City Commission - Regular Meeting

But I'm thinking maybe the first thing is to clean. That part of the bike path is the only part of the bike path that is so covered that you can't see what's in the woods.

But you can see the pathways where they go hide.

The rest of the bike path isn't as filled in with brush and bushes like this part of the bike path is. So who owns that bike path? Who owns that part of the bike path? Is it the city or is it the DDA? Does anyone know?

We can't answer your questions right now. Okay. It can be done later on in commissioner comment or city manager's comment.

All right.

So, um, I'm going to have to ask you to, you can, there's also another three minute time where you can stand up again.

It's the Italian in me. I just, but I'm just so worked up about it. You know, it's like, um, three minutes later. Okay.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment, please?

My name is Jeremy Johnson. I live at 901 North 3rd Street in Ishpeming. I'm speaking to you primarily today as a business owner in the city of Marquette. I'm here today to bring attention to the excessive noise being generated by the Marquette Prison Branch shooting range. For those unaware, the shooting range has an MOU with several law enforcement groups around the central UP to provide certification services. Obviously, this is a good thing, but it comes with its cons. That means it is heavily frequented. Additionally, while almost all firing ranges in the state fall under the guidance of the DNR, the MDOC has no rules or regulations regarding public safety of their firing ranges. So they're not required to do any sort of noise dampening or anything like that. Use of this range often starts as early as six in the morning and continues into the night past dark. The noise is incredibly loud and often more than one person is firing at a time, creating an amplification effect. These noises can be heard from multiple neighboring properties, including commercial hospitalities such as my campground and the Econo Lodge, as well as areas like Shires Hills and Harbor Vista. I'm asking for the city to look into its ability to regulate, at a minimum, noise-reducing effects by the firing range. I believe the city has this ability under Section 22-30, which notes that it shall be unlawful for any person to make excessive, unnecessary, or unusually loud noise, or any noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, or health and peace and safety of others within the limits of the city. And it is located in city limits. Another note, I do not believe that this firing range is considered to be a sport firing range, which is separately regulated by the DNR and state law. I do have multiple audio recordings of the excessive noise that I plan to follow up with, as well as more researched information on this topic. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment?

Good evening, folks. Bailey Quinn. I rent at 1402 Altamont Street from Jesse and Laura Schramm of Schramm Superior Properties. Just to recap kind of where we're at. In March, our house started flooding. It came to light that we're renting an advertised four-bedroom, two-living room, but the downstairs living room and bedroom were never renovated with permits. It's actually a garage and unfinished basement. Water really started pouring in in April. We lived all of April with one to three inches of water in the house. Our landlords refused to hire professionals. They brought us two dehumidifiers and one shop vac. They didn't pull out any drywall. We had to remove the soaking wet carpet ourselves after my asthma got so bad I was just coughing all the time. In May, they still didn't do anything, so then mold exploded. And then they invoked a clause in our lease that said, oh, the house is destroyed, so we can terminate your lease and you have to get out. This city told me this was a civil issue and you couldn't do anything. And a judge last week looked at my lease and said, yeah, that damage is pretty bad. You have to get out. So I am being forced out of my home on 13 days notice. I am exhausted. I had to take emergency PTO from my job last week. And I'm really just coming here to talk to you guys about why I'm doing this because all day long people come up to me. I just had a great conversation with an NP at the hospital who thanked me for bringing this up again and again. I came here to be a doctor and I came here to help people. And those homeless folks who can be a bit of a nuisance and there's some drinking and drug problems, I understand that. They just want to have somewhere to live. And after being put through what I've been put through by the SRAMs, I understand. I understand how you can find yourself homeless in Marquette. I'm very lucky. My dad dropped everything to help us move. We have friends who loaned us money for a new security deposit. But this has been terrifying. My landlords gave people my address. My landlords called my employer trying to get me fired. My landlords have illegally installed a fireplace and a water heater without permits. They have done so many things that blatantly violate Michigan law. I found out through this process our rental, our Ben from the fire department who inspects rentals is a great guy. But he has no qualification in building codes. Our landlords repeatedly turned on an electric heating appliance that had water under it. They have threatened us. They have harassed us. They have slandered us. This will drag on for years. As you all know, there's a recent settlement of thirty two thousand for discrimination that happened from a local landlord six years ago. This will be going on for years and I'm going to keep talking about this because the people here deserve better. And you folks have the power to really implement some ordinances to hold these landlords accountable because this is awful. And I'm going to go back to my house. I wish I could stay, but I got to finish packing because we have to be out by the 14th. So I still live in Marquette and you'll see me again. Have a good night.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment?

Thank you.

That's time for public comment. public comment is closed. Brings us to our presentation for this evening. I'd like to welcome the local development finance authority and Leslie Hartman.

I also have Stacy Boyer Davis with me. She's our secretary on the board. So welcome her as well. Thank you for having us in. Just an overview of the presentation for you tonight, the purpose and role of the LDFA, our financial management, giving you an updated progress report on how the organization is doing, an overview of the TIF funding and the uses, evaluation of some outcomes and results, and talking specifically about job growth in the city and county. and then some challenges that we've been dealt with and then looking ahead and some time for questions. And then this is just from our bylaws and I'm not gonna read through but just talks about the role of the LDFA to oversee job growth under employment, unemployment in the area. So we approve the tax increment financing, the TIF funding, and distribute that to the Smart Zone to Innovate Marquette. And then we review their budgets and financial results. Our board meets four times a year. And then we also are presented with interlocal agreements throughout the year. And then trying to keep a full board, that's been a challenge for us, we'll talk about later as well. So for the last fiscal year, the distribution was 2.6 million. We distribute 75% of the funds in October and the balance in the following July. So that was just at our last meeting. And then since I was here last in December, we haven't had any interlocal agreements to review. And then uses of the TIF funding, accelerating business in the area, some coaching for entrepreneurs, business consulting, new technology and IP process development, looking at collaboration with universities in the area, researching and industry growth, attracting new business to the area, business retention, supporting businesses that are already here, and allowing for expansion as well. then looking at some workforce development and talent initiatives trying to retain and draw talent and new technology to the area and then looking at following that like providing resources for new entrepreneurs for getting new capital and follow an investment that's been a hiccup for a lot of people within the process of bringing new ideas to the market and then providing marketing and outreach also to new business in the area. And then the benefit for the public, it's the creation of new high tech jobs, new companies formed in the area. There's been a lot of private investment in some of these organizations and also fall in grant funding.

You've probably seen a lot of

Updates on that. And then diversifying the markets economy as well. So looking back to fiscal year 2025 and then through the first half of 2026. Jobs that were created throughout the Smart Zone, 13 from fiscal year 25 to through this year. Internships, we're seeing a lot of growth there. 1099 jobs, 28 and 14 respectively. And then follow-on funding, that's some grant money, outside capital coming into the businesses, and then other investment, so 3.2 and 1.5 million respectively. 90 clients served fiscal year 2025 through 2026 there's 160 that have been served there the smart zone is currently working with 61 clients right now and then new companies formed 11 and 4 licensing deals you can see 14 and 9 and then patents issued they'd had 7 in 2025 and none as of the first half of this year And then a couple of years ago, the LDFA had really pressed the Innovate Marquette to zero in on Marquette County and the city specifically. Because they have worked with, when we first started, we were a satellite smart zone for Houghton. And so there was a lot of companies and work throughout the UP. Our board has really been pushing what is in the city, what jobs are staying here. And so this is what they started providing us. So this isn't since inception, but it's since they started tracking it for the LDFA jobs. And again, broken down by founders, W2 employees, 1099 contractors, and then interns. And so you can see at the city level and the county level, a total of 38 companies overall and 107 jobs. And then I'm going to welcome Stacey to talk for just a minute about some of the challenges that we've been having. Thank you, Leslie.

And by the way, that last slide, I believe that that data was collected over the last two years. So, if you're looking at statistics and trying to frame what timeframe those jobs are created, it was within the last two years. So, what I'm going to talk about here is just modern technology firms. That's center item bullet point there. The LDFA smart zone agreement was from 2015, and we're talking today, 2026. But modern technology firms today, the firms often, as you can see, create significant economic value, but sometimes they don't require a large physical footprint that's traditionally associated with manufacturing. manufacturing or industry. So rather than investing in factories, warehouses, machinery, or other tangible assets, these companies derive a lot of their value from intellectual property, software, data, specialized expertise, and highly skilled employees. So as a result, a tech company can generate substantial revenue. They can support high paying jobs and contribute to the local economy while occupying relatively modest office space and owning fewer taxable physical assets. This shift is important for cities to recognize when evaluating economic development opportunities because traditional measures such as building size, equipment investment, or property value may not fully capture a modern technology firm's economic impact.

and then I noticed when I was waiting for the meeting to start we have seven openings on our board so that is this a challenge for us it has been for a while we did get one new member I think since we last met so that was really exciting for us we hadn't had anybody new in quite a while so we talked about it often in our meetings so I guess just as I'm here in front of the public if anybody is looking to serve and give back to the community we have lots of open seats and we would appreciate some help in oversight here and then of course we talked about this in December as well that the Marquette City TIF is set for expiration in 2029 so the innovate Marquette has been working to be self sustainable in the event that that it was not extended and then I just wanted to leave some time to I think this I've kind of touched on everything So just open up for some questions from the commission.

Thank you both. Any questions?

Comments?

Commissioner Davis.

Thank you, Leslie. So the TIF plan ends in 2029, which isn't that long from now. What are the plans for after that?

Well, I know that there is, like, at the state level, there's legislation that they're looking to extend, but I know at the city level, it would need to be approved locally, so with the commission, and so it would be a local decision. If the legislation goes through, which I think it's looking like it is, but that's not final yet, so that's up in the air, and then it would need to be approved locally. But what the Innovate Marquette is doing to try to think of if this funding from the city and state were to end, they're looking at getting agreements with customers that they're working with, that when they have investment come in or if they have success in taking their idea to fruition, that the Smart Zone is in some fashion paid back for some of the services. So they're working that into their agreements to have a payback clause. Doing a lot of grant. Application and they've. And awarded a few grants. I think this last year two or three. I can't necessarily recall the names of all of them, but they've. Then getting funding that way as well, so I don't know that there's. I don't know that that's the best answer, but I think there's a lot up in the air. as far as if the extension will be approved as step one.

My memory might not be really good, but if I recall, the LDFA has been in existence for quite some time, then the Smart Zone came. So it's a separate entity than Innovate and Marquette and the Smart Zone, so the LDFA still can continue without that TIP funding, you just would be a board, correct?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Okay. Thank you guys for coming in and sharing the information with us tonight. Look forward to the next time.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, Commission, that brings us to our consent agenda. Is there a motion, please? Commissioner Hanley.

I move that we accept the consent agenda as presented.

Thank you. Is there a second? Commissioner Davis?

I'll second the motion.

Comments?

No.

I guess good.

Anything down here?

Okay. All in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, no. Motion passes 6-0. We have one item of new business on today's agenda.

has to do with the resolution for sustainable tourism I'm gonna go to the city manager for background please certainly and what was included in the agenda packet and presented at this moment is a resolution that's intended to support the continued research and evaluation of a fiscal policy and the options to address tourism related impacts as a sport and as a sport Wow, this is a day. Support a sustainable tourism economy. This resolution is in response to interest that was expressed by several commissioners during the last commission meeting. The resolution that is presented tonight and up for discussion here shortly is carefully worded to ensure that we were meeting the request in the comments from the commission at the last meeting, but then also really trying to balance the work that is currently being done with the consultant and the steering committee for the sustainable tourism management plan and so this wording was not was designed to not automatically assume that a tourism tax is the right and only solution but instead the resolution states that we will be sure to include that consideration during this process that we are working with the consultant for the sustainable tourism plan so As I mentioned, we have engaged with Dar Place Consulting and have created a small, informal steering committee that is being used and considered for this plan. The steering committee, I just wanted to touch on real quick, just is comprised of certain members within our community that we work with and partners in the tourism industry, but also that represent certain interests that tie to that tourism aspect. And so working with them and Continuing forward with the sustainable tourism plan that would include that consideration is what we've included in this resolution We're happy to read the resolution as it is right now, but I do believe that because the comments You know this resolution is coming as a response from the comments from the Commission I perhaps you know may entertain obviously and be open to those those adjustments if there are things that we may have missed that are in interest of from the commission. But before I really kind of go any further, I want to make sure that I have community development director Dennis Dackowitz just speak on the process for the sustainable tourism plan, because this has been Something that's been in the making we've been waiting to do this for several years and have put it on hold Due to our community master planning timeline and then also for budgetary concerns so I want to give him just an opportunity to touch on that to make sure that we have a strong understanding of what this plan is going to do and how that ties into the interest that the Commission expressed so Dennis if you don't mind

Thank you Karen, honorable mayor and city commissioners. First and foremost, thank you for allowing us to embark on a sustainable tourism plan this year because it seems kind of timely. We work as Karen had said we've we've As you know you authorized a contract with Dar Really great firm and and you know, they're they're looking to balance the benefits and pressures of tourism For the people who live here and that was a big thing when we did the interview with them they stood out as it's your home, right? And it needs to function like your home. And through the work that we've done early on with the steering committee, we're starting to hear things like right-sizing tourism, equity, revenue, all those good things that we would expect to come out of this. As it currently stands, we're kind of going through the data and background work. That's our current focus up to this point, the six weeks or so that we've been working on it. And the good news is the consulting team is going to be here September 8th through the 11th. So right after, they'll actually be here on Labor Day. Spying, I would imagine, is no better way to put it, right? But they're going to be out taking a look at the community. Observing would be the better term, so Chief doesn't get too worked up on me there. when they're here they're going to be doing stakeholder interviews to be a chance for some city commission um input with the consultants we're going to host a community meeting and they'll meet with several steve uh key staff members such as public works so we can speak to the cost of you know doing a lot of the infrastructure work and and things along those lines and that That's under development as I'm speaking right now. That's our mission this week is to come up with a schedule for those kind of things And overall the plan itself we expect to have that finalized by January of 2027 so we're looking at about four months to go ahead and and wrap this up for the community Some good information

I wish we could spend more time just talking about it, very frankly, but maybe a cup of coffee or something. With that, I'm going to open it up for motion. Commissioner Larson?

So we can talk about it. So I move that we adopt the resolution titled Fiscal Policy Options to Address Tourism-Related Impacts and Support a Sustainable Tourism Economy while substituting the revised language that I have distributed for the version that is included in the packet.

And there are copies in the back.

Okay. Is there a second, please, Commissioner Hanley?

I second.

Any discussion on that?

Yeah, lots. So I don't know if this is, you know, if we actually want to adopt the version right now or if there's another motion that we table it for further consideration because I have made, you know, substantial, I propose substantial amendments that were not included in the packet. So, you know, initially I proposed the changes because the original resolution, didn't quite state what I thought I had expressed or the commission had expressed at our last meeting. So it said that it would continue to study and didn't really say what the policy position that I believe Marquette should take. And so the amended language here explicitly supports working with other communities to pursue state enabling authority while preserving the sustainable tourism plan process and trying to make clear that we're not adopting or committing to adopt any sort of lodging tax that's there. So I don't know if it's helpful if I read the changes or if I just kind of briefly explain what the proposed change is that I've made. Would you like me to read the changes? All right, just explain. All right, so they're in front of you. So first, I want to just make sure that the resolution, this does not, and this is essentially public facing. This is not creating a lodging tax or committing the city to adopting one. The final clause that I put in here makes it clear that any future local proposal would come back through a separate public process. And so, but what the resolution does is support pursuing state legislation that would give destination communities such as Marquette the authority to consider a locally controlled visitor paid lodging mechanism. So I certainly agree with staff that a lodging tax may not be the only choice or maybe the only best solution, but that's why the resolution also refers to additional fiscal policy options and why the sustainable tourism management plan remains important. So, I think the plan can really help inform whether Marquette and how Marquette might ever use this authority should it ever be granted. So, at the same time, I think obtaining that state authority and deciding whether to use it are two different questions. State legislation and coalition building certainly can take years, and I certainly believe that Marquette should be willing to work with Michigan Municipal League, folks like Traverse City, and other destination communities towards having that option available. I think I said previously that tourism does provide substantial benefits to our community, but it also creates this cost for infrastructure, public safety, parks, transportation, and other services that are currently supported largely by local taxpayers. And potentially a lodging mechanism is one way that overnight visitors can help contribute to those pieces. So my adoption, my changes to this are certainly not a criticism of the steering committee or the consultants and certainly does not, I'm not trying to predetermine the work that they're doing. Simply trying to state that Marquette supports having the authority to consider this option in the future. So I do believe that the language here respects that planning process while giving the resolution a clear policy purpose, where I didn't necessarily think it had that super clear policy purpose before. So I think it supports Marquette having the authority to consider this option without deciding tonight whether the city should ever actually have to use it. That would be certainly for that planning purpose. you know, to have informed by the Planning Committee and also this Commission moving forward. So again, substantially changed. However, they're before you and that's kind of what I think of it. And I'd certainly be open to the Commission what you think or if more time is needed to kind of digest the changes that I'm proposing.

Commissioners, any other comments? Yes, Commissioner Hale.

um when i read the first draft that we were given by the city staff i too felt the same way that commissioner larson did in that it seemed very tepid and watered down from what the commission expressed at the meeting though i understand the need to look at our sustainable tourism plan we were doing this for a reason and it makes sense to want to wait for that to be done but also Things don't happen on a timeline. Right now we have a chance to band together with other cities and possibly get some movement on an issue that Michigan has had problems with for years. If I have heard anything from constituents over the six years I've been on this commission, it is, why don't you just tax the tourists instead of raising our tax? And it's because it's illegal right now for us to do that. So this is a way to take a burden off of our tax base. Right now, roads don't get fixed because we don't have money in the budget for it. If we have this, maybe that's a possibility that we can be updating more roads for this at that point. It's one of those things where I see no problem with expressing an interest in at least pushing more with other cities to make sure that we are protecting the residents of our city. And so I love the changes that we got given at the beginning of the meeting. I'm very happy that someone did it. I don't know that I could have voted for the first version of the resolution simply because I don't think it did anything. I would like that this one at least tells us where we should be going and how we should be doing it. So I will be in support of this.

Thank you. Mr. Guttlieb.

I'd like to thank Commissioner Larson for the work he did. However, I can't vote in favor of his resolution or the resolution as he presented at this point because I saw it literally when I walked in the door. I don't think I have had time to digest it. I certainly didn't care for some of the stuff that was in the original resolution. I will not vote for this one, though, because I need more time. I also have some concerns about the steering committee. I don't understand what the steering committee is, how it was picked, who is on it, why they are on it, what is the role of the steering committee, what is their ultimate jurisdiction? Do we, the city commission, have the final jurisdiction of what the resolution says? And I'd like to hear some of that before I vote yes on any resolutions. Who is the steering committee and why are these people on it? Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Davis.

I just want to make sure that, and be clear that this resolution was a recommendation from the steering committee.

No, this is a resolution that is from the city staff that has created it based off of what the what was expressed at the last meeting and then what our consultants have really, I think, advised us of what the Sustainable tourism plans going to create and what this could potentially be linked into okay So it wasn't the steering committee that presented this recommended this resolution.

Okay, because it might be a little too early for that. Okay When we if it when we pass a resolution What then happens to it? Where will it be shared? I?

So the resolution would be shared with, I would say, probably the Traverse City was requesting some other municipalities to participate in some conversations. State legislators, MML, obviously our local tourism industry, and other downstate public associations as well.

Okay. Don't think the initial resolution, I like the original resolution and I would probably vote for it. But now that I hear some of the comments, I don't think it is as strong as what the commission was expressing at our last meeting. But I will agree that having it couple things when this is presented to us when and we're like trying to rapidly read it and digest it and um so i think it's a little too early for me to say yes i would accept all of these additions tonight it seems to me that maybe those suggested changes need to be wrapped into the original one and perhaps we just kind of wordsmith it so that it does read more as like representing what we were expressing previously. Thank you, Commissioner Larson, because I do like the way this is worded. I'm not sure that it might it might go a little too far that we want, but I mean, I'd like to see all those things happen. And then the steering committee, when Commissioner Gottlieb talks about the steering committee, it was what, maybe a half hour before the meeting we got information on the steering committee because that kind of surprised us. So maybe there's just a little bit of unsettlement with there. And I think I've had my questions answered, so I'm fine with the steering committee. And I would support a resolution. I'm not sure I'm ready to vote on one tonight.

Thank you. Anything, Commissioner Mayer?

Yeah, thank you. You know, reading the original resolution, I think this is something we've talked about over several years now. This has been a reoccurring topic in one way or another. Looking at the revisions, I like the fact that it has a lot more teeth to it, so to speak. Going back and forth between the two, it did make me wonder what the goal was of the first draft here we're looking at which it sounds like is the goal of your proposed revision as well as more of a state lobbying effort um just looking at the two right now uh the revised version in my mind does strike me a lot more as something that we're we would be advocating to lansing for uh a lot more in the first one um I also think it's a lot more clear. State legislatures get all kinds of requests all the time and are lobbied for things all the time. This is a lot more clear what we're asking for than this version is. I also, if staff can maybe provide some clarity here, I am also curious about the steering committee and who appointed them, but I don't know who them is either. And that could just be a me thing, but it doesn't sound like it is. Otherwise, though, I mean, both versions are good. I want to thank staff for the version it created.

Okay, thank you. Staff, I'm going to let you respond to that if you want before I...

Certainly and I do just want to provide a little bit of context to the first version is the recommended version because we are currently in the process for the sustainable tourism plan which this a recommendation for a fiscal policy would be coming out of that so I think that it was really of the opinion and the concern from staff and from the consultant that perhaps going right to advocating and lobbying for a tourism tax would hinder the process for the sustainable tourism plan, which we're in the middle of. So that is why the recommendation from staff is coming with a little bit more maybe soft lob at this point until we get through that process and come out with a little bit stronger language. However, we do recognize that there is some timing here with another municipality that's interested in and kind of joining some forces and really taking this to the next step and We thought we could find a way that would be in parallel the recommend recommendations that are the changes that Commissioner Larson has has presented did seem to be something that we certainly would recommend as well and support if we were going to do these two plans in process. So that's that part. Do you want me to touch on the steering committee too or do you want me to open it back up right now or kick it back over?

Do you have a follow-up on that, Commissioner?

Only follow-up ahead was the other community that was hoping to get partners is their version more specific This revised version.

Yes, the version is more specific But it does touch on the things that we have mentioned in the community master plan Actually, I don't know if they have a version like this But the things that they were mentioning and looking for were things that we've already identified in the community master plan But just not that specific with a tourism tax. Okay.

Thank you. That was the follow-up

but I can touch on the steering committee as soon as, if you want me to.

Yes, please.

So the steering committee, it's more of an informal steering committee, different than what we would call the steering committee that we used for the master plan or the land development code. So this is more informal and is not guiding on the content necessarily. It's guiding on the direction and the conversations that we have within the community. So it is based off of the consultant's standards of Representation and I'm just gonna pull up some of the the language that they used and making sure that we had Some voices for direction on there and that would include industries or Sectors such as the city planning and government which you know, obviously is staff destination management downtown business and culture and lodging and accommodations, environmental and trails, tourism impacted neighborhood, workforce and housing, and indigenous representation. So this was based off of conversations we'd be having with certain groups. They're not necessarily, their work is incredibly important and contributions are incredibly important, but it's not, they're coming up with the content for the plan, which is what we really typically see with the community master plan. And I'm just kind of looking at Dennis for a nod of confirmation on that.

Absolutely. I'd like to refer them as a knowledge committee as opposed to a steering committee. These are the folks that they gave us a list, DAR gave us a list based on successes they've had across the world uh when developing this and these are the these are the folks that are involved in the day-to-day aspects of tourism and also in the day-to-day impacts of tourism and they're there as a knowledge base for instance if we're you know we're going to put together a survey and we get a draft of the survey, and the steering committee could assist us with it and say, you know, that one question there is pretty good, but what I don't see on here is something that somebody asks me every day when they come to my campground or something like that, right? They have the knowledge base of the day-to-day stuff that's gonna help us get all of the important input from the community that we need. They have no decision-making authority. And they are basically there, like I said, as a knowledge committee to support the effort.

And this will be coming out for the community input and commission input as well. But there is a time for that. We're just so early in that part of the process.

Commissioner Davis.

Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out what my final opinion will be on here. But I think, first of all, we need to recognize that we've been talking about this for a lot of years. The ambassadors have been down in Lansing talking about it, and the MML has been working on it. So it's not something new, and it's not something that we have been ignoring. So I'm kind of torn between the first version and the second version because of the recommendation and maybe it's i guess i need to know something about the timing we know that there's a new effort going on headed by one of the cities very similar to ours and Tell me about the timing of how important this particular, the additions. Maybe you need to respond to that, Commissioner Larson. I mean, how urgent is it to be this specific in our resolution? Because I'm also wondering if there is an opportunity to do two resolutions. One is a softer version, and then once we're working on the sustainable tourism plan, to have a more stronger resolution as that goes on.

Uh. I think the reason I put forward the changes was that I thought the original lacked the specificity that I heard from the commission our previous time around, saying that, you know, as Commissioner Gottlieb said, we need a bed tax, I support a bed tax. And I believe those were his actual words. And the first resolution, I don't think exactly got to that specificity that was there, or that there needs to be some sort of lodging assessment. That is essentially what I heard during the first from the commission and that's largely what I heard from you know our previous discussions and so I approached this trying to take into account the the the The committee, what their input is, try to honor that planning process, as staff would like us to make sure that planning process, that the committee, that we're not usurping what their final decision's going to be, while being general enough to say that there's other fiscal policies that may come out of that committee, may come out of that sustainable tourism plan, that aren't being addressed here. It's not locking us into that, but it's essentially just allowing, from my point of view, this is allowing and giving a more of a policy direction than that first one was. So if we're making a resolution, I feel like it's the resolution, the policy direction that the city commission would like to go in. And I think that gives authority to Karen to enter into those discussions with a little bit more specificity on what's going on there, as well as allowing the sustainable tourism committee and plan to go forward And come to their own conclusions and inform if and how this gets adopted or implemented But in the short term this allows it to move forward, you know again with more specificity Specificity than the first than the first version.

Okay. Tell me about the timing. I mean, how urgent is it to join the other cities?

I just want like from my statement last time it was saying hey, they they put out a little bit of a call for that and If we wait four months, does it matter? I don't know. I know, but I want to be, I would rather Marquette be on the leading edge of that conversation along with, side by side, than to be kind of, you know, coming on, you know, too late. I don't think this necessarily needs to be adopted today. I don't know that we need to, you know, if the commission would like to have time to study it, to look at the changes, or maybe to have a version made where it shows exactly what changes have been made from the first one to the second one. I know I just gave a clean copy of what I thought it should be here, and maybe that was a little bit unfair to spring on you at the last minute. But I didn't know how else to do that since it was on the agenda tonight. But that's where, you know, if we wanted to table this to the next meeting, I would certainly be open to that to have adequate time for review. I don't know that it's that urgent that it needs to be passed today. But since it was on the agenda today, I went ahead and proposed the changes.

here if i may just comment i'd like to get my sixth sense into well i don't know maybe we'll let you um thank you commissioner larson i think because we were it was a surprise to see this i read the language i like the language i'm not so sure how coordinated it is with the original one so for that reason i read the language i like the language i'm not so it's hard for me to pull them together and so i'm wondering if we could have an opportunity to have maybe staff work on combining the two languages before we have a vote on it now give me permission mr mayor why thank you your honor

You know, I just want to maybe restate a little bit what I said earlier, just in a different way. You know, kind of lobbying 101, it's really, what's the problem? What do you want me to do about it? Getting back to my point of this gives a lot more clear guidance and direction. I also initially thought we needed two different resolutions, because I thought the goal of the first one was more of an internal staff direction, if I'm being honest. But if the goal of that was more of a lobbying effort, the revision is a lot more clear. As far as timing, I think that's a great question. I think if we have other cities that want to do this, if we had to wait a few weeks, they'd be probably on board with it if they had backup. The question in timing, I'm thinking, is we're getting really close to an election cycle right now. Not a great time for lobbying, unfortunately. The governor's administration is going to be changing one way or another. And how that goes, I think is going to determine if this would even remotely be considered. One party in Michigan, I'll say specifically like state party, is for the last 40 decades been very consistent on not liking taxes and not liking local control simultaneously. So if there's a change in that direction, I don't think we're gonna get anywhere. If we have a new administration, though, on the other side of things, I have no idea where they might land on something like this. And whether or not we could get it through a House and a State Senate on top of it. But just my two cents. I think if we're worried about timing, though, now is probably better than waiting until November, because we really have no way to know how things are going to shake out. Or January, you are correct, with the whole lame duck season.

Thank you. So I think that this is kind of a victim of just that it's timing. You know, we we have this steering committee going on the other side with the tourism side. And and all of a sudden we come out of the weeds and offer up, hey, we want to have a serious conversation about this potential for a bad tax or hotel tax, however the word is going to be used. And we're trying to incorporate something that we've given the city permission to go ahead and do a study on with these consultants and bring us recommendations with something that we've all got a pretty firm head wrapped around with this type of verbiage here in these two different resolutions. The first one was softer, no doubt about it, and I'm okay with that because we've got a lot more information that's going to be coming to us in the not-too-distant future. It puts us on the playing field to make sure that the other people understand that we're in the same boat with them, and we want to pursue something that is very similar to their topic, and... will, I'm sure, be incorporated into the findings that come from our consultants in January. So I like the first version. The second version is great because it gives us, like you said, some more teeth in the game here. And it's almost like putting the cart. If we didn't have the steering committee, the revision here from Commissioner Larson would be exactly what I would want to see. because I think that it's got it's got enough there to to give us some serious purchase in but we're we're talking about with the other group and with the consultants is that that's all about sustainable tourism and they're going to be bringing us some really I think some really great I'm going to say topics just because, you know, we're talking tourism specific here. No, we're talking about our community. So there's going to be a lot more than just tourism in those recommendations. So that being said, I wish we had struck, you know, that we could go through and say, okay, here's what was struck out of the first version versus the second version. But it's pretty straightforward. I mean, all of us agree that we like what we're seeing here, especially with the second version. But out of all fairness to everybody, I say that we should consider tabling this so that we can do an apples to apples comparison instead of 15 minutes before a meeting. bring this back to our next meeting on the agenda and most likely what in the form of what mr. Larson Commissioner Larson put together for us because it's going to make a little bit more sense

and um or a little bit more uh aggressive and we want to see that aggressiveness so with that being said i will allow yes mr henley i just i know there's been a lot of talk about the sustainable tourism plan i assume that it's more than just one policy recommendation that's going to come towards us based on this but also i cannot envision a way where they could come back to us and be like you guys should definitely not go for a hotel tax that would be a terrible idea Because at that point, I don't know that they actually looked at our community. I don't see a world in which they could look at it and say, you guys have plenty of tax money. You guys are doing perfectly fine. Definitely don't need to search out any other avenues for trying to help your city. i am fine with tabling it and looking at it so we can actually look back and forth but i've looked back and forth a few times as if we've been sitting here and other than this being a little bit more we absolutely want to go forward with trying to be a part of this and we want to lobby whereas this one is it would be nice to do better practices and we'll do what they say. And I get it. And if they come back to us with other things that they want us to do, I can see that. But I don't see any harm in doing this while that committee exists and while that study is being done. I cannot see a world where they're not going to coincide at some point anyway.

Thank you. And I believe that there's going to be further resolutions in regards to this as well. So that, you know, pardon me?

Please first make this comment.

Sure. Sorry. Okay. I didn't see your hand. No. Okay. Commissioner Gottlieb?

You're first. I'm going to harp on this.

Let's just pass this down.

I didn't do anything. I'm going to harp on this because I don't understand it. I'm sorry, Dennis. The steering committee, the way I see it, and I just swear I did not see any of this before I walked into this room five minutes ago.

I want to explain it.

Let me finish. Please let me finish. I see the list of names and it does concern me that most of them are or some of them are hoteliers and more on the owner side of things. And I want to make sure that the steering committee is going to be well represented by everybody in the community. And I see they're still waiting on some people to respond. I assume this is a work in progress. The steering committee.

The spreadsheet that you have, those people have responded. That is the steering committee.

Okay, I see some blanks here that say, I just, I don't know when the email came out. I was working till five, I came right here, I don't know what's going on. There's some blanks here that don't say yes, like for instance, Jen Ray, Kevin Clegg.

They've all responded, that's just it. I haven't updated the spreadsheet. They've all responded, they're all part of it.

But when have they met yet yet so.

If I could just break this down. City Commission city manager community development director consultants. That's. That's the project team for the sustainable tourism management plan steering committee is over here as a knowledge committee. To help inform the plan. Okay, they inform the plan based upon their day-to-day experience working in the tourism field or Dr. Conley is one that's on there. He's above the hill of every single festival that goes on at Madison Park. He has a genuine connection to the effects of tourism on a neighborhood. And he's been involved with a lot of planning projects. So, you know, people like that help inform the project team, city commission, city manager, myself, and consultants. They help inform us to make sure that, hey, did you think about this? You didn't miss that. They're not involved in the decision-making tree. they were not involved in this resolution at all. They're just a little check valve over here because they happen to be subject matter experts per se in what we're dealing with in the plan. I don't know if that helps or hurts.

We can also do a more detailed update if this is tabled for the next meeting. We can provide some more information on what that scope was and remind the commission of what that looked like when we selected DAR.

Mr. Davis.

Just my final two cents here. I think it's a good idea to do a resolution and I think it's a good idea to do a resolution fairly soon I would prefer that we had an opportunity to do more digesting of it and to allow the city staff to perfect all of to take these suggestions that we all seem to be in favor of and incorporate it into a new drafted resolution that we can consider

So, what's the wish here? Can we postpone this?

I believe there's a motion on the, right now.

So, because there is a motion on the table, you've got a couple choices. You could table the decision to a certain future date meeting. You could postpone the decision to an uncertain date at some point in the future But both of those would require a motion second and vote to do that even though there's a motion pending Those trump that original motion because you're taking a different action other than just approving or denying the current motion on the table so We can either go ahead with the motion

I move that we table the decision on the resolution until our August 31st meeting of 2026. I believe that's the date of the meeting. Okay.

Is there a second for that? Commissioner Mayer? Support. Any discussion?

I think it'd be great for us to get a little more time to look at the changes and let staff get a little bit more time with this to make sure they can let us know if there's any issues that they see within the resolution.

Mr. Mayor?

Nothing further to add. Anybody else?

Okay.

All in favor, please say yes.

Yes. Opposed? No. Motion passes 6-0. Brings us to our second round of public comments. Remember, please, that comments may not exceed more than three minutes per person. Please state your name and physical address when making your public comments. If you've not already done so, you don't need to, if you already have, excuse me, you don't need to restate your address.

Surprise I stayed I Want I want to correct a few things that I heard during that discussion I'll start off with the easy ones. It's actually 270 million in annual spending in Marquette County not 250 and And on that note, 84 million of that goes to lodging. And currently, we are only collecting via our 6%, it's 5% goes to travel market, 1% goes to UP Travel and Rec. We are only collecting 47% of that lodging revenue. I do not know why that is specifically, but I have a guess. And if you look at the reporting, we actually have more campsites and Airbnbs in Marquette County than we do hotel rooms. And if you look at how the lodging tax is collected, it's only on hotels and motels today. My guess is that a large amount of that is because we're not collecting on campgrounds and Airbnbs and other alternative stays. I own both of those. Please tax me. That'd be cool. I'd like to see that stuff put towards better infrastructure and less marketing, ideally. Not that we need less marketing. I also do marketing for my day job and I like to fund marketing. The total that's collected right now is 1.9. Million and it should be closer to I think 4.2 based on our lodging revenue just as an FYI there I'm excited for this conversation as a tourism and lodging business owner Actually, I have owned tourism businesses in four of the municipalities in Marquette County today own in three of them So I sold one in January to focus on additional stuff, but I want this conversation to happen. I'm happy you guys are having it. And then I'd like to just echo a couple other points I heard from a handful of people. Carrie, I think you brought it up multiple times. I would love to know who this steering committee is. I am not on it. I know there is no representation for campgrounds at the Travel Marquette level. That's only hotels and motels and the owners of it. I would also like the residents to be involved. The last time there was a Last and only time there was a resident input survey done was via Travel Marquette in 2024. That has not been continued, and I don't think it's being continued at the moment. I hope to see it come back. But I think there needs to be more input here than just And I don't have access to that spreadsheet, so I don't know who's on it. But it sure seems like we should poll more people and get more input here. But you should also pass that resolution. I think that would be helpful as well. That's all.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment?

Geraldine Nault, 1851 North McClellan Avenue in Marquette. I simply want to thank the commission for finally jumping on the bandwagon to do something about tourism. It's just overwhelming, especially this summer.

So thank you for beginning to do something.

Thank you.

Tom Orgesinger, Marquette, Michigan, Marquette Drive. I'm here just to talk a little bit about the, we were talking about the jobs report earlier. My mom was the Executive Secretary of Operation Action UP, which was located above the Nordic Theater back in 1967. So she was the person who had a lot of contact with all the industrial people in the community, or UP. But just in the city of Marquette since 1967, I counted that we lost about 1,300 jobs, industrial jobs, good quality industrial jobs, like ones that used to be like at Cliff. So we lost the ones at Cliff Dow, 1967. We lost the Bunny Bread. We lost Lake Shore manufacturing where 906 is located now. That was a marine manufacturing for worldwide marine services. So we lost all those jobs. That was a strike on that one. And bunny bread. And so we lost somewhere around 1,300 jobs. When we talked about 100 jobs that were raised there, that's still 1,200 jobs short. We need industrial jobs to help support our schools and all these other programs for the tourism industry. Because without industrial jobs, we have no people here to work, and then we have no tourism. So we need industrial jobs. I know the environmentalists don't want to hear those words, But we need them. The market area is rich in natural resources. That's and that's the industrial jobs. It's maybe a little dirty, but we have a mine up on Eagle mine That's proven itself that it's the best in the world so we can do it in Marquette. We have a huge Industrial park that's over there where we energies was so that'd be a beautiful place to bring in a new power plant With great jobs and benefits. Sorry about that. So I just here to promote because Marquette tax bases right now with TIF is about 65% non tax-based When you reduce the TIF funding over to declaration if my math is sort of correct It may be a little wishy-washy, but there are somewhere around at least 50% I know is industrial or is tax-based for sure then the other the portion of all the other increments adds up is that free money so 40 5% say of people, or 45% of homeowners are paying the whole tax bill, including roads for all these infrastructures. So thank you for letting me talk about my mom's job at Operation Action UP. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I could just make this announcement on Facebook and hope that everybody catches it. But considering no matter how hard I try to get people to call other people in this town to get answers to questions, the questions keep coming my way. I made a major decision in how I handle social media and I'm sure all of you are just going to race home and reset all of your settings on this. There's going to be, yes, there's going to be multiple Facebook pages. There's going to be my basic Margaret Brown Facebook page, pictures of my dog, pictures of my sunflowers. I have the most beautiful red sunflower in all of Marquette. Those pictures never go away. The dog pictures never go away. Just the basic, ordinary stuff. there's going to be another facebook page it's probably going to have a weird title to it but it's going to be about cigarette butt recycling because now that we've got the county uh resolution it's the first time i can find any rev any reference to a county making a reservation or a resolution like this it's going to continue And I've had enough feedback from people saying, we love you dearly, but please no more cigarette butt pictures. And I'm like, I love me dearly too. And I wish to God I didn't have to. But part of why I post about that is I'm getting donations and I want people to see that their money's being handled. There's going to be at least one more Facebook page and it's going to focus on politics in the local area. It's going to be any and all city, county, borderline power, whatever comes up, whatever I'm asked about, elections, things like that. Because, again, not everybody, I've been told, is interested in politics. So how could you possibly not be interested in politics? It affects every part of what we are and where we're heading. And a lot of the decisions that we're going into for this election cycle were formed two election cycles ago and before that. There's possibility going to be of a fourth election, fourth Facebook page, in which case I will let you all know. So if something looks weird in my Facebook formatting from here on out, it's because I made this decision. And yes, there will be some announcements in the political side in the next week or so I just got the paperwork back on some of that today But the cigarette butt work is the most important work I've done in the past Year and you've got a resolution there that your clerk can share with you. It's a one pager it was that it was written drafted by me and then vetted by the county civil council and And so it doesn't just come from me. It came from the county civil council. And every member of the county board referred to this county civil council. Is this okay? So I just want you to know it just didn't come from me. It came from their review as well. Please take a look at it. And please put your heads together. Regardless of what the tourists do to us, we've got to stop the amount of cigarette butts that go into our environment. So stay tuned. Facebook is going to get even more interesting than it is right now. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment?

I guess I just want, in ending, I just want to see if it's possible to make that part of the bike path safe for not just the residents, for Snowberry, for little girls that are walking and jogging, for kids.

It's not a very safe part of the bike path, so I want to know

how we can take care of it, who owns it, who can get rid of some of that overgrown brush so that we are more aware of what's there. I mean, I watched a girl walk the other morning on her phone, a college girl, you know, no idea of her surroundings. And that whole area is not safe. I've lived there for seven years and I've seen it get worse and worse. So that's all I have to add. I don't know how I find out.

We can have the city manager address that question in just a couple minutes.

All right. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Anyone else for public comment? Public comment is now closed. We're going to start with comments from the Commission. We're going to start with Commissioner Larson tonight.

Thanks for humoring me tonight with my late addition. But just right out of the gate here, I've heard questions about the steering committee and I just want to make sure that we say that I do think the steering committee here is a real strength of the process. The city manager, Dennis, and the team have really kind of tried to bring this together as local knowledge base to really ground the process in Marquette. So I'm not trying to, my resolution isn't trying to be in opposition of that steering committee or that process there at all. They're certainly a real strength, and they've been here in Marquette and I think can really guide that to where we need to be. And furthermore, I do certainly support the process, tabling it until the 31st, And by all means, if this isn't the right thing, I'm not too proud to change it, to go back on it, to amend it to what works best for this commission here. So by all means, review it, take a look at it, and change it or make other amendments as you see fit. So I do appreciate the robust conversation that we've had here tonight. And yeah, that does it for me. Thank you.

Commissioner Mayer?

Thank you, Your Honor. One of the things I was going to ask about is if staff could comment on the bike path question between 4th and 5th. It sounds like maybe you're going to do that anyways. Also really curious about, Chief, if you could provide some insight. I genuinely have no idea what our operating hours are for officers using the shooting range over at the Marquette Branch Prison. If you could provide us with that info, that'd be useful. And last thing I wanted to just say is, Dennis, might be worth, I'm gonna call them the advisory committee. I think I like that better than steering committee. But your, or your knowledge committee, as you called it, if they could maybe review the more updated version, I'd be curious to hear their thoughts. But other than that, I think I'm good. Really appreciate the level of detail here. But thanks, everyone.

Commissioner Davis.

Yeah. Mr Johnson thank you for coming I really appreciate the statistics you gave us in your second public comment and those are good for us to have and I you also alerted us to a problem I wasn't aware of and I maybe our chief of police can address that. I also appreciate you coming we have heard from the snowberry residents and you know that whole area is something that we are continually trying to address there's some things the city can do there's other things that the community can do but it seems that cleaning up the bike path would be one small step that should be simple it is within the DDA area but I don't know if the bike path is something that the city itself but I will have our city manager address that because there seems to be a discrepancy And then I finally I just want to comment on something that happened in our consent agenda and we once again address the cultural trailhead and if you haven't had a chance to see what's going on there I put would recommend that you do and you know this was done with. very little city money it's only the the money that goes to the arts and culture um but there's so much Grant money that has been attributed to this and so you know Tina has done a wonderful job of working with different partners to get some of that money If we're looking at Superior Watership Partnership, that really is one of our grant writing experts that have helped us get a lot of money. The Community Foundation has been there, some of our private foundations, the Lions Club. There's been a lot of input into that area, and I'm really looking forward to looking at that new cultural trailhead in all of that area when it's completed. That's it.

Thank you, Commissioner Gottlieb.

I probably don't need to say anything because everybody else already has, but I'm going to because I've penned it already. Today's public comments were amazingly varied. I have no magic bullet that will help Marquette and the poor people. I doubt anybody in this room does have a magic bullet. If they did, I would have hoped they would have used it. But I feel we are making incremental progress, such as the ordinance we passed last year. Unfortunately, we're losing ground in other areas. And as others have already said, I'm wondering if Chief Grim or City Manager Kovacs can add more. Hopefully they have a magic bullet that I don't know about. Regarding the gun range, I live close to the prison, probably closer than anybody, and I hear it often. I've often wondered if it was actually a recording just played to intimidate the prisoners. I've been assured that's not real. That is real, but it goes at all hours. I don't know the legalities of limiting time on the shooting range on DOC land, but it is worth looking at. And hopefully we can get you an answer on that one. I know your campground is right next to it, too. I'd like to finish on a personal comment. I am what I am today in part because of hotels and The family business was hotels hotels allowed me to go to college and beyond I just want a fair and balanced discussion here and I don't want just hotel owners on the Advisory committee or just yeah Most of the hotels that put me through medical school We're in Wayne in Oakland County and they paid as my father called it a bed tax and if it's good enough for my dad It's good enough for me to call it a bed tax. I Just think we need to have multiple inputs on the Advisory Committee Thank you.

Commissioner Hanley?

Thank you. I want to comment on a couple of things. Mr. Johnson, when you talked about the amount of money that comes in and how it should be closer to $4 million, none of that would touch the city budget. That still would only be used to get more tourists to our area i believe that there is a part of it that they can use to help with um tourism related expenses or marketing that would affect the tourists i'm not quite sure how it works but none of it can be used for the infrastructure and that we need it to be used for to for what happens when we have all these visitors to our town so as wonderful as it is and i do believe that there is a big misstep there not having campgrounds and airbnbs involved in that tax as well but I think that that is also something that hopefully the state can look at when they start looking at this as we lobby for that if we so choose to more than we already are as for the gun range I didn't even realize they had one out there and I'm really sorry that that's an issue I hope that that's something as simple as a conversation of hey can we limit it to certain hours we do have noise ordinances in the city and I can't imagine that they don't have to follow them but they are a state entity so I'm not sure I will agree with you that I think clear cutting that might be the best solution. If you take away up a spot to hide, it makes it a little bit more difficult in that spot and makes that better. I have walked that portion of the bike path and I also agree that it is becoming very overrun in that one specific block right there and that feeds out into the rest of the areas around there because of it. So I think that looking into whether city staff can just go through and make it look like the rest of the bike path. very clear and open lines of sight. But that is all I have today.

Thank you. I don't have much tonight other than I think that we're heading in the right direction with this idea of the proclamation or the... the proposal the proposed resolution and i'm sure that we can work out these little little kink if if you even want to call it that but um i'm excited to see that and i can tell you it's not going to stop me from having conversations with other communities when i'm down at mml or if somebody would reach out to me um and want my opinion on it i would certainly share that with them so i would encourage it uh that being said i'll pass it on to the city manager

Certainly, and I did just want to touch on the tourism plan and the resolution. the city staff did review those changes prior to so thank you that was a conversation that commissioner larson was able to reach out to us and talk about so we will certainly look at it a little bit more and maybe incorporate it into a different version but because i had mentioned wanting to bring this back to the commission from the last meeting to this meeting i really wanted to get a version out there for you guys and the direction back and the recommendations back are certainly helpful for us to get to that that fine tuning point and make sure that we're comfortable with that with the consultants and the project team and find something that works. So we appreciate that. To talk on the multi-use pass in that area, so that is city-owned property. There is a maintenance agreement with the DDA for that area and for the multi-use path there. But the clear cutting, or I would say brush cleaning up and thinning out, clear cutting is not generally a term that we follow. We will work with city staff to address that. I think there's some things that we need to clarify on there because there is an abutting property. Right there, we want to make sure that we're not either crossing onto that line where specifically that is because it's very near to that neighboring property. And then also making sure that we're not taking down some buffering or brush that would essentially kind of buffer that or service a buffer. So we do want to make sure we cross those T's and dot those I's, but that is something we are recently aware of because you have mentioned it, but also the conversations we've had with Snowberry. i think that the police department is doing excellent job at extra patrols can't be everywhere unfortunately um and making sure we've had some pretty busy festivals um but getting our bike patrol out there a lot more um you know is is certainly something we we can address but um we're sorry that you know we we don't have a More of a presence everywhere as we can, but we'll make sure that we get we get over there personally I have been over in that area after dark and have walked through there and More of the issues and the concerns that I've had were on the other side of the fence I would say in some of those businesses behind the businesses So I think it's a conversation for the entire block to have as well, but making sure we're covering all those bases. I probably didn't look hard enough though, because I'm seeing you shake your head, but I probably didn't look hard enough into the bushes, but we will get some of those things addressed. So I certainly want to make sure we have some of that talked about. It's not that we don't agree or don't hear you, but we are trying to make sure that we're balancing this with the needs of the community and making sure we're doing this as quickly as possible, given all of our other priorities too. Hopefully that clarified enough. The conversation on the homelessness topic that I think Commissioner Gottlieb had brought up or requested an update. City staff and the police department did meet with Snowberry to talk about some of their concerns. I think some of our next steps are including talking with the businesses as well and continuing just these ongoing conversations and working with Room at the Inn on advocating for resources and needs to help address some of the issues that are coming along with not having enough support for that. So did I take anything away from you on that, stealing your thunder on that? So thank you. And then as for the shooting range, I hear a couple of comments here that we have a noise ordinance and they should be following the noise ordinance, but unfortunately they are an entity that does not necessarily have to comply with some of those things, but it does give us something to look into and to have conversations with our contacts at those places to get a little bit more clarity. So if you don't mind, I would like to look into that and see what their expectations are and maybe they don't have comments or feedback or haven't heard that and perhaps maybe they would want to know what's going on. Whether they do something about it or not, we will try our best to advocate for that, if that helps. Our officers do use it, and if it's at night, perhaps maybe there is a training, and not our officers, but perhaps there is a training for nighttime that that helps with, but hopefully we can limit that. That's all I have. Thank you.

Roll set. Thank you. With that, we are adjourned at 731.