City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to welcome everybody to the Monday, December 8th, 2025, 6 o'clock meeting of the Monomony Monomony. Sorry, that's taking me back to where I grew up. the uh the Marquette City Commission. Thank you very much. Uh please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Uh city clerk, roll call, please. Commissioner Davis here. Commissioner Gotautle here. Commissioner Hanley here. Commissioner Larson here. Commissioner Mayor. Mayor Prom Otawaway here. And Mayor Schlegel here. Uh, commissioners, do we have a motion to excuse Commissioner Mayor? Commissioner Gatle, I make a motion to excuse Commissioner Mayor for personal reasons. Is there a second? Second. Commissioner Larson. Second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Uh, all in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed? No.

Motion passes six to nothing. Um, can we get a motion for the approval of the agenda, please? Commissioner Hanley, I move that we accept the agenda as presented. Is there a second, please? Commissioner Otterway here. Second. Oh, Tim Ottawa, excuse me. Same difference. Uh, thank you. Any discussion there? Great. All in favor, please say yes. All oppose, no. Again, motion passes six to nothing. Um, that takes us to our first round for announcements or I'm sorry, for dis uh for announcements and all I have is where's my public comment here, guys?

It's after that. Okay, got it. Y announcements is the uh reminder that next Monday is our next meeting. We're moving it uh of course because of the holiday the following week. Uh so please keep in mind that we'll have a probably a pretty quick meeting next Monday and if you'd like to show up it'll be here at the chambers at 6. Thank you. Boards of committees. Yeah. Hey, you looked at me. I was just making sure. Okay. Monome. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Um, boards and committees, we have a reappointment. Is there a motion? Commissioner Davis?

I move that we recommend Barb Ozite for reappointment to the Marquette County Transit Authority as a city of Marquette representative for a term ending 12312028. Is there a second? Prom second. Any discussion? I just know that um Barb really takes this uh seriously and has been very active and um determined to make an impact on our on the transit authority and I appreciate that and just would really welcome her to serve again. Anything else? No, nothing. Great. Commissioner Godley,

I would also like to comment on on on Miss Always outside. Damn it. practiced it too. Um, she she is so busy on traffic and parking and she was instrumental in in the uh task force on ebikes and the multi-use path. It's amazing the amount of work she puts in and I can't see her from here and I'm really embarrassed that I mispronounced her name. My wife and I practice her name nearly daily. Uh, thank you. Um, anything else? Okay, hearing none. Uh, all in favor, please say yes. Yes.

Opposed? No. Motion passes. Six to nothing. This brings us to our first public comment. Uh, comments may not exceed three minutes in uh, per person. Please state your name and physical address when making public comment. I bet she gets it right.

I know you can do it, Carrie. Um, Barb Outai, uh, 1324 North Front. I'm here for my annual rant. I I think I sent you guys all pictures, but um I'd just like to begin uh with the basic principle of traffic safety. Uh speed, as you know, is guided by road design. U by the driver's perception of risk. When a street feels wide and unobstructed, speeds rise. When it feels like a place where people may be present, speeds fall. These aren't opinions. These are well doumented documented realities of how humans behave behind the wheel on East Fair and probably other places. Our current snow removal practices unintentionally create a roadway that looks and feels wide open. By pushing all the snow into the sidewalks, the plowing pattern eliminates visual narrowing of the street and invites faster driving. At the same time, the very sidewalks meant to protect pedestrians become impassable, forcing people um including children, seniors, and anyone that's mobility challenged into the street, precisely where cars are now moving faster. Uh this is a direct contradiction of our stated values. Marquette has made a strong commitment to walkability, accessibility, and pedestrian safety. Yet, the current approach to snow removal elevates vehicle movement above all else. even at the expense of the most vulnerable road users. Uh, city ordinances prohibit residents from pushing snow into the street. Yet, the city's own practices to plow street snow from the streets into the sidewalks, effectively pushing pedestrians into the street now visually cleared for speeding drivers. Um, that's not sustainable or really a defensible system at this point. Uh, small adjustments really aren't enough. What is needed is a complete overhaul of how we think about winter operations. Um, a different

paradigm in which cars are not automatically treated as the top priority. Many cities have re-evaluated their plowing strategies to reflect modern safety, modern safety and values. people protecting or protecting people on foot, maintaining access to essential pedestrian routes, and using snow placement, using snow placement to naturally calm traffic rather than to encourage speeding. Uh, Eastfair needs the same level of rethinking. We need a winter winter operation plan that reflects the city that we say we are, one that values pedestrian safety and equitable access, not just vehicle thoroughut. Um, I deeply appreciate what public works does. I know the challenges of winter uh are real, but the practices we use today were built around an older understanding of streets and priorities. It's time to redesign them so they align with our goals and the safety of everyone who uses our streets, not just the drivers. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment?

Hello. Good evening. Chelsea Wilkinson, 447 West Washington. I'm here on behalf of Room at the Inn. Um, you know, the older I get, the more I realize that two things can be true at once. And I think that the last three weeks have been kind of a perfect example of that. Um, first and foremost, I want to thank many of you I've had endless conversations with over the last three weeks. And so I thank you deeply for your time um for your brainstorming um for all of the hateful Facebook comments and um phone calls you all have have fielded uh in in the name of making sure that uh our unhoused population is is safe. Um I'm very grateful to my staff um for also fielding some of that hateful feedback. Um and in the current situation and it's uh later in unfinished business around un city facilities I assume um both my staff and city staff have come to the conclusion that the um options offered were not in the best interest of of everybody and between um city staff having concerns, my staff having concerns, and then of course the the overflow of um feedback that we that we received. And so um one of the most beautiful things about Rometheian is is how quickly we can pivot and how um quickly uh generous philanthropists come forward um when we are in crisis. Um that being said um recently I I read a read an article that said that this crisis was averted and I think that that is a gross understatement and misrepresentation of what is currently happening. Um, just because room at the end was able to be quick on our feet and figure it out doesn't mean that this problem is going to go away anytime soon. You know, I I also live in town. Um, I

just got my winter tax bill. Thank you for that, everybody. Um, but as a as a property taxpayer, I am also concerned about the city's ability um to pivot quickly if there was a mass displacement event. Imagine uh a pipe freezes at Grand View Apartments. Many of the clients or many of the residents in Grand View were formerly homeless or would at some point have qualified for my services. And if there was a mass displacement event, would it have taken the city 3 weeks to figure out something to do? I don't know the answer to that. Um, nor do I believe that it's solely the city of Marquette's responsibility as it relates to housing and homelessness. But I can say for certain that it is not room at the end's job to solve this community's housing shortage. It is our job to save lives for those of us who are unhoused. Thank you so much for your time. Anyone else for public comment? Anyone else for public comment? Public comment is closed. That brings us to our presentations. We've got two of them this evening. Our first one is uh from the Downtown Development Authority, our executive director, Tara McKenna. Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you, mayor, and thank you, commissioners, for having me tonight. Um, I just want to remind everybody this is the first of our two required present public presentations. Um, it's required by our enacting legis legislation which is PA57 of 2018. The second one will be on Thursday um of this week. It'll be at 8 a.m. And we are actually holding our it'll be at our board meeting. We'll be holding that at um that extra room upstairs at Doners called the treehouse. So, if you'd like to come and watch this again because it's going to be so fun and exciting and and interesting, you'll want to watch it again. So, come on down. Um, it is free to attend. Like I said, it'll be at 8 a.m. So the mission of the DDA is so we are a public authority established in 1976 by the city of Marquette in accordance with PA 197 to preserve preserve deterioration excuse me prevent deterioration in business districts encourage historic preservation increase property tax values and to promote economic growth. Our fundamental goals are to increase property values, create and maintain a favorable business and and investment environment, ensure the sustainability of the district, and support downtown property owners, businesses, professionals, and residents. We have a map of our district here. As you can see, it's a very large district. We span um all of Third Street from Fair all the way down to Baraga Avenue um Barra Avenue there to Lakeshore Boulevard. We have Washington Street um from Seventh Street all the way down to Lakes Shore and a lot of those other streets in between there. Overall, we have about six and a half miles of sidewalks that we take care of. So, we have a very very large district. Our board of directors, we have nine nine member board, which is full right at the moment.

Um and here is our staff. I did realize just today I made a glaring mistake. Unfortunately, that is not Meline. That is Chloe. Meline was our former one. I updated her photo and forgot to update her name. Um, but otherwise, there's me and the executive director. Um, Jod Lancani. We have Mike Bradford, Brian Shire, Kelly, Khloe Kelly, and then, um, our maintenance coordinator, Nathan, with a few of our other staff um, there, our maintenance staff. All right. So, just to give you a little bit of background, we were established in 1976. Um, but our first tiff was developed in 1984. The district was expanded in 1992 to include Front Street, Veragga, um, and Fifth through 7th Streets. Um, and then we had two more TIFF development plans, one in '92 and then one in 2011. Uh, the district was further expanded in 2011 to include North Third Street. Um, and then we've since then had two other TIFF development plans, one in 2024 and one earlier this year. Um, and so you can kind of see on this map here. It's very small, but I'm trying to fit in a lot of information here. Um, where our how our district actually expanded over the years. Um, and the the timeline in which it um kind of corresponded to that. So as you can see over the years um we this just goes through um 92 but you can see before there we actually started our first tiff in ' 84. Um our v our base value back then was 2.8 million but then it kind of has grown quite a bit since then. You can see there it starts in '92 and it goes up to uh this last fiscal

year of 2025 with our total um assessed values of 71 million for a total captured value over all of those years of 48 million and some change. All right, so now we get into our annual report on the status of our TIFF and our development plan number five. You can see there all of our different revenue sources that we have. We have we have our TIFF revenues. Um our the DDA levy would be our the millillage the two two mills that we get. Um we do have some interest income um just through our accounts parking income and other income um for a total of $2,14,54.60. And our expenditures there we have payroll, communication expenses, maintenance and operating expenses, um our utilities, professional and contractual expenses, promotions and development for a total of there's also some miscellaneous flow through there um for a total expenditure of $1,676,912. And then at the bottom there you can see our outstanding outstanding bond indebtedness um for the bond that we have on the parking structure which that will be done being paid on in 2028. So this just kind of um shows in a pie chart here all of our different revenue sources. Majority of our source of our revenue does come from TIFF. Um and then we also have our parking revenue. All of those parking revenues are invested back into our parking system. And then we have, you know, some miscellaneous revenues, grant flowth through funds, which we didn't have any this year. Um farmers market revenue, um farmers

market flow through, that would be um different um food assistance programs and then some formotional funds as well. And the 2% there at the bottom is our our um millillage. All right. Okay. And then you can see our expenditures. The greatest of that is our personnel. Um, and then we have our maintenance and operating and also our communications, utilities all the way around. All right. So, now we get to talk about everybody's favorite topic, which is parking. Um, so we have eight parking lots plus the Bluff Street ramp that we take care of, which is 757 spaces downtown. Um, on street parking in the core downtown, we have 321 that are paid and 122 that are free. Um, for a total of 430, excuse me, 443 spaces. On Third Street, there's a 142 spaces, and those are all free 2-hour parking spaces for a total of 1,340 spaces. Um, breaking that down, it's 20% are free. 80% of those are paid. Um, we have 38 pay stations. Um, we have our passport parking app. We also have a dualport electric vehicle charging station in the Bluff Street ramp. Um some of our achievements for parking, we awarded 14 employee parking grants for businesses with part-time employees. Um just as a note, we were able to expand that this year. So we're really proud of that. Um we began a management agreement with One Marquette Place. Um enhancing turnover for privately maintained but publicly used parking lots. Um and generated some income through the Passport app. Via that um we added 19 reserve parking spots at the Bluff Ramp to accommodate demand and increase revenue. um those 19 reserve spots were um used. We they were

purchased within two weeks. So there was a high demand for that and those are all all being used now. I know we have a waiting list of five or six people for those. Um we restriped four of our parking lots. We added a curb cut and handicap accessible parking spot midblock of the Hunter block of West Washington Street. We were able to work with city engineering on that. So we're really we're really happy we were able to get that done. That had been something we've been working on for a long time. Uh we moved a handicap spot in North Main Street lot closer to the stair tower and converted another handicap spot to a van accessible spot. So we were able to increase accessibility at that north main street lot. Um we removed the or excuse me we repaired the buff parking ramp concrete and sealants um just to keep maintaining that um structure and make sure we have that for the long term. Uh, we removed rust and paint stair. We removed rust and painted the stair railings in the Bluff Street tower. We replaced our elevator door edge at the Bluff Street tower. We painted, recarpeted, and installed new lights in the walkway connecting Washington Street and the Main Street Elevator tower. It looks so much nicer in there. Before it was very sad and dark and dingy and smelly, and it's very nice and bright and beautiful in there now. Um, we painted the main street elevator tower that hadn't been painted in about 20 years. So, we were able to get that done. Our maintenance guys did that themselves. They did a great job. And we were able to change out our hydraulic oil at the main street elevator. Elevators are very expensive to maintain. U, here's our parking fund analysis. So, as you can see, our rental permit income has been fairly steady to go up just a little bit this year. Um that is because of those 19 additional spots in the reserve spots in the lower level of the Bruss ramp. Um our pay station revenue has been holding fairly steady although it um in the past three years it's coming down slightly. Um and then our

miscellaneous revenue is 3,000 and some change for our total parking revenue of $547,000. Um, our expenses are once again staying about the same. We do try to kind of keep our expenses and our income about the same. As I said, all of that money from parking is invested right back into parking. It goes to things like plowing, um, maintaining those sidewalks, clearing those um, different parking lots. All the different maintenance year round that we have to do for both the elevators, the stair towers, and the parking lots. All right. And just as a reminder, you know, some of the things that we I've already kind of touched on, but some of the things that we do spend that um that parking money on. And and all right, maintenance. So, our maintenance guys, um you probably see them out and about town working um all year round. Uh they do summer landscaping and lawn care. In the winter they do a ton of plowing, shoveling, sanding, and salting. Uh they do sweeping, trash removal, and cleaning, watering of our flowers, both our hanging baskets, and those really great um flower planters that we were able to put fruits and vegetables in this year, which is kind of fun. A very interactive sort of thing for for people out on the street. Um we have flags and other seasonal decorations that we put up. Um we have our holiday greens baskets, installation of holiday lights, um the maintenance of the market commons, uh event and farmers market setup and tearown. Um we rely heavily on our maintenance crew for that. Bluff Street ramp and parking lot maintenance, uh pay station maintenance, uh maintenance of elevators and implementations of special projects. So they're out there every day doing hard work in all all weather

conditions. Now we're going to talk about the farmers market. Um, as you can see, we've had a little bit fewer um, vendors this year, but I would say our vendors are doing better um, than they have been, and they, a lot of our vendors have expanded into not just one booth, but two booths. So, even though we see that number going down a little bit, we still have a very strong market. Um, you can see our customer counts there as well. They've been going up and up every year. Uh, for the Saturday market and for the Wednesday market, they've been staying pretty steady. So, we're really happy with both of those. Um, and you can see our income here. Um, vendor fees make up a large portion of our farmers market income. We also have sponsorships, ATM fees, um, some donation and merch sales. And then one of the bigger things that we deal with as well is food assistance. Um, this year we did see a a downturn in that and that is a reflection of multiple things. Um there is a lot of cuts to a lot of different food um assistance programs out there. I would expect to see something similar for next fiscal year as well probably um even more. Um unfortunately um food is medicine is probably going away which as you could see that's a huge part of the reimbursement or I shouldn't say going away. It's being greatly reduced. So that's more or less going to be a very small portion of our food assistance uh reimbursement going forward. Um it's unfortunate because that's money that gets um goes directly to to our farmers and really is able to help support a lot of a lot of good things there. All right. Now we're going to talk about our promotions. Um we had our downtown trick-or-treating on October 25th. Great time. Uh we were able to once again shut

down the two um the 100 and the 200 blocks of Washington Street and um you know thanks to the police department for coming out for that and uh helping us with that. It's always such a great time. We have ladies night and we have our holiday parade and tree lighting that just happened. I hope you were able to make it. It was a great great time. um we had restaurant week um in March and then uh we participated in the last art week. So that's that's not happening anymore unfortunately. We really enjoyed that event and being able to work with the city to bring so many people to downtown and to our community. Um we had Blueberry Fest on in July, always a great time. I think we had about 9,500 people in attendance at that event. We were able to expand it a little bit this year. It was excellent. Um, we had our music on third series. Uh, we did make some slight changes to that. We pulled that back to just three months um, this year and we were able to extend the time that we were able to hold that event and close that street down to make it a lot more impactful for those three times. That went really, really well. We got lots of really good feedback on that. And we have our classic cars on third street event in August which is also a really great event. And we also partner with a lot of other events in the area um help them in in a variety of ways to um be put on in the downtown which UP 200 the Queen City Half Marathon plus all of the other great um running events that Queen City puts on. Um, you know, and the Marquette Marathon, uh, the Margie GIC 50 mile bike race starts in downtown. I think that's a really cool thing. And the New Year's Eve ball drop. The one that I had to take off for this last year was, um, I believe it was Angry Bear. Um, rumor has it they will be coming back for this upcoming year. So, we're really excited about that.

And we were able to welcome 11 new businesses. Um, one of them being Maropax. Unfortunately, they did just close their doors. Uh, and then we had loads of fun laundry up on Third Street and Third Street Grill. Um, so we're really happy to finally see all of those um, storefronts filled there. And it sounds like there's going to be one more going in here really soon. So, they will be fully filled up there. Um, El Santos Tacos and Tequila. Uh, Second Story Studios on Washington Street. J&H Forest Farm Forest Farm up on Third Street. Uh the Trestle Cocktail Lounge, which really is part of the Ordo, but it's really a new storefront in unto itself. It's a great place. If you haven't been there, it's beautiful. Um Brmley's Books up on Third Street. Uh we have Lake Effect Company on Ohio, which was behind 0 degrees. Um the Explore Marquette Historic District Hotel. Um that is a beautiful, beautiful hotel. Um it's really, really a nice place on Bera there. and then fancy free on Washington Street. Unfortunately, we did say goodbye to several different businesses, which is unfortunate. Um, but we're hoping to, you know, make sure that a lot of those places are going to those storefronts are going to be filled in the near future. All right, some of our other DDA accomplishments, um, we worked with the city commission to finalize our TIFF extension. Uh we assisted Queen City Running Company and Bluff Street Station in obtaining a raft grant for their building facades. Um we hired Corbin Designs for our first phase of our way finding signage program which we've been working on just this week. Uh we hope to get that done here in the next couple months. Uh we worked with the city to fix our old coal bunkers on the 100 block of North Third Street. That was a huge undertaking. Um, so we were able to work with the city uh engineers on that and uh get that fixed, which is great. Makes it a lot easier for our maintenance guys to actually plow the

sidewalk there. They don't have to worry about our equipment going through the sidewalk anymore. Um, we worked with um Oh, that was redundant. I'm sorry. We uh improved the sidewalks around the district, including the Bluff Street alley, North Third Street, and other areas. And we continued investing in upgrades to the Bluster Street ramp. All right. So, we have any questions? Always so much. Commissioners, any questions?

I just want to thank you. You always give such a detailed presentation about what you have done in the year. It's really hard to find questions to go along with it, which is great. I do love all that you're doing with all the businesses. I mean now I mean I just hearing from the businesses that work with you guys at the DDA. It's great. So I want to thank you. And Blueberry Fest was amazing this year. I've gone to it every year, but it's well for the last eight years and it's really gotten better and better every year. So each of your events have continuously grown and gotten better and better and the farmers market is outstanding. So thank you for all that you do. Thank you

Tara. I agree with Commissioner um Hanley about the detail of your reports. It is amazing how much you pack into there and how and there's DDA does so much. I um have always gotten did I miss a report? I mean, you usually send that to us commissioners ahead of time. I didn't unless did I did anybody else get it? Okay. Anyway, you're talking about this report.

This report? Yeah. Did I miss it? Okay. Sorry, I miss it. I'll find it or I have somebody in. Okay. So, I want to just pass along a comment that I've heard from um two different people. Sure. Over the last two years consistently every time I see them. And that's and they're and these are two people that um are on walkers. So, they have mobility problems particularly in the winter. And I see I don't know how you can resolve this, but you know, you clear the sidewalks, you put those little cuts in there. Yes. and then more snow comes and they can't get past them. Yeah. And so they just kind of refuse to come downtown. So I I don't know if if there's a solution to that because I unless you just follow the plows along, but

it sounds like you have it's not the first you've heard that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it is something that our our maintenance guys do try to keep up on. um you know their their main when it does snow their main focus first is to clear the sidewalks and then once they get through that then they go around afterwards and clean back up those um those cutouts. So they do try to keep those as open as they can but yes sometimes this the plows come through again and so maybe there's a way that we can coordinate with the the when the plows come through to make sure that we do it after they go through and not before. Just I'm glad you're aware of it. Sure. Mr. Gley, do you have anything? Okay. Yes. Pro Tim.

Yeah. Tara, thank you for being here as usual. Hit my button so they don't yell at me. Um few things that I just hoping you can kind of hit on. Sure. Uh one of the the big exciting things we actually accomplished this year was extending the TIFF, obviously the the plan um that 2025 plan there. Um, as I kind of look forward into the future, some of the things I hear from from citizens first and foremost, Third Street parking, um, I know that's probably a point of contention with your board. Is that something you guys have been discussing at all? Is there any plans in the future? Parking in general or paid parking or both?

Either or. Just the the kind of the the issues of of what it's going to become, especially in the summertime, as you know.

Oh, sure. Um we have been working um talking a lot in our office about um next year restriping Third Street to um move some of those parking spaces away from some of the corners um on Third Street specifically um with the corner of Michigan. And there was a few others as well where um years ago some of those spaces were kind of jammed in tighter than what normally we would the the standard we would normally use. Um, and so looking back at that now, um, like, ooh, there's a few places here and there we would be able to take some of those spaces out, um, give a little bit clearer vision for both people turning in their cars and people trying to cross the roads on foot as well. Um, a lot of people just don't feel comfortable in either of those situations crossing there because, um, it is such a tight sighteline distance there. Um, so there's several different places we were looking at, you know, taking out a handful of um, spaces on that street and potentially putting in a few more. There's a couple spots where some curb cuts have been taken out and things like that where we could actually add in a space or two more. Um, so in the short term, that's kind of what we're looking at. Long term, I think, you know, at some point we're going to have to get some consultants in here and kind of really take a good look at Third Street and redesigning that. Um I think maybe a little sooner than later than what I had initially planned on doing and maybe doing that in that um we have those two new um apartment well dorm room or dorms going up at Northern just the very north end of Third Street. So we're going to see 360 or 380 some uh dorm beds going in there. We're going to see a lot more pressure on Third Street just from that alone. Um I also

anticipate a lot more pressure on Third Street, you know, from the eventual um developments going on at the old hospital site as well. So looking at that to anticipate that additional pressure up there sooner than later, I think is going to be really important.

Good. Yeah. Um I got probably about 35 more questions on my mind, but for the sake of time, I'll ask two. Um, when it comes to just, you know, where we are as far as our facade grant and, uh, you know, kind of what that's been over the past 5 to 10 years and and, you know, hopefully with the new TIFF plan, are we are we looking at expanding that grant? Are we looking to expand those funds, especially given the cost of goods and everything to make repairs? Uh, you know, the thresholds that were utilized before were probably on the lower side. Are we are we hoping to change that?

Yeah. So, we did we did um upgrade that or we did increase that amount a little bit um to 7,500 with an investment of $2,15 no sorry $21,500. Um we may end up increasing that in the future. Um we've seen kind of a a a roller coaster in what the demand has been for that. Um last year we did um grant several of those um facade grants. However, just based on timing, none of them came in until this fiscal year. So we actually didn't hand out any last year, even though we we awarded numerous this last fiscal year. So, we did actually decrease the uh number just the the dollar amount to kind of closer reflect that. We may end up going actually over that dollar amount that we um budgeted for this upcoming year. We'll see. We have a lot of interest in that right now.

Yeah. Considering where where people are financially, too. Has the DDA thought at all about expanding uh that program or expanding into a a more, you know, maybe trying to close some of the vacancies down, potentially offer some some grant funding for that to get people into those buildings.

Yeah, it's definitely a possibility. It's something we've started taking a look at um different um potential opportunities out there particularly with the MEDC to bring in um people to kind of help us put together some um opportunities to bring together those those property owners and potential or existing or future business owners to fill those those um vacancies. Something we've been looking at for sure. Last thing since I'm stealing the floor. Um the downtown plan. Downtown plan I in my personal opinion is a bit dated at this point. Um has there been discussion with the board about uh since we have everything kind of buttoned up on the tiff side of things to come up with a new downtown plan or explore the option of of what that's going to look like?

Um not at the current moment, but it's something we could definitely look at. Good. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Yep. Uh a lot of good comments. Um I have Do you have anything? It's good. I checked. Question. Go. Go ahead. Okay. I just have one question. Sure. And it's Is there any thought to changing the way the parking is on Farra Street? Yes. Because those pull- in straight parkings make it darn near impossible to back out without just praying that you're not going to get hit.

Sure. Um, one thing I didn't really mention in my um in my presentation, but something that um worked with the city on was a potential grant opportunity to redo Barga Avenue. Don't know when we're going to find out about that. I have no idea. Um the state has been moving a little slow with a lot of those kinds of things lately, so hard to say when we'll actually hear um any results from that. But, um, yeah, we're hoping to potentially implement some really, uh, great things on Barga Avenue. Um, narrowing that street to slow traffic down, that streets twice as wide as it needs to be. Um, to increase, um, you know, the ability for people to actually cross, possibly putting in a midblock crossing there, um, putting in street trees and other traffic calming measures there. um redoing the parking lot to make it a little more efficient for everybody. Um and overall just making it a much more attractive place. Um and burying some of the utilities, things like that. So um it's something we're looking at,

crossing our fingers that that goes through. Um, but yeah, it's it's the design the initial designs they gave us were really great and that's awesome. A lot of opportunities there for some really great layouts to slowing people down would be huge on that street. It's amazing how that street being that wide. I mean, Barbouts, I talked about it earlier. The people fly down that portion of Baragga and there's a museum for very small children right on that on that block. I don't love when they speed down it. Thank you.

Yep. Thank you, Tara. Um, couple comments and maybe one question. Uh, number one, the the curb cuts and the handicap uh changes were very well received. Thank you very much for doing that and in such a timely uh manner as well. So, that was great. Um, your Marquette one place, is that just app only or is there going to be a kiosk there?

Um, right now we don't plan on putting a kiosk in there um just for the app only. Um, it's been doing fairly well that way. Um we haven't really had um requests for kiosks there. Additionally, um the kiosk themselves uh to buy just one standalone is somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 to $15,000. It would be many many years before that were to pay for itself there. So,

okay. Um also in the parking ramp, are those rented spaces 24-hour rentals? Yes. All of them. Yes. Not all All of the rental spaces are 24 hours. Yes. Not all of the spaces are rentals, but yes. Well, in the the lower level, the large majority of the spaces down there are are are a little more than half. Okay. I wouldn't say a large majority. I'd say like 55 to 60%. I was wondering if maybe it would make sense for any of those. Um because I I think of access for farmers market and things like that and that's where we normally would park but we don't park there anymore because of how few spots there were

available. Um I was wondering if it was would make any sense to do 9 to6 or 8 to 6 or 7 to 6 type agreements there where those uh spaces when people are not using them for business might uh they might be open. So just a thought. Um but if it doesn't make sense then obviously I mean you guys will be paying attention to that. So that's all I have. So I think uh we say thank you so much for a very well uh very wellinformed presentation and we look forward to next time. Thank you. Thanks Tara.

Okay that moves us on to our next one. I'm like what's Kyle doing? Um, we're going to move on to the local development finance authority with Chair Lesie Hartman. Welcome, Leslie. It's always good to see.

Thank you. Good evening. Uh, thanks for having me, Mayor and Commissioners. Um, so I want to give an update tonight on our board at the LDFA and some of the successes that we've had this year and um what we're looking forward to in the future. Um, so I wanted to start with our role and why we were formed. Um, we're part of act 281. Um, I'm not going to read this all to us tonight, but um, our main tasks are helping to eliminate the conditions of underemployment, unemployment, joblessness, creating opportunity for new jobs in the area. Um, the financial management that we have, um, we review and approve the tax, uh, the tiff funding that goes to the smart zone. We review their budgets and their financial results. Um we also approve interlock agreements. Um and then we have a fully engaged board. Um our board meets quarterly. Um I think the our meetings and all of that's public information. Um the tiff funds that we received this year our um first distribution was 75% of the annual aotment of 1.6 million and then our second distribution of the 600,000. So 2.27 million. Um we did approve two interlock agreements. So that's um two properties that are listed here that we did carve out of our tiff um for the brownfield development. Um for the past uh fiscal year we had the um smart zone had created 13 new W2 jobs and 28 uh 1099 jobs. um the companies and um companies, businesses that they've been working with, they've uh reinvested 3.3 million into the economy. Um that's

maybe um grants that the businesses applied for um uh outside investment and then personal investments from the companies themselves. Um 163 clients came into the organization. There were 10 new companies that were formed um from there, 19 licensing deals and then there were seven patents issued as well. Um some things that are on the horizon for our board. Um the tip plan is set to expire in 2029. We've just kind of started count conversing about that. um the smart zone has been aware of that for some time and doing some feasibility um studies and trying to become more sustainable on their own. And then um I noticed when we were sitting here getting ready to get started, I saw the eight open positions in our board were the highest. So we've been doing a lot of work with the five members that we do have trying to recruit um and encourage participation, but that has been a struggle for us. There's times where we have a hard time meeting quorum. Um so tell your neighbors, friends. We're trying to um get a full board. Um I did mention that the Smart Zone is participating now in a feasibility study um looking at putting together an innovation center, a hub for um kind of like a one-stop shop for inventors where you can go for um all your needs. Um and then of course continuing the economic growth in the area, creating new jobs and then of course having um filling our board. Um any questions?

Commissioners comments questions question. Yes. I know it said that there were um new jobs created. Do we know how many of those were in Marquette? Um the uh this is Marquette jobs. Those are the only those are all the jobs that were in Marquette. Not all not all. Yeah. Okay. Um and the 10 new companies are those all located in Marquette? I believe so. Yeah. Okay. Anything else? Yeah. Port.

Yeah. I know something that we've talked about in the past a lot uh with the LDFA is the the 2029 and the the TIF. Has there been discussions on behalf, you know, in your board? Is there going to be an extension requested? Um, or is, you know, is this something that's going to be able to be funded by itself? That's the goal like what we've been talking about for the last few years. Um, and our board had recommended like that they um that the smart zone um they put together in their contract a payback fee. So if a company gets the support of the smart zone and then gets this huge investment or has is very successful that then they pay back the services that they received to the smart zone. So they did implement that. Um and then they've been looking at other ways to become more sustainable. Um I've been like personally myself I've been impressed with just the amount of grants that they are applying for and looking out for. Um so I feel like that is another way of supporting themselves too. Um we've just recently as a board started talking about the you know that end date coming in you know sooner than what we'll we're looking at 2026 so it will be expiring soon. So just kind of fresh conversations um wanted to start it here too and make you know get the commission engaged and see what the future would look like there. I know the smart zone would be interested in continuing um but wanting to make sure that it's

feasible and that that's supported by the community too. Absolutely. I mean well first and foremost thank you for being here and thank you for sharing that that information with with all of us. I mean ultimately uh you know anything that is you know an economic development tool we have to as a commission seriously you know sit and discuss and and you know it's it's one of the driving things that dictates how successful the city is. So, uh, hearing all about what you're doing and where the future is. I think we're all interested in that and I think it's, uh, you know, we're we're looking forward to what actually occurs. So, once again, thank you for that. You're welcome.

Um, I think I'm the last one, so I would just like to uh reiterate and say thank you for your your presentation tonight, Leslie. It's always fun having you here. And, uh, um, I when are your meetings? Um, we meet once a quarter. So we just had a meeting for October. So we'll meet again in January. Is that usually like a certain time of day? Yeah, usually Mondays at 4, January will be like a Tuesday because of the Okay. So it's late afternoon. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Thanks much. We'll we'll get the word out for you and hopefully get some other bodies in there for you. But thanks much. Have a great holiday.

Okay. Uh moving on, commissioners. That takes us that takes us to our consent agenda. Um, is there a motion? Commissioner Larson, I move that we accept the consent agenda as presented. Is there a second? Commissioner Hanley, I second. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Okay. Roll call vote. Uh, city clerk, if you would please. Commissioner Davis. Yes. Commissioner Gotautle, yes. Commissioner Hanley, yes. Commissioner Larson, yes. Mayor Prom Ottawa, yes.

And Mayor Schlaggel, yes. Uh, that passes six to nothing. Bringing us up to unfinished business and city facilities. I'm going to throw this over to where do we want to go with this? Kyle for the background. Yes, absolutely.

Thank you, Mayor. At the November 17th city commission meeting, Chelsea Wilkinson, executive director of Room at the Inn, requested permission to use the barrier gym for the month of December as a temporary overnight shelter to accommodate an increase in individuals seeking shelter. The commission expressed interest in using the gym as an overflow space for unhoused community members receiving services from Room at the Inn. City staff reviewed operational needs, staffing requirements, facility readiness, and potential impacts on city programs and services. During this assessment, staff identified an alternative location, the Preskyle Pavilion. Following a work session on November 24th, the city commission voted to direct the city manager to proceed with a contract for overflow use of Preskyle Pavilion. However, during contract drafting, city staff and room at the Inn mutually agreed that the Preskyle Pavilion was no longer a feasible option for the current need. Alternative temporary solutions that do not involve city facilities have since been identified. Fiscal effect, none. Recommendation direct the city manager to discontinue working toward a contract to use the Prescy Pavilion for overnight overflow shelter use. Alternatives as determined by the commission.

Thank you, sir. Um

for what? We have to have a motion to discontin talk. Oh, okay. Uh motion, please. Sorry, I'm trying to grab it back up now. Now that I say something, of course I do that. Uh, I I'm gonna go to the back or here we go. Whoops. Sorry, guys. I move that we discontinue talks with the room at the end for this. Thank you. Is there a second? Commissioner got Thank you. Now, do you need me to say discontinue working towards a contractor's talks work? I I think your motion is sufficient. I think the clerk knows what you mean.

Um, for Okay, Kyle doesn't know. Um, for discussion, I want to thank Chelsea for reaching out. Um, your efforts on behalf of the unhoused are amazing in this city and I am happy that we had the chance to try to work with you. I'm sorry that you saw the inefficiencies in how city government can sometimes work and how we have to do things. Um, I'm happy that you were able to find a different route to work for your people and I hope that everyone in the city knows that we don't stand for one group at all here in the city of Marquette. We represent everyone that lives in the city of Marquette, whether they have a home or not. And I will never not try to fight for someone to not die in our streets due to the cold weather. Anyone who woke up this morning and saw the negative4 degrees knows how awful that would be to be outside and I stand by every bit of trying to make something work with you.

Commissioner Gutle, I'm going to reserve comment for right now and we'll comment later. Okay. Um, where do we go next with this since we're

Would you like me to provide a little bit of a timeline kind of backing up even a little bit further? So um and I I think the background actually included some of that but um there was significant discussion and brainstorming uh with um room at the end and trying to find a path forward and looking at the original request which was barrier gym um which had identified some significant concerns or risks um using a public facility with the current programming that was already scheduled um and then some of the other needs that we we had to consider as well for um some of our other um user groups and and uses for that if we had um clients staying there. So, uh moving on to then the alternative location which was then identified as uh Prescy Pavilion which was discussed at the work session um prior to the last uh meeting in November and since then um working through um you know quite a few details it was identified as is not a feasible solution to continue going forward and that was mutually agreed upon um with room at the end as well. So, um, I just wanted to reiterate that while it may feel, and I don't even want to use the words solved because that's not necessarily what we're talking about, we really need to be, you know, we are continued to be reminded that there is a greater need to explore um, a a longer term solution. um and really try to find some sort of of answer for this and trying to figure out our role as the city um in that conversation because this is is certainly something that um we all have a responsibility in and and we don't have necessarily the resources as our our own here on the city and so this is something that cannot fall on one community and cannot fall on one organization. So, um I think that's been pretty pretty well heard from from your um comments and your your push for this um to explore the details on this.

I hope that clarified any of the timeline. Yeah. Anyone else? Okay. Um our next step, we're going to take a vote for it then. Okay. Uh great. All those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Opposed? No. Motion passes six to nothing.

All right. Uh that brings us to our second public comment. Comments again may not uh exceed 3 minutes per person. Please state your name and physical address when making your public comments if you have not already done so. Anybody for public comment, please? public comment. Seeing and hearing none, we will close public comment. That brings us to comments from the commission. We're going to start on the end with Commissioner Larson tonight. I have no further comment tonight. Thank you, sir. Commissioner Davis,

I guess I will just um reiterate something that's just been said and that and has to do with um Chelsea Wilkinson's comments in public comment that this isn't just a Marquette city problem with the unhome but um it's a it's a countywide problem. And the other thing that really struck me was that she reminded us that we can always have a crisis that that this isn't a crisis that's averted. It wasn't that long ago that we had a fire at Pine Ridge and we all of a sudden had a lot of people that didn't have a place to live. And so it I think it is very important that we continue to work on this problem and have a kind of a I don't know I guess a crisis plan for for something that she that she's talking about. So that's all I have to say. Thank you,

Commissioner Gotautley. Uh two two unrelated comments uh tonight. Uh the ebike and multi-use uh pathway task force was asked to present to the city commission uh our findings uh with regards to our evaluation uh related to ebike usage uh within the city as well as the use of the multi-use uh pathway. We have finished our investigation uh and we are anticipating presenting our findings to the city commission in January. I believe that will be at the January 12th meeting if everything works out with the mayor and the city manager and others involved. Uh much tougher thing for me to say is I heard what the room at the NE said and her job is to prevent deaths and that's a noble goal and it's it's a goal I guess I took a professional oath to 40 plus years ago now. Kind of frightening. It's also my religious and ethical duty to prevent death. I would make or support the same motion again to the city. Uh we might not be able to solve homelessness, but we certainly can't ignore it.

Mr. H. Uh Mayor Promway.

Thank you, Mayor. Um I'll keep it short and sweet. Ultimately, you know, we had a a meeting our last session. Um I think that there were some very good conversations that happened during that meeting. I think uh you know, Mr. Wilkinson came here from room at the end. um really trying to just make herself heard for for a lot of people that need to, you know, have a voice that, you know, are unable to kind of get that voice out. Um during the last few weeks, I mean, I think we all heard some really just terrible things on social media. Um you know, regardless of who they're directed at. You can direct anything you want at me or any of us up here. We're not going to be, you know, obviously bullied or um you know, care about any of the comments that you say. it's not going to change anything that we we plan to do, but I hope people actually, you know, look at the things that they write. Um, and realize that you're talking about people here, uh, people that have, uh, you know, probably a lot more problems and and concerns and issues going on than you can even fathom. So, um, I'll agree with the city manager. I'll agree with everyone. I I think it's something we need to continue having conversations on. And I I would even go one step further and and urge uh you know room at the end and and maybe some other folks that you know have big-time interest in this to to think about a ballot initiative. Uh put it to the voters. See if the county uh can get something like that uh to be funded by taxpayer funds. If it can, great. If it can't, at least you have an answer. Um and at least it's a direction uh that can that can potentially find some additional funds there. Um, but I appreciate the conversations and uh, yeah, that's what all I got to say.

Thank you. Um, first off, I'd like to thank the DDA for putting on the uh, the parade the other night and the gathering down at the Commons. It was a really great show. Um, there were tons of kids out uh, during that really, really, really cold weather. And uh, I think that everybody had a great time. It was great to hang out with the the big man, the Claus himself. to be able to turn the Christmas tree lights on and uh and and and kick off a hopefully a successful and fruitful holiday season for the city of Marquette. I would encourage people to first and foremost shop local and uh do their very best to keep as much as they can in the community. Um take care of your neighbors. There's a lot of people out there that need a lot more than than you know. So, please contribute in areas that that uh can can reach um as many people that uh that might need that extra couple bucks, whether it's the food pantry, the canned food drive for TV6, the number of other entities, including um uh uh Salvation Army that would, you know, could benefit from uh from, you know, one or two canned goods or a 100 canned goods, whatever you're thinking. But um let's let's uh let's take care of our neighbors. Uh in relation to that, when it comes to the decision uh related to the room at the end, I unfortunately got kind of roped into a little bit of a dumpster fire on social media with uh with some comments. And I I uh I was really disappointed um to to see a bunch of people that hide behind keyboards try and uh bully um other people and and discredit what they're doing for their fellow man, for their neighbors. And I uh I I really hope that that uh they can sit and take a look in the mirror and and and see um beyond a person's uh title and and where they sit socially

and and realize that they are just as much a human as they are when uh looking at themselves in that mirror. So, please um don't ever uh take for granted the efforts that some other people in the community are doing to make a someone's life that has much less uh any better. So, uh with that, I will pass things on to the city manager and go from there. Did you want to mention Monomony? I'm just kidding. I would like to I would like to rewind the tape. Yeah. Uh I apologize. I wanted to

lighten it up a little bit. Somebody dared me to, but uh just wanted to lighten it up a little bit, but um I I really just want to express my appreciation for um working together with um Chelsea at the end and um with the patients, but also knowing that it was a difficult ask to come in. I I said it before that um for you to come in to ask um to use a city facility was was meaning you were you were definitely at the end of all of the other asks. So, um I appreciate your your willingness to help and your understanding. Uh I just want to give a quick shout out now to city staff that um decorated not just not a plow truck um because that was being used um this past um week, but um our city staff had designed and decorated a a city truck and um was one of probably the the coolest floats. Uh you saw it coming down the hill um before it even uh made it down there. So, it was all decked in lights and singing Frosty the Snowman. So, um, great job to city staff. Nicole, um, had a huge part in that, but there were several, um, staff members that were were in the mix with painting and cutting out those handcrafted decorations. So, um, I'm I'm looking at Tara and seeing if the the voting is still open or if it's closed.

Oh, bummer. Probably tomorrow, but very soon. it's uh is in the running and hopefully the lead for the um best float in the parade. And um that money that money does come back to our employee engagement committee um which helps make this a wonderful place to to work and and spend. I'm not saying go vote. I can't say that but the voting is closed. But y'all know it's good. All of them are great. So thank you um and congratulations uh to another great parade and kickoff to the the holiday season. So thank you. We are at 7:03.