City Commission - Regular Meeting

It's September 8, 2026 at 7 p.m. I call the Benton Harbor City Commission regular meeting agenda to order in the Lula Lee Commission Chambers. We'd like to begin with an invocation by Pastor Butler, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by our Deputy Director of Public Safety, Deputy Casimir. All rise.

Gracious Father, we thank you for this opportunity to gather as we do this good bidding on behalf of our city. We pray for your leading, your guiding, your covering. Give us wisdom and insight and carry us forward to the places that you've destined us to be. So we give you all the glory, honor, and praise. It is in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

And for the record madam clerk that is pastor Jeremy Butler Madam clerk Commissioner Clark Griffin present

Commissioner Fields. Present. Commissioner Henderson. Present. Commissioner Henry. Present. Commissioner Isom.

Present.

Commissioner Kennard. Present. Commissioner Warren. Present. Pro Tem.

Present.

And Mayor Mohamed.

Present.

Warren.

This brings us to approval of minutes, regular minutes, August 17, 2026, and also special minutes, September 2, 2026. Is there a motion for the approval?

Motion to approve.

Motion is made by Commissioner Lars Field, supported by Mayor Pro Tem, Turner, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Clark-Griffin.

You recognize me? I need a correction to the special meetings here. It says here also present Deputy Director of Public Safety McGinnis. He was not present. It should have been Deputy Director of Public Safety Deputy Clark, not McGinnis.

Dearly noted. I'll change that.

Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Clark-Griffin.

Yes.

Commissioner Fields. Yes. Commissioner Henderson. Yes. Commissioner Henry. Yes. Commissioner Isom. Yes. Commissioner Kennard. Yes. Commissioner Warren. Yes. And Pro Tem.

Yes.

And Mayor Mohamed.

Yes. This brings us to approval of accounts payable listing. Is there a motion for the approval?

Motion for approval.

Motion is made by Commissioner Large Isom as their support. SUPPORT. IT IS SUPPORTED BY MAYOR PRO TIM TURNER. IS THERE DISCUSSION? SHE RECOGNIZES MAYOR PRO TIM TURNER.

SO ON PAGE 2, IT SAYS FIVE BOTTLES OF DRINKING WATER DELIVERY OF FIVE GALLONS. WHERE IS THIS GOING? THE FIVE GALLONS OF WATER, FIVE BOTTLES, THIS IS A MONTHLY BILL OF $34. I CAN GET THIS CHEAPER AT WALMART.

THAT IS FOR US IN THE OFFICE.

OKAY. So on page three, Jack Campbell, he's getting paid $12,700. The residents are complaining that when he's cutting grass, he's leaving cutters in the middle of the road, you name it. And we were told, don't leave cutters in the middle of the road. It will go into the drain. You mean clippings? Clippings. The cemetery grass still not cut correctly, still getting complaints. So when would that be addressed? That's number three, page three, number Jack Campbell of $12,700 for the month of August.

Could you speak into the microphone, please?

I've already addressed the Clippings issue with Mr. Campbell.

Okay, on page four. grass cutting. We have a lot of expenses here. However, on 807 Willow Street, the grass not cut, it is a city lot. Parcel number 11-53-300-0015-01-8. It belongs to the city of Benton Harbor. Grass not cut, tree limbs, so forth, so forth.

Mayor Pro Temitor, is someone being paid to do that?

No. So that's a city, that's a city that's been hurt a lot.

So that's not something that we're approving tonight?

It's on the list to be cut. It has not been cut. It's been on the list since January. I'm sorry, June of this year. It has not been cut.

So just so for clarity, what page are you on?

I'm on page number four, grass cutting. I have over, we got quite a few grass cutting on this AP this month.

So my question is...

In 807, Willow Street has been on the list since June of this year. It has tall grass, it has trees down, and it's unfair to the residents in the neighborhood to keep on picking up trash.

Is that a parcel that we're paying somebody... Absolutely. ...to have done work and the work was not done?

Correct. Out of 12 contractors who cut grass in the city of Ben Harbor. I can pull it and I'll send it tonight through the email. I keep track of it in a spreadsheet, so I keep on telling y'all, I keep a spreadsheet. And I don't want Third Ward looking like it's a zombie over here. It's unfair to the residents of that neighborhood to pick up trash every day.

So, Mr. Manager, I'm looking at nicks and ticks, nicks and sticks. Pardon me for saying ticks. Grass cutting for 45 lots on 8-17 to 8-19-2026 for $900. Were those lots cut? They were. Okay. Number 11. 37 lots on 817 and 819 for $740. Were those lots cut? They were. Number 10, grass cutting for 10 lots on 817-2026 for $470. Were those cut? Number eight, grass cutting for 37 lots on 8-1 to 8-5 for $740. Were those cut? Yes, sir, they were. And lastly, number 89, grass cutting for 43 lots on 8-1 to 8-5 for $860. Were they cut?

Yes, sir, they were.

And you can verify that.

We're verified by inspection going out and following, and before we approve them to pay them, they're inspected and noted that they've been inspected.

And that's for $3,710 of work that was completed. That's correct, sir.

Thank you. I have two more. Yes, sir. On page number six, we pan the city of the H.R. attorney for the month of September. We only eight days in. She won two thousand three hundred and seventy dollars for the month of September. We have not even begin yet. We only eight days in.

So that H.R. attorney is based on retainer.

For a month, we have not even started yet.

So the retaining fee is for the month. Okay.

So moving on. Paper towels for parking. That's on page number six, $206. Parking solutions. Who's getting paper towels? It says for parking. Is this for the public bathrooms or what? That's number six. And then porta-potties on here. It's being cleaned, but we're still having issues at all of our parks. Bathroom's not getting cleaned. So we're spending money per month, but bathrooms are not getting cleaned. Mr. Manager, would you speak to that?

Yes, I've asked our person that's handling those to double-check the scheduled date for cleaning and then for us to check behind them to be sure they are clean.

Chair recognizes, were you finished, Mayor Pro Tem? Yes. Chair recognizes Fourth Ward Commissioner Clark Griffin.

Going back to Mayor Pro Tem Tonner, the paper rolls for parking, what are these being used for? Because that's the only answer. And who's getting them? Paper rolls for parking.

Mr. Manager.

I'm not sure why parking got on those, but those come to City Hall for being used in the bathrooms and so forth here.

OK, THANK YOU.

COMMISSIONER FIELDS IS RECOGNIZED.

Along the same lines of the questions from Mayor Pro Tem and Commissioner Clark-Griffin, I am wondering in regards to the schedule being, again, we have had complaints in regards to the port-a-potties, the grass cutting. I feel like our Mayor Pro Tem has listed enough properties for now for the sake of time, but how are we verifying and is it through... WILL THE PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR BE ABLE TO OR, I'M SORRY, THE ORDINANCE OR CODE ENFORCEMENT, I'M SORRY, BE ABLE TO ADDRESS THAT? SO HOW ARE WE VERIFYING? I KNOW THERE WAS A QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD THAT YOU AND THE CITY MANAGER HAD IN REGARDS TO VERIFICATION, BUT WE HAVE LOTS THAT ARE NOT CUT. We are wanting to know how is that officially being verified, who does that, and if we could have some form of scheduling, especially a rotation. If all the port-a-potties are by the same staff, the same company, how is that rotation? Is it the same day? Is it two days of the week? How does that work so that we can have some accountability versus I'm all fine with double-checking? but have accountability and better transparency so that we can maybe even residents or us commissioners that do the due diligence can maybe do that second check.

Mr. Manager, would you mind speaking to that question, please?

Certainly. They're not all the same company and not all the same schedule, but when we do get the schedule, I'll be happy to share it, what days they're supposed to be cleaning them, and we'll check them, and you're certainly welcome to.

Thank you.

Now as far as the inspection of the lots, Brian, could you share with them the process for how we do that?

So we receive a list from Kiara White that says what lots have been mowed, and then either Maurice Bruce or Cameron Green go out and personally verify each lot that has been mowed. No, that does not, those are only the lots that were mowed, so that's what we see.

And as far as some that may be our lots that are not mowed or some that may be owned by others that are not mowed, sometimes it's because for some reason, some condition in that lot, our contract people won't take it. and we have to then do it ourselves when we can get to it. But it's last on the list after the garbage pickup and the trash cans and all the other things that Public Works has to do.

Commissioner Clark-Griffin still has the floor.

And I just want to kind of go back to the bathrooms, the public bathroom. Because I know recently at a public committee, one of the committees, I talked about the ADA violation, my OSHA violation. And I get calls. lot about Union Park that's not even my ward but I call I email a lot of times I don't get respond sometime wrong to respond and we have gotten stuff cleaned or wheels gotten water turn on different things but it's almost every time there's a vent I'm getting a call even though I'm for Ward but I get calls from everywhere even residents that's not my ward and I help them out but I I know SFAM too because we have a lot of events there and they are always calling me and Mayor Pro Tem. It's been many times we've gotten them taken care of. But It should already be clean before someone even rent it or just use it. It should be clean as well as all bathrooms and park. And I've talked about Jean Clark Park. We have a nice beach. It's wonderful, but the bathroom is atrocious. It looks a mess. I don't know if there's bird droppings or paint droppings. Those white spots just all over the floor, all over the wall. It's terrible. And as I spoke before, porta-potties, I prefer bathroom, but all the parks that don't have bathrooms should have porta-potties. I've tried to get one at Edgecombe Park for years. That has not happened. I fought like a year or two ago for the ones at Hall and City Center, and yeah, after citing my OSHA and ADA and all that, they finally got porta-potties. But it should be... at all the parks. And it should be cleaned and maintained. The bathroom should be cleaned at all times. Port-a-potties should be cleaned. And I don't know as far as the parks that do have the bathroom, why are they locked? Wasn't they put there when they was put there and built there for residents if they're locked? uh... fueling up to you to talk to you that she says she said one of the commission has to say a point one of the we are discussing and we're spending budget and so we're not just hold on that no way i can't talk about a lot of all of them are going to need one or two yes when they order when they don't want things to be paid or brought i don't have to discuss what's on the agenda and to wrap you we don't have to say i don't know what i really don't want a lot of work Point of order on you, too. City clerk. Because I got the floor. City clerk, you need to enforce the robber's rules of order. It is a point of order on the floor. You guys are not even supposed to interrupt me when I have the floor.

When somebody is off topic, there is a point of order. You need to enforce that.

How am I off topic when it was brought up by other officials?

When we are here to vote on the budget, either yes or no. It is a point of order, and you need to enforce the point of order. Thank you.

So, for the record, we are, we are, I'm trying, I was trying to give you an opportunity to come back to approval of accounts payable listed.

Yeah, but you didn't stop them when they was talking about apartments. But you continue to go on and on. But you guys, because you guys continue to interrupt. You're rude. On the order. And I will not be bullied. On the order, clerk. I will not be bullied. Thank you. On the order, clerk. Any other.

I'm talking. Any other.

I ain't even talking. BY THE PARKS NO MORE. OR THE CLERK. LET'S CALL FOR THE QUESTION.

I WANT TO RECOGNIZE COMMISSIONER KANAR, PLEASE.

I MISSED IT. I MISSED IT. WHAT DID YOU SAY?

COMMISSIONER KANAR. I DO RESPECT EACH ONE OF US WHEN WE'RE ON THE FLOOR TO BE RESPECTED THAT WHEN THEY HAVE THE FLOOR TO HEAR THEM OUT BECAUSE MANY TIMES WE'RE OFF our subject matter but what I want to bring back from what I understand and all my understanding that the grass cutting they're supposed to have a picture of a photo of the work as they complete it so now I want to know how is it that the work is completed they're turning it in and then we're finding that the lots are not being cut as they should be

So the city manager receives any photos regarding day-to-day affairs as it relates to the administration of the city. We've had verification from our deputy director of public safety that the lots were inspected. The city manager also stated that the lots were cut. So what's in front of us is to approve or not the accounts payable. That's what we're voting on.

What I'm saying is, Mayor, the subject matter was brought up that who's responsible for making sure that this is done.

The city manager is responsible per charter.

All right, then. I'm asking because there was told to me that they were supposed to take a snapshot as they finish each cutting. Now, this is one of the persons that cut the locks. Now, isn't that a verification that whether the lots are cut or not?

I don't know that that's an ordinance or, you know, something that is a policy of the city. If the city manager requests for that...

He's right here to let you know whether or not...

then say a contractor would have to provide whether it be grass cutting, whether it be roofing, whether it be what it would have you. But that's the purview of the chief administrative officer of the city, which is the manager. And he brings this to us for approval given that it's been vetted and he is. That's why I asked him where they cut. He said yes.

the deputy verify that's why we ask does he care do we go out there and visited or do you check down inspectors of whatever the deputies have been a minute and you got a cousin

We're not dealing with no cause and we're dealing with the facts.

The deputy said, who?

Yeah, the deputy stated who goes out, staff goes out in checks, comes back and verifies. They've been cut, communicates that, and the manager's office moves forward. And that's how it comes to us for approval. But I don't know where the distrust comes. It's, you know, seeping in.

What I'm telling you is that one of the young persons that cussed the grass, he said that it was requested that they have a photograph of it.

Again, ma'am, we are here to vote on the budget. This is a point of order. We can discuss this during our public comments.

But during the accounts payable, the approval, there is a part for discussion. But the discussion must be germane to what is on the table.

It's on the table. How soon do they declare that this is done? I'm asking. Did they ask for pictures?

That was stated. Mr. Manager, do you always ask for pictures? Is that a best practice or standard operating procedure?

We had asked for pictures, and we were getting pictures, but we realized very quickly that looking at the pictures was not a sufficient means to verify them, and that's why we had people go out to visit the specific lots and tell us whether they had been inspected or not.

Physically verify. That's correct.

That's correct. Because when you're looking at pictures, pictures of lots with grass and there are no addresses there, it doesn't tell you anything for sure.

But your office is deploying staff to verify.

They verified every one of them that is on these lists. Is that clear?

I call for the question.

Commissioner Fields. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES.

COMMISSIONER HENDERSON.

YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON.

YES.

COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES.

COMMISSIONER HENDERSON.

YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES.

COMMISSIONER HENDERSON.

YES.

COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON.

YES. COMMISSIONER HENDERSON. YES. COMMISS This brings us to a public hearing to establish an obsolete property rehabilitation, a.k.a. Oprah District 4875 Riverview, LLC. Is there a motion to open the public hearing? Support?

That's fine. I talked to the manager a little before this and would love to give a quick overview of how this tool works. That can happen within a public hearing. That's fine.

It's all a part of the public hearing. Thank you. Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Henderson?

Yes.

Commissioner Henry? Yes. Commissioner Isom?

Yes.

Commissioner Kennard? Yes. Commissioner Warren?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark Griffin. Yes. Commissioner Fields. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem. Yes. Mayor Muhammad. Yes.

Motion passed. Forgive me while I suffer through some IT here briefly. Is the monitor on? Madam Clerk, are the monitors on? Just plugged it in. Alright, well thank you all. My name is Andrew Han. I am senior vice president at Cornerstone Alliance and. I'm going to talk for just a couple of minutes about some of the basics of what an Oprah abatement is. And then Eric Hansen here at my right is going to talk about their proposed project. So a couple of things about tax abatements. I want to make clear the city is not writing a check to anyone. This is basically freezing the taxes where they are now on the existing property. AND NOT INCREASING THE TAXES ON THE NEW IMPROVEMENTS. SO THAT GIVES THE DEVELOPER OR PROJECT OWNER AN ABILITY TO LOWER THEIR COSTS. SOMETHING THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT IS THAT THIS SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE BUT-FOR PRINCIPLE. SO MEANING THAT THE PROJECT IS NOT VIABLE BUT FOR THE ABATEMENT, RIGHT? YOU DON'T WANT TO BE GIVING ABATEMENTS ON PROJECTS THAT AREN'T NEEDED. Eric here is going to get to talk about that and kind of make his pitch about why this is critical for the project. So there's a bunch of different types of abatements, industrial ones, neighborhood enterprise zones, commercial ones. I've got a little bit more to talk about obsolete property rehabilitation and why this is a good fit for this project. ANOTHER THING TO TALK ABOUT, AND FORGIVE ME, I THOUGHT I THINK I OPENED UP THE WRONG VERSION OF THIS DECK, BUT THIS DOES A PRETTY GOOD ILLUSTRATION OF WHAT THE ABATEMENT DOES. SO IGNORE THE GREEN LINE THERE. THE RED IS THE TAXES THAT ARE CURRENTLY COMING INTO THE CITY. THE CITY, THE COUNTY, ANY OTHER TAXING UNIT THAT IS COLLECTING TAXES. THE BLUE IS THE NEW TAXES THAT WILL COME IN AS THE IMPROVEMENTS ARE MADE TO THE BUILDING AND THE PROPERTY VALUES GO UP. At the end of that, this shows 14 years, 12 is actually the maximum. At the end of that, all of those taxes flow through to the taxing units. So you're basically giving this developer, whoever comes in to apply for this, a little bit of a break. So, but when that's done, the city and all those taxing units get all the taxes. So no one's getting less. It's just waiting to get a little bit more. And again, you need to judge that based on whether or not the project will be viable. So the alternative is you don't provide the abatement and the property continues to be in the current state that it's in and the same taxes come in. I'm not going to go into great detail on all of it. This is a really dense deck, but this was approved in 2000 and offers exemptions for commercial and housing properties that undergo rehab. The target of this is to support urban revitalization and reduce blight in qualified local governments. There's about 40 cities that can do this, and Benton Harbor is one of them. They can be approved for a term of 1 to 12 years. So the buildings have to be contaminated, blighted, or functionally obsolete. That is a determination that was made by the assessor, and they determined that this building is 85% obsolete. It has not been occupied since 2008. Again, it allows the municipality to freeze that value and then let those new taxes pass through and give the developer some more resources to work with. They could be transferred to a new property if it sells, and if the project fails to move forward, they can be revoked. So you're not getting locked into anything. This is something that really is, on this project or others, it doesn't carry risk. You're not signing the credit of the city or buying a bond or anything like that. Provides that incentive to make those significant improvements to a building that without increasing those taxes for that short time and puts that building back to productive use. Again, there's a couple of things that have to be to be determined for the eligibility to be determined. The assessor has already done that. That documentation has been provided. There's a couple of things that have to happen when they're making that determination. The project can't start before the abatement's approved, right? If they've already done half the project, well, then they probably don't need the abatement. It has to increase commercial activity, create and retain employment, revitalize urban areas, or increase residents. And again, it has to be that the rehab wouldn't be possible without the receipt of the certificate. They can't be delinquent in taxes to the city either. I'm not going to go into all the detail on this, but this project has been vetted by the manager and we've had a chance to look at it. We think it's a good project. There are two steps to this process, two that are before you tonight. One, you have to create a district. That district can be as small as one parcel. That is what is being asked for tonight. If you create a larger district, up to 51% of the parcels within have to be deemed obsolete. There's a whole bunch of process steps which Eric and our teammate, my teammate, Greg King, have worked with Clerk Moore on that have gone through with regards to notification of all the other taxing units posting this, public hearing, et cetera. And I'm not gonna go into any more of this process. There's stuff that has to happen after this with the State Tax Commission as well, and the team here, if this does move forward, I'm certain we'll handle that appropriately. So again, why do it? It promotes that rehab of contaminated, blighted, or functionally obsolete properties and provides significant benefits to the community. It encourages capital investment, can attract redevelopment projects, CREATE AND RETAIN EMPLOYMENT. I THINK THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER, TOO. HE'LL TALK ABOUT WHAT HIS PROJECTIONS ARE FOR JOBS. PLEASE NOTE THAT THOSE INCOME TAXES ARE NOT ABATED. SO THERE'S NEW PEOPLE WORKING IN THAT BUILDING. THAT WILL BENEFIT THE CITY'S BOTTOM LINE. SO THAT'S KIND OF IT ON HOW THE ABATEMENT WORKS. I AM HAPPY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. IF THERE ARE NONE, I WILL HAND IT OVER TO ERIC, AND HE'S GOING TO TALK ABOUT HIS PROJECT.

Chair recognizes Commissioner Kenyar. I heard you speak to the job. He's answering questions regarding the tax abatement.

I'm going to defer to him on the jobs question. So I'm talking mostly just about the tool and how it works and how you should think about considering a project.

Could you eliminate the tax abatement from $12,000?

That is possible. I think that's something they can go for a period of one to 12 years and nothing in between that. I think he will talk about why he views that based on the math, but it's important to go for the full 12. So I'll defer to Eric when he's speaking about the project.

Commissioner Clark-Griffin.

I understand. Let me ask on Brown. When you give a tax break, tax exempt, tax whatever, that place, a business does not pay property taxes or water bill.

That's not correct. Not in this case. The Oprah is, it freezes the taxes. So the current taxes that we're receiving for 875 Riverview are will remain consistent for 12 years. After the 12th year, all of the improvements that were made on that building will then kick in and they begin to pay taxes on the improvements as well as the parcel.

So, Andrew, what is the tax abatement? What are we giving you guys? You're asking for the tax abatement. What does that entail?

Sure. So, Eric, you can speak to what you're paying now, but basically the assessed value of the property today, there's taxes being paid on that. Those will keep getting paid at that same level for the next 12 or however many years if you are to approve an abatement. He plans to invest significant resources and dollars into that building. Those dollars will not get taxed if this is approved for however long it is approved. So you keep getting what you're getting today. And then after that abatement expires, you get all the taxes on that new, so say he's gonna invest $2 million into the building and the assessed value will go up. Then when that abatement is done, all the taxes will flow through. No penny less than what you're getting right now. This is the same with any project. It's not just his.

So what are you getting right now?

Do you know what your tax bill is? Do you have that? Remember that's made up of you know I don't know a half dozen or ten different sources that it goes to for Takata and everything else so And that will not change that will not go down at all and then if approved at the end of that abatement More money will come to the city

So we... Now that we get into more questions as well, one of the things that doesn't get frozen is the school district taxes, okay? So the millage rate that goes to the Benton Harbor schools, also the millage rate that goes to the state funding for the schools, that increases. That does go up. That does go up. So the school districts, and they wrote that into the abatement rules because they didn't want the school districts to, you know, not get that frozen amount.

So as of right now, you guys are paying $4,800 to the city?

Correct. Only for the year? Yeah, that's part of our $80,000 bill or whatever.

Shoot, I just paid $1,000 for my summer tax.

Okay. So, okay. So that's... Okay, I'm finished for now. Oh, I have a question to the clerk as well, through the chair. Okay, because it's got two public hearings. Are we going to do these separate? Because I have questions on both, and I want to know, do I need to get them out now or today?

So they both have to be done separate, so you can do them.

So we are going to do them.

Okay. I can just super quick as a refresher. So the first one has to be to establish that district, which then allows you to approve a certificate or not. But you have to do the district first. And, again, that doesn't really bind you to anything other than the ability to be able to consider the certificate. So you have to do them in sequence.

You guys paying Pry Beach taxes and water bill right now too?

Yeah, we're paying everything currently.

Okay.

Chair recognizes Mayor Pro Tem Turner.

So the assessment value in 2025 was $319,700.

The state's value was $288,900.

In 2025, the taxable value was $231,336. for the assessment rate, this year was $0, the state rate this year was $0, and the tax rate this year was $0 on that property. And I ordered a report by Barron County. I don't know why it would be zero this year. I looked it up. It was 2019, so 2011-2019 at 3.53 p.m. when this property was sold and he purchased it. It was an easement on that property August 20th, 1996. in 1998, it was sold to all faiths. But as of this year, that value at $0

Yeah, well the summer taxes were just paid and they're paid at the retail rate Whatever that was sixteen thousand or so something like that. I think that's what the summer taxes were so on that parcel number So there are there multiple parcels on yeah, there's another one one acre parcel There's an easement that goes through that so that might be another pin number that you're seeing on there as well It could be that the easement doesn't have a value

All this was, because I pulled all this today from, I went, I technically went to the county. So I pulled this today.

And the assessor would be able, Angela's story would be able to fill in.

Yeah, the easement has no value. But that's maybe what. But anyhow. I have it in my notes. Let's move forward with the next part.

sir you can yeah yeah so i'll go real quick so my name is eric hanson i think a number of you know me or whatever because i i've met with you out of the property we toured the property we took a look at everything or whatever and seeing what we're trying to accomplish i wanted to kind of go through i think real quickly just give a history of the property and so that's 875 riverview it was built in 1973 and so the initial front portion of the building was there and it was offices for what was going to be the all-face company so they started the company they started the build they went ahead and in 1983 they and that was their corporate headquarters and in 1983 they put an addition on with an additional warehouse and had some additional land that went with that as well So then they still continued to operate and everything like that They built it up to they had 93 locations across the country so their headquarters in Benton Harbor or whatever Managed and operated all of that They were the eighth largest electrical distributor in the US and they had 1,500 employees that they were operating out of that location And then they had 600 million in annual sales, so then a company called Okay, so this was their corporate headquarters, and Consolidated had their own corporate headquarters, so they kind of took it over from there. They saved this as a warehouse, so they still continued to operate it as a warehouse, but weren't using the offices as much, and gradually phased that out, which is, I guess, a good word for all phase. Phased it out, and by 2008, they purchased another location on, let's see, It was 1148 East Napier, and that's still there today. So then they shut down the building altogether in 2008. It went back and forth through a few different people, was sold on the market and things like that. And then in 2018, the roof collapsed in the front, flooded the entire building. So now we have floods in the building, everything like that. That was in 2018. So in 2019, it was purchased. And a new roof was put on, so that was $280,000. And then some of the interior space or whatever was stripped out because it had to get rid of mold and everything like that, and then kind of shut down. So the intent was to redo the office space, but unfortunately 2020 hit. Okay, so now everyone was at home, nobody needed office space, and it was something where that wasn't a viable option to move forward or whatever with doing anything like that. So looking forward, what we did was Fix a little bit the sprinkler system getting the sprinkler system working in the warehouse space And we found a tenant that's storing boats there now. Okay, so that's that's all been a little bit updated in order to get codes correct and everything on that So now we're looking to expand this 23,000 square feet space in the front and it's going to take a significant amount of work. And that's why I invited everybody into the building to take a look at it, because as you go through it, everything is destroyed and needs complete renovation. So in order to get it up to 2023 codes, all of the HVAC needs to be redone. The HVAC equipment back in the 2018, I think, was all stolen off the back or whatever and removed from the property. So it doesn't have any HVAC systems in there. That's about an $800,000 alone just to redo that HVAC. So we're requesting not be taxed on that by putting that back on. That's part of the $2.5 million project. All of the exterior has to be redone, all of the windows in the property have to be redone because even though some of them are cracked and broken but others have issues with the glazing or whatever being damaged so that we can't use any of that. So all the windows, new parking lots, new curbs, this will be a class A facility which is what we're trying to get it up to. We have two potential, attendance or whatever for which to put in, and we're negotiating with that right now. And we'd like to get going on the project, but again, we need this relief or whatever to move forward. And I think if we look at some of the things with We're anticipating about 80 employees that would be working out of that location, so that's something where taxes going back to Benton Harbor, if we have 80 employees working out of this office space, that's gonna be a benefit for the city or whatever with their paychecks, also with revenue coming from that location as well. So anyway, so that's why I'm in front of you. It's a great building. It's a great property. But again, it's obsolete because of the fact that we can't do anything with it unless we have significant investment. Once we do that investment, now we'll be able to get it up to a condition where we're able to compete against other cities that have

uh office space and we need to be able to do that or whatever to get it up to par so that we can compete on that you know by by getting this done so that is something that does not exist in the city of benton harbor right now if we had a lead on a 20 000 square foot office project we wouldn't have anywhere to put them within the city

This is true, so I mean or that there are vacant properties, but they're even more significant Because our structure at least is sound all of our structure work or whatever is really good But and the other thing that was interesting we started this about a year and a half ago had no idea about build grants Riverview projects or anything like that that came down the pipe as it came along so and this is the southernmost building that we're going to put private dollars lots of private dollars into which nothing's been going on along riverview so we're doing that privately and then we can have public funds come in for all of the public work that's going to be done along there which is curbs gutters sewers walking paths everything like that so the combination of both of these things us taking care of the private portion on the very southern part It's going to attract investors. It's going to attract other business. It's going to start increasing the amount of activity that's going to be down there. And that's what we're looking to do. So the other thing is that this has already been used in past commission administrations. In 2012, the... The flats, Saranac Flats is what it's called, that was a tax abatement program that was done in 2012. And then the corner city loss, city center loss, that was another tax abatement program, which they get a 12-year tax abatement for that. What came out of that with the city center loss is, I mean, it's an amazing property, All of the facade was completely ripped off and redone. There's 14 great unit apartments or whatever that are in there and then all of the commercial space all around there was updated and that's one of the signature properties or whatever in downtown Benton Harbor. Without that 12 year tax abatement, that wouldn't have been able to move forward. So it's just something to think about on how you can get these things going. Now the state of Michigan has this abatement program open until the end of the year.

they haven't renewed it yet okay now is it going to be available for ben harvard to use in the future it depends you know it depends on whether that's good legislation sunsets at the end of 2026 so unless it is there's a bill that is passed to amend that this will no longer be a tool that's available so it's possible that it will there was one that was extended last year that but that is not a guarantee we're heading into election season so it's a good tool that the city has used before on projects Again, no risk, right? If they don't perform, you can revoke it, and there's no loss in revenue right now. So one last thing that I think maybe you wanted to speak to is kind of the local, using local company to do the work that's Benton Harbor-based and the intent to try and hire.

Well, I can go, and if this is public comment for the actual setup of the of the district, okay, I can go ahead and talk a little bit about how we're trying as best we can to use that local employment or whatever for not only the build, which will take about one year, but then also for the tenant that's coming in as well. So I can kind of address that in the next portion of it, right?

There's no further presentation from us. You won't have to listen, but if there's questions, certainly can entertain those.

Chair recognizes Commissioner Clark-Griffin.

That's what I was interested in, how these 80 employees are going to come about, because I know you're going to have somebody, a contractor, building it, building it and fixing it up. So those are contractors who's already got their people, and they are contractors. That's not residential, not residents. Also, it's going to be a space where you rent it out to businesses. So more than likely, they're going to bring their own people. So I'm trying to see where the employment opportunity for our residents are coming. If you're going to rent office space, so it's going to be just office spaces, and they'll bring their people. Can you tell me where the 80 people in employment are going to come in?

So two things. We have a build that's going to take about a year. We as the ownership hired Pearson Construction as the general contractor to do that work. They're a union company, okay, so they hire union employees to come in or whatever. And so we've got a number of people. We've got the electrical contractor. He gave me some of these things. IBEW local 153. I got plumbing and pipe fitting or whatever is the local 357. Fire sprinklers are local 669. And down the list for all of the different companies or whatever that they're using. uh so i took a look at this and i said okay how can we bring in local people or whatever to work on this on this project okay i'm i'm just the owner i'm hiring the gc because i don't i don't know how to you know, get all this stuff done. I'm hiring the general contractor. So I met out with Michigan Works. I met out with Cornerstone, and then I met out with our general contractor with Pearson, and it's Mike Thomas Sedeck. He's gonna be the project manager on it. And so all three of us got at the building and said, okay, look at how can we kind of do this, okay? Well, all the subcontractors that they do, and I'll take just one, the local 153 electrical, which is out at South Bend, okay? How do they get employees, okay? I thought it was kind of complex to be able to do that. Well... All they have is if you come in with a high school diploma or a GED, get to South Bend, take a test, then they have a couple of other aptitude tests or whatever, they'll hire you in at $20.63 an hour or something. Once you get into that

Sir, I don't want to interrupt you, but this is really not your domain to talk about how and who and the process for somebody to be getting hired.

Right now, we are looking at... Yeah, well, and again, I'm answering your question.

We're looking at the public hearing is to establish an obsolete property rehabilitation district for 875 review. If we don't establish a district first, there's no need to talk about how people are going to be hired. Because without the district being established, the conversation is over. That's why it's broke up into two. The second part we can get into in the second part. But right now we need to establish a district.

No, I still have questions, and I still have the floor. And he brought up that he's going to be hiring 80 people. That is a possibility. And he asked was there any questions. So that was my question to what he brought up. And I ask that I not continue to be rudely interrupted because I got the floor. So whatever you got to say, you say it when you have the floor. Thank you. Also, I wanted to know, you're asking for a 12-year tax exempt, right?

That's in the next part.

But Andrew talked about the tax exempt, the abatement. Okay?

The district is first. Then we have the abatement part.

I'm moving on to the next question. So I didn't see where this went through the planning commission. I didn't see anything. Did this go through the planning commission? Yes. Okay. Did you do a site plan? I didn't see a site plan. Because I know even the bed and breakfast that's in the Fourth Ward had to do a site plan. I haven't seen a site plan. Have you done? You didn't do a site plan?

Yeah.

We did the whole submission, though.

Right. The site plan would be after.

You're interrupting me again. I have the floor.

But, Commissioner, as the chair, I have to keep the meeting on a certain agenda.

This is all about the team.

That's my role as the chairman.

so respected i was a chair and so i'm trying to bring you back to what we're discussing 400 people this is part of it and please can you tell or or city clerk can you tell the commission it's not the role of the clerk interrupting it's the role of the chair she once said point order and move on and then all through the meeting the commission next to you been whispering and interrupting Nobody has said anything.

You have the floor, but you're going off the topic.

And you keep interrupting me. No, I'm not off topic. I'm off the topic that you want to talk about. You do that interrupting when you don't want us to ask the hard questions or ask questions that you don't want to be asked.

You can ask these questions in the next part is what I'm saying to you.

Okay, I'll move on. So I got one more question. I still have the floor. And through the chair, Deputy... Other fires, but I want to get your position right. O'Brien, okay, because I messed up your last name. Are plans like this supposed to have a site plan?

When they go to the Planning Commission for zoning approval, they have a site plan, correct?

Have you received a site plan?

We do not have a site plan.

Okay, thank you.

So for the record, a site plan is not even necessary if a district has not been approved. That's the facts. Mayor Pro Tem Turner.

So I want to correct, I have not seen it go through Planning Commission. This has not gone to Planning Commission. I can assure you that right now. If it has, what agenda, because I have not seen it. Mr. Manager.

I went over this with the city clerk this afternoon, and she reassured us that a site plan is not required at this stage, that once these processes are completed, then, I mean, if you did a site plan, it's going to be rather costly, and you don't have your district, and it's not done, and you've just wasted the money.

And it also costs, I believe, $1,600 to even come before the planning commission. And why would he spend $1,600 to go before the planning commission in a district that has not even been established? We're talking business, council. We understand business, too. And it's a process. It's a process. They come to the city commission first. We're the front door. They come to us first to establish a district. Then an Oprah is established. Then they go to the city planning commission with a site plan because it's the planning commission. They approve site plans. Mayor Pro Tem.

It says rehabilitation here. If you're going to destroy a warehouse or any other building, it has to have a plan and permits. I've been pulling permits all this year. Trust me. I just pulled a permit today. It was $97.

But they don't destroy a building unless a district is established.

I'm very educated on code and compliance. Trust me. I just did permits today. And I paid... I don't know Oprah. I just paid... Don't interrupt me. I just paid the city of Ben Harbor $97. We're talking millions of dollars. I don't care if it's millions of dollars or $1.

On order, Mayor.

Again, I'm making sure that if we have made sure the lady who did the bed and breakfast followed the rules, I will make sure he do the same thing.

Any other questions on the public hearing to establish... and Oprah District for 875 Riverview, LLC. Chair recognizes Commissioner Henry.

Thank you, Mayor. Well, I asked this question offline, and I guess I didn't get an answer, so I'm going to ask it online. Okay. I have a problem with our assessor not showing up or giving us any written document on her decision about this. Maybe the city manager can straighten that out for me. Because I did ask the question of exactly how much was this property appraised and when was the last time it was appraised. I also know that in 2019, there was some work done on it because of need to be. I also have a history of this building that I know that whatever work he had to do, he shored the basement and the downstairs up because it was flooding at one time. So I know that he probably put what he needed in to make this a completely solid building. MY PROBLEM IS WHERE IS OUR ASSESSOR? IF SHE MADE THE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BUILDING 85% OBSOLETE, WHERE IS IT? WHY DIDN'T WE GET IT? THERE YOU GO. I HAVE TO SAY SHAME, SHAME ON YOU AGAIN FOR HOLDING INFORMATION AWAY FROM THE COMMISSION. STUFF THAT SHOULD BE. WE SHOULD HAVE IT BEFORE WE SAY YAY OR NAY. BUT I HEAR IT COME FROM SOMEONE ELSE PERSONALLY. UNTIL I SEE IT, I DON'T BELIEVE IT. SO I'M GOING TO ASK YOU THROUGH THE CHAIR TO PLEASE ASK THE CITY MANAGER CAN HE EXPLAIN IT WHY AND WHAT'S GOING ON HERE AND WHY WE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF INFORMATION SHARING WITH US.

MR. MANAGER.

neither but we will get it for you that was all submitted to the clerk in the original application process so that that has gone and I understand you have not seen it but the process has been followed and the clerk do you have that that you should can share with us clerk it is with his application and we can't email it out to you but you want us to vote on it today

Now, you don't, but somebody do. So this is another reason why when I say no, I'm going to vote no because I don't have enough information. I need verification. I don't need somebody telling me there is a Santa Claus. I need them to prove to me there is a Santa Claus.

So I'll just add that, you know, we, and I believe Commissioner Henry was a part of the last Oprah that was given to this particular property. WHERE THE DEVELOPER CAME IN AND PURCHASED IT, HAD GREAT PLANS FOR IT. AGAIN, IT WAS A LOT OF CONTROVERSY, A LOT OF BACK AND FORTH. I DON'T KNOW IF IT, THE APPLICATION NEVER WAS SUBMITTED TO THE STATE, BUT THE CITY APPROVED OPERA. But it was, again, so much controversy, so much this, so much that. I don't know what the developer pulled out. I don't know all the details of that. But what I do know is the property was not developed. It's declined. sitting at 875 Riverview Drive right now, and that was in 20, I believe, 12, 2013. Here we are 13 years later arguing about the same thing while the building is doing nothing. While we have an opportunity to get the building developed, get people in there working, get income tax dollars, get a water customer, and add value to that corner. The last building we gave an 0.2, it was gonna be tore down. And that's the city center lofts. Right now it's 14 lofts, all occupied, waiting lists, commercial development at the bottom, and look at what's happened around it. Houndstooth, Cornerstone relocated. Next door across the street you have apartments going up through Abbot Marsh. other businesses sprouted up after that development. So I'm submitting to this council. If we don't move forward and allow development to take place on Riverview, the message that we're sending is that the federal government just awarded us a $23 million, $24 million bill grant for Riverview. Somebody here wants to develop and put money on Riverview and we're saying no. We're not moving forward with development because we don't have enough information. And if that's the type of sign and signal that we want to send out to businesses, that's sad. And it's going to detour development and people from coming to invest in this city. Chair recognizes Commissioner Henderson.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. I have just one question. With the obsolete property rehabilitation district, how many other buildings along there that you're aware of that would fit into this district to help continue with the redevelopment?

You could probably make the case for several more along there. Doing this with just one building does not prevent you from doing them individually. I mean, you could do them one by one as their own districts, or later you could do a block-long one that any project within would be eligible. So we wanted to stay focused on the project at hand and just start with that. And I think that approach would also give the commission some comfort in seeing a project get done, too.

Thank you. My last comment is, yeah, and I think it was in 2013 that there was someone else that came, a gentleman from Chicago, that wanted to redevelop that particular property. And after, because there was so much controversy, he just, he was, I think... You know, shocked, I think, that we wouldn't move forward with development in that area. And it has sat barely taken care of since that time. He was a former council person as well, had long discussion with him when he came. to do that property that could have changed that corner because he wanted to turn it into a community center to actually rival one of the local community centers who were actually happy that it didn't take place because now we don't have the same kind of community center that he wanted to develop and also develop 11th Street to go along with that to be a part of what he was trying to do to connect it to the park just a lot of really great things. And so I think the community lost out on a beautiful project because of, I don't know if it was lack of understanding or what it was, but I think you've done a great job with explaining it doesn't eliminate the tax, it just freezes it where it is and will collect once he has accumulated some, you know, in fixing up that building.

And it also caused another 13 years of roof collapsing and leaking and all the HVAC equipment being taken from 2013 until today. So it was another 13 years of taxable value loss.

Yeah, because it was a rival of what is the carousel? It would have been a rival to that particular project. So thank you.

And then after us is state approval as well.

There is. The state goes through, and I don't want to go back on that really dense criteria, but there's a whole list of things that they have to say, yes, it will meet all these goals of the legislation. All the documentation has been done properly. All those notices have been done, have been posted as they needed to. So there's a lot of safeguards and fail-safes in this as well.

And the minimum amounts being put in is like a million and a half. So it has to at least be a million and a half in receipts going in and the state monitoring.

And what are your overall total investments, sir?

We're at about $2.5 million. That's what's on the paperwork or whatever that we turned in. So that's what we're anticipating it's going to be.

Commissioner Warren.

Thank you. So this topic came through the Economic Development Committee and also I was able to tour the facility. So what we do know, we know the building is obsolete and he stated that the city is getting approximately $4,800. Now, based on his $2.5 million investment, we also know that we're going to be in a better position based on the employees that are going to be there, giving us the income tax. And we also know that after the abatement ends, we'll be getting the updated market value of taxes, which we don't have that number right now. So when you look at it with the information we have in front of us, I don't see anything negative. It's definitely positive because we're getting more income into the city. And it's a huge encouragement for businesses to come here, giving them an abatement. And abatements are something that's done throughout the country when you want to drive economic development. Thank you.

I want to recognize the city manager.

I just wanted to say that, you know, what the assessment is and it is, it's not going to change. If that was part of the application, the city clerk has that information. Were it not for our personal situation that came up, she would be here and I'm sure she would have those figures for you. from what I've reviewed and heard concerning this whole effort, I have no hesitation in recommending that we move forward with it. It's in the best interest of the city for us to do so.

Mayor Pro Tem Turner. I want to correct it. It was $22 million, not $23, not $24. It is $22 million.

Chair recognizes the Fourth Ward Commissioner.

First of all, we're not arguing. We're asking questions that we have a right as commissions to ask. And had we been given all the facts and everything we needed and were supposed to get, we would not be asking these questions. Secondly, we already voted for that $20 million. So for the mayor of the state, it is saying that we're not voting for it. That was voted on already. Second, however, this property is totally different. Then it's not going to take the whole grant in a way. We've already done that. Been there, done that. So let's just be clear. There's no arguing, and we have the right to ask these questions. And had we, as I stated, been giving all the information, we would not be asking questions, and we've already voted. So don't say we are not voting on this $1.22 million because it's already been done. We already did that. So let's not try to make it look like, and we have a right to our opinion. Thank you.

Yeah, just for the record, the application for the bill grant part of it highlighted and outlined the public-private partnership that the federal government wanted to see as it relates to development on Riverview Drive. And this is what is taking place right now. Private dollars, public government. Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Kennard. We are voting on district.

Establishing a district.

For what we just were talking about, that first one that's on there. Commissioner Warren.

Yes.

Commissioner Clark-Griffin? Yes. Commissioner Fields? Yes. Commissioner Henderson?

Yes.

Commissioner Henry? Yes. Commissioner Isom?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem? Yes. And Mayor Muhammad?

Yes. This brings us to the second public hearing to consider an obsolete property rehabilitation exemption certificate for 875 Riverview LLC located at 875 Riverview Drive. I open the second public hearing. Commissioner Henry.

Thank you, Mayor. When we talked about this property once before about giving it a district, and we did vote on giving it a district, And probably none of us really know what happened, but I do. But here we are now, 2026. And I'm going to ask the developer if they would consider seven years instead of 12.

Well, the answer is no, and the reason is because we really, one of the things, and I was thinking about this a few days ago, in downtown, one of the issues with some of the businesses leaving there is because their lease rates continue to go up, okay? They go up through the roof. we have other buildings and properties that are office spaces around the different cities, whether it's St. Joe or Stevenson or different places that are Class A properties, and that's what this is gonna be upgraded to, that have them ready to go, ready to lease. They don't have to replace HVAC. They don't have to do all kinds of interior work, which is, for whoever's spending the property or whatever, it's a lot of work and effort that has to be done. In order to be competitive in this environment, putting two and a half million dollars into this, we need this. And one of the things when we apply for this is that if we don't get this, we're not gonna be able to move forward with the project. That's one of the mandates, I think, within the paperwork. looking at the other projects that were done from before, the city center, they got the 12-year abatement. The Saranac Lofts, they got the 12-year abatement. They're back on the property rolls. So the Saranac Lofts are paying full taxes again, but in the interim, we got great buildings out of them. I mean, that was a great project or whatever in order to do. So that's why I really need this, and that's why I'm coming to you with this 12-year,

I have to give everybody a history lesson on those abatements that we gave those other people. They filled out the same application when it says jobs, when it said retaining jobs. All of them filled the same paperwork out, but go back. It didn't work out well for us. And the city was floating in debt and needed the money. I mean floating in debt and needed the money. And these people are multimillionaires now. The property that they were able to build up because of our abatements. AND WE JUST BARELY MADE IT. I DON'T KNOW HOW WE MADE IT, BUT WE WAS FLOATING IN DEBT. SO, WITH TEN YEARS, AND YOU MAKE SURE THAT, AND THEN IS IT ANY WAY POSSIBLE THAT WE MAKE SURE THAT THE STATE KNOW THAT WE WANT THE SCHOOLS TO GET EVERY DIME?

THAT'S PART OF THE LAW.

NO, THEY HAVE AN OPTION. SO I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY DON'T USE THAT OPTION. MITTEN HARBOR SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN TARGETED BEFORE. SO I'M JUST SAYING IT. SO LATER ON, IT DON'T COME BACK TO BITE US.

THE BROWNFIELD ACT DOES HAVE SOME WAYS THAT THERE ARE SOME VARIABILITY, BUT THIS ONE IS, IN FACT, IN THERE. SO THERE IS NOT A SCENARIO THAT THE SCHOOLS AT THE LOCAL AND STATE FUND DON'T GET THE NEW VALUE.

Thank you. One more question. In 2019, there was approximately $330,000 that was put into the building to preserve the infrastructure. Is that part of the $1,760,000 that you are planning on?

Estimate for the rehab Okay, okay Chair recognizes Commissioner Clark Griffin You know, I like I agree to the property I

What I don't agree to is this tax abatement. My property taxes started going up. All my taxes, everything going up for all the residents, not just everything. We could use an abatement, but yet we keep everything going up. property, if that's the case, some of these properties, people that are buying property under their business name, some of the residents, do they get abatement? Can they get a tax abatement? Landlords, can they get tax abatement? Some of them have a lot of houses. Some of my small businesses in the fourth ward downtown, can they get tax abatement? Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Turner.

I have a question for you. Can you promise the commission that you're going to go through the planning commission, a site plan, and the permits will be pulled for the windows, the upgrade, fire safety, you name it? Because I'm very big on this here. I've got to make sure permits have been pulled, site plan, and you go into the planning commission.

So let me go through this with you real quick. As this came down, the two things I wanted to do was, first of all, go to my first ward commissioner and have her first know this is all taking place before we put in for the abatement and everything like that. but then we brought in Todd Herter, who's head of the building department, and we sat him down with Pearson Construction, who's gonna be our general contractor, and we sat him down with Whiteman and Company, who's gonna be our architect for doing all the space planning and everything like that in the building. So all of us sat at Pearson Construction and went through the whole thing. And we said, here's the plans we have, this is everything that we're gonna be doing. What are the processes we need to see with this project? And he said, we do all of this in-house, so all the permitting and everything like that, which Pearson will get all the permits that we need for doing the project. Everything is done in-house with Todd Herder except for the fire suppression systems, and those actually go to the state of Michigan. So Todd Herger at the time said, this is something that it takes a little bit of time, it takes 12 weeks, it takes 16 weeks, because we don't have as much control of it because it's on the state level. So anyways, so we sat down, did all of our planning and everything like that and said, okay, here it is. Once the project gets going, now we have to go in. We have to pull all our permits, everything like that, from demolition permits to electrical, plumbing, HVAC, all of the different things, outdoor, concrete, all the parking lot re-dos and everything like that. So yes, we'll definitely be doing all of that because that's the process we have to go through.

I know people say, well, Mr. Turner, you're in a city building.

I have residents who have concerns.

So that's why I asked that question. I don't care what people say about a city building. I'm making sure I protect this city.

Yeah, definitely. And that's why we chose a commercial general contractor, Pearson Construction, who's been here since the early 70s or whatever, doing business in Benton Harbor. And they're going to do it correct. And as owners, that's what we want. We want a good general contractor. Thanks for the question.

I'm going to ask a question because I think I know it, but it might be helpful for the board to hear. This is consistent with zoning. There's no variances, no special use permits that you anticipate, correct?

And there's no building. We're using the same shell, so it's not developing the property. It's renovating the interior bones of the actual building.

Chair recognizes Commissioner at large, Gennar.

uh... ecstasy that something you mentioned in reference to the brownfield and what respect is brownfield in all your relationship with brownfield so this this project is not being considered brownfield tiff or anything like that i was just noting that there are some

MECHANISMS WITHIN THE BROWNFIELD ACT, WHICH IS A TOTALLY SEPARATE PIECE OF LEGISLATION, THAT THE SCHOOL TAXES CAN BE CAPTURED TO SUPPORT A PROJECT. THOSE ACTUALLY GET REIMBURSED BY THE STATE ANYWAY, SO I DON'T WANT TO DISTRACT. I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I NOTED THAT VERIFIED COMMISSIONER HENRY NOTING THAT THERE SHE'S RIGHT THERE ARE THERE ARE SOME SITUATIONS THAT SCHOOL TAX CAN COME INTO AND COMMUNITY CAN HAVE A POLICY TO ALLOW THAT TO BE CAPTURED THAT IS NOT RELEVANT FOR THIS PROJECT THOUGH OKAY THANK YOU TO ORGANIZE THIS COMMISSIONER LARGE ISOM

I just want to say I was here for the Oprah with Center City Lots, and I supported that because I took the tour of it and just to see how that building looked. The whole roof was going, pigeons flying in and out. We walked around and all that, and just to see what that Oprah can do now. You know, it's a beautiful building outside and in and storefront downstairs, so I can imagine what this Riverview looks 875 can do as the anchor of the new waterfront, riverfront. It's going to be the beginning. It's a win-win for the city of Bent Harbor. I will support this. As I walk down the hill, as the empire is fixed now and smooth, you can ride your bike almost 100 miles an hour. You hit the hill, close to 100. You can... But then you come by the building. Me and my wife walk by there all the time. We said, man, that building can be this. It can be that. It can be this. But now we got a developer coming to us with his own loot, his own money, and want to do something. The building's been sitting there for a long time. So I can support this, and I can see great things happening because I expect great things for the city of Benton Harbor. Thank you.

I do want to recognize Commissioner Atlarge Fields.

I WOULD LIKE TO JUST CONTINUE ON WITH WHAT COMMISSIONER ISON WAS STATING. NOT THAT I WAS HERE BACK THEN. I AM PROBABLY TOO YOUNG. I DON'T RIDE BIKES 100 MILES PER HOUR. I DON'T ELECTROBIKE. I GUESS THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE. BUT I DO APPRECIATE THE TRANSPARENCY AND THE CONSISTENCY OF MR. ERICK IN REGARDS TO INVITING, REINVITING, INVITING AGAIN. I DON'T THINK ISON HAS BEEN. FOR US TO COME OUT, FOR US TO HAVE ANY AND EVERY QUESTION, HAVING THE HISTORY AND OPEN TO ANY INPUT. THERE WAS DIFFERENT INSIGHTS WHERE I WAS RECOMMENDING THAT OTHER COMMISSIONERS COULD HAVE OR EVEN SERVE IN POSSIBLE ADVISORY ROLES TO JUST IN WAYS ADVOCATE FOR THE RESIDENTS. AND WITH HIM BEING OPEN TO THAT. AND HE WANTED TO CLARIFY THAT HE'S NOT A DEVELOPER. THAT HE'S NOT COMING NECESSARY TO DEVELOP. HE'S RENOVATING. BUT NEITHER HERE OR THERE IS DEVELOPING OUR CITY. AND SO THE FACT THAT he is interested, and again, want us to understand from the beginning, way before pitching, so to speak, way before getting to this point, and what stood out to me was trying to be respectful of individuals that are Taken on roles that will represent starting points. So going to First War Commissioner going to the building, you know inspection and and starting there like hey, what do we need to do? So it I feel like there hasn't been any backdoor processes because we've had several even in my short time being here where we weren't or the city wasn't referenced or spoke to. And we can even say in some cases they went straight to the city manager versus going to the individuals that will be vital to accountability. He didn't do that. And so, again, I just want to state that I appreciate that, and I'm looking forward to it looking different in regards to one of our staple areas within our neighborhood, right up from the high school, and adding value to the area. And again, having private investors with history in the area and caring about our community in that way. And I just, I can't explain enough when WE ARE CONSORTED AS COMMISSIONERS AND INCLUDED VERSUS WAITING FOR IT TO BE PASSED DOWN TO US. WE WERE ALLOWED FIRSTHAND INTERACTION AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE AND NOT COMING BACK TO US OR COMING TO US AT THE END AND WAITING FOR, YOU KNOW, DIFFERENT DOCUMENTATIONS WHETHER WE DIDN'T GET THE DETAILS THAT'S NOT HIS FAULT. AND THEN YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN ANYTHING YOU WANTED WITH, YOU KNOW, RESPONDING TO HIS INVITE. I'm for it as well. And we already know our Mayor Pro Tem will be on the case in regards to permits and things of that nature. But again, he had already stated and was ready for those questions. And he wants to know what all to do if he hasn't already included it. He wants to do whatever's needed. He's not asking to cut any corners.

Yeah, I would just add, I just want to thank you from the Office of the Mayor. Building on the corner, City Center Lofts, every developer and cornerstone can attest, most said no. So many knows it was on the verge of being demolished. And one developer, Cressy Everett, said yes. Look at it today. And I see the same with 875 Riverview Drive. There's been a lot of people looking at that building. And the answer was no. But Riverview LLC... saying yes and all it takes is for this body to say yes and we have progress so um mayor pro tem commissioner henry the last will be the commissioner who's the who the development is in her ward will give us the last word i have one question for you

I have two LLC addresses, North Aurora, Illinois, which is a good mall there, and then you have St. Joe. Which one is it? I just want to make sure I'm clear because when I pull the records, I'm showing North Aurora, Illinois. I'm not going to say the address. Same LLC, and then I have St. Joe.

Yeah, so Mike Beckett is my business partner, okay, and we own the Whitcomb together, okay, from 2006 to 2021, and ran and operated that or whatever for that amount of time. So anyways, his Prairie Court is the address for his home there. He's got a home here in Indian Lake as well. And then the St. Joe address is probably my property or my home.

Okay, thank you. Chair recognizes Commissioner Henry.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want one other question about your warehouse. You're saying that you're going to have a warehouse in that building. Can you give me more information about how you're going to handle your warehouse initiative?

Yeah, so the property is 23,000 square feet of office space. It originally started out at like 20,000 square feet, and then they added to it another 3,000 square feet or whatever, and then they added a 16,000 square foot warehouse on the back of it. So that was all put together in 1888. Three, I think, or something like that. So it exists as an office front and a warehouse back. So the warehouse back right now we have at least out as Freedom Boat Club, who has about 180 boats up and down Southwest Michigan. But they have here, Michigan City, and South Haven, they have about 60 boats, so they store them there for the winter. So they pull everything in during the winter and then everything goes to the different ports or whatever in the summer. So that's leased out right now. Storing boats in the winter. Yeah, exactly. And it'll be separated off from, there's actually some fencing and stuff that will go in to separate off the warehouse facility, which is in the back to the front section, which will be office. And it'll be a single office, a single tenant. So there's not going to be multiple tenants in there. It's a single tenant.

Thank you. No, I think I know exactly what you're going to do with that warehouse. Will that be your own business there, or will it be another entity?

The company is Freedom Boat Club, and so that company, that's who it leads to right now.

So if they decide not to come next year, will that be your, is that your company that's going to?

Freedom Boat Club is another company. Their offices are in downtown St. Joe, and then they use that for boat storage, and they're under a five-year lease, I think, something like that, for right now. So next five years now, maybe year six, they'll decide something else. Okay. Anyway. It would be a single tenant storage portion of the property.

All right. Thank you very much.

And last but not least, First Ward Commissioner Henderson.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Hanson, for this project. I did get an opportunity to walk through it again and just revisit what I had seen before. And just thank you for taking on this renovation and bringing that project back to life, that corner. should be, and as I think it was Commissioner Isom, it should be a cornerstone right there on empires you're walking past. And so looking forward to that project being that again. So thank you again for taking on this huge project and look forward to supporting it.

I call for the question.

Commissioner Henry.

Actually, I have to close the public hearing because the actual resolutions, I believe, are in the or they're not consent calendar, they were separated. So the public hearing is closed, thank you. Any comments from the public? They're not, okay. Thank you. So this brings us to the citizens' comments.

Jeremy Butler.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor Muhammad, to the members of the City Commission, City Manager, and residents of Benton Harbor. My name is Pastor Jeremy T. Butler, and I'm here to place this matter formally on public record and to request immediate oversight of Benton Harbor Public Safety. On June 12, 2026, an adult neighbor, Ashley Weatherspoon, came onto my property and struck my 14-year-old son in the face with a plastic object. The force shattered the object and injured his nose. Police and ambulance responded. Officer Steve Bobo was the responding officer. Officer Bobo photographed my son's injuries and ambulance transport. He collected broken fragments, recovered the remaining portion of the object, and photographed Ms. Weatherspoon's vehicle and license plate. I also observed behavior at the scene that caused me to question whether Officer Bobo was impaired. An allegation I have asked the City to investigate. Despite collecting this evidence, Officer Bobo failed to complete and submit his report promptly. He stopped returning our calls nearly a month past before supervisory intervention was required. When a report was eventually submitted by another officer, it did not contain the photographs or physical evidence Officer Bobo collected. The prosecuting attorney's office has stated that requested information still has not been received from the department. I filed a formal citizen's complaint on July 16th. I subsequently contacted public safety leadership, including the chief and deputy chief, and received no substantive response until just a day or two ago, which again was not substantive. Let me be direct. When evidence involving an injured child is collected but does not reach the prosecutor, when an officer fails to complete basic reporting duties, and when command staff ignores a formal complaint, this is not a minor communication problem. It reflects negligence, administrative incompetence, and a breakdown of public accountability. I am requesting an independent investigation into Officer Bobo's conduct and the supervisory failures surrounding this case, immediate preservation of all photos, physical evidence, body camera footage, dispatch records, evidence logs, reports, drafts, and communications, immediate transmission of every outstanding item to the prosecutor, and a written response identifying the responsible official and corrective action within 10 business days. For more than a decade, I have served this community as a pastor, an educator, and a community leader, and I have trusted the system and allowed it every reasonable opportunity to work. It has failed my family. Tonight, the Commission is forming a notice to reserve every lawful option available to us, including administrative complaints, public records, requests, legal remedies, public advocacy, and peaceful community organizing to ensure justice and accountability. This is not a threat. It is a declaration that we will not allow matters to be ignored. THE TIME FOR SILENCE AND DELAY HAS PASSED AND THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW.

THANK YOU.

COULD YOU PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THE TIMER, PLEASE?

Good evening, Mayor Mohamed and commissioners. I'm Mark Crater. I reside at 80 Grand Boulevard. And that's not the reason I'm here tonight to discuss Gene Klock, but there's been a lot of discussions about Gene Klock, so I wanted to say a few words first. I'm in that park almost every day. I take my children there, who are adults now, and my grandchildren. I have never felt unsafe in that park. It's, as I think the mayor has said, it's the crown jewel of the community. And I tell guests when they come to our house, you know, how lucky we are to have Gene Clock Park. And I think everybody should take the opportunity to avail themselves of Gene Clock and appreciate what we have. The reason I'm here is I wanted to introduce myself, and I know this commission has a lot of more important priorities, but Commissioner Henry, two weeks ago, you mentioned that we needed more citizens' positions. appointments, and I applied for a citizen's position appointment to the Finance and Human Resource Board two months ago. So I thought I might jumpstart this process and introduce myself to everybody today. I was born and raised in St. Joe, practiced law for 35 years in Battle Creek with the firm Christ Enderly. We moved here seven and a half years ago, my wife and I, Kathy. We've always been involved in the communities that we've lived in. In fact, Kathy is currently the president of the Rotary Foundation and was instrumental in getting funding for the safety equipment at Jean Clark Park that was installed this year. So our family has made some contributions to the community. I have practiced law for 43 years, business attorney, litigator. My practice has included employment matters, financial matters. I was one of the managing partners of the firm. I was CFO. the firm my community involvement has included I was on the Lakeview Board of Education for 12 years served as president for a term while president my Shepherd a 59 million dollar bond issue that was passed I was on the Battle Creek Tifa aboard I've served on the Lifespan Health Board. I was chairman. That was a home health hospice board in Battle Creek. I've been on planning commissions, zoning board of appeals. I was appointed by the Battle Creek City Commission several years ago to lead a citizens committee to resolve public comments at the city commission. There were issues, ironically. Maybe running out of time. I'm now on the downside of my career. I've gone off council with our firm. I want to do something meaningful for the community, volunteer basis. I believe that my background professionally and the community I could lend some support to Benton Harbor and maybe make a meaningful difference. So hopefully you'll consider my application. Thank you.

Mr. Keeter, I just want to be just precise. Did you say you applied for the finance director position?

No, finance. Finance. The citizens representative on the finance. Personnel and finance. Personnel and finance, sorry.

No, the citizens representative. Okay, I just wanted to be sure.

You would get me for free. For free. For free. I don't think I get paid for it.

We'll pay for finance director, but I will look into your application. Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Denny Brown.

Good evening, everybody. How we doing? And rest of the night. So I'm here tonight because of Union Park, the bathrooms. I really don't know where to start because a young man threw me off here. You could send your complaint to the Citizen Review Board that he lied and said they started in 2021, the Police Review Board, that you said you started in lieu of a Civil Service Board, that she said that you said you're not violating the law by not having one. But back to why I'm here. I will ask that the city do an audit involving the city manager and the Park and Recreation. The reason I say that, because I didn't uncover that it's a brick building out there, that loft that y'all are supposed to be building at Union Park. Man, it's some shady stuff going on between Benton Harbor Youth Baseball and the city of Benton Harbor Parks and Recreation. Like I said, I filed a complaint about the bathroom, about, you know what I'm saying? And the charter states that every day that goes by without an investigation or into my complaint is an additional complaint. I haven't heard from you. When will I hear back from you on my complaint, city attorney?

Please speak to the chair, sir.

When will I hear back from you, Mayor, about my complaint? Because you haven't even responded to me about the complaint that my rights are being violated by going to a bathroom that's locked when it should be open. You cannot justify it being locked at all. Again, Civil Service Board, this guy here, his complaint should go to a police review board. But you don't have one, but you stated you had one. So, man, you need to quit lying and just do right. Man, you talked. You said, man, it's going to take more than me to bring back a civil service board. They do not want one because they've been stealing. And I filed the complaint. I do know on July 6th, I filed a complaint that the city is because of no civil service board, Ron Singleton, other people are collecting money illegally. That was a complaint. That started. I know when it started, and you should be getting back to me on that. Yes, ma'am. I need to file a complaint on the attorney because she's not advising you. What is it? Opinions of attorney? She's not advising you all well. No. So get back to me on the bathroom. Get back to me on my complaint. Get back to this man on the Civil Service Board, and I will be filing a complaint. Coming up real soon about the Civil Service Board, about the fact that on July 6th, when I gave y'all information that Sharon Henderson's husband, who's a police officer with drunk driving stuff all over his background, should not be a police officer, and nobody contacted me. Nobody said anything. Y'all got to quit violating people's rights here. That's all y'all doing. Told y'all I was going to get you, City Manager.

Any more comments, Madam Clerk?

No more.

Thank you for all of the public participation. This brings us to our agenda items. Commissioner Clark-Griffin.

I want to separate number two.

And I'll separate five. Mayor Pro Tem Turner.

Number four.

Madam clerk for the record one. In the hearing. So we haven't voted. We voted to go to open the public hearing, but we have not voted on the actual item itself. So two has been separated. Five has been separated. Mayor Pro Tem has separated number four. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar?

Motion to approve.

Motion is made by Commissioner Fields, supported by Mayor Pro Tem Turner. Madam Clerk.

Commissioner Warren. Yes. Commissioner Clark-Griffin. Yes. Commissioner Fields. Yes. Commissioner Henderson. Yes. Commissioner Henry. Yes. Commissioner Isom. Yes. Commissioner Kennard. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem. Yes. Mayor Muhammad.

Yes. This brings us to the separated item number two, a resolution approving an obsolete property rehabilitation exemption certificate for 875 Riverview, LLC. located at 875 Riverview Drive. Is there a motion for the approval? Motion. Motion is made by Mayor Pro Tem Turner. It is supported by Commissioner Fields. Is there discussion? Chair recognizes Commissioner Clark Griffin.

As I stated before, I still stand on. I don't see a reason for a 12-year tax abatement. Also, the reason that the former owner of 875 Riverview, the reason stated why that person pulled out was not accurate.

I actually have the article newspaper-wide.

That person pulled out and then some of the commissioners that went on tour still had questions and still question was not answered Thank you.

I Call for the question Commissioner Henry Commissioner Isom, yes Commissioner Kennard Commissioner Warren Yes Commissioner Clark Griffin

No.

Commissioner Fields?

Yes.

Commissioner Henderson?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem?

No.

Mayor Muhammad?

Yes.

Motion carried. Motion carried.

This brings us to item number four, resolution approving $15,450 to complete required yellow book appraisals on three additional properties. Is there a motion for the approval? Motion to approve. Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Turner. It is supported by Commissioner Isom. Is there a discussion? JUST FOR ROBERT'S RULE'S SAKE, THE PERSON WHO MADE THE MOTION IS REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE CALLED LAST. THERE ARE NO OTHER. CHAIR RECOGNIZES COMMISSIONER HENRY.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. I WENT OUT AND LOOKED AT THESE THREE PROPERTIES. IT'S ALL OBSOLETE. IT'S NOTHING THERE. THERE'S SUPPOSED TO BE A BOAT RAMP. THERE'S NOTHING THERE. JAPANESE NAP WEED TAKING OVER THE WHOLE AREA. AND I ASKED THE QUESTION OF WHEN THE LAST TIME WE DID A YELLOW BOOK APPRAISAL, HOW MUCH DID WE SPEND AND WHAT PROPERTIES DID WE SPEND IT ON? I GOT NO INFORMATION ON THAT. SO, IT SETS BIG RED FLAGS WHEN I ASK FOR INFORMATION AND I DON'T GET IT. Here's our appraisal again, assessor, how much of these properties are worth. I don't remember them showing me that information. went from $12,000 to $15,000. And I thought, well, maybe that's a fair price. So let me go and see what we spent for the last one that we approved and that was short $16,000 on. So if I can get some of those questions answered, I'll be glad to... give a yes vote. If not, I'm going to have to vote no.

So I just want to read the memo first. It says the item before the commission, a resolution to approve the use of up to an additional $15,450 for yellow book appraisals and review on three additional properties associated with with resolving the mediation problem with the National Park Service and DNR on the erroneous conversion of the dialysis center property. Recommendation, the Ben Harbor City Commission approved the use of the additional funding to enable the city to complete solving this problem. Justification, solving this problem, conversion problem with National Park Service and DNR will enable the city for the first time in over 12 years to qualify for parks and recreation funding, which could be valued at up to $400,000 per grant. The immediate impact will be the amount used up to $15,450, $11,850 for appraisals, and 3,600 for review. However, the overall impact could be receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants over the next few years to help fund park improvements and recreational activities. This is a long overdue issue and problem that was caused by the emergency management. This is one problem that we have failed to correct after emergency management, just one of them. But this is an opportunity tonight for us to finally address this issue. It's hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars being held up as we speak because we have not mitigated this issue. If these three properties are accepted and approved, then we can move forward having them appraised, having those three parcels included, and this is a closed chapter. We can go to the DNR and begin to apply for grants that we have been unable to apply for because of this issue. I don't know if it was done by design. I don't know if it was engineered. I don't know what the motive was because we had no power at that time. Now we have the power to correct it, and we need to do it tonight. Mayor Pro Tem Turner.

So my concern here, it says park improvements and recreation activities. Across from 800 River Road Drive, we have a park there where homeless people are now getting down there. WITH THIS HELP INSTALL CAMERAS, OPEN THE BATHROOMS UP, PARK IMPROVEMENT. AT UNION PARK, WE GOT MARCH TO SIT IN THE PARK. WE GOT SNAKES RUNNING OUT THE MARCH AND EVERYTHING ELSE. JUST SITTING THERE. ANY TIME YOU HAVE MARCH, UNTREATED MARCH SITTING THERE, YOU CREATE MORE ISSUES THAT OUR KIDS COULD BE AID UP. NOBODY'S ADDRESSING IT.

THE DNR GRANTS COULD ADDRESS ISSUES LIKE THAT. COULD OUR PUPPET WORKS MOVE THE MARCH?

I mean, that's it. I'm getting to because it says park improvement. Then you have Union Park. We got a light out that's sitting out. Our park, our baseball fields need to be regraded. So will this grant help through the city manager?

possibly could help with some of those things and certainly they would help even indirectly because a lot of things that we're currently stretching to try and pay for out of general fund wouldn't have to be anymore we would be able to use the grants to cover many of those things. As a matter of fact, if you looked at the paper today, there's a picture on there of a park grand opening that was done at Benton Township, the Euclid Park. And I was there with it. That part was done with the type of grant that we're talking about. As a matter of fact, I was talking also to George from a covert township, and they had a very nice grant that was approved also that did parks up there. We've just been missing out for years now. I call for the question.

Commissioner Clark-Griffin? Yes. Commissioner Fields? Yes. Commissioner Henderson? Yes. Commissioner Henry? No. Commissioner Isom? Yes. Commissioner Kennard?

Yes.

Commissioner Warren?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem? Yes. Mayor Muhammad?

Yes. This brings us to resolution responding to EGLE's request regarding the fluoridation of the drinking water. Is there a motion for the approval? TO APPROVE MOTIONS MADE BY MAYOR PRO TIM TURNER IS THERE SUPPORT SUPPORT IT'S SUPPORTED BY COMMISSIONER LARGE ISOM IS THERE A DISCUSSION COMMISSIONER EXCUSE ME COMMISSIONER FIELDS YOU IS NINE YEARS FIRE ME COMMISSIONER FIELDS CHAIR WORKING OUT AS THE MAYOR PRO TIM TURNER HOW COME LET'S KEEP ON COMING THROUGH THE FULL COMMISSION

And it's Eagle, of course, in Benton Harbor because, again, whatever y'all agreed to, I had not got it. So, again, I had not got that order. So we're going to bypass that. I'm confused on why Eagle has continued to bring us before Benton Harbor. And nobody's giving us an explanation. There's no scientists here. There's no doctor here. There's nobody here to explain this to us. So it's continuing to come. It's been hardly been forced because of the situation we're in with the water plant.

So I'm just going to read this because Mayor Pro Tem, I know you and I have fallen on different sides of the equation, but I'm asking myself, why is EGLE trying to force I just asked AI, how many Michigan, what Michigan cities do not treat their water with fluoride? And it reads here, several Michigan cities and communities do not add fluoride to their public drinking water. Three Rivers is one, Oxford, Iron Mountain, Saugatuck, Grayling, Alpena, Harrisville, Cadillac, Then it goes on to say regional breakdown. Systems like Mount Clemens and Romeo do not add fluoride. Oakland County, a significant portion of local water systems such as Rochester, Oxford, White Lake Township, Waterford Township do not add fluoride. Note, water fluoridation decisions in Michigan are made at the local municipal or utility level rather than mandated by the state. to check exact status of specific local municipality residents can view their local water. Then it goes on to say there are over 1400 water systems. Most do not fluoridate their water. The minority do. So are they going to Baldwin? Are they going to Three Rivers? Are they going to Saugatuck? Are they going to the communities in Macomb County with resolutions and recommendations to fluoridate their water? Why are you trying to force this on Benton Harbor? There's so many other issues that we need support in that was inflicted by the state where they need to make us whole in a whole nother way. But trying to force us to fluoridate the water, I can't support it. Not to mention the health side of this. You say that, oh, it helps with the teeth, but what does it do to the brain? So I'm not convinced, nor do I support it, and please don't bring it back.

I want to recognize Mayor Pro Tem Turner. Can this be tabled until we get somebody from Eagle down here, a health doctor, you name it, to give us a presentation?

So this is the second time this has happened. Last time we tabled it, and I think we just need to make a decision. Because it's within the local government. It's not a federal mandate. It's not a state mandate. It's a local decision. And fluoridating the water, I just don't see where and why. And like I say, the harmful effects that come from fluoride, even if you go to the dentist, it's teeth cleaning that people get and say, no fluoride. But I want my teeth cleaned. So, you know, even with toothpaste, some people don't buy toothpaste that have fluoride. So that's a personal choice. But for us to vote to support it and mandate it and, you know, and that is some communities don't do it because of the cost. So I think we just need to vote on it.

I call for the question. Commissioner Fields? No. Commissioner Henderson? No. Commissioner Henry? No. Commissioner Isom?

No.

Commissioner Karnar?

No.

Commissioner Warren? No. Commissioner Clark-Griffin? No. Mayor Pro Tem?

No.

Mayor Muhammad?

No. This brings us to staff comments. I want to recognize our hard work and Deputy Director of Public Safety, Deputy Cashmere.

Thank you, sir. The only thing I have is our 9-11 ceremony is this Friday at 11 a.m. across the street at the Resilience Plaza. So I hope everyone can join us. I think we have a pretty good agenda on tap, including one of our firefighters who works for us now, who was a paramedic for the Fire Department in New York on 9-11 will be speaking. He's a doctor.

Chair recognizes our City Attorney, Attorney Seneca.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. I don't have a report tonight, but I have a couple things that are in the works. Some of them came up tonight during discussion, and I will be sharing those, most likely in a closed session at the next meeting.

Chair recognizes our Deputy City Clerk, Deputy Bale.

Nothing to report.

Chair recognizes our hardworking City Manager, Manager Alex Little.

Thank you, sir. I'd just like to mention first my apology to Commissioner Henry. The clerk mentioned to me at 2.30 about getting the information to you on the cost of those previous appraisals that were done. Unfortunately, I had a 3 o'clock appointment at the eye doctor and I was there until I got a shot in the eye at 6 o'clock and so I didn't get a chance to get anything out to you and I apologize for that. But beyond that, the nonsense you heard from Danny Brown, I think all of you received an email from me shortly after Mr. Brown showed up without an appointment and wanted to go through all of this foolishness he had going on about the bathroom. And I asked him, what did you have... a key for where did you get you know is that you really you don't have any uh... relationship to uh... john sam's call me since that time to say he didn't give a key to a man john samson person who had a key uh... i don't know how denny got a hold of it he could very easily have messed up the bathroom himself do then turn around and make himself look like a hero we have people who set fires and then do the same thing But this garbage he's carrying on about in the civil service and all of that, I saw something where he indicated that he'd had some phone conversation with me. I don't recall having a phone conversation with Danny Brown in the last six months, and I only recall meeting with him one other time before. But it's just so much nonsense that he has an axe to grind with me because I told him, I said, I don't see a civil service board coming back. And, in fact, there's less reason to have one now. than there ever was. We got, what, a limited number of employees. We don't have the budget to add a number of people, and that was one of the primary functions of the Civil Service Board, to pre-qualify people to be hired in positions and so forth. So it's not even an issue, but he has his acts to grant. And as you heard him say the last thing before he left, you leave them, they always kick over their milk. He carried out his threat. I told you I wouldn't do this, Mr. Manager.

I want to recognize our Fourth Ward Commissioner, Clark Griffin.

I'd like to thank everybody that came out. I'd like to thank everybody that's listening. So we had our fifth annual Fourth Ward Alliance Resource Fair, Community Giveaway, and Fall Cleanup. It was a great success, as usual. We blessed a lot of people, a lot of families with resources. FREE RESOURCES, CLOTHES, PURSES, JEWELRY, FOOD, HOUSEWARE, SCHOOL SUPPLIES, TOYS, EVEN BACKPACKS FULL OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES, PERSONAL HYGIENE, FEMININE HYGIENE. WE ALSO DID A REALLY BIG CLEANUP, INCLUDING RIVERSIDE. So everything was great. I want to thank all the vendors, all the sponsors, the volunteers. A special shout out to Deputy Director of Fire, Mr. Brian K. For always, every, for all five years, he's been a part of it at giving away carbon monoxide detectors, smoke detectors, tours, hats, you name it. So I want to thank you. uh... for being a party every year uh... special shout out to the mayor of pro tem shakira toner well he always spearheads the cleanup we go a week ahead me and him right around the whole fourth ward and see what needs to be cleaned and then he executed you know in march i do the cleanup with him but in august i'm so busy running the resource fair and the giveaway and all the other We even had popcorn and cones we gave away. It was just really nice. So he spearheads that, you know. And one of my sons, Miguel Clark, always is a part of everything as well as donating too. And I want to give a special shout out to my Grand Boulevard resident. They showed up in a big way. They donated. They helped with the setup of the resource fair. And I had five truckloads, carloads and truckloads of stuff every year to bring. They helped with setting that up. And they also was part of the cleanup. So a special shout out to my Fort Worth residents, too. It just was wonderful. Everything was wonderful. God is still blessing. And it's always about blessing. And I'm so happy that God put that on my heart and gave me the know-how and will to bless so many people. And then the next following week, I had my Mary Kay party. We had food, we had, I did facials, I did eyes, lips, just blessed some people with pampering. And it was a good time as well. coming up next, me and Mayor Pro Tem Turner, we will be doing our community conversation town hall. So that's going to be wonderful on September the 28th. And as you guys know, I do my annual, me and my business partner, we do our annual Christmas desire. That will be coming up December the 12th. And ONE OF THE BEST PART, MY FIFTH ANNUAL SENIOR CARE PACKAGE AND TOY GIVE-AWAY IS DECEMBER THE 19TH. WE BLESS A LOT OF SENIORS AND A LOT OF KIDS WITH TOYS AND PERSONAL HYGIENES AND YOU NAME IT, WHATEVER THEY NEED. SO IT'S WONDERFUL. I don't see nothing funny, but maybe the mayor is grinning because he's so happy for me. But anyway, yes, so God is good. It's a wonderful big blessing, as always, because I'm not talking. I'm doing it. More should do more doing instead of not doing nothing and smiling and trying to be funny. God bless.

Thank you so much. I'd like to recognize Third Ward Commissioner Henry.

I just hate to go behind her, but thank you, uh, Commissioner, you're just so full of it. Always have something positive and something good to do. And all I can do is to thank the citizens for coming. If you had a problem and you've expressed it to us, we are supposed to go after it and find out what's going on with the problem. And the ones that are on YouTube, I really appreciate you guys being on there and listening to what's going on. I would like to ask the clerk and the city manager that there was some documents, there was some information that I needed to vote yes on in this agenda, and it didn't happen, and I still want the information. I might have to rescind my vote to a yes if the information is right. But please send that information to me and any other commissioner that we can. Keep us abreast of what's going on. Thank you.

I want to recognize Commissioner Kennard.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. I'D LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE THAT WAS OUT TONIGHT AND THE TWO THAT ARE YET REMAINING AND PASTOR OR REVEREND OR WHICHEVER. WE'RE SO GLAD THAT YOU STAYED ALL THE WAY THROUGH. AND I HOPE THAT YOU CAN GET SOME RESULTS BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE ARE HERE FOR AS ELECTED OFFICIALS IS TO SEE THAT YOU GET DUE DILIGENCE. WE WANT TO SEE THIS RESOLVED And no way that any adult should, you know, attack a person's child. So we want to see what is going on. You should have had answers by now. And I do know there's others that have had complaints. So we're looking for our leadership here to get on board for that. One of the things that I want to talk about tonight is that I ALMOST LOSE MY TREND OF THOUGHT, BUT THAT'S OKAY. BUT WHAT I WANT TO SAY IS THAT I'VE ASKED OVER AND OVER AGAIN BECAUSE WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR FINANCE AND RUNNING YOUR CITY, THAT'S MOST IMPORTANT. WE CAN GET A BILLION DOLLARS EVERY WEEK. THE WAY SOME THINGS IS RAN, THEY'D BE BROKE THE NEXT WEEK. because they don't have things in place. Now, we're supposed to have a finance director here, according to our charter. And I get to all the looks, you know, like, here she go. That's all right, because I'm going to speak the truth. I've been asking for it for years, and I'm getting excuse after excuse. EXCUSE. IT'S TIME OUT FOR EXCUSES. THAT'S TAKING CARE OF CITY BUSINESS. YOU CAN SAY, I EXPECT GREAT THINGS, BUT IF YOU'RE NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE EXPECTING IT, BUT YOU'RE NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING? SO IT'S TIME OUT FOR US TO TALK ABOUT GETTING A FINANCE DIRECTOR IN THERE. YOU'RE GOING TO PAY ANOTHER PLACE FOR YOUR FINANCES THREE TIMES AS MUCH AS WHAT YOU WOULD PAY A FINANCE DIRECTOR. three times as much and say you can only pay him just a third of what you pay him or less. How dare you? No, no, don't disturb me, Mayor. Do not disturb me because I'm telling the truth. I've been asking for this for years, to have a finance director in here. We've got some that had turned in their resolution, resume, rather, and... Yet, they haven't made an appointment for them to come in and for us to interview them. Shame on you. And it's time out for it. And this is one of the things you said we could do is speak on items that is not on tonight's agenda. And I'm speaking on it. So don't try to interrupt me when I'm talking. You've done that to me too many times. And this is it. You stop it right now. What I'm looking for us is none of us that have a vote to get a finance director, not a financial institution. That's what is stated in our for us to have as a finance director here. And so he should come in, and that would eliminate paying three times as much for them to be here as you would only 1% of what he's getting. I mean, not 1%, a third of what he's getting. So stop it. Don't make that make sense. That's why we stay broke. Because things is not being clarified that you're doing with the finance. So let's just stop it right now and do the right thing. Get a finance director in here. All right. I'm looking at the one that likes to expect great things.

Commissioner Kinnard, you just kept saying him. I just was added or her for finance director. That's all I was saying. But I won't interrupt you no more. I do recognize Commissioner Fields.

Thank you, Honor Mayor. And, oh, did I say that? Thank you. Thank you, Honor Mayor. I just said it and now I have to commit to it. I wanted to thank the individuals that were present, whether they are here still or have left. And stressing transparency, accountability, and community inclusion is always front and very important to me and it takes a lot. I know Commissioner Henry has always been excited in regards to residents showing up and speaking out or just speaking up rather in regards to a situation that is occurring or has occurred and how you are responded to and I'm really calling to action counterparts for different reasons but also OUR INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE CONTRACTED IN REGARDS TO WHETHER WE HAVE TO HAVE A CLOSED SESSION, HOWEVER WE RECEIVE FEEDBACK. SAY, FOR EXAMPLE, THE ATTORNEY ON OUR MEETING, I ASKED FOR HER TO HAVE SOMETHING TO FOLLOW UP ON. on our follow-up or our look into it situations just so that residents, if they've came forward with something, how does that work? What does that look like? What did I do? It shouldn't only be emails behind the scenes to us because otherwise they're asking us, what are we paying attorneys for? And we had a really good meeting. So that's not here or there. UNDERSTAND SOME MATTERS THAT WOULD NEED TO BE IN A CLOSED SESSION, BUT WE NEED MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM EVERYONE AND MOVEMENT, RIGHT? AND THAT IS ME INCLUDED, RIGHT? BUT FOR THE SAKE OF TOGETHERNESS, I'VE HELD MYSELF TOGETHER IN REGARDS TO DIFFERENT TOPICS, BUT WE REALLY DO NEED TO MOVE AND AND DO BEYOND EXPECTING GREAT THINGS. WE NEED TO ENFORCE GREAT THINGS, AND WE NEED TO HOLD INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE, EVEN IF IT'S OURSELVES. INVENTS THAT ARE COMING UP, IF WE WANT TO DO THAT, IS I KNOW TOMORROW WE HAVE THE COMMUNITY CLEANUP THAT'S ON AT THE CHILDREN'S, YOUTH, AND YOUNG ADULT GARDEN AT 577 BROADWAY. THAT WILL BE HAPPENING TOMORROW FROM 430 TO 7. WE HAVE THE BIKE PARTY THAT WAS RESCHEDULED FOR THE SAKE OF THE FIRST GAME SUPPORT OF THE FIRST FOOTBALL GAME OF THE YEAR. SO IT'S BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR Friday, September 18th at 6 p.m. And then I'm having my fourth annual All Things Wellness on the 26th, on Saturday the 26th. But I want to circle back to, for example, PASTOR JEREMY BUTLER. IT'S JUST REALLY TUGGING AT ME IN REGARDS TO THE LACK OF, I WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT OUR PROCESS IS, AND I WANT OUR RESIDENTS TO UNDERSTAND IT AND FOR US TO BE ACCOUNTABLE TO THAT, BECAUSE RATHER IT'S FAMILY MEMBER, FRIEND, OR WHATEVER IT IS, WE WOULD WANT SOME RESULTS, AND WE WOULDN'T WANT TO WAIT MONTHS FOR A FEEDBACK. IT CAN'T GO AWAY. I UNDERSTAND THAT WE WOULDN'T NECESSARILY BE DISCUSSING IT PUBLICLY, BUT WE NEED TO HAVE SOME FOLLOW-UP IMMEDIATELY FOR THAT. I HAVE LOST WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY BEYOND THAT, BECAUSE WE HAVE TOO MUCH GOING ON AROUND THE WORLD. FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE, WHETHER IT IS THE HANGINGS THAT WE'RE NOT SPEAKING UPON, WHETHER IT IS A 24-YEAR-OLD TIMOTHY JOHNSON THAT PASSED IN ANOTHER COMMUNITY AND WE ARE NOT ACTIVE ABOUT IT AS CITY OFFICIALS, AS BLACK OFFICIALS, AND WE NEED TO BE MORE CONCERNED, INCLUDING THE FINANCIAL MANAGER OR DIRECTOR. I'M SORRY. ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE VITAL FOR US, AND WE NEED TO BE DOING OUR PART.

Thank you. Chair recognizes Mayor Pro Tem Turner.

Thank you. So I have a couple questions that are still lingering. Our city lots, we uplifted the moratorium. I have not heard back on that. The water bill waiver. We have not heard back on that. The residents are still having complaints on why they're receiving high water bills, late fees, you name it. The Fourth World Commission, she did an audit request for RFP. We still have not heard back from that. The park grass and trash at the park grass is still growing. Broadway Park trash can. I hate to say this publicly, but I sure hope our fire department does not get a call saying the trash can on fire. Because I'm going to say, told y'all so. This is ridiculous that our trash cans are growing, grass growing. So it's just mind blowing. Our city lot's not getting clean. We have tree limbs on the curb still. We have a branding machine not being used. So I'm very concerned that our day to day operations is not getting done correctly. When I say this here, I'm pretty sure I could email pretty soon. Mr. Turner, I won't care about Mr. Turner. So it's a concern I'm having. And then when I'm trying to address it, I have gone 60-plus days. Hang on a second. 60-plus days. September 28th from 5.30 to 7 p.m. will be our first town hall unfiltered at the Mamie Yard, Yardboro, I'm unfiltered. I'm going unfiltered. No bikes, no nothing. Unfiltered. October 26th will be our first Touch a Truck event, and I have been sharing it. I'm excited. I've been working hard, making sure I secure different trucks. So we're going to be there. We're going to have fun. I'm proud. I've been doing it for eight years. I go through communities across this country. I'm going to go to Atlanta, where I'm about to have my CDO's instructor skills tested, where I'll be bagging outside of my truck. So I'm kind of excited that I get those credentials pretty soon. But I have some concerns, and trust and believe me, somebody's going to hear this here.

The chair recognizes Second Ward Commissioner Warren.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. Thank everyone for coming out and for those that watched at home. From the second ward, we have a town hall meeting coming up next week, Thursday, September 17th at the Mabee Arbor Library, 4.30 to 5.30 p.m. I will be serving pizza and snacks. So come and eat dinner and talk about your issues and also come with solutions. So we don't want to make it a complaint session. We want to make sure... that everyone comes with a solution. We'll have Director Kaye from Public Safety. McGinnis is going to try to come at the end. So we'll have people there that's ready to help. But again, we want to make sure we can get some solutions and also discuss the issues. Thursday, 9-17, 430 to 530. Be there or be square. Second Ward Residence. That is all I have. Thank you.

Chair recognizes Commissioner-at-Large Isom.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor.

I'd like to thank everyone for coming out tonight. Congratulations on your opera for the H-75 Riverview. Expect great things with that to happen. Me and my wife took a walk downtown yesterday. We always walk down Colfax. And on Colfax, they got this special landscape with the bricks, the red bricks, and the red brick on the wall. And some of it was overgrown, but I met Mr. Wooden. Mr. Wooden stayed on Colfax, and he killed all the weeds, and, man, it looked just brand new. And I told him I would bring that up. Thank you, Mr. Wooden. And I met his neighbor. She's from Chicago, just moved here in November. And the area with that brick, sometimes you got to take a slow down and take a look at it. But it got this red brick on the curb and this red brick on the side. Beautiful landscape. Once it's clean, all the weeds out of it, beautiful. I took a picture of it. I told him I'll bring your name up. Thank you again, Mr. Wood. And I forgot the young lady name that we met. But we can do that all the way down Colfax. That's a gateway to the city. you know, with the new road, wall-on-wall, but it's just throwing out this city manager and commission, mayor. You know, people want to see... BEAUTY, THE BEAUTY OF THE CITY, AND THAT'S PART OF IT. YOU JUST GOT TO SEE IT. SLOW DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF COAL FACTION, YOU'LL SEE IT. AND I WANT TO GET TO THE POINT, AND PASTOR, I HOPE YOU CAN GET SOME RESULTS FROM YOUR, WHAT DIDN'T HAPPEN, THE ALTERCATION, AND I HOPE THE CITY CAN HELP YOU, YOU KNOW. AND FOUR, I'M JUST GOING TO SPEAK ON THIS FINANCE DIRECTOR POSITION. NOW, I DIDN'T SEND OUT NUMEROUS, I WANT TO SAY FOUR. I'm going to say four. I'm going to look at Ms. Lulu. I ain't going to look at nobody. I'm going to send out four resumes. Now, if the resumes don't fit the job description, and I give everybody, I said, look at them, tell me what you think. And the only one I got a conversation, an email from was Commissioner Warren. And so... If the resume does not fit the job description, I'm not gonna waste time. Nobody time, if the job don't fit, this is a crucial position we trying to fill. Look at the job description, look at the resumes I sent. Let me know what you see. Do you see the municipal? Do you see the degrees? Do you see, can you have BS and A and all that stuff? If it's not on there, then because the resume come, I'm not going to say call them up from Texas and come get an interview. And they don't fit. And I still expect great things. And the Detroit Lions are going to win a Super Bowl. But we're going to get that finance director. But I'm not going to, if it don't fit,

Well, they said it quit.

That's right. You can't. You can't.

All right. Let me put a beat on that.

If it don't fit, Commissioner, I'm not going to put nobody in no position.

Point of order.

Point of order. I apologize. Oh, yeah.

We don't want to speak personally to, directly to, we're speaking to the chair still.

Yeah, to the chair.

Thank you, dear sir.

But, uh. Yeah, we're going to get a finance director. I'm down. I'm back. It's football season. You know, Michigan pulled one out. But anyway, you know, I'm not going to give up on this finance director. And I don't want my co-chair to give up. You know, is that because they put the heat on you? Thank you so much for everybody listening. Expect great things, Ben Harbour.

I want to recognize First World Commissioner Henderson.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor. I'd just like to thank everyone for coming out, for everything that we approved tonight. As one said, it's not an argument, it's a discussion or a conversation, and everyone does have their own points of view about how we see things. All of us ran because we care about the city, and we all address issues or situations differently. We care is why we ran. I don't think anything else other than that. I just think everybody's approach to handling them is different and it's because we are different. But when we are having a discussion, it needs to remain germane to the conversation and it needs to remain about those particular things. So when you hear an objection coming from Commissioner Henderson, it's not about any particular person. It's about the item because we need to stay on topic to move our meetings along. It's 922 and so some of us have been up since 530 or 6 a.m. and have to repeat that same process. So if we can stay on topic when we're discussing things, That's important, and I won't stop doing that because that is who I am. But again, thank all of our residents for coming out, for all of the approvals on tonight to continue to move Benton Harbor forward. We are a jewel in... this area. People are paying attention and people do see Benton Harbor's worth, whether all of our residents or people living here don't. I see it and many other people see that. And so we have a responsibility to keep the city moving forward. And if there's people willing to spend money to help improve our city. I think we have a responsibility as leaders to assist in that way and just to pivot when potential employees are looking to decide whether they're going to come here, specifically about the finance department, they watch our meetings. and they watch what happens in the city. And so businesses watch what happens in the city. People watch what happens in Benton Harbor specifically. I have family that lives in Detroit, Romulus Inkster, And they're always going, what's going on in Benton Harbor? So people are watching the city because we don't see it always as a jewel, but it is a jewel. People are watching what's happening in our city. And so with that, thank you again for coming out and for everybody's input in solving and doing the things that we need to do to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you. I'd just like to thank everyone for coming out. I can't stress enough how proud I am of the city commission. Tonight, I think we really were able to get some real substantial things done. The Riverview project is up and off the ground officially with what was approved tonight. You know, any any, you know, economists will tell you a city that has no office space is a city that's not doing business. So we need buildings. We need places where people have office space to conduct business. And I'm grateful for you putting some skin in the game, which you already have. But the city of Benton Harbor is also right there with you. So that's one of the checks for me. project t i see people are becoming occupants where people are actually moving in closing and before you know it those homes will be purchased and that parcel and that property will be back vibrate again it'll never be mercy hospital but what we have to do moving forward as a commission is take properties and parcels and repurpose them so they can be a benefit to Benton Harbor in this new season of our development. Go down the street, corner Wall Street, almost ready to not break ground, but cut the ribbon. And that's low income. And their focus is helping the homeless. where they're targeting people who have vouchers from the homeless shelters to come and get housing. This is what's happening in Benton Harbor. And these apartments are fully furnished. Bed, furniture, washer and dryer, refrigerator, stove, community center. office space for social services. So it's a lot of great work going on. We're waiting for the development for our former modern plastics. We will be black mayors of Michigan writing a letter to every state representative, every state senator and the governor to have an extension passed hopefully before but definitely in the lame duck session because this OPRA is going to be critical to development in urban centers and urban areas in particular in Benton Harbor. I do want to bring your attention on a national scale. There was a UN vote where they voted to have the map of the world changed where Africa will finally be the correct size of Africa will show up on the map. So size matters. Did I say something wrong? If it did not, then they would not have voted yes overwhelmingly to make Africa the right size. So on that note, is there a motion to adjourn?

Motion to adjourn. Commissioner Clark Griffin. Yes. Commissioner Fields. Yes. Commissioner Henderson. Yes. Commissioner Henry. Yes. Commissioner Isom. Yes. Commissioner Kennard. Yes. Commissioner Warren. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem. Yes. Mayor Muhammad.

Yes. This meeting is adjourned.

I wanted to try to catch you before you left.

So I was just telling that I'm going to follow up with all the attorneys at the crossroads office and see what they need and get their names on it by the end of the day. Well, I wanted to apologize. I mean, it was my first day back, so I was looking at everything. So, yeah. Well, don't do that. I'm trying to. Please do not. Oh, God.

Yeah.