City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order this meeting of the Eskanava City Council December 18th, 2025. Mr. Demay, please call ro. Counc here. Councor Busha here. Councor Dart here. Certh here. Mayor Hamilton here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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.

At this time, seeking approval and or corrections to the minutes of the regular meeting of December 4th, 2025. So move second discussion. All in favor? I I thank you. At this time, seeking approval and or adjustments to the current agenda as written. Move approval. 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?

Thank you. At this time, we will hear 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. Item number one, second reading, public hearing and adoption of ordinance number 1316, the electric rate ordinance. Electric. administration is requesting the city council to consider approval and adoption of ordinance number 1316, the electric rates ordinance to add the rates for energy waste reduction. As a reminder, this is the new program um required by the state of Michigan uh that replaces the energy optimization program. So, if you replace uh appliances with energy efficient appliances or LED lighting, uh you can submit through this program and and receive a a rebate.

Mr. Perk, is there anything you wanted to add or remind our audience?

Sure. Um we've been discussing this throughout the year. uh energy waste reduction is required by the state of Michigan for all utilities. It was it was uh passed into law and uh what was it 2023 by the state legislators. So this ordinance basically sets the rates for collecting the energy waste reduction funds. Um, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it it's roughly onethird of a cent for residential customers and 1/5if of a cent for commercial customers. Um, the program will be published on our website when once it's available. We'll be meeting in middle of January with Franklin Energy. Um, I suspect by the third or fourth week of January, we should have everything finalized. It does take effect. uh January 1st. So, anything purchased from January 1st, 2026 on uh as long as it's an energy efficient upgrade should come. Thank you. At this time, we'll open the public hearing. If you wish to make comment on this item, please approach the public

hearing. None. We'll close the public hearing. Motion to approve ordinance number 1316. Support. Discussion. Mr. May, please call role. Council Dubour. Yes. Flo. Yes. Council member Moore. Yes. Counc. Yes. Mayor Raml. Yes. We currently have no unfinished business on the docket. Moving on to new business. Item number one, approval. Scheduling of public hearings. 2026 2027 fiscal year budget preparation. Citizen participation. administration.

Each year, the city council holds public hearings to facilitate input from citizens for the upcoming fiscal year budget. Administration is seeking city council approval to schedule the first of three public hearings for January 15, 2026. Additionally, administration is seeking city council approval to schedule add public hearings for February 19th, 2026 and March 19th of 2026. Move approval. support discussion. I guess just to touch base with council right now. Do we know if those dates work for everyone or do we need I think there are standard council dates. Yeah, these are the regular meetings

uh public hearings that are regular meetings. Um not the Oh, not the additional ones. Okay. There is the January 6 meeting where we meet with all the department heads. Mhm. Further discussion on this item. All in favor? I. Thank you. New business item number two. Approval contract from A&M roofing replacement of Marina roof. Marina

the administration is seeking city council approval of a contract from&M roofing out of Eskanapa Michigan in amount of $25,000 to repair and replace the roof at the Marina Harbor Master facility. Kim Peterson, our harbor master, can tell you a lot more detail about it. Um I did see some pictures um and a few quotes were obtained, but you could see the I the shingles are old. Um there's a section of the roof that is starting to ripple from the sheeting. Must be rotting underneath. Um initially the idea was maybe just to replace sections that are uh showing u more wear and tear. Um it ended up being not that much more expensive to to just do the whole thing. Um, we don't know the original uh age of the roof, but um certainly economically it makes sense to do it all at once and then uh your shingles match color too. Um, so it would look better to to do it all together as well.

Is this coming out of the marina budget? Is this putting us over then? This is unbudgeted in the marina budget. Um, yep. Motion to approve. Support. Further discussion on this item. How old is the building or the roof?

I don't know if we know the age of the roof. Um, him may know the age of the building. Um, I'm not quite sure. don't know the age of the building, but um if I had to guess, I'd say it's at least 30 35 years. I mean, it's I believe it's original since it was constructed there.

We will ask the um company too to look at what maybe caused the rotting in that area. Is it exhaust from one of the roof penetrations? Is it a venting issue? Try and figure out what's going on there. And the shingles will be 30-year 30-year shingles with a 5year warranty on the work. Further discussion on this item. Mr. Deay, please call ro. Council Dubour. Yes. Certh. Yes. Councelor Moore. Yes. Customer BA. Yes. Mayor. Yes.

New business. Item number three, approval. Essenaba wastewater treatment plant modin heater replacement 2025 wastewater. Administration is requesting city council approval to hire and retain the services of Sakora from Iron Mountain, Michigan for six wastewater treatment plant modin heater replacements for a total not to exceed $22,979 including 1,000 in contingency money. The money is available and budgeted for this in the current fiscal year. Um this is the item we've been budgeting a series of replacements throughout the plants every year. Um it was bid out and um there were quite a few bids actually which was a good thing.

Since it is budgeted motion to approve not to exceed $22,979. Support. Further discussion on this item. Mr. May, please call roll. Council Dubour. Yes. Council Moore. Yes. Counc. Yes. Cloth. Yes. May.

Yes. New business item number four, recommendation to deny commercial E ordinance of 2025, planning and zoning. At a regular meeting on November 13th, 2025, the planning commission made a recommendation to the city council to deny a proposed map amendment, a resoning for the parcel located at 800 Lington Street. Uh the proposed resoning was requested with the intent of using the property as a mechanic repair shop. City staff supports the commission's recommendation to deny the proposal. Administration is requesting city council to approve the planning commission's recommendation to deny the request of 800 Lington Street to reszone the property. Um so a little strange that a denial comes to city council. Um but the way the zoning ordinance reads is the planning commission makes a recommendation of denial the same way they make a recommendation of approval. um and the city council still has to accept the recommendation or send it back to them to to reconsider. Um so um I I believe it was unanimous at the planning commission. Um Mr. Walker can come talk about how that discussion unfolded if you'd like. Um but it is um E is a the requested change was to go from E3 to E. um E is in a neighboring district. It it's not necessarily a spot zoning issue. Um it's more of an issue of um the intent of the E3 district and what do you want on Lington Street um and and some of the mixed uses around that area as well, including some residential.

I guess I would like to hear a little bit more about it in detail. Um I I mean I looked over just the brief notes but I I I guess I need a better understanding of of this. I'm asking Good evening. What can I tell you a little bit more story back end on this? So he wanted to look at reszoning to do a mechanical shop on 8th Street North in Lington.

Yeah. So if you're not familiar with the building, it's right on the corner of the 800 block of Lington. Um, it's sort of a it almost looks like if you saw a house in half and attached a big garage on the back. So, the building actually does lend itself to the use. I think if you were to put a mechanic shop on Letington, that's probably where you would want to do it. Um, but it is zoned E3, which we specifically excluded those types of uses from, partially because we wanted to create a downtown district on that section of Letington, and partially because we allow mixed use and residential on the top floors. Um, I know I got a letter from some of the neighboring property owners. Um, they had been renovating apartments right next door. They were concerned about the noise, which a mechanic shop running pneumatic tools, you know, things like that. that it can get pretty noisy. Um, primarily I think it's about the integrity of our E3 district which we specifically established down Lington. We greatly restricted the types of uses that we allow downtown just so we could allow a bit more residential in. Um, but other than that, there's not a huge amount of issues with the reszone besides that it's just not supported by the master plan. The other item that we have had an issue uh with one or two properties in the past um in the Lington area and it wouldn't necessarily mean it would be an issue for this property. Uh but with a uh repair shop, you often have a parking lot with uh cars parked waiting for service or waiting to be picked up. um wouldn't necessarily mean that's going to be the practice of this one, but it certainly is typical of that type of use.

I I also think, you know, like I said, the building probably does lend itself to this use, but we're looking at the future use of the land. Um if that mechanic shop were to go away, you now have a much longer list of uses that is allowed on that property on that corner of Lington. Um, so mechanic shop might work now, but later on we get something that's not as conducive to the E3 district. What's it What's the current business there? Is it still is there business there?

I believe it's currently vacant. Um, I think it was bought for the purpose of being used as a dispensary and that never panned out. Um, don't quote me on that. I don't think I was here when it was acquired, but um, I believe that's what it was meant to be before. Okay. Thank you. I will move to deny support. Further discussion on this item. Mr. Demain, please call role. May yes. Councor Bchaw. Yes. Council Bore. Yes. Council Dubour.

Yes. Council member Fath.

Uh, yes. New business item number five, approval recruitment plan for the city manager position, human resources. So, um, Heather Callowette, human resources is here as well. Um, but we put together a timeline um, of what this could look like. Um, we could I went backwards in order here, but from a timeline, um, we would look at posting this, uh, job description as soon as council was comfortable. Um, that could be tomorrow if we're we're comfortable with um, uh, the job description, which we'll talk about. Um but the tenative schedule as proposed would be to to leave this position open through uh January. So it would close February 1st. We would have a two week review period to to go through uh applications, request more information if it seems like something's missing. Um do our first round of interviews. Uh conclude those by the end of February. uh have follow-up interviews if if needed by uh the end of the first week of March. And then we would have from March 9th through the 20th or so to go through a job offer, any negotiation and background checks. Um that would provide uh closing it by March uh would provide that individual if they are a manager in another community uh time to meet their notice requirements. Um and if that's not an issue um we we could potentially have uh a little more time for some

training uh on the job for a few weeks. Um so it's a I think a very workable schedule. Um somewhat aggressive but I think very workable. Um so certainly we would have to figure out some of the procedure if you are okay with the schedule u just of how do we select I mean we can take in the applications and we can distribute them as they come in to to council. Uh but then to figure out who is going to receive an interview is a process where we'll have to establish. I'm good to move forward. So motion to approve the dates and uh advertisements and things.

And we did include a a job description. Um it was more or less the same. It was updated a little bit. Um but almost the same. Um it did include some advertisements. Um I feel pretty good about a month long advertisement in these sources. I I think should cast a pretty good net support. Discussion on this item. Mr. Bcha. Of course. I'd uh for council to consider I believe the mayor and I were part of a personnel committee. That's correct.

Is that what what we were called? I believe we had a hand in the manager's draft of the contract that he ultimately agreed to. I would I would ask that council allow the mayor and I as part of that committee still to meet with the manager and perform an exit interview. I'd like a little more uh in-depth information, feedback on the on the position of manager, challenges, whatever he may be facing that uh and try and learn from it as we go forward with uh interviewing and selecting his replacement. I think there'd be a lot to learn there. We can either give you give council a verbal report or a written report. Whatever you might prefer. It's my suggestion. I think it'd be worthwhile.

I agree. So, it's an amendment to the motion or so we can add that to the motion to approve but also provide uh Mr. Bosshaw and Mayor Hamill to do a proper exit interview with Mr. McNeel, get the feedback and present back to full counsel. Thank you.

I think one item maybe hanging out there is when we go from reviewing applications, I mean, we don't have to decide today, but you could set a direction is to deciding which candidates receive an interview. Um, interview everybody, but that isn't typical. It might be exhaustive. Um, we can council members can select applications that uh we can see how many it is. Um to to make sure everybody does um a lot of different ways to to go about that. I think on top of we can always amend this too, but I think my personal opinion is I kind of I would love all of us to receive the applications, but I think from maybe you Melissa uh and Heather involved in that to recommend to us who you recommend to interview and if council after looking at the applications want to add a different person or maybe discuss that. But I think I'd like to leave that you guys know more about the that stuff with Melissa, you and Heather. Um, and I would just I don't think my personal opinion I don't think we need a subcommittee for that. I think council as a whole can can make those recommendations to you, but I would love to see that you three kind of run it u with your recommendations. But I think we should all receive every application as well.

For clarification, that means that all of our communications will be going through the HR department, excuse me, and not collectively to each other and emails. Yeah. Yes. Correct. Again, I'll support that as well. Okay. Let's move it right along. Okay. All in favor? I Karen, did I hear you? Was that it? I

Okay, that was a quiet one. New business item number six, information presentation, DDA. Thank you, council, for the opportunity to present before you tonight. The DDA is required to provide twoformational meetings each year and I appreciate being able to give you to give one of those presentations at this meeting. The DDA was established in 1988 and extended in 2011. It encompasses all of Letington Street from Lakeshore Drive to Lincoln Road, which is why we dub it the longest small town downtown in Michigan. Uh, but this district also includes the Northshore and Letington Park. The DDA is a tiff district, which means it captures the taxable values above the values set when the district was created. The value of property in the downtown has seen slight increases over the past few years. But as you can see, growth has been a challenge with two of the years on this chart seeing a decrease and actually even just three years ago there was a decrease. Although there has been a lot of business activity right now in the downtown, recent fires are going to affect those numbers until we can gain additional growth. Most of the funds captured to fund the DDA do come from the city. Delta County and Bay College make up the next most captured funds, followed by Central Dispatch and Delta Area Transit Authority. And did I miss one? Yeah, that was it. And most of the DDA's budget comes from the TIFF funds, although the downtown benefits from grants, rental income, and donations as well. The largest uh part of the budget expenditures in the 2024-25 budget went

to public relations uh capital expenditures and personnel and the capital expenditure was the most of the cost was for the portable stage. So that number will be considerably less in the current budget. The focus of the DDA board over the past three years has been on marketing and events which is now the majority of the budget. When I started with the DDA, that budget item was just $10,000 and all of that money went to other organizations. The budget that we will be presenting to you next month is expected to look quite different, even from the current budget, as we look at expanding other areas such as floral maintenance in the downtown. We divide public relations into five categories: music, events, business promotions, advertising, and activities at the Eskanava Marketplace. and music has become an important part of Eskanava's identity. At this time, Heather and Paula, can you come forward, please? Which leads to new events this past year, such as the Eskanavo Log Jam Music Festival that was held on Letington Street in June. It included 10 music acts, lumberjack activities, a timber show, and street vendors. The event received rave reviews, and plans are being made to continue the event again this year, next year. Stepping up to help with the success of the log jam were Nbridge as a mainstage sponsor, DT Energ foundation, and Highline. And we certainly appreciate their support. So Sue, who is a part of the committee, actually made these little plaques here to present to our first sponsors, which we certainly appreciate you taking the chance uh to do this. And so I've got one here for Cambridge. Congratulations. Thank you so much for your support. HEATHER

Heather Joy is with the uh office here in I have one here for TD Energy, but they were downstate so they couldn't make it in today. I've already presented one to Highline, so I want to surprise Paula with one of our service award certificates as well. Paula has been very much involved not only with uh the log but many other activities and your country support and your personal support. She even stayed out on Lington Street in the 2 in the morning helping us to take down the stage.

Thank you. To encourage economic development, the Eskanaba DDA focuses on projects and activities as part of what is called placemaking. Placemaking helps to create vibrant people- centered spaces that boost economic development, foster a sense of community and enhance residents well-being, which means that we are creating a community that they feel good about living in. Three placemaking projects that the DDA has been involved in are the Eskanava marketplace. This is the final year in paying off the $500,000 loan with the city for the uh marketplace streetscape. The DDA has partnered with the city in a grant for $200,000 commitment for the current project and is looking at additional support and the purchase of a portable stage to improve the quality of activities for the community and visitors. Kurt, now join me up here, please. Chasing rain.

Well, that's the stage right there. So, there are two people who have been instrumental in making sure that the use of the stage has been a success besides me. Last year, we recognized Mike Canal for his efforts to expand music in the community. Kurt Stler from Elmer's County Market has also made that commitment to make our music activities a success. Kurt, Mike, and I underwent training last year on how to set up and operate the stage. Kurt has been right there every time helping to set the stage up and take it down. It's not an easy task and I want to thank him for helping to make our community a better place.

Soup it. This has been a very busy year starting with restaurant week in ESI in February and ending with walking in a winter wonderland promotion this month. If you do go on to eskanavadonttown.com, you can uh vote for your favorite window here. We got a whole bunch of them. So, make sure you go on and do that and they can win some marketing packages. Helping to not only make sure that the DDA board runs smoothly, Sue Parker has taken an interest in serving on the Eskanava Log Jam and Letington Street Cruise Committee

and has has spent quite a bit of time making sure that they are successful. She was also instrumental in starting the first art walk in October. She is chair of the DDA and owner of Nimman Jewelers in Eskanava. She has gone above and beyond her board position by volunteering and we want to thank her for that. I told her she cannot leave.

One of those events that she supported was Make Music Eskanava. Although a worldwide celebration this year, it is new to the city. This past year, the Eskanava City Council approved a social district for the downtown after more than a year of discussions. It was used during Log Jam and will benefit the Letington Street Cruise car show next year. But more importantly, it helps support those who are visiting our community. Felicity, you want to join me? Eskanaba's farmers market is more than 100 years old and just like 100 years ago, it is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays from June until October. A new volunteer to help make the farmers market a success is Felicity Feathers, a vendor at the market who put in a lot of effort into the harvest fest in October and baking cookies for the tree lighting and Christmas parade hot chocolates at the center court and marketplace. Felicity, thank you so much. I REALLY APPRECIATE AND IF you want to see how much fun it was, let's see, I got a couple of pictures right here of some of the kids and activity and the food that was all presented there. So, it was a lot of fun. Uh, the DDA operates by committees. There are several committees that include both board members and the public as well as some event committees. Um, Paul Come up, please. One of those committees is the parade committee headed up by Janice Bochaw, who serves on the DDA board. Helping to shape the outcome of the parade each year have been Paul and Kathy Harvey. Kathy takes care of the prince and princess during the parade, and Paul helps determine float winners. This year, Paul was instrumental in getting John Liss at Northern Machining and Repair to reconfigure the large reindeer and sleigh for Santa and Mrs. Claus for the parade. I don't know if you noticed, but that head went up and down because

we had to get underneath the garland. And they did an incredible job. The company did an outstanding job, as did Kathy and Paul. And I would like to recognize them for their Christmas spirit. AWESOME.

The DDA also partners with others to provide programming in the downtown. They include the Bonafice Arts Center, Eskanaba Recreation and Marina, Delta Chamber of Commerce, Eskanaba Public Works, Delta Conservation District, and Delta Astronomical Society. Kate, can you figure out which one she is? The Bonafice has been a great partner working on the log jam, youth art at the marketplace, art week, and the new Eskanaba downtown art walk. It includes several people at the Bonafice, but the one person that I can always turn to for help is Kate Omen, gallery director at the Bonafice. And I would like to thank her for her role in making our community a better place. And I can tell you that she is the reason the Bonafice has been helping us out here this year. So, THANK YOU SO MUCH. AS PART OF MAINTENANCE OF the downtown, the DDA purchases and pays for watering of flowers, helps with the cost of snowplowing city parking lots, pays for flags, garland, and the decoration of the city Christmas tree. The DDA works with the city and the Del Delta County Economic Development Alliance to help contact businesses with programs through the MEEDC, the Central Small Business Hub and others. The match on main grant went to Lake Effect Distillery and the DDA received an arts and humanities touring grant for Marina Fest and a grant for the Michigan Arts and Culture Council for Youth Art. Monty, join me, please. And then there are those who work on their own to make this place a better place. Monty Morrison and Kevin Chow

started to gain attention as they took on the task of restoring historic street markers throughout our town. Both recognized the uniqueness of the cement poles that mark our streets and volunteered their time to restore them. Both Monty and Kevin could be seen working throughout the summer and we want to recognize both of them for making our community look good. KEVIN COULD not make it tonight and we will get his recognition to him. Goals for the upcoming year include working with the city on streetscape, developing plans to address maintenance of the flowers in the downtown, improve communications and websites, and continue to seek grant funding and contributions to support public improvements and activities. One of those new events is the Letington Street Cruise, which is going to be a big undertaking in 2026. It is the same weekend as Cruis & Classics was. Has a different name, same parade on Friday, but a different car show on Saturday, which will be held on Letington Street. We appreciate the support of the city and the community in DDA activities. It was certainly been an active three years, but I feel that we are helping to create a community that people want to live in. One that fosters business development and attracts investment and focuses on quality of life, economic opportunity, and community engagement.

Letington Street has been the pulse of Eskanaba since the 1800s when ships first came into the area. Today, Letington Street stretches all the way from Letington Park to Lincoln Road. In fact, Eskanaba has the longest small town downtown in Michigan, jam-packed with unique shops, great restaurants, and dedicated businesses ready to welcome you. It's time to rediscover the street that made Eskanaba. From UP gifts to candy, hair salons to financial planning, brew pub to bicycles, there's a wide variety of businesses in the downtown. Plus, there's live music and outdoor marketplace, community events, the Bonafice Art Center, Esanaba Public Library, and Delta County Historical Museum and Sanpoint Lighthouse. Downtown Esanaba is the place to be. See what's happening in Eskanaba at esanabadtown.com. That's esanabadtown.com.

I do want to thank you for your time and I appreciate it very much. Moving on to appointments. We have reappoints on the docket for this evening. Electrical advisory committee appointed by the manager with council approval is Ann Bissell seeking a fourth term on the electrical advisory committee. Council No objection. So can you please make the appointment and we have two for the Eskanava building authority. Our city controller Melissa Bacott needs to be reappointed and we have to ask Mr. McNeel to reappoint himself as well. Council

no objection. You can contact Jim and get him around then. All right. Thank you. If you are feeling like you would like to be part of those folks who are doing all these things and not have to scrape paint with Mr. Morrison, there are other ways to get involved in your community such as being a trustee on the board of li the library board. You could take a vacancy on the historic preservation commission. You could take a vacancy on the housing commission or one of the following. One vacancy and still two alternate vacancies on the zoning board of appeals. They will all be happy to see you step up. Moving on to board commission and committee reports. Um the harbor advisory committee met and mostly we're talking about evaluating pier one for replacement or repair and of course the harbor master roof which we addressed tonight went to the recreation board and the subject is a five-year plan. Next year it expires so we're going to take next year to do another fiveyear plan. And then there was discussion about the fireworks. It's always an issue every year when we have it. I'm not sure if a decision has been made yet. And then I went to the historical commission and um we've kind of abandoned the Ogden triangle for historic district because of um or response from the neighbors. So, the goal is to encourage restoration and we're so we're trying to discuss how to do that. So, we're going to start with um historical home signs in the yards. Um there'll be a sign that will be um uh um I say designed by the city and then the homeowner can request a sign and

then they can put anything that they want on the sign about their home whether um the history of their home or something something significant about it. But it just a way to um encourage homeowners to be proud of of their um historic home. I forgot my notes for the planning commission meeting, but uh from what I recall uh there was a plan review for the condo project on the triangular property, Third Avenue South. Some of the commissioners had questions. Uh there was no representative uh at the meeting to answer them. So I believe they tabled that until uh the next meeting. and there was a gentleman looking to get a permit to run a tattoo parlor out of his house. Um, I forget the address or location, but they uh they felt that the the traffic would be minimal, so they they approved that.

It tend um everything's running smoothly at this time. I have mine next week. I have nothing to report. This time we will hear general public comment. If you wish to make comment, please approach the podium. State your name and place of residence.

Hi there. My name is Mark Common. Live here in Eskanaba. I just want to take a quick moment that while Craig came up here and acknowledged all these great people that did a lot of great work in our community, I just want to acknowledge Craig because uh he's a theme running through all of those projects and I know you're hating me right now, Craig. I know you're hating me, but uh you know, I know he gets some accolades, but I I don't feel like it's as much as he deserves. So, I just wanted to once again recognize Craig for all he does for our community. Further public comment at this time. After that, it better be nice. Announcements. Go ahead.

Like probably everyone's going to do just want to wish everyone merry Christmas and happy new year within the community.

Um, enhance Escanava has big news. We are raising um funds for a refrigerated ice rink. Our goal is $250,000. We have surpassed the first step which was the initial 100,000 and that entitled us to go to the MEEDC to apply for uh a grant. It's like a it's a GoFundMe type grant through Patronicity and when we raise 75,000 they will grant us 75,000. So that'll give us the last 150,000. So this is pretty exciting. Um, I want to say that Patronicity has a 97% success rate. It's pretty good. So, the chances of us having a refrigerated ice ring for next winter seems pretty good. So, we're really really excited about it. And I do want to add that um usually patronicity um MEC gives you raise 50 and they give 50. We're raising 75 and they're giving 75 because our whole rink is going to be handicapped accessible. Anything else? Anything else? Santa Claus is coming to town.

Seeking motion to adjurnn. Still moved.