Remarks by Erik Altmann
304 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 13
“welcome to the uh tuesday october 20th 2026 meeting of the east lansing city council at 6 30 p.m the meeting will come to order could we have the roll call please council member whalen council member sing council member meadows mayor pro tem grigsby here mayor altman here is there a motion to approve the agenda”
“Moved by Grigsby, second by Meadows. Any discussion of the agenda? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Agenda is approved. Is there a motion concerning the minutes of previous meetings?”
“OK. Motion by Grigsby, second by Meadows to approve the minutes of the 13th October 2026 City Council discussion only meeting and the 6th October 2026 minutes of the regular council meeting. Any corrections to those minutes? Seeing none, the vote is on the minutes as presented. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Those minutes are approved. Communications from the audience. All written communications received by council are posted on the online agenda packet for today. A reminder that we read those emails as they come in. The council and the city manager gets those…”
“Thank you for your comments. James McCurtis, Jr. Good evening.”
“Thank you for your comments. Your time has expired. I don't need your thank you.”
“Could we cut the podium microphone, please? Is there anybody else in the audience who would care to address the Collins? Is there anybody else in the audience who would care to address the council? Seeing none, do we have any callers?”
“Thank you. Do we have any other callers?”
“That concludes communications from the audience. We are now on to communications from the council. Councilmember Singh.”
“Thank you. For my part, I will note that there is, this Thursday, so day after tomorrow there is a community forum for initial discussion on potential on a potential data center's ordinance here at 6 30 p.m registration is encouraged and there's a link on the city website to register so data centers are i think of a broad interest they're getting a lot of attention in the various campaigns at the state and federal level And we currently have a moratorium in place on data centers to give staff time to develop a policy. And I think the outlines of a policy will be on display Thursday at 6.30…”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“End of consent? Does that make sense? Okay. City Attorney's Report.”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“I believe there are family members here. I'd like to invite you to the podium, please.”
“So we have the proclamation here. I will sign it as soon as we vote on the consent agenda, which we have to remember to do. Any further comments? Okay. So we have the consent agenda before us as read by the city manager. Would any council member like any items removed from the consent agenda to the business agenda? I'm seeing no takers. Accordingly, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented?”
“Moved by Meadows, second by Whelan. Any further discussion of the consent agenda? Seeing none, all in favor of approval, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. The consent agenda is approved. And I will take a moment of license here. So that concludes the Consent Agenda, which brings us to the Business Agenda, Item 4.1, Introduction of Ordinance 1584 and Ordinance Amending Section 3 Definitions. Item H of Ordinance Number 1173 of the Code of the City of East Lansing, which provides for a service charge in lieu of taxes for the multiple family dwelling development located at 1801…”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“I have a question. The parameters under which the property owner operates won't change, right, under the new ownership?”
“Okay. That was my only question. Is there a motion? Turn on your mic.”
“Okay, motion by Meadows to approve the introduction of ordinance 1584 and ordinance amending section three definitions, item H of ordinance number 1173 of the code of the city of East Lansing, which provides for a service charge in lieu of taxes for the multiple family dwelling development located at 1801 North Hagedorn and more commonly known as the East Glen Apartments. Is there a second? Second. Second by Whelan. Any discussion?”
“any objections no i don't have an objection to that i'm seeing no objections so we could plan to put that on the consent agenda at our next business meeting any further discussion director pope i don't believe it can be on the consent agenda okay i think it has to be read into the record again as at the under business but i can”
“I'll retract that comment then. Okay. All right. We will find it on our business agenda. Friendly amendment to remove that from the thing. Right. Is there unanimous consent to remove that from the? I'm not sure was part of the motion but in any case all right any further discussion okay all those in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries and that ordinance 1584 is introduced thank you thank you so that brings us to item 4.2 consideration and review of responses to requests for proposals for the city manager search director Kenny”
“So I made one, well let me start by saying that when I suggested the timeline that we're working under initially I thought we were going to get three or four proposals and then we got 14 and so the week was not enough for me to have the time that I needed to look at all the proposals I've made. I made one pass through and I've started to I started to form categories, but I would like to have more time to have a closer look. And I think there may be other more specific requests for additional information. Also, So I'm sensitive to the need to keep it rolling at the same time. I think we're…”
“So I for one would be interested in seeing the matrix that you created and the analytical criteria and also whatever criteria anybody else develops in the course of reading through all the packets. I think that all that could be part of the next agenda item report and it would help me to see how other people are approaching this and I'm willing to share my own criteria as part of this. I THINK A THOROUGH REVIEW ALONG THOSE LINES WOULD BE HELPFUL IF NOTHING ELSE TO HELP US START THINKING AHEAD TO THE SEARCH AND TO THE PROCESS. SO I'LL GO AHEAD AND MAKE A MOTION TO DEFER FURTHER CONSIDERATION…”
“I personally am not comfortable without the five of us having this discussion. I think we're all equal partners in this. Okay. And I think we all need to be present for it. That's my own personal view. If anybody would like to counter that, then that's...”
“I was going to suggest getting those requests for information by the 27th, a week from today, because you're going to have to go solicit responses from the firms. Does that work in terms of a timeline?”