Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone. everyone to this special work session for city council for December 15th, 2025. Marie, would you call the role? Fritz here. Calio here. Lion here. Dora here. Manetsa here. This evening we have a presentation by Ms. But before that, I want to announce to everyone this is our night for cookies with council. We have quite a spread of cookies out there in the lobby. Anyone wants cookies at any point in the evening, go get them and enjoy. Now we'll have our presentation from uh a MS presentation with Veronica Labar from MS. Uh Ashley, did you want to preface this with anything?

Um just that we felt with a new incoming group of council members, this would be a good opportunity to just p uh provide information on our uh pension plan and answer any questions you might have before we head into budget season. All right. Thanks.

Thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Veronica Labar. I am your regional manager with MRS of Michigan. So, it's my job to come out and speak with council members, employers, whomever, make sure that all the stakeholders understand their existing MERS plans and give you an opportunity to answer any questions that you may have. Um, I've put together a short presentation. It can generally run a little longer than what the time that we have allocated. So, I'm going to go through it um at a high level. We'll absolutely take your questions. Although I often find that when a question is asked, the next slide contains the answer. So if I answer your question on the next slide or two, I may ask you to hold your question until we get to that in anticipation that I may have uh answered that question.

Um so tonight I'm just going to go through some highle concepts of how your defined benefit plan is funded. Um how your contribution to that plan is calculated each year. why it may seem like it's always changing um and highlight the progress that you're making towards funding your plan. So, of course, by way of introduction, MS is not a part of state government. We are an independent services company um that provides retirement benefits and other post-employment benefits. One of the main benefits of MS is that we are able to pull assets to create economies of scale and bring savings to our members. We are also the sole fiduciary for our retirement plans, relieving boards such as yourselves from that obligation. We take on the fiduciary responsibility for all the legal compliance um investment oversight, payment of those um to retirees and then of course making sure our expenses are reasonable. So your defined benefit plan um to just go over what you have, you have six different divisions. All but three of those divisions are closed which means that there are no new employees being enrolled in those divisions but existing employees can continue to work under the plan and can continue to acrue service under the plan to increase their benefit. Um the multipliers within those divisions vary. Um, the divisions with active employees have all been bridged down to lower multipliers. And what that means is previously council decided to look at what the benefit multiplier was for the division, folks who have earned service under an existing benefit multiplier. That that service continues to be calculated under

that existing multiplier. But then on a going forward basis, their benefit is going to be calculated at a lower rate. And that's a cost savings measure that your board has already put into place for your plan. Um, your plan has a three-year final average compensation. So, an employees benefit is based upon their highest 36 consecutive months of wages regardless of where that falls during their career. Um, varying the vesting schedule varies by division from six to 10 years. the normal retirement age. So the age at which somebody has met um eligibility to retire for your divisions is 60. That's the normal retirement age. But your divisions do have varying early unreduced retirement provisions that the council had adopted as well such as age 50 with 25 years of employment or age 55 with 25 years of employment. Um your plan also has a couple of other provisions that increase the benefits for those employees. one is a 2 and a half% nount probably cost of living adjustment for the employees. Um and then some of your divisions also offer uh an additional survivor benefit to those employees. So what does all that mean? When we look at the defined benefit plan, the plan itself or the benefit itself is calculated using a three-part formula. And that three-part formula is what determines the cost of the plan because it's the cost of the benefits that are paid out to employees. So in a sample calculation for an employee with a final average compensation of $100,000 and say they have 25 years of service under your plan. So maybe they're doing an early retirement. um with a benefit multiplier of two and a quarter percent. You multiply those three three things together to come up with the annual benefit for the plan. Um in this instance it's $5 56,250. Um and that benefit again is going to

increase annually by that 2.5% non-compounding cola. That benefit is going to be funded from three sources. Employer contributions, employee contributions, and earnings on the investment of those contributions. And those investment earnings generally pay about half of the retirement benefits that go out to employees under the plan. We calculate what those contributions are going to be in an annual report called your annual actuarial valuation report. And in that report, we look at everybody who is enrolled in your plan as of December 31st of the current year. That report, so we're going to be doing this as of December 31st coming up in a couple of weeks here. We'll take just a snapshot of everybody who's in your plan, the service that they have earned to date, what they're earning as far as their salaries. Um, and then we will calculate the report which will be available to you June June 30th of 2026. And it is going to provide your your contributions for your following fiscal year. So your fiscal year 2027. Um, this report is going to project the cost of those benefits um and tell you what your funded level is, but it does not actually determine the cost of the benefits. Again, the benefits are the cost of the benefits are determined by that three-part formula for each of those employees under the plan. Now, in order to project the cost, we have to make some assumptions, right? We have to make assumptions about things like at what age people are going to retire, how long they're going to live, so that we can project how many years

we're going to be paying this benefit to them in retirement. Um, we also have to make some economic assumptions, things like wage inflation year-over-year. M standard wage inflation assumption is 3%. It's more nuanced than that to reflect things like longevity and merit pay. Um, we also have an investment return assumption. Our current assumed rate of return for our plan is 6.93%. That means those contributions that are going into your plan, the assets that are in your plan are projected to long-term earn 6.93%. Now, it's not going to be exactly that every year, but that's a long-term average that we're projecting under your plan. We look at the assumptions that we use in the plan, such as those that I just mentioned, every five years as part of an experience study to make sure those assumptions continue to be reasonable. We don't want to be funding your plans based upon the same assumptions that we were using 30 years ago because things change. For example, we just finished our study from 2019 through 2023 because we look at the we look back at the pa past full five years. We didn't make any major changes based upon this experience study. But in the previous experience study, one of the things we did was change the mortality tables that we plan. We did that because for the first time ever, a public sector mortality table was available to project lifespan separate from private sector folks. Good news is public sector folks are projected to live longer. Bad news is that also means that your pension plan is going to be projected to be paying out those benefits for additional years. The mortality table that we switch to is also what we call a fully generational

mortality table. And that means things like we all know just instinctually that my lifespan is projected to be longer than what my grandmother's was, right? And so the mortality table that we're using recognizes that mortality improvement within the table. When we made that change years ago and suddenly said, "Okay, we have to project that we're going to be paying these benefits for longer," that decreased the city and all the other Mers customers funded level because we were funding assuming that you had a certain amount of liability based upon how long we were projecting to pay those benefits. And now we need to project that we're going to be pay them paying them longer because lifespans have improved over time. And we need to recognize that because what we don't want to do is have your plan be underfunded. You definitely don't want to get into like a pay as you go kind of a situation. It's that investment of the contributions long-term that helps to pay for the benefits that your uh employees reserve receive. So when we calculate the contributions to your plan,

let's do.

Thank you. Um, if we were to look at the market value of your assets, which you know the city gets a statement of fiduciary out of the plan the investment gains or losses that were experienced in that year. If we were to calculate your required employer contribution based upon those dollar amounts, there would be a lot of fluctuation yeartoyear on what your contributions were needed to be based upon the previous year's investment returns. Right? When the market performed well, outperformed our assumption, your employer contributions would go down. when we underperformed our insumptions, your employer contributions rate, employer contribution rates would go up. So, we used what's called an actuarial value of assets or a smoothed value of assets. Smoothing is an actuarial best practice that kind of works like a rolling five-year average, if you will. So then rather than your employee or contribution rates varying like this from year to year with the market returns, there's still going to be some fluctuation in them, but they're much more predictable and easier to budget for. And I have an example here to show you how smoothing works. And this is where that animation comes in to help out a little bit. So in this example, in year one, say there was a negative market return of about 4%. Instead of your plan feeling the impact of that return all in one year, we are going to spread that impact out over a total of five years. So you'll feel 1/5if of it in this year and 1/5if of it in the next four years. And we do that the following year. In this instance, there's um a market gain that is going to be spread out over five

years as well. Looking at this graph, you can see that the dark green line are the actual market returns that MS has experienced over the last like 20 years. Um, and you can see if your contributions were based upon that dark green line, they would be very hard to budget for. Using that smoothing provides us with the bright green line um which shows us that the smoothed rate of return is 3.79%. Now I mentioned earlier that our assumed rate of return is 6.93%. So our smoothed rate of return or what we're crediting with your plan with right now is actually lower than what our investment assumption is and that is because of 2022. In 2022, we experienced the worst market losses since 2008. At that time, our assumed rate of return was 7% and the portfolio returned a negative 10.61%. So, the good news is you didn't have to make that up with employer contributions that following year. Um, the bad news is that's being smoothed in over five years and we've all kind of like forgotten about what happened in 2022, but it impacted the 2022 AAV, the 2023 AAV, the most current AAV or excuse me, annual actuarial valuation. Forgive me for throwing that acronym in there. It's kind of part of our MS speak if you will. Um, so the most current annual actuarial valuation report right now is your 12312024 report because 1231 2025 hasn't happened yet. Um, so we felt it in that one and we're going to continue to feel the smoothing in of those losses for two

more years. So, it really does help stabilize the contributions that you need to make for the plan, but sometimes it can feel like ripping that band-aid off a little slowly. Um, another thing that AAV does is it will look at what we projected was going to happen last year um versus what actually happened last year, right? And then any difference between what we projected was going to happen and what actually happened is either going to be an actuarial gain if your plan um experienced less liability than what we had projected or an actuarial loss if your plan liability grew more than what we had projected. Either way, a gain or a loss, which is also referred to as an unfunded acred liability, is going to be amvertised over a fixed period of time. We don't just hand you a bill and say, "Oh, here's the difference." Um, so again, makes it easier for you to budget for these fluctuations. Now, MS uses a fixed amortization period each year, but we use a layered amortization. So for open plans, the amortization period is 15 years. For closed divisions, and remember I said all of your divisions are closed, we use a 10-year amortization period. This example just shows an open plan with 15-year amortizations period. So at the end of um 20 in 2023, excuse me, any losses experienced in 2023 were reflected in the 2024 report. They are going to be spread out over 15 years. The next year when we look at the report, any differences, losses, or

actual gains are going to be spread out over a new 15-year period and so on. So when we tell you that the unfunded acred liability in your plan is going to be amvertised over a fixed period of say 15 years, it is. But then the next year there's another 15-year period and another 15-year period. So you're always your plan is always going to be about 15 years away from being fully funded and less and until the day comes when all of our actuarial projections are exactly right. And when that happens, I'm going to play the lottery. um your plan, um like I said, does have closed divisions. So, yours is going to look more like this. Um your division five, your fire division has been closed for some time. That division is already using an 10-year amortization period. So, any actuarial gains or unfunded liability that that division has, it's going to be amortized over 10 years. The other divisions within your plan are going to be reducing the amortization period by one year each year. So last year they came on as a 14-year amortization period. In this next report, they're going to come on as a 13-year amortization period and so on until we reach that 10-year amortization period. And then they're all going to continue to come on as 10-year amortization periods. So your actuarily required contribution is going to be made up of two parts. One is the employer's normal cost of the plan. The normal cost of the plan is the cost for those folks enrolled in the plan to earn one more year of service under the plan. Projected cost for them to earn one more year of service. We don't know when we're giving you your contribution rates if they're going to

get a large raise mid year or something. So, it's a projected cost. Um, and then it's also made up of a payment, an amortization payment towards that unfunded acred liability. And that gives you your minimum employer contribution to the plan. And again, if all you make are those minimum contributions to the plan, your plan is designed to be fully funded at the end of the existing amortization period that is in place. Now, another thing that your board has been done, um, another fiscally responsible thing is using a surplus division to accelerate the funding of your plan. So, if all you pay is that minimum contribution, again, your plan is going to be fully funded at the end of that amortization period. Some municipalities, yourself included, because you're obviously using a surplus division, have decided that you want to improve your funded level more quickly than that. And so we have what are called surplus divisions where you can make additional voluntary contributions to the plan and put them in this surplus division rather than putting them in the divisions that have employees in them. Because by putting the assets in a surplus division, it counts towards your overall funded level, but it does not impact the future actuarily determined contribution to the plan. Because if you think about it, if your plan is 60% funded, the employer contribution to the plan is going to be a lot more than if your plan is 80% funded. Right? you're we're going to be trying to make up that lost ground within that amortization period. So if you just make additional voluntary contributions to the plan and you don't put them in the surplus division, it's going to bring up your

funded level. MS is going to reduce your required contribution to the plan and your plan is still going to be fully funded at the end of the amortization period that's in place. Using a surplus division is kind of akin to a mortgage where you're making a payment towards principal instead. Because if you have a mortgage that's $1,000 a month, in one month you have $1,200 and you want to put that extra $200 towards your mortgage. For most of us, our goal is not to owe $800 next month. For most of us, our goal is to put that $200 towards the outstanding balance of the mortgage. So, a surplus division works similarly. Assets in the surplus division are invested right alongside the rest of the assets in your plan. They earn the same um returns as the rest of the assets in your plan. But when we go to calculate your required contribution to the plan, we do not consider those and therefore we are not reducing what we're billing you and so your plan is going to be achieve that fully funded status more quickly and I have some reports in a moment. I'll share your AAV with you and show you that in that AAV. Um, I do have some resources to direct you to if you have additional questions beyond this. Um, our web page has an annual actuarial valuations page that has I've kind of highlighted on there. There are a couple really great videos in there. One of them is going to talk about our assumed rate of return smoothing. And another one that's useful in there is going to talk about our dedicated gains policy, which I do want to talk about before we look at your actual report. So looking ahead to next year, I told you that we did our experience study recently and we looked at the assumptions that we're using and in this most recent experience study. We

didn't make any major changes to those,

but a plan that is already in place is to gradually reduce our assumed rate of return to as low as 6.5%. MS does a capital markets analysis every three years and we determine what we call our range of reasonable assumptions and it's our goal to be at the bottom of that range of reasonable resumptions with the assumed rate of return that we use in your plan. But if we were to just reduce the assumed rate of return for your plan, it would immediately drop your funded level for your plan because we would be assuming that less of the dollars going into your plan are coming from investments. So conversely, they would have to come from contributions to the plan. So MS has instituted an automatic dedicated gains policy. It's kind of tied to that smoothing concept that we talked about. So instead of smoothing forward all of the assumptions or excuse me all of the gains in a year when we exceed our assumed rate of return, we're going to recognize more of those assets in that first year in the plan and then smooth a smaller portion of those assets forward. And by recognizing some of those assets in your plan first year, it can offset the reduction of that assumed rate of return. And I say that and I say looking ahead because as of November 28th, mer returns were right around 15%. So I know we've exceeded our assumed rate of return and I fully anticipate that this policy is going to kick in. It only kicks in when we exceed our assumed rate of return by a large enough amount. For example, last year our um rate of return I believe was 7.84. I've been looking at too many numbers. it was 7.84%. We did not use the dedicated gains policy to reduce the assumed rate of

return because we didn't exceed it by enough to offset the impact of reducing that investment rate of return assumption for your plan. So, I have your AAV reports here. I want to point out a couple specific tables that will help you understand um where your plan is towards your funded level, towards your employer contributions. Um, while I'm passing those out, do you have any questions on anything I just went over? Anyone have questions? Are we using that surplus division when we make our additional payments? Yes. I think this last year was our second year.

I'll show you exactly how much money you have in your circle. You're welcome. Now, remember these reports? This is your annual actuary evaluation report. So the data in here was captured as of 12:31 2024. Start by showing you page six. That is your funded level for your plan. And that graph that we're looking at or chart that we're looking at is going to show you that for 1231 2024 your plan was 66% funded. As of the previous year, 1231 2023, your plan was 67% funded. That drop of 1% in your funded level is um to be expected because remember I talked about smoothing in those losses from 2022. So, we're still feeling that the rate that was credited to your plan was 3.79% which is less than our assumption. So, that's why it went down instead of going up. Um, page seven looks at the employer contribution rates for your plan. And again, I'm going to be going through this fairly quickly, but you please feel free to stop me if you do have questions. Um, so the top table on page seven is the employer contribution rates to your plan. Um, we do not show them as a percent of payroll for your divisions because again, they are closed and we know that your payroll is shrinking. So it's there's no point in putting it as a percent to payroll that would just continue to escalate. We do build it as a flat dollar amount for those divisions. And then you can see what the employee contribution rates are in the table below that. Um I'm going to skip ahead to page 12. Going to look at the table on page 12. And we're just going to look at the top

section of this table because this top section of this table uses that 6.93 assumed rate of return and the bottom two sections use a lower assumed rate of return just for groups who like to budget more conservatively. But you can see for your valuation year ending 1231 2024 for your fiscal year beginning in July of 2026 your acred liability the valuation assets are set aside to pay for them your funded percentage at 66% and your estimated employer contribution for the year there. Now, I want to point out too, this table right here, um, the previous table we looked at that showed your funded level also said 66%. As you put more and more dollars into your surplus division, that first table we looked at is still going to show you your funded level using all those surplus assets. But this table will not. This table is going to base your employer contribution on your assets, not considering those surplus assets in this division. So, yours is just so close that they both round to 66%. Um, but I want to point out too that funded percentage column, you can see that that funded percentage is ticking down each of the next two years as those um losses from 2022 continue to be smoothed into your plan before it begins to tick back up again. Now, again, this is assuming that M returns exactly 6.93% in 2025, which I just told you we're not. So, it's going to probably look a little better than this when we look at it again next year. Um, the graph on the next page takes those numbers from that table and just projects them out a little further. So, what I do want to point out to you in this one is there's a dotted blue line and a solid blue line. The solid blue line represents the

numbers on the table that we were just looking at. The dotted blue line includes those assets in your surplus division as well. And it doesn't project in here that you're ever going to put any more assets in those surplus division. But as you do, what you're going to notice is there's the dotted blue line that indicates the surplus division shows your funded level is a little higher, right, than the blue line without those surplus assets. And you'll also notice that it intersects with that 100% funded level a little sooner. And the more dollars you put in that surplus division, the more dramatic the difference between those two lines is going to be. The graph below that shows the estimated annual employer contribution rate that it's going to take you to get there. Now, of course, the more assets that you put into the plan sooner rather than later, the more we can bring that projected peak down.

Um, how we doing on time? 7:30. Okay. So, so Veronica, I'm going to have to we're going to have to stop. Okay. and um pick this up again during our regular meeting, but at 7:30 we start our regular meeting. Okay. So um hold your thoughts and we'll hold our questions for a bit and at about item number eight in the regular agenda, we'll continue with our work session. Okay. Okay. But I need to get the regular session going and so we'll we'll be back with you in a few minutes. Sure.

Okay. So, we're going to put our work session on pause until the appropriate time in a regular agenda and start our regular council meeting. So, welcome everyone to the regular council meeting for uh December 15th, 2025. And would you please call the role? Fritz here. Calio here. Lion here. Dora here. Manza

here. Um, our invocation this evening is by Reverend Michael Hughes of St. Matthew Lutheran Church. If you'd please stand and then join me afterwards for the pledge of allegiance. Let us pray. Almighty God, you have given us this good land as our heritage. Grant that we remember your generosity and constantly do your will. Bless our land and this city with honest industry, truthful education, and an honorable way of life. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil course of action. Grant that we may become a united people. Support us in defending our liberties and give to those to whom we have entrusted the authority of government the spirit of wisdom. There may be justice and peace in this city. When times are prosperous, may our hearts be thankful. And in troubled times, do not let our trust in you fail. We pray this through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. 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. Thank you. At this point, I would remind everyone that tonight is cookies with council night. It's our last meeting of the of the year. Outside in the lobby, we have an arrangement of cookies brought in by council members. And I would invite you at any point in the evening to help yourself to cookies because we don't want to take them home. But don't don't worry about formalities here.

All right, that brings us to appointments to boards and commissions. Um, Rio, would you read those? Item A, appoint Estralita Bazoon to the Human Relations Commission with a term ending June 30, 2028. And item B, appoint Leia Ramy to the compensation commission with the term ending December 31, 2028. Can I get a motion for these? So moved. Motion by second by Lion or by Dora. I was on this side. I didn't even get a chance that side and that side.

Okay. Any questions on either of these appointments? And uh the first one is related to Bazine. You're missing a pow. Um, any questions? Please call the roll. Fritz, yes. Dora, yes. Calio, yes. Lion, yes. Manza, yes. So, um, for for Estraita and Leia, uh, you'll have to contact the U city clerk's office to take your oath of office. I believe there's a what day is the HRC meeting? Is that next week or this week? This week. This week. This week. Thursday. Yes.

That's coming up quickly. Compensation commission. I think you have to arrange a time. Anyway, thank you for stepping up. Thank you. That brings us to our approval of the consent and regular agendas. Can I get a motion, please? A motion. Seconded. Motion by Lion. Second by Calio. Anything that we wish to change or any questions on agenda items? Anything to remove from consent agenda? Nothing. Okay, please call the role. Lion, yes. Calio, yes. Fritz, yes. Dora, yes. Manza, yes. All right, brings us back to our work session. So, you're back on.

You all are impressively quick. I've been to my share of meetings. So, I appreciate that. We try to be efficient.

You are. Okay. Um, next, let's take a look at page 14. Table one here takes a look at those employer contribution rates and breaks down how we arrived at those. Okay. So you can see for each of your divisions, there is a total normal cost assigned with a division. As I mentioned earlier, that's the projected cost for folks enrolled in those divisions to earn one more year of service under the plan. You'll see that three of your divisions have a zero and that's because there are no active employees enrolled in those divisions. And then you can see the employee contribution rate to that division, right? And so, so say like for division one, the total normal cost is 17.3% and the employee contribution rate is 17%. If it was an open division, you would then see the employer's share of the normal cost expressed as a percentage and it would be that 3%. However, because these are closed divisions, we are billing at that flat dollar rate instead. So if you look at the bottom half of the table, you can see where that is reflected as a flat dollar rate for the employer's cost for each of those divisions. And then the next column over shows the payment towards the unfunded acred liability that exists in each of those divisions. So again, that's those are benefits that have been earned but not fully funded yet. And then adding those together comes, you know, gives you your computed employer contribution for each of the divisions. And again, I'll keep going, but please stop me with questions. Um, I mentioned generally what your provisions are. I won't go through, but table two does break down the provisions for each of your benefits um by division. Um,

table three I want to look at just briefly and I'm just going to look at the total row for this uh table and it looks at the employees that are enrolled in your participants that are enrolled in your plan. Three different perspectives. The active employees and you can see the number of active employees you have uh in 2024 was 45 versus 55 in 2003. So there are significantly fewer employees in your plan as they leave and and of course no new employees are going to be enrolled in these divisions. Um vested former employees, those are employees who no longer work here but they are vested in their retirement benefits. So we do anticipate that as soon as they are age eligible that they will apply for retirement and begin collecting a benefit. You can see the number of retirees and beneficiaries. That is the number that we anticipate will grow of course as more folks retire out of active service or begin uh reach age eligibilities to begin collecting a benefit. Um and you'll notice that that number is increasing year-over-year and a lot of that is going to be attributed to that cost of living adjustment that you have within your plan. Even if the number of employee or retirees and beneficiaries remains steady, there's going to be an increase because of that cost of living adjustment that your plan has. Um, pending refunds, that's not an obvious category. So, I do like to explain that pending refunds are folks that worked under your plan. Um, they made employee contributions towards their retirement benefit, but they left before they were vested in a benefit. So at this point we these folks are not benefit or excuse me are not vested and the only liability that your plan has for these folks at this time as a refund of those employee contributions that they made to the plan because the employees always have a right to their contributions unless they are taking

them in the form of a retirement benefit. Um, it is possible, excuse me, through MUS to MERS time, um, that somebody who is currently listed as a pending refund could become vested in the benefit and then they would bump up into that vested former employees category. MS MS time would allow them to coordinate their service to achieve vesting credit, but they would only re collect a benefit based upon the number of months they worked here at the city. it wouldn't increase their benefit. Um, I'm going to skip ahead to table five. Um, and I'm going to look at the very last row on table five. It shows uh for this valuation year 2024. I do want to point out that this is a calendar year because your fiscal year does not align with the calendar year. Um, you can see the employer contributions to the plan. um the required ones and then the additional contributions and I know in the last couple of years those additional contributions have been going into that surplus division. I'll show you that in a minute. Uh you can see the employee contributions to the plan the investment income that your plan earned in 2024 and that is based on that smooth rate of return of 3.79%. the benefit payments going out of your plan. And then the other dollars leaving your plan are a refund of employee contributions to those folks who I said were listed as pending refunds. Some of them in the previous year had actually taken some out. Um, table six is the next table I want to look at and probably the last one unless you have other questions that I can answer for you. This looks at those same four categories of employees that we looked at at table three or participants and some of them are retirees and beneficiaries and it breaks

down the liability by the participant type. So you can see the liability for your active employees at just over 16 million, for vested former employees at nearly 4 million, retirees and beneficiaries at 76.5 million. Um pending refunds of 473,000. So you can see the total liability for your plan, the valuation assets set aside to pay for them and your funded level. Um if you look up on the row above that you will see that there is a new division listed that you haven't seen in any other tables is called S1 surplus unassociated. Those are the dollars that are in that surplus division. So, we looked at table five and we saw that you contributed 500,000 in 2023, 300,000 in 2024, and as of 12312024, the balance in that division um was $8,94 and change. So, as you continue to make those additional voluntary contributions to that division, you'll see that that number grow and then you can see the impact that it has on your funded level for your plan. Now, there are a lot of other tables in here, but I'm not going to go through them all unless you really, really want me to. No takers.

Any questions on anything I did discuss? Okay, who has questions? I really just really appreciate your time going through this and walking us through it. Um, we've talked a lot about this, I think. I mean, especially Sarah and I, I think, leading up into the campaign period and learning as much as we could. Um, we did talk a lot about this and so it's nice to just have it broken down so so simply. Wonderful. I'm happy to be here now. I'm happy to come back next year and I'm available throughout the year for any questions you have.

I appreciate you giving us the the tour of the all the numbers quite frankly. There are a lot more tables in there as you mentioned and I think there may be fur questions further down the line once we have some time to sit and digest them all. Um, but there are a lot of numbers in there and a lot of figures to look at and a lot of uh years and terms. Um, just so I'm clear, we started out at a 15-year was our average number that we picked for funding our funds and because they're closed, we're dropping down to 10 years now. Correct.

That's the amortization period of any difference between what the projected costs were for your plan and then the actual cost. So that could be some years when we do the amortization it could be an amortization of a positive amount. Some years it's going to be a negative amount that's broken down more in table 10. It's broken down by division in table 10. But at the point when we stop it will be based on 10 years instead of 15. Correct.

Yes. So those you're right that that division that amortization period is going to be reduced gradually. Yep. Um, and so you know that that graph that I showed you on page 13 and it looks at about 14 years out right now. It looks like your plan's going to be fully funded as we progress forward. That is going to be a much shorter distance. It's going to be showing it in 10 years. So until we reach that 10-year period, we drop a year each year. Exactly. Right. get to that point. So exactly right.

So what we were dividing by 15 years, the next year we're dividing by 14, then 13, then 12, 11, and 10. So initially it's going to look like in the years right now we're not making a lot of progress in our unfunded liabilities because we're using the division number of one year less each year. But once we reach 10, that should stabilize and then we'll have a little more better eye of what we're actually unfunded. Yes. Got it. That's exactly right. Thank you. You're welcome. Anything else? No. Thank you for your time. It was a clear presentation of a very complex thing. So, thank you. That was my goal. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Veronica, for being here. You're very welcome. Okay. So, I do have a question or two. Um, absolutely. So, we started looking seriously at our pension shortfalls in about 2017. And in 2018, we received a report that said we were on a schedule to be fully funded in 20 years. And um that was based on your various u amortization schedules, whatever was in effect at that time.

Yes, there were longer ones in effect at that time. You're right. So then two so two years later in 2020 we asked the same questions again because we were farther behind and we said well you're on a schedule to be paid off in 20 years and it seems like you know couple years later we're on a schedule to be paid off in 20 or 24 years or some such number but we we kept we're we're falling we were getting lower funded more outstanding amount that we were shortfalling and the schedule never seemed to shorten up. So I think it's interesting to see how your amortization schedules work. could actually every year it increments and so whoever you fell short this year adds another year to the other end of it. So I assume that's why we never

seem to make progress on the schedule of when we're going to be paid off. That year's worth of shortfall will be paid off in 10 years. The next the next years would be another year and the next year's another if you keep having shortfalls. So this is probably why it's such a moving target for us. You know you Yes. that you hear that you hear people say it's a moving target and well you told us 10 years ago be paid off in 10 years later y

and and that that you were paying off 10 years ago is now paid off what you're paying off now is what has accumulated since then and going forward. So you're very right. You know, at a certain point, especially with the dollars that you're putting in the surplus division, your plan is going to get to the point where it is 100% funded. And then in each year, we're still going to look at say, okay, well, this is what we projected was going to happen versus what actually happened. Once you get to the point where your plan is 100% funded, it's not like, well, okay, now we're done. Um there's always the opportunity for additional unfunded acred liability to if and when our assumptions aren't met exactly. That's one of the reasons why MS is looking to reduce our assumed rate of return because the lower that assumed rate of return is, the less volatility there is going to be in that plan for you, right? Because it's a lot easier to hit a lower assumed rate of return. And quite honestly, that's what the markets are doing right now. You know, used I've heard I don't remember it myself, but I've heard, you know, back in the day, you used to be able to easily get 7% in bonds. Well, it's been a long time since we've been able to do that in the investment markets. And in order to achieve a 7% return or 6.93% return right now, we need to take on a lot more risk than just bonds. And so a lower assumed rate of return is going to take some of the volatility out of the plan and make it much more easy to meet those assumptions that we have in place. Once you get to the point where you have no active employees in your plan and everybody who is a vested former employee has claimed their benefit and you will eventually get to a point with a closed plan where all you have are the retirees and their beneficiaries who are drawing a benefit. And let's say you're

100% funded at some point and there is still the opportunity for an unfunded acred liability or an actuarial gain to occur within your plan going forward. Now, it's going to be a lot less volatility, right? um because it's going to generally come from things like if we don't meet the assumed rate of return and we always know there are going to be years when we don't and there are years where we're going to knock it out of the park and but we've got that average right so there is an opportunity for some unfunded acred liability to develop then um there's also the possibility that all of your retirees live to 105 well that's not what our mortality tables tell us what to expect so if there's longevity, you know, then your benefits are going to be paid for longer. So, there's always that. Um, we do have some groups that with using that surplus division, even once their plan is 100% funded, they choose to keep some assets in that surplus division as an emergency savings account, if you will, so that if and when some unfunded acred liability does develop in your plan in the future, you have those assets already in your plan, already reaping the rewards of the investment in the market that you can use to pay any um employer contributions that might be required down the line.

Okay, I understand. And of course, our frustration on our end is that we never quite seem to be making a lot of progress on it. So, the fact it's a moving target, there is no fixed principle we're paying down. It's all projections and who knows where it's going to end up. So yeah, it's uh and of course it's a drain on our budget every year having to do this and we just we just like some idea that we're making progress and you are okay. And again, I'm happy to come in as regularly as you need me to to go over it with you and answer any questions that you have as you make your progress towards getting it funded. All right. Well, thank you for your time, all the information, and I understand better now than I did when I walked in today.

Excellent. Mission accomplished then. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Well, that was actually an excellent work session. I appreciate it. So, at this point, we will open our first call to the audience. This is the first of two opportunities for members of the audience to address council on any item whether on the agenda or not. Those addressing council will be asked to provide their name and address. will be limited to three minutes of speaking time and uh counc will hear all comments for future consideration but will not have a response at this time. Those not physically present would like to call in mid 616 935 3203. Good evening.

Good evening. Hey Josh Buger, 626 Sllayton Avenue. Uh visiting as county commissioner Josh Buger tonight with a yearend update. Um, I'll probably speak with Mayor Manza about maybe doing something longer early next year during a work session if you'd like. Um, I have about a 15 to 20 minute presentation that I recently did for the Rotary with loads of details that I'd love to come share with you guys. But tonight, we'll figure that out.

Yeah, you got it. Tonight, I've got five top five for the county. It's been a busy se busy year. So busy that my wife would point out I haven't been able to get a haircut. I'm looking less like a commissioner from Grand Haven and more like the surfer from Grand Haven. So, with that in mind, uh, let me kick this off. We settled five lawsuits this year that were related to the prior board activities. Five, uh, number four, we recently received a half million dollar grant from the EPA to help out with phase 1 and phase 2 environmental studies um, throughout the city of Grand Haven. For example, uh Mayor Manetsza and I think Mike and maybe Mike Dora will recall that we use these numerous times for among other things the diesel plant uh to help out with funding uh coming from the county through the EPA, the other way around. Um and we've also used it for manufacturing out by the airport to help uh manufacturers expand when they want to acquire additional property. I can talk to um our new members about phase one and phase two studies at a later time. Uh number three, I think three things that we accomplished in the city of Grand Haven. Uh, Mayor Mass and I along with uh, Jerry Rabidu and, uh, Mark Powers and, uh, Frisburg mayor whose name Richard Carlson worked on a letter to the, uh, governor that helped out and finally alleviated the dredging um, block, if you will, in the Grand River. So, we were able to get that done working together. Uh, in addition, I think maybe Ashley shared this, but uh, the parking arrangement for the Marriott parking in the county building is going to be tied up as of Thursday. We'll be voting on that as a board to authorize that agreement. So, that'll be in the history books. Last one, locally, um we were able to award $250,000 to Habitat for Humanity to help build affordable homes in Grand Haven. Um next up, number two, two millages coming up for next year. Uh one of them is the CH millillage and the other one is the parks millillage. I've got a lot more in depth on that at a later time. And then number one, I think our biggest accomplishment for the year, lawsuits were a pretty big deal. Um, but the number one is probably hiring

Patrick Waterman, uh, who is our now county administrator. Uh, he brings with us, he's in his third decade of municipal and county government experience. So, we are looking forward to all that his steady hand of leadership has in store for us. That's it. All right, guys. Have a great night and merry Christmas. Thank you. Congratulations on the county's accomplishments. We're all in this together.

Who else would like to address council? Good evening. Jim Hagen, 400 Lake. What I'd like to do is talk a little bit about what I've just recently found out about the diesel plant project. Uh some of it I found to be really quite surprising. Um there's been quite an evolution from where we started. We started with an event center, maybe some offices, I mean some offices and and maybe a restaurant. And just recently, I guess at the EDC Brownfield meeting in August, this is changed to six condos inside the old building. So instead of an event center, basically we have six condos and they're talking about a small restaurant. During the previous process, we had uh Oprah, you know, uh for the um obsolete property re um habilitation and that's it's opas and so forth and the tax abatements the incentives are quite different from when it's a project related to the public use which an event center would be and when it's related to private use which are private RIV condos. Um, I can't imagine what the private condos in that building are going to go for. I think I can say fairly confidently the people who will be buying them will be multi-millionaire type of asset people. So, we're the way I look at it right now, we've we've got uh incentives and tax abatements that are not at all applicable to private residences. And I think something really needs to be done about it. We can't go

ahead with what we had. It's not fair to ask the people of Grand Haven who many of them will make so much so much so much less than what the purchasers of these condos will be getting. We can't ask the uh community members to basically you know it's I I almost call it subsidizing but I guess it's incentives to you know to make these uh condos cheaper for them. So something needs to happen and I don't think the public has been properly engaged on this. We've we've been finding out little snippets and it's been very very difficult to find out this information. Uh last week I I got a a email which all of council, the mayor, and five of city administration received and it lays it out very very well. Uh so I I actually want to start reading a little bit of this. you can cut me off when I get to the three minutes because I think it's really important for the audience to realize that there's been a tremendous change going on and that you know members of the public are asking for more input in this whole process since it it's not the same. It's apples and oranges and not the same at all. Okay, I'll I'll continue on.

All right, you get you get another shot at the end of the meeting. Yeah, unfortunately. All right. Who else would like to address council at this time? Anyone? There will be another call to the audience at the end of the meeting. We have no public hearings tonight, so you can't address us on any specific agenda item. But if you have any other comments on anything at this time, now would be the time to come forward. Otherwise, u at the end of the meeting, you can also speak. Seeing no one and I'll close the call to the audience. And that brings us to our consent agenda. Would you please read that?

Item A, approve the special work session and the regular city council meeting minutes for December 1, 2025. Item B, approve the bill's memo in the amount of $543,995.15. Item C, approve the terms of M.A.R.O. sponsor grant 2026-000052 in the amount of $63,000 for design six nested tea hangers at the Grand Haven Memorial Airport and authorized the mayor and city clerk to execute the necessary documents. Item D, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve HDR task order 018, facility evaluation report phase 1 in the not to exceed amount of $51,672 contingent upon the board of light and power approval at the the December 18, 2025 board meeting and authorize the mayor and city clerk to execute the necessary documents. And item E, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve a professional engineering services agreement with Prime and New Hoff in the not to exceed amount of $8,000 for identifying potential trees that violate airspace and authorize the mayor and city clerk to authorize the necessary documents.

Can I get a motion on the consent agenda? So move support. Motion by Dora, second by Fritz. comments or anything on these items on the consent agenda? You please call the role. Dora, yes. Fritz, yes. Calio, yes. Lion, yes. Manza, yes. Brings us to our single item of unfinished business. Item A, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve a memorandum of understanding with Ottawa County and participating municipalities for Lexus Nexus Services and authorize the mayor and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

All right. Can I get a motion on this? So moved. Second. Motion by Fritz, second by Lion. Um, there's not the only thing new on this. There was a question that Aaron had on the um the dates in the agreement. I believe it was cleared up that I got the information I needed. It is the county's fiscal year that we were using for the year. I wish it was actually written in the contract, but now that we know that everybody knows what they need to know for dates, I'm okay. Okay. That that was the important that's why we postponed, but it's good that we get all this stuff figured out. So,

Chief Hudson, you got a comment? Uh Nicole Hudson, director of public safety. Um just here if you had any questions or additional um we're the last one to sign on thisou. Um so our part will actually take place um after today's agreement and then uh moving forward it'll be a 5-year contract. So, it'll be really good resource for our agency and the partnerships with local law enforcement to try to do more analytical data tracking um and utilizing a lot of systems that are out there to at least try to prevent crimes and also um and uh decrease um crime rates and things like that. So, we're pretty excited to partner with Ottawa County Sheriff's Department. Okay.

What is the savings we're having being being in a joint then being all together? We were having we were had didn't we have this before? We were paying out of our own pocket.

Yeah, we utilize uh Lexus Nexus for like the e-crash citations um UD10. Um we were looking at trying to partner with Kent County Sheriff's Department. They do this crime center through Lexus Nexus and Acurant. uh the sheriff's department and municipalities within the Ottawa County realized that we could probably start it ourselves and it would be a lot cheaper based on our numbers of sworn officers within Ottawa County. And so there's a cost savings to us doing it within our Ottawa County. Um which will then alleviate us having to use Lexus Nexus through the e-crash. So it it combines it. So we'll be able to at least do a cost savings about $1,700 a year.

That's good. Thank you very much. Any other comments, questions? Please call the role. Fritz, yes. Lion, yes. Calio, yes. Dora, yes. Manza, yes. First item of new business, please. Item A, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve awarding the bid to Life EMS as the future ambulance provider for Grand Haven City and authorize staff to proceed with contract negotiations in conjunction with our regional fire partners. Administration recommends approval. Can I get a motion on this item? So moved. Second.

Motion by Dora, second by Lion Chief.

All right. Nicole Hudson, director of public safety. uh tonight before you just kind of give you a background um on why this is in front of you. We've had a partnership for approximately 20 years um with the uh Northwest Ottawa communities and that includes City of Grand Haven, Grand Haven Township, part of Port Sheldon, Fairiesburg, Spring Lake Village Township, Crockery. Um and for the last 20 years, we've had a contract with North Ottawa Community Hospital and that has obviously changed Trinity. Um within that contract, we've been able to have a baseline that's staffing, minimum requirements, um and ambulance on scene for fire, um also response times, community support, and also equipment and training. So with this contract, we had a regional oversight committee. Um so between the fire chiefs and also elected officials or managers, we've been able to uh partner and communicate through this contract in the last couple years. and knowing this contract was coming up in December back in June, we took a real hard look, uh was a conversation that no one had to have, but we had to have. Um, and so we looked at it and looked at some of the changes and some of the uh concerns that we had with the consistency of staffing, consistency of response times, patient care, and really just our expectations and what our communities deserve and what they deserve moving forward in terms of EMS response. And so back in November, a month ago, we put an RFP um along with uh an attorney and we ended up sending out based on our wants and needs for our community. It include minimum staffing equipment um exchanges, which is crucial crucial because it allows us to try to reduce our cost um when we utilize our medical equipment, obviously fire scene, standby, and community collaboration. So we released that RFP. Three responses were received. So you had Trinity Health, AMR and life responded to the RFP. Um after all the fire chiefs uses

used a standardized rating system and the reviews of the elected officials and managers um it was unanimous. All the fire chiefs had based on the RFPs uh feel that life's commitment on what we saw. Um they had the minimum of two ambulance and service area ALS ambulance standbys on fire scenes which is crucial not only for our staff but also anyone around or inside the fire incident. Um they also will exchange ALS and BLS medical equipment. Again with that cost savings to us any equipment on scene that we they'll be able to switch out will reduce our cost. Um they also will do a CAD to CAD integration um which is a huge investment for them but they'll be able to get real time dispatch information from our um Ottawa County dispatch center. So their response times were reduced and they're really reducing that amount of communication which usually is the thing that breaks down the most. Um they also want to partner with us and um learn about our EMS areas. So they asked within a four to six month period they want to re-evaluate and see about additional staffing and what that looks like. They have the ability to use AI and other uh programming to look at response times, call volume, be able to shift and navigate different rigs, different staffing to try to reduce that response time. So obviously there's going to be a learning trial period. And so with that, um, we'd like to move forward with, um, having conversations with life and what this looks like as a contract. Obviously, once a contract is, um, agreed upon, we will bring that back to city council for final approval. Um, but that's what is in front of you tonight.

All right. Questions and comments from council members. Hi. Um, just a few because there they would be a new service provider. Um, I think things to look at potentially going into the negotiations would be, you know, obviously the the term of the the commitment, but um any kind of cost escalators of a year-over-year impact. Yeah. And I apologize. So, um, life was the only um RFP that came back that would offer everything that we requested with no subsidy.

Okay. And they also are looking at a four-year contract um with three additional two-year extensions. Um so they're looking at a long-term I mean you when you look at a CAD integration dispatch that's a huge investment over six figures. Um so they they want to invest all around and so um hope without any upfront cost or long-term cost.

Okay, great. And then uh you know what kind of service level guarantees would be put into the contract I think is a consideration. And then um what kind of accountability to response time would be just things to look at how those metrics would be measured and qualified.

Yeah. We've taken uh Kamazoo public safety contract that they have with life. um they do a monetary um if they don't perform to the standards, there's got to be some, you know, measure of whether they're performing or not. And so, um we will look at all that definitely. Um but no, I appreciate the insight. I I appreciate all that you have done, not just you, Chief Hudson, but the other chiefs in the room as well and everyone involved, what, seven, eight different communities in putting the time and effort into doing this very comprehensive study and RFP to improve these services. I've heard from a lot of um community members that are not happy with the ambulance service we currently have. Uh this to me looks like it is going to be a step up. Um, it is, as you said, there's no additional subsidies to be added to it. Um, it covers basically everything that everybody is looking for. So, I'm going to support this. I'm I'm looking forward to 10 years of collaboration with them and and hopefully we will see the result of that in some reports from your department or some of the others. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. I I would like to echo that as well. I've uh been very honored to sit next to these fire chiefs um and work together in collaboration and partnership. Not only are we mutual aid partners um but it's impressive the level of service and the caliber of people um within these departments and they just want better and they want better for our community and also to our city manager who's had to sit on these as well throughout the last couple years and the elected officials. Um it's been a long time coming I also just appreciate the time um and even recognizing that this truly was an issue that we needed to look into. Um I personally have had an issue or two with response times and just the treatment of the with the current um company and and I'm hope to give everybody grace in the moment that maybe it was just a bad day, but I look forward to working with a new company and seeing what they can do for our community. Thank you.

I was on the original very very very start of the uh committees ahead for our service and I tell you back then it was North Ottawa and they were very respectable and they did very good job. But then again we moved on into Trinity now which what I've heard from everybody else around town is that has not been the best of service that we've had. And I'm glad to see that all of every one of you guys work so hard to get to a place where we can be and look forward to good service coming in here. I appreciate it a whole bunch. Uh I know what you guys all went through. I went through it for I don't know how many meetings we went through when we first started out on this route, but it's it's a lot of hard work. So I appreciate everything you've done and I'm I'm in full support of it. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Yeah. And and I'd like to say I think that the work that you, the other fire chiefs, the other managers and all is really a huge commitment to the well-being of our community, to the welfare of our citizens, and to um insist upon getting a proposal and a and a contract which will improve our service, improve that delivery of service to our citizens and look for their well-being and their in some cases their survival when there's a serious event. Uh it's a big responsibility. You guys have stepped up to it. I think that's uh says everything about you and your um fellow fire chiefs, your fellow uh public servants here. And uh that that's our goal is to provide the best service we can for our citizens and the fact that we did it without additional subsidy, without um increasing costs to our citizens. Um, I know from experience from from what I've seen that there have been delayed responses with our current provider. There has been certain issues and I think they're doing what they can with what they've got. We'll have better resources, a better contract, and just a general commitment to the well-being of our community and it really shows here. So, I think this is excellent. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anything from staff? Nothing to add? Okay. All right. Any other questions? No. You ready to vote? Dora, yes. Lion, yes. Calio, yes. Fritz, yes. Manets, yes. Next item, please. Item B, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve a resolution to authorize the city manager to prepare a survey and report showing the principal shopping district improvement. Main Street DDA recommends approval and administration recommends approval. Can I get a motion on this? So moved.

Second. Much second by Lion. Hi. Ti is here just because Good evening. um executive director Grand Haven Main Street DDA. Um I'm returning um after doing a presentation with you at the last city council meeting. This is the first four resolutions that we'll be doing um in in accordance with our city ordinance um to renew um our principal shopping district that's been established and um been a successful um operating uh assessment for us since 2011. So, uh, if you have any questions, I'm here to answer questions for Shandandy.

I think I think you did an excellent presentation previously, but there's always room for more questions. Anyone? Good. All good. Good. Okay. Well, the process is laid out in chapter 31 of our code of ordinances, and it's very specific about the steps for an assessment, and this is the first one. Yep. Okay. If there are no questions, would you please call the role? Fritz, yes. Lion, yes. Dora, yes. Calio, yes. Manza, yes. Thank you so much. So far so good.

Next item, please. Item C, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve a lighthouse management and operations agreement with the Grand Haven Lighthouse Conservancy and authorize the mayor and clerk to execute the necessary documents. Administration recommends approval. And I get a motion on this item. So moved. Seconded. Morning by Dora, second by Calio.

Actually, shall I go directly to Mrs. Dora? I guess we didn't convene ahead of time. Um, I can introduce it and then Okay, please.

Can help me answer any questions here. Um, but before you, we have a 10-year maintenance and operation agreement with the Grand Haven Lighthouse Conservancy to assist in the maintenance um, and preservation of the inner and outer lights as well as the general operation for the benefit of the public. Um the agreement is intended to mirror that of uh for example our skill association and it's largely formalizing current practices um in a written fashion as far as how the city has interacted with the Grand Haven Lighthouse uh conservancy historically. Um improvements made to the the lights or the catwalk um would still be subject and require approval uh from the city as well as the state historic preservation office. And this is an agreement that has had many iterations uh between the conservancy and the city attorney. Um we have representative from the Grand Haven Lighthouse Conservancy before us as well. Um if Lisa has anything to add to that or can help answer any questions you may have.

All right. Thank you. I'm Lisa Dora. I'm the secretary for the Lighthouse Conservancy and I just thought since I was here, if you had any questions for me, I would be here to answer. Okay. Any questions? I think it's good that we took the time to to go back and forth and get this in writing and keep up the good work. Anything? None.

They do an excellent job in um in managing and taking care of a lot of the things that need to be done uh at the lighthouse and the work that needs to be done to it uh and generating funds to do it that would otherwise probably be a burden on on the city and the general funds. So, I think it's a a good agreement and I'm looking forward to carrying it on.

Yeah. And I guess I was I had thought we had an agreement in place, but apparently we had an understanding and this was a group that has essentially taken possession at least in a moral way with of the lighouses even though the city owns them, but they've been raising money. They've been orchestrating repairs, all those things. And so, but now we're kind of transitioning a little bit too to more of an operational type of a situation because if you're planning to utilize the lighouses for public access, I think a a written operational agreement is is more in order than ever. So, and I've read the agreement. I think it makes sense. So, I'm good with it as well.

Anything else? Please call the role. Dora, yes. Calio, yes. Fritz, yes. Lion, yes. Manza, yes. Thank you. Thank you. You. Next item, please. Item D. consideration by city council of a resolution to approve a letter agreement with the US Army Corp of Engineers and pay the associated fee of $7,75 for the city of Grand Haven's continuing use of a storm sewer main on federal property and authorize the mayor and city clerk to execute the necessary documents. Administration recommends approval. Can I get a motion? So moved. Seconded.

Second by motion by Fritz, second by Calio. Dana, are you going to explain this one to us?

Yes, I will do my best. Um, so approximately 50 years ago, from what we understand, uh, we constructed a a storm or a sewer rather sewer main uh, underground that crosses Harbor Drive and underneath the core of engineers property um, and deposits uh, along uh, their area there. And we have had an easement agreement in place for 50 years. Um the core has reached out to the city and said it's time for renewal of that license. Um they are looking to us to extend that provided we plan to keep that main underneath and on their property. Uh city staff did take a look at whether or not we could abandon it if it was necessary, if other changes over the years warranted um having it there. Um and we determined that it was in use. it was something that we needed and it we could change it down the road, but um we're not anticipating any major infrastructure changes in that area that would prompt a change to that um storm drain. So, uh we felt it was necessary to bring it forward to you all for your consideration to sign a letter of agreement um with the intention of extending the easement for another 25 years. And the fee that is being uh requested by the Army Corps is a a standard fee for their services over the life of the entire agreement. So this would be a onetime fee over the life of the 25 years uh that is being requested. So um yeah, so we're just looking for your um approval and support to move forward uh with formalizing the easement and that easement document would come back to you all for consideration as well.

Okay. Thank you. Yep. Questions, comments? And this uh this is a storm sewer serving primarily Harbor Drive. Correct. Or properties to the other side of Harbor Drive. Mulligan Hollow area possibly. Possibly. Yeah. It might not. It's not quite that far, but Yeah. There's literally an outfall into Government Basin. Correct. Okay. It probably cost more than $7,75 to replace it with a different pipe. Yes. I don't care.

Well, we we first looked back to make sure that it was we didn't we hadn't installed other structures that were taking on some of um that water. Um and it and we don't. So, um we did our due diligence uh to ensure that that it was necessary and we weren't just continuing an agreement that didn't make sense. All right. Well, it looks like the most cost-effective way to go. Yeah. All right. Thank you. No comments or questions. Please call the role. Fritz, yes. Calio, yes. Lion, yes. Dora, yes. Manza, yes. Next item, please.

Item E, consideration by city council of a resolution to approve a professional services agreement with McKenna for the center town vision plan update in the not to exceed amount of $20,04 and authorize the mayor and city clerk to sign the necessary documents. Planning commission recommends approval and administration recommends approval. Can I get a motion, please? So moved. Support. Motion by Fred, second by Dora. Brian. Shall we call on Brian or would one of you like to introduce this? Come on up, Brian.

Good evening. Brian Kurt, city planner. If you recall during the September 15th meeting, city council approved the RFP selection for the center town uh vision plan update. um that was also received approval from the DDA and the plan commission at their meetings in September. So, uh the proposal includes the $20,04 um 75% of which uh were allocated in that motion to come from Redevelopment Ready Communities technical assistance dollars. So, we're part of the Redevelopment Ready Communities program and this is one of the benefits that we receive from that. So, we applied for that. were able to get through. But because of some challenges that were occurring at the state budget, there was some uncertainty uh when those monies would be if and when that they would be funded. We did find out uh last month uh that they were going to award uh us with that um coverage of the 75% just a shade over uh $15,000 to help with technical assistance for updating that uh um center town vision plan. And you know we went through and if you recall we had two proposals and we went with McKenna because of I think their proposal was really heavy engaged on public engagement really kind of looking that and with an implementation strategy and as you seen very key component uh area um neighborhood connector there for center town that's seeing many a lot of interest investment interest but yet at the same time a lot of opportunity. So what we're reading as tonight is just be able to execute that document with the professional services agreement, get that going. Eventually hopefully we'll we'll also have an MEEDC agreement with the city to do that. But if everything goes along want as it is shown in their uh plan of action, uh they'll go through all the deliverables

and hopefully have an adopted plan um sometime by the end of May or something along those lines. So, what we're just being asked to tonight is to finalize that professional service agreement uh with McKenna for the purposes of updating our center town vision plan. All right. Thank you. Questions, comments? Yeah, having been involved with this at the planning commission level when it first came up um and with Shandi and others in the group, I believe the previous plan for this was what 15 years old?

2014. Yeah, 2014 11 years old. Um, so obviously time for an update. Um, a lot of the businesses and stuff that were reflected in the previous plan weren't even in existence anymore. So, I think this is a great move, a great way to get um some boots on the ground, so to say, and get some input from uh uh from the residents, city residents, as well as the business owners themselves to get us a plan to uh move forward with this um area because it certainly is becoming a a larger and larger picture of the overall Grand Haven downtown area. So, I think it's a good move. And they did have an excellent presentation.

Thanks, Mike. Anything else?

No, I just u it's my old neighborhood. I born and raised down in that area. So, I tell you, it's always nice to see something to go. And Mike, you're right. A lot of the businesses are no longer there. And we have a whole different type of business down there. Be nice to look at it and see what we can do. It's actually if you're coming from out of town, you come in, that's the opening where we see first when you come in. So, let's see what we can get out of there and make it a better looking place and help out the businesses down there. So, I appreciate a lot. So, let's move forward on it. Um more just curious about um how do how do they come back with a proposal that kind of puts a vision to it but also is contained within our current kind of long-term capital plan. So without kind of doing a pie in the sky.

Yeah. They take a look at all the relevant planning documents. So they look at the capital improvement plan, the the old or what is exertly the center town vision plan or master plan and then we identify some of their scope of work and that would lead to a lot of their survey questions of what we'd like to see including visioning. So it stays within uh those specific areas that are outlined in those plans and within a geographic area that they're looking for outreach from residents, other stakeholders, and things of that nature that would come back with vision concepts during uh plan alternatives. And then we would finalize and refine that. So they're taking into account all the already planned documents that are relevant, okay,

to this area and couple that where we can have, you know, public investment coupled with private investment to be able to help move this forward with an implementation strategy. Great. I think it's exciting. I mean, I really do think that um our neighborhoods are, you know, ready to have have these uh these big steps taken. So, thank you. All right. Thanks. anything? No. Okay. I'm excited.

I just, you know, I think that we uh we're anticipating infrastructure work and the rebuilding of Seventh Street, new streetscaping and such coming up soon. We've also talked a lot about potential new uses along that business corridor and the fact that when we adopted our current ordinance many years ago, we kind of lost some of its business identity. Time to restore that. And yes, the vision plan that was it was kind of developed between 20 2012 and 2020 2014. Um it's a little outdated. Players have changed and was never really acted upon any meaningful way. So it's it's good to take a look at that plan before you try to implement new things. Every time you change zoning, change uses, change some of those fundamental pieces of a neighborhood, it you need to take a step back and look at what do the people there want, what does the community want, what can work and what what would possibly not work. I mean, it's all those things would come out in a good robust community exchange. So, I'm glad we're doing this. I'm glad we found some resources to help pay for it

and I think it's very timely. So, good work on all that. Thank you. I have no other comments. So, please call the role. Fritz, yes. Dora, yes. Calio, yes. Lion, yes. Man, yes. That concludes our new business for the evening. It brings us to our report by city council. Who would like to go first? I'll start. Okay. I just want to wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy new year. And don't forget the New Year's ball drop that we have going on. It's it's getting bigger and better every year. I'm really excited for it. So, and I just want to wish everybody here on council a very merry Christmas also and make it a safe one for you.

Thank you. Merry Christmas to you, too. All right. Thank you. Who else?

I guess I can go. I've got a couple things. Um, I would like to offer sincere condolences and sympathies to all the people that lost family and friends this weekend. Um, our town lost four people in a single day. Um, it was tragic uh, yesterday. So, sending all of those condolences out there to everybody that is grieving. Um, and on a happy note, at 10:05 Columbus, there's a 30foot candy cane that lights up and um, a house that is programmed by an actual radio station that you can go and pick what song you want to play and the whole house sings and moves and lights dance to the music. Um, I recommend driving by for some joy. 10:05 Columbus.

Yeah, I can pretty much see it from my place. It's fantastic. Thank you.

I'd like to second Aaron. Uh yeah, tragic um tragic day for this community and I my sincere condolences. Um and on a happier note, uh for those who celebrate, uh intense sleeps, merry Christmas. Um for those who celebrate, tonight is the second night of Hanukkah, so happy Hanukkah to them. Um, and then just for the whole community, I just wish everyone peace and joy and safety and health um, for this season and for 2026 and merry Christmas and happy new year to you and yours. All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's been a a busy couple weeks. We had the jingle bell parade which everybody participated in. Great weather, great turnout, lots of people. um seemed to go off without a hitch. So I think it was very well organized. Uh attended the um officer Flehive memorial this uh couple days ago and uh that was very very well attended as well and um wish to reach out and thank his family for the the sacrifice that he has made for all of us. um cemetery board, DDA meetings, planning commission meetings, center town meetings, and sustainability and energy meetings all the past couple weeks. So I I think I saw Bob about what four or five times in a row probably. Um all good. Um wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Enjoy your time with spent with family and friends. Um and everyone on council as well. Merry Christmas and happy new year and see you at the ball drop.

Okay. Thank you. I would like to also echo um the tragedies we had in the past few days. It's um very unfortunate this time of year kind of sometimes kind of overshadows the joy we feel at Christmas. But these things sometimes happen. We just need to keep in keep our thoughts with those who have suffered losses in the community who lost important and loved people. So, um, I second appreciate the thoughts of other council members and everyone else in that regard. And yes, we have good things coming up and so we should, uh, we should enjoy our holidays and be glad for what we have and be glad for each other.

So, on that note, I'll send to the city manager. Just say, don't get too excited for the new year because we still have our goal setting on Wednesday at 5:00. Um, so one more meeting Um, and other than that, I don't have anything else.

All right. And before I turn it over to our second call to the audience, I will again remind everyone that there's probably still a whole bunch of cookies out in the lobby and they need to be eaten by someone. So before you leave, your assignment is to make sure you eat cookies. All right. Now, our second call to the audience this evening. At this time, members of the audience may address council on any item, whether on the agenda or not. Those addressing council asked to provide their name and address will be limited to three minutes of speaking time. Council hear all comments for future consideration. Will not have a response at this time and you may call in at 616-935-3203. Who would like to address council Jim Hagen 400 as mentioned? I'm going to do a little reading from the email that was sent to the mayor, city council, and city administration. Uh I'm going to pick it up where it says, "Now the developer wants to change its buildout from a mixeduse event center to 100% condos." And the par next paragraph's entitled, "Why no word about the buildout changes? During summer and fall 2025, we asked city staff and council for an update on the diesel plant project. During staff and council informal updates at the end of its September 3rd, 2025 council meeting, city staff said they were working towards a safe plan review with a developer, but made no mention of changes to the buildout and use a month earlier. At its August 4th, 2025 meeting of our EDC Brownfield Commission, a revised buildup plan was pitched. a small restaurant within the existing building, six condos inside the existing plant building, and 10 detached condos from uh units on site. Apart from those August 2025 EDC Bramfield meeting minutes and passing comments by city staff in September 2025, the public has

been left in the dark. The initial project sought extensive public involvement, surveys, public hearings, OPER and tax abatement debates, numerous council meetings. The new and revised plan crickets. The prior council liaison to the EDC Bronfield Commission is no longer on council. The new liaison needs to update council and the public with full and clear details on the changes and why. So, continuing on with that email that was sent, the impact of changes in buildout plans. The diesel plant project was a fiasco from day one. It sold too low. It gave a tax abatement too high. It's dragged on for too long. It's only human for the city to want to let this quietly slip through the cracks and under the radar. This project is already embarrassing enough. Why shed light on this buildout change and rub public salt into the city wound? Why shout it from rooftops? But that's the wrong approach for sever several reasons. Number one, public doesn't deserve a bait and switch. Number two, public hearings were based on one plan build. That's now changed. Three, the OPRA was created for one type of reuse. That now has changed. Four, the Oprah's the developers OPRA application at the state of Michigan swore an affidavit of one buildout and use. That's now changed. Number five, our city tax abatements and recapture years are less for condos than event centers. These buildout changes unravel all the city's assumptions and decisions from day one. Those city decisions are arguably invalid and possibly should be rendered null and void. Uh, next paragraph. A fresh start of 2026 council eyes where the start of a new council session with three new members, a majority. Now is the perfect time to put a a new set of eyes, council eyes on this whole diesel plant debacle

and I'll end it there. All right. Thank you, Jim. Anyone else would like to address council at this time? Last chance before you have to go eat cookies. All right. Hearing nothing. If there is no further business, then this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming. He's been calling my name for hour and a half. Amazes me. I have to talk more. Slowly but surely one more time. I'm just going in. I can't take those cookies. Water.

I mean, thank goodness Kevin has her holiday party tomorrow. You haven't seen my house. Well, there's more cookies there, but you can't open up anything up and find there's cookies everywhere. Erin, what's the address? Columbus, 10:05. So, it is just east of literally from here. It's just east of St. Patrick. I can literally see it from my garage. Yeah. Usually, we help them put that up. Listen, you can't miss it, right? Neither Seth nor I were invited to help us here cuz we're not really tall enough. We really need more height. Thank you. This is my daughter. Hey. Hi. How you doing? Hi. Nice to meet you.

All right, let's go. That was my dinner. So, it's a perfect

think that might be here at 5 on Friday. like who not Friday