City Council - Regular Meeting

7 o'clock. Call the meeting to order and rise for the pledge of 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. Susie, roll call, please. Council member Ritzma here. Council member Burl Barkus here. Council member Salidto here. Council member Eric Barkus here. And Mayor D'vor I am here. Uh motion to approve the consent agenda tonight. I'll make that motion. I'll second. Any discussion or changes?

Sue. Council member Ritzma. Yes. Mayor D'vor. Yes. Council members. Yes. Council member Eric Barkcus. Yes. and council member Burough Barkus. Yes. Okay. Uh, citizen comment for agenda items. Uh, excuse me, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to make a a note on the minutes from the last meeting. Okay. I thought that came up next. I apologize if it's not, but the uh minutes from the last meeting state that regarding Riverside Drive that I prefer speed tables. That's not what I said. I stated that I'd like to try speed tables if we could correct that. I I don't have a preference at this point.

Okay. All right. That Okay, perfect. Uh back to citizen comment for agenda items.

Hi, my name is Christy Gingrich. I live in Louisville. Um, I just wanted to bring um a correction request that I had made for the minutes of the January 5th meeting that I had emailed to the council members and the clerk and no one responded to me and the minutes weren't changed to reflect what I had asked. So, I just wanted to bring that to your attention again because I do think it's important. um what I had sent to uh to y'all. Um I am requesting a change to the draft January 5th, 2026 city council meeting minutes prior to their approval on January 20th. Um to include grant information shared during the city manager report. While I realize the minutes are not intended to capture the meeting word for word, they do provide a written history of the actions taken and transparency between the council and the residents. its members were elected to serve. Um given the scope and estimated cost of the water and wastewater plant upgrades that have been openly discussed by the city manager in various public forums, it's important that the details and updates shared during council meetings around this project are reflected in the minutes. Um during the January 5th meeting, the city manager discussed um meeting with the US economic development agency regarding grant eligibility for upgrades to the water and wastewater systems. And then he went on to discuss in detail three specific grants um that could meet those needs and that he's considering which the city will apply for. Um however the meeting minutes they don't reflect this. Um they don't share any of the specifics about the grant. Um, so I had asked that the following details be added to the draft minutes so that um, they more accurately reflect the grant information shared with the city manager so that everyone is aware of the opportunities available for the funding. Um, the first one is a USDA grant normal grant

allocation up to 2.5 million that the city could apply for this grant. The second one was a disaster supplemental grant up to 25 million grant award from Kent County's 1.8 billion of the 2023 state of emergency funds and these funds are available on a first come first- serve basis based on certain economic criteria impacting future business. The city is likely eligible to apply from this grant. It is being looked into. And then there was an unnamed grant of up to 25 million that uh right now the city is not able to do. If there were some sort of project that was tied to needing water and wastewater plant expansion, the city could apply and at this time we don't have that. So it's not really an option at this time. Those are the ones that the city manager shared. Um I do appreciate your time and consideration about this. I I think it's an important issue and I think it's going to continue to be important issue. And then my followup um comment to that is I was wondering um if someone could get back to me or let me know if we're using any kind of a grant writer or if we have a consultant that writes these or if the city manager is solely responsible for writing these because I mean that's pretty big opportunity. two different $25 million grants or at least one and a $2.5 million grant. So, that was what I wanted to speak on. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah. Thanks. Anybody else for agenda items? Okay. No old business, so we'll move to the water and sewer rate survey under new business. Mike.

Yeah. So, I just wanted to share with you um uh what what I did um a few months back back around October. Um I do this try I try to do this every 2 years and um I do try to reach out to a number of communities across the state and um find out what their what their rates are and just to kind of look at them and where we're at. And um one of the one of the things about water and sewer rates that I don't think people really understand is the fact it's very difficult to compare one community to another with rates because they're very apples and oranges. Um the you have different types of treatment facilities. Um you have depending on whether you're in a um larger system um those costs get spread over more people. Um, and um, there's there's a lot of different there's a lot of different things that um, there's a lot of different things that take into account what a community's rates are. There's also a lot of communities that also don't properly fund their systems. That's not an uncommon thing. Um, and um, that is so I try to um, I I use this information. I gather a large number of uh um rates throughout the state and I put it up I put them together on a on a uh on a screen and um or I'm sorry on a spreadsheet and and I and I do it and I do in a couple ways. I do I I I compare I categorize cities by their whether they're a monthly building billing a month a bimonthly building billing or a quarterly building. Um so in years past when I did this I always just did it with um I just took into account water rate what their rates were ready to serve their commodity and I always try to use treatment facilities or where they get their water from from the

community cuz the re the reason why is um there's costs. So you have a number of sizzies that have maybe limited treatment facilities, which is either an iron removal or a or a lead remove or or or um um iron usually iron removal or arsenic removal um or just regular chlorination where there's no there's no treatment just the chlorination um which are obviously a lot cheaper to run. There's also a lot of cities that have primary wastewater treatments, secondary treatments which are more in depth um for the wastewater and or they're just in flatout lagoon systems which is which is a much cheaper um operation. Um also you have to take into account obviously communities that are older probably have aging infrastructure that that has to be replaced as well. So it's very hard to it's very hard to to try and um to try and do that. So when I when I put this information, I try to for the most part I try to get the um I try to get that information from them. I try to get the number of customers they have. I try to get the um the annual revenue that each f each um community's water and wastewater funds generate. And then I put the survey together. And then what I one of the things that I do to try and compare our apples and oranges the best I can is I take their ready to serve charges for their water and their wastewater and their commodity charges and I and I and I set it at five at at 5,000 gallons a month. So 15,000 gallons a quarter that would accommodate for um any types of those situations. So I try to um I try to do that. It it's it does take I do I do put a lot of time into it and then when I share it I share it statewide. Um it's been very wellreceived. Um I've had a number of communities reach out to me about it. Um I've had a number of communities tell me

that they've changed their rates because of it. Um and also Michigan Ral Water has reached out to me so they can share my information statewide. And so this is a really this is a really interesting really important issue because we are not the only city that's having issues with rates and infrastructure. There's infrastructure issues throughout the entire state. Um and um you're seeing more and more communities now realizing that and you're seeing a lot of communities that in the past maybe did not fund their systems correctly um that that have done that and and while it is unpopular we have funded our system and our system is properly funded to to accommodate the debt and and the cost to maintain and operate the system. So what I did what what I did was I I I compiled all that information and then in the front of the [laughter] P in the front of the in front of that I ranked them from I I classified them from the highest quarterly bill to the lowest quarterly bill. And um if you see at the top Ironwood, Grand Ledge, Pigeon, St. Joseph, some of those communities are $200 a quarter more than what we are. Um and um if you go on the lower end um city of Kentwood is is the lowest uh city of Kentwood actually um just re first time they ever increased their ready to sewer rate since 1975 and uh Georgetown I believe was Trump Township recently they had not raised their rates in years and they did a 55% increase. Um, but what you're what what you're kind of seeing in this system and what I you know what I've kind of loosely hypothesized in it is that the communities that are smaller systems um have more uh you know more uh higher

technology treatments. um they tend to have high or or um or or more um they the more higher the higher technology treatments is what I'm finding or they've had to make the major upgrades to their facilities because they were older now they're up modernizing them they tend to have the higher rates um lime softening facil water treatment facilities and secondary treatments facil facilities are very costly um I believe there's about five or six lime treatment facilities in the state l is one of them. Um and uh if you look at um I believe Planefield Township is one. Um we are my former community, Fenton, Mount Pleasant um and there's one or two more statewide that are lime softening. They're they're more co they're more costly to operate. And uh what I've also found is in many in if you have a lot of smaller communities, they may be on a limited treatment facility or they're on lagoons, which is why their rates are usually usually less. Uh in addition, they may not have made the upgrades needed to their infrastructure like kind of like we have. Um, and then also what you also find is a lot of the communities that are either tied to the Wyoming, there's there's three major there's really four major net systems throughout the state that are very large um water and wastewater systems. One is obviously Detroit or the Great Lakes Water Authority. Uh, city of Grand Rapids that services a number of communities um in Kent and Ottawa County. um city of Wyoming. They service a number of communities in Ottawa and Kent County along with K along with um uh Wyoming and and Grand Rapids. And then there's another Kieran Gandhi on the on the uh east side of the state. That's a newer that's a newer system. They they broke a lot of those communities, especially along the I69

corridor from Flint to um Lake uh Hiron. They broke away from the Detroit system probably about 15 years ago and moved into the Karen Gandhi system and they're paying a lot of money for it, but that was their way to break away from Detroit. But basically what this basically just shows is we are not I mean we're we're not the highest in the in the in the state as to what as to what we're seeing here, but we're not we're not the lowest. and and and unfortunately I mean we we're trying to do everything we can to keep cost down, but the reality is water and wastewater systems are not they're not they're not cheap to operate and um they they especially now with more investment that's that's needed with them. It's a it's an issue that's that we're dealing with statewide. But I just wanted to just kind of briefly share this with you just so you saw it and uh could kind of see what's out there.

Okay. Any comments? Informational item only. Yes.

All right. Hearing none, we'll move on to Rich, Department of Works Mechanic Position. Okay. Thank you. Good evening. [clears throat] So, this request is for the approval of the creation of a new, let's even call it a renewed position. We did have this position before and we're looking to bring it back. It's the vehicle and equipment maintenance mechanic. Uh the city recently conducted a comprehensive review of our current vehicle and equipment maintenance model by reviewing expenditures between the fiscal years of 2022 to 2025. Uh the review found that the city pays approximately $9,000 per month for fleet maintenance or approximately $108,000 per year. At present, these services are primarily provided through a contracted mechanic. The study found that while this approach has met most of our operational needs, uh it is not the most cost-effective or efficient long-term solution. Based on the analysis that I conducted, establishing an in-house vehicle and equipment maintenance mechanic position would finan would be financially advantageous to the city for approximately the same overall cost as our current contracted services. The city would gain significantly more mechanic labor hours. This increased availability would allow for timelier maintenance, reduced equipment downtime, and improved preventative care for city vehicles and equipment. In addition in addition to the financial benefits, this position would provide improved response times for urgent repairs, better oversight of maintenance activities. Uh collectively, these advantages support more efficient operations, and a responsible stewardship of city resources. So, we respectfully request the city council's consideration and approval of this position. We believe this change represents a prudent investment that aligns with the city's commitment to financial responsibility and operational effectiveness. The city is working with the IBEW union to establish a payband system that is commensurate with the area municipalities and skills. Uh so I may put a sample motion down there for

recommendation to approve the creation of the position and attached a draft job description as well. All right, any questions for Rich? One item, we did meet with the union today on this issue and they are generally supportive of it. Um we did come up with a pay band of uh it would start at 28.85 and it would go to 3280 which is in line with um some of our positions currently. Rich was this the uh Ralph when Ralph first came he did mechanics so that was his position and then he moved others somewhere else and in the city but we didn't replace him.

Exactly. We had uh we contracted it out a little bit. Ralph was kind of doing double duty for a while and then he fully moved over to uh the water side and so now we need to back fill that position if council agrees. The equipment is still there. The all the tools and yeah all Yeah, the city owns those and so we keep all those. Okay. Yep. All right. Any other feedback? Uh a couple things. Number one, Jeff Phillips told me that our current contractor, Grizzly, I don't know this person, but I was told he does a very good job. He does. I don't know if he would be interested in staying on. And again, I don't know him, but I'd hate to lose a good uh person, so hopefully he would be interested. Yeah, he's showing interest.

I spoke with Mike Burns today. The the $109,000 a year, that is just for Grizzly's time. It's not uh materials at all. And so Mike has assured me that u if we bring this inhouse with a an employee with benefits, it's going to be about equal. We're not going to be spending more money on an employee than on Grizzly. Correct.

Yeah, that's exactly what this study showed. It was pretty much a wash at this point. So, $9,000 per month for a contracted person who we don't get full-time versus about the same amount with uh pay and benefits and we get a full-time employee who can respond to emergencies and be there all the time and help us out when we have, you know, snow and things like that. Right. Yeah. Great. And the preventative maintenance. Yeah. the prevent putting those trucks back on the road quicker. Yes, we did it at work years ago. And um I honestly don't know why more people don't do it this way.

You can prioritize your own repairs. Your preventative maintenance can have a in-house schedule you can follow. So even at a lateral pay move, we're going to [snorts] get more longevity out of those vehicles before we have to spend money to replace them. So, I would view it as a financial gain actually overall. But, anybody else have any questions for Rich? Would this person be able to do slight body work as well or are we still sending that out when um bumper fender thing might need some tweaking that maybe he or she could handle the

Yeah, there there might be an occasion where they could do those things, but um we aren't really set up to do paint work especially, but you know, if we need to knock a bump out of a a bumper, that's no problem. We could probably handle that. But yeah. Yeah. duct tape that. Yeah, exactly. All right. Uh, any other questions for Rich? I have a question. Yep. Any jobs that this person you don't see being able to do that maybe Grizzly has been able to? Obviously, if it's the same person, that would be positive, but are there downsides? What any downsides? Are there downsides to the creating the position?

Yeah, I mean, are there jobs that would not this person could not do that we wish they would be able to? I mean, I guess you're talking about Mr. Grizzly in comparison to the job or Mr. Anybody would hire. Um, yeah. I don't know. I I don't really know how to answer your question. Um, that'd take more of an evaluation, I think, between um and I I said Grizzly Frisbee. Sorry, his last name is Frisbee. Um, yeah, we'd have to do an evaluation, see what his skill set was, but he has done that kind of work in another municipality. So he would be actually a very qualified person to step into that role.

I I had one more looking at your ratings like like for welding do you have no experience? I mean how how are you going to rate those rich uh when you when you look at these evaluate that? I mean is the welding as important as somebody that can work on the engines or transmissions or how I see there's a lot of criterias that you have to meet. So, just wonder now that that'll score. Maybe you can tell us later. Maybe I don't need to know it tonight. Well, I just And really what I did was kind of pull together a little rubric um using AI. It's very helpful. Okay. And so, [laughter] um and so yeah, that'll just kind of help us sort out everybody. If someone has that skill that might weigh a little more,

might weigh a little bit more. Yeah. Or if they have some kind of a certification too, that might put them up there. We don't do a ton of welding, but we do do some fabrication. So, Yep. Okay. Well, I think it's a good plan. Uh, any other comments? All right. Then I will look for a motion to approve the creation of the vehicle equipment maintenance position. I'll make that motion. I'll support. Any other discussion? Sue. Mayor Bore. Yes. Council member Sal. Yes. Council member Eric Vargas. Yes. Council member Burl Vargas. Yes. And council [snorts] member. Yes. Good. Uh, boarding commission reports. Eric, I have not had a meeting. They've been cancelled. Sorry. Weren't even in the country.

I missed one meeting and one got cancelled. So, yeah. Uh, minor next week. Planning next week. Jim, uh, just a reminder to get your, um, request into the LCTV grant this f uh, Thursday at 5:00. They're due February 5th. So, if you looking for some money, it's the time to get it put in. Okay. and fire authority got cancelled too because of the weather. So we don't meet till the 12th I think so or 8th. Anyway, uh Mike manager report.

Good evening. Uh number of items. Um first off I want to thank the DPW for the work they've been doing uh for the uh uh with all the weather we've had. This has just been brutal winter so far and these guy these guys are just working their tails off and um working very hard and doing a very good job with obviously with the situation. This is a very difficult um time and they're using a lot they're using a lot of salt a lot of sand a lot more sand than salt right now but um and they're pretty tired. So um I [snorts] just want to commend them and thank them for all the work they're doing. Uh, so, so I just want to pass it along. [snorts] Um, I do have some sad news. Um, Rich is retiring. He's going to put his papers in and his last day with the city will be next Thursday. He is going to be working with the uh, city of uh, I'm sorry, Kent County, and he will be there uh, one of their special projects managers for their facilities. Um, if you're familiar with what's going on in Kent County with the Fuller facility and a lot and the 82 Ionia facility, he's got a very good opportunity. It's going to be a very interesting position for him and um I you know I want to I want to thank him for all his years to the city. Uh do I want to lose him? No. But I understand and it's you know it's it happens. Um but I do want to I do I mean we are really good. We we've developed a very good friendship over the last 9 years. Um, I've helped him. I know I helped him a lot when he was in Douglas. Um, I've helped him here. Um, and uh, I've I've I've I've lost him twice now, but it's that's okay. Um,

maybe you're the problem. Yeah, that was the first question I asked. That was That was the first question I asked. Did I do it? [laughter] And I want to make it clear for the record. I'm not the problem. At least that's what he said. That's what he told me. me. [snorts]

So, so that um that I just want to thank him for all his years to the city. He's done an excellent job and and and uh we're going to miss him. Um I am in the process of um s um [snorts] working on an interim position. Um, for the time being, I am not going to do a um search for a permanent position mainly because of my situation possibly with the city of Walker and I don't think that's appropriate um to start that to to do anything for that for the city unless that matter is resolved. Um so uh but I hope to have uh an interim um uh addressed here very shortly. So I'm working on that. Um uh we did put we did send out u in lie of our newsletter. We did provide someformational uh um material pertaining to the water and wastewater situation. Um as I was directed by city council Lou Bender. Um I was going to have Warren Kramer here tonight to walk through those projections. Um he could not make it tonight. He's going to be at he's going to be on Zoom at our next meeting and he's going to walk through those projections. I want to make it very clear those are just projections. They are not what we are proposing for the upcoming budget. That would be if we were to build the water facility in the wastewater and upgrade the wastewater facility today with no additional funds. [snorts] That's what that projection shows and that's all it is. Um the the the the we're still on the same path of funding that we had with uh that we had to do with Monroe and Washington. And for the time being, that hasn't changed. But I'm going to have Warren come to the next meeting and explain that thoroughly to you as to what what we're what we're what we're talking about and what that entails.

Um obviously the next council meeting will be a public hearing for Riverside. I know Rich and and um Katie from Williams works work on information for us for that for the next meeting. Um there will also be a uh public hearing for Brownfield at 1160 West Main which is the property adjacent to the Green Ridge um for uh uh John um Brian Wheeler's uh affordable housing project. And um we've been getting obviously a number of complaints pertaining to sidewalks. Um this weekend we did site six properties for sidewalks. Um it was brought to my attention that the police department has actually never issued sidewalk snow violations. Um and that was brought to my attention. So, um, but they have been they have been given the direction by me that if there's if that at 24 hours after snowstorms, they need to be out there and and and and enforcing that because I I do see it as a problem needs to be addressed. Um, we're also looking in with our parking ordinance. Obviously, our over we have a we have our over overnight parking ordinance that we've had for many years, but there's a stipulation in the ordinances that we've actually never had in the past. Um, if [sighs and gasps] those minor parking offenses are um when they're cited, they obviously have a they are allowed entitled to a hearing. But the under the ordinance, the um the ordinance uh for a lack of a better word, I'm the magistrate. The city manager is the magistrate. I don't like that at all. Um I think that's an archaic way of doing things. It it really should just go in front of a magistrate like anything else would. So, um we're working with the city attorney on um updating that ordinance to make it a little bit more modern. Um

we have also had a request pertaining to ADA for these meetings um uh for for close captioning. Um so I am working with our provider uh pertaining to that. Um we are um we are getting a quote for a screen that will provide letter um close captioning during the meeting. Um and and and we are in the process of doing that. I should hopefully get the quote here very soon and then we'll we'll evaluate it and and and look what we can do to accommodate that. Um and then um that's all I have. Okay. Questions, comments, concerns. Moving on. Uh how about citizen comment for nonaggenda items?

Hi, my name is Gina. I live in the city of Lel and I am also a small business owner in the city of Lel. Um I just have some food for thought so to say. Um just something to think about as we make decisions on our water. Uh so our state motto is pure Michigan. That's what people see when they drive into our state. Pure Michigan. That's why people come to Michigan to enjoy all the wonderful things we have here because of our freshwater. [sighs] Um, the state of Michigan is blessed with the riches of unspoiled nature, the nation's longest freshwater coastline, lakes that feel like oceans, golden beaches, an abundance of fresh produce straight from the farms, glorious sunrises and sunsets, and endless opportunities for recreation. Uh we have more than 100 public beaches, um 129 lighouses. All of this brings in billions of tourism dollars. So protecting our water is I think of the utmost importance, not just for the tourism, but obviously for our health. We all need water to survive. And this information you can find right on the uh state of Michigan website. There are also uh 150 waterfalls in the just the up just the up. I know we've got plenty of waterfalls down in the lower as well. Um also we're looking at the water treatment. We talked about that. Uh the city of Lel water treatment and filtration facility has been in operation for 45 years at its present

location. The current facility was dedicated on October 8. Since that time, the city of LOL has made it a priority to supply the citizens with safe and clean drinking water. That's the key right there. made it a priority to give the citizens safe and clean drinking water. Another interesting fact is each year there are competitions held throughout the state to find the best tasting drinking water that is produced in Michigan. The city of l has won numerous district awards for best tasting water. That is something we should be proud of and that is something we should also strive to protect. So when it comes to making decisions in the future that regard our water, I think these should be tops on the list as far as anything else. Just my thought. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Gina. May I please get your last name and address for the minutes? Um, do I have to give my address? Um, you're a city resident. Yes. I could just put down city resident. Okay. Ladner. L A N E R. L A T E N E R. Thank you.

Susie, did you want to read that? Yes. Submission. Somebody else wants to get it too. Gentlemen. Oh, never mind. My name is Tyler Shepard. I live in Louis Charter Township. Do you need my address? Um, if you would like to please give that for the record, that would be great.

Okay, I'll just put on my address just in case. 1823 W Street, L, Michigan 4931. Well, as Mike is going to plan share my letter, my recent email and follow up regarding January 7th request live streaming service. I today I watch you guys doing live streaming service on YouTube but that's great that's great but Doom would be more beneficial according to ADA because it provided reasonable accommodation for the residents who are physical barrier elars can all that list goes on but I work in legal assistant I know my loss I know my where I see it according to ADA because ADA OMA does combine together and it does interfere. So I just want to ask you guys according to four weeks of no response on my requests regarding the live streaming service be soon. I would really really appreciate if you provide the respond tonight because I'm very generous on four weeks notice. Okay. I think N benefits the whole community and to ensure equal access so they can participate in public public publication. Okay, that's all I want to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Dear city of Louisville Council, I am following up on my ADA request submitted on January 7th, 2026. and I hereby request that this email be placed on record. I would also like an update regarding the city's live streaming services. By live streaming services, I mean using platforms such as Zoom, which would allow residents with disabilities and physical barriers to submit public comment requests ahead of time. The city would display Zoom participants on a screen or projector during meetings and provide live closed captions to ensure accessibility for all for all meetings going forward. I encourage the city to contact the township to learn about their approaches which would include these accessible features. Recent experiences such as last night's meeting have highlighted the importance of taking ADA accommodations seriously. I am running low on patience regarding this matter and would greatly appreciate timely information on the city's plans. I would also like to address the comment made last night at the townships regarding reasonable accommodations. thought I will address this to the city as well. This raises an important question. Who specifically determines what constitutes a reasonable accommodation in this context? Is this being determined by uh an individual of city officials? Is this guided by qualified ADA standards, legal requirements, and established accessibility best practices? This distinction is critical. Reasonable accommodations is a legal standard under federal law, not a matter of personal opinion or convenience. Clear accountability and informed decisionmaking are essential to ensure accommodations are effective and compliant with disability rights obligations. These obligations apply regardless of the city size. legal responsibilities under title two of the ADA required equal access to programs, services, and public meetings, and

practical, affordable, and effective accommodations must be implemented. Please note that all requests and suggestions in this email are fully in compliance with the Americans Disability Act, relevant open meetings, laws, and applicable state and local accessibility requirements. Thank you for your attention and I look forward to your response. Sincerely, Tyler Tyler Shepard. You want to say that you want to say that?

Yeah, we're checking to see also if we can put that camera is what we operate our YouTube meetings on. If we can put that on Zoom, we do have a Zoom account. We'll just switch it over, but I I don't know the answer to that yet. And I just received the request last week. I never received anything before that. So I want to make that clear as well.

Anybody else? Non-aggenda items. Okay. Council comments, you're up. I'm speechless. Um I think [clears throat] there's a lot of good stuff coming down the road for us. um good and challenging. Uh I that's all I can say. I I think the becoming more accessible is important. Uh sounds like we do have that in the works which I'm happy to hear. Um these things take time and we are working forward to. I will say we have improved the microphone. Uh finally got that up tonight. Um hopefully those of you that had problems hearing the the hearing people of the the uh community here were better able to hear tonight. Hopefully that has helped. We are working on it, Tyler. I I assure you that we're trying. Um be patient with us. Uh what I'm learning I've this is now meeting number three for me. I am learning that things take way longer than they should. Um and it's nobody's fault. Uh, but I will give you my word that we are trying and we we hope to Sounds like we're on our way. Thank you, Eric. Uh, couple things. The water and sewer agreements come to mind and I didn't get a chance to ask Mike Burns about this today when we talked, but uh, what is the status of the water and sewer agreements? I know there's been a lot of drama lately, but is that in the works at all? Are there still meetings on that?

Yeah. Uh that's a good question. Um we are trying to reschedu a meeting with the township. Um we're try we're about 95% done regardless of whatever happens. Um but we're trying we're we realize that um we pro we we need to have different options to that agreement. mainly if nothing ever happens out at the at the freeway, we have to we have to have a water, you know, we have to at minimum have a wastewater agreement by next year cuz that expires. The water agreement has 6 years left on it, but if we're going to do the wastewater, we should do both. That's what we're trying to accomplish. But we're about 95% of the way there is where I is where I could kind of leave it at. But we are, it's funny, I did talk to Jess Slugget this week and he even mentioned, "Yeah, we need to sit down and try and finish this up." So, we're going to look at doing that.

Okay. Last year, I believe Marty was in on that discussion. Do you need a council member in that or do you have the people that you need and then bringing

I mean, that's a council decision if they want someone in. I mean, we operate under the council manager form of government, so technically the manager and the city attorney should handle it. But if council wants to do it, I have no issue with it. If council wants a representative with me and during this, I'd be happy to. I just I hope that we don't spend a lot of time on that agreement and then when it comes to us, it's like, oo, I you know, I don't like that. I I would rather attend meetings and at least bring some of that info back to the council rather than have something come to us late that I don't like. So I I would make a motion that I attend those meetings.

It's an appointment there. I mean, you can attend them. If you want to be the council representative, I'm okay with that.

Yeah. Great. Okay. Thank you on that. Uh second, the DPW. Again, they do a great job. Appreciate it. I I rode in the snow plow last week with Jeff Phillips and I learned a lot. It's a very hard job to I I won't even go into that, but if you see the DPW, give them hats off because driving those snow snow trucks uh at 4:00 a.m. and in the traffic at at 400 p.m. it's a job. And they do 12-hour shifts 6 days a week. I I'm I'm amazed. So Rich and team, hats off to you. Lastly, I want to uh thank Rich for your service to the city and I'm sure I'll have a chance to say goodbye, but thank you again for your you've done a lot of good things here. Thank you.

Did they let you drive? I wanted to I wanted to I wanted to work the blade, but he wouldn't let me. They let me drive. Smart man, Mark. [laughter] [snorts] Well, I don't have much other than to say that DPW has done a great job. Um, I got lucky this year. Uh, I got my driveways plowed out after the trucks came, which was nice. And Rich, I'm going to hate to see you go. I wish you best of luck. And, uh, that's all I have.

Okay, Jim. Um, I want to make a apology to a couple of the people that came here tonight and said that I personally didn't respond back to an email. It's not like I didn't read their emails, but going forward, I'm going to at least respond back that I received it and that we'll be looking into that information for you. So, it's I have read them. I did see them. I'm sorry I did not respond back to you directly, but going forward, uh, like Broo said, she's still learning and I've been sitting here for 7 8 years and and I'm still going to continue to learn on responding back to the public, too. Even though I mean, we do bring those details back to Mike if I have a question regarding that. So, there is communication. Unfortunately, you guys just don't see what we're doing on the back end of it. So, moving forward, I'm going to do that. And again, I want to miss you, Rich. Uh, get one of those tomahawk steaks before you leave. We'll get take trip to tap traverse city and get that taken care of. And that's all I got.

And he's paying. Yeah. Drive. I'll drive. I'll drive. Oh, yeah. You can drive. You can't drive. You can drive. Yeah. Uh, all right. Um, yeah. I don't have anything pressing uh appointments to boards and commissions. We received a resignation today from planning. Mike Gadulla is stepping down because kids sports is

encompassing his time. Um so we had a really good conversation about that. So I want to thank him for the seven years of hard work he did put in on planning. Um the local officers compensation received an application from Jody. I have no objection to that if you guys don't. None. Um and that's all I have for that as of right now. Um, Burl is working on the DDA opening and I have a couple of irons in the fire for the planning opening. So, hopefully we can get the those boards filled here pretty quick. Uh, Jim, make a motion to journ at 7:44. Second.

Motion and a second to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. You're rich.