City Council - Regular Meeting

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down. Good. Good evening, Garden City. I'd like to call to order regular city council meeting for Monday, January 26th, 2026 at 700 p.m. Our first order of business is our opening ceremony, which consists of national anthem followed by the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence for those service members who've given their lives for our country. If you'd please rise.

[music]

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. Please be seated. Mr. Smith, if you take roll call, please. Mayor Jacobs here. Mayor Prom Dold here. Council member Hughes here. Council member Wit here. Council member King here. Council member Dol here. Council member Kapotus

here. You have a quorum of seven. Thank you. Item four is the approval of the agenda. Mayor, Council Member Wit like to make a motion to approve the Monday, January 26, uh, council meeting agenda as presented. support or from for mayor prom dol. Uh comments from the table from the public. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes 70.

Okay, we have a couple recognitions tonight. Uh I'm going to move down to the podium. At this time, I'd like to call up Mr. Justin Lucky. So, if none of you heard this story, uh Justin was on his way to work at 7-Eleven and at Marman and Ford Road, there was a elderly woman that was having trouble crossing uh across Marman and uh Justin seeing this uh got off his bike and it was probably about a month ago, so wasn't real warm and helped her get across the street fighting traffic because the light had changed. Uh, and as he told me, cars were going around her and uh, he he helped her, which is I I was so impressed with it, I thought he deserves some recognition. Um, so we have that and he's kind of humble and I'll tell you, he when I asked him over the phone, uh, you know, how it went and all that, he explained it kind of like what I just said and then I said, "Well, we appreciate that. We wanted to recognize you. He said, "I'm I'm not sure I did anything anybody else wouldn't have done." And then I said, "Well, you just told me that as you were helping her, cars were coming around you." He goes, "Well, yeah, I guess you're right." So, uh, you know, it it it's little things like that in these times that I think are really special and I do believe really need to be recognized and we appreciate what you

did. So, we've got a uh uh certificate for you, and I'll just read it for you or to everybody. On behalf of the mayor and city council of the city of Garden City, we extend our sincere thanks and recognition to Justin Watkkey for his act of kindness and civic responsibility demonstrated while traveling to work in Garden City. Mr. selfless act reflects the highest values of our community. Compassion, awareness, and a willingness to help others in need. His actions serve as an inspiring example of how just one small moment of kindness can make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Thank you, Justin, for making a positive impact in the community. The city of Garden City commend you for your thoughtfulness and for taking the time to assist a fellow citizen. Thank you very much. We appreciate [applause] it. We all We also have a little which you'll probably like more than a certificate maybe little Garden City swag forum uh just for appreciation. This is all yours. And if you want to say anything or not or microphone is yours.

I'm glad to be a part of this community and I think people should be nicer where they can be even just taking five minutes out of their day to do something small. Okay. Thank you very much again. [applause] Congratulations. Thank you. take a picture.

Thank you.

Best part of my job is doing stuff like that. Next, we also have uh a resolution of recognition for our career and technical education month. And I'd like to call up Miss Linda Bamaro and some of her students. Hello again. come on up and I'll read the uh resolution here. Whereas the month of February 2026 has been designated career and technical education month by the association for career and technical education. And whereas career and technical education provides students with rigorous academic instruction, technical training, and essential skills necessary for career readiness and long-term professional success. Students enrolled in career and technical education programs engage in hands-on learning experiences that enhance educational quality, promote higher levels of achievement, and foster meaningful engagement. Career and technical education provides students with career exploration opportunities earlier in their educational experience, which enables them to make informed and beneficial decisions about their academic coursework and pursue established programs of study and career pathways. Business and industry leaders across the country continue to identify challenges related to closing the skills gap and connecting qualified individuals with career opportunities in critical high

demand career and technical education related fields including energy advanced manufacturing information technology healthc care and cyber security. Career and technical education prepares students for these and other fulfilling careers by offering integrated programs of study that link secondary and post-secary education and lead to the attainment of industry recognized credentials. Career and technical career and technical education programs strengthen the workforce by ensuring that employers have access to a qualified and thriving workforce. Citizens are encouraged to learn about, support, and participate in career and technical education programs within their communities. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city council of Garden City does hereby on this 26th day of the month of January in the year 2026 proclaim the month of February 2026 as career and technical education month in the city of Garden City. Thank you. And if you'd like to

Yeah. Miss Bino Um, first I'd like to introduce some people. These are very important people from our school. Um, these are u members that are that are currently enrolled in some of our CTE classes. This is Josh Phillips. This is his mother because she is a parents involvement. I can't even describe to you. Parents and businesses are so important to our programs. And this is Vicky Dong and this is Evan Hall. And they're going to say just a couple of things um real quickly before we move on. But um just to let you know that um I really appreciate these people and I appreciate you and thank you mayor. That's very nice. Give you Oh, thanks.

We have six career programs and ROC at Garden City High School with about 300 stu students enrolled. We learned business, construction, graphics, and how to be teachers. In business, the career paths are marketing, accounting, and management. In education, occupation, we learn to be teachers and child care providers. In construction, we build things, use machinery, tools, and tools correctly. And in graphics, we learned how to use computer software to design and create custom items using printing, heat presses, silk screening, and sublimation. always.

And with all these programs, the students have organizations that give the students leadership, community service, and the opportunity to compete with other schools to show their excellence and their career skills. So, in conclusion, I hope you've gotten some little tidbits from our program. CTE provides a very important um opportunity for our kids to gain skills for the future and we really greatly appreciate the city council for recognizing that importance and declaring February as CTE month. Absolutely. And again, congratulations. Uh I think Mr. Prash would like a picture for us.

[applause]

Again, that's some of the best stuff that we we can uh do is recognizing uh students and uh residents, especially young residents that are doing above and beyond what they they need to do. Okay. Um, we have no state or county officials here, no presentations, uh, community events. Uh, I'd like to call up our community development director, Mr. Matt Miller. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Um, we're looking forward to warmer weather and events coming up in the summer. Uh, the first is for the lucky squirrel 2026. We have those dates out there. that is May 16th, July 18th, and September 19th. Uh kind of new this year is a new registration process that we're utilizing um through the sportsman's app, and that is um so that you have to register online to become a vendor there. um what that will help us, it's changing it a little bit um from years in the past is that it will allow us to kind of fill the spaces and you have to pay before you come as opposed to collecting money on that day. So, it kind of simplifies and kind of takes out money handling on that day for us and also um if they pay for the spot they will show up so we won't have gaps in the vendor space which um always kind of leaves kind of dead spaces in that um in the layout. So, we're excited to try this a new registration and um actually I say we're excited to try it, but a lot of people are using it already. So, that is a good thing. It is online. You don't have to come in in person. If you do want to come in in person to uh rent

your spaces, you can come to the Radcliffe Center and actually one of the staff there will help you enter your information into sportsmen so that you will be able to um be part of the event. And again, we have 150 spaces for the this year and um please come out and get your craft and vendor items ready to sell at those markets. Um we also are doing a new layout this year so that we're kind of compacting the event space and we've opened up an entire parking area. So kind of what we used to call the 200 spaces. Those are now all going to be parking. So, we've got a another parking lot open behind Corwell Health, and that will be again to accommodate. There's so many people and so much traffic and um vehicles. So, it will help to open up another lot for parking to um give relief and get more people down to shop and to enjoy the event. So, again, looking forward to summer and uh starting the lucky squirrel days. Uh we open up the registration on the 15th. I think we've got 73 registrates already. So, we're really moving along quickly. So, and then the next uh item that I wanted to talk about was our hometown heroes. Hometown hero program is going again this year, 2026. And I'm encouraging people that have any connection with a a veteran that has a connection to Garden City to fill out an application and uh send that in to us. You can find it online. also um an application for the hometown hero banner program. And uh what is what we're going to do is we're going to take them online or you can still come into city hall and we will accept the application and we will scan the photo for you. If you need help with scanning that photo, we can scan it. We have a scanner that does uh photos quite well and we get a good image for the for that. So, uh, again, you can come into

city hall anytime and we will be able to scan that for you. And also, um, these banners will be up again through Memorial Day, through Veterans Day, and we have a total of 40 spaces for this year. Uh, so far we're at about 15 and we really haven't started to advertise. Um, and also, um, this year, um, for the first time, we have some killed in action veterans so far that have applied. So, I'm going to work on a little different layout on their banner so that we'll have those um out. So, it'll be a little different for those um veterans that were killed in action. So, uh again, we're looking forward to the uh banner program and u please submit your applications as soon as possible because again, we only have 40 this year and so far we really haven't advertised and we're up to 15. So, I want to make sure we can accommodate everyone that we can get in for the list. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. I know the uh veterans really appreciate it and uh the residents do too. They they always comment positively on the uh driving down Ford Road and seeing it. So, thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you. Okay. Uh we have no petitions or communications, no public hearings tonight. Uh item 11 is our consent agenda. Mayor, Council Member Wit like to make a motion to approve consent agenda items A 1 through six, including 6A, as presented. support from council member Hughes. Comments from the table. Mayor, council member Kapotus,

just a quick question. Everything that's in the capital improvement plan gets talked about at the budget meeting and if it's over the 10,000, it still comes in front of council even if we approve it tonight. Correct. This is just uh your receipt of it, not any determinations based on the plan, just uh as part of the budget process. Sort of kicking that concept off. Just making sure. Yep. No problem. Okay. Any further comments from the public? All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay. Action items. Uh, special land use request. I'll call Mr. Miller and Mr. Ortega. Okay.

Might need uh Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. Uh, before you tonight is a request for a special land use. Um, there is a 2.62 62 acre parcel at the northwest corner, excuse me, northeast corner of Ford Road and Hoverard Avenue. Currently, it's a uh under it's a ashvault parking lot. Uh the site is zone C3 and an applicant has proposed to construct a brand new uh autofilling or gas station along with a drive-through window in this location. In the C3 district, this requires special land use review and approval. So the planning commission at their January meeting did hold a public hearing as required and there were uh several comments by the public. Um some of them were in favor of the applicant uh not only the use but uh because of the applicant and the reputation. uh some res some uh speakers did have some concerns about the impact to the uh the traffic pattern and the possibility of their their preferred traffic routes being uh altered. Uh we did also receive uh comments uh through email uh that were concerned either about the number of gas stations or they were concerned about uh having competition between gas stations. Um but the planning commission reviewed the special land use application and reviewed the site plan and in the end they have recommended that the city council approve of the special land use. Uh that would be contingent upon the applicant making some uh minor revisions to the site plan uh as the issues were discussed that evening. So before you tonight are one of the options is uh you can uh you may decide that it's no longer necessary to further discuss the application for this gas station and drive-through window uh restaurant service at this location and then the recommendation of approval uh and you would reendorse and and grant the approval of the use. uh if you so choose

uh to delay and discuss further the uh all the details of this application, you could do that and then that would just need to be scheduled for further uh discussion at a future meeting or you could choose to uh deny the meeting. Uh this evening we do have uh representatives of the team for sheets, the applicants uh that would be constructing the site including their engineer to answer any questions you may have. So I can answer any questions you may have in regard to the process. Okay. First, uh, we'll take a motion for, uh, from the council and then we'll open it up for discussion. Mayor. May. Council member King,

I move that the city council concur with the planning commission's recommendation and grant final approval for the gas station and drive-through food service window, special land use at 323000 Ford Road. Support for Mayor Prom Dold. Okay. Discussion from the table. Mayor, council member Kerapotus. So, first off, there's no truck parking, correct? That is correct. This is for all for passenger vehicles. There's no uh truck parking and there's no fuel service for trucks. Okay. And also, the drive-through window is because there's a restaurant.

Yes. Component of their use does include a uh a cafe style restaurant and they actually have modified the window. It will no longer be a t stereo a typical drive-thru ordering and then pickup. It'll be a pickup window [clears throat] where uh people will order through the app of uh their telephone on their phone and then they would go through the window to pick up their items.

So that's changed since the paperwork that we got that shows like the drive-thru where they order and stuff. So the the while while while the style of the drive-through window has changed, the actual physical attributes and functions after discussions with the planning commission, they wanted to keep it as is to make sure that even if even though people might not be uh ordering at a uh kiosk and and menu board, they still feel like in order to make sure that the uh site circulation is appropriate to leave all of the improvements necessary to guide the traffic. So the configuration stays the same. It's just the function of the windows slightly altered. Okay. Um, and you said they are going to make some minor revisions. Do you know what some of those revisions are?

Uh, they have presented some of those revisions. Uh, one of them included the fact that there is a sanitary sewer easement along the east property line and the applicant was required to provide some additional screening. So, the renderings uh provided tonight have shifted the storm water detention ponds but added the a required u um that's all nicely landscaped and everything it looks by our plans. Yes, exactly. The planning commission wanted them to enhance the site with that landscaping. The easement is here. Yes. So that's the easement to where like the car dealership building starts. Well, it's a sanitary sewer eman. There's a sanitary sewer main running from Ford Road northbound north on there. Okay.

And um maybe the engineer knows this. If approved, like when is the start and how long would it take? [clears throat] Good evening everyone. My name is Alex Suiki from Sheets 39300 West 12M Road, Farmington Hills, Michigan. If approved this evening, we will start what we call the engineering process. It's process of creating all of our construction documents. Um, which we'll have reviewed by city staff, county, state, all the people that that want to know about it. Um, that typically takes about 6 months, maybe faster. Um, fingers crossed. Um, and then we would start construction thereafter, which is also about a six-month process. So, so late summer probably would start. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions right now?

No.

I guess the other Oh, I'm sorry. Um, the other thing I want to see, I know I saw some of the comments about people worried about traffic. I don't see that people are going to be coming from a whole bunch of other cities to come here to go to that Sheets. There's one Rhymus. No one's driving all the way to Rhymus to go to Sheets. I don't think the traffic's going to be any different than if we had another gas station there. And then some other people brought up about crime for a 24-hour um establishment, but this is some place that's brightly lit. And and it seems like since CO there's nothing in Garden City open past 8:00. So, it would be nice to have something open at 10 or 11 o'clock when you're coming home from Mhler or hockey practice or that wherever. Um and to be able to stop there. So, I think it's a good idea.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Council member Dole, I was at the planning commission, so I've already gone through a lot of this stuff, but I did want to say to all of you, I I want to thank you because everything you presented was it very very comprehensive plan that you presented to us. Um, and I really [clears throat] want to thank you for not requesting any huge variances from us.

Um, I think it's a fantastic idea. Uh the other thing I noticed in the the letter concerning some of the changes that you were asked to make when we you were asked to move the dumpster enclosure a little bit and I have to say I really like this that the reason why you don't want to is because we're trying to save a tree. There's a tree on the property that they don't want to take down. So um and it and it's still the dumpster enclosure will work as planned. So again, I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful comprehensive plan that you brought forward to us and you know just very smooth. Thank you. Thank you. You further comments from the table. Yes, mayor.

Mayor Prom Dol. The motion may uh motion made was to approve uh which option one or two. Option one. One. Okay. Thank you. That's all I have.

Further comments? I have a couple. Um, I've I've heard of again uh some concerns about the traffic and looking at this when you go from basically Ford Road in Inkingster, start of Garden City to uh all the way through Garden City, there's not another gas station on the north side until you get to Wayne Road. Um, so I don't see a lot of traffic issues as far as the people going east are not going to I don't think just for if they're just going for gas to make that turn across uh Ford Road in and then come back out and try to go east again. Uh I I don't think see that as an issue. I believe there's enough gas stations on the south side that if they choose just to go get gas, they can do that without uh interrupting traffic. Ford Road is a main uh main state road that is going to be busy. Uh Canton is a good example of that and uh I don't see that much traffic uh building up right in that area. So um I'm also uh approve of it. I think it's a good idea. Um, competition always brings out the best uh hopefully in people and this will just maybe step the game up of other gas stations that are in the area. So, thank you.

One more comotus. This is for Mario wondering um people were talking about um putting you know smaller gas stations out of business. I don't think that sheets is any bigger than mobile. So, were they talking about individual gas stations? I mean, every gas station that we have is a Shell or Synokco or something a huge company. Was there ones that I'm just missing or something that's smaller that Not that I can think of off the top of my head. Mainly because we've already seen reinvestment in their existing gas stations that right be refurbished. So, they're all of a high quality now. And I think this is uh actually they're going to,

you know, have a normal level of competition amongst the uses. And I and I think a key aspect is as the the mayor indicated, eastbound traffic will only have two options in in Garden City. And so we'd like to be able to make sure we capture that traffic and have it have that business stay in Garden City rather than move out. One more question. Uh just like the mobile that's right across the street, it is has it has beer and wine sales. Does she sell beer and wine? Okay. Yes. Okay, that's all. Mayor, Council Member Do just real quick, I want to remind everybody that competition is not a valid reason for the city to refuse new developments. So, it's, you know, it's just how things work.

And I would say I I did hear one concern about traffic on Hubard. Uh I don't see any more traffic on Hubard other than the people that live in that area coming up to get gas. Um I there won't be semiis going down there. There's no overnight parking in the lot. So, um I don't see a lot of uh adverse uh things going on there. So, again, further comments from table. Okay. From the public. Thank you, sir. Anybody want to speak from the public? Okay. All in favor of the motion? I

opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay. Item two is the fee schedule amendment. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Item two is the fee schedule amendment and I believe that is uh Mr. Miller.

Good evening again. So we'll just give them a moment. Um, so tonight I'm before you for a fee schedule amendment and what I'm asking for is to add what I'm calling an additional compliance inspection in the buildings area um in permitting in the fee schedule. Uh what I'm what we're working on is trying to help [clears throat] with the reduction of time that permits are open and also to give us a mechanism so that we can actually go out and inspect and then have kind of a tracking method to get compliance on the site. Uh, for example, if we if we get called out um from the building department to go out for a site that is not in compliance or causing a nuisance for neighbors, we don't really have a fee for that. And our inspectors get paid um by a portion of the fee for them to go out. So, we don't have a cost to cover the expense that we're having. And so that's why I'm proposing an additional fee compliant or additional compliance inspection fee for $100 per inspection. Um this in conjunction with I know you received an earlier communication u from Tim and I from the city manager and I uh regarding kind of how a permit is how long a permit can be open and kind of when we can step in when we can't step in regarding kind of that permit process. But I also created an additional administrative policy that will work in conjunction with the fee so that we will of course we will receive a complaint. We will document the complaint in BSNA. We will seek uh compliance and then we will assess the fee and so the uh permit holder knows the fee is going to be charged and that we're getting paid for the service that we're providing um to go out at the site and look at that. Um because when we're going out for inspections, we're called for those

inspections. So, the permit starts and then we go out for inspections at intervals that really are kind of determined by the applicant, not by the city. So, of course, when a six-month period goes for a permit to go um to expire, we start the process to figure out what what's occurring at the site. Um BSNA does have a mechanism that it does schedule an inspection for us to go out so that we can uh look at the site uh see if there's progress or not. Um the area that is of course the most gray area is kind of what is progress, what is defined as progress. Um we try always to work with the applicants so that we can get the building built, get it occupied and then move on is of course what I would love to see on everything and it would go faster. It would be easier for us to do. But sometimes construction projects just don't work that way. Um, so with this additional compliance fee, um, I would like you to support that, um, the proposal and then, um, tomorrow we'll start the administrative policy and we'll be able to have a mechanism to really follow up on these kind of nuisance construction sites.

Thank you, Mayor. Council member Kapotus, I move to recommend an amendment to the 2526 fee schedule to additional compliance inspections. Support or for Mayor Prom Dole. Further comments from the table. Mayor, Council Member Dolan,

I'm all for this, but I have a couple questions that kind of sort of um So, you say in here that that the uh the building department waits to receive a complaint. Is there a process or a timeline once a once they come in to receive this permit? Are we going by there on a regular basis, once a week, twice a week once they start building to make sure that they're keeping the site clean? And maybe there's no reason for the neighbors to complain, you know, at least what it looks like. Um, so I just wondering if we if we have a process in place that or do we only wait until the inspection date arrives, that's when we go on site and look at things or a complaint. Well, luckily Garden City is not huge, so the inspectors do go by also. So, we can receive a complaint, but we also do go by every so often. You know, they're driving down the street. I ask them to have their eyes and ears open, you know, see things that are going on there. But, we really we don't have a mechanism to just go out there and kind of um go to go on sites until, you know, until we're called. Once a permit starts, then, you know, the state building code says, you know, they apply for a permit. um we go out and inspect when they've completed work and we determine their process and their progress based on that. But we do we do go by and we we you know on top of us seeing things that don't look right on the sites, we also catch people doing work without permits which also that you know the inspectors we you know our eyes and ears are open for that too. And so it's kind of the same thing that we see and we try to you know make it as best we can. So it

as you said Garden City is not big. We all drive around Garden City all the time and there there's several development sites now that need attention. Yes. And you know they're they're very visible because of where they're located at. I would really like to see us just no other words crack down on these you know and set an example so that new development coming in knows that we're not we're just not going to allow it. If you go into other towns that's not what you're seeing. So, yes. Thank you. Any comments? [clears throat] Mayor, mayor prom do

uh just for an example, is it like for safety issues, I can think of a business on the west side of the town that uh had a safety fence out front where it was required and it was taken down. Now most of the building is accessible for I don't know homeless or it it to me that's kind of unsafe especially with out of stable building. Does that fall under this? Yes. Yes. How can it be reproduced as we say you you give him a citation nothing's done for a week. How can we stop it from happening or

how can we get it done? this I don't I haven't been by there this week, but it it's been open for two weeks now since I first got a phone call about it. Went down and looked. Mhm. I I don't know if anything's happened this week, but it was still down. Okay. Last weekend, right? I haven't seen anything. Right. That seems to be an issue. Sure.

Ask for forgiveness instead of permission. One of them type things. But, uh, if you give us the address, I'll go out and we can send an inspector and we'll be able to get a fee for the service actually. So, that'll be good. Actually, you know, before we were doing it and we're losing revenue. I mean, it takes a car, it takes time, all of that. And so, this this additional compliance fee will help with that. Great. Thank you. And there will be a documentation in BSNA also. Mayor, Council Member Kapotus.

So, you know, Matt, I'm so glad we're doing this. I'm probably one of the number one callers. So, for people that don't know, we have people that come up to the podium all the time and say, "Hey, I live across from this new construction. It looks bad. There's garbage all over." Then I complain to Tim and then he calls the the department and then they have to go out. So, I totally understand the part that we're losing out on money because we're paying our inspectors. And you said there's so many times that we can do this. So, what if one site gets five calls in the six months it takes them to build and you said it's a gray area. What's the consequence? I mean, what if the guy doesn't care? Like 10 10 of those things is only $1,000. Maybe he'd be like, "So what? I'll just keep doing what I want." So, is there a line that says, "Hey, you've gotten five of these. You have to stop work right now until we get a deposit for more of these calls or something like that." Is there anything in that like that?

No, unfortunately. But I hopefully if we keep on them, but number one, there's never been a real process to document it. Correct. So now we'll be able to look and say we're out there five times, you know. Um we can't shut down if there's not a true safety violation or work is done without a permit. So we really can't do that either. So we're looking at we're just trying to seek compliance always and um we're always trying to do that. Um and I I hope that this will be kind of a a get the ball rolling incentive. I wanted to say something else, but anyways, to get them get them moving. Okay. And that we're really following up and you're going to be charged.

Okay. And then I think what um Councilwoman Do was talking about if there was some kind of protocol in place with a timeline. So a new build starts, we don't have to go out until they say, "Hey, come inspect the electric, come inspect the brick work, whatever." But in that meantime, they build the building that they say they weren't going to build. It doesn't look anything like the plans they did. Why don't we have that beforehand? Like instead of saying, "Well, we rode by this building. They put up all brick and they were supposed to put up Jim Hardy board." And they didn't. Instead of waiting until it's all built, and then saying, "Well, we got to let you do it." [clears throat] Why isn't there a timeline to say, "Hey, as soon as they start building the building, someone should go out and say, "Yep, it looks like it's supposed to." Not inspect it, but just to say, "It looks like it's supposed to." Do we have that in place?

We don't really. And of course, for that example, the the bricking occurred, you know, in three-day period. I just mean in general. I mean, there's other buildings that have done that. We all know which one I'm talking about, but it it happens more often than not, it seems like. So, it would be nice if there was something in place to say you have to follow what you gave us. Like the planning commission sees this whole big plan and what it's supposed to look like and then we approve it and then it doesn't look anything like that. So, like Kim said, I think that people come in and want to do what they want, but they should still be following our our criteria because we're approving it that way. Yes. Yes. You further comments? Mayor, Council Member Hughes,

evening. Um, I have a question about what happens for non-payment of and how how how do we collect the funds for this this type of fee? Is it, you know, added on at a later date or how is that? Does that happen? We will, our goal is we will not issue a certificate of occupancy until they paid all the fees. So, that is our kind of the the carrot and the stick approach. So, if you want this, you'll have to pay all the fees to get everything completed. Thank you. Thank you. Further comments from table from public. Okay. All in favor? I

opposed. Motion passes 70. Thank you. Okay. Next one is 32 and out of schooltime grant. And I will call our parks and recck uh director uh Mr. Zack King.

Good mayor and council. Um pretty excited to bring this one up in front of you guys tonight. We've been working on this for a while and it's kind of excited to start talking about it. Um I first want to mention kind of how this came to the city. This grant's been mentioned a few times from the school district, but this year um new in his position Kevin English from the school district reached out to Sean and said, "Hey, this is coming down the line. Get ready for it." Kind of mentioned it to me and then we were last minute kind of told like, "Oh, it's live." But it wasn't just us. It was all the communities across Michigan. And it was a very tight timeline to apply for it and we're very grateful to have been awarded. Um, in the packet tonight, you'll see a award um, contingency letter today and I kind of mentioned the tight timeline in my letter. Um, today we just received the actual grant award letter which is pretty exciting this morning. Saw that the email when I woke up. Um, so I've provided that to you guys tonight. This wasn't included in the packet because we just received that today. Um, as I said, this is actually a grant across Michigan. There's 532 other sites. Um the grand focus is after school or before school um programming and summer programming with those enrichment um activities like mathematics and science. Uh for our afterchool program we've chosen tutoring. It seems to be an interest within the community. A lot of people are asking for some type of afterchool program. Um so we wrote the grant based on an afterchool tutoring program. Uh it's going to essentially be over a three-hour period but two different age groups. So two hours from one age group, two hours from another age group. We believe the um kind of the flow of how that will work is the first hour will be tutoring with staff with tutors and the second hour will be some type of enrichment recreation activity within the building. So we're very blessed to have Radcliffe with a lot of different activity rooms um including spaceport the gymnasium. We can do organized activities like dodgeball and basketball with the students and we can also do our art room art classes across the hallway um and a few other rooms in the center uh to get that enrichment. So kind of the hey come do some school and education but then we can also reward you with some recreation. That program

will be 100% grant funded 100% free to the students no cost whatsoever. Um even for the recreation activities as well. Um moving into summer this will be an extension on our camp GC program. So the grant allows you to either extend a current program you're already running or start a brand new one. So tutoring we're starting brand new. the summer camp. We're going to expand our Camp GC to be a little more educational um and bring that cost down for families. So, we can still charge for the program. It doesn't have to be 100% free. Um so, we still want that buy in. We still want to make sure your kids come if you're going to take up a spot for Camp GC. Um but it'll be a lot less uh than previous years for staff. Um I've already started working with other departments to get this uh started and moving. We actually do have a deadline of having to start by Tuesday, February 5th. And we also have to have 90 days of tutoring um according to the grant application. So that pretty much takes up every school day we have here from till the end of the grant including next school year. Um the grant is 100% all the activities is uh 100% covered uh uh the in our budget and um can't read my last note. It must not have been too important. So uh yeah. All right. All right. Well, if you have any questions, I'll let a motion be made, but then me me, myself, and uh Sean, the grant coordinator is here with any questions.

Mayor, Council Member Carotus, I motion to authorize the city manager to sign any necessary agreements with the state of Michigan to execute to execute the 302 out of school time grant. Support from council member Hughes. Discussion from the table. Mayor, council member Dole. Um, so you said the 90 days that's pretty much the rest of the school year. So I'm assuming then that the tutoring is going to be available from Monday through Friday.

Yep. Monday through Friday, 5 days a week. Right now the schedule is 3 to 6 if I had that correct. There'll be a 2-hour block from 3:00 to 5:00 and a 2-hour block from 4 to 6. That also includes next school year, too. So we restart September, the first day of school. I want to stay around the 11th. Um, and we run throughout the entire month of September as well to meet that 90-day criteria. Okay. And then that'll start the next grant cycle where we'll apply again and get the funding and continue the program year after year as we hope. Do you know how many tutors you're hiring? Uh, the grant we had budgeted for two wreck leaders, three tutors, and one lead tutor. So, six six staff members every day.

And what are the age groups? Uh the grant covers anyone between K and 12. Um we're targeting that Douglas to high school age group. Those that don't know what's Douglas. H Douglas is what age? Third and fourth. Further comments? Mayor. Go ahead, Tom. Council member King. I see that it says the number of students is 30 students for the tutoring program. So, are you thinking um 15 for for each session or It doesn't have to be um but we we do kind of plan on Yeah. have 15 of the older age group, 15 of the younger age group.

There is reporting behind those numbers too. So, every kid does have to enroll um which will kind of be through our RDR enrollment program anyway, sportsmen. But then we do have to report those numbers and the students intending and stuff like that. There's also other requirements and I think I found my last note. um having parent activity nights as well and family uh activity nights within this grant. So kind of what we already kind of do with our family fun nights incorporating this into that evening um which allows you know kind of something with this grant I was excited about it allows programs we're already running but then to be covered by a grant um so it's kind of exciting we can not only expand on those programs but continue to run those at no cost. Um and during those events there have you know we want to try and focus on especially if the parents are going to be there some type of parent education but also parent kid education and some of those like life skills and um reaching out to like credit unions and other organizations that can kind of give some other life skills like budgeting and stuff like that to the kids and parents um through this grant.

Thank you. Council member Kapotus, Zach, if you see my post today, I asked our I asked our community what they want to see for that life class. So, um, we'll get some input like besides interviewing skills or going to the credit union, that kind of stuff. So, we we'll get some more ideas, too. Yeah, the interest is definitely out there. Absolutely. Um, Radcliffe hours, they close early on Fridays. So, are we not doing Fridays? And maybe that could be more time in October. When does the grant close that we have to use it all by?

Uh, no. We will be doing Fridays because we'll have six staff members doing this. We will be open just for that program um until 6 o'clock on Fridays. There is kind of a goal too with Radcliffe outside of this to kind of get those extended hours back. I don't think that's happening now, but this is a step towards the right direction of having more hours at Radcliffe. When when does the grant close? Like when do we have to spend the money by? You said just through September. Yeah. September or 30th. Yeah. September 30th of 2026. It has to be done. Yeah. Okay. And it uh this grant too is money first. So actually pending tonight's approval, we'll have the money within the next few weeks. That's great. So we're going to start it ASAP. Yep. No, the plan is to start February 2nd.

And the kids aren't going Monday through Friday. Like one kid just could come two days a week and someone else. Correct. Yep. Open enrollment stopping solely up to the child. And are the time variations because maybe the middle school could just walk over it starting at 3 to 5 and the other one grade school. This is accommodate the school release schedule. Um we're also looking, we do have money for transportation, so we are working Sean has started the conversation with the school district on what that would look like. Uh we don't have those details figured out yet, but we do have money set aside for transportation to get some of those younger groups to the Radcliffe Center. Well, as a parent whose kid gets tutored at Radcliffe anyway, uh I love this. So yeah, I think it's a great thing. Thank you. Thank you. Further comments from the table. Great work.

Thank you. No more further, no more comments uh from the public. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay. Uh next is a three-year internet service provider agreement. Our communications director, Mr. Z King.

Good evening, mayor and council. Uh not so exciting in this one. This is one of those things we have to bring to you yearly or every three years here. Um this is a renewal for the ISP agreement. while provides two services for the city. One is internet with um dedicated IP addresses that will allow us to do our VPNs for employees and um BSNA cloud for residents to connect in. Um and they also provide what they call in the industry dark fiber that is fiber dedicated to us to connect our buildings together that allows one central server, one central connection and not using um internet to connect the buildings together more secure for the city itself. Um and actually in this agreement the costs are decrease you know as the as we as we have the past few years trying to find more ways to cost and save and sometimes even this number is just asking questions of the agreement kind of diving into what are actually paying for cutting back on the services we didn't need and kind of just actually a little bit of negotiation with them um as asked in a previous goal setting session was to kind of review those contracts we've had for a really long time. So I did that as well. I actually did reach out to Comcast and AT&T and the startup cost was almost unbearable to switch. So it's one of those things we're kind of stuck with. Wow. Uh and I will say that with working with Jeffrey, they are very good team, very responsive. Um any question I had and something this being last minute, uh something that brought up by our Skynet technician, Will kind of like, "Hey, did you see this in there?" And I was like, "Oh, I didn't." Um which actually resulted in more savings as well. So very responsive even in the past week getting this to you guys. Um we're able to reduce that. So currently we're paying $5,813 a month. The new cost will be $4,86. And I will say the that that that is a savings of around $1,000 a month around 12,000 a year. That savings is due to like I said just negotiating kind of saying, "Hey, you you are the only vendor. Um the city is trying to cut cost. What can we do?" We decreased some of our fiber. Um and again just reviewed

that contract. I believe that's everything for tonight. Okay. Mayor appro so move to approve the city manager or as a design he to sign attach agreement with wow business the city's internet service provider regarding the renewal of the three-year contract in the amount of 100,731 $173,394 support from council member wit discussion from table [clears throat]

question for you. It's a three-year contract. You have four years on here. I'm assuming the 25 26 is already It's because we're h it's because the contract starts in February. So, we're already halfway through the fiscal year. So, that that's why that like it's kind of cut in half there. It'll be the remainder of this fiscal year, the next, the next, then half of the final fiscal year. Okay. Okay. Further comments from table from public. All in favor? I I opposed. [snorts] Motion passes 70. Thank you. Okay. Item five is council schedule amendment reschedule. [clears throat] Mr. Gibbons.

Uh thank you, mayor and council. Um just a request tonight. um had it put on the schedule to may have a schedule conflict for the meeting on the 2nd and requesting council uh consider a different date. U myself and the clerk have discussed uh we initially put on the 16th. Um but we were also uh wanted council to consider moving the uh budget goal setting meeting to an hour and a half before our 9th meeting on the 9th. That's uh two weeks from today. the mayor, council member King, I think the agenda says February 16th. It is February 9th. Yeah, we we have two meetings in a row.

Yes. So, we have um we currently have the goal setting budget meeting scheduled for the second and uh the request is to move that to a different date. Initially last week when myself and the clerk were discussing we saw the 16th was an open date but then a little further consideration saw that actually we have a council meeting on the 9th um the goal setting the time it usually would take the goal setting um would be sufficient just to do about an hour and a half before our regularly scheduled council meeting and maybe save council from doing too many Mondays in a row. So, while we put on the agenda to consider the 16th, we'd actually uh myself and the clerk discussed that the just moving it to 5:30 to 7 on the 9th of February be a better date. So, uh we would just be looking for a motion to move the uh

mayor scheduled budget meeting from the 2nd to the 9th. Okay. Council member Dol like to make a motion to move the council goal setting budget meeting to February 9th at 5:30 p.m. support or from council member King. Further discussion from table. Okay. From public all in favor. Opposed.

Motion passes 70. Okay. Item 12. We have no other business. 13 is public comment from the public. Anybody wishing to speak on non-aggenda items, you'll have three minutes to discuss uh anything. It's not time to go back and forth. Okay. No one from the public. All right. Close that up. Uh city manager report. Nothing too much tonight. Uh mayor. All right. But I just did uh you know I when I when I actually applied for the position city manager, one of the things I did want to focus on was um how can the city contribute to uh enriching the lives of our our school kids and uh just performing in helping this school district improve their performance uh academically. And I so I just want to thank Zach and Sean and their cooperation with the school district on bringing that grant. Um you know it's something I would like to have done anyways. It's much better when we have a grant to pay for it. So great job. very excited to see this program succeed and it's one I hope that you know sometimes when you start up a new program you may not get the a large amount at first it it takes word of mouth it takes those things but I think it's the kind of thing that's really worth um hopefully it's a success at Amazing right off the bat but even not it's such a positive for the city I you know I'm really committed to absolutely um sticking through this one and making sure it it works and um I'm very excited about the team that are working on it and I just love the fact that we have a middle school right next to our community center that can really uh make it super convenient to benefit from. So, super excited about that and just wanted to thank them and other than that, I have nothing else.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Um just I just wanted to extend a thank you to our Department of Public Works for uh all their hard work over the uh weekend and the past couple weeks in these cold temperatures. And just remind residents um when you're out driving in icy, snowy conditions, don't overestimate your driving skills. Um just slow down a little bit. take it easy and and make sure you get where you're going safely. Thank you, Mayor Prom Dol.

Yes, I'd like to echo what Mr. Smith said about our DPWs. They they are outstanding. Our city looks really nice as as well as there's been a lot of buzz about our uh police department is issuing tickets for the snow emergency. They are issuing tickets. I think they issued about 125. We and we can't compare those numbers to other cities because we're a lot smaller than them, but they are doing a fine job out there. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Hughes.

Um I concur with [clears throat] DPS. They do a great job and um I've never had a problem with uh you know with them clearing the streets. I mean there you know times sometimes it's not always 100% but I think they give 100% always. And um I want to thank Sean and Zach for the work that you've done on this. And to turn around it really quick, that's that says a lot. It's going to be a lot of work in a short period of time. So thank you very much for taking this on. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Wit.

Uh yeah, just you know, obviously thanks to Sean and Zach. Obviously Sean has done for many years getting a lot of grant money coming in that makes his program self-sufficient without any out of the budget. So, you know, we always appreciate the more that you can kind of keep bringing in and help helping uh extend Garden City's structure with everything going on. So, thank you for all you do, Zach. Great job over there at uh Redcliffe, but uh nothing else. Thank you, Council Member King.

Well, I'm going to follow suit as everybody else. Uh I thank Sean and Zachary for finding some more grant money for the city. I think it's a great program and excited to see it um up on its feet. and also the uh police department for um getting out there and writing the tickets to get cars off the road so DPS can do their job and uh clear the roadway. The roadways look really great. So that's all I have. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Do.

I want to thank every department in this city because they all do a fantastic job. Um seriously, they all do. Uh, the only other thing I want to mention, you know, when you're driving around and you're pulling into parking spots and stuff like that, you really need to watch out for those snow banks cuz a lot of times they have ice underneath them. Right, Mr. Dol let you know they're tricky that way. [laughter] Okay. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Carotus, I just have a couple things to say. I'm not going to say anything that everybody else said. Um, [laughter]

yeah. Um, one I want to ask about our master plan. This is two and a half years since we started the the changes and pretty soon it's going to be the time that we have to redo the whole thing. So, where are we? That's to you. I can provide an update um in the near future.

Okay. All right. Yeah, that's a long time that we've been working on it. Um, I recently made a post asking our Garden City residents what they wanted for our community. I said, 'I know we're all looking for lower taxes and lower water bills, but what else do we want? And um I talked to a couple um of Garden City employees and said, "Hey, did you look at some of these?" And um some of them were ideas that we already have, things that are going on at Ragcliff. So that was really good. Um but a couple things that people talked about were um bringing back the bacon run, which that's not the first time I've heard that. Several people have said that over. So I hope that's coming. Um, a lot of people talked about better ordinance and that's coming too. So, keep watching our meetings because it's coming. Um, I know everybody complains about that, but it's coming. Um, and then they talked about um, sidewalk sales downtown, and I know that's something that Mr. Miller, I think, has um, talked about before. I know when Councilwoman Dole was on uh, the DDA, we talked about it. A lot of people want that. They want to come to our downtown for more things than just the chili cookoff. That was other thing that was mentioned. Um, we have the chili cookoff, but people are looking for more reasons to come downtown. They want some kind of festival, whether it's in the winter or the summer, or they want something to where they can come to our downtown. So, I hope that those things are coming soon. And then, um, the last thing that I wanted to mention is that the Garden City Garden Club is having a garden conference. We're having it at the high school and it's March 14th. We have national speakers coming, a huge vendor show, lunches included. Um, if you want to register, take a look at what we have, it's the gcguardenclub.com. You can register on then or ask any questions. That's it.

Okay. Thank you. Um, I have a couple things. Uh, I will start with Jod's. Uh, February 1st they have their broomstick pool tournament. Um, this is their 20 22nd I think uh annual. Uh, it is February 1st. Registration starts at 11:00. Uh the tournament starts at noon. All proceeds will uh benefit the home pantry, our Garden City home pantry. I know they set a record last year for bringing it in uh bringing money in. Uh so they're looking to break that. Uh it's a fun time. There'll be uh baskets uh to to for raffle tickets and 50/50 and stuff like that. Um and it's it's fun. It's uh rather entertaining to watch people try to play pool with the broomstick. So uh if you can make it, please come out February 1st at Jod's. Um a couple of things on the snow and the DPW. Um like Mayor Prom Dold said, uh there were tickets issued for just cars, not counting, uh unshoveled sidewalks. There were 102 tickets issued so far. Um, and again, that doesn't include the uh uh sidewalks that have not been done that uh I think those will be coming in soon. Um, and I I mentioned it at I think the last council meeting. There are some neighbor some neighborhood residents, there are some businesses that have not taken a shovel out yet uh all year. And I've seen people have to walk in the street to get around the sidewalks because they can't walk their dog, their their theirelves. Um there are going to be some citations coming and again it's

we're putting in sidewalks so people so it's accessible in the city. Uh so please let's uh take care of them, shovel them, uh make them accessible. Um, and to go with the the DPW, uh, I did hear a couple people complain that we didn't get out shoveling or plowing soon enough. Um, this past weekend there were, well, for the month of January, there were 11 water main breaks. This weekend alone, there were three in the frigid uh, water or weather. Uh, it it's miserable out there. And there there aren't a we don't have just an excess amount of people. So sometimes they're out on main break which takes precedence over the plowing. So if we have to go an hour or two or a day, maybe half a day, whatever, waiting for them. It's not the end of the world and they they will get there as soon as possible. And as council has said, they do an outstanding job, but again, we're on a limited amount of people. So, uh, you know, give them a little a little time before you start complaining about, you know, they weren't there in, uh, you know, soon as the snow started coming down. Uh, they're they're better than any other city. I still see, uh, uh, cities as I go down to Flat Rock for work that, uh, still haven't even touched their their roads, and that's some of the main roads. So, uh, again, DPW does an outstanding job. uh 11 main breaks and they were all in cold, frigid weather. They were miserable and I know we had a couple back to back in the night and it's I know I don't want to do it. So, I want to thank them guys again. Uh and please clean up your sidewalks, businesses, and residents. Um that's all I have at this time. I will take a motion to go into close session.

[clears throat] Council member W. I'd like to make a motion to go into close session at 8:06 p.m. to receive an attorney client privilege written legal opinion to consider material exempt from discussion or disclosure by state or federal statute pursuant to MCL 15.268HH regarding a personnel matter. Support for Mayor Prom Dold. Uh Mr. Smith, if you take roll call, please. Council member Wit. Hi. Mayor Prom Dold. Hi. Council member Kerafotus. Hi. Council member Dol I. Council member King I. Council member Hughes I. Mayor Jacobs I. At this time we will go into close session. This motion is or this uh meeting is in recess.

Okay. At this time, I will take a motion to uh go back into session. I'd like to make a motion to return to open session at 9:12 p.m. report from Councilman or Council Member Kapotus. Okay. Uh Mr. Smith, take roll call, please. Council member Wit. Hi. Council member Kerotus. I. Council member Dol. I, Council Member King. Hi, Council Member Hughes. Hi, Mayor Promdulg. Hi, Mayor Jacobs. I Okay, we're back in session. I will take a motion for to accept the uh attorney attorney's uh opinion.

Mayor, I motion to accept the attorney's opinion. Support. Uh yeah, it's not a roll call. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 70. Okay, no further business before council. This meeting is adjourned. Heat. Heat.