City Council - Regular Meeting

Call the city council meeting, I'm sorry, work session meeting to order. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Stringham. Present. Felder.

Here.

Hader. Here. Stilgrave. Here. Vining. Germani. Here. Mayor Clark.

Here. So we have our work session. Next is public comment. So, public comment? Any comments from those present here this evening? Any public comment? Seeing none, next item, please.

The next item is the work session agenda and item 5962, enterprise software upgrade. Thank you.

Let me second here. Interim Manager Cochran.

Yes, good evening, Honorable Mayor, City Council, Clerk, Treasurer, LaVoye. This evening, Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Ed Sell is going to present a presentation regarding updating some of the software that the city uses across all of our operations from building to accounting to assessing, and that is BS&A. And right now, as our fact sheet indicated, we have a hardware package, but they're no longer supporting that and moving everybody to a cloud version. We wanted to update City Council on the proposed transition over to the cloud version and also give you some updates on that project overall and the costs anticipated because this will be on a future agenda for your consideration.

Thank you. Mr. Sell.

Good evening, honorable mayor and city council. Is this on? As Mark said, it says enterprise software, big fancy word, but around city hall, we call it BSNA. So that's, I'll probably say that a lot during this presentation, but really this presentation is to kind of update you as to what I'm planning to present at your next regular meeting for action. We have a proposal from BSNA that is good through June 30th. And so, I thought we'd update you on where we're at with this and what it is, and see if you have any questions before then. So, with that, we'll get started. So, our software, it's called Equalizer.net. It's called .net. It's from BSNA software, but as I said, it's referred to BSNA around City Hall. It includes the following applications that are listed in that table there. You've got General Ledger, which is, and then all those different accounting or payroll or timesheets or HR modules that are attached to it. And you've got some of the billing software, including the biggest two, including property tax and utility billing. And then you've got some other along the side there that are work orders, assessing, building department, and then inventory management. So all of those are individual modules within our current BSNA software. They're all individual programs. So if you want to go into one, you have to open it. If you want to go into another, you have to open it. And that's how it works and what's out there right now. As Mark mentioned, BSNA has created their cloud version. And they call that the cloud because the database and all the data that you put into it is stored in the cloud. The cloud is kind of like a big database out there that BSNA has contracted with Microsoft to store for them. And so instead of our data currently, we have a server that's here. Actually, it's at the county building. It used to be shared by the city and the county when we first went to BSNA. But all of our data currently is considered on a local service or sometimes called on-prem or on-premise. And so the big difference between the two to start with is that instead of our data being on a local server here that we have to maintain and take care of and eventually upgrade, or replace, that it's now in the cloud. I think I put in the fact sheet, SAAS, BSNA seems to be changing their terminology a little bit. They're calling it software as a service now a little bit, but it really just depends who you talk to there at BSNA. So as I mentioned, we'll have a proposal to present to you on June 15th. The big reason that we probably need to move, is that BS&E will eventually stop support of the current software. Back in 2009 or so, when we changed to the current software, that's kind of what was happening too. They just were getting out of their old software into their new software, and they offered us a good deal to change, so we changed the .NET software at that time. And we've been using that. We signed the proposal in 2009. I'm not exactly sure when we started using it, but somewhere shortly after that, we started using the current version of the software. And it's used by every department to some degree. I mean, at a minimum, departments are using it to do purchase orders, but then, you know, of course, finance is using all the accounting packages, building is using the whole building department package. It just depends what your department does as to how much you use it. This is actually a slide that came from BSNAs. presentation they did. They're doing these road shows to present their cloud software. And the big thing to get out of this, as you can see, they called it SaaS at that presentation. Everybody wants to know, when are you going to stop support of the .NET software? When do I have to change to the cloud software? And they haven't come out and said exactly it's this date or that date yet, but it's coming somewhere in the future. And basically what they're saying is it's a numbers game. So as more and more of their clients move to the cloud version of the software, At some point, they'll say, okay, we're no longer going to support the .NET version. And what this slide showed was that at this point, at least 65% of their customer base had already changed, were reviewing contracts, or, excuse me, changed or were reviewing contracts. So, the number is getting up there, and it's time for us to consider it as well. Some of the pros and cons to the upgrade. They will be upgrading and enhancing the cloud version of the software. The .NET version of the software that we have now is what it is. It won't be changed except for functionality things that need to be changed. So if the IRS changes the tax code, they'll change that. But they're not going to make any enhancements to it or anything like that. much better remote refunctionality. So when the pandemic hit and everybody was working from home, we found, and kind of knew that beforehand, but we found even more at that point that BSNA isn't, our current version of BSNA isn't great to work with remotely. To do any kind of heavy processing, it doesn't work at all. So we've had to put a couple of computers up in the in the server room where if somebody wants to do heavy processing, they have to log into those computers from home and take control of them and use BSNA kind of like from here to do anything substantial. Even unsubstantial things, it doesn't work great. It works, but it's pretty slow. So with the remote, with the cloud version, it will work just through your browser or over an internet connection. It will work anywhere. So that's one great benefit of it. We do have a concurrent, the current proposal price is very good compared to what I've seen over the last couple of years. So I'll show you that in a little bit. Cloud is one program. So you know how I showed you all those different modules in the first slide. Each one of those are individual module. want to go into general ledger you got to open that up if you want to go into payroll you got to open that up in cloud that's everything is in one package it's all right there you don't have to go go to different programs and that's helpful within that package it helps some other things they'll talk about too in a minute here efficiency and updating so about the first every month which was today we roll out BSNA's updates to their programs. And so every time you go into a module, the program has to update first. So for somebody like me that probably goes into at least 10 of those modules, they all take three, four minutes a piece. That's 30, 40 minutes to get them all to update. Within cloud, they take care of that. You never see the update. It's always updated in the most current version. AI is built into Cloud. They showed a really cool accounts payable use of AI, but they also have it in there as a search feature that will help. Today, if you call their help desk, you can get them to help you. Their AI search function almost takes care a lot of that for you at this point, at least a place to start. If AI doesn't know, then it does set up a help ticket for you. Cyber protection is better. It backs up every 10 minutes. So we're always having a pretty current backup. It does use, the last one there was better security, multi-factor authentication. So it's using that. So we'll have that in place to log in. And then reduce vulnerability to disaster. So today, if the building got hit and the server was taken out, we do have backups, but it's going to take a while to get that backup onto a new server. Now it's in the cloud, and if you have an internet connection, you're connected and ready to go. So that's helpful. It has integration to our geographic information system. So within the programs that have map type things, especially like assessing and tax, and I believe utility billing, you'll have GIS integration. So if you want to go in there and see whatever property you're looking at, you'll be able to see it on our GIS maps in there. BS&A in general, across the whole market of companies that provide this software, is in the lower one-third of pricing. So while we haven't gone out and taken proposals in a long time for this software, we know that they're pretty competitive on pricing. And there's a lot of new features in it. I didn't want to list them all here for you, and I do have some that are pretty cool, but But just in general, there are new features already in it that will help us and make us more efficient in what we do. The cost is more predictable somewhat because it's basically an annual subscription model. You pay an annual amount and then that's it. You don't have to pay for any new hardware. You don't have to pay for any IT maintenance or if something goes wrong with Microsoft's backend database, you don't have to worry about that. It just basically works. So the annual cost increase is probably the only con. That's what we'll get into now. The current budget that we're coming up on had a little over $38,000 in it for what we pay in support fees to BS&A for all those modules I had listed there. And that's just to basically keep the program updated, keep it running, be there for our support when we need it. In the future, our server currently is good through the end of 2029, so we will have to replace it. So at this point, if we were to replace it, that would cost $25,000 to $30,000. By going to cloud, we avoid that cost. So those are the costs to keep in mind. So their proposal to us currently that's good through June 30, 2026 is a total of $195,845. And that's broken down into two pieces. There's an implementation piece that they would charge. And as I mentioned, there's the annual subscription costs that they would charge. The one-time implementation is $89,700, and they've included a $5,000 discount to try to get us to move to that. The annual fees are $106,145, so you compare that to the previous page of about $38,000. You are seeing an increase in your annual costs there. But as I mentioned, you've got to consider other things like IT support and server costs and things like that that we won't have to deal with in the future. They have given me a couple proposals over the years. That's what I have listed here. Back in 2024, they gave me a proposal that was $238,000. Just last fall, they gave me a proposal that was $204,000. Michelle and I actually met with them in March, and that's where the current proposal came from. They're essentially trying to get their customers to move, so they're trying to make it... cost effective for you to move. And that's why they keep reducing their prices. But they did tell me that last bullet there, the pricing after June of 2026 is going to be the 217,845 number. That's a $17,000 increase in the annual cost is included in that number. So, there's two good things about that. One, once we set our annual cost, our annual cost will go up the same percentage as everybody else. So, if we started at a lower base, that means our cost in the future will be lower than maybe what everybody else's would be. But also, if we sign now, we have a better chance of being able to pick a time to do our implementation. We wouldn't want to do it during tax collection season. We wouldn't want to do it when the auditors are here and things like that. So if we were able to accept their agreement and move forward, we'll have a much better chance of being able to schedule the implementation at a time that works for everybody here at City Hall. As far as the budget for this, we did include... Our plan was to... fund half of the cost I mentioned there, the $204,000 in this upcoming year's budget. So that was in the CIP that you approved for this coming year's budget. And then the rest we were going to include in the second year in the following year's budget. The way their payment schedule works, they require you to pay half of the implementation costs up front. So that would be around $45,000. And then I asked them to push out the second payment as long as they could. and they agreed to go 10 months after implementation. So about next May, our second payment would be due, and that would be when our annual subscription starts. So that's when the 106.145 would be due. And then the rest of the, excuse me, the implementation costs would be due when everything is installed and up and running. So that's how it works. So it should, the payments should fit in with what we had planned for in the CIP budget process. And so there shouldn't be a concern there. This is something that we really need to do, either need to change to this or change to something else in the future. And BSNA is really the only software that I've found that has all those modules covered that I mentioned on that first page. They're really probably the only company in Michigan that provides an assessing package. That's what BS&A claims. I couldn't verify that on the state's website, but I believe that's true. Probably close to 100% of units are using their assessing package because it does hit those packages do have to be approved by the state of Michigan, or at least they have to meet the state of Michigan's requirements. I believe the same is true for tax as well, that most units are probably using them for tax as well. So, with that in mind, that's kind of the bulk of the presentation. The last thing I wanted to mention, though, which is a little unrelated to that, is BS&A Payments. Excuse me. We currently use Invoice Cloud as our online payment provider. They, we've been using them since prior to the pandemic. So they are, if you go out to pay a bill to the city online, you'll go through Invoices Cloud's portal eventually. And they've worked fine for us. They have some... I don't know, some issues here and there that I haven't been that happy about. But for the most part, they work pretty well. But BSNA, a year or two ago, introduced their own online payment system. So they're kind of making it tougher a little bit for us to continue on with Invoice Cloud. Invoice Cloud has... We can continue on with Invoice Cloud, and I haven't seen the pricing yet, but they're saying, oh, you can stay on with Invoice Cloud, but there'll be an additional fee for us to keep that integration in place for you. And I haven't seen what that fee is yet, honestly. But Michelle and I have both seen demos of the BS&A payment system, and it looks really good, but I haven't seen any pricing on that yet either. We are currently under contract with Invoice Cloud through about August of next year, 2027. And we have to give them, it's either 90 or 120 days notice if we're changing. So we have some time to review this, but that's a process we're going to need to go through. Through the rest of this year, really, we probably need to make a decision by the end of this year whether we're changing or not so that we can have the time ahead of that end date with Invoice Cloud to make the conversion. So that's just the FYI that that's something we're working on as well. Beyond that, I'm just wondering if you have any questions or anything you want to discuss.

Thanks, Mr. Sell. Any questions for Ed from council members? Kathy.

You talked about having to go in all to all the different modules and in the future wouldn't have to be so can you talk a little more about How much time it takes and what's the percentage like what are we gonna save in staff? Work effort I guess is what I'm trying to figure out to help us adjust to this.

Yeah, it's hard to quantify because I Mean it and I guess I What's nice about the cloud version is it's one of the many things that I have on my list that's nice about it is that they have dashboards. When you go into it, it's a dashboard that's personalized to you. So if I'm one of Michelle's clerk specialists, clerk treasurer specialists, And I just want to see where I go to do cash receipts every day. That's what's going to be on my front screen. I don't have to go anywhere else. It's just going to be there for me. Whereas right now, when you open up BSA, it basically looks the same for everybody. So I think that will be a big help for people to be able to personalize what they need to see when they go in there. There's some people that just need to do purchase orders, so the purchase orders will just show up for them. Opening the modules isn't hard. The upgrade update process is a little timely. Like I said, if you're doing all of them, it's probably 45 minutes or so once a month to get them all to update. The BSNA actually does updates twice a month, but we just decide that's too much, so we only do it once a month. But I can't quantify how much time savings there will be, but there'll be some efficiency there just because, and it'll be more user-friendly just because you'll have what you need right there in your personalized view. Yeah.

Other questions for Mr. Sol? Andrew.

So I've never been a fan of the SAS model. I've never been a fan of the subscription model of services, especially when they're tripling the annual cost to us at the same time. But like you said, it sounds like this is a transition that in the future we may have no choice in anyway. I know that they're saying that the price is increasing later on. So far, we have seen the price drop consistently as they try to migrate their customers over to that. I anticipate the recurring annual revenue is an incentive for them to be doing that.

Timmy, I think it's also a... efficiency issue for them, too. They don't want to be supporting two different software packages.

No, that's certainly understandable. Do we really expect the price to increase and that they're going to lock in? Or do we say, well, we think the price is going to go up, but that's mostly just a sales tactic to get you by now?

Yeah. I mean, it could be a sales tactic. I don't know. It's impossible for me to know. So if you guys want to take that risk, that's fine. I mean, I'm not saying I'm unhappy with .NET. I just think it's time for us to decide whether we want to do this proposal or wait and see if there's another proposal. I think we should go with this proposal. I mean, I know the people there pretty well, and I don't think it's going to get much better than this, especially based on the proposals I've had in the recent years.

Yeah. My knee jerk reaction is, you know, drag our feet until they force us. But I understand that the more and more it becomes a pain in the back. It's just there... There are reasons to switch so that you get to choose when the transition happens so that it doesn't affect other operations.

And like I said, there are some, I mean, I have a list of about 10 here if you want me to go through them, but there are some very nice enhancements in the new software that we don't have now, and they're making more enhancements in the future. So that's also the big thing is that our current program.net is where it is. It's not going to change, and it's not going to get any better, whereas cloud will. I'm confident of that.

Other questions? So Ed, as you said, the prices are going lower. Those that may have, I guess, stepped into this one or two steps back, are they getting any consideration?

I haven't asked that. I would guess no, but I have not asked that, no.

Okay, thanks.

There's been some out there with that or not that with cloud and previous years in terms of the conversion process i think it's been good that we've waited so they can get the conversion worked out better um you can't say for sure it's going to go perfect but i think now that they've been through a whole bunch of them it'll be better for us and um i think it'll work out really well yeah

Any other questions? So I guess, Interim Manager Cochran, this is just kind of the information at this point for Council, and if we think things through, get back with you, or Mr. Sell, or you, and just see where it may come back to us. Is that what we're looking at?

Yeah, that'd be fine. I think, as Mr. Sell indicated, we're planning to have this on the next council agenda for consideration to move forward. And, you know, I'll echo from personal experience in using BS&A. I'm not in it. It's in-depth. There's some of the staff, like in Michelle's office or in Ed's office, just enough to be dangerous, I suppose. But it is a very clunky software, and it's getting to be a clunky software, especially when you're trying to work off-site. personal experience, open an app on Saturday morning, it's got an update, you might as well go about your business for the day and come back a little while later, because that's how long it'll take to update the progress. But it is a software that's very intricate in all the city operations throughout every department. And so So moving in this direction, I guess a little bit on our terms is of a benefit as well. So, but yes, if you have questions, feel free to reach out to myself or Mr. Sell and intend to move forward unless we hear otherwise next meeting.

All right, thank you. Clerk LaVoy.

I'd be happy to have a conversation as well with anyone who has questions about the efficiencies that this will create. And the other piece to keep in mind is that the county treasurer's office has already moved to it. So when we do settlement, we're doing it on .NET and they're already in the cloud. So that's another piece of information. And then the other piece is from my time with the Treasurer's Association. At none of the meetings is anybody moving from .NET to anything else. They're all moving to the cloud. And there's been a couple of comments. I agree with you. I think that it's getting better every time. When we first started hearing about the transition, it was clunky. It was difficult. It was painful. And now what I'm hearing is, yeah, it's a little bit of a stretch. But as soon as we transition over, we're pretty happy pretty much right away. So I think there's a lot of pluses. So if anybody has any questions, I'm also happy to have the conversation.

Thank you for offering.

But add to that about the county, they went through a RFP process, not just for their tax programs, but also their financial programs as well, and they ended up selecting BSNA for those programs as well, and they've been up, at least their IT staff is happy with that, how about I say that? Yeah, they've been, so they didn't convert from BSNA.net to BSNA Cloud, they converted from a different package to BSNA Cloud, and it's worked out good for them.

All right. Thank you. Yep. Thanks, Michelle.

You're welcome. Next item. Next item is item 5959, overview of residential housing projects.

You're a manager, Cochran.

A lot of discussions, a lot of projects in line with your council goals and objectives that you've established and moving forward with residential housing development. And at past meetings, we've had different agreements, different approvals before the planning commission and city council. And so we thought it might be helpful to give you a very broad overview of every housing project. that's in some stage of development within the city from construction to plan review. So Mr. Van de Sacker is going to give you an overview of where we're at on various projects and be able to have discussion and answer questions.

Matt. Great. Honorable Mayor, City Council, Clerk, Treasurer Lavoie, Matt Vanasacker, Deputy Director of Economic and Community Development and Neighborhood Services Coordinator for the City of Monroe. So hoping to, as Mark said, run through some of these projects at a high level. I'm also happy to go into additional detail if there's anyone that has additional questions after the fact. But goal is to look at projects, particularly projects that have two or more units that are being developed at this point in time. There are several that are also on a single unit basis or an accessory dwelling unit or something like that being added as a result of some of the zoning code changes that we've made. But these are a few of the larger scale projects that we're working on. So we'll run through these, but we'll also save some time at the end if there's any questions that pop up. The first one to talk about is we're going to split Mason Run into two parts. And that's because based on the planned unit development and planned unit development agreements, it is split into two parts. So the first one are the 23 existing infill lots that were left either vacant. There was one house that was actually started but was never completed. Those houses are part of a phase one for infinity homes out of Novi. They are going through the homes are anywhere between fifteen hundred to two thousand square feet in size, mostly two to three bedroom units. And these are the 23 remaining infill lots that had already been parceled out in 2008, 2009, before the previous developer decided not to continue on with the project. And it had waited for a number of years until Infinity Helms came through and said, hey, we we're interested in doing this project. The starting price range for these, you'll see there's probably about 15 or so that have been completed at this point in time in the Mason Run neighborhood. If you haven't been back to check it out, it's really cool to see all the development that's happening. But starting price range for these units is anywhere from $237,000 to $279,000. So Those are on the base model. You know, there's upgrades in terms of cabinetry and countertops and some of those other things that can bring that cost up a little bit. But this is kind of the entryway point. So you can see these units are very, I mean, they follow the existing, the original Mason Run planned unit development pattern book in terms of the home design. So you'll see a lot of the same features that you see across the neighborhood already. A lot of the same colors as well. You know, there's certain color parameters in that. But this project is very much under construction, and we would anticipate that the remainder of these units, there's a... A website you can go to on Infinity Home's website and see which ones are actually ready for sale. Some of them have been publicized on realtor.com, but they've actually been very successful in selling these before they even get to that stage. So they've been having conversations with folks from all over about moving into these units. Which brings us to Mason Run 2.0. So this is really what brought Infinity Homes and made them excited to work on the remaining infill lots was the fact that this council and planning commission were... were forthright enough to look at changes and amendments to the existing planned unit development pattern book that was for Mason Run 1.0. Infinity Homes, they were looking at a very specific market, slightly larger lot footprints, slightly larger in terms of the square footage for some of these units. But they're looking to break ground on 33 single unit units. unit residential buildings at this, these will be three and four bedroom units. And this will follow the Mason run 2.0, the updated pattern book for design. So that's just an example of one of the houses down in the corner. They are starting to field interest and calls on this. I've actually gotten calls from some of the folks that were looking at this section already that wanted to learn more about the area. They're moving from other places. Their family members have jobs around here locally. They're moving to be closer to family and move their families into the city. So it's a really great project that they're working on. But this kind of just shows high level in terms of where these lots are. These lot splits have been processed. So these are brand new lots within the city. These were existing It was four larger tracts of land that have been subdivided into into what you see here on the screen, which is very exciting. So hoping that we'll see more of this to come as we continue on our path for the high industrial property and some of the sub area plan that is in. We just had a kickoff meeting last week to start talking about that project. So excited about that. Shifting gears to the south end of the city, 1331 LaPleisance is right on the border of the city and Monroe Township. It's right on the corner of LaPleisance and Kentucky, if you can picture that, where that's at. Kind of in a regular shaped parcel. It's a triangle that sits on the corner there. There's also another parcel on the corner that's a separate ownership, but This was an existing planned unit development agreement that was crafted back in 2019. It was going to be a 23-bed senior living facility at the time. That was the plan. Developers came back to us back in 2024. and said, hey, we're actually looking to pivot into single unit residential design. And so they have turned it into a site plan for 13 single unit homes. These will be three bedroom units. And this has been approved. The site plan has been approved for this project. It came before you in 2025 and 2024 for various stages of redeveloping that planned unit development agreement. And the underground site work has actually been completed for this project. So they are getting ready to break ground on the first unit. And they're hoping to get at least one to two homes up this summer. And they're going to kind of go as they will for the remainder. But you can kind of see some of the characteristics, some of the features to the elevation there on the screen as well. Okay. Former Lazy Boy site. So the townhomes, we actually have additional meetings with developers this week regarding interest in the Lazy Boy site. The first phase of this project has been complete. The 12 units that Piso Development ended up putting in on the corner of Holiday and Huber Drive, those are all up. CFOs have been granted and they are all being rented out as rental condos. The second phase of this process, Squire Development came and said, hey, we've seen the success of the first 12 that have gone up on the site. We would like to do eight more on parcel B1, which was It's circled on your screen there, but it was slated as a residential parcel in the planned unit development and PUD agreement. So they're going to be building eight units on that site. They're looking to get rolling as soon as we can get the formal approvals and everything in place. We're having a meeting just about some of the site work. this week to get them there to a site plan submittal. But hoping to see that break ground here later this summer, early fall at the latest on that. but there's also remaining acreage on the site. There's 7.6 acres of residential, and then there's 1.4 acres of a property, and the letter is escaping me right now in terms of the site, but it's slated for either residential or commercial on this site. We have seen some plans, thinking a little bit more in the future, that about 42 units, if you were doing single story, the same that have been on the, you know, have started to develop on that site, about 42 units would fit back on the seven acres that sits at the far east of that property, east of Huber Drive. So... I'm really excited to continue this project, and I think it's really great to see the pattern book and some of the design coming to life for this. 75 Scott Street, we've talked at length about this project, obviously the site of the former city central fire station. They are looking to do a three-story building with anywhere from 42 to 46 units. These will be affordable units, currently awaiting the MSHDA, Michigan State Housing Development Authority approval on these. And they're hoping to hear back in July whether or not MSHDA has supported the project. Um, the timeline once award, uh, would be anywhere from one to two years. So they, they tried to do it as quickly as possible. Mishda also does not want them, uh, wasting time, uh, and going through this process. So, um, it's really great. Uh, but, uh, cannot thank, uh, solid rock church and the, the County of Monroe as well for being great partners, uh, in this project. It, you know, it takes a village, uh, And this was a very unique project that had a lot of different intricacies to it. Some that we were aware of, some that we were not aware of in the process, but we're very excited to see this one get funded hopefully here in July. Welcome Homes. This was actually on your last council meeting agenda, I believe, for approval of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority funds and plan. And this is being supported by the BRA and Housing TIF. It's located at 1026 East 2nd Street and 1030 East 2nd Street, for everyone that remembers the former Purple Church building that sat there on the corner. that the city has ownership of. I've been told that they have some important discussions coming up, but hoping to eventually get that parcel conveyed over to Community Reimagined LLC, who's the developer for that project. And you can see on the screen, it's a little screenshot of what those units will look like. They will be three stacked duplexes, so six units in total that will sit on that site. And you can kind of see the little site plan there. It was an administrative site plan review, so they have actually received approval for this from the site plan standpoint. They needed it to be able to go to Michigan and some of the other funding entities to know that they had that. So we were able to work with them to make sure that that moved swiftly. St. Mary Academy, we also talked about this one at the last meeting, estimated 115 units in phase one. Those will, for the vast majority, be two bedroom units, approximately 1,000 to 1,150 square feet. That's also supported by BRA, by the Downriver Community Conference, and the state housing TIF, along with a slew of other entities and organizations that have come on board to support that project. I think it's certainly a catalytic project, but I know that they are looking to start in early 2027 on phase one for that project. Project Double Impact, which is Habitat for Humanity. Location is 211 Jones Avenue, the eastern portion of that property. As you can see on the screen, that's the portion of the property that has frontage along La Pleasance Road. They're estimating seven duplexes as part of that project, which would end up being 14 units. These will also be affordable units targeting around the 60% of area median income target that habitat properties fall under. And they're currently fundraising for this phase. They have been very successful in raising some of the funds and they've gone above and beyond even what they were anticipating to raise. But there is still some site work and some fundraising. We continue to work with them as they navigate and kind of craft their site plan. They had submitted some preliminary design originally, but then the infrastructure costs were going to add a significant chunk to the project. So now they're actually looking at having three curb cuts along the Pleasance that would feed into the 6th and then having one that would come off of, I believe it's Custer Drive or Custer Street there. but they are planning to submit site plan in the fall. You'll notice too that this property is also zoned as public recreation outdoor space. So there is a zoning change that will need to take place in order for this project to move forward. They are currently deciding whether they are going to have these units that will fit within the existing R3 low density residential small lot district. SO IT WOULD ALREADY MEET THOSE STANDARDS, WHICH IS THE ADJACENT ZONING DISTRICT TO THIS PROPERTY, WHICH WOULD BE GREAT, OR IF THEY ULTIMATELY HAVE TO GO THE PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT ROUTE FOR SOME OF THEIR DESIGN. A COUPLE OTHER ONES THAT ARE SMALLER IN SIZE, BUT I THINK THE IMPACT IS EQUAL. WHEN YOU LOOK AT ADDING RESIDENTIAL UNITS, SPECIFICALLY IN DOWNTOWN MONROE, AND GETTING CREATIVE WITH THE WAY THAT WE'RE ADDING RESIDENTIAL UNITS TO DOWNTOWN, This is 114 Cass Street, and the developer for this project is Castiglione Properties. This is the former River Raisin Center for the Arts studio space, and Castiglione Properties, they're looking to convert this into three residential units. And you'll note that this came up in January of 2026, December of 2025, for rezoning from Commercial Business District downtown to the R3 single-unit resident or low density residential small lot district. And the reason for that was because currently in the commercial or the central business district, you are not able to build on the main level. So when you look at this building and you look at it, you're like, well, what's the main, it's kind of a split level building and the entrance kind of comes in up on the second floor. So then there's a question of, oh, is there even an opportunity to build residential on this lot? Whereas converting it into the R3 district allows for that residential development to occur and take place. So this is also one that they're hoping to get started as soon as possible, and they are projected to start this summer on that project. Former Monroe Optical. So this is one that our folks on the DDA, Mayor Clark and Councilwoman Steelgrave, are very familiar with. 13 West Front. The developer, I credited the DDA with being a developer on this project. They took the bull by the horns and did a lot of that pre-development work and necessary development work to make sure that this building gets transitioned into productive reuse. So big kudos to the DDA for that. But then also Glowfish Studios, which is the entity that has submitted the offer to purchase the building from the DDA. And that offer was accepted by the DDA and we're working through the process of getting the development agreements and everything in place for that project. But this building was purchased by the DDA in May of 2023. And at the time, looking at the fact that this has a lot, I mean, there's a lot of space in this building. There's room for a number of residential units above, but worked with Jacobs Architects to come up with what that plan looked like and that design looked like. And so Glowfish is planning on doing their retail storefront on the first floor, and then three residential units that will go above that space. So that'll bring that space into true productive reuse. They're also planning to start as quickly as possible, and they will be planning to start this summer as well. 111 East Front Street. So this developer is ST Project Management Agency, LLC. And really a great, a true testament to coming together and working on different creative ways. This building was slated for demolition. It had passed through the process. Construction Board of Appeals, they're getting ready to tear the building down. And this was actually acquired by ST Project Management Agency off of the county tax sale. And they came to the city and said, hey, we want to save this building, which is always what we strive to do. That's our first thing. If there's a way to do it, we are absolutely on board with doing that. They presented a way to do it. They submitted some demolition plans for the interior of the building. It's been supported by the BRA as well as the MEDC. So they engaged with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and have received $250,000 to put toward this redevelopment project. It's north of $500,000 in terms of the total development costs for the space when you factor in the purchase price for the building and some of those other things. but they are also very excited. This project has also been supported with an obsolete property rehabilitation act abatement as well. So there's a number of different things to make this project possible, but we're very excited to see, especially because first floor they're planning to do a restaurant use, and then up above they're planning to do two residential units. So that'll be transformative, especially with its proximity to Altruza Park and some of the plans that we have for the continuation of Altruza Park. You look at the other side of Altruza Park and 115 or 105 East Front Street and some of the investment that's gone in at that space. It's really, really becoming a great destination area in town. So just in summary, looking at, and I know I'm forgetting a number of different projects and some that are single units and so on and so forth. But so far, really since the 2024 residential housing strategy and then also engaging with Infinity Homes and some of those other programs, There have been 30 units that have been completed in the city. Plans approved that are awaiting construction, 52 additional units. So we're hoping to get those rolling as soon as possible. And then planned projects with steps remaining in the process, whether they need to potentially go after a rezoning of a space or whether they need to submit for site plan review. That's 234 additional units that would be part of that as well. Yeah. That's the presentation, but I will allow if Mayor would like to entertain additional questions.

Thanks, Matt. Thanks for the presentation and all the information on the project that some are familiar with, some of us have, and this is additional. Kathy.

I have two questions. So the La Pleasance, Kentucky, you quickly said there was one section that was owned by someone else. Is that like the corner? It's hard to see.

Yeah, so the absolute corner of that site.

Is that just going to be left undeveloped at the current time, or is there a plan for that?

time so unless there is an agreement that would be you know which they've decided and engineering shows that they could fit everything within the lot that they own so they're not pursuing any additional acquisition at this point in time

Is that lot big enough, like whoever owns it could build if they wanted? Or how big is that section?

It's a very unique lot. I don't know off the top of my head. My first inkling would be no. And I think partly because of the clear vision zone and some of the requirements that we have, it's a little bit of a questionable intersection already when you think about coming to that T and then having to go left or right. So yeah, I would say it would be difficult to build something there.

Okay, question two was on the, by the Aldis.

Yes.

So you had that one section that's circled, does that come off of Bentley then?

No, so it'll actually come off of the five-unit commercial building. So as part of the site plans for those three developments that have taken place on the south end of Holiday, Our biggest thing that we stressed to all of the engineers and architects that were designing these projects were cross connectivity. So we were not necessarily looking to bring Bentley into the site. I know that had been proposed at one point in time. We were looking to bring Bentley from a pedestrian access only onto the site so that way the residents on Bentley have the benefit of being able to walk to the coffee shop and some of the other amenities on the site. So some of those details we're still working out on that, on the eight unit that's being proposed. But as of right now, that connectivity would come off of the five unit commercial.

Thank you.

Other questions for Matt? Or other projects maybe thinking we're doing or thinking about or have properties? So Matt, I know you mentioned there's other single unit items that are occurring. I think if I'm correct, the last time you spoke is 54? Yep, 52 and 54, South Monroe Street. No, I was talking about the number of single units that are available for build, like properties.

Oh, yeah, 52. Okay. Or I'm sorry, you're talking about the last... The last presentation, the last meeting, yeah.

Those are lots that are in the City of Monroe, and they're buildable if you found an individual developer or a developer that would want to take several of those on as well, correct? Yes. And they're in city ownership, is that correct? Correct. Okay, thanks. Michelle?

So has there been any activity for the old Boyd School? Is anything working with that? What street is it? The old Boyd School, which you wouldn't know because you're too young.

Or Christiancy School?

Christiancy?

Was it Christiancy?

Probably.

On Lincoln?

Yes. Yeah, Christiancy. I couldn't think of the name of the street.

We've had conversations with Monroe Public Schools about it. They still own that property. So, yeah. But nothing at this point in time. We haven't received any plans.

Thanks.

Yeah.

Andrew. I think it's clear from the data that you've presented, Matt, and thank you for the presentation, Housing and development is an aggressive objective of ours, and we seem to be well on our way of moving the ball forward. This is a follow-up presentation to the presentation that we had two weeks ago. Was it our last meeting? To the city-owned property. So it's all part of a broader picture. I know that we also completed our end-of-year audit, and at the end of year audit, we always review the current taxable value of the city of Monroe in the change over time. Of course, that's something that we're having to adjust to in light of other developments in the city, especially regarding DTE. And we're trying to diversify our tax base to be able to prepare ourselves and build more residents and create a more thriving environment and community, but also provide the city with the revenue that's necessary to run that city and provide those services. Would we be able to, in the future, no rush on this, but would we at some point in the future be able to show with the investments that have been made what the added taxable value throughout the city is due to these projects. And I understand that some of them are funded in part through tax abatements, which is on the deficit side of the balance sheet in that case. not to say that those aren't worthwhile or that there's not reasons that we do them, but if we could see how the math turns out in a financial sense, not that that's the only reason we're building new houses. Building a thriving community is going to take some money, even if you don't get it all back in tax revenue. But at the other end, would it be possible to see where we sit from a financial sustainability standpoint?

I think absolutely.

Thank you.

Other questions? So when you said 52, 54, I know we know that's a project in the works, and it's from an individual, and there's a first floor commercial that is planned. We don't have all the details, but it is the intention for some residential apartments up top, but that's a little premature for a presentation tonight, probably.

They're planning one residential unit above. And yeah, there's certain, you know, the... the age of the building and some of the other things that play into that.

Yep, I saw Morgan was removing items and got to remove some stuff to get it all the way to start the development. Yeah, it's going to be great.

Any other questions?

No.

if I may. Projects, the one thing that is rather remarkable is sometimes a two-unit project takes just as much work as a 45-unit project. And I think all of these moving forward in some way or some fashion is a testament to the collaboration that happens between the Economic and Community Development Department, the Engineering Department, the Utilities Department, and the Building division all working together on these not in a silo, but meeting with the developers working with them getting their questions answered. And all of this I think is a result of some of the tools and the investments that you've made, including things like the residential housing strategy and laying out the roadmap of where we should start looking at development. completing the market analysis so that we can make wise decisions based on what we should be putting on each of these different sites that are available. And of course, the zoning updates. One of the things that I was thinking during Matt's presentation, hearkening back to a presentation we had a couple weeks ago about the proposed zoning code preemption at the state of Michigan. And We did the hard work last year to update the zoning ordinance to make it more flexible. And I think that having almost 300 new housing units in some stage of development planning is a testament that land use decisions in this work is best done at a local level. And obviously, achieves the outcomes that we're looking for for residential units of many different formats and many different income levels. So didn't want to step too much on a soapbox there, but also wanted to harken back to that presentation as well. And I want to thank Matt. Certainly when we hired him, As deputy director and neighborhood services coordinator, housing was a big focus. And every year we report to the state the number of new housing unit permits. And for many years, it was one or zero. And to have this many under construction, I think, is a testament to his hard work as well. So thank you, Matt.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

Questions? Thanks, Matt. Thanks. Clerk Lavoie.

5960 city of Monroe America 250 commemoration and events overview intermarriage in Cochrane reserves

Well, keeping in the theme of collaboration and partnerships that we've been talking about since we gathered for the ribbon-cutting earlier, as you may know, the United States turns 250 years old this year. And there's been a lot of work that's been going on behind the scenes that we wanted to enlighten you about with many different partners across the community. And thinking back, the first meeting that we had to start planning the local commemoration and observances of our 250th was last July. So here we are almost a year later thinking about how we're going to observe the 250th sesquicentennial. That will be the only time I say that during this presentation. Here locally, we wanted to share some updates as well as what some of our partners are doing as well. So last July, we sat down with a myriad of partners, including the museum system, the National Park Service, the Battlefield Foundation, the Community Foundation of Monroe, Explore Monroe or the Convention and Tourism Bureau and more recently the Exchange Club of Monroe County to make sure that we were all collaborating together and not dividing our efforts or duplicating our efforts with a focus here in the city on how we were going to observe this. And looking back at those very early meetings, we had a lot of ideas, a lot of very ambitious ideas of how we were going to fill the calendar in 2026 with observances. And I also want to say some of the, another bullet point here is the city staff. I know Dr. Everly participated and joined us for this, Clerk Treasurer Lavoie, Jody Egan, and Amy Moore have been integral to this as well as others. And so as we started, thinking about these ideas, we start putting them into realistic steps and moving forward and then putting together a theme and a calendar. What we did not want to do this year was think about a whole bunch of new events that we had to work really hard to build. But thinking about existing things that we have going on in the city, how can we incorporate the America 250 observances here locally? And that's what we're going to talk about a little bit this evening. Brian Egan is on the Michigan Historic Commission as well. And the state actually started a lot of work on this a couple years ago as they put together the America 250 Michigan work group at the state to come up with this program guide that we used as a basis for moving forward. And so there were several themes that the state suggested with communities and they had put together a playbook and some templates for us. to think about not just having parades and celebrations, but also thinking about some themes that we can carry forward throughout the year. And these were the five that were pointed out and adopted by the state of Michigan. And I would be remiss to say, states all across the country are doing this as well. This wasn't unique just to Michigan, but we use our states as a guidebook in moving forward. and so we plotted forward um thinking about these themes how can we do outreach and partnership with others and one of the first ones that popped up uh dr everly i will i will give her the credit for working very hard on this uh with local educators as well as jody uh egan and putting this together but what we did was think about our youth and how do we get them to reflect on what the America 250 means for them personally, not just in celebration and in cause. So Dr. Everly did a great job of putting together a community-wide composition activity that we are distributing to schools and educators, primarily here in the city, but this is posted on the website where any educator could use. But what we're asking and what we're suggesting is that educators encourage their students to write a letter to their future self. and reflect on where they hope to be as they journey forward just like America has since 1776. We would not be able to do this without Dr. Everly's experience in curriculum standards and encouraging schools to do this as part of their educational activities. And so this is a template that's on our website that can be shared. The community-wide composition activity, we even created a special letterhead that students can download and write a letter to themselves. We're also sharing this with partners like the Opportunity Center and the YMCA thinking about Tot Lot this summer as an activity that they can intertwine into those out of school activities as well. But also a great resource list, which was a selection of books that all have to do with America's 250th anniversary or our nation's founding and where we've come. So a great selection. This is an example page that I put up here for ages five to eight. But Dr. Everly did a great job working with her group of separating out book lists for various age groups. This is not just for educators. Parents can use this as we come upon summer vacation and thinking about activities throughout the summertime. And so this is something, again, it's not just one activity that we built, but it's something that can be used all year as we move through 2026 and reflect upon what America 250 means with those themes that have been provided by the state. So feel free to share this. And I would be remiss to, the communications office has created a whole special website for America 250 on the city's website where all these resources and links are available. And that's accessed right from the city's homepage as well. So you don't have to search too hard to find it. Next, the Exchange Club. So every year they do the Field of Honor. Typically it's been around Veterans Day or different parts of the year where flags are placed on the south side of the Battlefield Education and Visitor Center. This year they've decided to move the Field of Honor activities to the week before July 8th, which we'll talk a little bit more about later. But thinking about what that field of honor means, who are we honoring? Those who have given their lives in various conflicts since the Revolutionary War and the establishment of our country. And so they actually approached us and they said, we heard you were developing some activities around America 250 and we want to take part in that and participate. And so what we're doing, the city is going to be purchasing for the Exchange Club a special flag display that will be part of the Field of Honor that is 26 flags that represents each of the flags since the first flag was created. There's been 26 different versions since then, as well as a banner, an outdoor banner that holds the Declaration of Independence that we will then be able to use for other activities throughout the city as well. So our partnership and support of them goes beyond just allowing them to use the property for this great display. But they will also have a table available. If you haven't been to this in the past, they have a tent set up that are staffed by volunteers to talk about what is the field of honor and have some America 250 education resources there as well. And this is taking place the week of July 4th, and it will remain up until July 9th. The museum system is doing a whole host of programs, and I'm not going to list them all here. If you follow them on Facebook, they've had special speakers, they've had great activities going on, and they have really taken the reins in delivering some of these programs throughout the year. But one that's very exciting is our first flag. This is JJ and Andy at the museum system have carried this forward. And if you haven't heard, they have been distributing flag kits to various nonprofit social groups throughout the city and throughout the county and asking them to sew a stripe that is similar to the original woolen flag that supposedly, according to local lore, was the first flag that was raised in Michigan over the River Raisin settlement. So they are replicating that flag, both in materials and in size, that's being hand-sewn by volunteers all across the county. And then on flag day itself, they're hosting a community sewing day at the museum where the community can come and help assemble all of these stripes and stars and fields on that flag. And then that is going to fly above the courthouse July 1st through the 9th. to talk about the history of the flag in 1796, which was the year it was supposedly first raised in Monroe, the first over the country. So really inviting and involving the community in all these activities as well. Next, the Battlefield and the Battlefield Foundation are putting on the Rally on the Raisin, which is a living history timeline on June 13th and 14th. They do this annually, and this talks a lot about military history, military flags. And they're weaving the themes of America 250 and those five themes into this event. So visitors to this event are going to be able to hear more about 250 and the significance of 2026, particularly here in Monroe when the Battles of the River Raisin took place. On July 4th, the National Flag Foundation is hosting, it's called Light to Unite, and what they are doing is encouraging individuals, households, agencies, organizations, businesses all across the country to decorate their properties in patriotic colors, red, white, and blue. And then at nine o'clock in the evening on July 4th, they're asking buildings all across the United States to light in red, white, and blue as a show of patriotism to mark America 250. This year, and actually I think it is happening tonight, we are changing the colors on the Martin Luther King footbridge to red, white, and blue, and they will remain that way throughout the duration of the year. So While we're not participating in the lighting on July 4th, ours will be lit starting hopefully tonight. We won't know until it gets dark out and we can see, but we will be using our social media and communication channels to encourage our residents to participate in the Light to Unite program, particularly from Flag Day through July 4th and July 8th. And there's a picture of what the bridges look like in the past when we've lit it patriotically. And finally, on July 8th, at 6 o'clock p.m., it marks the 250th anniversary to the minute of when the Declaration of Independence was first read in Philadelphia publicly before it was signed and adopted. And so on that date, at that hour, organizations and communities all across the country are taking part in public readings of the Declaration of Independence. So this was the one event that we are building from the ground up. We're very excited about it. This is going to take place in the Ranger Square, just outside City Hall. It is a Wednesday evening, but at 530, we are going to start the ceremony with the posting of the colors, the honor guard, and this will take place in the pavilion. And then a couple speakers keeping it brief, and then at 5.55 p.m. we're asking all of the churches and institutions all across the city to ring their bells at the same time in unison to kick off the declaration reading that will begin sharply at six o'clock p.m. with the rest of the nation. Who is reading? We are asking folks and Dr. Everly and the communications office have been working hard on a nomination form that's been posted publicly on the city's website. And so keep this in mind and tell everybody you know, but anybody has the ability to nominate a youth who lives in the city or goes to school in the city and also veterans to take part in this public reading. So from the pavilion in the Ranger Square, we're going to be alternating youth and veterans to read an excerpt as selected. So those nominations will be open very soon. We're asking them to submit a video tryout, and then we'll review those and select the participants that evening, along with the Daughters of the American Revolution will also be participating. Right at the end of the declaration, we suspect that's going to take about a half hour, give or take, but we've secured the U.S. Air Force Roots and Blue Rock Band out of Chicago, who will be coming to give a free concert to the public that evening as well, and play for an hour and a half in LaRanger Square, a free patriotic concert. And then shortly after that, in partnership with Monroe County, Michigan events, around dusk, so 9.45-ish, we're going to have a drone show that will be launched from St. Mary's Park that will feature all patriotic SHAPES AND DISPLAYS FOR THOSE TO STAY THROUGHOUT THE EVENING. AND SO VERY EXCITED TO HAVE A FULL EVENING OF COMMEMORATION AND ALSO THE CITY MARKET WITH MONROE COUNTY MICHIGAN EVENTS WILL ALSO BE TAKING PLACE at three o'clock. So a full evening downtown. The social district will be open. We're going to have special social district commemorative cups for America 250 that people can enjoy. In between the Roots and Blue Band and the drone show, we also are going to have some other entertainment and options downtown while we wait for the sun to go down. So sure to be a great, great night. Celebrate our hometown heritage and joining celebrations all across the country. Continuing forward, every year we have a budget set aside through the capital improvements program where we do headstone restoration of Woodland Cemetery and also Kentucky Memorial. So we work with Carter Cemetery Preservation every year to clean headstones, repair headstones that have been damaged. And this year, the program is going to focus on Revolutionary War grave sites at Woodland Cemetery that need some tender love and care, as well as a whole host of other gravestones that are also going to be repaired. So you'll see that activity No public participation in that other than just awareness that we'll be paying respect to our local who died in the Revolutionary War or afterwards by taking care of their gravesite this year in honor of the 250. And then also keeping through the theme, moving throughout the year, the River Raisin Cleanup and the Stewardship Camps. One of the themes with the America 250 celebration by the state of Michigan is about we the people and building place. And so the theme of America 250 is going to be built into the Commission on the Environment's activities with the cleanup this year, stewardship, taking care of our natural resources for generations to come. So more to come on that as they start to develop those materials and put the program together. And then I do not want to steal the clerk's thunder. So Clerk Treasurer LaVoy, if you'd like to talk about this year's sticker contest.

Sure, a little bit. So we had such great success with last year's I Voted sticker contest that we decided to do it again. And we're going to try to tie it into the theme of America 250. So Mark and I are actually planning to meet with ALCC to talk to Amy Arnold about that because she was such a great champion of it. So we want to make sure that she hears about it from us. And then, of course, obviously we're going to solicit the schools again and just we're going to reuse the platform that Terry Davis had created for us. And that way students can submit online. and then hopefully the Art League will be interested in helping us vote again, or to select those that then will be voted on by the public. And we learned quite a few things last year though too about promoting it, and so we hope to expand on that, and of course heavily involved with that will be the communications department. Jody and Amy will be heavily involved. So yeah, I'm a little surprised. So thank you for giving me the opportunity. I was just thinking while he was speaking that we need to get moving on that. And it'll be in time. The state is doing theirs right now. In fact, they opened voting, I think, today for the state sticker contest. While those will probably be available for the November election, but that's okay. Ours will be available as well, and it's just a really great opportunity for our young artists to participate and hopefully get a little bit more tied into America 250.

Thanks.

Sorry to put you on the spot. Well, I was going to say, you know, I'm old enough to remember 1976, and there was a lot of excitement. And I'm not saying that there isn't excitement, but I've also run across quite a few young people that just really aren't aware of what America 250 is and all of that sort of thing. So I think we're hoping here locally the sticker contest will also help with some of that and just connect them to what it's about the parties and it's about the fireworks and the drones and things like that, but it's also about something else too. Hopefully this will tie that into voting and be helpful.

Can't wait to see what they come up with.

Me neither. It'll be great.

And then rounding out the years, this year's Hometown Holiday Lights program. So this year, of course, as you know, we try to add new sculptures every year working with our sponsors. And I know Mayor Clark and Communications Director Jody Egan have selected a couple patriotic fixtures for this year's Hometown Holiday Lights program. They've actually been purchased and they will be making an appearance at the July 8th event and will be put up a little bit on display, but then coming back out for this year's tree lighting ceremony and all the holiday festivities afterwards. And then also we are working with Rotary on the tree walk in Veterans Park to have a special tree that commemorates America 250 and highlight the activities there at the end of the year. And then of course replacing the courthouse evergreen tree this year as well that's been announced and we look forward to that. By way of an update, unfortunately after the hard winter that we had, the deer decided to have an all you can eat buffet on the tree that we had selected and purchased. And so Kevin Gayness, our forestry director, has done a great job in working to scope out a new tree that will come in time for this year's tree lighting ceremony. And we believe we actually selected one last week, though it may not be planted until closer to the end of the summer because I believe it's called candling where it's starting to grow and so you don't want to transplant it at that time. And there will be a special plaque that's placed with that tree that signifies that the tree was planted and dedicated in honor of America 250 this year as well. That's the string of activities that the city is cooperating with. Explore Monroe on their website, the Tourism Bureau, exploremonroe.org, I believe it is. They're the clearinghouse for all activities across the county. because there are other activities that are happening. I know the Monroe County Fair theme this year is red, white, and something with the America 250 theme. And then other communities are also working on things. So if you want to see the full list, you can go to the Tour Explore Monroe website. All of our events are on there as well. And then we're sharing partner events. But A lot of thought, intentionality, and cooperation from all the partners and great ideas that have come from our staff as well to make this year a really special year of Monroe as we mark America 250.

Thanks, Mark. Any questions for Mark? Michelle?

So for the drone show, will people have to move from this area to go watch the drone show, or will we be able to see it from here all over?

So we're working with the drone company to be able to stay in the Ranger Square or at least in the periphery. They're putting together a map that we will be able to distribute of where the best viewing locations are going to be. But we understand it will be high enough that people will be able to stay generally in the square to be able to see it launch from St. Mary's Park. It'll be about a 15 minute show and we'll be doing a lot of public communication in advance of this because there needs to be a safety zone around it to make sure if anything malfunctions, nobody gets hurt. So during the show, there will be some temporary street closures and limited access to St. Mary's Park in the parking lot while the drones are in the air, but we'll be communicating a lot of that as final plans come together. But the intent is to not have to move anywhere Like across Monroe Street or anything like that with the height of them.

All right.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm other questions for mark Seeing none. Thank you for this presentation. Thanks the other other items that were on our agenda this evening Wait till mark is back to a seat to see if there's anything additional I

The administration has nothing additional. Clerk LaVoy?

I have nothing further.

Questions from council before we take a break for about 10 minutes? Okay, seeing none, at this time we'll close the work session. Call the City Council meeting to order. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Stringham? Here. Felder? Here. Hader? Here. Stilgrave? Here. Bining? Here. Germani? Here. Mayor Clark?

Here.

I'd ask that we all please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you for the glorious wonder so visible around us, the beauty of the river and the lakeshore, the heritage of our city, and above all, the beauty of our people, the citizens of this city.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Clerk, next item, please.

The next item is the approval of the regular agenda.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran, any changes to the agenda? Council, have any requests or changes to the agenda? If not, Councilman Hader?

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Councilman Hader, supported by Councilwoman Stilgrave to approve the regular agenda. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Vining? Yes. Germani? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes. Next item, please.

Consent agenda and for approval of payments to vendors the amount should read one million six hundred seventy six thousand six hundred ninety seven dollars and six cents one six seven six six nine seven point zero six Thank you Are there any items on the consent agenda that council wishes to have pulled for further discussion?

Any items on the consent agenda from council? Seeing none, are there any items on the consent agenda? Those present here this evening wish to have pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion. Any items from those present here this evening? None. A motion would be in order for the consent. Councilman Felder.

Yes, Your Honor. I'd like to make a motion that all items on the consent agenda be accepted, placed on file, recommendations carried out, resolutions adopted.

Motion by Councilman Felder, supported by Councilwoman Stringham. that all items on the consent agenda be accepted, placed on file, recommendations carried out, and resolutions adopted. Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Vining? Yes. Germani? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes.

Next item, please.

The next item on the agenda is under presentations, communications, and public hearings. It's item 5963, communication to council from Scott Bredschneider.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran, there's a communication that came in today, is that correct?

Yes, Mayor. This is a letter that was received from a resident regarding the rental inspection program. This is just a letter to City Council we included in your packet this evening, and certainly if there's any follow-up or discussions with Council afterwards, I'd be happy to have those discussions with you.

Okay, it's not a motion or acceptance. It just gets filed with the clerk's office to be on the record. And of course, council had a copy of that within their packets. If you didn't find that, I'll make sure it gets to you. Thank you. Clerk, next item, please.

The next item under council action, item 5932, St. Mary's Park Phase II Renovations Bid Award.

Thank you. Interim Manager Cochran, this item, please.

This is the only item under council action, but it's a very large and complicated item. And so we're excited to bring forward for your consideration a bid award to complete the next phase of the St. Mary's Park redevelopment. Last year, the project included generally the area east of the Martin Luther King footbridge up to Elm Avenue and the parking lot. the riverfront. This year the Phase 2 bid project included all of the work generally in the park proper, including things like the new restroom or the new pavilion, sidewalk insulation, some trailway, some enhanced seating, ability to move with ease and accessibility throughout the park, a new playscape, and then other amenities as well that were that were included in the project. And so We did put the project out to bid. We only received one bid back, which was from Salambine Trucking and Excavating. Their low bid was about 1.8 million, which was about 16% above what our estimate was, and more than what we had originally budgeted for this phase of the project. In your packet this evening as a resolution that recommends moving forward with the project awarding the project to Salem being as well as the the subcontractors that were identified a couple of waivers for the responsible bidder ordinance as we've done in the past for landscaping as well as the purchase for some of the amenities and installation directly from pintura and But I would like to ask Patrick Lewis, director of engineering and public services, interim director of water, wastewater utilities, to talk about the various funding sources that have been identified for moving the project forward.

Thank you, Mr. Cochran. And good evening, honorable mayor and council and clerk treasurer, Patrick Lewis, director of engineering and public services and director of water and wastewater utilities, as previously stated. I'm going to try to keep this somewhat short because if I read this verbatim, it'd probably take 20 minutes to get through it all. But in lieu of the lengthy motions that I sometimes give you, I kind of put a resolution in front here because there are so many moving parts with this.

So Mr. Lewis, you're kind of reviewing what the resolution is versus the fact sheet. Because as you know, as counsel looked at that, it really breaks out where some of those funds are coming from, but also some adjustments that were made. So please go ahead.

Certainly. Yep. So I'll kind of go over some of the highlights here. And there are a number of attachments with your fact sheets that include the breakdown of those pay items. So what we did was we kind of did a combination of things. We looked at In order to bring the project into balance with the available funding that we had, and I kind of listed in there some of the grant fundings we have. There's the MEDC placemaking grant, which was $900, and I'd have to get the exact amount here, a shade under $1 million. $178,425. There you go, $978,425. So of that, we had already allocated most of that through a couple of other awards. The Phase I award, we allocated $541,000 of that previously for the first phase. And then we came back to you with an award for Panchura to do the... the pergola structures that were part of phase one, and so we encumbered most of the rest of that. I think 355,000 went to Pensura for that. So we were left with 82,425 from that grant source. We are expecting to get shortly, and we're pretty much guaranteed to get it. We just don't have the funds yet from the DNR Trust Fund, another $400,000 toward the project. So those are the two outside grant funds that we're pulling from for this. And then this year's Capital Improvements Program had $1,009,000 in general funds, exceeding that, and then $200,000 in trails fund money. So that comes from our Municipal Streets and Trails Fund. So that was the pot we had to work with. So we were trying to match that all together. So we kind of did a combination of things here when it came to the award. As Mr. Cochran mentioned, it was over the estimate. We were hoping to get more than one bid. Sal and Bean is likely to be, would have been the cheapest bidder anyway, because they already had received the bids for the sanitary sewer relocation through the west end of the park to support the removal of Dam 4. So they actually had a strong incentive to get this project anyway. So we're not uncomfortable with the number. Just, you know, it's always a little frustrating when you get one bid. So we had to also approach it from the standpoint of how do we get the rest of this in balance? And so we did a combination of things, one of which was we added some additional project funds from the Streets and Trails Fund, which we were seeding with leftover dollars that we're not using on the loop trail. You may remember we had asked for a purchase order with the Mannequin-Smith Group to potentially inspect that project. I'm happy to say that that project has gone extremely well. We've been able to cover that with our own city staff, and it's actually gone a lot quicker than we expected. So the funds were available in what was expected to be the engineering account for that, which we could move over. And since those were originally trails funds, we could park those for use in this project. And so that number was $75,794. So we combined that with the $200,000 coming from the CIP from the Trails Fund to add some additional items that were eligible trails within the St. Mary's Park project. We still weren't done. We had to cut some more pay items out of this contract. So we first looked at items that the staff could self-perform, whether it be the park staff, things like removing the cornhole boards, removing some of the play equipment, and in the case of DPS, removing the trees. So we'll have our staff self-perform some of those things. That pared it down a little bit. And then we looked at some of the items that could be done in the future as a standalone. And what we quickly found was that the cost for the tennis court resurfacing was including the fencing, the posts, and all that were significant. Close to $300,000 we were able to save by not doing that work now. Now, the drawback is we'll have to come back and do that project. The tennis courts are not in terrible condition. It was something we were going to do so that we could be done, if you will. They were resurfaced last in 2013. So we still got a few more years of life. And so that'll give us a little more time to get at those. And so between the combination of removing the tennis court items, leaving in the basketball court resurfacing, because we are going to be patching those when we bring the sanitary sewer through from the dam. So a combination of all that put the project into business. into balance here and then there's a spreadsheet that goes along with your fact sheet where we kind of break down the breakdown the balance of that the total cost we're asking to allocate from the non-trails fund sources is exactly 1.5 million and we're bringing just under that to the table um in in funding that we've either identified from grants or from general fund sources we feel we can come up with 8 500 from a few other capital projects that have money left over here and there i don't want to say it's loose change 8 500 is not loose change but we have some some projects that we know are under uh that we should be able to pull that from to bring that project in balance at one and a half million dollars for the general fund component in addition to that 275 from the streets and trails millage So I think that kind of covers where we're at. And then, of course, included in those costs are the direct allocation to Pensura to purchase their equipment directly, which has the advantage of saving basically the 6% sales tax. So if we get that directly. And this time we decided we were going to have them perform the labor to install the shelter on the west end of the park because we did have challenges this year. on phase one, where we had them bringing in the supply for the pergolas, and we had the contractor pouring foundations, and we ended up with some mismatching there. The city's not going to be paying for any of the cost to rectify that, but it's adding some complexity, and that's why you'll see that it's not done yet. We're still working out the details on that. So I think that covers what's in your packets, and then there's a lot of that, like I said, that resolution that includes a bunch of that information broken down kind of in sequence, similar to how I went over them tonight, although in a little bit more detail. I don't know if you'd like me to go any further, Mr. Cochran, if I missed anything of substance.

No, no, that's good. One thing about the MEDC grant is once we approve the contract this evening, it will unlock those funds to come back to us and replenish the capital reserve. And then also the trust fund grant that Patrick mentioned, the board has approved it, but the legislature has to give their final seal of approval. It has passed the Senate. We're just waiting for it to pass the house. And then those funds will be contracted and awarded to us. We hope any day now, so.

Very good, thank you. So there's a lot to this. It was a large item. I mean, I think there's more pages in this fact sheet resolution than the rest of the entire agenda this evening but it's a lot of information i really appreciate you reviewing it because there's a way in which this came to be it to be financially uh feasible possible to do so any questions from city council on this item uh councilman felder yeah i got two questions um the bid time it was out for bid for three weeks is that that's a standard time period yes okay

We have, contractors always seem to have concerns about whatever we do. Like we've been expressed concern before that we've had bids that were due the same week as the MDOT bid letting, or it's before a holiday, or it's too close to Christmas. It seems like there's always a challenge with that. We can have the bids out for a longer period of time, and sometimes that does encourage bidders, but we had the three that we expected to come in. One of them just flat out decided not to bid it. And they said, oh, we didn't tell you? We just decided we weren't going to bid it. So we know that xylor excavating, that was irrespective of when we put it out there. But three weeks is the standard. I will say on the facility jobs, there's a little bit more complexity than just putting out a street and water main job. But we found that to be adequate for nearly everything we have out there.

Okay. Yep. I mean, I'm sure you see where my mind is at. Yes, I do. Nine financial ways that we can get increased bids and potentially lower project amounts. But if it's the only bidder and it sounds like the other two saw it and were like, thanks, no thanks, we did our due diligence on that. The other question I have, the amphitheater, the current amphitheater under this proposal and the project costs that are going to be associated with what we're about to allocate is unaffected by these changes. That's correct. That's correct.

Okay. Yeah. The only real change you'll notice is that the concrete pavement in front of it, this is constructing a new accessible pathway to the front of the stage, but also one wide enough that Trucks can pull their equipment in there and unload in front of the stage. So there will be some changes to the concrete around it, but not to the stage itself. Okay.

All right. That's all the questions I have. Thank you. Other questions from council? If not, this is actually Councilman Hader. I'm sorry.

I move that the attached resolution setting forth the contract award on the allocations and other relevant projects related to approval be adopted.

Support.

Support.

There was a motion by Councilman Hader, supported by Councilman Vining. Any other comments? Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilperson Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Hader? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Vining? Yes. Germani? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes.

I have no further items this evening.

No further items. And it is June.

Now it's June.

Councilman Felder? I'll go, but Councilwoman Stringer has been going for a stall night. I know, and I apologize. I just saw that.

I was given the wrong sheet.

That's okay. I wasn't here thinking. It is June. It is the 5th. No, 6th. Sorry about that. June 1st. One day.

No comments this evening, Your Honor. All right. We'll stop. Go ahead. I have no comments in the spirit of expedition.

Okay.

Okay. Councilman Hayter.

Just one.

I'd like to... Congratulate Mr. Elliot James on his official bell ringing, being clear of his cancer and his treatment. And so congratulations, Elliot. It was great to see that you accomplished that.

Councilwoman Stilgrave.

So Thursdays are, I was gonna say Party in the Park, which kind of is, is the music in the park. And so we look forward to those. On Fridays, there's Food Truck Fridays downtown. Next Wednesday will be another city market. You should all attend that. They're pretty cool. And it was an amazing ribbon-cutting today at the Opportunity Center. And I hope everybody goes down there throughout the entire city and county and check it out. Participate. It's all free, and it's amazing what you will find down there. That's all I have.

Thank you. Councilwoman Vining.

Yes, congratulations on your cancer-free diagnosis, and you're like Superman. I keep saying it because I didn't even know you were going through that, so God bless you. Yes, today was a beautiful event. It's been a long road, long, long road. And I am so excited that we all got to move in over these last weeks. And we'll be ready to serve the public here soon. So it was a beautiful event, Mark, that you put together. Appreciate it. the hard work from all the staff and of all the agencies and yeah we'll be planting the Selma Rankins garden it's a big year because this is our tenth year planting June 7th Sunday so if you feel free to join us we usually get out there between Well, they get there at 8. I'll be there around 11 or noon, but feel free to join us. We've been sprucing it up. We wanted it to look good for the ribbon cutting, and I was on the reading terrace looking down, and I said, it doesn't look too shabby. I was able to make some connections with some of the subcontractors, and... I forget the painting company, but they have graciously agreed to come and stain our boxes, and they secured the stain for us. and they'll be providing all the labor. So it'll look even better to fit in with the new facility. So yeah, I'm exhausted, but overjoyed with the new facility and hope to see everyone there. I did warn the kids to enjoy the second floor because I will be policing and they will not be up there unless they are in the study room. or accompanied by an adult. So I did give them a fair warning today. They won't be running around the building, but downstairs is gonna be free reign for the children. And it's so beautiful because they have so much more space to explore and create. And yeah, I just wanna, again, thank everyone who was involved. That's all I have. Oh, Community Juneteenth, Monroe Juneteenth Family Reunion, June 19th. I'm like 99.9% sure that it's going to be held at Hellenberg Park this year. I want to thank all the city staff, especially Amy for guiding me through the special events process. I'm trying to follow rules and everything this year. So thank you to all the departments that are giving us the guidance that we need to make sure we're in compliance. And I cannot wait to see the community out there. And we'll be talking about that more. Look for social media updates on the Monroe Juneteenth Facebook page. And we're really excited about this year, moving it to Helenburg. I'M KIND OF LOOKING AT IT AS A PRECURSOR TO OFFICIALLY RECOMMISSIONING HALLENBERG. SO EVERYBODY COME OUT FROM THE CITY SO WE CAN GET SOME GOOD IDEAS OF WHEN WE MAKE THAT SPECTACULAR PARK AGAIN. SO THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR TODAY. THAT'S FRIDAY, JUNE 19. SO THANK YOU. THANK YOU. COUNCILMAN GERMANY.

Thank you. To echo everyone else, it was a beautiful ceremony. And if you do nothing else, please go upstairs and look at that portrait. It'll bring tears to your eyes. Also, I want to thank Mark because I believe you wrote that summary for the newsletter and it was perfect summary to summarize. what was going to be happening with each department and everything. It was very well written, and thank you for that. And it's just an exciting time to be living in the city of Monroe. We have a lot going on. I'm really excited about July 8th. I can't wait for that. And listening to all those bells ring. Awesome. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Stringham.

I'm gonna echo on the ribbon cutting. I mean, it was just amazing to see how many from the community came out to support and just the excitement for that building. I mean, it was just a lot of activity that went into it. It didn't just happen. I mean, there was a lot of planning and a lot of work and to be able to see the community enjoy that is pretty amazing. Also want to mention, Finally Friday kicked off last Friday, and if you didn't go, consider checking that out. That's one of my favorite concerts. Altruza, you get a smaller group of people, you get a smaller band usually, and you sit there and watch the waterfall while you're listening to bands. It's just a very, very relaxing time down there. And then, of course, Thursday kicks off, like Deb mentioned. The concert series, so that's always really good to be part of. So, very appreciative of all the things that we get to do in this city, and you're right, it is a great time to be part of the City of Monroe.

Thank you. Just a couple comments, as was shared with the opening of the Opportunity Center, and seeing the new library services, the Learning Bank, and of course the ALCC, is a combination of shared space, and a combination of of all the efforts that was put in. And I want to give a thanks to the staff and congratulate them for the work they did throughout the project. I know it was mentioned by Cochran there during the ceremony, but the work they did and stayed on it to be able to get there here at the first of June is pretty amazing. And it is a place to visit. It is a place to go and receive free resources and free service. And I encourage everybody within our community, the region, the county, to visit the Opportunity Center, the center, visit the library and the learning bank to see the commitment investment that has been made, but also the services primarily that are gonna be received with a facility that's going to, I'll say, enhance the learning opportunities and hopefully the results that we look for from our youth, our senior programs, all the programs throughout there. i say when we're we're cutting the ribbon and right in the front rows was a lot of young people and and and they realized they were excited because they found out who they want to know they were all trying to be the first student to get inside the opportunity center and of course they did wait for the family from of the navarre family to to get in there first they were the first to walk in And then all I heard from the one young lady, the young girl when she was there was amazing. That's what she said after she got in. So I think that there's a lot of joy, there's a lot of celebration. And I think that, I hope that our entire community sees what's going on with our community from, throughout our community and see what the, uh how well and what that importance that means so my thanks to everybody uh staff and all those that participated and i look forward to visiting back again soon i have no comments this evening no comments from clerk clavoy interim manager cochran

Yeah, I'd like to echo the thanks, especially to staff. I never sat in the construction trailer on Tuesdays with Matt and Patrick and Lauren and Chris as they were guiding the construction forward every two weeks. But there were a lot of highs and lows with that project and they've managed it very well. Even in the past week, I know Lauren was trying to get keys and security code pins for staff, and Matt was training on calendars and putting together the run of show for today's program. Parks was cleaning the parking lot after having that fence up and the construction trailer for well over a year. And so a lot of really hard work has gone in. I think Matt even mentioned he was going to be hauling dirt up to the planters on the roof if there wasn't dirt in there in time for today. So A lot of determination and support from the departments all across the city, not just during the construction, but for today's celebration as well. And then the partners and all that they did to put together activities for everybody to participate in as they were coming through the building too. So it was a great day. It was a great day to celebrate and we'll continue on planning for Center 2.0 for the next groundbreaking and ribbon cutting.

Thank you. Next, citizens' comments. Any comments from those present here this evening? Any citizens' comments? Congratulations, Mr. James. Seeing no comments, no motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Support.

Motion by Councilwoman Stilgrave, supported by Councilman Stringham to adjourn. Clerk, please call the roll.

I would try to call it in the right order, but I would get confused with the sheets I have.

Go the way you want. I'm just going to go with what we have. Councilperson Stringham? Yes. Felder? Yes. Hayter? Yes. Stilgrave? Yes. Vining? Yes. Germani? Yes. Mayor Clark?

Yes.

Congratulations.