City Council - Regular Meeting

Uh, cross section, uh, actually the question should be that we're looking at here. So, you can see the stage will be level, but the ground, there will be a slight slope to it. And I forget the percentage that he indicated that between 3 and 4%, 3 to 4%. So, in a general slope there.

Okay, but there wouldn't be like a ledge that somebody could inadvertently just step off of and twist their ankle or anything.

No.

Okay.

Thank you. Council member. Council member.

I saw on the site plan that it didn't include some of the retail and restaurants and some of that sort of thing. Will you have a chance, Tyler or Dan, will you have a chance to kind of speak to potentially some of those additions or plans with the project?

So, and I'll let practice speak more to it, but there is 1 additional, my understanding tenant at the lower level anticipated to be a distillery or a tasting room as part of that. I understand. They're still in negotiations for final lease. Uh, terms. Okay, awesome.

Thank you. Um, I'm just making sure I familiarize myself with where we are in the process. It looks like tonight we're working through some of the details around the development agreement itself. And there's some next steps outlined in the packet that we received over the weekend when we talk about finalized design and site engineering. So. I might understand this has moved now moved through the planning commission, and we're ready to start sending out bid documents or, or is there further review required before we go?

There was an initial presentation made to the planning commission based on, you know, because I'll call them more conceptual designs to see if they had any input before moving into more detailed engineering. And that's where it's moving now. So we do it to speak going back to planning commission for their final review.

Okay, so there'll be 1 more round at the, at the planning commission before engineering drawings are presented or are drafted drawings have started.

And so there'll be some additional details that are obviously included this evening. Um, and then so then once the planning commission viewed it, then the final engineering drives will be prepared.

Okay, thank you. Um, I'll say my questions related to the development agreement and the, um. Uh, stuff, uh, till we get to that, but I just, yeah, I wanted to make sure I understood where we were in the process and, um, developing an understanding of what infrastructure upgrades are required is going to be important for me to understand as well.

Very good. Thank you. Council member. Council member Dylan.

Thank you. Um, so just going back to the, the site layout screen. Can you just explain the, the, the a and the B cross hatches what those are?

Sure. Those are the basically cross section views, which are then represented in these next 2 images. So that's a, and then B elevation. Showing those those views basically from a cross section standpoint. Or an elevation standpoint.

Okay, so we view the elevation that you have showing would be if you were standing at point B, looking to point B. Okay. Um. Um, thank you for that clarification. Um, the 1 thing that just remains a huge concern for me right now is. The current, like, where, if you look at back to the site layout where it says vehicular drop off. Um, is that because I know, according to the old drawings, and I think it's still there, that's like a 0 entry from the parking lot. To the sidewalk into the space, correct?

That is plan. Yes.

So how are we going to make sure that people are not being run over by cars?

If you see in the drawing along the. I'm not sure if they label it. There's several bollards. You see those black dots along the edge of the drop off area. Right. So we'll be bollards and we'll protect and prevent a vehicle from moving through that area.

Okay. Because we had those before and the trucks ran them over. And so I have great concern with that. They were they were they were. Lights that were ballards and there was never they were they're all gone now, I think at this point. So, safety has got to be a primary concern. And especially if you're considering that a drop off area, which would mean that our people entering from the alley next to America. Is that what you're looking for to activate that alley more?

No, I mean, it's basically the same configuration as just today. Uh, so that is the basic connection between the parking lot and the America site. Okay. Does allow you are correct as low access via the alley. Okay. It is again. The other advantage of having a basically a 0 grade or 0 entry there is that they could utilize that for other entertainment venues spaces like that. If you had a larger event in that right. So you block off portions of the parking lot as we do for.

No, I appreciate that. I'm just concerned that you're talking about using the same herringbone sidewalk and parking lot. I feel like there could be a safety concern with people not knowing where the road stops and sidewalk starts or vice versa and people stepping out thinking that's still part of the plaza and have cars coming through. So, I, I would like that to be a little bit more of a focus that safety aspect of that.

Um, that's different treatment the surface where the knowledge is located. So there's a visual barrier as well.

That's okay. I mean, I just again, I just want to make sure that we just understand of what we're doing with that. The other thing trying to understand is so where you see a hearing bone. At the bottom next to existing building is that the patio. For the restaurant, is that what that is?

And that's the other tenants potentially? Yes.

Or okay, because I was trying to figure out, is that the overhang? Is it all 1 size? Like.

So, you can see in the cross section, most of that Patty would be covered by the overhang.

Okay, because that's what I'm just trying to kind of get a little bit of a better understanding. And then do we actually have dimensions of the space?

Yes.

I mean, they're trying to understand the square footage.

There are some dimensions here shown on this cross section. If you see. And we are actually working on, I know the designer was working on calculating exact square footages for kind of for the construction phase as well to fully understand that.

Okay. Yeah, I think that that would kind of just sort of understanding. And then the stage is a permanent fixture. Correct? That's a platform.

It would be flush with ground level.

Yeah. Okay. Will be level as opposed to, obviously, the, the green front of it will slope slightly. Okay. That would be a level area for set up of equipment as needed.

And with the slope, is there still a concern? I know that you're talking about putting some new infrastructure in of water drainage.

And site layout, um, you see, um. Right there where it says trench drain, uh, that will be, uh, pick up any of the storm water that flows down that slow. So, yeah, it's bottom right side is where it's labeled. So you see the gray area between the, the herringbone and the grass, right?

So that's going to be a great that's going to catch all of the water as it runs down.

Okay.

Okay. Um. I will stop there. Okay.

Thank you. Anything else you'd like to add at this juncture? Mr. No, that's just the overall design layout.

Want to update you as to where that was and then the next phase would talk about a little bit of the development agreement.

Very good. Okay, please proceed. And DPS Director McNeil, at any point, if you'd like to add anything, please just notify me or flag me down, and I'll make sure to call upon you. Yes, sir. Tyler has a... Oh, please, Tyler, if you wouldn't mind using the microphone.

So, as it is, there's currently just a curb.

Talking to the mic.

Yeah, talking to the mic there. You can pull it as close to you as you want. Yep. Uh, as it is, there's just a curve keeping cars out. So, our thought with the is, it's actually going to drastically improve safety because right now you could just drive. A car right over the curve, and there's nothing actually blocking a car from driving directly out of the site. So, these are currently in use. If you go to downtown number state street is a curbless street, and they are what's used to keep. The Michigan theater safe, just in front of it, you can see a roll roll bollards. This will be the same type of bollards. It won't be the exact same bollards per se, but they are well anchored into the ground and I'm not sure about the other ones that got hit. But I know that there were fewer of them. And a lot of times those can be missed, but these will be a substantial amount. And from a surface standpoint. Every time you have a curbless street, there are surface changes. Uh, so that if you are, for instance, blind, it allows you to know, oh. The where I'm walking is changing, and that's currently in use also on state street. So there will be key indicators on the slide that showed that there is a. Material change at the baller line. So, we are like, we are trying to take safety seriously similar. Throughout the site, we tried to minimize any surprise drop off. So to council member point, that was a major parts for for how I directed. and also complete, I call it site permeability. So the ability to walk as many places without having to be blocked by a rail

Mr as we started to draft the draft the specifics for the development agreement, 1 of the key aspects was that we need to understand, you know, what is the quote unquote developers property? And what is the city property? And so this diagram shows you the Phoenix South is in the green. That is a developer's property. The purple property is the city property and then we have adjacent property owners. Uh, as well in the, in the blue color. So the goal behind this was that the developer would be designing and up and developing their property. And then the city would be working on his property and that's how the costs would be divided as well. The best we can there are, as we talk about, there are going to be some what we call shared costs that we'll have to base off of a rough square footage or. Of the city versus developer property, but I think it's understand that is how the development agreement specifics were how we started those specifics. So, with that again, as is shown here, kind of the city would be taking care of the city property and providing the funding for those improvements and vice versa. The developer would be providing funding for the improvements on their property. And design control would again rest with those 2 entities for the practice property. They would be have ultimate design control over the over their property. And likewise, the city would have ultimate control on design over its property. So, then that feeds into the actual construction practice would fund all the costs associated with the development or construction and that their scope area and vice versa. The city would fund the improvements in its scope area, or the city property kind of generally East of the East of the developers property also commonly known as parking lot to. So, there are going to be some areas, as we mentioned that where costs are shared, because they're just grading doesn't how do you know when you cross that line or not? And so, in terms of those aspects of the project that would be managed on a square footage basis. And as I mentioned, we calculated off that previous drawing of what. Now one of the things that we're working through right now is with the MEDC grant, there are requirements that basically Phoenix South, which is a development property, would have to pay for all those costs to show that they are meeting the full requirements of the grant and that the city match would then come as a reimbursement to Phoenix South once the work is completed. So obviously once the work is completed, And the cost shown by Phoenix South documented as to how that was divided based on the allocation or which property it occurred. And then those costs would distribute out and the city would reimburse a portion that is on the city property. If that makes sense. And just to add to that.

Yeah. I would prefer if the city could pay directly and that way there's, there's no muddiness. Um, so I currently, I just got assigned and had a meeting with Madeline clap from the. So. It's a possibility that we can get the city added because this project is. Is unique for the, and they're excited about that. They're very excited that the city has joined as a partner, but because it's unique, they would kind of have to bend their rules, but they are in consideration of doing that. That would be preferable. Uh, but it may not be allowed, so we have to sort of play by their rules.

I'm assuming that's why you use the phrase may and not will in the contract. Yes. Okay.

Please continue, Mr. Swell.

So the next thing that is obviously of a particular interest is the use of the property going forward and how that lease arrangement or how that range will work between the city and practice properties. So what the current proposal is, is this would basically be a 50 year lease broken into 10 year terms. Obviously, the over 10 years things can change a little bit. So it may have to be revisited each 10 year term to make sure that it's still applicable. And the goal here is that the rent would be based on the new taxes generated by the project. So the new taxes that would come to the city. So it's similar in that regard to the tax payment that we discussed early on as part of this project is that basically, in essence, instead of a freeze of the property taxes as part of the project. The tax payment, the additional taxes that are made by Phoenix South LC would then be collected by the city. And the idea is to base that would be the basis for the rent. So I did give an example of a calculation here. The city's current village, as we know, is just 13 is 13.45 mills. We also have our additional refuse millage that is collected. So a total of 15.3 mills. It goes directly to the city. So, if we're assuming based on initial estimates that the increase in value of the property is 625,000 dollars, those new taxes generated for the city villages only would be the 9563 dollars. So, I know there's some see now, 1 of the 1 of the things we also have to look at is this property is in our tax and finance authority district or district. And so those new taxes will be captured by so we do need to present this also to the board for their review and approval. So, I have is half of the actual increase, right? Yeah. So the, and that's a taxable value increase, not the actual, you know, so the, uh, good point. Yes. The actual, um, true cash value increase would be 2 times that. Well, 1 point.

Anything else?

Questions on kind of how the lease term with it and or kind of how the proposed construction costs would be divided before I defer to counsel.

Mr. Kim, do you have anything else you'd like to add at this time? No, that covers it and I'm here to answer questions. Yep. Hang tight because there might be some questions that are best addressed by you personally. Mayor Putem Rice.

I think this is a really creative way since the state legislature that allowed us to do tax abatements for you know, incentivizing projects, corporations, cool things like the Imagine Theater that we did back in the day, you know, things like that to come into the community. Since we're no longer able to do that, this is a super creative way of capturing essentially the same money. So I appreciate the thought process that goes into this and And I definitely support that. As far as the lease agreement goes, will there be, within the lease agreement, will there be stipulations, you know, as far as Mr. Kinley, you getting tenants in and events, you know, Between, you know, say your tenant wants to host an event who, who will kind of be. Our points of contact for things like that, like, who's going to be in charge of that. So that's the idea behind the leases. The city would actually have control over that. They'd have to come to us and say, we'd like to do an event.

We can say, yeah, your day.

Okay.

Any other like parking lot event or where we close the street, they'd have to come and apply to the city. Obviously, I think, you know, you know, we. Hopefully, if there's affiliated with the property owner, that makes a lot easier, but they would still have to apply to the city for the use of the space.

And since we have the city clerk here, clerk road, we, you feel like we would have the capacity to be able to take applications like that. Like, say, this thing's kicking off and people want to use it all the time. You feel comfortable with that. Okay, just making sure. Perfect, exactly. Yeah, I mean, ideally, we would get lots of those applications, wouldn't we? So, yeah, those were the only couple of things that popped out to me.

Just to add to that, some of the details that we've been incorporating into how the lease would work and what the notification requirements would be. Anticipated there would be a minimum of two weeks' notice when there's an event scheduled. They've notified the adjacent property owners so they understand that And then they'll be cut off probably like 11 p.m., you know, so that we have residents in the downtown area that would not be disturbing to them. Especially since you're creating new residents. Some additional details into what would have to go into the application and some of the criteria for what events would be accepted.

Perfect. Great. Thanks.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Rice. Council Member Harmount, any questions, comments?

I'm so excited to see this collaborative effort come to Saline for an activated space. I do have a question though. I've had a chance just by out traveling, I've had a chance to see two different cities like social gathering spaces and both of them use artificial turf. And I see it was one of the items is that we're going to be responsible after an event to restore the area. And I'm just kind of concerned about that being a lower level and maybe retaining water, even though we have drains and stuff that could maybe get costly if we have to restore the area for grass and such.

So is there a consideration to have that and not be

Real grass and have it be maybe a turf. Definitely was consideration. I know there's a cost, a differential significant due to deciding under some of the under drainage as well as the material itself. So, at this point in time, the cost is cost prohibitive to have the turf, but I'll.

Are you factoring in the cost of maintenance and replacement of grass if we have to restore it?

I would prefer turf. But based on the numbers that we've gotten, and that's talking to individuals that have replaced. You know, baseball fields with turf that based on the size of the space, it could run half a 1Million dollars. Wow. And so. I would prefer it because in the shoulder seasons, when it is rainy, it's nicer. You don't have the muddiness. You don't have people tracking into the building. You can put chairs out there without them sinking into the ground. There's definite reasons to do it. It's just expensive. And if we can find money to do it, not only just putting turf you're putting the whole underlay system and it's substantial in terms of cost but it would be great

Anything else comes number?

I don't 1 other thing. Yes, that's the lighting. We talked about the lighting. I just want to make sure that we've considered any of the residents that would maybe just as far as the lighting level that that would add to any of the surrounding areas and whether or not there'd be intrusion into their living spaces.

You can find out here as well basically, you see the fixtures are represented in this drawing. They are downward directed and shielded. So you're not going to get the bear bulb glare out to the resident or adjacent properties. The smaller lights. Obviously, I think people have those in their backyards and it really should be minimally disruptive to anybody. If anybody made potential tenants, but obviously they know the space that they're moving into.

Thank you. Council Member Halsh.

Yeah, so I agree with my council colleagues, and it's exciting, the collaborative nature of the project. I have a few questions. During construction, what happens, or will there be any disruption to the current tenants? And if so, to what extent would construction disrupt, say, Kerrigan's and their operations?

Mr. Kenley finished, but the short answer is yes, there will be some disruption. Obviously, you can't have a construction project immediately adjacent without having some impact on the tenants. So in terms of the exterior work, it'd be fairly minimal. Obviously, when they attach the awnings and things and. And fire escapes things of that nature, there'll be some disruption of the building itself. Obviously, right now, people do utilize that space for access. So there'd be some access restrictions from the rear of the building, depending on what's being worked on at the time. And then obviously, there will be some interior renovations to the building itself that will have some disruptions to the tenants. But I know that Mr. Kim has been working very closely with his tenants already, letting them know what that will be, when it will be, and trying to at least give them.

Full scope of what will occur in a timeline as well Okay, um so kind of shifting to programming Is are we intending to potentially include this space within our social district yes short answer So I know you mentioned the potential to have, you know, an 11 p.m. cutoff. Do we plan on having specific regulations or passing ordinances around when that space closes?

Yes, so be part of any rental agreement that anybody enters into just like we do for special events. Now, if they're closing off a particular parking lot or closing off a street that there are there are time frames that it can be closed and they'll be specified when they apply.

So what I'm thinking about is. If I decide, I want to go for a walk. And go hang out in this gathering space at 12, 1 in the morning. Am I allowed to do that?

Just like any other treated in that case, public space that the city owns, whether it be, you know, city hall or park. So we could have hours on that, but events would be, you know, specifically restricted on time.

Obviously, so I'm more thing. Like I said, I'm more thinking about just I'm a citizen and Celine and I want to go use that space. Will we have regulations around that? The other thing that I think about is. With. With, like... With programming in the sense of who ultimately takes ownership, like you said, that with the city leasing the space, that these things will ultimately be city events. They'll come before the city. What about events... that tenants have? Let's say I live or I'm downtown and I just want to have a barbecue and a birthday party as someone who lives downtown. Will there be a process for me doing that? And then what if an event that I want to have living downtown conflicts with a city event?

Well, it's similar to how we rent pavilions and or rent space at our parks. So if they have applied and they meet the criteria, then they would have exclusive use of the of the property for that event. So then it would restrict others from using it at that during an event time. If there's not an event schedule that, you know, then you're free to use the open space just similar to park pavilion. If you want to go up and have a barbecue and you don't need exclusive use of it, that would be allowed. And we can set a little more rules, you know, as we develop this further, just like we have parks rules. I know the parks commission just went through that trying to identify specific rules. I would suggest that, you know, we work on that potentially with our sleep main street partners and make sure that we understand some of the rules when there's not an event scheduled for that space.

Yeah, I think that that's probably in addition to the safety. That's one of the things that I think I would like to see worked out because. Like I said, if I'm living downtown and I want to go have a barbecue in that space or I want to go enjoy that space, I want to be able to do that without necessarily having to apply for a special event. I just wanted to get some clarity around that.

Very similar to how our parks are regulated in that regard. There are certain park rules, time frames, but other than that, you're free to use the space.

Does that though, by nature of the fact that I'm living there and there are these rules around how that space is used, could the argument be made that the city is somewhat limiting my enjoyment of my apartment downtown?

And I guess that's obviously the thing we're going to have to work on in this partnership in that, yes, with the city leasing that space, we do have some control over that area, but I think

where for the most part you have free enjoyment of the space right but no one lives in the park people live downtown so yeah Jason but I think that it's different when it's literally my backyard and there's included within the drawings like Space that is supposed to be set aside specifically for tenants So I want to make sure that one we have some very clear rules and guidelines around that space But also I want to make sure that in those rules and guidelines that we aren't limiting people who do live downtown and this space does become their backyard and Enjoying the fact that they live downtown So, that's my concern. Very good.

I'll add that to the policy committee list of things that we have.

Thank you. Council member, uh, council member dollar go questions comments for the city manager or Mr. Kinley.

Yeah, I just want to make sure I understand the example calculation given for the, um. Capture for the 15.3 mills that. Um, equates to what you have there is 9,563 dollars. That's per year. Correct? Okay. Yes, that roughly equates to about 100 K over the 10 year period. And at which point we would have to renegotiate the lease. Now that we've offered the tax abatement, and now that we've given the developer a chance to benefit from said tax abatement, we would would have a completely different arrangement for the subsequent 10 year period.

Well, I would envision that the subsequent terms would be similar to the 1st, 10 year period. Okay, so yeah, I just want to make sure I understand that.

Yeah. Anything else Mr. no.

Okay.

Thank you. I mean, the elephant in the room right now, I'll be honest is the 10 year term. That's it could end in 10 years. We're putting all this time, effort and money into something that could be done in 10 years. I mean, I, I think that that's. Entirely too short of a timeframe, it should be a minimum of 25 years. So that the city has the enjoyment of that and understands it. And then, you know, looking at 25 plus 25 or something like that, but a 10 year term where you can just walk away and say, I'm done after you've developed your property and then. You know, I guess this is the problem with not owning the property ourselves, and this was part of the whole initial matrix that was done when we were evaluating where to put a public space. And that was 1 of the things that was a very big negative is that when the city did not own the space. It, you know, we lost a lot of the control over it. Yes, you can bring back some of that control within a contract, but overall, we will never own that property. And so I want to be very clear that I think that we need to revisit that. That needs to be a point that needs to have further discussion.

Mr Kelly, do you do you have any thoughts on that?

Or would you be open or amenable to the 50 years? Um, and the intent is that that would be, you know, have that option, but it does allow an out of 10. I'm not.

Yeah, it allows a doubt at every 10. We can discuss that further and so I think that's something that we need to discuss longer. Um, I, I'd like to, I know that we just talked to Mr had asked about sort of understanding the calculation. So, right now you're saying that, you know, we're looking at a 9500 dollar a year payment at this point.

It will be based on what the assessor determines value is if we follow this pattern. Yes.

Okay. Um. And so, and then that's for the length of the term for whichever it does. Okay. 1 of the things and I, I guess we're kind of doing this in a weird way, because I do definitely have some other questions from within the agreement itself that I'd like to talk about. But 1 of the things that we didn't talk about is when we talk about leasing. is mr kinley is going to need most likely eight parking spaces for his tenants and what is the obligation to um to pay for those parking um this is something that we've talked about for a very long time that you know some of the maintenance costs of our parking lot could be recouped if we charge the tenants in these apartments instead of allowing them to have free parking

Well, see, it's not unique to this building apartments where they utilize the public spaces. The challenge with, to be honest with developing a parking program where you charge for spaces is that you have to have enforcement behind it and how you how you track that. And so I've been in communities where they do have part time parking enforcement officers going around, but there was a cost associated with that. And so I think until we have a. You know, a real quote unquote parking problem where, you know, there are real deficiencies that have been identified. I do see that, you know, I think I don't want to say status quo, but, you know, we currently operate under the where we do not require. You know, permitted parking, if you will, Mr Kelly, you indicated you don't need 8 space spaces requested for. Okay. But 1 of the things that we have discussed is not necessarily in that prime lot, but the East Henry street lot across the street, it would be the more appropriate space if we were going to reserve spaces for the building.

Yes, I mean, I think that we definitely need to explore the cost for tenant parking in downtown and I know that you said, you know, that there's a process. I think we make things a lot more complicated than they need to be. I've lived in a lot of urban communities. I've lived in a lot of semi urban communities. You can have hang tags. It's a very easy process. You can have permits where there's a monthly permit. You pay a fee. And, you know, I go by our parking lots at 3 in the morning on my way to the hockey rink, and there's people parked there. None of our businesses are open. So, you know, it's a pretty easy process of figuring out who's parking there overnight.

And again, it's the enforcement of who's going to be writing the tickets, and then you have the parking bureau, in essence, to process those tickets. And obviously, the other thing we don't want to do is necessarily impact our commercial tenants or our retail tenants as to restricting some of their customers. So it becomes an enforcement challenge, and it's more than just the tag because people don't always abide by the rules.

Well, and I think that's an issue, I mean, there's an issue even in the parking lot for Thursday night music series where there's tenants that park and do not move their cars and and, you know, it's in the way. So I just want to be mindful of that as part of the discussion for it. Like I said, there are a few things that I definitely want to understand from the agreement. So I don't know. What point do you want to finish going through the presentation and then go backwards?

Try to divide it into topic areas.

Okay.

Why don't you proceed? Is this the last topic area? Okay. Why don't you proceed through the balance of your presentation? If Mr. Kinley or our DPS director have any additional comments, we'll entertain those, and then the chair would be delighted to entertain whatever outstanding questions exist from the dais.

So one of the things that was brought up already is kind of how would the maintenance of the air space be handled? And so generally what we've done is proposed to divide it between kind of the day-to-day cleanup and general maintenance of the area would be the responsibility of the city. It was mentioned that, yes, there would be post-event cleanup similar to other parking lot areas, things of that nature. So we'd have to address that with the applicants. As to what their responsibilities are, what the city's responsibility is. So then, of course, the regular landscape maintenance snow removal, which we do somehow already on the on the side sidewalks there and other. Restaurant cleaning and stocking for events, those types of things would be the responsibility of the city, whereas more of the capital improvements of there's sidewalk damage or retaining wall damage or something of that nature that is from needs to be repaired more the infrastructure related items. And that would be responsible responsibility of practice properties to make those improvements. And so, again, trying to divide that responsibility somewhat equally based on this partnership concept. And that's really kind of the last part that I want to talk about is what can you anticipate for next steps as a councilman alluded to. So we have the, we have right now, we're going through the review by engineering and by the planning commission. We'll do that to wrap that up. Hopefully in July, bring back the development agreement based on any feedback we received tonight to city council in July as well. And then once we have that in place, prepare the final bid documents for construction this late summer, early fall, and start their application for permitting and construction to start this fall and into next spring and early summer.

Is the goal to have final approval of the development agreement on the agenda for our first meeting in July?

If we can get that to that point, obviously, we'll see what the feedback is tonight as well as obviously it needs to go to the city attorney for full review.

I think that would be preferable. And if you recall, there's actually we don't meet on the. 1st, Monday of July, it's the 2nd, Monday. So you'd actually have an additional week. So that would be my recommendation that gives staff council more than a month's time to finalize any outstanding issues or to address any last minute questions or concerns. Mr. anything you'd like to add for the record before we do 1 final round of questions.

Sure, please and this is to the. Elephant in the room we structured this into 5 consecutive 10 year terms for a reason. And the reason is. In 10 years, a lot changes, we think back to, you know, 2016 or 2015. So much has happened since then, um, that. We wanted to reflect that, uh. With regard to either side deciding. And it could be better handled a different way or renegotiated. Um, right now merchant park is behind our merchant square building. Um. That was taken as taken it was leased to the city before we bought the building. It's a park dedicated to Bob merchant. We received a notice of blight on that. I don't know, 8 months ago, maybe a year ago, and we said that that's actually the city's responsibility. And I know that that has been a challenge from the city's perspective in terms of maintenance and costs. And when I spoke to the owner of the building, I talked about this, he said, I love it, but I don't want the city to manage it. I said, well, why not? What's the problem? He said, well. There's a city portion of of vegetation just outside his building that he maintains. He prunes he takes care of in the absence of of maintenance. And so, for him, there's a major worry that that this becomes something that the city is meant to maintain and and. May not happen right merchant park right now. The retaining wall is just falling apart and it deserves attention to just hasn't received it. And I think the city may at some points. Have wanted to say, hey, you guys take care of it. We would prefer this to be a different situation. And so this is reflecting that reality that that sometimes you can make a decision and say, this is what we want right now. But in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Things can change and what I will say is we have no plan. To somehow recapture this, I mean, we are building this as a space. As a focal point, a town center, a social gathering space. And even if we did, there's currently going to be a trench drain leading into a storm drain the site if we were to somehow say let's build a building there it's almost infeasible with the direction we're going so we have we have no plans for that you know for us this is a the continuation of a legacy project that we're proud of and frankly if we did that we would be run out of town we'd be despised it would be it's not something that that we have Because I agree, I see where you're coming from. You want to maintain the fact that this will remain a public asset for years to come. And that's what we see as well. But it's just a reflection that in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, a lot changes. And this allows for a path to either amend or adjust the situation as could need be.

Mr. Swallow, anything else you'd like to add? Not this time. Just any questions that Council may have. DPS Director, anything you'd like to add? No, not this time. Excellent. All right. Well, I do need to be mindful of time here, so I'm going to try to limit everybody to about five minutes here. We might have opportunity for some additional questions regarding this matter. Mayor Pro Tem Rice, can I start with you? Any outstanding questions, concerns, or comments you'd like to make about the presentation this evening or the proposal for a downtown gathering space more broadly?

First of all, I just want to thank both of y'all and as well as our new DPS director and Main Street and everybody that's been working on this for literally years. Because it's good to, I mean, we're seeing things start to move. So I think that's fantastic. My question about the 10-year lease out to 50 years. So, and I think Mr. Del Arco was getting at this a little bit ago, but I'm sorry I got distracted and Wasn't listening thoroughly. The tax rebate, essentially, is what we're giving. We're just sort of refunding the taxes that we'll be gathering. So that will be written into this 10-year contract. Is that expected to extend to the... Next 10 years, like, did you just need the 10 years? Like, we would have if it would have been a tax abatement, it would have been for 10 years essentially. Right? So that's another reason why, when we go back to the drawing, or we don't have to go back to the drawing table 10 years, but when we reevaluate this in 10 years. We may need and or want to have a conversation about that tax rebate as well. So it gives us the opportunity to sit down in 10 years and say, how's this doing? Did you still need help with a tax rebate? Can the city still afford to give the tax rebate? What's what's happened downtown since then? Are we gathering other taxes, which. please god hopefully we will be by then um so i'm actually i i love the idea of sitting back down after 10 years and sort of reevaluating saying you know did this work and i think the story that you just told mr kinley um reflects that i hadn't really thought of that story i'd heard about it a bit but i hadn't really thought of that but you know we do we as the city we take on a lot and we have hopes and dreams and sometimes they don't really come to fruition so we may need to sit back down in 10 years and say How can we make this work better? Or Main Street has some sort of amazing endowment in 10 years. Maybe Main Street's the one that does it. You know, hopes and dreams, right? So I'm comfortable with the terms of Of this agreement, I am not a lawyer by any means. So my reading over of it looked good for this simpleton. So thank you very much.

Uh, thank you. Uh, you have 5 minutes if you'd like it speaking of legal.

So I'm assuming our legal counsel is reviewed all these documents and proposals with regards to this space.

Not yet. We wanted to work out the terms and the outline first and then send it on to the attorney for their review to, you know, obviously we have to have some conversation first about what's expected, what council would like to see, but that is the next step. With feedback from council, then I'll go on to the city attorney.

Okay, so if the city attorney sees some things and we need to have that re-evaluated or things change, is that going to leave enough time in the schedule that they have outlined?

I hope so. I mean, obviously, we'll keep you informed as to that. So I did say July is the delivery date is to council. But to Mayor Morrow's point, we do have a little bit more time before that first meeting. So we believe we can get it done.

Can I stop Council Member Harmon's time for just a moment? Is your intent maybe to get the documentation to legal counsel or the early part of next week?

Yes, let's give council some opportunities for any feedback and then send it to legal for review. Probably. Yes.

The reason I want to ask is if you do have additional questions or concerns or want certain items clarified or wordsmith, please direct those to the city manager. No later than 5 PM this Friday.

I guess my question is that mainly we want to be make sure that we are minimizing any sort of risk or liability that we have at the city. So I guess I want to go back to what Council Member Dillon mentioned. Is there a risk? If we only have a 10-year contract, what kind of risk are we seeing after that expires that we wouldn't get with 25 years? What if this property is used in a nefarious way without our consent? Is there a portion of it that... the city is legally liable for versus Praxis is legally liable for? Like if something happens and in the Praxis areas is defined, are they legally liable or is the city legally liable for the entire space?

If we leased a building anywhere, leased a space anywhere, we do take on certain liabilities. And that's why we do have, obviously, liability insurance for unfortunate events of some sort. So there is the potential for if someone was injured or something like that, that we could have a claim. But that's why we do have liability insurance. And as part of the legal review, we're also sending a lease agreement off to our MML, which is our insurance provider. Thank you.

Anything further, Council Member Harmon? No, we don't. Thank you very much. Council Member Halsh, you have five minutes for questions, comments, if you'd like it.

Yeah, I have a question. So I saw on the slide as far as what the capital maintenance and repairs look like. Who has final approval for capital improvements? If the city decides we want to... Build an amphitheater to cover the stage or does that ultimately have to go through praxis or do we have the agency to make those capital improvements?

We need to go through praxis. I mean, it is remaining their property. We are leasing the space. The advantage to this arrangement, however, is they are paying for the improvements to the space at this point in time. The city does not have to pay for those improvements. So that's the advantage of that. But we would all need to go through praxis for any physical significant physical changes to the site.

And if practice says no, then it's just, no, we can't do that.

Correct. We're leasing their property.

How does this particular, I know the project fits within the strategic plan in the sense of placemaking. Um, but it also becomes a part of our strategic plan in the sense of it does become infrastructure for the city. Um, So I guess I would also, and as we continue to move down the path and think about some of these agreements, I would like to see some clarity as well around what that process is, what type of projects Fall under approval, what type of projects are going to be a no go just so that way we do have that clarity within the short answer to that is, you know, practice will maintain most of the responsibility for the capital.

And that's the other advantage of this being in essence on their property. We're just responsible for the regular maintenance day to day maintenance. So that is somewhat an advantage. I think the disagreement could be amended. You know, if there's a, for example, the stage, it would be an amendment to say, how is that going to be funded? How will that be managed? So this could be amended from time to time if there are improvements that we'd like to see. And but it is still the underlying property is still owned by practice properties.

Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Halsh. Councilmember DeLargue, you have five minutes for questions, comments if you'd like it.

Thank you. Mr. Kenley, thank you for bringing this before us this evening. I feel like it was important for us to get a sense of where we were in terms of the development agreement and where things are moving forward. The one concern that I have right now with respect to the city assuming maintenance of the public aspects, the public portion that we own, When I'm thinking about Brandon, please weigh in if I'm way off base on this, but our city equipment will likely damage the concrete with retaining walls and decorative concrete, which per the contract, we'd have to be replacing fairly frequently. So, um. Are we going to shift to a model where we're doing this kind of work by hand given the space constraints and the need to haul things out of there because I cannot see a situation and maybe this is why the retaining walls and the other side merchant square have been neglected is maybe we just don't we're not set up to do this kind of fine minute maintenance of this kind of property given the big large equipment that we have. I wouldn't want to see a situation where We're damaging the retaining wall or that we're ripping up concrete to take care of that space constraint that's going to be created once you develop what's behind your building. And I think this is certainly something we can find a solution for. And it's certainly workable, but there's just a lot of unknowns right now.

But defer somewhat to director McNeil, but we do have lighter weight equipment that can be brought in for everything side by sides, things of that nature that you don't have to take a truck on most of these areas. So I think we can be careful of that. Certainly. But also from a yes, if we damage something, we'd be responsible for fixing it. But ultimately, the long term cap repairs and replacement are right now is under practices responsibility.

DPS director, you can make any comment.

There could be some light damage to some of the concrete. Some of that's going to be city owned on our on our property. As far as the rest of the property that practice would own, depending on what the scope is. And given the area, we could use different types of shovels, you know, hand shovels and stuff like that to be a little bit lighter on the concrete areas. It just, you know, really depends on the overall scope of how much concrete or area that we're trying to remove the snow on. But I feel like it will be minor.

Okay. Yeah. Like I said, I didn't think it's anything that we couldn't overcome or that isn't workable, but something to be mindful of that we should probably be using a scalpel, not a sledgehammer to take care of this job. Anything else Mr. Del Arco?

No further questions. Very good. Council Member Dillon, you have five minutes if you'd like it.

Thank you. How am I going to spend my time? Okay, I would like to spend some time kind of going through the development agreement a little bit just to have a better understanding of some stuff. And then at the end, I would like some time to talk about merchant square, because for as long as I've been on council, I've been a part of working groups for that. And so I do have some input on that 1 that I'd like to share with the group. So one of the things that keeps coming up and I I'm going to start with a couple of different things first about the actual space and I'm not against the screen space. I just I want to be fiscally responsible because the number keeps going up from where we initially started. Um, and I want to be very clear about that. But in saying that, I will tell you for me. Turf is a non negotiable over grass. It's absolutely you have to have turf because you have to have access for people that need mobility devices and grass is not going to provide that, especially if it's wet. I mean, this has got to be an all inclusive space and everything from the strollers and the wagons to the wheelchairs to the walkers all need to be able to fully utilize that space accessible walkways walkways, but they need to be able to be inside of the property too. They don't have to be fringes. I don't think that's fair to say that. So I'd really like that to be a concern that that we, we address. The other issue is that we're removing all of the trees. So there's no shade whatsoever. Now it's property. Um, is there some way that we're going to be addressing that at some point? I know early on we talked about sales, um, some sort of different types of things. Are we going to be planting trees?

Within it's a fair amount of shade for the space. We do include the hardscape areas. Obviously, there's some trees where that would be a little bit more of a concern, but there is potential to add sales and things to the existing features with the polls. But that's I believe the buildings will provide a fair amount of shade in this in this space.

Um, the other piece back there, too, is also understanding if it's also going to create a wind tunnel back there, because there is an aspect like, where Max has their lower seating. That's a wind tunnel space. And I don't know whether that's just because of the alleyway, or if it's the dynamic of that, and it's going to carry through into the space the alleyway and have to stand up.

It's the alleyway. And right now, for the max patio, that's where we have the substantial shade. Those are two fully mature honey locusts whose root bases have gone wild. Yes. I met on Friday with our goal is landscaping. And we have been talking through what we can do. To repair and make that patio fully safe right now is a trip hazard. The challenge is, what do we do? I can tell you the restaurants, or at least Max. those two trees they drop an enormous amount of stuff and they land people's drinks and their food and they would prefer we take the trees out we level the space and That's right now likely I'm talking to Marco was about how we can reshape the space to keep the trees or keep 1, but that is super challenging. I can tell you that's fine.

I just, I don't want to get kind of get too far off because I want to make sure I utilize my time. I appreciate your explanation. No, I just wanted to be sure that that's something that we're addressing is that we're not going to have the shade at planning Arbor V day at the front of it to try to block it. Now, with the balusters, is there any, is there any, is there going to be any issue with first responders entering into that property? Are those because those balusters are not going to be removable type, correct? They're permanent.

Yeah, at this point, they intended to be permanent, obviously, again, for any 1st responder, they could access that vehicle drop off for area as they do today and access the site. Obviously, some of the site walks and things will actually be improved. You had to get a gurney or something like that through there.

But as far as, like, like, fire equipment, things like that, they're not going to be able to access into the property and they're currently not able to correct. And so well, no vehicles are definitely getting in there. There's trucks down there all the time.

And obviously in road in the alley next door.

And so so just understanding that aspect of it. So, um. I want to be clear and make sure that in the agreement Mr swallow that we stop referring to just parking lot too, because I think that we need to encompass or have something that has a better definition because it's not parking lot space. It's some of this is our parking lot, but it is, it's, it's actually the sidewalk areas and such like that is based on the survey that has been done for the property.

We do have legal descriptions and that's why I think you had mentioned, you know, we'll have an exhibit that identifies property and city property. So there are there are legal descriptions available, right? Separated out.

I will say that in 2.4 right now of the agreement it says that you're allowed to amend the contract not City Council I think the contract if it's being approved by City Council amendment should also come to City Council and we've talked about the lease term right now And then understanding right now, we did talk about that. It is built into the contract that these payments will continue on in perpetuity every year and every term. It's not a 10 years and we're done paying rent, right?

We will pay rent for as long as as the city utilizes space throughout the term extended beyond the 10 years. And yes.

So, I mean, right now on the, on the very basic number that you're looking at under a 50 year term, we're talking about a half a million dollars in rent for that space that we still have to maintain. Correct.

Well, for the day to day maintenance, because of the use, I mean, obviously the capital improvements are designated for practice. So, yeah, obviously there's investing a significant amount into the development of the property. And so this is just a way for a minimal return on that investment.

Okay, but it's still the dollar amounts and then there was the tax and alternative 3.4 section 3.4. it says, you know, should that become a viable option again? I think that it should be there should be. Language in there that says that, you know, it's the lesser of evil at the city's discretion of the of those dollar amounts. An abatement versus a rental payment. I think that's something that we should be considering.

Um,

This one thing that talks about control and public access of this property is except during permitted private events or maintenance closures. Obviously maintenance closures is understanding permitted private events. This is going to be and I think Mr Hall started to talk about this a little bit and I think I have it from a different angle. So, say somebody wants to rent it for a wedding. That space is not available to the public. And that's completely different than a lot of our other parks. Generally, you can have a picnic happening or an event happening at milk on park and people can still also use the park areas that we designate for that individual.

Like, the pavilion area is designated for them if they rent it.

Right. That's what I'm saying. But with this, you're saying they're going to get the whole space. And so it means that that space is not available to the public and sort of understanding that aspect of it. So, I want to make sure that we kind of have some conversations about that.

Can I stop you and just ask 1 more question? We're at almost the 9 minute mark.

So, okay. Well, um, so as far as restrooms, this is my big concern. They're inside of your building and I don't recall because the last time I was there, they were not accessible. How many restrooms are there? There 1 stall each, they each have I'm sorry. Okay.

Just for the benefit of everybody watching, they each have multiple stalls.

Okay. And how are people accessing that again, looking at it from a point of view of if you're coming from the parking lot, are you going up the back side and into. The Murphy's crossing building going downstairs to get to it or their access points from the outside in the space.

So, the current restrooms are in the lower garden level. Correct. And you can access them from anywhere in the building. And you can access the building from the lower level or from. The entrance by where the cheese shop is. Or, I mean, if there's, there's multiple ways to access, you can go into max or you can go downstairs. It's all an interconnected building.

Correct. Just from the actual public space. Are you going to be able to walk into a to a restroom or do you have to go back up and out?

There will be a door that is directly adjacent to where the cocktail bar is that leads directly to the restrooms.

Okay. Fantastic.

I just right now. I mean, happy to take anyone.

No, no, no. Just I just to understand how that access point is going to look.

Sure. Thank you. So just to reiterate, if council members have outstanding questions, concerns, or items they would like to have addressed by staff or legal counsel, please disseminate those to the city manager no later than 5 this Friday with the understanding then that you'll forward it on to John, Tony, and or their associates and colleagues by the early part of next week. Is that correct? Okay. Anything else that you need from counsel at this juncture? Understanding, of course, that in addition to providing you comments, this will come back for formal action at one of our July meetings. We'll aim for the first. If not, we'll have it on as an enumerated accident item for the second. Let me just add a few things, if I may, because I haven't had a chance to speak yet. I'm mindful of the fact that when dealing of a project of this magnitude with this number of stakeholders, we're not going to agree on every aspect. Um, but as I look at this project in its totality, the good far outweighs, um, any, any potential weaknesses. Um, again, I've said this at nauseam publicly. I've said I've said it privately. This is something that we've talked about for the better part of 3 decades. We've made more progress in the last three years than we had in the previous 30 years. And I'm very excited how far we have come, in particular in these past 12 months. And I'm delighted that the state has decided to invest in this project at the tune of $1.5 million. In a funding stream, I might add, that is going to be zeroed out in the governor's current budget. So I think this is very promising. I think it's a tangible benefit not only to the downtown, but to the broader community. I am not a design expert. My vocation is not in the building trade, so I have to lean on the expertise of the professionals on this one. I will, over the course of the next couple days, go over the development agreement for a third time. If I see any errors or deficiencies, I'll be sure to email them to you and to you, Mr. Kenley. but I look forward to moving forward on this project and hopefully seeing it adopted at one of our July meetings with the understanding, of course, that construction activity may commence then later this summer. Okay, very good. Any outstanding questions or concerns, Mayor Pro Tem Rice?

Yeah, I need clarification because I've just heard a couple of things that don't sit right with me the way that I'm reading it. The way that I'm reading the rental consideration... is that every 10 years, 180 days before the expiration of that 10-year rental agreement, we then go and we take a look. We're not locked in for 50 years of a tax refund, correct? We're locked in for 10 years at a time. So we keep talking about half a million dollars. We're really talking about just... the $10,000 per year for 10 years, and then we'll take a look at it in 10 years. Okay, thank you.

There's anticipation that even in 10 years there may be requirements from the property owner for compensation or lease payment.

Sure, but we have the opportunity to sit down, look at how the property is doing, look at how the taxes are doing in downtown, and we can take a look at that and we can make an agreement based upon that. Okay. Thank you. I just that half a million dollars was a gut punch and I was like, wait a minute. We can talk about this every 10 years. So, thank you.

Any additional comments or questions. No, okay. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand.

Thank you. Um, no, that's 1 of the things though that I, we. To echo what you just said, we've talked about this for a long time and to say that we're, I mean, it seems very short sighted to say 10 years. It seems very short sighted to say that 10 years is the blink of an eye and, you know, I think. That if it is truly something we want in our community, and we were putting forward this, this effort, this, these dollars to do this, it's a long term investment. And I mean, it makes me nervous when we say, well, in 10 years, maybe we'll change our mind. Well, if that's the case, why don't we put our green space on Curtis? On the Curtis property right now that we already own and just keep that. I mean, it doesn't make sense to start looking very short term.

I want to clarify that the investment city making is in city property that we currently do on.

Yeah.

Anything else on the desk? Okay. Thank you all for your time. Mr. Kinley, thank you very much. By the way, on behalf of myself and my colleagues, happy birthday. I understand you celebrated one yesterday. I wish you good health and happiness in the year ahead. If there's nothing further to be brought before Saline City Council for this work meeting, the chair would be delighted to entertain a motion to adjourn at 6.50.

So moved.

Moved by Dillon. Is there a second? Second. Was that Del Arco? Thank you, sir. All those in favor of adjourning, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. The meeting is adjourned. We will reconvene into regular session promptly at 7 p.m.

Unfortunately, yeah. Yeah, I want to get out of here.

You good? Let's call the Saline City Council meeting to order. If you please rise and join my colleagues for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much, my friends. Copies of the agenda are on the back table along with a sign-in sheet and listening devices if you require them. We'll commence with roll call. Members present this evening are Council Members Del Orco, Dillon, Gearball, Hausch, Harmout, Mayor Potem, Rice, and Mayor Morrow. From City staff, we have the City Manager, the City Clerk, DPS Director, and Treasurer Finch is not present this evening. At this time, the Chair will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as submitted unless there are amendments. Need a motion, folks. Who's the mover? Was it Harmont? Okay. Moved and submitted. Who's the second? Seconded by Dillon. All those in favor of approving the agenda as submitted, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. There are no absences this evening, so we'll proceed to the first of two public comment periods. Under the Open Meetings Act, any person may come forward at this time to make comment to City Council. This public comment period will be limited to three minutes per person. Those wishing to speak are requested, but of course not required to state their name and address for the record. Please note that City Council generally does not answer questions during this initial public comment period. Are there any citizen comments this evening? You're welcome to discuss an agenda item or anything that's on your mind. There appear to be none from the audience. Clerk Royal, did we receive any written comments in advance of tonight's meeting in which the individual wanted their remarks right at this time? Yes. Easy enough. Then we'll proceed to the consent agenda. The following consent agenda will normally be adopted without discussion. However, at the request of any citizen or council member, any item may be removed from the consent agenda.

Move to approve as submitted.

Moved by Rice to approve as submitted. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Del Arco. Hearing no discussion. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda as submitted, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. We move on to unfinished business. Agenda item 26-98. A fiscal sponsorship agreement with Saline Main Street for the Davenport Curtis House fundraising efforts. This will be a motion to acknowledge the seat and to approve or not to approve the fiscal sponsorship agreement with Saline Main Street for the Davenport Curtis fundraising efforts. Move to approve. Knowledge and approved move by Del Arco to acknowledge and to approve. Is there a 2nd seconded by rice? Uh, see manager swallow. Would you like to begin?

Thank you. Mary council. Obviously, this was presented at our meeting where there are a few questions relative to the details of the event as well as the just some of the terms in the agreement. So, a couple of things that have been updated in the agreement are to. Separately defined city of slain and the dab court working group and their roles as far as how this agreement will function is also a termination date added of November 7th, 2026. So there's an end date to the agreement. So if there's obviously we can revisit this in the future.

If there are other requests in a different version of a document.

No, this is what's provided to council.

So my document does not have a termination date.

There was a determination date added of November 7th, 2026. I know there was some copies made earlier the agreement information. So, with that, those corrections were made based on some of the feedback that we received from council at the last meeting also included this in your packet. So, where some additional information from the event sponsors. or excuse me, the Davenport Curtis Working Group that's been working on this event and doing some of the planning for the event. So trying to answer some of the questions about the date of the event that has shifted, as you'll note, from August 1st to September 7th, as well as some of the details with how they'll interact with Salim Main Street.

Very good. Um, if I recall correctly from last Wednesday's meeting, uh, council member had departed by the time we discussed this matter, but I would welcome comments either from him or Mr Del Arco, who I know is part of the discussion. Is there anything you'd like to add this time for council's benefit of the public's benefit?

Yeah, I think we, um, took the feedback that we got from counselor. Uh, sorry, Mary rice and Ernest, and we identified the issues that were raised point by point. And Molly quite an excellent job of reaching out to everyone and finding out what the areas of concern were and provided clarity and direction on what our intent is around establishing a partnership with Celine Main Street on the 5013 seat. And hopefully we, we, we've addressed everyone's concerns and assuaged anxieties around this partnership and we can move forward.

Very good. Mr. Gerb, anything you'd like to add?

I think the only issue that comes down to it is still the concern about who is ultimately responsible. Should there be a shortfall on the funding agreement? But I would hope that. Considering that sufficient funds and things hopefully will be raised or be set aside to make sure that doesn't happen will be a benefit. I've also been assured by the city manager at anything that. My other concerns that I've addressed and brought forward to both counsel will be addressed in a proper manner shortly.

Okay. Thank you for those comments. We have the working group chair and the subcommittee chair, Rebecca Schneider and Molly Lumpercoy, along with a whole gaggle of our committee members here this evening. We appreciate your attendance. Ladies, would you care to share any thoughts for the record this evening? Okay. And Molly, just make sure the green light is illuminated at the base of that microphone, and you're welcome to adjust the podium accordingly.

Thank you, counsel. Thank you, Mayor. Just to be certain, we have a benefactor that's willing to donate the $10,000 for whatever, you know, the costs of any elements of the event to put on. And then we will be selling tickets as well. We're packaging it as kind of a barbecue on Labor Day, family-friendly, lawn games, you know, probably like a best of the season blooms, an apple pie contest, probably a cornhole competition, just kind of old-fashioned, family-friendly backyard barbecue. That's what we're looking at with the goal of raising funds to help make the site compliant. Not only, you know, potentially to fund a lift, but also to fund anything needed for the house itself inside, whether that's roping stanchions, you know, also maintenance. So this would be our first time having a fundraiser there. It won't be our first time having an event there. Right? So the jazz jazz at the mansion will be held coming up. We did look into, um, Councilman remains question about liability, and I know Dan checked with the attorney as well. My understanding is that liability is something that's covered. You're on park land, but there can be additional addendums added a lot of times. There's event insurance, right? That can be taken out as well. So.

I think that, Dan, I don't know if you want to... With the liability insurance coverage and the city is adequately covered, should there be an unfortunate event? Absolutely.

So I think we answered everybody's questions. I know I took the time to call every single council member and make sure that there wasn't any questions anyone had that wasn't... You know, wasn't answered, so I'm here on behalf of our committee to answer any additional questions. We're excited about this opportunity. We're excited to get folks on the on the land and to be able to enjoy the grounds of the Curtis mansion. So, and I'm excited about doing some fundraising to help kind of move the cost forward.

Thank you, Molly. And as you and I discussed earlier today, I fully expect I'm happy to work with you, partner with you. I think we could also raise an additional $10,000 to cover the cost of the event in addition to the commitment you've already received. Obviously with the goal of not only providing the community an exceptional fun time at the mansion, but also raising the necessary funds to ensure the long-term preservation and activation of the most iconic historic property in the heart of our community. So thank you for your efforts.

And that has already been committed.

Yeah, excellent. Molly, would you mind staying put just in the event that there are questions that are best addressed by you as the lead on this project? Are there questions from the DSL? Start with Mayor Pro Tem Rice and then jump to Council Member Dillon.

I'm not going to go into any detail on questions because I spoke with Molly and thank you very much for I was the one that sent the email with the questions and everything. I think you guys have addressed this perfectly. I think Um, what the issue was more was we were presented with this without anyone else in the room. So I don't want it to seem like we were trying to prevent y'all from moving forward. I think just next time, like, make sure someone's in the room so that I could ask those questions to y'all while you're in the room. So it doesn't look like we're trying to, like, stop you from what you're doing, because I think you're doing a great job.

And then that was that was that was our mistake. So we will, we will rectify that. And I spoke to both Chippers and Schneider and Molly about that. So that's hence their presence this evening is to rectify that deficiency at the previous meeting.

Perfect. That's all I wanted to say.

Very good. Councilmember Dillon.

Thank you. The one thing I just wanted to make a comment. I appreciate what you're doing. I appreciate everything the group is doing right now and fundraising. Um, I do have a concern that we keep talking about putting a lift a ramp, whatever it is. Um, the city hasn't even determined whether it's keeping this asset and what this is going to be. And I feel like this is definitely a cart before the horse. So understanding who's making the decision as to how these dollars are being spent. And such, um, because I am really concerned about that. And then the viability of. Doing this off of main street is, you know, are we going to keep doing this every time you want to raise money? Because are we going to is that poor Curtis going to get its own 501? So it can be the recipient of its own funds moving forward. And if so, who's taking the lead on that? Because, I mean. We can keep using somebody else's, but it's not if you're looking at a long term goal of we're keeping this. That's why we're putting access points into it. Then we should be setting that ourselves up for that. So I want to make sure that that's what's being done. And I would be remiss if I didn't say that I want to make sure that that group is prioritizing. Um, historic preservation of that building in that that we are working towards whatever is needed to put. Those historic designation on that property and so absolutely.

And I, I agree with you. The group itself just went through a strategic planning session and they're looking at options as to what that will be. Whether it's, it's something that, you know, could be created or rolled into a package of. you know, other historic preservation efforts. So that's being looked at separately. This is a one-time opportunity to partner. And the fiduciary, Selene Main Street, I want to thank them for their willingness to open up and help us for this one-time opportunity. And again, it's short. It ends on November 7th, which gives us two months after the event to be able to, you know, get all of our sponsorship money in and to be able to Return that to the city, right? So it's just a 1 time opportunity. I hope that as we progress as a work group that we will hone in on what that future looks like.

So that's what I guess I'm trying to understand is so what is the purpose of this small window fundraising right now?

So I think this would give us an opportunity to look at what ADA compliant needs might be to be able to open up the house to the public. For tours, right now we can't necessarily do that. We can't have the public in the house, but if we had something that was portable, Like a portable lift that met requirements historic requirements that could be created to open up to the public. And so there could be things inside the house, like stanchions, roping things that are needed as well. This fundraiser can also raise funds for his for. Maintenance related issues as well. So, Dan, do you want to elaborate that to that?

Obviously the devil court Curtis house working group was designed to provide recommendations to counsel to take a look at what they believe based on community input. Obviously a representation from the community as to what is needed to for the home. And I, but ultimately it will become the council for approval of specific projects.

I appreciate that because it does seem like there's a distinct path that's being created here of we are putting a ramp in and I want to understand that I really feel like we're going too fast in one direction on this at this point.

Can I comment? If she's exhausted her questions, I'd be happy to yield the floor. I don't know if she has additional thoughts. No, that's fine. Council Member Del Arco.

As a member of the working group, I just want to say there's a lot of things being pursued in parallel at the same time. And the reason we're focused on this particular aspect at this moment is because we're trying to get the partnership established so that we can raise funds. Obviously, it's a recommending body, and everything will come to Council for final approval. But you've got to remember, we've got a three-year window. to make things happen. So it needs to move fast. There's not time to delay. And we are doing everything we can to get subcommittees established, to move things forward, and mobilize volunteers to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished. Pursuing historical preservations and deed restrictions is chief among my priorities as a member of the group. And I just want everyone to understand this is not of the entire vein of existence or focus of the group to get this partnership established. It's just one piece of the puzzle to all the work that needs to be done.

Well, and the activation of community engagement, right? I think that's something we can all be proud of. You know, people have been asking, you know, they want to get on the grounds and see the grounds, and this will give an opportunity to do that.

Any additional questions? Council Member Harmon?

Yeah, I just have a couple. I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to connect with you as much as I would have liked. So the fundraising, I think this was touched on already, but I just didn't think I got a clear answer on this. Is it really clear to the folks that are showing up providing money what the money is specifically going to? And then if we have targets that are not, like if we have a target in mind and we want to have it be like a ramp and we don't meet the amount of money that we need for that, I guess my question is after this November 7th, who is going to be managing the funds? WHAT'S THE OVERSIGHT FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FUNDS? WHO'S GOING TO BE MAKING THE DECISION ABOUT THE FUNDS? AGAIN, THE FUNDS AND THAT ASSET, PROTECTING THAT ASSET AND THE ASSETS IN THAT HOUSE IS VERY IMPORTANT. I have a couple other statements. One other statement is about Main Street. And maybe I'm misunderstanding the relationship, and maybe it's just to get the 501C designation that Main Street has, but there's a lot of businesses in that area where the Curtis Mansion are that are not considered part of the Main Street activities and don't benefit from any of the Main Street funding that we give, like including, you know, I don't know, You know, Dairy Queen and Cancun and CBS and all those other businesses are really right there, but we're not, we're not doing anything to help with regards to the main street activities are not really included in that. So, I guess my question is, is how is this different? And how is that going to be reconciled? So, it would be an issue and I'll share that.

I hesitated to talk because I do have a conflict here. But this is just the fiduciary agreement that this group needs a 501c3 so that other organizations can contribute and get the tax benefit of donating to a 501c3. It doesn't have anything to do with Main Street's district or the services that they provide. Dairy Queen and CVS are outside our district and so is the Davenport Curtis House. It is just so that we can use the 501 C3. The city has the historical society has a 501 C3 also. And it would be appropriate to run it through these funds through there, but they do not have the capacity to manage that.

And they were asked, they were asked, but it's outside the scope of main streets scope. And it isn't that convoluting the money with main streets. Mission and function, but the money that's. I just want to make sure that that is separate and that's not convoluted with this the money that's collected for this.

I think you've been a fiduciary before for this lean holiday parade as well. Yes.

We also, you know, so some foundation money through for the holiday parade for the chamber. Um, a lot of organizations. In counties across the state to do this, they use other people's 501c3s. And, you know, Main Street is a volunteer organization. We don't want to do this forever either. Because it is a burden on our treasurer, and we desperately need to preserve her for our own purposes. This wasn't an area where Main Street was seeking more work. We were seeking help.

It's a stopgap solution.

Correct. Does that did I do that?

Okay, Mary? Yes, oversight though, is that the rest of my question? Yeah.

Okay.

So the, um, the fundraising itself is going to be the working group for sure. Um, so we will just take in what they, they have keep the records that we already have infrastructure for, for the recording. And all of that, and we also have infrastructure for the request of funds. So that will will go through multiple people before a check can be written and give it out. However, it can happen in a very timely manner because everybody's local and ticketing.

We can also have, I mean, who has access. To those funds who can access those funds who, you know, I just want to make sure do you do have like a checks and balance for that? Very much so. And everybody's been vetted and background checked and everything is regarding that, okay?

I'm not making any personal comments. This is a big asset, a lot of money. No check gets written without two signatures from Saline Main Street. The person requesting the check is neither of those, and I will not be in any way involved because I have roles in both organizations.

And we explained we had no issue running the vendors by the treasurer here as well. So we're very flexible on that. Okay.

Thank you for answering that. Any additional questions or comments? Any, ladies, thank you very much. Appreciate your time this evening. Thank you for your leadership on this. Is there any additional debate on the motion? We have a motion on the floor, moved by Del Arco, seconded by Rice, to acknowledge and to approve. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. We move on to new business, item 26106, Unite Community Church Special Event. This will be a motion to acknowledge, recede, and to approve or not to approve the special event application from Unite Community Church, and to waive or not waive the DPW fees associated said event acknowledge I'm gonna be I'm gonna go with you Dylan is the mover gear by as the second simply to acknowledge who would like to kick this off as a city manager or city clerk probably defer to the city clerk as she processed the application but obviously and I think we have some representatives from the the petitioning entity here thank you gentlemen we'll yield the floor to you in just a moment and

Seeking to have some, please wait. They have already paid for the pavilion at the rack. So they're not seeking any pavilion rental fee waiver. It's just for the WPs that are associated and those were included in the packet.

Very good. Gentlemen, would you care to come to the podium and maybe give a brief synopsis of the event and address any questions or concerns that my council colleagues may have? Yes. Please be sure to introduce yourself. And again, we appreciate your time this evening.

My name is Stephen Werner. I'm an associate pastor at United Community Church. So this is going to be our second year hoping to do this event. Last year, we learned of the correct process to do it. And that brings us here tonight is wanting to follow the good partners with the city and not trouble to it. So essentially, our... Our vision here is we like to do a church in the park event, kind of a smaller scale thing in the morning. And then in our mind, if we're in the park, we'd love to put on a community event. So bringing in some bounce houses, different vendors doing face painting and balloon twisting and hosting a couple food trucks. We've talked with the fire department about bringing in a truck for the kids. So just basically a free, fun family day. Again, the United Community Church, our vision as a church is to Benefit the community not just kind of have our own little holy huddle So that's kind of the thought process there is hey We can put on a pretty good party make it a fun fun kind of cap of summer for the community. So Yeah, that's the short version good synopsis Questions from the dais either for city staff or for the petitioner.

Let me start. I don't see harm on stand up Oh, it does ever end up. Let's go right down the dais that I'm gonna start with harmont and I'll end with del orco and halsh if they have questions

Hi, I love that you guys want to bring something fun to Celine. I will ask a rhetorical question that I do know the answer to, but I do want to ask you. How was your compliance with last year's event?

Are you asking like on the front end? No, no.

I guess my question is we did have some issues maybe with the petting zoo and that we had said that there was not supposed to be any yet. There was numerous marketing materials that were sent out about the petting zoo.

Oh, so once we were made aware that there wasn't to be a petting zoo, we postponed it. We did not have that the day of the event. We definitely had put a lot of... Okay, so the backtrack is I did not know of this process for hosting a special events last year. I called the. Parks and rec and I rented a pavilion and I signed a noise ordinance thing and we started promoting an event that we thought would be fun. And then Miss Terry sent me a nice email, letting me know that we were way out of bounds and could not have a petting zoo. And at that point again, we. Push that off. So we just kind of ended up taking the deposit. We put on the petting zoo and using it as part of the future event with Main Street actually at the trunk retreat. So we did not have a petting zoo in the park last year. Once it was brought to our attention that that was not appropriate. Yes, I think outside of that, I believe we were compliant. I didn't I didn't have any awareness. Again, once we knew that we had missed the special events window, we were showing a lot of graciousness from city council, but it was never hard to come in and try to be skirting a process.

Um, and you've also reviews are, um, if you're having food trucks and stuff are vendor guidelines.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. They need to have. Yes.

Like to have green events with this little waste in there.

Yeah. Love it. Thank you. Council member. I'm out. Mayor pretend rice. Any questions?

My questions are for Brandon. Um, the map that they have provided us, uh, currently has some construction materials and it will that material be moved by this August date for this event?

I do believe that the...

The commissioner is aware that the... Okay. Thank you. ...at a different location. But right now, we're trying to be positive and thinking the part...

Okay, so you have a backup plan. Yes. Okay. We have a loose backup plan. We're praying people, so we're really hoping that stuff's out of the way. I saw the path's already down. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, no, we're fully aware and are... Nothing is not flexible.

No, yeah, absolutely. I'm going to take away from your event because there's a giant pile of food.

We meet within the schools, and so we're working with them and trying to identify a secondary location, trying to figure out with the food trucks and kind of different vendors what's going to make the most sense. But we had already talked with Sunshine within the Parks and Rec of kind of saying, hey, we're going to make a call by mid-July if we need to change our marketing and all that kind of stuff. So we'll kind of... Hopefully be.

Yeah, I'm really thankful that city staff already brought that to your attention.

All over it, all of it. We've been very grateful.

Sounds good. Yeah, that was my only question.

Thank you, Mayor Prochem Rice. Council Member Gearbaugh.

For me, Brandon, could you explain the difference between the DPW costs for this and what would be happening for the First Presbyterian Church? That was very minimal and wasn't involving any overtime. I would not waive any overtime fees because that's in excess of what we would normally provide for something of this minor event. I'm just trying to try and understand why we were incurring such additional expense.

I think it may be better. Yeah. So we have the 516 dollars that what you're referencing.

Yeah.

So there is some overtime, I think, just because it's on a weekend, right?

Yeah.

Uh, some of that's, uh, that's the, that's only why that drove. Thank you.

But I won't support that. So thank you. Um, customer Dylan.

Thank you. Um. Council member rice brought up about the construction site. I happen to be at the park today and I live right across the river from it. So I can see it. And I was like, oh, there's a lot of the area that you planned on using. That's not usable. Um, again, my question is going to go for staff restrooms. Currently, the city provides do we have 2 permanent facility restrooms there when you're looking at a group of 500 to 750 people? Um, I would think that port of John's would have to be used. I think, uh, miss Anderson made a comment about that. So do we know have those been secured? And what is the city's policy on? Do we lock our bathrooms when there's port of John Sarah? Because I really don't think that our facilities can handle. 500 or 700 people utilizing them within a couple of hours.

Obviously, I don't I don't think we locked them. I would still make them available, but due to the crowd size recommendation was made for Porter Johns. And I don't think we have generally for festivals.

We've locked them. Like, when we had Celtic and things like that, there, those were always locked and people were worried to use the port of Johns, because people are going to pick a, a regular bathroom over a portage on any day. So I would like to be cognizant of that. is that that's correct any large event they were they were generally locked well the city wouldn't wave porter john's anyway because no i'm not saying we're waving them but it doesn't say in here that they've obviously secured them either as part of this

You mentioned that in the email. I don't know that we have them on contract yet, but a member of our team who's managing our vendors has begun to figure out what that looks like. I'm confident we'll be able to get them.

Indeed. Anything else, Council Member Dillard? No. Council Member Dillard, any questions? I don't have any questions. I hope you get a nice day for it. Yeah, us too. Council Member Halsh? No questions. No questions, okay. If there's nothing further then, again, thank you for your comments. Appreciate your time this evening. There's a motion on the floor simply to acknowledge receipt. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. Is there a motion now to approve, not to approve, waive or not waive, or the chair would be delighted to entertain any... I'll move to approve but not waive the overtime fees for the DPW. Okay, so it's a motion then move by gearbox to approve, but not to waive overtime piece. Is that correct? Correct? The 2nd, my harm out. Yeah. Okay. Everyone clear on that motion clerk. You're clear on that motion. Okay. Is there any additional discussion or debate customer Dylan?

Just for clarification, this is now, I think the 2nd time we've done something that was outside of our community events. How much of a buffer did we build in to that? And are we keeping a tally so that we know?

Yes, we have, like, I think we had 6000 that was.

Any additional discussion or debate customer gearbox and to clarify this will be open to the general public. Correct.

What was that amount without the overtime? Did you say, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

So it would be the regular rate plus the quickness.

Yes. The only thing that Mr. Gearbaugh's motion is not paying for is overtime.

Here, do you have a calculator?

He wants to include it in his motion. If he wants to include a number in his motion, he's welcome to do so.

Somebody wants to add it up for me.

You don't have to have it in the motion, but if you want to add a number, you're welcome to.

What did we do? Yeah, not to exceed 250 dollars.

Yeah.

Okay. So your motion that would be to approve, but not to wave with costs with city costs not to exceed 250 dollars. You're comfortable. Seconding that still comes from her mom. Yes. Okay. Everyone clear on that. Okay, the addendum or additional language. If there's no discussion, no debate, the chair will call for a vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Aye. So, I have the motion to carry unanimously. Congratulations, gentlemen. Thanks for your time this evening. Good luck. Have a great summer. New business item 26-108, fiscal year 2026, year-end budget amendments. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt and to approve or not to approve fiscal year 2026 year-end budgets.

amendments as presented My apologies, okay This is the one I got

Let me make sure to verify what other changes that item in my packet. Yeah, I don't have that on my agenda.

That was moved till the next meeting.

Oh, okay. And so this on a previous electronic, this agenda then also does not include. The request for sewer relief from Dan's downtown Tamar. Okay. All right. Can I borrow this? My apologies. This is what was in my box. Okay, so we'll get to that motion. I think we'll get to budget amendments. No, we won't. We'll just do with this next motion and then the fee book. My apologies. That's my bad. Agenda item 2607, HydroCorp residential, non-residential... cross-connection controls services. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt and to approve or not to approve a new three-year contract with HydroCorp for residential non-residential cross-connection control services in an amount not to exceed $92,496.23 and update the cross-connection program for the City of Saline per the Director of Public Services.

Move to acknowledge.

Move by Dillon simply to acknowledge. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Del Arco. City Manager Swallow, are you going to kick this one off or would you like to defer to Mr. McNeil?

Kick it off and then we'll ask Director McNeil to provide some additional details.

As part of your comments, I actually dealt with the cross-connection control program early on in a previous capacity when I was president of my church and we were forced into compliance back in 2007-2008. For the public's benefit, can you give a little bit of an overview as to what this program is and why it's beneficial and why we're compelled to do what we're doing?

That's actually why we put it on for a new business. I wanted to review this as also part of a kind of public education piece. So with that, this is a requirement from the State Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy that requires basically operators of municipal water systems or public water systems to prevent contamination of the system through basically cross-connection prevention, or typically this is a backflow preventer. So vacuum breaker, I see Councilman Dillon just provided an example of a backflow preventer that prevents, for example, water from your garden hose from getting into your potable water system and contaminating your water system in your house. So in addition to residential properties, we do take a look at commercial properties. They have more potential for backup from non-potable water sources, open sinks or something of that nature. And also, in particular, groundwater sprinkler systems or underground sprinkler systems usually have a vacuum breaker to prevent water from backing up from the sprinkler system into the house. So this is a requirement again from the state for the city to conduct inspections. In our case, we contract this out to HydroCorp. They do the inspections for both the residential and commercial properties. Now for residential properties, we only do an exterior inspection, but there are some requirements that we're looking at. That is part of our regular business whether changing out a meter or something that that the city staff also look that there's not an interior Issue in a property or a residential property so with that again We contract this out to hydrocorp and director McNeil has probably more detail as how this has worked I know he's worked for them and other communities these work.

Yes. That was a great summary I don't think I need to summarize any more of that really so Basically, yes, HydroCorp is the preferred vendor for communities to use for cross-connection control programs. They also, with that, take care of inspection scheduling, doing the inspections themselves. They do compliance tracking, customer notification. So they have a document that we agreed with with the City of Saline header on there, notifying customers of their compliance status. They do database management, so all the records are kept on Excel with the status and each time that they communicated with a resident or commercial business. And then also at the end of the year, before March 31st, when we are due to report this to EGLE, they do provide us the documents. and the information that we must record and the equal document and then submit it. So this is something that we have to report on by March 31st every year, exactly where we're at with our compliance and how many people we've inspected. As Dan mentioned, As part of this we did have a 2 year contract with hydro core I'm asking that the Council approves a new 3 year contract for this. Part of this approval also includes the update to the residential cross connection program as Mister swallow alluded there was just a few pieces that we're missing as far as the inspection portion goes that has been recently being pushed Just to touch on a few of them, robust public education programs. So as Mr. Swallow said, this would be one of the tools that we'd use. We also have information on our township website. I do plan on putting this into a more robust consumer's confidence report. We're going to vamp that up and put some more documentation in there, and this would be one of the pieces that we'd put in there. We could also do a training session with the communication team here. Other things it'd be building inspectors inspecting plumbing while they're looking at new developments or during the process of the bill. So those are just a few additional things that we needed to add to be more in compliance with the residential portion. So with today's approval, if you guys do elect to, I have asked HydroCorp to already update our residential program to include those things. If approved tonight, those would be sent to Eagle for final approval, and then we would start enacting those here in the city of Saline.

That was very thorough, gentlemen. Thank you very much. Questions for either our city manager or DPS director? Council Member Dillon.

Thank you. The reason that I moved to acknowledge this was just to understand because, and I appreciate the thorough information that you gave us, and I brought mine in because, ironically, I literally just found that in my desk drawer. And I remember when it came, we were waiting on a plumber, and so they were changing a fixture, so they said to wait to do it, blah, blah, blah. And there lived in my drawer. So what I'm getting at is that no 1 ever checked to make sure that it was done. And even when I received that, they just sort of left it as a door hanger. Nobody talked to me about it. There was a lot of community confusion in the beginning. So I really appreciate that. You're talking about, like, having a little bit more education to it. People didn't understand what it was how to do it. The little graphic is not necessarily very clear. That's on the handout. Um, but I guess understanding right now, do we have the data that shows how many households we've done and how many are left to sort of justify this contract?

I'm sure we could get some of that information. A lot of it will be on the actual cross-connection report that we submit to EGLE, how many houses we've done, and how many houses that we still have left. We're supposed to reach all residential houses within a 10-year period, currently as EGLE standards. So we could definitely follow up and get that information for you.

I appreciate it.

Please provide that to the city manager. You can disseminate it through one of his weekly communiques. Thank you. Anything else, Council Member Dillon?

no just like I said the biggest part is it's not just how many have been done it's what's the back check to that of like making sure that they've actually been installed yeah so as far as the residential portion goes when your house is due for inspection they should be calling and notifying you so the city of saline would uh hand it out um or transfer the data of all of our residential houses with their address and their phone In order for them to reach out and make an appointment with you. It is an exterior check as of right now So there wouldn't be much follow-up As far as like there would be for a commercial or industrial building because they have to gain access inside and check all these components inside the building so right now we're not Doing internal inspections with hydro core where that would be a lot more intrusive and intricate where you would have those 1 on 1 contacts with the inspector. So, for right now, I do feel like, for our program, this is kind of adequate as far as the inspection goes and the documents that they're leaving. I would just ask that the residents, if they have any other follow up questions. that they please give me a call, I'd be more than happy to communicate with them on their status and what else they would need to do in order to gain compliance. It does seem like we have quite a few residents that are out of compliance, so I'll be, actually that's one of the duties that I'm taking on right now is calling all the residents that we have inspected that are out of compliance and just having a general conversation with them on how to reach compliance. And a lot of it has to do with the vacuum breaker on the outside of your house that goes to your irrigation system. Those have to be recertified every so often. And that's mainly what people are going to be out of compliance with or the lack of these vacuum breakers on the spigots. And so I'll be communicating with the residents, providing more information and working with them to give them some time to get to acclimated to it. And this will be a long process until we get through all the residents. This is definitely proactive on the city of salines. We have a lot of communities aren't doing the residential portion yet, but it is being. Looked at heavily by evil. So we are ahead of the game on this and we just got to do our best to continue the public outreach on this program.

I just wanted to clarify, like, how we're reporting to eagle. Compliance if we don't even know that people, I mean, somewhere is there in a database that I have not put that on like, how does somebody know.

So re-inspection. So we do have a database of all the ones that we went to and the ones that have not followed up and had compliance.

So was I supposed to have somebody come back out and look? I guess I'm just unclear as to what that back step looks like.

Right. So I would have to follow up more with HydroCorp. They should have an inspection and then they should be sending you documents on the city's behalf of what you need to do to get into compliance. And I just need to see where we're at with that. But I do have on my end, I have an Excel spreadsheet from HydroCorp with all the houses that have been taken care of already and then the ones that are out of compliance. So now it's the city's job to call and enforce compliance. So right now I'll be reaching out to all the residents, letting them know that they're out of compliance for the ones that are, and just working with them in a nice way to get compliance and educate them.

Council Member Gierbaugh? That's the same thing. We have been doing this for 10 years, and I know having three different houses in town, I've seen either they've dropped it off and not notified you, but they never have called to make an appointment. So all they do is leave you a plastic bag with directions in it and the thing in it, and they don't really tell you what to do with it except they say you may have an outside spigot. So if you have two spigots, they'll do it that way. I know you had just contacted me on a property that I have uptown, but I know that I've never received any contact or information. We may need to follow up with them in terms of what they're actually doing and now they're reaching out because I'm not sure if they're contacting the property owner or The customer, whoever's in your building, it just doesn't seem consistent.

You've never received contact for your rental property or your home? The rental property. Okay. I don't think I've ever received contact for my home. I haven't either. Yeah, so.

Again, it's a 10-year cycle, so he's dumped them on my porch.

Oh, really? Yeah, they just put them on my porch. But over 10 years, there should have been something of that nature. Yeah, I'm not sure how.

They're not.

We've been spending a lot of money on this and so compliance that makes an issue because I think we put, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars into this.

And so understanding what we're paying for really needs to be the one thing I can mention is, yeah, that's the part that's difficult for hydrocorp and the municipalities is providing correct updated addresses. Many times when people move, especially when it comes to commercial industrial buildings, new tenants move in or new owners move in, and they don't call HydroCorp and provide the updated address that they would like to see this document come to. Oftentimes the documents are sent to the physical address, and most people prefer them to come to a different address. YOU KNOW, A MANAGEMENT COMPANY OF SOME SORT OR A OWNER'S RESIDENTIAL HOUSEHOLD ADDRESS IN ORDER TO SEE THESE DOCUMENTS. AND A LOT OF TIMES THAT'S NOT TAKEN CARE OF BY THE NEW BUSINESS OWNER OR COMMERCIAL OWNER, THAT THESE PHONE CALLS ARE JUST NOT TAKING PLACE. You know that a little bit on the city, we got to educate that they need to do that, but also as part of owning a business, knowing what things you have to stay in compliance with, which would be backflow prevention devices. You'd have to know to look for this information and make sure you update your address so you can get the information. So. I guess more or less we need to do a more proactive job of the public outreach. That's why one of the things that we included in this program was that. And so DPW, myself, and Dan will work towards those community engagements and public outreach. And I will definitely follow up with HydroCorp to make sure we're doing the most we can with their aspect of the job for us.

We've had several problems with this related to other water issues. Initiatives like this and notifications and even when we were doing inspections for sewers and stuff. So how are we doing? We need to make sure that you have cross checks of what either property owners are being contacted or other ones because this is where it all falls through the crack.

I will say to Mr. Gearbaugh's comment, Mr. McNeil, I've never received any contact or communique at my house. Again, when this program first launched nearly 20 years ago, the response and engagement was very thorough in my capacity as president of St. Paul United Church of Christ, because I had to approve the expenditures of replacements of quite a few toilets that dated back to the 1960s. So... It was, it was very thoughtful, very thorough, much to my chagrin as the lead of a nonprofit that wasn't flush with cash and had to expand resources on an unbudgeted item. But nevertheless, it was for the broader benefit of the community and the environment. Councilor Harmon.

Thank you. Okay. Just to make sure I understand the scope of individuals. Is it only folks with sprinklers or is it like, if you're looking at a resident or who else would qualify.

So, for the residential houses right now, checks the exterior, so vacuum breaker and all spigots, there is a interior portion that when we are able to get inside residential houses. So typically that's going to come with meter inspections or meter replacements. That's when DPW will do the physical interior inspection. near the actual area where that meter is. We're not going to walk throughout the house, but we're just going to look in the immediate area to look for water softeners, you know, wash tanks, any connections to the plumbing system right after the meter. So we'll do those. And then as far as the commercial businesses and industrial businesses, HydroCorp, Sets up appointments to do the physical inspection inside to verify that their backflow preventions have been recertified and that there's no other problems with any other potential cross connections inside the building. So it's more than just a backflow prevention after the meter. They look at all the other aspects of cross connection issues. And then again, they provide all the documents and information. for the city to review and enforce the ordinance if we have to for people that are not in compliance.

Okay, and we can use the information, but the city has to actually enforce it?

The city has to do the enforcement, yeah.

So we make the final decision of service shutoff or not service shutoff? Correct. Okay. Thank you.

Councilmember Rice and then Councilmember Halsh. I may have missed it in here, but as part of this contract, the little devices that they leave behind, so we're paying for that out of this, they're paying for that out of this contract. Yes. Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Councilmember Halsh. Do we provide any assistance or does HydroCorp provide any assistance with compliance for our residents who may have dexterity or mobility or even intellectual difficulties?

I don't think hydrocorp would, but if there are instances of that, specifically as far as connecting these vacuum breakers to the spigots or doing more of an outreach where we show up to their house and communicate with them and and try to communicate what needs to be taken care of. If we have to call another family member in order to communicate it, that's something that DPW should take on or the city should take on to help out with those instances. So far, since I've been here, we haven't had those types of calls yet.

I know it may be a rare occasion, but do you feel like we have the capacity and the... for lack of a better word, the thoughtfulness to do that if need be.

Absolutely. So right now I'm the one that's started all the phone calls. We have a number of places out of compliance per our records. And if somebody was to indicate where I felt like that there was that potential, then I would do my best to either myself or the deputy director would formally go out there, knock on the door and have some communication. try to explain things better. And if we felt like that was still not, if we still felt like there needed to be more, we would ask if they would be willing to let us communicate with somebody else to help out with it. But this is certainly, for the number of houses that this potentially would happen to, it's definitely something that's easy for us to take care of. A lot of these non-compliant issues are definitely going to take Sometimes more than just phone calls, we may have to actually show up to the business or the house and just knock or leave a door hanger to get their attention. So it's definitely going to take some staff time, and it's something we can do. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Absolutely.

One last question before we vote on acknowledging a receipt. Cut me here for Tim Rice.

Yeah, just out of experience in the older houses, those are really difficult to get onto the spigots, like really hard. Like sometimes we have to take it off if we're doing something with a different type of thing. So some people might need to actually have their spigots replaced. So yeah, any extra... Thank you for bringing that up. Mr house, any extra thing that we can do for folks who that may be a problem for would be really helpful because I mean, I understand why folks would remain out of compliance if they can't get that thing on.

Right in those instances again, we would just have to try to communicate with them and try it ourselves. And if we can't get to work, we may have to. educate them and let them understand that it may be time to update their spigots and get a plumber to take a look at and get them a quote.

Very good. We have a motion on the floor moved by Dillon, seconded by Del Orco, simply to acknowledge receipt. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Is there a motion now to approve, not to approve, or approve with conditions, or would you like to insert some modified language?

Move to approve.

Moved by Mayor Pro Tem Rice, simply to approve. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Del Arco. Is there any additional discussion on the motion? Any debate? Council Member Dillon.

So, just for clarification, if we can get this additional information, I mean, at some point, I would think, is this a perpetual... Cost like, because we've just done 2 years now we're doing 3 years. We've done contracts before that. So, at what point have we done the whole city?

So, this is a perpetual thing and obviously the goal is to cover the whole city every 10 years. And so if we get through with hydrocorp and feel like we've reached a threshold where maybe we can handle it ourselves and we could do it internally, or we can reconsider this proposal in 3 years.

And just to give a little clarification, residential houses is once every 10 years. Commercial industrial business varies on the hazard of the business itself, that they're all given a hazard level. So that determines the interval that they have to be inspected or recertified.

Thank you. Go ahead, Mayor Jim Rice, and then Council Member Girbaugh.

This is, again, one of those things that EGLE instituted. And it's a great program in concept. what needs to happen to keep drinking water safe. However, it was instituted without giving municipalities Any funding to do it, so it was like, here's a new thing and you're on your own. Good luck. So, just so that the community understands it is a requirement and it's for good reason. It's a requirement, but it is something that we have to pay for. There's no money for it.

I just want to say, I asked Brandon to, or Mr. McNeil to add this to our asset management discussion so that we can try to get a better understanding what it all tells you.

There's no additional discussion or debate. Mr. McNeil, thank you very much. It's been properly moved by Rice, seconded by Del Arco to approve. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Aye. The motion carries unanimously. Our last action item of the evening is business item 26-114, fiscal year 2027 fee book. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt, to approve or not to approve the fee book as presented with a date starting July 1, 2026.

Acknowledge.

Moved by Dillon simply to acknowledge. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Gearbaugh. City Manager Swallow, would you like to begin?

Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is a periodic update of our fee book. This is something we try and keep up to date based on costs, based on new changes in operating costs. Procedures things of that nature probably one of the most significant changes in this particular Update are some of the right-of-way permits that we had not been as diligent on Increasing some of the cost to make sure that we cover when someone is disrupting the right-of-way that we have the adequate funding to inspect that and ensure that there's a restoration so with that there's also some things that we moved for example The news racks, we really don't have an issue with that anymore. And so that's actually been removed examples of that in here. So, and then just things that used to be handled, for example, in the community development department now being handled under engineering. So just relocating some of those. So that's overall summary. There was a red line version included in your packet that highlights those changes to get questions that you may have.

Very good questions for the dance council member Dylan.

Thank you. I appreciate that. You gave this to us. I appreciate a red line that makes life much easier trying to figure things out. There were because the engineering section was. Has changed so much. I was, I wasn't sure whether that was something that warranted a conversation the same way that we did from community development. Is there anything there that for which we should, you know, flag is, you know, that's. Just trying to understand it, I guess.

Yeah.

So, because it's hard to tell.

Right 1 of the just looking at engineering and specifically, um, we talked about, uh, construction inspection fees. Uh, so when a new development comes in, uh, what the, what the cost is, like, there's a base fee for a new development, 1200 dollars and then 50 dollars per acre. So if a new development comes in. review that development also there's additional details in terms of water stewards storm there are some additional piece essentially so we make sure that we have either in-house or more likely our consulting engineer has resources to complete those reviews make sure they comply

Right? No, and I appreciate that. I'm just trying to figure out where those someplace else in here, because it's hard when you look at the dates, because now they're all 7, 1 of 26. so it's like, well, when was the last time they were updated? Is trying to understand that and it's not a hill. Then the other 1 that I had a question about, which is on page 18 of the red line is there's the water and sewer connection permit charges and there's dates from. July 21, there's like 4 columns. Are those still current the way that those columns are running?

So, those are the so what tap fees in essence, I think is what you're referencing. So, when someone taps in to this system, so we did project those out, obviously out now till. June of 2025.

Yeah, these are old dates.

We do have some old dates in here. So I'll get those corrected. Okay. But those are, I believe those are still accurate numbers in terms of the tap fees on the far right hand side. Okay.

Do you want to just make those changes administratively or would you prefer this document come back for reconsideration at the subsequent meeting?

Uh, Because of the fees on the far right there are still accurate. I think it can be, but are they projecting forward?

So, like, that they're going to know because. These fees are already expired a year ago.

If I may, so those TAP fees have to follow a standard then be formally adopted if they're going to be changed by the council. So those would be the set fee until we decided to update the TAP fees as a whole, which would be usually done in contingent with a right study. And so that's just something that... We, we need to look at to see if they need to be updated and then, and then propose that to the council.

Basically, the most recent date would hold until future adoption.

So they don't expire actually. Correct. Yeah. Okay.

Right. They're just, I mean, they're a year old.

So the date needs to be changed. That can be made. Yeah. Do that administratively.

Are there costs have gone up and. Are we doing another rate study right now? Are we currently in the midst of having this?

No, but we have that budgeted for this coming fiscal year to complete it this time.

Okay. And then there's a couple of spots under that. I was trying to figure out where it says administrative fee. 5% of total. Is it assumed somewhere? What total means? Like, what the total of what is the total of what? Yeah, I think it said that because this is under fire hydrants.

So, the 5% would be the total portion of the bill to rent that fire hydrant meter.

Okay, so there's a rental fee plus an administrative fee to do the.

Yeah, to follow up with the documentation and provide that final invoice.

Okay.

I appreciate that additional questions customer. Just to clarify all fees have been reviewed.

Every single fee in the fee book has all the departments review the fees and add requesting changes to the treasurer's office. The only reason I ask is that I look at, like, the cemetery ones.

They're still the last time they reviewed was 7, 11, 2022, but we put in a large contract increase in our in terms of that. And I didn't know what that covers that if it's been 4 years.

So. We do this periodically, so we try and do potentially twice a year. So if you have some others you would like flagged and we'll take a look at the older dates as well.

We can what might be helpful. And I've done this before when we used to do fee increases for rates and everything. You would have a when the fee was approved and then you might have a review date. So that shows that you've actually the last time I was reviewed. That way, you know that it's been checked or double check. So.

How do these increases relate to what's driving some of these increases, did you say?

So overall costs, are there some things that we were not collecting sufficient funds on? I'll give the example of right-of-way permits, as I did in my introduction, that we really had additional costs for staff to go out and inspect, make sure that the repair was made, that restoration was completed. Think of some of the telecoms, the fiber optic network, companies that are out there right now doing some work in the right of way. We felt we needed to increase fees to make sure that, number one, we're inspected adequately, and number two, that there's an incentive bond, for example, for them to complete restoration.

And how do our fees relate to other municipalities? I guess that could also be an indicator if we're really out of whack that maybe our costs are out of whack.

We do a department level, they do some comparisons. I know we've talked about that with, you know, water and sewer rates, for example. So they're, you know, they're asked to do some of that review and comparison of as, as we update these, you know, I'd have to ask specifically about a particular department.

If you had a question, maybe some of the fees that have really substantially increase, we can get a little bit of feedback on that.

I mean, maybe share that in your weekly community either this week or next week would be fine. Okay, just a question before you vote on the motion. Now the seat customer done.

Thank you. Sort of tagging on to what Mr. Gearbaugh had said is that it might be helpful moving forward. If we can create another column that also says, whether something is statutory, because sometimes you look at something, you're like, wow, this hasn't gone up since 2007. it's like, well, because we don't have the right to raise the rate. But again, it goes back to what he was saying of trying to understand. There are some things in here that. I don't know whether or not we. Like, should be analyzing them and, you know, when the fees should be going up.

Okay, if there's nothing further, we do have a motion on the floor simply to acknowledge receipt that was moved by Dylan, seconded by Gearbaugh. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Aye. Is there a motion now to approve or not to approve? Move to approve. Move to approve, noting, of course, Mr. Gearbaugh, some administrative, we'll empower administration to make some changes specifically to dates in the tap-in fee section. Move to approve by Gearbaugh. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Rice. Any additional discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. I say aye. The motion carries unanimously. We're going to combine reports and other announcements along with updates from council that would include boards, commissions, committees, and task forces. Again, I'm going to start with Councilmember Rice and end with, I'll probably go last, but Mr. Garibaldi and then I will conclude. Councilmember Rice, Mayor Pro Tem Rice, any reports, announcements, or reports as a councilmember?

We had a lovely afternoon at Risen Park. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for attending as well with the Parks Commission yesterday to celebrate the pollinator garden that is in full bloom this year. It was planted last year. It's in full bloom this year. Looking really great. We had... Washtenaw County Conservation District was there who gave me really great information for my personal garden. So that was really helpful. The Girl Scouts were there. The Girl Scouts, I forget the troop number, I apologize. They also put in a pollinator garden around the sign entrance to Canterbury Park as well recently. So they're doing some work there. So perhaps next year we'll celebrate when that's in full bloom. We also had Selene Milan Rocks. So that That group formed around COVID when folks were doing those really beautiful rocks and hiding them around town and stuff. So they came out and they helped paint rocks for a new Tic Tac Toe board made out of a stump that's just outside of that pollinator garden. So there's little ladybugs versus bees for the Tic Tac Toe board. So it was just a really beautiful day. We had the Kona Ice Truck. We had the Lemonade Stand. So these are the types of things that Parks Commission is going to do throughout the summer because we want to really highlight that we have a bunch of parks in Saline. Even though Mill Pond tends to be our standout park, there's a little disruption happening in Mill Pond this summer as we do some updating to Saline. Different facilities as well as creating that new pathway through the park. Speaking of mill pond on the, I believe it's the 10th. It may have moved to the 11th. The. the folks are going to come out and assess the ROMP structure and see just where we're at. It's the folks that built the ROMP structure. See where we're at with can we add some accessibility features in and around the ROMP structure? How is it structurally sound? They also are going to help us plan and perhaps do some fundraising for some new amenities. But their first initial assessment is going to be in just a little over a week's time. So we're looking forward to getting that back. And then We've got other things. Just keep track. We've got a new Facebook and Instagram or new Instagram for Parks Commission. So we've always got stuff going on there. So please join us anytime that we've posted something. Please feel free to join us at one of our activities over the summer.

And the pollinator garden at Risen Park was the primary lead on that, Commissioner Estrada.

It was. Jill Estrada took the lead on that. She lives next door and has a beautiful garden of her own, so she has volunteered to help maintain that garden. It's fairly self-sufficient, but one aspect of it, there's a cute little keyhole that's a grassy area. It's supposed to be no-mow grass. Well, it turns out she's had to go out there a couple of times and mow it, so made it really easy for DPW to not have to get up in there and do anything, and she every now and then goes in there and weeds and rakes and as well as a couple of other parks commissioners. They do a great job keeping it up.

Great. Thank you. Council Member Harmont, any reports, announcements, or updates from boards, committees, commissions, or task forces?

I don't have anything from this past week. I do want to invite everybody to come to the farmer's market on Saturday. The Environmental Commission is going to have a table there.

That's very good.

And say hi.

Councilmember Halsh. A couple of reports. One, youth council had their last meeting of the year. We graduated four seniors, which is really, really cool, but also kind of bittersweet. One of the things that we are focusing on is doing some more outreach and sort of targeting the high-performing eighth graders. our middle school to kind of well seventh and eighth but mostly eighth graders to start building that pipeline of students once they get to ninth grade so that was that was really really exciting arts and culture we had two new members during the committee including our Sort of our first minor Commissioner, which is really really cool to see I think as far as jazz at the mention planning one of the things that we've approved Was the purchase of banners to advertise the event? I think our chair of that committee is reaching out to the working group to get some clarity around the rules for hanging them on the fence we intend to utilize like the outside fences, so I Uh, councilman and that I'm sure there'll be some correspondence around that. Um, and then for the rec center implementation team, um, last since our last meeting, 1 of the things that we've spent a lot of time on as a team. Well. as a team but also within our subcommittees is scoring out using the MEDC capital improvement rubric to score out kind of the list of capital improvement projects that the implementation team has identified. So I think that those scores have been tabulated and we'll start going over those at tomorrow's meeting. As far as the or the financial sort of planning committee, subcommittee, we've spent time identifying what are going to be the most viable options to maintain some long-term funding for the rec center. And so ultimately we're excited and really looking forward to providing for council a very thorough, intentional, coming up in June, I think. Yep. Our second meeting, which is actually three weeks away.

Council Member Del Arco, reports, announcements, updates from any committees, commissions, or task forces?

Yeah, over Memorial Day weekend, as Molly Coy alluded to earlier today, we had our, for Davenport, Curtis Manchin Working Group, we had our strategic planning and envisioning session. It was very productive. The week-long EMU graduate student course was in full attendance. They had a chance to present their historical findings and artifacts, and we were all thoroughly entertained by that. And then we all worked in breakout sessions and groups to start to establish our vision and mission statement and look at what subcommittees need to be formed and look at what the overall goals should be for the group. And that was a very useful exercise. Uh, we also had a follow up meeting that, uh, the very next week on Wednesday, and a lot of what was talked about was working through this, uh, event planning and fundraising initiative to, um, get the 501 3 C partnership together.

So you have all heard about that. Thank you. Council member Dylan reports, announcements, updates from committees or commissions.

Sure. Thank you. Um, just got notified today. ZBA will not be meeting in June. We have no applications before us. Um, the cable commission will be meeting. Next week, and we'll be finalizing some purchases. So I would appreciate if there's feedback regarding microphones or equipment for this room that I've talked about before that you provided to me in advance of that meeting before that equipment is actually, um. Ordered urban county, there's 2 things coming up right now. They've published. We've moved from our winter warming centers to our summer cooling centers. And right now, for the city of Celine, the only cooling center that is officially logged is the saline district library. And so what I wanted to do is ask this body in the past. We have used council chambers and understanding if we are, what does that look like? I know we have some issues with that door not being able to be locked. Um, and so kind of understanding, and I think that's something that as we. Kind of offline, we can have a discussion about that. We also need to establish an alternate for urban county. Um. Like the Watts committee, they are really struggling right now that they are not able to always meet quorum because all of the communities are not able to participate, especially now that we've had to go back to in person meetings. So we are going to need to establish whether we want to have someone from this body be the alternate or in the past, the city manager was an alternate that it has to be somebody that is officially appointed that can have voting rights.

So, if I may, I would prefer it be a council member. So, if you're interested, please talk to council member Dylan and myself, and maybe we can confirm that appointment at 1 of our upcoming meetings.

Right? And then the only other thing that I wanted to mention was that this morning I had a, the municipal services committee met and we did some updates on what was happening up in Lansing and, you know. Budgets are budgets right now. Every, every group is presented their budget, but none of them are actually matching up with each other. So still working on that. They have managed to close some of the gap in the budget shortfall with the gas tax increase. So I'm not sure that that's a good thing. And but there are a couple of things that are still like kind of looming out there that ironically came back to life again and dark stores is another one. There's a lot of Re, you know, interest in in bringing that back and there's a very specific criteria for it and they're going to be doing some hearings coming up very shortly. And has taken a position. We've taken the position of supporting it. The other 1 that's coming forward that has not. Necessarily well, another 1 that's sitting out there is the voting rights act and unfortunately. They're saying it's just going to die on the vine right now. There's absolutely no movement to it. And so they're hoping that the next body will pick it up and maybe move something forward. Revenue sharing is still out there and property tax exemption are still out there. There's some upcoming hearings on housing that everyone knew about that. We've all been talking about. They're going to have some more hearings on that. So they're urging everyone to get in touch with their. Uh, legislators 1 thing that was very interesting that we actually spend a lot of time discussing is something that actually has not been introduced yet, but is kind of working its way through the pipeline, which is regarding fireworks and fireworks banning of fireworks and really putting some really tight parameters around fireworks. And there are some communities, um, this is actually coming out of sterling heights. Um, they are utilizing. A lot of city service resources dealing in firework issues, and so they brought it forward and right now is it's written. It would really be difficult to shoot off fireworks. Um, within the city of Celine, because of the close proximity of homes to each other to it, it actually has like 150 feet to a public road park schools churches. And I mean, we're kind of at an arm's length from all of those. So it's going to be interesting to see if that is able to get any traction as it moves through.

Very good, thank you.

Council Mayor Gierbaugh. Thanks Mayor. Saline Fire Department will be meeting on Wednesday. Part of the agenda will be to discuss and clarify some of the concerns and issues that have been raised related to the related data in Juneau settlements and donations that are occurring to understand more how those are going to affect the fire department and So forth, and moving forward on the actual, we do have the posting done out for the Selena fire authority. So those postings are out there and available. So we're waiting for that. Turn around occur on that. Also, I had the opportunity with the economic development land use meeting that I'm on that board also. And we met today talking about various things that are coming before and some bills that are being discussed, which is interestingly, there's one that's looking at potentially allowing local communities to put on an excise tax on rentals or accommodations, maybe Airbnbs or hotels so that we can do it individually versus right now. I think we have a CVB or whatever that's related to the county that's related to. visitors, bureaus, and so forth. So that would give us another opportunity. Part of the idea of it, Airbnb is supporting it because it would be a way of funding regulatory aspects, but they think it's a great way that if you throw money at it, it'll solve the problem. Part of the issue is there's so many people trying to regulate the A's and B's because of concerns and issues that have been raised. So it's kind of a back and forth on that. And as we've talked, there's other things going on in terms of housing. There's looking at a number of things, whether or not they'll get funded or not, related to potential money being set aside for larger tax credits, related to blighted properties and so forth, trying to match federal matching for affordability and housing and that type. And then also, council member Dylan had mentioned the budget they're optimistic that July 1 that they may have it resolved there's a billion dollar hole but as we know what happened last year so but they feel like there's some of the things that they're kind of getting along one thing that did come up was that they're seeing a very large shortfall in the marijuana tax revenues so that will impact road funding and what because of the issue of that they're not seeing the revenues that they had seen of that and then Lastly, just a couple other things that come up. There's some concerns related to data centers. There's proposals for things that would allow communities to reject them. So these things are all being discussed and, you know, and also to regulate them. And then 1 of the last things was, even when we talk about the alternates for. What I want to call it alternates for the board that you were just mentioning council member doing, they're looking at potentially allowing for alternates for planning. Because everybody's realizing that you can't – they said it works well with ZBAs just like we do, but hopefully. But that's very much in the very beginning of the starting stage for that. And then lastly, a couple things. I had the opportunity this week to meet with Josh Schroeder and a couple of the Plant Moran individuals in cybersecurity to talk about potential. There is funding out there and that they could help us in terms of getting money that would support reviews of our cybersecurity overall, getting an outside opinion to help us establish to make sure that we're doing the right things. And that might be something we ought to pursue. Also, with them mentioning the payroll audit, I would like to see that payroll audit that we talked about earlier come to council and have them present so that we have a good understanding. Those are the type of things where that information we paid for it and we should have it provided clearly to councils that we have a clear review and approach at this point in time. So I'll be looking forward to that. And then lastly, I want to give a shout out to chief. Marlene Razdick for raising the pride flag this morning. We will be having an event on the 20th, but she stepped forward and made sure that we put it up in compliance with our resolution to recognize the month of pride and making sure that our flag flies high in this community. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you. I don't actually have anything to share this evening. Mr. Swallow, can I have you wrap it up by giving an update on the Mill Pond Dam stock blog RFP?

Sure. This is something that Council had requested to keep you updated, and if we could bring something back certainly by next meeting, which we plan to have that presentation and ENGINEERS HERE TO PRESENT THAT. BUT TO GIVE YOU A QUICK UPDATE, WE HAVE PRESENTED A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS TO FIVE DIFFERENT CONTRACTORS, THREE OF WHICH EXPRESSED INTEREST IN POTENTIALLY THE ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS THAT WE DISCUSSED WITH THE SECONDARY STOPLOG CHANNEL. SO THEY MET ON SITE THIS ACTUALLY A LITTLE OVER A WEEK AGO. AND WE DO ANTICIPATE RECEIVING AT LEAST ONE PROPOSAL BASED ON SOME OF THE EARLY RESPONSES. I DID SPEAK WITH THE Spicer group today, they'll, they'll reach out back to again the 3 that expressed interest. But we do expect to this 1 proposal as a potential alternative to the cofferdam. That's what was originally proposed.

Great any questions and we'll expect to hear more at our next meeting then. Okay. 2nd meeting in June. Excellent. All right. If there's nothing further to be brought up here in the discussion portion of our agenda, we come now to the second and last public comment period. Under the Open Meetings Act, any person who may come forward may comment to City Council. This public comment period will be limited to three minutes per person. Those wishing to speak are requested, but of course not required to state their name and address for the record. Please note, City Council will not answer questions during this public comment period. Are there any public comments from those in the audience this evening? Appear to be none. Clerk Royal, any written comments provided in advance of tonight's meeting in which the individual wanted their remarks right at this time? No. Easy enough. Then if there's nothing further to be brought before City Council this evening, the Chair would be delighted to entertain a motion to adjourn at 8-19. So moved. Moved by Dillon. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Rice. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you all.