City Council - Regular Meeting

Clump Irons. Here. Vreeman.

Present.

Raymond. Here. Corbin. Here. Schultes. Mayor Keene.

Here.

Rowan. Shea.

Here.

Mayor Box.

Present.

We do have a quorum.

Wonderful. Thank you. We're going to begin this evening's meeting as we have for many years. First with an opening prayer this evening by Council Member Vreeman followed immediately by the Pledge of Allegiance and we would invite you to join us.

Please join me in prayer if you're inclined. Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening and we are grateful for everything that's already taken place in this day, for the jobs and different responsibilities that we have. We ask now that you would lead us and that you would guide us and give us an extra measure of discernment as we navigate the agenda that's in front of us. And may we leave this place being grateful people and serving others well. And so we put this next time before you, and it's by 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. Thank you, Mr. Vreeman. Next item on our agenda are our consent agenda items. These are items that are considered to be fairly routine and have been reviewed by council members as part of our council packet, and they will be enacted in one motion unless a member of the public or a member of council asks to have an item removed from the consent agenda, and then it will be placed in its regular order on the regular agenda. But before I ask if anyone would like to do that, Brenda, would you please review the consent agenda for us?

yes 4a excuse the absences of council members schultes and rowan 4b approve the minutes of the september 2 2026 regular meeting and september 9 2026 study session 4c oaths of office 4d mers defined contribution retirement plan amendment 4E, Declaration of Surplus Materials for the Fall. 4F, 897 East 16th Street, Bill of Sale and Utility Easement at the Avenue at Holland Development. 4G, 352 Harrison and 353 West 15th Street, Bill of Sale and Utility Easement at Dwelling Place Development. 4H, 75 East 24th Street, bill of sale and utility easement at Resthaven Farmstead Development. 4I, Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia prepaid gas transaction. 4J, Hillside Trail property sale. 4K, accept as information the fiscal year 2026 annual report. 4L, claims filed against the city. 4M, new business license for Mabee Joes. 4N, schedule a public hearing to establish an industrial development district at 1659 M40, 4416 52nd Street, 933 interchange drive and 931 interchange drive for Oh Washington Square bid assessment schedule a public hearing of necessity for October 7 2026 4p award a bid for concrete services 4Q, window on the waterfront boardwalk replacement project. 4R, fee change approval for the selling of grave spaces at Grascap Cemetery. 4S, acceptance of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant for the Vanralti Farm Boardwalk project. 4T, acceptance of the CVB marketing grant for the International Relations Festival. 4U, technology services purchase of police department camera server. 4V, schedule a public hearing of necessity for the downtown principal shopping district assessment for October 7, 2026. 4W, downtown parking operations and maintenance assessment, schedule a public hearing of necessity for October 7, 2026. 4x downtown snowmelt operation and maintenance assessment schedule a public hearing of necessity for october 7 2026 and 4y employer health clinic services agreement with holland community hospital great thank you brenda and mr corbin i believe you've got something to add yes mr mayor 604 um councilman roane has joined us

Wonderful. Thank you. Appreciate it. Welcome. Good to have you here. 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 consent 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.

Moved by Vreeman, is there support? Support. Support by Clumpharns, thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the roll?

Klump-Barnes? Yes. Vreeman?

Yes.

Raymond? Yes. Corbin? Yes. Mayor Keene? Yes. Rowan? Yes. Shea?

Yes.

Mayor Box?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Wonderful, thank you. Next item on the agenda is 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. We do have guidelines that we ask you to follow, however. First, when you approach the microphone, please state your name and the municipality in which you live. It's important for us to know whether or not you are a resident of the city of Holland. Also, you may speak on any subject that you would like to, but this is one way communication. It's an opportunity for you to be able to speak to council. We don't answer questions or enter into discussion at this time. But if there's a question that staff can answer, they may be able to circle back to you after the meeting. Also, please note that your time is limited to five minutes. We have three lights on the dais to help you with that. The green light means that you're doing well on time. The 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. If more than one person comes to the podium at one time, you are still limited to that total of five minutes. If both of you would like to speak and like to have your own five minutes, one of you must step away from the microphone. It's just simply too difficult for us to keep track of who's talking for how long if you're both up there at the same time. Now, having said that, is there anyone here who would like to address council at this time? If so, please come forward. And would you state your name and municipality for the record?

My name is Israel Izzy Quintanilla. As everyone knows here on the panel who I am, it's been a while since I've been here. I had a chance to leave and go see my kids. It was wonderful. And then I found out there were some obligations due to the court and I came back to handle them. But I'm here today to make sure that you guys understand I've not gone away. And I'm not gonna go away. Seven years ago, my life was ruined, okay? And I was cordially enough to be gifted the opportunity to be here this evening because of some situations yesterday that I was able to overcome. But I just want this board to remember something. As an officer, as mayor, as any branch that you service in the city or state of Michigan or Ottawa or Holland, you are a civil servant of us. You actually work for us. You take these people's money, and they give you jobs to hold the right and the wrong, to make people accountable for their rights and their wrongs. We forget that when you're on that side, that you are actually working for us. You are obligated to make sure that you cater to us, the free people, the people that give you the tax-paying dollars to pass all these cool things that are going on in this great city. Well, in the meantime, the people that have been shunned on hurt and manipulated by the system that you're coerced for decades and hundreds of years in this community i don't need to get into too much detail because there's more coming but my reminder today is that every single one of you are obligated as a civil servant to look out for us the little people not your agendas not your status quo okay we forget that we live in america people We don't live in your rules. You actually live with our ability to give you the opportunity to show us a safer place to live, a safer place to be, and to give us people that can be accountable for their wrong actions when they're given the authority as a civil servant. Well, I know for a fact there are multiple people in this building, in this city, that are civil servants that have broken The rules of being a civil servant. When will you people start making them people accountable? When will you start taking care of the person that continues to come back here and brings nothing but the truth? Because if I wasn't saying what I was saying and was factual, you guys would have already gagged me. There would have been a gag order. Izzy, what you're saying is not true. The statements that you're saying are not true. Unfortunately, seven years strong, they're strongly right. But you're hiding behind this great civil servant duty of yours. It's time for you to be accountable for your actions and give me back what's mine. Because what's mine was the corner of Chicago Drive and Waverly. Because there was a purchase agreement in on it. There was 14 code violations on that building. That building was being condemned. The forbearance was paid off. It's in black and white. And white. As civil servants, I'm asking you to do your due diligence because guess what? Statutes of limitations. There is no statute of limitations if you have never investigated into it. Brian Ellard, Highland police officer. They got away with two felonies against me. Black and white misuse. And don't worry, every branch of judicial system is being contacted. There is some lawyers coming this way. They're going to start asking questions. I wanted to make sure that you heard it directly from me. I'm not going to give up this fight as a person of the community, a person that took an iconic store that's right next door and moved it to a super location and made it one of the coolest stores in all of West Michigan. to have it taken away because some people didn't like me. I overcame every single obstacle you guys threw at me, and I overcame it. But when I sat in that office that morning, Mr. Quintanilla, I don't know what I'm doing. I know you paid off your forbearance. I know the building's under city sanctions. I'm doing my job, and we're moving you out. Accountability comes from this office, from you. Cunningham and Dalman, from you, Mayor Brock, the guy that never returns a phone call, 616-377-6698. I'm not going to stop until the civil servants that we give jobs to and opportunities that we vote because we believe in you do your job. And I'm not going to give up.

Mr. Mayor, that is five minutes. Appreciate it.

Have a good evening.

I'm sorry. Your time has expired. 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?

Hi, I'm Dawn Dyer from Ventura, California. Good evening, Honorable Mayor Box and City Council members. I'm president of Dyer Sheehan Group, an investment real estate consulting and land use firm. I represent the owners of the nearly 80,000 square foot building located on two parcels totaling seven and a quarter acres at 700 and 734 South Waverly Road here in Holland. My associate broker, Walter Bukowski, Vice President of Fusion Properties in nearby Jenison, wanted to be here tonight but had a family emergency. Our clients, whom I've represented for over 30 years, are experienced investors who acquired the property subject to a long-term triple net lease with Yellow Freight doing business as Holland Freight, both 100-year-old companies. A small warehouse on the 734 parcel was demolished to provide 300-plus parking spaces. The property hosted Yellow's regional headquarters prior to their bankruptcy in 2023. 700 Waverly has been listed for sale or for lease since January, 2024. The current owners are experienced investors. However, they don't have the resources or the expertise to reposition the property for multi-tenant office and other uses. So we've been working diligently to locate a single user to buy or lease the entire property. Wally and I have exhausted every conceivable method of marketing the property, including promoting it on CoStar LoopNet and Crexie, the Western Michigan Commercial Alliance of Realtors, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation property locator website, and placed ads in Crane's Grand Rapids Business Journal. We worked closely with Mark Myers, who was excellent, and then Wong Ghanem, the economic development here at the city, as well as Daryl Todd, regional business development team manager at MEDC. We reached out directly to major existing employers in Holland and Grand Rapids and many other national and regional companies who have either viewed our listing or who we thought might be a good fit. Unfortunately, despite much effort and multiple price reductions, we've been unable to date to find the right new owner or tenant for this unique location. This is an iconic building. Originally constructed in 1982 with loving care by Edgar Prince as the world headquarters for Prince Corporation, the building was substantially remodeled in 2014 with a new roof in 2015. The concrete and steel structure is built like an elegant fortress and features a gorgeous three-story glass atrium lobby, commercial kitchen and large dining hall, auditorium, dedicated IT server room, and a building-wide backup generator. The second and third floors are ringed with private window offices, some with private conference rooms and restrooms. Two large open work spaces on each floor are divided by the elevator, restrooms, and coffee areas. So the building could readily be changed to accommodate four to five different entities with modest renovations, excuse me. While originally office, the property is zoned industrial and would be great for high tech, product assembly, research labs, or other light industrial uses. It would also make a fabulous school or could be converted to medical or housing. The owners have been incredible stewards of this high-profile asset. They've maintained the property exceptionally well, even made substantial capital investments, including a new 225-ton air-cooled chiller. They can continue to service debt on the property while also paying $200,000 a year in property taxes. I'm here today to ask for your help and the assistance of anyone watching to connect the right users with this important property. The current asking price has been reduced to 6.5 million, I'm sorry, 6,500,000, which is 1.2 million below the appraised value earlier this year, and at $81 a square foot, about a quarter of replacement cost. Tonight, I'm personally inviting each of you to schedule a tour of the property at your earliest opportunity this is truly a must-see to appreciate situation just ask steve peterson who toured the building earlier this year we believe that once you see it in person you may have ideas on who should be next in this important property i've left materials for your perusal please contact either wally or myself to schedule your tour and i sincerely appreciate your time and consideration this evening thank you

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?

Yes. Juanita Bocanegra. I live in Holland Township. I've lived in the general Holland area for almost 45 years. I currently serve you as one of your 58th district court judges here in the county. I've been doing that since I was elected in 2020. Started in January of 2021. Prior to that, I served you as an assistant prosecuting attorney, also here in the county, for almost 10 years. So I say that to enlighten the fact that I've been serving this community for many years. And I serve the community because it's personal to me. I come from a migrant family. My parents came here in the late 70s, early 80s. We've worked for Salenka Evergreen Nursery on the north side. I worked out in the fields alongside them. This is home to me. It was the teachers that I had in elementary, middle school and high school that invested their time in me that helped me succeed. My dad has a second grade education. My mother only went to school through the fourth grade. I give back to this community, not as a way of paying it back, but more as a way of paying it or paying it forward really for the next generation. I'm here to ask for your support. I am going to be on the ballot. I knew I was going to be on the ballot. My term has to be reelected. I have to be reelected every six years. So It's not a surprise that I am on the ballot. What did come as a surprise is that just about 10, 12 days ago, I found out that I've been pulled in to a contested race. You are going to see three names on the ballot and you will be able to vote for two out of those three names. I was supposed to appear on the ballot on a separate line, my own space with nobody challenging me. Nobody filed against me back in April. There were circumstances where the judge that was going to retire in December unfortunately had to step down earlier than planned. That left an open seat. Governor appointed one of the other two attorneys running for his spot. And while she is 100% an incumbent judge at this point, and she's doing a terrific job, we don't agree that the incumbency status goes with the office. But be it as it may, the Bureau of Elections has decided this is the way it's going to be, and there is no time to seek other alternatives. So There's no time to change that. I am in full campaign mode. I'm just reintroducing myself to those of you who may not know me. I invite you to visit my website at JuanitaForJudge.com. There is also a campaign Facebook, which I know has inundated some of your feeds the last few days. I do have great people on my team. Unfortunately, I don't have any printed materials for any of you because given the short notice, they are just getting printed today and tomorrow. I don't know what else I can say. I, like I said, grew up here, raised my family here. I love this community. I would love any help, any support in getting reelected. Obviously, I know you can't make any comments and you can't make any recommendations in your positions as council members, but You also have personal lives, and I'm happy to answer any questions. If I've raised any concerns for anyone, whether of the council or anyone in the community, reach out to me. I'm here to answer questions. I believe in accountability. I know some defense attorneys had concerns when I took the bench, given my experience as a prosecutor. I still believe in accountability, but I believe in extending grace. I believe in being compassionate. But I also firmly believe that if we don't hold people accountable, if we don't have consequences as human beings, we are not going to change our behavior. And the example that I often give the people that come before me is something as simple as speeding. If you are not concerned about a speeding ticket or the points that are going to affect your driving record, you're not going to change your driving habits and you're not going to slow down and not be a danger to the community. I believe that applies to just about every other area of the law. So while some people may think that I am strict, I like to think that they would also recognize that I do rule with compassion and grace. I tell them forgiveness is one thing, but that doesn't take the consequences away. That is kind of my upbringing. It's who I am at the core. So thanks for your time and consideration. I appreciate it.

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

Anne Henriksen, Zeeland. The summer of 2019, there was a drag show at the Civic Center. Mayor Box, at the time, was the president of the board of the new Civic Center. Councilman Schultes was on the same board. The community was silently up in arms about using a public building that was especially built for families of Holland, but not for an adult show. The public was not asked what they thought. The board just did it. Even the current mayor was unaware until she read it in the newspaper. After the election, the newly elected Mayor Box quickly had the pro tem proposed Holland Civil Rights Ordinance be changed to include housing and employment, but also all accommodations. for sexual-orientated individuals. The wording of the ordinance was procured by the city manager, Keith Van Beek, and then lawyer, Ron Van Der Veen. They got the precise wording from the AG, Dana Nessel. Again, the public was not consulted. The wording was to be voted on as given by the state. The AG Nassau was already operating the state civil rights for this protected class before there was any congressional laws in place. The ordinance wording was only to be questioned for the sake of understanding. Some of the council members were pressured to vote for it, and they did, then quickly retired and shamefully moved away. The ordinance took wings into the public schools through hiring a DEI officer at the high school level. Sexual orientated books were brought into the library for both the adult and children's department. Middle schoolers were exposed to books like Gender Queer and others. Centennial Park became the most popular pride festival advertised over the state from Saugatuck to Detroit. In 2022, the Elliot Larson civil rights law included the LGBT community. It just took two years to flip this, yet the majority of Michiganders had no say as what they thought. Why is this important? I have been present in almost every city of Holland meeting. I've seen what is called unity of this council being as a scripted performance for council members saying the right things and voting for issues as they've been asked to. The ordinance is now full blown throughout the city into the museum, the parks, et cetera, far beyond just housing and employment. I'm not saying this is good or bad. I am just saying how quickly things turn into much more than the perceived innocence of civil rights into indoctrination of our children as proposed recently by the State Board of Education 2026. I have seen groups come into this council meeting shamed and ignored, then they suddenly disappear and do not come again. The city is run like a smooth moving top, led and protected by the city manager and mayor. The council has some excellent people, but for the sake of peace and unity, I rarely see anyone bring up an opposing position. If they do, it too seems to be just like smoke in the wind. So the issue at hand is flock surveillance of license plates. This is an abuse of our civil rights, but because of past hoodwinking, this could likely be already a said and done. I just found out the county sheriff's office is requesting the same. This could this be a Lansing mandate, as was the 2020 Holland Ordinance. Last study session was amazing as young men and women had done their research of flock and other companies. Then a young woman walked in wearing an Abdul T-shirt. We had two city council members campaigning for Abdul. Both were sworn into their council position to support the Constitution, yet one refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag, the country, the Constitution. Refusal as a private citizen is a right, but a public elected official position, no. You are fighting for constitutional rights of privacy. And this councilman advocates for someone who is of an Islamic government of power. Your vote for Abdul will take less than two years to prove itself as a threat to our rights to privacy. Think it through. If you are sexually orientated and plan on voting for Abdul, you better look into the Islamic government and what they do to Christians and to LGBT.

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?

Yes, Orlando Estrada, born and raised here in the city of Holland, live here in Ward 2. Honorable members of city council, I just want to continue the conversation that took place last week about the flock cameras. And before I say what I want to say, I want to make this absolutely clear. This is not accusing anybody or judging anybody or any departments or Holland PD or any individuals. I noticed something that I think should be brought to attention so you guys see things at a certain angle. So when I sat there listening to Holland PD talking about that slide show that they had there, I noticed some things that were inconsistent. And I don't know if it was intentional or unintentional, but just to bring to your attention. So for example, they're saying that fly cameras only take still pictures. It's not people in the car or whatever. And the example was the Holland Police vehicle. Now, let's be honest here. Does anybody here have tinted windows on their vehicle? Because if you don't have tinted windows on your vehicle and there's a picture snapped, you're going to see who's in the vehicle. If you're walking on the sidewalk next to a flat camera, if you realize it's there or not, it's probably going to take a picture of you. Not saying it's a good thing, not saying it's a bad thing. I feel like it's a little bit misleading when somebody says that it only takes pictures of the license plate. Well, it does, but I don't know what the size or the scope or the frame of the camera, and those things probably should be more clearly addressed. I do know that they said they have 21 flat cameras, I believe, inside of City Limbs of the City of Holland that even dips into Allegan. It's 21 cameras today. Is it going to be 64 cameras next week? I do notice that some of these cameras, I don't see any of them on South Shore Drive. I'll leave it at that. Another thing I want to bring to the point is when they're saying that, which I appreciate to have these safeguards, they're talking about you have to have a complaint number in order to see, you know, whatever timeframe, what vehicle they're looking for. The thing is, though, is if you haven't done anything wrong, no one here has obtained a warrant by a judge to actually go deeper into that. Now, the reason why I bring this up is my concern is, from the very beginning, from what I said last time, is I don't like to see innocent people get falsely accused because it's a real thing. What I want to quick play here is just a 35-second clip. This is what happened right here in Michigan.

I'm sorry, sir. We don't allow audiovisual or science or anything in it.

I apologize. Thank you for informing me of that. So I'll just read parts of it. Back in August of, excuse me, Sunday, August 9th, reported on Yahoo News, the headline is, Wrong person, wrong car, innocent driver held at gunpoint over a flat camera error. Now, one thing is if that was you or your family member, that's embarrassing. It's going to make the headline news. It's going to cost people money if they have to go through the judicial system. These are the realities. And I want to give special kudos to Councilman Tim Modekine because he asked the right questions. This whole presentation with Holland PD, they said they have the ALPR system, and at no point in the presentation did they say that they were using flock cameras. Tim asked the question, and they said they're using it through flock. Again, not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing. It's more about transparency. There were women there. A couple of them talked about how they've been stalked, sexually assaulted. They have cameras allegedly pointing towards the direction of their home. They're concerned. They're concerned that people will learn their driving habits of when they leave home from work, come back. uh where they travel and again this is not your guys's fault but i don't know who signed the contracts to extend it i don't believe holland pd is maliciously think about who they want to target but if a flock is allegedly not selling the information that does not mean that they may not be giving information for free to 5 000 agencies are connected to it it does not mean that they're not leasing it i i don't know that not accusing i'm saying these are questions that need to be asked it's about asking the right questions I appreciate, I believe it was Councilman Devin Shade that asked about how long this contract was. I believe they answered 2028. So there's a lot of controversy all over the state of Michigan, especially on the east side, of things being canceled. And I think this is a conversation that needs to be discussed, not because we're out to get anybody, because we want to keep Holland safe, but there needs to be some type of more restrictions that it doesn't get out of hand. Because today it's 21, then it's more. So with that being said, I thank you for your time, and hopefully we'll have a part two.

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 yes good evening my name is Carlos Estrada and I live here in Holland I want to say I appreciate the study session that we had last week upstairs on Wednesday and I just, the meeting, the session left me with a lot of questions and I know you can't answer questions, but it left me with a lot of concerns because I've known about these cameras since last summer. I had to research them for a client. Spoke to a few of you at the beginning of this year I know that you said you've talked about it in a few of your sessions, which I appreciate because I think this is a serious concern I Understand that the presentation was great I was disappointed that it wasn't on YouTube because a lot of people do not know what flock is or don't understand it and because last week was like a meeting of transparency and I was hoping that it would be shared on video or virtually so that more of our residents could have an understanding of what this is I personally do believe that it's more surveillance than safety I don't doubt that it has helped solve crimes and investigation I mean we saw proof of that last week but I do see it being misused across the country i think that we have policies here in holland to do our best to stop that from happening but there's just too many issues one thing that the police chief said yesterday which really concerned me and i'm still doing my own research is he said there are gaps in the city that he would like to see covered he did not he was not transparent of what that meant does that mean more cameras does that mean drones does that mean signal trace devices that record all bluetooth wi-fi and rfid signals in your car as you drive past it because this is all in the news and flock is in the news every week every month with misuse or advances that they're making And I would just like clarity from you, all of you in our police department, how are we using them? What are the cameras and where are they? Because there's resources online that tell us where they are, but are those accurate? If we're gonna be transparent as a community and as a city, let's share that information so that people have an understanding my concern is drones because South Haven just released I think it was MLive I could be confused or not confused I could be inaccurate or wrong but there was a report that came out this week that South Haven is their council has spent 1.2 million dollars on the contract for drones for their police department I know that Flock is not the only company that sells these drones or these cameras, but I would hate to see drones flying all over the city during tulip time, or really any time, when I'm going to church, when I'm taking the child I'm responsible for to school, when I'm going to Thrifty Acres, because that's what Flock cameras are doing right now. Every time I go to church, school, or the store, I pass one. I pass two. I don't appreciate it. crime is not a crime until it's committed but everyone is being watched right now and back to the drones thing there's drones I believe in Oakland County that's the east side is usually only two and a half to three hours away and I know they have issues in Troy Michigan right now and I know partly that is because of drones I just south haven's only 30 minutes away like really do we really need drones is that really for our safety i question that um so uh thank you tim for praying that there be a spirit of discernment here and i just ask that this is a real concern people don't understand it i um don't know what it's like when you guys are together who's for it, who's not for it, or who just doesn't understand it. I see you have a minute left. I would just ask that you continue to keep this on your mind, not because it's talked at the state level or being talked about at the federal level, because it's being talked about here in our home. Please keep talking about it, researching it, because I don't want to see drones here in my city. I already see the cameras, and I would prefer that they be contracts canceled, deactivated, and removed. Thank you for the time.

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 our agenda is special order of the day public hearings, item 7A, review and approval of the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, the CAPER, for the 2025-2026 CDBG program year. Mr. Van Dyken.

Thank you. This is an annual occurrence. Mark Cornelis is here. He does a wonderful job every year of going through the program and outlining some of the goals and successes. So Mark, thank you.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Thanks for carving out some time for this, as Matt said, annual event. Just a little bit of background on CDBG, Community Development Block Grant, to get familiar with the acronym. The city's been a recipient of Community Development Block Grant funds since 1989, but the program dates back to 1974 when the federal government consolidated eight different grants that were available to cities at that time. Just I think to simplify the process and create a process that was allowed cities a little bit more flexibility and predictability So we came along in 1989 as a recipient And since that time have Received investments from HUD in the amount of 13 million dollars The program's overall mission is to help communities provide decent housing, suitable living environments, and expanded economic opportunity. And maybe the main thing, or one of the main things for you folks to be aware of, just as a reminder that one of the core principles of CDBG is that all the spending has to benefit low to moderate, low to low moderate income households or neighborhoods that qualify as low moderate. So council plays an important role in our CDBG process in two steps, as Matt indicated, one of them being today, but backing up to May, I usually come to you in May asking for your approval of the annual plan for the year coming up, and I come to you in September asking for your approval, HUD required, of the report on the prior year. so what's before you is just a summary of the spending from the past year you can see that our allocation was $333,432 we spent $304,835 so it was unusual for us to underspend but that's not problematic unspent funds are available for up to five years So this table summarizes spending by category. You can see that our largest investment around 85% of the total went into our city operated home repair program, a program that we've been operating since the early days of the grant. And then we also invested in a couple of other projects, a home ownership assistance project in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. couple of public service projects that I'll mention in a second and our partnership with the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan and then lastly costs associated with administering the program So this slide gives you an idea of the outcomes from our home repair program. 177,667 of CDBG funds invested in that program, but those were matched with the contributions by the homeowners. So we're investing in low to moderate income home ownership homes, homes where the homeowner lives in the home, providing necessary home repairs to maintain housing stability and housing integrity. So they're contributing a portion of the cost of the project, somewhere between 10 to 50% of the cost. So their contributions of the households that we assisted totaled 144,000. So again, for a total investment in our community of around, well, the last little third piece of investment was from Home Corps, which is a shout out to Home Corps who come alongside some of our lowest income households who have a hard time contributing their portion of the contribution. So there, I don't have an exact number of what they contributed last year, but it was probably in the range of 20 to $30,000. All told, an investment in our housing stock of around $350,000. And then the rest of the data there, you can see there's kind of two columns, the data from this last program year, the 25-26 program year, and then I put in a comparison column for a three-year average for the prior three years. And then you can see breakdowns by household income ranges, race and ethnicity, a couple of subcategories, elderly-headed households and female-headed households. The number that may jump out is the the total number of projects completed being 25 compared to a previous average of 44 I don't have a lot to say about that. I don't think I When I first saw that when I when I saw that kind of number coming over the course of the year and I've reported This out to the neighborhood improvement committee. It appeared to be a little concerning and Already, though, in the first two and a half months of the current program year, we've completed seven projects. We've got 11 in process. So we've got a solid 18 or 19 completions already two and a half months in. So I think last spring, summer was just an unpredicted, uncertain reason why kind of blip in numbers. But I think those numbers are going to come back. the continuation of that table shows you the six households that were assisted by home core and then the types of housing work that is being done through the project and as you can see there it's all kind of essential critical repairs we're not doing cosmetic work we're not doing renovations that are in any way optional or not not required so we're doing a large number of roofs other other types of mechanical systems external repairs sewer water connections those sorts of things and I would just say even though it's probably obvious that not only are we improving the housing stability for that individual for those those 25 households in this case but we're also I think making an investment in the neighborhood stability and in the overall housing stock of the city these are what I think some people refer to these are likely what people refer to as naturally occurring affordable homes We don't want to lose access to our naturally occurring affordable homes due to disrepair. So I think that's a meaningful outcome in addition to the more straightforward benefit to the households living in those homes. And then in addition to home repair, as I said, we invested in a couple of other projects. The partnership we have with Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity, we assisted four households through that program, providing down payment assistance and closing costs. We're permitted to allocate up to 15% of our allocation for what HUD categorizes as public services, so we typically do that, somewhere in that 15% range. We've invested in a project through Community Action House and another project through Good Samaritan assisting persons experiencing homelessness and persons experiencing kind of chronic financial instability. So two distinct projects that are supported through these funds. And then lastly, you can see some outcomes there from the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan. 19 hours of training provided to a total of 330 citizens and in addition, 268 housing professionals. One resident was assisted with obtaining a reasonable accommodation and they successfully mediated two fair housing allegations. So that kind of covers the programmatic accomplishments. The report itself, it's not a lengthy report, but it also includes a paragraph or two addressing these topics that are listed on this slide, homelessness, special needs populations, public housing, affordable housing, and the like and and I think what HUD's purpose here is even though they're not expecting us to be either investing in these issues necessarily they just want to see that as a city we're connecting with these these resources or these services or these issues within the community so the report includes responses to how the city is interacting with those those topics This table is not technically part of the report but more often than not when I'm up here in September I get a question or two about what are the income categories or the income breakdowns what are the eligible incomes for the program so you can kind of take a glance at that so the income limit would be that third bold column or the row the third row down that's a little bit bolded so that would be the 80% of area median so that would be the cap I will say that our public service projects are primarily serving folks in that those that category labeled extremely low income or perhaps some very low income households but and then our home repair program is serving the whole range of households within those those three ranges um one interesting data point that i thought was i thought would be interesting to point out is that of the roughly 8 500 homeowner households in the city 1400 of those 1 400 have incomes less than $35,000. So to me that speaks to the need for programs like home repair. We have people living in home, they own their homes, they live in their own homes, but their incomes are likely stretched. So to have programs like home repair, along with our public service investments, are meaningful to those households. I would like to see more of those lowest income households being served by the home repair program. HUD does require that we post the opportunity to comment on the CAPER in the paper of public record so I did that two weeks ago in the hall in Sentinel and then after my presentation and any questions and answers we do hold a public hearing so there have been no comments received up until this point i would note that the neighborhood improvement committee did review the document and recommended to you folks its approval at their august meeting but aside from that pending completion of the public hearing i would request approval of the report by city council and i would be open to any questions if there are any great thank you mark questions from council mr mr corbin

I just hope you'll let us know Mark if there's anything we can do to help spread the word on these programs I love the report love the work you do so let us know if we can be helpful in that I appreciate that that is a concern

we do what I think is reasonable to get the word out but any anything additional above and above above that would be much appreciated any conversations out in the community I think it's worth a quick mention that this program exists and people should check it out many people may think they might not qualify so I think that's a common common perhaps a common misunderstanding yeah that's a pretty large number that you know the qualifying number so I appreciate that

Mr. Corbin.

Yeah, maybe I missed this in the report and or if you commented on it. So just clarifying. First, a question more. Fair housing allegations, if you could clarify or provide some I had a question from a neighbor asking about is there a five-year requirement you have to live in the City of Holland in order to be eligible for some of those programs No there's a five-year forgiveness period so if we invest say $5,000 into a home repair for a family

Our investment is in the form of a loan, but it's forgiven month by month. Over five years. Over five years. Oh, got it, thank you. That's probably the five year.

That was a couple of neighbors wondering about that, but yeah, if you could just elaborate a little bit about the fair housing allegations.

Yeah, I mean, it could be any number of things. I think for the last several years, the most common allegations are in the area of disabilities. People with a person with a disability that feels like they're being discriminated against, maybe in terms of access to a rental unit. maybe they're seeking a minor accommodation and it's being declined, so that's a hypothetical situation. The protected classes are, I'm not going to be able to necessarily state them all, but race, gender, sexual orientation, sex, religion, two or three more but it could be any any number of those things disability family status but you believe most of them seem to be in relationship with disabilities disability and I think family status is the second largest category I could be mistaken on that but so that's a household of maybe four and they think they could fit just fine in that apartment with two bedrooms and the landlord says no I don't I think it's not quite big enough well that would be that would be a violation of at least being considered fairly for that unit.

And the follow-up on the accessibility, could it be more of a misunderstanding of what is qualifying as a accessibility issue or something like that?

Yeah, many times I think it is a misunderstanding on the housing provider's part, whether it's a landlord or a real estate agent or a lender. which is why I think that education component that we're paying for is so important. If we can prevent, if the Fair Housing Center, with our support, our little bit of support, if they can prevent those misunderstandings, that's certainly a big success.

Great, thank you very much.

Any other questions, comments from council members? Great. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate it. We do need to have a public hearing on this, so at this point I will open the public hearing in regard to this item. Same rules apply as apply during public comment, with the one exception that the only thing that you may speak about is this particular item. So is there anyone here that would like to address counsel in regard to this particular item? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. What is the pleasure of counsel in regard to this item?

Move to approve.

Moved by Raymond, is there support? Support. Support by Vreeman. Any discussion? Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the roll?

Vreeman?

Yes.

Raymond? Yes. Corbin? Yes. Mayor Keene?

Yes.

Rowan? Yes. Shea?

Yes.

Klomparns? Yes. Mayor Box?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Great, thank you. Item 7B, establishment of an industrial development district at 376 East 40th Street. Mr. Van Dyken?

Yeah, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. The item for you tonight is one I think we all like to see, and that is an existing employer in the city of Holland that wants to expand. make an investment in the city and actually hire additional employees. So Nelson Steel is before you for an industrial development district. They have an existing facility that is also actually in an existing industrial development district. They want to expand into one that doesn't have one, so they've come to you and asked if they can uh... they're looking to invest literally millions of dollars and create according to their application thirty additional jobs uh... this does not create an actual tax incentive at this point but they would be more than likely coming back to you in the report says they will be coming back to you with an industrial facilities tax exemption form to allow them to make the investment uh... that's the very high level of what you're being asked to do the applicant is in the audience and i think would be available answer any questions should you have any.

I'd love to hear from the applicant. We'd love to have you be able to come up at least and introduce yourself, talk a little bit about what it is that you're doing. As Mr. Van Dyken said, we'd love to hear about local businesses expanding, so we'd love to hear what your plans are.

Sure. Ross Risingo, president at Nelson Steel. We're a local steel fabricator. We service the office furniture industry, commercial floor cleaning industries, outdoor power equipment industries, We do laser cutting, press brake forming, robotic welding, powder coating, assembly, and other value add to product. If there's any questions, happy to answer. We have about 120 current employees and about 150,000 square feet currently.

Wonderful.

Mr. Shea, did you have a question? Yes, please. Thanks so much for your time. So I see 30 new jobs. Awesome. Do you know what the range of income will be for those jobs?

It will be a mixed range. There will be a range of some general labor along with skilled trade and then some office employees as well.

And do you have a bottom that you hire at for general labor? Sure.

I believe currently the very bottom general labor is at $17 an hour.

Wonderful, thank you. Any other questions, comments for the applicant? Yes, Ms. Raymond.

Yeah, so the property that you're expanding into, you own that piece of property already? Correct. And you just want to include it in the existing?

Correct, we own two parcels that are adjacent to each other, and then we're putting an addition onto the current building, onto the adjacent parcel.

any other questions comments for the applicant all right great thank you appreciate it we really do thank you yeah we also need to do a public hearing on this particular item so I will open that public hearing at this time is there anyone here who would like to address council in regard to this particular item Seeing none, I will close that public hearing as well. What is the pleasure of counsel in regard to this item?

Motion to approve item 7B to establish an industrial development district at 376 East 40th Street.

All right. Motion by Corbin. Is there support? Support. Support by Rowan. Any discussion? Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the roll?

Raymond. Yes. Corbin.

Yes.

Mayor Keene.

Yes.

Rowan. Yes. Shea.

Yes.

Klump-Earns. Yes. Freeman.

Yes.

Mayor Box.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Great, thank you. Next item, item 7C, request to approve a sixth amendment to the Brownfield plan for the parking deck north of 7th Street between Columbia Avenue and College Avenue by Hotel Ventures 7th Street LLC. Mr. Van Dyken.

Yes, thank you. This item was actually discussed at some pretty great length at your last regular meeting. Mr. Ghanoum in his final swan song and Keith discussed this. This is, according to Juan, because of the time that's left in this brownfield, the last amendment that will be coming to you for that brownfield have been able to do a lot of good things. capture a lot of money in that area but this is for the expansion of the tulip hotel that work is already under construction but they've come back to ask from for some additional eligible expenses under the brownfield act and we do have also have representatives from that group here tonight should you have any questions all right and this i'm going to leave up to council we had a lengthy discussion about this two weeks ago is there any additional questions or comments that

Council members, yes, Ms. Raymond.

Yeah, I just wanted to clarify, is it common for these to come after the construction has already started, the request for?

Yes, it is quite common. And actually, the next one, they've already done the demolition under the first original brownfield, and now they're coming back with a second amendment. So we'll talk about that in a minute.

Okay, so it's common for an existing, so the fact that they've started their construction isn't? No, it's not. Okay, thank you.

Yes, Ms. Rowan.

So is that a nice way of saying this is perfunctory on our part to just get this?

No, I don't think so. It has been, council has approved these in the past.

Right, but you know the fact that the construction has begun and we're just sort of backfilling to make sure that everything is Tidied up from is that I mean am I understanding that correctly?

Well, I think change things can change as they go along and this is a good question of risky really wish you had would have asked mr Gunningham because I usually do not have my hands and directly in these things. But in my experience, not in an economic development role for the city of Holland, yes, it is very common for them to get started and then these get approved by council.

Right, and I acknowledge that we did have a very fruitful discussion, a thorough discussion. I'm not trying to throw pebbles. I just was following on Ms. Raymond's comment and cart before the horse, that kind of thing, and just checking it out. But I understand this isn't your... area of expertise you're filling in.

I have a very, very high level of trust in Mr. Ghanoum, even though he is no longer here. Even though he left you. Yes, and also, Keith, to not bring something before you that was just, I think he used the word perfunctory, which is a bigger word than I'm used to using. Yes, I have a high level of trust in those that bought this to us two weeks ago that this is on the level.

And I want to... I agree with you.

have a high level of trust in the work that he's done the way that he explained it at the time I just was literally following on Ms. Raymond's comment so thank you for thanks for trying I appreciate it I think also the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority unanimously approved this in August and they are clearly well versed in these processes so that is very helpful to me clearly much higher versed value

right any other questions comments from council curveballs for matt i'll just i'll support what you just mentioned because i'm on brownfield authority and it was very much discussed at that level as well it's a continuation of something we've been doing in that particular district and so we believe that is it's prudent for us to continue this particular amendment in order to make sure we capture that tiff fund to continue the payments on the deck itself, but also to allow this expansion of that project to go forward. All right.

Any other comments, questions from council?

All right. We do need to do a public hearing on this as well. So I'm going to open a third public hearing, this one in regard to this item only. Is there anyone here who would like to address council in regard to this item? Yes, please come forward. And I know that you were in the audience when I read all of the rules for public comments, so fire away.

Jared Belko with Warner Norcross. I reside in Rockford. So I wanted to just add some context to that. And it may have been covered by Keith or Juan previously, but we had approached the city with this request I believe like last fall and because of the complexity this is it's kind of all encompassing several projects within one plan you know we were trying to determine what tool would be best we had discussed a potential property tax abatement some of those lapsed at the end of the last year so it was a lot to sort through with Lynn through all the the TIF capture and everything so it took a lot longer to get here it wasn't this wasn't an afterthought this was something that we did approach the city on last fall it just took a very long time to sort through all the numbers because this is not your run-of-the-mill brownfield plan so I just wanted to add that it was it wasn't something after the fact We did approach prior to, it just took a long time to get here. Great, thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to address council in regard to this particular item? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing on this item. What is the pleasure of council in regard to this item? Move to approve the request. Moved by Vreeman. Is there support? Support. Support by Clumpharns. Any discussion?

Thank you and for that last public comment that was just made regarding this project I do now recall that there was a discussion there was that well the discussion that you were looking for the correct tool for the job where it would best fit and sort of retrofitting it under the existing was the solution that you arrived at and I do remember being informed on that when you came before us previously so thank you for clarifying that

Any other discussion? Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the roll?

Corbin? Yes. Mayor Keene?

Yes.

Rowan? Yes. Shea?

Yes.

Clump-Arns? Yes. Rehman?

Yes.

Raymond? Yes. Mayor Box?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Great, thank you. And the last of our public hearing items today, request to approve a first amendment to the Brownfield plan for 493 West 32nd Street, AMK Holdings, LLC. Again, Mr. Van Dyken.

Yes, again, this item was discussed at length in your last meeting. What this does is it takes a building that is now gone. It was a functionally obsolete Forburn nursing facility on 32nd Street and paves the way to actually build a 25 townhouse for sale units. This was first approved back in 2024. This is the first amendment. This is actually, as a result, as I understand it, of some additional expenses that were incurred through the demolition process and then also for some utilities and roads, which are also eligible expenses under the Brownfield Act. We do also have members of this group here. If you would like to ask them additional questions, I'm sure they'd be happy to answer them, all right?

Thank you very much. I'm gonna leave that up to council as well, but any questions, comments for staff, and if you want to ask questions of the applicant, we can bring them up here as well. All right, seeing none, then I will open a public hearing in regard to this item. Is there anyone here who would like to address council in regard to this particular item? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. What is the pleasure of council in regard to this item? Move to approve for the request. Move by Vreeman. Is there support? Support. Support by Shea. Any discussion? Seeing none, Brenda, would you please call the roll?

Mayor Keene?

Yes.

Rowan? Yes. Shea?

Yes.

that is all for the public hearings this evening but the next item on the agenda is item number nine written petitions and communications in addition to providing the public the opportunity to address counsel in person at our meetings We do also have an email address where you can send written communications, and that email is publiccomment at cityofholland.com. We do not read those emails out loud during the meeting, but when we have them, we do accept them into the record, and we do have one this evening, so I would entertain a motion from council to accept that into the record. Motion to accept. I'm going to take that one from Marikeen.

Support.

Support by Raymond. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Next item on the agenda, item 12, echo 6.1, resolution to approve a tax exemption pilot payment in lieu of taxes development agreement and municipal services agreement for Wildwood Creek Manor.

Mr. Van Dyken. Yes, thank you. So Wildwood Creek Manor is a senior living facility located at roughly Dykema and 18th Street. So kind of Just a little bit south of South Shore Village. They were granted a tax exemption a pilot and MSA the company that currently holds the property that property is changing hands and This resolution would transfer all of those things to the new property owners. I believe if there are any technical questions Mr. Duxworth is prepared to answer those this evening, but my understanding is this is quite simply as a sale, and those things all go to 2055, and this would transfer that to the new company. Any questions, comments for staff?

Yeah, I just, I'm not a question. Look at, he's so scared. No, not a question so much as just I'm glad to hear that somebody's purchasing it and maintaining the affordability of that particular development, because that is always a concern when it changes hands, so I'm glad to hear that.

And just for the public that is listening, this is not changing the agreement. It's just transferring the current agreement because of the sale. Correct.

That's correct Mr. Corbin the to close on the agreement they need our consent the city's consent and so the resolution language gives a window for them to close so if they don't close it goes back to the original status that it was but if they do close it's a new owner and the assignee has agreed to take on all the responsibilities of the original party so

That's that's why it's conditional Any other questions comments from council members All right, we'll see new item 12 6.1 resolution to approve the tax exemption pilot development agreement and municipal services agreement for Wildwood Creek Manor Moved by Corbin is there support support by Rowan any discussion?

Seeing none Brenda, which please call the roll. I

Rowan? Yes. Shea? Yes. Clump-Hearns? Yes. Rehman? Yes. Raymond? Yes. Corbin? Yes. Mayor Keene?

Yes.

Mayor Box?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Great. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, item 13, communications from the assistant city manager, Mr. Van Dyken.

I have nothing for you this evening.

All right. all right boy i didn't even get a chance to get ready then for the next item on the agenda which is appointments communications from the mayor um i just have one this this evening we started the uh this third session of the holland ambassador academy on monday night it will be happening every monday night now until almost thanksgiving we do 10 sessions in a row of three hours each opportunity for members of the public to be able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the city we did matt Matt and I did a great, I think it was a great, tour of the city by Max Bus with a 25-member class. A very, very engaged class. Great mix of folks. Some people who've been here their entire lives. A lot of people who've only been here for several years. They are very excited about the city of Holland. And we look forward to next week. We'll be starting at Windmill Island. They would love to meet additional council members. They'll be sick of the mayor very, very quickly. So if any of the other of you have Monday evenings, you can come. And it's a great opportunity, I think, for us, too, to learn more about different things that are going on in the city. I think, Matt, I learned at least a half a dozen brand-new things from you last night on that tour that I was not aware of.

It's always great to have a group that's not afraid to ask questions because so much more information comes out. And this group definitely falls into that category. They are not afraid to ask questions. All of the questions, which gives us even a better opportunity to kind of educate them on how we do things and what happens around here.

Absolutely, absolutely. And that's a program that we do every year in the fall. This is our third year doing it. If you didn't get a chance to get in this year's class, we've got a 25-person class. My understanding is at least 20 of the seats were filled within the first 24 hours, and the other seats filled quickly. So there are lots of folks out there that are still interested in doing that. So watch Facebook, watch your emails, watch the city newsletter that comes out. You'll get the opportunity next fall if you want to.

join that program and that is all i have this evening uh item number 15 appointments motions communications from council members mr vreeman then mr corbin um just a reminder there's a ribbon cutting for our fiber uh network uh down at the ice park i believe it's at is it four four thirty four thirty four thirty and um i know i was begrudging about being one of the last uh neighborhoods to get fiber but i'm super excited we have it and i'm fun to celebrate it then tomorrow

Tomorrow at 4.30 at the Ice Park. Mr. Corbin.

Yeah, so I know there's a lot of public comment made this evening. There is every evening that we meet. A lot of times there's comments made that we all just agree. And I know we've talked about this before. And we do. We tend to agree on a lot of subjects, especially when we take a vote in regular council sessions. But when we go into study sessions, we have vigorous debates and various conversations as a council. we also have an opportunity to speak to our city manager either in writing or by conversation by telephone or text we we each have that opportunity we all take advantage of that at times and i think we we have good dialogue between our city manager but also our city manager and that staff do a lot of homework and they provide a lot of material for us to read so we have a lot of material we have hundreds of papers hundreds of pages of documentation to read through now I'll say we don't all agree we all have various degrees of disagreement I guess but I want to make sure that the public understands that by the time it gets to us we've really vetted a lot of the material and information sometimes we even have questions we have to be reminded of what we discussed but ultimately when we get to this point there will be times when we disagree but More often, we do have a lot of agreement on things, and that's a good thing as a council, but that doesn't mean we always agree. So I just want to make sure that the general public knows that we do our homework. We work really hard at making sure that we understand the issues before us and that we take this job very seriously as public servants. And so I just want to make sure the general public is very much aware of that. Thank you. Great.

Thank you, Mr. Corbin. Yes, Ms. Rowan.

Thank you for that comment and also as a follow-up to that comment which may have responded to one of the public comments those study session meetings are never broadcast they are never recorded they are public they are under the Open Meetings Act correct however they are it's not met driven by the subject matter or anything study sessions are always The public is invited to engage, but they are not recorded. So I just want to make that clarification that's not a move to extinguish any transparency. So thank you.

Any other motions, communications from council members? All right. Just one more motion, then. I'd entertain it this time. Move to adjourn. Moved by Vreeman. Is there support? Support. Support by Rowan. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Thank you much. We're adjourned. Have a great night.