Remarks by Kerry Ebersole Singh
106 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 5
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“Correct. some cross conversations both at the USC and then the Arts Commission as well in terms of you know there's there's a budding band like community MSU and I follow a few of them on tic tac it keeps me young The point being, there could be some interesting pilot ideas of during the winter, can we host a band? I don't know if that would be of interest, but I just want to connect some of the ideas and discussions happening at some of the commissions.”
“Sorry, question. So they don't use our census number?”
“I was just wanting to reconcile how the state, if it's not based on the decennial census, then understanding that definition if it's separate than the federal count. But yes, there is a new rule proposed by the Trump administration that would really hurt college towns.”
“I was going to jump in and say other revenue sources that you list in phase three that I actually am open to a street lighting special assessment. And I think how we create that, if it's on repairs, I mean, there's probably a way to be thoughtful in terms of recognizing people are paying property taxes, but there are additional needs that are street lighting. And the other communities of similar size that have done this is always a good comparison. I know Detroit has, but that's not necessarily helpful. Always state revenue sharing, that's an ongoing battle every year that hasn't been very…”
“Well, over the next decade too, it's really critical. I mean, the income tax could fail and we could be out, you know, like in terms of having that community engagement. So I would say in the short term, maybe six years, maybe, you know, that there is some value in continuity. And I'm just smiling because I just like to tease those who have maybe thought we've had enough commissions.”
“But I would standardize it longer than a year, recognizing what is in front of us through 2030 on the income tax. So again, whether it's a six-year period or a decade, stabilize, create the commission. You can put a sunset date. Future councils could change it. I don't know if you're ready to sign up.”
“But I just look at, again, creating those terms for those members and then really continuing to seek that talented members to be a part of it, I think gives us a really important mechanism to get community engagement on our financial health.”
“But there's costs to having a startup and then dropping it and then starting it back up, which is part of the point.”
“What's all the hours you logged getting presenting on all the facts?”
“Northern Tier Trail, you know, they usually shut down or have in the past to use that. That's near my house, so I notice when the trail gets shut down, as well as we hear a lot of complaints out of, was that Walnut Heights? So Patriarch, the backside of Patriarch Park as well. just to put a little picture on that and I just want to highlight on this long-term strategy for the region I know the last time we talked about deer management and we or maybe it was two times ago we spent a lot of time from MSU or someone was here on behalf of MSU talking about deer management strategies and like the…”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“Just a practical implementation, potentially. I know this is just a vote to refer to Planning Commission tonight, but like it was at Chandler Road, we may get an interchange up there someday. So it would just, if someone wanted to put a gas station up there, it would just have to go through a special permit process, correct?”
“A rezoning. Okay. I'm interested to see where Planning Commission is at. I mean, that's the only area that comes to mind of potential interest. I don't want to make it more challenging than it necessarily needs to be. So that's my only thought tonight. Thank you.”
“Sorry, I just wanted to fact check you really quick.”
“Yeah. And I appreciate the comparables, even though population sizes are a little bit of a hodgepodge, but it gave us a little bit of a sense, um, where other communities were at. Um, one question, uh, well, I just want to be clear because verbally you say, um, I think you just stated that, um, anything that is unbudgeted for would come before council. Correct.”
“And that would continue. Correct. That practice would continue. And does that need to be explicitly written in the policies? Because I'm not sure if it's in there.”
“Yeah, because I noticed that in one of your comparables, too, they kind of know unbudgeted items always come forth. So that would be a recommendation I would want to see. And then I guess the other, looking at the contract threshold, if the If these turn into multi-year deals, like a 50K continuation, does that change anything?”
“The city manager would just be able to sign contracts even if it's an extension of a current contract beyond the 50K. Or if it's a six-month deal for 50K and then another six-month deal for 50K.”
“Now you made me curious about the internal contract policy beyond what we're looking at.”
“Okay. All right, those were my questions on this segment of issues.”
“Well, I do have another topic I did not bring up the other week.”
“So I did not, and forgive me, I did not catch this question when we last, when you were last before us. And that's on the prevailing wage, requiring prevailing wage or projects. We're lifting that cap from 20K today to 50K. And did we talk to any stakeholders on this? like building trades or any unions we may work with?”
“This would be another area that I'm uncomfortable lifting the cap to 50K. You know, I'm prevailing wage from the current day 20. I like to keep that the same. Now more than ever, people need to make a solid wage. So that would be my only other issue that I wanted to bring up on this topic.”
“Yeah, just discussion on the motion on the floor. You know, I'm going to be voting against it because I'm not comfortable with lifting the prevailing wage cap. I do appreciate you revisiting the language in the future and some of the other changes that are presented. So thank you. But I'm going to go on a no vote on this.”