Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

I don't want to hold him again.

and we've been able to We are going to go. We are going to go. is is

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But it's the biggest chore. Anyway, the busy one we were playing, I thought, was for you. Yeah. Well, I will get to that. I don't remember.

I'm trying to remember. Yes. Okay. Yes. Not. All right, folks. At 7 p.m., I will go ahead and call our meeting to order.

If we can start with a moment of silence, please. Okay. And if we can stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Just as a reminder, if you happen to have a phone with me, please make sure that it's off or on silent. Senator Green will take roll call for us, please. Councilmember Williams.

Reid. Stewart. Here. Ross. Here. Davis.

Here.

Brunch. Here. And Mayer-Steiner.

Here. Do I have a motion to approve of the agenda?

Move.

Board approved.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, this evening we will start out with a few presentations. First, we will hear from Linda Spartan-Pantz, by David Swinton and Latasha Brown-Swinton. Let's see if you'd like to come up. We have 10 minutes, and so the floor is yours.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, and the members of our community. My name is Latasha Brown-Swinton, and this is my husband, David Swinton. We are the owners of Linda's Heart and Hands. First, we would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to introduce our business and share what we are doing in our community. Linda's Heart and Hands started from a very personal experience for our family. It all began when both of my in-laws began experiencing health issues and were no longer able to do many everyday things for themselves. As a family, we saw firsthand how difficult It can be when someone you love wants to remain independent and comfortable in their own home, but needs additional assistance to do so safely. We also saw how important it is for families to know that someone trustworthy, compassionate, and dependable is there to help their loved one. This business is more than a business to us. It comes from our personal experience of caring for family and understanding what families go through when someone they love needs additional support.

Lenders Heart on Hands is an in-home care agency that assists individuals with activities that they want to commonly know as daily lives. Our services include light house cleaning, light meal preparation, bathing, personal care, medication reminders, and assistance consistent with the client's care plan and our scope of services, and other daily activities that help individuals remain safe and comfortable in their homes. We understand that every person is different. That is why we believe care should never be one size fits all. We tailor our care plans to each individual's needs, including individuals with families dealing with conditions such as dementia and Parkinson's disease. One of our biggest goals is to help individuals maintain as much independence, dignity, and quality of life as possible. Sometimes the things that seem small, preparing a meal, helping get ready for the day, keeping the home tidy, or simply making sure someone is an alum, it makes a tremendous difference. Our services can also provide support and peace of mind for family caregivers. Families often have jobs, children, appointments, and other responsibilities while trying to care for an aging or disabled loved one. We want them to know they don't have to handle all this alone. Linda's Harding We want to make a difference in others' lives. We want to build relationships with families, health care providers, senior organizations, community organizations, and our city. Most importantly, we want families to know there is somewhere they can turn when a loved one needs a helping hand.

The names Linda's Heart and Hands represent exactly what we want our agency to provide. The heart represents compassion, patience, dignity, and genuinely caring about the people we serve. The hand represents being there to provide practical assistance when someone needs help. Together, they represent our belief that quality care requires both. Linda's heart and hands began because our own family needed help. That personal experience gave us a greater understanding of what other families in our community may be going through. Today, we want to take what we learned from caring for our own family and use it to serve others. Our goal is simple, to provide compassionate, dependable care that allows individuals to remain safe, comfortable, and as independent as possible in their own home. We are Latasha and David Swinton, the owners of Linda's Heart and Hands, and we are excited about the opportunity to serve and grow with our community. Thank you for your time, your service to our community, and the opportunity to share our story.

Thank you very much.

How can we help you all?

I believe if someone would give us some direction or if you know someone that needs help, I have a family member that needs help. You guys are sitting on the council, I'm quite sure. any any help you could provide right in the world right now yes right now um two year journey yeah we've been learning everything on our own uh like she said it started because we lost my father to dementia um so it's been a long road but we've been learning everything on our own and trying to do everything in It was hard to find some assistance like we're providing right now in our area.

Have you all been to the senior center to kind of get out like either business cards or?

We just got our business cards and we got to start. We also work regular, not regular jobs, but I like to find some time to get time off to do that, go into the aging area.

Yeah, definitely. I can share some info with you guys. I'm sending it to you. Also, any referrals that I for sure may have, I'll direct them and go.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation. And I love what you're doing. And it really is the, in our town, that's a lot of Asian population and Now, we've been talking about housing, but here's another critical question. Are you guys affiliated with anyone? Are you as quickly independent? This was curious. And I guess if you don't mind answering this question, what's been the hardest thing so far?

what we have in the savings after regular living paying bills. There's that and actually learning about licensing and trying to reach out, you know, just soak it all in, whatever information we get. That's the biggest part. That's really the time on us working. It's been 90 minutes.

Councilman Davis. Yes, I'd like to say thank you to Professor.

I didn't know

But I think we may have some resources through the Chamber of Commerce and EDC in terms of establishing a business and helping it to grow and getting the word out. So two people that are sitting right there, that's going to be yours.

And we have a new EDC director as well that possibly can help you. So before you leave, make sure you get their cards, because I think they probably can help you.

Thank you. Thank you for being with us and sharing your information. Yes, thank you for having us. Next, we have a New York event with Healthy Babies.

Good evening, everybody. Thanks for having me again. I'm Amy Reimann, Executive Director of LVM Healthcare Alliance. If it's September, it must be festival time, but it also must be healthy babies time. Healthy Babies Day for 2026 will be September 26th. That is a Saturday. It will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Crowell School, which is the same place we had it last year. For anybody who might not remember, this is a free event for anybody expecting a child or anybody who has or cares for a child and from birth to 18 months. So we have had grandparents come, caregivers come. It's a big, it's a wonderful three hours where we have educational sessions. This year we have Dr. Nettleton, our county medical officer, coming to talk about vaccine safety. We have an early childhood literacy educational session going on about the importance of reading to your child and getting your child signed up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. We also have another one on early childhood play. and how important it is to get your child to play with other kids before school starts, and also postpartum mental health, which is really, really important for all of us to be aware that all of our moms out there and families need our support. We will again have free diapers, free sleep sacks. We'll probably, I believe we are having food boxes again this year, fresh food boxes, and first aid kits for attendees. This is proudly sponsored this year by Albion's Men Who Give. They sponsored us back earlier in the year, so we'd make sure we had enough resources to put this on. It's sure it's a free event for everybody. We also have invited, and I believe we are having a representative from RX Kids who will have a table there so they can sign anybody up who hasn't heard about it so we can make sure we get everybody on the money that they need to take care of everything. Does anybody have any questions? What was the date again? September 26th, Saturday. And I have flyers and I will leave them here. You ready to go? I love them.

Can you give us an update as to how RxKids is doing in the community?

It's going swimmingly. We have at least, I should have looked before I came in here. Beautiful. I believe we have had 10 babies and we have might have 20 families signed up. So that's a lot of babies to have in a short amount of time. It's obviously bigger countywide. We have families from Albion and Sheridan Township signed up, which was kind of our assigned. We might live in Sheridan Township, but still have a 49224. So we want to make sure those people were covered. They have had two babies since July 1. It's going really great. We're really excited that people have been signing up. We just want to make sure we keep the moment going and make sure people are signing up early on. So if anybody needs flyers, then as well, we have lots of flyers for our ex-kids as well. Well, thank you. Thanks.

And the last but not least, we have a civilian years here with Now we can chamber and reverse to our festival updates.

Good evening, mayor, council members. Thank you for having me this evening. And here we have a festival coming up. So I'm privileged that our organization is the one that leads the logistics and hosting the festival. Festival of the Horks this year is presented by Louisville Battery Park, Michigan. We also have 27 other local sponsors. which can be found on our website, festivalofworks.org. So we always encourage those sponsors to help us keep this festival going. So in any way that you can find ways to support those businesses, please do so. This year, you'll notice that there's been some changes on how we're moving forward. So our visitor event specialist, Ramona Kidder, and I have worked really hard. We've really been taking in feedback the last couple years from the community and our supporters and stuff and really looking at festival in a different lens. Ramona spent some time really going into the archives of festival, going back into like the 1960s and the 70s and the 80s and really looking at diving a little bit deeper into our community's festival. We learned some things about Festival of the Forks, and we were able to look at it and see what can we bring back? What are some new ideas? What are some new ideas from the community? And that's what I'm here to share some of that information with you. One of those changes that you're going to see is last several years and stuff, we've always kind of pushed out a theme for a festival. We've kind of stepped away from the theme so much and we went right back to the original vision of festivals. So everything that you've celebrating Albion's heritage. And so we really went right back to this festival is about celebrating our heritage. It's about our community. It's about our people. And that's what we want to bring forward. So you're going to see this as we move forward to really pulling in on celebrating Albion's heritage. This year, you'll see they're already up on Superior Street. We did purchase new nationality flags. That came, we have one that is still in route. I got the shipping details today on it. So we're hoping that we'll get that flag before a festival and we'll have them back up. And so that was another part of, we've always had those nationality flags up that represent different countries and stuff that represent our community. And so we want to bring that full force right back front and center. All of our marketing, our billboard on 94 has the nationality flags on it. Our flyers do because this festival, Festival of the Forks, is about our community. Right now, we have 21 food vendors and trucks signed up. To participate, we have an official food court for 2026 that is sponsored by Consumers Energy that will be in the parking lot behind Kids and Stuff Children's Museum. The reason for that is with the plaza not being there at the moment, we wanted to still create that same sense of where our community would go to look for our food vendors. And so we were able to do that in that parking lot by utilizing the parking lot behind kids and stuff and the road barriers. We can actually extend the hours for our food trucks as well. So the food trucks on Saturday will be operating until 6 p.m. so that we can help them get through the breakfast, the lunch, the dinner. So all of your meals on those days of festival come back down to the food court. Ramona's done a really good job. Really good job at looking at the menu. We have some new food trucks and stuff that are coming in as well. So that is going to be very exciting. And we're working with the city for picnic tables in the food court as well. As of today, we have 83 artists and exhibitors signed up that will line Superior Street and Erie Streets. So we are almost full. probably like maybe a handful of 10 by 10s left if somebody is interested we are wrapping up our vendors tomorrow we're gonna get that vendor packet out to our participating vendors and bring them up to speed so that they're ready for next week and that those vendors are our community organizations that are businesses are non-profits they are artists they are crafts crafters um you're gonna see a whole line of different um exhibitors that are gonna come in and that is important too because that resources that we have. Again, the extended hours will apply to our exhibitors on Superior and Erie Street. They will actually operate on Saturday until 5 p.m. And then they'll kind of start their close down process. The food court will remain open. So attendees of the festival can go to the food court, grab your dinner. And then one of the things that we saw in the history of festivals, we used to end with a grand finale concert. We were like, well, why can't we do that still? So now we're working on the grand finale concert in Victory Park at 7 p.m., which the Albion College Marching Band is going to come in and just get everybody hyped up for the end of festival in there. So we hope you go grab your dinner on Saturday from the food court and then head over to Victory Park so that we can kind of celebrate once more on Saturday. So festival will actually on Saturday run until 8 p.m. this year. So we definitely thank you to the city for helping us to be able to extend those offers. We do have a jury art show, which is new this year with the Albion Art Center that will be open both Friday and Saturday. We also have the Forks 5K will take place on Friday, and we have the Foundry Mile that will take place Saturday morning prior to the parade. The parade is back to its 10 a.m. start, so we went back to, we heard your feedback, we went back to the 10 a.m. start. Right now we have over 35 entries, including three marching bands. alumni, community organizations, youth, we have a still walker coming in, and a lot more. And we're still accepting applications. Our carnival is sponsored by the Calhoun County Visitors Bureau that will be once again at Rieger Park along with the Petting Zoo as well. New and backed by popular demand, we're bringing in a penny scramble at Cornelius Park. We're bringing in dino building and also the foam party that is sponsored by Blue Box Credit Union. Live music at Center Stage, we have the French Quarter Dixieland Band, Tay Sweet and Band, and Half Step Down. That is on the Center Street Stage. On the Porter Street Stage will be live performances in partnership with Difference Makers, including various local talent and flag twirling, is what I've been told today. Returning is World Fest again on Saturday evening at 4 p.m. at the Bone Theater. We have live art. We have the Swag Chainsaw Art is coming in again once again at the intersection of Cass and Superior. We've also partnered with Fluence Arts Organization and Kids and Stuff Children's Museum and have an aerial artist coming in at Kids and Stuff Saturday afternoon. So we will have an aerial artist, which is new to the festival. And then I do want to take some more information is on festivaloforgs.org. We've expanded the schedule. I'm sharing a lot of information. We have a lot going on. But I do want to take a second to thank the city of Albion. Um, we, the greater Albion chamber of commerce, we cannot host this festival without the support of the city. Uh, we meet with the city on a yearly basis. Um, thank you to Jason Kern and Chief Phibbs and Lindsay Rourke and council members and stuff for keeping in communication, having open doors for us so that we can plan a successful festival and be able to add all of this stuff in for Festival of the Forks. So again, Saturday, September 18th and 19th, it will kick off with the Cruisin' and Car Show, which is in memory of Deb Meyers. Deb Meyers was with yesterday's news. She used to lead our car show for many, many years. We lost her this last year, and so this car show is in memory of Deb. We will be doing a moment of silence Friday evening, and we will also be doing a horn salute. about that as well. And so please, if you know people that have plastic cars and stuff to ask them to come down for Friday, it's going to be a great kickoff to festival. And we're looking forward to it the next couple of weeks. So if you see Ramona and I and some board members running all over the place, we're okay. We're looking forward to it and we'll catch up on rest when it's over. Any questions? Any questions for Billy?

Yeah.

Thank you. Um, what's an aerial artist? An aerial artist is, um, so her name is Ashley Smith and she has a large hoop that she will do in, um, arts up in the air, uh, at Kids and Stuff Children's Museum. So Fluence Arts Organization is one of our members and we partnered with, uh, with them to bring in Ashley and we thought Kids and Stuff would be a great partnership.

one person talked to me about, and I'm not an expert at this, but about the historical reunion aspect of a festival of all forms. So not just classical reunions, but the idea of getting people from Albion to come back to Albion. Yes. And I think the car show was even called the reunion car show. Okay. Just putting that out there. Yeah. More to take you on your Albion heritage.

Yeah. No, I love that. And I'll circle back through with you bring our community full circle back to the festival.

I love that. Thank you. Billy, I have a question for you because I haven't been in this role for some time. Or the council members who participate in the parade, do we need to fill out the form as well?

I think we already have your form and we have it all set and stuff. And I know Ramona and then Sam Porter helps us lay out the parade. I believe they were meeting this morning. So we should be all set. I'll double check though. But yes, we will make sure that council is ready. The more fun in the parade, the better. So Grand Marshal, I have been in contact with this year's Grand Marshal as of today. We will be formally announcing the Grand Marshal later this week. So we've had really, really good nominations this year. We are actually going to give a shout out to everybody who was nominated. I think it is very important to recognize these individuals in our community that stand out and have been recognized for the work that they're doing. Today, though, I have been in contact with our Grand Marshal. I give them a chance to make sure they want to accept it. And so we will be moving forward with the announcement this week. So stay tuned. Follow us on Facebook and just stay connected with us. And we'll make sure everybody is in the know. You're welcome. You're welcome. Great question.

Thank you to you and your team, to your whole board that gets heavily involved. You're so close together for us. So just know that we all appreciate all the work you do because so many people come to the town and come back and they don't know what goes on behind the curtain to make this a success. So we appreciate all you guys.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And I'll see you at Festival.

Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, next we have a public hearing for annual levy of property taxes. So I will go ahead and open our public hearing at 726. So if there's anybody in our gallery that would like to stand and address council in regards to the tax levy, you may perform. Give us your name and address and three minutes is your list.

Hello.

My name's Rebecca Tobey. I live at 752 Haven Road. And I'm kind of new to the area. And I have lived in a couple of places in Michigan. And when we moved here and got our tax bill, our summer tax bill, and it was due on August 10th, I thought that was the strangest thing. Because where I've lived before, it was due on September 14th, which my understanding is most places in the state have their summer taxes due on the 14th. of September. And I just wondered if any thought had ever been given to maybe not making the taxes due in August when you have a lot of educators in this community with the college and the art schools. And that's a hard time for a teacher to be coming up with extra money, especially if that's when they're taking family vacations and trying to get their own kids ready for back to school. And I think that it might be nicer if they could put up paying those taxes for about five weeks. That's all.

Thank you. Anybody else like to stand and address also in regards to our public hearing? Seeing no movement, I will go ahead and close our public hearing. It is 7.27 p.m. Do I have a motion to approve Resolution 2026.5 to set the process to pass?

So moved.

Forward. Attorney Harkness, will the Mayor and Council visit the annual

tax roll for the renewal and personal property taxes in the city of Calhoun. That's termed by the city's successor. But that's Calhoun being at $138 million from change. And the roll will be for 11.1055 bills for the general fund operations, which will raise a total of $1.3 million to $0.784 824 mils per solid waste, which is estimated to raise $31,459. 2.802 mils per street improvements, which is to raise $329,150. And 1.8951 mils for the recreation operations, which will raise a total of $227,311. Any questions?

May I return to French?

So I read this and I'm like, maybe I'm not stupid, but 2.8020 is a bigger number than 2.7824. It raises about $2,000 less. So now I'm confused.

So is that switched? I don't know. I just saw that. Where is it?

maybe it's a harder question yeah i can tell you i mean the village rates are what you're concerned about the the dollars their dollar amounts are approximated okay so whether or not that means okay

Yes, thank you. I'm wishing that I had the mills from last year. So I could say, but don't force us.

I don't know that's a good question. Any other questions for the manager? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And three minutes is yours.

Who has Austin and Eaton? Who has Austin and Eaton? Which one of you? It's on the corner. Austin and Eaton. Who has it? Are you on the north east corner? North east corner. 220 Austin. Mark Lawson. I'm tired. Who has it? How come you haven't come up and seen me and found out what was happening with my business with the road construction to find out what was going on how I'm dealing with it the fact that nothing is being done I have one way in I have people that are calling me trying to figure out how to get into my business and nothing is being done. I'm told that it's eight weeks out for Austin Street. I was told eight weeks for Eaton Street and it's been four months. What is going on? Come on Jason, stand up and tell me. I'm discouraged. You have cut off my business. everybody else has got two ways in to their business and they're all open no one is coming to my shop you want me to close is that what you want you want to lose that tax base is that what this council wants please say something to me because you people do not talk to me so just as a reminder public comment that's not a back and forth but we can

Follow up with you?

No, I want to know something now. I have been dealing with this for four months. I want an answer now. When are you going to pay Eaton Street so that people can get to my business? Do you want me to close? Is that what you want? Please tell me because I'll move. I'll go somewhere else. I mean, after all, this town has got several businesses in it that, you know, is prospering. Wait a minute, that's dollars. But go ahead. Give me an answer.

It's discouraging both

You know how long I've been in this town? Any of you? I used to think that this was a good place to live. Start a business. Two weeks from now, I'm going to go to Oklahoma, and I'm going to find someplace, and I'm going to leave this town. After 63 years. Because people don't care. And I don't say that lightly. I really don't. I have tried. And I have tried for years. And help you. And he can tell you.

Too bad. Come on.

We all have to stand and rest. I asked, are you going to help?

Good evening. Debbie Kelly with the Albany EDC. This evening, you will see under consideration to appoint Ms. Jennifer Wilber to the Albany Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. I would like to advocate for Jennifer. She would be a great asset to the board with her financial background, being the president of Homestead Bank. We're really looking to relaunch our revolving loan fund program through the EDC. I think she would be a great asset to our board. Thank you for your consideration for her appointment.

In your packet, you have the regular session minutes.

The application for the Vickery at Holland Park. Application for Improvised Sound at Vickery Park. And the other Improvised Sound at Vickery Park for accessible sports, but now in conference. Any questions or comments? David, say aye. Aye. Opposed? So I have a motion to approve of the board and commission appointments and re-appointments that are in your packet.

So moved. So board.

In your packet, you have applications for re-appointment for Eric Krause, a new application for Juanita Solis-Petter for the DEA, and for Jennifer Walther for the EDC. Juanita, you are here. I see you. If you wanted to stand and address council in any way. Forecast. Okay, . I just love LVM, and I see the progress that we're doing, that it takes all of us to work together to do something. And so that's why I applied. And thank you very much for considering. Jennifer? Yeah, yeah. If you want to come up and say a few words, Jennifer. So I'm Jennifer Wilber and I just, I've worked here in the city for 35 years. I'm recently the president of Homestead Savings Bank and I do also do see the progress that the city is making and I'm proud to be a part of it. Thank you. Council member questions. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

That is that only should I show support.

And I see her.

Well, I have a lot of permission to hear, but basically, those previously submitted to the consideration of the plan, the Treasury Department itself, the initial plan or request some revision. That's what you can for you. They also wanted to know how they might gain a plan D with the assumption that should some of the property that is supposed to be so does not occur that there is a plan B for the down. Okay. So 20, 26, 46 is plan A and then 26, 47 is plan B. Okay. Debbie, do you have any additional that?

I do not. I just wanted to make sure you had both versions within your packets this evening. Okay, long and far. I'm here if there are any questions. Basically, plan A would be if I sell a property. Plan B is when I get a grant from the MEDC. So hopefully both happen and you just make tons of money.

So that's my goal. Do we have any questions for Ms. Kelly for this meeting? All right.

Council Member Reed. Yes. Steward. Yes. Ross. Yes. Tatum. Yes. Brunch. Yes. Williams. Yes. And Nielsen.

Yes. We have a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve a motion to approve

Yes. Yes. Davis. Yes. French. Yes. Williams. Yes. Reed. Yes. Anderson.

Yes. Do I have a motion for approval of the second reading of Ordinance 24605 to amend our curfew? No. No.

This is pre-developed. I read this. Beep.

No. No, it's okay. No, it's not the old one.

It should be number 39. Sorry. Page 39. Sorry. So this is the fact that you're a young person.

Yes. We just did that.

First, this is the second. Yeah.

We had a motion and it was first did it, second did it.

Who made your version also?

I think I made the support.

Who made it?

Why don't we just do a motion on the second distinction?

I moved.

So again, our second reading, do I have any questions for Chief Phipps on this?

Council Member Frost? Yes. Davis? Yes. French? Yes. Williams? Yes. Stewart? Yes. Anderson?

Yes. Do I have a motion to move through Ordinance 202607, Rezone 958 here are the 9th and 8th. So we'll support.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Since we've been for the same mission, they have the the refoaming for the retouching of the property from campus development to mixed use district. And they have certain stipulations in the best detail in the purpose and finding section of your ordinance. they'll probably come back to the other portion of the property that they have to also divide, split it, and then one portion of it will be re-trussed.

Councilor Stern. Thank you. And this is the recommendation of the Planning Commissioner. Thank you.

And this is the vacant property, or is it the vacant property?

One is the vacant property, and then The other one would be from this, it would be, what was it called? Peterhouse? Peterhouse, yes. Peterhouse, yes. Peterhouse, yes.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? We'll correct Linda.

Hold some members' names. Yes. Branch. Yes. Williams. Yes. Reed. Yes. Stewart. Yes. Ross. Yes. Amir Singh.

Yes. Do I have a motion to approve ordinance 202608 to amend the parking law enforcement? So moved. Support? Chief Betts, are you for hearing ordinance?

Yeah. So right now, our ordinance has an actual schedule of fines set forth in the ordinance itself, which makes it cumbersome to change. If you look at the existing ordinance, $10, which it meant that way since we're in place, which is very, very generous city in terms of the parking citation. But the city manager had approached me and asked about the possibility of, you know, can a fine be somewhat lessened if they pay it the same day? You know, what is the penalty if it exceeds a certain day? And so just to make this far more what we've done with the ordinance is we've changed it such that the schedule of parking fines is going to be adopted in our annual schedule of fees by resolution. That way, if we need to update it, we can just pass a resolution. We don't have to do multiple readings of an ordinance. We can just do it in one shot and say, okay, you know, we haven't revised fines in X number of years. We need to up them. If we want to add in, hey, if you pay the same day, it's only 50% that they assess fine, or if it exceeds a week or two weeks, it's now doubled. Just makes it much easier. So that's basically what we've done here. We've just said, instead of having a fine set for the ordinance, they're going to be set by.

Just looking at what other jurisdictions are doing. Parking is obviously been a concern, especially around the college. We get a lot of complaints. I'd like to do as much as we can to problem solve it. not looking for revenue, just looking for compliance. And I think any way we can try to work our way towards getting people to comply with parking issues, especially where we get a lot of complaints, that would be our goal. And certainly not to generate revenue, but just to get to compliance.

Councilman Gibbs?

Yeah, thank you, Aaron. Do we still have to come here to pay the parking? No, there's QR codes. I got a yes.

I got an apartment ticket in Traverse City this weekend, and it was a QR code at the boss's house.

They didn't take care of it. Some days I feel like they didn't. I know they're not.

But how will this assist in gaining compliance?

Just the way it's credited?

Yes.

Yes, for the repeat offenders, yes. Because right now, the way the ordinance is written, if you have six or more unpaid fines, we can impound the vehicle. And then they have to pay their catch-up on their fines and then pay the total to get it out. I just like this flexibility going forward. I think this flexibility as a baseline is an absolute. And then we're going to look at it from there. But I think just starting here and then seeing what is a fair fine and then what we can say. Because I really would like...

but I think there's a lot of success I've seen in other jurisdictions do it that way and I just want to start there so I mean so let's say we scan through our phone within 24 hours does that system acknowledge that it's within 24 hours this is the fine but yeah I'm going to look at it because ours has been internal for a long time I'd like you to go through the court system so I am working with

We don't care. You're right. And so, and there does come a time where we have to do enforcement. And if we have to impound a vehicle or somebody gets their license suspended, the registered owner, because they have X amount of unpaid fines, it takes a lot to get there, but that's what's going to happen.

Okay. Any other questions or comments? I'd just like to know, how are we letting the people in the city know about changes that would go about this and about, uh,

the children out after all. Oh, you mean the curfew? Yeah. So the curfew's always been in place. Yes. It's just that we no longer sound silent. But the ordinance will be published in the paper. In the paper?

Yeah, it'll be on the books. Yeah. And then this year, they're just moving it from the ordinance to the fee scale. So we'll follow up on that if we need to go.

It'll be published then. And then we put the skip the manual schedule of these as well. And we're not changing that.

There's no change. It's just how, how we're able to make that change in a few years.

Thank you, Mayor. I like this because it is consistent with the other things that we're doing a and B and sort of come up here. So it gives us an opportunity to

And I think when this does come back to council, we should have a say in where Chief Phipps and the area probably should look at the funds because they haven't been updated in almost 20 years.

Okay, that was one of my questions. If you know what the surrounding areas are doing in terms of going back

I remember MSU generating $2 million a year in parking. That's just, to me, that was unreal. But certainly, we don't want to do anything like that. But there's, yes, we're certainly behind on putting it up to date.

Okay. And it might be why certain people don't care. So it's not that much. Right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Any other questions or comments? Thank you. Thank you. Any questions at all?

Councilman Frans? Yes. Williams? Yes. Reed?

Yes.

Stewart? Yes. Fong?

Yes.

Davis? Yes. Emerson?

Yes. Do I have a motion to approve of the work order permitting software?

So moved. So moved. I support. I support. I support.

he doesn't like paper good evening council so i'm trying to bring us a little bit more into 2024-ish 25-ish i will so before 2024 we would do it on paper if that or an email so if someone and there was no follow-up with citizens. And so we went with BS&A because we just needed something right now. The problem is BS&A is horrible. We can barely track it ourselves. There's no follow-up. There's no supervision that gets to check it off to make sure that the work did get done, and we have no way of really following up with anybody to let them know that the work got done. Furthermore, we're paying $7,500 a year for BSNA's monocrystal. Once we get this upgraded, we'll be paying $10,000 a year. And this will allow a citizen to report something to us and take their report and generate a work order into it, assign a crew to it. user end of it for our guys is extremely clunky it is not user friendly at all so they all have tablets the foreman have tablets and the street crews have tablets and they're able to go in and open this up and complete a work order right now it is horrible in seeing what also keeps track of it and puts it, let's say it's in front of Main Street or Superior, it'll tell you how many work orders have been generated for that issue. And it lets us know, hey, you have a problem here. You've got numerous work orders for the same thing going on in the last year. And so fix that of course on the permit side in this packet i showed you an example of our permit they're horrible it's a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy and you can fill it out online some of the boxes you can't fill out online and usually it's handwritten it's atrocious we pay saint bill 20 do our own permitting. The person can log in, ask, generate a permit, pay us for the permit instead of paying safe bill or paying us because it just keeps going back and forth. Literally have step-by-step guide of where they're at in the permit process. We issue the permit and then we can actually track it electronically when it's done. Right now, this is how we track permits. We look at an address and we're like, Yeah, I think it's in here. It's so antiquated. What's nice about this, safety belts sell to us was our system's free. Their system is free to use. The problem is that we're stuck to them instead of being our own entity, our own permits that we can add for park reservations, cemetery burials, whatever we want to add, we can add.

Yeah, so there's clearly more than one company that does this sort of thing. Yes.

So I assume you went and looked at other companies besides Snyder. The next closest one was 36,000. That's what I was going to say, but I just wanted to be clear. Thank you for that. Very close, and I would have gone with them if they would have gone a little bit farther down.

Are we going to get a savings from Safeville by adopting this?

Yes, that's part of what we're going to negotiate with them, is to claw some of that money back and keep that in-house. It's the same with BS&A. We'll be able to take some of that money back that's prorated that we've already paid for this year and bring it back in-house.

And this is all cost-compatible with our existing reporting accounting software?

They'll be able to process payments. In terms of the city being able to track those with our regular accounting software, are they going to be able to track the account of payments only? This will be a complete standalone system. We're not using BS&A at all for this. So Dave will be able to get a report on his system, whether it's BS&A or whatever. Correct. Show that it's paid. Show that it's paid. Yep. It won't let you advance unless it's paid.

Okay.

Thanks.

Compliments, Derek.

Thank you. So, I have a lot of experience with the R&D process. And also, my questions are coming. So, BSNA, what do we use it for now?

BSNA is our accounting software, our account payable software.

So when you're referencing people in the cars trying to enter a work order, are they trying to enter it on BS&A?

Our guys are trying to open it up in BS&A and then fill out the forms, fill out the different boxes. Correct.

So I have been certain about... adding another system when BSNA, so we use BSNA, I personally use BSNA for other municipalities, and it does most of the things you're saying, where I can tell where my permit is, if it's approved, they can pay for it, and all that stuff, and I would suggest that maybe our problem is not BSNA, but our limitation of BSNA. And I hesitate to move to a second system when BSME is our core financial system. If we're already paying for BSME, number one, so I don't think it's any additional expense to configure a system. And I'd rather see us exercise that with a system that we already have than to get out another system to answer the question that you were asking that doesn't interface our system, and it doesn't fix that. So I'm concerned about that. So if you wouldn't mind.

So we went down that road. Meaning what? We went down that road with BSNA, tried to get it customized to us. Every single time we asked them to do it for anything, it costs a lot of money to get them to do it. We even tried doing inventory with them. We paid our personnel, paid It was the point where the three personnel called me and said it was Alexis and Lindsay and Brian and said, this is ridiculous. We aren't learning anything. And these guys aren't teaching us anything. They're literally just showing us on the screen without talking. I then called BSNA and I said, this is unacceptable. I'm pulling my people. We're not getting overtime for them to go through training, to learn nothing. to have that module alone, on top of the $7,500 work we're doing. When we want to customize.

Are you quoting prices that's for a course that they can?

No, this is for BS&A to build us the module. So we still use BS&A. So have we

We looked for other consulting firms that will consult on a BSNA because most enterprise systems have multiple sources that can be consulting or for a given system. Well, this was BSNA Direct. I understand. And I'm just saying, can we ask the Jim Stewart consulting who does BSNA consulting to look at this problem or have we looked at what Battle Creek is using for their configuration consulting? My guess is many are not using BSNA Direct.

That is correct. What I did, so when I've gone to some of the conferences or some of the training for public works, I've asked, what are you all using? It's kind of a variety. Most of them use a system called CityWorks, which is very expensive.

A system or a consulting company for BSNA?

A completely separate system for what?

I'm talking about BSNA as a system. There's more people than BSNA who can help us with that. There are consulting firms out there that I'm confident, because it's a very widespread system, there are other consulting firms. So I'm just, I would love to see us not jump to another software when we already own software. And I'd rather see us configure the software the way it's supposed to be, especially when I know from personal experience that it works great. Now, I don't know how it is in the car, because I haven't been in the car. I understand, but you could use another software program to do a function that BSNA does. So I just want to make sure we're not spending money on another system when BSNA has the capability. It's published. It's there. I use it. It's one of the municipalities. So I just want to make sure we're not going and spending on another software product. I'm not saying you guys didn't do it. and buy another software product and pay for it, but it doesn't work out in the long run because they still have to interface to your enterprise system, which is BSL. So that's my concern, as I want to make sure that we give our full due diligence to try to use the system that we already own and are already paying for, that has years and years of history in it, before we have the software. So that's my concern.

They don't specialize in WordPress. something they offered us because I asked them if they happen to have something to get electronic. They said, we do have a module for work orders, but it's not anything that's like very robust. And that's our problem. I can't track anything the way they have it.

And so I'm looking for me to decide it may work fine, but you're sitting on the work order

I can tell you 100% certainty it is not working for us. I cannot tell you, I can't go back to a citizen without physically sitting in front of a computer and going through and checking every single thing about just being notified work got done. And I can't track the time.

And we're not, we don't have an equal feeling that it's because we don't have a computer. I don't. I don't. Just to make sure I'm getting you right. Yeah, I do not. I do not. You have every confidence that we've extended the limits on. Yes, I do.

And it hasn't been just me. It's been the two, Lindsay and, well, I just need to greet the reporters. I know.

I won't do it, but I'm doing it.

That's a legitimate term because the interaction between different platforms has always been problematic. But I can say from my own experience with the work orders, it's really controversial what we're doing right now. It doesn't make sense. It's difficult for me to even ask, you know, what's the status of a work order? And then one of the benefits of what and that following when it's been closed out. So I think that's very beneficial as well as being more efficient.

a little bit more sure that we really need to make a stand away from artists.

So I guess kind of going along with that same sentiment that we had conversations with yesterday about what other municipalities that they provide services to, that have been able to utilize this component successfully. About the same kind of challenges that we seem to be experiencing to try to figure out why we're having these issues where other municipalities may not be.

BSNA has said that it's just a simple module that they've offered, that it's not made to do work orders per se. It's just like an offshoot module that they do offer. The municipalities I have talked to across the state, It does not do what they need it to do, which is the same thing that we're needing. And so to answer your question, I have tried and tried, and so has the staff. We track our assets. What are the assets? Through FLEDIO. It's another program that we use. The entire city is on it, public safety, public works, everything.

So when we do maintenance to those that are in FLEDIO, how does FLEDIO get updated? I should do this off.

Yeah, and I can show you that it's actually very robust and very nice.

So, Jason, I guess, is there a reason for an expedient vote on this, or could this be tabled?

No, it's just so we can start October 1st, get the vote rolling. Do you mind?

Yeah, so I was going to say... seven minutes to be able to bring it all back. I've been doing some homework games within the next two weeks.

So, should I move? Is that the right thing to do? Move the tables around. So, he also had to put a date when this comes back. So, on that counts for me? So, forward. Thank you, Joseph.

Yeah, so we have a motion to support two tables for the next council meeting. So we can stand up.

Councilmember Williams. Yes. Bre. Yes. Stewart. Yes. Frost. Yes. Davis. Yes. French. And Mears-Snyder.

Yes. So do we have to do anything in common with the last motion to support two groups?

No, just two. Okay.

How about next? Oh, yeah.

And that's for mine too. Okay. Do I have a question to approve of the expense for the removal of the hazardous materials and the new theme in Hoagland Drive?

So, the best way to describe this is, this is another one where We started digging to replace the water main by Boyd Drive in Copeland, wrapping up into Dean. And our forefathers decided to run the water main and sanitary main storm sewers through the dump. And the boundaries of the dump weren't as described in the footprints. It actually extends further south. I was called up there when they first started digging down. They took the road out about two feet after underneath the road. And the road was put in, it dumped closed in 63. So it was shortly after that when we started building the houses on B Drive. And it was a clean layer of dirt, gravel, bedding. seen so much glass and so much trash and uh wire bicycles bricks shovels license plates rims hubcaps everything could possibly a fender and they ran the water mains through it and uh Needless to say, it was not in any of the bore samplings that Whiteman took. No one knew that they had buried everything underneath the dump, had gone so far south that they had actually ran water main and water service lines through that. Luckily, we didn't have any contamination, but you just don't do that. And so we had to dig all of that out and haul it away. So I went direct with Liberty Land But everything to the south is horrible. And we can't put it back. Once we disturb it, we have to take it out of there. We have to put clean material back in. So we really didn't know. I went to the city manager and the finance director. I first learned about this. I didn't have any type of idea. I had a ballpark from the engineers. They said, you're going to have at least And this is not the end of it. There's going to be a little bit more because we have to take out more of Hoagland and Dean Drive and take out that port shop to redo the design of that area. Because Hoagland is going to be a T intersection now instead of having that island. So I don't know how much more. I know that we're on the north side of the Dome. there so we're holding wraps back around from dean and goes back towards lincolnshire that is clean so far through there but that south end is is atrocious wow any questions for the representative do we have any evidence since there's some secure built on the mountain. Some of the settling that you see when you look down it is stuff decomposing. But it's at least two to three feet down of good soil up top. Then after that is when it starts.

Is there a reason why we don't treat it like the other lands do? Yes.

It seems like it's trash. It's trash and solid debris. Some sort of liquid or 55 gallon drums that have leaked out from the other reef. We did not have to.

Because they were tested.

different story. But so far, white man was on scene the entire time with the inspectors. They didn't see anything that alarmed them. It is just absolutely filled with trash. Yes.

The phone, you're seeing that grayish black? Yes. All right. Thank you.

Any other questions you have? Can you recommend?

Council Member Ramey? Yes. Stewart? Yes. Ross.

Yes.

Davis. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. or for the uh uh

We have our new jet truck up and running, and it's been actually put into service already, so.

Any questions for Director Fernandez? City Clerk Mayhoff?

Welcome, Member Stewart? Yes. Ross? Yes. Davis? Yes. French? Yes. Williams? Yes. Lee? Yes. And Nielsen?

Yes. Victor Gendayers? I had the opportunity to invite Mike South from the Michigan Water Works to LVN and he spoke at Rotary last week and good news.

You know, he just has positive things to say about LVN. But . . . . . . . .

Thank you guys for the community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

But I appreciate what you do. And I appreciate what you guys are doing for the festival. Real quick, just quick, I want to remind you, our town poverty rate is the national average. Our average is $40,000. And going into the first three years, we'll have to raise water 50%. I get the need. I get the need. We've had decades of mismanaged and, you know, out in the city, man, it's been years. That's cool. I get it. But I want to raise the national average. People are already struggling. Consumers is not. And there's going to be raise rates. It seems great to just approve them out and all that. Good job. I'm 20. Behavioral health. I mean, in my house. Check what we do. Check the check. So. I would hope that you guys in the CDC. Into town. My family was here before the Donald's comments. I don't want to leave, but this one time I'm going to have to welcome back my children and children here. Spoonz, I think it was our daughter. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. She's my neighbor. I love her. I want to stay with her. I love her. I don't mean to be a storm. I don't know. But I thought. I love this. I'm going to school with. Donovan Graduates. Love this. But a lot of people want to go. Because it means a lot of things. I mean. You guys have half feet. So there. I don't think. When we do this. Oh. And there's. Yeah. And they don't stay. Right. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I sit at Riverside Park. I sit at Riverside Cemetery as my son goes down. Sorry, Chief, but I ran out of dust. Because you can't catch the city from the hill at Riverside Cemetery. It is beautiful. The next generation of folks, we're struggling to figure out what I'm saying. I don't mean to be a jerk. Out of this town, I'm the only one. The business is running. I don't want to go anywhere, but I'm getting real. I don't want to go anywhere, but I'm getting real. I don't want to go anywhere, but I'm getting real. the one we did

Thank you. Thank you.

We were tired.

We were there on August 14th. We had an interview with the business. I know for a fact there's been a way to maintain the business.

It's definitely a step there.

And together, we've been attracted to each other. Okay.

How long does it take? Or is there a chance that it doesn't happen? It's impossible. It's impossible. It's impossible. It's impossible.

It's impossible. It's impossible.

So this was, this was on Jefferson Street. Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The family is very thankful. And we have ladies that they help those Yeah, cool. Professor.

Hi.

uh if one uh was uh

Let Jason know that he can say something. I'm sorry. Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

in regards to um um um um I'll see if we have to do this in our district. And I'm sure people will come to sign it and tell me to send it back to them. So I thought people would definitely send it back to them. But I don't think that's what I intended to say. Most of us need to recognize what is their vision for the day. The Spirit of the Village, which was approved in 2020 for three percent in the year. So this will be made in May. So all of those and make sure we're trying to let And when we Oh,

for employees that impact the edc employees as well as the county health commission employees so that will continue and we are hoping to be able to offer some current networks from january as an alternative but more affordable for all the employees in the city um but those are um negotiations that are underway The water utility bills, we want to remind residents that the app, I Am Water, is available to you. So you can access your bill and how much you're using compared to last week, last month, last year. So you can see if your usage is unusual. You can also pay online. And you can also quote to see the account online at bsaonline.com. And we're going to have a tablet available in City Hall so that people who don't have access to this technology through their cell phones or computers at home, they'll be able to access it in the office and that will be here to assist them with that. We already have a computer in the basement for anyone who needs assistance with filing their income taxes. So we'll be promoting that information as soon as we have it installed. The first recreation master plan also had to get a kick off today, although we did not perform at the meeting to start the process. So you'll be seeing some surveys in regards to that. We need to get it completed by the end of this year because the state needs the approved plan by February 1st of next year. So we have to do it. approval from the Commission as well as City Council prior to January in order for them to receive it in February. So it's on a fast track to get that completed. And I'm really happy that we're going to start recycling in City Hall. Yet, to clean up with a whole lot of paper and it ain't no sense for it to be going to the trash. So that should start up on August 31st. And the ball cleanup has been scheduled for October 17th. It will be at a pretty long distance again, but we'll be sending that out shortly. And LendingArrow Units about Avenue College Community Day, having, you know, two people, volunteers. They did a lot of projects. The city's over really appreciating this. Appreciate to all the volunteers. And those are the big ones. You also have on my report, some meetings and events. And I also wanted to mention that we'll have an Albion College intern starting next week. And she'll be working on the neighborhood enterprise. You can see that it's an option available for residents who, as you're making improvements, your property taxes are not going to go up for a number of years, similar to how fast they start looking for a street vendor actually.

Any questions for City Manager? Council Member Kovetz?

I just wanted to add to the list of opportunities for our citizens with regard to recycling.

Next Monday from 2 to 6, I can't remember, there's a hazardous waste disposal for Calvin County at the county fairgrounds. And so, if you think about things that you can't dispose of, they will dispose of. So, for example, as a woodworker, I have a lot of old epoxy resin that you can't dispose of through variable disposal methods. They will take it. What? Tires.

Tires, computers. So, you can go to the... So I chose the water for the theater. This is the Cold War.

It's having big festivals. My wife and I are going to do that. So I will do that. Well, it's our own answer. Come on. I do have this. If I could miss that. We'll just get away.

Thank you.

I want to thank you, Ms. Bob, for this wonderful technology and your support for this. Continuing to join us, as I said before, on the impacts that we've introduced and heard.

And this is I'm one of the ones that .

martin clausen on that and that part of the insurance and uh that blessed very hard but i think i feel the feeling i felt it myself personally when we were

So, it's really hard to have a policy. We are doing it. I really appreciate that you're turning it off.

I'm making that a really interesting thought.

I want to just go forward bigger and purpose. I think it's very small.

I appreciate that because a lot of people do. Yes.

anywhere to teach artists to have your

We're trying to really support our community. And we don't want to lose this. We don't want to lose our residents. We do want to. We're here because we've worked for a healthy future for this city. And in order to do that, we need your help. We need your help. Personally, it's usually the best because that's how we can help. the frustrations and the feelings of disappointment or whatever gets to the point where we come here. So the council sessions, the departmental leaders were able to have that discourse that things were really needed for that putting the heads together and getting on track to make things right. Extending the extension of invitation to our city residents to reach out to. to the future of our city. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

what you said to us. Hey, we're here. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Pierce. I'm thankful that he came and voiced his opinion, as well as the term of fire coming and voicing his disapproval of the way that the votes have been handled. It's one of my aims in that scenario. There is no worse perfect storm for a business owner than to literally shut down all streets in front of them. his business. So, you know, that's something that wasn't done out of malice on behalf of the staff who are sitting here of Algon. I can imagine it does impact on the workforce, but as soon as it is done, things will be different. So I'm just figuring through the process. off the survey for comprehensive planning. But more importantly, we need to familiarize ourselves with the last comprehensive plan that we benchmarked where we were five years ago to the comprehensive plan that will be coming out. Because issues that was addressed in the previous comprehensive plan And they're going to be the next house. So thinking that we've seen in the past, the grant funding, the things that have been from the city that helped homeowners to get their real estate, to winterize their homes, new windows, things like that. Things that literally took the cost away from citizens who have been in this city for a very long time taxpayers there for a very long time um something that certifies multiple about those same friends through that time frame and it's a direct um people to cure that was addressed. So please, please, please take the time.

Take three months. Quiet.

Any other council members?

No, she doesn't.

So moved. So moved.

So moved.