City Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, I like this. Go. Let's do it. I forgot to I mean it like a million%. Okay, 6:00. I'm going to call this meeting to order. If everyone can please stand and join us in saying the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.

Okay. First on this evening's agenda, we have the approval of tonight's agenda. Commissioners, do we have anything to add or take away from this evening's agenda? Oh, I see one. I just have a question about the agenda. Pardon me. I have a question about the agenda. Okay. Um the first quarter public safety report is in the consent agenda and it's usually a regular item. So I'm curious about the placement this this time. Yep. Sure. Did you want to uh Yeah, just um we were looking at the agenda, looking at the topics and um wanted to get it to the commission. Um but given that um this may be a lengthy meeting, that was our our thinking behind it. But

and to add, there are no um updates on the analysis. So at this time so that was another reason why it was put under consent. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to public comment. Is there anyone joining us this evening that would like to make public comment to something that is not on this evening's agenda? So something that outside of tonight's agenda? Now would be the time to make that comment. Please come forward. Welcome. Thank you.

All right. Um, hi. My name is uh Dr. Jonathan Stoleman and I am director of the opioid policy institute here in East Grand Rapids and I've been working on opioid related research and advocacy since 2013. Uh, I last attended a city commission meeting on November 3rd, 2025 to ask about the commission's plan for spending opioid settlement money. In my review of the agenda since then, it seems that the last time the topic was addressed was indeed November 3rd, 2025. So, I'm back to raise that issue for the agenda, hopefully for future conversations. According to recent state data, uh, as of December 2025, EGR has $42,871.17 in unspent opioid settlement money. Uh, that's a bit discouraging that the money is still sitting there and it doesn't seem that there's a plan for how to spend that money. Uh, in the interim, of course, that money could be spent in ways that could help community well-being and health. I know compared to other budgets being discussed today, because I did look at the at the agenda, um approximately $43,000 is quite small. Uh but the reason that this money exists is because the harms caused by the opioid overdose epidemic in our community. And the intention of this money is for other families to avoid that pain. We have to figure out a way to spend this money and spend it well. I did want to make a humble suggestion for how to spend the money, and that's with the Grand Rapids Red Project. Since the late 1900s, the Grand Rapids Red Project has been providing communitydriven evidence-based public health solutions to West Michigan related to drug use, HIV, and Hepsi. This includes things like nlloxxone distribution, the opioid overdose reversal medication, recovery coaches, and peer navigators. They do this work day in and day out, and I'm certain that they can find a way to put $43,000 to use that increases the well-being and health of our community. I do not work for or represent the Red Project. I'm just hoping to start a conversation around ways to spend the money and that there are in fact great ways that we could spend this money like

today and that the community does need that support and those resources like the red project. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone care else care to make public comment to something not on this evening's agenda? Okay, thank you. Hearing none, I will close public comment and I will move up here to the report of mayor and city commissioners, including any committee liaison reports. Um, Commissioner Skaggs, do you have anything to add tonight?

Uh, not this evening. No, but doctor, please, would you uh I would love to be in touch with you more about this conversation. Um, I don't have your info, so can you either leave it for me or reach out to me uh through the website? That would be so wonderful. Thank you. That's all. Thanks. Thank you, Commissioner Berdick. have anything this evening? Uh nothing to report, but I would echo comments uh from Commissioner Skaggs. Love to hear from you. So, reach out. Great. Wonderful.

Thank you. Uh two hopefully quick things to uh pass along this evening. The first of which uh is a committee leazison report from the finance committee regarding uh the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. uh please reach out to myself or any other member of the finance committee to uh discuss what uh plans might be coming together over the next month or so to reignite that conversation um for our community. Again, uh the the the the priority is for us to match uh a product that that has plenty uh sufficient amount of community input and engagement uh inside of a plan for us to go out and work with uh local developers on projects um that that are in front of us and may be in front of us in the future. Um and and our alignment with standards uh that we're receiving right now from Kent County. So, more to come on that, but uh just a quick update um from that side of things. And then as well, um myself and uh Commissioner Grath Blazak, we already discussed, you know, that I won't say everything about it, but we both have seniors in high school and uh many of you have had graduates, uh go through the public school system. This past weekend was the first weekend of open houses and uh thanks to public safety, we saw a number of uh you guys out there making sure people got around town safely. Uh but what a great weekend not only weather-wise but for our community to show what I feel are the top values for our community and that's the mobility walkability um and the ability for us to put as much as we do into our K through 12 uh students and see kind of the culmination and the um fruition of a of a great process. Congrats to class of 2026. Okay. Um, and also Commissioner Hunter, to piggy back off your statement to

reach out to anybody in the finance committee. Finance committee members are Commissioner Hunter, Commissioner Schwarz, and Commissioner Berdick, just in case you want to do so. Thank you. Thank you. Do you have anything to add?

Uh, I do. Yes. I'll of course echo congratulations to the class of 2026 um as they graduate this week and embark out on the world as well as to all of our retiring educators. Um and congratulations to all of our educators and students for the culmination of another excellent year of learning. Um I do want to bring up um I asked the question about the the first quarterly report for public safety. Um I will I do want to note that there is there was a slight uh increase in our racial disparity in terms of uh traffic stops in that first quarter. And so I am anxious to learn more about where we are with the work with the independent consultant um and that review of process and procedure and that doesn't need to be this evening but I I I look forward to that being on an agenda in the very near future. All right. Um you're done right. Sorry. Um so planning commission met this week and we heard an introduction on gaslight investors um phase one final plan. Um so that was them showing us sketches um more renderings all of that is in the meeting agenda if you go wanted to go online and look closer. So at that we um the planning commission heard questions from the public questions and comments from the public on it. We asked questions of the developer and the architect and um you know it's there's definitely more like work to be done feedback we gave to the developer but we did go ahead and set a um an official hearing there has to be a hearing on it and that will be in June is that June 9th

believe it's June 9th June 9th I think regular schedule meeting regularly scheduled meeting it's the second Tuesday of the month um so that will be a public hearing Of course, you can come like you do to this meeting and give public comment at any time, but that will be the hearing on it. Um, and I I don't know if any further action will be taken by planning commission at that time, but that is the formal hearing. So, more to come.

Great. Thank you. Um, I the only thing I wanted to add was also congratulations to the East Grand Rapids class of 2026 and um and their families. Congratulations to you all. Jobs well done. Um and sir to the red project again not to single you out again I as mayor I also sit on the board of the rapid um the the transit system in West Michigan Grand Rapids area and three gentlemen from the red uh project just came and introduced themselves at our last meeting and um so I find it interesting that you're here tonight and I am going to be touring their facility fairly soon to see more about their operations. So, Commissioner Skaggs and Commissioner Berdick, I'd like to or anybody I'd like to um welcome you to join me in that tour if you're interested in learning more about that organization. Um but absolutely leave your information and thanks for coming tonight and I have nothing else.

Okay. Uh just a few things. Um in regards to the question about the public safety study, um director BMA spoke with the consultant today actually. Um we we anticipate a proposal from him by the end of this week. So, um that will be on a upcoming agenda for consideration. Uh just reminder, Monday is Memorial Day, so city offices will be closed. Um and then the last thing is next week, May 27th at 6:00 at the high school little auditorium um will be our first engagement session um in our partnership discussion with the schools about a potential parking deck on uh Bagley. So that is the first one. anticipate postcards uh notifying the community should hit imminently. Um so if they have not already so

perfect. It is wild that it's Memorial Day already. I I can't like what happened to this month? It's just crazy. Um okay. So then moving on, we will go on to the regular agenda items. First on the agenda is to consider support of the safe routes to school projects approved by the Michigan Department of Transportation and authorize acceptance of bids from the MD leting process for grant funding approved for $1,500,000 for infrastructure projects and $75,000 provided to East Grand Rapids public schools for education and training for staff and students with a city contribution for engineering related expenses estimated at $150,000. That introduction is by Mr. Douglas. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor and city commissioners. You can ceue the presentation. Thank you. Uh, so this evening, I'm going to give kind of a brief overview um of this uh this these projects and this process uh which have kind of been um ongoing um since 2023. Got it plugged in or

Yeah. Okay. I'll keep going. Okay. So, Lori, we'll take the next slide. So, we've had uh staff has had time to over the past several years to engage with residents uh impacted uh by project areas. Uh um more of a focal point on the south side of Rez Lake Boulevard. That seems to be the the area where we've had the most interaction. Um and so we've met with everybody at least once. Uh some people two, three, four, five, six, seven times in there there on. Uh we've had uh phone conversations. Uh we've had a lot of email communications um etc with everyone too. Um so one of the pieces I wanted to cover here is is who is eligible for the grants because some of what we've uh learned from residences um they have uh particular opinions or feelings or concerns about uh federal grant dollars going into this type of pedestrian infrastructure. Um and so this is right from their the the web page uh for safe routes to school with Michigan Fitness and MD dot. Uh so whether you live in a small rural community, a sprawling uh suburban neighborhood or a lively urban center, safe routes school grants can be can benefit your students. Safe routes school grants are available to all schools with at least one grade in the K through 12 range. All schools, whether they're public, private, tribal, or even private may apply. Um so this is kind of a unique program where typically federal funds are not necessarily made available in in some ways to charter schools or to private schools. So originally when we started uh looking at this back in uh 2023 uh late 2022 uh we were uh reaching out to St. Stevens Catholic Private School here in the city limits too to be a part of uh of this process and uh unfortunately we learned around that time that they were uh that they were they had closed or were closing the school. Um, so with that, uh, through the program, uh, no matter where you are in the state of Michigan, each eligible

school is eligible for $300,000 towards infrastructure only grants. So again, if St. Stevens was a part of that, that would have made it 1.8 million instead of 1.5. Um, and then there's $15,000 per eligible school district for non-infrastructure dollars. So again, they apply that equally no matter whether you're in the upper peninsula or southeast Michigan or West Michigan, it's the same. So next slide, please, Lori. And then when we're looking at what's eligible, what's not eligible, uh we did get a lot of questions from residents about um sort of their their position or how they view certain things that we spend money on or that this grant could spend money on. Um and the takeaways are things like sidewalk improvements, so new sidewalk, sidewalk widening, sidewalk gap closure, sidewalk repairs, curb ramps. Um trails are eligible. Um there's a there's a quite a list here of different things that are eligible. A lot of things that are in your existing maintenance programs are not eligible. So things that we already do, we can't like shift our budget around to say, "Okay, we we do have a sidewalk repair and replacement program. So let's use this grant money to pay for that instead of paying for it out of our dedicated street mill streets and sidewalk millage or general fund." So you can't move money around to to cover things that you already have in programs. um uh as an example and again typically um all those dollars have to be spent on uh on generally new infrastructure in the community where you have gaps or identified uh needs. Uh so next slide please. So this kind of alludes to what I just talked about a little bit. the city has a sidewalk and rehabilitation replacement program and and a lot of what we heard um from surveys from either parents or students and some of those surveys they would say like uh my sidewalk's bumpy or it's cracked or I'd like to see that improved or I'd like to see um uh some other bike lanes, those types of things. Um so, um while that's important to us and we learn from that, we we take that from a program we

already have in place. So, we can't we can't shift that funding around. So when we engaged with some uh some of some residents that are in the project areas or other areas, they would say, "Well, why don't you just spend this somewhere else, you know, instead of we don't need new sidewalk or we don't need something, just spend it on that. We we we can't do that." So I wanted just to provide that to you so you're aware. Um another piece that we that we got from survey results um not just from the survey results, but just the general community in the last number of years is uh crosswalk safety and improvements. And you'll see this later on the presentation, too. Uh, but we developed a a policy and guidelines and and a funding program for midblock crossing enhancements throughout the city. And so, while we're we're doing those now, so while some of these were in our original application, we did pull them out because it would became part of a a program the city was was enacting in the city. Uh, so it would not be necessarily eligible um similar to the sidewalk program. So, just a little bit of information there that when we would hear from some residents, they would say, "Well, if I was in charge or if I ran the federal program or the state program, I would spend it this way." And so, we're just trying to explain to you that for programs we already have in place, they're not eligible because we don't want to we can't shift funding around for things that exist. Next slide. And then these are non-infrastructure eligibility projects. Um, essentially a lot of what we're working with Easter Grand Public Schools on. So, you'll note things like uh personal safety education. So, we're working with the school system on some uh some videos for the new mobility updated mobility ordinance and other and other things um as well as uh training for students um etc. So, a lot of really programming things that the schools can can build upon and enhance and partnering with the city. That's what the $75,000 in funding um those are the eligible things that they can spend that money on and ultimately they'll make the decision on how they spend those funds.

Next slide. So from the program and how it starts um you know how do you get it started? You have to have uh you have to register your eligible schools. So as I noted um the the qualifying schools here in the city are the high school, the middle school and each one of the three elementary schools. St. Stevens uh Catholic school was eligible until it closed obviously and it's no longer eligible. The early learning center uh the wax center is also not eligible uh because it is not uh as noted the the K through 12. So that campus was not um eligible for the program. Uh the next piece is you have to create a safe routine. So you have to have a safe rout coordinator which is myself. You have to have uh school principles involved, teachers, parent surveys, student surveys, um district personnel like assistant superintendent uh Mr. Road agency which is the city and our engineering team and uh planning which we have here with the city with uh uh zoning administrator Junati. Next slide please. So as I noted surveys are part of this from MDOT. So, Michigan Fitness Foundation, which is a partnership with actually um doing a lot of the administration of the process for MDOT, um they develop the surveys that go out. The city does not um create the language for those surveys or any of those types of things. Uh they then provide them to East Grand Rapids public schools and they disseminate those. and from um I believe this was in 2024. East Grand Rapids public schools um ran this through their uh uh their all their schools that were eligible. They received over 3,000 responses. Uh 2,000s were completed by students and just over a thousand from parents um related to those. And what I'm sort of trying to point out there too, which we've shared in some of our notices and in the memorandum is just some excerpts there where you know there's a lot of high priority things there, but some of those things we can't control, some of those

things we can or we have other programs. So when they're evaluating um when Michigan Fitness and MDOT's evaluating this with the city, they're looking at um okay, well, you can't do this or you're you're already doing that. Um that's where it kind of narrows the path to look at what refining that to what kind of infrastructure improvements um that you may need help with. while other communities some of those things they don't do and therefore their program can be a little bit more broad. Next slide. The next piece that you have to do is a walking audit. Uh so uh the city partnered with Michigan Fitness Foundation, MDOT, uh East Grand Rapids Crossing Guards, engineering, I should have said with the crossing guards, the department of public safety too. So we had the school resource officer participate with us. Um again our engineering team and our consultant uh Pina Nu-Uhoff um and this was in May of 2023 to look at um kind of areas around the school campuses in general or where we have school populations that are not really close to the schools to do a walking audit. So these groups of of uh individuals went around and looked at um what they saw as barriers uh to uh to students getting to school. Um and a lot of those things are um pretty common in terms of uh for I would say the um the south side of the city south of Lake Drive area where we have a lot of the infrastructure that's appropriate in place. A lot of that just needs to be upgraded or or is being upgraded and other programs or response were responsible through existing programs. as I noted when when they looked at the kind of north uh northeast quadrant of the city um they also got into some jurisdiction that wasn't the city. So they got into uh Cascade Road a bit there too where that's Kent County Road Commission and the student population for East Grand Rapids public schools that is not incorporated into the city limits um um which is in Grand Rapids Township. And really uh the feedback

from the walking audits was this part of town does not look like the rest of the city. Um you don't have you have areas where you're missing sidewalks completely completely where you have sidewalks on one side of the road. Um you don't have crossings. You uh again room for looking at sort of um crossjurisdictional issues with with the road commission Kai road commission in Grand Rapids Township. there's really nothing here to serve those people in terms of pedestrian infrastructure. Um and so some of that guided as we'll talk a little bit more in the presentation some other programs or operations the city runs um or is responsible for to really delve into um looking at these improvements from uh sort of a blend of existing city programs um applying for other grants um those types of things. So from that walking audit, that's where we got the initial action plan and this is where we really triggered the initial um resident notices that went out. So from the action plan um they noted um missing infrastructure on the north shore where they observed through the walking audit a lot of pedestrian activity that occurs um on Reeds Lake Boulevard essentially from um and where we're missing infrastructure uh from El Centro or the Rock area basically over to Manhattan Road. Um again um the the target of this of this grant is is for student age population. However, they fully recognize that we have an extreme amount of pedestrians that are also in this corridor. So their their eyes wide open and understanding what we have here. I know that was a concern uh from several neighbor interactions and one of the meetings we had um in a driveway with neighbors was there was a feeling that um they felt uh some of them felt that the city was um trying to use this program as a vessel to um really uh serve maybe the I say adult active population um and which is not the case

and as I noted um MDOT was eyes wide open saying yeah we recognize for sure that there's very it's a very busy corridor and you'll see some of the data that we have that that we shared with them that they also witnessed through the walking audits as well. So just wanted to be open and upfront about that and some of those feelings which uh uh I'm sure you might hear from some of the folks tonight uh that probably still share those feelings. Um so the the those priorities for priority one and uh priority one also included a traffic circle. Um really right where we also the city as you see in the call out there they were calling out the installation of an RFB. That's one of the push button crosswalk actuated devices um at a crosswalk. Um we had done that on our own because of that uh change in and policy and program that we did. So um you'll see that noted later how we pulled that out of the project because it's something we already um we already funded and we already constructed. Uh the feedback for the traffic circle has been other than I think um a couple of the individuals who live really close to it were very positive and we really didn't hear much else from discussion on that. Um so we just we just didn't get a whole lot on it but um it serves two things that they're eligible u from the program which is traffic calming um and also uh which we do have a documented uh a documented history that's why the radar speed feedback signs are are on Manhattan on the public safety uh patrol uh watch I would say. Uh from there looking at the uh priority 2 uh that's where we kind of got a little bit outside of uh East Grand Rapids which is always interesting because uh you start with looking kind of inward and you learn things about your fringes and and other parts of of infrastructure and communities. Um, as is shown there, Cascade Road up until a couple years ago, um, at the top the top right there was a four-lane uh, uh, road with, uh, note center turn

lane. Um, and, uh, by by learning that there was a desire for connectivity there with uh, with student population that's in the Golden Triangle area as we refer to it or it's it generally is referred to. um there's just no there's just no way for us to to do that without partnership. So one of the things and again this will be a further point to again kind of noting how we think in terms of coordination and um kind of putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Uh we also from our mobility bike action plan which which uh um was put together in 21 and 22 the same kind of thing happened where we had a huge number of people saying hey um we would like to see improvements on Robinson Road and Cascade Road. There's no infrastructure here for us. We feel that there should be um in fact when you see the public engagement map we actually did not have it as like Eastern Rapids infrastructure yet. We got a lot of uh stickers and everything saying please do something here. Um so from that learning and then from this process uh we worked with the Kent County Road Commission and Grand Rapids Township and even parts of this with City of Grand Rapids to say look we're from two totally different programs. We're really hearing that uh residents in East Grand Rapids and residents that um all mixed together in this area are really missing pedestrian connectivity and infrastructure. and we'd really uh we'd really like to find a way uh to to to make some improvements even though some of these were long-term goals. So, long story short, the city um did work through um the uh transportation improvement plan, federal dollars to construct sidewalk uh to connect uh from uh Robinson Road and Cascade Road from Plymouth all the way to the east botto line of Manhattan Park this past year in alignment with sort of coordinating these projects. So, we use those federal funds dedicated to connect those communities from Grand Rapids. So, now from Grand Rapids, you can have you

have pedestrian access um anywhere in between all the way to um all the way to Manhattan Park and then that coordinates with Grand Rapids Township in their their trail plan uh which they have envisioned to have a pedestrian connection uh crossing the East Bellin at some point in time and Cascade Road to make those improvements to tie into their trail system in the more suburban rural areas. So, just wanted to kind of show you how some of this stuff works together um with some of our our partner agencies. Um I will say that the Kent County Road Commission when they evaluated uh Cascade Road, um they were like, "Yeah, based off the traffic volumes uh and best practices, we certainly can work with you to uh to uh uh put in a road diet in place." Um so, uh that was outstanding and and and really a lot of relationships around that really went into making that happen. Um, so we were able to get the road diet in place before we built this the sidewalks on Robinson and Cascade. Um, also knowing that this this this program was in process too to sort of coordinate so that way in the future if we did receive funding, we could look at a pedestrian refuge island um or or enhanced crossing on Cascade Road that we could get that sort of connectivity with students that live in the Triangle area and other community members, not just students, um, into the community to um, so they actually have a chance to get to school. uh versus having to cross a four-lane highway essentially. Um I do know that up until the great recession um the school system did provide a bus that would pick up students in that area. Um that was discontinued with with uh with that downturn in the economy. So again, this is really a way for us to look at how do we sort of reach our arms outside of our box too to be partners with with our neighbors um and how sometimes these political jurisdictions, whether they're school systems or political boundaries, don't always mesh together, but really they do. Um in terms of um people that are utilizing uh this infrastructure, um I noted the the uh the roundabout

that's noted below there too. We also looked at drop off uh zones. So, this one from the initial one is noted at the culde-sac of Beachwood. Uh, so so any students coming in that area or parents that didn't feel like they wanted to or they might be f farther enough away um to perhaps walk their kids all the way to school, uh they could utilize that location where we have a crossing guard and uh enhance the sidewalk connectivity there so they could drop them off and then they could they could cross at the traffic signal there along with the crossing guard. And then we looked at systemwide around campuses. One of the one of the feedbacks we got was we're pretty good about making sure we have ADA accessible infrastructure like directly adjacent to schools, but once you start getting outside of that, really we're knocking off things like ADA ramps and some of those crossings um as we uh utilize uh our streets and sidewalk millage to make those improvements. So with this program, we really built we really built those improvements from the inside of all the school locations out um as the other piece uh as as the priority action plan. So that's the initial piece that we then sent out to residents to uh make them aware of the uh of the project if they weren't in the schools and didn't receive a survey. And then from there we started our our really our engagement process. Next slide. One other piece to note um which is pretty uh fascinating the Grand Valley Metro Council. So that's our metropolitan planning organization that and their transportation department. They do study pedestrian studies um throughout the region. And if you look at this slide here, and I've I've included it in almost every if not every notification to folks and certainly in the memorandum for tonight, um I encourage people to go and look at their database because you'll see East Grand Rapids has that those big circles with big purple and everything on it. And it should come as no surprise that we have a lot of pedestrian activity in this community. Um I wanted to to highlight and note um it's a little bit hard for me to see from here but if you look

you'll see um that uh in sort of that ranking order on the it would be my left um u down the line you'll see that uh a lot of those locations including two locations uh in the project area here too are in the top 10 locations there's more people uh uh that are walking riding or biking um along Reeds Lake Boulevard than there are on sections of the White Pine Trail and everything So when you look at infrastructure where there's tens of millions of dollars spent regionally uh through state federal grants uh foundations etc. Um just by looking at pedestrian count data alone that doesn't necessarily um there I guess I'm just trying to say there's multiple sides to that to that s that story in perspective. Um so I did do the call outs there of the exact counts there for uh Reeds Lake Boulevard and uh and and Gracewood and then also Bio Centro there too. And the daily average for uh Jason Tail Central was 311. And Lori, could you help me with the top one reads? I have pretty good vision, but

169. 169.

169. Yep. And then if you looked at that center column, like I said, if you were to visit that, you would be able to look, you would see a lot of trails like out by Grand Valley and Standale and everything that we eclipse um with other locations as well here certainly. Um but uh but these locations are in the top 10 uh regionally. So just for some perspective, uh sometimes when we're in our own environment, we don't see things um uh that are that are normal to us. And so this kind of brings a different view and a different lens to this. And it was something that um I know that the MDOT and Michigan Fitness team uh were really interested in. Next slide, please. Um this is an infrastructure map. A little zoom in here, too, where again when you're evaluating what we have, you'll see um the gray lines um that are on both sides of the street for most of the community. you'll see um they're there.

Sorry. Oh, that's okay. Little intermission. So, you'll see if you're looking at this, you'll see that there's um including now on the on on uh um you'll see sidewalk there on the the north side there on Robinson and and Cascade Road 2. But you'll see pretty much as I noted that when you get towards more of the um uh I would call it the southern half of the city more or less you see that the city um over time uh special assessed or did programs where they really built out um sidewalk infrastructure on both sides of the street everywhere they could.

And the big gap is really the Northshore area where you see sidewalk maybe on one side of the road uh maybe a small a couple small stretches where it's both sides but it's really inconsistent. And then prior to what we had in Cascade Road from a federal grant this past year in partnership with the road commission, uh there was nothing there either. So we have a huge recreation area that used to be an elementary school up until the 1980s. Um where really there we really have not been able to able to or politically invest in pedestrian infrastructure. Um, so that's just a piece of when we're doing that gap analysis of when not just the city staff looking at it or our partners with the schools, but also MDOT and Michigan Fitness. Next slide. Um, as I noted, um, we also uh took a few locations out for the rapid rectangular rapid flashing beacons because our pedestrian counts we did qualified those for RFB locations. Um so at at Reeds Lake Boulevard and El Centro and Reeds Lake Boulevard in Manhattan, um we met the the high volume uh for uh installation of those devices with our our our updated policy in the last several years. So um as you see there from uh for both of for those locations from May 28 through June 4th, 2024 based on those pedestrian counts, they qualified for those those enhanced crossings and so we did install them. Um and then again to the the chart there to the left which is a little bit easier to see. Um you can see kind of zoomed in there uh again from that chart where some of our locations we're talking about stack up to um more regional assets. Next slide please. And as as I talked about at the beginning of the presentation, um I know another feeder into this is sort of uh is our mobility bike action plan which is sort of a u a look at infrastructure um and places where we're missing it,

where people like to see it improved. Uh we went through that pro multi-year process in 2021 and 2022. And uh to my right you see the community engagement map we had in John Collins Park um where uh where we we had residents from that particular uh evening put um uh dots with stickers that tell us things that are shown in the basically shown to to my left there where this is where I like to to walk and bike. Um this is a destination for me and uh then look at this is this is a place for improvements. um I avoid walking or biking here. So, a couple things that you that you can extrapolate from the bottom to um that we were surprised by as I noted was uh some of the rightway jurisdiction that's outside of East Grand Rapids. So, you see uh you see Robinson Road, you see Cascade Road where this is a place for improvements. Uh I guess you know people don't always know where these boundaries are, right? They're uh we we know but um they may not. So, they wanted to tell us like hey this is where we want to see uh improvements. So that sort of was the impetus on the the other federal grant that we wrapped up for sidewalk this last year. Um working with uh with our regional partners and and local partners for for those projects, but also uh they told us that this is a place for improvements uh with a with a lot of a lot of feedback and stickers for Reeds Lake Boulevard between where the where essentially the the um the existing trail ends and then where it picks up again um there by Manhattan in Reed Lake Boulevard. Um, so that those were sort of pieces between the two programs where we're starting to connect some dots here and saying, "Hey, from totally different um they all have mobility and and pedestrian facility safety in mind, but we're seeing similarities between those. Um, so so that was a a piece that we provided uh to MD DOT and Michigan Fitness as well um which they appreciated. So next slide.

This is sort of a kind of an update um of between the full mobility plan um that we have um and where we have made improvements where we're planning improvements based off of that and based off of safe routes to school as well. So you'll see that um that each year over year we we tend to have a project or two where we're trying to execute um that uh mobility plan and we're trying to do that in a magnitude of resources. So we're trying to do that in magnitude of resources that the city has or that we can leverage through partnerships with grants and other types of of of projects too. So this sort of gives you the hey we've accomplishment or here's what's coming ahead. Um and so so this should be no surprise uh to to people who have been engaged in this sort of uh these sort of discussions. Next slide please. And then getting into the the engagement, as I noted, after we got survey results back and looked at um feedback we got from MD, etc. in May of 2024, we sent out um the the first notice there to residents um where we're letting them know that that that this this is something we're looking at as a potential project. We provided all the the the different uh priorities that we just went through. Um and we asked the we asked people that live adjacent to those projects to reach out to us um so we can talk about them. Um and and we did um and the next notice is uh April 2025 where we gave a project update based on some of that feedback uh uh from residents and again invited them to stay engaged with us how they could do that with us. Um and uh again we have one here in March of 26. And then next slide. And then we have March uh 27. This is to the um to that that same area again. And then also a more global um uh one that was here in May. Um next slide please.

And what I'll say is that um as I mentioned earlier, some people were really eager to engage with you. some people it was like a one and done and we just filled their mailboxes with a request to to reach out to us and talk with us. Um but what we did learn from the initial engagement was uh while everything else looked good, the Southside Reeds Lake Boulevard did not look good. Um in fact, the the meeting I had with uh everyone that's here behind me today except for I think one um amongst many others, it was like this is not happening. We're not we do not want a 10-ft trail. Uh we want to make sure the world knows about it. We want this to be added to the MVAT grant application. No problem. So, um, as you'll see in the highlighted, uh, the highlighted section there too that we noted public notices we sent to residents. And then at the very bottom, you'll note there that residents along Reeds Lake Boulevard adjacent to Manhattan Road were engaged via email, phone, and in-person meetings, as well as on-site meeting with most of the residents of the properties adjacent to the proposed uh, trail. Attendance consisted of mostly mostly of the residents along that stretch. residents along this stretch submitted a joint letter that they are generally not in favor of a trail or a sidewalk or any pedestrian infrastructure improvement in the city right ofway. Uh so that was loud and clear and as we noted to those residents they submitted at that time um a signed petition asked them that they would put that all together so we could be concise with that and we uploaded that sent that to MDOT and added to our grant application so that we were ensuring that their voices were being heard. Um, I will also say that uh some of the residents um it's just the way it is here in East Grand Rapids. They they wanted to make sure so uh they would reach out and find people in the agencies from other connections they have to uh try to figure out what was going on, etc. And I I emailed this out to the the neighborhood group here to say there's no you don't need to do that because they would reach out to me and say what's going on here? We can't believe we're hearing people trying to use connections to reach out to

agencies. This is highly unusual. Um so we uh we said no. We we sent this to them and you'll recall that uh manager Charles also sent out a communication to you around that time in 2024 um because we wanted to make sure you were all aware of that initial feedback. Um from there uh we continued with engagement that you saw from the other notices there. So residents started to contact us and say um okay well is this going to happen? Is it not going to happen? Uh the reality is that we're talking about public rightway that belongs to the entire community. Um the the rightway in front of my home here in town doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the community. And so community voices we've heard are telling us from multiple different programs that there's some there we're hearing that uh some enhancements and improvements are are desired. Certainly not from those adjacent to it for sure. U at least initially. Um, from there, uh, we worked with residents on what could be acceptable, what could we work through. Um, so we met with residents and I would say that some, uh, some are happy with the changes. Um, and I would say that others probably, um, there's a a cadre of them that probably are would accept a 5-ft concrete sidewalk. And then I'm sure, like anything, there's some that just uh are sticking to that statement there where pedestrian facilities are just not something they're interested. Um, and that's that's okay. Um, so that's kind of how we we morphed and changed that project from a 10-foot trail connector to a residential sidewalk that mimics what is existing across the street from them. Um, as well as um locating that sidewalk as close as practical and safe uh to the edge of curb. So, we're looking at placement um in some areas right off the back of curb because we we also worked with residents on u things like vegetation um trees so we could try to mitigate the number of trees that would would have to go as part of this program. Um but generally speaking in front of these

areas uh the sidewalk would be placed the 5ft concrete sidewalk would be placed two to three feet off back of curb. The city has about anywhere between in most places between like 20 and 40 feet of property. So when you look at some of these these lots, if you look at generally where you see consumers energy utility poles through, I say generally because not all of them are there, but you'll see in some of them, especially as you get closer to Manhattan Road or halfway up their lawn. So that property actually belongs to the city is actually right. So when we think of rightaway, we're in a traditional sense, you're thinking of 5T, 6 feet, maybe a little bit more than that. There's a tremendous amount of public property that um that that's adjacent to their property there. So what we did is um we went ahead and tried to accommodate what we heard from residents that would engage with us and try to get that as close as we can. So it was um in many ways will actually be closer to the street than what's across the street from them and and that sort of relationship or sidewalk there. Um so we just want to make sure again we remind everybody that we did provide this information. Um, I know that part of part of the challenge with uh with some of the engagement um is sort of the difference between state and federal government for those of you who are involved in it or looking to get involved in it. Um there's a lot of administrative um authority in those in those organizations. And so when they're looking at a approved federal or state program, the agency has a say on whether something gets funded or not. They don't do the type of engagement we do. So there's a little bit of a disconnect there sometimes where residents are used to how we normally do things and say, "Well, why can't you just get rid of this or why can't you do that?" And the reality is because we have to work within the guidelines of of those agencies. And if you typically see these projects regionally, um, as I showed in some of those other maps, um, if it if it's an eligible expense, if it's in certified public rightway, um, it's it's going to happen. And so, uh, if you look at some of our, uh, partner agencies

around us that have trail networks, um, they do not go through, uh, the length of trying to work with everybody to, to try, at least try, which is what we tried to do, what we did. Um, so I just wanted to share that with you is they're not looking at through the same lens as some of our residents and I we understand that. Um, but, um, so just wanted to make sure you're all aware of that. Additionally, um when you look at our construction page, we've also tried to direct people to that to look at a lot of the aspects of the of the program. So, when we're using federal funds, uh there's a lot of requirements that we have to go through that we don't for other projects that we do every year here in the city, whether it's street or sidewalk work or other trail work that we do. Um so, we have the the original memo uh for the program. We have the M. ASHTO design manual. So we we did get into with some residents of you know why can't it be this many feet or that many feet etc. Um so we we we provide that. Um we also provide the accident safety review. Uh we did have uh several pedestrians on that stretch of Reed Boulevard that uh one was hospitalized and one was injured. Um and we don't we don't minimize any any injury or hospitalization or accident. Um you know our our goal is to not have any. So, um, we did hear from some residents that they didn't feel like that was, uh, you know, data point that was acceptable. Um, it's too low. Um, we also included the historic archaeological reviews there. Um, so we had a consultant come in that um, that worked with local uh, uh, um, indigenous tribes and they um, did do excavations. And when you look through the report, you'll see uh you'll see some of the excavation sites they looked at um just to make sure that in the project area, we weren't going to do anything that would affect um um those who originally settled the area. Um we also knew that with all the infrastructure we have done since the beginning of this community that uh there was likely to be clear just because of water utilities, storm

utilities, DTE, everyone's familiar with them um being in the community. Um we also included the US Fish and Wildlife Service review um that they they found no effect or not likely effect adversely affect um any wildlife that they would be concerned with in the area. We include included the the the map of the environmental assessment phase one. So this shows sites that pop up based off of their use or any sort of registered history in the community where there would be um potential for contamination that we need to investigate further. Um, and based off of that map, nowhere in any of the project areas are there any sites of concern. Most of those are are more towards the center of the community or um, uh, school facilities, those types of things, maybe from fuel oil tanks that they used to have or coal that they they used to use in schools. We also included all the pedestrian count information uh, which uh, we went over here a little bit this evening. Uh, we included uh, a traffic control order that has the details of our counts for those enhanced crossings. We included plan views, cross-sections, the priority maps which we went over this evening. Um, and then the variety of the of the resident notices um including the uh the memo for this evening. Um, and as well as a a plan set with a visual set to um we recognize uh from meeting with residents that we would have to have more of an illustrative view sometimes to look at construction plans um just that just because that's something that we may see and understand. We we recognize that they may not see that through the same lens. So, uh, we have that provided as well. Uh, next slide, Lori. So, after the community engagement, the priorities were were updated, uh, with, uh, with MD. So, the 10-foot uh, HMA trail was off the table. Uh we did look at the potential for a little bit where there could be some tapering of um uh wider sidewalk almost like a pedestrian passing zone you might see on a two-lane highway for vehicles adjacent to city

property. Um while they were intrigued by it, they did not have that in the regulations to allow it. So that would have to be something that we would have to do separately essentially. That was the the conclusion of that matter. So what we have before us is five foot concrete sidewalk for the entire stretch. Um um as noted and as discussed uh previously um we also will uh on the uh including the the traffic circle that's there but also enhancements to um the connection with at Manhattan Park down to Reeds Lake Trail on the eastern side of limits there. So that's the priority one and four uh updates. Uh next slide. Then again with with engagement and actually um we some of it was not even it was not even sought. We we did uh get communication from residents uh from the triangle area that had seen the work that had been done this past summer on Cascade Road asking how they can get sidewalk. They have you know how come we can't connect or so we had to go through the jurisdiction political boundary stuff but we thought hey you know this is an opportunity for us to to see if we can u make this connection not just a um just a um enhanced crossing on Cascade Road. maybe we can work something out for infrastructure. So, we worked with the traffic engineering team from the road commission and uh and um elected official um supervisor Mike Dere from Grand Rapids Township. And what's interesting about the triangle area that if you if you if you're not aware, it's actually divided into two areas where you cannot get from one section of the triangle to the other. There's a there's a county drain and a ravine there. So, um so you wouldn't be able to get to that crossing at at one location. So what we discussed and uh subsequently uh MDOT agreed with us as well is that we would use uh funds in Kent County right ofway to also construct sidewalk on the north side of Cascade Road and Kent County Road Commission right away uh

pulling from those two areas of the of the triangle area that are not you can't connect to them even with streets or anything. Um and then they would unite at a crossing we have that pulls uh pedestrians across Cascade Road. Um, you know, we recognize that, um, we've heard some feedback from some residents. Well, they don't have sidewalks anyway. This is a waste of money. Again, we kind of look at it differently. We look at it as everybody's valuable and important, and these are students in our school district that outside of their parents driving them to school. Um, they don't have pedestrian facilities to access the the the community that they go to school in, uh, from a political boundary perspective and school district perspective. And as I noted, there's there's no concern and obviously these these types of sidewalks or improvements are not going to have signs that say they're for kids only. They're for all users. And so that's something that's recognized by everybody that's been involved in this project. Um so while we heard that from some people, um we sort of take that as uh maybe more if they just don't want it and are kind of, you know, reaching out to for other things um to delay the project or stop the project, etc. Um so that's the that's the connection piece to to the triangle um there which also connects them to the park we have um that'll be another slide. So let's go ahead and move move forward. This is just a zoom in of that that pedestrian crossing um on Cascade Road and again noting where those where that sidewalk would go there. And we're noting the student population that we have here too and and as you recognize there are students that um obviously with school of choice there are students that are not in our corporate boundaries. um and uh they attend the school. So, we we actually looked a little bit around um as well for if there was anything we could even partner with Grand Rapids, but they do have pretty solid infrastructure for pedestrians. Um but once again, we looked at our own Northshore and we looked at Grand Rapids Township where we just don't have it um uh at an acceptable level and even with this

project may not be acceptable, but we're trying to move the continuum in that in that in that way. So, um, we heard that there's few students there, so we shouldn't do this. Their parents can drive them or they go to private schools. Uh, we heard a lot of that type of feedback from residents. And again, we don't value, um, just because there's a lot of students in one neighborhood versus another. We don't, and MDAT doesn't put a value on um, sort of like a weighted scale like, well, you're important, you're not important. So, we really drove it was really driven by facilities that are absent and how we can connect community. Um, and so that's that map sort of visualizes that for you to see kind of where those populations are. And those are inclusive of high school, middle school, and elementary schools. And you'll see too that and and all of you that have uh have had or have uh students in the district too that just because you may live near one of the elementary schools or maybe personal or family reasons why you may send them to another school. So sometimes you'll see uh right next door, you'll see, you know, students that one one goes to Lakeside, one goes to Breton Downs or something like that, too. So, um, next slide. Uh, this is priority three. Um, and this was the again another this was a a kind of a reflection of the proposed remote drop off location when we're looking at um some of the issues around congestion that we have in the community and we certainly realize that not not everyone is going to to do this, right? But it provides opportunity at least access to do this. So, um, constructing sidewalk that connects to sidewalk off of Kingswood right there in the park. Um, there's already a goat path worn there, too. So, we know pedestrians are are going through there to access the park. Um so that uh students uh from the the Triangle area um if they if they don't come in and travel along um the Reeds Lake Boulevard corridor and perhaps uh want to uh or they do and want to have their parents meet them at the park depending on what what's going on before after school. um that Manhattan Park is a remote drop off area where we can we

can work with the schools on advertising that hey you can if you're concerned about them crossing Cascade Road even with pedest with pedestrian improvements because obviously that's going to be a a decision based off of ability age all those types of factors that you could consider um uh picking them up and dropping them off at the park and then they have pedestrian uh facilities access uh to get to get to their destination. Next slide please. Priority five. Um this we talked about this a little bit from building around the the schools to enhance the crosswalks and ADA uh ramps. Uh so these are general um locations where uh where this program would make those improvements. Uh we also um did uh hear feedback from the schools that uh that because uh bike racks are an eligible piece to the the uh to the infrastructure piece um that we can uh refurbish and replace uh bike racks for all the school locations um with a with a concrete pad out in front of each school. And so based off of resident feedback we received as well as kind of working through things with neighboring jurisdictions and communities uh with the school district uh this is how we revamped uh the five priority areas um for the safe routes to school grant program. Uh next slide. Uh one of the other questions that we've had uh from residents is you know they don't like our timeline and we try to share with them again this is for those of you have experience in federal and state government um they have their timelines and since this is their program um that we're participating in we have to follow their dates. So um in between um engagement or when we would hear back from the agencies. So again they're looking at um certainly from FHWA they're looking at this from a a regional federal level. Um, and for the folks at MDOT, they're looking at this statewide. So, again, they I have no idea how many that they're reviewing, but um, you know, sometimes we don't hear anything for months. Um, so some of that's just the way the nuances of of the different levels of government, how they work together. Um, but what we

wanted to point out and what we had what we had committed to residents when we engaged with is that we would make sure that um, their voices could be heard again in front of this body um, uh, for a public hearing. and based off of the M dot bid letting schedule uh they were they're looking at a a June leting here for for this these projects. Um so we wanted to make sure that we gave them that opportunity and that was included in those notices that we we showed you that are available on the website as well. That concludes the presentation and I'd be happy to answer any questions any of you may have at this time.

Thank you Doug. So I'm sure all of us have questions. Does anybody want to start any specific questions for Deb? I I I can start with a question here on this slide. Um so if we it looks like for the timeline the preferred timeline is that we go with the June 5th letting and that means the application has to be in by June 2nd. But we could do July, August, September, etc. future letting dates depending on when we submit this filing to the state. Right.

Right. So the the challenge with with doing that which is highly unusual I should say number one when the application is complete and that everybody's okay with with everything that's there from all the reviews and all the requirements. Uh what can happen is uh depending on how they've filled other letting schedules there may not be availability in a future letting number one. Um and number uh number two the further you get away from uh spring the price prices and contracting goes up because everyone has their schedules filled. Uh that's typically why on a local side we get all of our projects out to you guys like in January or February um so that we know we can accomplish them. So, what happens is you pay more uh you may or you or you may not you may not be able to get the letding um and so it may be bumped to a subsequent year. Um and depending on what they've got penciled in for subsequent years that's interesting where there's already placeholders too. So it's not like a just you automatically bump forward and you're first in line is what I'm trying to say. So um if we were to do that I I don't know the answer where we would fall. It could be it could be yet this year. It might not be. It might not be next year. I don't know. um they look at this as you're qualified, we're putting you in the flight the flight pattern and you go. Um it's highly unusual for an agency unless you don't have match money to request any sort of change especially when you've met all the criteria um that are noted. Um so so there's that piece or if you do the project can can sometimes require a longer duration because contractors may have to leave for other jobs they have pencled in. So, my experience uh working in the community is we try to get jobs or projects in and done as fast as we can. Residents lose their tolerance for construction improvements uh in the community in short order. So, we try to get in, get out. Um and we just we just don't like to go into a project saying, "Okay, this this could be four or five months dragged out for you um if we don't have to." So, we try to get in and get it done. So, those are kind of the variables around the bidletting. So I I

think I don't understand then the process. Has the state already said we're slotted in for the June letting? Yes. And what they what they would do is if we said we don't want to be in, they'd say that's fine. Then you're going to go wherever we wherever you fit in next. And I and we don't know what that is. Um I know from talking uh with them um there was some uh they were talking about some other communities and some different things and you get some of them you get moved out a year, missed a year, etc. Um, so I guess what I'm saying is unless there's, you know, something that's totally egregious in what we've done here, what we have here, um, I don't I wouldn't I wouldn't understand why we would we would make that request to MD.

And we when did we get final approval from MDOT? When did we get notification that we were in the June letting process?

Right. Uh so we when we when we do our um grade inspection meeting so that's where we meet with MD dot and they go through the project from start to finish in all locations where they've come out and they've looked at all the site projects with the plan sheets and they they ask us questions of we think you missed this here or you got this right or why did you do this why are you moving this this way and that's where we really uh beyond the communication with them and through our consultants you know a lot of this is also through our consultants to to MD officials um but when when we're meeting for the for the grade inspection meeting that is MDOT staff, that is our consultants, and that is city staff. And so again, we go over like why did you guys change it to this? Why are you moving this there? We're trying to save this tree, why are you trying to do this, we're trying to do that. Well, we won't let you serve too too strictly here because there's sighteline issues. Those types of things. So, um, at the grade inspection meeting, once you've passed that, um, that would have been I don't know the exact date to be honest with you. Um, but after that, they they tell you everything is in order. We're going to be looking at bid letting in June for the project. Um

like ballpark was it month maybe? Uh April. Maybe April. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions? I was wondering if we might be able to go back to well maybe we don't need to go back but I recall in some of the conversations that we've had about this talking about minimizing conflicts and on the south side of the street there are fewer conflicts where correct pedestrians would would have to cross the street. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Yeah. So when you look at the city properties the park natural park space properties along the south side there obviously they don't have any uh vehicle access. Um, so when you're looking at the uh the eastern limits um of the of the project, we only have a few um a few driveways that conflict. Right at the beginning at El Centro, there's one um then we have another one that picks up on the other side of park property with Steady Woods. Uh then you have Griffith's Park that doesn't have any drive access. And then you get more to a traditional con driveway conflict location uh to the to the the eastern limits of the project where there's about a dozen homes. uh some of the folks that are here tonight live on that stretch um where that would be more common you'd see in the community. So from from that perspective we we uh we I say us and MDOT and any of the transportation engineers looking at this uh feel that's a the southside is a much safer uh traversible path because there's fewer conflict points.

And one other question uh you put up a slide of um the sidewalk infrastructure throughout the community. What do you have a feel on percentage of we the calculation we came up with is about 94% of the community has a concrete 5 foot sidewalk on both sides of the street whether you're on a culde-sac um or you know Lake Drive or Breton Road. Um so we really see that um as a as a community standard um uh that that's really almost almost everywhere. Thank you.

I had a follow-up question to that in terms of the the sidewalks. Um, and thank you for providing the the map so we could see that. I know that some of the concern that I've heard is that we wouldn't have the ability to maintain this additional sidewalk. Is is that a concern for you at all? Like these suddenly that this addition would somehow tip the scale that where we the city would not be able to maintain this area?

Nope. And actually in some ways it's helpful because it allows for looping opportunities like if we're looking at winter maintenance for example um um where uh we might actually the the stone plows might come back on the street itself versus coming back and turning around and coming the other direction. Um and we've with the addition of we we added 1.8 uh miles of sidewalk on Robinson and Cascade Road this past year and um you know we it's it's such a minor piece of the overall picture. We have we have in the community about over 80 miles of sidewalk and if you look at that distance and how far it takes to get to Lancing. Um you know we drive further than Lancing every time there's we plow snow for sidewalks. Um so to us it's such a small piece to that. Um so no no issue at all and very dimminimous.

Thank you. So sorry. Oh you have another Go ahead. No um Shay just was pointing to this one. Um uh for Steady Woods and for Griffith's Lake Park, there's a lot of trees that kind of come up close to the road. Do we have a way to ensure that those trees are preserved and that we can kind of run, you know, around those,

right? So, we have no trees that are currently there are going anywhere with with the with the revised plan that MD has. So, we're going again, we have the rightway there is pretty wide. So, sometimes we've had some residents ask us, "Well, we see a steak off in the woods there. what are you doing? Well, again, the right ofway, which is dedicated for transportation, um is is wider than what what what maybe perceptions are in the community. So, we'll be running the sidewalk on the back side of all those rightway trees that are located there. Um so, in those areas, um when you look at more of the illustrative piece that I showed, it kind of you'll see it kind of jog further back behind because we're trying to preserve all those trees. I was wondering. Yeah. Okay.

Did you have something you wanted to add? And just and Doug, I think you alluded to it earlier, but um as far as all required FE federal, state, environmental, NEPA clearances, everything um were um signed off and just for the commission as this is a um being bid through M DOT Doug noted before that there's a much higher level of uh scrutiny. Um so we're the extra steps that we had to go through are um far greater than say um just our normal street projects that we do during the year. Uh similar to Plymouth um Plymouth when we did that project last year and uh city commission authorized the bike lanes there um that had gone through a very similar process. Again, any project get that gets led by MDOT has to have all the um boxes checked um by the local agency uh um utilizing that process. So um so I just want to provide that additional information.

Okay. And also speaking of the rightway which you mentioned um is this entire project within the city's rightway? Correct. Okay. Nothing is touched. Nothing's on private property privately owned. If it was in private property, we would have to get e secure easements. And as I noted, we there's plenty of public uh property there.

And as we learned through the engagement process, what we heard from residents is, hey, again, we don't want any pedestrian infrastructure here at all. Um but what we heard from those who continued engagement with us is, okay, but if you're going to do it, can we have a 5-ft concrete sidewalk so it matches the rest of the community? Can you get it closer to the street so it's not through the middle of my yard or the perception of that? Those are all things that we worked with them on. Additionally, um those who responded to us, um we we also did communicate with them on concerns about landscaping trees, any trees that we can't get around. Um we've uh we've advised residents that they can participate at no cost with the city's uh rightaway tree plan program, which takes place in the fall. So, anything that would have to be taken uh we would replace it. And so we do have um I do have files here in every property uh every resident that we have we've worked with that has all those communications um between myself and our staff so that we have it documented for them so that as we execute before and during and after the project we're keeping our word with what we said we would do for them.

Just as a side I know that you've engaged a lot with do you have a ballpark as to how many times you visited the homes and spoke to people? Well, some people I think just want to have coffee now because some some people are just, hey, you know, could you I I have a question about, you know, something that we've probably talked about, you know, a few a few times. Um, you know, some people we've only met with once. Um, and they're pretty pretty, you know, direct with they don't want this. And so that's clearly out there. We're not trying to hide that from anybody. Um, but we've still offered them the opportunity to continue. And as we've done those updates, notices, we provided them with an update of things how they've changed based off of engagement. So even some of those who said no are very much aware of how things have changed over time to the 5 engagement.

Correct. And and so you know everybody at least once um and then everywhere in between some a lot more um some uh we made house visits to to folks um we would we made some of the appointments after normal working hours to accommodate their schedule. We really we tried to do whatever we can um if they chose to engage with us. Okay. In followup to that, and I think you mentioned it a little bit about um not just before, but during and after. Yep. Um I just wanted to speak to the fact that for a lot of these people, it's public right away, but they've treated it and maintained it as their lawn for the lifetime that that many of them have lived there.

Um and I think like through your engagement, you you've come to understand the fact that a lot of them care very deeply about how that area looks. Um, do we have a way as this happens, as these crews are here to make sure that we're following the plan that we said we're going to follow, that we're not trampling lawns, we're not blocking driveways, right? Um, just all of the pain that everyone always deals with with any road construction. Do we have a way to to or a resource that they can reach out to and remedy that outside of me? Yep. So, yeah. And

but I mean, I I can be part of that for sure. Um so with any construction project so like with a project like this well um when and if it or before it starts we would reach out to those who we've not heard from yet and say hey is there anything

um that's there. We've even we've even we've gone out for some folks that we that had more concerns or just couldn't even just couldn't visualize it because again we understand that depending on the lens you're looking through it may or may not make sense. So, we've gone we've painted some some some people's yards, too, to kind of show them how we're going through um to try to make it more more clear to them. Um um and in terms of what we've documented in terms of what we're going to do um anything that the what I'm trying to do is with that's the most successful is when we have the department of public works itself go in before the project starts because they know the sensitivity as you noted of our residents in in our community to address any of the landscaping items the conflict so to say so to speak so we can address those ahead of time so when the contractor comes in there's nothing for them even to mess with. Okay. So, that's our goal. Now, if we don't hear from somebody until it happens, we'll still help them out, of course. Um, we'd like to do this on the front end uh to make it more seamless and we see more success that way. Um, with doing this on 1.8 miles last year, very similar project, but a lot less length. Um that served us very well because residents knew people on our staff already um and had their contact information and so they could get more directly into the organization um with myself or or someone else u to to accommodate anything they need. So um with all of our projects there's going to be some inconvenience but we try to minimize that absolutely to the greatest extent possible.

Commissioner Skaggs you had a question.

Yeah. Uh I appreciate your your folders there. I can't quite see it, but it's good. What 8 10 inches high. Um the documentation that you're you're taking, are you sharing that with residents so that there's like a two-way communication like this is what we agree on? It's approved and you move forward from there. So what we do is we'll we'll meet with them. We take notes and then we'll typically we'll follow up with them with an email communication and I'll invite any other staff members or consultants into that conversation and say hey thanks for meeting with me or having a phone conversation with me this day. Um these are the things we discussed. These are the things we're going to move. I'll add the exhibits in and add the appropriate staff members too. So if it's a tree removal with a with a replanting a tree or something else, I'll have the appropriate staff member there too. So we have that documented and that way if I had any misunderstanding with them with our verbal interaction, it affords them obviously the opportunity to say wait I don't think that was right. I I I didn't say that or whatever. So um we do that internally again so that we can handle that before we get into the actual project itself because my experience with a general contractor that is probably may not be from the area that are coming in here. they do not necessarily know the sensitivities of the community and what we're trying to do is address those sensitivities like I said to the greatest extent possible and it works best when we are able to be at the forefront of it.

Thank you Mr. Schwarz. Yeah, I just had a couple of questions and I I think it's just drilling down on some things that have said. So, I can't remember if it was last spring or the spring before. I went with another commissioner and we walked around with residents and you know, one of the concerns at the time was the 10T wide walkway and so I just want to make sure I'm understanding we're going down to 5 ft. Correct. And is that fully from Manhattan to um El Centro or is it wide the whole way is five five foot entire way not expanding at all.

We looked at some in between options etc. Basically what we got down to was um again they were I see they MD dot was intrigued by the concept uh um but they use for vehicles for passing because that's one of the issues that if you've been there um you can see where people will pass going into the road around a stroller or something else they'll go into the roadway. So we were like well maybe that's kind of an maybe an innovative idea. It's just not something that's in the regulations. Okay. And like I said they're very not like this room or how we interacted with residents. They're very much like it is or it isn't. It is or it isn't. And so they said, "Hey, really cool." But it isn't. Okay. So it's just five foot the hallway.

And then to follow up on some of the landscaping questions, I know there are a couple of homes that are particularly close to the right ofway area, which I know is public property, but I think one of them has like a burm that's very close and other folks have planted bushes. So in addition to giving them like the the tree planting information, are we is public works helping anyway? like helping you relocate sprinkling and the BMS and Okay.

Right. So, just like any construction right now, we've got a lot of sprinkling we're fixing for utility work and everything else we're doing. So, we cover all repair and replacement of irrigation that's damaged. We do ask we have construction notices if residents know where the irrigation is to flag it so we can try to work around it. Um, some do, some don't, but irrespective uh that's our commitment and what we do on every project. Um we've offered to relocate landscaping that um can make it um from being transplanted. Others cannot. So we've offered to replace in kind uh something for them. And that's on an individual basis because some don't have any and some it's going to be more impactful and we're trying to accommodate that to the greatest extent possible. And as I noted, having East Grand Rapids Public Works do that, they're going to get a higher level of customer service and understanding of the situation perhaps versus uh a general contractor who's not familiar. As I noted, they're working on these types of federal projects in other communities. It's very simple. It the property belongs to the Act 51 or local agency. Anything that's in there can be removed and it happens in many cases in communities around us, but that's not how it works here.

Yeah. All right. Thank you. Um, yeah, Doug, thanks so much for all the, you know, information. It's obvious you and your team have put put a lot of effort into this and I do want to hear from the residents. Thank you all for coming out tonight as well. Um, you know, kind of going back to Commissioner Grazak's question in terms of timing and logistics and um, bidleting, we'll obviously get a total price tag for this project at some point. that would have to come back in front of commission. No. Um, we're asking tonight to bless the in the action item we're to support the the projects that are approved by the Department of Transportation and authorized acceptance of the bids from MD. Letting

for those amounts. So, okay. If they're amount if the amount is higher than those, we have to either make accommodation to trim that back um um or or come back to or come back to for whatever that amount is. So it's a would we hazard a guess as to whether the grant would fulfill the entire construction amount or we just not even trying to we're we're very confident.

Okay. Um you know the final thing is and again the the information is is is really great. You know we we heard you say and the reporting back from residents about where the greatest amount of traffic is or where they would like to see additional measures put in place. those I don't know I call them heat maps in my mind but where people obviously put like a sticky tag or something and you guys put that together um page four of of the agenda item. Um you know I think it also might be helpful to just have another filter of the amount of traffic sort of as a relative amount or like so many pedestrians for a certain level of of car traffic in that area as well. right? To just be able to say, "Okay, there's 100 pedestrians, but there's 100 cars versus 100 pedestrians for 10 cars, right?" Because that living on Hall in Breton, I mean, that stretch is where I do go to run. Uh because there's just fewer there's fewer cars back there. So, I I think it's a need. I just think that sometimes that information is good to have as well to kind of just have a little bit of relative idea for the amount of traffic for these types of changes we're trying to make. So,

thank you. Yep. Any other questions for Doug? Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Okay. At this time, I will open this agenda item up for public comment. Um, so I would just please ask that everyone please stick to the three minute time limit so that everyone gets a chance to speak and that we remember that everyone in this room is here because they're concerned and want the best for East Grand Rapids. So please treat each other and your comments respectfully. Um, and also this is a comment session on the agenda item, not a question and answer session. So with that, please come forward and uh begin your comments. Thanks for having us. Uh Kevin Loftess, 2936 Reeds Lake Boulevard. Um first, Ryan's been great communicating. We've had a lot of good conversations with Doug, so they've been great to work with. Um just a couple points. Uh yeah, last summer all the households came together, signed the petition like Doug had mentioned. Um they still oppose it just so you know it's out there. Um we've lived there 30 years. This has been going this is had not had a sidewalk for obviously over 50 years. It just seems to be grants come up and it just seems to be stuff has to be done. I was looking at all the data. I guess this is final. This is data driven by the volume because if you I think maybe um Abby you might have walked it. I think Laura said she did. I

think we all walked it actually. You did? Mhm.

So if it's I I would just like to I would love to have seen data to see how many people would actually get out of the street and actually use the sidewalk cuz if when you live there and you walk the dogs like Ryan does where they're I'm out there three times a day, they don't use the sidewalk and no matter what. So, where we have a problem with this is this existing sidewalk is not used. And if you're adding another sidewalk, you it just seems like that you're saying the data is going to push these people into the sidewalk. It doesn't happen. So, I don't know if this is just a data driven and then suddenly you have these grants come up and we have to get this done because the data is telling us that we have to get these people off the street, but they don't. I mean, it's three, it's strollers, it's everything. when you're when you're driving it daily, you just can't get them out of the street. I don't know why that is. Um it's just uh a couple other things. A couple of the homeowners aren't here. They've written to the city commission, they've written to the state. Um a couple of comments when I said, you know, we were going to be here tonight was just everything we put in, it just doesn't seem to make a difference that nothing changes that this grants come up, things are going to be put through. So, at least don't feel like there's any reason to be here, which is unfortunate. Um, I had never heard about the conflict points. That's interesting. But again, if you can't get the people off the street, you can build how many sidewalks you want, it's not going to change. And for us, the initial 10 foot I'm almost out of time. Initial 10 foot was a shock. And I get it. Moving to five was like, well, okay, that's the only option we have. We still would not if you look at it, it's just changes the entire dynamic of the side of the street that we've lived on and like you said have cared for. So that's it. Appreciate your time.

Thank you, Mr. Loftess. Thank you. Next, please. Welcome.

Good evening. I'm Scott Timmer. I live at 231 Park Hills in Grand Rapids Township on the north side of Cascade Road. And under the segment two of the proposal, um about onethird of the proposed sidewalk is on my property. As been noted before, uh our uh subdivision's been around for 100 years and we've never had a sidewalk and we don't really see a need for one. Uh the sidewalk was put in on the um south side of Cascade Road and uh obviously I can see that from my house and when I'm driving and the utilization of that is extremely low. And if you look at the sidewalk on the north side, it looks kind of like a sidewalk to nowhere because it starts at Park Hills, ends at Elmherst, so there's nothing east of it or west of it. So, who's going to use that little segment? Uh the proposal includes a pedestrian island in the uh in the middle of uh Cascade Road, but it's proposed to be what looks like a couple hundred feet west of uh where Park Hills meets Manhattan. The kids all cross at Park Hills and Manhattan. They're not going to walk 150 ft west, then cut across, then go 150 ft east back to Manhattan. So, I'm thinking that the uh pedestrian uh refuge or whatever should be at Park Hills in Manhattan and not uh 150 ft further west. So, I don't know what the procedure could be for tuning this a little bit, but it seems to me like uh the two considerations should be. Why put a sidewalk on the north side when we've already got one on the south side? Uh, in my experience, the southside one is extremely under underutilized. I mean, I'm great. Look, it's great it's there and the kids can use it, but uh it seems like um if you've got one on the southside, that fulfills the need. The main thing is to protect kids crossing Cascade Road. And uh if you put the the uh pedestrian refuge 150 ft west, they're not going to do that. They're not going to walk 150 ft west, cross,

then come 150 ft back. They want to cross from Park Hills to Manhattan. They want to get to the park. they want to get to the schools and and crossing directly is the way to do it. So, I hope there'll be some consideration to whether the north sidewalk is needed at all and also whether there isn't a better plan for getting the kids across by putting the pedestrian refuge at Park Hills in Manhattan and not jog it over uh to the to the west. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Timmer. Next, please. Welcome, Mr. Fuger.

Good evening. Uh, my name is John Fuger, 2738 Elward. Uh, Elmwood, 50-year resident of this fine city per my last several public comments. I will quote again Steven M. Ross, one of the most pro prolific real estate developers of our time. I guess this will be my signature statement. It'll probably be on my headstone, but here it is. You have to see where your risk are and evaluate before you take the leap. Understand what can go wrong and determine whether you're prepared to handle it. It appears to me that the commission says we are nature lovers, but turn around past projects which needlessly destroy the natural beauty of our city. The proposed pathway on the south side of Reeds Lake is a very good example of that. The side of the road has stood there for many years untouched by development and to put a pathway there or a sidewalk will destroy the beauty of the area. This also goes for the proposed sidewalk from Kingswood to Manhattan Park. Needless destruction will uh deter from the beauty of the park. On to another subject. The proposed roundabout on the bottom of Manhattan Hill is absolutely stupid. The ability to remain in control of your car going down the hill in snow or ice will cause many accidents and possibly injuries from other vehicles, pedestrians, or perhaps a fatal death. I grew up there and have been through that intersection thousands of times, and I can tell you personally this is very, very unwise.

actually more unwise uh more than unwise. It is stupid. I thought about taking the word stupid out, but if it gets your attention and it saves one life, it is worth it. Heed Mr. Ross. You have to see where your risks are and evaluate. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fuger. Next, please. Welcome.

My name is Ryan Peters. I live at 2900 Reeds Lake Boulevard. I am one of the few people whose yards will be significantly impacted by placement of this sidewalk. Um, in that light, I'd like to acknowledge that this is a small group of residents who's being directly affected by this sidewalk and I think with a significant burden to that small group. Um, I would also like to thank Mr. Lefave for his communication tonight, having been intimately involved in this process. I learned a lot from listening you tonight that I hadn't heard before. Um, I would also acknowledge the voluminous communication from the city about this project to this group. That's been a lot of communication, but not always accurate or reflective of the communication or the sentiments expressed to Mr. Lefay. I thought it was interesting your comment just now about the sidewalk upkeep. It would tip over the budget or the the the city would not be able to afford maintaining new sidewalk. That was a small kernel of truth. it was more should the greater public acknowledge an increased cost uh to them based on the installation of this new sidewalk. Uh similar on one of the uh the comments of the need for a new sidewalk to accommodate students riding their bikes to school. um having lived there for a long time, maybe three or four students, there was a comment, there's such a large group of students that it's pushing them out into the street to be so dangerous, which is not accurate at all. Um I wonder this neighborhood was constructed purposefully with a sidewalk on the the north side and not the south and I wonder why that is. um the recently submitted Freedom of Information Act request I think may

further investigate that and I would respectfully ask for a delay in the vote tonight um to get some answers regarding that. Um I think the data does not support a need for a sidewalk on the south side to support students trying to get safely to school. Uh, and I will close with saying the availability of uh, federal funds alone uh, does not merit building uh, a new sidewalk. It's troubling to hear. 94% of uh, the streets in the city have sidewalks on both sides. Therefore, that's the the the impetus for having more. It's that sounds like a child to me saying um I don't really need it but I want it only because I don't have it. Uh which again having or being affected directly that that doesn't hold water with me. Uh thanks.

Thank you Mr. Peters. Next please.

Hi Carrie Portsline. time at 2920 and I don't really have anything prepared to say. I um I feel like we I I spoke a couple years ago um and told you all the things, but um I guess my thing is just um you know what I think maybe Ryan or someone else said is just like I moved to that street because of the nature of that street and I I just see, you know, we just keep taking out trees and and putting in more concrete and so that's a that's a big issue for me. Um, and I'm not I I do have to move a whole garden in in that the sidewalk won't go through. I'm one of those people. But, um, I've already started moving my plants because like if it happens in August, I can't move my plants and they're going to die. So, I'm kind of like in the middle of this. Um, I've accepted it, but I'm also like there's some people here that are so much more impacted by the closeness of their house to the sidewalk. And um when you buy a house and you're like there's never been a sidewalk here for 50 years, you don't think like, oh, there's going to be a sidewalk. You might have, you know, chosen a different house. I don't know. But um for me, those are the issues. And so um I just want to say that thank you so much and and the communication has been great and I really appreciate your presentation and I learned some things tonight, too. So thank you.

Thank you, Miss Portland. Welcome.

Thank you, commissioners. Uh, mayor, I'm Pat Miles. I live on 2856 Reeds Lake Boulevard, and yes, we appreciate the individual contacts, the mail, the mailings from Mr. Lefay. He's been very helpful, very good to work with. We understand the rush weight of federal and state because again, this project first came to our attention in early in spring of 2024. There was some uh we spoke at a uh there was it was a under a consent agenda so we didn't have the opportunity for true public comment but we did some of us did speak then in the in uh September of 2024 we had meetings with Mr. the fave over 2024 2025 then April 25 heard nothing since April 2025 until the letter that just came in March of 2026. If you look at your timeline that's accurate. So this is now feels like it's being rushed. Uh we are asking again for a delay because and you've asked great questions commissioners but there are there are certainly these questions and I'm going to summarize some of them that you really should get answers to as public officials. You should know why wasn't there originally sidewalks built there on the south side of Rezac Boulevard. It's been this neighborhood has been there for at least 50 years. Why isn't the Grand Township seeking the funding for sidewalks in the Golden Triangle? They literally have zero sidewalks there and they've been there for a hundred years. U so you need to know what are the the real volume counts of students that are walking to school down this route? Why isn't one sidewalk on one side sufficient? Uh in the I looked at the survey very carefully. All the student comments, not one related to additional new sidewalks. The students wanted better maintaining maintenance of the current sidewalks, fixing the cracks, fixing the uneven sidewalks. Uh do you know what is the budget breakdown

in this $1.5 million? How much is going to need to be spent on tree res removal and restoration, moving shrubs, moving landscaping, damage to spinker system lines and systems? You don't know those costs yet, do you? So, I think there could be overruns here. You need to be aware of that. What is the ongoing sidewalk repair cost going to be for this additional burden and as well as the maintenance for snow removal? You don't know that cost. You haven't received a pedestrian count specifically on this. And so, uh, I just echo the earlier comments and the questions that Commissioner Hunter asked about those. You need to see those cost breakdowns. You need to know what what was the reason there wasn't originally, uh, sidewalk built. That may have been a legal issue uh, based on easements and other agreements that were made 50 years ago with the then residents. And why didn't the township pursue funding for its side for sidewalks as well? So, I just completely agree with all my uh fellow residents who've spoken. Uh and the roundabout was an interesting issue because that is a dangerous hill in the in the winter with snow and ice. So, thank you for your time and attention.

Thank you, Mr. Miles. Next, please. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, uh mayor, city manager, and commissioners. My name is Ben Dilly and I'm an attorney uh appearing tonight on behalf of a growing number of residents uh that live along the uh Reeds Lake Bao Boulevard boulevard corridor. Um and let me begin by being very clear that the residents that I uh represent support the safe routes to school program. uh they support safe pathways uh for students and they genuinely appreciate the city's efforts to keep Grand East Grand Rapids well-maintained and beautiful. However, that appreciation is exactly why I'm here and why they're here tonight. We are here because we believe this project as proposed as proposed is not the best use of these funds. There's 100 $1.5 million earmarked, but that does not mean that the project that that the the uh specific plan is set in stone. And we're asking that the commission take these words, these complaints, and these thoughts and concerns that these residents have raised, take it seriously because accountability and transparency are very important for residents here in this community. And I think it's important for all of you as representing these individuals. Uh the city here submitted a grant application that this corridor uh presented pedestrian safety concerns warranting federal investment. Uh but the city's own partner, MDOT's traffic engineers, which is referenced here in this conflicts, concluded that there's no increased safety risk here that would be different from anywhere else in an urban environment. If that's true, the commission, you all should be asking yourselves and asking the city, why here and why now? Again, these sidewalks have been here for the sidewalk on the north side has been there for over hundred years. Why are we now contemplating installation? Um, that time goes really fast. Uh, but I I think the chief concern here is

again not being opposed to the program itself, but the allocation here and having a disperate effect on a small number of people. And while we're s sitting here and saying that the right of way is public land, that's true. But I I imagine that if a lot of East Grand Rapids residents considered the rightway as not part of their property, their lots would be a lot smaller. Just saying that it's part of the public rightway is almost like it's sort of a flippant way of saying that that property is not theirs and they have no control over it and they have no one's say uh and everybody should just chip in and and be happy that this sidewalk's being installed when there are other better uses for this funds than tearing out not only tearing out uh the existing uh landscape that's not going to be paid out of this $ 1.5 million by the way. is going to be paid out of the general fund. Is that the best use of tax hour money when you could have ADA cur curb ramp upgrades throughout the school corridor network? You could have pedestrian lighting along documented walking routes, uh speed calming measures. These are all things that could be part of this $1.5 million and is instead being used to tear out existing uh landscaping and that remediation effort is going to have to be paid back out of the school's general or the uh city's general fund. So, we're asking again that this be delayed and that it be carefully considered because there is sufficient time.

Thank you, Mr. Dilly. Next, please. Welcome, Linda Christensen, 2958 Reeds Lake Boulevard. When we first moved here about 15 years ago and we would walk around Pioneer Club and we would see deer, we'd see owls, we'd see all sorts of nature and wildlife. And when you start digging into this wildlife, you're not going to see it anymore. So that's the one thing I just wish we wouldn't keep ashvaulting everything. The other is the safety. And my biggest concern with safety are these scooters that the kids have and they're electric and they're motorized and we almost get hit by kids on scooters all the time on the sidewalks. So I don't think adding a sidewalk is going to do anything for the scooter. That's it. Thank you, Miss Christensen. Next, please. Would anyone else care to speak to this agenda item? Okay. Well, thank you all for your comments and at this time, I will close public comment and bring uh the discussion back up here. So, commissioners, um I'll first ask for a motion in a second and then we will go to discussion. I'll be willing to motion.

I'll second. Okay. Wonderful. So, would anyone care to start the conversation? I would a little bit. Um, perfect.

I I I wanted to echo what uh Kevin, one of the residents, had said and what I saw a lot of nodding heads, and I think it's from people on our side of the the the lake over there. Um, I don't know if the sidewalk is going to get people onto the sidewalk, but oh boy, if we can find some way to get people off of the road, especially off the middle of the road in the middle of like the night in the middle of the morning, I think we've all dodged people in foggy days and we've been like, "What are these people doing out there?" Um, I can speak for myself that I would hope that more uh sidewalk, especially through that corridor, through the public woods areas, brings people off of the road and into the sidewalk or onto that sidewalk. I can tell you personally this morning, both of my children rode their bikes to school today. They had to cross the road five times. I had to count for the crossings. This takes it to one. It's good for me. It's good for students on in that area. I don't know what we do to encourage the walkers to get off of the road and get onto the sidewalk cuz it is an accident waiting to happen. It just is. Um I would say on the disruption of the of the yards of the people that spoke today, um I think we can all acknowledge that it's it's right away, but we can also acknowledge that that's area that they've cared for for a really long time. And I think it's vitally important that if this was to pass that we work with them. Uh we we have been working with them but we continue to work with them um to to make it be done as harmonious as we possibly can. Um I guess that's where I'm at for now.

Okay. I guess I can go down um the D. Commissioners Gaggs, did you have anything to add? Yeah, I mean I I am certainly sensitive to the disruption that's going to happen for folks uh over over on Reeds Lake Boulevard. Um I think at the same time when we're pulling back and examining both data and the entire community, you know, the data I saw was that these are some of the most regionally traversed pathways in in the whole area. Um, and and I do think that the process has been thoughtful and has been community oriented and has taken study after study after study into account. They've been listed online. It's been transparent. Um, and it's a really important accomplishment that that we've secured federal funding to be able to improve safety and connectivity for kids and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. So, at this time, I'm I'm willing to move forward, echoing Commissioner Berdick, that it's extremely important that we work with all of you to make sure that this is as minimally disruptive as possible, that you have clear understanding from the city about what will be happening in the right of way with with the landscaping that's important to you. Um, and it's a two-way street of communication.

Thank you, Yeah, I um I guess to take as some of the other commissioners have done and mayor um you know to go all the way back um initially this was a 10-ft wide uh pathway instead of a 5 foot wide sidewalk. um having walked it I believe with Miss Christensen some years ago or months ago um you know the report was unofficially at that time that there weren't many kids that were walking or riding to school but you know some of this more information's come to light and and and the and things have changed. Um, but we are talking about close to I think I've just tried to do an estimate, two miles of sidewalk, um, a roundabout enhancements, which are great enhancements, um, that the city should be proud of, that we've gone out and found the funding and are going to make our community safer. Um, but I'm guess I'm rethinking the the finances of the project as uh somebody who is on the finance committee and I've tried to maintain this throughout my my time here on commission as far as having the need uh to report back to residents a very clear idea of cost. Uh, I do have some reservations, I think, just in terms of wondering and knowing at this point if if the entire grant would cover all of the expenses. So, I'm actually just still trying to work that out here as I as I speak. Um, so I I just do have reservations, I think, from a financial standpoint of of having to not only pass what the enhancements to the community are going to be, but also how we're going to pay for it. Thank you.

Uh quick question on on that on the financial aspect. Uh Mr. Dilly stated that the landscaping is going to be paid for out of the general fund. Is that true or is that part of the grant funding?

Any of the any of the pre-work that the city does u would be um would be out of our uh conglomeration of funds. So it could be general fund, could be major local streets based off of the general fund contribution that goes to those. um that is not unlike any project that we do. Um we have probably nine or 10 projects going on right now. We do the exact same thing. So it would be right in line with what we do uh for residents as our commitment to kind of addressing the issues that we noted uh that are of concern and important to residents. Did and maybe you put this in here and I did not cap catch it, but do we have an estimate for how much approximately that portion is going to be?

Pretty dimminimous. Um, a lot of that is, uh, in kind. Um, you know, it's not not like we're paying invoices. It's assigning a staff member who has the skills and abilities for for some of that work. So, we look for, um, our schedules and look for openings or perhaps uh, in between, you know, larger projects or maintenance they're doing, uh, we can fit in some time to address, uh, some landscaping needs or some tree issues, those types of things. Great. Thank you. Um,

we were sorry to interrupt. Um actually sir if you can go ahead. We're we're done with public comment. I my apologies Mr. Peters but we are right now um taking comments from all the commissioners. Yeah. I'm sitting here thinking and it I mean this has been I think my perspective from the beginning is that safe routes to school grant project. It feels like it should be a home run. Um and it sounds like the neighbors are aligned in terms of the outcome. We all want safe routes to school for students. Um, and it I mean I have expressed some some questions and some just some wonderings I think throughout the process about this and kudos uh Mr. Lefave to you and your staff so much for all the work that you continue to do to make our streets and sidewalks safer for the community. Um, I go back to Commissioner Berdick, your comment says, "I don't know if this is going to move people onto the sidewalks, but how do we get them off the street?" And I think that's kind of at the heart of my reservation is we don't know that the sidewalk this sidewalk project necessarily is going to make this roadway safer. um especially for students because there is we do have a lot of data and I'm not sure that all of the data reflects all of the nuances that I'd like to understand. Um for example, you know, we see the big dots here from GVMC about our non-motorized counts. Uh how many of those are students that are commuting? Um my experience of that roadway as well and why people are on the street is our cyclists are going to stay in the street uh especially the adults and there's a lot of adults who are probably a big portion of that count. Um and runners as well are going to prefer smooth pavement over sidewalks every time and so I'm not sure if we're going to move pe who we're going to move onto the sidewalks and I

think that that point is especially well made by Mr. Timmer pointing out the location of the of the pedestrian island is that we can't build infrastructure thinking we're going to change behavior as a safety measure. We have to build infrastructure that matches the established behavior of folks using those pathways to make things safer. Um where people are crossing now is where they're going to continue to cross. Very few of them are going to make that change. Um, and so all of this is to say 100% I support safe routes to school. That's what I hear residents doing as well. Um, and I think that that's where we all are. This is my vote is not going to reflect what I think about the approach to this area of town or improvements that might not be might need to be made there. uh but that I think when everyone is values aligned on a project then there is a solution we can get to that's going to be a home run and I don't think that we're there yet.

Thank you. Commissioner Schwarz, did you have anything to add?

Yeah, I I think um you know I want to thank everybody for their engagement and I'd like to reflect everybody else's comments. Kudos to staff for this very long engagement process. So when I look at this overall project, um, you know, it's clear to me we're trying to make safe routes to schools. We're we're trying to address those needs of students. And I've always struggled with this conversation about what does the data show, especially when we're talking about Golden Triangle students and our people walking. But that's because I mean I'm a parent. I wouldn't send my kids across Cascade. That doesn't happen right now because it's not there. So to say no one uses it and no one will continue to use it, that doesn't resonate with me. I I think we need to help people and this does that. This gives them a path to get there. Whether they want to walk or they want to ride bikes, this gives them the infrastructure. I would love to see counts, you know, a year, two years after this project to see how people do engage with it. Um I already I think even doing the the road diet is starting to change behaviors. It won't happen overnight, but we can build the infrastructure um to to make it safer for everyone. I also think it's really important to think about minimizing the crossings for kids. And so when you're thinking about the north side of the road, if you're on that sidewalk, you have so many different potential conflict points, including crossing Reeds Lake Boulevard at a pretty dangerous point in my opinion. I'm coming from the the perspective of having small kids, but there's just a lot of conflict points. And when you are a parent sending your kids from up there from the golden triangle and you're thinking about all those potential conflict points, you know, my my heart goes out to them trying to make that decision. So if you give them a long stretch of sidewalk and if you relieve the pressure that might be on the other sidewalk, instinct tells me people will move themselves to the sidewalk. I would use

the sidewalk with my children. So th those are how I'm thinking about how it will be used because the last thing I want to do is spend staff time, city money, federal dollars. It's all our tax dollars. I don't want to see that be paid and unused. And I I don't The data shows me that this will be used and I'm I'm comfortable um proceeding with this. I I also want to think about a couple other things and I think we we have which is how do we do this respectfully because you folks are the ones most impacted. Um and I you you are I mean I'm not going to like sugar coat it and you all know you're going to you're going to bear the brunt of it. Um and I'm I'm sorry for that. Um it is public right away. Most of us have sidewalks in front of our yards but I understand it's a change. Um and especially for vegetation I I appreciate that. Um, and I'm also mindful of the fact that, um, you know, we're talking about those natural lands, which I deeply appreciate, and I appreciate, um, Commissioner Berdick pointing out and asking the question, no trees will be taken out and putting in the sidewalk along that stretch in all of that open natural area. So, I I don't want to say like, oh, this is such an e easy decision, because I understand that people are impacted by this. Um, but ultimately I am in support of making these efforts to get our kids to school more safely.

Thank you. Yeah. And I'll just I want to um first off I want to thank city staff um Doug, you Brian Bigowski, your team um for just the lengthy engagement and consistent engagement. I know that many here have thanked you and it's not surprise not surprising that you guys went above and beyond, but I think it needs to be called out again that you really have done a lot and we just really appreciate that. So, thank you to you and your team. Also, to you here tonight, thank you for your engagement. I know I think I can speak for everyone. We've walked your neighborhood. I've walked with your neighbors before I think starting back in 2024. Um, so that's important to us and that's what we need to do to make good decisions. So, thank you for your engagement. Thank you for the emails. Thank you for coming here tonight. Um, I also want to say that personally, I've been in your shoes in another community that I lived in. The exact same thing happened to me. Um, a very good friend of mine was a landscaper and she did a beautiful job with my outlaw. It was absolutely gorgeous. And a similar situation came upon me. So, I have been in your shoes and I can appreciate the struggle and how upsetting it can be. Absolutely. Um, that being said to part of I believe my job, especially as mayor representing all wards, not just one, part of my role and our role as a commission is to think of the greater good and the the community as a whole. And I know that doesn't help individuals. Um, and I would love to carry everybody along in every single project that we determine here at the city. That would be my ideal. But unfortunately, that's not also that's not reality and I apologize for that. Um, in my opinion, this project is consistent with the goals and priorities that we have set aside in the master plan, our bike and mobility action plan, and it has gone through the diligent

process and the diligent MDOT review and approval process. I went on the website to safe routes to school and it exists to make walking and biking to school more safe safer and more convenient um and more accessible for children of all abilities and families. But the biggest thing that stood out to me on their website is that what they want to do and their goals is to unite communities. And this is to me in my opinion what this does. We have the Golden Triangle community. we have kiddos from over there that can't get here. So, I believe that this project does help to unite community and I think that that's something that we all want to achieve and I know that some of you here tonight have said that that's something you want to achieve as well. Um, creating safer pedestrian connections between neighborhoods and schools um is an important long-term investment in accessibility, mobility, and overall qual quality of life within our entire community. So, that being said, I know and I appreciate you coming here tonight, but I will also be voting in favor of this project tonight. Um, not to minimize how that affects your lives. I've been there. It's not great, and I apologize for that. I'm not I'm not joking about that. Um, and again, thank you to city staff for everything that you have done. Um, but ultimately I do think that this helps build community and connectivity within our community, which I think is an important aspect of community by definition. So, that being said, we do have a motion and a second and I think we can go to a vote.

Um, all those in favor say yes. Yes. Yes. All opposed? No. No. All right. Motion carries. Thank you everyone again for being here this evening. Next on this evening's agenda, we have to consider approving a resolution setting water and sewer rate for July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2027 with no change. That introduction is by city manager Charles.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Before you have a resolution, um each fiscal year we set our water and sewer rates um after preparing the budget, which we'll talk about here in a little bit. Um recommendation is not to change rates. um Grand Rapids where who provides our water and sanitary services. Um they change rates on a calendar year basis. They uh they had a couple minor half percent one way or the other in both water and sewer. So because of that um in addition um the reserves that we currently have in the water fund are uh strong enough u for us to continue our capital investments. Right now I think we have about 2 or we ended last fiscal year with 2.5. on path uh to and this year about 1.8. Um so we're comfortable in doing that. Major factor in this recommendation also is where we are with our lead service line um program. We're down you know please report um 300ish or so um that we have left to go. So we're within a probably a year to two years depending on um what else we have going um in regards to that the contractor availability. But when that program comes off, that will free up resources, um, for the entire system. Um, so we don't want to overshoot either way in regards to, um, that. So with that, um, we're requesting approval of the resolution tonight that keeps water sewer rates the same.

Wonderful. Thank you. Any questions for Manager Charles on this agenda item? Just a quick question. Two residents declined replacement of the lead lines. Is that me reading that right? That's correct. Okay, thank you. May I ask is that I assumed it was because they would have had to replace the portion that goes to their house and it would have been a lot more expensive or No, we cover all the costs associated with the the private side or required the private side or the public side. How does that work then? Like when they sell their house,

it's still there. And uh when we've had those conversations with residents um that have declined those those two um we've indicated that that that may likely be um a challenge for them. Um but you know when we get down to it we have till the deadline um which is about 20 years out uh where we can u discontinue their service in order to do so. um speaking with uh representatives from Grand Rapids in their system, they have a number of of residents that also decline the replacement as well. There's a variety of reasons for that. Um um I can share that I had a res I ended up having to do a um virtual meeting with uh administrators with Eagle with one of the residents uh who had reached out to them instead of us uh to to discuss it and um they're very complimentary to our program. Uh but just uh it's their choice and they don't have to have it removed until the deadline is there.

Interesting. Thank you. Any other questions for Manager Charles? Just to let you know, this does was um before the finance committee this evening as well and was found to be in order. Okay. All right. No further questions. We'll go to a vote. May I have a motion and a second on this agenda item? Move to approve a resolution setting water and sewer rates. Second. Sorry. Yep. Nope. But we we didn't have a motion yet, right? I just asked for one. I just move. Oh, okay. And I was asking for one. Okay. Sorry. And second. Wonderful. All those in favor say yes. Any opposed?

All right. Motion carries. Next, we have to consider approval of the MURF replacement purchases for fiscal year 2627 via Mde deal and Northwell contracts for the overall combined amount of $569,000 with an additional 1.5 or 15% contingency in the overall total with author authorization to place orders and authorizing the sale of vehicles and equipment replaced via public auction with bidder.com at 5% commission. and welcome back.

Thank you, Madam Bay mayor and commissioners. Um uh each year uh we we uh we spend time in the year prior really looking at what we have projected in our capital improvement plan uh for vehicle and equipment replacements that fall under the MURF uh uh motor vehicle uh motor equipment revolving fund. Um, and uh, with that, uh, we review, uh, what services they provide, whether it's a piece of equipment that's needed anymore that provides that service, um, and work with our teams on on what we deem to be appropriate kind of from the ground up from our so our employees have what they need to do the job to provide the level of service that the community expects, uh, from them. Um, with that, uh, one other lens that we we've added to, uh, to that review has been the climate action plan that was approved by the city commission, um, to move in that direction of, uh, carbon neutrality for, uh, for all city operations, including our fleet, which is one of the the biggest impacts uh, in the community. Um as is noted uh in the memorandum on page one uh we went through and our team identified um all the pieces of equipment that we are recommending for approval this year. Uh the replacement costs uh do total to what the uh the total amount in the uh proposed fiscal year 2627 budget are although there's some minor variations there. Some some contracts have changed where where some things are actually less and some are more but the bottom line is exactly the same. Um, and then I added the climate action plan CAT modification um, just to provide some context as you're going through the memorandum um, to to see where we're recommending before you get into the details. It gives you kind of that big picture. Uh, so some of these items are vehicle or equipment attachments. Uh, so they don't have a a motor and engine, so they're not affected by um affected in of themselves uh, by that change. Um and then others what we're recommending uh transitioning from uh from a fossil fuel uh powered uh

vehicle or equipment uh to electric or um moving on that path uh from from a transition to hybrid electric vehicles further into the memo on the second page. Um, I I did want to give an update on our um I know I know we've sent this out sent this out in some of our uh updates to um to the commission on where we're at in terms of some of our our facilities and what we're generating from solar arrays, the impacts of reduction of usage. Um but I did uh and this is available um on the city's environmental page too along with other updates that we were tracking each year. Um but this is the uh the natural gas balance impact report. Um and you'll notice that here for 2526 that uh our fleet uh commissions are added here. So at at this point in time uh with uh with authorized offsets we we technically meet that piece of carbon neutrality. However, um our goal is to keep driving that down from from the vehicles and equipment to with that transition. So I'm not saying that that's like the end of it. It's it's a it's a piece of the puzzle. And the reason why we have that that um that that emissions uh commitment added is due to um the efficiency we've we've achieved um in Gasite Village with our snowmelt system and our gas usage by transition to um uh LED bulbs versus gas flame. So, um those accounts were estimated uh by DTE. Um uh but the savings were uh such a high value uh from our contract we have for our carbon offset program uh that we received a a refund uh uh check from DT for almost $60,000. Um, and in addition, because we've already purchased um in their program those offsets that they can apply that to, believe it or not, it's the way that it's the way the the the law is and how they can assign things. Um, only DTE can assign because they're gas, even though it's natural gas, can apply that to fleet offsets to fleet. Um, so that was

an interesting interesting thing I learned too. Uh, consumers energy can only do that for uh communities that they provide both natural gas and electric to. Uh, so that's just a piece I wanted to kind of provide a little context to. Um, and not not that, hey, look, mission accomplished. We have these offsets. It's no, that that's the backstory and how we got there. Uh, but that we're following that that, uh, that lens of of what we can do for for the fleet. Um, in terms of the fleet assessment, um, we tried to get a little creative, too. So, you'll note um the very first item on the assessment report um you'll note a um a 2012 GMC Sierra pickup truck um and how we're going to transition that. So, we not only took a look of like for like uh for the operation, but within our operation, could we move some vehicles around so that we could accommodate something different ahead of schedule. So um with that particular pickup truck, uh that's going to transition from our DPW operations and uh the the pickup truck we have in our engineering department will be transitioned over to operations and that will be replaced with a uh hybrid van. So we didn't just look at it from this is how we use this. We try to look at internally of well can we can we move some other things around for other operations a little bit quicker? What will work? Um so I just wanted you all be aware of those those conversations and the work we did at the boots on the ground level to uh to try to move this forward even as simple as one vehicle uh for example. Uh we also uh uh worked with uh Chief Buma and uh made sure that we uh reviewed uh some testing reports that MSP has done with a variety of different types of hybrid and electric vehicles and with their needs and uh we're able to uh share that with them internally so that we can make sure we're meeting the needs of the public safety department officers uh so that

they can again have a vehicle that provides them with what they need to do their job but also achieving moving the needle for the community uh climate action plan for for operations. Uh then lastly, beyond looking at the individual um assessment reports that our our mechanics um put together for us, um um I did I did just note in summary uh for um for the vehicles that we're replacing this year. We have one conversion to EV, three conversions to hybrid electric, two non-con conversions, um although those are both certified clean idle diesel, and four that are not applicable. Um that because they don't have a motor or engine. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have this evening.

Thank you, Doug. Are there any questions for Mr. Lefave? Sort of serious, sort of not serious. The uh that poor truck with its uh cushion that's all messed up. Are you gonna reupholster it or anything? We sure will. Okay. We have some pretty outstanding uh employees that uh we'll be able to do that in house and make that a little more. Fantastic. I love it. Any other questions for Mr. Lefave? Again, this was also vetted through um the finance committee this afternoon and everything was found to be in order.

Do you just have a question? This might be for Chief Yuka. um the two public safety uh vehicles that are transitioning to the hybrid. Can you share more about it? There are some full EVs that are available or at least I think one model perhaps, but what's the rationale behind not making the move to the EV versus the hybrid electric vehicle?

Based upon the testing that we've seen, the the hybrids are equally performing to the full gas engines. Uh the main advantage that we see is the idle time. they'll fully switch over to battery and um our cruisers idle a lot whether they're on a call, whether they're taking a report. So that's I think the main benefit that we're going to see is during the idle time, but still see the performance um from the partial gasoline engine. What just what is the the performance indicator? acceleration or

Yeah, the MSP the report that Doug shared um I think you do lose some acceleration with the full EV as well as distance traveled um and recharge time to keep the vehicles in service. Thank you.

The only thing I would add um is that uh for the size vehicle that they need um because they do three different disciplines the the SUV piece to that is important. Um the other thing I would offer is um and Chief Buchman knows this is from from time to time just as the world is um um if we we have six uh six uh fully equipped um uh public safety utility vehicles in the fleet. Well, as luck would have it, you have a transmission problem, you have this problem, you have that problem, and pretty soon you're down sometimes to just a few vehicles. And so at least in at least in the space we're in right now, because we have so few um in our fleet to to rely on, we wanted to make sure that um they we still have that active uh be able to start and go if if needed. Um so we we we see this as moving in in the direction. And um and also what we've learned with the the EVs that we have uh for each department. Um it's been really interesting the the pilot vehicles that we purchased with ARPA funds uh several years ago. Um it's it's been really great to be able to use that as a pilot for employees to really test the capabilities and I can share that uh um from from from my uh interaction with employees that um they they're extremely impressed with what they have and I think that sort of approach is opening um more uh more minds to move in the direction that that the commission wants to go.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Lee? Just a quick one is so looking at the um police cars here. Are those like is 3 to four years kind of the expected life on those? You know, that one's like a 2022 we're replacing. Yeah. So, one of the things that you'll note is don't don't uh don't just look at the mileage. So, we we we kind of for those vehicles, as Chief Bman noted, that's really going to be the big savings piece here and the the emissions piece is the idle time that you get for hours on a vehicle. uh we provided the equivalent of those uh in the memorandum for you our mechanics put in here and I want to uh just

Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm fine with that. I was just wondering like with it being 2022 now 20 like are we looking at like 3 to four years so hopefully we're seeing like an improvement in technology so that 3 to four years from now we can reexamine this and see if there's a more you know full EV option that's available.

Yes. And yes. So, in our communications with with uh with Ford in particular, um is that um they are um they're they they they are working on that capability for first responder agencies. In fact, the my deal contract um for the the hybrid um they uh last year the hybrid version of the of the um interceptor utility uh was $4,000 more. Uh Ford is absorbing that cost to try to get more of them out into the fleet. So it's the same price because they want to give uh agencies the user experience to show that the performance uh meets the the needs of of the of departments. So um I would say from that perspective of the manufacturer, they're doing everything they can um to to really um get uh the new tech newer technology into agencies um uh so that they they can experience it. And it removes one more barrier because if if uh um if $4,000, you know, can be a swing point for some communities and some agencies. And so by making that equal, otherwise equal, it's it's a tipping point for for them that they're already seeing.

Um that's great. Thank you. Any other questions for Doug? Okay. Thank you. And there's no one here to give public comment. So, we'll go to a motion in a second to approve the motor equipment revolving fund replacement purchases as described in agenda item number eight. Second. Any further comments? Okay. Go to a vote. All those in favor say yes. Yes. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the approval of tonight's consent agenda items. May I please have a motion and a second to approve tonight's consent agenda items? So moved. A second.

Okay. All those in favor say yes. Yes. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next we will move to our work session for the 2026 2027 proposed budget overview. That introduction is by city manager Charles. Excuse me. I will be right back. I think absolutely. Yeah. If anyone wants to take a quick break, refill on water, go to the restroom, probably now is the time to do so. I'm actually going to fill up my water. Anybody leaves? Um, Thursday parking. Yeah, I can't make it.

Can we get one of the other cohort? Uh, all right. We'll see. My wife informed me she's working in the hospital that day which I lose all help. So that'll be a toughy. Okay. If you That's just because he got that huge stick over. Do you need me there? I can be I like I just can't. Yeah, I just wanted to do the I just didn't want to forget. I think we're still on page one.

Yeah. Are you sure? No. I was looking at

Okay. Did they go off?

No, we're still we're okay. Check my puppies. All All right. Thanks for that brief intermission.

Okay.

Okay. Um so um as we do um as part of the annual budget process, have a presentation uh give commission and say ask any questions. Um if we can't answer, we'll obviously follow up with additional information. Um but um go from there. So um total uh total funds um 37.6 million is what we're looking at. Millage rate is 13.8599. This is down from 14.2107 again combination of headly roll backs also as well as with the increase in um overall taxable value debt meages um start to come down just because we have a bigger base to spread that upon. So, um just a history um and I always like to go back to 2000 with this is because that's um when we started to see the transition. Um we levied 15 mills in 2000 and now you see that we're down to 13.8 um um mills our total millage that we're doing. You see the addition of the different debt millages, street millage, etc. Um what I think is important to always know and people ask why do um communities either seek headley overrides or special millages like the street and sidewalk millage um without those additional uh millages. This is what our operating millillage would look like. So um really does um kind of a stark example of the impact of um proposal A on operating millages. So um all funds as I noted the revenue wise we're looking at 34.4 million uh general fund revenues 15.2 million um that we're looking at. So and then expenditures as I noted before the 37 37 million um overall that we're

doing. Just a reminder, proposal A uh limits uh uh taxable value increases to 5% or CPI whichever was less. CPI this last year was 2.7. CPI is trending higher. Um we're I think we're at three the kind of running tally 3 33 right now. So we'll see. Um and again because um the uncapping of properties count as um growth on existing properties, that's where we see the roll back. So both street millage and operating mills millages are being rolled back uh due to the uncapping. Um um pro general fund budget we're looking at um the recommendation is for adding actually to fund balance of 260,390. Um that gives us a projected fund balance of about 6.8 million. Our target is 3.75. Um I will remind commission we have the aerial fire truck coming at us um for 1.7ish million um spring of 28 is what we're looking at. So we've been kind of holding setting aside a portion of that um over the 25% for that overall property tax revenues between the growth of tax base and the roll back is um 3.7% increase. Okay. Uh just some historical information about revenues versus expenditures. Um we do project that we will um get into fund balance this year. Um I talked earlier during the financial forecast the impact on our health insurance fund um as well as some other expenses. Part of that too is also we had um projects from the previous fiscal year rolled into this fiscal year. So, um you'll notice with um the uh 2425 budget we added to fund balance. Um so, but that was due in part to those delayed projects.

Um overall revenues again for a general fund 15.2 million um talked about the growth in um property taxes. One thing I would note um a we are reducing um investment earnings right now. We're going to be north of 600,000 for this fiscal year. Um, next fiscal year with the change in the Fed chair. Uh, we're not going to take bets on interest rates next year. So, we have we do anticipates earning some interest. Um, and then obviously we'll see how it goes. The other thing I would note, um, if you look at intergovernmental revenues, that's our revenue sharing. um as part of the road funding package um the state eliminated sales tax on um gasoline sales um which impacts our constitutional revenue sharing. So we um about $100,000 loss is um what we're expecting and we are seeing more road revenue which I'll get to when I get to streets and um to the street funds. As always, if you have any questions or if you see something, please don't hesitate to ask. I I was just going to ask um so under original and amended for 2526 um for property taxes does that mean we had expected to receive 11505 but only received the 10990 and is that due to the headley roll back uh coming in lower than

so what you see is our actuals from uh 2425 and then the 25 26 whoops I'm sorry um 25 26 six, we will collect the full 11 million5 um for those who don't pay. Um we actually send those delinquent bills to the to the county and they um give us our full amount to get us at that. Oh, sorry. I was

conflating two different uh annual numbers. So, thank you. um uh just overall u um budgets and I'll I'll go through these um individually here in a little bit. Um, city commission, no change. Um, you you do see the um 31,000 150 um the amended we had we had extra costs in there. Do you remember uh uh the uh metro council? Oh, that's Yep. Yep. Okay. Um our second payment we paid one in 24. That's why it's for the um EMS study. We did that in a couple years. That's right. Right.

Yep. uh city manager budget. Um again, fairly stable the budget, not the manager. Um um so um no significant capital expenses this time around. Elections um we are have included a request for 105,000 for new voting equipment. This is mandated by the state. There are multiple requests into the legislature uh to help fund that. So, if anybody knows anybody in the legislature, um it's something um that um I'm looking at you

that um it's a it's a big um expense for um every community throughout the state of Michigan. It's not just um East Grand Rapids. So, our portion is 105,000. We have not accounted for any potential grant funds. So obviously um the state does um choose to help assist with the funding. We'll update the commission on that. Um assessor again fairly straightforward.

Um city attorney um we have incorporated um um funds um for the ongoing litigation over and above um kind of our normal allocation. So you see the amended for 375 and recommended. Um typically we stay in that 300,000 range for a budget request uh finance. Um only thing I would point out here is you'll notice with the 2526 amended budget capital jumped up quite a bit. Um city commissioner approved the uh purchase of a uh sand and a server. Servers.

Yep. We pulled those ahead. Um those are things that we were going to do in the 26 27 um fiscal year, but due to constraints on technology and availability and pricing, uh we went ahead and recommended and commission did authorize those purchases. Um general administration, this is where our uh pension fund payment comes through. Um and I'll talk about that a little bit more now in a moment. Um just a reminder commissioner knows we closed our uh DB system in 2000. We separated from MS in 2021 due to issues challenges with MS excuse me. Um we are targeting 100% system funding for the 2034 35 fiscal year. Uh commit commission Ricardo we got the state grant a couple years ago. Um funding last a um actual we're about 74%.

Yes. Um, so, um, if you go when you Whoops. Go back. How did I do that? Um, you'll see that, um, the personnel number that includes our, uh, payment to the pension system, which we were kind of targeting that 1.1 million. Uh, the current fiscal year was only 684, we're budgeting 800. Uh, we have two more months of market returns, so we'll see what we get. Um, interestingly enough, we end of April, we saw a strong recovery in our investment funds, so we're trending the right way, but we'll see. So, so, um,

can I ask a question real quick on the last slide? Um, it says current target of 100% for 23 20 or 2034, 2035. Is that open to those continuing conversations? I know we've mentioned like not wanting to fully fund it just in case we don't need to tap into it and then don't use it.

So um we did verify with the our attorney that specializes in pension systems of kind what happens when there are no one's using the system anymore. Everyone is aged out as we refer. Yes. um the assets actually will come back to the city, but on the other hand um we're trying to find that glide path of um not having millions and millions of dollars there for only like two beneficiaries. So um Okay. Um but we would get it back. That's new information. Okay. That's there's some um we had advised that we thought that wouldn't come back that there was this kind of mystery and we did get that clarity today actually.

Great. Thank you. um public safety. Um we you'll see that um um personnel costs we anticipate coming back down um as we have new staff coming on. Our overtime costs, knock on wood, uh should get back to normal um for us in regards to that. And this does include a budget allocation uh for the public safety study that we discussed earlier uh today or this meeting. uh city buildings. Um I'm sorry. Could we go back to that that previous slide?

So the looking at almost $1.2 million increase from 2425 to 2526 is all overtime.

No. Well, overtime we started to bring more staff. The 3.9 number is actually um we had a number of vacancies. So our actual budgeted that year was closer to 4.3 I think or something like that. Um I don't remember the off the top of my head um it matched closely to the 25 26 number. Um what we see in regards to cost is um for this fiscal year our overtime budget is up dramatically. Um I discussed about this during the financial forecast. Um and that's because we're bringing on multiple new officers at the same time. So we're incurring training costs, things of that nature. So, um we have um we've extended offers to four individuals, five four individuals. Um but one of them is already a certified officer, so we're not we don't think we'll have the type of overtime impact that we had this year. We also had um some medical leaves in there that really drove um some of those costs for us on the overtime side.

Okay. Thank you.

Um, city buildings, um, we do have some capital programmed. I think we have another boil, HBAC units and another boiler. But you'll notice that our, uh, capital is starting to, um, slow down, um, for things such as city buildings and whatnot. in part because we put such a heavy focus over on it over the last four to five years that um pleased to report that um I won't say anything everything's done um but we're getting getting a lot closer um to having all of our systems updated. So, and addressing the deferred capital um issues that we've had um for the last few years. uh zoning again uh no um uh no significant change. Um I will share with the the commissioner was in the finance committee um we are bringing forward a recommendation for some additional planning services. Our planner Paul LeBlanc um has notified us he's retiring. So, uh, we're have a proposal for interim interim zoning services zoning, interim planning services, um, with an eye towards issuing an RFP this summer, um, to open that up to a competitive process. So, um, street lighting, again, fairly straightforward. um Gas light business district. Um you'll notice that the capital investment that we made for 2526 that was a boiler that we replaced. Um but on that kind of standard um operations for that uh yard waste collection. Um again uh no change in operations or staffing uh lake treatment. Um, is this a heavy year or is this a

This is kind of a as we start building back up in the cycle. Okay.

So, commission will recall that um we have one year of more intensive treatments and then whoops um lower lower levels. So, we're starting to um get back into that uh tree maintenance and removal again uh no change in operations or kind of overall um parks and wreck. uh no change in um operations or staffing. We are continuing the um partnership with the schools for the um vertical integration. Um felt we had some good progress this year but not ready to um make recommendations as far as ch changes. Um I think we're a little bit further ahead than we thought we might be but not far as far along as we want to be is I think best way to summarize that. So yeah, just to add, there's certain areas that we've made more progress than we even thought we wouldn't even be starting on certain things this year and other things um um were um a little bit slower than anticipated, but um yeah, happy to report we um have made some good progress and like the East Basketball Club was a new program that came about from the vertical integration um with more than 100 kids participating. So we're um yeah, we feel like we're on the right track.

That's great. So in talking to the school administration that their perspective is the same. Um so as we wrap up the school year um both the um we and the schools will be kind of stepping back doing additional program evaluation but um at this point we are recommending uh continuation um of that effort using the current model. Let me clarify that. um street funds um uh our favorite map, our f favorite graph. Um you will see that it's went down just a little bit as far as uh total um overall PAS rating. Um and that's was to be expected as we're dealing with going back and addressing streets that we dealt with 10 11 years ago. So, we have some part of that, too, is also if we have um a really bad winter or whatnot, we can have streets start to come apart on on us a lot faster than we anticipated. Um I think you everybody saw that we had partnered with the road commission the last week, week and a half uh to come through and do some updating um patching using a domestic product which we've had some good good success with. Um so um new street funding as I talked about 2025 state of Michigan approved a new road funding package um city will receive um in 2627 estimated $736,000. Um piece of that legislation was a new tax on marijuana sales. There is a legal challenge going on with that. So we'll see where that actually ends up. Um we do anticipate funds coming in the 25 26 fiscal years but we we just don't know when it's going to hit. Um so but um the word we're getting is it's coming. How much we'll see. Um we have some estimates but um till we start seeing the checks we're not going to um try to

predict. Um I noted before um constitutional revenue sharing side uh general fund did see a reduction of 100,000 uh for that. So, we're not recommending any additional challenge or changes, but we are um um um something that we're aware of. Um, in regards to that, um, I message I sent or email I sent to commission, I think last week or the week before, talking about the discussion around the parking deck, um, that we will be looking to have a specific work session about, um, the financing component of the parking deck and, um, Commissioner Skaggs, you kind of had referenced, you know, could this potentially play into this? So, we'll we'll have the conversation,

deep dive it. Great. Yeah. Thank you. um major street funds. Um again, you see the um um increase in revenues. Um we are uh scheduled to rate streets in the in the fall. Yeah.

Yeah. In the fall. Um so then as we normally do have recommendations around the first of the year for updated um what streets we're going to go at um um addressed during the 2027 construction season. Um local streets. Again, you see the bump from the 421 to 622 in revenue. Um, regards to that, um, municipal streets, um, this is the street millage money. Um, you see the transfers and, uh, so money comes in and we push those out to the respective um, local street funds, um, for, uh, construction, etc. So, uh, water and sewer fund, we talked earlier about, uh, rates tonight. Um so um we have some um um some heavy capital again this uh looking at u for the um for the balance of the 26 construction season as well as looking at 27 um in regards to that. So and I reported earlier about the lead service line progress there. Uh MURF um just authorized um those acquisitions. Uh so we will go ahead and place those orders for that equipment. uh just given still we're lead times are getting better on vehicles but still uh some lengthy lead times depending on what we're what we're purchasing. Um current situation in the Middle East not seeing dis um supply chain issues as they relate to vehicles show up yet but we're anticipating that we may see some see some um in the future. So we're going to get our orders in now. Um health insurance. This is um really want to uh discuss about this or at least um um um talk about we've had some couple really heavy years as far as utilization. Um so we are watching that

you will see a a budget amendment for this current fiscal year um regards to the health insurance fund um reimburse or allocating those costs to all the different funds. Uh we're refining that number, but you will see that at that at the second meeting in June. Um still trying to delineate is this a you know oneoff or you know or is this a kind of a permanent trend uh for us. We had some really good years and now we're not. So we're trying to um discern is it just you know a bad of uh a few years of bad or high really high utilization or not. So we'll see. Um, I would note to just to the commission that um each year we go and bid out um our um um stop-loss fees, things of that nature. Um we also uh attempt to get quotes from other health insurance providers uh priority um etc for third party administration and um only the blue blue cross blue shield uh would bid our a book award. So um priority declined hap all the all the players. stuff. Um, questions. Is there other additional information? Is there questions about the budget or anything that jumps out at you? Um, as I noted before, this year's capital, um, besides streets, water, and sewer, other city capital is not that intensive. Um, we have in a separate fund, which is not in part of this presentation, set aside the allocation for waterfront park. We're going through that public engagement and we'll move into design. Um and then once we get through that we'll be back with um estimated numbers and approvals and things like that. But um we are getting geared up for that.

Perfect. Good. Any questions for manager Charles?

Yeah, I mean um great report. Thanks so much for, you know, putting all this together and Charlam, I'm sure you had a hand in uh putting all this together for us very easily understandable and digestible. Um, you know, I'm just looking at page three, revenue by category and expenses. Um and and then I think the the bar chart on number nine, slide number nine on page five kind of speaks to it where you just have simply revenue versus expenditures. But of course that's just for the general fund. But you know, so overall when you put it all together from original to amended, we're roughly we're over budget. Um but again what what would be the main things that we could look for in the coming year to know that you know those things I mean the health insurance is something you just mentioned right but what what should we be looking towards to to say okay we could shrink that margin down a little bit. um at this point. Um so for this fiscal year, we'll see. Um one of the things the team's really good about is if they have balances left on approved line items. Um office supplies is always like kind of the classic joke.

Yeah.

The the team's really good about not going in and saying, "Oh, I have x number of dollars left. I'm going to go buy extra office supplies." Um they understand that that's, you know, if you don't need it, don't buy it. So, um it's kind of the easy example for that. Um I noted earlier the interest earnings um we do anticipate exceeding our 600,000 in amended um over under 680ish. We'll see is what we're thinking we'll be at. Um the um again health insurance is just a real wild card for us. Um and part of what drove the us utilizing more fund balance this year instead of adding to it is that we had a number of capital projects from um 2425

about 350 400,000 capital projects that um due to supply chain issues weren't completed in 2425 so they rolled to 2526. So, um, so, um, I think we're going to be, I say this out loud, and Charlotte's going to throw something at me, but, um, um, I think that number is going to be lower, but again, we just have a couple wild cards on us right now that I cannot predict. Um, we had some favorable deltas this year in regards to the pension payment, things of that nature, so that helped us. We're budgeting 800,000 for um 26 27. If you can tell me what the market's going to do for the next 60 days, I'll tell you what our amount's going to be. So,

no crystal ball here.

Yeah. Um but um but again, um and I had shared with commission the last few budget cycles, we've ended really strongly um and not, you know, have ended up adding to fund balance. Some of that is just um we had some um fortunate great pricing. Some of it um again I noted the deferred capital projects. This cycle we seem to have pretty much all the capital projects wrapped up for this year. So we won't have any carryover from um 25 26 to the uh 26 27 fiscal year. So um I did in the the recommended budget we are adding to fund balance but that's also hedging a little bit on additional health insurance costs. What's the pension payment going to be um the situation in the Middle East um we're obviously feeling the fuel impact but it's not adversely impacting the budget at this point but um trying to hedge a little bit on that as much as we can.

Thank you. Any other questions for manager Charles? Okay. Thank you. Thank you for putting this together. This was uh all the staff. Thank you so much. I was going to say thank you to the entire staff um for all their hard work. So y and thanks everyone for being here tonight. This meeting is adjourned.