City Council - Regular Meeting

May I start? Phil,

call the order of this meeting of the Eskanaba City Council, February 19th, 2026. Mr. De May, please call role. Councelor Mort here. Councor Bosch here. Councelor Dubour here. Councelor F. Mariam here. Motion to excuse Mr. F's absence tonight. Support. All in favor? I. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, seeking approval and or corrections to the minutes of the regular meeting of February 5th, 2026. Motion to approve. Support. Discussion. All in favor? I. Thank you. At this time, seeking approval and or adjustments to the current agenda as written.

Looking to uh just from the staff side to recommend um removing new business number five. Um, we expected to have quite a bit more information on that item tonight and most of it didn't arrive until just today. So, um, we're really not prepared to to talk in great detail about it. Um, motion to the motion to approve the agenda with the removal of number five under new business. Support discussion. All in favor? I.

Thank you. At this time, is there any conflict of interest needing to be declared by members of council pertaining to items on the agenda? Hearing none, we move on to brief public comment. If you wish to make comment pertaining to items on the agenda, please approach the podium, state your name, place of residence, and keep your comments to three minutes or less. Hearing none, we move on to public hearings. Item number one, citizen participation 202627 fiscal year budget preparation.

Public hearing will be conducted to facilitate input from citizens for the city's next fiscal year budget. This is the second of five scheduled public hearings.

This time we'll open the hearing. If you wish to make comment about the city budget, please approach the podium. State your name and place of residence. Hello, my name is Chelsea Hart. I'm a resident of Norway, Michigan, but I work here in Eskanaba. And I'm also the executive director of the Bonafice Art Center. So, I just want to start off by saying thank you to the city of Eskanaba for your support partnership throughout the years. This year in particular, we needed uh to lean on our supporters as we navigated the aftermath of the fire we had last May. But because we had champions to help us get back on our feet, we were able to pivot and continue providing arts and culture events, classes, and shows to the community. We are still in the midst of our reconstruction and ensure unsure of what the final cost of this tragedy will be. But we are rebuilding, restoring the building we all know and love. And one day, we will soon be back better than ever. Now, I want to focus on the silver linings and what we were able to accomplish even amid everything going on. We still had all 10 of our music Mondays. They've become a cornerstone of the community. Um they draw attendees spanning three to five generations and foster a welcoming atmosphere for locals and tourists alike. Uh we've added on food trucks. We bring in a wide variety of bands. Um this year we started off we had a couple people couple hundred people that first night and by the end of the night we easily had over 1500 people. Uh we were able to still do the waterfront art festival that's been a staple for the last 50 plus years. We're able to offer our prekids classes at the marketplace. The gallery admissions when we were open scholarships. Uh we still had Missoula. We just had to go over to Bay College. We were thankful for that. Um, and that's not even touching on, you

know, the help that we provide at the state fair. Um, and so much more. I could keep talking on and on, but I won't, uh, take all your time. Um, I just want to say we're an integral part of this community. We hope to continue bringing arts and culture, the experiences, to the area with help from partners like the city of Escanaba. Your annual support helps us with everything I've talked about and more. Thank you so much for your support and assistance. If anyone else wishes to speak on the fiscal year 2627 budget hearing none, we'll close the hearing. We currently have no unfinished business on the docket. Moving on to new business item number one, approval. Eskanaba water treatment plant wastewater treatment plant qualified electrical work training water wastewater administration is requesting city council approval to hire and retain the services of integrated safety solutions of Amherst Junction, Wisconsin for the water wastewater departments for qualified electrical work training for a total not to exceed $6,000. this money is available and budgeted for this type of activity in the current fiscal year. Um I think everybody remembers we spent quite a bit of time talking about the ark flash study that was performed. Um I guess kind of part two of that is you know the ark flash identified everything. Uh but if we want our own employees to now access these panels and and do some of the work without calling an electrician, uh this is training that we're going to have to have

and this will follow the guidelines in my OSHAR myosa and um the NFPA I believe too applies. Uh since it's already budgeted, motion to approve uh not to exceed $6,000. Support. Further discussion on this item. Mr. Bo, just a question. Are we taking advantage of of the classes that uh Bay College offers from time to time? I'll let Mr. Lampy address that.

Um yes and no. We do take advantage of them, but we've been so busy with the projects over the last four or five years, we've been pretty much nose to the grindstone. And those classes at bay would not give us this qualified training to be able to do the the work on the on the electrical work. So, we wouldn't get this training there. All right. Thank you. Further discussion on this side. Mr. May, please call role. Councor Dart. Yes. Councelor Moore. Yes. Councelor Boscha. Yes.

Mayor M. Yes. New business. Item number two, approval. Essenaba wastewater treatment plant mixer replacement. Wastewater administration is requesting city council approval to purchase a new mixer from Zyllem Water Solutions of Pawe, Wisconsin for the wastewater department for a total not to exceed $17,500. This money is available and budgeted for the current fiscal year. Um, this is a a replacement and I think we've talked a little bit in the last budget session about uh kind of a as we've been doing like the modin replacements every year that we're going to have to be doing various pump replacements um chemical feeder pumps um Jeff can tell you about this replacement specifically and and what it does um but it it is a a replacement of an existing on.

Can you uh educate us? Well, this is a mixer for our new process. Um, this is a a 2 or three year old mixer that has failed a couple times. Um, this is not necessarily a general replacement. This is a a repair, a catastrophic destruction and repair replacement. Um, we have one mixer now. Um, having two is better for the process. have if the other mixer goes out today, our bugs aren't going to be too happy. So, we really need to have a a second mixer in the tank. Since it is budgeted, I will make a motion to approve not to exceed $17,500. Support.

Further discussion on this item. Mr. De May, please call roll. Council Dubour. Yes. Council Bushaw. Yes. Moore. Yes. Mayor Emma. Yes.

Thank you. New business item number three, approval. Resolution 26-03, golf carts. Public safety administration is requesting city council approval of resolution 2603, a resolution authorizing the operation of golf carts on designated public roadways within the city of Eskanaba pursuant to MCL257657A. Um, this first came up at I believe it was our July 19th meeting. Um, where we talked about golf carts and ebikes. Um, the ebike conversation will be coming up after this. Um but uh with golf carts, and I'll let um Director Smith talk about what the rules actually mean um so everybody understands, but generally um we've always had golf carts driving around the city. Um we get a lot of calls about people driving them. Um sometimes in a way that's safe, sometimes in a way that's not safe. Um, so what this really does is says, "Okay, you're allowed to uh drive a golf cart just on specific streets uh with quite a few requirements that uh really would for us um wouldn't tie up officers on u calls that if people are allowed to take a golf cart um fine, we don't need to respond to that um we're currently we we have to respond to all of that. Um and and from the feedback that we've gathered um for the most part when adults are are taking it to and from the golf course or or sometimes people might take it to the

athletic field. Um it it really hasn't been an issue. Um some of the issues that have come up have been with with younger kids driving them. Uh this would prohibit that. uh they have to be 16 with a license. Um and there are some requirements on the cart. Um and it would also keep it to streets uh less than 30 miles per hour. And the resolution also outlines some of the major streets that are higher traffic. Um but it is something we're allowed to opt into uh because we're less than 30,000. Um, Director Smith did take it to traffic safety. Uh, he might be able to share some of those comments were too.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, believe me, whole lot left out there. Um, that's good coverage overall. So, back in July, we kind of went over the rules. So, yeah, today you cannot have a golf cart on local streets in Eskanaba, but because of the population being under 30,000 can make a resolution. one of the spots and took so long. I did a lot of research with different communities. Uh by far we would not be the first community to allow golf carts operating on city streets. Um at a public safety standpoint, I know there's two different sides of, you know, a safety issue. Golf carts don't have the safety features if somebody were to get hit by a car. Um and I do understand both sides of it. I spent a lot of time researching. uh coming forward, it was going to be my recommendation without the traffic safety committee because I needed this uh agenda item in prior to my meeting. So, but Tuesday I did have a traffic safety meeting. Uh they were in support of allowing golf carts on specific streets within the city of Eskanava. Um so I could by uh kind of go over a few of the things. So, by proposing that that I recommend that we do allow and create a resolution to allow golf carts on the public streets in Eskanava, it doesn't mean that it's going to be a free-for-all and you just can do anything and go anywhere and create havoc. So, yes, you have to be a licensed driver 16 years old or older. Uh, you got to comply with the signal requirements. If you don't have blinkers, you can use like bicycle hand signals. Uh you must ride as far to the right side of the road as possible. It is not required to wear a helmet. And the rules on the golf carts itself,

they shall not be operated on sidewalks. They cannot pass between lanes of traffic. You can't go faster than 15 miles per hour. They may not be operated half hour before sunset or one half hour after sunrise. So there's no night riding. Can only operate on streets that have a speed limit of less than 30 miles per hour. With that being said, there's a list also the city can restrict further on Michigan state law on where it can operate. Um, for example, I came up with some streets, hight traffic areas being Lington Street, Lincoln Road, Stevenson Avenue, Sheridan Avenue, Washington Avenue, 10th and 14th Streets, 3rd Avenue South, Fifth Avenue South, and Third Avenue North. So, that's not an all-inclusive list, but those are the ones that stick out to me on a public safety stance. Those are hight traffic areas that I probably would not want uh golf carts operating. Um golf carts cannot operate on highways, but they can lawfully cross at an intersection. And so that about covers uh that covers the rules on the MCL. So, so overall we would encourage that they can operate on the roadways but public safety it will take the burden off of us because currently if anybody sees a golf cart on the street usually they call and say hey can you come and check on this person they have a golf cart on the road which necessarily well it is wrong because you can't have them on the road right now. So, we do have to tie up an officer, go and check that out and educate that person that you can't have the golf cart on the roadway. If it was created, we can alleviate all those problems. But if we have kids

operating, driving on sidewalks, raising, you know, doing stuff they shouldn't do, then we're still obviously going to enforce those and take care of them. The officers have good discretion on, you know, how they handle things. If we have repeat offenders, they'll get citations. These are all local ordinance, civil infractions. Uh fines start at $50 and they can increase up to $250 as well um or higher. So it is uh my recommendation and with support from the traffic safety advisory committee that a resolution is created to allow operation of golf carts on designated public roadways in the city of Eskanaba persuant to MCL 257.6578. So, um, is there a provision in there for the number of people that can be in a cart? For example, I last summer I saw a mom and a dad and four kids in a cart in the park

and they were just hanging out out of the back end where the clubs and so that's not safe. So, I was just absolutely and that would be one that we would respond to because it's not safe and a golf cart, you know, is probably depending on the seat. Some of them are made for transporting passengers where they have seats on the back as well, but typically three a breast on a golf cart. So they they have to have be seated in a seat, then that's part of the law. So they could stand up where the clubs are. That's that's kind of what I'm um No, I'm I'm saying if somebody called and said, "Hey, there's kids hanging out where the golf clubs." That's something that public safety would respond to. Okay.

And then take action if needed. But absolutely that would be unsafe. That's the type of calls we will act on. Mr. Ma, we only have uh one golf course in town. Obviously, this ordinance isn't just to help those people get to or from the golf course or unload their their cart and drive a few blocks. The the rest of uh people in town that are riding their golf carts, where are they going typically? Yeah. So, it's joy riding.

Well, yeah, you could uh explain it. It could be from one residence to another. Um, a lot of cities and communities do it because of tourist season. Obviously, it's going to be a seasonal issue a few months a year that we're going to have, uh, the golf carts, but, uh, one road I left off the list, uh, was questioned before, Lakeshore Drive by Jenkins Drive, the park. Um, so if they have festivities going down at the park and you know they don't want to drive, they could jump in a golf cart, drive down there. Um, abiding the laws, you know, with what's So yeah, it's not 100% you have to go from your house to the golf course. They will allow just normal operation um on the city streets. I think some of the feedback when we talking about it um we have seen some at parks um often it seems at sporting events whether it was baseball, softball, um t-ball um we've seen, you know, people that live I assume live in those areas. Um we we'll take a golf cart there. Um, I think some people probably go down to somebody else's house in it. Um, if they're nearby, um, our intent isn't that people are like driving across town in these. Um, we would probably have to come back and and tighten this up. Um but for the amount of historical traffic we've seen um this allows it to more or less continue and and to kind of deal with uh the problems that we have seen.

I did notice looking at the uh streets where golf carts would not be allowed. We are boxing in certain neighborhoods that have no other uh alternative. Um for instance, behind the high school, you have Third Avenue South on one side, Fifth Avenue South on the other, uh which you're not allowed to drive on either one. So those people are trapped. Yeah, it would

create some obstacles. Um, honestly, I hope people behind the high school maybe weren't taking golf carts all the way to the golf course, crossing the highway, going down several major streets, too. But I think if they were stopped and and explained to the officer what where they were going, they probably would get treated with discretion if they were operating responsibly, but it it would box them in.

That is true. There's going to be a couple uh couple spots, but again with officer discretion, um they're wise when it comes to that. If you were in a golf cart in that area and explain, well, you can't go on this street or this street, but I'm looking to get here and it's, you know, reasonable, that's what they're doing, I don't think you're going to have any problems or just people in that area can't ride health cards. But no, they'll we'd definitely allow it and look further into it and maybe have to smooth us out further to allow it and show where they can go.

Cargo based on the traffic density. Yes,

I think u my opinion is you know we were concerned when we council passed the side by sides um you know there was a lot of discretionary on that um a lot of pros and cons hearing from both parties and we thought we'd give it a shot and it's been a few years already and the feedback we've received so far is not problematic like this too it's kind of a trial and error aspect that we're trying this out and if it we find from feedback from public safety that there's concern we can add more restrictions definitely to the ordinance or we could rescend it again. So, it's it's it's a trial thing, but I do feel that it does help the golfers be more at ease too from last year when the golfers were concerned about being pulled over driving their golf cart from their home to the golf course. I know it's discretion, but they're still questioning it because the ordinance says there's no golf carts allowed. So, I think it kind of alleviates that that concern with the golfers, but also opens it up to the community people to say, "Hey, I agree. I've seen them at softball games. I've seen them at the football games. I've seen them uh baseball. I've even seen them at the park for music Mondays. So, I think it's there. We're just now approving it. So, there's no concern. I'm in support of it and I'll make the motion to approve ordinance number resolution 26-03.

Support. Further discussion on this item. Mr. Deay, please call ro. Council Dart. Yes. Council Moore. Yes. Council Ba. Yes. Mayor Emma. Yes.

New business. Item number four, approval. Locker room and bathroom upgrades. Public safety. administration is requesting city council approval of a bid from Reinus Contracting of Eskanaba, Michigan in the amount of $137,814 for the locker room and bathroom project at Eskanaba Public Safety. Um, this was a budgeted item. Um, the locker room and bathroom at uh both men's and women's at uh public safety is pretty sad. Deplorable would be a good term to apply to these facilities that are our service forced to use.

Uh yeah, overdue. Um I believe we only did have one bid. Um the scope ended up being a little bit larger than initially planned. Just there were a few extra doors that got included. Um but more or less pretty similar to what we expected. Motion to approve the amount of $137,814. Support. Further discussion on this item. Mr. De May, please call role. Council member Dubart. Yes. Council member Moore. Yes. Council Bosch. Yes. Mayor Emma.

Yes. Moving on to appointments, of which we have none. But if a little bit of sunshine this afternoon got you feeling frisky and you would like to contribute some more time to your community, you could do so with one vacancy on the board of library trustees, one vacancy on the historic preservation commission, one vacancy on the housing commission, or one vacancy or one of the two alternate vacancies available on the zoning board of appeals. Phil, can they get that information from you if they happen to stop down at city hall and ask how do I sign up for something? Absolutely.

Okay, that's good. Now we know where to go. Board commission and committee reports. Mr. Dubour, I have none till next week. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Floth. Mr. Gha,

the planning commission met last week. They held a public hearing on a um variance. Someone was looking to put six 400 square foot homes on a double lot in northtown. Uh they felt that uh didn't meet the neighborhood requirements, what have you. Um there was a site plan involved. The site plan was incomplete, so they denied it. I have nothing to report. General public comment. If you wish to make comment at this time, please approach the podium. State your name and place of residence. Uh Jim Hansen. I live at 5615 Portage Point, but from 1972 76 until 2000, I was a resident of the city of Eskanaba. When I first moved back here, the first thing I did in 74 was to become a member of the Eskanaba Yach Club and also stretch my budget and buy a sailboat. And since then, I've had a variety of sailboats and I've been involved with the yach club forever. Uh when I first came to town, there was a young there was a recreation director of my name Tony Showman. Um Croatian, not hard guy to get along with. And he and I bumped heads hard. And so we came to a meeting of the minds and we started what was called the harbor advisory committee of which I was the chairman for approximately 5 years. And then on my involvement with Tony, we had put together kind of a song and dance show to go to Michigan waterways and try to get money to redo our harbor. And that worked out quite well. Tony had

a little bit of a stutter. I like to talk. He was great running grants. And so we were very successful in everything that you have in the harbor today was done through grants. And if you're by Tony's uh grave site, put a star on that grave site because he did a tremendous job for the city. I was so involved with the harbor that I also started to become very political. And from 1993 until 2009, I was the UP representative for the Michigan Waterways Commission and lucky enough to be the chair. um my last three years. Um at the last council meeting meeting um I think councilwoman Moore was misinterpreted when she said that the yach club needs to be more supportive of the harbor. I I know she did not mean financially. She meant supportive from the standpoint of getting the community involved. And as I thought about that, I thought I'm going to look back and see some of the things we've done. So pre precoid we used to we used to advertise in the local press and also on the radio station to have folks come down from the general public call sign up. We would get them on a sailboat, a power boat and have them have the same experience we have every week out on a knock. We also parlayed with a casino and had the LPGA girls at a at a reception at the yach club several times and did the same thing. whatever kind of boat they wanted to be on, we put them on a boat and let them enjoy. Um, I also ended up working very closely with Pathways back then and Brenda Crow and we started a boating experience for disabled and mentally challenged individuals and that was a great opportunity to give back to the community to folks who probably would never be on the on our bay. I had a conversation with her two weeks ago

and we're looking to put that program back in place for 2026. I got involved with a lady over right across this hall by the name of Patty Fatanti. And uh one of our yacht club members put together the SSI can read and donated it to the harbor. And by the end of August, Patty and I put together 75 students from that reading program for a period of about five years and took them out in groups of five on a 36ft sailboat and gave them an experience of their life. Not only that, but along with the city of Eskanaba, the Eskanaba Yach Club also hosted when I was chairman and also just a regular member of the Michigan Waterways Commission to come to Eskanaba and take a look at our facilities, good, bad, or ugly. The last time they were here, when I was chair, I had four of those members walk out onto the barox. And when they got out about halfway and they had six inches of water coming up on their shins, it didn't take too much to get a grant through. And now we have all brand new docks. So that's kind of precoid. If I take a look at the last couple years, we have had a yacht club member who took it upon themselves with Larry Gravette to have some flag stands made and now we have 12 beautiful American flags on our harbor every April until the end of October. We have uh we had a new harbor master that was put into place several two years ago and it was a little bit contentious to say the least and there were a lot of people were very negative and I remember at the harbor advisory committee meeting um there was a little bit of negativity and I made sure that we said you know we have to help Kim be the best harbor master she can be because being negative is going to go nowhere. The only thing we're going to do is defeat our own purpose. And so

since then, myself and other other EYC members have been a sounding board for Kim. Matter of fact, I met with her today over a couple issues for this coming summer. My wife and I over the past 15 to 20 years uh have continued to do docking procedures with all the docking attendants so that we make sure that they are doing it properly and safely and they understand the magnitude of trying to dock a 70 foot yacht that weighs in excess of 20 tons. We will continue to do that. We have two of our yach club members, London and Marilyn Brown, who two years ago, actually probably four years ago, started working very feverishly with the Great Lakes Cruise Club. And over their efforts, two years ago, we had the Great Lakes Cruising Club rendevous here in Eskanava. We brought in 40 boats, all had to buy pay for their slips. They were also downtown eating and they did their final dinner at the House of Lington. Unfortunately, they can't do that anymore. We've we've talked long and hard about the Gladstone sailing program. Fantastic program. They're doing a great job. You've got a young guy who's younger than I am, which makes it nice.

Who has got a lot of boats donated and who we have this past year three of our Essen Yach Club members going over and helping to teach those kids in that program. We also started four years ago uh through club through the uh through the scouting program the scout scouting learn to sail program for both males and females. That's been extremely successful and that's been also started by an EYC member. They also got two sailboats donated 23-footer and a 27footer. And at in the third year of the program, we had two groups of young men who actually raced in our Wednesday night series, which was fantastic. We've used that boat in the summertime to teach uh three women who were excited about trying to learn how to sail. They now have had that capability, and this past summer, we're taking that boat out all by themselves. Matter of fact, one of them, Amy Cedar, is on my racing crew and doing an exceptional job. We also have an EYC member I talked to um two weeks ago who is tied with the Bonafas Art Center who is working on trying to do some kind of summer programs here at the Eskanavi Yach Club which would be wonderful. And speaking of the Wednesday night races, because I'm on the radio usually in the morning with Craig Warple from 8 to 8:30 commenting on his terrible coffee, um I also make sure that we we announce that we're having the Wednesday night races, but more importantly make the general public aware of the fact that if they want to come down, we will try to get them on a boat. And so a number of the folks that are on boats now have done that. Amy Cedar is one of those people. Um, also every fourth of July we have a brunch which is open to the general public to all of the transient folks that are coming here. And um, so those

are just some of the things that we're doing to support. And again, Karen, I hope people didn't misunderstand what you were saying. You wouldn't expect us to go out do a fundraiser at Allers and come up with, you know, a million and a half to redo a 500t head pier. But I know I did know what you meant was that we need to work together collectively to support the community, get them involved in the Eskanavi Yach Club and in the in the waters out in Green Bay. One last comment I have is that we really dodged the bullet this past year. Um, and I I I was talking with a lot of folks with uh with Kim Peterson and and also with Jim about the fact that when folks put their boat in the water at the TD Venetan company in the spring of the year, um the message they got last spring was, "You're not welcome back. I'm shutting the operation down. I don't know where you're going to go, but it's not my problem." And that was devastating. And during the course of the summer, as I talked with um I talked with a lot of the Boers, there were a number of Boers that were thinking, I'm going to sell my boat and just leave or I'm going to, you know, I I don't I don't know what I'm going to do. I I know I myself and a couple other Boers actually transported our cradles to Marinette, Wisconsin, paid a four $400 fee to be on their waiting list. and knowing that we're going to have to make a 10-hour sale or power all the way down to Marinette in the in the in the fall and then also in the spring. So my concern was that we didn't really pay attention to that and I took it upon myself because of maybe my background in waterways or whatever. I sat down with Nick Kbasic, a former student and over a period of several hours and kind of moving him along and getting him more comfortable with dealing with uh perceivably fiberglass boats that you don't want to bump into steel. As he said, if I if I bump into a steel boat,

I take a ball bean hammer and nick it out and we're good. if we bump into a fiberglass boat now we have a major problem. And so I assured him that number one he would have a consultant from the Eskanaba Yacht Club at his facility anytime he pulls a boat that comes out of this harbor. And that did in fact happen. And so I was very happy elated if you talk to my wife she was said I was giggling that he took on the role of of storing boats at Northshore. We have 12 boats that we took out this past year. Um, I was there for every single one of them. We just mastered a couple and the rest of them we sidetracked there. So, we we really did dodge a bullet because had that not happened, we need to fill slips and if we have 10, two, three, four, 10 people who say, "I'm going to get out of voting because I can't store here and I got to make a 10-hour trip in maybe marginal weather." That's dollars that will not be in the harbor advisor fund. And so, those are some of the things that we've done. I don't disagree. I think we can do more and I think we will. I'm hoping that as we look at the the contract that cooler heads will prevail or cool heads will prevail and we'll come to a conclusion so that the Eskami Yach Club and the city of Eskanaba can work collectively as positively as possible to give back to the citizens and the voters. Thank you. Hello, I'm David Anthony, Esanava, Michigan. Mr. Hansen has listed many of the things that he and the club uh do for the community, and as always, he is very modest with all that he accomplishes. Uh, but I'm here to talk a little more about what the Yach Club does for me. I

know that uh people in Eskanava enjoy different hobbies. Might be the tennis courts down at the park or golfing or uh fishing, hunting. Um somebody might be gardening. Somebody might be into uh performing arts or music in the park. But for me, it's boating. Uh my passion is boating. I've been a member of the yach club all my life. My father was a member. My grandfather was a member. And like your groups that you go out with, you go and enjoy each other's company. You might socialize with them and they become kind of your community. And that's what the yach club is for me. And my uh when I getting off track here, but but when I was in high school, my father decided that he wanted to do the Chicago to Meno race, which is a a a difficult feat. Um and he invited Jim Hansen to be with us on our crew. Um, and we had an interesting time. And now 46 years later, we've been sailing with each other and against each other. And after every race, you know, we come back to the yach club and uh share a meal. And it's it's casual thing. It might be pizza, you know, it's just an open door policy. There's no charge, no reservations, no requirements. Uh we do this as a way of enjoying each other's company and the community of our sailing

and boating crew. Not all people are sailors. Not all people have a boat, but they enjoy coming down and enjoying the community we have. And I'm fortunate to have my wife here with me. She is my shore crew. She's also the starting uh chairperson and the chairperson now of the uh social events. Uh I am also lucky to have my son sail with me. I have one of my sons here with me tonight. Uh my other son uh works for a international sailing uh program and he is in Auckland. Uh but he is on the harbor advisory committee. Uh they also fortunate to have sail with us uh Tyler's girlfriend and my other son Josh's girlfriend. And we've had people just come on the boat. If they want to go sailing, we take them sailing. Um so, you know, I encourage you to come down and sail with us. uh see what it's like, you know, at one of our events is always family oriented. Uh we enjoy the bay, we enjoy the park, we enjoy the harbor, and I think that as an example of what the community of Eskanava is and should be, and that's why I enjoy the Eskenavia Yach Club so much. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Good evening. Uh, I am Tyler Anthony. I

live at 321 South 7th Street, Eskanava, and I am one of the hotter heads. I'm a director on the Eskanabi Club board. Thank you. and I want to express my disappointment and frustration with the way in which the city discussed our lease negotiations at your last meeting. Almost immediately, questions began circulating about the new terms the club was willing to engage, what our nonprofit status is, and what our membership looks like. To all of these, your city manager, Mr. McNeel, feigned ignorance despite knowing that he'd been enga noting that he'd been engaged in a conversation with us for some time. It is a fact of record that we have been sharing this information with Mr. McNeel since October when our commodor sent a snapshot of our club detailing some membership statistics, the number of public rentals we hosted, how much we paid in taxes and utilities over the last few years, and other details. From the very beginning, we tried to communicate to you exactly what we've done, what we're doing, and what we plan for and continue to do. However, it's clear that the city manager never saw it useful to share any of that information with you or to include in the meeting packet for consideration. And this is exactly why we find ourselves at loggerheads with each other. Another thing, we own the building. The city has repeatedly acknowledged this and our written history recounts the lengthy process it took for our members to build it starting way back in 1948. But that doesn't stop us from sharing it freely with the people of this community and other visitors, including you. Uh for a long time after the lease was signed, we can after the last lease was signed back in 2016, we continuously sent invitations to city council to attend our parties, to come sailing with us to see what the Askaby Club is. But

none of your predecessors and and none of you have have ever come. We want to work with you. We've tried to work with you and we will continue that effort. Although I wonder if the best path forward is by direct communication with city council rather than through other city representatives. Thank you for your attention. Good evening. My name is Sarah Shipman Meyers. I reside between 600 Lakeshore Drive and Mobile, Alabama, which I am a lead member of a volunteer club very similar to what we have here in Eskan. We are also a GYC, which is a greater U yaching association for the South as we have a GYA here for the Green Bay Yaching Association. One of the reasons why I became so involved in the um Mobile Yacht Club, Buccaneer, was because it was made from the same grid fiber intention of people wanting to share the love of water and the ability of a lifelong sport involvement. And very similar to our club here in Eskanaba, Michigan, it is not a driven basis of membership by ownership. It is by driven need and desire to share what that gives for that experience and that time and that camaraderie and the discussion of other community things where you are not a boat owner, but you are available to experience something that others may not. and it is communitybased. Again, they are a the same sort of um organization as what the Eskanaba Yacht

Club is. The other thing very particularly that I want to share is that I am a member of our yacht club here. But I also get to be very standard the yacht club in the beginning back in 1932 and was a part of the original articles of association in 1934. And if there is any misnomer out there that a yacht club in this area represents privilege and money and representatives, I will tell you I don't think that these individuals had nickels to rub together, let alone ends of bread. But they came together about a shared loyalty and love of the water that surrounds Eskanaba, Michigan. I will defend Mr. McNeel who I think may have misunders not even misunderstood I would say perhaps feigned in ignorance and which is a a lack of knowledge of understanding how important this organization is not just to the members of Eskanaba but to the people who have crossed through into our harbor the organizations that Mr. Hansen has discussed that have have benefited from it. The individuals within the community that come down. There is never a time that someone is turned away from our organization. And I don't know where some of that confusion or or negativity has has been developed aside from perhaps maybe we are not having as my German friends would say enough foreyed meetings of where we sit down, we work together and we try to figure out how we build a stronger fab fabric of our community again surrounded by water. One of the things as as Mr. Hansen alluded to with Mr. Showman. I got to be a part of Mr. Showman's world when I was in

high school. And the Eskanaba City and the Eskanaba Yacht Club decided to put together a sailing school. I worked that sailing school for three years. I ran the sailing school for four weeks out of the summer. I had young individuals during the day and I had adult participation in the evening. And I will tell you after the first week that people understood the adult part of it, we tripled in our participation and we had fun and there were people that came out that again would say, "I've always wanted to be a part of this. I just didn't know how to get there." So perhaps maybe together once again we work towards that opportunity. But the idea that we don't have outreach or that we are not willing to put those things back into place really really makes me wrinkle my forehead which is not a good thing. One of the things if I can um impart depart on is that perhaps we are a private membership as the way that we are organized that is no different than any other social club here within our community. We have collaboratively worked together with the city of Eskanaba in building out that facility, maintaining that facility, extending that facility to rentals for any individual or organization that would like to come along and do that. We volunteer our time to make sure that their event is goes off without a hitch, that we are there to help with the setup, that we are there to help with the takedown. And this is without any additional charges, which does not happen in any other event location here in the city of Eskanaba. I I'm not sure if you're aware of that. I think that the transient boater opportunity that we

have is also unprecedented. I have been very fortunate to sail in many many places across the world. Never is there a yacht club that leaves the code for the door with the harbor master and says, "Please come use our facilities, use our our restrooms, use our club, make a meal, break bread, come in out of the rain." That does not happen in any other place across with clubs. That doesn't happen in clubs that we're familiar with here in our very area of Delta County. So I think again if we really make an effort to come together and have a four-eyed meeting and understand the things that the collectiveness of our members that go forward for the greater good of our community, not always out there branding it as the Eskanaba Yacht Club, but very quietly as members of a club that have a better interest for what you all represent here today. So, I'd like to encourage everyone to sit down to have that true foreyed meeting and stay at the table until we get to a place that there is resolution, which is what started all the way back into the 30s by a group of individuals that wanted to have a place to break bread together surrounded by water. Thank you very much. Further public comment at this time. Moving on to announcements. I will announce just briefly that in

respect for all of those members of the yach club that I did miss my traffic safety advisory meeting on Tuesday after my attendance of the passing of Jimmy Walsh who was a longtime sailor and member of the community. So take a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn.