City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the December 3, 2025 regular meeting of the Holland City Council. I'm Mayor Nathan Box and I'm calling this meeting to order. Mr. Van Beek, would you please call the role? [clears throat] Yes. Clampirens here. Verman here. Raymond here. Corbin here. Schultis present. Mayor Keane here. Rowan.

Sheay here. And Mayor Box present. Mr. Mayor, we have a quorum. Wonderful. Thank you. We are going to begin this evening as we have for many years. First with an opening prayer this evening by council member Sheay followed immediately by the pledge of allegiance. And we would invite you to join us. Almighty creator, send down upon those who hold office in this city the spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice that with steadfast purpose they may faithfully serve in their offices to promote the well-being of all people. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat]

Mr. Thank you, Mr. Sheay. Next on the agenda are our consent agenda items. These are items that are considered to be fairly routine and they will be enacted in one motion unless a member of the public or a member of council asked to have an item removed from the consent agenda and then it will be placed on the regular agenda in its regular order. But before I ask if anyone would like to do that, Mr. Van Beek, would you please review the consent agenda items for us? Yes. 4 A, absences accuse excused. Excuse the absence of council member Rowan. 4 B, approval of minutes, the November 19, 2025 regular minutes. 4 C, Oaths of Office. 4 D, City Clerk, claim filed against the city. 4 E, Parks and Recreation Services, award bid for irrigation services. 4 F, Management and Administration, Revocable License Agreement, 14 West 8th Street, projecting sign. 4G management and administrative services downtown group ordinance amendment to section 32-25 requirements for issuance of permit and operation of sidewalk cafe and outdoor cafe final adoption scheduled for December 17, 2025. 4H management and administrative services downtown group award bid for snow melt paver repair services and Mr. Mayor that is our consent agenda. Great. Thank you. Is there any member of the public that would like to have an item removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda? Seeing none, any member of council that would like to have an item removed from consent and placed on the regular agenda? Seeing none there. What is the pleasure of councel in regard to the consent agenda?

Move to approve the agenda as presented. Moved by Vman. Is there support? Support. Support by Raymond. Any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Vanbeek, would you please call the role? Clampar. Yes. Verman. Yes. Raymond, yes. Corbin, yes. Schulty, yes. Mayor Keane, yes. Shay, yes. And Mayor Box, yes.

Great. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda, public comment. Under the Open Meetings Act of the State of Michigan, we provide the public the opportunity to address council both at our regular meetings, our our study sessions, and at every one of our board committee and commission meetings. But we do have uh rules that we ask you to follow. Uh one is that we do limit public comment to five minutes. There are three lights on the day in front of us. There's a red light, a yellow light, and a green light. Red uh yellow light means excuse me, green light means that you're doing well on time. Yellow light means that you have one minute left and the red light means that your time is expired and we are strict about that. This is one-way communication. It's an opportunity for you to be able to address council on whatever subject that you believe is important. But we do not answer questions or engage in discussion during this time. But if there's an answer that staff can answer, they may be able to circle back to you after the meeting. And we also do ask that when you approach the podium, you do please state your name and the municipality in which you live because it's important to us to know whether or not you are a resident of the city of Holland. Uh and would and if there's anyone here who would like to address council at this time, we ask that you please come forward. Is there anyone here that would like to address council? Would you please state your name and municipality for the record?

Yes. Steven Willard, Holland Charter Township. [snorts] Lord, let these words be seeds planted in truth grown in grace. Amen. Good [snorts] evening, mayor and council members. My name is Stephen Willard. I spoke before this council previously about modified vehicle exhaust [snorts] and the need for consistent enforcement across Holland City and Holland Charter Township. Tonight, I'm back, not because the problem went away, but because it's getting worse. And I'm here to tell you the community is begging for action. Since my last comment, I've had conversations with dozens of residents in Holland City, in the township, at parks, on street corners, at events. And I want to share three of these conversations with you tonight because they'll tell the real story of what's happening. First, about a month ago, I was downtown when a car with a modified exhaust drove by. Every time the driver applied the gas, it was loud enough you could hear you couldn't hear yourself think. [snorts] I happened to be standing near a group of college kids, five of them, three guys, two girls. I struck up a conversation and asked them what they thought about the noise. One [snorts] of them said, and I'm quoting, "Holland could be such a beautiful town without some dude in his piece of crap Nissan or whatever." These are young people, the demographic everyone wants downtown, and they're telling you the noise ruins it. It cheapens the experience. It makes a beautiful place feel trashy. [snorts] Second story. An old couple on Sixth Street told me they're willing to adopt the road and call dispatch every time they hear a loud exhaust. An el an elderly couple ready to become enforcers themselves because they don't believe anyone else will do it. [snorts] That's not a success story. That's a failure of government. Third story, and this one is the most important. [snorts] The day after Thanksgiving, I was walking by Bowerman's. The Holland City firefighter was ringing a Salvation Army bell outside. While [snorts] he was standing there, a car with a modified exhaust

drove by. Every time the gas was applied, absurdly loud. I asked him, "Why doesn't the city pull these guys over more often?" He looked at me and he said, "I don't know." We talked for a bit. I told him I'd been given a I'd given a public comment on this issue and asked for his support. [snorts] He said, and again, I'm quoting, "Keep going. You're doing a service to the community. Once the public wants us to pull them over, I can start reporting them. Let me repeat that. Once the public wants us to pull them over, mayor, council members, the college kids want you to pull them over. The elderly couple wants you to pull them over. Your own firefighter is ready to start reporting them. The community is telling you, "We want enforcement." Right now, the lack of enforcement sends the opposite message. When drivers see these vehicles cruise through Holland City with impunity, it [snorts] signals whoops that it's a it's okay. And the behavior spreads. Holland Charter Township doesn't have its own police force. We rely on Ottawa County Sheriff, but Holland City has its own police department. You have the power to enforce this right now. And when Holland City leads, the township benefits. Here's what I'm asking, and I want to be clear. You already had the legal framework to do this. Michigan Vehicle Code section 257.77c sets specific decimal limits and prohibits muffler modifications. Holland city enforces this through code enforcement in your police department. The law exists. The enforcement structure exists. What's missing is prioritization and meaningful penalties. First, direct the Holland City Police Department and code enforcement to prioritize modified exhaust [clears throat] enforcement as an ongoing standard. Second, collaborate with Holland Charter Township and the Ottawa County Sheriffs to create a unified regional and ongoing standard. Third, enact a local noise ordinance

supplementing state law with enhanced penalties, 250, 500, a thousand [snorts] for repeat offenders. The state caps fines at 100. Many Michigan cities have done this successfully. Fourth, report back to the public. Let the pre the residents know that this is a priority. You already have the state law baseline. I'm asking you to prioritize enforcement now and supplement it with a local ordinance that makes penalties meaningful. Mayor, council members, the public is demanding action right now, tonight. You have the authority. You have a police department waiting for direction. And you have a community begging for it. [snorts]

One more thing, I'm an engineer. When I see problems, I build solutions. And I'm [snorts] not speaking to Holland. I'm not just speaking to Holland City. I'm also speaking to Holland Charter Township. I'm documenting violation act across both jurisdictions. By spring, [snorts] I'll return with comprehensive data and policy recommendations. Holland City has a unique opportunity to lead. You're you control your own police department. You can't you can act faster than the township, but if you wait and the township moves first, that leadership opportunity is gone. Mr. Mayor, that's 5 minutes. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time?

Good evening. You're one of our HAK students. Yes. And and you know, we have a couple of additional questions that we like you to answer. We'd love to know what high school that you're from, what you're doing with Hayak. Um, and if you have any plans for the future, and I know there's a fourth question, and I've forgotten what it is, but hopefully you guys know what it is. Oh, it's the f. Okay. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay.

Hello, my name is Anukin and I am a junior at Han High School. I am not fully set on what I want to do in the future, but I do think that something in healthcare interests me. I am a part of the recreational committee. Today I want to talk to you about the importance of healthcare. I've gotten to experience working with kids through blacktop and akiugamos through loop. I know that there are other programs such as boys and girls club that have to do with childcare. I think it's a very important topic because kids in our society need uh people to love them and it starts at the root where kids are learning how to love each other and it helps improve our society and it teaches them to care for each other so that we have a better future. Thank you. Great.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council this evening? and you are also one of our high students. And I remembered the fourth question. It's what what grade you're in.

Hey, hello. My name is Jasine Campbos. I am a junior in high school. My plans for the future are to finish out high school and attend college, pursue something in medical as well. And um yeah. Um so today, mayor, Mr. Mayor and council members, I would like to talk to you guys about um the PAL's program at the at the high school. So, at the high school, I serve as a PAL, which stands for a peer assistant listener. A PAL is a student who goes into a classroom at any school within the district and provides emotional and academic assistance to students. I have been a PAL since I was a sophomore and have been placed in five wonderful classrooms. Though through this amazing program, I have found my love for working with kids. I truly believe that it is a necessary and pro. It is necessary and proper to educate and assist the younger generations. This past year, I worked with Mrs. Meyers's fourth grade class at Holland Language Academy, and it was the best time of my life. I even found out I work best with older kids in elementary schools because it is where I can provide the most emotional and academic assistance. Before being in Miss Meyer's class, I never would have thought I liked working with kids and how surprisingly good I am at it. Thus, one of my chambellanes from my kinsera had their family at my party and it turned out his sister was my placement student. So, hanging out with her at my kinsera was a fun experience that I will forever cherish. [snorts] The palace program and Mrs. Meyer's fourth grade class during the 2024 2025 school year have forever changed my life in the best way possible. I will always be indebted and thankful to this program and Mrs. Meyer's class. It is because of them that I have found clarity in what I want to pursue in the future. And this is why I believe all schools should offer the PALS program. Especially for high school students who are unsure of what they wanted to of what they want to do in the future like me. Finally, I come to you today to thank you with this public comment. And I

thank you again for all the time and money you have invested in these amazing kids and their education. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time? And again, what what school you're in, what you're doing with Hayak, what grade you're in, and if you have any plans for the future. And again, if you don't have any, that's fine because I didn't have any at your age either.

Hello, council. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Lucy Van Heis, and I am in 11th grade at Holland High School. This is my first year serving on the Hayek recreation committee and my plans for the future is to go to a four four-year college um for a degree in elementary education. I would like to highlight the work of the outdoor discovery center, also known as the ODC. Um I have had the pleasure of working with the ODC on two separate occasions. One being to help out with early educational summer camps and the other being with VO to experience what it takes to maintain natural areas and broaden my knowledge of organizations that interest me. They also sorry they also offer additional programs including outdoor based education experiences for learners of all age about sustainability and nature lessons as well as public events such as winter walks, craft nights, s story times and snowshoe hikes. The ODC also brings attention to Michigan's natural and cultural history, including camps that learn about indigenous culture and the tribes which used to reside in West Michigan, such as the Ottawa, Ojiway, and the Paw Padawatami. I believe it is important for children to develop an understanding about the world, about the world around them. The ODC supports this by teaching kids about various species, plants, and insects, which fosters critical thinking and builds a strong foundation for environmental awareness. It is also important for kids to recognize the aspects of Native American culture in order to create a better understanding of American history and cultures, acknowledging the strength of indigenous communities and providing a base for respecting cultures in general. To conclude, I think that the work of the ODC is incredible and shouldn't go

unrecognized. I am so grateful that Holland has an organization which can provide the services which the ODC provides and I am thankful to have gotten involved in this wonderful organization. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time? Good evening.

Good evening. Hi, my name is Leila Sundur Rajin. I am currently a senior at Holland High School. Next year, I hope to attend a four-year university to study neuroscience and eventually go into research with that. I have the pleasure of serving on both core council and the Holland Human Relations Commission. So, tonight I'm here to just provide a update slashreport about what the Human Relations Commission has been up to. So on November 22, we held our strategic planning session and as a commission, we decided the best use of our time and resources is to get out into the community and support organizations that support Holland's residents. And that is what we are aiming for in 2026. We've already had Jennifer Evans from out on the lake shore speak to us and let us know opportunities available for us and others to volunteer. We will be having good Sam come out at our next meeting and speak to us about opportunities for our their new program starting out in the area called circles and that will be surrounding South Washington Avenue. Um we are seeking more ways to get out and show Holland Holland residents ways to get support through us. Whether that is through immigration rights, render landlord problems, we can help with that and we want people to know that. We've already been out and about at Holland High School connecting families and staff to resources and we were at the international festival supporting another city commission and we look forward to celebrating the social justice awards in January. Thank you.

Great.

Thank you. And most of the public doesn't know we have the opportunity as council to be able to have dinner beforehand with our with our HAK students and these four young women as well. And I promised them at dinner tonight that even though it's outside of our operational jurisdiction that I would do what I could to try to get them a snow day tomorrow. And so I know that Superintendent Cassidy is a dedicated watcher of council meetings. So, Superintendent Cassidy, if you're watching tonight, uh these young women would love to have a snow day tomorrow. So, whatever you can do to get them a snow day, uh the mayor is encouraging you to do that. So, please get them a snow day tomorrow. I think that they've earned it this evening. Well done. Well done, young ladies. Well done. Is there anyone here else here who would like to address council this evening?

I guess I'll be the next one.

Yes. Good evening. And I'll try to get you a snow day tomorrow, too. Would you please state your name and municipality for the record? Yes. Uh Joe Bush, you're Ottawa County water resources commissioner. So, one of your countywide. I reside in Holland Township, not Holland City. But tonight, I'm doing I'm making my rounds. I got 24 municipalities to get to this month. So, I'm trying to get to everybody and you're on my list. What I brought to you tonight was a is a map of the city of Holland, which the county drains run through, and I have your neighboring municipalities as well. But as you guys know and ladies that some of you don't have as many drains as you do as some other municipalities. But I wanted to stop by and say hi and wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year for the folks that I might not see uh but I'm sure there's quite a few of it that I might see at some chamber event or some dinner or somewhere. Um I also wanted to highlight some of the things we're working on. We're always partnering with um Keith Verbique your city manager as well as Brian White um one of the city engineers. We have a phenomenal top-notch, I feel like, relationship with the city of Holland. So, I want to thank I know you got some new council members on. So, congratulations on your elections. Um, but I want to say that you guys are phenomenal to work with. Uh, your staff has been phenomenal to work with. It's always good to have coffee with uh your mayor. He does a phenomenal job as well as far as leadership. So, I just wanted to say um if there's any other issues that come arise that you know in your storm sewers um by all means you guys are in good hands with your transportation department and your BPWs and everybody else that you have on staff. But I just wanted to at least come and say um make my uh appearance and show you the new map that we're putting together for for all the municipalities as I make my rounds and say hi to everybody. And as well I think Mr. for Verbique. Um or Van Beek gave the uh newsletter to everybody. Hopefully had a chance to read it. It's a little long. Um but I

want to highlight that we're trying to do that on a quarterly basis. So then we can um communicate a little better. It's hard to get to all when you got the whole county. It's a lot. We have over a thousand drains in the county. So when you see how many drains you have in the city, it might not look like a whole lot, but when you got the whole county, there's over a thousand of them that I have jurisdiction over. So, um, we're quite busy, but I want to make sure that we're here to serve, um, you folks and your constituents as well, whether it's a drain related or not, we're always here to serve your people, um, to the best of our abilities. So, thank you for your service and I'm always easy to get a hold of. Keith knows that as well. So, thank you again and thanks for giving me the time tonight.

Great. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this at this time? And would you please state your name and municipality for the record?

Anne Henrikson, Zealand. It's one of my favorite meetings to attend and it's Christmas. I speak on behalf of our constitutional religious freedoms. This is the Christmas season and Holland was founded for our Christian faith expression. Merry Christmas. Thank you for all you have done for this great city. Last night was the parade of lights. What a great community event. A local business had a truck mural with a lighted nativity scene of the birth of the king of King Jesus. The title Jesus is the reason for the season. On the side of the truck was an announcement, a civic center event in April celebrating 250 years of our for country and of the National Day of Prayer hosted by the National April Faith Month Action Organization. Mayor Box has declared both National Day of Prayer and National April Faith Month since 2022 and we are looking forward to 2026 when he will do this declaration again. Thank you, Mayor. Our Christian faith is worth standing for in this city where all are welcome. In the Christians in the Christian celebration, we are thankful for the gift of the son of God, Jesus, coming into the sinick world to save us from ourselves. We, National April Faith Month Action Organization, would like to give this council a small gift as an expression of our faith of peace on earth, goodwill toward men, and they're over there.

[clears throat]

The gift was made by a local banker. She is a graduate from college and has begun uh by baking Christmas goods for for families. She was thrilled to bless you with these treats this evening. You see, the government of mankind is on God's shoulders according to the scriptures of Isaiah's 96. For a child will be born for us. A son will be given and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named wonderful counselor, mighty God. The city council of Holland has access to the will of God for this great city and its future. God's ways will last. Without God, man's ways will falter. I heard this Christmas song from Casting Crowns and I would like to read the lyrics tonight. A family hiding from the storm found no place at the keeper's door. It was for this a child was born to save a world so cold and hollow. The sleeping town they did not know that lying in a manger low, a savior king who had no home has come to heal our sorrows. Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your heart for God to write his story? Shepherds counting sheep at night. Do not fear the glory light. [clears throat] Do not fear the glory light. You are precious in its sight. God has come to raise the lowly. Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your heart for God to write your write his story? You came as you are. You come as you are. It it may set you apart when you make room in your heart and trade your dreams for his glory. Make room in your

heart. Make room in your heart. Mother holds the promise tight. Ever wrong. Every wrong will be made right. The road is straight. The burdens light. For in his hands he holds tomorrow. Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your heart? Is there room in your heart for God to write his story? You can come as you are, but it may set you apart when you make when you make room in your heart and trade your dreams for his glory. Make room in your heart. Merry Christmas. enjoyed the treats.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time? And would you please state your name and municipality for the record?

Sure. Hi everyone. I am Katie Kua and I live in the city of Holland. There are 1,00 trillion things I'd love to talk about um regarding the city of Holland which I love, but I'll start with two tonight. The first is our lovely, incredible, amazing snow melt system. Oh, thank God for that. I personally live on Central Avenue, so I make use of that thing every day. I love it. My dog loves it. My kids love it. Although they actually love both sides. They like the snow, too. Uh, the local cross country runners, the track teams love it. Everyone loves the snow melt system. But we are missing a whole crew of people who do not love the snow melt system. And that is people who are not able-bodied. At the intersections at each upon each uh where where you know central crosses 13th, 14th, 15th, there is a pile of snow that builds up on every single one of those intersections. That means anybody who has a stroller, a big stroller, that uses a walker, that uses a wheelchair, that uses a cane, or somebody who just does not have good balance. um which if any of us can envision any of our parents, our grandparents, people that we know and care about um with the bookends being basically Evergreen Commons and Freedom Village, it is not a safe place for them to be walking um and maneuvering. And so I would encourage the council to figure out a way that those piles can be moved for this like nationally recognized incredible system we have that in my opinion, especially as an occupational therapist, leaves out people that oh, it's so close to being accessible. And as a therapist, I mean, my eyes are always looking for that and ways for it

to be fully inclusive um for everybody. So again, love it. I'm just thinking ways that it can be even better um and get even more recognition than it already does. And then point number two is there is not a better time to talk about uh about uh more more bike paths than here in December with all the snow. Um I am just thinking about having more of the I am blanking on the word right now. The bike the bike lanes. Thank you. Um bike lanes. I am thinking about how we have such a lack of bike lanes in this city and again thinking about ways for everybody to be safe and getting around the city. Um I especially am thinking about east west uh ways of ways of going currently. I mean again I live on Central. I benefit from a lot of things where I live. So Central has one. There's a few other ones in the area. And then on page like 78 or 79 of one of the booklets around of planning things, we're talking about an east west one maybe on 17th Street. Um, which would be good in my opinion. I live on 18th, so it's real convenient. That'd be great for me. But I also am really I would really love to think about one on 22nd Street. I think it just has access to so many more things, especially as Holland Public Schools is rearranging and the it feels like there's just way better access for people to get to the various schools, the aquatic center, Moran Park, several of the big churches in the area. Um, but also just in general, so many more bike lanes would be so much more safe and and just wellreceived by so many people in the community. So, I am here to encourage you to to really start putting that to the forefront hard in the wintertime, but also putting that to the forefront of how we can get going with more of that. I know personally I think about the option of things like a bike

bus um where in other cities uh in the country where I've lived, people have started and now that I have school age kids be super fun. There's so many kids on bikes and just have a safe option where we all the kids can ride bikes to school um together. But currently we don't have a safe option for kids to get to school um despite if there's parent leadership, adult leadership. So I just think of creative things that can come as we continue to push towards more pedestrian friendly city. So that's all. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time?

Seeing none, I will close the public comment period. Next item on the agenda is item number nine, written petitions and communications. In addition to providing the public the opportunity to address council in person at our council meetings, we do also have an email address where you can send written communications to council. That is public comment at cityofholland.com. Again, public comment at cityofholland.com. Uh council receives those as part of our council packet. Uh and we do accept those into the record at our regular council meetings. We do not read them out loud but accept them into the record when we have them. And we do have one this evening and so I would accept a motion from council to accept that into the record. Uh does do we have a motion from council to accept that into the record?

So move from Schulty. Do we have a support? Support from Freeman. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All oppose same sign. Motion carries. And then next item on the agenda would be item 12, echo 4.1, uh, financial audit for fiscal year 2025. Mr. Van Beek.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Um, I'm going to ask Lynn McCammon, our finance director, to come up in a in a moment. Um, for those of you that have been on council for a while and for our newly elected uh, council members, um, I always pause at this point because there are a handful of times within our year um, that there's a a duty um, that you have that really rises above a lot of the other duties. And the audit sometimes is referred to as kind of one of those h it's not very glamorous and it's a lot of data and we have a 200 and some page document here and Lynn is going to talk about a re really great way that we try to digest that into different formats so people can understand it. But um the presentation and the adoption of the audit that you have I think is very easily in the top three things that councils are responsible for each year. Um because it's when you have an outside um trained expert entity that comes in and takes a look at all of the financial actions of the city um and goes through generally accounted standards uh to evaluate those um and I think then really communicates back to the community that um the organization in our case the city and the component units that we represent um are responsibly handling the finances of of the public. Um so thank you even though sometimes this is maybe a little bit dry um we work really hard and Lynn is a fantastic leader um in making sure that we try to bring it to life a little bit. Um, and the last thing that I'll

just say is to Lynn and your team, to Dave Coer at the BPW and his team, and then also, um, Raymond Robson that does this audit. Just thank you for the tremendous amount of work that goes into this document. Um, and we appreciate it. So, Lynn, why don't you come on up and partly I know that you'll cover why we don't have a representative from Raymond here tonight.

Yeah. Good evening, Mayor Boxon, members of city council. Um, this evening, uh, I'm going to present the audit. So, the fiscal year 2025 ended on June 30th of this year, and the city is required by law to have an annual audit by an independent auditing firm and submit it to the state. So, in 2020, the city issued an RFP for audit services. Raymond Rapson LLC was awarded a seven-year contract at that time. Typically, as uh Keith mentioned, a partner from the firm would be here to present the audit, but due to an unavoidable matter, um they're not going to a they're not able to attend. And therefore, I'm going to put my old auditing hat and um provide this presentation this evening. So, um and then again, as Keith mentioned, I'll I'll show a little something that we do in addition to the audit. It's not really part of the audit, but it's related, and it's so that everybody can have it's more accessible to more users. So the audit process uh really begins shortly after the close of the year as both the city and the Holland Board of Public Works finance staff are responsible for preparing schedules and making urine entries. So we start that right away in July. Then the auditors arrive on site um early September for several weeks of auditing not only here they go over to the board of public works. They um pull some items for the uh airport and the Holland energy fund. to really cover every uh part of the city operations. So, um and again, I I echo what Keith says. Special shout out to both the um city and the board of public works staff as well as the artists for making this year's audit process run very smoothly. So, in late November, the auditors actually issued the 263 page report. And tonight I'm going to walk you through just some of the highlights, not all the pages, but I'll tell you the most important things. So once again, most importantly, the city was received

the highest level of the auditor opinion, which is called an unmodified opinion. And uh what that really means is that the financial statements that they audited are materially accurate and they're useful and reliable for any decision-making purposes. So the re auditor is also required to report any audit findings or recommendations. And this year they did refine one uh recommendation related to budgeting for grant funds and it was noted by staff and we'll make sure we uh make improvements on this in future years. So for those that may not enjoy reading the entire document, there's a couple sections that everyone should check out. The first one is the transmitt letter and it begins on page nine. And this is something that actually um city staff uh write and it's our introduction to the financials and we add a lot more narrative because we not only add a summary of the numbers but we give some uh context as to what maybe the dollars are used for in a year or what some of our um upcoming needs are even in the future years. So that's a nice page to read. Uh and that's the transmitter letter. The next um one I always like to recommend is the management discussion and analysis. And again, this is a report that's um mostly prepared by uh city staff. We do use some of the numbers that the auditors provide for that, but it's more of an analytical uh uh narrative surrounding the major financial statements for the city. And it includes some um comparable statements because the basic financials only present the current year. But in the MDNA, we kind of look at how it changed from the prior year, which is always interesting because our users want and want to know how it um if it's similar to prior years or if there's something that really changed. So um then in the report comes this financial statement sections and so the

audit is for both the city and the board of public works combined. So the very first uh statements rep have the total numbers represented but then after that there are some sections that cover with just the governmental funds which is most of the city funds and then what's called the proprietary funds which are most of the board of public utility funds and those are separated because they each have some specific accounting standards that each of us have to um adhere to. go. But I want to do I want to spend a little bit more time in this context talking about the general fund because we do monitor the general fund throughout the entire year. We really concentrated on it during budget year and now we're back at the audit looking at it and that's because that's the main operating fund of the city. So we talk a lot about fund balance and um because that's an indicator of the city's financial strength. So this year the total fund balance increased by 2.2 2 million to end at a total of 16.282 million or a little less than 50% of um total expenditures and transfers out. And again, as we talk about when we look at the forecasting or the budgeting, that's again just an important number to always keep in mind because it kind of represents how many months or what percent of the year we would have if we needed if something unforeseen happened, which we saw in COVID. things can unex unexpected things can happen that could require us to need to use some of our savings. Um so the current year increase was really due to some continued higher than anticipated investment income. Uh we still are earning significant uh uh rates on our lower in the short end of the yield curve. And then we also had some savings on expenditures and those come from expenses that we had maybe planned to make but didn't get made before the end of the year and might be carried over to fiscal year 26 because

we can only record what was actually purchased and received in fiscal year 25 as an expenditure. And then we also had some personnel cost savings related to certain vacancies in in our departments across the organization. So, one other reminder on this fund balance level. I wanted to uh remind everybody that it's slightly higher than we typically see at that right around the 50% mark, but that's really due to that $ 1.9 million that we have designated for pension um funding and we were still going through the analysis. So, we elected to move that to fiscal year 26 budget so we could get all of that um analysis done and work with merge on that. So that's sitting in that uh savings account so to speak. So that's why it's a little higher than normal. Um so that's the general fund and as a reminder that general fund balance when this called the audit uh in the audit includes the budget stabilization and what we call just the general fund all wrapped together. That's how they reported for this document. So then moving on to some other significant financial things that we monitor and that would be the net pension liability. We've been working on this for years with the different things we've done whether it's closing some of the pension plans or issuing pension bonds of which we just paid off our first one uh last week. Yay. Um so but we still have to look at that. there's a 10-year history of our net pension liability under the required supplementary information. Uh so we like to look at that and keep track of that. And so at June 30th, 2025, the total pension liability was 30 million. But this was a decrease of um about 250,000 from the prior year. So we're making uh headwinds on that. And of that 30

million, just for reference, about 11 million is RA related to the board of public works. So, um it's still a lofty number, but we are continuing to work and that's what we were talking about with that 1.9 million and some of the um work we're doing with merge to get a level payment plan for that. So, there's lots of other information which I will not go through but statistics section has some really useful stuff. I mean, if you want to like really get into you can see what the debt levels are, you can see what the tax le taxes are and overlap overlapping debt from some of the other entities. So, feel free to check that out. But for those of you who might not want to spend all that time reading this, I like it, but I I understand not everybody does. A couple years ago, we introduced something so that we could reach more stakeholders and so everybody can learn more about city finances. So, we have something called a popular annual financial report. And what this is is it takes the 263 pages and it reduces it to 14 pages with lots of color, lots of pictures, but lots of great information. So, I encourage everybody to um take a look at this. It's online um and uh it it has just some really great information. Tells you some of what the projects that we uh spent money on uh this year, which of course we have all seen the ice park. So that was one wonderful expenditure we made this last year. Um so with that just one last thing I would like to say is we do submit both of these documents to the award programs. So we've received an award for this one for 33 years. So we're going to submit again and this one we've received it for four years because we've only done it for four years. So So I would be happy to answer any questions on this uh either one of these documents. Questions for staff.

Mr. Corbin, just remind me again. Fund balance in the general fund was what again? What was the the total are the percent? A percent. It's a little It's like a little under 50%. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Schulty. Yeah. Uh more a comment than a question. It was impressive to see in the comprehensive report uh the auditor weigh in on the Headley override and it's somewhat a testament to the community because the community decided that uh so to see that in the positive light in the report I think is worth highlighting. Thank you. I agree. Other questions, comments?

I have a few. I I had the pleasure of sitting in in the uh audit committee meeting this afternoon and and Lyn, you commented to me before the meeting that I had said to to our auditor Paul Mottz um who couldn't be with us here unfortunately today that I had said to Paul that he he does some of the best uh audit presentations that I've ever seen and and that was a high mark that you were going to try to meet. You did it. Great job. Wonderful. Wonderful budget or audit presentation. I have had to sit through a lot of these and I said to Paul, he does a great job and I love going to these audit thing audit uh presentations which I never thought I would say in a million years because I'm not a numbers guy and and I think the reason why I like doing them here at the city of Holland is because we always get such great news here. The the numbers are always good. We always get unmodified reports. Matter of fact, we always get incredibly glowing reports. You guys do such an amazing amazing job. Um, and I want to put some of this in context for the people that are listening. 33 years of awards for our audit report. That is unbelievable. Four years in a row for the poffer for the popular annual financial report. And for those people who don't know, almost nobody does a popular annual financial report. um our auditor was was raving about the fact that we do that for the public um to make these numbers accessible for the general public and for those people who are watching who go I'm not going to go and take a look at a popular financial uh annual financial report please do it is full of graphics it is full of really really valuable cool interesting information about the city of Holland even a guy like me who does not like to look at numbers who does not understand And a lot of this kind of stuff makes it really really clear and easy and understandable to be able to take a look at. Um, another

thing that I want to really put in context for people when you mentioned the paying off of the the punch the pension liability bond and that that yes, there's still $30 million of liability out there and that we're starting to make headwinds on that. To put that in context, I've been dealing with nonprofit boards and with MRS and with pension liabilities. Nobody ever makes headwinds on this kind of stuff. Every year it always seems like we are farther and farther behind. The fact that we are making any headway on this at all is a miracle. And the fact that we have gotten ahead and the fact that we paid off the first of those bonds and the BPW paid off their one bond we've we've got one more bond out there for police and fire um is amazing. The people of Holland should be celebrating the fact that we are getting ahead on this is amazing. incredible work that you and your team are doing on this is absolutely fantastic. Um, and we not only have the big book that's here and as you mentioned the 14page popular financial uh popular annual financial report that's 14 pages of really cool graphics that an incredible amount of work that goes into this. There's also the budget and brief which is like one or two pages, right? And the thing that I carry around in my wallet, the one the one the one single card that has information that I love showing to people that nobody else has, that no other city that I've ever seen before, other mayors and other council members look and go, "You have what?" And I go, "Yeah, you get to show people just on one little card all of the amazing stuff that's there." Um, you guys blow people away. And I told you before the meeting that I asked one of the things that happens in these um in these audit meetings, the audit committee meetings that I think the public doesn't know is that we as council members sit down with the auditor and staff leaves the room. That we sit down with the auditors without any staff there at all and we get to ask very candid questions of the

auditors about what's going on. And the question that I asked the auditor, I said, "Listen, I've been sitting in these meetings for four years, and every single time we hear glowing reports about what's going on with the finances of the city of Holland, and I said, "Are you guys just blowing smoke with us? I mean, I I've sat in a lot of these meetings, and every time I come into one of these meetings, I'm being told that things are are really, really good. Do you tell everybody this? I mean, do you tell everybody that things are this good and that the people are this good?" And he said, "No." He goes, "I I have probably 30 or 40 different clients that I work with, and I've been doing this for years. The people at the city of Holland are probably the top three or four clients I've ever had in my entire career." He goes, "And this is incredibly complex work that they're doing here at the city of Holland. This is probably the most complicated stuff that I've ever had to deal with. And this is incredible work that they're doing. this is probably the best work that I've ever seen that the people that they're that are doing here in the city of Holland. He goes, "Yeah, I've got other people that are really good, but they're not doing work that this that is this hard." He goes, "So, when I'm telling you that the work that they're doing here is amazing, amazing work." He goes, "I'm not just blowing smoke to you guys as as council members. These are the best people that I've ever worked with. And I want to make sure that you know that. I want to make sure that your staff knows that. I want to make sure that everybody in the city of Holland knows that you guys are the absolute best that there is because that's what the auditor told me this afternoon. So, thank you for the great work that you are doing for the people of the city of Holland because it is really really appreciated. Thank you.

Well, thank you. We appreciate all the support that we get from the city council and and uh city leadership. So, we couldn't do it without you and we couldn't make good decisions without you. So, thank you. Any other questions or comments that anybody has. All right. I think we need to take a vote on this. Thank you. Uh, what is the pleasure of council in regard to the financial audit for the fiscal year 2025? Corbin. Moved by Corbin. Is there support? Support. Support by Raymond. Any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Van Beek, would you please call the role? Vman, yes. Raymond, yes. Corbin, yes. Schultice, yes. Mayor Keane, yes. Sheay, yes. Clumps,

yes. And Mayor Box, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, 12 echo 6.1, Hope College Project Resolution approving project plan. Mr. Van Beek. Yes.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Councel. Um, I'm presenting this one. We had staff that um from other agencies that asked if they should be there and hopefully it's okay. I said I don't think it's probably necessary. This aligns with some other projects that you've done in the past. I think we did one for Rest Haven in the past. We've done others for Hope College. This is what I would describe as more of an administrative step for the city of Holland. And before that, it's an also administrative step for Ottawa County Economic Development Corporation there. And basically what it allows is there's certain agencies that have kind of a nexus to a public benefit that are able to take advantage of um favorable um financing terms, specifically in the Economic Development Corporations Act or Public Act number 338 um of Michigan. And in this case, you have Hope College who is refinancing but also doing some reinvestment in some projects at the college. Um that project plan is attached in um your packet that's available to the public also. And the action if you would take u be in support of this this night tonight um allows this project and the favor favorable financing to move through. Um, and I think it's particularly important that there comes no um risk or acceptance of any liability or anything with the financing for this. Uh, this is just as required by state law um that you approve the project plan.

All right. Questions for staff? All right. What is pleasure of councel? Move to approve. Moved by Raymond. Is there support? Support. Support by May. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, Mr. Van Beek, would you please call the role? Raymond, yes. Corbin, yes. Schultis, yes. Mayor Keane, yes. Sheay, yes. Clumps, yes. Verman, yes. And Mayor Box, yes. That motion carries. Great. Thank you. Uh, next item on the agenda, item number 13, communications from the city manager. We're gonna put that hat on now. Mr. Van Beek, juggling a lot of paper here.

You have been. You've been doing a lot of roles tonight.

Um, I'll just uh hit a few things um high level. First, um I think a lot of people, most people, I won't assume, but uh enjoy Thanksgiving weekend. Um kind of an extended period of time. I want to specifically call out um because um a lot of interesting things happened over last weekend and um we had high winds, we had snow, we haven't completed all the leaf pickup um and we have a a very popular ice park. So we had a lot of departments and and then of course on top of that our continuation of um police and fire being 247 365 operations. So um that hit some departments pretty hard kind of double triple up this weekend. So, um I know it causes inconveniences for people. Um and I know sometimes they would like us to be out there sooner taking care of certain things. Um but I just want to pass on my appreciation for our staff for doing a lot of extra and above and beyond this past weekend. So, um you all are invited. We do kind of in that spirit have an appreciation um lunch over the holidays each year at the end of the year. Um that and that is during the lunch hour tomorrow. So if you're able to come, fantastic. If not, that's okay, too. Um if you're able to come, council mayor, I would encourage you. I know you all really like each other and get along. I would really encourage you just to separate and sit at a table with a group of employees and just be neighborly with them. Um, I know they

appreciate that. So, if you have that opportunity, that would be great. Um, I will point out also, I made sure I kind of got this notice that there is a groundbreaking um, dwelling place at 14th Street um, on Friday at noon. Um certainly a project that as I dial back I think that was a meeting that I had with a couple local churches. Hope church that continues to be involved with that um more than seven years ago when I started in this job. So we're excited to very quickly getting to the point where that those projects are moving forward. So, um, we do, um, plan to have a study session next week on the long-term financial forecasts, which we get to hear more from Lynn. Lynn's probably like, "I'm still working on it, Keith. I'm still working on it." But, uh, that's that's great. Uh, retreat January 24. I think that's been confirmed with all of you. Um, you also got a note that we didn't quite get over the finish line with getting thank you notes out to you. Um, if you'd like to get a jump on those, I think probably by later tomorrow or Friday, we'll have those available. You can stop by or we can make arrangements to get them to you. Also, I would like to point out that's kind of become a nice tradition of you recognizing employees. Um, while I probably wouldn't want that to slip too late into January, it's not like it has a timeline that you have to get it, you know, done by, you know, in four days or something like that. So, um, and then I will just let you know that we're we we are on it. Um, and we will be looking probably sometime in early January, maybe right before one of our Wednesday night meetings, um, to do

a recognition of, um, outgoing, um, council members Quincy Bird and Belinda Soul. So, we'll do that and we'll advertise that in the community where we'd have an open house. Um, and then we always have something that uh we give as a gift as council to those council members also. So, thank you for your patience as I went through kind of a long list there. That's all I have. Great. Thank you. Uh, next item in the agenda is appointments and communications from the mayor. Uh and every other year, uh the city council confirms appointments from the mayor to individual city council members to various city boards, commissions, and committees. And the purpose of my report is to identify the city council members who will represent the council on these various boards, commissions, and committees for this upcoming two-year period. And so I am recommending that the city council appoint council liaison to boards, commissions, and committees. And I'll list those off in a minute. effective immediately and to appoint Council Member Rowan as the exofficial voting member to the planning commission for a two-year term. I know that you as council members have uh all studied this list uh very in a very detailed manner, but I want to make sure the public knows this as well. Uh and so the appointments, the recommended appointments are uh for the audit committee, uh Clumps and Rowan, the Board of Appeals, Council Member Sheay, Board of Public Works, Council Member Corbin, the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Council Member Corbin, Civic Center Place Board, Council Member Reeman, Downtown Development Authority, Council Member Reeman, Historic District Commission, Council Member Clamperns, uh the Did Did I just Historic District Commission, Holland Energy Fund, uh Council Members Corb Clampar and Sha Human Relations Commission, Council Member Raymond, International Relations Commission, Council Member Raymond, the Makatawa Area Express Transit Authority, Council Member Schultice, the

Neighborhood Improvement Committee, Council Members Marakeen and Raymond, the Parks and Recreation Commission, part Council Member Marakeen, the Planning Commission, uh, Mayor Box and Council Member Rowan as an exofficial exofficial voting member, the Police Community Relations Commission, Council Member Schult Ty and Rowan as an alternate. Uh the principal shopping district board, Council Member Reand, the public art advisory committee, Council Member Makin, and the West Michigan Airport Authority Me authority Board, Mayor Box and Council Member Sheay. And I would be looking for a motion from council in that regard. So moved.

Moved by Freeman. Is there support? Support. Support by Sheay. Any discussion? Uh seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. And that is all I have this evening. Uh next item on the agenda is appointments, motions, and communications from council members. Anything from council members this evening? Seeing none, there is just one more motion then I would entertain this evening. Move to adjurnn. Moved by Raymond. Is there support? Support. Support by Raymond. All those in favor say I. I. We are adjourned. Thank you. Have a wonderful evening.