City Commission - Regular Meeting

Well, hello, everyone. We're getting started a few minutes late here. Colleagues, are we ready to go? All right. Good to see everybody. I want to call to order the City Commission meeting for Monday, August 10th, 2026.

Clerk Barling, please call the roll. Commissioner Hess. Present. Commissioner Hoffman. Commissioner Pradel. Present. Commissioner Slaby. Commissioner Wilson. Present. Vice Mayor Duncan. Here. Mayor Anderson.

Here. Thank you, Clerk Boyling. May I have a motion to excuse Commissioners Hoffman and Slaby? So moved. Motion made by Commissioner Hess. Second. Supported by Vice Mayor Duncan. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Thank you, Commissioners. Motion passes. Well, we have a special part of our opening ceremony this evening is that oftentimes we do have people come in to help us get started with an invocation. And tonight we're doing that in-house. So Commissioner Hess will be providing the invocation for us this evening. Thank you for stepping up, Commissioner Hess.

Thank you, Mir. I'd like to share a prayer for disarmament and peace from the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network website. Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for peace and disarmament. Lord of life, you shaped every human being in your image and likeness. We believe you created us for communion, not for war, for fraternity, not for destruction. You who greeted your disciples saying, peace be with you, grant us the gift of your peace and the strength to make it a reality in history. Today, we lift up our prayer for peace in the world, asking that nations renounce weapons and choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy. Disarm our hearts of hatred, resentment, and indifference so we may become instruments of reconciliation. Help us understand that true security does not come from control fueled by fear, but from trust, justice and solidarity among peoples. Lord, enlighten the leaders of the nations so they may have the courage to abandon projects of death, halt the arms race and place the lives of the most vulnerable at the center. May the nuclear threat never again dictate the future of humanity. Holy Spirit, make us faithful and creative builders of the daily peace in our hearts, our families, our communities, and our cities. May every kind word, every gesture of reconciliation, and every choice of dialogue be seeds of a new world. Amen.

Thank you very much, Commissioner Hess. I would ask everyone in the chambers to be so kind to 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. Thank you so much. Well, it's actually getting to be a little bit unusual, but we don't have a proclamation this evening. So we're going to move right on into the adoption of the formal agenda. Commissioners, are there any items on G, the consent agenda, you would like to move to H, the regular agenda? G7, Mayor. G7. Any other items commissioners would like to see moved? Okay, we're all set then. We're moving one item, G7 to H, the regular agenda will now be H3. Next, Communications Manager Hankins. None at this time, Mayor. Thank you, sir. Now we are to public comments. Just a reminder, you can take advantage of making a public comment for those watching online and for us here on any topic. You'll have four minutes. Please state your name and whether you live in the city.

Hello, I'm Kay. I live in the township and I do a lot of work here in the city. I was in here at the last meeting and I just wanted to reiterate my support. Well, I mean, like say my support once again because I've always been in support of the call. in option for these meetings, as everybody else said, for accessibility, so that everybody has a chance to have their voice heard in real time. I heard that people could email. There's different forms of communication, but this is I feel like the most valuable form of communication because it creates a little bit of accountability and transparency with what community is going through as well as speaking directly to the dais instead of just like an email or an informality. The data center memorandum as well I think is very important. As was said, we need to protect our fresh water. We already have a PFAS crisis in Kalamazoo. We don't need to to add more impact on the environment as well with the environmental crisis. There's just a lot going on in Kalamazoo. I think that's the best thing that can be done, especially since we know, as somebody said, that Gretchen Whitmer supports data centers and is trying to create legislation so that they could self-regulate and be responsible. We know corporations have never been successful at self-regulating themselves. There was a lot of controversy about flock cameras in the meeting as well. I think one of the major things that I heard is that everybody who comes here is looking for a solution, right? Looking for acknowledging the differences, but as well as being willing to have the conversation. As I've heard that the flock contract has actually been renewed. that it was below the threshold of money that is supposed to come to the commission. And so that's very concerning because I feel like if there's one thing that has been the common theme for a couple of months, has been the flock cameras. And it just feels like a bad faith move to move behind what community says. It doesn't have to be flocked. Surveillance does not have to be flocked in Kalamazoo. I don't think that people are aware that this is a contract, but there always has been surveillance in Kalamazoo. It just has not been flocked. I'm not saying that it supports Surveillance, I'm just saying that there was enough pushback about surveillance. I also understand that people are in support of the surveillance. And I feel like something that is really missing here is the fact that a lot of this is a Band-Aid. As we see, and I brought this up before, the Atlas statistics. There's over half of the community, black and brown community, experiencing hardship, living paycheck to paycheck, not having enough resources. One of the common themes when people came to talk about Sunday Funday was that there's not enough things for our kids to do. There's not enough resources. Some people have came here, a lot of housing advocates, and said, you know, housing is one of the biggest barriers, right? If people had stable housing and had resources and just had, you know, resources given to them, they would make the right choices, right, for their families. And so I just want to put that out there in terms of like where We see the priorities in this country. We need to start seeing the priorities here in the city to really address the real systemic issues and not just put a bandaid and depend on these surface level things because we are really in, this country's in distress and this commission needs to act like the house is on fire as it keeps.

Thank you. Next please.

Good evening. My name is Alice Wright, and it's been about five or six years since I've been down here. When I did come, they helped me. But I live on Westings, and been on Westings, and it's terrible. They'll come there and be there full 5 and 6 o'clock all morning long. any day, but sometimes they are quiet. You don't even know they're out there. But lately, there's been a shooting, fightings and everything. Sometimes when I call the police, they'll tell them they got to go. One policeman, he was nice. He said, can you wait till about 2.15? and call us, and he would make a move, because there's no parking after 2. And I talked to one policeman about that, and he said that there ain't nothing I could do. What do you mean? It says no parking after 2. You can stand on the sidewalk. I agree with that. But you can't be hollering and screaming and cussing and trying to fight and tell people you're going to shoot them and everything, because if you shoot them, you might shoot me. I could be in the bed or anything like that. So yes, I need some help. I know what the West needs. And I would like for y'all to ride down there sometime when you get off of work or before and just look at it. It's a mess. But like I said, it's not every day, but most of the time it is bad, really, really bad. Because, I mean, you shouldn't tell nobody you're going to shoot them or jump on them or cut them or whatever. So that's what I need to help with the police. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, please.

Hi, everyone. Again, my name is Tina McClinton. I live on Lake Street. I live next to the last natural green space in the lovely floodplain area. I live in the neighborhood, South Town neighborhood, the south side of town. Your imagined plant in Kalamazoo is gonna make flooding worse in my neighborhood again. that are already struggling to survive. Your master plan is not including any of the wealthy neighborhoods. Why? There is no affordable housing in the wealthy neighborhoods, or you seem to always put them in the north side and the south side of town. There is also none in downtown Kalamazoo, in the rich man's playground. Why? See, in my neighborhood, all we want is dry streets. Your priority should be dry streets for every neighborhood. Why the south side of town neighborhood? Your storm drains flood out the streets, backs up the sewers. Ever since you destroyed 12 acres of natural green space and added more to the infrastructure underneath the ground has already been broken and not working. Storm drains back up the sewers and the streets and the ground router. It's really started happening ever since KVCC destroyed 12 acres and the city let them do it without fixing the failing seven decades old infrastructure. But I see your master plan just builds in the poor neighborhoods. Flooding should be a priority. But imagine Kalamazoo is becoming a joke, built by the rich, planned by the rich. The citizens of Kalamazoo should all be heard, not just the wealthy. Fix the damn flooding. I have been asking for eight and a half years, guys. Eight years later, I'm still waiting. This should show how much you listen to your residents. You don't. For if you did, I wouldn't be still coming here after eight years, over and over again, year after year, asking you to fix this problem of the flooding. We must stop destroying natural spaces just so you rich developers can build. No data centers in Kalamazoo, please. Think about it. You don't want it in your neighborhood. We don't want it in ours. Why would we? Data centers destroy the environment, the wildlife. For one, stop following the damn money train and start fixing the issues in Kalamazoo. Pollution is a problem in Kalamazoo. It's getting worse. Manhole overflows and backups every week. You don't fix things till they break. And then you blame the poor neighborhood and say it's their property, but it's your rotten pipes. That should be your responsibility to fix, not the homeowners. Rent is too damn high. And I know some of you are landlords. So why don't you lower your rent so some people can have places to live? People on fixed incomes can't afford to live in Kalamazoo. You're only creating more homeless because you don't care. Crime is out of control, shootings every week, carjacking, stealings, robberies, assaults, the whole thing. It happens every single day in broad daylight. Younger and younger children are doing more crimes. And all they get is a slap on the wrist by Jeff Giddings and sent back home to do more crime. Instead of helping them try to solve this issue, then you kill somebody and you go to jail. Crime is out of control. Wake up, Kalamazoo. Bring back public call-ins so every resident in Kalamazoo can have a voice. Every resident. We don't want a data center. We want you to stop destroying natural spaces, please. Fix the flooding issues. Fix the crime issues. Do something. Kalamazoo is not a good place anymore. You can do better than this. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please.

Good evening. I'm Wendy tonight, and I'm representing the neighborhood on Edwards Street, basically the whole neighborhood around the north side here. The homeless, they're taking over. And I want to know why are you guys letting them take over? Just like down there on from North Street to Ransom Street, they just got a little city going on down there. And then the police, I have to be very honest, I have no bad complaints about, we have no bad complaints about the city, about the police, because the police has been very good with us. We've had problems. you know, drugs and prostitutes. And the police has always been there for us. But now you guys have stopped. They have stopped the police from doing anything with the homeless people. And I'm asking why.

Hello? This isn't a time when there's dialogue. So take advantage to make sure that we all know the information that you want us to know.

Yes, and we kind of want that stopped. I know the drop-in center is down there, and maybe that's why they huddle in there. I don't know. But maybe the drop-in center needs to go someplace else and make a little city for the drop-in city and for the homeless people, but not for us taxpayers. And there's a lot of businesses down there now. We don't want that. We don't want that. And so can I ask you, is anything going to be done?

The best way to hear back is to leave your contact information here on the dais, if you've already done that. There's a place where you can sign in with your contact. And that would be very clearly your contact information. And people will get back in touch with you.

Yes, because myself and a group of people, we're here to represent Edward Street. Thank you so much. And I hope you would tell them to release the police and protect the neighbors, the community on the north side here. Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Next, please.

Hello, Mr. Anderson. It's about 20 years. Last time you saw me, I was with the Kalamazoo Homeless Action Network. And I had a loaf of bread with me. I was homeless. Now I'm back, but I'm no longer homeless. I got a disturbing message today from a friend of mine that is homeless, that the city, one of the officers had put three eviction notices on the tents down on Edwards, down by the drop-in. I also learned that you guys are pushing the drop-in and the mission out towards Sprinkle Road. by a highway, which, I'm sorry, is stupid. And I want to know whose bright idea amongst you all was that? Because the amount of mental health that goes on with the homeless is going to take, the calls are going to go up. There are kids there. It's going to take one kid to escape from their parents, because it happens, and they're going to go on that highway, they're going to get hit. But what is the game plan? You're pushing them off to the side. What is the game plan? Because pushing them off to the side is not going to make them disappear. Pushing them under the bridge is just not going to make them disappear. I have had good interactions with the officers. Officer Miller, Mary Miller to be as precise, has been wonderful. She has helped my family. My son is here. Hello. My daughter is at home watching. I homeschool my kids so they can see how things are done properly. But I've also seen officers do things that probably are not by the book. What is your game plan? Commissioner Hess, you spoke earlier about how things are right outside your doorstep by the Pope himself, and yet every single last one of you ignore it daily, every single day, and for the past 20 years. Yes, it has been that long. So what is the game plan? And yes, city manager, I have emailed you, and no, I have not heard a response back. So what is the game plan? Because you cannot just sit there and just shove people off to the side and expect it to go away. You cannot expect it just to disappear, like sprinkle a little pixie dust and make it go away. and all in favor of your big, beautiful arena that should have been used for housing. Housing that is needed. Housing that has been needed. Jobs that need to have a living wage. Not, oh, work factory, third shift, and pray to God you make it. Work at Walmart. And what, say on welfare? No. I'm not saying those aren't decent jobs, but more jobs need to be brought in that produce a living wage. A real affordable housing. Not just, oh, let's just charge $1,000, you know, $1,300 for one bedroom. That's not affordable. That might be affordable for you or you, but that's not affordable for your constituents. You guys need a reality check and you need to wake up.

Thank you. Next please.

Hi, I'm Claire. I live in the Vine. I have to say I agree. I think that displacement can't be our answer. There's got to be a solution that gets to the root for our unhoused community that we can come to. So I just have some stuff to say about that. First of all, the fence at Arcadia, you guys heard about it. There's no, like, so it's cited that there's an ongoing construction project. I read the, like, project. little blurb on the webpage, but it's been up for since last winter and we haven't seen any construction. I saw about soil sampling that that is why the fence is up. I don't know that a whole park needs to be blocked off for soil sampling. So just and that's something that we talked about at one of our like community meetings. I think it was maybe February, March and it just there's been no movement, no new information. So You know, that fence needs to come down by winter. People rely on that space for community, for distributions, for warmth, and for at least some shelter from the severe temperatures that we're going to have. We know that. And so, speaking of winter, we need to get ahead of the issues that we faced last year. Somebody died from severe temperatures, and that's due to our unreadiness. We were unready to support We only provided ideas and solutions once there was already a crisis. And so let's get ahead of that now. And some questions that remain unanswered as of now is, will ministry with community be open overnight during the winter months again? Will the library serve as a warming center as last year they did not, leaving the nearest warming center more than five miles away from the downtown area, which is inaccessible for most unhoused community members? The buses, will we be transporting people to warming centers free of charge as we did on some select days last year? But maybe we could look at what K-Metro has to offer as far as resources preemptively to get ahead this winter. Let's get creative. Let's think ahead. We can't be just reacting to crises as they come. We have to think ahead first. I wanted to talk about, I go to MLK Park a lot and there is a sprinkler system there that comes on at 7.15 p.m. and it sprays the park benches, especially the ones that are closest to Park Street Market. And so people are getting sprayed with water. And then they have to quick gather all their stuff and move. I don't know why the sprinklers are on at that time in the first place. I think that most parks, the sprinklers come on at a time where the park isn't super populated. So maybe we could think about that. Two of those sprinklers also are broken, so they're actually causing the flower beds to flood. So if we're trying to water the flower beds, we're failing miserably. They're aimed at the park branches. Like I said, there's no reason for this. Let's get them either pointed away from the literal seating areas where most people sit, or let's get them on at a time of the day where people aren't populating the park. Lastly, a temporary moratorium on city ordinance section 3324 is needed. There's that whole chapter of the city ordinance criminalizes behaviors that are normative in the context of houselessness and necessary for social inclusion and aspects of daily life. I've talked about this before, but for example, the park outlets, if you use them, it's a misdemeanor. I've had people tell me that they've had to pay $500 tickets for using a park outlet, and yet there's no alternative in place. There's no publicly available charging stations where people can go in and charge their phones, which phones are a necessary part of our daily life. for transportation, for work, like y'all know. So we need that whole section has policies like that that are criminalizing these things that are so important for people and causing people to have to go through the whole court process and accrue a misdemeanor crime. So like just thinking about a moratorium.

Thank you. Next, please.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Zachary Laster. I live in downtown Kalamazoo. I owe this room an apology. Last time I stood here, I used the F word freely, loudly, and with relish. A distinguished member of our community told me that when I use the F word in these chambers or any four-letter word, his blood pressure goes up. He's a man who cares deeply about this community, and he deserves better from me. So tonight, out of respect for him, not a single word, four letters in length, and nothing that begins with the letter F, starting now. Notice, nothing banned yet, nothing of the length I promised to avoid, nothing led by the sixth letter of the alphabet. It's not simple. Restraint rarely is, but restraint is possible, and so is listening. Tonight, the Commission and our Department of Public Safety needs to learn the second one, because our community spoke about those cameras, the cameras on poles, the cameras whose brand I may no longer say. We spoke at podiums, we spoke, we wrote letters, we showed up meeting after meeting asking simple questions. Who is watching? Who is watched? Where do the records go and who is granted access? Agencies beyond Kalamazoo, companies beyond Michigan? I answered those questions myself buried in the audit records. Grand Rapids police allowing ATF to run searches through the camera network for immigration reasons. Right here in our streets in Kalamazoo, our streets, our plates, our neighbors, misuse is not hypothetical. Misuse is documented, and Kalamazoo is not alone. In Kansas, a chief tracked his ex north of 160 times. In Milwaukee, an officer tracked a romantic partner north of 120 times, and the detective assigned to probe him arrested, caught for misuse of the camera system himself. In Savannah, six employees terminated. Searches run on acquaintances and relatives. Agencies by the dozen, Border Patrol included, ran into hundreds of lookups on peaceful protesters, people marching, gathering, speaking, tracked plate by plate, and the stated reasons in the audit records, suspicious investigation, sometimes a single period, a dot. And in Texas, a deputy searched 83,000 cameras, no warrant, across state borders, reaching states where the procedure of um reaching states where the procedure is legal hunting a woman who ended a pregnancy the reason typed in the record had an abortion verbatim every single one of these stories is headlines in them right now and the answer Meeting after meeting was a shrug, not a hearing, not a report, not a single acknowledgement, a shrug. And the shrug is not the whole story. A dozen months ago, to get answers, I had to obtain the audit records through alternative means. And in recent months, the Kalamazoo Gazette had to sue, sue to obtain records legally and rightfully public, records the statute's demand be released without a struggle. And now instead of answers, drones. I watched drones in the night sky above Kalamazoo light strobing red and the second color you can all guess that I can't say. I tailed the drones to public safety headquarters where the machines landed on the rooftop. Nobody asked us, nobody briefed us, but the testing of AI-powered drones in Kalamazoo is underway. We raised concerns about cameras on poles. The response is cameras in the sky. We asked our leaders to pause. Instead, the wager doubled. Let me be clear. about the scene unfolding in Kalamazoo. Every parent in these chambers knows it by heart. A child clutching a donut, the community gently but plainly, the donut needs to go. And the child kicking, screaming, pounding to the ground, my donut, my donut. And so the crescendo, the child grabs the public checkbook and orders a dozen extra donuts, airborne delivery, and that child, commissioners, is our chief. A community sane enough was never an invitation to order extra. There is a principle above every camera and every drone, the consent of the governed. Public safety without public consent is not safety at all. And so I'm just gonna leave this here. He wants his donuts, you can take them away or you can let him have them. Thank you, next please.

Lucky me, thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Ewan. I'm speaking on behalf of the Get the Flock Out of Kalamazoo campaign. First of all, I do want to second the call for call and participation to these type of meetings. I think, obviously, at this time, it would be in the interest of everybody to make sure that our democracies are expanded to the best of their ability. This campaign, along with others, foiled the full flock search log for KDPS from January to July this year. What we found should concern the whole room. 140,000 searches in six months. A search every two minutes around the clock. Nearly two-thirds of those searches came from outside agencies, not KDPS. Michigan State Police alone ran more searches than KDPS itself. And in the data that we received, 90% of KDPS's own searches had no case number attached. That means no way for anyone, including this commission, to verify that these searches were tied to real investigations. In that same data set, we found that Portage, however, were able to attach a case number to 100% of their searches. A search every two minutes, most of it leaving the town with no case number nine times out of ten. Zero accountability on what is clearly a mass surveillance network. And I'm sure people here will rely on their subjective perceptions of this tool being useful, but at the end of the day we need hard, objective data. I want to ask something. How many false positives has this system generated in Kalamazoo? The LAPD checked theirs and they found a 32% false positive rate and they let their contract expire over it. Over 80 municipalities in 28 states have done the same. This is a safety problem. Every false positive sends an officer after somebody who did nothing wrong. We know that any police interaction carries risk, and that risk falls hardest on the black and brown residents. Police killed over 1,300 people nationwide last year. Black Americans, 12% of the population, were nearly a quarter of them. These cameras are manufacturing dangerous, potentially lethal encounters, and residents deserve to know how often it's happening here. I also find it kind of amusing that the commission seems interested in pausing data center rollout while going full hog in this system which uses data centers. It seems a little bit cowardly to go, yes, we want to use the technology that these data centers allow to make happen, but we don't want it in our backyard. This isn't a fringe issue. Over 1,100 people have signed our Get the Flock Out of Kalamazoo petition, and flock contracts are being reconsidered in cities nationwide. The public interest is clear, and it has been for a while. This commission has the democratic duty to put this contract to a public vote. And if that contract has already been renewed, then in my opinion that is an affront to our local democracy. Given the scale of this program, its lack of transparency, and the national reckoning underway, a public vote in which all you guys have to say where you stand on this issue should happen. We encourage all those opposed against this technology to stand with us outside City Hall next week, August 17th, as part of a nationwide anti-flock protest. Because it's only together that we can get the flock out of Kalamazoo. Thank you.

Thank you. Next please.

Good evening again. Mayor Anderson, honorable commission. I am coming before you today about regular agenda H2, but I wanted to put on a different hat for a moment. Like I said, at the committee of the whole meeting, I also serve as a Berrien County commissioner. And sometimes in our public service life, it is, it becomes incumbent upon us to have a bit of humility and know when to apologize and apologize publicly. So this resolution that's before you is to adopt a citizen's healthcare action plan. What is that? It is to bring community members together in cities across Southwest Michigan, Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek to put together these citizen-led initiatives where the state and federal government would receive recommendations from those cities on healthcare policies that specifically will impact those municipalities, not broad and general terms, the social determinants of health in your community. What are those things, especially as I saw the master plan or the strategic plan that was brought up and weaving that into that process, but where the apology comes from. is that this commission and members of this commission were not informed beforehand that this was coming to be partners and to be a part of that process. So to Vice Mayor Duncan, City Manager Hankins, Mayor Anderson, Commissioner Hess, Pradell, and Wilson, I want to humbly apologize that you were not brought into that process. And I'm going to make it a a directive of mine and my organization to make sure that you are all brought up to speed. You are a part of this process moving forward, but I am not going to assume your support. I'm going to work to earn it because you know this community better than I do and better than the people who are a part of this and you need to be a part of this process. So once again, I do humbly apologize, but I hope the spirit of this proposal is one that's not lost on anyone. At the end of the day, I think every person who is here and every person that sits in those seats believes that we need to expand this healthcare system to support and bolster more people, and we just want to be a part of making that happen. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, please.

Hi, my name is Shona Espinosa. We need to take the damn fence down. It's ridiculous that Arcadia has that fence up. What's the purpose besides pushing our unhoused out? There was a playground for kids to play at. Y'all took it down. Why? Because our unhoused children were playing there. I mean, they can't be at the mission for a set amount of time. So what are we doing? How are we helping? There are so many barriers in this community stopping our unhoused and even others that are vulnerable and those that are even housed from getting the help that they need. There's so many barriers when it comes to mental health. There's so many barriers when it comes to housing. There's so many barriers when it comes to Just getting your health taken care of. There are barriers. There are too many barriers. I had issues navigating this housing system, which is bullshit because it's causing more harm to us than anything. I had so, it was hard to navigate. I reached out to this commission. I reached out to people I knew. And I know a lot of people. So if I'm having issues, can you just imagine how our own house are having issues to get help? Mental health is real. We all struggle with mental health in some type of way, but many of us don't know how to get help with it. Or if they do, they're not met where they're at. They have to go to other places. And it's intimidating when you sit in front of people that you know that are going to judge you for having a mental health issue. It took me years to realize I have mental health and I'm OK with that because I know it makes me who I am. But what is this commission going to do to help? There are so many more people that are gonna be out on the street because rent is too damn high. Our bills are too damn expensive. Consumer is extremely high. I just got my water bill. Why is it over $200? And we barely use ours. We try to make sure we don't because these bills are high. What is this commission going to do as a whole instead of individually? Those individuals that have been out here like Drew, Wilson, Slady, Hoffman, Hankins. Where's the rest of y'all gonna show up as a whole to help this community? Time and time again we come up here and we ask for help. There was just a sweep for our own house. But Hess, you spoke up here, violence, stop this and stop that, but y'all using the police force as violence towards our own house. Why are we continuing to sweep them? Why are we not getting them the help that they need? There's also children out on the street. It's not just grown folks out here. There's veterans, there's seniors, there's disabled, there's single parents, there's families, there's children, there's those that are pregnant. Do they deserve to continue to be harmed by the police because you guys don't like looking at them? This commission needs to do better. I'm tired of wasting my time coming up here because you guys don't listen. You guys do not listen. I have no faith in you keeping none of us safe, except for yourselves. If this was your family out on the street, there'd have been something put in place. Let's stop spending money on bullshit. I'm serious at this commission. I have no faith. I cannot wait to each and every single one of y'all voted out these seats, because you're harmful. Do better.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wants to take advantage of the public comment period?

GOOD AFTERNOON, COMMISSION, MAYOR, CITY MANAGER, VICE MAYOR. SO MY NAME IS WENDY FIELDS, AND I'M A LIFELONG RESIDENT OF THE NORTH SIDE. FIRST OF ALL, I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR COMING OUT TO SUPPORT THE EVENT THIS WEEKEND. IT WAS AN AWESOME WEEKEND OF CELEBRATION. THE ONLY ONE I DIDN'T SEE WAS ATTORNEY LEAL, BUT THE REST OF YOU WHO WERE THERE, I SEE YOU ON A REGULAR BASIS COMING OUT AND BEING A PART OF THE COMMUNITY, SO I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR THAT. So I'm also here and I won't belabor what I've already sent you, which was an email about my concerns with the homeless or unhoused population that's on Edward Street. It's a tragedy. It's horrible. It's filthy. It's unsanitized. And it concerns me that that's out there. And yes, the individuals out there are living, but I too am a taxpayer. And I should not have to walk through some of that that I have to walk through. And matter of fact, I don't even walk that way anymore because I feel unsafe. They're all in the streets. You can't drive your car down through there. So I agree that there needs to be something done with the homeless. I also know and recognize that there are individuals with mental illness and substance abuse. But in order to get help, you have to want help. And all of those individuals do not want help. They want to do what they want to do, any way they do it. Some of them have dogs and they say, I'm not going into a shelter. Some of them don't want to go to the mission because the men can't sleep with their wives or vice versa or their significant other. So you have to want help. to be able to be helped. And I know that there are resources at Ministry with Communities as well as the Gospel Mission. And I'm going to say what others don't want to say, but we need to, well not me because I don't do it, but the panhandling, stop giving to those individuals that are out there panhandling. If you want to help anybody, and I'm talking to the citizens of Kalamazoo and whomever else, Give the donations to ministry with community. Give it to the gospel mission so that some of the programming that people are talking about can happen. I don't know if this is an option for those that don't want to do anything, that just want to live in that squalor. Give them a piece of property and let them have at it. But we, in the city, we have rights too. And I enjoy Kalamazoo. It's a beautiful place. Homelessness is not new. Attorney Lael, you need to give them what they need to do what it is that they need to do. And if that means a new ordinance of some kind, do that. Because there is a lot of taxpayers and a lot of people here that enjoy Kalamazoo, that enjoy riding the bikes. We're doing all this stuff about bike lanes and all of this other stuff. Well, what about us? I feel for my brothers and sisters that are having homeless issues. But do we put money into substance abuse, dual diagnosis services? Absolutely. Absolutely. But again, you have to want help. to be helped. And even the Bible tells us, a man that does not work does not eat. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, please.

GOOD EVENING, VICE MAYOR DUNCAN, MAYOR ANDERSON, CITY MANAGER HANKINS, CITY COMMISSIONERS. I ECHO EVERYTHING THAT WENDY FIELDS HAS SAID. YOU HAVE TO WANT HELP TO BE HELPED. I CAN'T CONTINUE ON WITH THAT. BUT NONETHELESS, ONE, I JUST WANT TO SAY ON A LIGHTER AND BRIGHTER NOTE, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. THIS PAST WEEKEND NORTH SIDE DAY WAS A SUCCESS. I SAW EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU OUT THERE. Thank you for participating. It was a great weekend. We were safe. We had fun. It was lots of going on and everybody was just occupied with just fun things to do. So I really appreciate your support. Thank you for being there. Most importantly, look forward to being there. Continue on this next year. I'm August 7th, 2027. That is the next Northside Day. So I really appreciate everyone again supporting and being there and we have met our goal as well. So we are gonna do some big things throughout this year and even moving forward in the new year too. So thank you, thank you, thank you and I appreciate you.

Thank you. Next please.

I promised myself I wasn't going to speak, but I just thought of something that was just a practical help when we talk about, excuse me, support for some of the unhoused. All of the new shelters that are on that portage route, that's one of the buses that isn't running twice a day, like the West Nudge bus or the West Main bus. So those folks that need services are having a little less access to transportation by being in that location. So that's just an option. sorry not an option that's the word i wanted to use that would be a practical way to give more support for that situation thank you is there anyone else in the chambers that would like to take advantage of the public comment period i'm going to close it down unless somebody comes up

My name is Perry Wilson, Sr., and I apologize for the applause. I'm from Shreveport, Louisiana. That's all I can say.

Thank you. Next, please.

Good evening, Jeff Messer, city resident, candidate for Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees on your November 3rd ballot, nonpartisan section at the back of your ballot, very bottom before the millages and proposals section. The public can subscribe to my campaign blog at messer.substack.com or scan the QR code on your screen. I'm going to reply to some of the comments I heard from the other citizens this evening. But first, I want to acknowledge something that some viewers of these meetings have been watching, have been noticing, the regular absence of Commissioner Stephanie Hoffman. She has missed two of the last three meetings. I don't know how many meetings she's missed over the past two-year period or whatever. You know, she may be sick and maybe beyond her control. I don't know. But at a certain point, you got to say, you know, you're not up to the job. You need to stand aside, let someone else fill that position. Again, I don't know how many meetings Stephanie has missed, but she's getting close to Aaron Knott territory. If you don't remember, she's not been watching these meetings since before the pandemic. Erin Knott missed 20% of the meetings during the first three years of her final term. That was the effect of being 20% is one out of five. That's like having a five-day-a-week job and skipping every Friday. So Kushner Hoffman, I hope you feel better or whatever's going on. But maybe you need to hang it up. Do the community a favor. A lot of people would like to sit in that seat that you're wasting. Anyway, so some of the other things people talked about this evening. Let's see. Well, let's talk about the flock. So the flock cameras and the other surveillance in the city, I think I talked about this problem before anyone else back in June, the first meeting in June 2019, one of the few meetings that Aaron not bothered to show up for. The City Commission has voted unanimously on every surveillance proposal that's come before them since 2019, even Dr. Cooney. The City Commission is not going to do anything for you. Those of you talking about signing some online petition, that's just a waste of your time. You need to circulate a real petition, get a charter amendment on either the May 2027 or the November 2027 ballot, and just regulate these things as heavy as you want to. You require the police to have search warrants, to search the database. Or whatever regulations you want. I'm sure the ACLU has got some model legislation out there. But you have to stop wasting your time with these seven people up here. Or actually five tonight because two are absent. Stephanie Hoffman, as I noted earlier. Circulate a petition. Get it on the ballot. Totally bypass the commission. And do whatever you want. Because these people up here are not working for you. As has been mentioned by many other people this evening. Tina McClinton and a few other people brought up Jimmy McMillan who ran for mayor in New York City from the Rent is Too Damn High party. Really the best solution to housing affordability issues is just to build more housing. The government itself does quite a lot through zoning and housing regulations, construction codes. You can't have a mobile home outside of a trailer park. The government itself is really the obstacle to affordable housing. You need to remove all these regulations, allow the free market to build the housing that people need. Let's see what else we got on here. Wendy Fields was talking about don't give money to panhandlers. I totally agree. I don't blame the panhandlers. I blame the people who give the money to panhandlers. However, the city cannot ban panhandling. There have been multiple court rulings that considers panhandling to be a free speech right. So you can't totally ban that. You can regulate time, place, and manner. For example, you cannot panhandle in the city of Kalamazoo within 20 feet of an ATM. Let's see if I got anything else here that can read quickly. Yeah, flock people circulate a petition. Bypass all this, thank you. Thank you.

Next please. All right, seeing no one, I want to thank everyone that took advantage of the public comment period. Thanks for your effort and coming here to express your concerns about a whole variety of items that are public in nature. Next on our agenda is the consent agenda, Manager Hankins. Thank you, Mayor.

The following items are submitted for approval. Item G1, approval of professional services agreement with Hurley and Stewart LLC for professional construction engineering services for the Burdick Street Emerson to Stockbridge water main replacement project in the amount of $123,500. Item G2, approval of a contract with Michigan Paving and Materials for the 2026 Local Streets Paving Project in the amount of $483,596. Item G3, adoption of a resolution approving a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation for improvements to the Portage and Vine intersection Item G4, adoption of a resolution to petition the Kalamazoo County Drain Commission to abandon the Lincoln Avenue drain. G5, adoption of a resolution approving changes in the street lighting contract with Consumers Energy at 825 Porter. G6, adoption of a resolution establishing a branch of the city clerk's office on the campus of Western Michigan University in support of the election on November 3rd, 2026. G8, approval of a memorandum of understanding with Comensoles to advance municipal infrastructure improvements, including construction of a pedestrian pathways and the infrastructure related to the Arcadia Creek Phase 1, West Main to West Niche and Streets for All, West Main Street and Douglas Avenue improvements project. Item G9, approval of an amendment of the lease with the National Railroad Passenger Corporation Amtrak for the lease of space at the Kalamazoo, in the Kalamazoo Transportation Center to extend the term of the lease for a period of five years. G10, approval of an easement with Comcast between the addresses of 128 East Water and 162 East Water Street for underground fiber optics upgrades. G11, approval of a utility easement with the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University for water main install as part of the Valley Oaks project in the amount of 100,000, excuse me, $100. G12, approval of a utility easement with the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University for water main install as part of the Hilltop Village Loop Road and Site project in the amount of $100. G-13 approval of electrical facilities easement with consumers energy at 459 North Burdick for underground electrical upgrades. G-14 approval of the acquisition of six easements for the Cork Street improvement project in the amount of 700, excuse me, $777. G15, approval of a request from the Kalamazoo Growlers to publicly display fireworks at Homer Striker Field on August 29th, 2026. And G16, approval of the minutes from the City Commission meetings on July 20th, 2026.

Thank you very much, Manager Hankins. So commissioners, the requested action is a motion to approve items one through six and eight through 16 and authorize the city manager to sign all related documents on behalf of the city. Is there a motion? So moved. Motion made by Commissioner Pradel. Support. Supported by Commissioner Hess. Clerk Borling, please call the roll.

Commissioner Pradel. Yes. Commissioner Wilson. Yes. Vice Mayor Duncan. Yes. Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Hess.

Yes.

Thank you, Commissioners.

The items on the consent agenda are approved. We are now down to H, the regular agenda. First item, H1, City Manager Hankins.

Thank you, Mayor. H1, approval of a buy-sell agreement with Parktown LLC for the purchase of 1517 South Park Street in the amount of $605,000.

Thank you very much, Manager Hankins. Is there a staff report on this item? No, but staff's available if there are questions. All right. Thank you. Commissioner's questions. Commissioner Bradel.

Thank you, Mayor. I just had a question. It's related. I know we've had numerous of these properties that have come up. And I guess my question is, is that once we've acquired these properties, how swiftly are we going to do what we're going to do with them, you know, rather than just having a vacant property sit there for an extended period of time. Because, you know, I look at like, you know, a couple of the properties on Burdick's that one was a former, you know, brewery, a place that gets used. And I just wish we could like find some way where if we know it's going to take two years to demolish it, find somebody to be in there to make it an active use of it versus just have a bunch of vacant properties that kind of exacerbate a look that Kalamazoo is not thriving, if that makes any sense. And so I was wondering if somebody could speak to that about like how swiftly we can make sure that we take care of these properties to make sure that they're Resolved in some fashion.

Thank you Commissioner. I believe director Baker's here. I think this process started with us back in 2024 this purchase process so it didn't start recently, but I'll let you take it from here director Baker.

Yeah, I appreciate it and it's not to say I understand that this is critically important for this to occur with kind of the master vision of that area with our with having treatment plants, I'm sorry. But I just, you know, I'm just, I'm wondering about, you know, how long we can expect that and what the next steps are, if you will, with these.

Yes, thank you for that question, Commissioner Prado. Thank you, Manager Hankins, Mayor, Your Honor, for inviting the opportunity for me to come up and address this property acquisition as well as some other property acquisitions that have been occurring within this area. If I may, I'd like to maybe take a step back and just talk about what our plans are for this area in terms of what the future plans are, specifically to the central wellfield in the area kind of around Crosstown, Burdick, Baltz Streets. It's kind of the property outline around the Burdick Street wellfield. There is a need, it's in our capital improvement program, for a well field expansion at Central. That's our largest base load station in the city of Kalamazoo. And so we've got work underway in accordance with a number of planning documents including our reliability plan and some coordination plans that we have in place with EGLE to expand not only the the treatment footprint at central but also consolidate central with some other well fields so there'll be more wells pumping into central and then we're going to expand that treatment at central and so the good news in terms of water quality is that all that new treatment is going to be kind of pumped out into the water system so that we'll have more more of the water overall will go through some advanced treatment. So certainly that's a good thing. That project is about five or six years out in the horizon. So to your point specifically, what are the plans and intent for the near term on some of these properties? So, Department of Public Services, we've been working with community planning and economic development. We've been working through that office on a property review team to kind of look at what is going to happen at those properties. We've developed some landscaping plans to support kind of tying in this area back into the neighborhood. AREAS FOR GREEN SPACE, THAT SORT OF THING. SO OUR PLAN AT THIS POINT WOULD BE AS WE GET CLOSER TO THAT PROJECT AT CENTRAL, WE WILL PLAN TO COORDINATE THE REMOVAL OR DEMOLITION OF THESE STRUCTURES AND IN THEIR PLACE WILL BE EITHER GREEN SPACE OR WHERE WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO BRING IN SOME STORMWATER OFFLOUNDING. So specifically to the property that you had a question at the corner of Crosstown and Burdick. That property is going to get demolished and then that is going to get coordinated with a project that is occurring on Burdick Street to the south. as that Burdick Street project pushes forward, that is then going to allow us to offline some storm sewer in that area and then coordinate that with that building demolition. So that building that's at that corner would be scheduled for demolition in 2027 in coordination with that Burdick Street project. We have some properties on Bolt Street. So the property that's in the proposals tonight, that's for the recommendation for action tonight, and a property next to that. We don't have immediate plans for demolition. Those plans are going to be coordinated kind of as we get closer towards that execution of that project, probably a year or two before that project. And then in that space would be green space, native plannings, that sort of thing, to allow for some beneficial use by the public. I'll pause there and just bring it back to the commission for any questions or any more clarity on any of my comments.

You answered the one about the former Bright Eyes Brewery. I think the other one was the former Smokes on Burdick location. So there's a commercial property in between those that's still there as well. But then this one, the one that we're voting on tonight, do you have any sense about the property we're voting on tonight or the other property like Smokes on Burdick? I mean, do you envision that being like two, three years out? Or do you envision those being maybe at some point in 2027 as well? I'm not meaning to be difficult, but it just it really bothers me that a we're taking Perfectly usable properties off the tax rolls You know that if we knew it's gonna be years out why we couldn't continue to keep people in there and functioning But I just I hate the idea of this whole corridor You know effectively having these vacant properties that are not bringing any life to the neighborhood any life to the areas and just I would be in favor. I'm just making more of a comment than a question here at the moment. But I mean, with being budget season, I would be in favor of doing whatever it takes to try to expedite that process to make right of that area as soon as possible.

Other comments or questions? Commissioners? Thank you so much, Director Baker. Appreciate that. I'm not seeing any other questions. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to comment on this item? So this is not for general comments, but that's item H1 on our agenda. If you'd like to comment on this item, please come forward, state your name, whether you live in the city and you'll have three minutes. CMO comments, commissioners, the recommended action is a motion to approve and authorize the city manager to sign all related documents. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Motion made by Vice Mayor Duncan.

Support.

Supported by Commissioner Hess. Any discussion, commissioners? Commissioner Prado.

I just would just reiterate, I mean, I probably should have done that during the discussion part instead of asking the question, but I would imagine it's probably difficult to pinpoint an exact timing for demolition because they're so tied to the construction projects that's happening along Burdick. But, you know, city manager, I don't know if there's any possibility to try to Expedite that with funding in this budget or how we can make that happen but I just it just there's there's too much coming offline in one area and You know, we're just invested at 11 plus million dollars on the new crosstown facility across the street There's a lot of neighbors I know that live in the area that work awfully hard to make sure that their properties look good and keep it up as best they can along that street and I just I think we're you know as much as we want to be tough on folks who are not investing and just don't live in our community and dragging down neighborhoods where residents work really hard. I feel like we need to be walking the walk and make sure that we're doing the exact same thing as all.

Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll have staff take a look at the timeline and we'll be able to follow up with you on that. Thank you, Manager Hankins.

Seeing no more discussion, clerk Boring, please call the roll. Commissioner Wilson.

Yes. Vice Mayor Duncan. Yes.

Mayor Anderson.

Yes. Commissioner Hess.

Yes. Commissioner Pradel.

Yes.

Thank you, Commissioners. The motion passes. Next on the agenda is item H2, City Manager Hankins. Thank you, Mayor.

Adoption of a resolution setting the election date and determining the ballot language for a charter amendment to establish a Citizens Health Action Committee and require a health care action plan.

Thank you very much, Manager Hankins. So in terms of a staff report, it seemed like that'd be appropriate for you, Attorney Leal. Are you prepared to set the table on this particular action?

Yes, sir. On July 1st, 2026, Community Action Michigan filed with the city clerk a citizen initiative petition. The initiative proposes to amend the Kalamazoo City Charter to provide for the following. To establish a citizen's healthcare action committee, create a healthcare action plan and make recommendations to address healthcare costs and healthcare inaccessibility, prescribe the powers and duties of the citizen's action committee, describe the Citizens Action Committee's composition and organization, and require public overview and adoption of the Health Care Action Plan. The petition did not contain a valid question when it was filed with the city clerk. However, since then the city attorney and Community Action Michigan's legal counsel have worked together and submit the jointly agreed valid question that appears in section five of the resolution. Additionally, the city clerk has verified the signatures on the petition and has determined that the number of valid signatures on the petition is sufficient under the Home Rules City Act. and that the petition is a valid, initiatory petition for a charter amendment under the Home Rule City Act. If the commission approves the resolution, the ballot proposal will be added to the Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026 general election. Upon approval of the resolution, the city clerk will transmit a copy of it to the governor and the attorney general of the state of Michigan for review and approval. If the ballot proposal is adopted by the voters, it will be added to the city charter under new section 200.

That is on me. Thank you, Attorney Leal. Questions for Attorney Leal on this? No questions? Commissioner Hess.

Attorney Leal, as I understand it, we are voting on this tonight because tomorrow is the deadline for action on this before the November election, correct?

That is correct. Okay.

Thank you.

Other questions, commissioners? So I'm just going to go back, I guess, for as much for myself as anybody. You just want to be very, very clear. Unlike Kalamazoo County, where this cannot happen under the Home Rule City Act, so it's happened in Portage, the same thing's been brought here is that Signatures, a defined number based on a percentage of people who voted in a previous election, can be submitted. The clerk's job is to go through and qualify those signatures, and if there's a sufficient number, then citizens can ask for an item to be put on the ballot here in Kalamazoo. So that's how that happens. When something like this is coming to us, it's not, well, we could decide to put it on the ballot or not put it on the ballot. We don't really have that choice. It was already defined by how our charter works, number one. Number two, voting for it does not necessarily mean we support it or don't support it. That's not the action we're taking. Correct me if I'm wrong, Attorney Leal, but the action we are taking is, is literally to approve the ballot language, which was actually not part of the actual petition, so that language was written subsequent to the petition by you in conversation with individuals who were involved in circulating the petition. Is that correct? Yes, sir. All right, so we have some language that was worked out here in conjunction, so this will be the actual language that appears on the ballot. And that is what is our responsibility is to approve that language for the ballot in November. Clerk Borley, anything else you think we should know?

I believe that City Attorney Leal captured it all. Thank you. Okay, thank you, sir.

Seeing there's no other questions for staff, is there anyone in the audience who would like to comment on this item? That's item H2. If so, please come to the podium, give us your name and whether you live in the city. You'll have three minutes for your comments.

Before I speak, would any representatives of Community Action Michigan like to come forward and address their proposal?

This is totally voluntary. Anyone here could do whatever they want. Do you want to finish your comments?

I didn't think so. Good evening. Jeff Messer, city resident and candidate for Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees on your November 3rd ballot, nonpartisan section. You can subscribe to my campaign blog at messer.substack.com or scan the QR code on your screen. The first problem with the city charter amendment proposed is that this group behind it has never, to my knowledge, attended a city commission meeting, introduced themselves, and explained what the goals are until public comment tonight. And I think the guy here tonight, he said he was a Berrien County commissioner, so I'm guessing he's someone from Benton Harbor. That's 60 miles southwest of here, not someone from our community. The petition said they were sponsored by Community Action Michigan, but I have not found a website for an organization by that name. What I did find is a website for the California Public Policy Group, which provided the funding for this petition drive. The proposal does not originate from the people of the city of Kalamazoo, nor did Kalamazoo volunteers circulate petitions for it. The petitions were circulated by paid petitioners from Coal House Strategies in Grand Rapids. They circulated identical charter amendment proposals in the cities of Battle Creek and Benton Harbor, and according to Mayor Anderson, Portage as well. I ask the people of the city of Kalamazoo to reject this charter amendment proposal. Otherwise, we are going to continue having out-of-state groups flooding our community with charter amendment proposals we didn't ask for and didn't want. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to comment on this item? It's item H2. Seeing no other comments, commissioners, the recommended action is a motion to adopt... One last reminder, we are adopting only the petition language. That's what our action is. So the recommended action is a motion to adopt. Is there a motion?

Attorney Leal. You're also setting the election date, Mayor. I'm sorry? You're also setting the election date as well. Approving the ballot question and setting the election date.

And setting the date. Okay. It's already kind of preset for us, right? In November. November 4th. Okay. Thank you for completing that. Is there a motion, commissioners?

So moved.

Support? I mean... Okay. There's a motion to support. So that leaves an opportunity for discussion. Is there any discussion? Commissioner Bradel.

I think the challenging thing here is that it's really, we don't really have a choice in this. It's really just asking about the language and the date. I think the thing that I'm struggling with the most is in these kind of situations when you vote for these things is that, you know, one of the things that it says in here in the findings, purpose, intent, it says, the health and safety and welfare of the residents of the City of Kalamazoo City are served by regular, transparent, in public evaluation of healthcare affordability. And I don't think anybody would disagree with that. I think the part that I really struggle with is like, if I'm one of the people who signed this, I feel kind of duped to be fully honest with you, because I didn't really know what I was doing or really understand what the functions under our charter do in a city of Kalamazoo. But also I think in terms of even just the transparency, the fact that even just the elected officials of the body themselves are finding out effectively before it's too late to try to weigh in or try to help craft where it would be more appropriate, such as a county that has a health department. So I am a little frustrated to be fully honest with you. I do appreciate coming forward and the apology. I just, you know, I feel bad for folks in the city of Kalamazoo who probably didn't know exactly what they were signing, probably didn't understand really what the powers and functions of our charter truly are. And then you know, for something that generally speaking, people would be like, yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, we should do that because there are bodies, including a county health department, that probably does many of these things and could probably be, would be more than thrilled to do some of these things when we as a municipality have so many intensive things that are related to our powers and our charter that we need to focus and address. So that's all.

Thank you, Commissioner Prado. Other comments? Vice Mayor Duncan.

I know we are not doing anything but setting the date and language, but I have to echo those sentiments. This organization had a press conference on the steps of this building weeks ago. And the signatures have been being collected all summer. And as an elected official in this city, I find it ridiculous that somebody 60 miles from where we serve came into our city held a press conference, collected signatures to change something on the city we serve in. And so, again, my colleagues, I am consistent on manufactured urgency. And tonight, this feels extremely manufactured. I attended a Red Alert event a couple months ago where they were collecting signatures signatures for this. They could not answer questions about what this committee could do. Had they spoke to elected officials, we reached out to the organization after they held a press conference on our steps. We were assured that elected officials of this body would have people reach out to them. That did not happen. There was no due diligence there. So again, I hold to, if I step foot in somebody else's county and came and said, hey, I want to change how your city operates. And this is a citizen-led initiative. And it is not. Those were paid canvassers. Those were not citizens of our city that circulated this petition. And they were not honest with citizens in this community about what they were signing. I was one of the people that was asked to sign. And so there are so many things wrong with this. So I'll be voting yes tonight because we got to approve it. But I will be very loud. about making sure the community understands that this was not led by Kalamazoo citizens. That's it.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Other comments?

Sure. the packet reads that there is no cost to the city for this amendment, for if this should pass. I disagree with that and I'd like to have some weigh-in from city staff and the city manager's office because it would have us create a committee, a board or commission that needs city staff oversight, that needs city staff time, which equals money, and time away from other duties, in addition to at least two forums a year, which need to be staffed and need time and space. So I don't think our packet was correct in saying that this is of no cost to the city.

Thank you, Commissioner Hess. I don't know of any commission that functions without cost. So you've covered well the kinds of things that I would consider costs that are just built in. Staffing, support. You don't typically come out of these things without some administration. So someone has to do that. And so that's not free. I don't know the structure of it as well as the folks who put it forward. But if we're involved in it, I'm imagining we house it. It's happening in our facility, which means whether it's Charles downstairs when it happens or somebody up here has to do something, everything is tied to the functions of any other commission like we already have. So unless I see some language otherwise, there will be costs.

Other comments, commissioners? Commissioner Wilson?

Yeah, I just wanted to get a perspective from City Attorney Leal. So it sounds like our hands are tied here to vote yes tonight, but I'm wondering what are the next steps look like in terms of once it's on the ballot, assuming it gets voted, then what for us?

Okay, assuming it's on the ballot on November 3rd and the citizens vote in favor of it. then it becomes part of our charter. I mean we will have, it will be the new Section 200. Then we will follow the process as somewhat described in the new provisions to start, you know, first writing the rules, more or less coming up with rules to try to formulate a body, how to pick the body. That is set in there, but we would formalize them probably in a policy or an ordinance. Then we'd go out to try to find people to actually serve on the board according to the qualifications that are mentioned in the charter. And I mean, it just continues after that. They would have their meetings, they would have to have bylaws. One thing that's left out is that you would have to create an actual formal conflicts of interest policy or an ethics ordinance that would apply to this board. That's a separate, that's another action for this commission to do. And then the meetings and reaching out and working with organizations, that does, as was mentioned earlier by Commissioner Prado, that it would involve staff people actually performing this function, whether it's existing staff or hiring new staff, there is a cost also involved with that.

Thank you. Is there a requirement as far as timeline on us getting this board filled after it's created? or after the charter is amended?

Let me double check that provision. I don't recall that there was a timeline on how quickly you had to put together.

Okay. Just trying to figure out our options here. Thank you.

Other comments, commissioners? I guess I'll finish up with my comments at this time. No particular order on this, but our charter is a pretty profound document. That's our constitution. That's what we go back to. That's what we look at. We basically have an oath to support our charter. That's what we do. And I really don't have a problem with the idea that citizens can collect petition signatures on something they think is very important and they don't feel the commission is addressing, other than voting people off and voting new people on the commission, which certainly you can do every two years, including this seat. That's an opportunity, which I think is That seems like democracy in action. I don't know why you can't do that at the county level. I don't know how that was determined, but you can do that at city level. To me, and I've been through these several times with some local folks collecting position signatures that have come in front of us, which I've known about, been educated on, been included in, whether I agree or not, while the whole process was occurring. What is deeply, deeply concerning to me is that dark money, and I'm going to call it that, can be dumped into the end of some pipeline somewhere or another, which trickles and, to my mind, almost takes advantage of our openness to local democracy to say, we're going to hire someone to run this process, we're not going to talk to anybody in town, we're kind of going to softball and misrepresent it, and we're going to hire people to go out and collect signatures. Think of the nightmare things that could appear as part of our charter just because somebody has a million bucks to dump in the end of that pipeline and we don't even know who it is. I mean, not that it matters, I guess, but, you know, in this effort of transparency, it would be kind of nice to know. It also makes me wonder, okay, is this really what it is? Or is this something else going on? Is this some sort of, you know, there's some, like, other political piece of this? I don't want to be suspicious, you know, which is another effort to accomplish something else again, and this is just a way to get there? I don't know whether that's what it is. But, you know, that said, too... We're up here talking about budgets. We're talking about managing Kalamazoo. Yeah, there's a cost to this. You know, all this investigating we have to do. And the last thing is, guess what? We don't have any authority in this arena. I mean, someone could dump something in and say, well, you know, we're supposed to investigate our local school system, see how good a job they're doing. Well, there's a school board. We don't have any authority there, but that could go in our charter if somebody wanted it, and you just... think of anything you can possibly think of, and it sends us down all these rabbit holes that is not our area of expertise, not our area of authority. And so it is, I mean, I'm trying to tone it down. I've been so concerned about this. Not that I have an issue with the idea of wanting to make sure that I want people to have health care, for goodness sakes. And I want a system that works for folks. No problem with that. But this, I think, is so wrongheaded and sets a precedent that I am not comfortable with. So I can tell you now, I guess I can hear more about it. We were told now after we've approved the language, then we're going to get updated on it to bring our support in. Well, you kind of set this up. for yourselves circulators where you've already, I mean, you're going to have to do a lot of work to convince because I really already have a very strong opinion about it. I don't support it. I'll be honest. And I'm going to work from now until November 4th to make sure that's communicated. That is my current position tonight. So that said, we've got to vote. Clerk Brown, please call the roll. Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Mayor. I just wanted to answer Commissioner Wilson's question, if it's okay with you. Go ahead. There's no time frame listed in this provision in which we have to enact or appoint members to this board. Thank you. Thank you very much.

No problem. Clerk Brown, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Duncan. Yes. Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Hess. Yes. Commissioner Pradel. Yes. Commissioner Wilson.

Yes. Thank you, Commissioners. The motion passes. Next, reports and legislation.

Item H.

Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, yes, we do. We got a new one now. We now have an H3. Thank you, Vice Mayor Duncan. The former G7. Manager Hankins. Thank you, Mayor.

Approval of the use of the City Commission Initiative budget to support the Northside Ministerial Alliance Anti-Gun Violence Community Carnival in the amount of $20,000.

Thank you very much, Manager Hankins. Vice Mayor Duncan.

Yeah, I pulled this off particularly because as a commission that has made a commitment to, as Commissioner Pradale says, we are aiming at net zero gun violence. We talked about earlier this year that we had this money that we had been sitting on. We didn't have nothing to do with it. So this was an opportunity for us to invest in our community. I had an individual reach out to me from the Northside Administrative Alliance saying, hey, we have a budget shortfall. And I just think we get beat up a lot. And so I wanted to make sure that my colleagues, that we lift this to the community, that it is not just buried in the consent agenda. This is us giving $20,000 to the community to make sure that this anti-gun violence event can happen. And I'm extremely proud that myself, Commissioner Pradell, and Commissioner Slaby in the budget committee wanted to push this forward. So that was all I wanted out of it. Thank you, Vice President.

Are there comments on this event? Commissioner Hess. Yes.

Totally agree. And I'd like to invite everyone to the Anti-Gun Violence Carnival at Lincoln School on August 29th between 11 and 3, I believe. Please come and join us for fun, family fun, educational opportunities about gun use in the city of Kalamazoo and just bring this community together for the greater good and really work to get to net zero. Thank you.

Other comments, commissioners? Vice Mayor Jorkon, I just want to say thank you very much for pulling that off the consent agenda. It is not something that should be buried in the consent agenda. I do not think there is a single event that is as well attended as that event, which is, it's well organized, it's run well, a lot of young people there, a lot of stuff to do, and proud to be able to be part of supporting that activity. So, I agree. Now is the opportunity for anybody in the chambers to comment on this item. Now it is H3, formerly G7. Anybody like to comment on this item?

Seeing no one, Clerk Borling, please call the roll. We need a motion.

We didn't get a motion.

I'm sorry.

What did I miss?

We didn't get a motion on it.

Motion to approve. We didn't?

No, we didn't. No. Okay.

You know, isn't it great to have a team to keep you on track? Okay, so is there a motion to approve? So moved. Support. Motion made by Commissioner Pradel, supported by Vice Mayor Duncan. Any further discussion, Commissioners?

Seeing none, Clerk Borland, please call the roll. Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Hess.

Yes.

Commissioner Pradel. Yes. Commissioner Wilson. Yes. Vice Mayor Duncan.

Yes. Thank you. Commissioners, the motion passes. Reports and legislation. City Manager Hankins, do you have a report? Yes, Mayor, briefly.

Just another thank you for the community and staff and public safety, CPED staff who helped to put on National Night Out in our community and the activities that we all had a good time participating in. Appreciate the opportunity to get out into our community and have engagement with folks. and just let folks see us as people as we are. Also wanted to acknowledge Northside Day again. You wouldn't know that it was the inaugural. It just felt like it was something that's been going on for some time. I limped a 5K with my son. who decided to do sprints throughout it. So it was a different kind of race for me. So I enjoyed that opportunity and I'm glad to get out and get a chance to do some movement. I also had a chance to stop by the summer block party at Urban Alliance with my family and that was another good time for engagement with community. And then finally I'll say that I had the benefit of spending some time in a ride along with a code enforcement, a code compliance officer. and just took me back, reminded me of the importance of the work that everyone in the city does in this community. Jason Adams is the one who had to ride along with and just got a good view of our neighbors and neighborhoods and the kinds of things that we're challenged by. So it was a great time. So thank you. I did say lastly, but there was this an amazing parks and recreation event, the Gold Shoe. I don't know if you all have heard of it. Is it the Gold Shoe event? Is that what it's called? Help me out, staff. Okay, I'll just say it's Gold Shoe because that's what I recall. But it's all the summer camp programs and they all came together just recently. And man, they were pretty active and it was pretty competitive. And watching them compete for some Gold Shoe award at the end of it was just an amazing time with them. So if you get a chance to do that in the future, please go out and watch these kids compete with each other. Thanks.

Thank you very much, Manager Hankins. You're welcome. Now is an opportunity for commissioner comments. Any commissioner comments this evening? Yes, Commissioner Wilson.

I'll start it off. It's kind of echoing what Manager Hankins already said. The city was lit last week. Major shout out to our neighborhood associations, KDPS, and our Parks and Recs Department for National Night Out. I had a little too much fun at Westwood playing football with our officers and the kiddos, and I'm still physically recovering. Shout out to Commissioner Hess's grandson for making the final tackle on me. Two hand touch. Then we mosey our way over to Urban Alliance open house. My kids had a great time there on the bounce houses getting their face painted and had a good time with the balloon guy. Shout out for that. And then lastly, I wanted to shout out Jonathan and the NACD for putting on an amazing Northside day. As City Manager Hankins mentioned, it started off with a 5K. I did not participate, but we kept the party going through the night with beats on NACD Alley. Throughout the day, there were cars parked on both sides of the streets, all the way from Woodward to Park Street on Patterson. And I've been here since 1994. This is the first time I've seen that since I've been here. So again, just shout out for that. Can't wait to go next year. Lastly, I want to talk a little bit about the unhoused crisis and the Edwards encampment. It's an issue that we all can agree is a major crisis, both for those experiencing homelessness and those living in the neighborhoods. We also know that it will be a coordinated effort across organizations, the county, quite a few organizations and entities. But what I would love to see on a regular basis is what we're doing to control what's within our scope of influence to address these issues. I know that individually we have conversations all the time. This is an issue that keeps all of us up at night from city staff to commissioners. It would be nice just to know what solutions we're exploring because it's going to take a complex solution to solve this very complex issue. But I know that we can do it, you know, through means of it's going to take more than enforcement. People also need a place to go and we have options. So I look forward to hearing all the things that we're doing and the community is as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Wilson. Commissioner Hess.

Sure. So Commissioner Wilson, I won't say this himself, but I want to congratulate him on being a member of the inaugural cohort of the graduation of Tsunami Lab, the original cohort of Tsunami Lab, which is an educational opportunity for folks with Kalamazoo Forward Ventures that are working to improve business in the Kalamazoo area. Is that correct? All right. I was really proud of you. I was able to attend that event. There were 13 graduates and all poised to be able to take on a company that is being left vacant by those who might be retiring from those companies. So it's really good to see that the business community and Commissioner Wilson is a part of that original cohort. So congratulations to you and congratulations to the other 12 graduates. It was really inspiring. Just, yeah, as everyone has said, gratitude to city staff, to CPED, to KDPS, to especially CMALL, who really worked hard for the national night out. That was fun. I did not tell my grandson to tackle you. And congratulations to Millwood Neighborhood for reigniting its neighborhood association. That's going to be huge. We have 22 neighborhoods, and if they're all activated at the same level that Northside Neighborhood is doing, as we've heard and as we've all felt, this city will be much better for that. When those 22 neighborhoods are all in it for the greater good of the city together, we all work better together. So thank you for that. Lastly, I am on the KCCAD. It's called the Kalamazoo County Event Center Assessment District. This is the county authority for building the new Indoor Youth Event Sports Center. It's not the event center here downtown. It's a youth sports center actually on city land backing up to 131 over just north of West Main. I want to gratitude to City Commission, to City Manager for the support of that with all that we do with our city because they needed help from everything from the Natural Features Protection to the Zoning Board of Appeals and doing our planning and doing our site plan and all of that. And so thank you to the city. We just broke ground on July 31st. And I think this is wonderful. We talk about gun violence. And we can have a whole lot of carnivals. But unless we do something on a regular basis for our youth, like I see Victor leaving here. But we have police athletic league. But to create so many more opportunities for our youth to experience sport in a great way in the city is only going to help everyone. The benefits of sport, discipline, excellence, leadership, humility, physical and mental health, time management, teamwork, and so much others. This is all going to go on in our city because we decided as a county and as hotels in the county to be able to fund this. It is not coming out of taxpayer money, but I so appreciate Discover Kalamazoo and the KCCAD for making this a reality for the youth of our community. It's supposed to open in the fall of next year, along with the event center, and we're just going, Kalamazoo is going to be better for it. So thank you for that support.

Thank you, Commissioner Hess. Commissioner Prado.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to some of these items, I'm just going to echo colleagues, but we have had some just incredibly amazing community activation events that I'm just so proud of and I'm so proud to get to be a part of. But, you know, whether it's watching ASSISTANT CHIEF VICTOR GREEN TAKE AN ATTEMPT AT DJ'ING IN SOUTH SIDE PARK. HE GOT CORRECTED PRETTY FAST THAT IT'S NO LONGER A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DJ'ING NOWADAYS TO WHETHER IT'S SEEING CITY MANAGER HANKINS SAY TO ME AS HE'S RUNNING PAST ME IN THE 5K RACE AT NORTH SIDE DAY SAYING PLEASE PRAY FOR ME. But those are the opportunities where in community, those are just small glimpses, but where we as a community get to show our authentic human selves together and be in spaces together. And there's not one thing that, has happened, whether it's Beats on Bates or whether it's movie nights in the park or night market at the farmer's market that's gonna solve gun violence, right? But when you add and stack hundreds of those opportunities for people to engage and be active and to do things together in a positive way, that's when it really makes a difference. And so I'm super proud as well to support the work for the gun violence which is truly incredible. I mean, if you get a chance to go out there, please, please check it out. But the other thing that's really great about that event as well is just, it's also a resource fair and it's right, you know, right before school starting and to activate, find different services or things that you can get in the community as well, which is highly needed as well as a community. I also just wanted to just acknowledge the city manager for a moment. So there have been a number of instances where I've seen activation and I want to thank you city manager. One example of that, there were two blighted properties on Southwest Nige that had been there for years. One of them is when you go down the hill on Southwest Nige off to the side before you get to that like KZU cream or whatnot. And this property that had a tarped collapsed roof, It's just been sitting there for years and was recently demolished. And that is a small, but again, critical component to making sure that we have safe neighborhoods, places people can be proud of. And for the people who are around that and that work really hard to make sure that they can keep up and care for their homes and whatnot, that we took that seriously and did something about that. I want to thank you for efforts and the staff as well for making that possible. I wanted to also just thank Kalamazoo County Administrator, Dr. Kevin Catlin. His last day, I believe, is coming up here on the 14th this week, and he's been just a remarkable leader for our community the last four years. I see him just about everywhere, and he has a farewell reception, I believe, on the 12th, and I can't make it to it, but just wanted to make sure to acknowledge him from the dais and just share how grateful I am from our lens here at the city for the partnership and for his leadership over the last four years. And then lastly, this is just a note about, again, our interconnectedness. So I was recently reading up on some articles about things that are happening in two other places that do provide quite a few resources or attempt to, as best they can, to provide resources for the unhoused in our state. And both happen to be along the I-94 corridor. So one of them, Ann Arbor, recently there was news about how their main shelter that their buildings department capped the occupancy basically for what's anticipated come this winter. The second thing I was reading on recently that was recent news along this was about how Jackson and Jackson, Michigan again along not far away from us is passing some ordinances that have some pretty significant teeth in terms of clearing out encampments and enforcement of the unhoused in the community. And really what I wanted to say about this is that we, you know, it's a unique position that we have to be in in the state to realize that their impacts will ultimately have an impact on us as a community, right? Because if people go to a houseless shelter that's maxed out at capacity and have nowhere to go, they're gonna go to the next community that may have the resources to support them. And so, whether it's Kalamazoo Township or the City of Portage, recognizing that we all have to take this seriously and try to do whatever part in our corner of the world that we can to support those activities. And for us, for those jurisdictions that have major changes coming, I think this is the time to start getting in touch with them to try to talk and make sure that there is a plan in place to support those folks so that that the next strategy isn't to go to the next community that can support them. Because we saw that with Battle Creek a number of years ago, where Battle Creek had unsheltered, had lost shelter opportunities and beds for folks. And ultimately that impacted our community, people coming here who had nowhere else to go. So I just would, hope that we as uh maybe could do some outreach to those communities try to figure out uh you know what what's going on what their plans are to make sure that we're not caught off guard trying to support a number of people come out middle of winter this year as well so that's all

Thank you. Commissioner Prado, Vice Mayor Duncan.

Yeah, I'll be quick. Thank you, Mayor. One, USTA is holding a tennis championship here in town. There are hundreds of people here watching that tournament. So if you are local, you like tennis, tune in, support. Two, I want to thank city staff for this response to what we have been experiencing on Edward Street. And if you were a member of the public listening to this, I know it may not look like much has happened, but there have been many discussions already about the best pathway to move forward with our community in concentration to our unhoused community. So there are steps being taken. This commission takes it very seriously and we know that we can't just sweep people to the side and that makes the problem go away. Two, I heard in public comment today about relationships with K-Metro. We actually still do have a standing relationship with K-Metro. During the summer and during the winter months, they will provide transportation to heating and cooling centers. So if you are a person that works with the unhoused community... Please put that into your regular talking points. All they have to do is identify themselves when they get on the bus and say, hey, I need to go to a warming or cooling center. And that was something that this commission worked with K-Metro in the county to produce for the public in this last winter. Northside Day. My colleagues have said it all, but ain't no party like a Northside party. Man, Vice Mayor Unk had to take a nap after the 5K in the morning because my knees and my ankles and my legs were hurting. But I got a medal, y'all. I got a medal to prove that I went. And we got it done. But I echo, you know, Jonathan Yarbrough. It was safe. It was beautiful. The togetherness of the community. We actually were talking to people who were watching and didn't know what was going on like, hey, what are we doing? We're like, hey, come off the porch and come do the walk with us. And we got people to come. out of their places where they live and join that walk with us. So it was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful for the community. Thank you, NACD and all of the staff that worked tirelessly to put that on. Thank you, Kim Guest, because to my understanding, the Beats on Northside event after, which was really where the party was, was a lot to do with Kim Guest. So big ups to you. She does so much in this community. And it just took that event to a whole nother level that night. And then also I want us to be maybe thinking about, we also heard tonight about like just having some foresight about it's gonna get cold here in a couple months. I have seen in other cities where they have adopted, and again, we don't run K Metro, but I would love it if we could see what the feasibility is of mobile warming centers in the buses. Because frankly, we don't have any buildings to build. We don't have $40 million to put up a shelter, but there are options. So I'd love for us to be thinking about that. Lastly, national night out. Thank you so much to the communities that hosted us. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, city manager. I got to ride around with you guys and get on your nerves for an evening. So that was super fun. Just getting to know you outside of being on the dais and driving through the neighborhoods and having the opportunity to have conversation about how we make our city better. And I got to tell you folks, Mayor Anderson is a person that like every moment that he is not here, if he's in the city, he's thinking about what we can be doing. If we're driving down a corridor, he's saying, how can we activate this? It was really interesting to see the work ethic. Thank you so much for the privilege.

Appreciate it. Just one short thing, which probably everyone doesn't stay all on top of this, but the continuum of care, which is the Kalamazoo County continuum of care here in Kalamazoo County, which receives funding from the city of Kalamazoo and from Kalamazoo County and some contribution as well, has put out a request for proposals that's been issued looking for responses for winter sheltering. So I will say this has not been a system that has been as timely and effective as it needed to be in the past, but now at least now There is an RFP out. There will be entities selected. I would not be surprised at all if ministry responds again to open up nighttime sheltering there. I would guess that Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries will. I know that last winter they relaxed some of their expectations or qualifications and opened it up for winter sheltering. I wouldn't be surprised if they respond, and others as well, to be seen. process right now, which has started, will be managed by the Continuum of Care, which will get those contracts in place and make sure that we have as much as possible adequate resources to help people not be out in the cold weather and wouldn't be happening without quite a significant city contribution to that effort as well. So thank you, Manager Hankins and team. I love you, Kalamazoo. We're adjourned.