Council - Regular Meeting

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He is speaking. All right, folks. I'm going to go ahead and call our meeting to order. It is 7 o' start with a moment of silence, please. And if we can stand 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. Just as a reminder, we happen to have please make sure that it's offer please here. Stewart Ross here. Davis branch and Harrison here. Do I have a motion to approve of the agenda? So move support. All in favor say I. I oppose.

All right. This evening we are going to start off with a public hearing. I will go ahead and open our public hearing on the proposed Brownfield plan amendment. Um it is 7:01 p.m.

Well, good evening, Madame Mayor and council members. Debbie Kelly from the Albian EDC. Thank you for having me on your agenda this evening. Um, just to remind you, um, Dave Vanhiran from Triter was here a couple weeks ago and and showed you the presentation regarding the big Albian plan, um, which is ARCs development or the shiking development group if you will. Um, so just to remind that you saw that presentation, I do have some extra copies if anyone needs an extra copy this evening. Um, just to kind of recap, the MEEDC is offering the Albian Reinvestment Corporation one final chance to seek state funding and they offered ARC to apply for a revitalization and placemaking grant of $5 million which is contingent upon an approved amended for plan which is why we're here this evening. Um, just to a recap for the project, it's a redevelopment of nine parcels that are functionally obsolete as certified by the city of Albina assessor. Um, it's for 101 to 119 South Superior, which is C Street all the way to the Bone Theater. The project is a redevelopment of approximately 10,000 square feet of ground floor commercial, retail, and office space. And then also 21 residential apartment units, uh, totaling about 17,000 square ft. So, it's a total investment of 11.3 million. Eight new full-time jobs will be created as a result of this project. Um they have about $858,000 in eligible brownfield activities that we'll be capturing. Um the life of the brownfield plan will be 16 years with 12 years of capture. The Albian Economic Development Corporation board, the city DDA boards have both approved the amended

Brownfield plan for this um for 101 to 119 South Superior with the next step being this evening the public hearing that we're holding with your consideration for final approval of the amended Brownfield plan. Um with that, I have joined me this evening Mr. Eric Tankersley. I hope I'm saying that correct. Eric, Eric is the chief financial officer with ARC, also Shaheen Development Group. So, I'm going to turn it over this evening to Eric. Eric, if you have a few comments. Thank you so much.

Sure. Thank you, Debbie. I'm not so sure I can summarize the project much better than Miss Kelly has just done. Um I I would like to say that the rehabilitation of the the project does include full MEP fire suppression. Um a new elevator will be installed. Um as well as all of the environmental remediation and uh exterior facade work. The expectation um for our project would be to start this year with the enclosure of the exterior space being completed prior to the winter months. Um, other than that, you know, I'm happy to answer any other questions as it relates to the budget, the capital stack, or the project uh itself uh before the council. Appreciate you having me this evening.

Any questions for Mr. process. Thank you, Mr. Lee. Um, uh, I got a question about the if the, uh, to get this funding that you need, uh, how much closer does that bring you to the total funding that you're going to need to development and the time frame, you said that you'd be able to start sometime this saw stabilize by the winter months of 2026. Is that correct?

Um, correct. So, the uh we would envision starting the project sometime in the warmer months um this this summer. Um as far as the brown the approval of the brownfield plan, um the contingency of that is related to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's funding of the revitalization and placemaking grant that Miss Kelly has mentioned uh this evening. Um, so the MEEDC requires local participation in order for their statewide funding and participation to be included uh with the project. Um, so the solidification of the Brownfield plant also ensures that we solidify um their $5 million grant for the project. We have bank debt to source um 2 million remaining dollars and that will be um for a total of 7 million and the final 4.3 million would be from investor equity um to fully fund the project. So we envision um with the MEEDC RAP 2.0 I know um grant um which would be facilitated by the approval of the brownfield plan this evening um would fully fund the project.

Okay, great. I know that a project has been a long time coming and uh I know for one that I'm excited to see some movement happen uh towards its its development. Uh so what uh just to clarify again with the uh hopeful approval of the brownfield agreement this would give you the money that you need to start this project and it would be 100% shovels in the ground going forward.

Well what this would do is it would facilitate the what I'll call the papering or the final execution of the MEEDC wrap grant. And with that, we would then um have all of the sources of capital in place to commence uh construction. Yes. Great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Any other questions? Council Williams. Yeah. Um just a further question about the um the actual project completion horizon. Timewise when you want to be completed. I I would envision 15 months. Um, so starting this summer should be fall of 2027. Okay, perfect. Thank you. You're welcome.

Yeah, perfectly possible. Thank you. One more question. Are there any historic preservation grants that you're eligible for in this? Um we we did um uh we went down the path of the historic u preservation and uh tax credits. Unfortunately, we were unable to acquire them with the project um which um is part of the reason that we're coming before city council um today rather than approximately 12 months ago. Um we went down the path as deeply as we could and unfortunately we're unsuccessful in being able to acquire them. Okay, thank you.

Any other questions? All right. Do we have any public comments? There's anybody in the gallery that would like to stand in and address a quick question or am I allowed to? Well, you can address council. Oh, okay. Okay. I just wanted to verify was it Albian Reinvestment Corporation or Albian Redevelopment Corporation? Reinvestment. Reinvestment. Thank you. Anybody else have to stand in the council?

Right. Any other questions for Mr. Hankersley or our EDC director? All right. Seeing none, I will go ahead and close our public hearing. It is 7:09 p.m. Thank you, Mr. Tankersley, for being with us. Public comment. Do I have a motion to approve resolution frame by 66 to approve the Brown? So move any questions before we vote. City. Council member Williams. Yes. Re. Yes.

And Snider. Yes. If there's anybody in the gallery that would like to stand in the council in regards to an agenda item, you may do so. Do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar items?

In your packet, you have the February 17 study session and regular session minutes. Any edits? All in favor say I. I oppose. Next we're going to be asked to approve resolution 202613. This is to approve uh the EDC grant economic development grant agreement uh for our CDBG funding for Beamer Magmata and Dean. Motion to approve.

Is that a support? Yes. The manager here.

Yes. Madame Mayor, members of council and follow in our agenda title tonight is a proposed grant agreement for the construction of Beamer Magdata Streets U and Dean. Um, this is a this grant was $2,500,000 for a total project cost of $2,89,000 with the city contributing $39,000. City administration encourages uh council the adoption so that we can get construction underway uh sometime this afternoon. Any questions for city man? Council

member. Yes. Yes. Williams. Yes. And

yes. Do I have a motion to approve resolution 202610 uh to award the Beamer Mandata Dean Street improvement project to Concord Escalade? So move back. Good evening, council. Um, we took bids for the reconstruction of Beamer Street and Magnata and Dean Concord Esavating submitted a bid and they came in as the lowest bidder at 2,342, $219.35. Um, we've done a lot of work with Concord estimating over the last few years and been very pleased with their work. So, we're happy that all the bids, all the contractors submitted bids and that kind was one of them that was the lowest.

Any questions for director? Any claim? Council member Frost, yes. Williams, yes. Rey, yes. And Snider, yes. Motion to approve resolution 202611 to award the dean of public streets and programs to quality graders. So support director

uh quality estimating was one of the contractors that put in bids along with several others. Their bid came in at the lowest at 1,693,372.50. Quality Escavating is also another local contractor we've done business with over the last few years and been very pleased with their work. Both Concord and Quality have been doing work this past year on the water main projects throughout the city. Any questions for director on this item? Council member F. Yes. Williams. Yes. Yes. And nerd.

Yes. Do I have a motion to approve resolution 202612 the resolution to award the Albian Street improvement to quality excavators? So move. Again, quality estimating was one of the several contractors that submitted a bid. They came in at the lowest, which was 1,835, $6160. So, we are happy that all these contractors put in and local contractors came in the lowest bits.

Any questions for Director CR on this one? So, Director K, I know that you made a comment at our study session about dates for projects beginning. Correct. April 6th, we will begin on what road?

Beamer, Magnata, and Dean. And when I say Magnata, and Dean, those are just kind of like wrapping around into Magnata and Dean because those projects are covered under the second contract uh with quality excavating. So, Concord is going to start April 6th for the Beamer, Magna, and Dean. And then at the same time, quality is going to start on Albian Street on April 6. Start redoing a uh Albian Street all the way from the um the bridge directly south uh to Erie Street.

And then what will begin on June 1st? June 1st, quality will then start on um the Dean and Hogland area around Macintosh Park. Any other questions for director? Anybody? Council member Williams. Yes. Reth. Yes. And Snider. Yes. Do I have a motion to approve ordinance 20262 to amend our noise ordinances? Support. Yes.

Council, mayor, city manager. Um bringing our noise um ordinance 38-30 under chapter 38. Uh trying want to bring this to a reasonable standard, meaning you know, is it logical? Is it fair? Is it appropriate? Um there's other municipalities we're familiar with that have um brought this language in their noise ordinance. um we'd like to do it with ours. Um just for worst case situations where we've experienced um someone in the community who may be targeting their neighbor and calling in noise complaints that our officers are deeming unreasonable um and that are not fair and based on investigation they deem is more targeting their neighbor and kind of weaponizing our department in order to harass them. So certainly won't stop us from responding to calls. It just gives us um puts our officers in a better situation to the circumstances and all the variables that are involved in that complaint.

So just so council is aware, so the existing ordinance that we're modifying under the current language is in in in my opinion way too vague. And that's probably because it hasn't been touched since 1991. Um it it basically says it's unlawful for any person to make or continue to make or cause any noise that a noise disturbs or injuries or endangers that comfort health and safety of others within the city. I mean that could to to an individual that could be I mean by way of example I'm one of those people that believes there's no such thing as listening to too much Jimmy Buffett music. My wife would disagree. Um so I think by adopting a reasonable person standard we kind of take we take the we give it a more objective standard you know a reasonable person of normal sensitive you know obviously um I give you another example in Meridian Township if we had somebody two neighbors that lived right next to each other and one neighbor would it excessively rev a dirt bike with the intent to annoy a neighbor. Now obviously that would annoy a normal person with reasonable sensitivity whereas the example of cheap50s earlier tonight you know an air conditioner kicking on that's just that's just noise. So that was that was the first modification we made to 38-30. In addition in 3831 there was language that said the operation of any sound producing instrument um in such a manner that's plainly audible at a distance of 50 ft from a building or structure is deemed to be an unnecessary noise. We just deleted that entire paragraph. 50 feet being able to hear another noise. I mean, that can be anything. You can hear some lawn more 50 feet away. So, that was way too prescriptive. So, we eliminated that. We put a reasonable person standard in 38-30. And I think this is going to this is going to streamline enforcement for the noises that are genuine nuisances and eliminating

people trying to do enforcement for, you know, things that they may be too hyper sensitive to. Any questions for either chief or practice? Great. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. council member Williams. Yes. Yes. And yes. Next is our discussion on the potential pilot for housing development under the portfolio.

Sure. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of council. Um, the administration felt that this, uh, warranted careful consideration, and I want to explain what is going on. As you may recall, um, early last summer, the this council dealt with the Washington Gardner pilot and proposed project to convert that school into mixed income housing. Um, and as you know, there was um both u positive and negative sentiment um created by that. However, um in this particular case, um we have another situation of the school and in your agenda packet. I I want to point out um Austin school in the aerial photograph. Give that to you. Um about a month and a half ago, the city administration was approached by a company out of Ohio called Pivotal. Um this company um showed interest in developing redeveloping Austin school for the purpose of mixeduse housing multiple family and also on that property building a complete new structure besides the Austin school which is currently standing. In your agenda packet tonight, we took the pilot ordinance or agreement that we did with community housing network, which is the which is identical here. Um what

because we didn't have a full council tonight, I wanted to take this opportunity to just in um introduce this concept before your honorable body and our citizens. So, at this time, I'd like to introduce Mr. Danny Trescott of the Pivotal Group to give a more detailed description of what they intend to do with that school. Now, obviously, we have a tight time frame in that the state of Michigan and the federal government have an April 1st application period, but um because of uh we don't have a full council. I the administration felt that it was very critical to have a full council reviewing of this pilot and to answer any questions. At this time, I'd like to introduce Mr. Dane Truscott of Pivotal Group and he will present in more detail what they're trying to accomplish. Mr. Trust

Mayor Council, thanks for having me this evening. Uh Doug, thank you. Um so my name is Dane Trescott. I'm with Pivotal Housing Partners. We're a multif family development company based out of Westchester, Ohio. though we are we own operate and manage uh approximately 10,000 units over 15 states. Uh in the state of Michigan we have I think 12 uh communities that we currently own and operate. So, this this project here, uh, we've been working with Doug for the past couple months on it, and I came and spoke a couple weeks ago to the planning commission just to get them up to speed, kind of understanding what it is that what the project's about, what we intend to do. So the overall goal would be to take the Austin school building turn it into 15 units that would be threebedroom units approximately 1100 square ft and then the new structure would be 32 units and has mix of uh one bedrooms two and threebedroom units for 47 units in total. So, that's the overall goal, the site plan, and I believe that um Doug, did you share with them the site plan that we've got of the of the property?

No. Um but what Doug was speaking about earlier is going through this this what we utilize is the um the LITC program which is low housing low income housing tax credits uh to successfully fill our capital stack to make these projects viable. Now working through MISTA and the to get those projects funded and awarded one of the kind of critical components of it would be need to have some sort of tax statement program. So working with dug uh we went back looked at what you had seen before with the Washington gardener and so our goal should mimic that uh is what we'll be asking for within 45 years that's 7%. And the other thing too is as Doug has mentioned, we're under, you know, a kind of a strict timeline with uh the dates that we have to hit, which would be beginning of April. Uh and this would be to submit our application. We submit the application and then um usually in a couple months we would find out if we've been awarded. So usually about 33 to 40% of the time is kind of what our success rate is when once we submit an application because submitting applications it's time intensive costs money. Um so really we go after the projects that we think that we would be successful in getting awarded. Um and as I spoke last time we're LBM scores really high for us. So that's why we're at this specific site location where it needs to be at and

for us to do it. This is like I said before the the pilot is going to be one of the kind of critical elements to getting our score high enough to then be successful in our application. Williams. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. uh the range of your rental rates um where they come in at.

So right now when we've looked at it, it's about 30 to 70% is going to be of the AMI the air medium income and I think it's landing at about you did a weighted average at about 55% of what the air medium income would be. Now, I got all the information over to the assessor, Dan Curry. Dan Curry. Uh, I've been in correspondence with him and all of the documentation that he's requested at this point.

In the in the main building, the Austin school building, you said there were going to be three bedroom units,

right? So right now and again structure I've gone through it the property both properties are owned by the land bank and so we've gone over we've looked and there's no drawings to date on the building believe was built in 1911. Uh but we went through did takeoffs measurements and the goal would be to do 15 threebedroom units in that building and then the new build structure would house 32 units. I had to break down for uh and the new building would be six additional three bedrooms. Uh, and all the three bedrooms are about 1,00 square ft. Granted, if we're working in the existing school building, might be a little bit more kind of getting it tweaked in.

Yeah. Um, there would be 15 two-bedroom units that are 876 square ft and 11 onebedroom units that are 675 ft. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Mr. Trustcott, for for being here and for looking at Albian and looking to invest your your time and development hours here. Um, we certainly need the housing. I have a few questions for you about um from an initial planning stage of of the building, particularly the old building.

Um, have you had an opportunity to do a site evaluation on it yet? to understand the the I guess the maybe some of the challenges or hurdles of of working in an old building.

Yeah. So, I've myself I've gone out toward the building with the land bank uh done takeoffs, measurements of that. Um Pivotal Housing Partners has has a track record and has successfully done rehabs. don't want to say historic rehabs because we didn't utilize the historic tax credit, but they're historic buildings and have rehabilitated those in the past. So, that doesn't that doesn't scare us off. Also, the general contracting company that um I anticipate us using also has history of being successful in doing rehab projects as well.

Okay, I've got a few follow-up questions. Okay, thank you very much. Um, so in terms of the uh I guess the the um the tenants that you're you're looking to to house, this is for workforce housing. Is that correct in general? Um any accommodations for seniors at all? So, um it is not a senior targeted product though if we have seniors that uh apply and qualify, they're welcomed in the community.

Okay, great. Then one more question. Uh the of course what we're going to be looking at is the pilot agreement and we did look at pilot agreement of course for Washington Gardner as you said yourself that's kind of the the presses we're using to uh to cover this with um my question to you is u besides that the fact that that's what we used before from an internal uh standpoint why does the 7% 45 year seem to work more excess or difficult.

So the again in the scoring metrics the 45 year gives us a boost for um you know usually it's a 15-year compliance period for LITC we take it all the way out to 45. Um, as far as a 7% I would have liked it to been five, but 7% was kind of the benchmark that we thought that it could have would work. Okay. Is that is that what you're discovering? Because I know you said you're out of Ohio. Uh, yeah. So, the company's uh headquartered out of Ohio.

I live in Michigan. Um, about two hours away. So, yeah, that's that's where they're based out of. Um though like I said before we're in 15 15 states um making and growing and have done 12 successful projects in the Michigan. We're just wrapping up two in Jackson. So you're nearly if not a national company.

Okay. One of one of my considerations Mr. trust God is that, you know, I want to make sure that uh that yes, we have adequate housing for the people who need housing in our community. Absolutely. Um but I also want to make sure that our city is also taken care of in under the terms of these agreements um that we can pay for fire, police, utilities, infrastructure and all that. Not only in the next 5 years, but in the next 45 years if it ends up being that long. So my my viewpoint when I look at this and I see um a national company like Pivotal asking for 7% for 45 years uh and then I look at a small regional company like Community Housing Network uh who has asked for the same thing. I see the need more for CHN to have those benefits than maybe for a a large national corporation. Does that make sense to you? Um, I understand your concern as far as right services going uh for the residents and community and and cost of that, but we're up against the same constraints based off of the AMI that uh community housing network. So we're all playing in the same field at that point. As far as us being able to participate more in that it the costs are what the cost are to to construct um and to get these numbers. You know, we're going to the rents are going to be what we're beholden to based off of what HUD allows in the AMI. So once you put those factors in, nobody really has a competitive advantage as you would as uh a market rate development company.

Sure. Okay. Well, I understand that. I'm a business owner, too. I understand, you know, these kind of things. So So I I understand where you're coming from and I don't mean to sound combative. I'm just curious. It's doing my due diligence, right? Absolutely. Ask the good questions. Um so you said that you've got a what was it a 33 to 40% success rate with getting these um the the funds through. Is that correct? Correct. Yeah. That's if you were to take them all and blend it up. That's kind of sure success rate because we're competing against other applicants that are going after the same the same funds.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Um so with with that in mind though as we found with the Washington government project maybe uh if you don't get these funds uh if if let's say this you you get approved for this pilot agreement but fund this don't come through from MISTA this time around what does it look like in terms of the property itself and the holding on the property how long does it or is that something that you've worked through with the Calvin County Land Bank?

Yes. So yeah, this property is owned by the land bank. Uh I can tell you that we've have projects that were back on round two or round three because they did not get funded. And I can tell you if we don't get funded this round back in October. Okay. Mayor, do you mind if I ask our city manager a question?

City manager, if you don't mind, I've got a question for you. Maybe you could lend some insight. So we should should this approval for a pilot go through, we would have the Washington gardener project holding out trying to get money for the their project and then pivotal for the Austin school project. Uh how what what does Albian do in that case where we've we've we pushed hard to get Washington Gardner ask for housing there. We've got Austin school coming up. One gets it, one doesn't. They both don't get it. We've still got these properties. Would you lend some insight into some of the things behind that, please? First of all, um the the current Austin school is owned by the land bank and I know that there's still negotiations. I'm on the phone every other day with Chissa. Um and once again today when I spoke with her um there's no I would say firm sales that have occurred. Usually in these particular cases um a certain segment of our state is identified as being a prime target for mixed use income housing while the Washington governor uh and along with Pivotal are competing for the same tax credits for the same dollars. Um, so it could be that one is more successful than the other and it could be that this time around Pivotal might be the successful recipient. But until a formal application is filed with the state of Michigan or federal government, how they score that that is um we would

not be privy to that until they made their decision. So it could very much be neck and neck in this particular case if we know that we need workforce housing. Um whether it happens at Washington Gardner or if it happens here. Um we the administration views that as a good thing. Um the one thing I am concerned about in this particular case is the time frame. Um those applications are due March 1 or April 1st. Today's March 2nd um without owning the property and having we have not seen a formal application um filed by Federal yet. Of course, they have 30 days to do so. Again, it is difficult to gauge who would the successful recipient be. So, I believe that both of those projects have merit. What I like about Austin school is that you have a wonderful structure that meant so much to so many people throughout the years is in a location that I think that complemented the property that it would give an economic boost on that corner and in the New York vicinity. I think in the case of Washington Gardner, you have a wonderful building that has been kept up by Albian College for so many years that offers again another use um for that. Um as a fail safe, I know of developers in both parts or both properties that would be interested in both in trying to incentivize them. um if I don't know if we would have economic tools like

they're reaching out to with state federal tax dollars or credits I should say. So and one other thing in the viewing of what a 7% would be against the value of their investment. Um, in talking to Dan Curry, it's very difficult to say because he's at border review right now. March is are the assessments busiest time of the year. His statement was he would not be able to give us anything until we had a free weekend. That's how busy he is. So, I anticipate that coming in very soon, but I can't say specifically. The concept was we knew that we would have three absent council members and we felt that this was too important of an issue not to put on the agenda and not to release to our public. So tonight's meeting was designed to give the council and our citizens an introductory of what could be proposed at Austin school.

Okay. Great. So, I think we're we're fortunate that we are being sought at in regards to housing development. Um, and we have great potential for hopefully getting one of them approved. Um, and so like you know, our city manager said, even like you were kind of getting it, I think was that what happens if they don't get approved? Well, they apply again. um you know, community housing network supplying again. Um so they're they're still trying to get those funds to to make this a reality. So there have been other developers as well um interested. So I think this is a good time for the city to be able to move forward with getting some type of workforce housing development within the next few years. So we want to be very supportive of the developers who are coming and working with not only the county land bank but as uh city manager said with our administration to get all the information to them to the assessor so that they can put the best foot forward in their application. So, I'm sure that we will continue to have discussions on this and attorney Harkness, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but this has to be put into a resolution to approve which needs two readings.

An ordinance. An ordinance. Two readings. Yes. An ordinance to approve for two readings. So, more than likely we'll have to have a special reading so that we can give them the opportunity to have this in place to get their to meet their deadline of April 1st. Sure. Yeah.

Thank Thank you for that and forgive the millions of questions I have, but I I've given these kinds of things lots of thought and I'm very supportive of housing and developing housing and I think I really do think what programs like yours do is important for for Albian and Michigan and I think that we need that. Again, I just want to make sure that, you know, from a financial standpoint for the long-term health of our community, that we're putting ourselves, you know, as as beneficiaries in the best possible way in these grievance. Um, one of the things that you brought up mayor that I'd like to to ask about is that if we and actually Mr. Trescott, you might have more experience with this. might went in here is that if we have if the city of Albian puts forward two pilots for Misha to consider, does MISTA look at that and say, "Oh, well, I can choose one or the other." Or do they look at that and they see that as some kind of turn internal competition? Uh, or do they how is that viewed by by Misha if a city has two pilot agreements out for the same kind of money at the same time? I mean I what I also don't want us to do is I don't want mission to look at us and say what is Ali doing and and bypass us completely. Does that make sense? Yeah,

I can tell you uh that when the the QAP the qualified allocation application plan comes out and it has different scoring criteria, there'll be certain spots that called the hotspots that they will score very very high. Last round in Moskegan, there were a lot of litech developers in Moskegan chasing after areas in, you know, you're there some of the spots. I mean, the other side of the street doesn't work. This side of the street does work. And so that's, you know, there's six, seven of them going after the same the same thing at a time. So, and they're all chasing after the same type of requirements as well.

Okay. So, it wouldn't be problematic. That's is what you're saying. Okay. Well, that's good. That's a good thing. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Um, in the in the scenario that you just referenced where the state has identified a place of major concern where they need more housing, they're desperately in need of housing. Um the state also allows municipalities to use this system, the pilot to um fund these projects to offset the cost over time of what these projects actually cost. Um there's also a partnership between the local municipality and the developers, meaning um we as a city, we're in need of affordable housing due to the income levels here in our community. today in my um this allows us to not have to personally take on ownership of developing new properties or redeveloping properties like the Austin school that has been sitting there um blighted for the majority of my life. I'm 42 years old. I've never seen the school open and I walk past that school, walk into Washington Gardener um for multiple years and like I said, it's been vacant that entire time. Um, with that being said, if the city had the burden of having to redevelop that property, it will cost us a lot of be a lot of red tape and the bureaucracy at play as to who's going to do it and and what the outcome of it would be. Whereas the land bank owns the property and um the pivotal group is um making a valid effort to redevelop the property. Um so the time frame and the overall um vision for what the property could be um you guys already have worked out substantial amount of documentation and just site maps and site plans of what that's going

to look like overall. what the pilot and what you're asking for is for us basically to just partner with you all to ensure that um it's affordable for you to address the need of our citizens here in the community. Um I don't want that to be overlooked in the discussion because we could look past the fact that um yes they're asking for a 45 year pilot. The 45-year pilot guarantees that the people at this income level don't get displaced from the city in that time frame. Um I'm not sure if you went to Austin school.

I'm a little bit older than I remember Austin school very well. It was a beautiful school and inside even after it was closed at the school, it was purchased by and had purchased by a church that added there. It was beautiful then. Hopefully you will get it and get it back to being usable. Yeah. Uh to that point, I would love to see the building uh redeveloped, that corner redeveloped as well, and to see something good come of one of our blighted and ice world properties here in the community. And I live about a half a block from it's a good neighborhood.

Thank you. No, we're we're excited and hopefully uh we can be successful. All right. Any other questions? Well, we appreciate you being with us this evening to give us uh information on this pilot. So, like we said, this will come to council at least two more times for discussion and if we have other questions, you know, we'll get to ask. Perfect. Thank you so much for letting me speak. Yeah.

All right. Future agenda items. We would like to see at our meeting public comments gallery that like to stand in the guil service.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, council. My name is Cody Boutton. My wife and I, Chrissy Pi, live at 302 East Broadwell Street. in precinct one. I'm here tonight regarding the city's mandatory water meter replacement program and a situation that occurred in my home. Prior to the scheduled meter change, our water line was fully operational. There were no leaks, no service interruptions, and no known defects. During the removal of the existing meter by city personnel or its contractor, the water line broke. We were informed that the city was not responsible and were instructed to hire a plumber at our own expense. We were left without water service until this was completed. The repair cost $250. We were then told that we needed to call the city back once the line had been fixed to have them reinstall the meter. Also important, this city told me that this had this city employee had told me that this had happened at at least three other houses. This raises a serious concern. This is a mandatory city program. Homeowners do not select the contractor. We do not control the method of removal. We do not supervise the work. The line was intact prior to the city work that was performed. The damage occurred during the work. The question is not simply who owns the pipe. The question is, when damage occurs during a mandatory city operation, how is liability determined? For our household, $250 was frustrating manageable. However, we lived in precinct 1, the lowest income precinct in Albu. For many residents in our neighborhood, an unexpected $250 plumbing repair is not a minor inconvenience. It could mean choosing between utilities, groceries, and rent. And if this occurs during winter months and residents cannot afford immediate repair, the result

means water shut offs during freezing conditions. This is a public health and safety concern. We are asking council to clarify the governing liability when damage occurs during mandatory meter replacement. Review when safeguards or cost sharing mechanisms should be in place when damage occurs during a city performed work. Consider the economic impact of this program on lower income tenants. If this is happening in multiple parts of the city, this is not an isolated incident. It is a systematic risk within the implementation of this program. We compiled this. We complied with city mandate. We are simply asking for fairness, transparency, and a policy review to ensure residents are not financially penalized for damage occurs during municipal work. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Anybody else want to see anything?

Yes.

Oh, sorry. Very good. Uh, do I have a motion to go into close session?

Council member Ross. Yes. Williams. Yes. Re. Yes. And yes. Session from the

members of my uh monthly report. Uh director K. Um one of the things that um as we approach spring, we're getting teased a little bit. Um, as you know, by today it was what 27 degrees or warmer than yesterday it was 27 but sunny. One of the things that we're experiencing is we're going through the spring thaw process and what that brings is the instability of the subsurface of the earth when that occurs. And one one of those things that happens is that we develop potholes. potholes usually start from the bottom up. So, I've asked uh director Kern to give a slight um just a short report on what we're doing in the pothole um restoration area and also to talk about leaves. Um we did purchase the machine as you know it's under repair and I wanted them to report to our citizens. We have not forgotten about leaves. We're still working on it. But if you could, uh, Director Kurt, could you give council and our citizens an update where we're at on both those issues?

Sure. So, when it comes to the potholes, uh, we are, we've been having crews go out and put down cold patch. Um, cold patch is a very temporary solution. Um, it is probably my least favorite. It does not last. Um, so what we're going to do is we've been putting together a schedule to where we can uh look to alter our work hours because we want to get the mass machine back out and start using that. But we've found that it's very labor intensive. It takes about eight guys to run it. By the time you have the entire crew, it's about eight eight guys to do it. And the traffic control is what we found too is we're running into issues. So when we go to do Erie Street, we're going to come in probably really early in the morning, 3:00, 4 in the morning and do it or work overnight. Um, and so we're trying to get our schedules to align just right to where we can plan to do that. That way it disrupts traffic the least amount and we can get out there and get the most done without having to worry about traffic. So we'll continue to use the cold patch until the ashalt plants open up around Aprilish sometime. Um, and then we can start doing more of the hot patching, which lasts a lot longer. We're also going to use our millow machine that we have on our Bobcat to with the mastic patcher to get rid of some of these these issues. Um, with the leaf machine last year, uh, when the guys were we got a little bit of a warm spell, we were able to start going back at it again. Two things we we found. We got extremely overwhelmed. Even with that new machine, the used one that we bought, we still got overwhelmed. I could have a crew running seven days a week and it's just two guys that are doing it and it'll take me months to catch up. The amount of leaves

was overwhelming. Um, so what happened was the we think it either picked up a chunk of ashvault or something and it instead of when it went through the tube and went into the propellers that suck make the suction, the clutches were supposed to disengage. So that way it would just stop the wheel from spinning the lights would go off and we'd be able to dislodge it. That did not happen. The guys were actually weren't even using it. They had just got done doing a pile. They were turning a corner and all of a sudden they it it completely broke down and broke the bell housing, broke the starter off of it. I mean, it was a catastrophic failure. I originally got the repair estimate and it was going to be $26,000 and I was like, there's no way. I can't I can't come to the council for $26,000 on a machine we just bought, put 50 hours on. I worked with them and got it down to uh about 14,000 and uh it's going to be about six weeks before it's back up and running. With that, we're just going have to go back to old school of using the blowers and the brooms on the tractors to push it off into the um into the streets. I looked at other communities like Marshall, they've been doing the same thing. uh they've just been pushing into the roadways and then scooping up with buckets, putting in dump trucks and all the way to the tree drum. So, we're going to start on that. Uh we're looking to do that this week along with having crews pulling crews out of the cemetery and parks department to do the patching, but we it's going to be good in well into May, June before we actually get all the leaves cleaned up and then we're going to have to try to figure out a strategy for next year.

Right. So, I don't want to put you on the spot. Um, in our conversation, are there equipment out there that that could we could rent? Um, because I know that there's a lot of property owners, homeowners that are frustrated. Um, winter came too soon or is there a possibility we can look into?

We can, but it's a lease to own. A lot of them aren't leasing or aren't renting the Leafax anymore. They just there was no profit in it. So, what they're doing is like a lease to own. Um I did get some figures on that. The machine that we had originally ordered, which is much bigger, um is still not scheduled to be delivered until June or July, if that. So, I can get one tomorrow, but I have to sit down with Finance Director Clark and see if that's even doable. The figures I got was about 88,000 per year and it's a lease to own. So it I'm kind of stuck right now. And so in the meantime, till we can figure out a long-term solution, we're going to go back to just kind of pushing them off with blowers and getting them out in the streets and then picking them up.

I think from the administration standpoint, the worst scenario is that we're still picking up last year's lead. Yes. when we start picking up vicious I agree and I think that uh that will lend itself to a lot of frustrated citizens I think we need to focus and try to do everything we can to minimize that. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we're going to do our best. It's just it's we are we got we got dumped on pretty hard and then it froze in snow and we were plowing leaves up into the rightway again and it was a mess.

You know, I do want to extend my sincere thanks for yours, your staff, your supervisors for all the hard work they do. I know I'm out there every day seeing them and how hard they work and um I'm very appreciative. I know our citizens are appreciative of all the efforts you've made and speaking on behalf of the council. They're appreciative, too. Thank you.

So, and I want to extend also to Aaron and uh to David and the other staff how appreciative we are of all the work. I know that we had a situation yesterday um handled professionally, handled without uh any injury and so we're uh we're blessed to have your you and your staff take such good care of us. Thank you. Thank you, Jason. That's all I have. Okay. Um, council member comments,

just a reminder that we have our town hall meeting this coming Thursday night um at Opportunity High School. Uh, this is more information on upcoming road construction. Uh, getting updates on our dam removal projects. So, we'll have several individuals available to help answer residents questions. Um, I know that a lot of folks get a little impatient when there's some inconveniences when trying to get from one end of town to the next. So, having insight and information uh before we start uh doing more road construction, it's only going to help alleviate some of that frustration. So, if you are able to spread the word, please do so. Um especially you know if it's just seeing people on the streets reminding them or social media whatever works let's get the help.

Hey mayor is that in the library? It's in the library. Yes. Yeah. Thank you mayor. Um, I just wanted to say thank you to city staff for u their participation along with uh Nancy Doyle on the arts commission and u receiving $16,000 in grant funding from um the MEDC. No, the state Yes. Arts Michigan Arts Council.

Michigan Arts Council. Yeah. Um, definitely. I know that that that board has been um operating for a while. They're now starting to see some funding coming in. Um, so they'll be able to do and provide more services to the community. Um, and we all enjoy the arts. So, I just want to say thank you and congratulations. Uh, Bill helped us out a lot with that. Any other council? Do I have a motion to excuse Mayor Rick French, Councilwoman Davis, and Councilman um Stewart? All in favor say I.

I post. Do I have a motion to move? All in say I I 8:27 p.m. Thank you all.