City Of Muskegon Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right. I think that's the cat today. I didn't know.

Good evening, good folks, and welcome to the city of Moskegan City Commission work session for this Monday, April 13th, 2026. And do you have a roll call? Do you want to call roll call? Madam Clerk, I have it. You have it. All right. Uh let's get right to business then. First item is the violence prevention update. and we have some guests joining us today, but um you're leading out or reporting out on this. So, welcome. Sir, if you kindly introduce yourself.

Yeah, Tim Coal, public safety director, city of Mskegegan. So, a couple years ago, we met with the University of Michigan um down in the Moskegan Heights and they had an initiative they wanted to bring forward and they had picked the uh city of Moskegan as one of their centers for this um violence prevention program. Just recently about month and a half ago, um Emily and I met with Lauren who heads that up and I thought it'd be best for her to be able to come in and just talk about the program and what they've been able to do over the last year, year and a half that they've had that. So I'd like to intro introduce Lauren Meldram who heads up the Moskegan Violence PowerPoint.

Oh, looks like it's up. Hi everyone, I'm Lauren. Um I'm the adult adviser for MVP or Moskegan violence prevention. I'm actually going to let our young leaders do the talking today. So um we have Marquette and Yadira and they are going to share with you a bit about our program. So thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Good evening and welcome. Good evening. Hi guys. I'm Mar McDaniel. I'm one of the juniors.

And I'm Yudino, the other junior adviser for mosquito violence prevention. Who Mosskegan violence prevention is is a youth-driven violence prevention group made up of area high school age youth who are passionate about keeping our community safe and connected. We were formed in 2023 and are currently funded by the UFM youth. Our vision statement is we imagine a community where everyone belongs and can be themselves without judgment. Following our mission statement, MVP centers youth voice and young gun violence prevention with focus on education and community building. A few of our key accomplishments, we hosted violence prevention youth summit to 110 Moskegan area youth in November 2025. We held two inerson learning exchanges with trigger project. We host quarterly advisory circles with community partners. We partnered with Livability Lab to the to host violence knows no boundaries event, hire two junior advisors to lead the work which is me. Three members recognized as girls worth watching by MCC and our public health campaign in progress which is the flyers that I just passed. The current um public health campaign that we have is our stories are strength. It is an anonymous story box where youth can share their experiences related to gun violence. We plan to launch it April 28th through Instagram lives, podcasts, reals, and training videos. And you can engage with us on social media at Moskegan Violence Prevention. This is the current flyer we have where youth can scan the QR code and share their stories. Feel free to share this flyer. And our next steps are to implement the public health campaign, secure funding, recruit new members this summer, and then our second youth summit in the fall this year.

Questions or comments? Anyone? Thank you for being here. Commissioners, questions. Vice Mayor Keener. I haven't I catered for y'all last event. I did. We appreciate you so much for caring us

and uh it was just so awesome to see that many um young youth willing and able to participate because I understand that um we have grown up with um keeping our mouths shut about certain things and the strength and the tenacity that you all have to be willing and wanting at such a young age to ensure that your community is safe. um not only for yourselves but for um your future and our current um citizens. I commend you all. I truly commend Lauren too. She works so I've worked with Lauren for probably over 12 years now with different um projects and things. So I really commend you all and the work that you all put into it and you all putting some when I say hard work, you all put in hard work. So, I really appreciate everything that you all are doing for gun pre gun prevention because it is such a big problem in our community and so thank you for your efforts.

Thank you. Thank you. Here. Here. Well said. You know, thank you for always keeping us fed. Like you said, a lot of people don't speak up. So, as they say, a closed mouth don't get fed. So, we need a good meal to keep us going. You know, the brain food behind the motivation and the work we do. You know, that's that. Uh, Commissioner German.

Yes. Uh, thank you ladies uh for presenting this tonight, all of you in the work that you do. Um, as a commissioner, one of the things I campaigned on was um, safety in our community and that's been over 15 years ago. But to see young people like yourself step up and take the initiative to drive this mission and implement it is uh, great. And my hat goes off to all of you and the hard work that you do because uh a lot of this stuff is not popular, but it's the right thing to do. You see the things and the issues that go on in your city and you're setting a a trajectory for the next generations. So keep up the good work. I know Miss Marqueesh is a student at Moskegan Community College. She's also part of many clubs up there. And I you probably look familiar too, young lady.

I've been with you. Yeah. Yeah. Both of you. So, I want to commend you on the leadership that you all are doing and setting a positive example for youth. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Yeah. Go with Commissioner Coach and then Commissioner Kilgo. Um, and my apologies for running in a little late, but what I did hear was very impressive. Um, it is incredible seeing two young women standing up and working towards preventing gun violence in our community and I just have to applaud you. Thank you so much for all the work you're doing. I'm excited to see you continue it and I would love to help also. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Coach and Commissioner Kilgo. Thank you. I have two questions. Um, the first one is about if you know, if you don't, we can find out. But with your first youth summit, um the ratio of male to female, did you have young men showing up to your summit as well? Yes. Awesome. Good. Good. Um and then my second question is how can we learn about the quarterly advisory circles? Um so I'm actually the one who sends out the emails for the advisory circles. You can contact me or Lauren after this meeting is over or we could talk about it. I have Mary Ken's email.

We did do our three for this year. I'm not. However, you can always attend and I am the social media and outreach. So you guys can also, you know, stay tuned, follow up for updates and you can see opportunities to volunteer. Perfect. Thank you ladies so much. Thank you, Mr. Kgo. Um, with social with real quickly with her social media, do you have social media handles or those are going to be launching as part of um Yes, we have Instagram and mosquence prevention and Tik Tok MVP voices. Okay, perfect. Thank you, Commissioner Jackson.

I just want to say that I'm very proud of you both. when I was at MCC as a college completion coach, um I just saw both of you from the beginning and then my best friend had you um as her student. Um and so I'm going to be very excited to tell her how well you're doing and then Marquette, you know, I'm always very proud of you. Thank you, girl. You know, we be seeing each other. Yeah. And like I said, you want to be in this position someday, so I hope you do it younger than 23 as the youngest. And keep in mind y'all, I'll be 20 in 4 days over. You know that could be like, ooh, birthday gift in youngest making history. But

girl, come on and run. Okay, y'all hearing that? I got two votes behind my name. Marquette 2026. Oh, make that three. Very proud of you both. Thanks, Commissioner Jackson. Anything else? Uh, yes. Commissioner Sinclair, thank you for this work. I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit more about the summit experience and what that looks like, who it's for.

Yeah. So, our goal is to connect with youth from high school age and get them together kind of to learn more about how they can get in their community, you know, better opportunities and also peer mediation training, stop the bleed training. And we hope to connect with more throughout the summer recruitments. We are looking for more male youth. So if you guys, you know, um during the applications, encourage young males that you may know that this could help. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sinclair. Can you can you mention because I was there and I mean I saw it live action just how many youth were really I when I tell you I was blown away. I was blown away. So can you kind of like mention how many youth actually

110 high school area youth from Moskegan as well high school Moskegan Heights high school Mona Shores um Archer View Adult Education it was amazing y'all it was to be able to take the knowledge

250 youth. I want to calm down, help, donate, take a picture, but you know, just letting us be here. This was an amazing opportunity to share what we know, you know, our outlet to your outlet.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for being here, but uh more importantly, thank you for the work that uh you are doing um to serve our community and the leadership um that you carry yourself forward. I know the from the very first day I met you u Marquette, I was so impressed by you. Thank you. And still got our picture on my phone.

So, I really appreciate you joining us here. Um do have a couple questions though because I saw in one of the last slides is like one of your priorities going forward will be the funding piece. Um, and when I last um had uh sat down with um learned um some weeks ago that there was grant funding that is set to expire. Um and that's goes to this fall. Is it November of 2026? Okay. And so that's what you're trying to fill the gap is beyond September 26. How can we secure funding to keep this initiative going um in in some form? Yes.

Okay. And do you have um dollars like do you do you do you have a budget framework? Do you have you know uh if you were to whether to keep it going in the same form in a in a modified form do you have numbers that you can you don't need to share with them right this moment with us but if you have those numbers that you can share with us and other community partners so that we can look at how we might be able to um pull together some resources to support this important work continuing throughout greater Moskegan because uh because it is important work and necessary work. Yeah. Yeah, of course. We would love to connect with you for more of the information after this as well.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Is there anything that you wish to impress upon us or the community? You are, you know, on on uh cable TV right now. You're on Facebook Live, YouTube. Um is there anything that you wish to impress upon the commission and our community? What I would like to impression upon the commission, the community is just to go and encourage you are the future. youth are prevention. At the end of the day, we cannot keep on dismissing youth as just being the younger younger community, younger generation.

We can't keep on dismissing their knowledge of what they know. You know, as we get older, we begin to lose those hearing ability and those eye qualities. Like, I wear glasses right now. You know, they not on my face, but I wear them, guys. Trust I I just had to squint at the screen. So, you know, it's like the younger community, they could be my eyes and my ears. they can report back their information and I can take it back to the resources I know such as you guys so that something can actually be done. Therefore, instead of being reactive to the situation, we could be proactive. Absolutely. Thanks. All your partnership there.

Yes, we have um a sister group through trigger and YDM, you young different minds. Me and Marquette collaborate with um their junior adviserss as well. So we do zooms and come up with similar ideas and how we kind of um have similar situations in the communities. Yes. So we meet with them. We have held two of our learning exchanges. The first year we went down to Washington DC and we collaborate collaborated with them on ways that we could last year in May they came down here. It was fun. We had a few meets. I met with Gemini the poet. I did a few poetry workshops.

That was nice. We're still Washington DC. So as they collect and then we'll see what happen.

Fantastic. So, uh, collaborating with the communities elsewhere around the country to, you know, learn what work they're doing, you know, and, uh, take inspiration and best practices forward here and, um, and vice versa, the work you're doing here that they can, uh, learn from. So, I love that. Um, that really is beautiful. So, thank you again, Marquette and Adira. We appreciate the work that you're doing and you joining us this evening and sharing um, the work that you're doing with us. Thank you. Thank you. You let me know if you ever decide to run for office. Yeah, I'm telling y'all we can get running right now. Happy to answer any questions, give advice.

Good evening. We're going on to our next item, community development block grant and home presentation with community and neighborhood services. Hello, I am Shir Carson, director of community and neighborhood services. Just give me a second to pull up my Absolutely. Good evening, Director Carson. Guys doing today. Good. All right. So, your survey just closed and you're going to present uh to us and then there's Well, you take it away.

Well, hello. So um so today I wanted to just give you guys a presentation on our consolidated um con plan which is a regional plan because it includes Moskegan Heights and Norton Shores. And the reason for that is because um in order for us to receive our home funds, we had to have a a certain number of population and we can achieve that by including those three those two communities as well. So even though those funds are not utilized in those communities, they are the the population health benefit for the city of Mosquite. So the regional plan is a mandatory requirement of federal government. Um it's our way of strategizing and prioritizing the needs of the community, also reporting back to the federal government on what those things look like. So, um, our regional plan includes two grant funds. There's the community and the community development block grant and there's the home investment partnership funds. So, I'll be talking about like what's the difference between the two and how we utilize um funds from both. One other thing I wanted to point out is that this is a um federal formula, government formula that they um utilize to determine what our maximum award is going to be for the year. And so every year it may change um depending on what that formula looks like. So, um, just to kind of just explain it just a little bit, um, our home

investment partnership program is federal monies that cities use to create and improve affordable housing. So, that'll look like, you know, um, our Wood Street property where we rehab that home for a lowincome family. Community Development Block Grant is our federal money that we use for um support like public services, um community improvements, um public facilities and things of that nature, infrastructure, what have you. So, um, how our home funds broke down between the years of 2021 and 2025, um, is that we invested $1 million into, uh, rehabbing homes. uh when we rehab those homes, those funds are then turned into program income that um we utilize to serve low-income families who wish to live in the city of Moskegan with home buyers assistance funds. So, in the in that fiveyear span, we utilized um $288,000 that created 18 grants for home home buyers assistance. Um what we predict for the 2630 action plan year is that we'll serve the program will pretty much stay the same. Um we will continue to uh rehab vacant homes. We will continue to utilize those resources to create home buyers assistance. Um we also want to and have been diligently s seeking seeking a community housing development organization. Um our past um example of this is community encompass and they

completed a project called the Phoenix project um for us. It was a four bedroomedroom I mean a four unit two to threebedroom um ADA accessible housing um which was really nice um for our community. So um we typically set aside 15% of our home funds for those types of projects and that amounts to about $30,000. Um, and they do have the opportunity to access operational funds that can go to like staffing and other supports of that nature. So, what we've heard so far from the community is that many new homes are being built around the community already. Community members like the updates and they like to keep the housing looking historic. The down payment assistant program is well known and use making as a big pack impact um for our community. It adds investment um total of home buyer u buyers from the program. So CDBG or community development block grant um is broken down into like four categories. Uh you have public services which is our subreient funds. you have improvements um like our emergency um home repair program. There's admin and then there's facilities also not listed here. We have um public improvements. So that's infrastructure, streets or what have you. So this um diagram shows where our funding went between 2021 and 2025. So, you can see we had a little bit of CO dollars in there. There was a bunch of

money that went into home repairs. Um, a little bit went into facilities and uh service deliveries. And then there's a good chunk of it. So for the next five years, we pretty much you can tell see from the um graph that we kind of look the same. We are projecting to put more money into improvements um in the form of emergency home repairs. Um the fire station bond is also in that period. Um, and we look forward to investing more into our facilities like our parks and what have you and uh services to the community. So, we we typically won't have our COVID funding anymore. So, that funding is all extended. Um and then we also removed our uh rental uh rental rehab program. So pretty much we'll keep in the same alignment with the emergency home repairs, public improvements, um and public facilities and what have you. So um there is a cap on our public services. is 20% of our entitlement funds for CDBG and we cannot duplicate services. Um so if somebody else is doing something that we're doing or other agencies are doing, we don't want to utilize those funds to um do some create a program or support a program that's doing a similar things. Currently, we're doing things with our um Kids Power of Produce um eviction

predict prevention program. We want to add a homeowner education piece and um also continue our youth intern program. So, our services or our programs are linked to national objectives. Our national objectives f focuses on benefiting low and moderate income persons, preventing slums and blight, and addressing urgent needs in the community. Um, you'll pretty much see this happening with our community development block grant funds. Um, so at least 70% of our funds have to go to or benefit low and moderate income. Um, prevention of slum and blight. These activities eliminate or prevent the deterioration of buildings and infrastructure. And then addressing our urgent needs. The objective applies to activities that respond to urgent needs that pose a serious and immediate threat to health and welfare of the community. Each service is tied to a matrix code. That matrix code is how we report out to the federal government. It helps us track and measure our progress throughout the five years. So um some of those categories are acquisition, disposition, public facilities, public services, housing rehabilitation, economic development and planning. Some frequently asked questions that we see. Why do you have a cap on your programs? Some homes are beyond repair and may require demolition or placement of on danger buildings list. So if it's something that's too deteriorated, we don't want to invest good funding into a house that you know we've invested

$50,000, which is a lot. It still has some major deficiencies and still may end up on the dangerous building list. Um sometimes the repairs are just too high. Currently, we are utilizing all our programming um to look at the house and the whole do a whole assessment to see what funding could benefit the the family. And um sometimes it get to a point where it's just too much too many resources to one house. Certain funding sources require the city to hold a second position lean which is increases as more funding is invested. And I do want to correct that. I thought I did. is first position. The city of Moskegan maintains first position on the lean to guarantee that if there's any changes um to that lean that the city of Moskegan will get their funding back. Our goal is for that fiveyear period or threeyear period to expire before that happens. But sometimes it doesn't. The city aims to avoid holding more value in a home than the homeowner. So, if the house if the person wanted to sell their home and we notice that we have a $100,000 lean on that house, there's no benefit to that family. So, we don't want to get into situations like that where we more of the value of the home than the homeowner does. And then there's funding caps. Each grant has a different um cap requirement. So, like Senior Village, for instance, has a $7,000 cap. So, if we notice that we're extended, we're getting over the thresholds in those programs, that might be a good reason to walk away. Why are people turned away? All federal programs have income requirements. We must follow these requirements. Sometimes the repairs aren't necessary, so we have to walk away for that. That

may be a cosmetic thing. And our services are just for emergency repairs only. If we're unable to find a contractor that is willing to do the work, then we have to walk away as well. Those are just some things that we see. Why is the fire station bond in CDBG funding? Originally approved by the commission around 2016 to support the DDA recovery. At that time, the DDA was not able to fully absorb that debt. Um, and since 2022 the general funds have covered an additional 13,250 annually to annually to free up the funds. So we're trying to break away from so much being invested with the CDBG funds. This funding approach is planned to continue. Um higher station bond are allowable and commonly used expenses that help support effective community service. So it ties back to what I was talking about about the n national objectives and the matrix codes and so and it's one of our public facilities or improvements. You know it qualifies that why it fell in the CDBG category. So this next slide here is just what we anticipate for our fund. these these numbers may change depending on what our funding is. And um mayor, you may have got that email. We have our entitlement funds. Um and so I plan to get that information out soon. But this is just to give you a snapshot of what we plan to utilize our funds for in this first year for our CDBG and home funds. And um that's the end of my presentation. If anybody from the

commission, the public would like to give public comment, they can do so in person. Um they can come to uh our uh office 202 on the second floor and give um public comment in person or they could email us at cns mail, cnsmail@shorelinescity.com. they can call us at 231-7246717 um yeah or they can do so tonight um or however they would like but we welcome all feedback from the community.

Excellent. Thank you, Director Carson. Um, and I did just get that email came through on Friday, um, informing that we anticipate, uh, getting $894,869 for community development block grant, which is pretty similar to last year. A little cut, but it's a little it keeps it's a little bit cut every single year it seems. U, but thankfully we got it this year because there was a concern that no CDBG monies were going to come forward. And in fact, I as I understand because I got a separate email from um,

I'm forgetting the organization. Uh, I think it's the National Mayor's Council. Oh, no. I'm bl Anyhow, um it's a it's a national mayor's organization. I'm forgetting the exact name. I get email that the president's budget for this coming year is without CDBG funding. So, we're going to have to advocate and lobby and uh impress upon our federal representatives that this money is incredibly important in serving um communities like ours. Um we also are anticipating to get uh 300 rounding up $336,000 for the home investment partnership program. Yes. Um so commissioners open up to questions. Uh Commissioner German and Vice Mayor Kenir. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Director Cowson. Hi.

Um you covered some of the questions and you hit some of the points because uh before when you were here last year talked about the um fire station and things like that. So you made that clear to the public and why we support those um initiatives. But um one of the questions I keep hearing from organizations like the poor city football club who we used to um give funding to. U I didn't see anything like that in there. Is that opportunity still open for them to participate or seek funding for their organization a youth the youth football club?

Well, we really didn't plan for sub recipients this year because as mayor just pointed out we were at fear of losing our funding. So we tried to you prioritize what we could. Um also I would like to say that there's a huge need for housing and housing related services. So in the future what subreient funds would look like is um funding that will support those types of things to increase h access to housing for our community.

Yeah. And and I get that uh totally. And and this is why um it is so important and essential to have support for youth programs.

Um I'm a huge advocate for that because if kids around that time that they're actually practicing if they don't have anything to do, those are times that they can actually be getting in trouble. So I think we should be um intentional about how we could help in any way. And I know um sometimes you know there's needs but u we supported them in the past and we've had excellent results and a lot of these kids that you see coming through these youth programs now have gone on to do good things and come back. So I think that's something we need to really look at and engage and probably revisit. Um, even though like I said, you said housing and all that and and it's going to take much more than, you know, $5,000 what we usually give a football club to, uh, combat this housing issue. So,

yeah. Um, you know, my heart is with the youth, too. Um, I really feel strongly that we support res should use our resources to support our youth. Um, another reason why we're looking at our sub recipient funding differently is because there's a lot of monitoring that goes along with this. Um, it takes a lot of staff time and so it has to make sense for $5,000. You have to do the same type of monitoring and it's the same requirements for somebody receiving $100,000. And so we also have to keep that in mind as well when we're making these decisions.

Yep. Well, thank you very much. But I would rather see $5,000 go out there and save 30 kids and have them doing something positive than to not have an activity or support where they're out there still in, you know, getting in trouble or possibly incarcerated. So, thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Commissioner German. Thanks for

I I too I wanted to follow up on what um Commissioner German was saying, too. I do feel like it's important because those funds have been there in the past and it does keep kids out of trouble. Um, and it keeps it's part of our community strengthening as well is us looking at trying to build a better community es especially when it comes to our policing and these are some of the biggest um concerns that we have in addition to housing. These are like our top three priorities and on our top three list of um our goal setting as well. So, if there is a way, and I understand that what you're saying, the monitoring as well, but even if it's combined with um um the advocacy for the youth programming for summer, if it's somehow combined with that with the oversight, um and I don't know what that would look like, but I pretty much trust that you all have brilliant minds and y'all are able to y'all able to make it shake. Y'all able to turn a dollar and a 15 I mean 15 cents into a dollar sometimes. And so we I would love to personally see that to advocate for our youth in the community. Um, additionally, um, I did want to point out that the home repair info cuz it that did not come up, but like for people that are looking for the home repair info, there are applications here downtown. There are even applications online. And the process that you all give for the application process, I will say is quite simplified and it's not tons and tons of information that you have to submit for um the home improvement. So, I am really thankful and appreciative that our community um allows for that benefit to be available to people that really can't afford um those fixer upper things um like steps and um new roofs and you know, furnaces and things like that. And um I especially appreciate how you all advocate and source out to other resources so that we're utilizing our funds the best way possible. But again,

I really would, as Commissioner German say, love to see if um even though we're with limited funds right now to see how we can advocate for those funds to go back in so those kids do stay out of trouble. Appreciate that.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Kener. Commissioner Coach. Yes, thank you. Um, Mr. Carlson, I know that, uh, we've had this conversation during our, you know, during our CDBG meetings, um, because I sit on the board. Um, I I would like to echo that sentiment as well. I think that we've made progress in the department of shifting the way that we do the evaluations of the homes. And I think that that's been a huge help for the CNS department. And I definitely understand the concern and the fear um of the the federal government not providing those CDBG dollars. Um I think that they are critical to our community. Um but also the impact that we can make with small amounts of money on the community as a whole is huge. Um, and if we put it all into home repairs, then it impacts a lot less people than those like community after school programs, things like that. I was really happy to see that we're going to continue our funding for the kids power of produce. Um, and I think that that that is a great thing.

So, I I just want to continue advocating for that, but I appreciate the work that you've done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank go. Thank you. Um, Director Carson, can you tell me when the CDBG meetings are the citizen district council meetings? Um, are those? Yeah, those are the first Tuesday of the month usually, but we have a schedule. I can get you the cuz there are some months we don't meet. Okay. So, I don't know them off top of my head, but

and at these meetings, some things like where we spend or what we're looking to spend CDBG dollars on are discussed. Yes. So, the the group serves as an advisory capacity. So, we'll we'll come with a staff recommendation of how you know we see those funds being utilized and they give us feedback.

Okay. Um cuz as elected officials, we hear from constituents about what we are and aren't doing with some of our funds in the city. So a I think it's important for us to make sure that we're making the public aware that these are public meetings that they can attend

and hear and listen and give feedback. and thank you for sharing the information earlier about how they can give feedback to the department and I thank you for your work and I'm really glad that we did get allocated money this year but because we got money allocated this year I agree um with Vice Mayor and Commissioner German that as the commission we we would like to see a little bit more variety even if it's smaller amounts. Right. So on one of your last slides when it looked at this is for our next year kind of what we're looking at. Yeah. That one right there. um if we took, you know, a couple of thousand dollars and we were able to give it to some of the champions in our community that want to do things with our youth, whether that's sports or other things in the summertime to keep them busy. I also think that that would be really good. I am very very happy to see that home buyer education is on there because we're building houses and rehabbing houses. Um that will give people who live, work, and play already in Moskegan the opportunity to buy some of these homes. Um and since you're up here, um you and your team, thank you so much for the Wood Street House project. It's a beautiful home, but there's lots of confusion to the public because they don't understand the house is listed at $244,000, but that's only because the program says that we had to list it at what the house appraised for,

right?

But the person or the family that buys that five bedroomedroom, two-b house can get it for well under that. So, for us to just make sure that we're um doing our best to explain that to the community so that they know they don't just pass that opportunity by because they they just see the sale price and think, "Okay, well, that's not affordable housing at $240,000 when they can buy it well below that." Um, then there was one more thing. Um, yeah. So, you talked a little you talked a little bit about our last choto which was community and compass. Can you elaborate a little bit more as to where we are with possibly getting another housing um nonprofit here that helps with those things? Well, we've spoken to a couple of different organizations and so what it essentially looks like is someone um having that nonprofit status um having a board, their articles of a corporate incorporation um and a just coming to us with a plan and then we can look at that information and see um if it aligns and then they are granted chos. status. So, it's it's not that complicated, but it's for the right type of organization and it's essentially to support housing initiative. So, um we've talked to um ICCF, we've spoken with Habitat for Humanities and I think people are considering it. They're just trying to figure out what it looks like for them to do so. And so, um it's kind of up in the air right now.

Okay. Thank you for all your work. Thank you. Thank you, Commission. Thank you, Commissioner Kog. Commissioner Sinclair, thank you. So, I remember having a conversation last year when this came before us about subreient grants and the difficulty around finding entities to apply

um can you talk a little bit more about where that got stuck and why we moved away from it? I am not sure. I just know that like for us are we start planning those funding for that funding the year prior like between October and December is where we'll go and you know um solicit to the public and gather all those details and meet with the citizen district council and what have you. I'm not sure if the timing changed because we needed more time to review applications. Um, in the past it had been somewhere around January and March, which puts us behind the eightball at sometimes meeting our deadlines for HUD. And so that particular year we got no, no qualified applications. Um, and so we didn't utilize those funding. We had to reorganize, shift those money somewhere else. So since then, we had the scare that we were going to lose funding. Um, so we really didn't get off into like planning for the subreient funding that year. And then, you know, we I met with Jake, my director, and we talked about like what that lot looks like for CNS to have the access to those funds or giving that access to the public. And um, like I said before, it's a lot of um, requirements for organizations. Um, it's a lot of staff time that goes into it. It's hard to monitor so many organizations at once and then we keep getting a seeing a reduction in our funds. And so if there's constantly a reduction that takes from other other services, it's like we might want to go and revisit this.

We're not it's not completely off the table, but we are trying to be strategic about how we utilize those funds in the future and taking in, you know, consideration all the requirements that surrounds giving out those funds and those requirements are for CNS and also for the subreient. Yes.

Um, federal government dollars comes with lots of strings and lots of uh hurdles to jump over. So, I can respect that. Um, I am wondering about timing on this because I can read a room and I suspect that you are going to run into an obstacle getting your budget through this particular commission if this doesn't get reworked to allow for some kind of subreient grant. Um, I could be wrong, but um, is that possible within your timeline for I I know you have hard requirements from the federal government. And if that is not possible, we should probably talk about that now.

This plan is due May 15th. Okay. So, so six weeks from now. Okay. Can I jump the action? This is the action plan. Can I jump? Yes, please, Mr. Manager. So, just just for clarification, director, what we're looking at right now is the there's kind of two things we're looking at. The five-year plan, which we're talking about through 2030, and then the budget or the action plan for the current year. Right. Right. So, there's So, the five-year plan, there is the option for subreients, but we do not have it within the current budget. Exactly.

Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. So, if I'm understanding this correctly, this is the five-year plan that does not anticipate subreients this year. But the five-year plan does anticipate some sort of subreient grant cycle starting within that five years. Yes. Okay. Thank you. As a as a possibility. Yes. Not not saying that it everything is subject to change. Absolutely. So, it's not entirely off the table. It's just not on the plan this year. That answers my

plan this year with the funding because we have a fiscal year that starts July 1st. Federal fiscal year starts October 1st. The email that I uh just received on Friday. That's for the next aotment. But that's not money that become available till October 1st. So, we're talking about when we say there's no subrant recipient program right now, that's just within the this year's allocation that was questionable last year, right? Um, but that as you're bringing forward, and I might be repeating what was just said here, but I'm re rephrasing it um to make sure I'm understanding, but that um that with the budget process that's getting underway right now and that you'll be bringing forward to the city commission that that's talking about this next round of money and that we do have an opportunity to include a subgrant recipient program in that.

No. So, what we're talk this this year right here is fiscal year 2026. We're currently in fiscal year 25. So the letter you got was for fiscal year 26. Yes. That starts July 1. So this is kind of like our fiscal year starts July 1, but the feds fiscally starts October 1st. Yeah. And our year for CDBG also starts July. Yeah. So but don't we have an opportunity with that because we're budgeting for the next year. We're we're using largely the federal funds for the starting October 1st. Right. But we're speaking fiscal year 27 through 30. There's a potential for subreient funds.

Why not with the budget that's going to be approved this year for because we we have a planning period is between October and December of the previous year. So this year, October through December is when we'll be planning for our next years. And we do that because we need time to look at all the applications that we receive. We need time to meet all the deadlines and get public um comment and all those different things we need to do. Okay. If it is helpful um the letter that I received indicated that the um uh as you are finalizing your annual action plans or consolidated plans that are due for submission to our office by August 16th, 2026. Um, so if that helps at all, not us,

but that doesn't that doesn't apply to us. Ours is due in May. Oh, okay. Federal government's telling me otherwise, but okay. Yep. There's some people that that applies to. It's just not us.

Okay. Um, be that as it may, why do we not have the opportunity with with the budget that's going to be coming forward to us in May? Um, why do we not have the opportunity to incorporate a subgrant recipient program in there? Because, as I understand it, last year was a bit of a hiccup. I know staff was already contemplating getting rid of the subgrant recipient program for a number of different reasons, some of which articulated this evening. Um, and I do recall just about a decade ago um under uh when when Kathy Gary Clark was the director of um overseeing economic development, including community neighborhood services, there was desire to get rid of subgrant savings just because it was administratively tasking and taxing and um wanted to redirect staff um interest elsewhere. And so it did go away and then we we end up shouldering a few of the things out of our general fund, but then we end up bringing back the subgrant recipient program within um the CDBG program. And so there was hesitance to get rid of it before. There was desire to bring it back and now there's this uh contemplation of it being gone away, but as we're hearing from our commissioners tonight, there's keen interest in continuing that. Um and and my understanding or from my my impression of why we didn't get um applicants last time around was because we end up changing the cycle like we typically um put out the requests for proposals in February and um this last round we end up doing it in November. Um and so there was not it wasn't necessarily well known that that had shifted and so people that might have applied previously didn't apply that round. Um, and then because there was the hiccup with the federal dollars and whether we actually get them, the thought was like we'll just suspend, we'll just won't do that this year. Um, but I thought that there was an in intent to bring it back this year. And so I'm wondering how we may be able to still accommodate that um before proving. And I think Mr. Manager has something he's eager to share with us. So I I guess the

certainly the the you know the commission sets the budget um and we could have those conversations. We we have a limited amount of money in here. Um and every year since I've been manager, we've been reducing the fire station bond because that's sort of the most flexible one. It was noted in the presentation that one of the reasons that's there is because the DDA didn't have the capacity to take that on. the DDA does take on a substantial bond payment from the city general fund right now for the arena um that they continue to make that payment there. Um so it so we're shifting dollars around and as we look at um increasing the if we were to put the subreients back in um that is going to have to come from somewhere else whether that's priority home repair um you know home buyer education uh the facade programs it has to come from somewhere and the the questions that we get throughout the year about as director Carson went over why people get turned down for different programs. You know, the funding available, are we putting uh you know, we can only put so much money into a house, there's only so much money to go around. By having um a reduction in one area, that's going to that's going to limit that even more. If that's what the commission wants to do, that's fine and that that's your prerogative. Uh and it's it's a discussion that we can have, but just just being aware that that would have to come from somewhere else. and and we have at your direction every year actively been reducing the fire station bond. That's the biggest shift that is shifting to the general fund over time. Um which is then taking our flexibility and ability in the general fund away for other things like park, like public safety, um community development, things of that nature. So everything that we talk about within these budgets all impact each other and the the proposals that Director Carson

is putting together in combination with her team and with the CDC is based on what they're hearing the greatest need is. So just to keep that in mind.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. And I would like to add that we I incorporated a whole new system for our subreient fund so that we can take a hard look at things and not just a rush. Like if we were to do something now, we will be rushing. That would mean um our citizen district council will have to incorporate dates that we have we don't have right now in our um timeline to try to make this happen. And it'll be a rush effort to do so. um on top of the fact that it's heavily monitored funds and staffing time, you know, all those things included, you know, so that's why we're potentially we could consider it in the future in these five year cycle, but you know, I kind of just looked at what we heard from our surveys and um staffing and the citizen district council and everything like that. We took all those factors in and said these are the main priorities, you know, that we weren't really seeing a really huge presence for in those surveys or comments from the public that supported these other agencies receiving the funds. So, that kind of made me feel like, okay, this is a good direction to take at least in this first year. Mhm. Mhm. And we and you know and we know that there's definitely a need for uh resource to support home repair um in our community. And something that we've heard, you know, as commissioner as well because with so much attention focuses on building more housing, build more housing. And we do often hear what about investing in existing housing stock, you know, to repair and improve them. And so it is a need and it's something that our community has advocated for. Um and and I appreciate your attention and focus on that. Um, we also recognize that it's just as important just as as important to invest in our housing stock in our community, it's important to invest in

our youth um and and serving and supporting um healthy youth development. And so uh

we do have the kids power of produce um here which is still invested in the youth. I mean all of our our dollars cannot go to a youth program. What I what I wonder though if we don't end up doing the subgrant recipient program if there's still opportunity to additionally fund a new and I don't know where we're at um you know I think I'll be getting some updates this this week at parks and rec advisory committee um but trying to pull together the resources again this year to make sure that we have uh uh quality summer evening youth wreck program um and that there may be funding gaps there or resource gaps there and so if there's opportunity to pull resources from CDBG to support that because that continuity is so important and having that program for our community. Um I do also wonder um since as you mentioned this plan is a is a regional plan that we're doing it with Michigan Heights and Northern Shores is there opportunity to um work with them on identifying resources to support an initiative like the uh Mskegegan violence prevention organization um that is uh likely to lose its funding you know come September of this year is an opportunity for the three of those municipalities say hey we're going to take a piece of these dollars that we got and we're going to help support an initiative like that. I'm willing to pass that on to our partners to see what they're I do know that Moskegan Heights and Norton Shores they don't see the entitlement fund the amount that we get. They don't see um nowhere but I can mention it to them.

Yeah, certainly we would necessarily expect them to have equal shares um and continue that because like you said we do get more than either of those uh municipalities. I think we might get more than the two of them combined. Um, and so we wouldn't expect them to have an equal share. But I'm just wondering if that might be um an opportunity for regional collaboration. And I certainly understand the the the concern around having a program that is just overly administratively cumbersome whether for staff or you know any of the the grant uh recipients. um and and wanting to be as as efficient, you know, as possible with the process so that we can be most effective with these scarce resources and do the most amount of good for our community. So, there's a lot of moving parts and and and competing interest. Um, but I think one thing that we can take away from tonight's conversation is that the commission is very much uh interested in supportive of how do we invest in our youth um more while not taking our eyes off of, you know, the important work of uh coming alongside folks in our community that have modest means to um do repairs and upgrades to to their homes. Um yes, Commissioner Kilko,

thank you. I just have two questions. The first question uh director or Mr. manager. Can you tell us what kind of dollar amounts in total? So, not broken down by maybe all subreients, but in the past when we did allocate money, do you know about the dollar amount that we've had in the past where we somewhere give or take $100,000?

Okay. Um, and then my second question is, if we agreed and we opened up applications for sub uh, recipients and they were due by October and you reviewed them October through December, would that money be available to disperse January 1 or would they have to wait till July 1? It would be dispersed in July. Thank you. Thanks, M. Thanks, Migle. I'm speaking of the $100,000 number. I think Mr. Manager shared that um that's abruptly the amount that has been decreased over the past six years that in the past six years we've lost now cumulatively $100,000 in CWG funding. Y

um which accounts for uh you know explains the pressures. Uh Commissioner Coachen.

Yes. Thank you. Um Dr. Carlson, can you speak a little bit about some of the other services the outer Moskegan area gets cuz I know that you had kind of glossed over it at the beginning. Um, but we provide like lead services and and a lot of that stuff goes to outside of the county. Can you talk a little bit about that breakdown of like the battery that we see at the CDBG meeting? Yeah, I what she's referring to is we have a program called monday.com and we utilize that platform to look take a look at all of our projects in the pip in the pipeline and so Katrina always asks questions like wow what's going to the outside communities and because there a bunch of our money go to those outside communities and so like our lead abatement program is countywide senior millillage is countywide health and safety the health and healthy homes uh production program is countywide. So those c those monies are going outside of our community. So is that what you wanted to say?

Yeah, that is what I I wanted you um to kind of let everybody at home know about because I think it's important that they hear that um that we service a lot of people outside of the city of Moskegan with a lot of these services. Um, so it's not so much thinking that, well, we're hoarding all of these dollars and not sharing them. No, we are sharing them. Um, it's it's where it's going and and how it's going. It's a little bit different. Um, the other thing I wanted to mention, like I know in the past we've done roughly about $100,000. We've sat there and tried to figure out what do we do with this $100,000, right? like I think you know even reducing that um really helps programs like the program you know over there um the afterchool programs

um I think I know that it's laborsome but it does reach more people and if we took $50,000 out of the budget and put it aside for some folks I think it could make a lot of difference in the community.

Thank you, Commissioner Go. Um, and just, uh, so before any of our city residents come at us as like why are our dollars going outside of our city to elsewhere in the county, just to explain that um, like the senior millages, that's county collected. We just happen to be the pass through and we're administrating that. The healthy homes program is federal dollars and our our CNS was very successful in securing that. We were one of six communities in the state of Michigan to get that. I think it was million dollars or 1.2 or something like that. Um, so thank you, you know, for for grabbing those dollars. Um, and then certainly throughout the county. Um, but those are not necessarily, you know, our city dollars being shared. Um, although we we we are, you know, kind and compassionate and generous, but we, you know, um, are are mindful of how our our city dollars are spent. Um, but y'all do great work in administrating those dollars and serving our neighbors throughout Moskegan County. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, Vice Mayor Kenir, I'm so sorry, Director Carson, that we just got you up all night. I did have this um one question just so that you can explain to the the public beforehand um when it comes to I know you said emergency um repairs. Can you kind of discuss what those emergency repairs um look like versus, you know, the facade? I just want new siding on my house because I want new siding. Well, because you mentioned siding. Um, and I know that is a program too. Siding does come under. Yeah.

Yeah. So, our siding program is if there's like peeling and chip paint, that signifies lead. So, if it's chilling, chipping and peeling and it's like 80% of the house is deteriorated, we will um replace the siding. But not just because, you know, some cracks here and there. It has to be wood siding. It can't be any other. It can't be aluminum. Those types of things. Um, for a roof, it has to have like a hole, you know, water pouring through or stained. Um, you can see the wood is being um deteriorated. Uh for instance, um electrical if there's if someone is having like um power outages in their home, their f their uh fuse box is outdated or something and you can't power the home. That's something that we'll take a look at. Furnace replacements if they're out. Um foundation, if there's bowing walls or water getting into the basement, those types of things.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, Commissioner German.

Yes. Uh, thank you, Mayor and Director Carlson. Um, thank you for the work that you do um and addressing questions and sometimes they can be um somewhat frustrating sometimes cuz I know you work hard in your department, you and your team and but you know, just sharing some things why I uh advocate for youth the way that I do. You know, I am a product of the Moskegan um Jackson Hill Angel school neighborhood growing up and the programs that were there at that time. Plus, money was more plentiful also seemed like it went a long ways. But I was not exempt from any of the things of crime and activities that went on that youth could go get in trouble. Now, um being a young um teenager and youth coming up, parents raised me, right? grandparents. So, I got that um experience or that love from family. Some kids don't have that and it's easy to be influenced, you know, by peer pressure and things like that. Um given that said, not everyone has um that upbringing. So, you know, we may look at, yeah, it may be, and I'm looking from a professional standpoint, that seat that you sit in, somewhat um time consuming to do these things, but uh these kids can't do it for themselves. And I think we owe that to them. And as a commissioner, elected official, as I go out into the community and talk to the youth and and see and hear the concerns or there's nothing here for us to do, but oh, okay, we can't play football, basketball. Let's go on the corner of such and such street and throw rocks. Okay, you hit a car, somebody gets an accident, something happens. Now, this youth is, you know, looking to be in trouble and possibly

going to the detention center. And then it creates a pathway because now um and I've worked at in juvenile corrections. They start there and then they go to county then they go to prison that that school to prison pipeline. Mhm.

So, I I can tell you I I've seen a lot and just the little work that we do or the extra time that we commit to just giving that opportunities to say, "Hey, I'm going to support things that will um help youth better them lives and then not only the people that's there coaching them like like I said, the Port City football team, they've been around, their track record speaks volumes, and I just think it's essential that we should try to do everything that we can to do and I and I get what you're saying, the timing, the regulations and stuff like that, but um sometimes I think it's best to to do um a little extra sometimes and go outside that circle. So,

I share in those sentiments. Um not to share my background, but I can relate with everything you just said. Yeah. But, you know, I can't just go from my own perspective. I have to look at everything as a whole. And that's what I try to do. I try to be very intentional with making sure I'm looking at everything as a whole and I'm considering everybody. You know, everybody can't be happy. I can't please everybody, but I'll do my best and that's what that's the only thing I can strive to do. And thank you and I greatly appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh final question or thoughts. U Mr. Manager. So, um I also just wanted to know I had uh thank you to Director Grant who I was asking questions of while he's sitting in his office in front of the BSNA system. Uh but between uh 21 and this fiscal year, uh we re we've reduced uh the burden on the CDBG funds for the fire station by about $70,000. Um so we've been making um concerted efforts to try and reduce that over time. So yeah,

thank you, Mr. manager. Um well, I have a process question, but I'll just ask you um outside of this meeting. It's not so germanine to the the action plan. It's a process question, but

I did want to Willie said something about um like if these funds can't be utilized to support youth programming and the impact that it has on the community. I also want to just emphasize that there is a sustainability piece incorporated in this. So if our funds is is the only thing that they you know that facilitates that program that's a high chance that that program or that service won't be um considered because they have to be sustainable. They have to be able to their program has to be structured in a way that they can succeed with or without our funds. Yeah.

So, we also have to keep that in mind. Thank you. Thank Carson. Thank you. Appreciate you presenting. And so, um, folks can give public comment on this until May 7th. May 7th. And they but we'll probably take comments through until we submit our our plan, but from April 7th to May 7th is the comment period. Okay. And can you just remind everyone um how you can do so in person? um just the second floor here at the city hall, room 202. You can phone in 231-724-6717 or you can do so by email cnsmail@shorelinescity.com. Excellent. And this plan is available on the city's website for um folks to review then.

Yes. All right. Wonderful. Well, thank you for presenting um and Marva, thank you for all the important work that you and your team do for um our community. Thank you. See you guys. Have a nice evening. All right. Next up, we have municipal climate action plan update. Good evening, sir. Kind of introduce yourself and your part out. Good evening. Peter Wills, director of government relations. Uh, I'm here to talk about the planet tonight.

So, very light topic, where we are in today's society. Planets in a precarious situation. That's a whole another story. Okay. So, um, happy early Earth Day. Per the mayor, we, uh, wanted to provide an update to the commission and the public on where, uh, the progress that we've made since the climate action plan was adopted back in June of 2025. Um, it's important to note that this is the 56th anniversary of the climate day, and this year's theme is our power, our planet. And so late today I wanted to add a couple of images of earth. So very important weekend we week weekend we just had um and I think the the theme of our power our planet is very apppropo uh given the images that you can see from from earth and around the moon. So um somewhere down there is a city mskegan and the important work that you're all doing. So, I recognize that um the climate action team, the primary members include the uh uh deputy city manager, public works director, and myself. And as many of you know, the the intention of the climate action plan is really just a roadmap to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. And that's a roadmap that you established for us, a call to action in 2023. And um we've developed a greenhouse gas inventory um two iterations of that along with a climate action plan and on that road we're on that path and in addition to that uh the intention of a climate action plan really is to secure funding and adopt energy solutions in sustainability. This is a living breathing document. It's uh not in stone. It can be adjusted and adapted over time. And I think a few

years between now and 2040 where uh this kind of work will be uh we have five primary focus areas uh within the plan see there and the vendor that we used identified almost 100 action items. So we have not achieved progress on all 96 action items in the last nine months. Um I'm pleased with where we sit today. Um, but what we wanted to do was go through each uh focus area and just sort of spotlight the the larger projects. Um, this information along with a more detailed document will be up on our climate action page for the public to be able to to to view. But the opportunities within this particular focus area, buildings and facilities, um, center around two what I think are really exciting um, opportunities around energy improvement savings to our, um, city buildings, in particular, our DPW facility, as well as really tracking our energy consumption trends. And that's that's really done through uh, two two areas. is an energy performance contract which is through Johnson Controls and and staff has come before you to talk a little bit about that process and they'll be back I believe next month to talk in more detail about this energy performance contract and what that can savings standpoint um also encouraged that since the plan has been adopted we've talked internally quite a bit about how to track this information the vendor provided quite a bit of information for us to be able to track progress uh through our consumption and emissions in a lot of different ways, but really it comes down to staff time and priorities and costs. And so staff engage the Michigan Green Building Collaborative um to you to to use really a recommendation that's in the plan, our energy star port through an energy star portfolio manager. So um through that process they will be taking a look at our utility DTE consumers information and and providing um

periodic updates but really more of an annual update on on consumption of our municipal facilities. And as you can see there, we just are spotlighting a few potential projects of focus um relative to two roof replacements at city hall at central fire as well as a chiller system here in city hall and um continued work that we're doing around energy charging station. So um these are projects that will be back in front of you either from a capital improvement standpoint and or the budget, but we just wanted to at least put them on primary projects that we're really looking at and do impact this area. Uh the the next focus area are opportunities around uh our our fleet. When I started this process, I did not know that we had more than 550 fleet or vehicles within our fleet system. And so having talked with our fleet manager um it's very encouraging that uh he's absolutely on top of um all of those vehicles and the the replacement schedules and um being very intentional on working with you to acquire um or purchase hybrid vehicles where possible where it's cost effective and it's um possible. Uh you can see there the the image to the right. Um this there were two EV uh utility um sidebyside vehicles that were purchased uh now going on two years ago. And so we've been very pleased um of how those units can be used 12 months out of the year at the beach moving snow. Um so that comes as the result of having acquired uh a grant in during that during that time waste. The second focus area um we're really focused on on opportunities where we can compost, where we can we can recycle, reduce single use plastics through things such as uh using digital information in trainings uh um rather than big thick binders of information when we're trying to onboard staff. Um

city treasurer is looking at providing a credit for paperless billing. Um the third option or third third item there, I just became re recently aware of a potential county grant um that they petitioned to the state of Michigan to have a potential countywide recycling center which ultimately could lead to um uh guess a two compactors rel um within the either the city of Moskegan and or Fruitport or Fruitport Township. But but ultimately the city likely if these grant dollars were received uh could realize a a recycling compactor that would allow the public 247 to be able to use uh plastic and cardboard or or send their plastic cardboard um for recycling at the DPW facility. Land use and resilience. Uh similarly to the fleet management um similarly maybe what I shared with you recently at an LPC meeting a urban tree canopy inventory was recently completed and it's an interesting factoid that we have 14 a little over 14,000 trees that were individually marked. Um you can see there the following bullet points as it relates to really the value of that important natural resource. the carbon dioxide um that's captured along with storm water runoff and rainfall that's that's intercepted as well as the amount of ozone that's that's absorbed through having this natural resource. So yes, we have many charter parks. Yes, we have uh quite a bit of green space, but it's really impacting the climate I think in a positive way. Some of you may have also seen recently the Arbor Day Foundation recognized the city uh much like what they've done for many years as the city Mskegegan Tree City USA. So, of the work that we're doing in this space and then uh staff also recently received a unique grant from Michigan State University to um

provide funds for the city to be more sustainable in growing our own tree nursery so to speak balls I believe. And so in following the tree removal policy of for every tree removed that two two trees be replaced. We believe that this work um uh can pay dividends long term and it's outside the box thinking by our staff. Um so we appreciate staff um thinking about that. Then implementation uh is the is the the final focus area of really just implementing um many of the action items we have going forward. Uh the the climate action plan team meets each quarter to review the the plan. Um we know that we're uh maintain our contract with Wade Trim um which is our grants management firm that has gone through the climate action plan identified state or federal grant opportunities for us to pursue uh as well as other nonclimate related grants. So we're really pleased with the work that they're they're able to do and and save staff time in that regard. Then the final two bullet points there are really just monitoring and evaluating progress and then integrating your priorities into this process u through plans and policies and decisions um is very important going forward and I I I put some special focus on that of really just having you taking a look at all of those materials that do exist online um and providing and informing staff of the things that you care about or most about that helps in any grants that that you know we've come across and could could spend u time and special focus on what's next for climate action. Uh the public can take a look at that QR code. Um we do intend we do have an internal u uh dashboard of all 96 recommendations and and where we've listed out to say that um some of these could be

accomplished in a short or mid or long term or some that cost a low cost or high cost. And so we've done a little bit of that work um through another tool that we've just on boarded through a tool called clear gov. Uh they offer a strategic planning module in there program. And so what we're going to do is thread a lot of these these um action items into that uh so that the public can see all 96 90 you know 96 plus action items to see um progress there. There is certainly strategic priorities have been mentioned identifying grant resources um and we have that URL for the uh the public to be able to stay engaged. So again this information along with detailed a little bit more detailed document will be up on the climate action page. Um pleased with the the work that we're doing thus far. It's um it's all resource based and um things of that nature. So we're pleased with where we're at. I think so. Thank you. Director Wills, commissioners, any questions or comments you wish to share?

Yes, Vice Mayor Keener. I just simply wanted to share again with the public um one of the great things about um some of us that get to take a tour through DPW from time to time, we maintenance our own vehicles, too. And I think that's just totally awesome that we maintenance, we put the invest back into. So, it also saves city dollars as well. Um, so I really appreciate uh DPW for the work on they're doing on clean vehicles, making sure that our vehicles are maintained as well um to fit this climate control that we're trying to have going on in Moskegan. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Commissioner Cochen.

Yes. Thank you. Um, thank you very much, Director Wills, for presenting tonight and for continuing to work on this and everybody who's been working on this because it it is an important issue. Um, and you know, one of the things that you had mentioned was the the the trees, right? And I think that the trees are really important because um, the plan to replace one tree with two um, I think is really helpful because one of the things that people don't think about is how we are actually warming up as a as a globe, right? So, it's actually getting warmer. Um, we're setting records every summer for heat and the tree canopy helps cool our city down. Um, and I think that is something that we want to make sure we're keeping in mind when we're looking at our inventory across the city. Um, if we can save trees, I think that's definitely in our best interest.

Thank you. Uh, yes. Commissioner Kogo, that city hall chiller, is that coming this summer? Cuz it's already it's already warm in here. It's April. Yeah. Probably not for this summer season, but in this next year would be the goal. It is warm in here though. Thank you.

I saw which what city was that? I don't know if that was in America. Might have been Amsterdam or not Amsterdam, but somewhere in Netherlands. Anyhow, there was this municipality that um like painted it was a section of their city like they painted every roof white um and measured the the difference uh to compare like a heat sink versus white and they noticed a significant difference um in that area in which all of the rooftops were were painted white to help minimize the heat sink.

Um all right. Well, thank you uh for presenting, Director Wills. Um I I appreciate that. I wanted just to get an update. I know we're nine months in since we adopted the plan, but um I thought since April is the month of Earth Day that we could get an update on this and it'd be nice if we made this annual tradition, you know, until we we hit that mark and we don't have to wait till 2040 to hit that mark of uh carbon neutrality. So, I don't know if I'll be here by 2040, but yes, let's get to I won't be here either, but let's get to carbon zero uh as soon as possible, but no later than 2040. Thanks, Director Wills. All right, that brings us to public comment. I don't have any forms. Um, madam clerk, do you have any forms? Have you received any?

Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to give public comment at this time? Seeing no takers, we're going to go to the phone. Uh, this is an opportunity to folks to give input directly uh to the city. Uh, we're not necessarily going to be engaging back and forth uh dialogue or Q&A. Um, we can schedule that for another time if that's so desired. Um, this is a time for folks to give input directly to us for up to three minutes. Um, and the phone number for phone and comments at this time is 231-724-6721. When you're calling, please turn down any audio in the background. State your name. Um, and if you're a city resident, which neighborhood you're calling from, and if you're not a city of Michigan resident, where else you may be calling from a call?

Good evening. You're with the city of Mskegan City Commission. Hi, this is Ann Vandermull from Roosevelt Park. Hi, Miss Vanderm. You have three minutes to give your remarks.

Okay. Um, the best compliment I ever got from a boss was when I worked down at the depot retail store in the Old Migan Mall. I was an assistant manager and my boss, Jenny, told me she hired me because she thought I seemed honest. I am honest. Thank you, Jenny. It's a crime if a certain lawyer back in 2015 told me to get off my mom's bank accounts for a certain reason. If that lawyer was part of a setup to frame me for a crime. I had been on my mom's account since we moved back here 40 years ago. I've always done a lot of grocery shopping for my parents and they've always known that they could trust me. It's a crime for anyone in this community to set someone up for a fake crime. It's a crime to manipulate someone to get off their mother's bank account so someone can possibly falsely accuse them of financial elder abuse. It's a crime for the people that I called TBF on to participate in any conspiracy to falsely accuse me of financial elder abuse. It's a crime for any possible leaders in the community to participate in any setup against me, to falsely accuse me of financial elder abuse. I'm not talking about anyone on the MSG city commission. But if there are any other leaders in our community that were possibly part of the setup to frame me for a false crime, they need to resign effective immediately. It is a crime for anyone to retaliate against me for the police report I wrote on Tracy Loren. I am not accusing Tracy Loren of anything, but it is a crime for anyone to retaliate retaliate against me for calling CPS. Again, I'm not accusing anyone on the Miggan City Commission, but I've seen other community leaders in

pictures with Tracy Loren, and it would be a crime if they were part of any such corruption. If a certain lawyer told me to get off my mom's bank accounts back in 2015 because they were possibly part of a scheme to falsely accuse me of financial elder abuse. That's crime and it's corruption. It's a crime. If anyone is still part of a corruption, part of a possible scheme to falsely accuse me of financial elder abuse. I ask any community leader who is possibly part of any such crime and corruption to resign effective immediately. I go to Democrat party meetings and Republican party meetings. I want to thank Melinda Ree Paggel for letting me speak at Republican party meetings and Marsha Javier Wright for letting me speak at Democrat party meetings. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Venmo, and for calling and sharing your uh perspective from the city of Roseville Park. Get a few more moments in case anyone else wants to call in and share their thoughts. All right. does not sound like we have anyone else phoning in. Um, we're not quite to adjournment though because we have

I move to go into close session to consider material exempt from discussion or disclosure by state or federal statute being an attorney client communication. We have a motion by Commissioner Sinclair supported by Vice Mayor Kenir. We need roll call on this. Yes. Mayor Johnson. Yes. Commissioner Kilgo, yes. Vice Mayor Keenir, yes. Commissioner German, yes. Commissioner Jackson, yes. Commissioner Cochen, yes. Commissioner Sinclair, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right, commissioners.