City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the city of Battle Creek, Michigan in the Battle Creek City Commission meeting for February 17, 2026. It is 7 p.m. We welcome everyone here tonight. Um we're going to take a moment of silence. We ask you to stand if you are able to. And then I'm going to call upon Commissioner Smith to lead us in the allegiance tonight. So if you're able to please stand, please stand. Mr. Smithian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much, Commissioner Smith. Next item on our agenda is roll call.

Um, Commissioner Smith here. Commissioner Lacass here. Commissioner Lance here. Commissioner Morris here. Commissioner Reynolds present. Commissioner Simmons here. Vice Mayor Sophia here. And Commissioner O'Donnell here. Thank you. Next item on our agenda is our beautiful Battle Creek Awards. I'd like to call upon our city manager to announce them and then Commissioner Reynolds will help me distribute.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. Um, our first is NPC1 W3 nomination for Patricia Woods at 31 Style Street and it'll be accepted by Mr. Mareno.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much for encouraging residents of Franklin um to improve their properties. I think it's important. Um we want to congratulate uh Patricia J. Woods at 31 Styles for her efforts. Um we really feel that by individually improving homes encourages other people to do it. So we're going to ask the MPC chair for Urbandale to come up and accept too. um for her NPC. So, if we get the chairs, which I really like seeing here, accepting for the people and we'll see if uh the Autozone at 1414 West Michigan Avenue. Thank you very much. And then we also have a family, Chenise, Terra, and Camille Brown at 12 North Cedar Avenue. Are they here by chance? No. But we want to thank Katherine for accepting those. And if Ted could take a picture, we'll be happy.

Thank you very much, everyone.

I just want to say sorry for that popping. I will sit still as possible. the the microphone be like bent or something when it moves. So, sorry about that everybody. Next item on our agenda as our presentation, I'd like to call upon our city manager and our um finance director. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would like to call Aaron uh to the podium. Um he is going to um present our I'm sorry, Nathan Boulderman for our audit presentation. Uh, thanks, Mayor. Uh, Nathan Baldererman is here from Raymond Robson to present the city's audit report this evening. Thank you, Erin.

Welcome, Nathan.

Thank you. Uh, thank you, mayor, uh, city commissioners, uh, for your time this evening. Uh, just wanted to get a brief, uh, overview update, uh, on the audit process for this year. Um, as with most years when I present, uh, I just want to talk about the overall audit results, uh, where where things landed in terms of an audit. I'm not going to go over the financial information. uh be happy to answer questions if you do have things that you want to point to uh in the reports but for the most part I'm just looking at you know our job is to come in give an opinion on the financial statements uh so that you know whether you can rely on the information that's there uh as well as to report on your internal controls and then to do the single audit that's that's what you hire us to do um and those are the results I'm I'm reporting tonight um but I also want to highlight some of the things that that were changes this year that might have been challenges as a part of the audit process. Um, you know, and uh and then give you the chance for for any questions. Um, in in terms of uh new things this year for the audit process, uh, want to commend Aaron and his team, uh, it was a lot of hard work this year. uh anytime you're in the m midst of implementing systems while implementing new accounting standards which we did have uh two to implement this year um you know it's a difficult process and takes a lot of work uh and a lot of teamwork and collaboration between his team and and our team uh as auditors to get things done. So, um, the two accounting standards we had this year, uh, one was on compensated absences, uh, there was not a huge dollar amount change, which kind of was expected, but it's one of those processes you have to go through that took a lot of time and effort um, to go through uh, and make

the calculations. basically the change in the standards uh acred compensated absences has always been recorded uh for for governments um but it's been based on what's expected to be paid out if some when somebody uh leaves employment. Uh they changed the standard to basically say it's how much will be paid out um if they leave or how much they're going to use as well. So those are calculations that take a little bit time. It's a little bit different look at it. for the most part it increases liability. Um but again I think when we looked at back at prior years we actually passed on the restatement of the beginning balance because um it was it was relatively small uh in the big picture of uh the city as a whole. Um the other standard we had related to risks and uncertainties. It was a new standard that came about few years ago um came out fairly soon after the pandemic where they said there are governments have risks and uncertainties and we don't really have a standard that fully addresses how to to look at those things look at the concentrations that you might have if you have um you know a big event happen that could uh have a substantial impact on the finances of of a city. that standard was not expected is not expected to come into play very often. Um but it is something that we had to go through the process the city had to go through the process of evaluating determining if any disclosures were required. Um and there were no disclosures that were added as a result of that standard. So um we do have a couple new standards that'll be implemented uh this coming year. Um they're not as much going to be the numbers as how things are presented. Um the big thing is your financial statements for your enterprise funds will look a little bit different next year and then there will be kind of a rearrangement in management's discussion analysis of where you find things where budget budgetary information is. Um so

that'll be in a different place next year but again the actual numbers uh won't change. So, we'll be working with uh Aaron and his team to make all the updates uh to your annual comprehensive financial report to make sure that it it's presented correctly. Uh and and as I say that, I'd also commend the city. Um you go through all the extra efforts to receive uh the highest distinction uh from the GFOA. Last year's report got the award. Uh this one should get the award as well. Um and we'll make sure that that continues uh for years to come. So uh terms of overall financial results, we did issue an unmodified or a clean opinion on the financial statements. Um that opinion uh is based on reasonable assurance uh that the financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects. There's a level of materiality. We're not looking at every transaction, but it does give you that comfort level um that you that you expect out of an audit uh that you can rely on the information that's there. uh as a part of that audit uh we are required to look at internal controls but it's only for the purpose of of that um that audit process so we can give that opinion not to give an opinion actually on internal controls um accounting standard or auditing standards as well as the government auditing standards that that we have to follow require us to report things that are significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. Um we did have one material weakness this year um related to audit adjustments uh that's detailed uh in the single audit report. Um those items it it's kind of one of those if we end up coming up with something during our audit that has to be adjusted that's considered to be a deficiency um from the off um kind of automatically. Um so and we have to look at different funds. So, um, some of the matters might not seem as as large, but because of the fund that it happens in, sometimes that

raises the level that it's reported as. Um, we also, uh, from a federal award standpoint, we, uh, because you have more than, uh, a million dollars in federal awards, we're required to conduct a single audit. This year, we tested three different programs. We tested the f federal transit cluster um which may be one of the last times we te test the federal federal transit cluster here um and then we uh tested the ARPA funds uh once again and then the Medicaid cluster. So we had three major programs this year. Uh those were all unmodified opinions for compliance on those. We didn't have any findings on those areas. Um looking back at last year, I do want to point out the fact that um you know last year there were a number of findings. Um, a part of our audit process is to review those, uh, what management's uh, response was on those, what the corrective action was, and determine whether those needed to be repeated in the current year. Happy to report. Uh, none of the items um that were reported as findings last year were repeated this year. So, um, that's all I really had to to share tonight, but I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.

Any, uh, questions from the commission? Nathan, once again, we want to say thank you very much. We appreciate your um job that you completed. All right. Thank you. Y next item on our agenda is chair noting any added deleted resolutions. Okay. Thank you very much. Next item on our agenda is petition communications and reports. There were none. Thank you very much.

Next item on our agenda will be public comment regarding any remaining agenda items. If you'd like to make public comment regarding any remaining agenda item, please raise your hand and we will acknowledge you to come forward to the podium. You will have four minutes to make your comments. Please state your name and address before beginning your comment and indicate which agenda item you are speaking to. Are there any public comments at this time? Yes, sir. Thank you, your honor. Bill and Debtroski, 62 Emerald Avenue. Uh, this is regarding uh number 052026, the resoning of 18 Emerald Avenue. We are not opposed to a Duncan being built at the corner of West Michigan Avenue and Emerald Avenue, but we would like you to consider the impact on the people who reside on Emerald Avenue. My wife grew up on Emerald. Her brother continued to reside there until he passed in 2022, at which time we moved in. What we have observed since then is that there's already a lot of traffic on our street. Vehicles turn off eastbound Michigan Avenue and travel southbound on Emerald to avoid having to wait for the traffic light at Michigan and Bedford. Vehicles turn off Urbanddale Boulevard and travel northbound on Emerald to access the Ritzy so they don't have to turn left from westbound Michigan Avenue. Most of these vehicles are going 30 to 35 miles hour. Some are probably even faster than that. There are families on Emerald Avenue with children. You see where I'm going with this? The addition of a Duncan at this location, especially if it has an entrance and/or exit off of Emerald Avenue, will only increase the amount of traffic on our street. Increased traffic poses risks not only for children playing outside, but also for pedestrians and residents alike. The noise and congestion could negatively affect the quality of life for those who have made Emerald Avenue their home for generations. As you consider this resoning request,

we ask that you also consider this increase in traffic on our once quiet residential street. We encourage the city to explore alternative traffic calming measures such as speed humps or stricter enforcement of speed limits. This would at the very least slow traffic down and at best deter some of this traffic from using our street at all and would help preserve the safety and tranquility of our neighborhood. We would also like to mention regarding the city's 2018 master plan that we resent our street being referred to as part of a challenged neighborhood. Emerald Avenue is a close-knit community with a rich history and strong ties among residents. Our hope is that future development and planning will recognize and respect the unique character of our area. We are concerned that our street may meet the same fate as Bond Avenue which saw residents displaced and houses demolished to accommodate a strip ball which never materialized. On the upside, it created green space. Please keep these considerations in mind as you move forward with development proposals. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Well, let me be the first to apologize for referring to your neighborhood as a challenged neighborhood. I've never heard that before, but I will apologize. I don't like it either. Bottom line, will you like Dawn Donuts? Duncan. Duncan. Yes. We don't object to the to the shop being there. We just want to take into consideration the traffic concerns that we have because we already have traffic on our street much more so than any other residential street in that area, I think. Okay. And a lot of those people are going well over the 25 mph residential speed limit. And that's that's our concern is that it's already existence and this could potentially make it worse.

Thank you very much, Phil. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mrs. Tras. Is there anyone else uh would like to speak during public comment? Yes.

Good evening. Reys Atkins, 84 South 23rd Street. I will also be speaking on 05206. Um, I grew up in Urbanddale. Urbanale is my been my stomping ground since I was a little kid. I remember when we had a donut, Dunkin Donuts, a little further down from where it is. I would love to see another Duncan going into Urbandale. Um, so I am all in in favor of this and I really hope that you all are also and we can get it done. Thank you. Thank you, Ree. Any other public comments at this time? Yes, John.

John Kenneth, 234 South Avenue. Resolutions 321 and 322. Resolution 321 is to purchase a minivan and then two full-size vans from the Hawster Transportation Company for $38,659. And resolution 322, which is also to purchase a low floor transit bus to the amount of $225,465. The reason why I bring this up is this has to do with transit and since the whatever you want to call it transit system that goes from um Albian and Marshall and Battle Creek and um Springfield that the city citizens of Battle Creek are paying 63% of those costs. The other cities Springfield, Marshall and um Albian pay approximately 12% of the costs. Are the other areas, the other municipalities paying anything on those buses, these buses here, or are we footing the entire bill ourselves? Before the system of the county transit was put in, there was a question brought up at an NPC and the question was to the war two city commissioner saying, "What kind of study or survey information in regards to putting in the transit system at all?" Um, war 2 commissioner said nothing. I have a reasoning there's a reasonable reason why or not a reasonable reason but a reason why there was no study made. If you look at the 70 plus uh transit systems in Michigan, you'll find that most of them are showing millions of dollars of red ink every year they run.

And not just a million or two. I came up here and explained to you by their own records, Flint was somewhere around $50,000, excuse me, $50 million in debt one year and then they gained some more money in transit the next year, but that didn't change anything because their operating expense went up and it was still $50 million in red, inc. I'm very much looking forward to seeing um the back history of Battle Creek Transit and how its costs were running and if they were making any money, then why would you create a system that's actually worse than what you have now? Thank you. Any other public comment at this time? Seeing none, we'll move on to our agenda. Um, introduction of ordinance ordinance 052026. Madam clerk, when you're ready, this proposed ordinance would reszone the property located at 18 Emerald Avenue, parcel number 1804-00-004-0 from R1B, single family residential district to B1, corridor commercial district. I would like to move for the U proposed ordinance of uh 052026

support. It's been moved and supported to approve or introduce ordinance 052026. Are there any comments by the commission? Commissioner Patrick O'Donnell. Yes. Um I'm on the planning commission and we discussed this last month. Uh the reasonzoning is not for that whole area. There's just a small sliver that was not part of the B1 um the residential area. Most all that's already B1. It got missed uh when they were doing u the um changes to the um zoning a few years ago back. So that's what the uh proposes in front of us to allow that to be a continuous uh B1 district. So I just wanted to explain that.

Thank you, Commissioner. Any other commission comments? See none, would you please vote on the introduction of ordinance 05 2026?

Commissioner Simmonson. Uh, yes. I'm thought it was signed in. Sure why it's not coming up. Introduction of 052026 has been approved. Next item on our agenda is the introduction of 06 2026. Madame clerk, when you're ready. This proposed ordinance would amend sections 1240.12 and 124.20 of title six zoning of the code of ordinances to increase the building height from 50 feet to 60 ft and remove the limitation on stories in the B2 district and eliminate the requirement that hotels must have 800 square ft of lot area for each guest room.

I would like to introduce the proposed ordinance 062026 second. So moved is supported to approve or introduce ordinance 06 2026. Are there any comments by the commission? Seeing none, would you please vote on the introduction of 06 2026?

The introduction of 06 2026 has been approved. Next item on our agenda is commission comment regarding medium business. I would like to approve the uh consent agenda. Support. Been moved and supported to approve the consent agenda. Is any commission comment regarding the consent agenda? See none. Would you please vote on the consent agenda? The consent agenda has been approved. Next item on our agenda is resolution 320. Madame clerk, when you're ready.

This resolution, if approved, would dedicate a portion of five city-owned parcels. Parcel numbers 13-52-840-0000-140- Parcel number 13-52-2620-33-001- 0 Parcel 13-52-2620-36-017- Parcel 13-52-8890 -00-079- 0 and parcel 13-52-2620-33-00003-0 to the public rightway as requested by MDOT for sidewalk ramp reconstruction at no cost to the city. Dedicating these portions to the public rightaway will also allow the city to collect Act 51 maintenance dollars from the state of Michigan for the dedicated portions.

I'd like to move for the approval of resolution 320. Support moved and supported to approve resolution 320. Are there any comments by the commission? Just Commissioner Patrick. Someone asked me earlier what the whole deal is, but it's just the way to make sure we have a rightway use so we can put down the sidewalk. So, I just wanted to answer that question that was asked of me earlier. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Any other commission comments? Seeing none, would you please vote on the approval of resolution 320? Resolution 320 has been approved. Next item on our agenda is resolution 321.

This resolution, if approved, would authorize the city manager to execute contract 2026-058C for one minivan and two full-size vans in a not to exceed amount of $38,659 using the competitive pricing obtained from the Michigan Department of Transportation. This purchase is funded by a congressionally directed spending grant through the Federal Transit Administration. I'd like to move for the approval of resolution 321.

We moved and supported to approve resolution 321. Are there any comments by the commission? Seeing none, would you please vote on resolution 321? Resolution 321 has been approved. Next item on our agenda is resolution 322. This resolution, if approved, would authorize the city manager to execute con contract 2026-057C for one lowfloor transit bus in a not to exceed amount of $225,465 using competitive pricing obtained from the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority. This purchase is funded by a congressionally directed spending grant through the Federal Trans Transit Administration. I would like to move for the approval of resolution 322.

Support. Been moved and supported to approve resolution 322. Are there any comments by the commission? Seeing none, would you please vote on resolution 322? Resolution 322 has been approved. On agenda is general public comment. If you'd like to make general public comment regarding matters over which the city commission has control, please raise your hand and wait for us to acknowledge you to come forward to the podium. You'll have three minutes to make your comment. Please state your name and address prior to beginning your comment. There any public comments at this time? Yes, Mary Fields.

Hi.

I do have to say I'm happy about the transportation measures. I think that using the grant dollars is nice. I'm sorry I didn't do it at the right time, but I didn't know the details. But what I want to talk to you about is I think that Battle Creek has a lot of wonderful homes. I think that these homes were built with quality workmanship, quality products. The Post Franklin area has beautiful homes. And it's really frustrating me when absentee owners choose to leave these beautiful homes boarded up, derelct, disgusting, abandoned, it's a problem. And when you get more than one on one street like Highway Street, it's a real big problem. Highway Street is three blocks long. We got two derelic buildings on there. 113 Highway Street. It's had a large tree fall down between the two houses and wiped out the fence. It's been burned from front to back at the top level. Been boarded up for over a dozen years. Over a dozen, you know, a couple dozen complaints. 90 highway. Uh over 45 complaints boarded up. spoke with the owner and the owner felt that the neighbors in the city were deficient in maintaining his building he's owned for over a decade. Yeah, we were deficient and we weren't providing the proper security. And how could he, the absentee owner, be expected to improve it? He's left it der. We now have a new building to worry about. The church on the quarter of Leup and Main Street. Did you notice the steeple that fell in the front lawn? Yeah. I don't know if it was from the second story or the third story, but it's not safe. Another absentee owner. That one is uh was the church was sold

to a funeral home that's not doing funerals in the city. So, we really need code enforcement to, you know, maybe let the owner know the building is starting to fall apart since they're not even there. um they might appreciate the information and it's a security, it's safety. This is a big problem. Respect our homes or don't own homes in our city. That's really important and we need your help to help make this happen. Thank you, Mary. You're welcome. Any other public comments at this time? Yes, Ree.

Good evening. Reese Atkins, 84 South 23rd Street. I'm going to go back three meetings. I do apologize to this. I was not here due to a medical condition when the city commission approved for some stuff to being done out at Lake View Square Mall near the parking lot of Sears and the Sears building. Um, a little bit of concern I have with this situation is that building is used by a business um during Halloween time. Spirit Halloween has been in there the last five years. They're planning on coming back to that building again because I know one of the young ladies that um she is the manager of the the business when they when they come in. And she has told me also they're possibly coming in this year. They're going to do a Christmas spirit um store that they're looking at that they uh started last year at Battle Creek. looks like it's going to get one this year in the airplane and going into the Sears building. The other business that is using the parking lot that you're trying to put into a park is the um driver's ed that is now in Lake View Square Mall. It used to be owned by Sears. It's now called Professional Drivers Ed. They use that parking lot every day when I go out to my storage unit which is in the mall. Um they are always out there with people with kids driver doing driver's ed stuff in that parking lot. Um if we do away with this parking lot and put a a park and all this other stuff that they're talking about, we're telling these businesses we don't want them there, which I know Bale Creek wants businesses in them because we appreciate all the businesses being in here. Let's take a second look at this and not put these businesses out of buildings and parking lots where they're working at right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Ree. Any other public comments at this time?

Seeing none commission comments, Commissioner Laus. I just wanted to say um some of you guys might have noticed, but we've had an issue here in town with some people from out of the area that have been kind of scam, for lack of better words, panhandling. And I just wanted to let everyone know that those are scams. Um you'll see the guy with the violin that plays. He's not actually playing a violin. He's got a speaker there set up. Please do not give them money and reinforce what they're already doing. Um hopefully we can take a look at something to you know take care of that at a future date. But we've got those there's been numerous ones that say they're raising money for kids funerals and really tug at the heartstrings and people are giving them money. Um and again they're not even from here so please please don't do that.

Thank you commissioner. Any other commission comments? Commissioner Morris.

Thank you. Um last meeting I was not able to make it. Uh my family is suffering a tragedy right now and I just wanted to thank the commission for um supporting me throughout this and I wanted to um thank officer uh I think it's Sergeant Gentry now for um showed up and used his trauma form training and he was able to um be a light in a very dark situation. So I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you commissioner very much. We appreciate it. Uh any other commission comments? See none. We'll adjourn our meeting. Thank you very much for being here tonight.