Downtown Development Authority - Regular Meeting

So we will call our meeting to order. 603. We will begin with our pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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. All right. I guess Mr. Miller, you want to do roll call for us? Yes. Mayor Jacobs here. Chairperson Taylor here.

Vice Chair Bedun is asked to be excused. Uh, Trustee Walcone present. Trusty Haidider is asked to be excused. Trusty Barry is asked to be excused. Uh, Trusty Nazerdine here. Trusty Peridor here. Right. You do have a quorum with five members present. All right. So, our first uh order of items is our approval of our agenda. All right. So, we have a motion and seconded by trustee Walonus. Um any discussion? All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Right. That motion passes 5-0. And our presentation?

Yes. Good evening. Right. Hi. So, this is our annualformational meeting that is actually required by public act 57 and part of the part of the reason for that is um public act 57 establishes DDAS in the state of Michigan and it takes the uh taxation portion and it kind of changes how the taxes are redistributed. meaning that we get money from taxing authorities in this um in the county. Um and so uh part of the purpose of theformational meeting is is we have to notify all of our taxing authorities um which I've done and then let them know that this is occurring according to the law. But I also feel that it's also it's our yearly uh time to review everything that we've um accomplished this year. And so um we're required to do it twice. Um, so yesterday we had this at the city council meeting. So if you watch the city council meeting, this will be a repeat. Um, but if not, then it will be new information to you. Uh, so uh, what I did is I kind of went through kind of our year and looked and see everything that's been accomplished with uh, DDA funds uh, in the city. So we'll just go ahead and uh, it's on the screen there. And first of all, I just explained what the board of trustees is, how we're appointed, um, and then who is who is comprised in the board, you know, business owners, property owners, um, and then the mayor of the city also is appointed by law to serve as a member of the board of trustees for the DDA. Um, and then, uh, the DDA two years ago entered into a contract with the city to provide DDA director services. um for really for me or anybody that would be in the community development director job. Um this is kind of our uh diagram

of how everything works. The board of trustees is um at the top. They make the decisions on how the funding is spent and approves our budget and sends it also then to the city council which does and actually the law says they shall approve the budget that comes forward. Um there's also an executive board then the uh myself and then John Prash as the assistant director and this is the makeup of our board of trustees and we even got a new picture from the last meeting that we were all together. So um that's on there too. Uh so uh then the DDA funding our primary financial support you know comes from TIFF the tax increment financing and this is the mechanism that we use to redistribute current taxes um that are collected in the city. It and I always try to emphasize is not an increase of taxes and doesn't have a dedicated millillage. Um the tiff process uses kind of a baseline to establish what what what we determine as our tiff our increment. And so that baseline was established in 1983. And then you can kind of see how our taxes are distributed for this year. So you see that the taxable value of the district is $34 million. Um and then in 1983 when the district was established, the taxable value of the district was about $12 million. And so we capture kind of $21 million in value which in turn comes to how the mill rate is established. So you see the calculation um below that in our capture comes to about $629,000 for us um to use to do specific things that can occur in a downtown development district. And it's broken up by about 387,000 which is what you would refer to

as the general money that was paid by those taxi those um parcel IDs in our district and then 241,000 comes from other funding sources and those are what we call our taxing authorities. The DDA it comprises about 4.6% 6% of our total taxable uh value in the city and then we capture 62% of that is captured in the DDA tiff. So a portion of the city's total is captured here in our in the DDA. And then of course our other taxing jurisdictions, you see all of those below. Um, and then the next slide kind of I think maybe it's easier to read is a a pie uh chart and it shows kind of all the pieces of the pie and how much of percentage of what the taxes are that are coming from our taxing authority. And so that makes up that $200 plus thousand that actually if we did not have a DDA would actually we would be sending that to these taxing authorities. So the benefit of the DDA is of course we keep the taxes of of the value of the properties in the district but then also we don't send some of our our money really out to the taxing authorities. And in 1983 when they established it these taxing authorities had to agree that they would forego collection of their taxes. We send a report every year to the Department of Treasury to accommodate um all of you know all of our reporting that's necessary and to accommodate the public act 57 so that these taxing authorities make sure that we're collecting it and using it properly. So, um, speaking of using it properly, the DDA funds are used, of course, for business and district attraction, community events, economic vitality, first impressions, and building awareness. And first impressions, of

course, is making sure that we have the trees trim. We take care of all of the streetscape and making sure that um it looks like it is a place to be. It actually creates a place. And when you drive on Ford Road, really from Dearbornne to Canton, this the only place that you really think, "Oh, I'm I am somewhere." You know, I think the trees and that intersection, the commons really identify that this really is on the corners of our town. Um the boundaries of course I make reference to the boundaries because uh the law's real specific on how we spend the money and where we spend the money. And the boundaries of course are on middle belt from Bach to Maplewood and then on Ford Road Harrison to Henry Ruff. And those are all of the buildings that front those uh roads and are um in what we call our tax capture. So our position the city of course we we operate as a separate entity within the city. So, we're really kind of a under the umbrella of the city, but we are um kind of a separate entity because we have our own budget and the dollars are set aside for the DDA. Um so, we also of course we're working in collaboration with the city and um providing services for um the director services and like I said, we're always working on on how everything looks. Um, also, um, I'll talk about a little bit, um, about our business incentive program, which we all approved and we've made some changes and we've got some people actually to go through that. So, I think that's good. Um, also, um, I've been helping facilitate new business development really by helping somebody go through the process of of opening a business in the in the district and of course throughout the city. Um, so you can see throughout the year, um, you hear about all of these things, but I think it's good to just put them all in one spot so everyone can see that these are things that we are doing to that would not be

done normally if a DDA didn't exist because the city wouldn't be able to facilitate these items really. Um, but we do of course the maintenance, the holiday decorations, our our public events, um, the commons. Actually, we work out a a pretty good um program with the garden club and they they plant it every year, but we we buy lunch for them really and the and the planning. So, I think they do a really great job. Um we also are some sponsors to the Sandland parade which is coming up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, music in the park, which when we all came in, we were talking about about that. And of course, um the flock license plate readers. Um, we decided to make our downtown a safer district and we have those readers and we fund those also. And then we facilitate all ribbon cutings, welcoming any new businesses that come in. Um, kind of looking forward to 2026. I just wanted to uh remind everyone that we're going to be working on some things that are maybe a little different is of course the Fulkar building tiff agreement which we two meetings ago had somebody here to talk about the process and the brownfield redevelopment authority for the Fulkar building which is where Orins was. We um have been talking we've got a lot of restaurants opening up in town and in the district and doing a restaurant week and working on marketing that and kind of working on um helping these businesses um some of them are new um get more feet uh traffic foot traffic in their businesses. And so we're going to work on a restaurant week and we're kind of putting together I don't um not a safari but like a kind of like a passport kind of thing or something just to to get uh more people in. And then during that week of course we'll have a coordination with everybody to hopefully they'll give specials and get more people in. Um of course as soon as the chili cookoff was done in 2025 we start

working for next year um the lucky squirrel um marketing more of the incentive program. Uh, also the alley repaving at the northeast parking lot. We did behind Elite Eye Care. Now it is time for kind of behind Garden City Cafe. So, we'll be budgeting for that for next year. Um, the alleyway is in pretty bad shape. Um, available property listing. Uh, of course I've been trying to it's hard to it's like a a moving target to to keep all of that in line, but um for the most part we know who is who is uh who is in the building and how to contact them. Um and also I did apply for a placemaking grant to uh create maybe a safer environment for public um events over in the parking lot there. that is um I applied for a program that will install ballards that will come up out of the pavement to help with creating a safer space and of course the safe street grant we're just finishing that safer streets and housing readiness. um the grant opportunities, the business incentive grants. I think we've got um I'm working on two uh third will be coming soon is the facade improvements which include you know any physical work to a facade um that the in the district we will pay up to $7,000 architectural assistance if they need help with construction plans. If they want to move walls inside, say they're leasing a space, they want to move walls, we need plans so that the walls are constructed properly. um we will assist up to 2,000 and then signage improvements or um even a new sign, replace an outdated or get a new sign or renovate a current sign. Um we will fund that $1,000 each. And so I want to work to uh market that more uh going forward so that more people take advantage. We had a total of five allotted in this budget. That would be a total say at $50,000. And I thought if we do that

each year, you know, five, five, you know, it's 10 in two years, 15 and, you know, I think it'll it'll help us. Um, this is a a drone shot of the chili cookoff that day. So, the police department has a drone and um I just thought it would was kind of neat to have them fly over the chili cookoff event and uh see where everything was laid out. We turn the tent and it just created, I think, a more open environment. Um there were a lot more people. I think if they had come a little later, it would have gotten a lot more people. Um but uh again, at some point during that day, it was there were so many people there, you you couldn't even walk through barely. Um but I just thought it was kind of neat to include that in um our PowerPoint presentation to show that off. And then I did a picture collage of the uh of the judges and the chili cookoff day. I see one of our trustees is se seated there on the left. Thank you uh trustee Peridor as a I give you a lot of credit for trying all of that chili

worried it didn't it wasn't bad.

Okay, good. Good. Uh and then kind of that um the cornhole tournament worked out really great. It was very popular. Um the touch a truck event having that with that. You see a little girl in there enjoying a a big truck at DPW. Um I think it was a great community day. The bottom right shows the uh the big tent and it was and you can see it is standing room only inside there. A lot of people coming to our town and um enjoying what we had for that day. Our the lucky squirrel craft and vendor fair, 150 vendors uh three times uh uh last year was pack the entire time. Uh again creating more people to see our downtown. We're trying to, John and I have talked about incorporating the businesses that surround that more. Some of them feel that it hurts them. Some people like it. So, we've got to get a a a good uh good program to help them. We uh restriped I'll show you one of these coming up. We restriped the lot so that and put out different spaces so that we opened up another parking lot for more parking. And that's always our problem on those days. So, um, and speaking of new businesses, so 20 new businesses have opened this year in the district. And so, we're going to be promoting, um, all of them. This 20 is is a big number, I think, and we should um, all take credit in doing that and making sure that it's a place where people want to come and where they want to do business. So, I put them all together on this slide so you can kind of look through and see that. And there are all different kinds. They're not all they're not all one kind of business. It's it's a good mix of businesses and I think it is a a great accomplishment that they're um coming here to Garden City and that they're opening up shop. So, and I just kind of took some pictures of their their signs or the

location. So, this is a a salon over by um Plato Coney Island kind of um Simmit Turkish Turkish Bakery and Cafe. They used to be on Warren and moved uptown um there and did a beautiful renovation inside the building. I encourage you all to go and stop in there. Um Everresh Market is getting ready to open 10,000 foot grocery store um in the former Wraid. I think that um is going to be a good addition. He is right now filling it. I was in the other day and it just the the shelves are getting packed with a lot of product and um he did a very nice job inside. um took out the tile, ground down, made the um you know the shiny concrete, the polish concrete um really did a good job there um in that building and I'm I'm so thankful that they're there because it's a big vacancy. 10,000 square feet is a big vacancy. So um and he's working really hard um to get that open and get running. So, uh, beauty school up there, um, kind of at the commons area and then face and company, another beauty. That's an anesthetician. I guess I there's a whole new thing I didn't even know occurred. So, that's on right in next to Garden Sea Cafe. Fatmas Bakery is very popular also. And then Cafe Europe along there uh is also they all open this year. And, um, he's going to partake in the Sandland parade. So, he's going to he contacted us and he knows the pray route's going by there. What can he do? How can he be part of it? And, you know, we encourage him to open up the doors and get people in, you know, and he's at a perfect location to get some extra foot traffic. um Sharon's Heating and Cooling which is right across from city hall here and uh their front is you can see the um we remember we approved the grant and the new windows are in place there on that um

underneath the sign and they're doing interior renovations. We're working on permits and all of that to get them open there. And then they also they acquired the 20,000 plus square foot warehouse building behind this too. So, where uh Lucky Dog is currently located, they acquired the entire building and they're um having their workshop in the back. This will be an office for um all the workers. Customers can come in and buy filters and all the stuff that you need. So, I think that's good. Opera Pastry and Bakery is um over in the Lritzsweber property next to Planet Fitness. Um he's got a lot of concession and baking experience and um I've been in twice so it's very good. I encourage you to go. Um right next to there um the lucky guac is there and then also a driving school in that in there. Uh true temp heating and cooling is an office and a little training room for another heating and cooling HVAC is in there. Um, and then the man who does that, he's also interested in actually doing a school where they'll train people, you know, in the trades to do this. And so, we've been looking around at other buildings for him. So, um, because he's in the villa bakery strip, which is all full. So, he's going to look around. Uh, Fawas uh, Reality and of course, they have a title company in there. Uh, Paramount is over in the Bank of America. And then um if you can recall, we did a grant here for uh family heating and cooling. I said it right this time. Last night I said share, so I apologize. So uh but family heating and cooling and I kind of did kind of a three-step. So we kind of see what it was, what it is right now, and then uh what it's going to be. And they um we approved a grant for that, too.

Move it along.

Yeah. So there it's a really I think it's going to be such a great building for the business. So, uh, each year I always try to take a really good picture of the flowers in full bloom because everyone loves the baskets. Everyone comments. We get lots and lots of, uh, comments on how nice they look. Again, keeping up appearances. And this is not fun good stuff, but it is maintaining what we have. This is the alleyway behind Elite Eye Care. It was in terrible condition. Um, it got all repaved. We put that in the budget. And then also the parking lot where um behind all those businesses was uh we filled all of the potholes, joint and crack sealed. And then we did a seal coat and stripe. They did a double seal coat and stripe and they restriped it. And then this also includes some of the spots for Lucky Squirrel. Um but it looks really good and before cars were just parking everywhere. They just didn't know where to go and so it really kind of defines the area. And then of course a lot of people use that alleyway to come into the businesses off of Middle Belt. This year too part of our outreach efforts this year uh the mayor had asked me to put together a list of businesses that have been here more than 30 years. So on top of us welcoming in new people, we also like to recognize people that have been here and making a a a difference for all these times. So we did certificates and then it was good to go out and meet everybody. Sometimes we didn't know, you know, we didn't know who all works there. And um like on the upper left corner, all of the the doctors and the nurses wanted to come out and get their picture taken at Oakwood and or the Corwell services there. And uh uh they all enjoyed the time and it was good to get get down and talk to people um see if they had any issues. Um and these are just these are businesses in the district. Um we did we did the whole city, but these are businesses in the district. And uh I think it was really a a a great couple days. Was hard to coordinate and it was

I think even more than a couple days, wasn't it, mayor? So, and the mayor was my chauffeur. I did I told him where to go. It was a great in a nice way. Oh, I'm like, "Stop, turn around, go left." Anyways, so what about 90? We did about 90. Yeah. Wow. So, uh throughout the whole city. So, and that was

that many businesses that have been here that long. That's awesome. So, and everyone was so appreciative that we came to see them. We brought a certificate. Some people are like, "Oh, you got to come back when we get, you know, like the owner has to come back to see this, you know." It was really kind of a a great great thing to do. So, u and then of course we do the ribbon cutings and uh everyone likes to this is really the final, you know, the final uh cap on everything. It's uh the business is open. They've got all their permits and they're ready for business. And so we did some of those. And uh there's Eureka. They got their COO this year. Um the off the tea. And then of course just most recently NAR Brazilian steakhouse over on Ford Road in the former Leon/Edies building. So uh then kind of some things coming up. Of course we've talked about Vulker's Commons of course and then Hollywood Sound which is right across from uh Trusty Nazerdine's building. They're going to build a building up at the front and then uh have a building at the back too. And uh permits are pulled and work is currently being done right now. They're working, you'll see piles of dirt and that of course on top of it, it is uh new building, but it's also adding value to the district, too. So, our hometown hero banners, um I put this in, of course, this is our DPW director and his father-in-law. Actually, we put them on the same poll. So, I thought that was a nice thing to do. And uh we just took those down in the last week. The Santa uh Santa Post uh banners are going up and we've got um all of these down. We've contacted all of the all of the people who sponsored those and and made the recommendation to put it up. We've contacted them and then they get the banner in the end. And so, um we just took them down and got them into city hall today, I think. Right, John? And, uh so city hall's been busy with that.

Uh, also the the commons, the round circle, the tree is going up or is actually up today. And we also powerwashed that. Um, it was kind of leech and algae and all that getting ready for the tree lighting. And right behind it in the parking lot, that parking lot is a municipal lot behind there. Just that little corner is really the cities. And we had a parking lot island and we had total landscaping and lawns uh redo that and it looks a lot nicer. So, and with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions and um but again, like I said, it's uh always good to look at everything that we've accomplished for the whole whole year and uh uh I think it's a good time to do that kind of right before the holidays and we'll start a fresh after the new year. So,

thank you. You're in review for sure. Matt, it's 43 slides. Yeah, good out of work. So, all right. Thank you. Okay. Uh, moving next to community events. I don't know that we have anything to discuss there. No. Um, so our items for consideration, we need to approve our consent agenda. Okay. Uh, so we have a motion by Trustee Wonus, supported by Mayor Jacobs. Any discussion at the table? I do there was a a typographical error that I showed that uh Trusty Walconos was here and absent. So I'll fix that and

I did see that. Yeah. So I will correct that when we post them. So okay. So I'll make sure. Sorry. It's hard to be in two places, right? I'm still trying to figure out how to do that. Bobs do it easily. Sure. All right. Thank you. Any other discussion on that? All right. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right. So that motion will carry 50. Um sorry go ahead. I'm sorry. So just the report just the financial reports just in case you look for the most part all of the funds are back in from Chile. So but we'll get another you know the next time we see them it'll be all I think everything will be accounted for at that time. But it really ended up being I think almost a we made a profit really I think in the end. So I think that's a you know it used to we used to run real in the deficit. So we we ended up um covering all the costs um including all the volunteer hours. Uh two meetings ago I think we presented all of the certificates for all the volunteer organizations and their checks. And so um I think it all worked out well. The pancake breakfast worked out well also. Um next year the date I think I I don't know if I we knew then or not. Saturday in September

last. Yeah. But that is International Pancake Day. Oh, too funny. Crafty, clever. I I can't believe it. So, I think it's too funny. It must be fade, I think. So, anyway, so I just wanted to talk a little bit about the the funds and that that's our last big deposit was in there. You know, over 20,000 some dollars went in. So, after the event. Okay. All right. Jumping down then to the action items. uh the 2026 DDA meeting schedule. So Matt, I guess you can address that as well.

Well, we had put that at the last meeting you had discussed going quarterly meeting. I had given a different schedule and you request I come back with a quarterly meeting. So um this is showing the quarterly meetings which which we can't do. Um but uh if you know if we do these quarterly meetings we still have the option to call a meeting as necessary and um if it's quarterly though the members we have to have you know we have to get full attendance and so I want to make sure that we do that to kind of we're putting the schedule out now so you can kind of just put in your calendars in advance that we would like you to attend specifically like the um January of course we'll be working on the budget already for next year because council will have to approve it. Um and then uh April we'll be getting all the I think we'll be getting um bids and things put together for the alleyways and in July we'll be doing chili cookoff and then the October we'll be doing same meeting we're doing today kind of so um but please look at that also any special meetings you know we will follow the open meetings act we will post and notify within before 18 hours to comply with that which we would we would do, of course. So,

but it seems that the four meetings that are scheduled cover the bulk of the things that we need to cover anyway. Okay. All right. So, I guess we need a motion to approve that. Second. Motion by Trusty Nazertine and seconded by Trusty Paridor. Any discussion from the table? I have a question. Yes. If we go to the quarterly meetings, the bylaws state that if a member misses three meetings in a row, would that still apply with quarterly versus monthly? I would think since it's our schedule. Yeah, I think it would. So, three would still be Yes. Okay. Just wanted to clarify. Oh, you think it'd be less then?

That's what I'm thinking. If if somebody doesn't come to you'd be gone because quarterly meetings, that's three quarters of the year. That's three quarters of the year. So maybe it needs to be rethought maybe every two months Matt because but I would hate to have because three of 12 like she said that's a quarter and a quarter of four is one meeting. We have to look at those bylaws then. Okay. Before we I think before we approve this, right? Um or or what? I'm okay either way. I just want a clarification. I mean for now that's what it would be, right? Right. In January, we can look at the bylaws and maybe I'll talk to the attorney to see what he thinks. Also,

I'm okay. The bylaws anyways in January by you get. Yeah, that was a real good point. You know, six meetings wouldn't be mad would wouldn't be I mean, that would still be cutting our meetings in half. We should I mean just to kind of safeguard that we have four you know with well if something's missed I mean if you can't get a quorum for four that's why I'm saying maybe we ought to go six

oh we can always add we can always add maybe two if we can't get we can move it to another day next week which we have done we have done in the past there's other ways but I think I think for right now and I I haven't really looked at it but I think Come January, we can get a legal opinion from the attorney and we have to update either the schedule by the bylaws. Okay, I'll do that. Okay. All right. Well, and if Matt can call a special meeting at any point, if something's missed, we can't then Right. then we can just fix it at that point. Correct. Right. Yes.

But I mean, for right now, we we always have the option of either in January. We have to attorney thinks we should maybe the attorney

this will cover it. Okay. Okay. So, we'll approve it then as passed with those things being looked into for January. All right. Then we have other business. Well, do we want to vote on that? I think you do, right? There's a motion. So, yeah, that was discussion. Sorry. So, we had our discussion. Any other discussion on that? All right. All in favor then? I Any opposed? Okay. So, we will pass that 50 with further input later in January. All right. So, now we can move down to the other business, Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Yes. I just I I put it out there. Of course, uh, December 1st, Monday, 6:00 p.m. And then also the, uh, uh, I think John's working on that. You can tell us all who's coming. It'll be fun. Oh, you guys will be there, I hope. Um, we have a, um, Marman Road Baptist Church that brings out some choir members to sing sing along some songs. Um, obviously we invite council and then the general public and then also the uh palm crew from the high school and possibly even the middle school will be there to perform some holiday routines and then uh Santa shows up. So

that's about the long and short of it. Hot chocolate, things of that nature and then um uh you just light up the town for the season. And then uh the next item is the Sandalan parade which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving at 10 o'clock. So come and see the everyone in downtown on that day. I just have one, it's not actually for sale, but it's upcoming events. Um I noticed on the website the because they talked yesterday about the um Santa ride with Santa.

I noticed on the website the date has changed to 2025. However, the route is still last year's amended route because they jumped onto Bach to go around Marquette where there was construction. Are they still planning to keep the route the same? Don't know. No, I was just curious. I I saw that and I know it was amended last year. They typically go down Marquette, but they they changed the route last year because of that. They changed that or not. Yeah. Well, we'll we'll look into that. Okay. just something I saw and I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna mention that tonight." So, we'll look into that. December 18th. So, yes, December 18th, Santa Ry. Okay.

All right. Since we have no I don't know, Trusty Nazerina, that's a it's a a parade float really with Santa and goes around the town. It drives all around the town and kids line the street like it's a it's a wonder really a wonder. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, and people that have, you know, people that live on the route have picnics, bonfires out in their drive. It's really kind of a That's why I was paying attention because I was going to I was going to invite more people because we had it last year. We don't normally, so I was going to do something this year if if that is see where it's going. Okay. I don't know that.

All right. Um, so since we have no public here, we have no public comments. And I guess we'll jump back to you, Matt, for the director report. So, well, I talked about the power wash and the parking lot island, but when you're out, go take a look at it and see it looks a lot better. Yeah, it doesn't look great. We need some wash up. Yes. Yes. Especially when you compare it to the Yeah, it's always looked a little That's nice. Yes. So, it will and again that um the the rest of that lot, you know, the northwest lot, the city does not own a lot of that land. So, um, we can't expend city dollars on property we don't own. That's like the Kmart. That's the Kmart.

Kmart, right? Um, there's a lot of property owners in that back there. Uh, it's like ribbons of land, right?

Boy, it should have been done differently if I was I don't know. It was platted that way, I think. So, um, and then also John and I did attend the Michigan Downtown Association annual conference and we, uh, I think learned a lot. Uh, some of the things that we went to do was, um, updating a TIFF plan, the state of retail there, uh, they had like a nationally known retailer, uh, Vic was her name, and she, uh, came and talked about, you know, the decline of retail and how to combat it and what to do. And I think it was really interesting just the numbers they used that it's just going to continue to go down and the younger generation they want to go out eat and drink but they don't want to go shopping at malls or things like that anymore. So, um, but it was, of course, we we know this, but to see the numbers and then as and then they do like projections as the the youth or 20 year olds are getting older, they're going to get even more reliant on ordering things. So,

just read an article about they're turning malls into apartment complexes.

So, I would love to see a data center at Westland Mall. It' be a great idea. So uh that uh also public art and the power of place uh sculptures and of course we talked John and I kind of talked about a new pig or something I don't know or something. So uh it is art so I don't like to pick on that. Then also there was kind of a a session about placer AI and that is like uh tracking by cell phones and pings and all of this and they can uh there's a company there out there that can do those things. It's amazing. I Wow. So, um, and then, uh, zoning for small business success, uh, guide book to public involvement. We attended those and, uh, I think it was really great. And at the end, they kind of just, you know, re, you know, they kind of the sadness about retail, but they said, still make it clean, still make it where people want to go. Um, and, you know, we have a lot of traffic. We do a lot of traffic. It's not a traditional downtown, but we have a lot of traffic and uh to build off what we have. So, um but I think it was real great. John, do you agree? So,

yeah, I agree. Yeah, the Placer the Placer conversation along with SEMCOG like uh I think Matt's going to try to get some data back on like a participant number from our chili cookoff festival specifically to try to see how many people were actually because it's it's almost virtually impossible to track that number. uh but if we could do that you know for this past year and then look at next year and see we're growing or sustaining or what's happening. So that was a very interesting session. Uh but the whole event was great. So

that's our usually once a year we go to that and we interact with people we you know we know people and we can of course learn or make contacts in other communities too. So it's great idea sharing. Okay, thank you for sharing that. All right, so we will have trustee board comments. I guess we'll start with the mayor. All I have is uh thanks for coming up and uh happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you. And I guess we should say merry Christmas too, right? Because we won't be here till January, right? Yep. Happy holidays. We'll see you at the tree lighting and tree lighting, right? Trusty paridor. Nothing tonight. Justin, happy Thanksgiving and merry Christmas.

Thank you. Right. I will agree. Happy new year, too. At the tree lighting and at the parade, so we got time for some of this. Wrap it all up. Well, well, sadly I Mondays are my big days at work, so tree lighting I will not be able to be at, but I will definitely I have kids that wear costumes in the parade. The whole year. I know. But this will be my first one, so I will be there. I have 70some kids who need me on Monday. So, wow. Oh, yeah. No, I'm bringing eight at to the parade, that'll be enough. Um, all right. So, I guess, uh, if we have nothing else, um, I'm sorry, Mr. Pro, do you have anything else you'd like to add or Matt? All right. Very good. So, I guess we will adjourn. Okay.

You know what? I just I have one question. I'm trying to look up because I put these dates in immediately since there's only four dates next week. So, I um I'm trying to see where's where's Easter just because April 5th. April 5th. Okay. I'm like, just hold on before we take off here. April 5th. I did try to look at this year off that week. Okay. Just want to make sure like everybody's back from whatever vacations like etc. You know, the kids have time off of school. A lot of people leave, we leave.

Yeah. I think spring break in Garden City is usually that first week in April. I know we'll be gone also around the Easter holiday, but we're back the 11th. I think the 21st will be. So, I had to kind of coordinate, of course, this meeting, uh, 12 zoning board of appeals, 12 planning commission, and 24 council meetings plus all of their budget. So, we're working on, of course, the whole schedule for next year with everybody u, and looking at that. And of course, parts are Yeah. Right. Are we good? All right. Yes, I think we are. Thank you for coming. Thank you. and uh we will see you after the new year.