Council - Regular Meeting

Well, we should have known better if we came up with something. Amen.

No, it's not. It was all a festival. It was all a festival. Like, what a long set.

Welcome, everybody, to this regular city council meeting for Monday, August 3rd, 2026. Mary, would you call the roll?

Fritz?

Here.

Callio? Here. Lyon? Here. Dora? Here. Manetza?

Here. I believe we have no one for the invocation this evening, so please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands

indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We have one new appointment this evening. Can I get a motion on this? So moved. Second watch my door second by line. Would you please read this?

Item a appoint Joseph Filipelli to the Planning Commission board with the term ending June 30, 2029.

Okay, are there any questions on this appointment? No. Looks good. Yeah, well, would you please call the roll?

Dora? Yes. Lyon? Yes. Fritz? Yes. Calio? Yes. Manetza? Yes.

Brings us to the approval of the consent and regular agendas. Can I get a motion? So moved.

Second.

Motion by Fritz, second by Calio. Any changes that we're going to make to this agenda?

Yes, I would like to request that we remove item 14C as we look to address an error that we found late.

Okay. Any other changes by anyone? I need an amendment to remove this item. Which item was it?

14C.

14C, the introductory resolution.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, motion by Lyons.

Motion to amend by Lyons, second by... Dora. Any questions on that motion? Please call the roll lion.

Yes, Dora. Yes, Fritz. Yes, Calio. Yes, Vanessa.

Yes, and so if there are no other changes, let's vote on the. Amended agenda.

Fritz yes. Callio? Yes. Lyon?

Yes.

Dora? Yes. Manetza?

Yes. All right. Well, we didn't have a work session, so we're not going to continue on. Brings us to our first call to the audience. At this time, members of the audience may address council on any item, whether on the agenda or not. Those addressing council are asked to provide their name and address. will be limited to three minutes of speaking time. Council will hear all comments for future consideration, but will not have a response at this time. Those not physically present who would like to call in may dial 616-935-3203. I would like to point out too that there are no public hearings this evening, and so the only opportunity you'll have to address council before we conduct our business would be at this time. There will be a second call to the audience at the end of the meeting. Who would like to address council? Please come to the podium.

Well, my name's John Brunner. I live at 303 South 3rd Street. I'm here to ask the council to consider changing and updating the rules with the skate park. I had never spent much time, but I have grandkids of that age now, and this summer I've been spending untold hours down there. And I think what is needed is when that was built, there weren't electric scooters and electric bikes and electric skateboards and, you know, motorized things zipping around. But I think that there just ought to be a rule that no motorized things ought to be there. It's a safety issue. And so I would ask your, it ties in with another point on the agenda coming up, but I would ask you to seriously consider that because I think that update is needed. Thank you.

Thank you. Who else would like to address council?

My name is Jeffrey Miller. I live at 1120 South Harbor Drive. The BLP touts the fact that they are transparent. Then would it come as a surprise to anyone here in the audience tonight that the general manager of the BLP just had his second annual job performance review? received an exceeded expectation evaluation again, and was rewarded his second 3% raise in as many years. So now he earns over $220,000, more than any other public employee in Ottawa County except for the county administrator. Oh, and by the way, the board of directors just approved their next five-year strategic plan Did any of you council members contribute to the development? Did senior staff do so? Isn't the BLP still considered a department of the city? Unfortunately, nowhere in the document does it state how many individuals' opinions were considered or included or incorporated. Real transparency. On page four of the first weakness that is identified in their SWOT analysis, states that, quote, the board and city council relationship has been strained in the past. While trending in the right direction, there is still more to do. And when it comes to threats, it states, and again in quotes, increase public interest and activism from stakeholders who want different outcomes that often pull the BLP in opposite directions. For countless years, I have urged the BLP to reach out to faith-based organizations, environmental groups, educational institutions, student groups, and NGOs to no avail. But they do seek out industry points of view, just like a for-profit corporation would do. Wouldn't it be beneficial to know what all sectors of our community deem to be important to them when it comes to the operation of a community-based owned electric utility? And what direction would they favor moving forward? But alas, the BLP Board of Directors demonstrates very little leadership and is willing to defer to senior staff time and time again. I do not believe for a moment that frontline staff should be micromanaged by the five people. The workers for the BLP do a great job, to be sure. But true leadership, vision, and sensitivity to the various sectors of the community are not part of the BLP Board of Directors' DNA. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Jeff.

Oliver Champagne, 540 D Avenue, apartment 5. Good evening. I am just here to talk about the flock cameras in the city. I vehemently oppose them and I was kind of struck in the back when they just kind of started popping up. I think it's interesting because we're already starting to see the abuses of these cameras in cities all throughout America. There's already 20 active cases with sheriff's departments where they have been stalking their own girlfriends using these cameras. In other cases, there's literally top management of the flock, the organization, honing in and spending hours specifically at a child's gymnasium. Now, I'm not saying we have flock cameras here in child's gymnasiums, but we have them on our streets already, and I'm unclear to know if more are coming. I honestly don't know when the conversation happened about these, where they were approved. Very curious about that, and I know I'm not the only citizen. It starts to get scary when you start to spy on every little piece of life of people, because A lot of people here and a lot of people in America, most of us aren't threats. And when you start to still spy on them like they are, there's more to it. And it allows to abuses of power where we're literally actively seeing, and I'm not saying any of the police or the sheriffs here are abusing the flock system, but you never know. And there's the opportunity. And I, Would love because I know I'm not going to be addressed right now And I'm not going to stay for the whole meeting, but I'd love to hear comments from you guys at the end as you do your city council report because Explain the process. How are they helping us? Flock would love to tell you it's for safety But I don't think they make us safer, and I think they create more distrust with police or sheriff between the community than they ever build. And they don't stop crime. Thank you.

Thank you, Oliver.

Good evening. Jim Hagen, 400 Lake. I was surprised with Oliver because I did some extensive research on flock and I didn't find any cameras either in Grand Haven, Spring Lake, although there are some in Norton Shores and I think Fruitport. But in any case, that's not why I'm here. Why I'm here is I just want to say it's good to see that on the micromobility issues, downtown, a boardwalk, etc., that the council's addressing them. Finally, the city administration's addressing them. It's a big issue. I mean, it's a dangerous issue. I walk on Grand with Carol, and I mean, a number of times this year, it's like, on the right, on the right. And you can barely hear it with all the traffic, too. And it's like, what? Somebody's going to pass me on the right? What the heck is going on here? That's not normal process. But sure enough, people decide that somehow, you know, on their electric scooters, not scooters, but their electric bikes and so forth, that, yeah, it's okay to do what I want to do, even though it doesn't really follow any standard rules. And I think what that brings up is that we need some standard rules for these micromobility devices. We need to protect the people on our sidewalks, the older people. I mean, we're over 70, right? I mean, I can't go doing a jig when somebody decides to do something that's completely not standard. I don't know if these people haven't had any kind you know, driver's ed or whatever, but you don't go passing on the right. But, you know, some of our people think that, yeah, that's okay as long as you say something. And what we need is we need some kind of mechanical devices to alert people on the sidewalks. Our current regulation says an audible. And when I researched it, oh, the state says an audible can be a voice. It also said, oh, there can be problems with voices because The voices are at the same frequencies as traffic half the time. They're not like bells, buzzers, horns that actually are higher frequency that people can hear. So I would like to see the administration actually take this on. And I'd like to see public safety, public safety's here, take it on too because we do not need these micro mobility devices running people off the road, I mean off the sidewalks. And I mean they can knock people over and break hips even. You know, we need to address it. We need to address it now. I thank you guys for addressing the downtown, but frankly, that's not enough. So let's step it up and look after our citizens as well as our downtown pedestrians. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim. Who else would like to address council? There will be another opportunity at the end of the meeting, but by that time we will have concluded our business for the evening. Anyone else? Seeing none, we'll move on. We now have a presentation. Ashley or Dana, do you want to introduce this?

Yes. Good evening, everybody. So over the past year, the city decided to invest further in the work of Lakeshore Advantage, both their local and regional work. And this evening, we wanted to provide a quick opportunity for Ryan with Lakeshore Advantage to provide you all with an investor update and share what they've been up to and the work and future initiatives that they plan to undertake. So I'm gonna kick it over to Ryan so he can fill you in.

Awesome, thank you, Dana. Good evening, council. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak with you guys. As Dana mentioned, we really like to connect with our investors, give them an update on what we're up to and sort of the impact that we have made in our two-county region. So that's what I'll be doing tonight. All right, so Lakeshore Advantage, we are the regional economic development organization for Ottawa and Allegan County. You can see there, highlighted in blue, those two counties. We've got 700 primary employers between those two counties, which really indicates a really strong, robust industrial base. And last year we had 1,500 interactions among those employers. And so those aren't unique. So there are some double dipping there. So just want to point that out for you guys. We really say that we want to be the economic GPS for our businesses and our communities. And so we help our communities and businesses grow, plan and solve. And so that is sort of the three pillars of our work. And we believe that that is really going to set us up for making West Michigan a business and talent magnet. Yeah, so we are a 17-member team. We're small and mighty. So we have 700 primary employers across our two county regions, which keeps us pretty busy. We define primary employers as those companies that are exporting goods and services outside of the region, bringing wealth back into the community. with the understanding that that's the economic engine that brings a strong, healthy tax base, invest in jobs and communities. So those are our primary focus. So looking at grow, so this is really where I where I'm in, you know, I realized that I forgot to really formally introduce myself. So let me back up and start there. My name is Ryan Ferrier. I'm the Director of Business Retention and Attraction. And so when we talk about GROW, how do we grow our industrial base? That's really sort of the bread and butter of my work. So we've got GROW Business Retention, Expansion Assistance and Attraction. As I indicated, we have a really strong industrial base. About 80 to 90% of our growth has come from existing businesses within our region. And then we also help companies expand physically, either that is through new construction of their existing building or finding a larger facility as well. And then attraction, helping companies looking to move inside the region. And we tried to be very intentional with the companies that we bring in, making sure that they are strong fits for our communities and strengthen our supply chain and existing industrial base here. So since 2023, We've been able to assist in 29 expansion projects resulting in $164 million in private investment in our communities. I think that number might be wrong. Let me, I'll double check that because that doesn't seem right. I think it's much higher. And then creating 1,163 new and retained jobs. So we're really proud of those numbers. A couple of other things I'd like to point out. $11.7 million in going pro talent funds, which we've helped employers secure with and in partnership of West Michigan Works. And for this really one of the biggest challenges that we have for our industrial base right now is finding industrial space for these new growing and expanding businesses. So I'd like to touch on that briefly. So our industrial site readiness, as I mentioned, is a top barrier of growth in our region. We do a benchmarking with five communities, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, Catawba County, South Carolina. There's three more that escape me right now. But when we look across those other communities, we have one of the lowest industrial vacancy rates. I believe 2.3% is our vacancy rate from 2025. which is much lower. And that poses a real challenge when companies are looking to expand and move into the area. So we're really working on how do we address this? How do we identify sites that are prime and ready for development? And working with our local communities to find where are their priorities? What are they hoping to see? Because we really believe in community-led development. And so with that, we worked with the MEDC to gain 13, well, let me back up. The MEDC had a My Sites program, and it was really funding to help get industrial sites online with all the soft costs of getting a site ready. So think architectural drawings, environmental testing, anything to really get shovel ready. And so we worked on 13 sites across Elligan and Ottawa County, just over 800 total acres. You know, the sizes of those vary and you can kind of see pinpoints on the map of where all of those are. I think the two closest ones were in Spring Lake Township just off of US 31 and then I believe it's M40 coming into Spring Lake from the east. We've been working on those sites. They've been between 25 acres and 400 acres, so a pretty wide range of what we've been working on. And we've been able to help these developers secure $1.63 million in grant funding. So that's been a really big heavy left, and we're happy with those numbers. And so kind of when we talk about what those formal site submissions look like, we're working towards site availability, infrastructure readiness, so working with our utility partners, and then specific project criteria. So if there is a, company-specific need that, you know, those, yes.

Were these sites picked out from companies already looking or for new businesses trying to come into the county?

So these sites were not, they do not have companies yet. Okay. So this is working with our communities, working with developers and identifying, you know, what sites are good and prime for growth or, you know, ready to go and how do we get them that much farther along. The next pillar that we have is plan. And so this is really our entrepreneurial development and startup support. So if you guys haven't had the chance, I welcome you down to Holland to check out Surge. It is the first floor of our NEC Center, and that is our startup incubator. A lot of really great dynamic things happening there. It's my favorite place to work down there among all of the entrepreneurs. This year, or I'm sorry, last year, we helped 67 startups and raised $2.7 million in capital for, or helped raise $2.7 million in capital for those startups. We have a wide range of startups in that space, all high growth, high tech companies. We have Space Place, which is in Grand Haven, but they are members down in our Holland area. I think one really great success story for them was we were able to connect them with a second stage company that is in Zealand. And they formed a really strong partnership. And the space place has been able to hone their product by helping this other company. So that's been really great. They've actually created a really strong partnership over the last year. And that company is looking to find a new space. And SpacePlace is helping them kind of map out what their facility will look like. And just to kind of give you a little bit of SpacePlace is it is a software company that helps map out warehousing for companies. So pretty interesting, great group of guys. So yeah. So kind of taking a higher look, over since 2021, we've been able to help 128 startups. and ecosystem partners. So we have, you know, that's kind of the wide gamut of founders, entrepreneurs, and full startups. Today we have 53 members, which is much higher than we ever predicted. We moved into the next center in downtown Holland at the end of 2024. I believe we had 25 members. And so within those short two years, we've been able to really grow that program and And that's been really exciting for us. $4.8 million in capital raised. Over the last 10 years, though, for the Holland Smart Zone, we've been able to raise $75 million. And that is going directly into these startups. So when we talk about 128, helping these companies get $75 million, either through venture capitals, angel funds, state and federal grants. So it's a great program we've got down there. Solve is our final pillar, and that's really looking at what are the long-term challenges that our communities and businesses are facing, and how do we start to move the needle on those things. Talent has been the number one issue for growth over the last 10 years. And so we're really working on you know, how do we sharpen our regional talent attraction and retention efforts? And so we have launched the Next Gen Talent Council in 2025, the fall of 2025. It has 17 emerging members, I'm sorry, 17 members in the emerging worker age range between 20 and 35. THIS GROUP OF YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ALL ARE WITHIN THE FIVE FASTEST IN-DEMAND CAREERS. SO THAT'S ENGINEERING SKILLED TRADES, MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS, I.T. PROFESSIONALS ACROSS ALL OF OUR COMPANIES THROUGHOUT OUR TWO COUNTY REGION. 14 companies are being represented by those. And what we're asking them is, you know, what do you want to see in the communities that you live in? What are some of the challenges to keeping you here in our region? And so that's been really fun. And we are working on coming up with a talent action plan, a marketing strategy, and a multi-year roadmap. And so more to come on that. I did just kind of talk a little bit about this section here. From that council, they've identified housing affordability and clear career pathways. And so we are working on that housing front. We've got two projects, housing projects in Grand Haven happening right now that Chris Marco, our community development director is actively engaged in. And then working with our employers to help them. What are best practices when you're working on career pathways so that young people can see where they are and where they want to go? Let me move this along here. All right, so this is the workforce housing aspect of that plan pillar. So we're really focused on the workforce housing that's 60 to 120 AMI. And so you've got figures up there 61,000 to 123,000 and depending on family size. We're making really good movement on rental units. I think the real challenge here is getting those pathways for home ownership really. And so we are working on that. We've got a number of units needed, 12,000 you can see there. So we're working hard on that.

Ryan, can you back up to that previous slide again, please? Yeah, yeah. Thank you. So sometimes in our discussions here, especially when we're entertaining incentive requests for housing projects and such, we'll struggle with the idea that 100 to 120% of AMI is affordable housing, worthy of incentivization. And you're using those numbers, and from your perspective, can you comment on that part of the range? I mean, the 60 to 100%, everybody I think realizes that these are people who generally need some level of subsidy in their housing. Above that, we sometimes question about, should this be incentivized or not?

Okay, yeah. So just want to point out this isn't low income housing. This isn't subsidized housing. This is really housing for, you know, those in the workforce. These are teachers. These are, you know, welders at shape. These are people, you know, are firefighters. They're people who make our community And so that's what we're talking about. We're not working on the low income housing or anything luxury condos. We're really focused and narrowed in on that subset. Did that answer your question or?

Well, to a point, I just wanted to emphasize that this is an area of housing which needs some level of attention. Absolutely. Because it's lacking and sometimes the ROI on that for a developer just isn't there.

That's right. That's right. That that is a really tough area. And that's why we're not seeing any growth there. Because those those projects are hard to pencil out. And so Chris Marco, he's our community development director, he is working with communities, city of Grand Haven, he's working with developers, and really, how can we make these projects pencil out what are the tools what are the incentives that we can use and uh trying to make all of that work so he's doing some really impressive work um happy to um you know i'm sure he'll be in to speak with you guys if he hasn't already okay but yeah thank you for thank you yeah yeah no thank you for a moment yeah absolutely could i just add one point to that so when we're talking 60 to 120 percent that's a broad range and that would be a broad range of income

So what percentage of the total units needed would be between the 100 and 120 percent? Do we have that? The 120? 100 to 120?

So if we have a 60 to 120 percent, and then we have an 100 to 120 percent.

out of the 16,464, do we have a breakdown of those units? That's interesting.

I'm not sure. I'm happy to look into that and get back to you. I think something also, too, is it really depends on family size, too, right?

Absolutely, yeah. And I also think it's worth noting that This is Ottawa County, I believe, or is this Ottawa and Allegan?

Yeah, so that 12,000 is all of Ottawa County.

So if we have a lower as a city AMI, that's not taken into consideration necessarily because that you were like taking a look at the entirety of the auto company.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I don't have, this is kind of outside of, so I'm sorry. I'm happy to look into it and have follow up with you and kind of dig into those numbers.

I have more questions about metrics too, but. Okay.

All right. Awesome.

Thanks.

Yeah, so, you know, we appreciate the support from the City of Grand Haven, you know, and this is the way that we look to collaborate with you guys. You know, we work closely with the City of Grand Haven, Ashley and Dana. And so, yeah, looking to, you know, we believe in community-led development and so want to not force anything on you guys and work with you guys as much as possible. So with that, I'll leave that there. Happy to answer any questions, other questions that you guys have, but thank you for the time.

Well, thank you for offering to answer questions. We probably have some. Who would like to start?

YEAH, I JUST, I THINK THE REGIONALITY OF THIS IS SUPER FASCINATING, AND I AM A FIRM BELIEVER THAT HIGH TIDE RAISES ALL SHIPS. WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT FINANCIAL IMPACT, IT'S VERY SPECIFICALLY WITHIN OUR CITY BORDERS. WHAT OVER THE LAST YEAR DO WE HAVE ANY KIND OF METRICS OR DATA where Lakeshore Advantage has provided benefits statistically to the city of Grand Haven.

Are you asking specifically about the housing?

Well, in all of the metrics, really. But I don't know if we have kind of like a top 10, you know, wins or things in the pipeline that we can get excited about that we wouldn't have had otherwise without Lakeshore Advantage.

Absolutely. So we are right now we've we're at 14 unique interactions with the companies of city of Grand Haven. So that's about 25 percent of the total primary employers that you guys have within your city BOUNDS, AND THAT IS FROM THE START OF THE YEAR, SO WE STILL HAVE MORE WORK TO DO. WE HAVE ONE EXPANSION PROJECT RIGHT NOW THAT'S IN THE PIPELINE FOR WITHIN THE CITY THAT WE'RE WORKING ON. AS I MENTIONED, YOU KNOW, AS FAR AS SURGE STARTUPS, WE'VE GOT TWO MEMBERS THAT ARE IN THE CITY OF of Grand Haven, but do make the trek over to our incubator there. Kind of when we talk about the projects, 2023 was a real banner year, and we've seen a dip. Last year, we only had eight successful projects. This year, we were able to announce 10. So there's a small incline there, which we're excited about. Yeah, that's what I've got a little bit more deeper into what we have.

So it sounds like some of your metrics are like interactions, companies that are within the borders, probably new expansion in that. And then I know housing is one of your metrics too. And so how do we see the impact of new developments go in and see how that actually will end up affecting employers in our city. So we have some new developments coming in and obviously that has been reported to us repeatedly that that's what we need. We need housing for our employers. How do we kind of check that and make sure that that's actually affecting the workforce as these new developments come in?

Affecting the workforce?

Meaning satisfying a need.

Yeah, yeah.

So I mean, we can have lots of people purchase these properties and rent these apartments, but how do we know that that's actually going to be improving the workforce?

Absolutely. So great question. So part of my work with our retention services is we're meeting with 140 companies throughout the region, asking them questions, about 42 questions. And we aggregate that data to get a snapshot of what the economic an economic snapshot of the year. And so we use that data to kind of track to see what are the impacts that we're having as time goes on, right? This is a long, a long game. And so we've got a baseline and we're continuously checking. Chris Marco joined our team this year of February. So we're still building out. That's been a new initiative that we've taken on. So we do have some data and we're hoping to continuously be able to report success on that. As far as our, you know, I talked about the employer survey, so we're asking many questions about, you know, talent, you know, is that a challenge? We're asking questions about sales, like is sales increasing or sales decreasing? Are you launching new products? What are your customer industries? You know, asking them questions about the market, their facilities, talent, technology we're asking about the community overall and we ask you know how do you feel about your your utilities how do you feel about public planning how do you feel about your emergency services our schools so we're at we're compiling this data Our last, our 2026 cycle just ended in June. So we're beginning our new 2027 cycle. And then we are going to be having a a report out at the Grand Haven Chamber and doing sort of a Tri-Cities look at that data. And so I'd encourage you all to come out to that. What is that? That is November 3rd or the 11th. Hold on, I'm sorry. Off the top of my head now, I don't want to tell you the wrong date.

Send us an invitation. Yeah, I will. We would love to be a part of that.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

And then you don't have to speak to this right now, but I would be very fascinated. You know, we put an investment into Lake Shore Advantage for this good work, and we're excited about that. And I would love to see how that equates on a return on investment with actual dollars into our community to see how that correlates. Absolutely. Yeah. At some point, that would be a great visual.

We'd be happy to.

Awesome.

Is that all you got?

Yeah. All right. Anything?

No, just thank you for the report. Yeah. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

I appreciate the information that you provided here in your presentation. Employer surveys, I would be very interested in seeing the results of some of those from the area here. And I don't know if staff has them and you can pass them on or if it's something that has to come from you. But if there's steps that we should be taking as a city or as a council to assist some of our major employers in acquiring, you know, other people or places for daycare or stuff that they had talked about in the past, I would sure like to know that ahead of time so we can maybe take some steps to help accomplish some of that. In the past, we had met with, at one time that I can recall, some local business leaders to sit down and have some conversations about some of their needs and wants and what we're lacking. we could do better. I think that maybe we should be something we should do again one day here before too long as well. But I would love to see those survey results. I would certainly like to hear something from Mr. Marco on the 60 to 120% and the breakdown of what he thinks is in each particular range of that and where would be the most beneficial. If that's something that he could provide in a future presentation or something he can send in to staff and they can give to us as well. Sure. But I appreciate everything you can do for us to help us grow our workforce and people have a place to stay here as well.

Yeah, yeah, I'd be happy to. And just as, you know, just kind of a to-do for me, I'll send out an invite for that because we call it the Industry Trends Report. And so that will be at the Grand Haven Chamber. in November. So we don't we don't give out the survey results specifically for each company. We aggregate that data and show it as a whole.

So even as a generalization that said you know here's the top 10 things that's you know giving the local employer some grief and they need help with.

Yeah yeah absolutely. Yep.

Just one quick thing I'd like to add because we do keep in touch too. We have asked that as things come up that we're not necessarily responding a quarter later or multiple quarters later. Please keep us informed if there's something that we could be doing or specifically referenced in terms of company interactions with the city, things that we could be looking at or doing differently. So that is something we continue to reiterate as well.

That's great. Well, affordable housing, if we can put that in air quotes, attainable housing, whatever we're calling it these days, we need more of it.

Yes.

I am looking forward to seeing what's happened with the funds that the state just set aside specifically for this purpose, and would love to talk more with whoever it is at Lakeshore Advantage down the road about how we as a city can benefit from some of those funds and maybe make some more of these projects happen.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH.

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH.

I THINK THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT I THINK THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT COME FROM THIS DATA AND KEEPING COME FROM THIS DATA AND KEEPING A FOCUS ON GROWING OUR A FOCUS ON GROWING OUR EMPLOYERS, I THINK THAT'S EMPLOYERS, I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT TO US. IMPORTANT TO US. I WANT TO MAKE SURE WE'RE MAKING I WANT TO MAKE SURE WE'RE MAKING GOOD USE OF OUR RESOURCES. I was a facilities engineer at HOMAP for 31 years up in Whitehall. We cited a lot of plants, and we used to look for land, we looked for access to highways, and we looked for a robust workforce. And those things led to prosperity for a community because Every time we moved into a community and set up a plant, there was a lot of other businesses that also enjoyed prosperity. Yeah, absolutely. It's a multiplier, and sometimes you've got to look at some specific needs of each of those industries, and then it has a multiplier effect. So we understand that. We just want to make sure that we're doing the right things, getting good results, and then naturally you're working through our team here. Yes. And we appreciate that.

All right, awesome. Well, thank you guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. That brings us to our consent agenda. Marie, would you read that?

Item A, approve the regular city council meeting minutes for July 20, 2026. Item B, approve the bill's memo in the amount of $1,931,030.70. And item C, approve an interlocal agreement with Ottawa County naming Brian Busker as the designated assessor beginning January 1, 2027 to comply with PA 660 of 2018.

Can I get a motion on the consent agenda? So moved.

Second.

Motion by Fritz, second by Lyon. Any comments on anything here? Please call the roll.

Fritz?

Yes.

Lyon?

Yes.

Caglio? Yes. Dora? Yes. Manetza?

Yes. All right. Our first item of unfinished business.

Item A, consideration by City Council of a final resolution to amend Section 36-8 of Article 1 and Chapter 36 of the City of Grand Haven Code of Ordinance to include electric bicycles, electric scooters, and electric skateboards and create Section 36-8B1 incorporating prohibited items in the 10 block of Washington Avenue during street closure. Administration recommends approval.

Can I get a motion? It's moved in support by my friends or by lines. I can buy fruits. Chief, would you like to explain?

Good evening, Nicole Hudson, Chief of Public Safety. Here before you tonight is a second reading to amend the Chapter 36-A article in reference to adding the electric bicycles and electric scooters and electric skateboards to the no-wheeled zone that is between Washington 3rd Street and Washington and Harbor between Memorial Day and Labor Day. So it's just including What we've already had is just bringing the transportation up to the different modes that we've seen over the last seven years. The second of that is just also incorporating all of those wheeled devices being prohibited from that 10 block of Washington. As we've seen over the last couple of years, there's been an increase in yard games, picnic tables, lots of people in there enjoying that social district. and it takes one electric scooter or electric bike to run through a bunch of pedestrians. So that's in addition to this amendment, as well as just adding electric bicycles, skateboards, and into the reckless, careless, or negligent manner in section C. So that is tonight.

Okay, this is our second reading of this particular amendment.

Correct.

Questions, comments?

Well, I just want to say that I think this is super important. As somebody who just got an electric bike, I'm very excited about it. But I'm also only riding in the road because I know what it means to be run over by a bike on the sidewalk. I was run off my sidewalk by a moped last Coast Guard. So I'm glad we're doing this. I think that we just need to be as clear as we possibly can. So like the 10 block of Washington, Correct. Where things are blocked off in the social district. Correct. And I just want to make sure. We're not telling people they can't bring any of their stuff downtown. They just can't be on the sidewalk in those blocks of Washington, right? People are welcome to come and ride downtown on their bikes and their scooters and their mopeds, but just not on the sidewalk.

Absolutely. I think the media and headlines have portrayed this a little bit differently. But yes, they're absolutely allowed to be still on the roadway as long as they are abiding by all the regulations. It's just the only time they won't be able to be in the roadway would be when that 10 block is closed for the season. And that's typically the last weekend in May, and then runs through September.

Will we put up increased signage throughout downtown? Is that a plan so that we can make sure everybody knows that this is the case?

Absolutely. The city manager and myself plan to sit down this Friday, because obviously we still want to make downtown and the city still, and not put speed bumps and signs every five feet. But a lot of it's just gonna be also making sure that we're out there visible, educating the public between social media, radio, papers and whatnot as a reminder. There's a lot of people that just didn't even realize there was a no-wield zone. There are signage down there. They're not big enough. And so we're looking at different ways we can get that point across.

And then I know we've probably talked about this before, but I think all of us, we should all be considering when we're redoing streets, when we're redoing anything, bike lane. We need a bike lane so badly in this town, especially along Harbor. Just for the safety, like riding your bike on Harbor is actually terrifying. I just don't think cars are paying enough attention along Harbor. Like a bike lane would be great. But yeah, I think as much signage we can do. And then obviously considering more parking. for this kind of equipment? We've got moped parking, but if 10 people park their e-bikes in a moped parking space, is that okay? Allowing people to have more spot to put their bikes downtown as well, their scooters and whatever, so that we're making actual accommodations for them to be on the street with their bikes and mopeds, scooters, all those things.

Sure, thank you. Yeah, I'm good with this. The only thing I would stress is encouraging staff and your department as well in continuing to look at this and what we can do throughout the city, because it is not just a problem downtown. And I know everyone is very aware of it. I've preached on it enough. The hardest thing I seem to struggle with or see on the other side of the highway is the speed that these things go. And the individuals, 99% of the time that appear to be riding them are probably 14 or younger. They pay no attention to stop signs. They come whizzing at 20 to 40 miles an hour past the end of your driveway. You look, they're not there. You look, wow, there they are. And it is something that we need to keep an eye on because it is just getting out of hand in some instances. You don't look for that type of speed on the sidewalk. You're expecting somebody with their baby stroller walking down there, just out for a walk. But when they come by, it catches you off guard. It isn't all their issues, but motorists need to be aware as well when they're backing up and keep your eyes open for them on the sidewalks. But please do whatever we can to help get this a little more under control.

Yeah, this is just the beginning. Prefer not to go to zero to 100 like some municipalities have. So we're really hoping just adding that extra definition into what we already have and then slowly starting to branch out how else we can actually enforce it. And then really just also connecting with our state of Michigan legislators and seeing how better we can define these and set parameters instead of just from the local municipality.

So I'm perfectly fine with doing it in small steps and getting it right as we do it. And instead of just grabbing everything at once and wishing we hadn't. So I just don't want to see a stop.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I appreciate that.

I agree with you, Mike. It's all over town. This Saturday, I happened to talk to a few people from the east side where they're in a Beech Tree business owners over there. And they're saying he's trying to back out of his garage or his area space over there. He says he looked both ways, nothing was coming, and all of a sudden this e-bike comes up, and he's doing like 30 miles an hour or better. He says, I almost ran him over. He says it was so quick and so hard. He says it's really difficult, especially if they're on a sidewalk. Sometimes there's trees and what they can't see too well, but there's no recourse. You're right, Mike. It's all over, so this is a good step. I like taking baby steps and doing things right. Make sure we get it right the first time, and then we can expand on that, but they're concerned over on the east side over there, these e-bikes and that, especially on Beech Tree. They don't pay attention. They just keep going. You're right, Mike. It's usually 14 or under, but I hate to say that, but I was there at one time myself, so I think we all were. But yeah, I'm glad we're moving forward with this. Thank you so very much for bringing it forward to us. Like I say, we just take our time, make sure we get it right the first time around.

So these are a little bit confusing, and I think it's been confusing to the public too, just because we've ORDINANCES TO CLARIFY THIS SPECIFIC ONE IS ONLY ADDING THE SPECIFIC ONE IS ONLY ADDING THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF WHAT'S ELECTRONIC VERSION OF WHAT'S ALREADY PROHIBITED IN THOSE AREAS. ALREADY PROHIBITED IN THOSE AREAS. THE ONLY OTHER QUESTION I HAD THE ONLY OTHER QUESTION I HAD WAS, AND I DON'T KNOW IF THIS WAS, AND I DON'T KNOW IF THIS MAKES REAL DIFFERENCE, BUT I MAKES REAL DIFFERENCE, BUT I THINK THE CURRENT ORDINANCE IS THINK THE CURRENT ORDINANCE IS LAST WEEK IN MAY TO LAST WEEK IN LAST WEEK IN MAY TO LAST WEEK IN SEPTEMBER AND THIS ONE SAYS THIRD SEPTEMBER AND THIS ONE SAYS for the dates, from the third weekend in May to the third weekend in September each year. I think the current ordinance says last, but I don't know if that was a specific.

You're referencing for the 10 block?

Yes, 36.

So that is based off of when the barricades and it gets closed. Okay. So I was trying to keep that consistent with when that actually officially gets closed because I didn't want to put Memorial Day to Labor Day in the sense of that's already closed prior to that and it's closed after that. if that makes sense.

Okay, so yeah, that was my only question on that.

Okay, well, those same dates appear in both paragraph B and paragraph B1. So it applies to the sidewalks between Harbor and 3rd and to the 10 block. But we get the point. I think that covers the time spell that we care about. No, I'm in favor of this. I've had plenty of experiences myself where suddenly there's somebody beside me going, 15, 20 miles an hour in a fairly heavy, very quiet vehicle, and suddenly they're there. And it's a little disconcerting. I've not been hit. I've never seen anyone get hit, but I want to act before somebody gets hurt. So I think this is a good precaution.

And if I can just also mention that, you know, according to the ADA, if they have a mobility device defined by the ADA, then this does not... they're able to use their wheel device.

And I don't think those fall under the definitions of electric bike, electric scooters, electric skateboards. I think that those are in a different class.

Correct. I just want to bring that up to the people that are listening.

And I've had that question as well. Are we going to allow people who need something to get around to ride on that, even though it's got wheels and it's got a motor?

Yes, because that's not really what we're...

when we say electric scooter, electric bicycle, electric skateboard, that's not what we're talking about. I think that's very, very defensible. And I expect that you will use some discretion and some education and work your way into this. What I think happened without this is that you don't even have the ability to stop someone unless they're doing something extremely reckless.

Correct.

And so this gives you the ability to stop a situation before it gets out of hand. And paragraph C in here also says that this is reckless, careless, or negligent behavior in any public space, and that would be citywide. Correct. So I think that you can use this by extension in other parts of the city, but it's really intended for downtown, but it is also applicable elsewhere. Yes. Okay. I like the idea of having more bike lanes and more places for these vehicles because they're not going away. They're going to become more and more common. We have to accommodate them somehow. We should keep in mind that the amount of real estate we have in our paved streets is limited. So if we do dedicate more spaces for bike lanes and for other types of vehicles and try to sort out between cars and electric bikes and pedestrians that we may have to give up something like some of the on-street parking. So there may be some compromises to be made going forward, but I think it's important for us to figure that out. This could be a planning effort to pay public works effort in conjunction with public safety, but. More to become more to be done on that. It has to be accommodated in some way, because it the traffic isn't going to go away. If we accommodate it in a thoughtful manner, maybe some of these some of these problems will go away.

OK.

Anything else on this one? Please call the roll.

Lion? Yes. Fritz?

Yes.

Dora? Yes. Calio? Yes. Meneza?

Yes. Next item, please.

Item B, consideration by City Council of a final resolution to amend Section 25-44 of Article 3, Chapter 25 of the City of Grand Neen Code of Ordinances to include electric bicycles, electric scooters, and electric skateboards. Administration recommends approval.

Can I get a motion on this one? So moved.

Second.

Motion by the door, second by the line. And this was second reading of a similar amendment to chapter 25. Would you like to expand on this one?

Again, Nicole Hudson, chief of public safety. So before you second reading section 25 dash 44, this originally just had prohibited skateboards on the pedestrian boardwalk. And with that, we just brought it up to 2026 and added the electric bicycles, electric skateboards to be included in that as well.

Okay, questions.

I was under the assumption and was told this 20 years ago when I moved here that you weren't allowed to ride your bike on the boardwalk. I don't see that in like bicycles being included in here since the skateboards are bicycles allowed on the boardwalk.

They are so the it's called a pedestrian boardwalk in the pedestrian. is the preferred method of transportation on the boardwalk and bicycles are allowed on the boardwalk. The pedestrians have the right of way and in the city ordinance it actually explains on how you approach that pedestrian, announce them and tell them what side you're going to. And the only thing up until the first reading was skateboards were not allowed, so.

Thank you, I just wanted that to be on record and let's talk about that here so that people do know what is and isn't allowed on the boardwalk. Yes. And I would hope that all of the bike riders as we're doing this are respectful when they are riding.

Anything else?

Nope.

This one is a little harder. Um, and I've gotten more comments about it and I'm sure you have too. Um, and, and to the point of, I believe in it, I believe in safety and I, and I definitely want that to be part of this. I also believe in movement repeating that in the city. And so It is definitely a fight between the two to make sure that we can get people in on vehicles that are not automotives and yet manage the safety of this. And I do not envy your position in kind of having to keep up after the fact with new technology, which is what many communities are having to deal with right now. You mentioned, and in your letter, it mentioned electric bicycles and electric skateboards, but in the new ordinance, it does mention electric scooters also. Correct? Correct. Yeah. So all of those will be part of it. And again, I think that's part of it is just having that conversation. I misspoke. because I bought the same thing that bicycles weren't allowed. So I thought it was, again, we were just adding the new technology to it, but we're adding new forms of transport to this ordinance. And I think as this first step, it's really important. I'm hoping that we can find ways of using technology or smart solutions eventually to potentially rectify some of this. You know, I think we're a ways from geofencing and all of these interesting concepts and maybe if we had rental options in town. But for now, this is what we have for you to be able to keep our citizens as safe as we can on the boardwalk. And I would just encourage, again, as we're doing new projects, as we're looking at new areas that we're already having to improve, how can we create more possibilities to have safe ways of using these items, including in areas, you know, potentially rumble strips or solar speed gauges or whatever we can do because I think promoting these kinds of vehicles is a great option for avoiding parking needs.

And thank you, Sarah. To your point, I will just say a few things. I've heard it should be limited to a speed limit. But enforcing a speed limit on a boardwalk or sidewalk is not a very practical enforcement tool. The other is just there's pedal assist bikes, only allowing the pedal assist bike. from an enforcement standard that is very difficult to navigate, whether it's a class one, two or three bike. And then again, you know, if your pedal assist isn't engaged and so again, it just for an enforcement and for safety, having that water along the side of the pedestrian boardwalk, it's a safety issue. And so from an enforcement standpoint, it's easier just to say all, unfortunately.

I can completely understand that. And I think if we offer more options on our roadways and safe places for people, I think that's why a lot of the reason our boardwalk is so enticing for these vehicles is because they're more safe too. And even though the pedestrians are less safe because of it, they're more safe in a lot of ways than being on our current roadways. So the more options that we can have, I think that's important for this.

I'm in favor of this for 100% anyways, but we take a look at it right now, and we can always, it's an ordinance, we can always change it in the future, whatever happens. If we can get these things under control, if we get some help from our state legislators a little bit, it would help us. I always say that we don't get much help when it comes to anything we'd like to have. This is a good start for us, and we can move forward with it, and as you say, when technology and things up, we can change it again and adapt it, but it is a pedestrian area. You're absolutely correct. That's what it was made for. It was for us to walk down the boardwalk. I remember when I was a kid going down, I had to walk on a wall, and hopefully I didn't fall into the river sometimes, but it was just a wall before they put it in the boardwalk. This makes it a little bit more safer. You're right, you can't identify what type of bike it is, a one or two or a three. And if you get a three out there, they're just flying down there. I rode my bike down there, but we got a bell on mine and always tell them, hey, as Jeff says, on your left, they understand that we're passing on the left-hand side. You ring your bell ahead of time and let them know if you're moving along. On a bicycle, you're not moving that fast down there because you're too close to the water. I just like to, I'm a slow mover.

baker anyway so but yeah this is a good start i'm in for it so thank you so very much for bringing it forward to us and getting us up to date and i assure you at least my time in this position we will make sure that we continue to review these ordinances because things are constantly changing and these ordinance should reflect that so yeah yeah i agree with you know both what mike and sarah both had to say we have to start somewhere

This looks like a perfectly good starting point to me. We can take off with smaller steps from here in directions that we need to go and get this figured out. There's nothing that casts any of this in concrete. It is a living document, so it changes as we choose. I think it's a good move. It'll help us maybe get a handle on it. And if it saves one life, it's well worth its time and spent. Good.

Okay. And I think that the pedestrian preference is already codified in sections 2541 and 2542 in our ordinance. And it's kind of addresses and corresponds we have from Mr. Hagan about the preference for pedestrians and they have the right of way and they are, the expected users of the pedestrian ways, and everyone else needs to accommodate that. So that's in here, maybe this language could be strengthened at some point as well, but I think we gotta be thoughtful about how we modify each piece of this, because it's a big puzzle, it's all gotta fit together. But again, it gives you a tool to regulate behavior on the boardwalk, which you don't have today. So I think that's the important piece.

And if I can also just comment on Mr. Brunner's issue with the skate park, we are adding additional signs. It is not a city ordinance. It is just rules issued to the attendance at the skate park by the city of Grand Haven. So there's no municipal civil infraction, there's no civil infraction, so once those signs are put up, then electric bicycles and scooters will be prohibited from that area as well.

Right, yeah, and as a city amenity in a city park, I think we can do those by policy as opposed to.

Correct, correct.

Then it's more flexible to how to deal with it.

Correct.

But we will deal with it.

We are currently dealing with that.

Thank you.

I just didn't want you to think there was something in the ordinance about that, so we'll handle that.

No, no, I think we get the distinction. Yeah. Do you call the roll?

Dora? Yes. Lyon? Yes. Fritz? Yes. Calio? Yes. Meneza?

Yes.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. There is no public hearing this evening, so it brings us to our first item of due business.

Item A, consideration by City Council to approve a professional service agreement with Abenmarsh Associates for the lead service line project in the budgeted amount of $88,500. Administration recommends approval.

Can I get a motion on this item? So moved.

Second.

Second by Calio. Mr. England, are you going to explain this to us? Yes.

Good evening council. So Leah and I and Logan have been working on this for a while. We've done a very good job of doing lead services before we do research or incorporating, can't talk, incorporating them while we do a project, but we're getting to the point where we need to start doing more. So we budgeted this year with Emily $1.5 million in order to get some lead services replaced throughout the city. Um, this gets us started on helping us get to the bid process and having album marsh help us and assist with getting these lead services replaced. Um, right now per our water bills, we are collecting 86 cents per thousand gallon of water and we have 2.9 million in that account that we need to start using to get these lead services replaced.

Okay, questions? No, but I'm glad we're going to be spending some of that money and taking care of what we're supposed to do for the citizens. So it's always a good move for us. 100%. Instead of just leaving it set there, we need to get it done. We've got a time limit to have on this.

Correct. Yes, we have until 2035 to get over probably, I think we're figuring right around 800 services done.

Yeah. This is another one of those mandates from the... from the state where we have to pay for it, even though they mandated it to us. As I said, state legislators do not help us much.

And as the mayor's pointed out previous stuff, we do not have any problems with the lead. We have a very unique water system. So our lines, everything is safe to drink.

I just wanna say thank you to the city and Emily to being proactive on this and making sure we had a way and a vehicle to be ahead of this game. So yeah, I appreciate all the hard work you're doing on this.

I do as well. I'm glad to see that we have the funds that we can step up and start getting some of these completed and would encourage you to do as many of them as we can that funding allows for. So let's get them done.

So we're still trying to do, we're still trying to stay ahead of the game by resurfacing areas that need it done and trying to get that done before we resurface them. So we don't tear up the road after we're done replacing services.

I think there's a fair number of them that are in the right of way as well.

There is a decent amount, but you know, those are the cheaper ones because they're in the right of way on a certain side. And then it's, It's a devil's advocate because the other side of it is longer and you have to go underneath the road.

Thank you. I understand that when we set ourselves out on this road after the mandate came down, we started charging our customers so that the current users of the system would be paying for this plus any other money we could get. We've gotten grants, we've gotten loans, we've gotten some other help, but now we're using some of those, but we're using a portion of it, holding a portion of it back for opportunities. I think that's wise.

Yep, we've been replacing too, as some of these older galvanized services start to leak, we've been replacing them on an emergency basis too. So I think last year we did over 50 services, but this will just help keep us online for that 2035 deadline.

So how many do you think we'll hit with a million and a half dollars?

It was projected 150. Okay.

That's easy math. Okay. Well, thank you. Anything else? Just call the roll. Fritz? Yes.

Calio? Yes. Lyon? Yes. Dora? Yes. Meneza?

Yes. Okay, next item.

Item B, consideration by City Council to approve the low bid and contractor services agreement with Wolverine Seal Coating of Jackson, Michigan, in the budgeted amount of $18,075 for the 2026 overband crack seal program. Administration recommends approval.

And I get a motion. So moved.

Second.

Motion by Fritz, second by Lyon.

Logan.

Evening.

You get to explain this one. Yes. Logan, Cunnington Streets and Utilities Manager. What do you have before you as a proposal for overband crack seal for the 26-27 year with Wolverine seal coating? in the amount of $18,075. This is an incredibly cost-effective approach to increasing the longevity of our roads that we currently have and the ones that we've reconstructed as well as just resurfaced.

Okay, questions?

The bids were so different. Have we ever worked with this company before? Are we confident in their work? It was such a disparity in terms

It's been a couple years since we've worked with Wolverine, but we've actually worked with both companies that have bid, so.

Okay.

I'm not sure the other number was very accurate, or they were busy.

Okay. As long as we're confident in the work being done. Yep.

It's always interesting when you look at these bids and you see one that's at 18,000 and one that's at 53,000. And you wonder, as Erin was just stating, what did we miss? So it always brings to my attention, it's like, oh, something's not quite right. But if we worked with these folks in the past and you're familiar with them and happy with what they've I have no problem with going with them again. So I know the downside of not doing it. And once the water gets through the asphalt and it freezes and then it thaws, now we have a pothole and no one likes those. So there's really no way around it. We have to do it and let's go with it.

I'm good. I was fortunate enough to go down to Detroit one time and take a class representing the city of Grand Haven along with all of our county, they wanted to figure out why was the guy from the city here? And by doing this here, when I first got on council, we had a long period of time where we didn't seal crack them. And you can see the differences in the road after a few years, you're right, Mike, the freeze and then the dry, you know, it just pops it up. Are we gonna use, are they gonna use, when they do the seal cracking, is it gonna be a wider band, or are they just gonna kinda like drip it, try and drip it into the hole? Because I notice on the county roads now, they're using a wider, a little bit so it goes over the crack.

Typically it's like three to four inches wide. So they'll seal the crack and go to the outside.

Some of them around town here, they didn't have that, so we gotta make sure we keep an eye on it, make sure we get it, That extends the library anywhere from five to 10 years, which is really good for us. And if we maintain it even longer, I seen up on Hillcrest at one time, it looked like a maze, whatever you wanted to do up there, but it's still pretty smooth at one time. So I'm in favor of this. I've been in favor since when we started redoing it again. Thank you very much. If you're comfortable with them, I'm comfortable.

Yeah, this is basic preventive maintenance. It's good to do. Well worth the expense because it saves a lot of later repair. Definitely. As far as the bids being so different, if you'd had a third bid, it might have been above, below, or in between. Who knows? Sometimes bidders will pay out a bid because they're busy. They want to submit a bid, but they didn't really want the job. I mean, it's hard to say. It's a little hard to second guess that. All you can do is go on experience and references. Mm-hmm. If those are good, then you go with it. So appreciate that. That's all I got. Please call the roll.

Fritz?

Yes.

Lyon? Yes. Calio? Yes. Dora? Yes. Meneza?

Yes. All right. And we removed item C. And so brings us to a report by city council. Who would like to go first?

I can get started.

Okay.

Well, I wanted to say thank you to all the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard for being here this last week. It was really fun and an honor to get to know some of them. It's a huge thank you to the Coast Guard Festival Committee, Tracy, all the volunteers, and really to all of our city staff who worked very, very hard prior to the event and all week last week, along with Harbor Tragedy staff who also worked very hard to make sure everybody was safe and getting to all the fun activities. But as always, it was a wonderful week. Weather, you know, could be different next year. On a more serious note, I want to send my deepest sympathies to all the friends and family who are still mourning the losses of Mandy, Keegan, Bennett, Ella, Smith, Caroline, and Teddy. Over the last week, I have read so many beautiful memories from friends online. I'm just very sorry for your loss, and I hope our community continues to wrap them in their arms and cover them in love. And lastly, tomorrow is voting day. Get out and vote by 8 p.m. Maria, by 8 p.m. Your vote is your voice, and it truly does matter. So please vote.

That's it.

Very good.

Thank you.

I'd like to echo my thanks as well to Public Safety, Department of Public Works. Guys all did a great job keeping everything going. Festival Committee has always did their part. It can always be better, but it could have always been worse. So it's a thing in work. Got a couple of things coming up that I would like to mention. On August 7th, the American Legion Post has the Purple Heart commemoration ceremony that is happening down at the waterfront. They do a great job in identifying individuals that should have been awarded Purple Hearts and were not. Attendance would be great if you could do that. Also that same day, the lighthouse is having a ribbon cutting that they're doing at two o'clock to celebrate the opening of the lighthouse. I think they're closing in on just under 20,000 visitors now to date since it has opened. So a lot of people going as well there. So if you can make that, that's at 2 o'clock next Friday as well. That would be great. Again, we all had a good time for Coast Guard. Looking forward to next year. Just dry weather. Yes. Yes.

Thanks, Mike.

Put my order in now. Okay. I'll do what I can do.

Yeah, I want to echo about a wonderful Coast Guard and it was a unique position to be in this year and be able to participate in a lot of many events and experience firsthand the incredible way our community honors the men and women of this United States Coast Guard and very much to our city staff, the DPW, the Coast Guard Committee, and of course our public safety. and all the volunteers that work very hard on this. I gotta read this next part, but I also wanna acknowledge the unimaginable tragedy that occurred in our community on July 24th. My heartfelt sympathies go out to the family and loved ones of the victims, to the neighbors, the students, the friends, the teachers, and the school staff whose lives have been forever changed and to everyone in our community is grieving. Peach Plains was my girls' elementary school, and I know firsthand what a caring, close-knit school community is. I cannot imagine the pain that so many are carrying. I have also thought every day about the first responders who walked into that horrific scene and the neighboring agencies that came alongside. We ask so much of those who serve our community and we owe them our deepest gratitude. Events like this change a community. There is a before and there is an after. They also remind us that we never truly know what someone may be experiencing behind closed doors. Violence can touch any family, any neighborhood, and any background. So regardless of the specific circumstances of this tragedy, if you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or feels unsafe, please know that help is available. Locally, Resilience, which is formerly Women in Transition, provides free trauma-informed services, including a 24-hour confidential health emergency shelter, counseling, and connections to community resources. Even if you are not ready to take action, reaching out for a conversation can be an important first step. The helpline is 1-800-848-5991, and additional resources are available at resiliencemi.org. Thank you.

Thank you.

I want to say thank you very much for that. I couldn't say it any better for all of us. I appreciate it so very much. It's been such a tragedy for us and our community. But when tragedy happens, it brings our community close together, too, also. Sorry to say that, but it does bring everybody close. It's not a good thing. You're right, we have people that need help. If you do see it, please reach out. I also want to say what a Coast Guard festival it was. was unbelievable i want to say thank you to my fellow council members we all worked at community picnic i think mike and i i think we we felt like a hot dog when we were done we did over a thousand hot dogs we grilled out there it was unbelievable at what 2 15 we were running really sparse they had to run out and get more to hot dogs because people were just it was just unbelievable but uh and i want to say Aaron, thank you for being in the dunk tank. Bob and I decided it really is not a good thing for us after we ruined our shoulders in it one time, but it was a fun time. It really is. I enjoyed it when I was in there. I know exactly what you meant. By the time you sat down, you were back in the water again, so that's good. I want to thank everybody, DPW, public safety, staff, all of our employees in the city. When you get up Sunday morning, took a walk downtown, And to go to church, it was unbelievable again. These guys worked so hard to clean up our town after people come to our town and literally leave things here. And our staff goes out there and actually cleans it all up. What a great show it is. They take very good pride in their work. They do very good jobs. I want to reach out to every one of them, public safety for all of what you've done through. When you have hundreds of thousands of people here and having our small little department where we have and even reaching out to our neighbors to help us out, they do a fantastic job. They're all over. I happen to be walking down there, and it's nice to see them in places that people are congregating, so that was really good. I'm sure we had a few bumps here and there, but it's nothing where you could have possibly might have had, so. I want to say thank you to everybody. And also remember, tomorrow is voting, as we say. Please get out and vote. Even though it's primaries and that, and there's also a couple of proposals on it that really need some support. So please get out and do your job as being American and vote. I really highly recommend. Yeah, thank you. Oh, and also, Tigers did trade Scooble. But maybe next year he might be back again. They might sign them back up because they have a chance. They can't afford it. They have a chance for it next year. And the Tigers, we won two in a row now, so they swept the series. So we're doing good. We're moving up. Thanks, Mike. That's it.

Yeah, I appreciate the thoughts, the condolences for the the family and there were other tragedies as well this week there was a few things that went on most things leave a mark and they uh community has to absorb that move forward from that with all with all due respect and all all sympathy and i couldn't say better than what's been said so appreciate all the thoughts and um That's juxtaposed against a festival that's full of joy for the community. Sometimes that's just the way things are. I think the Coast Guard Festival went well. It was all hands on deck. Everybody worked very hard. People kind of expect that, and they don't really appreciate how much work is behind that. It doesn't just happen. It happens because so many people from so many parts of the community make that happen. So there can't be enough thank yous for that. And now we can all catch our breath. And there's still a lot more summer to go. We have another whole month of summer. There's more to do. But we have Coast Guard accomplished for this year. Move on from there. Everybody should vote in the election because the primary election is how you set up your November ballot. And if you get to November and you look at your ballot and say, how come this is on this ballot? It's because in the primary, that's So make those choices. Don't let somebody else do it for you. And again, I like the comment on the Purple Heart Day.

That's an important event.

We've passed a resolution recognizing that. And 20,000 people at the Lighthouse? This is a town of 11,000 people. You've done well.

I guess people want toys. OK.

Things are looking good here. So appreciate everybody's efforts. Appreciate all the thoughtfulness and everything that's been done. And now we take a deep breath. And I'll pass it off to Ashley.

No, thank you. Yeah, I think our team will take a deep breath until Walk the Beat this weekend. So we encourage everyone to come out for that. But again, just to reiterate the gratitude to our team, especially our public works 16-hour days just on that Saturday alone to close out the festival, often leaving at 1, 2, 3 a.m. to get everything cleaned up before our residents reemerge on Sunday morning to enjoy the city once again. but just wanted to say thank you on that front, and then not much else to add other than at your next council meeting, staff is preparing to give an update on your council goals and strategies that we set in December just as a progress midpoint check-in, so you can look forward to that, and we'll talk about what we've accomplished, what we've been working on, and what we're still working towards throughout the rest of this fiscal year, and that's all I have.

All right, thanks. We're looking forward to that. And that brings us to our second call to the audience. So at this time, members of the audience may address counsel on any item. If you do so, please come to the podium, give us your name and address, and you'll be limited to three minutes of speaking time. Anyone? Don't all run up at once. Come on, Jeff, you're almost out of your chair. okay all right well seeing no one then i will close the call to the audience and if there is no further business before us then i will adjourn this meeting thank you for coming