1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:07,440 Okay, we're going to call this city commission study session part one of the 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:13,360 day to uh order. All please rise for the pledge of allegiance. 3 00:00:10,559 --> 00:00:19,520 » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the 4 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:24,640 republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:27,920 justice for all. And we begin this meeting as we do with 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,960 our acknowledgement that the land on which we gather is the territory of the 7 00:00:29,439 --> 00:00:34,079 Ottawa and Chipua peoples who have stewarded this land through the 8 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:37,360 generations. Thank you for your strength and resilience in protecting this land 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:41,200 and inspiring us to uphold our responsibilities to do the same. And as 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,760 we mentioned, this is our first study session today. There will be a joint 11 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:47,840 session with the planning commission this evening at our usual 7 o'clock 12 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:52,160 time. This is a time for us just to go over our strategic plan with David from 13 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:55,199 Future IQ. Uh thank you for coming back again. We always look forward to seeing 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,079 you and I will hand it over to Benjamin to get the conversation started then. 15 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:01,680 » Great. Thank you, Mayor Sham. I just wanted to acknowledge that Mayor Prom 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,960 Wilson indicated he's not able to attend today's meetings. I want to thank the 17 00:01:03,199 --> 00:01:09,439 city staff leadership team for being here. Uh I had shared in the cover memo 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:14,880 that the objectives and key results ultimately uh which will be adopted by 19 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:18,400 the next city commission uh will guide department level work plans and my 20 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:23,520 co-creation with each department director of their evaluations and those 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:28,080 department level work plans. Um really the goal the aim for today is for the 22 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:31,600 commission to have a discussion. Uh David's not going to do the dots on 23 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,759 paper sort of thing. He's going to lead us through this conversation and staff's 24 00:01:34,079 --> 00:01:40,479 going to work to distill what we hear from you and then we'll bring that back 25 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:44,720 uh to you, the language back uh as we work to form these draft. OKAR so 26 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:47,520 there's clarity along the way and I want to thank everybody from the public as 27 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:50,960 well as the candidates for city commissioner are here too. And I'm 28 00:01:49,439 --> 00:01:54,640 looking forward to listening a whole lot. Thank you. Y 29 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:58,799 » and since we don't have a formal um kind of mic with the clerk over there, she 30 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:02,640 has it for her time, but I just wanted to remind people to move the mic around 31 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:06,000 as necessary. This is being recorded. This isn't just for amplification. So, 32 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:10,720 do try to move your mics around if you're a bit further away from one so 33 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:13,120 that your answers will be on on record. And with that, I will hand it over to 34 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:17,040 David who is miked. >> Okay. Well, thank you, Mayor, Council, 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:20,560 Commissioners. How are you? Glad to be back. Um I actually think this is a 36 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:24,400 great point in this conversation, Benjamin. So to sort of echo your 37 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:28,400 comments, I think this is a a really important opportunity to take the work 38 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:32,560 of the strategic planning which really where we ended with the dashboard was s 39 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:36,000 you know some recognition that there was a set of priorities that the community 40 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:41,120 was talking about that weren't really well reflected in the city's operations 41 00:02:38,239 --> 00:02:43,920 at the at the current stage. So this is I think the start of a number of 42 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:48,239 conversations where we're going to explore what would better alignment look 43 00:02:46,319 --> 00:02:54,080 like? what are the elements that you think are are missing or need to be kind 44 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:58,720 of enhanced? Um I do I do want to just put in a sort of a a point here however 45 00:02:56,319 --> 00:03:02,319 that we're talking about you know a whole city budget right now a 46 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,840 fair bit of the city budget I don't know what the exact figure but I guess it 47 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:08,959 would be 60 or 70% of a city budget it's going to be basically obligation and 48 00:03:07,519 --> 00:03:14,959 it's going to be things that you're required to provide um the strategic 49 00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:19,040 planning work and the visioning work was really I think looking at what you might 50 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:23,680 call more the discretionary component right so we didn't really get into the 51 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:27,360 challenging the the the sort of basic obligation work. So it's not the entire 52 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,920 kind of component we're looking at. I think that's always important to bear in 53 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,360 mind that we're going to be talking about some alignment, but we're not 54 00:03:32,159 --> 00:03:36,879 talking about everything that the city's, you know, required to deliver 55 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:42,000 and so on. I think that's part of what we'll have to unpack as we go through 56 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:45,519 this conversation. Um what I have um I've got some data here I want to share 57 00:03:43,519 --> 00:03:49,519 with you the results from the survey that I think everybody at the table here 58 00:03:47,519 --> 00:03:54,480 did take as well as a number of the candidates. Um the point of that survey 59 00:03:52,239 --> 00:04:01,439 was really to get your first reaction about how well aligned or not we are. Um 60 00:03:58,319 --> 00:04:07,120 and I I want to walk through today each pillar. Um and I really am going to ask 61 00:04:04,959 --> 00:04:10,159 as commissioners that you like a conversation. You know what would it 62 00:04:08,799 --> 00:04:14,159 look like if it was better? What do we need to be doing differently to align 63 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:18,639 better? So it's very much an exploration today. It's not a a decision making. is 64 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:23,840 not a kind of eliminating, but it's trying to understand what in your mind 65 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:27,199 as commissioners, if we've got a bit of a gap between what we think we're 66 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:30,880 currently doing and what we think we should be doing, what does that look 67 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:33,919 like? How do we close that gap? Um, to show show you some of the data, 68 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,680 obviously we're working with these uh six strategic pillars that were 69 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:41,919 developed through the strategic planning process. 70 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:46,080 Um, this was data from the strategic planning process. So this was just 71 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:49,120 looking at we were ranking the pillars or we're asking the community to rank 72 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:54,560 the pillars in terms of their positive impact and they all came up as um as 73 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:59,440 important that scale was a one to one to five scale um the data from the survey 74 00:04:57,759 --> 00:05:03,120 and I want to present this really as preliminary data and for commissioners 75 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:07,919 this is in the material I did in the output it's in front of you you can use 76 00:05:04,479 --> 00:05:13,280 that as a worksheet if you want um this was asking the question about how well 77 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:19,280 aligned um are the existing budget and programs of the city with those pillars, 78 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:22,960 right? Um, and one being not at all or or sorry, very poorly aligned on the 79 00:05:21,039 --> 00:05:26,720 left hand side and 10 being very well aligned on the right hand side. Um, I 80 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:31,360 don't know what your take on that is, but to me it looks like at best where on 81 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:35,600 a few of them we're kind of maybe in the middle, right? And as we actually go 82 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:39,520 through the actions, you'll see it degrade might not be the right word, but 83 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:44,639 there there's less alignment as we go through. So it was a little bit of a um 84 00:05:42,479 --> 00:05:48,560 an epiphany for me actually when I was looking at this data um because as we go 85 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:53,759 into it you'll see that there are some areas where there's quite significant 86 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:58,000 misalignment from uh what the budget and programs are to what you think the city 87 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:02,639 should be doing in reflecting the community aspirations and it it did give 88 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:08,560 me an insight into to how difficult it must be to govern as commissioners in 89 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:11,520 that environment where I think there's and I've watched a number through your 90 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:15,840 meetings and I've often had the sense that there's oh it doesn't feel quite 91 00:06:13,759 --> 00:06:19,360 right we can't quite put our finger on doesn't feel quite right and I think 92 00:06:17,199 --> 00:06:22,880 what this data is going to reflect is that sort of sense of a tension between 93 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:27,360 you know what you're being presented with as commissioners from you know the 94 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:31,199 budgets and programs and what you you know reflect in the community see as uh 95 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:34,400 as the priorities need to be >> and the fact that we haven't even begun 96 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:38,160 to build a budget with ease in mind right like this is brand new so it's not 97 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,400 surprising that there's >> not a tremendous amount 98 00:06:39,919 --> 00:06:44,000 I think >> yeah and it's not meant to be at all 99 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:47,680 critical. I mean I think it's like I mean you're a city obviously that's 100 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:52,319 going through evolution right and you're dealing with challenges today and the 101 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:56,639 shifting social values and all those things that are going on and so any city 102 00:06:54,479 --> 00:07:00,319 is going to be continually trying to adapt and evolve as you go forward and 103 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:05,199 that's point of the strategic planning process was to let's recast our net for 104 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:08,160 the next sort of five or 10 years. Um so not surprisingly there's some 105 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:11,599 misalignment. I think what I was speaking to Benjamin is I think that 106 00:07:09,599 --> 00:07:14,720 there's some components there. There's significant misalignment, right? And I 107 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:18,080 think what we're going to have to, you know, talk about at the table here is 108 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:22,400 well, what does that look like? How do we what do we need to be tweaking here 109 00:07:19,759 --> 00:07:26,319 to change that? So that's at the level of the pillars, right? I really wanted 110 00:07:23,759 --> 00:07:29,919 to spend the time on each one. So the first pillar was the proactively 111 00:07:27,759 --> 00:07:35,599 managing urban design. Obviously, this was a really interesting and important 112 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:39,360 pillar in the planning process. um the and I'm going to show you data um at 113 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:44,240 each one of these. So this was from the dashboard which was the last piece that 114 00:07:41,199 --> 00:07:50,000 I presented to you. So under this pillar we had these four uh action areas design 115 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:54,639 future the corridors uh building guidelines people centric street design 116 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:59,360 um intentionally design more community connection points. This was the sort of 117 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:03,599 overall priority that was given by the community in the prioritization survey. 118 00:08:01,599 --> 00:08:08,800 the scale being the darker the color the higher the priority. Um we then did a 119 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:13,919 sort of a subject very subjective I'll say but an initial subjective kind of 120 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:17,759 view of what's the city kind of doing how sort of where does it fit in terms 121 00:08:15,759 --> 00:08:22,720 of progress against these action areas. So the darker the color the more the 122 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:26,960 substantial the the progress. Um and obviously what started to jump out is we 123 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:31,919 saw some kind of both alignment of you know priorities and and progress but 124 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:37,360 also some mismatches. Um what I did in this survey and I asked you as well as 125 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:42,080 the candidates to respond to um was how well aligned do we think those uh at the 126 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:48,640 level of those actions how well aligned is the budget and programs to fulfill on 127 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:53,839 those um action areas um and again one being very poorly aligned um and 10 128 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:58,320 being very well aligned. So you can see there the some be able to get off the 129 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:01,680 mark, right? And you'll see that as we go through actually there'll be often 130 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:07,200 there'll be one action that will be you know perhaps quite low in a in a pillar. 131 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:12,080 Um so I wanted to just this is about but this is the data I'm going to show you 132 00:09:08,399 --> 00:09:17,200 for each of the the pillars. Um I think I'd love to just kick it around the 133 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:22,399 table. Right. So obviously proactively proactively manage urban design was seen 134 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:27,519 in the strategic planning as a really important focus area. I think that was a 135 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:31,680 lot about the the character and the you know how do you just not become blah 136 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:37,440 anywhere and how do you reser preserve that sort of authenticity of your 137 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:43,680 community. Um but by your own judgment 5.5 sort of the middle point on this um 138 00:09:40,959 --> 00:09:48,480 we're below below the center and obviously leaning towards the polio 139 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:51,279 line. Um I would love to just perhaps and I'd like to do this for each one and 140 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:55,839 we go around the table right and hear from each of the commissioners. What do 141 00:09:53,440 --> 00:10:00,320 you think we need to be working on that would make us better aligned? Right? 142 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:03,920 What what do you think we need to be thinking about to close that gap? And as 143 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,760 you said, Benjamin, we're just going to listen, right? And we'll obviously going 144 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:11,839 to record this and transcribe it. We will then take your sort of input and 145 00:10:10,399 --> 00:10:15,680 obviously, you know, I think the next step is we'll be coming back with, well, 146 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:18,800 here's a set of what budgets and programs could look like. Does this 147 00:10:16,959 --> 00:10:23,040 better reflect things, right? But we really just want to get your pulse, 148 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:26,160 right? And maybe Jackie, we could if we could start with you and I would just 149 00:10:24,399 --> 00:10:30,399 love to go around the table and just give each of you a chance to say well 150 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:35,360 what what do we need to be thinking about at the level of budget and 151 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:38,800 programs to get to get stronger alignment with what are those priorities 152 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:42,160 that come up and Jackie will go with you and then Tim will come will bring around 153 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:47,519 the table. So Jackie would you like to take us away? Um well I think that uh 154 00:10:45,279 --> 00:10:53,040 obviously focusing on the lowest rated which is localized building design 155 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:57,760 guidelines. Um there are some conversations in the planning commission 156 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:03,680 that have started around that. Um although at at this point um they kind 157 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:09,519 of grew out of a discussion about exterior cladding materials and what was 158 00:11:07,279 --> 00:11:16,560 appropriate and how to interpret what was in our zoing code. So um if that is 159 00:11:13,839 --> 00:11:23,200 a starting point you know the question is how how far can we take that? Can we 160 00:11:20,959 --> 00:11:33,120 um you know within the limitations of the city charter which apparently uh 161 00:11:28,959 --> 00:11:37,440 minimizes our opportunity to use design guidelines for one and two family 162 00:11:35,519 --> 00:11:42,480 dwellings. But other structures within the city 163 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:48,000 seem to me that they um we could find a way to um 164 00:11:46,079 --> 00:11:55,120 develop some guidelines that would achieve that preservation of character 165 00:11:51,519 --> 00:11:57,440 and authenticity that that was valued in the prior research. 166 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:00,440 » Yeah. >> Okay. 167 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,800 Tim, 168 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:10,240 » uh, I'll try to make two quick comments then. I guess I'll I'll start with the 169 00:12:08,639 --> 00:12:16,800 not optimistic, then go to the optimistic one. So, the first uh, gets 170 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:21,120 to design a future key corridors. Um, planning commission had a corridor 171 00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:28,079 master plan 11 years ago, plus or minus, which was great. Uh but to me it kind of 172 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:33,200 shows that we can say as a community this is what we want but then largely 173 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:38,480 it's private land and when somebody just keeps it in the family um because they 174 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:44,000 want their grandchildren to have the opportunity to develop that empty 175 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:47,600 parking lot or that empty lot someday um it can be frustrating for the community. 176 00:12:45,839 --> 00:12:53,200 So, I'm thinking of 8 Street and the big corner there. Um, and I just recently 177 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:57,920 heard that, yeah, the the owner, he wants to be the, you know, for his kids 178 00:12:55,279 --> 00:13:00,639 sort of thing. And it's been decades. So, that can be frustrating for the 179 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:05,360 community because we don't have a lever to push on. Like the the best thing is 180 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:10,399 probably not from the city, but from the community to try to use, you know, soft 181 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:15,360 influence uh much like uh the land conservancy does. they build 182 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:20,880 relationships over decades uh to try to move things forward and maybe eventually 183 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:26,240 it happens. Um but that's not a very satisfying answer to say oh maybe in a 184 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:30,240 decade we can get an empty lot to be not an empty lot. Um so that's the not so 185 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:34,639 optimistic because I'm not sure what the answer is to encourage private land 186 00:13:32,639 --> 00:13:42,000 owners to do something with their land. Um the numbers three and four to me tie 187 00:13:38,959 --> 00:13:47,519 together in my mind at least with the uh complete streets policy that'll be 188 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:50,720 coming forward soon. Um and I'm very encouraged by that. You know, 189 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:58,160 Commissioner Stanley and the mayor worked on an an earlier draft of that uh 190 00:13:54,560 --> 00:14:03,120 you know, a few years ago. Um but we got sidelined for various reasons as a city. 191 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:08,480 Uh, and then more recently, uh, Commissioner Sha, Mayor Prom, and myself 192 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:13,199 have been working on it with city staff, uh, and made some real good progress. 193 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:16,720 And I think even though it doesn't address three and four in those words 194 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:20,399 specifically, I think it's very much tied to that because it's about, you 195 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:24,800 know, all people being able to get wherever it is they want to go and 196 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:29,040 feeling comfortable. So, it again, in my mind, ties to three and four pretty 197 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:32,800 well. So, I'm optimistic for those. Yeah, it's a it's a really good point 198 00:14:30,639 --> 00:14:36,480 because there is like the next step on this is to think about what tools do we 199 00:14:34,399 --> 00:14:42,240 have, right? And you know what capacity or limitations that we may confront as 200 00:14:38,959 --> 00:14:47,120 we go down this path. So, thank you. >> Um I agree with uh Commissioner Werner 201 00:14:45,519 --> 00:14:52,320 about three and four. I think that the complete streets policy and the advisory 202 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:58,160 board, the future advisory board, we're really moving forward on that and I hope 203 00:14:54,560 --> 00:15:02,560 the 1% uh budget allocation is still valid. 204 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:06,800 Please um 205 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:12,959 going up to number one, that's where I see an issue because they we're working 206 00:15:09,839 --> 00:15:18,320 off a 2014 corridors master plan. That's, you know, 11 years ago, like 207 00:15:15,199 --> 00:15:22,320 Commissioner Warner said. And, you know, in particular, I'm uh worried about 208 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:26,800 Seventh Street. You know, what kind of corridor is that? Because that's those 209 00:15:24,639 --> 00:15:33,360 are the two quarters that that were specifically called out in this staff 210 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:40,399 generated. Uh how are we doing dashboard summary thing? Um seventh street and 211 00:15:35,839 --> 00:15:44,320 fourth street. 14th Street. So, uh you know, what kind of corridor is that? Do 212 00:15:42,639 --> 00:15:48,079 we need corridors that are more car centric and other corridors that are 213 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:52,800 more bike and pedestrian centric? Is Cass a corridor to get north and south? 214 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:58,240 Is is Union a corridor to get north and south? I I think we need to dig to dig 215 00:15:55,120 --> 00:16:01,519 deeper into this. We need a better We need a more current visioning of how we 216 00:16:00,079 --> 00:16:05,759 want to get around. People weren't riding bikes as much as 11 years ago as 217 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:09,839 they are now. Every year it's exponentially taking off and which is a 218 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:16,959 great thing, but we need safe ways to get around town. Um, let's see. And then 219 00:16:13,839 --> 00:16:20,399 for the number two, uh, I'm encouraged by the discussion 220 00:16:18,959 --> 00:16:25,120 going on planning commission right now about materials and sticking to our guns 221 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:29,839 as far as what kind of materials we're going to use here in Traverse City. I'd 222 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:35,199 also really like to look at pre-approved ADA plans. Um, I think that would be 223 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:41,120 something that we may be able to just 224 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:45,519 it may not cost much of anything at all to have them made or to borrow them from 225 00:16:43,839 --> 00:16:48,079 somewhere and then we approve them and then they are available for for our 226 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:56,320 residents. >> ADU ADU a 227 00:16:51,759 --> 00:17:01,440 » Yeah, ADU, not ADA. Yeah, sorry. thinking. Yeah, 228 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:05,760 » I'm seeing one and four as things that we actually can do a little more since 229 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:10,240 that is uh directly dealing with planning for the future. Not that all of 230 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:18,880 four items don't involve some planning work. Uh but that is inherent to the 231 00:17:15,439 --> 00:17:24,160 goal of those two objectives is to develop a plan like for number one in 232 00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:28,720 the master plan it identified several key corridors and the planning 233 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:33,120 commission has three of those on their goals for this coming year. They've 234 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:38,640 already dealt with uh part of the Union Street corridor but 14th Street and West 235 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:44,640 Front Street are identified in there. So I'd say that that's aligned with what 236 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:49,280 steps are already being taken. Uh two and three, well three to a lesser extent 237 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:55,919 because there are things we can change, but we're not going to be making in the 238 00:17:53,280 --> 00:18:01,360 short term uh radical changes to what our streets look like, our street 239 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:05,679 network. we can change the alignment of uh parking or the flow of traffic but as 240 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:13,360 we've seen with state street that can be a process that we learn from and it 241 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:19,440 might require trials here and there and number two although it is something that 242 00:18:15,919 --> 00:18:24,640 according to this data uh there's dis more disalignment between where we are 243 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:31,039 and where people think we should be with our budget and programs 244 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:36,080 A lot of that isn't something that we can directly control to the same extent. 245 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:41,679 Yes, we can put out guidelines, but that will only affect what new construction 246 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:47,440 happens. And somebody could be very upset about 247 00:18:43,679 --> 00:18:52,320 um their neighbor uh doing a renovation for their house that they put on all 248 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:56,559 vinyl siding over a brick house and they put on a metal roof and it clashes with 249 00:18:54,480 --> 00:19:00,960 the neighborhood. But if nothing that they do required a building permit, then 250 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:04,960 at no point would that actually touch the city permitting and planning zoning 251 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:08,320 process. >> Okay, thank you. 252 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:13,200 » Um, so lots of good points already. It's nice coming towards the end. Um, so the 253 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:16,960 one couple things the I appreciated Jackie's statement basically because I 254 00:19:14,799 --> 00:19:20,640 think that's about where I'm at of the uh building design opportunities. 255 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:24,160 There's things we can work within. It's starting from a much lower place so 256 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:29,679 it'll take a lot longer to get there. Um, but the corridors one is one that 257 00:19:27,039 --> 00:19:33,440 really stuck out to me because of really being part of the eighth street 258 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:37,600 redesign, the portion that did get done a few years ago and knowing how many 259 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:40,320 millions of dollars that took. And I think Commissioner Warner makes an 260 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:45,200 excellent point. We can't make private property develop, but that is the point 261 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:49,200 of economic development in corridors is to try and spur that on to not have 262 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:52,480 people sit on that property. But the reality that is that costs a lot of 263 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:56,799 money. And so that's where we get into this budget prioritization is we have a 264 00:19:54,240 --> 00:20:00,880 certain amount that goes into streets and repairs every year just because that 265 00:19:58,559 --> 00:20:04,000 is our obligation as a city. But the way we've ever been able to make any kind of 266 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:08,720 impact is through a lot of grants and a lot of public opportunities that aren't 267 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:12,799 internal. And so to do that we're going to have to look at other creative 268 00:20:10,559 --> 00:20:14,960 sources. And you know that one I remember eight street there were a lot 269 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:19,039 of different grants that we used that were kind of it was very straightforward 270 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:24,799 but it it's kind of like when we talk about uh the CBBG funding of like yeah 271 00:20:22,799 --> 00:20:27,679 this is going to help build pave a parking lot but that parking lot money 272 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,720 that we're paying for is now money that can go into staffing that we're not 273 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:33,280 allowed to fund and so sometimes we have to be a little bit more creative and 274 00:20:31,919 --> 00:20:36,559 play with that. So, I'm hoping that comes out in the budget process. But I 275 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:41,760 think that does play a little bit into three and four too though of the reality 276 00:20:39,679 --> 00:20:46,799 is the way we budget now and all the infrastructure work we have to pick like 277 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:51,280 catch up on after a generation is we can't redo every street every time we 278 00:20:49,039 --> 00:20:56,080 touch one and some of it is a repave or or you know tear it down. Some of it's a 279 00:20:53,919 --> 00:20:59,200 repave, some of it's a resurface. We can't tear, you know, we have a lot of 280 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:03,360 opportunities and we're seeing that this summer on 9th 10th and in that core that 281 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:07,840 area, but we have a lot of opportunities to improve, but we can't always restart. 282 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:12,799 And I think sometimes when we have envisioning things like that out here 283 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:18,640 and even wanting to move ahead on these goals, we can tend to try and make 284 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:24,080 everything that we acknowledge is a repair into a total redo. And that might 285 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:27,360 be part of the conversations we have to have coming forward. If that truly is 286 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:29,840 how we have to get to where we are, then that might be the p something the public 287 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:36,559 has to engage in and say, "Yeah, I'd rather you do two streets on four, three 288 00:21:32,799 --> 00:21:40,559 blocks a year and leave my some potholes just temporarily filled and not 289 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:44,000 resurfaced." Or we have to just be a little bit more realistic about what we 290 00:21:42,799 --> 00:21:48,799 can do when the projects are brought forward to us. But that's on us as 291 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:53,520 commissioners and the decision-making body where staff's kind of doing what's 292 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:57,280 recommended by standard protocol of keeping our streets up and safe. Those 293 00:21:55,919 --> 00:22:01,280 are things bigger conversations we're going to have to have in the context of 294 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:03,919 this kind of more envisioned. So I'm I sound like I'm not hopeful. I'm hopeful 295 00:22:02,559 --> 00:22:06,480 on all these. I think they're just really big conversations we're going to 296 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,000 have to have and could be some major shifts in how we look at the budgeting 297 00:22:08,559 --> 00:22:16,480 going forward. So >> thank you. thing. 298 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:22,799 » So, uh, starting with the the corridor, uh, topic, I think this is one that I 299 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:27,520 want to hone in on because, uh, this also to me ties into our ability to work 300 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:33,360 with other municipalities. Grand Traverse County um is putting forward a 301 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:39,760 corridor development plan and that is touching the townships, touches the city 302 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:46,559 and it uh is focusing on effective and efficient use of infrastructure and also 303 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:51,600 protecting uh green spaces and areas uh by by focusing development in these 304 00:22:48,799 --> 00:22:56,159 places where it is relatively speaking uh what we need to have in place the 305 00:22:53,840 --> 00:23:03,120 sewer, the water etc is already there. and so limiting some sprawl. And so I 306 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:08,960 think if there is a a way to move that forward, it will be uh in again tying 307 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:14,080 that into working collaboratively because our corridors don't stop at city 308 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:18,000 limits. Yeah. Uh you know they are in crossing into Garfield Township. They 309 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:22,559 are crossing you know all every t single one of our corridors it traverses into 310 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:28,480 other municipalities. And so I think that's a really important uh thing to to 311 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:32,320 highlight and lift up is that we have our corridor plan, master plan that's 312 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,840 over a decade old, but this is currently happening. These are conversations that 313 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:40,640 are going on and making sure that the city is part of those and at that table 314 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:45,520 um moving those forward. Um so I think that that was the one that really that 315 00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:49,919 spoke to me. And then you know we with the people centric street design I'm 316 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:54,000 glad to that the this um complete streets is moving forward. you know, we 317 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:58,480 did get some good momentum on that. And I also I also think we als have have are 318 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:03,360 recognizing the degree to which a lot of our streets don't actually fall under 319 00:24:01,039 --> 00:24:06,159 city jurisdiction. You know, they are in our city, but that they are there are 320 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,840 limited thing. You know, we've heard from the folks who live along Peninsula 321 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:14,159 Drive and Eastern A about their frustrations with their with their c the 322 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:18,960 crosswalks available there. And so I think there is some of this is also 323 00:24:15,919 --> 00:24:23,679 about greater communication around what we do and do not have direct oversight 324 00:24:21,679 --> 00:24:27,919 of. >> Yeah, good could good comment. And it 325 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:32,960 was, you know, my final piece on this, so thank you for sharing those thoughts 326 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:36,159 is that these these actions largely came from the community engagement, right? 327 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:39,440 And they were framed to reflect the sort of tenor of what we heard from the 328 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:44,400 community. Um, and I think there's a sort of a I I wouldn't mind just some 329 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:49,360 sort of general thoughts on how you think the approach should be on this 330 00:24:46,559 --> 00:24:52,960 when when at a at a community level most people are very local based, right? I 331 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:55,919 mean, they're talking about my neighborhood, my I mean there was a 332 00:24:54,640 --> 00:25:00,880 strong kind of narrative about neighborhood or my street or my crossing 333 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:04,400 or whatever. Um, and and that what that looks like and then yet at a city you've 334 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:09,200 got to have these larger sort of overarching, you know, sort of master 335 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:12,720 plans and so on, right? And and I think my observation has been that that's part 336 00:25:11,039 --> 00:25:16,720 of the disconnect at the moment is that you know people are very concerned about 337 00:25:14,159 --> 00:25:21,200 their local and whether they don't feel that gets reflected in the sort of 338 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:24,880 larger master plan sort of approach. But I do think that the sentiment that's 339 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:28,960 beneath this is that somehow or other we have to think about how as we talk about 340 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:32,720 these topics it's like there's different scales right and how do those scales 341 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:35,919 connect together which was a little about what you were just aiming to talk 342 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:39,919 about right but I think that's a very important thing any just general 343 00:25:37,919 --> 00:25:45,000 guidance on that sort of like how we connect those pieces before we go to the 344 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,000 next pillar 345 00:25:47,679 --> 00:25:54,480 » uh I think that that it's I think it's in pillar too, isn't it? About 346 00:25:52,000 --> 00:26:00,960 neighborhood associations. I think that uh deputy city manager Deb Allen's 347 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:05,600 program, the president's club or whatever it's I think that that's a big 348 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:10,480 step towards answering questions like that and 349 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:14,559 » giving this more uh global 350 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:19,919 perspective to the neighborhoods of what we can and can't do now. 351 00:26:16,159 --> 00:26:25,600 » Okay. May maybe also um you know a reporting dashboard has been a part of 352 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:32,400 this project from the big beginning and making that as um accessible and and 353 00:26:30,159 --> 00:26:40,080 communicating the results from that dashboard very broadly and frequently um 354 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:46,640 might be a way to help people say oh okay my crosswalk didn't get done but um 355 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:52,960 citywide there were 25 crosswalks that were upgraded and you know mine will 356 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:57,360 come long. So u better reporting >> of progress might might be helpful. 357 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:02,640 » Yeah, I actually really understand that because I mean we talk about these 10 358 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:05,200 year plans or corridor plans of 20. Most people aren't living in that kind of 359 00:27:03,919 --> 00:27:09,440 world, right? They're more interested in what's So I think something that people 360 00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:13,760 could track what's going on >> and see when when it's coming to their 361 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:16,000 door could be really interesting and useful. 362 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:20,640 » Yeah. And the only thing I would add to is um I put a part of this on the 363 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:24,400 commission itself. I'll say us for assembled one today and I've already 364 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:28,640 seen improvements with this with staff through things like the Bay Reef and 365 00:27:25,919 --> 00:27:33,440 others. But communicating what we can and can't do ourselves as well. We, you 366 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:36,320 know, staff is are the experts. They live in it every day. They're 367 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:41,039 professionals, often certified professionals. A lot of us, I'm sure 368 00:27:38,799 --> 00:27:46,480 even our newer commissioners are feeling like they've had a real um education on 369 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:50,080 government parliament and the alphabet soup we all use when we talk and 370 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:54,960 everything else like that. But being better in our public meetings like 371 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:58,399 meetings are televised. We inter media for our city. We have to be better. I 372 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:03,279 think continue to be better. I think it's gotten better in the last couple of 373 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:06,240 years of saying not just here's what's presented and anybody looking at it 374 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:10,080 would say well why isn't this here or why isn't my street on this and saying 375 00:28:08,399 --> 00:28:14,080 we we're paying for this with a grant that only allowed this much space or 376 00:28:12,159 --> 00:28:17,200 we're doing this because it's the M dot trunk line and the money only goes there 377 00:28:15,919 --> 00:28:21,120 that's why seventh street isn't being touched or vice versa. So, I think we 378 00:28:19,679 --> 00:28:25,279 just have to do a little bit better. I think continue to do better in 379 00:28:23,279 --> 00:28:28,799 communicating some of that to the public as we're introducing some of these 380 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:32,880 topics because a dashboard and everything are good, but if if there's 381 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:38,640 that missing important piece of where funding andor um uh use of resources is 382 00:28:36,799 --> 00:28:43,760 coming from for a very good reason, the public should know that as well. 383 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:48,240 » Okay. All right. Thank you. Um let's jump to the next pillar. Right. Um so 384 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:52,000 this was Heather as you start to introduce this is about the placemaking 385 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:56,320 and neighborhood character. Um the objective of protecting the character of 386 00:28:53,440 --> 00:29:02,720 the downtown the neighborhoods. Um here we have these four uh action areas. So 387 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:06,720 experience based approach to placem uh elevating power the role of neighborhood 388 00:29:04,559 --> 00:29:10,799 associations intentionally creating gathering and 389 00:29:08,399 --> 00:29:14,880 social spaces and then this uh enhanced multimedia connectivity between the 390 00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:19,760 neighborhoods. You can see there on the scoring that there was nothing really on 391 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:23,039 this one that jumped as a high priority by the in the community assessment. 392 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,679 There were medium and and low, but they're all relative, right? Because 393 00:29:24,159 --> 00:29:30,000 they're all on the list. So, they're all on people's minds. Um, you can see the 394 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:36,559 progress, the subjective assessment on on progress. Um, if we look go to the 395 00:29:33,279 --> 00:29:40,000 survey, um, this one was actually reasonably strong. I mean, they're 396 00:29:38,159 --> 00:29:43,919 they're not sort of over five and a half, but there's no real kind of weak 397 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:47,600 points in this, but but we do want to think about how we elevate the whole 398 00:29:45,679 --> 00:29:54,000 performance of this pillar and the actions that are in it. Um, and 399 00:29:51,919 --> 00:29:59,720 shall we just dive into this? Tim, maybe we start with you this time. Go around 400 00:29:56,159 --> 00:29:59,720 from you, right? 401 00:30:05,039 --> 00:30:11,679 uh not to like beg off on the question but I think when I took the survey I 402 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:16,000 even commented about the complete streets because again to me it ties in 403 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:20,240 here at least uh number eight is you know multimodal connectivity that's 404 00:30:17,679 --> 00:30:23,240 really what complete streets all about. Um 405 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:32,799 yeah, we like we as a community with the uh the space on 8th Street um you know 406 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:40,960 it's a it's a pilot. I think we still consider it as a test case. Um 407 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:45,039 but that addresses number seven. So yes, like we're making progress and I 408 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:50,640 think we've shown ourselves in the community that this is an area that we 409 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:54,640 can be more deliberate uh about and so on this one I am more optimistic. 410 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:57,960 » Okay. Well, great. 411 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:05,520 » Um I think that this one except for the action six about neighborhood 412 00:31:03,679 --> 00:31:09,520 associations which I think we're making progress on that one. All the rest of 413 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:14,399 them I I think go back to corridors and take again taking a look at what 414 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:20,880 intentional corridors we want 11 years on with the with all the bikes and uh 415 00:31:18,159 --> 00:31:29,279 the the increased density downtown and that um and that that will help us 416 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:35,279 discover new gathering places and uh the best ways to get a you know uh Union 417 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:39,760 Street goes to a golf course, C Street goes to South Airport. So maybe cast 418 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:47,120 street is better up and down and for cars and that kind of thing. Um in the 419 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:51,039 staff generated summary here it said that they've made a lot of substantial 420 00:31:49,039 --> 00:31:55,159 progress on bringing an experience-based approach to placemaking efforts. 421 00:31:55,519 --> 00:32:04,480 I I think that the east that east uh 8th street has I think that's been a 422 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:09,679 success. But I I I'm I'm my hopes are definitely on the shoulders 423 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:14,000 of the complete streets and the advisory board there to to really bring true 424 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:21,039 experienced uh based approach to how we talk about 425 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:24,640 mobility in town. Yeah, there was a lot of interest that people talked about in 426 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:27,519 terms of like there's one thing to have the spaces, but then how do you activate 427 00:32:26,159 --> 00:32:32,799 them, right? And how do you how do you make them truly a a neighborhood centric 428 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:36,640 or you know a local ccentric experience. So I think there's a sort of a subtext 429 00:32:34,799 --> 00:32:40,799 through a lot of this as well is that push and pull in a tourism economy where 430 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:44,720 you know you're having spaces that are for locals as well. So I think you know 431 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:48,799 we talked about that I think even some of our final sessions about some of 432 00:32:46,159 --> 00:32:52,080 these corridors really could be are not the not the touristentric but they're 433 00:32:50,559 --> 00:32:58,000 more the local centric >> combined. Yeah. 434 00:32:54,320 --> 00:33:04,080 » Yeah. Um I'd say uh the first and last five and eight are some things that we 435 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:09,760 can be in a better role as the city government from the top level to 436 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:13,519 encourage throughout the city. Not that neighborhood associations and local 437 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:20,640 gathering spaces aren't important, and they are, but if the idea is for those 438 00:33:17,039 --> 00:33:25,279 to be more organic and communitydriven, then a neighborhood might decide that 439 00:33:23,519 --> 00:33:29,919 its neighborhood association is primarily focused with the annual 440 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:34,960 neighborhood barbecue and doesn't want to get into the same uh extent of 441 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:39,679 conversations about planning and zoning that uh the neighborhood right next 442 00:33:37,919 --> 00:33:47,120 right across the street might be focused on. Similarly, yes, we can try to create 443 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:52,799 uh more uh gathering spaces, but who is to say what that gathering space is and 444 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:56,080 what uh how they fit into the broader community. 445 00:33:53,760 --> 00:34:01,440 » Say um a church can be a wonderful gathering space, but that's not a place 446 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:05,519 for government to step in, nor is that a space that would be inclusive of people 447 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:10,720 that aren't members of that faith community. Um, a preschool child care 448 00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:15,119 center can be a great place for connecting of young parents and very 449 00:34:13,359 --> 00:34:20,879 necessary in parts of town that have many young parents, but the people that 450 00:34:18,079 --> 00:34:26,879 don't have young parents aren't uh connected through that social program. 451 00:34:25,119 --> 00:34:30,240 » Okay, thank you. >> Um, yeah, I would I join in Heather 452 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:33,520 saying I'm really happy the progress that we're seeing with the neighborhood 453 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:37,040 associations and making that more centralized for communication. I'm 454 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:40,399 didn't mention it last time, but overall I'm also excited for the city commission 455 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:43,760 to get the complete streets ad hoc recommendations and start working on 456 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:47,919 that to start solidifying some of that for policy. Um, what I'm seeing though, 457 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:51,280 like we've talked about the social district on 8th Street, that's been 458 00:34:49,359 --> 00:34:56,879 mentioned a couple times here, that was initiated by the businesses there. And 459 00:34:55,359 --> 00:35:00,000 while it's kind of not where I think most people in Trevor City would think 460 00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:03,599 of where we people want to go hang out and it's a probably a more local thing, 461 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:07,760 I do see a lot of my Traverse Heights neighbors there. But I also see a lot of 462 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:11,599 people who are visiting especially from different countries because they like 463 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:16,160 the the feel of the sitting outside and communal atmosphere there. So I I say 464 00:35:14,079 --> 00:35:20,000 that to say that I don't think any corridor that we design will inherently 465 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:25,040 stay local because I think any kind of gatherings uh bring people around. But I 466 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:28,880 think that that is where the state budget-wise we could put more into this 467 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:33,680 because look at what we did for you know $35,000 I think it was or $60,000. it 468 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:37,520 wasn't a huge lift for a social district and created a great gathering space. Um, 469 00:35:36,079 --> 00:35:42,000 but I think that when we look at the fact we don't have like a parks 470 00:35:39,599 --> 00:35:44,560 department programming and we do we don't you know the social districts and 471 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:48,800 things are really run by the local businesses kind of like um what Tim was 472 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:51,520 talking about activating. I think that's an opportunity for us to do some more 473 00:35:50,079 --> 00:35:55,359 with budgeting. But I think it's also an opportunity for the community to have 474 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:58,560 more um stake in what they want to see in their neighborhoods and the community 475 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:02,560 itself because a lot of that is privately based or um you know a certain 476 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:06,240 amount of initiative to draw attention to certain spaces within their area 477 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:10,240 where we just don't you know we don't have a kickball league happening at 478 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:13,760 Effan Park for example or something. So that's where the activating that space 479 00:36:12,079 --> 00:36:17,440 is really going to be something where I think the community is going to have a 480 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:21,599 real good chance to engage with us or the body I should say and staff on 481 00:36:19,599 --> 00:36:26,400 creating new opportunities. So I think this one's a kind of a low hanging fruit 482 00:36:23,599 --> 00:36:29,920 p uh actually budget-wise but it's also a bigger lift on the community as 483 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:34,720 opposed to our staff and ourselves. >> Yeah. But it is that opportunity to to 484 00:36:33,359 --> 00:36:38,480 empower the community and really create that partnership. You know what I think 485 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:42,320 one of the other sort of overlays in all this is that that there's been a real 486 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:47,200 intention I think in the planning and the outreach to build more trust and 487 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:51,040 communication between the city and the community. These type of things could be 488 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:56,000 really practical and as you say could be fairly lowcost ways to strengthen that 489 00:36:53,680 --> 00:37:00,640 partnership so that there's a you know a more collaboration. 490 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:05,520 me. So I, you know, following up on what the 491 00:37:03,359 --> 00:37:10,240 mayor was discussing, thinking about, for instance, the social 492 00:37:07,119 --> 00:37:17,119 district and how that emerged from local business owners. Uh I across all of 493 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:22,560 these uh categories I'm seeing an opportunity for the city to be have 494 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:28,320 clearer channels for groups of business owners owners, a neighborhood 495 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:33,599 association, um whatever the entity is to bring forward an idea and to have 496 00:37:31,119 --> 00:37:38,160 some uh potentially to have some pot of money, some funding in the budget 497 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:42,800 allocated for we had talked about in uh you know in one of the the design groups 498 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:48,400 what uh you know we called it originally was called tactical urbanism. Uh and so 499 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:53,520 these very like lowcost experiments 500 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:59,359 uh in activating public spaces and so you know I I 501 00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:03,440 being willing to try some things to see so okay so your neighborhood association 502 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:07,920 is saying you want to activate this uh you know this piece of property maybe 503 00:38:06,079 --> 00:38:14,240 you want a a pocket park you know what can we do for you know $5,000 or less uh 504 00:38:11,359 --> 00:38:20,960 you know or maybe it's $1,500 or less. and being uh and then and to be able to 505 00:38:18,079 --> 00:38:24,560 have some sort of proof of concept uh as we're you know as we are seeing with the 506 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:29,839 piloting of the social district on 8th Street. So I think there there have but 507 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:33,280 having those channels be defined in a way that they aren't currently. I think 508 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:38,079 it's very opaque to people who are like well we want to do this thing. Where do 509 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:43,359 we start? Who do we talk to? Uh and if I think if if that can be advanced then 510 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:45,359 that would be uh we would be able to make some more progress on these 511 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:51,040 pillars. >> Cool. Yeah. Right. Thank you. 512 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:56,640 Um there's been conversation now a couple of folks have mentioned the 513 00:38:52,400 --> 00:39:02,160 social district and um I I believe the social district made use 514 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:08,560 of um economic development funding and it it was essentially an economic 515 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:14,880 development proposition and um I'm sure there are you know ways to um you know 516 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:19,200 whether it's gathering data on foot traffic or something that would help us 517 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:25,119 to um evaluate how effective that was as an 518 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:30,720 economic development tool. What I would like to see and what I think this pillar 519 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:36,560 is saying to me is that not everything needs to be framed in terms of economic 520 00:39:33,119 --> 00:39:42,400 development that um this is an opportunity to 521 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:46,720 shift our perspective to um quality of life and specifically quality of life 522 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:53,920 for residents. So, I I believe, you know, the idea of 523 00:39:51,359 --> 00:39:58,960 coming to a neighborhood association and saying, "We've got this pot of funds and 524 00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:03,359 what would benefit you the most? What would most improve your quality of 525 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:08,079 life?" And it will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood depending 526 00:40:05,119 --> 00:40:15,920 upon the profile of the of the residents who are there. But um for us to give 527 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:21,280 equal weight to quality of life and economic development I think is a really 528 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:24,960 important attitude shift among leadership. 529 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:28,000 » I just interrupt to say kudos on that because that is something I think has 530 00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:31,760 been quietly happening at the commission level of how our policy is. But I 531 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:35,280 appreciate you really articulating that really clearly that I think everybody 532 00:40:33,599 --> 00:40:38,960 felt like things had to be wedged for many decades even had to be wedged into 533 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:44,079 economic development or some kind of stimulus for tax base or something to do 534 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:47,119 it. And I really appreciate sorry I just had to jump in and say I really 535 00:40:45,119 --> 00:40:50,480 appreciate that you kind of are pointing out that shift in perspective that's 536 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:54,720 been there but not articulated so well. So thank you. And if I can add to that 537 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:58,640 too because it does come up later in the data is that because you're such a 538 00:40:56,240 --> 00:41:03,440 strong visitation economy, the economic development is often coupled to the 539 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:06,800 visitation economy which is a double rub for people right when you talk about 540 00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:09,440 quality of life. So that'll come up a bit later on as well. I think that's a 541 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:16,079 really powerful >> and if I can say uh you know the 542 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:20,960 visitation community the the tourists that that's not that that's not quality 543 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:25,599 of life that that's not for the people who live here. You build a place where 544 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:29,839 people love to live there. You have they have great services. They have uh they 545 00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:35,920 have enough they have what they need whether that's trails or green space. Um 546 00:41:33,599 --> 00:41:39,440 and and then you have economic development. That's what makes economic 547 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:43,599 development for the people who live here. Economic development for tourism 548 00:41:41,359 --> 00:41:47,760 is a completely different thing. >> Yeah. And and and we're going to revisit 549 00:41:45,599 --> 00:41:52,319 that in sustainable tourism. I I mean I I do think that was another one of those 550 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:56,400 overlay issues is that I think there's a lot of appetite to explore the whole 551 00:41:54,240 --> 00:42:02,400 notion of sustainable tourism which is repivoting actually the economic 552 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:06,319 surround visitation economy. Right. This is great. Benjamin, do you think we're 553 00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:10,319 getting what we need for our next ships? >> I do. Yeah. Yeah. This is great. I 554 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:13,599 appreciate the conversation. >> All right. So, let's go to So, everybody 555 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:16,560 waited on that, didn't they? >> Y. 556 00:42:14,079 --> 00:42:20,800 » So, let's go to the next one. Um, kind of different topic here, right? So, uh, 557 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:23,680 this regional collaborative approach, how do we think about managing 558 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:27,359 resources, utilities, climate adaptation, and leading on key issues 559 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,280 ties into some of the things we're starting to talk about in terms of 560 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:34,960 regional corridors and so on. Um this was something that I think surfaced 561 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:39,359 through strategic planning and I actually came up in the very first 562 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:44,079 session the think tank session. Um and there was this talk about that Traverse 563 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:48,079 City needs to provide you know more leadership right and I I guess we asked 564 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:52,560 the question is it does Traverse City have to step up and provide leadership 565 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:57,200 or is it does it join other groups you know and the and and I tested that all 566 00:42:55,359 --> 00:43:01,280 through the strategic planning process because I knew it would have 567 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:05,520 implications for how you operate as a group of commissions but also the staff. 568 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:09,359 Um and at least what I heard overwhelmingly was were people saying 569 00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:14,319 well it needs to happen in a lot of cases Traverse City the city of Traverse 570 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:19,839 City is might be the one has to lead and initiate on this um so let's dive into 571 00:43:17,359 --> 00:43:23,920 this right so um talking about fost's regional collaborative approach um we 572 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:28,960 can see there is a series of sort of actions that were identified um the 573 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:33,040 prioritization given by the community so the the highest one was around the 574 00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:38,560 potential for uh shared government services um but not really anything much 575 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:42,640 happening at the level of current progress was the subjective judgment. So 576 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:46,560 you know I think and I think that reflects the reality is that you 577 00:43:44,240 --> 00:43:51,040 obviously have been focused on your city and that's what your job is as a set of 578 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:56,400 commissioners. Um but I think the the questions being asked about well do we 579 00:43:53,520 --> 00:44:00,400 take a bigger bigger approach. So when we asked the question about the 580 00:43:58,319 --> 00:44:04,240 alignment between that fosting a regional collaborative approach, you can 581 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:10,400 see that these scored really low, right? Um and that I think is reflective of 582 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:15,440 that the lack of uh current progress there which is all limited um by the 583 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:21,119 subjective judgment. Um, this one here I think is a really interesting and it's 584 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:24,880 kind of like a real behavioral shift for commissioners, 585 00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:28,720 staff because it and it's going to require if you go down this path, it 586 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:31,680 requires investment of time. You got to build some equity. You're going to be 587 00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:36,640 having to deal with trade-offs. You know, there's all that that goes into 588 00:44:33,599 --> 00:44:42,000 this. Um, would love to kind of get your take on this in terms of, you know, how 589 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:45,839 important how we tackle this. Um what do you think it looks like in terms of 590 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:50,160 closing the gap on alignment? Maybe Heather, we can start with you. 591 00:44:47,119 --> 00:44:56,079 » Yeah, this is the this is a tough one. Um well, in again in this staff 592 00:44:52,480 --> 00:45:01,119 generated, you know, summary critique right at the top it says there is no 593 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:06,400 current currently there is it's it's incorrectly worded. There is no current 594 00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:11,440 regional collaboration map. I'm quoting >> um 595 00:45:09,359 --> 00:45:14,640 » uh you know there's networks north or is that what it's called? Networks 596 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:20,640 northwest. I can't I can't see anything in there as a just a normal person. 597 00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:24,960 There's nothing I can see. Um the uh I don't know what the mobility 598 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:29,839 planning organization is either. I don't know what I think that this even though 599 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:35,200 it's kind of a low prior priority from the the residents, I think this is a 600 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:39,760 really huge priority for the I think it is a big and I was happy to hear my talk 601 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:43,680 about the Grand Travis County putting together the future cor corridor 602 00:45:41,839 --> 00:45:50,800 development plan. I I think that's something that we need to be at least in 603 00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:55,680 the room for that. Um maybe the um the county board of public works is a place 604 00:45:53,280 --> 00:46:00,640 to start where we're all talking. The Michigan Township Association which I 605 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:04,560 attend is really all u presentation focused. So there's some networking that 606 00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:08,560 goes on. We chat a little bit but really it's all about we have a presentation 607 00:46:06,720 --> 00:46:12,720 and then we go home. So we're not talking to one another. I think that 608 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:18,400 city needs representation on the airport authority board. we are not there and 609 00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:24,960 it's right in our it's not even our backyard. It's like our living room. Um 610 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:29,359 as far as exploring potential for shared government services, I I don't know what 611 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:34,000 to say about that either. I mean, sure, what do those look like? We actually 612 00:46:31,359 --> 00:46:39,680 unshared last year. We broke our IT off. So, um, and as, uh, create a leadership 613 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:43,119 team to advocate for the region. I actually think Cher's Connect does a 614 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:46,079 good job with this and we don't need to spend it. We're already paying them to 615 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:50,319 do it. And I think they're doing a good job. They are actually advocating for 616 00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:53,920 people to come and live here and work here and build businesses here. It's not 617 00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:58,480 Trevor City Tourism. That's not what they're working on. So, I think we're 618 00:46:55,839 --> 00:47:02,880 okay there. But, I don't know. We We need something, but I don't know what it 619 00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:07,359 is for the regional. We need a a regional planning 620 00:47:05,119 --> 00:47:11,440 advisory board, but I don't know what that looks like. 621 00:47:08,319 --> 00:47:17,359 » Yeah. Well, let's keep >> echoing what Heather just said, it um 622 00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:22,400 the last point I'd say is better served through Traverse Connect as a body than 623 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:28,480 creating an additional structure. uh if we had some leadership team that 624 00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:36,720 was not uh under the opaces of an organization like Travers Connect, I can 625 00:47:31,359 --> 00:47:40,560 see it becoming very fraught with the different representatives from different 626 00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:45,040 municipalities than trying to fight for something that benefits their specific 627 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:50,160 municipality or what they think their voters want rather than the goal of 628 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:55,200 having a regional and collaborative approach. 629 00:47:52,079 --> 00:48:01,200 uh or shared government services. That would be very nice if we could, but 630 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:06,800 that's ultimately dependent on how willing 631 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:13,200 um or various uh community partners are willing to play with each other. like 632 00:48:09,599 --> 00:48:19,440 uh yes, as Heather just said, we separated our IT, but also we decided to 633 00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:24,000 start having ambulance service handled by Traverse City Fire, which yes, that 634 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:31,040 is government providing better service for residents, but MMR uh had been and 635 00:48:29,119 --> 00:48:35,839 still is an ambulance service that does cover multiple municipalities 636 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:40,720 and therefore it had been a shared service in that sense. 637 00:48:38,240 --> 00:48:45,920 Uh we do h need to have more conversations about how the city and 638 00:48:42,559 --> 00:48:51,920 county can work together, but I'm not even sure how many opportunities aside 639 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:57,920 from there being mutual aid from fire and police uh to have joint services 640 00:48:56,160 --> 00:49:05,599 with the city and the surrounding townships. 641 00:49:00,559 --> 00:49:11,920 » Okay. uh or but I would say that 10 really needs uh more effort put into it 642 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:16,960 because there can be uh conversations 643 00:49:14,079 --> 00:49:21,440 that various organizations, various levels of government have some role in 644 00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:26,319 it but uh it can be difficult to see the whole big picture. 645 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:31,839 Take for example what the city is going to be doing with the Carnegie building. 646 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:37,200 Um there we have a tenant the Crooked Tree Arts Center that wants to continue 647 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:43,520 being in this area. We have the library that was thinking they have a plan for 648 00:49:39,359 --> 00:49:48,480 the future use of that space. Uh but so we can decide what we want to do as a 649 00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:53,200 city but then there's two people I mean two other organizations that aren't 650 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:57,440 always in the same room as us and the broader picture of 651 00:49:55,680 --> 00:50:03,680 okay if we want to have an art center here if we want to have uh a museum or 652 00:50:00,240 --> 00:50:08,319 history interpretive site here uh that isn't necessarily fixed to that 653 00:50:06,319 --> 00:50:13,040 one location. There could be other locations both within and outside the 654 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:18,800 city. Like uh look at our neighbor right next door. 655 00:50:15,839 --> 00:50:25,839 NMC has a property on Borbin Lake which is outside of the city that they are not 656 00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:33,119 using as much. that has a lot of vacant or in future terms or assumed to be 657 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:37,760 vacant uh area that either of those entities uh a museum 658 00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:43,839 history center could be part of that space, an art center could be part of 659 00:50:39,599 --> 00:50:47,599 that space. But if we don't have the conversations where multiple 660 00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:52,559 organizations are actively talking to each other, we don't see what the 661 00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:56,559 opportunities are and what will work best for everybody. 662 00:50:54,240 --> 00:51:00,559 » So I I think that's great, right? I just want to kind of reenter us too on what I 663 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:04,319 what I think this pillar was about, right? And to a degree, it is kind of 664 00:51:02,559 --> 00:51:06,880 working out those solutions, right? like you know we've got this face and you 665 00:51:05,599 --> 00:51:13,119 know where's you know that's the collaboration piece but but I think this 666 00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:17,839 was this pillar was really reflecting this sort of unease that people had 667 00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:23,440 about a lot of the city of Traverse City's future is being strongly 668 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:27,280 influenced by the 85,000 people who live in the region but don't live in the city 669 00:51:25,119 --> 00:51:31,280 right and and I think that was the sort of you know your population is 670 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:35,760 relatively small but you own the brand right and all roads lead and so I think 671 00:51:33,359 --> 00:51:42,079 that is really what people were kind of pushing on in the strategic planning the 672 00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:46,319 sense of how do we kind of bring people together to guide a future sure it's in 673 00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:49,680 our self-interest right but how do we bring people together to collaborate and 674 00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:53,839 you know it's thinking about resources and things like that but I do I think 675 00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:59,040 that underneath this right the what this pillar is about is about how do you kind 676 00:51:56,160 --> 00:52:05,359 of build that heft or that collaboration to be able to make good choices together 677 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:09,119 not be inadvertently competing or have kind of different kind of directions by 678 00:52:07,599 --> 00:52:14,800 different entities, but that just I just want to kind of recenter on that. So, 679 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:17,920 » yeah. And so I I look at this and see kind of from where the angle of the 680 00:52:16,079 --> 00:52:22,800 pillars coming from, which seems very 20,000 foot and very encompassing. 681 00:52:20,319 --> 00:52:27,440 » And what I I've noticed over the years um and I'll the example I'll give is we 682 00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:33,599 were talking about affordable housing as we always do as we should. Um, and I had 683 00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:36,960 asked, you know, is how can we can everybody get together and just put 684 00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:40,880 together a list of what affordable housing projects are on coming online, 685 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:44,720 come, you know, due to come online, started, blah, blah, blah. How does that 686 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:48,000 not exist? Should we be funding that? And I was told, well, oh yeah, the, you 687 00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:50,960 know, planners get together and talk about that. And so they have that list. 688 00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:54,240 And now I think what we've seen in the last couple of years, this was, this was 689 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:57,040 probably six or seven years ago, um, housing north is kind of stepping into 690 00:52:55,680 --> 00:53:01,520 that role, much like Traverse Connect has stepped into some of these roles. 691 00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:05,599 And so I think one in the last couple of years there's been improvements in 692 00:53:03,359 --> 00:53:10,079 finding these kind of brokers if you will to bring everybody together. We can 693 00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:15,280 go back 101 15 years of Traverse City sitting at the podium or at the DAS in 694 00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:18,079 our space saying well everybody should come talk to us about housing arms 695 00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:22,160 crossed and waiting for everybody to come to us and that's no and as was 696 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:25,440 touched on by Heather and others like no one government is gonna agency is going 697 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:29,680 to bring everybody else together because it's a push and pull of interest. And so 698 00:53:27,359 --> 00:53:34,079 you always need that kind of mediator or or convenor of the conversations where I 699 00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:38,000 think also we have a lot of opportunity that we've seen in very very recent 700 00:53:35,680 --> 00:53:42,960 times are things like our um housing and homelessness task force or the QRT where 701 00:53:40,720 --> 00:53:46,240 these are very specified topics that are bringing people together to work on the 702 00:53:44,559 --> 00:53:50,000 solutions and getting the right parties at the table. And so I think it'd be 703 00:53:48,720 --> 00:53:52,559 great if we had a master list of everybody who's doing everything in the 704 00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:56,880 community relating to different issues, but that's just not a realistic 705 00:53:54,400 --> 00:54:01,280 resource, use of our resources or funds, but I think um looking for more of the 706 00:53:59,599 --> 00:54:05,119 gatherers like Trevor's Connect, like Housing North, having everybody work 707 00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:08,559 together to refine those to be more of what we're looking for for our data 708 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:14,000 collection and then convening the task force with the experts to share the data 709 00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:16,800 that might already be shared because you know all this is where I think the 710 00:54:15,359 --> 00:54:20,319 commission is more like the citizens as we're supposed to be. We're not here in 711 00:54:18,559 --> 00:54:24,160 the offices every day. We're not in staff meetings and we're not in a lot of 712 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:28,000 the other types of meetings that happen as part of people's day-to-day work. And 713 00:54:25,839 --> 00:54:31,680 so there's information gathering there that does eventually come through when 714 00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:36,480 we're presented with a policy or we convene a task force and we know who to 715 00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:40,240 ask or we're getting updates on this or that. But there a lot of people are 716 00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:44,880 working on that a lot in con in you know dayto-day and that's just something that 717 00:54:42,079 --> 00:54:48,480 we can do better when it's on relevant task or relevant information. But I 718 00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:52,319 think at some point you know people are doing this 40 hours a day and we have 719 00:54:49,839 --> 00:54:55,200 how many 100 plus staff people. I think it would be impossible for us to distill 720 00:54:53,839 --> 00:54:58,640 down everybody that they're talking to all the time and working with. But how 721 00:54:56,640 --> 00:55:01,520 do we do it on the relevant matters and and comp convey that better again 722 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:04,400 communicate better who's there? And I think we've done that well with the 723 00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:07,599 housing task force of the list of partners who are there, having them give 724 00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:12,640 updates, things like that, and seeing that more maybe as we're seeing some of 725 00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:16,079 these more refined um or or specified issues that are part of larger topics 726 00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:21,119 that we're tackling on a case- by case basis. So do you think then at the level 727 00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:26,720 of sort of budget and programming that to move the needle on this is really as 728 00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:31,280 commissioners that you're empowering your staff and manager to be 729 00:55:29,040 --> 00:55:34,319 » be at the table on these institutional groups or 730 00:55:32,240 --> 00:55:37,359 » Yeah, absolutely. And then you know maybe there may maybe there starts to be 731 00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:41,200 a budget just the way that things are going a budget line item for task force 732 00:55:39,119 --> 00:55:44,559 because those will ultimately cost extra time and money and maybe an extra 733 00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:49,680 resource and we've figured out ways to fund that in the past such as our social 734 00:55:46,319 --> 00:55:53,760 workers and such. So um you know I'm being somewhat flippant by saying a a 735 00:55:52,079 --> 00:55:57,119 line item but that could that might be how that gets conveyed in the budget 736 00:55:55,280 --> 00:56:01,359 because we also know our staff time is valuable and you can't you know straws 737 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:05,040 that break camel's backs. We definitely don't want to break the camels. So yeah, 738 00:56:04,559 --> 00:56:08,960 » thanks. >> Well, so I I just want to concur with 739 00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:13,920 the comments that have been made about Traverse Connect being very effective as 740 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:16,640 an advocate for our region. Um when talking about some of the things that 741 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:20,640 are going on at the county level, like for instance, the corridor improvement 742 00:56:18,079 --> 00:56:23,920 plan, uh whomever is appointed from the next city commission to sit on the 743 00:56:22,079 --> 00:56:28,960 economic development corporation will be part of that conversation. And so to 744 00:56:26,240 --> 00:56:33,359 your point committing uh as you know the city leadership that it's it is vital to 745 00:56:31,440 --> 00:56:37,359 be at those tables and to be in those rooms uh talking about convening 746 00:56:35,760 --> 00:56:40,880 organizations um to identify needs and solutions. The 747 00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:45,280 Grand Travers Regional Community Foundation and Rotary Charities 748 00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:49,760 frequently have those kinds of events that are and just community- based 749 00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:54,240 networking show up have a cup of coffee have a conversation find out what's 750 00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:58,640 going on. So understanding that there are in any given day a hundred different 751 00:56:56,559 --> 00:57:03,359 priorities that are coming across the desk of our city's leadership uh knowing 752 00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:10,480 when those are occurring and committing to attending those and to be a uh an 753 00:57:06,240 --> 00:57:14,880 accessible face uh for the city I think will help move the needle and to the 754 00:57:12,799 --> 00:57:19,280 mayor's point if there is some kind of a line item that emphasizes that 755 00:57:16,799 --> 00:57:24,640 commitment that's wonderful but I think more globally the understanding that um 756 00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:29,680 the need to actually go and be in the room even when the city isn't the person 757 00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:32,240 isn't the entity that is calling the meeting. Um having a little humility 758 00:57:31,599 --> 00:57:40,559 about that. >> Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you. 759 00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:48,319 » Um I am uh drawn to number 12 about creating a leadership team to advocate 760 00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:54,079 for the region. Um, while I admire um, Traverse Connect's efforts for things 761 00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:59,359 like bringing new residents to the area, the the scope and scale of what they're 762 00:57:56,880 --> 00:58:03,520 able to accomplish is not enough to really move the needle. 763 00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:09,440 You know, the latest program, I think, is funded 764 00:58:05,599 --> 00:58:16,480 with $50,000, which allows them to um compensate 765 00:58:11,040 --> 00:58:23,119 10 families or or, you know, um units to move to a 10count area uh and commit to 766 00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:29,119 staying there for one year. and and so that that that really isn't going to, 767 00:58:26,079 --> 00:58:35,920 you know, I I think affect have a have a big impact uh on on what our employment 768 00:58:33,920 --> 00:58:40,960 picture looks like. I'm afraid that there's a mismatch between the size of 769 00:58:38,559 --> 00:58:50,880 the issue and and the resources against it. Um I admire what was done with um 770 00:58:47,040 --> 00:59:00,559 the use of NOS's for uh the homelessness situation. They're acting as conveners. 771 00:58:53,920 --> 00:59:07,920 Um I have had a a long-term um positive view of Networks Northwest just because 772 00:59:03,440 --> 00:59:15,760 they are a source of impartial data and um whether they could help us to uh 773 00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:23,520 convene a group regionwide remains to be seen, but they they are um Switzerland, 774 00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:28,640 you know, they're they're not um you know pro anybody. They are they are 775 00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:35,760 there with the facts and I respect that. Um but I think that there are are issues 776 00:59:32,079 --> 00:59:44,480 that could really impact and benefit every government entity in our area. uh 777 00:59:40,160 --> 00:59:51,440 things like um the lodging tax, you know, what state law restricts how 778 00:59:47,359 --> 00:59:57,599 lodging taxes are allocated and it isn't funneled toward infrastructure or, you 779 00:59:54,640 --> 01:00:04,319 know, other other costs to the locality of hosting these. you know that to me 780 01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:12,720 might be an issue that we could come together around something that will 781 01:00:07,280 --> 01:00:17,119 benefit every entity in the area um has I think some upside. So 782 01:00:15,119 --> 01:00:21,520 » yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. And I think that's sort of getting to what I 783 01:00:19,440 --> 01:00:24,960 heard the community talking about, you know, like you bit hard to put your 784 01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:29,599 finger on. Exactly. Right. But this sort of sense of we got to we got to get our 785 01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:34,000 we got to have some heft, right? We got to our voices got to be heard. We can't 786 01:00:31,359 --> 01:00:39,119 just get lost at the level of per capita population, right? There are issues here 787 01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:44,880 we need other people to act on and we might need some more inland. So Jim, 788 01:00:41,839 --> 01:00:51,040 » yeah, excellent comments all around. Um, I guess from a high level, what I see 789 01:00:47,280 --> 01:00:54,720 here is, and Mitch touched on this, like we've removed ourselves from some 790 01:00:53,200 --> 01:00:58,720 collaboration. We're working toward collaboration and there's a lot of 791 01:00:55,920 --> 01:01:02,480 collaboration ongoing. Um, so what would be helpful? Maybe it's what you were 792 01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:06,799 able to overhear David throughout the process or maybe it's on a raw data is 793 01:01:05,200 --> 01:01:12,160 fostering a regional collaborative approach for what like let's be more 794 01:01:10,079 --> 01:01:17,359 specific and understand and then as a body say like we we probably have a 795 01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:22,079 consensus housing and homelessness regional heft is another one but are 796 01:01:19,839 --> 01:01:27,680 there other ones that rise to the top and there's consensus around because I 797 01:01:24,960 --> 01:01:32,799 think we're we might get stuck spinning our wheels if we just talk about 798 01:01:30,240 --> 01:01:39,359 regional collaborative approach at large, which is good, but we could spin 799 01:01:37,599 --> 01:01:43,200 our wheels for a long time. Whereas, if we're talking about housing and 800 01:01:40,720 --> 01:01:47,920 homelessness, there's efforts going, we could build on that. If it's 801 01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:53,599 » regional heft, yeah, like >> try to pick maybe the top I'll make it a 802 01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:56,880 top three specific things to try to collaborate on and build some momentum 803 01:01:55,440 --> 01:02:00,960 there. And then maybe in years to come there'll be a fourth, fifth, and sixth 804 01:01:59,119 --> 01:02:05,280 Yeah, good good comment. I'll go back through the data, but I top of mind the 805 01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:10,319 ones that I heard people talking about were housing and homelessness was one. 806 01:02:08,319 --> 01:02:13,680 Um, I think climate adaptation was another one. And you'll see that 807 01:02:11,440 --> 01:02:20,640 actually about like a regional climate plan. Um, and I think that the impact of 808 01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:23,920 the transient lodging tax and tourism um is another one, right? because I think 809 01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:26,400 that people saw you know you go through Detroit airport and it goes go to 810 01:02:25,200 --> 01:02:30,720 Traverse City and right people in Traverse City go we got enough right so 811 01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:33,839 there's a kind of disconnect there and I think they were the three at least we 812 01:02:32,480 --> 01:02:37,920 heard a lot about and I think we could sharpen this Benjamin as we go through 813 01:02:35,440 --> 01:02:42,319 into the next step by picking those out because it is kind of like a it's more 814 01:02:39,920 --> 01:02:49,200 like a conceptual approach rather than a set of clear kind of action steps all 815 01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:53,920 right let's jump to the next one um so creating a complete community so this 816 01:02:51,280 --> 01:02:57,760 was one that we had a very we changed it right at the end the name we flipped it 817 01:02:55,520 --> 01:03:03,359 didn't we this was about building social economic systems um and I think you 818 01:03:01,040 --> 01:03:07,280 actually too many jargony words 819 01:03:05,839 --> 01:03:10,799 » yeah and that's was a little bit of the sort of sort of feedback we got at the 820 01:03:09,040 --> 01:03:15,280 very final session right and I actually think this makes a lot more sense to 821 01:03:12,160 --> 01:03:19,520 people right um in terms of the action areas this was a really interesting one 822 01:03:16,960 --> 01:03:22,720 right so this actually scored lower as a pillar but we do we think we had that 823 01:03:21,440 --> 01:03:28,240 conversation. We thought it might be a bit the name of it was was sort of a bit 824 01:03:24,880 --> 01:03:33,359 misleading for people. Um but the community priority areas here big 825 01:03:31,359 --> 01:03:36,400 support on encourage more full-time residents living in the core 826 01:03:34,559 --> 01:03:40,319 neighborhoods. That's like the primary kind of core. That was a really strong 827 01:03:38,400 --> 01:03:44,799 issue for people. The sense of how do we combat the nation or the the trend 828 01:03:42,559 --> 01:03:50,960 towards being sort of like seasonal houses in these sort of high high value 829 01:03:47,760 --> 01:03:55,839 areas. And then the child the child care capacity which was I think the highest 830 01:03:54,240 --> 01:04:00,000 rate of priority and the second highest rate of priority. Um and you can see 831 01:03:57,920 --> 01:04:05,760 there on the current progress on the city side these areas for that I think 832 01:04:02,960 --> 01:04:10,240 there's some significant opportunity for thinking about new programming and 833 01:04:07,119 --> 01:04:15,920 budget allocations to reflect um what the communities point to as priorities 834 01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:20,400 there. Um so in terms of the survey results you can see these are really 835 01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:25,119 what I'd call degraded right I mean there's there we don't have much 836 01:04:22,799 --> 01:04:30,079 alignment at all in fact they're boosting the um child care capacity you 837 01:04:27,599 --> 01:04:35,359 know it's just we're we're clearly in the realm of not at all aligned right um 838 01:04:32,960 --> 01:04:38,559 so I think this one is an area where there's an interesting opportunity and I 839 01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:43,200 think it ties to what you were saying too Jackie earlier about the quality of 840 01:04:40,319 --> 01:04:47,920 life component right Um so let's have a let's have a crack at this one. Right. 841 01:04:44,960 --> 01:04:51,359 So we've got some you know four sort of actions areas. There might be I mean 842 01:04:49,680 --> 01:04:54,559 these are just actions that the community identified. I think these are 843 01:04:52,799 --> 01:04:59,520 going to morph a little but this whole idea about how do we make those main 844 01:04:56,960 --> 01:05:04,640 neighborhood areas like truly livable you know vibrant with you know people 845 01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:09,359 living there and so on. um this idea of showcasing best practice solutions uh 846 01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:14,240 promoting equity and then this child care capacity which is obviously a sort 847 01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:19,280 of key issue for people. So Mitch do you want to take us away on this one? Uh 848 01:05:17,280 --> 01:05:24,960 child care is something that we've heard a lot about but the city hasn't really 849 01:05:21,599 --> 01:05:33,280 stepped into the county did for a period but it is something that is needed and 850 01:05:31,039 --> 01:05:39,200 it does tie into the fact that we do have a lot of people that commute into 851 01:05:35,039 --> 01:05:45,200 this city uh without living here in part because uh both housing expensive and 852 01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:52,559 childcare is limited here. So that could potentially tie back to the 853 01:05:48,160 --> 01:05:58,000 top 13. If uh we have better child care opportunities in Traverse City, then 854 01:05:55,119 --> 01:06:02,240 more of those people can feel that they have a home where their young family can 855 01:06:00,880 --> 01:06:04,960 be. >> Yeah. 856 01:06:03,200 --> 01:06:08,720 » Yeah. Thank you. >> So, a couple on this one is um child 857 01:06:07,520 --> 01:06:11,680 care. We did actually used to do a summer camp and I think that would be a 858 01:06:09,839 --> 01:06:17,680 low hanging fruit we could even do this year for next year obviously 859 01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:20,720 » um that there's a template um I know United Way reached out to me and other I 860 01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:23,760 think some others >> who I'm sorry 861 01:06:21,440 --> 01:06:27,839 » United Way um a couple of months ago because they are working on trying to 862 01:06:25,359 --> 01:06:33,520 both boost and bolster the use of tri share in this community but also to just 863 01:06:30,960 --> 01:06:37,200 finding these summer solutions. Um, you know, there's a lot of larger 864 01:06:34,960 --> 01:06:42,000 organizations that are trusted like the YMCA and NMC that offer summer 865 01:06:39,599 --> 01:06:46,079 programming um that are out there and there's even a group right now exploring 866 01:06:44,079 --> 01:06:49,359 a millillage for child care. So, there's literally going to be an opportunity 867 01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:52,559 very likely in the next year to three years for the people of Trevor City and 868 01:06:51,280 --> 01:06:56,240 Grand Traverse County to put their money where their mouth is. 869 01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:58,960 » And it's relatively affordable proposition from what the numbers are 870 01:06:57,839 --> 01:07:02,400 coming out, but there's a lot more work being done on that. And then that would 871 01:07:00,720 --> 01:07:07,200 be the look of does is that investing in programs and allowing them to expand 872 01:07:03,920 --> 01:07:10,400 because we do know that the um even with the we a few years ago the city got rid 873 01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:13,760 of I think pretty much every restriction we had locally on childcare and just 874 01:07:11,839 --> 01:07:17,200 defaulted to the states but the state still has quite a bit and um and 875 01:07:15,599 --> 01:07:22,720 rightfully so we want children to be safe obviously um but working as is 876 01:07:21,359 --> 01:07:26,400 there are there places where that can be relaxed a little getting the startup can 877 01:07:24,799 --> 01:07:31,440 be very difficult there's some talks about uh relaxing the laws on a micro 878 01:07:29,359 --> 01:07:35,359 scale so that rather than just being in somebody's house, somebody could do it 879 01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:39,440 in a smaller building for space. Um, so there are conversations happening around 880 01:07:36,880 --> 01:07:43,200 this, it's money and it's time and it's policy and there's the right combination 881 01:07:41,359 --> 01:07:46,319 of forces coming together. So again, I think the city bringing back summer camp 882 01:07:44,880 --> 01:07:50,720 with some of these other interested parties potentially is something we 883 01:07:49,119 --> 01:07:56,400 could really have explored and probably not be a huge lift. Um, but I would also 884 01:07:53,680 --> 01:08:01,119 say that one of in my my day job, if you will, um, I'm actually working on a 885 01:07:58,480 --> 01:08:06,160 three-year grant with um, a team of four on the governor's 60 by30 initiative. 886 01:08:03,119 --> 01:08:10,720 And that is the, um, governor's plan to have every Michigander or 60% of 887 01:08:07,760 --> 01:08:14,559 Michiganders of college eligible age have either a degree or certification. 888 01:08:12,480 --> 01:08:18,640 And the idea behind this is raising the middle class. And so getting businesses 889 01:08:16,480 --> 01:08:22,640 to invest in trainings and certifications and education for their 890 01:08:20,239 --> 01:08:26,400 employees, getting people who kind of fell off the wagon or didn't continue 891 01:08:24,400 --> 01:08:29,199 into education to take advantage of a lot of the programs that are out there 892 01:08:27,520 --> 01:08:33,040 through the state right now. And I say this as there's a lot going on in a lot 893 01:08:31,440 --> 01:08:35,279 of our communities that are touching on in our community already that are 894 01:08:34,239 --> 01:08:38,719 touching on some of these things because we know to live here have to have a 895 01:08:36,880 --> 01:08:42,159 decent paying job in the city or we have to, you know, it's part of our housing 896 01:08:40,080 --> 01:08:44,480 conversation too. the child care issue isn't going to be solved by the city 897 01:08:43,359 --> 01:08:47,679 alone, but there are little things we can do and there's other people out 898 01:08:45,839 --> 01:08:51,920 there that we can partner with to try and elevate that conversation. and the 899 01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:56,319 so social equity and people living in the core neighborhoods. That's I mean 900 01:08:54,080 --> 01:09:00,080 those are some econ those are people who are the social equity especially I think 901 01:08:58,080 --> 01:09:03,279 we have a lot of good uh nonprofits in our community doing that work and we 902 01:09:01,440 --> 01:09:06,880 just need to continue to support them support initiatives when they come to us 903 01:09:04,719 --> 01:09:10,560 whether it's using the open space or asking for proclamation those little 904 01:09:08,880 --> 01:09:14,960 things we do make a difference to the bigger work that's being done by others 905 01:09:11,920 --> 01:09:18,799 in the community and uh the residents and the core that's that's a cost issue 906 01:09:16,799 --> 01:09:22,719 that we're all we've all been struggling and working with because you know it was 907 01:09:21,040 --> 01:09:27,679 I think there was a little bit of a criticism of I think of David saying the 908 01:09:24,400 --> 01:09:31,120 visitation community versus tourism. But I think we also have residents who live 909 01:09:28,960 --> 01:09:34,080 here five months of the year or four months of the year that are people's 910 01:09:32,719 --> 01:09:37,759 neighbors that they see and they talk to and they come to their neighborhood, you 911 01:09:35,839 --> 01:09:41,679 know, block party, but they're not full-time residents here. And so that is 912 01:09:39,440 --> 01:09:45,759 that difference of the people that are engaging and going to our schools and 913 01:09:43,600 --> 01:09:48,799 part of our economy. And so some of the a lot of this is again those regional 914 01:09:47,199 --> 01:09:53,759 partners where we have to have some of those um bigger conversations, but there 915 01:09:51,679 --> 01:09:56,560 are some this one I feel like has a couple very tangible things that the 916 01:09:54,880 --> 01:10:01,199 city could do with our budget and align with priorities better. 917 01:09:58,400 --> 01:10:04,800 » Yeah. C can I ask you is do you think there's appetite to because I I 918 01:10:03,440 --> 01:10:08,000 personally think the encourage more full-time residents living in the core 919 01:10:06,320 --> 01:10:10,880 neighborhoods. I understand the sentiment, right, that people talk 920 01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:13,920 about. >> Tough one to track because because 921 01:10:12,640 --> 01:10:17,120 you're really dealing with, you know, people's individual rights and property 922 01:10:15,520 --> 01:10:21,199 rights, all that sort of stuff. Do you think there's appetite to like push in 923 01:10:19,199 --> 01:10:24,880 on that in an like think about what innovative approaches there could be or 924 01:10:23,360 --> 01:10:28,400 » I I think so. And I think it also is something that my understanding right 925 01:10:26,480 --> 01:10:32,000 now, unless something's changed, is you know, when you if you're a non-homestead 926 01:10:30,239 --> 01:10:35,360 resident, you pay more in tax, but that all goes to TCAPS, the school district, 927 01:10:33,760 --> 01:10:41,360 which is good. We want to support our schools, but we can as a city exercise a 928 01:10:38,960 --> 01:10:45,199 non-resident tax. And so, you know, is that are there things like that that we 929 01:10:43,199 --> 01:10:48,239 again regionally with our partners like Traverse Connect or something can 930 01:10:46,400 --> 01:10:51,600 advocate for as well as getting creative with any changes in the law? Lauren, are 931 01:10:50,159 --> 01:10:54,000 you nodding your head? Yes or no? I'm sorry. 932 01:10:51,920 --> 01:10:57,440 » I mean, it's something we could explore. There are different there are different 933 01:10:55,360 --> 01:11:00,719 ways. >> There are different things that we could 934 01:10:58,960 --> 01:11:04,480 explore, but I mean, it's really that's a really tricky one to 935 01:11:02,159 --> 01:11:08,640 » Yeah. And so I think we have staff that can get very creative and we have 936 01:11:07,120 --> 01:11:14,000 officials and community members who are very creative. Um but we also have 937 01:11:11,199 --> 01:11:21,920 lancing so that limits us sometimes. >> Yeah. Okay. Good. Thank you. Please. 938 01:11:18,400 --> 01:11:28,960 » So I I know that re of these that child boosting child care capacity had a huge 939 01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:34,880 amount of uh of mass critical mass to it. Um, and I'm going back to your point 940 01:11:31,840 --> 01:11:40,000 about micro centers. Until or unless the state makes changes at that level, um, I 941 01:11:38,640 --> 01:11:43,920 think there is something to be said about full-time encouraging full-time 942 01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:49,840 residents and boosting child care through encouraging homebased care. Um, 943 01:11:47,120 --> 01:11:54,640 and if there are in and helping to if there if there are still barriers with 944 01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:59,440 the density of homebased center or uh other issues around zoning to be able to 945 01:11:57,280 --> 01:12:04,560 address that, but to if there are ways to incentivize with developments, if we 946 01:12:01,600 --> 01:12:08,800 are offering a pilot for a development, uh, is there a way to say to the 947 01:12:06,480 --> 01:12:13,840 developer and you know to really get to maximize what we're willing to offer you 948 01:12:10,880 --> 01:12:19,040 for a pilot, uh, we would want you to incentivize a unit for a homebased child 949 01:12:17,280 --> 01:12:23,280 care center. Uh this is something that I've heard from actually from folks who 950 01:12:21,760 --> 01:12:27,920 work in the industry that they would love to see this happening because where 951 01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:32,159 do we need most child more child care centers in uh multifamily uh you know 952 01:12:30,880 --> 01:12:36,640 that makes a lot of sense to have it in a multif family development. So I think 953 01:12:34,159 --> 01:12:40,960 that there is a way to connect those two things together um and to move momentum 954 01:12:39,679 --> 01:12:44,719 on both of them. >> Yeah. And it's not then the city 955 01:12:42,800 --> 01:12:47,120 necessarily doing it but you're providing the enabling mechanisms. 956 01:12:46,719 --> 01:12:50,080 » Correct. >> Yeah. 957 01:12:48,400 --> 01:12:54,880 » Thank you. >> So left to my own devices this was this 958 01:12:53,280 --> 01:13:04,880 was my number one pillar. >> Okay. And um because I think that um 959 01:13:01,920 --> 01:13:10,800 a community of full-time residents has advantages in terms of quality of life 960 01:13:08,239 --> 01:13:17,600 that a that a hollowedout community of of part-time or short-term 961 01:13:13,760 --> 01:13:26,719 residents or transitory residents um may not. So, um I I am very interested in um 962 01:13:24,560 --> 01:13:32,400 exploring what kind of tools might be available to us to encourage full-time 963 01:13:29,679 --> 01:13:38,560 residents. Um I also am sensitive to the fact that 964 01:13:35,360 --> 01:13:44,320 we're hearing anecdotal reports of um oh professionals, you 965 01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:50,400 know, doctors at Mson who turned down jobs because they couldn't afford 966 01:13:46,239 --> 01:13:58,480 housing. Well, yes, housing prices are high. Are salaries high enough? 967 01:13:53,679 --> 01:14:07,040 » So, I think that exploring pay scales in Traverse City and um 968 01:14:03,120 --> 01:14:11,440 making making discrepancies between Grand Traverse County and downstate 969 01:14:09,120 --> 01:14:16,960 counties and markets perhaps a little more visible. you know, if we have a 970 01:14:13,440 --> 01:14:23,440 bully pulpit, that might be a place to use it. Um, I am absolutely in favor of 971 01:14:21,679 --> 01:14:29,760 um promoting Triricare wherever we can, the 972 01:14:26,640 --> 01:14:37,920 the summer camps definitely. um looking for ways to um encourage 973 01:14:35,040 --> 01:14:44,719 whether through uh skill building or financing 974 01:14:39,440 --> 01:14:49,679 um more child care locations. And I'm not sure what that would take, but um 975 01:14:48,159 --> 01:14:57,280 you know, the lack of full-time residents has this this knock-on effect 976 01:14:53,600 --> 01:15:04,000 on our school systems and our and our retailers and our, you know, it just 977 01:15:01,440 --> 01:15:12,159 makes this strong seasonality of our economy even worse. and and so I I see 978 01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:16,480 this as just a real urgent issue for the quality of life overall. 979 01:15:14,320 --> 01:15:20,400 » Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um 980 01:15:18,640 --> 01:15:25,840 in the very early meetings I thought this one this concept came out of the 981 01:15:24,400 --> 01:15:29,600 original thoughts about you know there were a lot of talk about climate change 982 01:15:27,520 --> 01:15:33,920 and welloff people in other parts of the countryside hey Traverse City looks good 983 01:15:31,440 --> 01:15:38,480 let's move there I can bring my business work remotely whatever it might be. Um 984 01:15:36,080 --> 01:15:42,800 and so a lot of the discussion was welloff people will be they are coming 985 01:15:40,480 --> 01:15:47,760 here and it will just accelerate and so how do we stay a balanced community and 986 01:15:45,440 --> 01:15:52,800 that gets to some of uh all these words that uh Heather referred to they get 987 01:15:50,239 --> 01:15:58,480 piled into there but I think on a a simple or simp oversimplified basis it 988 01:15:55,199 --> 01:16:03,199 was let's remain a diverse community and not just an aspen type of community in 989 01:16:00,960 --> 01:16:08,080 the future. Um, and so it will take hard work and there aren't easy answers, but 990 01:16:05,199 --> 01:16:14,239 I think something a role that the city could play better is uh as a clearing 991 01:16:11,520 --> 01:16:20,080 house to help current residents understand what is available uh as far 992 01:16:17,440 --> 01:16:25,760 as assistance. Like there's a a USDA section 504 uh program with significant 993 01:16:24,000 --> 01:16:29,280 amounts of money. like I'm going to ignore the current state of the federal 994 01:16:27,199 --> 01:16:34,320 government, but there has been. And when I spoke to somebody there several months 995 01:16:30,960 --> 01:16:38,080 ago, it was still in existence. Um, but there's very low interest loans 996 01:16:36,080 --> 01:16:44,080 available there. And I believe the age was 60 and above. You can get a $10,000 997 01:16:41,360 --> 01:16:47,280 grant even. So that's just an example. And then there's, you know, uh, Trevor 998 01:16:45,760 --> 01:16:52,800 City Light and Power with Unbuilt financing. There's a lot of programs in 999 01:16:49,840 --> 01:16:58,400 existence that I would guess a large majority of our uh residents just aren't 1000 01:16:55,440 --> 01:17:02,400 aware of. And it's not that part of its marketing and packaging 1001 01:17:00,080 --> 01:17:06,000 because this exists for everybody. It's not like oh here's a hand they're not 1002 01:17:04,159 --> 01:17:11,199 handouts like oh here's a handout somehow. It's these exist for all of us 1003 01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:15,520 for our community. Uh and we as a city could maybe do a better job of I say 1004 01:17:14,480 --> 01:17:20,560 clearing house. I don't know what the right words are, but just uh helping to 1005 01:17:18,560 --> 01:17:26,239 get the word out, spread the word, maybe even help people fill out the paperwork 1006 01:17:22,880 --> 01:17:30,880 somehow. You know, that that staffing, etc. But u maybe there is a way to 1007 01:17:29,040 --> 01:17:36,159 leverage what currently exists. >> Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. And you know, 1008 01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:41,600 just my personal opinion, so ignore it if you choose, right? is that I I do 1009 01:17:38,400 --> 01:17:46,320 think that that pressure for you as a location. To me, it gives you about a 1010 01:17:44,239 --> 01:17:51,280 fiveyear window, right? Your your community character is going to get 1011 01:17:47,679 --> 01:17:56,080 shaped dramatically by who comes here and what radar you get on, right? And so 1012 01:17:53,679 --> 01:17:59,679 you do have a a window when you perhaps have the bully pulpit and things like 1013 01:17:57,600 --> 01:18:04,159 that to be able to to create expectations of if people move here or 1014 01:18:02,640 --> 01:18:06,719 looking to move here, what does that what does that come with it as a 1015 01:18:05,520 --> 01:18:09,679 responsibility to be part of the community? I mean there's a there's 1016 01:18:08,080 --> 01:18:14,880 perhaps a whole range of creative things you could think about. Um but I do think 1017 01:18:11,679 --> 01:18:19,120 that that maintaining the sense of you being a functioning community like a 1018 01:18:16,719 --> 01:18:23,120 complete community. I I do and that's one that's kind of easy to kind of kind 1019 01:18:21,520 --> 01:18:28,320 of push off into the future because it's not a pothole on the road and it's sort 1020 01:18:25,280 --> 01:18:33,120 of it's more a trajectory. Um, but I do think that's one as commissioners to 1021 01:18:31,120 --> 01:18:36,239 really keep an eye on because the character of your community could change 1022 01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:40,000 and that's what that's what that prioritization that's what I think the 1023 01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:44,239 community was saying in that high priority there about that you know might 1024 01:18:42,400 --> 01:18:47,840 be it might be a sort of simplistic approach just like let's find a way to 1025 01:18:46,080 --> 01:18:51,360 stack more people in our common kind of core neighborhoods but what they're 1026 01:18:49,600 --> 01:18:58,159 really reflecting I think is a concern about the the loss of community 1027 01:18:56,000 --> 01:19:05,920 » um I I think that uh Commissioner Wernner had a great point about some 1028 01:19:01,760 --> 01:19:11,840 kind of public service workshops about you know grants. Maybe you could fold in 1029 01:19:08,080 --> 01:19:17,920 like the ADU you know plan thing. So we have some kind of ongoing public service 1030 01:19:15,199 --> 01:19:24,960 workshopy thing. Um it needs to be budgeted of course. Um, I think that, 1031 01:19:22,400 --> 01:19:28,800 uh, to your point, David, preserving what we already have that people really 1032 01:19:27,040 --> 01:19:36,239 like about this place, you know, our trees, our access to recreation, safe 1033 01:19:32,880 --> 01:19:41,520 streets, uh, great, uh, variety and culture, um, good schools, 1034 01:19:39,920 --> 01:19:46,640 all of those things, you know, just work hard to make those things keep working 1035 01:19:43,760 --> 01:19:50,320 like they are now. Um, we do have a wage problem and maybe that needs some soft 1036 01:19:48,640 --> 01:19:55,600 power behind it that we talk about it more, you know, if if we can't if people 1037 01:19:53,679 --> 01:20:00,320 can't afford here, people that we actually need to be living here, then, 1038 01:19:58,239 --> 01:20:04,960 you know, and we want people to be able to maybe have a a rental and then they 1039 01:20:02,960 --> 01:20:09,840 have a starter home, that kind of thing. And that those options are pretty 1040 01:20:06,560 --> 01:20:14,640 limited right now. I keep an eagle eye on people who are claiming homestead 1041 01:20:12,080 --> 01:20:20,560 status and maybe aren't really homesteaders. U I've been told that that 1042 01:20:17,440 --> 01:20:26,960 that actually does happen that the eagle eye is there. Um and you know affordable 1043 01:20:25,199 --> 01:20:32,080 housing for the service people who work in our restaurants who 1044 01:20:29,920 --> 01:20:37,040 you know most of the action takes place in the summertime and then people get 1045 01:20:34,159 --> 01:20:42,320 laid off. Uh our businesses try really hard to keep those people on throughout 1046 01:20:38,960 --> 01:20:48,480 the winter, but you know, it means that they're not that they're bottom line is 1047 01:20:46,320 --> 01:20:52,640 extremely thin trying to keep their staff around and it doesn't help that 1048 01:20:50,560 --> 01:20:59,280 our rents are so high. So, anything we could do to help with that. Um as far as 1049 01:20:55,440 --> 01:21:04,480 um the child care section, I think that we've as far as Zoe is concerned, we've 1050 01:21:01,440 --> 01:21:10,640 done everything we can to make it easy to have child care. But I think I 1051 01:21:06,880 --> 01:21:16,400 thought my uh Commissioner Stanley's idea about incentives for homebased care 1052 01:21:13,760 --> 01:21:22,320 was a great idea. That's a really good idea. So maybe we can do something about 1053 01:21:19,280 --> 01:21:28,480 that. Maybe that's part of this service workshop program or every month it's 1054 01:21:25,440 --> 01:21:33,920 about something else like that's all I got. 1055 01:21:29,600 --> 01:21:38,880 » Okay, great. Thank you very much. Um two to go right. So um supporting 1056 01:21:36,719 --> 01:21:42,880 environmental sustainability. So this is that kind of bigger question about how 1057 01:21:40,400 --> 01:21:47,840 we adapt to this changing world um maintain a thriving ecosystem. 1058 01:21:46,320 --> 01:21:51,760 um few kind of really interesting actions 1059 01:21:49,520 --> 01:21:56,400 rose to the surface, right? So this idea of a sustainability plan that focuses on 1060 01:21:53,679 --> 01:22:01,520 climate mitigation adaptation uh research and replicate best practice 1061 01:21:58,239 --> 01:22:06,159 sustainability um measures embed environmental education visitor 1062 01:22:03,360 --> 01:22:11,280 interface explore new visitation economy funding sustain sustainability measures. 1063 01:22:08,719 --> 01:22:14,880 So this will also kind of collapse over a little bit actually into the to the 1064 01:22:13,360 --> 01:22:19,040 year end economy which is the last pillar. Um you can see here there was a 1065 01:22:17,120 --> 01:22:24,639 bunch of pri high priority areas for the community in this. So a number of the 1066 01:22:20,960 --> 01:22:28,320 actions really jumped up. Um and the the one where there was seem to be some 1067 01:22:26,000 --> 01:22:33,120 progress was around the uh developing the sustainability plan. Um clearly a 1068 01:22:31,440 --> 01:22:39,600 deep value in this community. I mean that just runs through the the core of 1069 01:22:35,280 --> 01:22:44,080 it. Um but if we look at the data on uh where we think we're doing in terms of 1070 01:22:41,040 --> 01:22:49,120 alignment the budgets and programs uh one being not at all aligned 10 being 1071 01:22:46,320 --> 01:22:53,920 very well aligned you can see the the numbers are are not your best scorec 1072 01:22:51,360 --> 01:22:59,280 card right so and this is your your assessment of that so there were areas 1073 01:22:55,520 --> 01:23:02,800 here obviously where uh you saw that there's there's obviously a lot of 1074 01:23:01,440 --> 01:23:07,440 potential but there's also a lack of alignment so may you want to take us 1075 01:23:05,199 --> 01:23:11,360 Sure. Well, the first thing is I absolutely agree that a plan of some 1076 01:23:09,360 --> 01:23:16,719 kind um we did a climate action plan at Traverse Lane Power that um you know 1077 01:23:15,520 --> 01:23:20,800 different from what we're talking about but not where I think 1078 01:23:19,280 --> 01:23:25,920 this is where we get into in a lot of discussions in the city commission level 1079 01:23:22,239 --> 01:23:30,480 over the years where we hire I mean no I just would say as a whole of the people 1080 01:23:28,639 --> 01:23:35,440 that have been hired pretty much since I started uh 10 years ago 1081 01:23:33,840 --> 01:23:37,920 there's people know what they're getting into with Traverse City. They know that 1082 01:23:36,719 --> 01:23:40,560 we're an environmentally focused community. They know that we're a 1083 01:23:39,040 --> 01:23:46,400 community that tries to like have some progressive values on things like this. 1084 01:23:43,120 --> 01:23:52,159 And so that is where a lot of people are our staff is starting from. And then 1085 01:23:48,960 --> 01:23:55,679 there is a standard that varies from elected body to elected body. You know, 1086 01:23:54,320 --> 01:24:02,639 I think I've served with eight over the last 10 years or seven. Seven or eight 1087 01:23:58,800 --> 01:24:06,639 anyways. Um as well as what that means to each person individually. And that's 1088 01:24:04,639 --> 01:24:09,199 good. It keeps us at a high standard because I think that is something that 1089 01:24:07,679 --> 01:24:12,480 gets lost is Traverse City has a pretty high standard for the state. If you 1090 01:24:10,639 --> 01:24:16,560 travel around and you talk to people, we are known and noted for the work we're 1091 01:24:14,560 --> 01:24:19,760 doing. That's not a laurel we should sit on. That's something we should 1092 01:24:17,440 --> 01:24:23,040 continuously improve and push. But it also means that it becomes very 1093 01:24:21,280 --> 01:24:27,920 subjective when we're having especially policy discussions of what that means to 1094 01:24:25,679 --> 01:24:31,520 different people. And we've had heard it argued about how we use the word 1095 01:24:29,360 --> 01:24:35,840 sustainability, how we use, you know, some of the more common accepted 1096 01:24:33,040 --> 01:24:40,159 vernacular. And it's all very fair convers critiques and conversations that 1097 01:24:38,480 --> 01:24:45,280 need to be had. But I think having some kind of an overarching plan with input 1098 01:24:43,120 --> 01:24:48,639 that then at least everybody who knows that when something comes to us from 1099 01:24:46,560 --> 01:24:52,560 staff or something comes to us from an initiative, it's coming from that base, 1100 01:24:51,199 --> 01:24:54,960 right? I think it's and I think that's something we have to do better on 1101 01:24:53,600 --> 01:24:58,800 everything in the in our community. Sometimes with our conversations, you 1102 01:24:56,960 --> 01:25:01,600 know, we get questions sometimes, is this legal? Well, nothing comes to us 1103 01:25:00,480 --> 01:25:04,880 that hasn't been checked by our attorney. Similarly, let's have 1104 01:25:03,440 --> 01:25:09,600 something that reassures people that minimally we've looked at these things. 1105 01:25:06,400 --> 01:25:13,040 Now, the the body, the public then can debate how could, you know, can we do it 1106 01:25:11,679 --> 01:25:16,960 better? How do we budget for it to be better? But knowing that there's these 1107 01:25:14,800 --> 01:25:20,880 underpinnings of all everything coming out of staff, that there's this agreed 1108 01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:24,320 upon sentiment of this is what we mean when we say we're bringing forth a 1109 01:25:22,239 --> 01:25:28,239 policy that we feel meets our standards environmentally as a community and as a 1110 01:25:26,320 --> 01:25:31,920 city. I think that that's an important baseline because otherwise it's going to 1111 01:25:29,760 --> 01:25:35,679 be throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks and arrows that may 1112 01:25:33,920 --> 01:25:39,360 or darts that may or may not hit the target depending on who's sitting in 1113 01:25:37,360 --> 01:25:44,080 those seven seats and that's not the best way for us to be effective and to 1114 01:25:41,600 --> 01:25:51,199 get to the goals that we want to get to. Um so that to me is the the very number 1115 01:25:46,800 --> 01:25:55,040 one. Um you know the the a tourism or the visitation economy and the tourism 1116 01:25:53,440 --> 01:25:58,080 you know we know people come here for that. We had this conversation I think 1117 01:25:56,400 --> 01:26:02,960 at right here actually about in the other room um about what does that mean 1118 01:26:00,560 --> 01:26:09,280 and I think that ultimately again is a lot of private industry but what can we 1119 01:26:05,040 --> 01:26:12,880 do locally and explore that isn't um yeah I wouldn't say you know punitive 1120 01:26:11,120 --> 01:26:16,480 but what can we do to really encourage our businesses through incentives 1121 01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:22,239 through conversations through public pressure to be more sustainable and in 1122 01:26:19,600 --> 01:26:26,880 how they practice and what they do. Um, so I think the, you know, kind of the 1123 01:26:25,120 --> 01:26:32,080 the other three, the first three there, 17, 18, and 19, kind of all fall under 1124 01:26:29,040 --> 01:26:34,800 us having a better baseline that we're starting from because I think that's 1125 01:26:33,120 --> 01:26:38,000 where some of the distrust is is, you know, you have people, we have very 1126 01:26:36,000 --> 01:26:40,880 active, engaged environmentalists in this community. And so, you know, I 1127 01:26:39,600 --> 01:26:44,000 think anything any commission could do might never meet a high standard for 1128 01:26:42,400 --> 01:26:46,080 that the that group of people. And that's why it's great to have them in 1129 01:26:45,040 --> 01:26:48,800 our community because they keep us pushing. But let's at least have a 1130 01:26:47,600 --> 01:26:52,320 baseline of people that we're starting from. 1131 01:26:50,000 --> 01:26:56,159 So can I dig into that just a little? Right. So because and you were right. 1132 01:26:54,960 --> 01:26:58,880 You said at the start that you know people when they come here they know 1133 01:26:57,520 --> 01:27:01,679 what they're getting into. Right. This is a value that the community shares. 1134 01:27:00,800 --> 01:27:06,000 Right. >> But this data is your data and the 1135 01:27:04,080 --> 01:27:09,840 candidates. Right. And does that say that you don't feel like you're walking 1136 01:27:07,440 --> 01:27:13,600 the talk? Is that or was that >> Well, that's where I questioned I I 1137 01:27:12,080 --> 01:27:17,760 think I rated this one higher than most people because I looked at it through 1138 01:27:14,960 --> 01:27:20,400 the lens again of we're talking essentially what we're talking about to 1139 01:27:18,880 --> 01:27:24,000 me to the stuff we're talking about the disposable or the the discretionary 1140 01:27:22,560 --> 01:27:29,440 funding that we have in our budget because we have a lot of obligations and 1141 01:27:27,440 --> 01:27:33,360 where we think that and I think that that gets into we've talked about it in 1142 01:27:30,880 --> 01:27:37,199 a couple of different arenas of where people think that our staff is starting 1143 01:27:35,199 --> 01:27:40,320 from and so I think that's a better that comes down communication. But I think 1144 01:27:38,719 --> 01:27:44,239 that's where having something fundamental that we know is the baseline 1145 01:27:42,400 --> 01:27:49,760 helps everybody gain that trust that maybe because somebody might have had 1146 01:27:46,480 --> 01:27:54,239 more conversations with our engineer or our clerk or someone knows where they're 1147 01:27:52,000 --> 01:27:58,080 at, it's you unless you have that personal interaction, it becomes a they, 1148 01:27:56,320 --> 01:28:01,920 right? It becomes an otherness. Okay? >> And so trying to eliminate some of that 1149 01:27:59,920 --> 01:28:05,120 otherness to say, listen, we know we're all starting here. We know if you're if 1150 01:28:03,840 --> 01:28:08,719 you're applying for a job here, this is what you're you're buying into. if and I 1151 01:28:07,440 --> 01:28:12,960 that was just for work by the way, not the community or the for the staff, not 1152 01:28:10,320 --> 01:28:17,360 just the community in general. Um, we know that we we want to do more with our 1153 01:28:15,040 --> 01:28:21,199 budget in this way, but what does that look like? Because right now it's a 1154 01:28:18,639 --> 01:28:26,080 project by project throwing a dart at it or having a fight about us a sidewalk 1155 01:28:24,000 --> 01:28:29,679 that's maybe relevant, but then are we missing other things because we're 1156 01:28:28,320 --> 01:28:32,080 getting focused on these projects that are being brought forward that we're not 1157 01:28:30,719 --> 01:28:35,840 doing enough with storm water, which we know is something we're not doing enough 1158 01:28:33,199 --> 01:28:39,679 with. And so let's like have this bigger conversation so there's big this bigger 1159 01:28:37,520 --> 01:28:43,600 underpinning that really that's why this is one of the pillars for the budget 1160 01:28:41,040 --> 01:28:48,639 right is we know that but on the small scale and on the large scale things like 1161 01:28:45,280 --> 01:28:51,920 storm water we need to do more but what does that look and sound like that it 1162 01:28:50,000 --> 01:28:56,400 isn't just arbitrary every year depending on who seven people are 1163 01:28:53,520 --> 01:29:00,880 sitting up there passing a budget. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, you know, that data 1164 01:28:58,800 --> 01:29:04,880 also the way the actions were developed. I think it's you're talking about staff 1165 01:29:03,120 --> 01:29:08,480 coming knowing what they're buying into, but people are also saying they want 1166 01:29:06,159 --> 01:29:13,760 visitors to come and be part of the solution. So, 1167 01:29:09,760 --> 01:29:18,400 » so thank you. Please. So in terms of budget, I would say we perhaps have been 1168 01:29:16,800 --> 01:29:23,920 not as well aligned, but I think programmatically or at least in terms of 1169 01:29:20,480 --> 01:29:30,159 focus, there has been a lot of effort on this around, you know, we've had two uh 1170 01:29:27,199 --> 01:29:35,840 storm water ad hocs that have been very active and you there's and again I think 1171 01:29:33,520 --> 01:29:39,760 a lot of this comes down to what we uh where we can use our for lack of a 1172 01:29:37,920 --> 01:29:44,880 better word social capital to press some levers to get uh others to to take 1173 01:29:42,560 --> 01:29:50,320 action versus what we have the capacity to mandate uh you know the the original 1174 01:29:48,480 --> 01:29:55,040 storm water ad hoc we had the discussion that this uh we couldn't have a utility 1175 01:29:52,719 --> 01:29:58,480 because that would be considered a tax um and you know things of that nature 1176 01:29:56,880 --> 01:30:03,840 but I think that it's also you know we every year we have the discussion about 1177 01:30:00,560 --> 01:30:08,000 how much uh road salt we use and you know there's been a 50% reduction and 1178 01:30:05,840 --> 01:30:13,199 every year we talk about reducing that further you so there this is a focus and 1179 01:30:11,120 --> 01:30:17,520 I I also agree that having some like very concrete sort of baseline you know 1180 01:30:15,520 --> 01:30:21,920 a 50% reduction that's wonderful like what where are we at what is our target 1181 01:30:20,080 --> 01:30:25,600 you know do you know if we're talking about getting to carbon neutrality you 1182 01:30:23,760 --> 01:30:30,560 know where are we on that having if there if there's a dashboard around that 1183 01:30:27,199 --> 01:30:35,679 that so perhaps in terms of actual budget allocations not hasn't been well 1184 01:30:32,719 --> 01:30:40,159 aligned but there is work and has been work happening here and there has been 1185 01:30:37,840 --> 01:30:44,320 this is as to your point mayor uh something that in the city of Traverse 1186 01:30:41,600 --> 01:30:48,800 City there is there is a baseline uh you know sort of expectation around this and 1187 01:30:46,639 --> 01:30:54,159 so continuing to have those conversations but get very concrete 1188 01:30:51,679 --> 01:31:00,960 about what are the where what are the areas where we can actually uh do 1189 01:30:57,920 --> 01:31:05,760 something as a city uh that where are where are the places we can have some 1190 01:31:02,880 --> 01:31:10,400 mandates and some change some policies and then where are the way ways we need 1191 01:31:07,360 --> 01:31:16,880 to act more regionally to to use some of those social pressures. 1192 01:31:13,679 --> 01:31:24,800 » Very clear. Thank you. >> It seems to me that this is the ideal 1193 01:31:20,239 --> 01:31:32,159 issue um for regional collaboration. Um we we are 8.2 square miles or whatever 1194 01:31:28,239 --> 01:31:37,920 it is and surrounded by a much larger area that 1195 01:31:34,719 --> 01:31:44,560 you know we we need to do this together. And uh 1196 01:31:40,480 --> 01:31:49,760 it seems to me that this would reach the the threshold of benefiting 1197 01:31:47,520 --> 01:31:56,480 everyone. Everyone would have skin in the game. everyone would experience 1198 01:31:51,520 --> 01:32:02,719 benefits. And um you know perhaps if we are um ahead of some of the other local 1199 01:32:00,400 --> 01:32:11,280 government entities in our in our actions in this area that maybe maybe we 1200 01:32:06,719 --> 01:32:16,719 can act as a convenor or that we can um you know leverage 1201 01:32:13,520 --> 01:32:24,719 um input from local water and environmental NOS's that um 1202 01:32:20,560 --> 01:32:30,000 have been doing um quiet work for a long time and uh to partner with them more 1203 01:32:28,400 --> 01:32:36,719 more effectively. >> Okay. Thank you. 1204 01:32:33,600 --> 01:32:41,760 Yeah, there's uh two categories here in my mind and they they do overlap from 1205 01:32:39,760 --> 01:32:46,239 time to time and on certain topics, but there's uh essentially water quality is 1206 01:32:44,639 --> 01:32:50,400 one of our big things in Traverse City and there were a lot of discussions 1207 01:32:47,679 --> 01:32:55,120 during development of strategic plan. Uh but also the climate crisis as another 1208 01:32:52,400 --> 01:32:59,440 big topic and again there there is a ven diagram where some things overlap. you 1209 01:32:56,800 --> 01:33:05,360 know, certainly trees, storm water, uh, intensity of events, things like that. 1210 01:33:01,520 --> 01:33:09,120 Um, invasive species. Um, on the storm water side though, like we as a city 1211 01:33:07,679 --> 01:33:12,239 commission, I thought we did an excellent job of starting the 1212 01:33:10,480 --> 01:33:16,320 conversation about microlastics, you know, with West End Beach and saying, 1213 01:33:13,440 --> 01:33:20,159 "Hey, we don't want plastic netting buried there that just degrades and ends 1214 01:33:18,000 --> 01:33:25,440 up in the bay." Uh so there's topics like that that 1215 01:33:22,800 --> 01:33:30,880 their policy they won't take much as far as budget but we could say you know what 1216 01:33:28,239 --> 01:33:34,880 citywide for the city itself we don't want to be using these materials sort of 1217 01:33:33,280 --> 01:33:39,120 thing and adding to the microplastics problems just as an example. Um but 1218 01:33:37,280 --> 01:33:43,520 certainly storm water as we all know whether uh for the many years that it's 1219 01:33:41,600 --> 01:33:48,719 been addressed that is a serious budgetary concern and then sanitary as 1220 01:33:45,679 --> 01:33:53,120 well. Um so leaving that aside because yeah it's budgetary and there's a lot of 1221 01:33:50,639 --> 01:33:58,000 work to be done um and it will be addressed but on the climate side I 1222 01:33:55,679 --> 01:34:03,679 actually see that as more like the soft power discussion um you know much like 1223 01:34:00,880 --> 01:34:09,040 child care etc. We can't force this, but we can ease the way. And to my comments 1224 01:34:06,400 --> 01:34:14,480 on the previous topic, like that USDA program, TC Light and Power, we as a 1225 01:34:12,400 --> 01:34:18,480 city could act as a facilitator to help with the bold idea of pilot 1226 01:34:16,719 --> 01:34:22,159 electrification of homes in Traverse City, and that would help current 1227 01:34:20,400 --> 01:34:27,600 residents stay in their homes, you know, lower their utility bills, etc., uh, 1228 01:34:24,480 --> 01:34:31,600 improve insulation quality. Um so again it might be a very small budgetary item 1229 01:34:29,679 --> 01:34:36,480 for the city but it's more the facilitator and bringing things together 1230 01:34:34,320 --> 01:34:42,320 and having the knowhow you know working with TC light and power and others uh to 1231 01:34:39,760 --> 01:34:46,960 improve things for current residents um and lead the way then on climate related 1232 01:34:45,040 --> 01:34:52,960 things because we have like periodically back in 2016 2018 and other times we 1233 01:34:50,560 --> 01:34:57,920 kind of surge ahead and Traverse City gets a lot of kudos statewide for what 1234 01:34:55,440 --> 01:35:02,159 we're doing and then things calm down and it takes a while. Okay, what's that 1235 01:34:59,679 --> 01:35:06,719 next big thing? That could be that next big thing that kind of puts us out there 1236 01:35:04,080 --> 01:35:10,960 again and it's for the benefit of residents. 1237 01:35:07,920 --> 01:35:16,080 » Yeah. Yeah. Really good comments, too. And I I I think that this is an area 1238 01:35:13,280 --> 01:35:19,199 just again my my observation as the outsider, right? I think this is an area 1239 01:35:17,520 --> 01:35:22,960 that there's a lot of support for in the community. And I loved your idea about 1240 01:35:21,280 --> 01:35:27,600 like actually having concrete targets, right? And and I know in the previous 1241 01:35:25,360 --> 01:35:32,400 sort of goals and objectives, there was sort of there was uh the topic was in 1242 01:35:30,639 --> 01:35:36,560 there, but it wasn't really tied up in in sort of really clear targets. And you 1243 01:35:34,960 --> 01:35:40,880 know, I've I've watched a number of your commission meetings where there's 1244 01:35:38,320 --> 01:35:44,719 obviously, you know, there's individual issues come in front of you, but they're 1245 01:35:42,560 --> 01:35:48,159 lacking in the context of and I think one was about permeable surfaces in a 1246 01:35:46,800 --> 01:35:51,280 car park extension or something like that, right? And I think that like 1247 01:35:49,840 --> 01:35:55,760 getting really clear about some of those fundamental values and and how you 1248 01:35:53,360 --> 01:35:59,440 elevate those could really help I think a lot of streamline a lot of those sort 1249 01:35:57,920 --> 01:36:03,520 of decisions. So every decision is contributing towards your goals towards 1250 01:36:01,920 --> 01:36:08,800 some sort of you know environment of sustainability and so on. But I I think 1251 01:36:06,080 --> 01:36:13,679 there's an enormous area for of innovation is potentially young. 1252 01:36:12,159 --> 01:36:18,239 Um I I think that a regional approach is 1253 01:36:16,000 --> 01:36:22,880 important for this, but in fact, we are at the bottom of the hill on the bay. I 1254 01:36:20,880 --> 01:36:28,080 mean, we're like the drain and I don't think we're doing a very good job. Um, 1255 01:36:25,199 --> 01:36:32,960 TCOP has certainly made more progress than I think the city has, even though 1256 01:36:30,320 --> 01:36:39,120 TCLP is part of the city. But, um, like that storm water plan that that the DDA 1257 01:36:35,920 --> 01:36:43,440 had done maybe in 2018, it is a great action plan and it's just sitting on the 1258 01:36:41,440 --> 01:36:48,560 shelf. Nobody's done anything with it. Uh, and that's that's really too bad. 1259 01:36:45,520 --> 01:36:54,480 And um uh it seems to me that we just start 1260 01:36:51,679 --> 01:36:58,800 building like bio swells are just built into when we when we reconstruct streets 1261 01:36:57,199 --> 01:37:06,560 we're just always putting in because we flood all over the city. So we just add 1262 01:37:01,920 --> 01:37:12,000 bioells. Um let's see what else the uh research and rep number 18 using 1263 01:37:09,280 --> 01:37:15,840 practice for others. Absolutely. We, you know, I think that I feel like I do 1264 01:37:14,400 --> 01:37:19,040 research to look around to see what other people are doing. People are doing 1265 01:37:17,199 --> 01:37:24,800 amazing things all over. Like Holland uses its wastewater treatment plant to 1266 01:37:22,080 --> 01:37:29,520 melted snow. We have a wastewater treatment plant city right in the middle 1267 01:37:26,880 --> 01:37:34,800 of the city. I mean, that's a big that's a big one, but you know, somebody could 1268 01:37:32,239 --> 01:37:40,320 look into that and see how that's done. Um 1269 01:37:36,800 --> 01:37:44,639 the number 19 replicate uh get some interface locations. This is a great 1270 01:37:42,080 --> 01:37:51,600 idea and uh Commissioner Warner and I are are working with the working on the 1271 01:37:47,520 --> 01:37:56,560 um Brownbridge Trust. It's a big fund that that we're looking to release $3 1272 01:37:53,440 --> 01:38:02,560 million, looking to get the citizens to approve releasing $3 million to uh 1273 01:37:59,840 --> 01:38:08,800 enhance parks in the in the city. And one of those is a really big plan for 1274 01:38:05,119 --> 01:38:14,400 shore water uh shoreline restoration. So the the um the plan would be to add in 1275 01:38:12,000 --> 01:38:19,520 all theseformational centers. Like why why are you planting 1276 01:38:16,800 --> 01:38:25,600 dune grass that is sort of obstructing my view uh of the bay? Well, we plant it 1277 01:38:22,639 --> 01:38:29,280 so that the geese can't see that there's grass on the other side and they don't 1278 01:38:27,840 --> 01:38:35,760 poop all over the place. You know, just that kind of thing. It's also maybe an 1279 01:38:31,760 --> 01:38:41,360 opportunity uh to have sort of interactive educational cultural kinds 1280 01:38:38,560 --> 01:38:45,760 of you know clinch park is has lots of space there. The open space has lots of 1281 01:38:43,199 --> 01:38:49,119 space for those kinds of projects. I don't know where that would go through 1282 01:38:47,119 --> 01:38:54,880 parks and um 1283 01:38:50,800 --> 01:38:59,600 and as for the last one I I agree with again with commissioner somebody about 1284 01:38:57,119 --> 01:39:03,440 policy. You know we have the policy. all the microplastics. 1285 01:39:01,280 --> 01:39:08,159 But um this is again I think this is a place to 1286 01:39:05,920 --> 01:39:11,360 put soft influence. You know, how do we get rid of single 1287 01:39:10,239 --> 01:39:14,560 plastic use? >> Yeah. 1288 01:39:11,840 --> 01:39:22,320 » And all of our events? How do we encourage our our uh service people to 1289 01:39:19,280 --> 01:39:27,840 stop using single plastic use? Maybe it's a bag. It's a tote bag that's made 1290 01:39:24,880 --> 01:39:32,560 out of cloth that that you I don't know that advertises we don't use plastic 1291 01:39:30,159 --> 01:39:38,159 here or the city doesn't use plastic. The city should make it a policy to stop 1292 01:39:35,600 --> 01:39:42,960 using plastic. One more thing at the top too is is there anything we can do to 1293 01:39:40,560 --> 01:39:48,480 strengthen our construction codes so that things like green roofs are 1294 01:39:45,520 --> 01:39:53,199 promoted in some way because we can't do it through zoning. I learned that the 1295 01:39:50,080 --> 01:39:58,719 hard way. Well, sorry to corrupt your dreams, but 1296 01:39:56,000 --> 01:40:01,679 we also can't do any bans or regulations on single least plastic because the 1297 01:40:00,480 --> 01:40:03,520 state legislature, >> this is a soft influence. That's what I 1298 01:40:03,280 --> 01:40:08,400 said. >> Yes. In their infinite wisdom, 1299 01:40:06,239 --> 01:40:13,840 specifically prohibited local municipalities or counties from having 1300 01:40:11,280 --> 01:40:19,840 regulations on that. So yes, we could do it for our own stuff, but the events 1301 01:40:17,280 --> 01:40:25,199 where the city is serving food is a relatively small share of those plastic 1302 01:40:22,560 --> 01:40:30,159 plates and cups and forks that get used in this community and 1303 01:40:27,600 --> 01:40:36,239 uh even in our downtown. But this pillar, I'm actually surprised 1304 01:40:32,639 --> 01:40:41,440 that the ratings for alignment are so low since on the previous slide, it's 1305 01:40:38,719 --> 01:40:46,800 something that we both value strongly in our community and we're putting a lot of 1306 01:40:43,520 --> 01:40:52,000 effort into which rings up the question for me, uh, do people think we're 1307 01:40:48,719 --> 01:40:57,119 misaligned because we're not doing things the way or not focusing on 1308 01:40:54,719 --> 01:41:01,360 priorities the way that individuals think that they should be? Like, we 1309 01:40:58,960 --> 01:41:05,360 might be putting in electric car charters and other people think we 1310 01:41:03,520 --> 01:41:13,600 should be investing more in public transportation instead or is it people 1311 01:41:09,440 --> 01:41:20,239 thinking that we've done a lot but their goals are aspiring to be even higher. So 1312 01:41:16,960 --> 01:41:25,679 yes, we are setting at a standard uh above many other communities in Northern 1313 01:41:22,960 --> 01:41:30,000 Michigan, but how high a standard can we actually set? 1314 01:41:28,400 --> 01:41:34,239 Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. Right. So, last 1315 01:41:32,560 --> 01:41:37,360 one. Right. So, I presume you want to allow a few minutes for public comment 1316 01:41:35,840 --> 01:41:42,159 or questions at the end. So, >> so let's do this one quick. Right. Um, 1317 01:41:40,239 --> 01:41:47,360 so building a thriving year round economy. Um, it's the final pillar. A 1318 01:41:44,880 --> 01:41:52,239 lot of what's in this will have heard uh people talk about. Um, the actions that 1319 01:41:50,080 --> 01:41:56,480 surfaced in this embracing a sustainable tourism approach. Um, and it's 1320 01:41:54,719 --> 01:42:00,560 multifaceted. It's got the environmental impact as well as the economic and the 1321 01:41:58,239 --> 01:42:05,040 quality of life components. Um, high priority from the community. Um, 1322 01:42:03,360 --> 01:42:08,400 marketing to the remote workforce. We've talked about that. Uh, recreational and 1323 01:42:07,119 --> 01:42:12,719 resource related products and businesses. Building on the specialized 1324 01:42:09,920 --> 01:42:17,920 advanced manufacturing sector. Um, not areas that there's been really a lot of 1325 01:42:14,719 --> 01:42:23,040 work by the city u from the judgment uh from the work we do with staff. Um 1326 01:42:20,560 --> 01:42:29,520 here's your your data on this in terms of how well aligned to um not at all 1327 01:42:26,960 --> 01:42:33,840 aligned to very well aligned. Uh again you can see that this is 5.3 was the 1328 01:42:31,840 --> 01:42:37,360 only one that cracked over a five right in the individual actions. Um and I 1329 01:42:36,080 --> 01:42:42,400 think that talks to a lot of the work the really good work that's been going 1330 01:42:38,719 --> 01:42:46,080 on around that. But um my do you want to take us away? 1331 01:42:43,760 --> 01:42:52,320 » So I think again this this along the 1332 01:42:50,239 --> 01:42:56,960 climate feels like a very much a regional 1333 01:42:54,239 --> 01:43:01,440 issue and topic where we need to be working collaboratively uh as you know 1334 01:42:59,600 --> 01:43:06,000 thinking about advanced manufacturing. Do we do we have even one industrial 1335 01:43:04,080 --> 01:43:08,880 manufacturing park within the city limits? We have so we have one 1336 01:43:08,239 --> 01:43:14,000 » park >> and a parks and the remainder are in 1337 01:43:11,840 --> 01:43:20,800 surrounding townships but you know that I think this looking at uh I'm I'm cons 1338 01:43:18,880 --> 01:43:25,360 I have the concern about marketing us for the remote workforce the remote 1339 01:43:22,560 --> 01:43:29,600 workforce is here and um and in part that is driving to a certain degree the 1340 01:43:27,920 --> 01:43:35,840 lack of affordability in our housing. they are bringing their Silicon Valley 1341 01:43:32,400 --> 01:43:39,679 incomes to our real estate market and where the folks that are working in jobs 1342 01:43:37,760 --> 01:43:44,800 here are still earning half the pay for the beautiful bay. Um although that is 1343 01:43:42,000 --> 01:43:50,000 improving. So I do I do think that we like where there's excitement around the 1344 01:43:47,040 --> 01:43:53,760 blue economy, the uh electric boats there and the specialized advanced 1345 01:43:51,600 --> 01:43:57,040 manufacturing and again most of this will be happening outside of city limits 1346 01:43:55,280 --> 01:44:01,440 but making sure that the city has a seat at the table and being uh in the 1347 01:44:00,000 --> 01:44:06,639 conversation around the economic development aspects of this and the 1348 01:44:03,360 --> 01:44:11,760 impacts on the local residents, the year-round residents who are already 1349 01:44:08,400 --> 01:44:18,960 here is going to be key. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. 1350 01:44:14,000 --> 01:44:24,880 » Um just a cautionary comment about targeting uh the remote workforce. Um if 1351 01:44:23,440 --> 01:44:30,719 you look at the national numbers, they're declining fairly rapidly. And um 1352 01:44:28,960 --> 01:44:36,719 you know, our percept our local perceptions may not match that because a 1353 01:44:33,600 --> 01:44:46,560 big employer like Hagerty has such a a fairly broad-based remote work policy. 1354 01:44:40,239 --> 01:44:56,480 But um I I do think that um number 23 and the blue economy has a lot of legs 1355 01:44:50,560 --> 01:45:04,320 and um I I would want to be sure that um residents and resident benefits are um 1356 01:45:00,800 --> 01:45:09,040 taken into consideration while this is essentially an economic development 1357 01:45:06,080 --> 01:45:15,920 initiative. Again, I want to see balance. Um, you know, are there ways 1358 01:45:11,760 --> 01:45:21,280 that residents can benefit from that economic development and and be as 1359 01:45:18,560 --> 01:45:25,840 specific as we can about that? >> Yeah. Thank you. 1360 01:45:24,159 --> 01:45:30,560 » Yeah. As far as building the thriving year-round economy, I guess I'm I'm most 1361 01:45:28,400 --> 01:45:35,520 in favor of investing in 1362 01:45:32,719 --> 01:45:40,560 what we have for our current residents. um you know 1363 01:45:37,600 --> 01:45:45,280 make what's good even better what make make what's poor good like try to step 1364 01:45:42,960 --> 01:45:49,280 everything up of what we currently have and make it a better place I mean it's 1365 01:45:47,199 --> 01:45:53,920 already it's a great place but there's place there's opportunities for 1366 01:45:50,880 --> 01:46:00,480 improvement and I guess I'm more in favor of focusing on folks living here 1367 01:45:57,199 --> 01:46:05,040 now we make it an even better place people will hear that people will know 1368 01:46:02,400 --> 01:46:08,800 and they will come and they will either bring their job with them from Silicon 1369 01:46:06,960 --> 01:46:13,840 Valley. You we're not going to stop them or they'll move here and start a 1370 01:46:10,880 --> 01:46:18,960 business etc. So to me that that's economic development is we just make it 1371 01:46:16,800 --> 01:46:23,840 an even better place than it already is but with focus on current residents and 1372 01:46:22,080 --> 01:46:27,360 others will continue to come because word spreads. 1373 01:46:25,119 --> 01:46:29,040 » Yeah. So sort of focusing on that core value proposition. 1374 01:46:28,560 --> 01:46:32,639 » Yeah. >> And getting that crisp and that does the 1375 01:46:31,040 --> 01:46:39,440 job for you. >> Yeah. here. Here I second that. Um I 1376 01:46:35,679 --> 01:46:44,320 think that the uh action 22 and such as it is because I've seen the 1377 01:46:42,480 --> 01:46:50,560 numbers too. They're just plummeting. Everybody has to go back to the office. 1378 01:46:46,800 --> 01:46:57,760 And uh 23 that's Traverse Connect land. 24 is a regional issue like Commissioner 1379 01:46:53,760 --> 01:47:01,760 Stanley said. I I agree. And 21 is um I think it goes back to the last pillar, 1380 01:46:59,840 --> 01:47:05,280 pillar five was it >> about embedding and replicating 1381 01:47:03,440 --> 01:47:10,159 education at visitor interface locations. If if visitors come here and 1382 01:47:08,159 --> 01:47:15,040 they don't know that we're interested in sustainability then 1383 01:47:13,280 --> 01:47:20,960 because we're not telling them, so let's tell them. And that comes through signs 1384 01:47:17,440 --> 01:47:27,199 and u better interactive kind of things. And we have that whole big waterfront 1385 01:47:22,480 --> 01:47:31,600 down there to put put stuff on. And and the K Foster Museum, I mean, 1386 01:47:29,520 --> 01:47:37,040 maybe that's also a place whatever goes in there is more it's maybe we'd like to 1387 01:47:35,360 --> 01:47:41,600 see something that's more centered on what we're doing for the sustainability 1388 01:47:39,920 --> 01:47:45,360 of Traverse City. >> Yeah. You know, I think that's a bigger 1389 01:47:43,360 --> 01:47:49,119 conversation the community is wanting to have actually is about that evolution of 1390 01:47:47,520 --> 01:47:53,679 the tourism economy >> and that's hard to kind of surface when 1391 01:47:51,199 --> 01:47:58,159 you're in a economy that is driven so much by that sort of that economic 1392 01:47:55,679 --> 01:48:02,400 driver. Uh but I certainly heard a lot from the community and in the various 1393 01:48:00,719 --> 01:48:08,400 sessions we had. >> Yeah. And talking about tourism, yes, 1394 01:48:06,000 --> 01:48:14,320 there are a lot of concerns about the scale of tourism and how much this uh 1395 01:48:11,360 --> 01:48:20,560 community promotes tourism continually, but I'd say part of that is that so much 1396 01:48:17,199 --> 01:48:27,920 of the impact of tourism is during three months or especially two weeks of the 1397 01:48:23,119 --> 01:48:32,560 summer. uh when if we did have some of those people were here for a fall color 1398 01:48:30,159 --> 01:48:38,880 tour, which leaves are starting to change already. Hate to see this early, 1399 01:48:35,199 --> 01:48:44,639 but seasons seasons >> or coming up for spring uh cherry 1400 01:48:41,199 --> 01:48:49,360 blossoms or uh we do have people that come to Hickory Hills or to other ski 1401 01:48:46,639 --> 01:48:53,280 resorts but enjoy here in the winter. We are a season that we are a community 1402 01:48:51,600 --> 01:48:59,119 that is beautiful in all four seasons and that people have reason to visit 1403 01:48:54,800 --> 01:49:04,960 here for all four seasons. And if the marketing and promotion that does 1404 01:49:02,400 --> 01:49:11,679 happen for this region can be trying to spread those visitors out and to balance 1405 01:49:08,159 --> 01:49:17,040 it so that it isn't as acutely taxing our roads, our infrastructure, 1406 01:49:15,119 --> 01:49:21,360 uh our stress levels trying to navigate across town. 1407 01:49:18,719 --> 01:49:28,000 that could be helpful. And I see, yes, remote workers were a 1408 01:49:25,199 --> 01:49:35,920 thing for a period of time. They've declined. I see that as a potential 1409 01:49:32,000 --> 01:49:41,040 cliff um for any municipality or region that tries to go in that direction 1410 01:49:38,880 --> 01:49:48,800 because currently uh for various grants and uh programs if 1411 01:49:45,840 --> 01:49:55,199 you're trying to get state federal MEDC monies they have scorecards for how many 1412 01:49:53,280 --> 01:49:58,560 employers you have in a given area what is your housing portfolio and other 1413 01:49:57,440 --> 01:50:04,080 metrics that don't um have any accounting for 1414 01:50:02,080 --> 01:50:09,040 remote workers. So, >> uh for a project like lot O, if we're 1415 01:50:07,280 --> 01:50:14,960 trying to redevelop that with Homestart into housing, they check a box by saying 1416 01:50:12,639 --> 01:50:21,679 it's in a downtown area and downtown is defined as 29 consecutive storefronts 1417 01:50:18,080 --> 01:50:28,159 along uh one or two main streets. Um it they also check a box by saying you have 1418 01:50:24,239 --> 01:50:32,080 x number of employers over 50 employees. They check another box by saying you 1419 01:50:29,760 --> 01:50:37,360 have one employer over 500. That employer is Hagerty. 1420 01:50:34,239 --> 01:50:44,239 And we don't have 500 people day in day out at Hagerty. But because the numbers 1421 01:50:41,040 --> 01:50:51,440 and haven't been changed to account for how remote work is actually processed, 1422 01:50:47,360 --> 01:50:56,960 that still shows up as 500 employees. If they do change, we don't automatically 1423 01:50:54,239 --> 01:51:01,199 get credit for um remote workers that are working somewhere else but are in 1424 01:50:58,880 --> 01:51:07,119 our community because they're not at a single job site or in a central area, 1425 01:51:04,480 --> 01:51:13,840 which would mean more people going to your local cafe for on their lunch 1426 01:51:10,000 --> 01:51:17,600 break. More people that will have um happy hours at the same time that will 1427 01:51:15,520 --> 01:51:23,480 similarly spend money in the local area. people shopping at the same grocery 1428 01:51:20,480 --> 01:51:23,480 stores. 1429 01:51:23,520 --> 01:51:31,199 » Thank you. May I last word? >> Sure. Um just a little one here. Um so 1430 01:51:29,360 --> 01:51:34,000 first and foremost, um I'm actually going to save the two words for the last 1431 01:51:32,639 --> 01:51:37,760 part. I don't disagree with anything that's been said, but a couple other 1432 01:51:35,119 --> 01:51:43,679 thoughts on it. Um but building on the specialized manufacturing sector um 1433 01:51:41,760 --> 01:51:49,119 there's and it was been said that this is a regional and it is but I think this 1434 01:51:45,760 --> 01:51:52,560 is also a matter of recognizing you know the comments been brought up a couple 1435 01:51:50,480 --> 01:51:55,119 times now what if we hired somebody and made it out had us a clearing house to 1436 01:51:54,080 --> 01:51:59,599 help people through application processes da da da da that it is a good 1437 01:51:58,000 --> 01:52:03,040 idea and networks Northwest does it NMCAA does it Michigan Works does it 1438 01:52:01,760 --> 01:52:05,280 there's a lot of groups doing it that we could probably partner with to bring in 1439 01:52:04,239 --> 01:52:08,560 and have them have a day at the governmental center, things like that. 1440 01:52:06,880 --> 01:52:13,280 But I I come back to this because Michigan Works, Networks Northwest, 1441 01:52:10,719 --> 01:52:16,400 MMTC, there's a lot of organizations here that are working on the 1442 01:52:14,480 --> 01:52:19,920 manufacturing aspect that again when we're talking about our soft power or 1443 01:52:17,760 --> 01:52:23,679 we're talking having conversations, I think it's important for us to be more 1444 01:52:21,199 --> 01:52:28,239 aware of who's out doing what and that those are more uh like MMTC is more and 1445 01:52:27,040 --> 01:52:31,920 Michigan works to a point are more manufacturing based, but there's a lot 1446 01:52:29,679 --> 01:52:36,320 of organizations out there that are very collective already that are trying to 1447 01:52:34,080 --> 01:52:40,800 help move these conversations about jobs. We just when we renewed our um 1448 01:52:38,880 --> 01:52:43,440 Traverse Connect contract, part of the conversation was the bigger conversation 1449 01:52:42,320 --> 01:52:46,560 that started to happen with Travers Connect, all the businesses 1450 01:52:44,400 --> 01:52:51,119 participating is what are we doing about wages and how are we going to make those 1451 01:52:48,239 --> 01:52:55,599 sustainable? I know that the you know they they just got that grant for the 1452 01:52:53,440 --> 01:52:59,920 offsetting the the rent, but I will say this, it might only be 50 people. I was 1453 01:52:57,920 --> 01:53:02,960 talking to a nurse who's my friend's girlfriend and he used to live here. 1454 01:53:01,119 --> 01:53:06,400 He's moved too because of job reasons and I said, "Yeah, you know, for the 1455 01:53:04,320 --> 01:53:09,360 first couple first couple of years if because of this, if you wanted to come 1456 01:53:07,840 --> 01:53:13,280 take your nursing degree from Milwaukee and move to Traverse City, there's this 1457 01:53:11,440 --> 01:53:16,480 rent benefit." And that was something that piqued her interest and she wanted 1458 01:53:14,480 --> 01:53:19,840 to look at because the reality is it's not just our service workers looking for 1459 01:53:17,840 --> 01:53:23,520 affordable housing. It's our teachers, it's our fire department, our firemen, 1460 01:53:21,599 --> 01:53:28,400 it's our, you know, police officers. It's not a you know that there's a very 1461 01:53:25,679 --> 01:53:32,639 wide spectrum of people and so to that end about the remote workers the other 1462 01:53:30,560 --> 01:53:37,360 thing about remote working now is where it is remaining they're paying national 1463 01:53:35,119 --> 01:53:41,760 average not Silicon Valley prices anymore. So again, that's not a terrible 1464 01:53:39,599 --> 01:53:45,840 thing if you're saying, "Hey, we have high speeded internet for TCLP, so move 1465 01:53:43,599 --> 01:53:49,199 here instead of Paskki or move here instead of, you know, a smaller 1466 01:53:47,360 --> 01:53:51,679 community in the region where we are more of a year-round economy." And it is 1467 01:53:50,800 --> 01:53:55,520 something to talk about, but I don't think it's something we have to lean 1468 01:53:52,800 --> 01:53:59,280 hard into. Um, because there are a lot of people out doing this work as part of 1469 01:53:57,280 --> 01:54:01,679 our regional I agree with what everybody said about it being a regional solution, 1470 01:54:00,480 --> 01:54:05,360 but I think there's a lot of regional work being done on it. We just need to 1471 01:54:03,520 --> 01:54:08,880 educate ourselves better and be louder proponents in that sector as well. Um, 1472 01:54:07,520 --> 01:54:13,679 and then the other part that I was going to talk about is the tourism. And I I 1473 01:54:12,159 --> 01:54:17,920 hear a lot and I know it come it came through at some of the sessions and and 1474 01:54:15,679 --> 01:54:22,080 everything else. And I'm not saying it's wrong at all. To David's point, you're 1475 01:54:20,560 --> 01:54:26,080 seeing it out in Detroit for Pure Michigan and come to Trevor City and you 1476 01:54:23,760 --> 01:54:29,199 don't want anybody to come. I was born and raised here. My mom was born and 1477 01:54:27,440 --> 01:54:33,360 raised here. Trevor City is a tourist economy. We shouldn't rely on it. It 1478 01:54:31,119 --> 01:54:37,920 shouldn't be built to be bigger on that. But people do come. And so where we need 1479 01:54:36,000 --> 01:54:42,080 to do better, I think, is engaging with Traverse City Tourism and other people 1480 01:54:39,520 --> 01:54:46,320 who are in it. I think the sometimes knee-jerk negative response and tone 1481 01:54:44,000 --> 01:54:49,679 that people some people have or we have kind of as these conversations or even 1482 01:54:47,920 --> 01:54:52,960 the kind of sarcasm as part of some of these conversations isn't going to 1483 01:54:51,040 --> 01:54:55,520 benefit us long run. We know that frankly they're an organization that 1484 01:54:54,239 --> 01:55:01,920 brings a lot of people together. They're two of our counties, ours and Benzy now. 1485 01:54:58,639 --> 01:55:06,320 And also I mean they have a pot of money. We know that there the tax the 1486 01:55:04,320 --> 01:55:10,719 bed tax that gets assessed right now is not ours, it's theirs. And so I think 1487 01:55:08,560 --> 01:55:14,000 that there's more I've seen over the last few years a much more of a 1488 01:55:12,159 --> 01:55:18,239 willingness from them to come and say, you know, what do what do you guys what 1489 01:55:15,599 --> 01:55:21,360 are we doing? What do we need? And so to that end, I think that there's that 1490 01:55:20,080 --> 01:55:24,480 conversation that still needs to happen on a bigger scale and a more earnest 1491 01:55:22,719 --> 01:55:27,920 scale. And the other thing I would say really quickly is unfortunately when we 1492 01:55:26,239 --> 01:55:31,280 talk about the tourist tax, you would think that we'd all be united in that 1493 01:55:29,679 --> 01:55:35,599 and then every time something comes or when I I testified in Lancing about 1494 01:55:32,960 --> 01:55:39,440 that. Um there's a lot of municipalities and townships that say, "Well, we don't 1495 01:55:37,040 --> 01:55:42,800 want to tax because they might not come people might not come here because of 1496 01:55:40,800 --> 01:55:45,760 our city tax or our local tax and they'll go to the next jurisdiction 1497 01:55:44,080 --> 01:55:48,800 over." I think we in Traverse City know that's not an issue, but we also have to 1498 01:55:47,119 --> 01:55:51,760 bring I don't think that conversation that it's a bigger conversation that we 1499 01:55:50,239 --> 01:55:54,719 also I think have to use our influence on a little bit more because I don't 1500 01:55:53,360 --> 01:55:58,960 think it's the gimme that everybody thinks it is outside of Southeast 1501 01:55:56,560 --> 01:56:03,119 Michigan. So that's kind of my brain dump on all of that. But so I think as 1502 01:56:01,360 --> 01:56:05,760 far as budget alignment, there's not a ton of budget alignment for us on that. 1503 01:56:04,560 --> 01:56:10,080 I think the investment in Traverse Connect helping us bring some of the 1504 01:56:07,360 --> 01:56:13,440 jobseeking and and um focus on different economies is good. Um, but I think we 1505 01:56:11,920 --> 01:56:21,760 can all do it's a much more soft influence item even though it's huge. 1506 01:56:17,040 --> 01:56:24,320 » Okay. Thank you. Good final say. Um, so next steps. So this has been fantastic, 1507 01:56:23,440 --> 01:56:26,320 right? To be able to >> 5:30 on the nose. 1508 01:56:25,520 --> 01:56:28,800 » I know. >> Yeah. 1509 01:56:27,280 --> 01:56:32,159 » So I want to give you a minute for questions as well, but I just just like 1510 01:56:30,560 --> 01:56:36,320 next steps on this, right? Obviously, we wanted to give you a chance to kind of 1511 01:56:33,520 --> 01:56:41,599 just really talk from your kind of core about your reaction to to these ideas 1512 01:56:38,960 --> 01:56:45,920 that the community generated. Um, I think this provides a lot of kind of 1513 01:56:43,440 --> 01:56:49,360 overlay and nuance. Um, and what Benjamin and I have been talking about 1514 01:56:47,199 --> 01:56:54,400 is that our next step is we want to take basically each one of these pillars and 1515 01:56:51,440 --> 01:56:59,280 work it up as here as a I guess a proposition for how the budgeting and 1516 01:56:57,520 --> 01:57:03,520 the programming in the city could evolve to get closer to it right now. We're 1517 01:57:01,679 --> 01:57:06,960 looking 3 to 5 years out. So, it's not like, you know, January it all flips, 1518 01:57:05,360 --> 01:57:10,480 right? It's but it's going to get us onto a trajectory. Um, and I think 1519 01:57:09,199 --> 01:57:14,400 there's a really interesting set of layers in here of like kind of hard 1520 01:57:12,000 --> 01:57:18,000 budget and and sort of program issues, but there's a lot that you talked about 1521 01:57:16,239 --> 01:57:22,800 that's really about your voice and influence. And I think that sort of may 1522 01:57:20,480 --> 01:57:27,199 get expressed in sort of values and, you know, sort of the the key objectives and 1523 01:57:25,520 --> 01:57:30,880 um some of those things, not necessarily straight into hard sort of key results, 1524 01:57:29,280 --> 01:57:35,040 but we'll we'll work on that. And I think the next time we come together, 1525 01:57:32,639 --> 01:57:38,320 it'll be getting you to react to that. Um, this is still a little bit draft 1526 01:57:36,960 --> 01:57:42,320 because we have a couple of commissions still to finish the survey and I know 1527 01:57:40,480 --> 01:57:45,520 one of the candidates did it between I downloaded the data this morning and 1528 01:57:43,840 --> 01:57:48,880 today, right? So, we'll see whether we can get the additional candidates to 1529 01:57:47,119 --> 01:57:52,000 complete that. Um, but I think this was a cracking good start to that 1530 01:57:50,239 --> 01:57:54,639 conversation. So, Benjamin, thank you for helping put this together. 1531 01:57:53,360 --> 01:57:58,800 » Thank you. And I want to thank Colleen Pavllio, too, for all of her work uh all 1532 01:57:56,880 --> 01:58:02,960 along the way. And I just want to say how much I appreciate the conversation 1533 01:58:01,040 --> 01:58:06,880 that the commission had. The amount of uh context and perspective that you 1534 01:58:04,719 --> 01:58:11,840 shared I think is helpful and will I hope give us something to come back to 1535 01:58:09,280 --> 01:58:16,320 you with that you can help us make sure that we're uh distilling what you're 1536 01:58:14,239 --> 01:58:19,840 saying in the way that you meant it. So thank you very much. 1537 01:58:17,920 --> 01:58:22,639 » So we are this is a meeting and I want to give people a chance to have their 1538 01:58:20,960 --> 01:58:26,239 voice. Um we do have a meeting at 7 o'clock tonight. So, I'm going to ask 1539 01:58:24,480 --> 01:58:30,400 with kindness that we do two minutes public comment if anybody wants to. Um, 1540 01:58:28,719 --> 01:58:34,400 we are going to be have continuing this conversation. This is the very very 1541 01:58:32,400 --> 01:58:37,280 first look and very first reactions. There's potential for another survey. 1542 01:58:36,159 --> 01:58:41,280 There's going to be more discussions on each pillar as we talked about. There's 1543 01:58:39,280 --> 01:58:44,880 going to be um just a lot more discussions. This is a first glance. We 1544 01:58:43,280 --> 01:58:49,840 want to hear if anybody has any overall thoughts kind of like where we're at of 1545 01:58:46,719 --> 01:58:53,599 our impressions. But I also um would ask that kind of kind of keep that to your 1546 01:58:52,080 --> 01:58:56,159 first reactions and not worry that because you heard something here, it's 1547 01:58:54,800 --> 01:59:00,000 inherently what you have to talk us out of because I think there's a lot of a 1548 01:58:57,920 --> 01:59:03,119 lot of big conversations that are h are happening and ultimately it's going to 1549 01:59:01,599 --> 01:59:06,560 be another body too that does some of this. So, uh Sarah has her portable mic. 1550 01:59:05,280 --> 01:59:09,199 I think someone will just if could somebody could just bring it over to our 1551 01:59:07,840 --> 01:59:12,480 audience and people just raise your hands if you want it 1552 01:59:10,880 --> 01:59:15,440 » uh want to speak and share any information. 1553 01:59:13,760 --> 01:59:19,280 » The only thing I ask is that you state your name for me. 1554 01:59:16,480 --> 01:59:19,280 » Yes. 1555 01:59:20,239 --> 01:59:24,960 first. >> Oh, see I said 1556 01:59:23,840 --> 01:59:28,480 » I said two minutes and I scared everybody. We can You can have three if 1557 01:59:26,880 --> 01:59:32,400 you're home and have a dinner. >> Yeah, right. We're all hungry. 1558 01:59:30,719 --> 01:59:35,440 » Oh, yeah. I didn't pack pizza. >> All right. Well, we look forward to 1559 01:59:34,000 --> 01:59:39,040 seeing a lot of engaged people here. We look forward to seeing I'm sure not all 1560 01:59:37,679 --> 01:59:45,599 of you, but all of our future conversations and um again 1561 01:59:43,040 --> 01:59:48,239 your thank you do anything else? No. Okay, I'm 1562 01:59:47,199 --> 01:59:52,840 going to adjourn this meeting for anybody who wants a part two. 7 o'clock 1563 01:59:49,840 --> 01:59:52,840 tonight.