, obviously we're super late to the game, so it's a proven thing

[55:45] that it's not as having this brought before Council probably in 2021, what a bit of thing

[55:51] right, but now that it's sort of good time, I think almost every city's got one.

[55:57] So there's had we did have other Mr. Chairman. We did have other priorities that were pressing in

[56:03] 2021. We wanted to, you know, whatever it's, no, it's good. So thank you for that. And I guess we wait.

[56:11] As far as the science goes, you know, we want to do whatever we need to do to be compliant, but I don't want to say it's the least

[56:18] we can do because we always want to do the least we can do, but I just don't want to spend a bunch of money in this,

[56:22] Yeah, certainly if we don't have chief charge says this is what you need.

[56:26] Hey, man, that's what the boss is exactly got it very good.

[56:31] Okay, downtown collaboration studio, that's me, so it's that time again, friends.

[56:39] Our landlord, Marty, came and said, yes, so at last time that we renewed our lease back in 2023,

[56:46] chairman Jim and I had suggested that we add a two year option that we could renew at the same

[56:52] currently straight of year three of the lease, which our currently straight is

[56:57] 282510 and that Marty is asking us if we'd like to exercise that. It's an

[57:03] incredibly low rate for me straight. I remiss to even post it because I don't want

[57:08] somebody going to Marty saying I'll pay you more because they really should. But I

[57:12] love our rent and we love our space and it's been really effective for us and so

[57:16] it seems like a good deal to me. So the authorization would be to go ahead and

[57:21] approve the extension. Was it two years? Two years. Two years.

[57:26] At the same rate, which is highly unusual, is typically at least accompanied by a cost of

[57:30] lending adjustment or, you know, inflation adjustment. So, it's a good deal. And I'm happy to support it, but I'll defer to the motion.

[57:39] Motion by Eric. There we go. Just like that.

[57:43] So, this is also a legal expenditure. So, it will be a roll call out, Madam. Requiring a secretary.

[57:49] Lisa Germani-Williams. Yes, Missy Plez. Yes, Eric Diana. Yes, Bob Loomingdale. Yes, Paul Hague. Yes, Tony LaPouma. Yes, Roger Natt. Yes, Mary Jones. Yes, Sergio Van Allie. Yes, motion test. Fantastic. All right. Thank you for that. You may stay in the studio for two more years. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, you haven't seen the basement. It's going to be a double wide next year. Graham in a couple years. Okay. Okay. So this came up. I'm sorry. Madam Director, go ahead and and tee this one.

[58:18] And I made a deferred to the mayor a little bit, so I kind of have it from the back end.

[58:25] I know council has heard about it before, but here's basically there was an email sent

[58:29] out to, I believe, cities and police departments about a production group that wants to put together

[58:35] a reality show about parking.

[58:39] And from that, one of the officers from Rochester, reached out to the production company, their

[58:45] or Rochester's name in the hat, so last Monday night, they were on Zoom with the council

[58:50] explaining what the concept is. In your packet was the deck of what the consent to the

[58:54] council. Essentially, they are willing to pay per episode. It would err on the CW, and

[59:01] they want to basically follow around our parking enforcement officers and film them.

[59:08] There are a lot of questions at Council.

[59:10] I think there are a lot of questions, and at the end of the day, the Council directed

[59:19] this to be forwarded to the Parking Advisory Committee and the DDA for their opinion.

[59:25] And I say, yes, you did a better job than I would have done.

[59:28] It's all I got.

[59:29] You can ask a lot of questions and spend a lot of time on this, but my sense is Council

[59:34] is not going to support so.

[59:35] and that is because they really feel like do a show or two.

[59:42] Let's see what it's all about, and then maybe we'd be interested,

[59:46] but right now Council does not support doing this.

[59:50] It just, it's a new idea, we just don't know what direction,

[59:53] and he did use confrontation that word a couple times,

[59:57] or you don't want video taping.

[1:00:04] I have to believe they want some of that in that show.

[1:00:12] Well,

[1:00:16] they also said that really what it had to do with, he kept going back to it had to do with, you know, the big bright light show and they want to show their great town and all the events are doing it. I'm thinking. So anyway, I don't think we need to spend time on this just because I don't think it's going to be good.

[1:00:29] or any further but they did feel it was very important for the DEA to know about it, it's downtown,

[1:00:34] it's obviously, would they have an impact on so. Yeah go ahead. Madam Mayor, two questions.

[1:00:42] Did I hear from this could potentially generate revenue for the city? It is somewhere between $5,000

[1:00:49] an episode and 25 or 20,000 episodes but they also did say it's based on the size of your city so

[1:00:56] Let's face it. We have you five thousand. What is the unrestricted that asset position of the city?

[1:01:01] What is it what the unrestricted that asset?

[1:01:03] Which fund balance will yet?

[1:01:05] The 20 grants not going to move the needle so well, I wouldn't I mean it's not and it won't be 20

[1:01:11] Yeah, it would be the other thing it would be the other question I would have is is this could this bring more feet too long

[1:01:17] Yacht if I don't need more feed. We do not want more feet for I can speak for the city

[1:01:24] We do not want to work for you.

[1:01:27] If I can, Mr. Chair.

[1:01:28] I did have the conversation with Chief George and with the officer who brought up.

[1:01:32] I said, yeah, I appreciate the enthusiasm.

[1:01:35] But if I'm going to have something out there that's going to be like our first time really

[1:01:38] on a national stage like that,

[1:01:41] I don't think I want it connected to parking because I can think of a lot of things in a community

[1:01:45] that could have a positive spin.

[1:01:47] Parking is not one of them.

[1:01:48] I'm either mad that you can't find a space.

[1:01:50] You're mad that you had to walk too far.

[1:01:52] You're mad because you had to pay for it or you mad that you got a ticket

[1:01:54] I don't know anybody's gonna back. I loved my parking space today

[1:01:58] And honestly, I we also it will bring there will be a film crew

[1:02:02] This is gonna have an impact even on labor hours and we just don't even know

[1:02:07] Would there be a cost to the city and then you've got people they said well

[1:02:11] They wouldn't show their face if they didn't want to be it all seemed very complicated to me and if it if it does really well

[1:02:17] They have a show or two on you know a couple seasons and maybe we would jump on yeah

[1:02:20] the idea is they'll go to a different city each season yeah I still think to

[1:02:24] body the parking enforcement officers should wear a body cam yeah we can just

[1:02:29] do our own show we'll just do our own show coming coming from the video

[1:02:35] production world in Hollywood for 20 years this show is not going to be a nice

[1:02:40] show yeah it's going to be the only entertaining thing about parking is going to

[1:02:43] be people getting super confrontation and chasing because otherwise there's

[1:02:47] nothing exciting. Yeah, so I would never get sold. I agree. Right. I think we're all sorry.

[1:02:52] I don't have any other feelings. I guess I don't have any different feelings. There's a guy that's

[1:03:00] probably pees as much attention to parking as anybody in town. I do all the time. I'm always trying

[1:03:05] to help people get maneuver these parking meters which I hate a lot of times. But I can't imagine a show

[1:03:11] will be more boring.

[1:03:14] It's real comfortable.

[1:03:15] It would be really good.

[1:03:17] It's boring, but we don't need it.

[1:03:19] I agree.

[1:03:20] Well, if he lied for parking, I know he's just struggling for content though.

[1:03:23] We see the lot.

[1:03:24] Well, it might take and just, it sounds like the sense of the board is that I don't see any

[1:03:29] redeeming values to this positively impact our city and promote our downtown.

[1:03:35] And I will take your feedback back.

[1:03:37] It's over.

[1:03:38] Yeah.

[1:03:38] Control, out the lead.

[1:03:39] and we don't need any help with line-up.

[1:03:41] Yeah, no, we're doing it.

[1:03:42] So, but we appreciate, you know, the nod.

[1:03:45] And I think it was important to go to DDA.

[1:03:47] And whoever, you know, in the PD that brought it for us,

[1:03:50] we always want to take a look at all these things.

[1:03:53] But I was thinking, there's way more downside

[1:03:54] than there's upside-downs.

[1:03:56] Yeah.

[1:03:57] So, I know.

[1:03:57] That's a secret.

[1:03:59] All right.

[1:04:00] With that positive spin.

[1:04:01] Yes.

[1:04:03] We're seeing regular parts.

[1:04:04] Madam Director, update.

[1:04:06] Just a couple things that I'll highlight.

[1:04:07] obviously you can feel free to read my report. But, um, magical mural tour, um, we actually have

[1:04:12] 22 murals. There was one mirror list that we thought stepped away and then she just dropped

[1:04:16] off from murals. So we're like, oh, you're in. Great. Um, so we have 22 murals that will be displayed.

[1:04:20] There's be starting to be installed next Thursday and Friday. So they'll be around for the

[1:04:23] whole month of September. They're downtown and then we do have a smattering them in the park as well

[1:04:27] for our temples. Um, next on the list, unfortunately, we did not make hallmarks. America's

[1:04:34] finals for the mayor's Christmas. How could it be? I don't know. Obviously I'm a little too close

[1:04:41] to the light show to maybe feel some kind of way. But I felt that we put together our best application,

[1:04:47] but our best foot forward. We really clicked all the boxes. I know there are several people have reached

[1:04:52] out to me and said they put out applications too. I really tried to focus on the small town aspect

[1:04:56] because if somebody sent the photo of La Niap with the 45,000 people, that's probably not what they're

[1:05:02] looking for, I try to keep that away, but all you have to do is Google us and you'll

[1:05:05] find it.

[1:05:05] So, I'd like to think that maybe we just didn't portray that small town enough, but I did

[1:05:09] look around at some of the towns and I was like, huh, that's the photo you send?

[1:05:13] Good for you.

[1:05:15] So, yeah.

[1:05:15] But I still did.

[1:05:16] You never know.

[1:05:17] But I, honestly, we have so many other good things going on here.

[1:05:20] It's okay.

[1:05:21] Yeah.

[1:05:21] Maybe next year.

[1:05:22] Yeah.

[1:05:23] So, that's all that.

[1:05:24] And then last but not least, Collette's been with us for a while.

[1:05:28] our new events and marketing coordinator

[1:05:29] filled the second position,

[1:05:30] her name is Ruby Hernandez,

[1:05:32] and she's starting with us on Monday,

[1:05:34] so then we will be back up to full staff,

[1:05:36] and it'll be very exciting.

[1:05:38] I love Collette, but she and I have just the two of us.

[1:05:41] Yeah, it'll be nice to have a third person

[1:05:43] to help out and get that excitement going,

[1:05:47] so it'll be just in time for working on

[1:05:48] all the fall and holiday projects

[1:05:49] and the grant opening and trial by Firehouse.

[1:05:52] It's gonna be great.

[1:05:53] So all good, so we're looking forward to Ruby.

[1:05:57] It's been, what, Collette?

[1:06:01] Collette started in May, so, and then we had a higher and then it didn't work out

[1:06:05] so then we went to hire Ruby, but she had already committed to something else.

[1:06:08] She was doing a fellowship, so she's done with that last week, taking this week,

[1:06:12] and now we'll have the 24th.

[1:06:13] So you guys have just been 50 pounds of dirt in a five pound bag?

[1:06:15] It's been a lot, yes.

[1:06:17] But one thing that I will mention in Collette's report, I don't know if anyone noticed,

[1:06:21] we're getting bootmugs for Crangle.

[1:06:23] Oh dear.

[1:06:24] So this is something we've been wanting for a while.

[1:06:26] They're really hard to get because all the big

[1:06:29] Chris Kindle markets across the country get the boots.

[1:06:31] And then when we try to get the boots,

[1:06:33] there's hardly anything left.

[1:06:35] So Colette started early because she asked if there's

[1:06:36] anything that I wanted that we never had.

[1:06:38] And I said, and she went and got it.

[1:06:42] So I'm very excited.

[1:06:43] So we have a ridiculous amount of boot bugs

[1:06:44] that are coming for the Chris Kringle market.

[1:06:46] As you may recall, one of the big changes

[1:06:48] with the Chris Kringle market is that it's being managed

[1:06:50] by the DBA and PSD.

[1:06:52] So I'll be sending out some volunteer things

[1:06:54] for people that help poor beer.

[1:06:55] We're the best bag stoppers on the planet,

[1:06:57] and we're going to go out and do another bag stop on the day.

[1:07:01] Yeah.

[1:07:02] As long as the county character shows up,

[1:07:03] and the glory of yours shows up,

[1:07:05] we're...

[1:07:06] Yeah.

[1:07:07] Yeah, right?

[1:07:08] Yes.

[1:07:10] Okay.

[1:07:10] Vincent Marketing.

[1:07:11] That was, yeah.

[1:07:12] Just the big...

[1:07:13] Kind of both, right?

[1:07:14] Yep.

[1:07:14] Financial port is in your packet.

[1:07:16] Any questions?

[1:07:16] Feel free to ask myself or the director.

[1:07:19] I've been out of town so I'm back in town now.

[1:07:22] I don't think so.

[1:07:24] No, I'm sorry.

[1:07:25] Sorry.

[1:07:26] Holiday Expo.

[1:07:27] We did go ahead and put the vendor applications out to the downtown businesses.

[1:07:30] And now it's to the next level.

[1:07:32] One of the discussions that we had at Business Development is that the downtown Rochester

[1:07:36] Holiday Expo over the years had attracted a lot of people in terms of vendors from outside

[1:07:40] of Rochester.

[1:07:41] And it almost got to the tipping point that half the people weren't even from around here.

[1:07:45] So calling it the downtown Rochester Holiday Expo seemed strange.

[1:07:48] So, we've refocused, and it went out to the downtown business as first, filled as many as we could with that.

[1:07:54] Now we sent it out to last year's vendors that were specifically located in Rochester,

[1:07:58] Rochester Hills Oakland Township, explained to them that we're doubling down on the local commitment,

[1:08:03] and so we're doing that once we go through that, if we don't, we have, I think we're going to fill on burning,

[1:08:08] we have 28 spaces out of 64 that are left, so we're doing well with that.

[1:08:13] If we don't have enough people with that, then we would put it out on our social media,

[1:08:17] Yeah, specifically looking for businesses

[1:08:18] Rochester, Russia's Oakland Township.

[1:08:20] I don't believe, though, we're problem-filling it.

[1:08:22] I've part of me even once it's ended out

[1:08:24] to some of our farmers' market vendors,

[1:08:25] because I know that we would do well with that.

[1:08:28] So, yeah, so that was one big thing,

[1:08:30] but the Expo paperwork is out in the atmosphere.

[1:08:33] So, yes.

[1:08:35] That's fantastic.

[1:08:36] So, anything other than the grant?

[1:08:38] No, we've concentrated on the grant.

[1:08:39] Yeah, we have goals.

[1:08:41] Yeah, there are goals.

[1:08:42] We have goals, and then we have objectives.

[1:08:44] But we've got to get them in September.

[1:08:46] There's only one main goal right now, so I'm not going to have to give back $930,000 to the town.

[1:08:52] Yes.

[1:08:52] We're well on track with that.

[1:08:54] I'm sorry, that reminds me.

[1:08:56] I have to get our paperwork in by the end of the month, but then the county, because of

[1:09:00] our level of expenditure is ready to, they'd originally give us 70% up front, for any of the

[1:09:05] other 30%.

[1:09:06] As long as I have everything in by the end of the month, which I will, then we'll be,

[1:09:10] they'll be also rising that last 169,000 to come over to the city.

[1:09:14] Gotcha.

[1:09:14] All right, with that I have one thing that's not on the agenda, but inquiring minds want

[1:09:19] to know what's going on at NAPS and when she opened it up, so.

[1:09:24] Last night was everybody's fired up and I can't tell you ask that question.

[1:09:31] I want to make sure they're all on the same page, so that's a.

[1:09:36] That's not unusual in this problem with staff.

[1:09:39] Yeah, and we kind of had to kind of back off a little bit.

[1:09:42] That's it because we don't have we don't have enough staff. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to give them more trouble

[1:09:48] Yeah, I just say the buzz is buzzing and you know how small towns work, right?

[1:09:56] So as soon as one of them asking me to and I just say it's coming. So I just I just this is why I figured just you know

[1:10:02] Everybody chill it's we're working on it

[1:10:04] But I've heard the place looks fantastic. You guys have done an awesome job. I don't know

[1:10:08] But thanks for doing that and it's gonna be fun. I can't wait. So you'll let us know when it's time and then

[1:10:15] there's been times I really thought I'd wish to meet a clothing store. Oh dear.

[1:10:21] What do you think about it? I just I texted this to Jane today. It's like how wonderful to have a business that people are just

[1:10:30] clamoring to have opened again. So I mean we really miss it.

[1:10:36] And you guys have been working over time to get that thing done so.

[1:10:41] Well, it's really my son's business.

[1:10:45] You know, he's under a lot of stress.

[1:10:48] I've actually opened three different restaurants.

[1:10:50] And it's been probably the first month of that.

[1:10:53] It's been the worst times of my entire life.

[1:10:55] Oh, for sure.

[1:10:56] Great life.

[1:10:57] Nobody's got a little more happy life than me.

[1:10:59] But it is miserable.

[1:11:00] I don't get any sleep.

[1:11:02] Yeah.

[1:11:02] We've just got all kinds of thoughts.

[1:11:04] Oh dear.

[1:11:04] Well, we'll pray for you guys.

[1:11:06] Yeah, we'll pray for you guys.

[1:11:08] So you'll let us know, and it's going to be great.

[1:11:12] So just wanted to do that little update.

[1:11:14] Any other parting words from the board?

[1:11:17] Seeing none, meeting is adjourned.

[1:11:20] Thank you.

DDA

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