City Of Muskegon Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Hello. Hey. Yeah. Yeah.

Good evening, good folks, and welcome to the city of Moskegan City Commission for this general session on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. Uh it's good to be here with you all. Thank you. Um before we get on with our business, I just want to share some um information about public comment periods and how we conduct them. I'm during our meetings. We have a few different public comment periods. Um we'll have public hearings towards the beginning. After that, we'll have public comment on agenda items. So, anything that's remaining on our agenda for this night, um folks can give input directly to the commission on before we deliberate and before we vote. Then we also have general public comment at the end of the meeting which is additional time for folks to give their input directly to the city commission during any of these public comment periods. It's a time to give input to the commission. It is not necessary time for back and forth or Q&A or you know dialogue. We can arrange that at a separate time in junction if that is desired. Um everyone has three minutes to give their remarks. Um regardless of who you are, where you're coming from or if you are speaking in person or if you are joining us by phone because we do allow phone and comments as well. We'll do in-person comments first, then we'll go to the phones. Um, if you are going to, if you'd like to give public comment at any of those uh times, I encourage you to complete the public comment forms at the back of the room. It's on the table um there. Please provide your name and home address. Note, I will not be sharing your home address. No, I'll be asking you to announce that. That's for our records. I will be acknowledging if you are a city resident, which neighborhood you're joining us from. And if you're not a city resident, um which other if you're not a city of Moskegan resident, which other township, village, or city you may be joining us from? Um helpful context as we're receiving input. So without further ado, we're going to get on with the business of our meeting. Um we're going to be starting with prayer followed by the pledge of allegiance. Um if you care to join us in either of those activities, I ask that you stand if you're still capable of doing so. And we are being led in prayer this evening by Dr. Rob Renberg from Anchorpoint Bible Church.

Thank you. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we do thank you for a beautiful day. Thank you for the uh springtime that has the promise of sunshine at least, and we're looking forward to that. We thank you for this evening that has brought so many here today. We thank you for our mayor and vice mayor, for the commissioners. We thank you for those serving in other areas. And Lord, for those who are being honored tonight and recognized. We are proud of them and grateful for the hard work. We pray for those who will be speaking and sharing, for decisions that will be made, for the interactions to be um peaceful, to be uh full of wisdom and truth. We ask, Father, that you would just bless this evening's hour now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the 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, pastor. Thank you. Hi. May we have a roll call, please? Commissioner Kilgo, present. Vice Mayor Keenir absent. Commissioner German here. Commissioner Jackson absent. Commissioner Cochen here. Commissioner St. Clair here. Mayor Johnson here.

All right. We got a few different honors uh and awards presentations before we get into our public hearings. Uh first off, recognition of our Mosscane High School uh varsity lady reds and their championship. And I'm going to come on down there to read the proclamation. And uh I'll read it up here first. Y'all heard of this before because I presented it back in March after your after your win at the Redmond Potter Gem. But for everyone else, I'm going to read it and um Sharon, then I'm going to present uh to each of our players here. So really appreciate you joining us this evening. Whereas the Moss High School Lady Red's basketball team demonstrated extraordinary determination, resilience, and unity throughout the 2025 to 2026 season, finishing with an outstanding 26-2 record. And whereas the Lady Reds achieved an historic milestone by becoming the first girls basketball team in Moskegan County to win a Michigan High School Athletic Association state championship. And whereas on March 21st, 2026, as the at the Breerland Center, the Lady Reds rallied from a significant early deficit to defeat Detroit Renaissance High School 34 to 29 in the division first division 1 state championship game, demonstrating exceptional grit and perseverance. And whereas the team overcame adversity throughout the season, never losing belief and proving that unity and persistence prevail. And whereas this achievement was led by outstanding contributions from senior combo guard and 2026 Miss Basketball runnerup Mariah Sain, junior center Dynasty Bell, senior point guard CC Bonner and senior Jayla Martin along with the dedication of their teammates. And whereas under the

leadership of head coach Bernard Laudermill, the team embraced a vision of excellence overcoming challenges and growing into champions. And whereas the Lady Reds have inspired the Mskin community, serving as role models and leaving a legacy of pride, perseverance, and achievement. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Kenneth D. Johnson, on behalf of our magnificent city of Moskegan and the city commission, do hereby recognize and congratulate the Moskegan High School Lady Reds basketball team for their historic season and state championship victory. And I commend them for bringing honorable distinction and great pride to our community. So, this championship was historic on a couple accounts. Uh, one of which being the first girls basketball team championship in Moskegan County, entirety of our county, but also the first girls uh sports championship in the history of Moskegan public schools. and you now adorn that wall in Redmond as you so deservedly do. And so hats off again on the great work and progress you made and the pride that you brought to our community. You are the epitome of excellence and that's what our community needs and that's what is deserving um to celebrate and uplift the excellence of our youth and our students of Moskegan public schools. And so I will like to recognize each player, some of whom have been able to join us, some of which some of whom have not. But I do have a certificate uh for each of you to take with you. Antthony Sergeant,

would you like the Would you like them to stay? I would love that.

If you don't mind staying up here, We got so we really would love to have all the team up here for that. Uh Tamara Hunter not sure if she's around Maya. Oh yes, piggy. Deja. Did I say deja? Deja. Okay, you

said it right. Did I say it right the first time? Okay. Um, Kamaya Bonner Kamya Kamaya

Kamaya. Okay, she's not able to make it. Uh, join us this evening. Amora Hopson, Mariah Antinet Sain. Kennedy Loudermiler. Time flies. All right. I don't believe she's able to join us right now, but I want to recognize Lauren Gates as well as Nikira Briggs and Jamaia Franklin. Oh my goodness.

And Dynasty Bell. I don't believe Jayla Martin. No, but let's give it up and Jones. Before I give to the head coach, I do want to recognize the other members of the coaching team and staff. Um, assistant coaches Maurice Sain senior, Jawan Lauder, Dea Day, Jasmine West, Kelvin Vance, Maurice Sain Jr., athletic trainer Emily Lobinger. Um, and managers Casey Webb and Trevian Johnson. And last, but certainly not least, head coach Bernard Laudermemell.

So, we do have a couple more things to present and I've got certificate to for you to take with you to hand to the rest of the team. Do want to present. First we'll go with if you don't mind I'm squeeze right through here. Get this. So wait. Oh my goodness. I saw the white white sweatshirt. Um

you come on up here. You know what we didn't have on this list, but I do not want to uh leave him out whatsoever is Miss High School athletic director.

We have one more sign to present to all of you. Thank you. All right. Well, coach, you have any remarks you wish to share with um the commission and our community?

Yes. Mayor basketball. Greatly appreciate it. Girls had a great season. um excellent group of young ladies. I like the name I had on the fact that they champions on the court champions in the class as far as being academic. started injuries. We were blessed to have injuries this year and it paid off. Thank you once again girls basketball.

You have any to share? First thanks. I want to thank us accomplishment. And lastly, my team graduating senior. What does the future hold for you? Where are you going to be next year? I will be going to North Carolina Charlotte University to continue myade to share where they're going to be heading after graduation.

Okay. Um I will be going to North Carolina.

I'll be attending NC to my athletic academic career.

I will be going to NCC also.

We have also CC honors tonight here to continue athletic andade. J Martin will be going to Jackson Community College. We have six young ladies going to college right now. Tamara will be with seven when she um decide on where she's going to be going this fall. Seven out of seven is not bad. love to hear their excellence in athletic and academic.

We love to hear that. And uh again, congratulations and uh wishing all of the seniors the very best in your uh next uh educational career. And to everyone else that's going to be returning, let's get that championship again next year. So, we will um I mean if you want to do photos with family and the signs out there that you can do so but leave the sign so we can uh get them installed. Otherwise, Jonathan can inform um coach when uh we plan on installing those those signs.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

Oh, okay. I think we got it. Pass it along, please. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Oh, thank you, sir. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations again. Good work, man. Appreciate you. It's going to be a long maybe.

One more round of applause. It's particularly nice to see our Delta Sigma uh theta throwers. Did I say that right? In their men and white uh for uh yeah matching up with big reds. So I know we're going to be hearing from you later. This going to be a long meeting though. We might want to try to figure out a way to You know what? You do have a When we get to general When we get to general comment, I'm going to ask the commission to spend the rules so that we can accept um general public comment at that time as well. Oh, okay.

Yes. Yeah. All right. We do have a couple more under awards presentations. Next up, recognition of Jessica Grim. My city clerk is going to be leading out on this.

Jessica They didn't leap because of us. I promise you. Um, I wanted to acknowledge uh Jessica Grim here who has been uh doing training uh diligently for the last three years going to weeklong trainings, taking all kinds of classes, tests, and uh more training on top of that. And because of all of that, she received her Michigan Professional Municipal Clerk's um certification. It's see uh through the uh Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks. This is not a small feat. Uh and I think it's just very uh deserving. She is awesome. Uh we think she is such an asset to the city and we're just very proud of her. That's too much for her.

She's so modest. The standing ovation ran her out of the room. Well, we congratulate and appreciate Jessica uh for her contributions to our city. Next up, we have Dangerous Building Enforcement Process. This will be a presentation Oh, really? Okay. So, I'm gonna let them move.

You may commence with your presentation. I'm going to bounce for a quick second, but I'll be back. Um, but you may presume with your presentation. If for some reason you need to take action before I get back here, you can um choose somebody from amongst yourselves to chair. In fact, I'll just defer to the former vice mayor. Um, if you don't mind sharing in the event that you need to, but please proceed. Be any action needed? We're just presenting state director Tim Kosal of city mskegan

Steve Stout um dangerous building inspector since November. Before that I for a couple of summers. One of the things that we wanted to do and I've been wanting to do for a while is just present to the commission our dangerous building process and how it starts from inception through the process of that Steve does throughout trying to take every step possible to try to work with our our owners of these uh prospective dangerous buildings to put it in front of our housing board um for consideration and then if it's then deemed to be a dangerous building where it comes to you and you also have one that you're going to be looking at tonight, which is actually the building that we show here. We're going to show you a flowchart of of the process and I'm going to let Steve run with sort of like an investigation that he would do into a possible dangerous building. Okay. Start with the first

It's a little flowchart one. Is that not on there? Can you go backwards one? Absolutely. Start off with that one then, Steve. I will hit scroll.

All right. So, this one I'll walk you through and then Steve will walk you through all the steps that he does. So, um I'd like to also thank Gabby Puhol. She works up in Safe Built. You must might recognize the last name. She actually put this together and helped out Steve tremendously to try to get this together to paint the picture for you of what our process is. So first you have that case initiation. It can come in different forms. It could be Steve um himself finding a dangerous building, somebody else within safe built. It could come from a community member reporting that particular building. The first thing he does is he's tried to find out who actually is ownership. And that's one of the biggest um headaches that we encounter is who is actually our owner of that actual building and taking that initial step to serve notice on that individual of this possible um dangerous building and what we believe is possibly wrong with it. So that order is sent out. It's set out through uh different methods um certified mail and through snail mail if I remember correctly.

Correct. Um, we then wait for um some type of affirmation of receipt so there can be contact with Steve so he can continue on with the investigation. He works through this try try to get an inspection sometimes an all trades inspection of the house if there's something that really needs to be taken care of. I should back up a little bit on our houses that we have fires at. we will automatically get into this process too because we want to make sure that we have it in habitable as he goes through that process. If he does get cooperation, he does get a a particular owner that really wants to work with us, he'll work with them on it until there gets to a point where our inspectors sign off on it and it is not deemed to be something that's unhabitable or dangerous. We then if it doesn't that does not happen or we don't have any contact which he's going to walk you through. We then put it in front of the housing board of appeals which meets once a month. We then will present to the housing board of appeals that particular structure as in the UI street address which you're going to be hearing about tonight. After that is done in front of housing board. He will ask if we don't have much cooperation or they haven't fulfilled the requirements for the housing board to deem it as a dangerous building. If they do um through a vote determine to be a dangerous building, it then will then be put in front of you as a commission to either concur with that decision or not. The owner of the building still has a right to appear at this commission when that happens to try to work through that. Still, we try to do everything objectively reasonable to work with our owners so we don't have to put people out on the street or we don't have to demo buildings. We really work hard at that and you'll see that city commission makes their decision after that. If it is deemed and concurred that it's to be demoed, I think there's a 30-day period um for us to be able to not not only find a demolition company,

but also for the actual owner to appeal it to circuit court. Some of this I might need help with Brennan because there's there's some stuff that they had would have to put into circuit courts for that. Brennan, what is that called? superintendent control. So, there's superintendent control that could happen if the owner does come forward and wants to uh still try to work on that. We've had that before. There was a house on Houston um that really was a long process with us with safe built and finally after it got into superending superintendent control where with the courts, we're able to work with uh Brendan's office to get it actually now that it's in a habitable bu building. After that's done um and either demoed or made inhabitable, then we look at closing out the case. I'll let Steve take it over now as we walk through the actual instance.

Sure. We uh start with the case initiation. Uh we identify the dangerous building and there are multiple factors that could come into play with this. Uh as we saw in the first slide, uh half of this building, the whole wall is caved in. Um we'll talk about that later, but that's a pretty clear and easy situation to ascertain and to put forward. Um we take exterior pictures of the building because obviously I can't go in there unless I've been allowed in. Uh we create a list of the problems. It could be the foundation of the structure. The walls, the the old uh 2 by 2x4s or what have you could be rotted and the house is just completely falling down. There could be a hole in the roof. There can be so many factors in any of this that, you know, it it behooves us to to document that and and to put it down on paper in case things ever do go to court. And you know, we're trying to get people to cooperate us with us. As the chief said, um we would go to the historic uh district uh commission meeting and meet with them for homes that are in the historic areas. I have one right now I'm going to be dealing with shortly. um the ownership and initial notice. We perform a a title search on the on the residents through uh the register of deeds, try and figure out who all these interested parties are. We send initial notification to the owners with a list of defects and we allow two weeks to respond. I provide my phone number, real easy phone number to remember. Just, you know, give me a

call. I'm easy to deal with. We're not that hard. Um, just a little bit of, uh, contact with us will go a long way. Um, if there's no response after a couple weeks, then we send out the notice and order letter. It's a signed affidavit that would go through the chief's office. I would sign it. The chief would sign it and would be notorized. I do that registered mail, certified mail, two different types of mail. And then I physically post that to the structure, take a picture of it and document the date and time with the camera and then we download that in the computer.

That notice in order is to let them know that there's a hearing. There's a hearing before the housing board of appeals. So that's what that actually is and that's what I sign and that's what

then we go in front of the housing board of appeals. It's kind of a hearing uh that has a board that's in this room and I relay the case and investigation to them providing all the details uh along with all the mailings and information. Um I show them if needed the posting that where I physically posted that. um submit the the packet to the uh housing board of appeals members 10 days in advance uh before the meeting so they have time to look at the cases that we're going to present to them. Um, I attend the meeting, I testify at the meeting, and then the possible outcomes to the meeting are the owner agrees to repair possibly um gets the inspection, obtains the permits, provides a timeline, a reasonable timeline, and uh request uh reconsideration. from the housing board of appeals um to resend that order that that could happen. If there's no resolution, we move towards demolition. That's the last thing that I want to do. I I don't want to knock down a building unless I have to. some some of the things that we encounter with uh with owners that are trying to be cooperative or just appeasing us in a ways. We'll we'll get owners that will respond will come to HBA. I need more time. We give them time. We want them to get time. HBA wants to give them the time. But then nothing will happen for 30 days. If they give him a 30-day extension or a 60-day extension, he has to again serve notice. Let's come back in front of HBA and we start the process all over again.

Sometimes that happens two, three times because the HBA really wants to make the uh the person have the time to be able to get it done. There's a lot of patience. There's a lot of patience with the the board. There's a lot of patience with the city to try to make this work. But that sometimes you'll see that there's that delay between the initial notice to the time there's actually a determination is because we're trying to work with this

after the uh housing board of appeals meeting. uh send out a determination letter, a letter that advises the the owner of what the status is with the residence or the commercial building, what have you. It could be um that they have deemed it a substandard, a nuisance, and the wording goes on, but that they're moving toward demolition. So, at that point, I put together a packet and I submit that to you folks. And tonight, we have one on the agenda later, much later in the evening. Um, but I send out a uh a 3-week uh notice to the owner to advise them of of what's going on. And this upcoming meeting, as in tonight, I don't know if our owner is going to be here tonight or not. Um, from there we get with the city clerk, place the item on the agenda, and uh prepare the the packet. Uh, obviously I attend the meeting. I'm here tonight to explain to you all about the Yuba Street address. will issue the final determination that you folks come up with and the owner has 21 days to appeal it in circuit court. So last last uh month we had three houses ready to come in front of you for possible concurrence for demolition. Those all three were taken off. One of them was actually a fire and DPW actually had to help us at that fire scene and knock down some walls. We w after they get got noticed, they wound up taking care of it themselves on their own dime. So those things happen, but of course it takes a long time to get finally sometimes owners should take action. So those notices that we give

out, hey, we're about to have the city commission here. That's why sometimes you see those is because there's already been action taken. I'll do my best from now on to let you know on those meetings of why those have been removed. Okay.

From there, uh it's a demolition uh uh preparation. It's uh we're dealing with the demolition bids. We have to put together a packet, whole flyer to put out on the city's website requesting bids to demolish this residence or building or what have you. Uh we unfortunately get to deal with asbestous in a lot of these uh structures. And so we have a a gentleman that comes to town and he tests the entire uh I've had him test three homes recently and uh for his asbestous and one has been pretty good. I don't know what the final outcome is going to be yet, but he keeps me up to date as to what's going on with them and uh we're trying to progress forward on them. Um the demo contractor will handle the asbestous abatement. We uh deal with the bids through the city and uh we'll determine at that point when uh the bids come in who's going to receive the bid. I'll get with the chief and we'll go from there. Uh and it'll the contract will be to the lowest or highest bidder, notify the contractor to proceed. We come up with a a demo agreement uh contract if you will that uh I believe we've had the mayor sign in the past and and uh and we proceed with the demo. Then um the demo uh the contractor will then obtain the demo permit. Uh I'll post the no notice on the door of uh the the residence or building that they have seven days to remove their property from the the building.

Then we'll perform the demolition, the conduit inspections, uh confirm that the electric has been cut and and severed from the home, that the gas line has been cut and capped, the water line has been cut and capped. I'm learning all about this. And then comes the the fun part, the billing. Um, we have to invoice the demolition costs because obviously the payment for this has to come from somewhere. Uh, we send the bill or put it uh with uh the finance director and attach it to taxes. Um, at that point I get with the register of deeds and remove the dangerous building uh determination letter from their file at the register of deeds. And that mostly puts an end to to all this. Um, and uh we move on to the next one. Unfortunately, all notices are sent certified and registered mail. All notices are sent 10 days before the meeting. Uh determinations are effective upon mailing. So as soon as the determination is made with the housing board of appeals or you folks, the next day that I work, I will be typing up the letter and submitting the letter to the homeowner building. I post the notices on the property. Like I said, um some steps require 30 days uh waiting periods before I can proceed. And uh no permits are allowed after the housing board of appeals determination unless granted.

Any questions, comments, concerns? Thank you, gentlemen. Commissioners, anything you wish to ask? Just a comment for me. Commissioner German.

Uh yes. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chief Gooo, and um Mr. Scouts, if I pronounce your name correctly. No, I just want to say um more of a comment. Um thank you for um sharing this information and making the public aware. Um I sat on the housing board of appeals. That was one of the first first um subcommittees I sat on as a commissioner and I've seen um a lot of, you know, citizens and business owners come through and don't understand the process. uh this is a way of educating and making them feel um more welcoming that the city is willing to work with them and I I really appreciate that. So I just wanted to share that comment with you. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner German.

Commissioner Sinclair. Thank you. I would concur. I think this is really useful information. I think it was my first or second commission meeting. I think we had three houses come to us for demo and I would have benefited from this then. So I, you know, I would recommend that you roll this back out every two years with each new commission so that they get an oversight of of what what the process is and what their obligations are because it's a heavy thing. You know, it's it's it's not an easy decision to make and I know I felt very under equipped to make that call.

Appreciate that. I think one of the things that we also want to do is put this soil available for anybody to be able to see, you know, on our website. to get get like a flowchart, you know, and then have something that's an ad for questions to be asked. I've heard I've been involved with this since I've been here. I hear it all the time. Just call. We want to work with you. Just call. We want to work with you on this. The city doesn't want to raise.

Thank you. Um, thank you, Chief, and for the presentation. Um, I also used to sit on the HBA board. I have a couple questions. Are we back to having regular HBA meetings now? Okay.

Okay. I know that there were some changes with the department and some people who stepped off the board. Um, so even if it's not declaring homes, you know, every month, sometimes owners who get those notices, that kicks them into gear to get the house fixed. because as much as we don't want to tear down buildings, we don't want dangerous things to happen in some of these buildings that are unsafe in the city. So, I I I definitely want to make sure that we're continuing to have those meetings because sometimes it does get the owner of the building on track to getting those things fixed or even finding where they can get help because some people that have come to our meetings before, they can find out where they can get help or who the right people to talk to are to get those things taken care of. So

very much so. We might have a list of five houses that are going to be front of HBA. By the time it we sit and we're ready for the meeting, four of them are already removed because owners are already come forward that day or the prior 24 hours to try. They've cut permits. They're starting to work on things. But we do follow up. We do make sure that we're doing what we're doing. I I appreciate it. We want to make sure that our buildings are also safe. If you remember correctly, probably within the last year, we had to take down a building in an emergency church. I think it was first street that we determined that's moving. It's going to be unsafe and the city manager, you know, made a decision and u notified the commission that we had to do it and it was it was a situation we had to do it immediately for the public safety.

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Go. Anything to ask, Brad, at this time?

I I feel like it's already been said. You know, I think that it this presentation is very helpful for newer commissioners to understand the process of, you know, the dangerous buildings and I appreciate all the work that you guys put into it and I'm looking forward to seeing it again in the future when we have, you know, another election cycle for the new commissioners as well as, you know, any of the people who are going through the process or um people who are related to those people so they can help understand what's going on. And just really appreciate you guys putting that together. Thank you. Commission. Uh, thank you gentlemen. Really appreciate this good information. Um, and thank you for presenting to the commission and our community about the dangerous building enforcement process and look forward to seeing additional uh information uh being put together uh that's going to be on our website so we can share it with our community constituents as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Um before we get on with public hearings, um I actually would like to do a last minute addition to honors awards and presentations and that is to invite up the without objection um from the commission. Um and I'd like to invite up the Delta Sigma Theta um if you all are ready. Um they had um reached out wanting to arrange a presentation um and it didn't work out to get added as a presentation this time. So they're like, "Well, we'll just come at the end and and do public comment." Um this looks like it could be a lengthy meeting. Uh you all are here. Um you and so I would like to invite you up um now if you're ready um to address the city commission.

Good evening Mayor Ken Johnson, Vice Mayor Destiny Kenir, and the commissioners of the Moskegan city. I mean the city of Moskegan, excuse me. My name is Shemica Johnson, president of Mskegan Heights Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigmatheta Sorority Incorporated, and I bring greetings on behalf of our membership. We are honored to be here with you this evening as we celebrate 113 years in Delta Sigma Theta Sority Incorporated and prepared to celebrate 50 years of the Moskegan Hikes Alumni Chapter on December 12th of this year. For five decades, our chapter has been remained committed to the vision and legacy of our founders and chap charter members through service, advocacy, and community engagement. Our work continues to center around Delta Sigma Theta's fivepoint programmatic thrust, economic development, educational development, international awareness and involvement, physical and mental health, and political awareness and involvement. We recognize that the city of Mskegegan recently held an election on May 5th and we want to acknowledge the important work the city of the city clerk election workers and local leadership in ensuring a de democratic process remains accessible to secure and secure for residents. As a chapter deeply committed to civic engagement and voter education, we are currently developing a comprehensive civic engagement strategy focused on v voter education, voter rights, and community awareness. Through this effort, we are we hope to partner with the city clerk's office, local elected officials, community organizations to ensure residents are informed about local, state, and national elections, understanding voting rights, and remain engaged in the democratic process. We have also followed the city's housing efforts and understand the important role that home ownership plays in generational wealth, particularly within the black community. We hope to collaborate with the community leaders and partners to help educate residents on home ownership opportunities, available resources, and pathways to long-term economic stability. In addition, our chapter has continued

advocating for black maternal health and access to mental health services. We recognize the disparities in the community to impact black mothers and underserved communities. And we hope to strengthen partnerships with elected officials, healthc care providers and community organizations to ensure residents have access to support and resources they need. For 50 years, the Moskegan Heist Alumni Chapter has remained a pillar in this community. We will continue to advocate, empower, educate, and build meaningful relationships that strengthen and support the black community and broader Moskegan area. We look forward to working alongside you and all of your commun continuing efforts to make the city of Moskegan a safe, informed, healthy, and thriving community for all. Thank you.

Thank you, President Johnson. President Johnson, if you don't mind, um, real quick, if you're open to any questions from the commission, um, since we have you and you, um, desire to present. Commissioners, do you have any questions? You don't have to, but I just want to make it available. Commissioner Kilgo.

Thank you, M. Johnson. Thank you. And all the members, the alumni that are here today. Um I I also am passionate about um home ownership education and helping um and voter education, those things that you were talking about. How can uh people help support our local chapter, the Deltas? How how can they get in touch with you all to help support your chapter? Well, we can you can definitely email us if you go to our website which is mhaceltas.org. Um you can contact us there. We have active um participation on Facebook as well. But um any of our membership if you contact any member directly, we'll make sure that we get whatever message you want um delivered and hopefully to myself or anybody on the social action committee.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank great question. All right, Jess. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Uh, thank you, mayor, and, um, thank you, uh, Miss Johnson, and your soral sisters and the work that you do in the community. I've seen you out there, and I appreciate, um, the initiatives that you all are taking, um, to make our community better, to address the needs of, um, people of color, um, particularly black, as you stated, when it comes to certain situations, um, and educating, um, the public also. So, um, thank you. Thank you for what you do in the community. Absolutely. Thank you, Commissioner German. Thank you.

And thank you, President Johnson. Really appreciate you joining us this evening um and your shores um and presenting on the important work and the worthwhile work that you're doing. Um we are ready, willing, and able uh to partner with you um for the betterment of our Definitely. You will definitely hear from us in the near future.

Looking forward to it. Take care and be well. That brings us now to public hearings. And our first public hearing is, you know, first, if y'all don't want to stick around, we're not going to be offended if you want to depart. Um, but you are more than welcome to stay with us uh throughout the remainder of our meeting. Riveting. Absolutely riveting. All right, we're going to get started with public hearing. Neighbor enterprise zone certificates 312 Edison Court 313 Edison Court and 315 Edison Court. Good evening. If you kindly introduce yourself and please report out on this item.

Absolutely. Uh Isabella Gonzalez, development analyst for the city of Moskegan. So we received uh three applications uh from Fish Partners LLC for neighborhood enterprise zone certificates. Um this is for the construction of single family homes at 312, 313, and 315 Edison Court. Um they will feature three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms in 312 and 313. And then in 315 Edison Court, it'll feature four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. The proposed homes are located in an existing NEZ district towards around Harbor 31. And the estimated project costs for each of these homes is $575,000. Um the Neighborhood Enterprise Zone Act provides for the development and rehabilitation of residential housing located in eligible distressed communities. Um, approval of the applications would grant the future property owners a tax payment that reduces their property taxes by approximately 50% for up to 15 years. Um, we also have the developer uh here to answer any questions.

Thank you, Ann Gonzalez. This is a public hearing. We're going to open it up to anyone in the audience that wishes to give input and then we will go to the phones. Then we'll close the public hearing. Commissioners have an opportunity to ask questions. we can hear from the developer um or the applicant and the commission can ask any questions of staff or the applicant. Uh so first opening up to the audience is there anyone that wishes to give comment as part of the public hearing for the issuance of any Z certificates for 312 313 and 315 Edison Court. Seeing no takers in the audience, we're going to go to the phones. That's 231724 6721. Uh this is an opportunity to phone in comment specifically with regard to this public hearing on the issuance of any Z certificates. All right. Does not sound like we have any takers for phone in comments. Commissioners, I would entertain a motion. I move to close the public hearing and approve the neighborhood enterprise zone uh certificate for 15 years at 312 Edison Court, 313 Edison Court, and 315 Edison Court. Authorize the city clerk and mayor to sign the applications and resolutions.

Support. We have a motion by Commissioner Kilgo, supported by Commissioner St. Clair. Um first I'd like to invite up the applicant Good evening, sir, and welcome. Can you kindly introduce yourself? Uh Dave Denang, representing Fish Partners LLC. Right. Uh anything you wish to share with us before I open up to the commission for any questions they may have? Uh nope. Isabella pretty much uh told you what the sizes were of the homes and where they are, but I'm open for any additional questions that she may not have answered. Okay. Uh, commissioners, do you have any questions for the applicant while we have them at the podium? Yes, Commissioner German.

Yes, thank you. Uh, and Mr. Ding, thank you. Um, name kind of threw me off a little bit. I know you work with uh, you have another company um, Urban Deep Custom Homes West Urban Properties and now we're doing Fish Fish Partners LLC over at the Verdian Development. Okay. So, this is something that you just um started or this is a new company or

Well, it's a new excuse me, a new partnership formed for uh the Vidian portion of the Harbor 31 development that we we've already currently uh built 11 standing uh homes that are on the water and we have three more started right now. We have two more on the books to to put in, foundations to put in. So, um, we took that or we're taking it over kind of like a four lot at a time purchase until the proper until that, uh, development is built out. So, we've already been over there for the last three years now. And, uh, but we're taking ownership of lots at at four at a time. Okay. Yeah, cuz I knew you was doing some work there, but not under the um the name that you have now. Okay.

Correct. Yeah, we brought in two two extra partners uh additional partners to take over uh the Vidian development. Okay. And the partners that you have uh how long have they worked in this area or the um I would say experience of building evidently I'm quite sure they're more of the investment portion of it and the building is just done by my company only. Okay. All right. That's all I have. Thank you. Sure. No problem. Thank you, Commissioner German. Commissioner Kilg,

thank you Mr. Dendang. Thank you for being here this evening. I I have several comments, but it's for an agenda item that we have. So, I'm going to save some of those comments for the specific agenda item because this is about the NEZ um for the Edison Street ones. And I I really believe in our NEZ. So, I have no problem moving forward with the NEZ because we're leading the state of Michigan in showing folks how we can build low entry level first-time home buyer stuff, the workingclass stuff and the higherend products. Right. I used to have my office over there at the GBSU hub. I know the mayor has an office there. So, we've seen the development kind of come to life there on the water. I just want to make sure as we're building this neighborhood over there just north of um uh of the Lakeshore Drive or uh Seaway Drive. Um we're that we're that we're being good neighbors that we're all being good neighbors because we're going to have a hotel over there. We got students and the working people in the GBSU. We have Parmentor Law over there. There's a lot of stuff going right there. Um, so like I said, I do have some other comments I'll say for the agenda item that's on here um for stuff that's coming, but thank you for what you're doing with continuing to build out. I'd love to see that neighborhood kind of finished up um and uh occupied like let's get them get them sold and get some families in there.

India is such a huge benefit.

Yeah. Uh and not even just in that development, it was done in Terrace Point Laneing, which was a huge benefit. But we're we're now over in Marquette. We also we know we build Nelson, Mclofflin, Campbell. Um just on one home that we just did the numbers today, it's a savings of $165 a month and that's for 15 years per month. So that that just made it possible for that homeowner to actually buy the home because it got them where they needed to be on the payment by reducing it $165 a month. So the NZ really is a it's a bigger more broad thing than just Vidian Shores. It's great for the for the whole city that all the areas it's offered in especially in all the little you know the other neighborhoods from Campbell spanning all the way over to

Marquette. So it is very important and it's a huge huge benefit. U my la my last question will be um for this one and these ones aren't waterfront right the Edison courts not the ones that are right on Moskegan Lake they're a couple streets in uh what is what's the price point going to be for those ones so those are right now for 575 including the land and uh and you're correct it's just across the street from the waterfront ones all of the waterfront ones are are constructed with the exception of one lot we haven't started one on that one lot yet but all of the 12 that are or 11 of the 12 that are on the actual water are constructed and um the last one would be closing on that one this week. Awesome. Thank you, sir.

Thanks, Commissioner Kilgo. Any other questions? All right. Uh so, this reflects uh you said you're doing four at a time. So, this reflects a a new approach or tact with buildout of that area because previously the lots were available for sale. People could buy them and then then contract for construction. You're building out four at a time and then making them available for sale. Um, well, it's still the same. Nothing changed. So, those are already all under contract and someone has um committed to buying the the or the three here. Um,

the way that our the way that our agreement is is we take down four lots at a time from the from the current developer, which is here, which I didn't know you were here tonight when I seen you. And uh uh so we take down four at a time uh as as our our LLC. And then we either one build specs on them or two we build custom builds. And currently out of the first four, we have one custom build and we have three specs that are going up. And then we just sold another one actually this week. So there'll be two custom builds. So we'll have five under production over there. All on not on the waterfront, but all one street in. Mhm.

Um so we take down four at a time and and when we sell these four, we'll take down four more. um but they're still open to the to the general public to come in and do custom builds and and buy the lots and then we design the home. But right now we currently have six different floor plans offered now and a total of 12 different elevations on those six floor plans. Um so we've got a pretty good extensive uh portion of of a build for development and also blueprints and different designs. Yeah. which these new builds reflect that the differing designs I've had different roof lines to change it up for

people remark on that seeing them being built it's like oh is that a different developer because they noticed the the different architectural design relative to the rest and um they were they liked seeing the variety um of housing options there um so and great work I I I was amazed at the progress they made I mean your your builders were out there all winter oh yeah like we don't slow down and unbelievably challenging conditions and we're just building building building. I was surprised. It took a couple years to get used to the 90 mph winds that come across the lake, but we've got it under control. Yeah, they're they're hardy. You got some hearty hardy uh workers, but thank you for joining us this evening and uh thank you for continuing to grow with Mskeegan. Always a pleasure.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Dang. Uh no, sorry. No. Um public hearing is over, but you can ask him. Um sidebar, you can ask him. Um, sidebar, but um, not doing back and forth right now. Thank you. Sorry. Um, analyst Gonzalez, thank you. All set. Thank you. Y, all set.

All right. Um, analyst Gonzalez, with regard to these NEZ certificates, they can only be made available, I mean, the developers um, securing them now as they're building them out, but the NZ certificates and the benefits of NEZ certificates and the tax exemptions um, only go to owner occupied homes. Correct. So, it's not a situation where someone could buy this as a secondary or vacation home or an investment property. Um, it's only if you are owning and living in as an owner occupied home that you'd be able to uh take advantage of the actual tax exemption.

Yes, that is correct. The developer applies for the certificate on behalf of the future or already possible owner. Um, and then the homeowner once the, you know, building is complete, there is a certificate of occupancy and the building permit's completely done. um then the homeowner can apply for the transfer certificate. They just have to have a principal residence exemption affidavit. So they have to be a principal resident here in the city of Eskeegan. Okay. Excellent. Thank you, Ann Gonzalez. Commissioners, any other questions for Anna Gonzalez? Nope. Thank you. Roll call, please. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner Cochen, yes. Commissioner Sinclair, yes. Mayor Johnson, yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. Uh, next public hearing is on neighborhood enterprise zone certificates for 541 Katherine Avenue, 551 Katherine Avenue, and 561 Katherine Avenue. Welcome back, Anna Gonzalez.

Thank you so much. Um, Isabelle Gonzalez, development analyst for the city of Moskegan. So, we received uh three applications for from Habitat for Humanity of Kent County um for NEZ certificates for the construction of single family homes at 541, 551, and 561 Katherine A. Each home is estimated to cost $244,00012 or $12 um to construct. Habitat for Humanity of Kent County intends to sell these homes to households earning up to 80% of the area median income. Um the applicant has met all local and state requirements for the issuance of NUZ's. The neighborhood enterprise zone act provides for the development and rehabilitation of residential housing uh located within eligible distressed communities. This would give those future property uh owners a tax abatement of up to 50% for 15 years up to.

Thank you, Morice Gonzalez. Uh this is a public hearing, so I'm going to first open it up to anyone in the audience and if you want to if your question is applicable here as well to the previous case. No. Okay. Um if there's anyone in the audience that wishes to give um comment as part of this public hearing for any certificates on Katherine Avenue. Seeing no takers in the audience, we're going to go to the phones. That phone number is 231-724-6721. There's an opportunity to call in as part of a public hearing for the issuance of NEZ certificates for three properties on Katherine Avenue. All right. Does not look like we have any takers for comment. Uh, commissioners, I would entertain a motion. I move to close the public hearing and approve neighborhood enterprise zone certificates for 15 years for the properties located at 541 Katherine Avenue, 551 Katherine Avenue, 561 Katherine Avenue, and authorize the city clerk and mayor to sign the applications and resolutions.

We have a motion by Commissioner Sinclair, supported by Commissioner Cochen. All right. I don't know if the applicant's here and wishes to present. Hey, good evening. Can you introduce yourself? Good evening. I'm George Visser. I'm senior project manager for habitat for humanity of Kent County in northern Moskegan County. Welcome, Mr. Visser. Is there anything you wish to share with us? No, I think it was covered quite well. So, I'm happy to take any questions. Okay. Commissioners, any questions for the applicant? Commissioner Kilg,

thank you. Um, thank you for being here this evening. Um, I actually noticed um today or this week on the MLS, the first one that you all did in the city of Moskegan on Ada Street is now on the market available for sale. Yep. The sale price on that home is $200,000. Uh, what analyst Gonzalez said, it's going to cost you 240 to build these ones on Catherine. What is your projected sales price for those homes? Are you going to sell them at cost or above or below? We're targeting 165 to 185.

Okay, great. That No, that's awesome news. Um I I just want to make sure that the homes in that particular neighborhood are in that particular neighborhood's price range.

Um I did see that they're connected to Michigan's AMI list, that 80% depending on how big the family size is. So, it gives an opportunity um for a family who doesn't make as much money as others to be able to have that uh dream of home ownership. Um I would encourage and I do always encourage some of our developers to um partner with lenders, partner with real estate agents, partner with community um nonprofits to um do some home buyer education courses. um they'll help get your home sold that you're building in the in the in those neighborhoods. Uh because there's still a need for people to know that they see a new construction house and they don't necessarily correlate, oh, I can buy that. But there are a lot of opportunities for people to be able to own homes in our neighborhoods now with a lot of the programs that we have going. So, thank you for what you all doing and thank you for coming to the city of Moskegan.

Appreciate that. And since you brought it up, uh, next Tuesday and Wednesday, we'll be offering a homeowner um home ownership class at the community college. So awesome. Where can people get more information about that class? Uh, at habitat um northern or sorry, habitat um northern mskegan.org. It's a new website for us. Thank you, Commissioner Kgo. Commissioners, anything else to ask of the applicant at this time? Uh, Commissioner German and then Commissioner Sinclair. Yeah, just a point of clarification. Uh, didn't you say that the homes that's being built now will sell for what about 165?

Yeah, 165 to 185 depending on income. Okay. Right. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you. Can you talk a little bit about your program and and how it works?

Yeah. um some notes. So, uh first homeowners will go to our website. That's the easiest place to engage first. They'll take an eligibility quiz. Um and then they'll start working with us to find a lender. Um uh work with our staff to go through the programs, go through these home education classes. Um, we have a very, um, basically a bunch of check boxes to make sure that, um, they're ready, their finances are in order, um, help improve their credit scores, and then teach them how to be a homeowner, how to maintain their houses, um, and, uh, and how to live in the community that they're living in. Um, once all that's complete, we, um, we, uh, offer them a dedication, uh, which is open to anybody in the community. Um, and then we close on the house. So,

thank you. I uh I know we for many years had a Habitat for Humanity organization here and have not had them for a while and I'm I'm gratified to see you back in the community and uh am excited to to see us moving forward. So, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Sinclair. Uh thank you, Mr. Viser. appreciate you joining this evening and uh appreciate happy returning to uh Michigan County and building homes again here. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for staff before we go to roll call? Nope. All right. Roll call, please. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner Coach, yes. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Mayor Johnson, yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes.

Motion passes. Thank you. Uh next up is a public hearing for the issuance of an obsolete property certificate at 1937 Lakeshore Drive. Welcome back. If you'd kind of introduce yourself once more and report out on this item.

Absolutely. Isabella Gonzalez, development analyst with the city of Moskegan. So, today um we received an application from Lakeside Development Properties LLC for the property located at 1937 Lakeshore Drive for a obsolete property rehabilitation certificate. So, they requested the issuance of it um for 1937 Lakeshore Drive. If approved, the property's taxable value would be frozen at the pre-re rehabilitation level um for the duration of the certificate. So the obsolete property rehabilitation district for this site was previously established by the city commission in 2019. Um the applicant is proposing the redevelopment of the former Harbor Theater. So you guys have heard about this project a little bit. Um and it will now be known as the uh Encore at Harbor Theater project. It has an estimated total project cost of over $3.6 million. Um the project has previously been in front of the commission before for multiple incentive related uh actions including the approval of a commercial redevelopment uh abatement and the establishment of a neighborhood enterprise zone certificate. Additionally, a prior obsolete property rehabilitation certificate was associated with the property and was revoked. Um at the time of initial incentive discussions, staff recommended utilization of incentives under uh PA255 that is the commercial redevelopment act. Um however that program along with our commercial rehabilitation act PA210 um expired at the end of 2025 and has not been extended by state legislature. Um while the state senate has approved the legislation to extend the program it is not advanced in the state house. Um at this time there are no current tax abatements for this property. So the commercial redevelopment act abatement is not applied to this property at all at the moment. Given the project timeline and anticipated construction um start in the spring. we recommended that they uh apply for the obsolete property rehabilitation certificate. Um the city's internal tax committee has reviewed the application and supporting documentation and based on its analysis uh scored the project um for

approximately eight years. So uh that is what we are I guess presenting to you today and we have the uh developers here for questions.

Right. Thank you Ann Gonzalez. Um and we um this is a public hearing so we're going to start there. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to give input with regard to the issuance of an obsolete property certificate for 1937 Lakes Shore Drive? I see no takers in the audience. We're going to go to the phones. 231724-6721. This an opportunity for phone and comment specifically regard to a public hearing on the issuance of an obsolete property certificate. All right, we're caught up. There's a bit of a lag between when I announce that and when people hear it on on Facebook and live, so I always have to wait a bit. Um but we are past that lag. Um commissioners, I would entertain a motion.

I move to close the public hearing and approve the attached resolution for an issuance of an obsolete property rehabilitation certificate for 1937 Lakeshore Drive and authorize the city clerk and mayor to sign support. All right, we got a motion by Commissioner Sinclair supported by Commissioner German. Uh do we have any questions for staff for the applicant? We have heard from the applicant um two times I believe already and presented um so don't necessarily want to rehash things particularly we got a lot more things to cover this evening um but if we have questions for Anna Gonzalez or the developer um is it I see commissioner coaching first is a question for developer or Gonzalez analyst Gonzalez

staff okay all right then analyst Gonzalez you come on back and commissioner coach and then we'll go to commissioner Kilville um thank you very much analyst Gonzalez my my only question in regards to this certificate is um it's being recommended for 8 years. Is that the normal amount of time that we recommend that uh certificate to be renewed for or presented for? Um so we have a uh 1 to 10year timeline um that is based on the scoring criteria of our tax incentive committee. Um and so the project fell within the parameters of the eight years and did not qualify for a full 10-year abatement. I see. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Commissioner Coach and Commissioner Kilg. Thank you. Um, is this also the same address as item P on the consent agenda? Yes. The um development and reimbursement agreement for a brownfield. Yes. Okay. Can you tell me in for the commission the difference between this development and reimbursement agreement that's on the consent agenda versus this? um obsolent obsolete property uh certificate the difference and in in those two.

So what I can speak on is the uh OPRA certificate um that is uh it's an it's under the act that's operated uh by the state and so um we are able to abate their taxes at the pre-rehabilitation level which the assessor receives and gives a uh statement of obsolescence in order to do that. So, their taxes will be frozen. When it comes to the developer and reimbursement agreement that you're referencing, that is part of the brownfield. Um, and that is an agreement um that was between the BRA and the developer. Um, I'm not unfortunately not able to speak out on about that at this time. Thank you. Um, if you get to answer that question, will we not need to pull that off consent agenda? Yeah.

Okay. I want to make sure we can avoid that. Um, Anna Hines, could you kindly do it? I will do it. Analyst Hines, City of Moskegan. So, the um development and reimbursement agreement is just like um analyst Gonzalez mentioned is the agreement between the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and the um developer. And so like if the brownfield plan is approved at the next public hearing, then that means that it just creates the timeline and the structure around how they're supposed to be reimbured for their eligible activities tied to their brownfield. Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you. And that's based on the incremental tax growth as a result of their investment in the property itself. Yep. Yep.

Thank you, Anna Science. All right. Any other uh questions for Ellis Gonzalez? No. All right. Um I do want I don't want to be remiss. I want to give opportunity to the applicant if you do have a burning desire to um address the commission. You don't have to. Okay. You here? You applied. I want to give you that at least the opportunity. Okay. Roll call, please. Commissioner Cochen. Yes. Commissioner St. Clair. Yes. Mayor Johnson? Yes. Commissioner Kilgo? Yes. Commissioner German? Yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. Uh, next public hearing and our final public hearing. Uh, this with regard to Brownfield plan amendment for Encore at Harbor Theater Lakeside Development Properties. Uh, this is the property that was just referenced in the previous u public hearing at 1937 Lakeshore Drive. Welcome back.

Good evening. Development H development analyst Hi, City of Moskegan. Um, this is a public hearing for the Brownfield plan amendment for Encore at Harbor Theater, which is 1937 Lakeshore Drive by Lakeside Development Properties. So um the brownfield plan amendment was approved by the brownfield redevelopment authority on April 14th. So the proposed amendment will facilitate the redevelopment of the harbor theater. So the way the brownfield works is that through tax increments the developer is able to be reimbursed for eligible activities around this project. So if you look at the um the cover sheet here, you'll see some of the eligible activities are infrastructure and safety um demolition, brownfield plan preparation, implementation, and administrative cost and local brownfield revolving fund. So reimbursement will start on um 2027 and will um extend through 202. Um they should be fully reimbursed through 2049. After that time, the the local brownfield revolving fund should be able to collect additional um funds to go into our our fund um to support other activities around development. This um brownfield plan will be um dictated by neighborhood enterprise zone and by the opra that you all just approved. So that extends the timeline of the brownfield due to less tax capture because it does have a opra and neighborhood enterprise zone on the property. Just to kind of give further context, um, according to the housing needs assessment, there is a demonstrated need to have houses at this price point. I know some, you know, attest to the higher price points for some of that housing, but the neighbor, but the housing needs assessment does show that there is a demonstrated need for housing at this price point. So, this is a public hearing revolving around the brownfield plan amendment for eligible activities for this particular development.

Thank you, Anna Science. We're going to open up to the audience if there's anyone wish to give public comment as part of this hearing. All right, seeing no takers, we're going to go to the phones. That number is 231-724-6721. This is an opportunity to give comment specifically with regard to a public hearing on the Brownfield plan amendment for Encore at Harbor Theater by Lakeside Development Properties LLC. We do have a call. All right. Good evening. You're with the city commission. You wish to give uh input on the Brownfield plan amendment.

Yeah. I've been trying to call in now for about 10 minutes because your phone system doesn't work. All right. Well, good evening uh Mr. Olsen from Lakeside. Beg pardon. If you state your name and proceed with your remarks. question is about three agenda items ago about the uh uh the new places down around Vidian and and Edison. Now you hang up on me. No, we have not. I think you've got bad connection on your end. Uh this is specifically regard

this is specifically regard to a public hearing on a Brownfield plan amendment. We can't accept input or comments outside of this particular topic at this time, but you are welcome to call back on. I've been trying to call in since the first one about I understand that, sir, but we are legally constrained to speaking only on this item as part of this public hearing. If you have additional comments or questions, I encourage you to avail yourself of the general public comment of order. I'm sorry. Yes, I'm I'm taking care of this, Commissioner Kilo. Thank you. I I'd like to make a motion to let this gentleman speak. We can't. This is a public This is a public legal counsel. I I understand. We've been we've been constrained. I've been We have to keep it only to this. There's no deviation. Not even a commission rules. I understand. I would like to make a motion to let the to suspend. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor.

Commissioner Kilgo, if no one point of order, Commissioner Kilgo, that is not an option. We are legally constrained. We cannot suspend the commission rules. Didn't include Excuse me, sir. Decades ago, it did not include residential housing. Okay. on on contaminated places like Continental Teladine. Excuse me, sir. You do need to keep your remarks specific to the Brownfield plan amendment for Encort Harbor Theater, 1937 Lakes Shore Drive. Well, I couldn't get through to you.

I understand that, sir. You're welcome to call under general public comment to share your uh concerns. You're also welcome to email the city commission at city commission@shurelanc city.com to convey your concerns and pose any follow-up questions. Thanks a bunch. Thank you, sir. Point of information, council, if I make a motion to suspend the rules, my I I can't make motions. Is that what the mayor was telling me?

This wouldn't be a matter of suspending the rules. at least with respect to this public comment that during this public hearing it any content has to be related to this. Uh so I suppose the the suspension would be to table the public hearing or suspend the public hearing to allow for public comment outside of the scope of the public hearing but that while in the public hearing the content has to remain strictly to the the public hearing itself. Thank you. things with the council and I appreciate your intent, Commissioner Kog, but we do have um restrictions parameters we have to adhere to. Did you get any other phone calls, Madame Clerk? No.

Okay. Uh commissioners, I would entertain a motion. I move to close the public hearing and approve the attached resolution and authorize the mayor and city clerk to sign. All right. A motion by Commissioner Sinclair, supported by Commissioner German. Is there any additional comments or questions on this item? No. All right. Roll call, please. Commissioner Cochen, yes. Mayor Johnson, yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. Well, that concludes our public hearings. Uh now we're going to go on to federal, state, county officials updates if we have or um from our tribal partners. Do we have anyone joining us? Any of our federal, state, county or tribal partners? Seeing none, we're going to go on to public comment on agenda items. Um and sir, if you are still listening, we do have an items regarding the area that you are speaking on. It is item P, development reimbursement agreement for Encore. Nope, I'm sorry. It is L. Item L

L amendment to Harbor 31 plan unit development. So sir, if you are still listening, you will have an opportunity to phone in and give public comment on an agenda item and specifically regard to item L. But first, I'm going to go to the audience. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to give comment on an agenda item or items? Oh, I do have public conf. Sorry, Mr. Murphy. Kevin Murphy joining us from Jackson Hill neighborhood.

Hello. My name is uh Kevin Murphy uh from 142 Verdian Drive. I'm the president of LSCA where a four unit condo also known as the forplex. I guess that was a historic name. Uh we're very excited to support growth and also be good neighbors. And we also welcome everybody down to the boardwalk to visit. And uh mayor, thank you for visiting us. uh last Sunday or couple couple Sundays ago, you were down there. I couldn't couldn't grab you. But my report is uh very clear. On April 16th, I presented my concern about the two public access paths uh on and signage and rules and regulations that have been delayed since 2022, PUD number three from Harbor 31. I have been in constant communication with the owners, Dan and his partners. I can report that Mike Houseman, one of the partners, and I are working diligently on both the signage and public access points. So, I I commend Harbor 31's leadership. We are also looking to clear an encroachment issue on the electrical panels that were put in on the on the docks. So, I think things are moving. What really concerns me though at the meeting uh on the 16th the uh there was an issue with regards to the 200 ft of Verdian Drive. It's it's like a spine and what's there is uh a concern that there's road safety parking reductions and also roadway being designed on the fly at that meeting. It was a lot of work being done at that meeting. None of the public really knew about it. So, what I'd like to just say is that the project was a 20 20 townhouse uh division with independent driveways. What we learned on on um the 16th was it's a 48

apartment buildings and we're all in favor for growth. However, there's going to be some real significant pressure on the Verdian Drive area. It was described as wonky. it was curved versus straight. Public works uh said that the road goes directly into a fence and a hydrant. Uh unsafe during dark and weather and no wayfinding. Public works also said that time is now for a long-term solution. Uh we were very concerned about the area. Uh we we we need signs. I know I'm running out of time, but there's also a shortfall of parking. There's at least 90 on-site parking needed about 35% uh shortfall. Uh besides LFCA is Parameter, Grand Valley, the 48 units on this 200 ft strip of Verdian Shores. Uh and we really need to figure out a solution because something's bad. It's going to happen. And I've been waiting on the phone since uh April 18th. I sent the I sent the uh developer an email and

haven't heard from him. So, thank you, Mr. Murphy. I'd really like to hear from him on the safety of pretty sure on that spine. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. Appreciate you joining us this evening.

Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to give comment on an agenda item or items? Seeing no takers, we're going to go to the phones. Um again uh to the gentleman who tried calling in before um on speaking on this item, you have an opportunity now uh to phone in. The phone number is 231 7246721. There's an opportunity to give input on any of our remaining agenda items for this evening. When you call in, please turn down any audio in the background. State your name and which agenda items you're speaking on. I'm going to wait a little extra long this time. The gentleman was having an issue of calling in.

You don't have to have his phone number, do you? Uh, you do have a call right now. It's not the same. It was me. I just was testing to make sure it worked. Testing it. Test it earlier and I guess that Well, we're doubly testing it. Not at the correct time. Okay. So, um, do you have a way to call the gentleman back? I do have through the system.

Yep. Hi, this is 7805. If you can um give me that number and I'll call the gentleman later and I'll try to have a one-on-one conversation with them.

Thank you. All right. Didn't sound like we have any other callers then commissioners got an opportunity to review the consent agenda. Are there any items that you wish to have removed and for separate voting consideration? Commissioner German. Oh yeah. Item K and O.

Commissioner Kilo. Item L M and N.

L M N. Yes. Okay. Commissioner Sinclair. Item two.

Commissioner Coach, I saw your hand, but were your items pulled? Okay. So if there are no other items, I would entertain a motion to adopt the consent agenda as presented minus items K, L, M, N, O, and Q. So move. We have a motion by Commissioner Ko, supported by Commissioner Cochen. Um, if there are no quick thoughts on the consent, we're going to go to roll call. Mayor Johnson, yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Commissioner Zerman, yes. Commissioner Ken, yes. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. First item, Commissioner German Steel Middle School purchase and development agreement. All right. Thank you, Mayor. Um, let's see. Let me see. I move to approve the purchase, let me see, the purchase and development agreement as presented. Authorize the mayor and clerk decide support. Motion by Commissioner German, supported by Commissioner Kilgo. And who is reading out on this? I'm reading. All right. I believe so.

Good evening, commissioners. Brennan Gorman, uh, city attorney, reading out on behalf of Mr. Eckl. Uh, he and I have been working with the developer on this project for the past couple of months now. Uh our involvement in this project uh began at the request of the public school system. Uh the developer has a very awesome uh Mr. Thrower uh development plan. That's two phases. Uh first phase being a housing project. The other one is the redevelopment of the steel middle school. Uh the public school wanted the city involved particularly as it relates to the middle school property uh to make sure that in the event of non-performance regarding the development of the school itself that the city could retain ownership of that parcel uh to avoid it becoming a a blight in the neighborhood. In the development agreement itself, it first splits the parcels. Right now, there's only one parcel. The first parcel into the housing development portion, Mr. Thrower and the developer would take ownership of that parcel right off the bat. The city would take ownership of the steel middle school parcel. Once certain metrics have been met by the developer, they would have the option to exercise and purchase the Steel Middle School parcel from the city, at which point there would still be additional milestones that would need to be met. And as long as those milestones are met, they may retain ownership of the steel middle school parcel. If those are not met, then the city would have the ability to uh revert ownership over the steel middle school parcel. I believe we have the developer here today uh for any questions.

Thank you uh councelor Gorman for uh presenting on the contours and framework of the agreement. Um good evening sir if you could uh kindly introduce yourself. Yes, my name is Rashard Thrower from the Q9 development company. I appreciate you all for having me here. Mr. Thrower, we appreciate you being here and uh if you would like to delve into some more of the details about your project and and the uh development that you're pursuing.

Yes. So, uh, we are looking to do an adaptive reuse of Steel Middle School, formerly Mosskegan Middle School. I'm also a former Lancer myself, so go to go Lancers. Um, yeah, we wanted to uh make sure that this parcel was beneficial to the entire community. So with that, we worked with our uh our local Moskegan uh public school system and also the city of Moskegan to make sure that we were able to provide something that was just mutually beneficial to the youth and also the elderly. So now we can move forward after long long months of negotiations. Brennan knows it's been an upward It's been an uphill battle, but it just feels so promising that now we're at the finish line. So, um I appreciate everybody who's giving me a vote of confidence, especially this is a big thing. This is a big moment just betting on Big Reds

more than anything else. Like, you're really setting the tone for the next era of big reds to say, "Hey, we can diversify our our output. we don't have to just be stuck in one stagnant place of athleticism. We can also, you know, maneuver in a lot of different areas. So, yeah, this is this is going to be uh beneficial. But just to go into a little bit more details as far as the development overall, we are going to first go into the housing sector. Um we're providing three different layouts. One of them is going to be around,67 square ft. The next one will be about 1497 ft² and about 1,828 uh square ft for the last one. We're looking at price points uh to build around 233 to potentially around 329, but we are also looking at ways to mitigate those uh those costs because we want to make it financially feasible especially for the neighborhood, right? And that also works with my uh my my uh past experience working in banking industry. So, uh, we're looking to start up a, uh, nonprofit organization. That way, we can put this into a community land trust and reduce the price of those homes. So, that way it's a lot more attainable. So, if we were to give a option, um, let's say, just giving some quick math real quick, if we were looking at about, let's say, for the 1167 ft house, about $233,000, $233,400. If we involve a CLT on that situation, we could reduce that uh between 25 to 45,000. So, if we did reduce it by 25,000, that would make that property 28,000 uh for the individual to purchase or we can have it reduced by up to 188,000. So, um yeah, and then after that, we go into the next part, which is going to be the sports complex.

Oh, that's going to be the crown jewel. I can't wait. That's going to be amazing. A full basketball court, two college style basketball courts. One of them we're going to have completely blacked out just so that way we can keep that essence of that Moskegan big great grit. On top of that, we'll have a few different tracks. Have a sprint track, aerial track on the second floor. Actually give that credit to Matt Cortez. You know, I like to take some um influence from our from our leaders as well. And then also we'll have some some media uh broadcasting. You know, pickle ball court. you know, some people like to get their pickle ball on. And then also for those that have a golf fetish, we will also have a couple golf bays as well. So, it's going to be a fully functional uh well, a very diverse uh location, but also we're we're looking to partner up with uh some local health care systems to provide like a physical therapy option and uh other things like that. So yeah, it's it's audacious, but that's a big red for you, right?

Mhm. Amen. Uh thank you so much, Mr. Thrower. Very exciting. Um and so many wonderful elements involved with this. Um I'm going to open up to questions, comments from the commission. Um and Commissioner German. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Mr. Thor. Sir, um and um I pulled this off the uh agenda because I rolled past uh former steel school. I'm a Lancer myself. Yes, sir. Played on that football field, the grid iron, played a little basketball, swimmed in the pool, all of that. Bell in the gully.

Yep. Hey, that too. That one, too. Okay. But um No, I I was um curious when something would be done with this property. And I know you had invested interest in it and I believe your brother also um um also you both are partners. And um the uh one one question I want to start out with cuz I I spoke with someone in the neighborhood and they I see they established a steel neighborhood association now. Yep.

Okay. And the concerns and can you tell me what were their um thoughts about um this um development in the community there? So, there were some roses and thorns, a lot more roses than thorns, but um one of those things were

we initially put out a um a we initially put out a layout that introduced um an apartment complex for the back half of the uh school. We heard a lot of naysayers on that. They was like, "No, we want to keep the integrity of the community as it stands right now with single family housing. If we do duplexes or anything like that, that's that may be okay, but if you're doing something that's multifamily, that's that's moving beyond what what the uh general neighborhood has already come to know and love. So, with that, we uh understood that feeling and that sentiment. we went back and recalibrated and, you know, just went full sports complex instead of even having a an apartment um layout involved in it. So, we just went single family, full out, you know, providing what the neighborhood is asking for and keeping it consistent.

Yeah. And I think that's really important to get input from the um the public neighborhood association um because uh these taxpayers have been invested in the community. As you know, you grew up in that neighborhood. Um I'm quite sure your parents are proud of both of you and my condolences also to your late mother. I we graduate the same year, class of 80. She does. So 1980. Yeah. So um I'm excited you know of the momentum that you know you and your persistence that you're doing and and want to see this project come into fruition. So uh thank you for your um diligence on staying persistent.

Appreciate it. I appreciate the Commissioner Kilog. Thank you. Um Mr. Thrower, thank you for being here this evening, sir.

Um I I have been rooting for you. Uh so this project is not only in my ward, but it's in my neighborhood. So the back half of the football field. Uh I went to those meetings at the Steel Neighborhood and other neighborhood associations um where they did say things like, "We don't want big apartment buildings. We want single family housing. Um I am uh it it does bother me a little bit that that uh there may be naysayers who don't believe in you, right? Hence the how long it took for this agreement to come through. But it's here, right? So the the the agreement says performance, right? So we need you to perform.

Of course.

Right. The Lady Reds were in here, state champions tonight, right? Your facility can train our next state champions in football, basketball, in all of the sports, right? We don't have anything like this right here uh in Moskegan, right? But it would be a worldclass training facility where we could train our next state champions, right? So, I definitely am looking forward to um not only the affordable housing portion coming, but the complex getting finished in itself, right? And not this is just somebody who's coming into Moskegan. This is a born and bred Big Red, right? So, we're rooting, right? We're rooting for you. Um I do have a couple of questions. So, for the housing part, they're planning to extend Oak Grove and Oak Avenue, some of those streets, because right now there's no street that goes into the football field. It kind of stops there on Amity. Uh they're planning to extend a couple of streets to make the a new neighborhood back there.

So, we worked with the city um city engineers on that situation. Instead, what we're just going to do is have it a uh circular situation where you just come in and exit out from Oak Avenue. Okay. Um because it would have been a lot to ask from Well, it would have been a lot just to extend Oak into that section, but then also when we were looking at having an additional um entry and exit area, we were looking at Madison as well. That one actually lined up perfectly from the city grid, but it would have just did a lot. We would have had to ask a few other people that already have probably lived there for 20 plus years to hey, you want to cut back?

Yeah. You want to you want to make some concessions real quick? And I'm like, that's just that that that I mean, like you said, we already got a couple naysayers. I don't want to add on to that. So, I was just like, you know what? Let's just go ahead and do a workaround. Mhm. Um and um I I guess I guess my only other thing is, you know, continue to work with um the neighbors, the Steel Neighborhood Association, right? Um uh there's there's some some good timelines like right the first one is like five years if I'm not mistaken, right, to get things going. Yep. Uh but continue to dot all your eyes and cross all your tees because when that

we don't even want to get near that timeline, right? We're already good. We're rolling on to the next portion whe whether that's the middle school. I know what I was going to say now. So the the Moskegan public schools had a grant for Steel Middle School and that grant part of that grant said that it can't sit there vacant and bladed and deteriorate like some other older buildings in the city have in the past. So that's one of the reasons for this is uh we the Moskegan public schools wants to see uh your vision come to life but because of that grant they can't have um the building just sit there. So, as all the timelines come up, we are looking forward to seeing this and I've talked to people in the neighborhood and they're really looking forward to seeing um this come to the neighborhood, right? Um so, thank you and good luck with the whole project, sir.

Appreciate it. I really do. And just to give you a little heads up, too, we've already started going through preliminary stages, you know, started incurring those soft costs. So just actually had a meeting yesterday withme so that way we can uh start knocking out the environmental once we got this part taken care of start going environmental and geotechnical and then after that hey some infrastructure stuff thank you commissioner keg commissioner coaching

thank you um thank you very much for putting all this together and and as everybody else has kind of echoed tonight. Really listening to the neighbors and the people who who live around where you're planning on, you know, making this development happen. I think that that's crucial and something that the people really appreciate. So, thank you for doing that. Um the the one question that I had in regards to all of this is the like the sports facilities and you kind of alluded to it with Commissioner Kilgo, but I just want to make sure like you have plans to be sp like having working relationships with our school system with our college to make sure that this facility will be available for for utilization.

Oh, of course. Uh Brennan knows this as well as uh the legal council for NPS as well. We actually structured in a um say it was what a 4h hour window I want to say per um per athletic department to make sure that they can utilize the facility you know so four hours a month um you know pays dividends

and like and another thing too and one of the biggest reasons why um why I wanted to make sure that this happened as you all know my my baby brother is the first Mr. basketball of uh the city of Moskegan. Also 28 and0 winner. Yeah, you know, I got to brag on him a little bit. But um also a 2018 Fair State National Championship winner in basketball as well. So we got we got a champion here, people. But on top of that, one of the biggest things that we've noticed when we uh when as he was coming up, we started a a uh AYBT team called West Michigan Ballers. We won a national championship with that. Shout out to Mr. Jim Gorman off of that. But what we didn't have was a specific location where we could always use to practice. We would have to go to Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Church just to use their gym from time to time. We would use Nelson. We may use Oakwood, I mean Oak View. Uh we would whatever which option Marquette Steel sometimes and it became more of a a nuisance after a while because you don't have any place that you can call home. So now we are able to have that specific location plus all of the extra things that we'll be able to provide on top of that. We are literally going to make Moskegan the West Michigan sports capital, right? And then on top of that, I can't wait for the AAOU weekends. Oh, the economic develop the the cash cow that's going to come from that. the hotels, the the the people that's going to be frequent frequenting all of our restaurants as they travel in town from Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, all of these different locations. Matter of fact, and then here's the best part about it, too. As we've already kind of spoke about, my little brother runs a AU program here, and it's one of the premier AU programs that's been connected to Puma. So now we'll be able to have we'll host Puma events. We'll be able to host Prep Hoops events. We'll be able to host Nike EBL

events. We'll be able to do so much that we can really put a spotlight on Moskegan in a way that we really haven't had because we're in West Michigan for some odd reason. We have to always fight twice or three times as harder just to get the same recognition. So if we're able to at least alleviate that in some way, shape, or form, I'm willing to do it. And then um just to follow up on that, the thing that I think that is really important um to myself and to several other me members on this commission is having places for after school programs to be able to go. Do you feel like your hours will be able to facilitate that and your prices might be able to facilitate that?

It would. And also um I'm so glad that you brought this up. I just released a layout with the last 24 to 48 hours in which it will have an indoor playground as well. Nice. It's going to be pretty nice. Thank you. Just gets better and better.

I know, right? I'm just I'm just adding on stuff. It's just going to be a lot. But like I said, you can go right to the Facebook page and you can actually see it. I plan to put it out on the Q9 uh development Facebook page as well. But it's just I'm excited. I'm just ready to see this ready to see this come to fruition. It's been a long hard fought battle, but I appreciate all of the stakeholders that's been a a voice of reason, a voice of confidence, a voice of support, and even with you all. You all have been given so much support to this. The Moskegan public school leadership has given so much support to this. Um, matter of fact, brother man right there. So, it's I just appreciate everybody and legal counsel as well. We had to go through so much, so much and a lot of phone calls, a lot of meetings, but we got to the finish line, man.

Crossing all those tees and dotting all those eyes. Uh, Commissioner Sinclair, did you have anything that you wish to ask or or share? Just that I'm happy to see where we are and excited to support this. Measure twice and cut once, sometimes even three times just to be sure. Indeed. Um, while you're up there, does Mr. Desanthrower wish to come up to the podium and say anything or share anything with us? Uh, uh, Mr. Rashard thrower, we very much

absolutely absolutely echo that. Uh, we we very much appreciate your contributions and commitment to our to our community as a a fellow Lancer and a fellow Big Red and also apparently a fellow uh uh baby of Hackley Hospital. Oh, man.

Um I'm so grateful uh for you and this would have been wonderful, you know, growing I know you grew up in uh just a few few streets away blocks away from uh uh Steel. I grew up a few blocks away, you know, as well from there and this would have been um just a wonderful asset to have and it's going to be a wonderful asset to have for this this community and not just Moskegan but the wider region really. Um and it's going to help us further unlock the great potential that we have in our community here and the excellence and you're just going to be able to take that to the next level. Uh, and I'm so excited about uh the athletic complex and the center you're developing there, but the housing component is is I know you're starting there, you know, and we need it. It's very much needed, but it is a chef's kiss, you know, being able to have that and be able to have the community land trust.

Like I think you're going to be the first community land trust in the city of Moskegan.

Oh, I almost um here's the thing, too. I almost forgot this because um I've this why I kind of appreciate Brennan them so much. My um my past is in banking. So I they worked in private banking and also as an anti-moneyaundering professional. And with working with these financial institutions, you understand what they need. So you have to speak so many different languages. You have to be like bilingual really. Um, so with that situ with that in mind, we actually are creating a Q9 home buyers program as well to um lower the barrier of entry for individuals to be able to uh acquire those homes. So like right now we're uh doing this with United Bank um as you probably already know Karen uh Karen Novak, she's doing a lot of great developments around here as well. But yeah, we've uh that's going to potentially reduce what is it the closing cost and also uh we may be able to do a reduction off of the down payments as well, but more so closing cost and getting those things uh taken care of. So trying trying man trying to you know do a lot but I'm a mother's son. So I'm a mother and father son 9 and Lloyd Thrower son. So I can't half step. Well, we love it and um we appreciate your passion, your persistence and so grateful that you uh went and got that the knowledge, those experiences, the education and bringing it back and investing in our community. Uh so thank you for choosing to grow with Moskegan.

So I appreciate you all for the vote of confidence here and all the best to you. Oh, and can you uh quickly share how if someone wants to come alongside and support you, how how how best to reach you? Okay, you can contact me via email at uh Rashardthrower R A S H A R D last name Thrower like flamethrower but without the flame. T H r o wt h eq-9.com or you can contact me on Facebook. Um you can also go to our website q9homes.com. We actually are is in the building blocks parts because you know you got to do a lot of stuff but you can also still contact us there as well and we'll be able to respond back to you and also our Facebook pages Q9 Development Company. All right, thank you again Mr. Thrower.

Appreciate you guys. Best of luck. All right, commissioners. Any final thoughts before we go to vote? All right, roll call, please. Mayor Johnson. Yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner Koshan, yes. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Motion passes. Thank you.

Congratulations. Moving on up. All right, that concludes item K, Steel Middle School purchase and development agreement. Uh, next item is amendment to the Harbor 31 plan unit development. Before we entertain that motion though, um, I have been informed that we are going to be losing one commissioner at 8:00. Um and we do have a close session item to address and it requires a minimum of five um premative votes to go into close session. Um in which case we want to do that now or if we want to hold off until closer to 8 because it takes five to get in but doesn't take five to get out. It just takes four to four to get out of close session. Um and so I don't know what exactly this item entails. I know the I know I know the but I don't know the the intricacies of what's going to be asked of us. Um I know what the subject matter is but not the intricacy of what's going to be asked of us. So I'm going to defer to legal counsel and um our city manager if they would refer us go into close session now or consider this item then go into close session um on the amendment to the harve 31 bill. I mean, as long as we get in before I just want to confirm you have to be gone by 8.

Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, we could probably get through more agenda before we go in, but depends on how much time you want. Okay. Each of the So, we're going to try to get through this next item um before we go to close session. Commissioner Kilgo.

I move to request to amend the Harbor 31 plan unit development for new residential development at 170 Vidian Drive and to amend the waterfront access paths within Harbor 31 be approved with the following condition. One, the storm water permit must be updated with the engineering department. Two, the certificate of occupancy for the meadows are not issued until the western path to the boardwalk is constructed and usable and includes a public access sign. We have a motion by Commissioner Kilus, supported by Commissioner S. Clair. Good evening. Can you introduce yourself? Please report out on this item.

Good evening. Mike Franzac, the planning director. Um, this development includes four separate buildings, uh, apartment buildings with 12 units each for a total of 48 units. There will be 67 off- streetet parking spaces. So that's about 1.5 per unit. Our zoning ordinance only requires one. Uh in the form based code, it actually maxes out at one. This the underlying zoning here is formbbased code. Uh but we do feel it's appropriate to let them to have a little bit extra with the rest of the developments going on. Uh in the development uh the entire PUD, there are 61 spaces also um available on Vidian Drive. So that's not counting Terrace Street because we know there's going to be some commercial there probably. But just going on Vidian, there's about 61 parking spaces. We've talked to the public works director. He's indicated that on the north side of the street, it will be fine to park uh cars on the north side. And let's see, a portion of the property uh is zoned wetlands uh or are wetlands. And that's why the development pattern has changed. It was originally going to be about 20 town homes, but that was not feasible due to the wetlands in the middle of the property that restricts development. Um, a very small portion of the GBSU parking lot next door is on this lot. So, that is going to have to change. Uh, we've been in communication with GBSU and they do plan on getting with us to amend that parking situation. It doesn't look like they're going to lose too many spaces, if any. Um the planning commission did unanimously recommend approval of the amendment to the PUD with five conditions. Three of those conditions have been met and have been updated on the site plan. Uh so I have struck those from the recommended um conditions. The conditions were that the storm water permit must be updated with the engineering department. That's pretty standard. Uh this one, the certificate of occupancies for the meadows are not issued until the western

path to the boardwalk is constructed and usable and includes a public access sign. Uh we think that's a fair compromise to allow the development to get started. Uh while still ensuring that we will have that access point to the boardwalk very soon. Um, there was also a condition that any street trees removed for terrace parking must be replaced somewhere else within Harbor 31 and the landscaping plan shall be revised to include 10 additional camping canopy trees. Uh, and that the drive entrance to the north side uh of the development to be realigned because that's where it got a little confusing when you come into the development and the other housing developments in the same area. That has been realigned as well. and uh has gotten the blessing from our public works department and uh so those last three conditions have been met and we're just asking for those two mentioned in the staff report and we do have the developer here tonight for any questions.

All right, thank you for uh questions for staff before I call the developer. Yes, Commissioner Kilgo.

Thank you. Um Mr. for trans my concerns with like I feel we have a great planning um committee um and I'm not on it but I believe you guys know like we've made some great progress in the city of Moskegan. Um so I'm not questioning the unanimous putting this forward but I do have a couple of issues. I know that it changed. I would love to have had it be town houses, but it's not my development. They've moved to apartments. I get it. Um, again, I spoke earlier about I used to go to Vidian Drive every day cuz my office was over there in the past and we have a um housing unit um the L LFCA um who has already been there. We have um the Vidian Shores town houses that are there. And then we have the Innovation Hub, which once a week, twice a week, once a month, twice a month, 10 times a month, often has bigger gatherings at their facility and then uh their parking lot fills up and then cars are parked along the street. They are on Vidian Drive or other places. Sometimes they park in the law offic's parking lot. Sometimes they park in private properties parking lot. Um you did mention that this unit is going to have more parking spaces 67 versus 40 units.

48 units.

48 units. Um but we know that you know some households are twocar households, husband, wife, so on and so forth. So, it doesn't necessarily mean that there will be open parking spaces. Um, I guess my question with all that being said, my two questions. One is I don't know if it's called something else and if we could maybe click on u Madame Clerk, if we could click on proposed site plan, the next one down, Meadows Western access, and then go all the way to the bottom and pull that map up for me. The color map should be at the bottom. So, at the north part of this um or the top, I'll say the top. That street kind of curves um around where the Veridian Shores um clubhouse pool area is, comes down, and then goes back up towards the forplex that's already there. It looks like it's that street is going to be narrower to not encroach on the forplex's property. It's going to be kind of a choke point there with the street. Is that right? Cuz it's not going straight. The street looks like it kind of curves back to the north. Like it'll be narrower in places and wider in other places. Do you kind of see where I'm talking?

You're talking about up in the top right hand corner where the road connects to the private drive. Yes. Yes. They had an additional eight parking spaces there, but we didn't feel that was safe with the traffic coming in and out and then the way the road was positioned. So, the public works director really wanted to see some improvements. Uh so, that'd be a little safer to go through because we're going to have, like you noted, three different developments people going to. So, we thought that instead of uh placing eight additional parking spaces there, um it would be a lot safer to just realign the road and use that space. Perfect. Do you mind if I approach and show him? Thank you. Um so,

comes kind of like this and that street going to be narrower here and wider here. This is the part because this will be the forplex's property. Oh, yes. Right here. Correct. Yes.

And then we have a car coming in and a car coming out. Um I'm just worried about how narrow this section here is to not encroach on their property there. And then the second thing is um if you could show us, it might not be on this map where the one condition on here has um the public access and the signage and it says on the western part. Does that mean west of the Parmentor building?

Uh no. The thanks I I can clarify that. Uh so there's two proposed uh paths to the boardwalk. One of them which I am calling the western access point uh is actually just east of Parer. Okay. So between the forplex and Parmentor. Uh nope. So if you're driving down towards down terrace, you see the lake, it'll be just to the right of Par.

Yep. And then there's additional space for development which they're finalizing that right now with another developer. And there's supposed to be uh one that is basically on Trilogy's site where it exists now. That one has to change because of the wetlands. There's also wetlands there. If you go down there, you can see uh by the split rail fencing, there's signs that say you can't develop in this area. And that's where the original access point was. So, what we're proposing now is that uh we require that they put in that western um path first and the plan is when they come back to amend the PUD again for the rest of the development, which they're getting very close to doing. I'm working on a submitt right now that once they get that figured out, that's when they're going to propose that eastern access path.

Okay. So, the one that's on here, the western path will be the one basically by the turnaround circle. It'll be Yes. Right in the middle of the circle. Okay. Yeah. Um because I'm

I'm not saying that this isn't right. Right. Like the developer probably they have their plans. They have their builders. They're they know what they want to do as far as the development goes, but we're holding the development like it says certificate of occupancy not issued until this is done. So that western path that's one as it's stated is saying that this developer has to put in that path that's there at the circle.

Well, it it'll most likely be the owner of the entire development, the original owner, Mr. Hendrickson. Um we'll be putting that forward. It it'll be separate from the Meadows, but since it's al part of the same planned unit development, uh that's just a requirement that will need to be met. That's what we're recommending so that we can ensure that we get that path uh most likely this summer.

Great. And and uh since we we basically already approved this, this is just an amendment to the original PUD because they were going to go one way and now we're we're changing it a little bit and and I understand that PUDS have to change all the time because we run into stuff like originally we didn't really know that this was considered a wet land in the middle of this. Correct. So, uh, I understand that things happen. Uh, I I do also have some questions for the developer, but thank you for answering those questions for me.

Thank you, Commissioner Kgo. Um, yeah, it is an emergent wetland, so sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not there. Um, but the state is um regulating and requiring its preservation. Um, any questions? Any additional questions for staff before we call it the developer? Commissioner Cochen.

Yes. Um, I watched the planning commission meeting and I know that several of the members were not able to be present that night. Um, and one of them called in and spoke specifically about the proximity of the dumpsters to the existing wetlands. Um, and I'm still seeing that uh those dumpsters or at least one of the dumpsters um still in that area. Do we know if that is being planned to be moved or is that not something that we've discussed with the developer?

Uh no, it it actually didn't make its way into any of the conditions. Uh I'm not sure why. maybe um ever made the condition um made as a comment on the phone. Uh it might site um this is where it's proposed to go. So it wasn't wasn't a condition on the planning commission, but I believe it was just a recommendation from one of the planning commissioners. Okay. And then um in regards to the proximity to the wetland um can you elaborate on how close we are going to be getting to the wetland with these buildings?

Uh sure. So there's probably um you know most of the buildings are set back at least 10 ft from it. Uh some of the parking lots and pavement get a little bit closer within a couple of feet, but the rule are is that you just can't go beyond the fence. Mhm.

So you can go all the way up to it. Okay. Yeah, I I definitely hear you. I um as an environmentalist don't like seeing things that close to a wetland because um there's runoff, there's all kinds of stuff that can come out of the dumpsters as the planning commission member had mentioned on the phone. Um it just leads to more issues in in that wetland, especially with salinity. Um so that's one of my concerns. Um, in regards to the the storm sewers that are proposed, um, I don't think I saw Mr. Oh, director Vanderhead is here tonight. Um, is that something that we talked about kind of at length at all or? Uh so with any development um of this size, you know, anything larger than a typical house is going to require probably an amendment to your storm water plan. And we had one for the entire development, but as uh projects change a little bit here and there. We're going to need to go back and look at that. So they've already started the process. I believe they're working with them. Um it's just a usually a condition we put on afterwards. So they've already thought it out. They know they have to do that. So they're planning for it. Uh, it's just a separate issue from the actual site plan.

All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I'll let somebody else have the floor. Thank you, Commissioner Cochen. With regard to the uh dumpsters, those would be required to be enclosed. Yes, and they are enclosed. Dump them. Okay. Um, before we ask the developer up, is there any additional questions for staff at this time? No. All right. Thank you, Director Franz. Yes. Thank you.

Kindly come to the podium. Introduce yourself. chair. Good evening. Uh Dan Hendrickson. I am the developer. I'm also the architect and planner. So, you get one source here so I can hopefully answer any question you have. So, uh thank you uh for allowing us to be here tonight. Um been on this project for a long time. I don't know if I know any of you here, Mr. German. I've seen you here a few times. So, um excited for the progress we're making here at Harbor 31. Uh we've got the hotels broken ground as we all know and that is uh going move along uh probably in May June next year of occupancy. So we're finding some stuff in the soil but that's not unusual for a brownfield site. So we're we're moving along nicely there. Um department project the the shape of this development occurred because of the wetland emerging wetland 2017 became wetland 2016 it was not. So it caused us some major grief if you want to call it that. I hate to call eagle grief, but it's they're tough to deal with as everybody knows. So, this was the biggest site we could get from them with um still make it a developable site or else we'd lose the entire site. So, Trilogy had to go through the same thing. We had to condense that site a little bit. We lost about seven acres of land that we could develop on the site. So, we worked our way around it. Looking at this as the architect planner, I said, "Well, maybe we'll just turn that into an asset." So, all these apartment uh buildings, the living areas face the wetland. So, the wetland became becomes the metal. So that's kind of the idea here.

The difference between what formbbased code and what we're doing allows is parking cannot be in front of the building and it typically needs to be 40 feet off the road. There's no place for that. So we've been able to put them beside the building which is as good as we're going to get. We're going to screen that parking the best we're going to do and then these these units will be three stories and they'll be nice marketdriven rents. So I think it's going to be a great project about $13 million of total building. Thank you Mr. Hendrickson. Uh we're going to uh go to Commissioner Cook with the question to start off.

Thank you and thank you for being here tonight. Mr. Hendrickson, is it true that um one of the electrical boxes from your property is encroaching on the forplex that was there before harbor 31.

Very shores is also my development. And so we we put the electrical box in to serve the boat docks that we put in. And uh the electrical panels are just on the edge of the line. behind. I mean, literally, but the support structure that uh supports them, which is a 4x4, and we actually put a decorative wall on the side to to shield the views. Um, that's on the neighboring property. So, we're working with the neighboring property to talk through options. One option was to move it, which is fine. You can do it, just cost a little bit of money and inconvenience. Second option is uh we were working on a negotiation to keep it there, create an easement, and Lou will give them some permission to access the panels somewhere down the road if they do put boat docks in. That's what it looks like. Kevin, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's I think where we're landing. So, it's a good solution. Doesn't cost anybody any money and gives them the opportunity to tie into our electrical boxes somewhere down the road. So, as a neighborly thing, I I heard you mention that early on. That's what we're trying to do. It's not been easy, but we're getting there. Um, my partner is a lot nicer than I am, so he's the one that's negotiated that with these guys. So, um, anyway, um, does that answer your question or your question? Sorry,

that does answer my question. And so you not only have a neighbor there to the north, but the neighbor to the west, which would be the GBSU innovation hub. I just want to make sure because this will be visually a big change. We'll have four threestory buildings now down

um down there. And I just want to make sure that as development moves forward that we are working with our neighbors, not to nickel and dime anyone, but we want it to be a community for everyone down there, those businesses, the students that may access the hub, the people who have already lived there for some time, uh, and those new folks that are going to come in and occupy those apartments. Uh, we want it to be a community. So, I just want to make sure um that we're doing that during development. And then after development, are you looking to um sell off the apartments or have a property management company that manage this?

Yeah, we've already have a property management company that we've hired to do that. I'm not an apartment manager by any stretch.

So, like David Dave Dending was here a minute ago. I'm not a single family residential developer. I did the land. I've built, you know, designed some of the buildings. And so, he's that that's what he does. So, we brought him in. Same with same with the apartments, same with the hotel. We have a hotel management company coming in. Trilogy, which you'll see in in the near future, is is an expansion program there. They're going to create their flagship uh facility around the country. They have about 100 facilities where they take the 105 bed unit and they create other opportunities for housing around them. So, and you're going to see that that's going to be coming up here in the next couple months. So we'll be left with lot J, which is the one that as you come into Terrace on the lefthand side.

And that's the lot that we're looking to do more retail and create that retail environment. But to do that, to have that survive, you need to have people. So that therefore the hotel, Trilogy project, um apartments, fridge shores, the the forplex as we're calling it. Um all of that contributes to the ability to have traffic down there. So that's the last piece. Don't know what it's going to look like quite yet, but we're getting close. probably a mixeduse development.

And then my last question right now would be um this restriction that's on here, which is why it's in front of us tonight. They're not given the certificate of occupancy for this Meadows project until the public access is done with a sign. Do you have do you see yourself running into any complications with getting that partner?

I've already talked to Parminal Tool. They're willing to give. We need a few more feet of easement from them to make it I want it on the center of an architect. So I got to have it on the center of the of the road as it comes in. So it's a 10 foot wide. It's going to be a little wider than we proposed earlier. And then we're going to have a little seating area down by the end of the walkway. Then we'll have a ramp that goes up which will be uh barrier free access to the to the boardwalk. There'll be signage at the face of that. So as you walk around the circle, there'll be a sign that's going to say public access. Then there'll be a sign that says rules and regulations next, which are still to be determined. So, I control that and and then the Trilogy site, I still control that. They have a purchase agreement with me, but I still control that. So, at this point, and they're they're very willing to help us through that.

So, I'm I am a nice guy, and I don't want you to think that me or any of the commissioners are grilling you tonight, but we've had other developers here in Moskegan who haven't lived up to their their words. So, I look forward to you living up to everything that you have in your PUB and have said tonight. Yes, thank you. Um I I hope I have that reputation. I've I've owned this property for 20 years and I've not given up and I and something like a boardwalk that has access to Walkway has access the boardwalk is the is is small compared to the things we had to do to get to this point. We'll get that done. Uh we have partners that are people are the word. So, it's what we do. Thank you.

Thank Thank you, Mr. Kgo. That's been a long time coming. Oh boy. In this project. I don't want to tell you older men now and when I when I started, but um and it's continually evolving and you're pivoting as you go and uh yeah, persevering going to make it happen. Commissioner Sinclair, support of the motion. Anything to ask of the developer at this time? No, for sure. All right. Uh Commissioner Coin or Commissioner German, anything to ask of the developer? Um, for me just more of um a wishing you success continuing on the project. Um, you know, I've sat on this commission for a while and

seeing the momentum and seen when nothing was down there. Um, the vision was always to see something that would benefit the community, um, enhance the community also. but um let Moskegan lead as an example for economic development. And that's what's been happening um over the last uh 10 plus years since I've been on the commission. Um and I'm actually glad to see developers like yourself come in and um do what you do and bring your expertise, but also to beautify our community and and work with the city. Um, and I think that's what sets the city of Moskegan apart from other communities. Not to take nothing away from them, but I think um, we lead by examples and partnering with um, developers and things like yourself. So, thank you.

You're welcome. MSK is important to me, too. I grew up in Cooperville and and playing I played basketball for Cooperville. I got beat by Moskegan Heights in my junior year and senior year and they won the skate championship, I think, both years. So, we just ran into a buzz saw both years. But, uh, LC Walker, too, which was Yeah. Good old days. It was tough. kitchen. They dunked right on me. So, I don't know if you know who he is, but I mean just about on the first play of the game that would put us in our on our heels. So, thank you very much. Any any other questions?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um do have a question. I am pleased that there's a condition on on the you know, precondition that we get the um the boardwalk access installed um before occupancy. Um and I think that is a reflection of past conversations we've had at the commission. So, I appreciate staff um you know, working with you on on incorporating that um sooner than later and it's going to be really nice and I agree with you coming right off of the circle straight shot center. Um it's going to be real nice. I do have a question in walking there as Mr. Murphy mentioned I was walking uh through there um a couple couple Sundays ago and I noticed speaking of infrastructure and the electric panel elsewhere. I noticed right where it looks like the ramp would be going there's pumps or something that I I don't know if those are owned by Parmentor tool or what but there's various infrastructure right there that would connect to the boardwalk where the ramp would connect to the boardwalk. So I don't know if that infrastructure needs to be relocated or or if the ramp's going to be

sprinkler system. It's a sprinkler system irrigation. So, it sounds like it can be moved. So, that might need to be moved or I don't tucked under the boardwalk. That's there's going to be a ramp at that point. So, so I did notice that. I was like, "Oh, I wonder how you all going to navigate that." Okay.

Um, but this is going to because we don't have all seven members here to vote unanimously on this. This will require a second read as a zoning matter. Yeah. Okay. Um, so we're going to revisit this at a future meeting to to finalize it, assuming that it gets at least four votes to move it forward this evening. Um, which I'm fairly confident that that will happen. Um, so all right, I just wanted to point that out because I noticed that and I was like, "Oh, might be a hiccup or something you need to to resolve there." But actually, I like this. Um, this is nice. I know it's going to continue evolving. Um, I I like the meadows. I like the the apartments um having more variety of housing options and it features the wetlands more. Um, so that it's going to be more visible, nice landscaping. Um certainly some people might want to go this way or go that way, but it's a nice development overall and it um supports the further buildout of that whole area which has gone through so many different iterations um over the years. But uh thank you for your perseverance and thank you for continuing to grow with Moskegan.

Just I'd be remiss to say that uh next Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the hotel. I think some have had invites. I'm not sure everybody has. More than welcome. Yep. I received it and shared it with the the commission and I certainly will be there. Okay. So, see you then. All right. If there's nothing else, roll call, please. Commissioner German, yes. Mr. Cochen, no. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Mayor Johnson, yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Motion passes.

All right. This will be coming back to us on where am I? Likely May 26. So, this will be coming back to us for another vote on May 26. All right. With that said, we're going to step away from the remaining items um on our consent agenda. And who has the motion to do go into?

Okay. So, what's going to happen here is we're going to receive a motion to close session. If it gets affirmative five, we're going to go into close session. That does not conclude our commission meeting. We're going to um suspend the the broadcast for the time being. Um we're going to go into close session. We'll come out of close session and then resume the rest of our commission meeting. Commissioner Sinclair, I move to go into close session to consider material exempt from discussion or disclosure under state and federal or federal statute as an attorney client communication. Support. We have a motion by Commissioner Sinclair, supported by Commissioner Kilgo. Roll call, please. Mr. German, yes. Mr. Cochen, yes. Mr. Sinclair, yes. Mayor Johnson,

yes. Mr. Kilgo, yes.

Motion passes. I have to use the restroom. All right. Good evening good folks and welcome back to the city of Mskegan City Commission general session for this Tuesday May 12th 2026. And we're going to pick up right where we left off which our next item that was pulled from the consent agenda for consideration is item M. Purchase a vacant lot at 1338 Arthur for future housing infill. Commissioner Kilgo.

Um we do K. I pulled K too. Yep. We did K. We did K. Oh, did we do K and L? Um Oh no. Oh no. I'm Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, you did. Oh, that was O. Yep, you did O. Okay. Motion to approve the lot purchase agreement as presented for 1338 Arthur and to authorize the mayor and city clerk to sign. All right. We have a motion by Commissioner K, supported by Commissioner Sinclair. And who's reporting out on this item? Um, that might be you, Mr. Manager. me. I I don't mind amending my I don't mind amending my motion um up here.

I I did just have a question. I don't see Mike or Jake from staff here to ask. So, um I'm still okay with certain with with the motion, but I do have some questions. I think we've talked about it a little bit, Mr. Manager. Um, this particular parcel is 84t x 66 ft. Meeting with our new zoning code, technically we could put two houses on this lot. Yep. And so I just wanted to talk a little bit about um

about if it makes sense like the configure overall configuration of the lot. So I think um at at this point what we're doing is just acquiring the lot. So and I'm fine with that. Yep. So we can um still subject to that. Madam clerk had to step away, but I'm okay with um doing a motion to You're okay with proceeding with the vote? Yes. All right. Uh Commissioner, is anything else to ask or add on this item? No. All right. Roll call, please. Mayor Johnson? Yes. Commissioner Kilgo? Yes. Commissioner German? Yes. Mr. St. Clair? Yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. Next item, N. Safe built contract amendment. Commissioner Kilgo. Yes. Motion to approve amended contract. Support. We have a motion by Commissioner Kilg supported by Commissioner German. Good evening, Sarah. County. Introduce yourself and please report out on this item.

Good evening. Public safety director Tim Koul. So, we presented tonight two um portions of a proposed amendment to the safe bill contract. One of the things that was brought to our attention is that um Steve Hammond, our fire marshal, does all of the liquor inspections and um used to be Safe Built and um fire marshall used to do it together. Now it's just Steve. So we recognize that. We recognize that that it wasn't caught when we did the actual contract. I brought it to St. Bill's attention. They totally understand. So we're just asking to strike that from the actual contract and um we'll keep all those fees to ourselves. Uh the second portion of it um there is a area where I talked about the rental program. Um I noticed there was just some things going on within um revenues and and uh expenditures. So I asked them to come in and we sat down and we talked about this particular area because over the last three years I noticed we were taking in about just over about 500 in our rental 500,000 in our rental fees and we were to keep the first 300 of that and share 50/50 over that. So they agreed that they will allow us to keep the first 400 of those now and then we share 50/50 over that. So, it was two, I think, positive moves by Safe Build, you know, in a collaborative measure to allow us to keep a little more revenue out of uh our building department.

Thank you, Chief Kos. Commissioner Kilgo, thank you. So, I don't have any problem with the license fee change and what not really a change, but basically just saying who does it. My my issues with the rental program fees, uh, I need a little bit of clarification. And so the 3% inflator, is this a 3% inflation on what we charge Safe Build that we take in versus what they keep, or is this a 3% inflation on the fees that we charge landlords or homeowners to for their fees? Nothing passed down to the landlords. This is all between the city and and Safeville.

Okay. I just want to make sure that it wasn't necessarily to the landlords or the owners because they're just going to pass those fees right on to constituents and I don't want rents to go up unnecessarily because of a fee that we do. Can't no but it's just this is just between the city and Staple. It's inflators. We also have inflators built into the contract with them. So there's money going each way on inflator or we have an inflator on their lease, you know. So we have those things built into the contract. I know that we've had a pretty deep dive look into our total fees schedule for the city and at some point that will be discussed but this has nothing to do with that. Perfect. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Commissioner Kgo. To piggyback on that with regard to the inflator, um you said that's just between Safefield and the city. Is that 3% inflator on the $400,000 number that we keep? You know, because you said the revenue sharing is $400,000. We the first $400 we keep after that is 5050. So it's at that 3% on that $400,000 base. So such that you know next year it would be $412,000 that we'd be keeping and then it's 5050% share and then it's 3% increase you know the the year after that. I would have to give back to you on that sir. I don't have that. It's a very good question, but I don't have that specific. Okay. Because I guess I'm just not certain what the 3% of later applies to.

That was already We know it's not fees, which I'm relieved to hear there's not we're not because that's the preview of the commission each year to set the the fee schedule. So, we're not obligating ourselves to, you know, set a certain fee, you know, over a number of years. So, I'm happy to hear that that's been clarified, which I appreciate Commissioner Kilgo and you, uh, Chief for clarifying. I'm just a little unclear as to what the 3% later does apply to and that's something that was already built in the contract that has no changes that I'm presented to that was just listed as the first section that we're making the changes. So I can uh get that information we can pass it along to the commission what that actually is. Okay.

So that that's the same percentage later that's in there now. Yes. Yes, we're just updating the years. So, you said the previous dollar amount was 300,000. Did we see that adjust then where it was? We just adjusted that third bullet point on there. It used to read 300,000. I think our legal council might have some clarification. So, I was able to pull up the contract uh as confirmation. And so the section that that seeks to amend is the city shall pay safe bill $27,318.18 per month for the administration of the rental program beginning January 1, 2026. The first bullet point below that, which is what the amendment would replace, is regarding that 3% inflator.

Okay. So it's the the payment we're making to them for administering the program. Correct. Correct. And then the revenue that's generated, okay, it'd be 50/50 split with the four first $400,000 coming to us. Okay. With their annual administration fee, that's where the 3% inflator. Okay. Thank you, for that clarification. Uh, commissioners, anything else to ask RAD before we vote? All right. Roll call, please. Commissioner Kilg, yes. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Mayor Johnson, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. But don't go anywhere cuz the next item. Uh, Commissioner German, Police Patrol Wage Union contract agreement.

Uh, yes. I move to approve the memorand memorandum of agreement between the city of Moskegan and the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council. Support. Okay. Motion by Commissioner German supported by Commissioner Kilgo. You pull up the actualou please. So, oh, next. I'm sorry. One more up. There you go. Thank you.

So in the uh contract um the there is to be determined for the last two years. It was that way. I'm sorry. Within the contract, we have moved um been working with the city manager and with the union. Um in in our discussions, we decided that we'd rather have the wage increases partly with our fiscal year instead of calendar year. So we started meeting with them, discussed this this wage increase, but we would make that as of July 1 of 2026, not January 1 of 2027. So it gives them a little bit of a boost, you know, not only this wage increase, but also gives them at 6 months earlier. Well, this contract will still run through Dece. So we'll be uh sitting back down at the table with them. They have an understanding that that is our goal to to keep moving forward with our wage increases coinc coinciding with our fiscal year

and we worked a lot of numbers Hayden did we did a lot of looking into our future and seeing how what will work. If you recall back last year we implemented a retention bonus they will be getting their second half of that retention bonus on July one also. Um we also moved to the 26 wage in October of last year plus a dollar. So, they're already ahead trying to be competitive, trying to be competitive with our um you know, our areas in in the West Michigan. I will say with this move, with this raise, we are actually a little bit above a couple of our communities that we're competing with. Can't touch some of the other ones yet. Um I don't know if we ever will be, but um our union is very happy where what we presented to them. We also decided, and one of the things I presented is I want them a top out earlier. It took them a little bit to get to top. You had to really work here for a while. I think up to 10 years, 15 years to be able to get to top. So, we decided to move it to a scale of start year 1, two, three, four, five for your wage increases. Five, you would be at that level through like year five and year six. And then year seven, you would top

and we have a good amount of officers are right in that wage. So, I think wage area and that'll help us with that retention is knowing that they're going to top out a lot earlier. at a very competitive wage. Good. Happy to hear that. Everything that I know that the city manager discussed with you last night about our budget, everything we have already worked in. Hayden already worked in that retent that retention bonus into it. So, we have everything baked into it uh for our upcoming fiscal year. Excellent. Commissioner German.

Uh yes, thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chief Koso, for um that report. Now, um let's say for instance, the officer has five years in um with this new contract, it automatically starts at that year five um wage increase and then tops out that the two years after that. So, okay. So, that's great. Um so, yeah. And you talked about being competitive. Um I know that's been an issue since I've been on the commission. Um

officers, you know, wasn't really getting paid. And I always say this, they never get paid what they should. I mean, for putting their lives on the lines, and I I really commend them for that and and what they do to protect, you know, the community and and and um residents here. Um so, I just like to say I'm happy to see this. I support this and um I hope that we can continue to, you know, make improvements to, you know, be competitive. Also, I appreciate that. and uh up to the actual scale just for a moment. I forgot in the third page. It's in the third page of thisou

right right there. One thing also that we did is we want to be competitive on our starting wage. We were lower than a lot of departments on our starting wage. So we up that a little bit just

outside of getting a dollar a year over the next two years. Um we wanted to be competitive on that. Really what we've done is we've moved it ahead to the July one start and alls we did was added a dollar. Other than the anomaly being in July 1 of 2028 for seven years plus that 46 already baked into the prior contract. I think we updated up that status quo. Any follow?

No, no, no, no. Um, like I said, um, I'm just happy to see, you know, changes being made to support, you know, public safety, our police departments, um, the work that they do. And, yeah, this is good. Good job, Chief. Thank and then working with the you know union and you know um staff and that that shows some um meeting of the mind I could say. Yeah. Thank you. Commissioner German Commissioner Kilo.

Thank you. Uh I'm going to apply in July. Um if you'll take me with bad knees. I like the way you um No, but seriously, uh I did see that you just graduated to and from the academy or hired two new officers. Awesome. I just congratulations. I know that's getting us closer to the numbers where we want to be. Uh so hopefully this will help get us to that number where we want to be at. Chief,

appreciate that. We actually have two that just went into the academy. Awesome. also. And right now we have posted and we actually just uh extended an offer on a lateral that will be coming here. Um so we're excited about that. We also have um recruits that we're planning on putting in in August for the next academy. We have three that we have done backgrounds on and uh psych. So we're real close on those three. Um it's a very diverse excuse me a very diverse group but we immediately just reopened again if you saw on our Facebook for more because we want to put six in. So that will get us hopefully up to that level of close to that level of 72 that we're actually uh earmarked for for the next fiscal year. Awesome. Thank you and your officers for what you do.

Thank you, Commissioner Kilgo. Um, speaking of the new officers, um, happy to welcome aboard and, uh, just, uh, so you know, and and, uh, the rest of our police department and public safety division know, um, all of our new officers and all of our new firefighters have a standing invitation to come to the city any city commission meeting and introduce themselves and, uh, be welcomed. Now, for the new, can you I'm just I know can you share um, with the community because we are actively recruiting and you said you're looking to get at least three more to go into the academy. Can you share with our community, you know, what that process is, um, and what that entails? Um,

so you can just go right on our website. We have one of those little box things. I can't remember what they're called. You can actually click it with your phone and and and apply. QR code.

QR code. There we go. You can see I'm with with the times. Sorry. You can go right to our web page. You can do that. Um, there's no requirement for any type of college education. There's only a high school or GED equivalent. That's pretty much the baseline that we have right now. Um then we ask that you you have to pass your pre um employment. It's for licensing MOS test. Um it's a physical test. We actually do that in house now. So we can bring people right here and do that and they can do the testing. We bought the equipment. We always had to ask people to go elsewhere and we felt we wanted to just keep them here. So we actually do that um in house now with a couple of our officers. And then what we do is from there all those applicants will then be um HR then takes the uh the reigns on it for a little while and does all what they do to meet the the minimum requirements for that and then we start our interview process. So we welcome anybody. We we love to be local. A lot of the people that we've had just recently especially those three that were hoping to put in the academy are all within the general area which is great. Then they want to stay. Um, so try to keep working on that to keep people local.

Excellent. And then, uh, once we do approve them to go to the academy, um, then we'll pay them that same recruit wage. Yes. Which we're looking at, um, up into $26 an hour. Um, so we'll pay them the recruit wage while they're in the academy. Um, and they have a a very good chance of joining our our police department once they graduate from the academy. Definitely. I mean, we pay we pay for their academy and they actually get a wage while they're there. It's a 16week. One of themies a 16week, the other one's 17 weeks. We go between GRCC and GVSU for our academy. All right. Been it's been very successful.

Excellent. Thank you, commissioners. Anything else to ask or add with regard to um the union contract agreement wage adjustments? All right. Well, thank you um so much for your work on this. Thank you to um our police officers as always, and I'm pleased to see us becoming more competitive. Um, it's a continuous process. Um, but I'm pleased with the progress and um, we're going to get there in terms of having a full complement of of police officers and I appreciate all your work on that and the dedication of our officers. Thank you. Oh, roll call. I was about to jump to the next item. Roll call. Mr. German, yes. Commissioner Sinclair, yes. Mayor Johnson,

yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Next item. Q. Mosskegan Farmers Market Grant and Professional Services Authorization. Commissioner Stlair. I move to accept the state MDARD grant funding in the amount of $481,267 and authorize the city clerk to sign the professional services authorization agree to support. We got a motion by Commissioner Sinclair, supported by Commissioner German. And this is being reported. our clerk. This was a much more vibrant um presentation two hours ago, but yes.

Um uh yeah, I'm really excited to say that we have gotten um an Endard uh grant for 481,000 um thanks to well Pete was very essential and I forgot he's got a huge long title. don't remember it is Pete Wills did a fantastic job with that. We really appreciate that. And um from that uh we are going to be doing some expansion in the kitchen of refrigeration system and the freezer system in there. And we're going to be making some improvements to the U barn area that's up. We're we're negotiating what those improvements could be. Um we're going to be doing some fundraising. So, it will really very much depend on what those fundraising um what we can what we can raise. We would love to do some expansion in our uh restrooms as well. Uh that wouldn't be covered under this grant, but if we could um you know, with the fundraising dollars, we could possibly do that. So, the potential is limitless. We super excited about it.

Okay. Excellent. And potentially maybe incorporating solar panels um potentially in in the future renovations. There's lots of potential. potential.

But no, great work. Um I so appreciate you and uh Director Wills and our team at the farmers market for um pursuing these dollars, securing them, and making improvements. And um I know Kitchen 242 desperately needs more space, particularly uh cooling, refrigeration, and having additional storage as well. So um a lot of great improvements, but I'm going to hand it over to uh Commissioner Sankler, who made the motion. Uh, I don't have any questions about this. I just wanted to make sure that we had an opportunity to a long lover of the the farmers market and I serve on the um advisory committee as a commission liaison and um I know that this is something that you guys have worked really hard to to get this grant and it's no small achievement. Um, and I just wanted to make sure that we said these things out loud so that the people could hear. So, I'm looking forward to um seeing what we can do with this. And uh I know that uh Madame Clerk, you have long had plans for doing some cool things with the barn. Um and

yes, but director Wills has indicated I cannot speak of that um at this moment. So, um, but yes, no, there's a lot of dreams and aspirations and I'm very excited about it. I won't ask you to talk about what those are just yet, but you know, I know this is this is a big dream that that has been out there for a while and I think um I think that we'll continue to grow the market in in neat and exciting ways. So, think Commissioner Sincler and I forgot who made Commissioner German, you supported that motion, right? Commission, you have anything to ask, RA?

Um, no. Um, basically just more of a comment um to our clerk. Good job as always. um you you've actually took this um I would say concern with the farmers market seriously and um even um employees that you've had work and volunteer time um had nothing to say but good things about you know working there and working with you as a um city clerk. So, um, any type of funding we could get to enhance and improve our services and and the farmers market, um, is an essential piece to the city and I just like to say good job as always. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner.

Yeah, you're welcome. Commissioner German, Commissioner Keg, anything to ask? All right. Thank you. You know, we love you. Roll call, please. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner Sinclair, yes. Mayor Johnson, yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right, that concludes our consent agenda. We don't have any unfinished business, so we're going to move on to new business. That's concurrence with the housing board of appeals notice and order to demolish 779 Yubis Street. Director, public safety director Tim Cole,

Steve Stout, uh, inspections department. Uh, we just lost quum. Oh, we have to temporarily pause ourselves until we restore quorum. Just fell below four. Oh, sorry to. Okay. Oh, honor around May 4th. on a second. No, I'm sorry. Sorry. We don't have quorum until Yeah, we have to suspend business until we get quorum back. You don't have photos. Okay. All right. Just making sure.

Yeah. What did you say? We don't have photos. He said no. What? There's photos at the bottom of the next one. Down to the next on the bottom left. No, no, no. In like the the left hand. Oh, yeah. It's late. Sorry. Let us help you. Okay, here we go. I'm going to send Jonathan. You got it. Oh, no. I'm saying you can go tell him that he might I don't think he knows. Is he aware?

I don't think he realizes that we're Yeah. Waiting on him. Yeah. If it was a normal quorum, it wouldn't have been a big deal. We could keep going, but we can't keep going.

This has been one unusual evening. for my flowers. Now we're back.

Oh, I'll definitely Okay.

All right. Please resume.

Right. Well, it's pretty clear why we're here tonight, but uh I'll get into the basic details here. On around May 14th, uh 2024, staff observed the exterior of the structure had begun to deteriorate at an alarming rate, including falling bricks, crumbling foundation, a dangerous building inspection confirmed extensive damage. Exterior walls were bowing outward and had gone out of plum. Following the inspection, staff contacted the owners and provided time to get their affairs in order after explaining the requirements of the dangerous building ordinance for the city of Moskegan. And the next steps uh in May of 2024, the owners expressed interest in remediation and agreed uh to schedule an inspection with the inspections department. When no further action occurred, staff extended uh an additional two weeks in August of 24 2024 before ultimately issuing a notice and order to continued in action. In February of 2025, a housing board of appeals notice was sent to the owners and responded by scheduling and inspection. Due to the unsecured and long vacant state of the building, staff coordinated with the police department for an initial safety sweep. Upon arrival, staff determined and discovered that the north wall had uh partially collapsed. Uh given the extent of the structural damage, the chief building uh official deemed an interior inspection unsafe and unable to be accomplished. Um May 14th of 2024, a dangerous building complaint was sent to owners. A uh August 13th of 2024, an notice and order was sent and posted.

Um on September 18th, 2024, a 10day notice of a housing board of appeal hearing was sent and posted. On October 29th, 2024, a 10-day notice of uh housing board of appeals was sent and posted. This is kind of going back and forth. And then on July 7th, 2025, a 10-day notice of housing board appeals was sent and posted. August 7th, 2025, a housing board of appeals determination letter was sent and posted. On 4:15 2026, I sent and posted a hearing notification for a hearing in front of the city council. This meeting is on May 12th. All notices that were sent were sent first class and certified mail and I physically posted to the building to and photographed it. As I said earlier on for 4 to uh 41626 when I posted that and took photos. I'm sitting there in my car preparing for that and I'm looking and I'm seeing smoke rolling out of the building and I'm, you know, checking myself going, am I actually seeing smoke? I was seeing smoke. I called uh 911, had the fire department respond. They found a homeless guy inside cooking. So, um it's it's a very very dangerous situation and and we've resecured the building. Uh but you know how how people can be. They they want to get into some of these buildings and hide from people and do the things that they do. I don't know.

But uh I have had no communication with the owners. No. whatsoever of all the posted and the mailings.

Okay. Thanks, gentlemen. Commissioner Kilgo.

Thank you. Um, this house was declared by the HBA when I sat on the HBA. Um, and it came in front of us multiple times while I was on the HBA. Um, there have been reports of people living occupying this building and I've driven past and looked at this building multiple times and it does have dangerously structurally unsound conditions. So, there would need to be a ton of money put into this building. But because we've not gotten a response as a city, I don't see the owner of this building looking to make this building safe. Um, so I would concur with the recommendation to demolish this building at this time. Thank Commissioner Kgo, Commissioner Sinclair, Commissioner German.

Do we have a motion? I don't know. It sound like he made a motion right there. I move to concur with the housing board of appeals decision to demolish support. All right, we have a formal motion now by Commissioner Sinclair supported by Commissioner Kilgo. Um, and yes, I do agree. It's it's clear that it's an unsafe structure and that uh safe built has gone through all of the necessary steps to make sure that the owner has an opportunity to uh make it right and they have not done so. Thank you, Commissioner Sinclair. Commissioner German, do you have anything to ask at this time?

I'm in agreements as well and concur. Actually, I was part of that meeting. um public safety officer and chief chief Kosel also wears a couple hats. Um safe build inspector um went through all the the necessary steps and explaining um the uh rationale about why this building should be demolished. As you can see from the photos um it's pretty obvious. So I'm in concurrence with it also being demolished. support that recommendation. Thank you, Commissioner German. Yeah.

Uh before we go to vote, I do want to I don't think anyone's here, but anyone's representing 779 Yuba Street um at least giving a call. I don't think the property owner or the representatives here making a public call for I don't see anyone. All right, we're going to go to vote. Roll call, please. Commissioner St. Clair, yes. Mayor Johnson. Yes. Commissioner Kilgo. Yes. Commissioner German. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Stout.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief Kos. Before we get on with general public comment, I'd like to address an incident that happened in our greater Moskegan community this past weekend, Saturday evening in a neighboring municipality,

which residents of our community were there, residents of other communities there, other school districts there. It was not a official school sanctioned event. It was an afterp prom party with members from different schools and different communities there. Unfortunately, violence broke out outside of the event in the parking lot and there were shootings and there were individuals that were injured by vehicle including one of whom is still in the hospital with serious injury. uh a young woman from our community who's gone undergone surgery and I don't have a prepared statement. I'm I'm going to be speaking from the heart and also just on my stream of consciousness for so please excuse me particularly because this is a long evening and I don't want to belabor this but in the aftermath of that a lot of commentary from individuals some of whom are in our community some of who are not in our community who had some very damaging things to say, harmful things to say, completely unnecessary things to say about the students in our community, wherever they may come from. A lot of and and tinged with racism at the same time. And it's absolutely disgusting. Absolutely disgusting that folks would speak about our youth in that way. and not just the youth of our community, but the youth of our neighboring communities.

Thankfully, nobody died at that event. Several were injured physically, well, many more were injured emotionally and mentally. It was a traumatic experience. And if we want to break the cycle, people speak about cycles of violence. Um and and too often people want to point fingers here, there, and everywhere else. It's a multiaceted issue. There's a lot of different factors and elements that go into um violence, youth violence, gun violence. What's critically important is that we love on our youth, that we support our youth, that we invest in our youth. And I'm heartened and happy that our community took that action at the ballot box last Tuesday to vote and support investing in our youth just as our community did in 2020. In May of 2020 at the start of the pandemic when the world was looking uncertain, finances were looking precarious, but our community said, "No, we're going to dig deeper into our pockets and invest in our youth." And Miss King Bubba schools is making great strides with such excellence. We saw that excellence this evening on a number of fronts. Not just the Msk High School Lady Reds basketball team, the champion basketball team, but with graduates of Mskin High School, Deshawn Rashard Thrower and the work that they're doing. There's so much excellence in our community and amongst our youth and in our schools. And I wish that we and the media would highlight that more. Let that be the story that leads and that gets attention is the tremendous

excellence in our community. For instance, the the Jordan Williams was one of the person who was was hit by a vehicle and has undergone surgery. She made her own dress. She designed that dress. She she created that dress and it was a beautiful dress. That's excellence. That should be celebrated. that should be getting attention, not the fact that she happened to been harmed because of some individuals who don't know how to process their emotions and lashed out. Now, there's a lot of unknown answers at this time. There's still questions. There's still information to be collected. We don't have the whole story. It is my understanding that we are, this didn't happen in our city, but we are assisting as we can and it's primarily through the major crime uh task force um or major case if

you major case initiative. Moskegan major case initiative um that we have a detectives um that are involved with that and so we are assisting in that capacity but it's incumbent upon our entire community to take ownership of our public safety. So if folks know anybody anything about this you need to share that information. Reach out to whether it's the Fruitport Township Police Department, Mskegegan Police Department, Silent Observer, share information. you know something, say something. We have to take ownership of the safety of our community and violence is unacceptable and we as adults need to be those role models for our youth as well and how we conduct ourselves and what we say particularly about the youth in our community. And so just to to wrap this up, just let's continue to find ways to love and support and cherish our youth because they're worth it and our community and our future's worth it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Is there anything else commissioners you would like to raise under any other? I'm sorry emotional. Um, all right then. We're going to go to a general public comment. Is there any Oh, yes. Mr.Wami, I have your form somewhere. MrWwami James, welcome from the Lakeside neighborhood. You have up to three minutes. Provide your remarks.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Commission. I am um uh interested in highlighting um the work of our mayor. In fact, um in collaboration with all of you, um on the commission, uh we we witnessed earlier uh an incident where a gentleman called um for during our public hearing time and you know, he he was uh meaning to refer to uh his his comments to another public hearing and you know, so he was he was sort of out of order in a way and you know Um, the effort that went into accommodating this gentleman's comment is a hallmark of this commission and how it engages with the public and it's it's unusual and it's worthy of uh some celebration. So, bravo. all of you are doing a a a a tremendous thing for the community by being as accessible as we are here. Um and that isn't by accident. That is very much a function of the work of our mayor from the time that he has been in office. not, you know, from like day one as mayor when he had um greater latitude to to really um instantiate our current um standards. But even when he was on the commission as a commissioner, uh he was doing the work of um preparing this commission for this level of engagement and appreciation of the input of the community. And so like what we have going in Moskegan right now the the

the surge of um uh sort of community collaboration that's with businesses that's with uh uh nonprofits and with but but with just among the citizens and and just the feeling of community that has been growing over these past uh you know four years but 10 12 years like this this is um uh a wave of community spirit that I think we owe in large part to the magnificent mayor of this magnificent city, uh, Ken Johnson. So, I just wanted to make a second, uh, uh, uh, take a second to to, um, mention that for us all as you, um, because it is worthy of our, um, consideration. We got a good one, y'all. Um, Amen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. James. You're too kind. I appreciate you. Is there anyone else in the audience that wishes to give public comment? All right, we're going to go to the phones. That's 2317246721. When you're calling, please turn down the audio in the background. State your name and if you're a city of Michigan resident, uh, which neighborhood you're calling from and if you're not a city resident, which other township, village, or city you may be calling from. sleeping. The lag just caught up, so we'll give it just a few more moments. All right. Does not sound like we have any callers or phone and comments. Commissioners, what's your pleasure?

Motion to adjurnn. Support. We have a motion by Commissioner Sinclair, supported by Commissioner Kilo to adjurnn. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Oh, okay. We are journ. Thank you. Take care and be well.