City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Can you hear me?

Call to order this meeting of the Eskanaba City Council December 4th, 2025. Miss Wiser, please call role. Council member Dubard here. Council member Bsha here. Council member Flat here. Council member Moore here. Mayor Elmo here. Please [clears throat] rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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.

At this time, seeking approval andor corrections to the minutes of the regular meeting of November 6th, 2025. U move to approval. Support discussion. All in favor? I thank you. At this time seeking approval and or corrections to the minutes of the special meeting of November 10th, 2025. Move approval support discussion. All in favor? I. Thank [clears throat] you. At this time, seeking approval and or adjustments to the current agenda as written. Approval. Second. Discussion. All in favor? I.

Thank you. At this time, is there any conflict of interest needing to be declared by members of council pertaining to items on the agenda? [snorts] Hearing none. [clears throat] At this time, we move on to brief public comment pertaining to items on the agenda. If you wish to make comment, please approach the podium, state your name, place of residence, keep your comments to three minutes or less. Hearing none, we move on to public hearings of which we have one scheduled for this evening. Item number one, second reading, public hearing and adoption of ordinance number 1315, the residential C ordinance of 2025, planning and zoning.

Administration is requesting city council to consider approval and adoption of ordinance number 1315, the residential C ordinance of 2025. And um again this is our second reading but um as a reminder it is the reasonzoning of the land sale uh for condominium project that was approved in the RFP. Um residential C is the same zoning district that is next door to it. um our planning and zoning administrator Joey Walker can talk about how it went through the planning commission and and maybe what how the planning commission felt about it too if that helps.

So the like Jim said the text of the amendment before you is pretty simple since it is just a zoning map amendment for one parcel. Um it was recommended for approval unanimously by the planning commission. Um it doesn't present a spot zone issue like Jim said. there's further C multif family in that area. Um, and this would just be an extension of that zone. Um, we don't have any guidance from the master plan really on this particular parcel or in that area for whatever reason. It's all listed as proposed future land use uh for industrial, which I don't think has ever been the case, and I have to assume that was an oversight or a mistake. Um, but in terms of planning and zoning, this is kind of a slam dunk. It's not a spot zone. It's something we desperately need in this community and housing, and it's located right next to more residential of the same type and further residential to the south. Uh, from all of our surveys and sharetses done leading up to our new master plan process, we've heard again and again and again that we need more housing. We need need more types of housing. And I think this presents a great opportunity for both of those things.

At [clears throat] this time, we'll open the public hearing. If you wish to make comment on this item, please approach the podium. Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing. [clears throat] Motion to approve the ordinance number 1315. Support. Discussion. Speezer, please call roll. Council member Dubour, yes. Council member Moore, yes. Council member Boj, yes. Council member Fla, yes. Mayor Ammo, yes.

We currently have no unfinished business on the docket. Moving on to new business. Item number one, approval. 2026 city council meeting dates. City Manager. Administration is seeking city council approval of the 2026 regular annual council meeting schedule. So move approval. Second.

Discussion. Only comment I would have is I continuingly missed the second meeting in November as a result of dress rehearsal for the Esava High School Musical production. We did cancel that meeting this year. Do we have any interest in adjusting that or just wait and see what happens again next year? I'd say wait. Thank you. [clears throat] All in favor? I. New business item number two, first reading of ordinance number 1316, the electric rate ordinance, and setting the date of Thursday, December 18th, 2025 for the second reading, public hearing and adoption. Electric

administration is requesting city council amend the electric rate ordinance to add the rates for energy waste reduction. City council has asked to consider this the first reading of ordinance number 1316 into schedule the second reading public hearing and adoption for December 18th, 2025 at 700 p.m. We have talked uh energy waste reduction through several times. Um this is the program that uh we have assistance through MPPPA. Um I think just I think to remind the community what EWR is. Um and I think what the effects are for for electric rate payers. Um Mr. Burkela could talk about that a little bit. Um, but this is a requirement to to have a program like this uh as a result of uh the newer energy laws in the state and for us to implement the program and charge the rate to to implement it uh it has to be part of our ordinance. So that's really just what we're trying to get done here and I believe uh we have to have it done going into 2026. Uh Jim explained it well. Um we've talked about energy waste reduction all year and we're getting down to the final steps of setting the rates. Uh it's basically the calculated from the total energy averaged over the last three years and the amount of money needed and we came up with a dollar per uh kilowatt hour and that rate is on like the second or third page. [clears throat] Um, so if you had a chance to look at the rates uh for energy waste reduction,

it's at the bottom of page two and top of page three.

There it is. So yes, so for residential it's uh in dollars 0.00351 00351 per kilowatt hour and for commercial and large power again in dollars uh 0.206 per kilowatt hour. Um and that bas like again calculated based on the last three years of our energy sales that will generate enough income to support the program. Um this is required by the state. Um it will be a separate line item on bills. Um so again, this is pretty much the final step of what we've been working on all year for this energy waste reduction.

So I guess just for the citizens that maybe did not attend or listen to our council meetings in regards to this, where can they access the eligibility for this? um what are some of the just general programs that they can utilize by because they're using we're paying for it. Where can they find it? What are the benefits?

Sure. Um the program will be available on January 1st, 2026. We'll have a link on the website. Um it's going to be administered by Franklin Energy and very similar to previous years um energy rebates on LED lighting. um efficient HVAC up upgrades um you know dehumidifiers anything that is energy star related will be eligible for commercial businesses again LED lighting compressors um variable frequency drives depending on the size of the business what they do but um there will be a number of um rebates eligible for our customers.

Thank you. Is there a way to um print something on the utility bill that would refer to that line saying mandated um information available at, you know, whatever address it is because lots of people, you know, have no idea and they ask questions. I don't [clears throat] know if that's a capability. I don't think we would have that much room on the bills. Um but I think it will be separately listed. Um, and [clears throat] it's pretty common for people to call the utility office when they go to pay and ask about what is this charge and um they'll have the answer.

We we do plan to uh advertise this on our uh social media Facebook page. It it should be available again on the website and with the Eskanaba app. Um so we'll try to provide as much information as we can on the website. Will this company provide paper brochures at all that we could put at the utility window? I'm just because we're working with a company. So,

they're they're going to be doing uh some marketing for us. So, we can ask for print outs. We may have to print them ourselves, but but yes, um that'll be available at the util utility window. We can put posters up. So, um we are required to meet a certain amount of energy savings. So, it's in our best interest to advertise this as much as possible.

Motion to schedule the second hearing on for ordinance number 1316 on December 18th of 2025. Support discussion. So, please call roll. Council member Dubard. Yes. Council member Fl. Yes. Council member Boscha. Yes. Council member Moore. Yes. Mayor Ammo. Yes.

New business item number three. Approval purchase solar modules for whitetail solar farm electric. Administration is seeking approval to purchase solar modules for the whitetail solar farm. This project will take advantage of the direct pay tax incentives for renewable energy projects which is part of the inflation reduction act of 2022. Um I will let uh Mr. Perola describe to you um the solar module market uh and what we've gone through and and this team has worked through very diligently um over the last couple weeks and especially even the last week. Um it's wi with the tax incentive I think there is a mad rush to secure these panels uh with others having the same idea that um if they're procured by uh the end of the year then you can qualify for this incentive. Um so they are are literally flying off the shelves. Um I I think you know one thing that's just important to mention I guess that despite the demand um the recommended bid from Peninsula Solar um is actually going to be just a little bit less than uh the cost estimates when we brought this forward to to start the engineering on it. uh I think it was in October when we had that um that I that number I think for the modules was 1,76,000 and we're looking at modules at about 917,000. So um it's a good thing.

Okay. Um Tom, it would help if you could pull up that that spreadsheet showing the different um

yeah, the utilities that provided a quote. So like Jim said the uh it's been a whirlwind. Um we received bids for the modules. Now the modules are the panels if if there's any confusion. Um the panels generate the uh you know the energy which then passes through the inverter to the transformer then onto our grid. Um so the original bids we received um were different than what you're seeing on the screen. Um Mars Energy actually had the lowest bid on Tuesday last week. We met with all of the util all of the suppliers on Monday and Mars Energy informed us at that time that the modules that they had quoted were gone. Um you know the market is volatile and there's a lot of uh utilities buying up these panels to try to take advantage of these tax credits. So we met with the other util or suppliers and um Peninsula Solar provided an option. It was option two for uh 625 watt modules that was this was on Tuesday we talked with them. Um Wednesday morning they said those were gone. So they offered another 640 watt panel. These the these are in stock. They're sitting in Minnesota. The brand is Helen. They're manufactured in Miss Minnesota. Um I checked with Peninsula Solar at about 5:00 today and they said they're still available. Uh I have an email ready to go with a purchase order to send tonight if this is approved. Um, so as Jim stated, $917,000

32 is the quote at this time. Power Systems Engineer um their estimate was 1,76,000. So we're under the estimate with what we expected. Um, and there's a lot to this. There's a safe harbor requirements to to get these tax incentives. um we need to go with a domestic product um or a domestic content inverter. And we did check there's two manufacturers at least in the United States that make inverters. So the combination of the domestic content inverters along with these domestic content modules will meet the safe harbor requirements to receive the tax incentives. the tax incentives. Um, it's a base of 30%. Uh, because the upper peninsula is an energy community, pretty much the whole up, we qualify for an additional 10%. And then with the domestic content requirement, we'll get another 10% on top of that. So, we're looking at getting 50% return on the total solar project. And that's what's critical about these modules. That's pretty much the biggest part of the project that we purchased them this year. Um, and we have to actually pay for them this year to get this u uh tax incentive that we're seeking. So, there's a lot there. I'm sure you have questions. I want to make a motion to approve the purchase of [clears throat] the solar panels for the project through Peninsula Solar.

Support discussion. I just want to say no one comes better prepared than you. Appreciate that. Mr. Wiser, please call role. Council member Dubour, yes. Council member Fla, yes. Council member Bosch, yes. Council member Moore, yes. Mayor Aml, yes.

Thank you. Moving on to appointments. Was hoping I'd miss some, but nobody's [clears throat] volunteered lately. So, get in your holiday spirit of giving and give your time and your energy to your community so that you can help contribute to make it a better place for you to live. Thank you for that. You could do it with the board of library trustees, which is one vacancy, historic preservation commission, which is one vacancy. Housing commission has one vacancy, and the zoning board of appeals has one vacancy and two alternate vacancies. Moving on to board, commission, and committee reports. Mr.

No. Top of the month. Everything's uh next week. This time we'll hear general public comment. If you wish to make comment, please approach the podium, state your name, place of residence, Greg Warple, Eskanava DDA. Last Tuesday in the rain, we uh lit our Christmas tree. couldn't believe the number of people who showed up, but I think it's because a lot of the kids had their ornaments on the trees and they brought their families out. Uh we appreciate players do not doing some of the singing city band couldn't play. Uh we ended up with a lot more people than I really ever expected. It ended up being a good event. Go one more week and now we're in freezing temperatures and snow and the Christmas parade is going to be held tomorrow night. Uh we did have four people drop from the lineup, but we still have 71 entries in the parade. Um so looking forward to it. We have a very huge ending to this parade. You don't want to miss it. Uh Ron, your wife is a godsend working on this uh as coordinator for the parade. Appreciate everything that she and the committee has certainly done. Uh we have a lot of good uh floats uh that are going to be coming and so hopefully uh people will come out see the Eanaba High School marching band and the Eskanava City Band as well. And uh merry Christmas. Further public comment at this time. Moving on to announcements. As Mr. Warp said, the Christmas parade is tomorrow on Letington Street. The Christmas parade starts at this end of town right outside City Hall here and will progress up towards Stevenson Avenue where it will terminate. You may turn right if you are a parade

participant and go down Stevenson Avenue and turn right again onto First Avenue North to exit the parade lineup. Please do not try to break ranks earlier because there will be pedestrians who we do not want to endanger. Again, lineup starts at 5. The parade starts at six and it goes this way just to avoid confusion because there's somehow been some Any other announcements, Mr. McNeel?

I do have one announcement. Um, so I do have a letter uh for the council. Um, could pass it down. Um, I will be moving on. Um, incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to to serve you and and the city and its residents and our staff. um a ton of special people involved and I think that's why we've accomplished a great deal in uh not a long time here. So looking at a transition uh at about May 15th. Uh certainly uh that date can move a little bit depending on how the process is going. Um but that is kind of our target uh as we kind of set out a transition plan. Um I would suggest that um for the next meeting uh staff can bring forward a proposal to um set a posting date, closing date, uh you know, interview date range and and kind of have a an itinerary of sorts. Um, in the meantime, um, if council would want to review a draft job description either as a whole at the next meeting or assign a committee, um, that's something that could be done, too. Um, but certainly, um, we should have enough time here to to ensure a very orderly transition and and keep up with, uh, a lot of the projects that we've had going. comments from company.

Uh all I can say is that you're going to be hard to replace. Um you've set us up for success in the future with the grants available for MDOT. You have been part of multi-million dollar grants that we've already gotten for infrastructure. Um, I can't say enough about um [cough] your accomplishments [clears throat] and uh we're going to miss you.

I would agree. You got big shoes to fill. Um, you've done an excellent job as a when you start as an interim city manager, taken over a lot of chaos and I think you proved it to us. That's why we put you in the position and you've done a great job progressively for the city. great advocacy that you've done bringing forward to being at all these meetings and and informational. Um, you've done a great job. I can't say much more about that. Um, I appreciate the notice that you're giving us enough notice to be prepared and look at some options for it. Um, but uh, we commend you. I definitely do. So, thank you, Jim. Thank you.

I think Jim knows that how disappointed I am to hear this. do appreciate the the notice though. It will carry us through the uh budget hearings. Yes. And everything. So, I can you know, we're going to miss you. Um you did a great job and I wish you success in your future and we want to keep you. So, we don't want to [laughter] change mind. There's only one door open there. So, I'm just going to pause there so you can still get out. Thank you. Seeking a motion. Motion to adjourn.