City Council - Regular Meeting

March 4, 2026 regular meeting of the Holland City Council. I'm Mayor Nathan Box. I'm calling this meeting to order. Brenda, would you please call the role? Okay. Clumps here. Dreamman here. Raymond Corbin here. Schultice, Mayor Keane here, Rowan here, Shay here, Mayor Box present. We have a quorum. Wonderful. Thank you. We are going to begin this evening's meeting as we have for many years. Uh first with an opening prayer followed immediately by the pledge of allegiance. And I would invite you to join us if you're so inclined.

I'd invite you to pray with me if you're so inclined. Lord, thank you for sunshine and warm weather that reminds us of new beginnings and new seasons and new opportunities and new brighter days ahead. Lord, we have so many opportunities, opportunities to serve and opportunities to provide, opportunities to work together for the betterment of the people of the city of Holland. Let us be tools in your hands to do the work for the people of the city of Holland. In your name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The next item on our agenda are our consent agenda items. These are items that are considered to be fairly routine and they will be enacted in one motion unless a member of the public or a member of council asked to have an item removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda and then it will be placed in its regular order. But before we ask if anyone would like to do that, Brenda, would you please review the consent agenda items for us?

Yes. 4 A. Excuse the absences of council members Raymond and Schultis. 4 B. Approve the minutes of the February 18, 2026 regular meeting. 4 C. Oaths of office. 4 D. A tax abatement PA 198 Atlas headrest 72 West 64th Street Suite 330. 4 E. A tax abatement PA 198 technologies 72 West 64th Street suite 300 4F tax abatement PA 198 interior buildout for Roa Technology 72 West 64th Street Suite 300 4G grants six grants of utility easements for Holland City Fiber on Sonoma Court 4 H claim filed against the city. 4 I publishing agreement with Ottawa County. 4J, declare fire division items as surplus. 4K, award a bid for carpeting in the police building. And 4 L, appointment to the downtown development authority board.

Thank you, Brenda. Is there any member of the public that would like to have an item removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda? Seeing none, any member of council that would like to have an item removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda? Seeing none there, what is the pleasure of council in regard to the consent agenda? Move to approve the agenda as presented. And moved by Vman. Is there support? Support. Support by Rowan. Any discussion? Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the role? Clumps. Yes. Raymond, yes. Corbin, yes. Maren, yes. Rowan, yes. Sheay, yes. Mayor Box, yes. Motion carries.

Great. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, item number five, public comment. Under the Open Meetings Act of the State of Michigan, we provide the public the opportunity to address council at our regular meetings, our study sessions, and at every one of our board, committee, and commission meetings. This is one-way communication. It provides you the opportunity to address council on any matter that you think is important. But please remember that this is one-way communication. We don't answer questions during this time or engage in discussion. But if there's a question that uh staff members can answer, they may be able to circle back to you after the meeting. Uh we do have guidelines that we ask you to follow. You are limited to five minutes. There are three lights on the deis in front of me. There's a red light, a yellow light, and a green light. Green light means that you're doing well on time. Yellow light means that you have one minute left, and the red light means that your time has expired, and we are strict about that. We ask that when you approach the podium, you please state your name and the municipality in which you live because it's important for us to know whether or not you're a resident of the city of Holland. Now, having said that, is there anyone here who would like to address council at this time? If so, please come forward. And you are one of our Hayak students, and I always want the public to know we have students as part of the Holland Youth Advisory Council, which we love having you here, but we have a couple of additional things we'd love to uh know from you as well. and that is what school you represent, what you're doing with Hayak, what grade you're in, and if you have any plans for the future. And as I always say, if you don't, that's fine because I did not have any at your age either. So, okay, welcome. Good to have you here.

Thank you. My name is Caitlyn Woody. I'm from the municipality of Holland Township. I'm a senior at Holland Christian. Um, and I don't exactly know what college I'm attending, but I plan to double major in international relations and political science. Oh, and I'm also on the recreational committee. [laughter] Okay. Uh, good evening. My name is Caitlyn Witty and I'm a senior at Holland Christian High School. Thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight. Today, I wanted to express my gratitude for the opportunities this city and organizations in this city have provided for high school students. Hayak being one of them. It's truly remarkable that Holland has a program that provides students with hands-on experiences of what it's like to be involved in city government. I've learned many things through only one year of being in this program. I grew in my understanding of parliamentary procedure and how to um write thorough meeting minutes and submit them properly. Hayek also provides students with volunteering opportunities which have expanded my knowledge in areas in Holland of where volunteering is even possible. I also acknowledge and thank other organizations that give students a taste of what our futures could be like and or teach us skills necessary for our futures such as future prep which my brother participated in this fall um the youth advisory council of um the community foundation of Holland and Zealand loop first te boys and girls club and many more. As someone who is still somewhat undecided about some things when it comes to colleges, I think I can speak for many high schoolers and seniors when I say that choosing what we want to do for the rest of our lives at 18 is no easy task. Which is why I took this time to offer up my gratitude to teachers, school counselors, Hayak staff, and other organizations that help teenagers decipher their futures. It's no easy task, but it's easier with people like them. So, thank you, Holland, for providing me those people.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time?

And you are also one of our high students. Welcome.

Well, thank you. Um, my name is Sarah. I go to Holland High. I've been at the I'm part of the recreation committee for two years and I plan on going to Davenport and majoring in business. I am grateful to be a part of this community and and these people who are dedicated to help make this community grow. Our community faces numerous challenges from environmental concerns to social inequalities, but also has incredible opportunities for growth and collaboration. I encourage everyone to engage in respectful dialogue, support local initiatives, and work together to build a more resilient and inclusive future. Great. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time?

And you are also one of our Hayak students. Welcome.

Thank you. Um my name is Henrik Bowman. I'm a junior at Black River Public School and I've had the opportunity to serve on the Downtown Development Authority for the past two years. Um, tonight I'd like to take the opportunity to highlight one of the recent additions to downtown Holland, the Holland Ice Park. This past winter I've had the opportunity to be a customer service representative at the park. And I think that this position has given me um the opportunity to have a firsthand experience of the community's thoughts and reactions to the ice park. At the end of each skate session, many of the employees like to ask the customers as they return their skates if they've had an enjoyable spe experience. And I think if the council members here could be there as the skates are returned, they would all be blown away because of the overwhelmingly positive response that the community has had. Sure, there are a couple people who don't always have the greatest experience, but I think it's pretty incredible how people from all age, all ages, from little hockey kids who can skate better than I can to adults who've never been skating before in their life have such a great experience. So, I'd like to thank the council um for this important addition to downtown Holland and to the community. Great.

Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time? And you are not one of our Hayek students. So would you please What was your first clue? Mayor, [laughter] would you please state your name and municipality for the record? [laughter]

Um, well, first of all, my compliments to them uh for participating in civic affairs and that is something I think all of us who have been in elective office realize is so important. Um Jim story. Uh I'm in my my wife and I Diane are in our 30th year of being residents of this fine city. And um as some of you know uh some of the newer council members perhaps do not know uh for 12 years I had the honor and privilege of representing uh the city of Holland on the Alagan County Board of Commissioners. Um during that time uh I was also concurrently a on the board of Alagan County Community Action. Um and it's on that particular agency's [snorts] uh behalf that I'm here. Since leaving elected office, I also serve on the county's commission on aging. And in the last two weeks, uh a number of very poor decisions have been made uh by uh unfortunately our county government. uh community action of Alagan County for 20 years has uh delivered uh hot meals to seniors uh who who can't otherwise uh get out or find it difficult to do so and they've done so successfully. And while doing that they also provide wraparound services. Um, with me tonight, uh, mayor and members of the council is Lisa Evans, who is the director of the Community Action Agency of Alen County. And she can go into those in perhaps her five minutes, but I want to talk about the process. U, the county put out a uh, RFP for these services. The RFP process was suspect in that hardcore grades were not given to the responses. Um the RFP did not ask for sidebyside comparisons, but nonetheless uh the my colleagues on

the commission on aging voted to go forward with a competing proposal that did not deliver hot meals and did not deliver the hot meals that the commission on uh that uh community action agency drivers deliver five days a week. Unfortunately, last Thursday the board of commissioners approved that. Um, and the other part about it is this particular senior meals program is financed by a tax that the voters of Alagan County have chosen to impose on themselves. Now, going forward, if this uh decision is allowed to stand, that tax money will be going out of the county to an outside agency versus the current situation where a locally based agency in Alagan County delivers those services. And I just want to share a couple. Since that decision was made, a number of the uh of the 330 um five times a week daily delivery meals to to citizens have talked about it. One lady uh Mrs. Miss Diane from Wayland um said, "The meals are depended upon for nutrition and is offering a menu choice we love and we will be lost without it. We look forward to our delivery gal. She saved my husband's life this past winter. As she came up the drive, she found him laying in the snow. 911 was called and he was taken care of. Another lady, Anita from Pullman said, "Having my daily meals from Alagan County Community Action is my only real source of having one balanced meal daily. I am bedridden and can no longer shop or cook for myself. It is very important for me to be able to keep this service. We got a stack of these and we're happy

to share them with anybody who wants them. But um I'm here to say I hope maybe we have a draft resolution that u we perhaps can leave with you to see if you might consider weighing in on this subject after you do some investigation. But we have a number of the people who get this service who live in the city of Holland and uh we think it would be disastrous perhaps even life-threatening because community action delivers five days a week a hot meal. The service the under the new contract will be between one and three days a week and and not no wraparound service like our 12 drivers who by the way will not lose their jobs uh provide today. So Mr. Mayor and council members, I thank you for listening to me.

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

Sure. My name is Lisa Evans and I live in the city of Holland. I actually live in Lake Town and I am the executive director of Community Action of Alagan County. So, good evening, mayor, councilman. I want you to imagine something with me just for a moment. You have lived a long life, a full life, raised a family, worked hard, contributed to your community, but now the world moves faster. Your body moves slower, and the faces you see every day are fewer and farther between. You need a little help, not just with groceries or doctor visits, but with feeling seen, valued, and safe. For too many of our Alien County seniors, this is not an imagination. This is their reality. Right now, thousands of them, older adults, face isolation, financial hardship, health challenges, and do not receive the support that they deserve. 51% of Allen County residents are living below the poverty line or are asset limited income constrained. The services that are provided wraparound services that are provided by community action as Mr. Story mentioned do not just include the delivery of a nutritious daily hot meal. They are a wellness check on these seniors. They are an open door to more than two million in wraparound services like minor home repair, weatherization, supplemental food, TFAP, crisis utility assistance, undergarments. The decision that was made last week, Thursday, by the board of commissioners has taken away the choice of hot meals for seniors in Alagan County. They will only receive, as Jim mentioned, one to three times a week frozen meals. They will not be seen.

I don't know about you, but my parents, my dad is 84. My mother is 80. My mom has um some dementia that's coming onto her. My dad has some mobility challenges. I would not be signing up my loved ones for a program where I cannot guarantee that someone would lay eyes on them every day if I was not able to do so. But that is the situation for seniors in Alagan County. Jim read a couple of testimonials. I'd like to read just a few as well. My husband has dementia. We are homebound. We had an emergency where I needed an ambulance. Our meal delivery driver, Faith, made sure that my husband was cared for and she stayed with us until the ambulance came. This service is much needed and appreciated. We volunteered for many years and now we need this delivery and it helps us remain in our home. I live alone and the meals are usually the only hot meal that I have every day. I mostly confined to my bed. I am so grateful that these hot meals, please don't stop this program. I am so grateful for it. My mother, Anne Coffee, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia and has gotten to the point that she can no longer use her oven or her microwave. And I will stop there to say that this is the utility that this new provider out of Kent County is going to provide to seniors, a microwave. Many of them have macular degeneration, dexterity issues. They cannot make it to the kitchen and or stand for any length of time. But this this testimony um I cannot use my microwave. She does not know how. Her delivered hot meals from the county are a huge blessing and necessary for her. I try to help and provide for her when I can, but she really does need this nutritious hot meal. So, as Mr. story said, "We have a

resolution for you that we hope that you will entertain to reinstate hot daily home delivered meals, wellness checks on seniors in Alagan County. They need this help. They do not all receive inhome supports. Although people think that that's available, that is limited by Medicaid and Medicare and uh eligibility requirements. And I can tell you having gone through the database of our seniors, it is limited. Most of them only get two hours a day of inhome support. Two. So, we were filling a gap. That gap still needs to be filled. And I hope for your support in reinstating um and accepting the resolution to reinstate hot home delivered meals daily in Alien County. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to address council at this time? Seeing none, I will close the public comment period. Next item on the agenda is uh just got to make sure I get the right one here. Item number nine, written petitions and communications. In addition to providing the opportunity for the public to address council in person at our council meetings, we do also provide an email address where you can send written communications. That is public comment cityofhalland.com. Again, public comment at cityofholland.com. Council receives those those emails. They come to all of us. We review them in between our regular council meetings. And when we do have them, we accept them into the record. We don't read them out loud, but we do accept them into the record. We don't have any this evening, but I always like to make sure that the public knows that that email address is available to them. And again, that is public comment at cityofholland.com. Next item on the agenda, item 12A2, uh, LG Energy Solution letter of credit reduction agreement. Mr. Van Beek.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council, and the public. Um, I'm going to introduce this topic, but I'm also going to point out that I'm very ha happy and pleased that uh two partners of the city um are here also to answer any questions and have done quite frankly probably more work on this topic than I personally have. And that's Dave Coer from our Holland Board of Public Works and also Vince Duckworth from our attorney's office. Um, what is in front of you most specifically tonight as outlined in Dave's recommendation that comes to us from the Highland Board of Public Works is that we're actually lowering a letter of credit that has been in place um from LG Energy Solutions that primarily was in place because of um planned very large investments which we call phase three um which along 40th Street in the city of Holland. Um LG announced some time ago and worked through primarily with the Holland Board of Public Works but with all of us that um those investments are an indefinite pause. Um and because of that um really the requirements that were connected to that letter of credit um right now are no longer in place. So, it did make sense to lower that letter of credit. One thing that we did very clearly want to do though is that there was a grant that we pursued um with Lakeshore Advantage, but really on behalf of LG to make improvements on 40th Street. And that's not only the road, but it's also sewer extension and oversizing. Um and we wanted to make sure um really

for the good of the larger community and quite frankly for LG also that we continued to proceed with that project. Um whether it be that LG pursues a future expansion on that site or if someday something else happens on that site, it makes sense to um u make use of that grant. And then what this does is it makes perfectly clear that LG is responsible for any of the costs that's not part of that grant. Um what I will also say though is that I think this points back to what's not included in your action tonight, but really speaks to the um wise nature that we took in having development agreements surrounding this investment and this partnership with LG. What we definitely wanted to do is that we were making sure that we were protecting um the interests of our taxpayers, but also protecting the interests of the rateayers of the Holland Board of Public Works. Um and I think um we've been successful in doing that in making sure that there wasn't risk that again the taxpayers the rate payers were taking on and we continue to monitor that development agreement very closely. It's already on its second amendment and then this is related to that where we're reducing the letter of credit. Um so I think that outlines basically what's going to happen and then what you could expect um is that we would execute it authorizes um us collectively to um execute any documents associated with it this and then you could also expect that we will complete the bidding out process and then we'll look to see some improvements on 40th Street and Dave's here if I missed anything andor to answer any questions that you might have. No, I

think the only thing I would say Keith summarized it very well is that uh all other provisions of the development agreement and its amendments stay intact. So there are certain operational responsibilities also that fall into the second amendment to development agreement and this really only modifies a couple elements of the development agreement second amendment specifically to the 40th street improvements um and uh again gives us that continued protection uh in terms of the form of the security of the letter of credit for the amount of work that's going to really be taken on here. Um and really when that $6.5 million number was sort of expressed to cover the cost of the improvements for 40th Street along with the sewer extension and upsizing. Um and again the the Michigan Department of Transportation grant should cover a sizable amount of that activity related to the road work. But again, the letter of credit also has this provision in this side agreement that if somehow the estimates come back from the bidding and it says we're still um exposed a little bit. They're obligated to make sure that they're keeping up uh with whatever that estimate is. And so that letter credit could be increased, but we don't expect that that's going to be necessary. The $6.5 million number should be sufficient for what you know we would have as a city to cover. Okay.

Any questions for staff? Mr. Corbin, I'm thinking about it. So Dave, does this permit us in the future to alter the agreement and maybe go back to what our original letter of intent was if if indeed something changes with LG and how do we in some way red flag that we're not here, we're not here, it does come up as an issue as a city.

Yeah. No, I mean if you look at the the side agreement does this agreement that you have in front of you tonight speaks to that all the provisions associated with um letter credit obligations associated with electrical improvements which were the vast majority of the things that drove to originally a $55 million letter credit number here um go back into effect uh should there be a renewal of an application for that service. Um and again it would be at whatever the estimates are for those upgrades at that time. And so that's very clearly articulated in in the in agreement. And I think Vince, if you have anything to add there, certainly you can. But

the development, pardon [clears throat] me, the development agreement does have a provision to allow the letter of credit to be escalated based on um anticipated costs. So right now it's at a level based on the I guess reduced uh anticipated costs. But if there should be circumstances for higher costs, the pro the agreement allows for us to demand that the letter of credit be uh enhanced to protect us for those

and and our expectation is, you know, these agreements will be what we're working under. And again, it's not just a one-time agreement. I think that's the the nice thing in this development agreement is that there's not only obligations as it relates to the capital work, but also there's an operational element to it. There's also frankly in the s in the second amendment of development agreement there's um expectations for what happens to the facility if operation ceased here completely in terms of the restoration of uh the site and things like that too. So this is going to be a living document. So if you're worried about it kind of getting outside of uh the knowledge base of everybody around this table I just I just don't see that happening because of the fact that it's going to be an active and operating agreement in addition to a one-time agreement. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Sheay. Uh, thank you so much. I I will I am not asking for any speculation. Um, but do we see a reason why they've decided to continue with this work? Yeah, I think uh again, not to necessarily um speak for them, but I I do think that uh again the the alternative would be to lose the grant opportunity and then if in the future there was a need for that improvement, then all of that would be borne by LG Energy Solution. And so they feel that with the calculation of where they see things right now and the work that they have done in prepping the phase three site even though there's not erection of any sort of uh building going on at this point that you know I think that they're seeing this as a good bet you know to make sure that they're leveraging the value and coming back from the grant for an an improvement that they can see maybe in the future needing.

Great. Thanks. Any other questions for staff? Thanks Dave. Appreciate it. Uh, what is the pleasure of councel in regard to this item? So moved by Corbin as presented. Moved by Corbin. Is there support? Support. Support by Verman. Any discussion? Right. Seeing none. Brenda, would you please call the role? Okay. Verman, yes. Corbin, yes. May, yes. Rowan, yes. Shay, yes. Clumparens. Yes. Mayor Box. Yes. Motion carries.

Great. Thank you. Uh, next item on the agenda, item 12, echo 4.1, accept recycling infrastructure grant. Mr. Van Beek.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council, and the public. We're um very excited to bring you two recommended actions tonight that really re revolve around one project that's been on our dream list, our working list, and that we hope um kind of releases us to move forward um tonight. Um and that's our recycling center. Um really what I want to point out is one we're going to make one presentation and in two of the next three items that you consider just kind of consider that we're making one recommendation and you're going to take two separate actions on that. You certainly can stop and ask qu ask ask questions at any time but just so you understand that we we we didn't try to break it up and make a presentation on the two things separately. Um, the other is I just want to really emphasize that this is I think one of the things that's best about the larger community of Holland, not just the city, but in in the global sense, the community of Holland because it's about partnerships because it speaks to a local corporate partner, Padnos. It speaks to a neighboring municipality, Holland Charter Township. At one point it spoke to um our counties and especially Ottawa County, a grant that we had initially started this this journey with. Um it speaks with a state partner, Eagle. Um and really I think all of this leads towards great community outcomes, not only for our city residents, but quite frankly something that we get to lead that is of value to our larger community. Also, um, and really, um, I want to call out in

particular two city staff that have been, um, most key to, um, bringing this forward. Um, one isn't otherwise going to speak tonight unless you ask questions of her, and that's Connie Locker, who is our fantastic grants manager. And as we always like to talk about, she goes after grants and has been very successful in doing that and it's a great investment that I think the BPW and the city's made in that position. Um, but I think staff really appreciates Connie as much for the money, but that she does all the reporting on the back side because there's a lot of work that goes along with the gift of money. So Connie, thank you very much. And then the other is Dan Boursma who uh gets the added benefit of coming up and giving us a little history lesson on the journey that we are at tonight. And I think it's very appropriate that we um give him the reward of presenting to us tonight. So Dan,

thanks for thanks for being here man. Welcome Dan. Good to have you.

Thank you. I think so. So yes, um this has been an ongoing project since I took this job uh five years ago as of March 17. So um thanks Juan looks better. He reformaned my slide, so I need to give credit where credit's due. So um in 2021 I joined here and we had a materials task force that I was actually a part of at the time for two previous years to that and uh we launched a very successful recycling cart system for the city of Holland. It has shown benefits over and over again. So during that time and when I took over the job and as we gathered the task force thinking things were done, we re-evaluated taking a look at the people that we serve and the amount of materials that were still going to landfill at the time. And it was very apparent that we needed another mechanism. We needed something else for people in apartments, small small to medium-sized businesses, and a home for materials that aren't being served in our community today or or in a very small way. So, uh the recycling task force at the time um identified this and we did a factf finding. Um we actually uh we identified the the problem and then we also during that time we decided to go to five different um what we would consider top-notch drop off recycling centers in the state and and learn from them from an operation material standpoint and financial standpoint if this was something that's feasible and uh

worthwhile pursuing. And those just just so you know they were EMTT County, Ann Arbor, Cold Water, Bay Area, and Traverse City. And then the best one, and I really hate to say this, but MSU. So, [laughter] so I was nice to you. Anyway, [clears throat] so after learning all of this and bringing this, we decided to work with a consultant to take all the findings and do a feasibility study and take a look at that. That's what's in your packet tonight from uh RRS. And we did three different financial analysis in there of how we would run the center, what we would need to run the center, and the materials that we would take in the center. and it's quite substantial um [clears throat] as you can see. So the other thing is is we decided since we are going down this path and we had the opportunities being a green communities um organiz part of the green communities network is that we would take the U of M uh Graham student uh intern that's offered to us as being a part of that program and actually creating a manual on how to run the center from a financial and operations standpoint from all the things that we learned from the other particular drop offs. So, and that's now also something that's shared with other communities out there. So, we've just put the bow on that just recently. So, um and then in preparation for this, we went after grants. Um we won, thanks to Connie, multiple smaller grants, um including a foam uh styrofoam uh recycling. Uh it's a it's a styrofoam recycling grant for a machine to recycle and condense styrofoam down and able to be re to

recycle it. The other thing is is that we actually entered a competition with other municipalities and won two other grants beating them out handfully um and for about uh along with a couple other ones for about $66,000. During this process, we were going through the process of trying to find where would this go? And the task force, we had a couple of folks that are on that task force and one or two names you may recognize on that one. Um, uh, Padnos, uh, worked for Padnos and they approached us with an opportunity to transfer a piece of property for us to use to build the center and run the center on. By doing such a thing, this would actually lower our operational footprint that was done in the study. Instead of having to truck things all over the city into different places, we would be able to part partner with Padnos, which t doesn't take everything that we're going to take, but does take a majority of it. And now we don't have to truck it down to one of their facilities in Granville, which handles their plastics and papers and so on. So finally we have a place we had the we have how to run it and we have uh we have the knowh how to do it. We applied for the in uh the eagle infrastructure grant from the state of Michigan for a million dollars to build the site. So, as Keith really teed this up, I can go through the rest of my folder and bring all the other partners that we have together on this all the way from Gentex to Ottawa County to different, you know, other people that have been involved in this. But, um, we identified the problem and I really think we did, uh, good due diligence um, and figuring

out the need and how we were actually going to do it. Questions, comments for staff? Mr. Breeman,

Dan, I just I can't even tell you. As you're talking, I'm just writing down names of partners, uh, people that are not in the Holland community, but in the county, uh, the township, business partners, and it's one of those things that we've been talking about as a council. Uh, it came out at re, uh, the retreat this past winter. Um, that that is a value and a priority. And it's just I want you to run around town and like do cartwheels about the success of this uh because it is really I would say it's one of our poster child things um to celebrate and so just way to go and thank you for leading that and I hope it is just wildly successful that it inspires other things like that around our community.

So thanks. I will pass it along. Other questions, comments for staff? Mr. Van Beek, you are staff, but we'll let you speak. Yeah. So, let me just uh do one more thing. Take it from the celebration that I hope you celebrate with Dan. I think this is a great thing. You get to vote on a couple things in a few minutes, right? Um but again, to put a point on it, this was not something that it was like, oh, we got some money and like I think we can make it work. like a lot of work has gone into not only making sure that if we build it, we can operate it in a way that's sustainable, right, Dan? On all fronts,

financially included so that we've done our homework there. Um, but also that we build it in such a way. And with the partnership that we're proposing with Padnos, that is the second thing that you'll take where basically we get land conveyed to us for free. Um, we have we have a strong sense that you always have to bid this stuff out and you find out what the price comes back, but we're we're in the realm of we believe we can do this. Um, now here's the third staff that if you would vote on this tonight that's going to get very involved with something. Who knows the guy that like when we have a project that when you say okay go that gets to get to work. Mr. Van Dyken is itching to get to work on this one. Um, and just so you know, right, this isn't like, okay, you do this and then all of a sudden it gets built. There's a process that we're going to continue to go through. I think the two biggest things here are we would bring back to you a recommendation of how we'd go about bidding it out and getting bids and finding out what the construction price is and all those types of things to make sure that we're doing it within the resources that we've had granted to us should you accept the grant and the ones that we already have. But also, um, you'll you'll see that this is somewhat unusual, but I think it's really good that this is actually a recycling center that we're building outside of the city limits. It's actually in Holland Charter Township. Now, some might ask like, why would we even consider doing that? Um, well, Dan talked about part of it in that we're going to be able to build it for a lower price because we can put it on a piece of property um that we don't

have to pay for. Um, also while it doesn't guarantee, basically there's probably someone that will bid on taking the material that would be brought to the recycling center and be able to basically just drive and pick it up so you don't have the trucking costs. Um, and it's at a really nice site that it has access both onto Lakewood Boulevard and Chicago Drive. And it serves then not just our citizens, but a larger group of citizens. And quite frankly, if you look into the operations study that Dan referenced, we actually do much better if way more residents use this site than if we somehow limit it either intentionally or unintentionally to fewer users. So from an operational perspective, if nothing else, um this is a good thing if more people use it. So, just want to be very clear because um this is a good thing that I believe staff believes unanimously that we're recommending something that we'd actually build something that's in a neighboring partner community. Um so, if you vote for it, Matt's getting to work and any questions that you have. But first, obviously, it's accepting the uh recycling infrastructure grant from Eagle.

Miss Rowan, thank you. And maybe I missed it. Uh you might have mentioned it, but um is there a timeline for the lead? I know we're just looking at the money piece of it tonight, but what is the timeline, the expectation for up and running? When can I drop off my batteries and my styrofoam? I I'm not

we're gonna let Matt answer that from your perspective. What I will say is on the grant perspective, we made sure to rework the grant so that there isn't somehow if we run into unexpected difficulties that we get in trouble on the grant side of things. So really then it just becomes um if you give us approval tonight for us to work through development process and bidding process and building and I'll let Matt answer that question. Yeah. said, "I told Keith I wasn't going to say anything tonight, but um apparently I am." So, it's an answer I can't give with specificity because we haven't designed it yet.

Oh, okay. And I'm not looking for anything specific. I'm not trying to corner you. I realize that I'm taking us off off base here. I just was I'm just so excited. Um and I'm wondering is this a is this a months, year, or years outlook?

Yep. So, what I would say is is we'll probably come back to you with a recommendation to do this as a design build, which is a little bit different than most of the projects that we do. Usually, we we work with the architect at the very front end, create all the bids, create all the the construction documentation detailed down to what kind of screws we're going to use for the cement boards and the colors and all of that. I don't see that being to our advantage in this case. I actually see us basically saying to the construction management community, hey, we want to do this as a design build where you guys are responsible not only for the uh construction of it, but also the architecture and the engineering and we want a 5,000 foot building with one handicapped accessible bathroom and and and we put that out to them and then it's their responsibility to come back with an all-in price to us. So, a little bit different. There's going to be some time we may need to do things like soil borings. We may need to do uh surveying and flagging out there. So the architectural engineering I anticipate us probably issuing that design build RFP sometime yet this spring and then probably another year to a year and a half before we're actually moving people in and taking material. And that's a guess at this point again because we don't know if we're building a a post and beam wood building or a pre-engineered metal building. But we will bring you along every step of the way and keep you informed and and make sure we're getting the best thing for our entire area.

Yeah. Thank you. And I apologize for setting you up for that. I just Keith does it all the time. That's that's actually the most popular question I get about the project. I'm sure I'm sure. Thank you. Thanks for your hard work. Thanks for the excellent grant writing to win all of that the potential for those funds.

Thanks. Any other questions, comments for staff? I I just have a a couple. I hope that people who are listening at home paid attention to what Dan said. This this process, this history, I think, is a great blueprint for the way that we do things here in the city of Holland. Um the the words homework, the words process, you know, talking about going and doing site visits to see the best of what other communities have done to learn from that. The fact that you've already had a you're having a U of M grad student who's doing a a process and operations manual for this to make sure that we run it correctly. The fact that we've gone out and applied for smaller grants. The fact that we went out and applied for competitive grants and I believe the term you used is we won those handily. Uh I'm assuming based on the fact that we've done our homework and we have a good process with this. Um as as Mr. Reman said, "Working with partners both within the community and in surrounding communities, I think is is huge for what this city does." Um, and who gives stuff to the city? We're getting this property for free. And I say that all the time because it seems like it happens all the time for the city of Holland that we receive gifts from people, we receive things to this. And who gives things to the government? We get them here at the city of Holland, I believe, because we're good stewards of the of the resources that people entrust us with. And Dan, what you've explained tonight is exactly why people entrust us with their resources because we have good process because we do our homework. And as Mr. Van Beek said, we're not done with process. We're not done with homework. We're not going to be rushing into the construction of this. We are very cautious and very methodical about what we do. And I want to make sure that the public understands

how well things are done within the walls of this building and every building at the city of Holland and how how processoriented and homework oriented we are with this. And congratulations on all of the grants, especially the million-doll eagle grant. I could not be happier. I could not be prouder. I think that if you do do cartwheels out there throughout the community, people are going to take notice. But I think that we need to make sure that we're letting people know not only about this project, but about the way the process works in the city of Holland and how this is fulfilling one of the the real priorities of this community is sustainability of making sure that we do things right. The the orange the orange litted carts were a huge success because we decided we wanted to make the right thing to do the easy thing to do. I think we're doing the same thing here. We're making the right thing to do, recycling and sustainability, an easy thing, not only for the people of the city of Holland, but for the people of this entire area. And as Mr. Van Beek said, the more people use it, the better it is going to be for us operationally, but boy, the better it's going to be for the environment as well. So kudos, congratulations. Great work on this. Any other comments or questions for staff at this point? Because we don't yet yet have a motion on the floor. So that's what I'm going to ask next. What is the pleasure of council in regard to this item?

I would like to make a motion to support it, but first I want to say Matt, we're sorry we're dumping on you. Move. So I I believe that was a motion from Corbin to accept the recommendation. Was that was that correct, Mr. Corbin? So we got a motion from Corbin. Do we have support? Support from Rowan. Any discussion? Right. Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the role? Corbin, yes. Mayor Keane, yes. Rowan, yes. Shay, yes. Clumps, yes. Freeman, yes. Mayor Box, yes. Motion carries. Great. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, 12, Echo 6.1, gifts. Brenda, would you please review the gifts for us?

Okay. The city manager's office is pleased to report a gift of $10,000 from technical building automation for parks and recreation department, the Holland Ice Park. What is the pleasure of councel in regard to the gifts? Move to receive the gift and send a letter of gratitude. [snorts] Move by Freeman. Is there support? Support.

That that was support by clamps. Any discussion? I I just said something about people giving gifts to the city holiday. $10,000 gift that we received tonight. And as our former council member, Mr. Bird said, it hardly a meeting goes by that we don't receive gifts as the gift portion of this. Wow. Again, congratulations. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose, same sign. Motion carries. Next item on the agenda, 12 echo 6.2, real estate conveyance agreements with Padnos Retail Incorporated for the construction of the recycling center. Mr. Van Beek, I think we've talked, have we talked about this recently? We have talked about this. This is the accepting the property that is being presented to us as a gift. Correct.

Yeah. And just a little bit more detail here. I think first and foremost it's thank you to the partnership with Padnos. Um and then also to understand appropriately there was some work that was done. Thank you very much to Vince for helping us through that process. Um even though in effect this comes to us at no cost there the conveyance part there's things in the agreement that make sure that it appropriately protects Padnos in the case um that this property would in the future not be used for this prescribed purpose and has some very wellthoughtout and logical um um elements in place of how to deal with that eventuality that I think we I'll hope doesn't come to be because it ends up being a very successful recycling center. Um we're happy to talk about any of the detail in here that lays that out. Um we're all very comfortable with what we've worked out and put in place. Um but otherwise again just thank you to Padnos if they're out there listening. Um I think this is another again just a great partnership and we're excited to present it.

Great. Thank you. Questions for staff? All right. What is pleasure of councel in regard to this item? Um move to um accept as presented. Moved by Rowan. Is there support? Support. Support by Freeman. Any discussion? All right. Brenda, would you please call the role? Mayor Keane? Yes. Rowan? Yes. Shay? Yes. Clumps? Yes. Freeman? Yes. Corbin? Yes. Mayor Box? Yes. Motion carries. Great. Thank you. Item 13, communications from the city manager, Mr. Van Beek.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, a lot of things, but I'm going to go really quick. They're really all informational for you that I think are good for the public to know also. Uh, first, no study session next week. Um, but in part because many of you are, uh, going to be attending the capital convention. They call it Capcon. It's with our association, the Michigan Municipal League. um legislative um convention in Lancing. So um Juan is a member of the MML board and he will be taking uh really good care of a lot of you and have having conversations that will be up in Lancing next week. Um stay tuned though. March 18 we have a regular session. March 25 we have a study session and then April is always a big month because April is budget budget budget. um at least for you, it's been budget, budget, budget already for all of us in city hall and we're continuing to work um very diligently on that and we'll bring that forward. Um I will also let you know that we're getting to the end of the ice park. We just accepted $10,000, but I'll just let you know. Um, I think we realize and we had a comment from one of our Hayak students tonight about how much of a hit that has been and how much people have appreciated it. Uh, know also that when we do officially close it down, that will be a sad day in some ways. There's a lot of people that have worked really hard out there for this year. That'll probably be a happy day. They'll do do be doing cartwheels for their own reason, Dan. Um, but know that we'll also collect and make sure that we provide to you, but really provide to the community some key statistics about what happened in this year, the number of people that were out there and what I am confident will be a

very positive budget picture too of how how things worked out there. Um, and again, Mayor, thank you. I think you're going to see good statistics on that because we didn't just jump into that because we did our homework leading into it. Um, and we hope and think that that will continue to um prove itself out um not only in the ice park with all the projects that we put our hands to. And then finally, just really highlight for you, Mallerie continues sends out to you council highlights every month on a variety of things that um if you get questions from, you know, residents or are lucky enough to go on WHC Talk of the Town or anything, you have some talking points, but I'd really encourage you take a close look at that document. She's also starting to put in some really specific things more for you of things to, you know, have put on your radar for the future or, you know, make sure you show up for the St. Patrick's Day parade or all those kind of little personal touches. So, thank you to Mallerie and I just encourage you to always pay close attention to that communication. And that's all I have tonight. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Uh, next item in the agenda is, uh, appointments, communications from the mayor. Uh, you did just mention the St. Patrick's Day parade that is coming up on Saturday the 14th. Uh, I don't know the exact time on that. It's in the later morning, early late morning, noon, no noonish. But, uh, council members, you all have, uh, things to wear in the parade if you want to at your seats. Uh, so St. Patrick's Day swag. It's always a lot of fun. If you haven't participated before, it's great. Uh, it is almost always very cold, so make sure that you dress warmly. And I've looked at the weather forecast, and yes, it is going to be very cold. And as somebody who always wears a kilt in that parade, you definitely want to dress warmly. Uh the the other item I have is I've got a proclamation for youth art month and I had the wonderful opportunity to be able to go to Longfellow School yesterday morning and spend an hour with a fifth grade art class. Uh wonderful group of students that were doing a banner for youth art month. uh very different from art when I was in fifth grade where we all did exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Uh the students have an opportunity to do a variety of different things, incredibly talented fifth graders. And then this afternoon, uh students and educators came here and I got to read the proclamation for them at 4:00 and I'm going to do that here again now to proclaim uh March Youth Art Month. Uh whereas the Council for Art Education directs the National Youth Art Month program advocating for visual arts education for all children and encouraging funding for quality school visual arts programs. And whereas this year's youth art month theme is the world needs art healing through color. And whereas from preschool to high school and beyond, art education is a critical part of a well-rounded curriculum and provides educational benefit to students and builds their

confidence. And whereas art education is a visual language and one of the first languages people begin with, which is connected to all other subject matters that help young learners create a deep understanding of our world history, language arts, and mathematics. And whereas art education programs improve youth problem solving, critical thinking skills, and is therapeutic. And whereas art education provides connections to all people and cultures from around the world. And whereas Holland Public School scholars painted a collaborative banner to commemorate Youth Art Month. And whereas Holland public school scholars art projects will to be displayed be displayed at Holland public school to be shared with their peers, teachers, administrative staff, parents, and visitors. Now therefore, I Nathan I, Mayor Nathan Box, mayor of the city of Holland, do hereby proclaim the month of March as Youth Art Month. We encourage our community to support youth arts in our schools and invite the community to the Holland Arts Council display from March 5 to March 28 with a reception on March 26 featuring art from the Holland Elementary and Holland High School students and Hope College alumnists. The public is also invited to view the elementary student art display at the Heric main library from March 1 to May 1, 2026. given under my hand and the seal of the city of Holland this fourth day of March 2026, Mayor Nathan Box. And that is all I have this evening. Uh, next item on the agenda is appointments, motions, communications from council members. Anything from council members this evening, Mr. Corbin?

Just one thing for my colleagues to let you know that it is that time of year again to evaluate the city manager and his performance. Yeah, he always gets a little frightened about that. But um so we've been trying to rotate u council members to be on that team for evaluation. Mr. Verman has agreed to serve on that. So it'll be myself, the mayor, and Mr. Verman and we'll probably be meeting sometime midappril. Uh there's a little bit of work we have to do in advance of that. We'll be submitting those surveys out to you in advance of our probably our first meeting so that you guys can make your uh judgment on his performance and then we'll bring that back to you at some point after. So, anything else from other council members? All right. Seeing none, there's just one more motion I'd accept at this time.

Move to adjurnn. Moved by Breeman. Is there support? Support by Rowan. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Thank you. We arejourned. Have a great evening.