City Commission - Regular Meeting

America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. First on the agenda is the approval of tonight's agenda. Commissioners, do we have anything we would add or take away from this evening's agenda? Yes. I'd like to motion to add an item to tonight's regular agenda to discuss the resolution establishing policies to protect the safety of our community and the dign dignity and welfare of residents, neighbors, and visitors.

I second that motion. I would like to move to amend that motion to discuss this um ideally at our next meeting no later than the meeting that would be the first meeting in March. Um having I mean like literally just marking it up right now. I I think this is a a a really strong document and has You need a second. Oh, I'm sorry. Second. Okay. Can I just so I continue? Yeah.

Okay. Um, you know, I'm I'm looking at this and there's like nothing that I would disagree with. I mean, this is this is on all of I shouldn't speak for everyone. This has been on my mind a lot. Um, this this topic um you know, I'm looking at all these preamble statements, all of the whereas and I'm like, "Yes, yes, yes." the resolution area. You know, I've had conversations with staff in the past weeks given my own concerns and I to my understanding a lot of this is status quo and if we need to, you know, change our our policies to specifically document it, you know, that's that's one thing. I also want to acknowledge that um thank you to our public safety for this not being an issue in our community, a an issue with our police department um taking actions that are offensive, frankly. Um so I I with with all that being said, I want to know have the documentation in front of me. Um this was emailed an hour and a half ago and I've been in meetings in that time and so haven't been able to give it the attention it deserves. I'd like to have more background information, know what our current policies are, know where this fits into it in the right way so that we don't make a knee-jerk change to public safety policies um without doing our due diligence. Um so, but you know, thank you for the work that went into doing this. I just want to make sure we do it right. Okay.

So, we have a motion and a second. Yeah. And I and I'm just going to echo that. I agree with everything um Commissioner Schwarz just said and um I want to thank um Commissioner Grab Blaze for putting the time and the work into this and um I agree with the tone of of everything in here. Um I think I can sit up here and say that we are on the same page for wanting to make sure that this is um done correctly in our community. Um but but as uh Commissioner Schwarz said, um I want some more time than just the hour and a half that we've had it to look at it, have our staff look at it. Um but I don't want this to drop and go away. I think it's very important.

Can I ask a clarifying question? When did staff receive the document? At 4:40. 439 today. Same time we did. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um I just want to concur as well. I'd like this document uh which is extremely well-intentioned to go through the proper vetting process so that we know exactly what we're doing and we can make any changes as necessary uh as recommended by our professionals. Thank you.

I'll say would like to say just to to answer to a couple of those things and I certainly am not at all opposed uh to having a more full conversation at our next meeting. Um I think that that would that would be great and I absolutely agree that we should hear from city staff. Um, and this document was based on conversations that have been had with city staff for for sure. Um, and to to Commissioner Schwarz's point about this being business as usual, um, what we looked at and it we've heard that as well that these are things that we already do or already don't do. Um and ultimately in conversation with members of the community um with others who have been active in the space uh there's just a very there's a very distinct difference between not doing something and prohibiting ourselves from doing something. Um and that's part of the intention behind this. Um, and so I I would ask that when we return to this, um, that that we keep that we certainly look for and I know that we'll receive excellent feedback from our city staff on this um, but that we do work from this draft um, based on their input um, that we keep authorship here amongst ourselves as as the authors of this resolution.

Are you saying authorship as a commission? Yes.

Okay. Yeah, again echoing the rest of the commission, thanks to Commissioner Grath Blazak for preparing this document. Um, and also thank you to Chief Bumma and your staff for uh making yourself available to me and other commissioners in the last few weeks. Um, to explain some of the policies and and you know, history and legacy of of the force here. Um, I would hope that this is a a very strong and clear communication channel between us and and EGR public safety so that um whatever changes are made are are for the potential benefit of of our uh public safety so that we could just continue to have a very strong working relationship with you.

Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. Can we clarify the motion what the date is on the on the motion? No later than the first week meeting of March. Yes, that's yes. Okay, we can go to the vote. All those in favor say yes. Any opposed? All right, motion carries. So, you now need to vote on the original motion which is now the motion that um to postpone until the first no later than the first meeting of March. So, you just amended. We amended the original motion. We voted to amend it. Right. Now, you have to act on the actual motion. Okay. And we have So in a vote in the affirmative is a vote to pop postpone. I know later than the first week of March. Correct. Correct.

Okay. And do we need a motion and a second? No, you already have a motion. All right. Then all those in favor say yes. Yes. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries.

Okay. Next we can move on to public comment. If anyone would like to make public comment to something that's not on this evening's agenda, now is the time to do so. Hi, Nancy Patterson, 21104 Gorm Drive Southeast. Good evening and mayor, commissioners, everybody. I thank you for your time and I might be sticking my foot in this because I have no idea what y'all were just talking about. And I say y'all because I'm from Southern Michigan. Um, I read in the agenda that there's going to be a police report tonight and this uh comment stems from that. There was reference in the uh police report to the use of flock cameras to solve crimes. It is my understanding that that's why these cameras were installed. Through research by 404, excuse me, 404 media, it has been revealed that these cameras nationwide have been used by DHS, especially for immigration uh trackowns, if you will. And I am asking the city to release a statement to we the residents that our flock cameras have not been used for such purposes and will never be used by DHS unless there's a judicial warrant. If the city cannot do this, please explain why not. Thank you.

Thank you. Director Bamma, would you like to clarify anything in that? We do not have any plot cameras owned or operated in the city. What's the camera at Burton and Breton? It's Burton and Breton's in the city of Grand Rapids. Okay. Would anyone else care to make public comment? Thank you.

Uh Tina Marua, 1031 Lakeside Drive Southeast. Um, I'm reading between the lines here and I appreciate the time and effort that it seems uh, Commissioner Grath Blazic put into the document you all are going to discuss next month. Um, and if I understand the kind of coded language, I I I appreciate that very much. Um the other thing I'd like to speak to that's not on the agenda and I don't know if it's too little too late or not but it's been on my mind is the use of public funds um specifically the brownfield redevelopment funds for the um gaslight investors project. Um, I I'm sure I've spoken to this point before, but I want to reiterate my opposition to using public funds for this project unless we have some really substantial public benefit that comes from the project. I'm not, frankly, opposed to the project per se. I'm just opposed to public funds being used for such an expensive private um project that doesn't have an appreciable public benefit. namely that we have housing that is affordable, not just whatever that word accessible means, um but that is actually affordable so we can diversify our um economic base in East Grand Rapids and bring in young families and keep people who are on the verge of retirement uh in the city affordably. Thanks. Is there anyone else that wanted to make public comment this evening?

Good evening. My name is Kristen Harsl. I live at 2615 Boston Street in East Grand Rapids. As the son of an immigrant and naturalized US citizen, I am increasingly fearful about what we are seeing happening in cities across the United States. In fact, I'm really nervous mentioning here tonight that one of my parents immigrated here in public and on the record uh because I now have to even consider the possibility of retribution for speaking out publicly. I have a child at both the middle school and at Breton DS. Um my wife and I work hard to instill a sense of justice and empathy in our children and we have had to have increasingly difficult conversations with our kids over the past year. I'm here to comment on making our community a safer place for all of us. Specifically, I would like to request that the city implement the following policies to improve safety. A policy that prevents local law enforcement from participating with federal actions. It is important that our officers focus on our local community with actions to keep us safe and offer aid. Operating as an additional arm of ICE, for instance, is not an effective use of our tax dollars and makes us less safe. a policy that law enforcement should not ask about immigration status when interacting with the public. It is important that this be written into policy as a prohibited question. When immigrants are afraid of law enforcement, they are less likely to report crimes. That makes us all less safe. A ban on 287g agreements. This will provide local law officers with the direction they need to decline requests from ICE to be deputized and enforce immigration policy. Our local law enforcement needs to be focused on local community safety only. Policies that prevent East Grand Rapids from entering into contracts to hold immigrants in detention, as well as preventing detention facilities from being established in East Grand Rapids.

A policy that prohibits law enforcement officers from sharing investigative information with federal immigrations and customs enforcement officers. East Grand Rapids is a community that values kindness and togetherness. Let's live up to those values and establish these policies so that everyone has a chance to feel safe in our community. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lauren Pacina. I live at 520 Cambridge Boulevard Southeast. And I came here sort of last minute after hearing about the motion that was going to be put forth tonight. I appreciate that everybody wants time to read and digest this motion. I would ask that we move with some urgency here. I would prefer that we discuss this at in the next meeting and not wait until March for this. Um, ICE is in our communities right now. So, if ICE shows up at the high school tomorrow, what do we do? What's the plan? I think we need to understand what that means for our students and for parents because I will be at that school in less than a minute to protect my child and any child in this community, a child at the middle school too, at an elementary school. And I think that we need clear guidance and we shouldn't wait for something really bad to happen before we figure out what the hell we're going to do about it. Excuse my language. Um, on Saturday I had the opportunity to go to North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan and visit with some of the detainees there. Um, think about the worst situation possible and multiply it by 100. These people are not getting medical care. They are ill and they are not getting any due process. Most of them, the vast majority of them have no criminal record, have never committed a crime and they are being tortured in this facility. And if if people are taken from this community, they're going to end up there first. They'll might get transferred somewhere else. They like to move them around a lot so that you can't keep track of them. And um even trying to get them out and and trying to pay a bond and uh do the right thing. Um our government's making it very hard to do that. uh the judge that's presiding over a case

tomorrow on two people that I'm trying to help has has denied over 90% of the asylum claims that he's looked at. So, um they they don't care and uh they're not going to care about anybody that gets taken from this community either. Um it doesn't matter if it's a child, um somebody who's never committed a crime. Uh they're going to suffer and they're going to suffer greatly. So, we need to just act fast here and uh do the right thing and not wait until something bad happens to uh to create some real good policies and and laws around this. So, thanks.

Good evening. Um I have a cold, so sorry. Uh my name is Tanya de Alivera and I live at 1851 Hall Street Southeast. That's on the East Grand Rapids side. Um, I'm coming here tonight u more or less to continue to be an advocate um for um helping to support whatever East Grand Rapids does to make sure that we are a place uh a haven that does continue to welcome all people um no matter of residency status um who live here and call East Grand Rapids home um no matter you know whatever their demographic is. Um, I happen to have a husband who identifies as brown. Um, he other people would call him Hispanic. So, my children are biracial and um, he's a third generation um, American. I'm fourth generation and and oddly it sort of seems like whatever is happening in Minneapolis, if it were to come here, uh, our life would probably turn overnight in terms of what are we going to do? Um, I have a nine-year-old daughter who um, I wouldn't let her come here tonight just because she might start asking more questions. She would probably get so emotional um, because she might think that something could happen to her if, god forbid, ICE were to kind of come to the West Michigan area and the way that they're coming in dramatically in Minneapolis. So, our my family could be immediately impacted and direct um, impacted in terms of being able to pay our bills and be a part of the community. So, I just want to again advocate and um am pleased to hear that um Commissioner Grapplick as well as others of you are interested in opening up this dialogue and having conversation. I look forward to hopefully more um formal policies related to non-compliance with ICE and um making sure that we're creating and keeping this place safe for everybody, residency status or not. Um, America was founded on immigrants and um, we're a a place, a community that should continue to be so. So, um, thank you very much

for this opportunity and, um, thank you guys for your time to serve the city. Thank you. Would anyone else care to make public comment at this time to something that's not on this evening's agenda? Hello, commissioners. Uh, Robert Blazak, 2360 Lake Drive. Uh, I live on a very visible corner of the uh of the city. Uh, and I've been up here before talking about how I've spent time up and down every street in this city. Um, last Friday I saw 60 people outside my window while I was trying to have a meeting uh protesting uh protesting the situation that's going on in a city that very well could be Grand Rapids right now where people are being abducted. Uh, people are being murdered, people are being kidnapped off the streets and it's happening because of our elected officials. Elections have consequences and elected officials carry power and each one of you carries power. So, I'm very eager, very excited that you guys are going to take the power that you've been given by this community to take whatever necessary steps are to make sure even if it's a symbolic gesture, even if it's the things we already say we do, even if city staff, our police force, everybody's already doing the right thing, planting a flag in this in the ground right now to say this is what's acceptable and here's where we stand. If we can have the courage as East Grand Rapids to plant that flag in the ground, can we be that city on the hill and shine an example to other parts of this state because Minneapolis is rolling through and we don't know where they're going to show up next and it could very well be Detroit. It could very well be Grand Rapids. This can come to our community. Thank you so much for the time and your energy. Would

anyone else care to speak public comment at this time?

Hi, my name is Mark Armstead. I live at 2202 Homewood Drive. Um, just want to speak uh regarding the uh Gas Light Investors Project and the Brownfield. Um my understanding is the brownfield was originally um intended for uh to clean up contaminated sites where the person who contaminated the site was no longer could be held accountable. Um and it expanded after that to include infrastructure and then recently it has expanded to what was affordable housing now they call it attainable housing. Um but really the the original intent of there's a lot of good legislation that comes through with the original intent but when sometimes when that original intent is expanded uh there's unintended consequences and uh you know I the for the city to I mean for taxpayers to be financing this development I really just don't again think that that's an onus that the city should be putting on the taxpayers for one. Uh second of all, if uh I mean I don't understand why we're speculating that this project is going to be whatever it is we're speculating it to be that we want to finance it. Um really we're hedging the um the developer's uh risk, you know, in this in this um process uh significantly. The developer has a lot of different avenues in which he can um uh attain revenue or to um invite investors or to to seek out financing or to um receive some other benefits um through uh state and federal programs andor just uh write offs that uh businesses are are afforded. Um, so the um really I the other thing too is I

mean it's the commission mentioned that they needed another tool in their toolbox. I'm not quite sure what that means because it wasn't uh explained. But if this um if this tool is going to be used later for other things, um say a millillage doesn't pass and they say, "Well, we're going to use it to uh do some infrastructure improvements or we're going to do it for, you know, um for parks or we're going to do it for, you know, something along those lines." I I see this as something that can get out of control and it can be abused. uh it can be misapplied andor interpreted in ways in which um it really wasn't uh meant to be. Uh we've really provided the builder with I think everything that a developer would want uh to develop in the community. We've provided the infrastructure. Um we've provided parks, schools, roads, um public safety, um public services. all that's in place. So there's no but for it's not like he couldn't develop it unless but for the the lack of um a school system. So again I appreciate I wish I had more time but uh you know I I really I really think that if the developer wants to develop something and it's been approved uh that's fine. Um, but for us to be financing his project, I think that's just a step further than what I I don't think that's a fair ask. So, thank you.

Would anyone else care to make public comment at this time to something not on this evening's agenda? Okay. Hearing none, I will close public comment and bring it up here for the report of mayor and city commissioners, including committee liaison reports. I'll start with you, M. Commissioner Hunter, do you have anything tonight? Yeah, sure.

It may get said a few times throughout the commissioner comments, but thanks to city staff over the last few weeks as uh Michigan winter has definitely been upon us. Um, you know, there's been a lot of extra hours put in to make sure our roads are uh and sidewalks are are nice and safe and clean and clear for residents, especially kiddos trying to get to school. So, um, you know, just utmost thanks for for all the service in that area. And then, um, I gave a update a couple weeks ago on the, uh, high school we the people constitutional comp competition. that group uh finished second in state to East Kentwood, but uh has um been given an atlarge bid to participate and compete in the national uh competition for We the People in April. So, we're doing some fundraisers uh for the kids to offset some of the costs uh to get down there and compete. But, it's been fun as a parent to watch uh the kids explore uh this constitutional studies class. Uh but but it's it's not so much a grade for the for those juniors, it's a it's a competition. So it's a been been a great process and uh more to come on that.

Thank you.

Just wanted to uh say thank you to our residents who organized and participated uh in the ice out rally at the corner of Lake and Breton last Friday. Um and to all of those who have been participating in other direct actions across the region uh whether they especially those that have been organized by COTA and Grand Rapids uh rapid response to ICE. Um I I'm proud of of us for showing up in solidarity. Um and I look forward to continuing this conversation uh around steps that that we can take to continue um to ensure that we do provide safety for all residents, neighbors, and visitors here in our community. I will second all of those comments and thank you to everybody for showing up tonight here. I know it takes courage to come up and speak and it's not comfortable for everybody. Um but I appreciate those who take the time and effort to let their voices be heard. I also just wanted to reiterate, I know Chief you said it um but without a microphone. So we do not have cameras in this city and actually shout out to Ry Berdick for that. Um he was very vocal early on when this came up years ago or maybe it just felt like years ago.

It was a while. I was trying to remember when that it was a while ago and you know there's certainly pros and cons to it and he's like they're all cons. No way. Um so thank you for that foresight. Um so I guess on a lighter note, thank you to public safety for all of your work. I actually had a resident reach out to me and say they've really enjoyed watching the sidewalk clearing devices going by and they find it entertaining and effective. So kudos to you all on your ingenuity and all those devices. Thank you. Commissioner Berdick, do you have anything to add?

I mean I can add to that a little bit. Um, as for the flock cameras, yes, if anyone would like to see the documentation I gave and distributed to our public safety as well as our fellow commissioners, um, that I had put together on the negatives of flock a few years ago, I'd be glad to distribute to anyone that'd like to see it. Um, as for the as for the ICE um, comments, uh, I think it's really important and it it it's been so hard the last couple weeks because I think it's so easy to identify with Minneapolis right now. Uh, cuz there's so many similarities with us here in Michigan and them in um, Minneapolis. And so I feel I feel all the emotion that you guys are showing coming here and talking to that. Um it's something that very much concerns me. So I I couldn't be more appreciative of Commissioner Blaze to put this together. Um, and uh, and on a lighter note, uh, as a, uh, on the, uh, parks and recck board, I wanted to just, uh, congratulate our new school board representative, Ben Smith, for joining the parks and recck.

That's great. Awesome. Um, nothing to add really that hasn't been said other than just, uh, you know, echo everybody else's feelings here that our hearts would truly break for what's happening to the people of Minneapolis and not just there. you know, ISIS in Maine and in LA and in Chicago and the videos that we've seen on the internet are heart just heartbreaking. Um, and so like all of the rest of you, I too am looking forward to this conversation and to putting in in the right policy for us. That was great.

Yeah, I had um, you know, the same sentiments on that. Looking forward to that conversation. Um, and again, just it wasn't discussed tonight simply because we just received the document and I know that all of us want to do the right thing and take time um to make sure that if any changes are made that they're vetted properly. Um, so yeah, and I just want to again thank city staff. I have two things to say about public works and the snow removal process. So, I was at my rapid board meeting last week and one of the board members sidelined me after the meeting to say that their mother was driving through East and called them to ask why can't the roads be as good elsewhere as they are in East Grand Rapids with pictures.

Um, and then I also also saw a Facebook post of somebody outside the community, a different community, taking pictures of their roads, comparing them to ours. So, kudos to you and what you're doing. And again, the the comment there was, "Why can't all roads be as good as East Grand Rapids?" So, um, thank you for all the hard work, the late hours, the really really cold weather, and for getting it done because everybody did a fantastic job. Um, and I also want to take a moment to thank our public safety team for their attentiveness and compassion in responding to some unhoused individuals seeking shelter at city hall during the recent extreme cold. I know that that was mentioned in the um the Friday update and I just wanted to thank you for that. Um I did receive an email from a resident about the situation that frankly I found disappointing. Um, and so, uh, looking into it, um, it made me especially grateful, but not surprised that, um, in through to read in our weekly update how thoughtfully, respectfully, and humanely all of our officers have handled this and bringing people to where they can get shelter and help and aid. So, thank you so much for doing that. Um, in dangerous weather like this, we've been experiencing your care and professionalism truly matter. your response reflects the values of this community in our commitment to treating everyone with dignity, especially those who are most vulnerable. So again, thank you.

That's all I have.

Uh just a few things um in regards to winter maintenance update. Um enough has been said about that. I would um take a moment to acknowledge though we are blessed with some resources that our neighboring communities um don't have and don't have the capacity to do what we do. So, we're we absolutely respect our partner communities and the hard work that they do. We just, you know, we have a little bit higher level of service, but um I know our neighboring communities are working really, really hard. Um quick update on the former Ryade building. Um we spoke to the owners today. You may have seen some um um dump small dumpsters out there. Um we did reach out to the owners and they are in the process of refreshing the building. Um so the vacant building will be vacant vacant for a little while as they refresh it. They don't have specific tenants in mind or signed up for the uh spot. Um but they are going taking this opportunity uh with the vacancy to just kind of refresh the entire space. So um you'll see that um that work will continue necessarily won't come to planning commission because it's all all internal and etc. But um we did see the construction um earlier today and reached out to the owners. A reminder of Saturday's uh strategic planning session, doors open at 8 or um 8:45 with kind of coffee, donuts, etc. And then we'll get going at 9:00. Uh reminder, the master plan public hearing with the planning commission is May, excuse me, February 10th. Um we're just hoping for May weather. And then um Commissioner Wesley unfortunately is not here tonight. Um he was in North Carolina with his daughter for a hockey tournament or some sort of tournament

and they got blasted with a winter storm and so he's trying desperately to get home. So that's why it's not here this evening. Last report he was still in the Nashville airport. Okay. So yes, he's trying and has been for a while. So so that's all I have. Mayor. Okay. Thank you. So we'll move on to the regular agenda items. Uh first on the agenda is the p public safety annual report. That introduction is by uh public safety chief Yukima.

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. It is my pleasure to present the annual report for 2025. As you can see in the report, the format is complete with pictures, graphics, and tables, and it's easily digestible and contains relevant information to the reader. I would be remiss if I didn't mention clerk Caroline Ford whose forward thinking and creativity has been the foundation for the updated quarterly report and annual reports. When reading through this from my position, I feel a great sense of pride and a feeling of accomplishment for what this department has achieved this past year. Hardworking, dedicated individuals and great teamwork make this a very high functioning department. I'm proud and lucky to lead such a talented group of professionals. I'll call out a few pages of this report starting on page nine. On page nine, I wanted to highlight the success of our prescription drug takeback program. We've collected and destroyed nearly 11,000 pounds of expired and unused medication since 2017. Ultimately, this has led to safer households and cleaner waterways like Reeds Lake and Fisk Lake. The program continues to be very successful and creates an easy opportunity for the community to safely dispose of unused medications. Moving on to page 10, just a few key department statistics. We've responded to over 4,400 calls for service and conducted nearly a thousand traffic stops during the past year. Both property crime and violent crime numbers have declined since 2024. These areas of progress have been achieved despite staffing levels remaining critically low for a good portion of the year. I cannot say enough about the public safety officers and sergeants who have worked many extra

shifts on the weekends, nights, and holidays to keep the city safe. Moving on to page 11, we're starting to see some relief from foyer request and purchase permits. However, video and audio foyer requests have continued to increase at a rapid rate. Public safety clerks Caroline Ford and Emily Simco have been absolute rock stars throughout the year in balancing all of these competing demands. Both Caroline and Emily are invaluable assets and keeping the department running is no small task. It would take me most of the night to list all the tasks that they accomplish in any given week. And much of the success of the department is because of their hard work and dedication to service. Balancing lobby walk-ins, phone calls, officer request, all while trying to redact body cam footage is no easy job. Uh, advancing to page 14. As noted in the chart, part one, violent crime is down from 2024. Violent crime is still a very rare occurrence in East Grand Rapids. These numbers are very, we pay very close attention to them and this provides a brief snapshot into the level of safety that we prioritize in the city. We stress as one of our goals every year to remain one of the safest cities in America. Next, we'll move to page 15. More on some property crime statistics. Part one, property crimes are lower in every category. In fact, we saw a 32% reduction from last year. Lowering property crime has been a major priority for us and seeing results is a team effort. Direct patrols, community engagement efforts, social media, crime mapping and analysis all play a part in property crime reductions. If we all

locked our doors and windows, these numbers would be down even more. Just a subtle hint there. Looking deeper into the report on page 19. As I've commented on our internal affair internal affairs complaints in the past, I want to reiterate that despite increasing citizen contacts, traffic stops, and other areas of interaction, our complaints of officer misconduct are nearly non-existent. Both complaints made in 2025 were exonerated. not just exonerated because we said so. We treat all complaints of misconduct very seriously, which includes interviews, report reviews, incar and body cam footage. The lack of any sustained complaint shows the level of professionalism and top level service that our officers provide every day. We have very good policies in this department and our officers follow those policies. Next on page 23, I just wanted to highlight the importance of our training program. Each of the three disciplines of police, fire, and EMS require constant training and preparation. The balancing of training in these three areas while still maintaining a presence in the community is certainly a challenge. Each area has state specific required standards and hours that must be met each year. Captain Mark Lner oversees a training division and has his hands full of ensuring that every officer complies with every standard. I'm not aware of a department in the country that trains as much as we do. Every swarm member has bought into this training program and I believe it's a direct reflection of the high level of service that we provide. Preparation

leads to success and the department is a model for that. In fact, as I stand up here speaking tonight, our officers are out doing inclement weather, low light scenario training. Uh moving on to page 24, you can see that we saw significant decreases in traffic crashes this past year. There are many factors that play into this, but solid traffic enforcement in areas of known accidents, radar speed, feedback signs, direct patrols, and working with public works and engineering makes this a team effort. Our traffic enforcement is strategically based on public safety as a priority. Enforcing areas that have the highest traffic and pedestrian interaction remains the focus to keep our roads safe for all users. Scrolling down to page 26. This page is dedicated to our traffic stop and traffic crash demographics. As noted in the third quarter report in 2025, I've been working with the center for safety assessment and inclusion and determining an independent assessment for the public safety department. This assess this assessment is intended to be a holistic approach to identify areas of strength and improvement. We are in the steps of isolating five to six key pillars for the assessment that will include concepts such as traffic stops, training policies and community engagement efforts and more. Lastly, going all the way to page 50. I know we skipped a lot of cool pictures there, but I'd like to recognize the members of the community who have continued to solidify the relationship with the public safety department. We look forward to strengthening that bond and always advancing that progression. To quote Sir Robert Peele, one of the policy, one of

the policing principles we can draw from, he states, "To recognize always the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, their actions and behaviors, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect. In other words, the police are the public and the public are the police. And finally, in closing, there's too many highlights and accomplishments to cover in this overview this evening. As a director, I could not be more proud of the level of service, the professionalism, the preparation, the dedication and compassion that each member of this department brings each and every day they come to work. to the Cassidy Forbes achieving the Matt Award, to Detective Sergeant Labazoo solving extremely complex cases, and all of her field training officers working many extra hours and shifts to train and mentor our newer officers. This department is full of well-trained and consistent employees that share the common goal of making the city of East Grand Rapids a safer place to live, work, and visit. Thank you for allowing me to serve as a director, and at this point, I can address any questions that you may have for me. Thank you. Any questions?

Yeah, sure. I can start. Um, first and foremost, thank you so much. Appreciate your leadership, Director Bucha, as well as all of the officers who work with you. Um, I just was curious, maybe this is a good opportunity since we've heard from some of our members of the public to discuss um, your interactions with the Department of Homeland Security and what would the response be if let's say ICE were to show up at the high school? Um, can you just talk a little bit about how the department manages or would handle that type of thing? Sure. I can talk about um what we have the authority to do as Michigan police officers and we do not have the authority or ability to enforce uh immigration status. So that is uh in our policies. It would take a 287g agreement um to be able to be to work with ICE on a task force um to be quote unquote deputized by ICE to be able to enforce those laws which we do not have and have no plans on doing. So hopefully that answers your question. Um,

that's helpful. Yeah, I want I just want to make sure members of the public can hear. Yeah, absolutely. Any other questions? To that point of just piggyback offing Commissioner Skagg's question, um, I know that um, I thought or sure you're working on an FAQ for the website for like questions and like questions that the public can have and Commissioner Skaggs has had. You're working on putting some information up there for our residents? Yes, working on putting that out as well as uh some statements regarding even some quotes from our policies and procedures that pertain to that. Okay, that'll be helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.

I just wanted to to commend you guys for recognizing some of the probably uh less recognized members of public safety that I think I see every day. uh crossing guards and you guys really recognizing those crossing guards and what they do every day, especially through this winter with January and February. They are saints for being out there. Um they they they do such a great job. Um along with the the school staffs, I know the middle school principles out there every morning um managing traffic when it's one below zero and and the work they do. um I'm sure they're not thanked enough for, but I really appreciate that you put that in this report to let them know um that that we care and that we appreciate it because what they're doing is is really really important. So, I really appreciate that.

Thank you for uh calling that out. It's it's one of those things I I know I can't cover the entire report, but that's certainly vital and I mean we have some really longtime um crossing guards that do just a fantastic job. So, I appreciate you mentioning that. It's incredible. Yeah. Any other questions after?

I do have a few questions. Um, first of all, I know that of course property crimes have been a big concern of our community and so very happy to see the continued reduction and I know the community is also very appreciative of those efforts. So kudos to you and the department specifically on that. Um, first I want to go back to to some to the issue of the flat cameras that came up earlier and I know that we don't have flat cameras. I've been right and I've been able to tell residents that. Um,

and what I'm not able to tell them is for example there are camera looking devices when I look out my front window. They're at the intersection of Lake and Breton and I don't know about any other intersections. So could we clarify what those are and the the intent of those? Those are traffic signal motion detector cameras. So what those do is um during off- peak hours um they detect uh vehicles uh that are not aligned with the uh the program of the of the traffic signal. And so they will once they detect vehicles that are waiting in a queue, if there's not any their direction, it will change the timing of the signal to let them through. So they're not waiting unnecessarily. So they're just detection.

Thank you for that clarification. Doug, do you want to clarify also the snow camera? Yes, we also have a um we do have uh sensors at a couple intersections that um tell us um uh pavement temperature which is obviously different than air temperature and we utilize that for um how we um deploy uh assets and material like salt on city streets. Uh so we we're applying it at the right time and optimized environment uh to have that higher level of service. Thank you. Thank you.

Um several questions uh related to page 25. Um this is talking about the the traffic stop uh and associated file class statistics. Just the first question for clarification sake. So the top line um indicates that there were 994 traffic stops in 2025. The following lines in this table are those part of that total number? No, those are not. Those are in addition to correct traffic stops. So what is the difference between a traffic stop and a traffic violation or civil infraction? Say

I'm traffic stop or civil infraction? I'm trying to Are you talking about the second to last one on the chart? Yes. I'm sorry. Those are included. I thought you were talking about the traffic violation hit stop. Um the traffic violation is not that is that is traffic stops that resulted in a written violation. So those are those are not added to it. Those are part of the 994 total. Okay. But the other lines are not part of the the other lines such as criminal investigative stop are not uh warrant hit stop are not traffic violation hit stop are not.

Okay. Um, so seemingly then that would indicate that I don't know roughly what 10% of traffic stops result in a the issuance of a citation. Is that what that's telling us? Roughly. Yes. And and some of those citations can be more than one violation on one citation. It would just be counted as one citation though. Okay. So, it was I asked because it was striking to me that there were only 129 traffic violations. And it's like that's less than one a day if we're if we're only, you know, if we're stopping folks less than once a day for for traffic violations, which is what I hear from residents most often about.

Um so, okay. So, I would be interested in knowing, and I think this bleeds into more of the the traffic um the traffic data sort of exploration is what are those other traffic stops for? Like what are the moving violations that they're for and what are what are we pulling folks over for? Um um on that as well, I've also heard folks ask, can we just put a car somewhere at like, you know, when we install a new RFB or something, can we put one there? Can we do that? watch for that for a certain amount of time, which I think is what a directed a directed patrol is, right? Where you're putting a car somewhere and you're looking for a specific violation. That's correct. Yeah.

Um could you share a little bit of information about um how those were utilized this past year? Direct patrols. Yeah. What we looked for with I would I mean we don't we don't kind of I don't have numbers on which ones were for what. They could be on a speeding complaint. They could be for um a no turn on red. uh if we noticed a an accident trend or a citizen complaint, we would strategically put a car there to enforce a certain thing such as no turn on red or speeding. But uh without going through the reports, I don't know which numbers go to traffic signals or speeding in general.

Okay. Um and my last question on page 26, um you provided a new table going back to to 2015 um looking at the disagregation by race. Um, and when the community initially started a conversation with the Department of Public Safety about disagregating this data, um, specifically by racial groups, we were told that that older data, specifically data pre2020, was very unreliable in terms of the collection of racial demographics. Um, so I'm curious as to why it was included here when that was what we knew then.

Yeah, that's a good question. So, if you look at the the 10-year look back that that you're mentioning, that's why there's so much um you know, 24% in the unknown category. We weren't it wasn't a mandatory collection then, but I wanted to provide kind of a longer look back, which was 10 years, even though we uh it was not department policy to collect that information since I think it started in 2021 if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Um but this was just kind of for reference as a as a broad view back. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. I have one question going back a page. So when we're talking about the traffic stops versus the violation civil infractions, so does that mean that like 85 90% of our stops are like warnings roughly? Yeah, we do issue a lot of warnings. Um again, we try to take the least amount of effective enforcement. Um and that and that can vary depending on what the stops are for. Okay. Thank you. I have one more question. Yeah.

Um when you guys are recording crash statistics, do you record um mobility device involved crashes? Um yes. Um it depends on which mobility device you're talking. It's the state again classifies certain things as vehicles and some as pedestrians. Okay. So, it's collected, but I think that's one of the challenges going forward as we define what those devices are, how to categorize. I was on a UD10 state crash report. Right now, your choices are vehicle or pedestrian. Okay. And you know, there's certain they they kind of need to update that now as we define these things and as more devices kind of emerge.

Thank you. That's helpful. Any other questions? Yeah. The only question I had, Chief, was uh you mentioned earlier that uh the staff remains somewhat understaffed. Um do do you have I mean, what does that look like in terms of getting it fully staffed or or is it ever our intention to be fully staffed? Uh I mean, do we leave a little bit of leeway in there to always kind of have people in training and in the academy?

Great question. As you can see in the report, we have new hires noted in there. um many of them are in the field training process right now. During 2024 um we were definitely low uh we are gaining traction now however as I noted in the training we have uh required training and obviously police, fire and EMS and those things all take time and it's generally about a year and a half if everything lines up for somebody to come in and be fully trained in all three disciplines. Um it is our intention to be fully staffed and it's um it's more optimistic this year than last year because of the new recruits mentioned in the report but you know that we we will have more retirements and it'll con we will be hiring constantly I would imagine for the next two to three years to sustain those numbers and be at full staff

really for most police forces then and public safety it it's a continual ongoing process just kind of the nature of the it's ongoing forecasting uh retirements and departures and um and we have the added extra challenge here that we have to train them in two additional disciplines if they only come in with one. Thank you. Yes.

Kind of piggybacking off of that. What about like you said like the I know the foyer requests overall are a bit down but the video requests are up. What about managing that? Is there need to be any any additional hires to help with that? I think if uh from a hiring standpoint, we're we're looking pretty good in the clerk's office. Um I've talked to Shay a few times about kind of staggering some of their work schedule to balance really the video redactions are the most labor intensive. You have to put a headset on and you have to be kind of dedicated to that. And right now, as I noted earlier in the report, they do a great job of kind of oh, you know, someone's walked in, I got to take the headset, hit pause, right? um creating some dedicated time for them to do that job is is something that we're working on and and managing at this point.

Great. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Thanks for the report. Um again, this is it just keeps getting better and more informative and more pictures. So, thank you for all of that and um and what you said earlier about how you're very fortunate to have such a great staff and a great team. We're equally as proud as the team. So, please pass that on and thanks for all you do. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have the strategic um area update for 2026. That introduction by city manager Charles.

You, Madame Mayor. Make sure I get the right button here. There we go. Um just wanted to do a quick overview. Um this is our annual kind of check-in on where we are as we head into the strategic planning. um planning meeting uh session on Saturday. Just kind of a check-in of where do um where we at, where we got going, things of that nature. Um just, you know, again, what is strategic planning? Just that forward looking um what do we have? Um both short short-term and long term. Um our basic process is have the session, set goals and objectives, do the budget, implement, check in where we're doing, and do it uh do it again next year. Uh reminder for the commission. Um our kind of key areas, city operations, community development, infrastructure, parks and wreck, um public safety. Um and then we have three guiding principles, financial stewardship, environmental s sustainability, and intergovernmental uh cooperation. Um looking at city operations administrations, one of our focuses always is financial stability. Um I gave the financial forecast last um last meeting um in regards to that. some things that were kind of out there, things I can remember. Um, we're taking delivery of the aerial uh in spring of 28. Uh, we have updated the forecast which was presented last meeting. Again, just some some of the dollars that we've been able to secure the $500,000 DNR grant. Um, safe routes to school. I forgot to include um our the funds we received for the Cascade Robinson project as well as um the Plymouth uh rehabil uh rehabilitation that we did last uh construction season. um ongoing intergovernmental relationships. We have staff in um working with, you know, schools, Metro 6, Grand Valley Metro Council, and I just want to take a moment to acknowledge uh Doug's work on Grand Valley Metro Council. You're vice chair of the policy committee now.

I'm the chair now.

Chair chair of the policy committee um for Grand Valley Metro Council as well as being part of the um utility advisory board with city of Grand Rapids. So, um a lot of great connections we've built. Um my um team have various memberships working with other uh governmental entities throughout one. Um one of the goals had been uh continued collaboration with school district assay developers. We can continue to uh work with the schools on uh development plans things of that nature. And as we know the concept plan was was approved last October. um master plan um we hope hope to be done with this by the spring of 20 2026. So I noted before public hearing for the planning commission whoops um is February 10th. We did update the parks and recreation master plan which enabled us to get the um $500,000 uh DNR grant. Um once the plan commission is done that the master plan will come to uh city commissioner for final blessing. So we are on track for that. um public safety. I'm not going to spend a lot on this just given director Bucha's report, but the reduction in um part one property crimes um traffic stop data and etc. Um the public uh safety department assessment uh director bua uh noted that they're sc um working on a scope for that and that'll be something that'll be coming back to the city commission in the foreseeable future. um and just the messaging and all the different things. You may have noticed we now do an officer profile on a monthly basis. Um actually we are going to be switching to uh public works next. Um so you'll see that uh that change uh uh coming up here shortly and then stats just kind of repeat up what um director

had. um question or for parks and recreation Manhattan Park u reconstruction uh is completed. Um I would note that um one of the projects we have scheduled for this spring. We'll be going out to bed here for or we're out to bed I think is um rehab of the two parking lots uh just to now match since we have amazing uh park space and all get the parking lots looking a little bit better. Um, phase two, I noted before, the $500,000 grants and funding. Um, we continue, uh, Dererick and his continue to do, add new programs. Uh, middle school softball, youth cheerleader, east basketball club are some of the recent programs. Um, the the criterium bike races back. Um, we're partnering with our with Wima and the Eagle Scouts to install signage kiosk on the Fred Trail. um which has just been an absolute asset for the community. Uh the kayak rental program saw um about 700 rentals uh this last year. Um in addition to um um our partnership with the school is to enhance our middle school sports programs um with u Mr. Shadic um working with our team on helping that joint facility improvements uh the Rusty Swainfield improvements at Remington. Um um the Mannyfield schoolboard and turf replacement and uh the wet playground improvement project um was done this last year. So been a busy year. Um infrastructure safer house to school program um part of the grant goes 75,000 goes to the school for education program. So, we're working with them. Um, the actual project, we're looking at spring summer construction. Maybe we have an update on that.

Um, we we're looking at spring bid letting. So, it's depending on um contractor availability and the MDOT contracts. Um, uh, it will be spring and summer is what I'm thinking about.

Okay. Uh, so again, $ 1.5 million project, local match of $67,000. is they had the pathway uh up on Reeds Lake, a mini circle, excuse me, traffic circle at Reeds Lake and um Manhattan. So, uh lead service lines. Um so, some actually really good news there. Um hard work. Um Doug and his team were reviewing kind of where we are and it's not 740 lines we have to go, it's actually 430. So we are now at being um down to about 2 years of um replacement cycle and all lead service lines will be out of the system. We will have excuse me inventoried um every line documented um every line. So we're we're really ahead of the game and um excited about um being able to share with the community that um we got the lead out so to speak. So, um um safe process school we again talked about just um in regards to where that's at kind of overview of the projects um things of that nature. We continue to work with them. I'm about about ready to go out to bid um for that.

I'm sorry. That's going to be a spring summer program and then completed this summer though.

Correct. um continue imple implementation of the uh pedestrian safety moility bike action plan. Um looking at um what we've implemented as far as um um bike paths, things that nature. Uh there's a list of what's been done to date. Um this is going to be a conversation for the um strategic planning session on cross town connectors on Lake Drive and Breton. Um there's some um want to get uh commission's feedback before we start moving uh forward is when some sort of implementation plan. So um but that'll be a conversation for Saturday and then you can kind of see other things that we're looking at going forward. Uh just some examples um on Plymouth um updating the um Reach Lake Trail along Reach Lake um adding bike lanes on Reeds Lake etc. So, and just a quick map of everything that we've um implemented so far to date on the mobility bike action plan. Um, as far as pedestrian safety, we continue to move forward um with the RRFBs. Um, the red box shows the ones that have been uh implemented uh since adoption of the pol the new policy. Doug,

correct?

Okay. Um so we again uh Doug and his team continue to do take tra pedestrian counts uh throughout the city and looking for continued deployment of those devices. Um we did have our demonstration project with the two roundabouts um at um Lakeside and Reeds Lake. Uh a lot of good feedback. Um Doug and his team are reviewing a draft report. We are looking for some sort of long-term solution there. um looking at just some couple different designs uh for potential solutions. So that's something that'll be coming to the commission um sometime in the future. Um street infrastructure improvements again um our paser uh map and whatnot the continued work. You can see how far you know how far we came where we thought we were going to be originally and how quickly we um exceeded those expectations. the renewal of the street and sidewalk millage. Um we'll be able to continue to maintain that high level of um quality roads within the community and also being able to go going through the second time around. Maybe getting after some stuff the first time. Um we got the roads and uh conditions vastly improved. This time around we'll have a little more resources to be able to go and address some things that um the resources weren't quite there. Um while we continue to update um again sidewalk improvements um in regards to that there lake trail investment update to the Cascade Robinson pathway um which was funded primarily by a federal grant in regards to that. Um we continue to do our annual inventory of sidewalks throughout the city and have take a very active um approach to that. uh water and sanitary sewer. Not the most exciting stuff, but um we can continue to do our slip lining of sanitary storm and then as um either

slip lining of uh water mane or um full replacement, we have a few projects scheduled for the um this 26 construction season along that uh sanitary projects. Um just the rehab and how many miles we've done so far. Um same um with storm water. um storm sewer projects. Um as we continue to update that um as we do these projects, it helps a lot with also especially on the sanitary side um address um infiltration into the system. So we're reducing the amount that we're sending for treatment, groundwater infiltration. So that's um to our benefit regards to that. Um updates at the um public works facility, new salt barn as well as a new storage cold storage building. um continue to look at opportunities in regards to that, continue to improve that site, improve operations um for the city. And then uh master plan update talked about again we have the um areas that um this is really an amendment to the 2018 plan. It's not a brand new plan. So we have plans looking at the St. Stevens area, some of our neighborhoods, Castite Village, etc. So that's something that'll be coming forward to the commission here in uh the near future. and then that was it. So, um just kudos to the team and when we step back and do the do these reports and kind of look upon how much is accomplished by what is a relatively small organization, it's just absolutely amazing and also we have the best plowed streets in the area. So, it's

we do apparently. Well, any questions? Any questions? So, I just want to clarify. I think that we're going to be diving back into these on Saturday, correct? Yep. Some of these. Yes. Questions we can address discussion they can address then. Okay. Yep. Um, one last quick thing. Let me switch here. Um,

oh, I just want to say something. Um, again, kudos to city staff. Just the the foresight. You know, this community doesn't react. You're proactive about everything. and um just seeing like you know where we would have been where we are you know just you're always um improving and it's amazing and thank you so much for for all the hard work and the planning and like I said the foresight that goes into everything that you do.

Um one last quick thing um I mentioned the uh in the weekly update in regards to stuff that we have going on uh this list is on uh was up um at the dis uh just give you a sense of things that we've got in the hopper. This is not intended to be everything, but you know, just kind of a quick hit on union negotiations for Waterfront Park. Obviously, the budget conversation around the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on next steps for that. Um, we've got two elections, the August primary and the November election, um, the gas line investors litigation, our ecooter um, discussions, program safety, etc. Safe routes to school, uh, walkability work session. Um we're looking at cross town connectors which we'll talk about Saturday. Uh the public safety study assessment. Um the streets um just our ongoing street sidewalk and utility constructions uh we've got going and then the city school parking discussions which obviously will u come back eventually to the entire board in regards to that. Um and just kind of all the work that's been going on behind the scenes on that. So not intended to be the only things we're working on. um got other things, but this just going to kind of give you a sense of um um things that um will be coming towards the commission um over the next year. So, it's going to be another busy year.

Yeah. Never a dull moment. Nope. Exactly. So, with that, great. Okay. Well, thank you. Um so, next on the agenda, we have the consent agenda items. May I please have a motion and a second to approve tonight's consent agenda? So, moved. Second. Okay. All those in favor say yes. Yes. Yes. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Thanks everyone. This meeting's adjourned.