Remarks by Mark Meadows
98 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 4
“I do have a question because the the release indicated that we were going to consult with my Anna Collins and her family with regard to the release of the video and I've not heard anything back on that so I'm asking for some information this evening okay yep”
“And I'll just, with regard to release of videos, you know, my position has always been that let's just release them. Let's get them out there as quickly as possible. I'll just repeat that that's what we did with the shooting that took place at the Meijer store a couple years ago. And I felt that that was effective in informing the public exactly as to what was going on and why We may have referred all of that information to the county prosecutor who then sent it over to the Attorney General. And I'm not sure whether any of this other information, especially involving Isaiah, has been referred…”
“All right. I would like to know that information. I think the public would like to know that, too. So that's all the comments I have this evening.”
“I'll just note that at the Commission on the Environment meeting last night, there was a long discussion of data centers and a very short presentation from planning staff with regard to the work on the ordinance here. It's important that we have an ordinance within the city. I think that The public perception of data centers are these mega data centers like what is going in and sailing Michigan that cover, you know, a huge amount of acres and are projected to use a large amount of water and electricity and drive your costs, the public's costs, up for both of those commodities that are…”
“I'll just make one anecdotal comment. I knew Martha Bibbs only as Assistant Attorney General. We would interact sometimes to provide advice to the Civil Service Commission with regard to that. But I also knew her in another sense, which... You know, I've campaigned a lot through the city of East Lansing. When I would approach Coach Bibb's house, it would be with the knowledge that it wasn't like some of the other porches that, you know, I might stand on where usually I say, hi, I'm Mark Meadows. I'm running for city council. Please look at this and give me a call if you have any questions. I…”
“Thanks, I was silent there, wasn't I? I'm going to move the introduction of Ordinance 1584. I think this is the first reading, so we need one more reading on this or night. And to have it on the agenda for November 17th, our next meeting. Thank you.”
“Well, I'm very appreciative of this. Let me just say that. And also, you know, some information that Council Member Singh provided to me. But I am not comfortable with making those choices this evening. I think there is more information that I'm going to request and also more activity on my own part that I haven't been able to engage in at this point in time. So personally, I would prefer to have this discussion of cutting it down to four to six at our next regular business meeting on the 17th. That gives us about a month. I realize you're interested in getting this done as soon as possible,…”
“I mean, we could put it off until the next meeting, which is only like two weeks later. But if you're confident that you're going to be ready to go right now, so you'll be providing us that information anyway. Correct. On the 17th. Your choices.”
“And if I could add one thing, I know that I've been around a long time and on this council a long time. This is the very first time that I've participated in the choosing of a city manager. So I'm kind of learning as I go along as well. And even though I've served with a lot of city managers, they were always picked by other councils. So this is the first time I've got to do this.”
“But I do, you know, I think that I'm trying to interpret the point, but I think The point made by council member Singh is we need to, we need more than just get your, uh, choices to you by the first and then, uh, have it on the agenda of the eighth, because we need to get to staff, any questions that we might have from, for any of those prior to that time. So there's adequate time for us to get the answers. And I don't know exactly what that time frame is, but I would say that maybe any questions that we might have that are to be asked of the applicants to HR by the 15th, does that work?…”
“I think that's just too short a timeline. I'm just thinking if it was, let's just say the week after the election, how's that? The Monday after the election, whatever that is. Well, the Monday after the election would be the 9th. Yeah, I think if we get it to them by the 9th, that should be enough. Do you think that's enough time?”
“And this task is to reduce the number. You know, we've all got to have our list. But I think that's when we're going to, if we all agree on the four to six, That's when we're going to go start making phone calls on the references to find out what the real deal is here because we can then use that information to change the list, I guess, would be an answer as well. And we have done it. I know that city councils in the past have done something like that.”
“Well, we could hold a special meeting at night.”
“We can actually have a special meeting and a discussion on one meeting. You just have to set a different time.”
“Yeah, I want to note that we received a letter this week from one of our citizens also talking about this issue of the loud noise and asking us to take action with regard to it. But I just want to anecdotally give my own, which I think a lot of people know that we live about 60 feet off of Abbott Road. And there are times at night where our walls you know, vibrate from loud noise that probably from motorcycles generally, but also some vehicles and it could be any time of the day or night. So.”
“Well, I don't want to challenge the thought, you know, that was, I leaned towards that myself. But I do have a question for you because the, as I recall anyway, that when we bonded for the, The softball complex and the aquatic center, we don't spend our money immediately. So there's a revenue element with regard to this, or there was at that particular time. I'm not sure these bonds qualify in the same way and that there will be revenue associated with them, but have we calculated the revenue that we would have over the period that we would have these bonds out? Because if there is a…”
“So, and thank you for that detailed response. You know, when we're talking about one swimming pool, basically, it's a whole different deal than having the multitude of projects that we're talking about here. And so your recommendation would also be item number four, is that correct? Am I taking you correctly on that?”
“Yeah, that frankly doesn't change my mind because ultimately, at least based on the chart that we've been provided, you know, we save about $800,000 over the life of the bonds by going with four as opposed to three. At least that's the way I'm looking at it here. Yeah, maybe it's $900,000 in terms of the total debt service that we're paying for. So I think personally that That's our least expensive proposal here. And it also, you know, to the extent that there is either other revenue or we decide that we aren't going forward with some of the other projects that have been listed, you know, by…”
“So are you proposing to provide that to us, this option five?”
“So can we have option five before us, uh, by next week, by next Tuesday? Is that putting too much pressure on you?”
“Well, personally, I have the greatest confidence in our CFO. So it's not that, it's just I feel that council has to express its view as to what we need to do going forward. I hate leaving it sort of in limbo land and us not knowing exactly where we're headed at some point in the future. It sounds like that's the way the resolution is worded right now.”
“I don't want to weigh in right now. Three and four were the ones that I was looking at originally anyway. I haven't necessarily changed my mind about four, but as the description of this potential number five that we could go forward I think makes a lot of sense for us. But also based on the CFO's comments a little bit earlier, I'll just note that we need to get working on the income tax, and we should have that on the ballot for our public to potentially resolve as soon as we can.”
“I'm sorry. Is the chair going to be sitting with you?”
“We approved their budget, correct? Yeah.”
“But in terms of transparency, you know, personally, I'd rather see a quarterly report of some kind as to expenditures. I mean, we get updates with regard to the budget, and I think as part of that, the legal cost should be part of that. I think it is the cost of doing business, you know. But I also think that an explanation of these costs would be good because I think some of the criticism that has been directed towards us ignores the fact that we had two separate contracts previously. And one was for $350,000 annually and was locked in no matter how much work was done. and people are looking…”