City Commission - Regular Meeting

in order and ask you all to join us as is our habit in a moment of silence. I ask you to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic

If our interpreter could come up and introduce him or herself while we're doing that, Madam Clerk, if you could call the roll.

Commissioner Perdue? Present. Commissioner Knight?

Present.

Commissioner Belchick? Present. Commissioner Kilgore?

Present.

Commissioner Assasi? Present. Mayor LeGrand?

Yes.

My name is Sandra and I'm here to help you with interpreting services anytime that you need them. Thank you. Spanish to English or English to Spanish.

Thank you. That brings us to our first opportunity for public comment. This is on agenda items. But since we're passing the budget today, I hope, that means you can probably find a reason to talk about just about anything. So this is the first opportunity for public comment.

Good afternoon. Deb Van Dyne.

Deb, is your mic on?

There. I think it is now. All right. I'm Deb Van Dyne from Oakdale Park Church and Together West Michigan. I'm here today with a group of supporters for our Kalamazoo traffic proposal. If you could stand for just a moment. And we want to first start by thanking you commissioners for your work with us, all of you, and for putting $600,000 in that budget. We are grateful for the work together. We still want to express some concerns. We know it's not a completely done deal. There are still some decisions to be made. And we're basing our concerns on communications we've had from MobileGR and other city staff that there are plans for a crosstown bike trail with a traffic signal at Griggs. If that traffic signal comes to be, it will take the entire $600,000 that's been set aside for work on Kalamazoo. So that's a concern of ours, and that would mean that there wouldn't be funding for the needs at Adams and Hancock. And that area is of greatest concern to our neighbors. That's the area where they feel unsafe. And it's not because of crime and it's not because of violence. They feel unsafe because of traffic. Now, it's true that Griggs was part of our original request in our work with MobileGR. We had requested verification of a crossing guard at that intersection, not a full traffic signal. I just want to clarify that. We feel it's critical for the safety of our neighbors to make sure that $150,000 be reserved for a flashing crosswalk at Hancock and a four-way stop at Adams. So thank you for keeping that in the forefront.

All right, Lucas, GR, let's look at budget amendment item 11.2 and the new budget 11.1. They've been arranged on the agenda to confuse casual observers, but I'm going to take them in timeline order. In the amendment, you're moving around $22.5 million. Some is based on revenue, bonds, and other funds, but the money only exists because you made sure it did. Among these millions and millions of dollars are the same things we see you shovel extra funding to in almost any month in these amendments. But despite recent shortfalls with the DASH bus, we have not seen you give that program more money when needed, which you could have done recently instead of cutting it back and then trying to sell it to us by gaslighting it and calling it an improvement. You have funding for cemeteries, courts, cops, premium downtown interest. Where is the motu viget in always having extra money for death, litigation, authoritarian force, and corporate welfare, but not transit? Some of this is about revenue. Well, you have all kinds of money left on the table. For example, you won't ticket people in loading zones or other no parking zones at night. Chief Winstrom once told me that he offered to help with nighttime safety for that and he was turned down. He also told me he thought he could pay his salary for a month in just a night of ticketing in the arena district. Now in item 1, the 27 budget... we can again see the glaring exclusion of any improvement to Dash Cash. And let's be clear, I'm not beating up MobileGR. They're trapped with us in this no-win scenario because of you. They're just doing their best. But instead of using this budget to kick off a bold vision for Dash sustainability and expansion, you remain in retreat. You ignore the vast public outcry online, in letters, and here at this podium, and you've even diminished and dodged discussion when it's brought up in this body, City Manager. Your 27 budget is worded specifically as avoiding increases in DASH funding, and avoiding certain maintenance costs that are a common sense reality. It talks about exploring alternatives to DASH, all in the same documentation that show ridership increases. You could have covered the $2 million overrun in an amendment. You should have included an ever-increasing budget for over the years, same as you do for cops. You should be pushing for the hotel-motel tax to go into the pool for DASH, since it's a program that promotes tourism. And don't try to tell us you can't because you haven't even tried. Most of this seems less about money and more about priorities and vision when you clearly lack any of that for DASH. When we follow the money, that's what we find. Big talk, but for Dash, a mere whimper. Pass this budget like you're gonna, but then join your citizens in doing better. Stop the regression of transit, and instead, empower it.

Hello, friends. Mark from Grand Rapids. On the budget, I guess at the last meeting, you want to make that Boston Square area of Kalamazoo safer, I suggest you have other means other than traffic signals. Again, you can put roundabouts on Kalamazoo and Adams and on Kalamazoo and Griggs. Again, they're cheaper and safer. Now, you can do that and still have money left over for other things within the budget. It's about being smarter with your money, not wasting it on stuff that you cannot afford later on. But I know you're gonna put a vote on this, so you better think about it. Because that money could go elsewhere. You got to think responsibly and vote on these measures in the right manner for the people. Because if you don't, it's like Fram. Pay now or pay later. Thank you.

Thank you. So seeing no one else, I would move us on to approval of the minutes. Can I have a motion? And I think we'll approve both of those together. Can I have a motion to approve both sets of minutes?

I will make a motion to approve both sets of minutes. Support.

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. That moves us on to petitions and communications.

Communication received from Julia Irvin expressing concerns regarding the recent adjustments to the DASH system.

Received and filed.

Communications 19 received urging the City Commission to support funding in the city budget for installations on Kalamazoo Avenue to improve safety.

Received and filed.

Communication received from Rebecca Brewis including a written appeal of the fee assessment and deposit requirement for FOIA request number PD2026-808. Received and filed. Communication received from Grand Rapids Chamber with comments regarding the fiscal year 2027 Grand Rapids City budget.

Received and filed.

A communication received from the South Down Corridor Improvement Authority with comments regarding the fiscal year 2027 Grand Rapids City budget.

Received and filed. That brings us to reports of city officers.

A comptroller's warrant report for the period of April 28, 2026 through May 4, 2026 in the amount of $21,457,972.15. Received and filed. Treasurer's report for the period of April 29th, 2026 through May 5th, 2026.

Received and filed. That brings us to our consent agenda. This is an agenda for items which were passed unanimously out of committee and not pulled for any reason by any Commissioner for further discussion. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to items removed from consent, and at the risk of stealing my colleague's thunder, this is essentially to clean up a typo. We passed a reduction in the property tax millage this morning, but there was a decimal point that went awry, so we're restoring it to its rightful place. This is the resolution approving the 2026 property tax millage. Can I have a motion?

So moved. So moved.

Commissioner Perdue?

Yes, thank you. Sorry, a little bit of background as we typically do. This resolution provides authorization for the city treasurer and city assessor to begin preparation of July 1st, 2026 property tax billings. The passage of this resolution establishes the millage rates that were recommended to the city commission on May 12th, 2026. The average residential property in the City of Grand Rapids has a taxable value of approximately $86,583. If the property tax millage rates shown above or in this memo are approved, the property taxes for the average residential property for the City of Grand Rapids will be $757.69. To fund the city's proposed 2026-2027 base budget and maintain essential city services, the city finds it necessary to decrease the operating tax levy by 0.1076 mils to a proposed total operating tax levy of 8.7511. The city has authority under its charter and state law to establish the number of mills to be levied within its full authorized millage rate subject to the limitation imposed by the Headlee Amendment. The Headlee Amendment provides that the city charger limit for the operating property tax levy for 2026 be authorized at 9.4350 mills. The city is proposing to levy 8.7511 mills of the authorized 9.4. And we had a public hearing on this item on Tuesday, May 12th.

City Manager?

Thank you, Commissioner. I just want to clarify, we did have the hearing on May 12th, but the rate was actually presented on April 28th when the budget was introduced.

Thank you. Any discussion, colleagues? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to ordinances to be adopted, which is the main event today. So this is an ordinance adopting the fiscal year 2027 city budget. Can I have a motion? Support. Commissioner Sasse.

Thank you, Mayor. So just in the kind of following what City Manager just said, I'll share for this item as well that the budget was presented by the City Manager first on Tuesday, April 28th, and then we also had a subsequent budget work session that was held on Tuesday, May 5th. So the proposed fiscal plan for fiscal year 27 ensures the continuation of all basic services and sustained funding for core services while providing focused service enhancements in other areas. On April 28th, we were presented with the city manager's 27 preliminary fiscal plan with appropriations totaling approximately $785 million. We then spent time in the weeks listening to presentations from staff, asking questions of staff, them doing follow-up and delivering on the budget and also hearing from the public and our constituents. On April 28th, we adopted a resolution scheduling a public hearing regarding the proposed budget to be held on Tuesday, May 12th in compliance with Act 43. There was second extra session and we're and we also just talked about the property millage tax rates all in compliance with Public Acts of Michigan on Tuesday May 12th a public hearing for the purpose of taking comments on the proposed property tax millage rates and the proposed fiscal 27 budget was held and the 2026 proposed property tax millage rates support this fiscal year 2027 budget the millage rates total 3.837 mills for the general operating fund, 1.2500 mills for the capital reserve fund, and 1.8 mills for the refuse fund and 2.1683 mills for the library. 0.0061 mills for promotional purposes and 1.143 mills for parks. Total millage for city purposes is 8.7511, which is a decrease of 0.1076 mills compared to last year. And since the publication of that preliminary fiscal plan, there are no capital fund changes that were identified. And then you all have in front of you just some of that detail that's just more in a table format. So approval of the following ordinance would establish a series of operating debt service and capital appropriations for fiscal year that begins on July 1 of 26. And the total appropriation for the 2027 fiscal year budget is $786,039,409. So that is the presentation overview. And Mayor, if I could share a couple of thoughts. as we go into this, as you said, this is the main event. So today we had the review and city manager, and I don't think we have the slide, I think that's okay, but we did have a review of sort of what were the questions in front of us. Some of them related to grant funded positions, some of them related to some other positions as we're waiting to see some dollars from road funding and our public safety trust fund, we're still waiting for that to hit. But there were in particular two positions that city commission was looking at, you know, how do we support this? one being the outside contractual communication support. So a reminder to those who are watching, this is additional support outside that would work with all of us as colleagues, communications, and our channels to share out what is happening in the city. and in our subsequent wards and additional support just around social media. And then we also had this administrative role that we've been, and both of these being pilots. And, you know, we've been sort of deadlocked. There's only six of us up here right now and trying to figure out a solution. And so I was sitting here earlier today and thinking, you know, the contractual role in hearing from City Communications Director Greene Just what would it take to put that in house? And city manager and others reminds us that it's not always so easy just to sort of shift it. And so how do we stick with something that is showing some early positive signs? And also what do we all have the ability to sort of give feedback? I probably didn't give as much feedback on that pilot because I was sort of like a no from the beginning. But what I want, so really in total, what I want to say is I am prepared to support that. You know, city manager did put aside those dollars who's, you know, just I think a smart decision city manager, knowing that they're hopefully sometimes in these final budgeting hours, we try to come to some resolution, some consensus. How do we build that? Because I think this body is the healthiest when we do that. You know, sometimes people like to point out the things that are split or, you know, there's a, you know, a couple of people maybe not voting with the others, but if you notice, many of our votes up here are 7-0 or 6-0. This is a very healthy body, and I'm glad that we were able to have some conversations, Mayor and, you know, Commissioner, my trustee second ward commissioner, who is always kind of reminding me of what's that longer-term vision, and know Commissioner Perdue I think really you've you've consistently said how could we have a more robust support on the administrative side and I've kind of said I don't really need it so but I want to hear from my colleagues and also think about how do we set things up for the future so my proposal which is really not too much of a change again because city manager has has implemented these things is to to change my mind and to support that communications going forward it is contractual which allows us the flexibility in these years when we're unsure of what might happen so I appreciate that and some good positive returns on those pieces and then not really so much I wouldn't say supporting today but supporting the conversation for the administration support I do think this needs to be redone, and I will say thank you to Mr. Canfield. You know, you've done a lot of work in this area in trying to highlight, you know, what are the options and where possible. We did things like a survey over the last couple of months. We all have had some discussions. But I would say, I think... know for me I was like I'm a no on this but now I want to be able to support this in a way that is more built into our city support staff in the structure that we have so it can hopefully provide the support that we all need and it can be more equitable that was my biggest concern so I appreciate that conversation today mayor make that happen and appreciate those that have been working on this and continue to show how healthy this body is by us working together to try to figure out even when we disagree how do we get to a decision point so I appreciate the the quick conversations that we had colleagues after after the Committee of the Whole so hopefully everybody followed that I will also say please note colleagues I did talk to city manager at length about this as well

so this is not a surprise to him on this dais either right back at you commissioner so um i'm not going to belabor that but this is a after all a very very small part of a 700 million dollar budget but thank you for the for the work on that and for um helping us to to come together um a couple things that i want to point out for the public because i think they can get lost in the shuffle and these are really big things this is a 700 million dollar budget or a $200 million budget, depending on how you look at it. There's general fund, which is money we could spend generally, and then there are resource funds. And I think it's worth, I wanna say that I'm very proud of the people who work in water and sewer, because unless you've been living under a rock, you'll notice that we continue to have inflation in America. In fact, we may be on the verge of another inflationary shock. But our water and sewer numbers came in sub inflationarily They came in under the rate of inflation, which I think is really impressive and I think proves frankly the city staff And the city administration's commitment to doing the good work to keep costs under control and that's even though we're spending 11 million dollars on an extraordinary expense which is rolled into that and and It's extraordinary in the sense that we never should have used lead to supply water to houses like you would have thought they could have figured that out in the 1800s, but they didn't. But we're progressively getting rid of our lead lines. So even with that incorporated, we're still keeping our cost increases well below the rate of inflation for water and sewer, which I think is really impressive. The other thing that's worth pointing out for the public is the item that Commissioner Perdue brought up, or introduced for us, which is There's good news and there's bad news, and depending on who you talk to about it, if you own a house, it's great that property rates go up. If you don't own a house, it's not so great. I personally would like to see housing costs in general moderate or start to get below inflation, and a lot of our work up here is working on getting more housing supply, which all the data shows, the more housing supply you have, the more you can affect costs. That's a big project we share. That's a long way of saying, unfortunately, from my perspective, maybe fortunately if you're a homeowner and think your house is like stocks, the property values went up I think 5% this last year, maybe even north of 5%. But because of that, because they went up higher than the rate we needed, the city was able to exercise fiscal discipline. We didn't really reduce people's taxes by having our property tax rate get reduced but the millage went down which is to say I appreciate a city manager your fiscal conservatism there on behalf of you know all of our residents in not simply taking super inflationary increases in revenue and and saying, oh, look, we have superinflationary increases in revenue, but in fact curbing that and taking the necessary action to bring in front of us the recommendation that we're all supporting, which is to reduce the millage rate. I know that's complicated. Probably half of you didn't understand what I was saying. But the bottom line is we've got a fiscally conservative operation. Well, it's complicated, right? And I didn't explain it well. I'm not blaming the people who are listening. I'm blaming myself there. But those are a couple really big things in the budget that I think that we all should be proud of. So any other discussion of any other items that we mentioned or anything else? Commissioner Kilgore, I saw your hand first because I was looking in your direction.

Are we now in discussion about budget before we formally vote? Yeah. Okay, cool. Thank you so much, Mayor. So as State Senator Sarah Anthony said it perfectly, and I believe in this, budgets are moral documents. It really reminds us that it's not simply a spreadsheet or a collection of numbers. It really represents our values, our priorities, and ultimately what we believe residents deserve. And I think that this budget reflects our commitment to investing in people and neighborhoods, long-term community well-being, and I'm really especially proud of the work reflected in the Third Ward Equity Fund, which continues to be one of the most community-centered investments we make as a city. These dollars are directly shaped by resident priorities will make meaningful impact across our ward. This year's allotment includes $200,000 for traffic, pedestrian safety improvements, helping us create safer streets and stronger neighborhood connectivity. We are investing $50,000 for a local match for RX Kids, supporting families and healthy starts for children. I love what it says on the website. It is a direct cash prescription for our expecting families. We are dedicating $250,000 for youth and violence prevention programming support, including Grow 1000, because public safety is not just enforcement. It's also prevention, opportunity, mentorship, and meaningful community investment. And we're also making strategic investments in economic growth through the Southeast Grand Rapids Economic Development Support role. We are piloting a psychological or trauma emergency response model to better meet residents in moments of crisis. As we all saw it ripple through our community as we lost two members of our community recently through a shooting over a soccer dispute. and supporting arts and culture. Arts and culture isn't just cushy feel-good, it's an economic driver. So we also set aside $50,000 to ensure that ArtPrize not only has just one venue in the Third Ward, but reaches all the way into our neighborhoods, making it more accessible and present in our neighborhoods. So I want to really thank my colleagues for their support of Commissioner Perdue and I as we've worked through this and listened to community and been lockstep with our residents on the Third World Equity Fund. And I'm just excited. It's a great tool. It's a big budget. But I really want to dig into that to show neighbors we are listening. And that is a huge part of this work. Staff is listening. The commission is listening. And I think that it is reflected in the dynamic Third World Equity Fund. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Belichick?

Thank you and thank you Commissioner Kilgore for that very thorough analysis and summary. I wanted to just simply say that this budget reflects a great deal of effort and work by all of our departments and I really want to also say thank you to all of our department heads and executive staff, city manager, for sharpening the pencils and looking for ways that we can continue to put affordability first and foremost. And I think that it cannot be overstated, the effort that you put in to make sure that our fee structure remained the same and not had any significant increases, and that we're really continuing to look at the, even as we have inflationary pressures, what it takes to continue to deliver quality core services while maintaining a quality core life that people can actually afford. So I want to just say that this budget, even though it does represent an increase, is also reflective of the fact that we have increases in various places that we can pull from in order to deliver core services and in order to make our city continue to be a vibrant and attractive place. And we continue to get recognitions and news articles talking about how we are a well-run city and how we are a city that is continuing to look at how we make investments into the future. And as we look at some of these things, which will be coming up in another ordinance shortly, we are actually looking very carefully at how do we plan for the long term and not just the short term. So even though this is an FY27 budget, I believe that we are laying the groundwork for a strong financial future.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Perdue?

Sure, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. So I'm excited to prepare to wrap up another budget season. This year's budget represents what every annual budget does, and that is that this isn't just a one-time conversation, but an ongoing conversation about what our city needs and how to make great use of our public dollars for public investments. This year, I am pleased that we have really worked to strengthen our systems, to modernize city government, and to make long-term investments to really position Grand Rapids to thrive. So to that end, this budget continues investments and increases investments in affordable housing, neighborhood infrastructure, public safety, economic development, environmental sustainability, and the operational capacity that's required to actually deliver for all of you. And it does so in an environment that we know is increasingly uncertain, in an environment in which we are experiencing rising costs, inflation. And so all of these conditions require us to be thoughtful and strategic and collaborative as we make these big decisions for our city. And I'm glad that we were able to do that. appreciate that this budget continues to to utilize a holistic approach to leading our city whether that relates to public safety economic development or neighborhood stability this is a very thoughtful document so I want to thank the leadership and the thoughtfulness of department heads but also frontline staff and sharing their experiences their insight and and their recommendations to this body so that we could continue your important work. Finally, I am also really proud that this budget really continues to reflect our work to modernize city operations, whether that's improving technology, securing grants, which our team does a fantastic job of doing, strengthening partnerships, or continuing to build upon our communication and engagement strategies These are all the things that will position us as a city to grow and to thrive where everyone can belong and do well. So we know that there's still work ahead. Again, this is part of our ongoing conversations related to policy, budget investments, and leadership. But I think this is really great momentum, and I think we've done a fantastic job particularly considering the moment in time and the challenges and the restraints that we are facing. We've continued to invest in people. We've continued to invest in neighborhoods. We know that this is one step forward in doing more of that and look forward to continuing to keep that as a through line as we move forward throughout this fiscal year and onward. So thank you all so much for your collaboration and your teamwork as well as to the full city, all city employees and executive team. Just really appreciate that. And of course to the public and looking forward to the implementation of new and continued work to support what you all need and to meet your everyday needs as well as your dreams. So thank you all so much.

Mr. Knight.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Just kind of echoing the sentiments, I'm not being repetitive across the board, but this work has definitely continues to grow and be eye-opening in the things that we're trying to do here in the city. And just trying to make sure that we are constantly focused on what impacts our neighborhoods and our communities to help them grow, to thrive, to be more vibrant. and to be very creative, and yet, at the same time, be fiscally responsible about what we're doing and be disciplined and prioritize the things that are important to our community. As I listened to some friends talk about some data that came out earlier around housing costs and how people are being able to afford housing and what it actually costs for a single person or a family, and we continue to work with the state on things that will help provide reasonable housing for people at every entry level. So that word affordable kind of makes me twitch just a little bit because what's affordable for one is not affordable for all. Everybody's level is different, and so it's how they enter into that space. And so really just continuing to think about the future and what that looks like and as we're thinking about our budget and as we're working with developers and as we're working with all of these different departments, how do we make sure that we're doing things effectively so that we can continue to support those services that are out in our community? And also just wanting to echo how even as we're talking through these things and working through the budget that we do work through it, right? We do have these conversations together. And there are spaces in there where it's okay to concede just a little bit because we are looking at the bigger picture and trying to see what's down the road as opposed to what's sitting right in front of us. And so I also want to echo and support my colleague because we did have some conversations to talk about what's most important and how does that impact us as we're doing this work here in the city. And so even with the communications piece, we talked with uh, talk with the mayor and city manager and talk with, uh, Mr. Green about what does that really look like, uh, internally and how do we shift that and, and what's going to be most impactful for the people that we serve. Right. And so being able to, um, make that concession city manager on that work, but also being wise about how we do that and how we're all utilizing that across the board and that it's not weighted heavily on one side more than another. So I'm grateful for the work that has been done. Continue to be grateful to be able to serve in that capacity and look at things in a different way. And just want to add a little note at the end. A lot of times we look at things through one lens, but it's It's also helpful to see through the other lenses that may be possible so that we have a greater understanding about what we do and how we do it. And so just want to encourage neighbors and community members and friends, if you have questions or thoughts on a particular thing as it pertains to what we do here, to stay in connection with those that are sitting up here that have to work in this space, but also work together with you to make sure that our community's voices are heard and that the needs are met appropriately. So thank you for that.

Thank you, Commissioner. And I guess one joke you could make on that theme is 2028's budget planning starts tomorrow. So things that weren't in this year's budget, we can start looking forward. It'll be here before we know it. So Commissioner Usasi, did you want to?

Thank you. Thanks for the additional shot at this. Because that was a change of what we discussed, I wanted to put that out there. But I just wanted to share, too, I echo everyone's sentiments. I think behind all of this and why we did talk a little bit today and our fiscal committee, thank you for bringing this up, Commissioner Kilgore, really talking about the budget stabilization. And City Manager, thank you for, I think, clarifying that for a few folks who maybe had not placed that correctly and why we do something like a budget stabilization plan. there are people behind everything that we want to do and people's jobs and their livelihood. And we have the immense responsibility of that. And, you know, my past, the predecessor to me was Commissioner Ruth Kelly. And she often talked about that time in 08 and 09. And some of you were probably here at that time and knew about a lot of the difficult decisions that the city commission and city leadership had to make. And so that is our And that is our, you know, I think promise to ourselves and to our staff and to the city that we're going to be able to continue to provide good services and we don't make decisions just for, you know, this month or, you know, year over year. City Manager, I don't know if you remember, last week we were sitting in your office, Commissioner Knight and I, and you said, I pulled out the budget book. I haven't saved all my budget books because they're too big. But you pulled out your budget book of when you had your first budget. And we really were kind of doing an overview of where we stood from a financial health standpoint. And really proud to say that we have continued to just become more healthier as an institution. As Commissioner Perdue said, we, I think, capture dollars that are not readily available, but people put together plans and have strategy. You know, as we travel and go to places, people come and want to talk to us about what we're doing here. um does that also mean that sometimes as you said commissioner we we can make different decisions and we can have conversations and i'm really proud of that and i hope that our federal government will do the same thing when they have to decide on their budget coming in the fall because that those things will have impacts to us I think it's also important to note that this new fiscal year that we're voting on, the calendar year will end, and that will be that 2026. Remember, that was such a far time away in 2020 when we were getting those dollars. I'm looking at Lou and Molly and Cade and You know, the end is sort of near, but a reminder to all of us, I know we've planned it in the budget and the resources, but there's going to be a lot of reporting. You know, we have a different federal government we've talked about. There's going to be a lot of closeout. So as well as, you know, we have this new ERP system, which again was an investment, a true investment, not an expense. And so just want to remind ourselves as we go into 27, we start the fiscal year, and then there's a number of things that are going to happen here at the end of 2026 because of all those things that occurred during COVID. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is behind all of this work Thank You city manager for reminding us like I was looking up the email but Find the Commons you told us that find the Commons and so I'm really proud today That we were able to find some Commons and I hope that we take that moving forward that and people know that this is a very well-run city We're in a strong position. We will sometimes have to adjust and change and make some decisions for the long term and come back and reevaluate. And so I think we all remain committed to that, and I'm pleased that we are here at this point today. Thank you.

Great. I think it's time to vote then. The first vote we're going to have is on, frankly, if it's okay, I'll have you introduce the second one, Commissioner Belichick, but I think that these essentially are unified for purposes of conversation. So our ordinance adopting the 2027 budget, and this is a roll call vote. Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Knight? Yes. Commissioner Belcheck? Yes. Commissioner Kilgore? Yes. Commissioner Esasi? Yes. Commissioner Perdue? Yes. Mayor Legrand?

Yes. Can I have a motion for immediate effect? So moved. Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries.

Mayor, before we go on to the next one, may I have a point of privilege, please? Thank you, commissioners, for your vote in adopting this budget. And I appreciate all the thought that has gone through this process and the comments that you've shared. And as you said, this budget accomplishes a lot. And it does not, the numbers don't just jump on the page in a 462-page document or the slides don't create themselves. There are a lot of thoughtful planning strategy deliberation that's done by the staff so my appreciation to all of the staff that has helped with this process but certainly I can't say it enough the executive team that contributes to the strategic direction of this organization much much appreciative of the work I'm also thankful for your unanimous support of this budget. As Commissioner Sasse said, this budget does accomplish a lot. One of the things that it does is the continuity of local government services, which is much at question at the federal and sometimes state level. We made a commitment to continue many of the key essential services, while some we had to modify, as was referenced before, in terms of the dash, but the ones that come at a cost, we ensured that we were able to maintain it at the current costs are slightly increased to keep it affordable. It accomplishes a lot. Much of the cost of increase of local government is worth the investment in our employees, so we were able to ensure that the second year of all the collectively bargained agreements were funded, and every institution can't say that. A lot of organizations are at impasse. We're also able to ensure that much of the investments that we have made in capital projects, to include the more recent opening of one of the premier riverfront entertainment venues, the Amphitheater, Accresher Amphitheater, We're able to sustain the obligations that we made on the payment and servicing of those debts on the fire station and Martin Luther King Park Lodge and so on. Very many transformational projects include park amenities and trails. We're able to continue that momentum moving forward. So I want to thank you for your support and thank the employees for doing that and thank the citizens. We do look forward to implementing what you approved in terms of policy starting July 1.

Thank you. Next, we have an ordinance amending section one of the board budget ordinance 2025-11 for fiscal year 2026. This is amendment number seven. Can I have a motion?

So moved. Support?

Commissioner Belichick?

Yes, thank you. This is a very meaty ordinance. It contains 18 different items, some of which have been referenced already. This is the ordinance amending section one of the budget ordinance for 2025-11 for the fiscal year 2026, the current year we are finishing up. This budget amendment includes, among the 18 items, four items that are for parks and recreation, three for the library, two related to policing, four for engineering or construction related items, one for the Downtown Improvement District, otherwise known as DID, which is specifically for our snowmelt, and some operational costs and funding for our 61st District Court as well as city governance. I would like to highlight items number 4, 7, and 17 for sure. Number 4 is the engineering department's request to recognize and appropriate an estimated revenue expenditure reimbursement in the amount of $5,311,088 from Corwell Health. This is for the reconstruction and water main replacement project that is going on at Leffingwell Avenue. It includes the installation of brand new storm sewer infrastructure where none existed previously, construction of new water main improvements to close a gap that existed in the city's water system, and full roadway construction with new curb, gutter, and approximately a 10-foot wide wooden boardwalk through a wetland area, as well as a 10-foot wide shared footpath. So this is an excellent project that will be coming with Vital Streets Capital and other things. We have item number seven I'd like to highlight, which has been kind of mentioned by our city manager with the fiscal services department bond debt service payments. The fiscal services department is requesting to recognize and appropriate funding in the amount of $6,698,555.77 to establish budgets and debt service funds associated with the amphitheater, soccer stadium, and parking structure bond payments. The fiscal services... The city issued... I'm sorry, let me... Let me back up here. The estimated revenue and appropriations shall be in the capital reserve fund. The city issued $120,270,000 in bonds for the soccer stadium and amphitheater, which then closed for sale on May 21, 2025. When we think about the debt service payment, we want to remember that these bonds are being paid from the hotel-motel tax, otherwise officially known as the Kent County Lodging Excise Tax Fund. So it is very important that we continue to have those funds to pay off that debt. And these bonds then get reimbursed by the convention arena authority to us. So I'd like to also highlight number 17, which is also – wait, that was 17. No, that was the right. This is 17, which is also fiscal services related. And this has to do with what I for mentioned with the budget stabilization fund. The purpose of the budget stabilization fund is to serve as a city savings account. This is part of our long term forecasting and financial planning. It assists with stabilizing revenues and protecting critical programs for citizens during periods of economic recession. The Fiscal Services Department is requesting in this ordinance to increase the balance in the budget stabilization fund by $7 million additional dollars in order to not only maintain the 10% fund balance goal that we have set in policy, but would actually increase it to just over 12%. Currently, Without this amendment, we were at funding at 9.6%. So without this additional transfer, this percentage would is forecasted to continue to decline as expenditures rise. This is not an amount to close any budget gap. This is an amount specifically put into our rainy day savings, so to speak. The balance would then increase to $25,798,835 before the end of this fiscal year, 2026. It is not a part of 27 budget. The proposed FY27 budget is balanced without the use of these particular general operating funds or any others. Approval of this request would not only authorize the increased appropriation but also the subsequent transfer by the comptroller's department. So very good to see that we continue to invest in our long-term financial stability.

Any questions or comments, colleagues? Seeing none, this is another roll call vote. And I'm clerk.

Commissioner Belchak?

Yes.

Commissioner Kilgore?

Yes.

Commissioner Esasi? Yes. Commissioner Perdue? Yes. Commissioner Knight?

Yes. Mayor LeGrand? Yes. Can I have a motion for immediate effect? So moved. Support. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. there being no city commission resolutions or public hearings this brings us to closing public comments so anyone who wants to speak to us about any matter feel free to come on up ideally identify yourself and tell us where you live and limit your comments to three minutes and it doesn't look like we're gonna have any broad participation from the audience but generally just people keep in mind don't clap don't Don't be negative or positive. That's an important First Amendment point that we try to keep this civil and focus on the comments of the people who are commenting. Thank you.

Thank you. Russell Olmstead, First Ward, Westside. You just passed a budget, and as I've heard from you from the dais, budgets are a form of a moral document, that they are something that represent the community and the will, how we invest. And you just did so without full representation from my ward. And I know I've spoke on this before, but I want to bring it back up again. That is extremely frustrating, and it's something that perhaps another voice on there sees something. Another set of eyes sees something. Another set of eyes and voice can represent something from the community, and that's the purpose of representative democracy. And it's the purpose of why we have multiple representation per ward in the city. And I know there's a stalemate. I understand that. And I know that there was a budget that needed to be passed by a set time, so you have to deal with things as they come up. But it's extremely frustrating to know that we are passing a moral document without having the full community represented as it should be and the full vote of that community being represented as it should be. Impasses can be broken as long as there's communication and as long as you find the comments as you have went through in the budget process. It's not impossible. But it's going to take having really uncomfortable conversations and moving. Somebody's going to have to move and do something that they don't necessarily agree with in order to break this. I've been open and vocal from this in the beginning, just as Commissioner Yasasi. I believe Kurt Rappard is the right person for this in such a short term situation. representation. He has the experience. He has the track record. He has the understanding and the trust of the community. Everything that you would need to represent for a short term. He has no political will after this that he's running for afterwards. It all speaks to community first, which is what we should be looking for. But If you can't find that common ground there, please find common ground around another candidate. Please don't stand on principle on this because that principle sacrifices the voice of the community. And that is not equitable. That is not something that is in the best interest and does not serve the whole reason why every single one of you decided to run for office in the first place. So please find that common ground. And I have one other question real quickly. What happens with the salary for the first ward commissioner that is not here? Is that being reinvested into the fund in some way? I thought about it while you were passing it, so I should have asked while you were doing the budget.

Mark Beck. Well I heard, well I read that city council in Lowell had decided to go against the people and thinking about building a proposed data center. These data centers take up a ton of water. The residents It happened down in Georgia. The residents down there in that rural part of the state are having a hard time getting running water out of their faucets. These centers take up a lot of water. That's why the public didn't want it there. And I'm going to guarantee you this. If they do go on and build these data centers, the water is going to be snatched from the Flat River and eventually the Grand River. It's not good. I feel for them over there. This is what happens when individuals sit on the couch and don't vote, and vote the wrong people in, because they're the ones who are behind this. Again, we don't want to see anything like this happening here, because the bottom line is this, they, it's the greedy billionaires who are taking that money and doing it for whatever they damn well please while the people suffer. So I suggest you get everybody, get people who you know, get them registered and get ready to vote. These seats are up for grabs. These are critical positions that we the people can take for granted. But if you sit on the couch, we all know what happened last time. We're in the chaos that we're in right now. If you don't want to continue, don't vote. But face the consequences because you are the ones that are going to suffer from it. Revenge 2026.

Good afternoon. My name is Santiago from the northeast side. So me and a colleague, Satori, she was here last time. We're trying to organize a brunch for young people who want to get involved politically but don't necessarily want to affiliate with a political party or you know, out of their faith institutions. So I'm inviting anyone who's interested to come out. It's this Sunday, May 24th, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Muse at 727 Leonard. There will be food, amazing food. We had shrimp grits last time. We had free drinks. And we're also offering an opportunity to learn and engage with your community. We have this month, we have a couple speakers, presenters who are going to teach, give presentations on financial equity, how to build power, financial power within, you know, individually, but also within your communities. And it's really just a good opportunity, like I said, to come out, hang out, connect, have fun, and learn, build power. And that's, again, that's Sunday, May 24th, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Muse, 727 Leonard. Yeah, thank you.

Hello, my name is Shannon. I live in the third ward. And I would just like to ask that as you start planning for the 2028 budget, as the mayor mentioned, that you think about spending more on things like public transit. Mayor explained that the reduction in dash coverage is to try and increase the frequency, and that's great. However, you can and need to do both. Good public transit is based on coverage and frequency, not one or the other. The dashed system does nothing to someone, does them no good if they can't get to where they're trying to go. It needs to cover all... necessary stops that someone might need to go to, such as the library, which is a hub of free services for the public, secretary of state offices, other public offices that a person might need to go to. I would also ask that you look into more alternative measures of reducing or responding to crime. I understand that this budget is increasing the number of police officers. I think that money would be better spent into things like co-responders, mental health professionals, or even things like more affordable and entry level housing. It costs a lot less to house the unhoused than it does to continually evict them and kick them out of parks and tents in public spaces. As you go over this year's budget and start getting ready for next year, Please consider your priorities, housing and alternative crime reduction, public transportation, things that benefit everybody and not just the rich few. Thank you very much.

Lucas, again, Mr. Mayor, I'm still setting aside commentary on your recent non-sequitur apology to GRPD, but I will point out that when other humans make mistakes, people don't usually die, and when someone does, the person responsible usually doesn't get to stay in that line of work. Anyway, let's keep talking about the budget, but let's also keep talking about cops. Our budget is like a pretty new car. where all the best cool features are marketed on page one of the brochure, and nobody focuses on the airbag defect that's killing people and costing infinite amounts of money in litigation. That's what it looks like when you trot out all the good things, and they are objectively great things like community organizations, parks, disaster relief, but you just keep allowing the manufacture of the deadly airbags. In fact, you give the deadly element a guaranteed slice of the pie. For those who've been blissfully unaware, I'm making reference to the fact that no other function in our city is given a charter-level minimum guarantee for their budget except the police. Come hell or high water, the cops will always have priority when you look at the dollars. Back to that values thing. That's sick, backward, misguided, and it's written right into our charter. So it's time for my annual question. Where is the guaranteed slice for parks, public works, mobile GR, salaries for our hardworking city staff, especially the ones that help our elected officials be more effective? Or how about a guaranteed slice of the pie for our boys and girls in red? The fire department. All the bootlickers who like to get loud online over T-shirts talk a big talk about public safety. Well, the fire department is arguably more vital to public safety than the cops, and they don't get a minimum guarantee. When some people get all mouth-frothy about cops and not firefighters, they're showing you what they're about, that they're about oppression, subjugation, and the control of people they don't like. The same could be said of a budget built this way. We shouldn't have a minimum for any department, but if we're not also going to settle a minimum for the other essential services. But most people who learn about that will say that it's unfair and dirty. And they don't think we should guarantee any slice of the pie if we're being even remotely fiscally responsible. But that's the way it is today, GR. It doesn't have to stay that way. We can have this discussion and include this in many overdue changes our charter so desperately needs. Join together. Speak out and act accordingly. Vote accordingly. And let's make sure our budgeting is more fair in the future.

Seeing no additional public comments, I'll turn to my colleagues for closing statements. Commissioner Usasi?

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you all again. I think we said a lot during budget, so I just wanted to read one thing from something that I was at last night. So last night was our... historic preservation awards. And thank you to Rhonda for putting this together on the city side and my co-host Matt Dixon, a member of the body. But I wanted to highlight Auburn Hills, the neighborhood. I think it was shared that they were on the historic preservation list now after many years. And this history of Auburn Hills and a group of founding families who were able to purchase a 20-acre plot of land from the city, and they really wanted to create a neighborhood that promoted freedom of residence. And so last night we got to celebrate this along with a number of the family members. And so I just wanted to put it into perspective again. A lot of the things that we talk about at those awards are usually 1900, 1908, 1919, and they're not usually something from 1962. And I just want to read a quote from Paula Triplett, who is a Second Ward resident. Her family was a part of this founding family. But she says, "...the four men didn't create the community just for black families. The goal was to help anyone who was struggling to buy a home." And so, you know, I think, again, up on this body, we think a lot about, you know, housing and dollars. And we talked about the sale of, you know, the land for the amphitheater and how that's going to go into our housing fund. And we're still working on this and still doing this. And I can't remember. I think it was just the... the perseverance of these families, the reality that the city did not do great things at that time, and just a reminder of this great work in Auburn Hills, and thank you to the city for recognizing that. So I'm just going to end on that note, and I hope you all have a good afternoon. Thanks.

Thank you. Commissioner Kogar. Thanks, Mayor. Thank everyone for coming out tonight. I just want to remind our community that engagement doesn't stop here at City Hall. I always say it is. We try to alternate so we can get different groups of people and sort of flex our schedules, but I know it's hard for us Regular folks to come here at 2 p.m. So thank you to everyone who did I appreciate that and like I said it earlier This work is so exciting me is always an exciting time on commission because they're important budgets are important and And I really want folks to continue to help shape what comes next. And I'm excited to host a Connect with Commissioner conversation with myself alongside good neighbors of Alder Heights and Garfield Park and the local chapter of the NAACP. This will be an opportunity for neighbors to come together, share concerns, and ask questions and have honest conversations about the future of our community. So this is next week, Wednesday. I believe that's the 27th. Next week, Wednesday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The first 10 drinks are on me. It's sip, coffee, and cocktail. So you can do coffee. You can do a cocktail. You know, hopefully that'll get some folks through the door and it just won't be me and my mom. So, you know, whether you want to talk to me about public safety, housing, economic development, neighborhood quality of life, or this year's budget investments and how they show up in our everyday lives, I want to continue to hear directly from residents. My first year, I did one of these every month. And what I got from neighbors is, one, Marshall, we can't come see you every month. We love the free drinks, but we can't come see you every month. have a quarterly so that's what I'm focused on we did it last quarter I'm doing it this quarter now and just again this budget is an important step forward but our work doesn't end tonight the real work I see is to continue to build trust with our community to stay accessible and ensure that these investments translate into real outcomes for neighborhoods a huge thank you to all my colleagues on the City Commission and the staff for their hard work on the budget and every day. I know it often goes without thanks and appreciation and we all need that and deserve that because we are human. So I see you all on this commission and every single staff member. I'm often one of the first commissioners here and get to sort of see staff before the commission day starts at 8 a.m. on the committee on appointments and It's very cool. No one sees that work of whether from getting copies to coffee to prepping for questions that we may have or community may have. It is truly honorable, and I thank the staff for the work that they do. So I look forward to continuing this work with community and everyone here in City Hall. Have a good afternoon.

Commissioner Belichick.

Yes. So I was just taking a moment to look back at my calendar for the last couple of weeks because it has been very busy and there's just a lot going on. So I'm going to just take a point of privilege to review a couple of things and share with folks that we the first one I want to talk about is the fact that we have a brand new sister city. It is in Vaughan, Canada, and we had the signing ceremony on the 7th, and I did watch it live and remotely, but our mayor and our city manager did travel across the border to be there in person and shared some archival items that represent our city to Vaughn and received gifts in return. So you can look forward to seeing those displayed eventually along with our other sister cities in the lobby downstairs in the big marble hall. Just thank you very much for representing us, sirs. You did wonderful with your little presentations and speeches as usual. And it's really interesting to see the difference between, you know, the Canadian counterpart and your counterpart. And seeing you guys work together has been fantastic. And thank you to Sister Cities International and our local Sister Cities chapter. for getting that whole process going and setting that up. So just as we, no matter what's happening locally or nationally, remembering that we're a part of an international community and that we all are on the same little planet together I think is really helpful. I also want to highlight that I've had a few interesting conversations with young people, including I was reached out by a city high high schooler who's working on their project junior-senior project and part of their project is to talk with an official, an elected official or a city official or some other person and ask them questions about a particular project that they're looking at. And because they're an international baccalaureate, program they were looking at how does it affect the local how does it translate to the international and this gentleman young man was researching our amphitheater and soccer stadium projects and what does that mean for the city what does that mean for how we do the public-private partnership and what does that mean for our taxpayers and who gets to benefit. So it was a very interesting phone call and conversation. I had a different one last year that I met in coffee for another student about other things in the city. So I just want to really recognize that we do have young people interested and working on ideas here for our community, even if it's part of their school or outside of their school. And, of course, it was a great chance to talk about why we have taxes. That's what I reminded him. and that sometimes we all benefit from things, but that we also need our private partners to step up and do their part. So with that, I wasn't able to attend the Accresure opening this weekend, so I look forward to any other people talking about that, but I was out of town to attend some back-to-back trainings, and I want to say that I learned a lot in our... Elected Officials Academy that was about or from the Michigan Municipal League in the deep dive advanced sessions that I was in was entirely about community engagement and how do we have conversations with and respect cultural and interpersonal differences. So I thought that was very enlightening and also a fun way to challenge but also hear from other elected officials from around our state that have to deal with things and may not have the same pressures that we have in Grand Rapids, but they also experience similar things in their communities. And then secondly, the last event that I was at was the Michigan Association of Public Let me see if I can get it right. Public employees retirement systems. So that is also known as MAPERS. And I got to sit and listen to many very smart actuarial accounting and investment strategy folks about how do we plan for our future, including the economic vitality. the economic turmoil we may or may not be experiencing globally and here at home, how that will trickle down for our investments. Because if you don't know, we do have closed pension funds that we still have to financially manage. And I do sit on our pension fund boards. And I will be having those meetings tomorrow morning from 8 till about noon. So my week is still going. And managing funds so that we can plan for the safety The financial security of our retirees is really important, as well as the dollars we've put into our budget this year for increasing our salaries with our union contracts. So thank you, everyone, and I will pass on the mic.

Commissioner Perdue?

Nothing additional today. Thank you all.

Thank you. Commissioner Knight?

Nothing to add. Thank you.

Thanks. Madam Clerk? City Attorney?

Alright, I will say a couple of things. Just because we have our two interns in the audience, I'm going to ask you both to stand. Tashari Bolton and Audrey Bennett have been with us as long as we have been able to host them. We saw them both graduate from Grand Valley. You can sit now if you want. I know that's awkward to be standing in the middle of a room, but they both graduated from Grand Valley University just a couple of weeks ago. They both have been incredible interns, just motivated to learn, dedicated to our community, and I think that talent retention And recruitment is so vital in our line of work in government. We have different challenges to recruit and retain good talent. So I hope we'll find a way to keep them in our community. Thank you both for your dedication and for your involvement and your help along the way. I do want to take a moment to thank the city manager and the executive office staff, the CFO for the budget. This is my first year in the department head role. We had new systems to a certain extent that we all had to work with, and I hope I can reflect top management's appreciation for feeling hurt along the way, for being involved. It's our New Year's resolution every year for when we get back to work to start getting our budget in the system. So going back to December and January, this is really a process for departments to be involved and engaged before it looks all pretty and nice and slideshow format to come to you There's a lot of iron sharpening iron along the way, some friendly friction maybe, some trust building that goes into the process, and this is really a moment to be proud of all the things we can look forward to in the future. As a resident and an employee, just this weekend I was involved in things that I saw in old budgets, the MLK Lodge Park. I was there to see a concept and a vision and this weekend I was with my kids playing at the new playground that just recently opened up and then to be at the amphitheater Saturday for the community celebration was another thing that looked like something on a budget and has been a labor of love for a lot of people along the way and to be able to just be there with family and friends taking in arts and entertainment was a nice moment to reflect. So I know that the hours that go into this from the city manager and his staff are just unquestioned. There's not a harder working group in this city, and it's something that has been really cool to be part of. So, thank you.

City Manager? Thank you, Mayor, and well said, City Attorney, on your first budget. The law department always comes in on the budget. Much appreciated. It reduces the friction. But again, I said this several times, and I echo those sentiments again today, my appreciation for everyone involved. As city attorney said not only do we have to consider the priorities of the city commissioners and of course the public in a very growing and diverse city but the departments to also have perspective and some may feel like they are getting or not getting the resources they need to deliver on the expectations both internally externally and they are also compromise to find common ground to help us deliver what we can for the whole and so again thank you everyone I do want to share that one of the things I'm most proud this is now my eighth budget here As Commissioner Sasse highlighted, when I first arrived, we were just coming out of a period of financial strain where the city had reduced many services, had reduced a lot of staff. I think there was 600 or so, 400 or so employees that were laid off, and we were in a period of trying to recover from that. And we have... done so and then coming to a period of economic recession to the pandemic, but yet we're still strong. And last July, despite whatever the notions may be, when you look at what we do, when you look at the quality of our infrastructure, when you look at our safety compared to other cities, our financial stability, our AA bond rating, our economic vitality. I would put this community against many others, and I don't have to do it. It has been done just last July. I want to remind the commissioners public, this city was highlighted as one of the best run cities in the country when you objectively compare what we do compared to other communities. Now, we're not a perfect city by all means, and we know that there are opportunities to improve and deliver on services, But I don't question the integrity, the work ethic, or the commitment of the city staff that's here, because we couldn't be any of that without the members of this workforce. So thank you for your work. I also sleep very well knowing that compared to four years ago, when you look at the reserve fund level and how we have a very healthy reserve, we have good problems. Problems not how we're gonna get money, but good problems in terms of planning. for future capital and making sure that we are reserved for these very uncertain economic times. We are very well positioned and thank you Mayor for recognizing the conservative approach to our budget. I do want to acknowledge, I know the DASH conversation has been very difficult. I mean, I've been personally impacted myself. The DASH was stopped right in front of my home, but it was not about my individual preference. This was something that was vetted through the MobileGR Commission and ultimately balancing all of the factors, a decision was made. Now can we revisit it? Absolutely. Are there other models that can be considered in the future? Perhaps. Should the dash be totally free for riders or should there be some nominal cost? Those are all things worth considering and I think our mobile GR director is in the back of the room there and will help us move forward from here. The amphitheater was a phenomenal experience, both paid for the opening night as well as free for our community. And that partnership could not happen without this community, this commission, our private partners, the CAA, DGRI, Grand Action, all of the community partners, the state, the federal government, coming together, Accresure being the lead sponsor, to make that happen. concerns around mobility and parking I'm glad to know that we had planned for a successful event but in reality the performance both on stage as well as getting to the venue and leaving the venue exceeded our expectations. So a wonderful way to really continue to put our city on the map to encourage other people to come live, work, play in this community and to really make sure it's not just, as some may perceive, an asset just for a certain few people or the privileged, but certainly something our entire community can celebrate. Lastly, I would want to share, I said this at the Public Safety Committee, we are in the process of starting to look for our next police chief. I want to acknowledge Chief Trigg and his leadership in the interim with the departure of Chief Winstrom. The position is being advertised. We do have a search firm helping us with that process, the same search firm that helped us hire Chief Payne as well as Chief Winstrom. And the position closes the first week of June. I anticipate that we will have interviews June 17th. We'll affirm that with a more formal announcement. and the public will be allowed to meet the candidates, and the candidates will also get a chance to meet this community, both internal and external. And we'll have some other opportunities to visit with the candidates, but I want to thank the Public Safety Committee for participating in the vetting process of the RFP for the consultant, and look forward to concluding that process and hopefully having a new leader for the police department, permanently identified in July. Thank you.

Thank you. So I will just make three quick comments at the end here. Well, before I'm going to take a page from our city attorney, I have an intern who's going to be in my office for a month and then coming back in August. That's Aiden Rosema. Aiden, do you want to stand up? doing housing research and coming here from U of M where he's actually got some U of M students to poke at some policy issues for us already. So thanks, Hayden. I indeed had a great time walking down to the amphitheater. So, you know, it was nice to see that we didn't, that all of the, I haven't heard a single negative thing about the experience yet since then, but it was a great vibe walking from my house down there passing people who were happy and interacting with each other and interacting with the city and it's exciting to think about that for the rest of the summer. As we pass the budget, I think we briefly mentioned, but I just want to highlight a little more. Part of the reason that the budget went as well as it did is because the city employees, the vast majority of whom are represented by labor unions, negotiated in a very amicable and collegial way, and we wound up not having strikes, not having budget-busting agreements, but agreements that I think were good and well worked out and fair, and I appreciate it takes two to come to an agreement, so I want to thank all the labor organizations that helped us come to the labor agreements we had. And I was downtown talking with someone who's really engaging on getting more housing downtown today, The last thing he said to me was, don't take it for granted. And I said, about granted success at this moment. And I said, well, maybe we should get that translated into Latin, and that can be our second motto. But I think it's true that for all the good things we have right now, we do have to not take things for granted. Remember that A, we can always do everything better tomorrow. But B, that the things that we are doing need continued support and continued engagement so that the good things we have in this community can continue and we can all flourish as a community. So thank you all for being here and I'll adjourn the meeting.