City Commission - Regular Meeting

Yes,

I don't see Caleb Williams

again. Everybody not up here. Hey, you cannot say things that

I can do it, Is that the only option? So for the record, yeah, I I pray in Jesus name. So I don't know if everybody's okay with that. You can charge. Ed, are you are you minister? me. When I was a boy,

I want to take this back to me. Is he actually he's getting

Let me see if you got it. So, I don't want to go You got him. All right.

All right. Thank you for your patience. We're getting started just a few minutes late here. Just want to make sure we have things in place to get us uh started on the right foot. So, nice to see everybody here. Uh nice to see my colleagues uh back after our committee of the whole meeting. Uh first thing I need to do here tonight is call this Kazoo City Commission meeting to order for Monday, February 2nd, 2026. Scott Boing, please call the role. Commissioner Hess, present. Commissioner Hoffman, present. Commissioner Pradle, present. Commissioner Slay. Commissioner Wilson present. Vice Mayor Duncan here. Mayor Anderson

here. Thank you. Uh may I have uh please uh a motion to excuse Commissioner Slayby who I believe will be back shortly. Motion made by support and supported by Commissioner Hoffman. All in favor please say I. I oppose. Nay.

All right. Thank you commission. Uh for our opening ceremony tonight uh we will have an invocation. is going to be provided by uh Reverend Leethal I believe who's here and has uh very nicely volunteered to help us with this. So as with every uh opening ceremony I will ask the reverend to come forward provide an invocation ask people in the chambers to stand for that and then remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Well, Father, we thank you that um you bring us all together here, Lord, uh to do your work. And Father, I pray for this evening that you would um give these commissioners wisdom. I pray you'd give them um insights that they need. Um pray for the people here at the meeting that you would give us grace for each other and also u wisdom in what we say. Father, we pray for your presence here with us. We thank you for for being here in Jesus name. 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. We do have a proclamation this evening. The proclamation is going to be read by Commissioner Hoffman and it is for wear red day. Do we have uh someone in the chamber? There we go. All right. Thank you so much. Please come forward and I'll come down with the proclamation. Commissioner Huffman.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening and welcome. Wear red day February 6th, 2026. Whereas cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women in the US, killing more women than all forms of cancer combined. And cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of maternal death in the US. Or more simply put, heart disease is the number one killer of new moms. And whereas cardiovascular diseases kill one woman almost every 80 seconds in the US. And whereas heart disease and stroke can affect all women at any age while new research showing a rise in heart attacks in younger women. And whereas individuals in the US have made great progress in reducing the death rate for cardiovascular disease. But this progress has been more modest with respect to the death rate for cardiovascular disease in women. And whereas about 80% of cardiac events can be prevented through education and lifestyle changes. And whereas all women are encouraged to move more, eat smart, and manage blood pressure to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. And whereas the American Heart Association's go red for women movement motivates women to learn their family history and to meet with health care providers to determine their risk for cardiovascular diseases and stroke. And whereas Go Red for Women empowers women to get healthy through red means go campaign designed to engage women to show others what they do to experience good health well-being while inspiring others to do the same. Now therefore, on behalf of the 56 city commission in honor of David F. Anderson, this we recognize the importance of the ongoing fight against heart disease and stroke. Do hereby proclaim Friday, February 6,

2026 to be National Wear Red Day in the city of Kamazoo and urge all citizens to show their support for women in the fight against heart disease by commemorating this day by wearing the color red. By increasing awareness, speaking out about heart disease, and empowering women to reduce their risk for cardiovascular diseases, we can save thousands of lives each year. Signed by David F. Anderson, Mayor of Kazoo.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, uh, Commissioner Huffman. I'll make this brief, but, uh, just want to thank you and the other city commission members, uh, for this incredible honor. Uh and again on behalf of the American Heart Association here in Kalazoo, I'm proud to accept this proclamation. Uh this recognition highlights the work that we do here locally. Uh our incredible volunteers and staff uh who work hard to make sure uh our commitment to heart health in our community is seen and felt. So again, thank you for this recognition um and for supporting our vital work. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for that. Now we are to the adoption of the formal agenda. And commissioners, are there any items on G, the consent agenda that you would like to have moved to H, the regular agenda? Seeing none, no changes. Okay. The agenda stands as it is. Manager Hen, anything under communications?

Not at this time. Thank you. Now we are at the time for public comments. Reminder, public comments are four minutes at this meeting. You can comment on any topic you're interested in. Please state your name and whether you live in the city. How are you? Good. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Teland Steel. I'm part of the Edison Initiative program. You guys heard my story earlier today. Um I was a little late so they read it on my behalf. Um we ran out a little time so I'm going to read a part that Keith didn't get to feel for himself. Um, let me take you back to CO when we were all trapped in our homes and scared of COVID 19. We were sitting on our couches and several of us said, "What can we do to make a difference in our communities?" We got on a Zoom call, we prayed, and we said, "We can make a difference." We all shared the same passion for helping others and home ownership and we organized and formalized Edison's initiative. We filed organizational paperwork and started fundraising. We purchased and began volunteering volunteers renovations of our first home in the fall of 2021. Today we are now on our third home and helping our third family. We have 12 core leadership members. We can you can see who they are. Um if you go and read our backgrounds on our website is edisoninitiative.org.

We have hundreds of different additional volunteers and partners that help us on our projects in multiple ways. um a lot of different churches, volunteers, and they all just give up their time, energy, and donations to keep this program running. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please.

I'm Dr. Ed Leventhal. I'm um also with the Edison Initiative. I think you heard of from many of us this this morning, and I appreciate that some of you were able to come to the the house um on Hayes Park. I think you're also probably aware of um Hayes Park and and some of the um history that's been in that area. That's one of the reasons we picked that house. I want to tell you a little bit about the house. Um it's 11:09 Haze Park Street. It has very good bones. That's why we picked it. Um it has very good bones. It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, hardwood floors, a goodiz kitchen space, and a garage. All of which make it ideal for a family to own and thrive in. And that's one of our goals is that a family can go and then generationally grow in this home. And however, like many homes in the Edison neighborhood and especially in that neighborhood, this has been a rental house with minimal investments and it's been run down over the years. um it needs a lot of investment in time, energy, um materials and effort. And for example, I this last week I was tearing up the floor in the kitchen. I'll just tell you my experience. I'm tearing up the floor and I didn't find one floor. I found five floors of layers that had to be torn up. Um my back is still recovering, but we are um in the process of of getting that and renovating the house. So, our plan is um to renovate and create a new kitchen space, a new two new bathroom spaces, a laundry room, paint and repair walls, and trim throughout, refinish the hardwood floors, carpet the upstairs. In addition, we need to add gutters um to the roof for flood for water control. However, we need funding and we have been raising funding and we have um have

been able to raise some of the funding. We operate our project on a 100% cash basis, including no mortgages, no financing, and we are trusting the Lord for provision. Well, why do we do this, you might ask? Well, because we're going to move at the pace of our provision. That's been our our operating motto of this. We have chosen this model of no debt. The sale of every house to a family will help fund the house for the next family, not fund the loan payoff. We plan to almost entirely be self- sustaining after we purchase and renovate five homes for five families. Then the house sales will become a recurring funding stream from then on. So what we paid cash for for the house on 1109 Hayes Park Street. We're requesting $35,000 from your discretionary fund. That's a big number for us. Um, if you can do more, we won't turn it down. If you if you have to do less, we'll be thankful for what you do do. So, we we appreciate you um considering this request and um thank you for for your attention. Thank you. Yes. Next, please.

You won't finish up. Oh, no. It's okay. Sorry. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, guys. Uh my name is Jun Simpson. the representative of the get the flock out of Kalamazoo campaign. We're here again asking for the immediate removal of flock safety cameras in our community. Last week, last week, KDPS claimed that flock safety data is tightly controlled. But unfortunately, that claim is unverifiable. Flock is a cloud-based system, which means that the data is stored in physical locations somewhere in the world, but outside of Kalazoo, outside of the cities, and KDPS's direct control. KDPS is effectively taking a private security a private corporation at its word that this data is secure and properly restricted. That trust is not warranted. Flock safety has already shown contempt for local government by installing cameras in jurisdictions where they were explicitly prohibited. This company has a documented history of ignoring local laws when it suits them. Yet the city, you are happy to trust them with all of our data. We also know that when the system was first set up, KDPs was unaware that the data could be accessed by federal agencies. It was not internal oversight that revealed this data sharing. It was a member of the public on Facebook. That raises a serious question. If KDPs did not fully understand how that system worked, then why should we trust that they fully understand it now? What has actually changed since June? As it stands, Kamazoo's camera data remains accessible to federal agencies. All it takes is a single password or a single rogue judge to open that door wide open. And if that's the standard of protection being offered, then it is not sufficient. If these cameras are truly essential for public safety, then the city should be able to provide clear, transparent data proving their necessity and effectiveness. So far, that evidence has not been presented. We're also deeply concerned about where these cameras are being placed and how they're being used. A group of flock cameras currently sit outside Kazoo's Planned Parenthood facility. And we already know these cameras, including the cameras in Kalamazoo, have been used to track women

who have abortions. This is not hypothetical risk. This is real harm already being done. The Washington Post has recently identified flock cameras as part of ISIS's most powerful tools for targeting and tracking people. These cameras are part of a much larger national surveillance network that allows federal agencies to map movement, associations, and daily life. When cities participate in that network, intentionally or not, they're feeding data into a system designed for enforcement, intimidation, and control. Michigan is a swing state. Kazoo will be a battleground. We already know that Donald Trump and his allies are willing to interfere in elections by any means necessary. That is not speculation. That is documented history. Surveillance infrastructure like flock cameras is exactly the kind of tool that enables interference. It allows for tracking who goes where, when, and how often. It enables for targeting communities, monitoring political activity, and chilling participation through fear. Once that data exists, it does not matter what the original intent or that data was. It will be used. Surveillance systems like Flock are currently being used to suppress political political opponents, monitor organization, monor organizers, intimidate voters, rip families apart, hurt women, and interfere with our elections. By keeping these cameras in place, the city is not remaining neutral. It is empowering future abuse. Removing these cameras is one of the few ways the city can meaningful meaningfully push back against the Trump administration right now. There is no point passing resolutions, writing ordinances, looking at policies, or issuing statements if we already know that ICE is willing to ignore our constitutional rights. Removing these cameras is an immediate concrete action that denies the rogue federal government access to the tools it relies on. This is not symbolic. We're asking for concrete material resistance. Get the flock out of Kalamazoo.

Thank you everybody. Thank you. Next, please. Hello commissioners. My name is Tristan. I'm a local organizer with We the People Action Fund. Um last year my team, which included myself and approximately a dozen or so volunteer Calamazoo residents, decided to try our hand at passing a local ballot initiative to protect and empower Kazoo renters. These two ordinances which I am passing around right now were inspired by identical legislation passed in places like Ann Arbor, Detroit, Washington DC, New York, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Portland, and many other locations throughout the country. We worked closely with Mark Brewer and other Michigan attorneys to ensure that the language of the ordinances matches the language of existing legislation within the Kalamazoo City Code. The first law of the first one would protect tenants from abuse, harassment or intimidation by their landlords for engaging in tenant organizing activities. Um and uh establishes legal parame sorry the second one establishes legal parameters for just and unjust causes for eviction providing kalamazoo renters in good standing with the assurance and peace of mind that the right to renewal guarantees. These are common sense rights that many people in the public assume are already protected by state and federal law, but are absolutely not protected in any way. Um, I have personally witnessed harassment, retaliation, and intimidation by landlords and other rental associations who are actively attempting to undermine democratic organizing in order to prevent collective action and rob their tenants of the ability to advocate for themselves. Although my team was unable to collect the full signatures necessary, we were able to collect over 3,000 total signatures. And I'm going to pass it around if you guys could just feel how heavy this.

We were able to collect over 3,000 signatures and connected with more than 10,000 Kazoo voters, many of whom live just outside of city limits. Not only did we receive overwhelming support from renters, but to our surprise, we also found incredible support from many Kalazoo homeowners and even local small-scale landlords. Not only that, but we received the enthusiastic support of our new vice mayor, Drew Duncan, as well as former city commissioner, Don Cooney, along with the current chair of the Kalamazoo Democratic Party and Vice Mayor of Parchment, Justin Mendoza, as well as the executive director of Outfront, Christopher Turkos, and many other distinguished local figures who support these bills. As I pass around the stack of signatures, I hope that the weight of the stack demonstrates to you the weight that renters in this city are carrying um with this financial burden that they have. This is our attempt to appeal to the hearts and minds of this commission directly in order to enact these ordinances as soon as humanly possible. The vice mayor has already promised to take the lead in coordinating this process and we are thrilled to have him going to bat on behalf of Kalazoo renters. Uh we hope to be able to meet with all of you before the end of February to get this ball rolling. Um please take a look at the language in the meantime and we look forward to continuing this discussion soon. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, please.

Hello, my name is Alex and I'm a resident of the Kamazoo township but longtime resident of Kamazoo since 2017. I'm here to present a case just for what Tristan presented. I was one of the volunteers there and I live across the way from Village Park Apartments and I don't know how many people here are familiar with it. I live there at the Lake View apartment complex and recently I had the chance to speak with the residents there this past summer as a volunteer when we were pushing those same renters's rights just such as right to organize and no just cause for and a just cause for eviction as in not being evicted for no reason or being evicted or harassed just because you want to organize. Recently, I learned that the same deplorable conditions there, like necessary repairs that were late to be repaired, crime, neglect in my own complex. I fought hard just to get $100 off the rent because we were out, we were without hot water for 6 days. And you know what the property manager told me? No, couldn't do it. Even though I got 40% of my building, which had no hot water, for six days, mind you. He told me no. That's why I signed up with this measure because I knew that something like renters's rights could be effective. Something like that where I wouldn't even have to have fear or any other resident there would have to have fear. I understand that Mayor Anderson, you sit on several boards that are supposed to care for renters and yet you have the power with three votes and yet you won't do anything about it. So, I urge you right now, there are people here on this board, there are people in this audience that are renters or former renters. I urge you, I urge you to use that magic wand with your three

votes. Prove that you care about renters by voting for renters's rights. Prove that with all the seats that you sit on that you can do something. There are people again, people who sit on this board who have been or renters. Start listening to us and start listening to your board members who are in the trenches. Start coming up with solutions that actually benefit the people, not the landlords, not even the billionaires and the multi-millionaires who don't even live in this county. For the rest of the board, I urge you to vote for renters rights. Vote on the side of the people, not on the side of the so-called entrepreneurs who are a little more than just grifters and thieves. Thank you and have a great night.

Thank you. Next, please.

My name's Edward Nickerson. I live in the city of Kalazoo. The first guy that talked about law enforcement, I experienced some of that myself from law enforcement, our local police department. I was robbed by him. They told me that they smelled marijuana in my vehicle and they never did. I think you might have been something up here when I talked about it before, Mayor Anderson. Maybe a couple other ones were setting up here. It goes on all the time where the lady talking about the rent renters's rights. I'm experiencing a lot of problems where I'm living right now. A lot of the tenants they are not willing to stick up for themselves because they are afraid that they will end up homeless. They will deny everything because they don't want to end up homeless and something needs to be done. And I suggest on the nights that you have the business meeting, maybe you can open up the vending room so somebody can get something. That's just a suggestion. Have a good night.

Thank you. Next, please.

Um, hello my uh commissioners. My name is Andrew Argo. I'm a tenant in the Vine neighborhood. uh is also speaking on the uh tenants rights issue. Um as some of you of you remember in 2019 I ran for office here in the city seat that you currently occupy. One of the guiding strategies and principles of our project was to talk with problem map and connect with residents particularly in Kazoo's workingclass lowerincome neighborhoods specifically east side north side Edison where I grew up and Vine where I currently live. After that election, we parsed through all the conversations and mountains of data we collected which would prescribe the focus of our organizing moving forward. Kazoo residents had many issues to talk about. There was one that emerged towering over all others and it wasn't even close. The need for affordable livable housing and for the city to stand up for tenants rights. We are seven years out from when I knocked on doors for that election and that exact refrain persists. For two years, I helped run a tenants union in town and ran a hotline for tenants who needed help with asserting their rights to unscrupulous landlords. Even after stepping away from that specific type of work, in the years to follow, I regularly received phone calls from residents about landlords refusing to fix the plumbing, leaving the furnace unrepaired in the middle of winter, mold growing in their homes, dubious deviations from their agreements that did not reflect the contracts they had signed. There are a number of organizations in town that assist renters. HRI, legal aid, the Fair Housing Center. I've talked and worked with some of these individuals over the years, and the work they do is heroic. But these kinds of efforts do not get to the root of the systemic causes of the issue. In my own work, uh, trying to start a union, I found that I along with those groups were kept very busy putting out fires.

And that is commendable. It is commendable. Anytime someone can assert their rights or is prevented from being evicted. But I came to understand it is not enough to put out those fires, we need to do something about the arsonist. And in this situation, the arsonist is the landlord, a type of landlord who pursu presumes that they can delay on quality of life, that they can extract rent where they have not provided uh suitable uh housing. and the landlorder believes if the tenant in question becomes a problem or speaks up for themselves, they can always kick them out. Excuse me. Um to clarify um that abusing the rights of Kamoo residents ostensibly to squeeze out a few extra bucks, we need to make sure that will not be tolerated in our town. To circle back, much of the hesitance I would hear in those voices on the phone would be from the fear of retaliation. Having one's housing threatened, uh having one's uh uh housing threatened um uh being forced to move are deeply traumatic to people. Uh many will choose to go along to get along and accept the path to least resistance. This city can provide our residents with the courage to say this is wrong and there's something we can do about it. It is not lost on me that some of you on the board are landlords yourselves. And I would argue it is in your own interest to pursue these rights for our city residents. The worst landlords and property management companies in our town actively emiserate local residents, worsen the quality of life in our neighborhoods, and exacerbate the housing crisis. They hoard housing stock and commodify the lives of our residents. While I will continue to seek a grander systemic pivot on the necessity of housing as a human right, for the time being, these measures would level the playing field for landlords who know how to respect the rights of their tenants. An elevated floor that would improve the community for

everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please.

My name is Kendall Combo. come uh as a representative uh of Helping Hands Wellness Center located at 310 uh North Rose Street. Uh one thing I I want to talk about with Helping Hands Wellness Center, uh we started out as a organization that concentrated on the homeless population. Um as we started to concentrate on the homeless population, what we started to notice is given the current economic climate, we noticed that a lot of residents in Ky uh County actually qualify for these resources. So tonight we're here to talk about those resources and I'm going to leave this for Shantel Lindsay, my coworker, to be able to summarize that for you.

Good evening. I want to start real quick with some situations that may hit close to home. Uh maybe you've been sick and pushing through and have no insurance. Maybe your mental health isn't so fit and uh maybe your eating habits need to be improved. If you've been in that space, this message is for you. Helping Hands Wellness Center is a free clinic to all Kalamazoo County residents who qualify. The qualifications are having no insurance, being homeless, being houseless. You can be insured and still qualify. And if you have a current doctor, you can uh still come to us without getting a a uh reference. You are not required to have ID because we don't bill. You don't have to have insurance again. You don't have to have everything figured out. And you don't have to feel embarrassed about needing help. Our clinic is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. And we invite any Kalamazoo County resident to walk through our doors. You can come, you can walk in, or you can make an appointment, but we want people to know we're here and you shouldn't have to sacrifice your health uh in paying for a hospital bill or doctor bill. You shouldn't have to go to the emergency room to get help. you can walk into our doors and we will welcome you with respect and dignity. And I uh again want to open this to every Kalamazoo County resident to know that we're right downtown 310 uh North Rose.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Next, please.

Um hi, my name is Lineia. I'm here with uh WTP and um I'm a local citizen and voter. Um I'm actually going to be reading the words of April Als who was here and wasn't feeling up to reading her words but I am. So here they are. Uh good evening. Uh my name is April Als actually Lineia but when it says I where this is what she has for you. Um I'm I'm a renter and a tenant union organizer in Kazoo. I along with so many others have struggled with housing. I've stayed in bad relationships and housing situations devastating to my sobriety to avoid the street. I know firsthand how critical stable housing is to everyone else in life. Without it, every task is 1,000 times harder. Forward motion is virtually impossible without a home. I'm sure you've heard the saying, "It's so expensive to be poor." When you can't buy in bulk, you pay more per unit. When you can't afford the minimum order, you pay excessive shipping. When you don't have enough in your checking account, they charge you fees. If you can't pay an entire year of insurance or other service, you pay those through the nose in installments. If you can't afford a home, you are at the whims of a rental system that seeks profit through passive income, above all else, above safety, above affordability, above family, and above community welfare. Social housing for the people by the people is what we need. But what we're asking for this evening are a few simple protections to stay in the homes we currently have. The rental market is plagued with issues. Tenants seek to address these issues through unionizing our communities. Our but our complaints go unheard. Our currently our struggles are ignored. Our homes are not even referred to as such. Renting for whatever reason has been seen as a temporary state. It could be the case. But for us right now, it's out of sight and

it seems like it'll be permanent for a lot of us. Um, if you're working for two or three jobs just to keep up with everinccreasing rent, let alone to put enough aside to buy a house, the system traps us and then squeezes us of every last scent and calls us failures for wage stagnation that leads to the everinccreasing numbers of unhoused persons. We must be able to organize to fight for our rights to housing. We should not fear retaliation for coming together as neighbors for the betterment of our communities. We should be able to renew our leases just to cause eviction should be a no-brainer. No one should be able to throw us out of our homes without good cause. I urge you to pass these initiatives.

Thank you. Next, please.

Hello, I'm Kay. Um, wow. I just I don't even know where to start. Um, it was a long one last time. Um, and I appreciate um the acknowledgement. Um, I appreciate um, you know, like this commission really is turning a new page and like I'm happy. I'm hopeful. I know there's a lot of things that, you know, issues and like things that we may not agree on politically, but I feel like when we come together as a community, we really show um what this community shows what they can do. Absolutely. Um but you know, it's it's for people out there, it's an all or nothing, right? like I do see the strides and um I have to come here remember sometimes to acknowledge the the the efforts that some of you are making because um I'm out there you know in the community and um you know I I run into the situations um individual situations that people are experiencing and like it's hard it it it's hard it's hard to continue every day and know that you know I can't take somebody somewhere to be warm. Um that I can just offer them a tent, offer them a tarp, and um if they're having mental health issues that I hope that they can put that tent together, at least throw it over themselves in that moment. Um yesterday I was at the ER for a few hours and when I left um there was two people who had been discharged, um from the hospital, had no gear, um had some layers on, they didn't have the right shoes on. and I gave him tents. And um like right before that there was somebody getting picked up for the cold. I saw two people getting picked up from the cold. One on

my way home. Um and so yeah. Um, it it's it's it's about humanity, you know, and like I feel like with what's going on federally and what's going on with Trump and fascism, I feel like we do need to have these conversations about how these systems um are okay are comfortable with giving us the bare minimum as something satisfactory. Um, when we talk about the strikes for housing and I really see the numbers that these um these buildings um afford the the community, it's the bare minimum. It's the bare minimum. I need y'all to raise your standard because for people out there, it's all or nothing. Um, they're not going to wait around for policy. They're not going to wait around for y'all to to figure out which of these churches who's supposed to believe in God is going to open and Jesus is going to open their their doors instead of using their white tears be like, "Oh, we only want to help the people that we know. We only want to help the people that go through this process, right? That have to wait through." I I commend I commend and and I'm glad that somebody brought up the services that are there, but you have to wait. There's a waiting time and people don't have time. People don't have time. This housing crisis, either your house or your own house or you're fighting as the Alice community is to be able to pay bills or or you know like keep your housing. You'll have to like sacrifice other things. And that's what y'all don't understand in these seats. And me and like me too like as a person who has a little bit of privilege and here to be able to come here like like it it is not that dire for me. I go home and I go to my warm bed and I wake up and and I'm and and it it's not a crisis right for y'all. It's not a real crisis for me but it's a crisis in this community. Y'all need to listen to the renters who are asking y'all to support them so that people don't end up in the streets. People are sleeping in their cars. People are like, we're even thinking about now collecting gas carts because we've noticed people sleeping in their cars and they don't have any gas anymore. You know what I mean? Like it it's band-aids. We need

y'all to really Mayor Anderson, humble yourself. Okay. The community has been calling you in. Humble yourself and understand that that the bare minimum is not enough. Is not enough. And white supremacy has to believe black and brown people that we deserve the crumbs from your table. Thank you. Next, please.

Hi, my name is Shauna Espinosa and once again, it is the bare minimum. You got the lights on at Bronson Park. They've been on for how long? It's February. Whatever amount you're paying for the electric bill out there could be a tent, could be winter wear, could be food, it could be something small for somebody that that needs something. Before I came here, I'm passing out food downtown. Then there's a woman. You can tell there's something really mentally wrong with her that she really needs to help. All she wanted was to be able to sit in a car to get warm and listen to music that she grew up on. So we rode around so she could get warm and listen to that music. And all I hear was turn that up. Turn it up. That's something simple. That's something small. You're lighting up Bronson Park. It's It's February. That money could be used for something else. This money is coming out when we're out here helping those that need it. It's coming out our pockets, the citizens, the community, some of the businesses, some of the organizations. Like that shouldn't fall back on us, but it does because we care. We care. I watched a video from 2018 when Commissioner Sykes was sitting on this board and calling out you Anderson for sitting on many boards 2018 till now. The only difference is the population has grown. The commission some are gone. So if it was a problem in 2018 when somebody that sits on the board was calling out this commission for not giving a damn about our unhoused, that speaks in so many ways that this commission and these systems are broken. They're not working. 2018 is 2016. Something should have been

put in place to catch those that were about to be evicted. catch those that are out on the street. When is enough going to be enough? How many more people have to be out on the street? How many more people have to lose their homes because rent is too damn high? How many more babies have to be out on the street? When is enough enough? I've had enough. I was about I was like damn near in tears when I came in here because this is what we see day after day after day. people out on the street just asking for the smallest and simple things. It shouldn't have been years on top of years before somebody decides to do something. What is it going to take that somebody that you love dies from being on the street? Is that what it's going to take? Because I don't want somebody that I love to lose their life on the street. As we have seen in the past, many of our friends have froze or died or became extremely ill and don't have the means or the resources to get better. What is IT GOING TO TAKE to get through to y'all? This is enough. It's time to do something now. They are human beings that deserve to have housing, that deserves to have services, not barriers that are put in place. Mental health is real. I struggle with mental health. And I know how real it is. It takes me a long time to come up here and prepare myself. And when I go home, I'm mentally exhausted. Can you just imagine being mentally exhausted out on the street when it's negative degrees? And we know that there's many people that sit on housing boards that don't give a damn about them because they're not white or they don't have money. I'm

asking y'all to give a damn. Fix the problems. Get off your high horse and realize Kamazoo deserves better now. Do better. Thank you. Next, please.

Hello everyone. Chris Glazer from the east side. Uh, now I was unable to attend last week's meeting. However, I did see how long it went and for that I thank you all for your service. I imagine it required quite a bit of caffeine. I also appreciate the commissioners who have made public their stances on ice. I think it is important for residents to know where you stand with hopes that that will influence future decisions. What we have seen with the killers of Renee Good and Alex Prey is that the issue is not new agents and a lack of training. All the killers have been on the job for over eight years and even received special weapons and tactics training. What happened was not due to a lack of training, but rather because of the training that they did receive and because of the culture of their respective agencies. ICE and CBP are not agencies that deserve our cooperation. I would like to see KDPS do what other departments have done, which is publicly state that they will not cooperate with ICE and that they will arrest those who break the law even if they wear a badge. I would also like to talk about flock the flock cameras for a moment. They are scattered across the city and in other municipalities and are even on private property like places in uh grocery stores and apartment complexes. We are seeing increasing concerns of mass surveillance. Flock operates camera networks across the country and have even partnered with Ring cameras to access our doorbell cameras as well. We have known since the Patriot Act that our country is capable of mass surveilling its citizens. But what is new is the introduction of AI which now makes it so the government or private corporations for that matter can actually process the data from millions of Americans and use it against them. This is even more concerning in the light of national security presidential memorandum 7 which labels views of anti-Americanism, anti- capitalism, anti-Christianity, extremism on migration, race, and gender along with

opposing traditional American views on family, religion, and morality as domestic terrorism. And with emerging news that the government is amassing a database of citizens that they deem as domestic terrorists using the definitions above. As an ICE agent told a legal observer because we have a nice little database and now you are considered a domestic terrorist. Cities have pulled back on their flock agreements and so can Calazoo.

Thank you. Next, please. I haven't wanted me again for I don't know how many times I've been here. But you know, I agree with a lot of things people are saying here. Rents too damn high in Kazoo. It's too high. People can't afford it. Why can't you do anything to help people from being evicted before they are evicted? Maybe you can slow the homeless population down a little bit if you actually act first. But I don't see any action. Rent's still high. There's I mean it's ridiculous. People can't afford to live in Kazoo. You know, your water bill is high, your consumer is high. Then you got to buy groceries. That's high. I'm lucky. I own my home and I'm close to retirement. But I shouldn't have to use every first Monday and every third Monday to rush from two jobs to come rushing down here to complain about you fixing your storm drains, fixing your sewers. It's it's climate change is real, guys. When are you going to wake up and realize it? The more natural spaces you destroy to build on, the more grass you destroy and put cement blocks and cement buildings, the more you flood us and the more you make climate change worse for Kazoo. It's real. When we thaw, we're going to flood so bad it's horrible. Your ponds was high before winter even hit. Your rivers are high. You haven't did anything to solve the problem. your storm drains instead of absorbing the water, they push the water back up into the streets. This has been happening for years and no one's nothing. You know, it gets tiring coming down here every single day. I'm like Shauna. It's it's depressing. It's stressful. is

something that I should not have to worry about being a senior citizen, being a homeowner, being in Kazoo all my life, being born and raised in Kazoo. Kazoo's changed. It's not for the better. Yeah, you got a lot of big fancy rich buildings. Who cares? We need to care about the people, not the buildings, not how much money we can get off those buildings. There there's a lot of families out here in these streets. I see people wandering all day long in this cold weather and you can tell they're homeless. They have nowhere to go. I mean, take down some of these burned up houses. Quit wasting money on bike lanes that nobody rides in anyway. And tear down some of these houses. Tear down the destroyed, falling down houses. Put little small apartments. What? 10 apartments? four little tiny houses, anything so people can have somewhere and make it affordable. Not 1,400 a month for a studio. That's ridiculous. Kazoo is not New York City. It's not California. Just a small town that you I used to be proud to say I live in, but not anymore because things are terrible. I went to the Edison meeting. They told me they're going to uh do a road diet on Howard Hill. You going to kill somebody. People go up that hill, they get stuck. If one person stops, everybody slides back down. And it's hard to control it when you're sliding backwards. You can't do a road diet on Howard Hill. If you want to put bike lanes, take the sidewalks away. Nobody walks in them anyway. They walk in the streets, they run in the bike lanes, they walk in the bike lanes. Don't destroy Howard Hill or you're going to kill a lot of people. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, please.

Hi. Um, my name is Abby. I live in the city. I uh uh operate a rescue organization as well. And I'm back again to um further comment on um basically echoing what everyone else said about um the issues with housing that we have here in Kazoo. And to add on to that, um just today I actually got this message from someone. I'm being evicted from my home and have a fur babies I can't have living in my truck with me. I get these messages all the time. Um, I can do what I can to help, but uh there just really aren't any options for um humans with pets going through these issues. Um, and I was frustrated to say the least last week um when it was commented that there are actually places that allow pets. Um, and one of the places mentioned, uh, I had to check, ministry with community, um, allows pets. Great. Makes us look great, right? Um, except 4 days later, the city of Kalazoo, Michigan posted on Facebook that Ministry of Community is a warming shelter for adults only, no pets. Um, there were two other programs mentioned that are they may technically allow pets, but they're not accessible. They're not open. Uh, it's it's frustrating. Um because I don't know if people just like want to lie to

make themselves look good or people are just uninformed or people just don't care about the reality. Um because there's two different realities. So, you can say that there are places that, you know, allow pets when it's just either not true or, you know, um it's just not um lost my train of thought, the word I was looking for, but um not accessible to um folks that uh aren't willing to bend to rules um or contact organ organizations that are supposed to help and um getting an email back that says cease and desist because I asked questions about a program that they supposedly offer and you know it's I know that it's easy to like you know just make comments that oh this place allows pets and makes you look good whatever um but you know there or or to say oh that's the county's problem, right? Because the county um you know deals with our animal services organization who does a lot of good work and they do um a lot of things that they can do, but it's it's just not enough. There's nowhere for these pets to go. So, um for those of you keeping track, I've now sent 17 emails, sent two more since last time. Um I did get one more response back, so thank you for that. Um but you all have my contact information. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, please.

Good evening. Jeff Messer, uh, city resident and rank my vote volunteer since April 30, 2022. I would like to thank Tristan and we the people volunteers for coming forward this evening to talk about their uh ballot initiative for renters's rights. It reminded me of something that I learned as a rank vote volunteer that the Kalazoo City Charter has a glaring omission. It provides no means for its amendment. We had to rely on the Michigan Home Rule Cities Act to determine what our requirements were to amend the city charter. So, I'd like to ask um the commission, particularly Commissioners Pradle and Hess, who we learned a couple meetings ago, keep notes on everything that people say during public comment. That's great. I would like to I like to see I like to see your stack of notebooks sometime. um please task the city attorney's office with preparing an amendment to the city charter for this November's uh ballot uh to provide uh the means to amend the city charter so we can rely on the city charter to amend the city charter not state law. Uh secondly, I would like to thank uh Euan and Chris Glaster for coming forward this evening to talk about the Flock surveillance cameras. Uh Flock is not a public safety company. They are a data broker. Uh that's why their valuation is way higher than any actual security company. I've been warning the city commission about the mass surveillance since June 2019. Um the city commission didn't even vote on any of the mass surveillance things until the fuchious system in um I think 2022. at the time I told the commission uh even Chris Pradle specifically um that five years from now you're going to regret that this vote and uh that has come to pass. Uh back in June uh June 2019 when I first brought this to the attention um of the commission the

public safety chiefs stood up here and lied about the department's plans for mass surveillance. And then that August we found out that that February that the public safety chief had um signed a memorandum of agreement with Amazon Ring. This is how we know for a fact that the public safety chief is willing to stand up here and directly lie to the public, the commission uh and the media about the surveillance plans. So um you know I don't know what the lying with the police. It's all the way up to the police chief. Uh it's obviously part of police training because so many police have lied to me personally and everyone else. Uh so I would ask the commission to remove all the funding for the f for the flock cameras and I would really like to see a dismantling of the entire surveillance network. Finally, um, regarding, uh, Shona Espinosa's comments about the lighting being on at Bronson Park, it shows that when the police write tickets to unhoused people for charging their cell phones uh, in Bronson Park, the North Kazoo Mall in Arcadia Creek Festival Place, that it is not because we're trying to save money on electricity for the amount of electricity used for the lights in Bronson Park in one day during the winter. And again, it's currently February 2nd. Um, I'm sure that would charge everyone's cell phones for the winter. So, there is a city or parks ordinance that says you may not use power outlets in city parks without uh permission uh of the parks department that was written likely decades ago before cell phones existed. And um I feel that the police are abusing this. They write dozens if not hundreds of tickets a year to unhouse people for charging their cell phones in the in those parks here downtown. So, I would ask the city commission to amend that ordinance as I wrote about in my campaign blog messor.substack.com uh back in July 2023. Amend the ordinance to say that it does not apply

to devices that draw 60 watts of power or less. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please. Is there anyone else in the chambers that would like to take advantage of this public comment time? See no one, I want to thank everyone that did take advantage of this uh to took the time, came down here and made the effort to provide public comments. Thank you. Next is public hearing. I I'd now like to open a public hearing to receive comments on the establishment of a neighborhood enterprise zone at the southwest corner of Vine Street and South Berdick Street. Uh, city manager Henkins, is there a staff presentation on this?

Uh, yes, Mayor. We have Assistant City Planner Bobby Derky, who will provide a brief presentation for today's hearing item. Thank you, sir, and welcome, Bobby Derky. Uh before you get started, Bobby, as as you may recall, this is uh one of our tools in our city's housing toolkit. So, we heard about one earlier today. This is the first step in the process for this NEZ. So, uh the conversation today will be about the B, excuse me, the boundary area and not any specific project uh that's being considered. So, Bobby, I'll hand it over to you. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor.

And and thank you, city manager Henkins. As mentioned, this is a a presentation uh for the public hearing to on a request to create an NEZ district. Um, and it wasn't a typo. It's called the BNE. And thank you for that segue, uh, Manager Henkins. Uh, I wanted to reiterate, I saw this in Cherylyn's presentation of, uh, a housing tool to achieve housing. Um, and the NEZ is something that the the state offers municipalities to use as an incentive to encourage housing. So, for the the PATH, the NEZ, this is uh different than zoning. I know we talked a lot about zoning last week. This is uh tied to that state incentive. Um, in 2023, the city commission adopted a policy for NEZ's. Um, so the first step we have at that is a pre-application meeting. the city as an NEZ landing page for any interested resident or uh developer anyone I guess whatsoever. Um so uh the applicant here um Bogen Development I met with uh Jamari earlier this year um about the development the project and a way to move forward. Um um taking a look at that, going through all the details of the act and the policy. Um the first step is to send notice to taxing jurisdictions in addition to the city taxes, kesa schools, public schools, and copies of those letters were in the staff report uh to give them an opportunity to provide comment. None received to my office so far and then we have public comment tonight. And after the public hearing today, the uh act has a timeline for the resolution to be brought before the body. And the timing for that would be March 2nd. And then after uh potential creation, there's further steps um items called certificates which spell out the details for uh affordability and uh to apply for the

incentive through the state. And lastly, um even after all of that, it goes off to the state in this instance for a development which would be under construction. And the state holds on to uh that certificate until the end of construction. So there's no uh incentive granted until the project is complete. So from there, here is the the project itself. Um as in the public hearing, it's at the southwest corner of Vine and Berdick. Uh you can see on the aerial photo there in the lower right is the parking garage for Bronson Hospital. Uh we're looking west that's Vine Street on the right side going up and down and the blue line with the kind of highlighted center there is the project area made up of multiple parcels. Um there is a former party store at this location, some vacant dwellings and a former office building which is also vacant. Um this is a project where they're working to enign align incentives. I'll touch base briefly on there was a recent county housing mill decision and a missista decision and this NEZ is uh part of developing that uh affordability uh for the project. A lot of the stuff Cherylyn was talking about in her presentation. And then the uh years of support in NEZ can be 9 to 15 years of support depending on certain characteristics I will touch on later in this presentation. So now that we have the site, here is the project itself. This is a fairly current rendering from the site plan under review. It's a fivestory mixeduse building, 85 dwelling units, couple commercial tenants including a daycare and a grocery store. Um the two incentives I mentioned that were um decided on in January were the county offered support through the housing millillage and the state of Michigan has a uh employer assisting housing program through MISTA and they they announced uh support for this

project as well. Little bit of background on the uh incentives for this project. Now bringing it back to the NEZ district. Um this district would apply only to this development. It is a single parcel NEES. It would be the the first one in the city in certain zones for certain projects. Um you can narrow it down to just the parcel. Some former NEZs brought before the commission were uh the one downtown which was an entire block and more recently the Porter Street NEZ which was a entire block around the 619 Porter project. Um, with the NEZ district, the minimum by the act is a five-year that district is created and available for someone to apply for certificates. Um, their staff doesn't recommend or propose anything longer than that. And the time the district is created does not match the years of incentives. So if a project qualified for 12 to 15 years um that that those exemptions would still uh apply those reductions and uh as far as you know the the number of NEZs the state does not restrict the number of NEZs a city may create it limits the amount of land area. The city is about 1.5% and this wouldn't even bump it up a tenth of a percent. So we're still well below the the maximum on land area. And to bring this one back further or in further to the uh NEZ policy, um I know in the earlier presentation there were some reference to the county housing plan. Um they break down the county into separate regions and more specifically in the city. Um there's certain types of housing types which work best in the city of Kalamazoo compared to other parts of the county. So, for example, a real high density um residential building is going to make a lot of sense in our downtown or even near our

downtown. And our incentives uh for the urban center, which is this, this is called um which is that ring around uh you can kind of see the ring around that weird CBD. Again, these are a mirror of the county housing types. Um, in this area there's uh to qualify for 12 years, there's two or more housing types. That could either be um an apartment building, a single family house, its types of housing by the zoning code. This project is one housing type. They're all apartments. And uh another incentives could be 20 at least 20% of the units at uh 80% AMI area median income. and ways to qualify for more years is to provide uh no more than 80% of the required parking um for the residential component component of the project. So the this project has the ability to align very well with our NEZ policy. Um, and then the tax reduction is, as I mentioned, provided after it's complete. And, uh, as I mentioned, there's the three districts. It's urban core, urban center, and then urban edge. And to tie it back to the the county housing plan and the the state act itself, um, the NEZ uh act has been in existence since the '9s. originally started as a way to encourage owner occupancy um and maintenance of existing structures um where the state really expanded it uh about 5 years ago to uh include mixeduse buildings and make eligible um more heavily developed portions of of cities in the state. Um so this project proposed would be a it's called a new ne um and then by adding the housing units in a mixeduse structure um is what that incentivizes and you know this helps us align our own housing goals in line with the county

housing goals helping us keep us moving in the same direction and the timing of the NEZ request now with the due diligence uh the incentives mentioned earlier the projects in our site plan review process um there is a requirement by the state to get that information submitted for certificate after a district is created before building permits start. So, uh there's, you know, a nuance to timing all of these things and uh this one is lining up very well to uh meet those deadlines at the right time. So, that's a high overview of the district request. Um, in addition, I do know that uh the developer is here as well if there's any questions for me or um he said he'd be available as well. Thank you, Mr. Jerky. I appreciate it. Questions, Commissioners? Commissioner Slaybe?

Thank you. I think this is uh really interesting that this came after our housing corridor opportunity study in the same, you know, same day. And so, uh, for me, I think this is a serves as a great example of how not the project itself, great project, um, but more so how we're presenting it. It kind of contradicts what we were just talking about exploring and moving in a direction of earlier today, which is these larger corridor discussions. I know this is on a main quarter verdict. um instead of doing the scatter approach and I know just earlier this year uh we approved or maybe late December we approved a pilot program for the Hollander project um off of Reed Street. So I just think about you know how we present this uh not just for us to for our consideration but also for the audience for our community sake as they as they watch this. Um, can can you better put this into context of the conversation we just had earlier when it comes to the missing middle? Like what exactly is this contributing to part of the missing middle conversation? Um and um you know in terms of of who this is serving in terms of meeting the need for you know we had a range of demographics that we're saying we need to match housing to you know what what based on the type of units size of units what are we looking to do? So then we can have a sense of like as we move through all these different proposals that come to us uh we can better understand uh more bigger picture of like how each of these proposals as we approve or not approve them add to the larger picture of making progress on these goals.

Good good question. I think there's there's two parts that jump out to me. one with the housing goals and well well first question are you referencing the earlier conversation being the committee the whole yes okay

um I watched a little bit of it as I prepared for this so I didn't watch it carefully but luckily I know a lot about missing middle um so in by aligning with the county housing plan um first of all I want to reference that because dialing it beyond the city limits um with the housing shortage for actual numbers um one of the cons one of the larger uh concerns that is heard is or is demonstrated in the plan is there's not enough units being created. Um so I think the the NES and the policy help us align in a regional setting to put a to achieve units where the infrastructure can support it particularly what group or population is this serving. Um the unit mix isn't completely um late laid out, but there's studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, and through the uh early uh the employment assistance program, I know that Bronson has a partnership for um being able to find housing, much less housing close to the employment center. And while Bronson might be, you know, a partner with Bogan Development on this, um there's a number of employment centers in the city of Kazoo. And what those uh large employers hear is uh our talent wants to locate here but they can't find the available housing. So th this program or not this program, this development is helping um align workforce housing for Bronson directly or other uh large employers that need it in the city. as uh you know there's on a balance of the county until recently a lot of the new unit construction would have been in our edge suburbs um where recent numbers show we're starting to have an increase in housing units in the city which makes it available um to start.

Thank you. Yeah, I think just at least for me as a commissioner uh you know reviewing these things and this will be something that comes up to us for approval uh in the near future. Uh that as part of the staff report for me that would be beneficial. It's not to simply state that this ad this this makes progress on our more broad vague affordable housing goals, right? It's it's actually getting down to uh these are the units that we say we need that we claimed in one presentation that we need over the next 5 to 10 years and this is one of the things that's are are is going to get us to that because it's it's adding these many units based on the size this is addressing these to me that would allow us as a commission but only can speak for myself right now um to really understand what that how that contributes to the larger conversation we seem to keep having every five to 10 years about making these trans transformative transformative efforts uh in addressing the housing crisis. Um because for right now it still feels pretty scattered and not tethered to literally the conversation we just had earlier today. And I appreciate the reference to the county housing plan. Great, but could have been also better placed in context of what we just heard. uh which I think helps for the audience to understand why we are moving forward with something that isn't necessarily going to have super affordable rents, which is fine because

we have to have a mixed range of housing uh to allow for us to open up those more affordable units to those that that need that. Um but I think it would be helpful to the audience uh in the future. So, thank you for clarifying. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. We will talk about those ideas and make sure that we align them so that they're very clear the connection between them. Thank you. Agreed. Thank you, man Hanks. Other questions? Commissioner Cradle.

Sure, Bobby. Thank you for being here. Um, question for you. You give me a second here to pull it up. mentions in our packet that this will be the and you mentioned this as well will be the first single project in EZ in the city of Kazoo and so was curious if there's really any um greater value over it being a single uh project or if it's multi-R multi-propy in terms of the NEZ no in I think what it boils down to is uh at the with the Porter NE or the downtown NEZ the two most recently um I mentioned um one of the other ways if it doesn't have this certain criteria by zone and project zone uh you know being to the NEZ act um lost my train of thought there

just about um we have seen um

oh the single parcel um something that staff has encountered is um when the notice go out, somebody that wasn't part of the request was notified. What is this? What do I qualify? How do I get it? Um, and you know, in working out the Porter NDZ, I think that one was initially larger and it created more of those questions um where digging deeper into the act um with with this applicant where originally it was thought to be needed to be an entire block, but that wasn't the case. So, I think this one where um the VI neighborhood has an existing homestead NEZ and there's another NE coming um and given the homestead is not a new NE and there isn't anyone else looking to develop around it, the single parcel uh creates the district without I guess creating something larger to confuse people or casting a wider net for tax reduction maybe than is needed because at the opposite end of it is um anyone in a district created can request a certificate to those standards. So

and this is coming from 12 parcels correct combined from 12 parcels as well. And then just one point for clarification this is just kind of minutiae but on one part of the packet on page five it says the Naz district would support the project by providing a reduction of property taxes for 9 to 15 years. And then in the fiscal impact section, it says uh will receive a tax abatement approximately half of their full tax obligation for a period of between 6 and 15 years. Do you know if that was just an error? Is it I believe it's just it is just 9 to 15 years.

I believe it is 9 to 15 and somewhere in the NEZ act and it might be Homestead there's something for six. So I I would see that as a staff mixup of of the terms. What would be the range in terms of the actual this this one could be 9 to 15 for a new NE. That's what I thought if I recalled correctly from before. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. And I'll get that corrected by the the next meeting. Apologies. No, no worries. Thanks. Thank you, Commissioner Ple. Commissioner Hes.

Thank you for being here, Bobby. And I I do see the developer here. And just a question uh for clarification. I I know we're talking just NEZ here, but you mentioned that there would be also a daycare and a grocery store as part of this plan. Um I know that in the other um uh in the other uh development he has worked with the YMCA. Is there a specific plan for a a a contract with a particular grosser or or daycare plan

through the the NEZ is a housing incentive so it's not part of those um however I can say with the site plan under review um and if the developer wants to speak more um it shows those uses in the space um which usually by that point that shows a really serious commitment as opposed to future commercial space. Um but typically even in our plan review that agreement between an agency wouldn't be under our purview but other questions commissioner. No. All right commissioners. All right. So ju just for some clarifications to remind us all here is that uh we're not in the process of approving the particulars or attributes of a project per se. What we're doing uh having a hearing on is a geographic boundary uh for an NEZ in which a project you know is intended to be developed. And there will be many more steps along the lines after this. And there's no action for us this evening. This is just a hearing on that.

Correct. Anything else you wanted to close with in Bobby Derky? Nope. Nothing further. I'd be glad to look into those particulars more and get you an answer on that information. Commissioner Hes. All right. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

So, with no more questions for staff, is there anyone in the chambers that would like to comment on this item? It'd be particular to the public hearing on the NEZ. If so, please come forward. You have three minutes. Please state your name and whether you live in the city. Good evening. Uh Jeff Messer, city resident. Uh every time these uh property tax abatement requests come forward, I would like to remind the commission and the public that they are only necessary because our current property tax system punishes development. If you build on a piece of land, your property taxes go up. If you improve a piece of land, your property taxes go up. If you expand uh a property, your taxes go up. An alternative to this is the land value tax system or which many cities have in Pennsylvania have. It would only tax the value of the land and then any improvements would be untacked. This is a way to effectively uh incentivize all property owners to improve uh their properties or to uh provide more dense housing. Um it would uh and then you don't have to jump you don't have to be a big developer. effectively gives it to every every small property owner without having to jump through all the hoops and the requirements of knowing uh how to how to how to get these things. Many people question these tax abatements uh that only certain entities are able to get them um and that smaller uh property owners don't know how to navigate the system. So a land value tax system would incentivize all property owners to develop their land and to develop it with greater density. Uh the one of the things we talk about is infill housing. Um and uh land value tax system would encourage the development of all those vacant lots uh because under land value tax system the your the taxes you pay on the land would be a lot higher uh because you're not paying any taxes on the buildings themselves. A land value tax system would discourage unproductive

urban land uses for example vacant lots, parking lots and golf courses. Um, I first learned about the land value tax courtesy of an independent gubanatorial candidate, Mike Dugen, who's currently the mayor of Detroit. He suggested land value tax is a way to, uh, get a lot of the, uh, the houses, uh, redeveloped in in Detroit. Um, so, uh, currently this is not permitted in Michigan just like some other things are not are currently prohibited by state law. Uh, or actually it's not allowed. Uh so I would like to encourage uh the public uh to push your city commissioners, your state legislature, uh state uh state uh state representative, state senator uh to consider uh allowing cities in Michigan to adopt a land value tax system. Currently your state representative here in the city of Kazoo, district 41 is Julie Rogers. Your state senator um in state senate district uh 19 is Shawn McCann. Uh so talk to your city commissioners if you live outside the city. Uh talk to um your uh township boards and and push uh for the uh to allow cities to adopt a land value tax system which would discourage unproductive urban land uses and encourage development of properties by everyone. Thank you.

Thank you sir.

Yes. Next please. Hello everyone, Chris Glasser again. Uh, I guess just something that I wanted to bring up. It seems like anytime that there is an NEZ discussion, it seems like it's less of a democratic process in which we're actually deliberating whether or not we're going to do something and more of we're checking the boxes saying that we did what we needed to do so then we can eventually approve it. Uh, I'm not sure I've ever seen a situation in which the NDZ hasn't been approved. Typically, these are on projects that are already well in the making. They already have renderings of the building and things like that. And this is nothing against the project, but it's what's the point or what happens if you say no? Does the project just disappear? Are they going to go ahead with it anyway? If they're going to disappear, it seems more like of a threat on them versus an incentive on the city because this is something that we're hoping is going to be built. And if they're going to build it anyway, why are we just giving away tax breaks to profitable ventures? This seems more performative than an actual democratic process. I just wanted to bring that up. Thank you.

Thank you. Edward Nickerson. I live in the city of Kalamazoo. I don't care what project around the city that you do. If you don't have reliable contractors and they call in outside contractors to do work for them, it's not going to get done right. They're going to use the cheapest materials and they're going to screw the whole thing up. So, I suggest you really think about what you're doing before you do it because I've seen it happen over and over again. Have a good night. Thank you. Is there anyone else that wants to comment on this item? Seeing no one else, I will now close the public hearing. Next is G, the consent agenda. Manager Henkins.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, the following items are presented for approval. Approval of a contract with Belma Excavating, Inc. for the Calamazoo Airport water main looping project in the amount of $120,772. Item two, approval of a cooperative purchase with Sportsfield Specialties for the Homer Striker Field Safety Netting System in the amount of 170,154.75. Three, approval of a sole source purchase with integral for new seating at Homer Striker Field in the amount of $182,92. Four, approval of a contract with Playcore Wisconsin, Inc. DBA game time for the purchase of materials and labor to complete the Verbick Park improvement project in the amount of 195,880 to8020. Five, approval of an amendment to the lease agreement with Northwoods League Calamazoo Growlers for two additional 5-year terms beginning January 1st, 2029 through December 31st, 2038.

Thank you, Manager Henkins. Commissioners, the requested action is a motion to approve items 1 through 5 and authorize the city manager to sign all related documents on behalf of the city. Is there a motion? So moved. Motion made by Commissioner Pradle. Second. Supported by Commissioner Slayby. Clerk Boring, please call the role. Commissioner Hoffman, yes. Commissioner Pradle, yes. Commissioner Slayby, yes. Commissioner Wilson, yes. Vice Mayor Duncan, yes. Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Hess, yes.

Thank you, commissioners. The items on the consent agenda are approved. Uh, no items on the regular agenda. So, we are to reports and legislation. City Manager Henkins, do you have a report? Uh, yes, Mayor. Um, just with the comments and interest in the flat camera system, I asked the uh public safety chief, Chief Boyce, uh, if he would give us some information about some of the criteria they use for the use of those cameras. Thank you, sir, and welcome, Chief Boyison.

Thank you, sir. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, and city leadership. Um, first of all, I want to say we recognize uh that the use of license plate reader technology and questions about information sharing have raised concerns in our community and public's trust is essential uh and transparency is essential on how we do uh work with license plate readers and what we do with it and what we don't do with it. Uh, license plate readers are used as a crimesolving and life-saving tool and not for immigration enforcement. And KDPS remains committed to protecting individual rights while using lawful, carefully controlled tools to prevent violence, locate and assist victims, and keep Kalazoo safe. So, there's a lot of misinformation about what license plate readers are, and I want to cover just a couple things about what they are and how we use them. Uh KDPS uses FLACk license plate reader cameras to support criminal investigations and protect the community. The use of flack cameras recognizes and respects established privacy rights. License plate readers or I'm sorry, license plates are public in nature. So if you're a vehicle owner, you are legally required to register your vehicle and display your license plate publicly. KDPS license plate reader cameras only capture images of license plates in areas that are open to the general public on roadways open to the public and it only captures an image of the vehicle and license plate doesn't run the license plate. So what data is collected by a license plate reader? Digital images of the vehicle and license plates. Date, time, and location that the image was captured. license plate data is anonymous and not considered personal identifying information. So, regarding access to the personal information, officers cannot identify

vehicle owners through license plate reader data alone. Again, it just captures the image of the car in the license plate. Registered owner information may only be obtained through separate secure state controlled databases such as the law enforcement information network. You have to actually run the plate to get information. The license plate reader system does not do that. Access to motor vehicle records is restricted by the federal drivers privacy protection act. So there's further protections on that. So what are our authorized uses of the LPR data? We use those in supporting crime analysis and criminal investigations. Again, criminal investigations. We use them for locating stolen vehicles. They assist us in child abductions and missing or endangered person's cases. They alert officers to vehicles linked to an active investigation with articulable suspicion that a crime has occurred, such as shots fired, suspect in a stolen vehicle, or home invasion. What are the prohibited uses? Per our policy, enforcement of immigration laws is a prohibited use of the LPR system. We can't use it for immigration laws. We have no authority to do so anyways, even if we could. Second, secondly, investigations involving individuals seeking reproductive or other health services is not allowed use of the system. Let's talk about their concern over the data sharing and control of the data. Uh KDPS maintains 100% control of all data captured by the license plate readers. Data is shared only with approved law enforcement partners in Southwest Michigan. Data is not shared on a nationwide search platform. Data is not shared with ICE or other federal agencies and the vendor does not sell the LPR data to a third party. So what's the accountability and tracking with all that information? All

images are retained for 30 days and then automatically deleted by flock. All flock system searches are permanently logged and retained. So if you search the system for something, you have to say who you are and the reason and that's permanently retained. Search filters prevent you from using it for prohibited purposes. Data access is audited to assure compliance and accountability. So that's kind of what cameras are. I want to talk more specifically on how we use them and and what benefits we have seen in the city of Cameloo since we started this. Uh just it's been 5 years. So in 2021 is when we first got them. So first of all, homicide investigations. Of the last eight homicides that we have had going back to the beginning of last year, license plate reader data was instrumental in solving every single one of those eight homicides. Since 2021 when we started LPRs, they played a critical role in solving 23 homicides. Overall, murders are down 53% compared to 5 years ago before we had flop. We also use it for not just murders, but overall gun violence reduction. Uh, LPR data is reviewed following virtually every single shots fired and non-fatal shooting incident. That's the first thing the officers do is access LPR data. Since implementation, assaults with firearms are down 49%. And overall reports of shots fired are down 57% compared to when before when we u didn't have LPRs. The other thing we used them for in 2021, uh, we had a vehicle, just another example, but we had a vehicle stolen from a convenience store. Uh, mother pulled her vehicle in the store, went to run inside real quick, came out, her car was gone. Inside of her car in the back seat was her 18-month-old toddler and a 5-year-old child. Mother was obviously frantic, didn't know what happened to

her car. We were able to access license plate reader data and under two hours we had located that car and recovered the two children safely inside and returned them to the mother. I don't know how long would it have taken and wouldn't want to think what would happen if we didn't have that ability. Uh not just violent crime and autotheft but property crime. So talk about a high-profile case you might have heard recently where we had a series of um storage units broken into here recently. Uh we had several broken into over the course of several days and over $100,000 worth of property was stolen from those storage units. LPR data identified the suspect vehicle leading to the arrest of the suspect and recovery of a significant amount of that stolen property. And just property crime alone is down 39% compared to where we were prior to implementing flock. Also we use it in human trafficking investigations. LPRs have been used in multiple investigations where we have identified individuals involved in sex trafficking trafficking of women and children. Um, talk about autotheft again. Uh, flat cameras have significantly improved the recovery of stolen vehicles and identification of suspects. Before, if you stole a car in the city of Kazoo, you may get to drive it around for a week or two before we would find it. Now, we find those cars almost immediately. And because of that, our stolen vehicles are down 35% compared to before when we didn't have flot. Uh, also another high-profile case that you may remember, um, back in April 2023, we had what was sadly referred to as the day of death in the city of Kazoo. Uh, during that period, we had, uh, responded to 18 overdoses, resulting in seven deaths. Flock data was instrumental in identifying the individuals responsible for distributing the drugs leading to the arrest of the suspects on multiple charges for delivery of causing death. Could not have done that without that flock data.

Another one we had back in 2023, we had a suspect um who broke into a residence, assaulted the residents inside, and kidnapped an infant belonging to his ex-girlfriend. A flat camera captured the suspect's vehicle leaving the city. Within 25 minutes, the vehicle stopped and the child was safely returned to the mother. And lastly, um there's many more examples, but I I just pulled some recent examples for you, but um I think the most significant one also recently was its use in helping us solve our long-term curse on the city of Kazoo, which is mobile nuisance parties. Flat cameras have become a critical tool in addressing the long-standing issues with mobile nuisance parties using LPR data to identify and track vehicles involved in repeat violations of our mobile nuisance ordinance and has been very effective and I had many residents tell me for the first time in many summers they got peace in their neighborhoods. So in closing uh flat cameras are a carefully governed tool that balances public safety with strong privacy protections. They have proven effective in saving lives, solving serious crime, and reducing violence while remaining transparent, accountable, and used in a manner consistent with the law and the values of our community. With that, I'd be happy to answer any additional questions.

Thank you, Chief. Questions, Commissioner for the Chief. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And back to you, Manager Hen.

Uh, no further updates. Okay, appreciate that very much. Uh, commissioners, we are now down to the point of our agenda for commissioner comments. Any commissioners that want to take advantage of the comment period this evening? Commissioner Ple, we have two of uh City Kilmazoo's own. One uh being uh Commissioner Hoffman who I want to congratulate who were recognized as one of the seven individuals from KBCC's um MLK Beyond the Dream celebration. Super proud of you and uh neighborhood activator uh Semall who was also recognized. a huge honor and it's exciting to see that two of the seven people recognized our city of Kamazoo folk. So congratulations and um wanted to also just take a moment to thank uh folks who've been involved with our extreme cold here. Um everyone from community who've worked tirelessly uh to stand up and stand tall to support uh vulnerable individuals to folks who are doing snow snow removal on the street, people who are uh fixing water manes. um our public safety team who are responding to just unending number of accidents and um uh issues related to the co cold as well as including our community policing officers. I'm just want to make sure to lift up and thank all those folks because it has been um I'm sure an exhausting period uh for folks who've been uh doing this day in and day out as part of their profession and as volunteers. Um also want to just give a a shout out as well to our uh community planning folks as well. They've been working on our uh imagine Kalazoo 2035 um outreach events, the design it phase. Uh we've had three of those so far. I've had a chance to attend two of those. Uh they've been very interactive for residents, a great way to participate in the process and I know there are many many more. So if you haven't had a chance to uh attend one of those, really encourage folks in the public to check out the list of remaining ones. I know there is one for uh my neighborhood

association this week and also Arcadia in Westwood, I believe. Um so kudos to the team. Um, each of those seems to have about a dozen city staff folks or more who attend each of those who are each engaging. Um, also some volunteers. I met a student from K College who was volunteering their time to engage with our residents as well. So, thank you and great job. Thank you, Commissioner Pradle. Other comments, Commissioner? Commissioner Hes.

Sure. Uh, it is a night of gratitude. I had that on my list, too. But, uh, thanks to all of our city staff who who worked in outdoors, especially in in the very low temps and the and the cold. I hope we we are get a break from that soon here. But, uh, especially public services, public safety, um, and all of those who are working on behalf of the people in Kazoo. Um, big gratitude to the Reverend Millard Southern. If you recall, Millard was here last uh week talking about the visit by Winton Marcellis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra, their visit to Kalamazoo. Um I found that that was a wonderful way to begin Black History Month with a full Shenri auditorium and and and and just the energy in the room that that these folks brought. Um and uh to Reverend Millard for his for his efforts. Um he also then had a community conversation today at Kalamazoo College with uh uh Winton and Millard. And at the beginning uh I I find again find a very poignant at the beginning of Black History Month to be able to talk about these things. wenton was asked about um racial issues and he had a powerful message for us. Um when when asked about division and uh division in our that's happening in our country, he said we is whoever shows up with me. And it wasn't lost on me that Miss Steele, who made comments here tonight, was uh she talked about we and we and we and she was she's been the recipient of one of the homes in the Edison Initiatives neighborhood. So, uh what what Winton was talking about was it's us. It's us. We show up and it's we who is ever who is whoever

shows up with me. So there's a lot of opportunities here in Kalamazoo for us to show up together um and to live the we and the community which literally means again to have charge of together. So if we live in community we have a responsibility to the community to show up and there are so many I know of folks that are showing up uh to do public comment that are that are working in the community on behalf of others and that's our responsibility as community members. So, I'm really grateful to them as well. So, um again, Marcelus said today, "What are you doing in your community to make things better?" Back to you, Mayor.

Thank you, Commissioner Hess. Other comments for this evening, commissioners? Nothing on this side. Okay. Um so, yeah, I want to do a couple things here. uh one is recognize some passings. Uh I I recently attended a couple celebration of life uh funerals here in Kazoo. One was for Jean Barakalov which many people uh very well connected by family here in town but also an icon here in Kazoo. She was at K College for a while and uh she was a person who was very very much focused with young people particularly with her EIMA program which focused on uh pride and culture uh particularly for uh young uh black and brown people. And she was well recognized and well respected around town. And it was just uh it was a moving event uh that I attended and just a recognition that there all through the generations there are people that are keeping doing this work and passing the torch on and uh I so appreciate that. In addition to that, we have had attend another funeral for a young man who sadly died from gun violence who was the son of a wellrespected person here in Kalamoo who's been doing that work herself for a long time. And I I guess I'm not going to mention her name necessarily, but those of you who know know. And uh thank you. I think that uh as a matter of fact uh you were at the event as well uh Commissioner Wilson and I think you were acquainted with an individual who lost uh his life and and really a senseless senseless event of gun violence and just we talk about a lot of

things and and I I recognize the importance of a whole variety of things including what we talked about till super late last meeting but still this is something we should not forget just so happens that I I know we're keeping our numbers chief and uh doing the best we can here in Kazoo to reduce homicides and I think we're making good progress there. We have our great nonprofit partners. Uh just so happens that a couple of these deaths were happen to be just outside of city limits. Uh but this still doesn't mean doesn't count for us as a community. So so we've had three of those. We're going to need to continue to be focused on that work and not forget that that is such an important priority that we don't want to lose sight of that. That was a a profoundly uh I I know we get together and and we celebrate the life but at the same time I hate going to those. It is a profoundly profoundly sad experience and and we're recognizing the light somebody brought but more so we're there because that light is gone. So it's good to see you there. Uh although that's not the kind of place we want to see each other. Relative to that I I want to just express just a whole list of gratitude here. And uh even though for those of us you know who've made it through the last couple weeks somehow 20° feels bummy uh which is I ironic we've had a couple week I mean really a deadly cold solid stretch and I would I'm sure I'll miss some people and I apologize in advance if I do but I do want to recognize some organizations by name and just remind us that even in the best of circumstances when you have a crisis like this cold crisis we've had, it isn't just going to

be one organization or one entity that steps forward in this community. There's going to be all kinds of community uh paid, non-paid, you know, volunteer, longtime institutions, new institutions that that respond in this kind of crisis. So, I'm just going to run down this list here. really really want to thank John Simpson and his team at Kelzoo Gospel Ministries uh for opening up another 60 beds. I really also want to thank Sid and Katrica and the team over at Ministry of the Community. That's another effort that we've been supporting for their overnight. That's a brand new function over there. I mean uh been serving a large number of people over there at ministry of the community. I also do want to thank Judy Lowry and her team uh not only for the the project that she has related to the people with chronic health conditions and partnering with WMED but her heads and beds program which was not funded by us directly uh served well well over 100 people in motel. So I will give her tons of credit for that. I will say that uh in these situations there are people who choose not to go to Kelzoo Gospel Mission. There are also people who choose not to go to any congregate shelter any even ministry and there are many many people who would not have been housed if it weren't for that option uh to go to a motel room and and that has been very very helpful there. I want to thank Gwendelyn Hooker and her team came in here. I want to thank all those that worked in warming shelters, including library, Port Senior Center, churches, and our own uh Vice Mayor Drew Duncan here that that pulled together uh the Democratic Party and opened up a warming shelter during those very, very critical cold days. Uh, I want to thank our Kinsu

Department of Public Safety, our CST team that was out engaging with everyone possible, encouraging people to take advantage of the shelter options were available and the motel options by the way. And uh, I also want to thank Metro Transit. Metro Transit stepped up, provided I'm I'm think close to a thousand rides now, free rides here in town for people who needed to get to warming shelters, needed to get to uh other kinds of shelters, the motel shelters, and didn't take anything fancy. You just had to tell the driver where you were going, and that counted as a free ride. And so, I just I really want to thank that team at Metro Transit for stepping stepping up there. Uh last I I am going to uh thank my own team at at ISK uh my outreach team which was outside every single day uh working to engage with people. They're well aware of camping spaces all the way across the county and uh they do this work all through the cold weather. have to say even when the county closed down because it was too cold. MySK team is outreach team is out there engaging with people many of whom they know because they're building relationships trying to engage and uh particularly I I want to want to thank that team. So I'm going to take advantage of this year just to say Beth, Maddie, Selena, Bill, Lewis, and Shannon, thank you so much for doing that. As a matter of fact, it is that team that is going to lead the effort for our point in time count, which was delayed from its first date. The point in time count now is going to be on Thursday the 5th, and they're going to be leading the volunteer teams. Uh, one thing that's going to be a little unfortunate about that is it does make a difference for our count, counting our shelter and our unsheltered. And uh with the disruption of people being in motel, in shelters, and then perhaps going back

to the places that they were staying before, that's going to be a bit of a challenge. So I I'm I'm encouraging if there are folks aware that they know that people are are staying someplace outside camping that they do get in touch. Please uh there's a a number you could call at at uh ISK or get in touch with our continue of care and just say hey have you remember to look in this spot you know uh behind a meire or some place out on Gaul road and this isn't just the city of Kazoo this is countywide so any information like that will help as well just one other thing I just wanted to say about that just from a human perspective is that all the way across the board look at all kinds of folks that stepped up here and it's not over. It's still cold out and we're going to have continued cold, but I I will say because of that community effort, you know, we have uh really accomplished not having somebody die during the cold. And that's a big big thing. And also I know we're all human beings and we do not necessarily always get along with each other even in this space. Sometimes critical of an approach one approach or another whether it's whether it's uh whether it's one congregate shelter whether it's it's the ways that that people do their business. And I just want to say in these instances I I politely and kindly and hopefully request that as a community we do our best to support each other and put as little energy as possible into uh you know there'll be time for critiquing and helping each other do this better. But in these critical times, attempt as much as possible, you know, psychically, otherwise, online to be supportive of each other as partners. It it really is

not helpful in the long run for any of us. If uh, you know, we we decide that a certain warming shelter, for example, or other kind of shelter is is not operating in the way that that we think would be preferable, it all fills a place, and it's it's a place that's needed. And once again, you know, gives us some experience and we can talk about uh future events and and how we can work together to do that. But it I I'm just asking for some grace and some support across the board. I I think that's the only way ultimately in the long run we are going to be most effective. I love you, Kelzoo. We're joured.