City Council - Regular Meeting

Good. Okay. Let me just wait until Terry gets her takes her seat. We'll start Ben. Good mystery. Okay. Let's call this lead city council meeting to order. Please rise and join us 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. We do have a revised agenda in front of us this evening because we will not be convening into closed session. Members present this evening are Del Orko, Dillon, Gierbaugh, Hulsh, Harmount, Mayor Pro Tem Rice, and Mr. Marl, along with city staff members, City Manager Swallow, Clerk Royal, DPS Director McNeil, and Community Development Director Atkin. At this time, the chair will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as submitted unless there are amendments. Approved as submitted moved by your body approve is submitted. Is there a 2nd. Seconded by Dylan. Hearing no discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries unanimously. There are no absences, 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 a comment or question. Comments 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 will not answer questions during this initial public comment period. Are there any citizen comments on agenda items or any other topics of interest this evening? Please, Ms. Shea, and make sure that the green light is illuminated at the base of that microphone, and you're welcome to adjust the podium to your height.

Thank you very much. My name is Lisa Shea. Address is 3641 Fox Den Court, Saline, Michigan. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I would like to briefly acknowledge the work of the Recreation Center Implementation Team That we discussed at the last council meeting over the past several months, the team invested significant time researching best practices, engaging the community, evaluating priorities and developing recommendations intended to serve as a roadmap for the recreation centers future as the city moves forward tonight. I encourage Council to extend the term of this team and to continue to utilize the RCIT as an advisory resource. The team's work can help support thoughtful governance, provide continuity as projects are prioritized and implemented, and ensure decisions remain aligned with the long-term vision for the Rec Center and the well-being of our community. Thank you for your continued leadership and for the opportunity to contribute to this important work. And if there are any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thank you, Chairperson Shea. And hang tight because we'll get to that issue in just a moment. There might be questions and additional comments that you can make for the betterment of council and for the community at large. Are there any additional citizen comments this evening? Let me defer to the city clerk. Were there any written comments provided in advance of tonight's meeting in which the individual wanted their remarks right at this time? Easy enough. Then we will transition to the one and only presentation, which is my charter-sanctioned State of the City Address. And my apologies, there were copies disseminated earlier this evening, but they have a few grammatical and spelling errors, so we will get you a clean copy. We'll email one out later this week. Good evening, my friends. City Council, City Manager Swallow, Clerk Royal, distinguished guests, my fellow citizens. It is an honor to provide the citizens of Saline with a mid-year address, albeit a much more abbreviated one than I provided on July 5, 2026. I know I mentioned this previously, but the City of Saline has always established goals and objectives, frequently with the input and suggestions from residents and the business owners we represent. However, the strategic planning process that the City initiated in February 2023 is by far the most thorough, thoughtful, and comprehensive in our City's history. The process to develop our current strategic framework included all city council members, department heads, and the city manager, along with an excellent external consultant. The final product was the combination of at least half a dozen meetings and or retreats. As I've shared previously, I'm happy to affirm the eight goal areas outlined in our strategic plan. Number one is effective asset management. Two, foster open communication and standards for proactive community outreach. Three, financial stewardship. Four, organizational effectiveness. Five, supporting a viable community. Six, purposeful planning and smart growth. Seven, employ a skilled workforce. And eight, prioritize community health, wellness, and safety. I strongly encourage our residents to review the City's approved strategic framework. In addition to the outlined goal areas, we have also established specific tasks with timelines while assigning individuals or groups to lead the enumerated projects or initiatives. City Council and department heads revisited these issues via a retreat on June 22, and I am hopeful that we can regroup again in August or September to ensure that we are developing forward momentum on these key target areas. A well-integrated strategic plan will serve as our organization's compass and will ensure that we are prioritizing the issues that matter most to the residents we represent. In the meantime, please rest assured that city leadership will continue to focus on the issues that have the most significant and tangible impact on our citizens' quality of life. These are also the key issues I emphasized when I began my tenure as mayor in January of 2013. They include strong financial stewardship, economic development, support for public safety, critical investment in our municipal infrastructure, and openness and transparency in city government. Now, just a few items this evening. This construction season, our city will complete road work on Beach Court and portions of Industrial Drive while initiating design work for Woodland Drive and ADA upgrades for the Northview subdivision. Also with our new DPS director Brandon McNeil on board and with funds designated in our current budget, I'm confident that we can reconstitute our comprehensive sidewalk program in the next 12 months. As mentioned in the past, a full list of infrastructure projects is available online with corresponding schedules. We encourage our residents to review the materials on the engineering page of our city's website. Our $75 million-plus rehabilitation of our wastewater treatment plant, WWTP, is essentially on schedule with final completion expected during the construction season of 2026, with a few minor punch list items to be completed in early 2027. City Council will revisit the Mill Pond Dam restoration or removal issue via discussion either later this evening or in the future, and will likely address the mill race issue at our subsequent council meeting on July 20th. Transitioning to economic development, the city, with support from our partners at Saline Main Street, has established a carefully vetted downtown social district, one that we will hopefully expand and enlarge in the coming weeks. We are also very close to considering a development agreement for a new downtown gathering space directly behind Kerrigan Cafe, one which will undoubtedly improve the vitality of our city's downtown. In the coming months, we will also share and promote our annual economic development video. Additionally, our former community recruitment and retention team, which has been rebranded Saline Connected, is working diligently on promotional materials and a new doing business in Saline webpage. As has been widely reported, in February 2026, the city closed on the iconic Davenport Curtis property in order to both preserve and activate this timeless historic asset. A working group has been established and has been meeting in earnest. This summer, members of the working group will be visiting comparable facilities in our state and region to benchmark their successes. The group is also partnering to host Jazz in the Park with the Salina Arts and Culture Committee on Saturday and will be hosting a family-friendly barbecue and old-fashioned ice cream social on Labor Day Saturday. September the 7th. Finally, under the leadership of our Community Development Director, Chris Adkin, the City Planning Commission is considering streamlined processes for site plan reviews and simplification of our municipal sign ordinance. The primary goal here is to improve our internal processes and better meet the needs of the residents and business owners. On to public safety. Our police department has one vacancy in road patrol. Ergo, our department's leadership is looking for a competent, qualified, community-oriented individual to serve in this full-time position. If you are interested, please contact Police Chief Radzik or Deputy Chief Andy Hartwig. Over the course of the past year, the Saline Fire Department staff, the Saline Fire Board, representing Lodi Township, Saline Township, York Charter Township, and the City of Saline have made significant progress with the formation of a new fire authority. This is both timely and important work. I know additional details and information are forthcoming, particularly regarding the possibility of a ballot question, which will likely appear on the November 26th general election ballot. earlier this spring city council adopted a very sensible and pragmatic budget one that invests in the areas our residents care most about the current budget actually reduces the municipal tax burden due to a headly rollback and a cut in the city's refuge millage it also creates two new important positions a city-wide economic development director and a facilities manager Further, per our custom, we will work to leverage additional county, state, and federal revenue sources while also implementing recommendations to improve the financial viability of our city-owned rec center. center is a valuable quality of life enriching service which can undoubtedly may be made better in the years ahead regarding the rec center as many are aware we have received financial pledges and commitments in excess of 12 million dollars which if received and managed appropriately will not only transform our existing facility but also ensure its financial sustainability long term I am hopeful that our rec center implementation team can be extended. I am also hopeful that we can mirror the recent success of the completed Saline River Valley Trail and make more critical investments and park improvements in the next 12 to 24 months. As I previously shared, it is also my hope that by the end of this calendar year, we will successfully launch a new community-wide wellness initiative focusing on substance abuse disorders, domestic violence prevention, mental health awareness, and access to healthcare amenities in the broader Saline area. As always, we encourage our residents and other community stakeholders to engage with us online and on social media. Please sign up for our DPW newsletter, HOA updates, and 411 text message initiative, and utilize our online reporting tool when deemed appropriate. Also, look for a rebranded and relaunched city website in the coming months designed to make it easier for residents to find information about city services. Last, regarding events, I'm hosting my annual senior conference at the Salina Area Senior Center on August the 14th. All Salina Area seniors are welcome to attend. Also, my next coffee hour will be co-hosted by our state representative, Morgan Foreman, and will begin at 8 a.m. on August the 21st. More information will be shared in the weeks ahead. Let me acknowledge the years of service and innumerable contributions made by my City Council colleagues, Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Rice, members Jim DeLorco, Janet Dillon, Dean Gierbaugh, Tremaine Halsh, and Jen Harmon. Also, sincerest thanks to our very dedicated staff. They care deeply for our community and provide exceptional service to our residents on a daily basis. On behalf of City Council, we thank each of you. Our community would not be the exceptional city it is without your commitment and contributions. I've said it before, Salina is a very special place, and there's no doubt in my mind, I continue to believe that our best days are yet to come. Thank you, my friends. God bless you, and God bless Salina. We are going to transition now to the consent portion of our 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 for council discussion. Before I ask for a motion, because I was getting caught up on emails right when this meeting started, I believe there were a few items removed from the consent agenda, Clerk Royal, and added to new business. Is that correct? Okay, very good. Are there any additional changes to the consent agenda or is there a motion to approve as amended? To approve as amended, Council Member Harmon? Yes. Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Gearbaugh. Hearing no discussion, all those in favor of approving the consent agenda as amended, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. We come to unfinished business. Agenda item 26-122, Rec Center Implementation. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt of the Rec Center Implementation Team Report and to authorize city staff to begin implementation of the recommendation action and further to extend the recommendation Rec Center implementation team authorization through December 31st, 2028. Did you want, I heard Dylan first. Do you want to simply acknowledge? Yes. Okay. I'm going to go with that motion. Mayor Pro Tem Rice, would you be the second? Sure. Okay. City Manager Swallow, would you like to begin? And then I'm happy to defer to Council Member Halsh, who is the council liaison to this body.

Thank you very much. As was presented by Michelle earlier this evening, the recreation center implementation team provided their report and recommendations to city council at our last meeting. It's very thorough report and obviously includes a number of recommendations that were pulled also from the earlier task force. So, with that, it is being presented this evening for your acknowledgement and also just to again, give, give staff the authority to move forward with some of the recommendations are included in the report. Also, Per request to extend the implementation team, there are a number of items that still working on, including obviously looking at the pledges financial support that have been made to the rec center and how those would be best utilized providing that community input as well as continue on some of those recommendations and push those forward to make sure that we implement those those key things that would hopefully make the record center viable for many years to come.

Thank you, City Manager Swallow. Council Member Halsh, is there anything you'd like to add?

Just wanted to voice my support for the recommendations. I think that what's unique about this particular implementation team and a lot of what we hope to achieve, should it be extended, is really being an advisory and oversight body for the center I think that you know obviously there are a number of challenges that we've identified but also a number of opportunities that I think the implementation team has to not only change the financial trajectory of the center but also the the operational excellence of that center so I emphatically Support the extension of the team.

Very good night. I'll know for the record. I did have conversations with council member Hall and then subsequently with the chairperson Lisa Shay. There are a few additional items that will need to come back in probably the next 3060 days. vis-a-vis the rec center implementation team. And Tremaine, Lisa, if I'm missing anything here, please speak up. But there seems to be some consensus to add some members, particularly members representing the business community. Per Councilmember Hulsh's statements just now, I think there will be some slight revisions to the mission, focusing a little bit more on being an advisory panel and providing some oversight to staff regarding projects, initiatives, and the allocation of funds that are, I believe, forthcoming. And then, per comments made at our last meeting by Councilmember Dillon and others, there was a clear desire to establish some very specific, finite timelines. And I think that we can do that. Lisa and I, excuse me, Ms. Shea and I spoke earlier today, and the ones we thought of specifically is we should be able, within the next 30 to 60 days, establish a timeframe as to when we would know if we're going to be able to pursue relationships with the county, YMCA, etc. So if this is approved tonight, it's not the only action that will be taken. There will be some additional motions that will be forthcoming either in August or in early September.

Chairperson Shea, anything I missed or anything you'd like to add?

Why don't I have you come to the podium, if you wouldn't mind, Lisa, because we want to get this on the record. We want to make sure everybody can hear your statements and replies.

I think that what I would like to add is that serving is more of a governance advisory instead of implementation team only. we'd be able to help really line things up, put the roadmap together, and establish that timeline, and then also work with council on what you may need to help us move forward so that we're kind of a go-between, the staff at the rec center and council, so we can kind of push forward those efforts and really look at it from a different lens of not being so close to the data.

Very good. Why don't you hang tight at the podium? Because I'm assuming there might be some questions that are best addressed by you questions or comments from the desk.

Thank you. Um, the reason I moved to acknowledge is just to have a better understanding of what exactly implementations of the. Recommended actions entails, because within the presentation that was provided to the public in this, it does not list that out. Um, and so I think. Everyone being on the same page to understand what it is. I, myself, I'm not even sure. I know that there was a scoring sheet, but that's not included and I'm not sure. So, I do like the idea of the implementation committee continuing on. I think that there's a lot of value in that group. I just want to understand what we're talking about. There's still a couple other pieces that we still are missing information on. To the city manager at 1 point, we had had conversations asking if with that 2.7Million dollars, if the city, did we verify whether the city could be reimbursed for the 1Million dollars that we spent for the for the unit? Did we get actual written verification of whether that was it?

So, just to outline. this report recommend initially. It's prioritizing capital projects, which includes the $2.7 million and how that would be spent. Pursue older persons millage funding. Strengthen partnerships. As I mentioned, obviously, with the county and YMC already. Address immediate facility needs. Again, allocating those funds that have been pledged by not only the grant, but also from the private donations and continuing the community engagement. So those are broader topics, but we can dive in deeper and detailed I've been in contact with HUD trying to get details on exactly when the funding will become available and when we'll have our grant administrator assigned to us so we can answer some of those questions relative to the DECTRON. So I actually worked through Senator Slotkin's office. They put in a formal request to the agency to try and get some of those more of those details and information.

If I may, we're not the only municipality struggling with identifying a point of contact and getting information about the direct appropriations secured by Congressman Dingell. I know that you and I have also had conversations with Supervisor Riley in Pittsfield Township, who is also trying to get answers and would like funds to be forthcoming. So it's an unfortunate challenge, but one that's being experienced by multiple municipalities. Sorry to interrupt.

No, so I'm just trying to understand and then we also have the other pledge of funds and I guess trying to understand how things are being prioritized. So you have 2.7. Well, what if it's only 1.7, because the city takes back a 1Million and then this 10Million what is that going to look like? That's a pledge and that's something that's a whole different animal that this body has not even had any information about other than a public notice. and so kind of understanding how we're prioritizing with that and what areas is it are we going to only focus on the pool area is that going to be the focus so I guess I'd like a little bit more detail to understand what it is that you're you're looking to do and that was one of the key things that the implementation team did work on is prioritizing those projects with the focus on

Uh, as well, is that a key key factor going forward? So there's a whole criteria list of criteria that they utilize and I, I don't have any reason why we couldn't share that with council and how those projects were prioritized. And they create the criteria that were used to do that. Okay.

So, essentially, we are not implementing the spending of any of these dollars, because we don't actually have these dollars in hand. Correct? Correct. So you're just what you're suggesting is this implementation team will now just formalize what their plan is correct initial scoring.

And so there is a prioritized list of projects, which we'll share with council. But obviously, I thought counts. I'm sorry.

I thought I had that. Okay. Yeah. Why don't you resend it, though, just in case some people misplaced it or didn't see it.

It's not in here, so it looks in the presentation.

That can be resend to council in the next 24 hours. That'd be great.

You will have to approve that final list as well. Thank you very much.

And if I may, real quick, because I was able, I appreciate the grace that was extended to me at the last meeting. I was able to watch the balance of the meeting subsequent to my departure. And I heard the questions and concerns vis-a-vis the $10 million pledge, which, of course, again, at this point, it's just a pledge. Um, the major, uh, request or concern has been alleviated, which both, uh, council member Halsh and Ms. Shake can, can speak to, which is we will definitely include multiple people in future conversations with those corporate entities. Um, and you should have gotten a calendar invite about a meeting Wednesday and council member Halsh, you should have as well. Um, so we will hopefully within the next. I would hope 60 to 90 days have some details about those donations. And as I've stated privately and as I've stated publicly, I think there should be ultimately a legal agreement that city council approves with the corporate entities reviewed by legal council, which would include some guardrails, including we're not offering anything in return for the donation. I personally have the opinion that a donation should be earmarked for Teft Park more broadly, not just the rec center. And third, that it would be wildly inappropriate and irresponsible to commit to spending all of that $10 million. A certain portion should be set aside and establish an endowment fund for the rec center to take care of future operational deficiencies and capital needs. Any additional questions, Council Member DeLong?

No, I'll stop there.

Council Member Gearbaugh?

For me to understand... How is the oversight going to be accomplished? I mean, I know we have a number of issues just with the city itself. Who will be hired to oversee the $2.7 million implementation, making sure the projects occur? Is it going to be a project manager? Because I assume these are going to be multiple different types of projects.

So, I guess 1st, obviously the implementation team is make the recommendation for the projects, which will ultimately be approved by council. And then is our intent of worked with miss Lambert already on identifying a professional, probably a professional engineering or a consulting firm. to work with us on planning out those detailed projects and getting them ready to basically package them into bid packages, understanding sequencing, understanding how the best, most efficient way to complete them. And so we'll be working with a professional consultant on that.

Because I know we had that same concern with the wastewater treatment plan and still continue to have that even with the city and its own projects of someone that can put that all together. So not sharing. Not sure whether that 2.7Million can be used to fund that need.

And is that 1 of the things that we're going to clarify in terms of our ass to dingle, you know, obviously preparing the specific documents of orbiting is eligible expense under 2.7Million as well as it obviously will be communicating with our, our project partners on the pledges of action. gotten an offer and we're still pursuing how that would function obviously Walbridge major contractor is a component of the pledge funds they have design professionals on board obviously project managers on board and so maybe utilizing some of their services in kind to get us started

That was also offered to us engineering, architecture and construction expertise.

And as long as we identify and how that's managed and maintained and properly accounted for him. Great for that. I do like the idea of adding additional members to the board right now. There's only really 2 members from the city that are on there actually. And so I'd like to see more representation from the city in terms. We are the ones that have the biggest part in the making sure that this thing is funded. So I'd like to see more balance in that way. So I agree. I'm not sure what the idea with businesses, unless they're from a professional perspective of actual individuals that are in the business of either construction or whatever would be helpful. Because I think we need expertise in those fields and not necessarily just people that would like it. maybe have good intentions, but we need to have individuals that are qualified. I think we're running that same problem even with our Curtis Manchin approach.

If I can address that, I think it was a combination of trying to find people who have a particular expertise that would be valuable, individual or individuals who could help us beef up and improve and market corporate membership packages, and then third, individuals who would have either access to or know of additional revenue streams that could support operations or future capital needs at the rec center.

And then just again, clarity on when we're asking, we spoke with the township supervisor from Pittsfield and also is the money not being released or is it just a clarification of how we can spend the money?

It's not being released yet. So basically the funding has to be released to the area or regional offices for HUD and

To develop the final grant agreement, essentially, the administration is moving at a glacial pace.

Well, that's what I kind of figured. I just want to make sure that they aren't stopping the funding because you never know 1 day.

The next 1, they're going to do, or what their vision from the center's office and the inquiry to stop the funds that just that have not been released yet to the regional offices. Okay, great.

And as long as we make sure the clarity that we are replacing the pool deck, not the community center floor, because I want to make sure that that clarification is expressed to the agency so that we do not end up getting into trouble down the road. So appreciate that. Mayor Putnam, Rice.

I think a lot of the things that Mr. Gearbaugh just brought up are the exact reason why we need to continue this implementation team. I mean, the road keeps getting pulled out from under us with federal funding, things like that. So the fact that this implementation team isn't just relying on that funding, you also have other avenues that you're exploring. And again, I'm going to reiterate what I said in the last meeting, like could not be more fortunate to have better experts on this team right now. Like we couldn't, pay people who had more expertise and you're doing it voluntarily. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. And I think now is the time to take advantage of this energy. And if we let this energy trickle by not keeping this momentum going, that's on us. So I'm fully in support of all of the things we've just discussed.

Any additional questions? Let me jump back to Councilmember Halsh and then I'll come to Dylan before we vote to acknowledge receipt.

I think kind of speaking to the points that both my colleagues Dylan and Gerber raised, I don't think we necessarily had a lot of time to go into the specifics during this stretch of work that the implementation team has done, but I think we are very much looking into the measurability of this process. And I think that that scoring rubric was a part of it. One of the things that as a team that we were able to identify and one of the things that we want to be able to come back to council with is specific metrics that, you know, are keeping us honest, but also keeping the projects and the people that we hire out, the people that ultimately are going to be doing the work, so to speak, is having that measurability. Because I think part of the reason why some of our projects can get off track is because we don't have benchmarks. We don't have ways of measuring We don't use a lot of leading indicators to kind of let us know beforehand that these things may be off track or there may be differences that we need to go about in implementing. So I think that that is one of the things that the implementation team is excited to look at is how can we bring A performance layer to all of this. So that way, when we do come back, we can say that, you know, here are all the ways that we, and here are all the benchmarks that we've set when we go for. The YMCA partnership or a county partnership, or even around who are we contracting? Who do we need to get these projects done? So I do want to stress that that is an element of this that I don't think we had the chance to include in the presentation, but it is very much, I think, central to the work that we hope to continue doing with the team. Thank you for that customer done.

Thank you. The 1 thing that I would ask is that I'd like to, as we approve this tonight, establish the next. Um, date on which we will have a presentation so that there is a firm. Understanding of what that expectation is, because what I'd like to do is start being able to cut things off of the list and say, okay, we have explored this because there are certain things that just linger the YMCA, the county, the, you know, there's things like that that it's, it's an up or down at this point. And we either have to say. We're not making any traction, so we have to just weave it at the curb and move on to the next thing. And so that's what I'd like to see happen at that next meeting is sort of refine it a bit.

So I would be amenable to Lisa Tremaine, maybe a follow up report in about 90 days. But I think sometime between now and that 90 days, we can provide a more comprehensive. Schedule of updates and after meeting after having a few subsequent meetings, I think we can establish when we think we can have an answer about YMCA. When do we think we have an answer about about the county? I'm not sure we would be able to share that in 90 days, but I think we could give at least some sort of update in 3 months time.

Absolutely. And we've got the experts on the, on the, on the, on the team too. So I think that and the other thing that I want to stress probably more than anything else is. I don't want anything to be a surprise. I'm very transparent on everything. So if there's a report that you need or there's something that you need or there's just like, we're going to get that for you. I'm very transparent on those things. And I think that's part of the governance and the advisory portion of it to be very transparent so that you do get the facts and you do get the reports that you're able to make the decisions that you need to make.

so uh 90 days would be the first council meeting in october uh what's the date for that clerk royal october 5th and as far as you know are there um a litany of presentations on that agenda or any holds okay so october 5th i would assume that would be included as an amendment in the subsequent motion okay Anything else? All right, there's a motion on the floor. Moved by Dylan, seconded by Rice to acknowledge. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Is there a motion to authorize, not authorize, or is there amended language that a council member would like to offer from the floor?

Move to authorize city staff to begin implementation of the recommended actions and to further extend the recreation center implementation team authorization through December 2028. as well as requesting a 90-day update no later than October 5th, 2025?

Or quarterly.

We want to do 2025 because we're... Oh, we're in 2026.

I would just start with a three-month update, and by that point we will have a more comprehensive schedule. And to require the implementation team to submit a formal report and update to City Council no later than October 5th, 2026.

That is much better working than what I just mumbled out.

Are you clear with that, Clerk Royal? Okay. Is there a second to that motion? Second. Seconded by Halsh. Is there any additional discussion? All right, then we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. Ms. Shea, thank you very much. And if I may be so bold, because Director Lambert is out for this week, could I burden you to maybe send a message to the group and see if we can get a subsequent meeting scheduled? It probably is too tight of a turnaround to do it next week, but I think we can probably aim for the week of the 27th. Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. Appreciate your leadership and time this evening. We're going to move on to new business item 26-123, GIS General Service Proposal. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt and to approve or not to approve the GIS proposal for FY27 in the amount of $100,000.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with rice for she started talking first to approve.

Okay. So moved by rice to acknowledge and to approve. Is there a 2nd, 2nd, and by her mount director McNeil? You take the lead on this?

Yeah, absolutely. So. Moving forward from the June 22nd presentation that we did, we provided to the council on different things that we utilize GIS for. This is to seek official approval of the proposal of $100,000 to have OHM continue the service for us. A couple of the key highlights that we're anticipating to work on this fiscal year would be a valve exercising app, a misdig app. We're going to be looking into providing an app where it overlays all the different assets on a given local street, and it provides an overall score for that street. That utilizes all the assets in that score. So that that'll help us determine particular streets that need the most work. So we can. Easily pick them out and get design engineering services done to provide that information to council and give scopes of. of how much it's going to cost to do that type of work. Additionally, this helps tremendously for field work. So a lot of these apps are going to be utilized in transition to the field work that we do. Some already are, some just need a little tweaks, or some need to be fully developed. With that, also, we do have representatives from OHM here. Paul McCord is with us today. If you'd like to come up, if you have any more questions, either I or Paul would be able to answer those. Paul, we welcome you to the podium.

And if there's anything you'd like to say before we open it up for questions from the dais, we would appreciate that.

Thank you. I don't know if there's a whole lot more I have to say. I hope that we can continue working. I think we've really done some great work within the last 5 years as Brandon and Tasha have mentioned, you know. Where we were 5 years ago now, we've built in so much efficiency into the work efforts that are happening across saline from hydrant winterization work, or knowing where roads need work or where. you know, ongoing inspections of manholes are taking place. Seeing all this visually, I think, offers so much efficiency. So I look forward to continuing to work.

Very good. Why don't you hang tight there at the podium in the event that there are questions that are best addressed by you. City Manager Swallow, anything you'd like to add?

Just add that in addition to obviously all the apps that Brandon had mentioned earlier, the director, excuse me. There's a now public facing on our website where the public can actually see some of the applications in real life that highlight some of our capital improvement plans for the next 5 to 6 years. So it really is becoming not only a tool for internal staff, but also something that the city residents can access and. Capital projects as well as our, our utility systems.

Very good questions from the days council member Dylan and then customer.

Thank you. The only question I had in the why I was moving to just acknowledge rather than approve at the same time was that 1 of the things that we spoke about at the as recent asset management meeting was having a better understanding of what percentage. of information is in GIS so that we can have an understanding of how we're budgeting our money and understanding that moving forward. So that would be, for me, one of the key elements that I would like to see is understanding, okay, for a $100,000 investment, it's gonna move the needle 1%. or 7% or and what is the focus of how much of each of the categories have been inserted into GIS so that we can have a better understanding of what that map actually looks like and where we're going to go with it because we're on the forever ever plan. We understand that there's going to always be more to input, but just understanding when that data is going to be ripe enough to really be a decision matrix for us.

So I think we're slowly heading that way I feel like most of the assets that we That we need information star art for is our storm in our sewer infrastructure Those are gonna take time right now. We're budgeting 250 apiece 250,000 apiece for storm 250 for sewer When it comes to CCTV and only I think a hundred thousand is that portion that we're doing so that's a unfortunately It's progress, but it's an insignificant amount when it comes to getting the totality of the CCTV footage that we actually need in order to get those ratings and put it into the actual GIS app so we can visually show that information. Based off of some small information I got, I would say that we're 10%. with collecting the CCTV footage that we need in order to truly show what those two key aspects look like in the infrastructure underground in order for us to consider what roads to do full reconstruction on. However, the other assets are, I feel like, are pretty much there. It's just getting the CCTV and the sewer footage caught up. So next year I'm looking to bring a proposal to the board in the budget to increase the funds at least for the sewer portion so we can get a little bit more CCTV footage done in the key areas and the inner city areas where the older roads are that we have more potholes that really need to be focused on so that we have a full picture of what we're looking at whether it's We only need to do one underground utility and line the other one with the full reconstruction or, you know, so the more information we can get gathering CCTV information, the better off we're going to be. And so really right now. Um, I think we're fine tuning the apps that we currently have. We're developing other ones that are going to continue to help navigating council and ourselves on proposing projects. So, right now, a lot of the good groundwork has been done by and perseverance and direction with the.

I appreciate that. I just want to make sure that as we move forward into budgets or happen to find a windfall of money, whether we can get grants or something else, just ensuring that we're putting adequate dollars towards it. Because it does seem like we put a lot. I mean, we write a lot of checks to OHM. But understanding that we're not really moving the needle and that we are going to really need to make a bigger investment in order to really make that traction that you're saying. So I think that's going to be really key elements in decision making when it's time for budgeting. Absolutely. So thank you.

Councilmember Halsh? Actually very similar to Councilmember Dillon's kind of request. I would love to see if possible any type of maybe semi-annual reporting or any insight that we can have, like an annual report that looks at, you know, This is how much money GIS has saved. This is the preventative maintenance. Basically, us having this system has, as Councilor Dillon put it, moved the needle. And so I'm not sure, as I was looking over the agreement and hearing more of our DPW director's explanation, I think that's an element that I would love to see, just because I love data. So, yeah, that's really all I had to add to it.

Very good. I'm going to go Gierbaugh and then Rice. Harmont, did you have your hand up as well? Okay, we'll just go right down. I'll work my way from right to left.

I guess for me, and we have invested this, and I know our advisors that have been on the asset management have been super supportive of gathering data and making sure we put it into a tool in which we can then utilize it for this. Can you maybe briefly explain exactly what you are doing? My assumption is that you're introducing the tool, developed it. Are you the ones gathering the data? Because I read that you're training our staff to gather data. Can you just kind of give us just from start to finish what you do? Sure, yeah.

The data collection, yes, we are training your staff to collect data. There have been other data collection campaigns thinking to, I believe, spring, summer 2023, where OHM had a team out there collecting information. So it has kind of varied. At this point, the goal is to have DPW staff do the collection. DBW staff has purchased a high-precision GPS unit that allows them to actually go out and do that data collection, but there is always ongoing training. We discover that, you know, there's turnover everywhere, so we need to get out there, do training of the staff so that they're collecting the best information possible. It's an expensive unit, so we would hate for it to not collect subcentimeter accuracy. So, from the data collection side, it is primarily the focus that Celine's staff would be doing that. Once that data is collected, then, as Brandon was saying, you know, it is kind of a host of what are the most helpful applications that can be built. And we have built a lot, but as you can imagine, There are things that come up constantly where it's like, oh, it'd be really nice to have a map for that. One being the valve exercising map that Brandon mentioned. We don't have a fine-tuned valve exercising map out there right now where the DPW staff can go out, turn a valve, know that that valve was turned, move to the next one, turn that valve, record some information. which is much more useful than marking it on a map, or like a PDF that, like, highlight it. It says, okay, I completed it. That might get lost. The data collection obviously is an important component, but then it is kind of ticking off that wish list of what will make Brandon's job the most doable and what can make him the most efficient. So there's that component. Then there are these public apps that Dan mentioned where we're helping to engage with the public by... The lead service line is a great example. That data was initially collected internally. Nobody saw it. We then turned it into almost a public service piece where the public can now see what was being done by the Saline staff. Yeah, I mean, that's a bit of a summary of where we are.

I kind of was helping for me is understanding it. We put a lot as we have. We've invested a lot. Do we have have we invested in all the aspects or areas that we should currently? I mean, we're sewer water streets. Um, I don't know if we've done next inventory for, like, trees or other as city assets. I know we went to 1 aspect with our wastewater treatment plan and a total another approach for a vertical assessment of those. Um, I guess what I'm kind of looking at is. From your perspective, have we brought everything in that we need to.

Well, I think there's more assets out there, trees being one, that we don't have a fine... We do have some information on trees, but we don't have a nice application that will allow for recording and documenting and inventorying that certain aspects like pruning were done. And okay, now that pruning's been done, maybe it gets to the end of its life and it needs to be stumped and then grinded. So we've developed that for some other communities. We have not developed that for saline. I can see that being useful. Inventory of signs has not been inventoried from the underground infrastructure perspective. We have developed a lot and I think. A lot of what's out there is very useful as Brandon has mentioned. A good amount needs to be fine-tuned. So while an app may exist, we want to make sure it's in a usable form, a user-friendly form for our DPW staff. So I guess from that perspective, we do have a lot developed for underground infrastructure, but there's more we could be doing in order to make it useful for, or the most useful for the DPW staff.

And if you were to say for us to invest, is it in gathering data? Because as we know, and as our former engineer spoke, only 10% of our sewer was covered. So as we look to balance where we're investing our money, do we have our tools in place now? And really the money needs to be invested in gathering the data for which those tools would then become beneficial.

Well, I guess from my understanding, the gathering of the data is being handled on a separate contract. So the CCTV, those elements, that's not being handled within this GIS general service contract. where GIS comes into that is once that information is collected we take the videos take the scoring all that data and put it into we're using SharePoint so we'll put it up on SharePoint and then work those defect scores into the data so that when Brandon or somebody else from DPW is wondering what is this pipe rated here on main or on What is this pipe rate? They can tap on it and see that, oh, it has a score of a four, and I can pull the video from SharePoint and see exactly what was televised and where the defects were. Without GIS working that data into the online environments, SharePoint, and into the ArcGIS online environment, the information gets a bit more scattered, but having it right there in a clickable format where anybody, staff member, can click on it and see what the defect was, I think that that's a lot of value added by GIS there. From the perspective of what's remaining, is it percentage-wise data or is it percentage-wise applications? From our perspective, if we are training Selene DPW staff to be out there collecting the information. We would be handling more of that app development and we would be training up DPW staff to go out there and collect that data. So it would be a bit more on app development, a bit less on the actual going out and GPSing assets.

Okay.

And then just lastly, as you said, we have turnover and that change and have to retrain and all that. Are we better off outsourcing for that activity than to be training in-house?

That's a great question. I think when it's nice to invest in, obviously, in your own people. I like us training up the DPW staff personally and having them go out there and collect that data because it is useful for Brandon to have a champion or a couple champions on his staff who know the GPS unit inside and out, can train up the staff, take them out there and record points. There's merits to both. We have a very capable staff that could go out there and collect that information as we did in spring and summer 2023. We got through a lot of assets during that period.

I think there's merits to both. I think it kind of depends on what asset it is. If we're looking at redoing the whole tree inventory, that's very time-consuming. That would probably make sense to contract out. Other assets would make more sense to do in-house, like our curb box locations for our shutoffs. Those are being done in-house currently with the intern, Rachel, that we have. So it's very, I think, case by case. And again, a lot of it, you know, a lot of the platforms are there. It's just us providing the extra data, you know, just to expand on the sewer video one on our overall utility overview map. Now we can click on the sewer, a stretch of sewer, click on it. Like you said, it does provide the NASCO score. But instead of now even without even searching all over SharePoint, For a particular video for a line segment, it's already attached to that segment. So we just scroll down. Here's the paperwork related to it. That has an overview of what we're going to see on the video already pre typed out for us. Then we can look at the video. So all that information is integrated. Not only do you use it on that overview map, but then they'll take that data for the NASCO score, and they're going to correlate that into the other GIS app, which goes into an overall score to grade that specific street. So one set of data points can help on multiple apps.

And we understand that. For me, I guess, to wrap my thing up, is to understand what projects we have left and to identify those specific areas and who should be doing them, our staff, someone outside, or if they're a combination of it. Because I think we all know that this is the part that we need to move forward because we have over $160 million of projects that need to be accomplished, and the major streets are not happening that need to be happening without the proper data. So whatever we can do to move this forward is in our approach.

The thing that I looked at with Dan and DPW staff just to expand on trying to get more CCTV footage done is bringing that in-house. We can save a substantial amount of money by doing that work in-house, the actual TVing of it, and either utilizing OHM for their sewer AI technology where it actually rates the pipe or bringing that AI software in-house and uploading the videos to it and conducting all that ourselves. and then have an OHM or a different firm do a quick overview of what SURI came up, spot check some things. That will save a significant amount of money and allow us to get more CCTV footage done yearly.

As long as we don't lose out on other opportunity adventures. That's my biggest concern is what are we doing in-house that could be done better by someone else and not necessarily fall farther behind in what we're doing. So, thank you. Council Member Rice.

I think this is one of those things that I think... former city engineer Humphress and others have said, but they've said it maybe a little too nicely. The elephant in the room is that we should have done this four years ago. We should have started this project, right? Like we should have been, for the day GIS was invented, entering things into a system. And instead we're playing catch up five years into the 2020s. So I think there is a great need for more investment in this. I think, you know, $100,000 is like, The bare minimum, right? To be honest, I would encourage this body to continue to push. Push to the state and federal level for money, especially storm water money, things like that really, really hammer down on trying to get money for that. So that we can invest in projects like this. to make things more efficient, to make, I mean, having data in a system like this helps our case for the need for those federal dollars and those state dollars. So the investments need to be made. I'm always fully in support. And I guess my question is always, where can we get more money to dump into this and to, like my colleagues were saying, outsource more of this so that DPW can really focus on the crux of the issues in the city and others can do the data collection, data input, and making the things easy to access.

I'm always all for this project.

I congratulate everyone, the previous DPW directors as well, in getting this, you know, moving forward as fast as possible. But I still shake my head at the fact that it's 2026 and we're only just this far. And that is... That is a testament to councils and directors of the past, by no means a testament to the city staff of the last five to seven years. I think everyone's done a great job. So I fully support that. I do have one question, though, because I don't see it anywhere in here, and I just want to say it for the public's benefit, but who is QAQC-ing this information? You say you have some AI, which means we need to have some QAQC.

So the sewer AI that Brandon's speaking about, that's separate from what we're doing. The QAQC of our apps, our data collection is all being handled by OHM staff. Everything that we build is getting QAQC'd, all data collection. Before it's pumped into the main data set, it gets QAQC'd. Once we have verified that the attributes are correct, that the spatial, that the the main data set. So OHM is QAQC.

We can remain confident when we take this data and we implement it into other projects, other engineering specs, things like that. The city is not responsible for any of that. You have already guaranteed that the data is good and the folks can use it.

Yes, that's what we're doing.

Yes. Perfect.

That's it.

Thanks. Thank you. Council Member Harmo.

I just want to kind of tag on to that, that, you know, you can't make data driven decisions without data. So really, you know, support this, these efforts. And I also want to kind of tag on to what Councilperson Halsh and Councilperson Dillon said. Said, as far as maybe having a little bit more reporting out on some of the cost benefit savings related to regulatory benefits and compliance wins and ways that we'd like. This this data has benefited us and saved us money. Like, I think we, as we get more and more down the road, I think we need to have a little bit more tie back to that benefit.

Absolutely sure. Yeah, just to speak briefly on that. I think 1 of the huge benefits of the data collection that we've had is the engineering modeling stuff that comes from it. So. All the data that we have when engineers need to use it to do modeling for different projects for our water asset management plan, sewer asset management plan. That's. Partially where we're gonna see the huge benefit in the return they're not going out there and collecting this data every single time We have to update something It's most of its already in the system And it's been collected at one point so most of it can be reused again Some key things you might have to go out and retest for like maybe water pressure districts You got to go out and do pressure testing, but we have the data now so you'll use it for projects down the road you want to keep Gathering that information, so it saves a lot of money and time for engineers and staff now that we have it.

Anything else customer? No. Okay. Any additional questions? Thank you very much. Appreciate your very thorough responses. We have a motion on the floor. It was moved by right? Seconded by actually, excuse me. It's a motion to acknowledge and to approve. So was there any subsequent debate or discussion on the motion? In addition to questions, I think we all see this as a very valuable investment. So I hope the vote is unanimous. It's been moved by rice, seconded by harm out to acknowledge and to approve all those in favor. Say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. I said the motion carries unanimously. Thank you all. We move on to new business item 26-124 local road resurfacing for FY2728 Northview and Colony Estates. This will be a motion to acknowledge or not to approve the award. Design Engineering Service for FY27-28, Local Road Resurfacing Design Engineering in the amount not to exceed $174,500. Move to acknowledge and to approve. Moved by Mayor Pro Tem Rice to acknowledge and approve. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Del Orco. Ms. Humphress. Are you taking the lead on this?

No. Oh, it said city engineer. No problem. She helped put it together for me, so I really appreciate that. So as you said, this is seeking approval for the design engineering services for Northview and Colony Estates. This work would include the complete full depth milling or partial milling in accordance of the transportation asset management plan that the council adopted. In addition, this also includes a tap grant, which was awarded to the city to pay for 22 cross week crosswalks to be redone with a new couple of new pedestrian signal improvements. An additional thing included in this proposal is that the ADA ramps encroaches on 25 corner lots, so a very small section of property that owned to the residents will have to be purchased in order for this work to be completed. So part of this proposal, OHM will be coordinating those efforts and helping us get those small pieces of property so we can do the ADA improvements. With me today is Marcus with OHM. He is going to be leading this project. Marcus, if you could come up and if they have any questions, you could help answer those. So that's kind of the scope of the work. And if you have any additional questions, so we'd be happy to answer them.

Marcus, anything you'd like to add? Okay. And Ms. Humphrey, sorry for putting you on the spot, but we do appreciate your work on this. If you're good, DPS director, then we'll open up for questions from the day. So there are questions for either our guests from OHM or the DPS director. Council Member Gierbaugh?

Could you just give us a little more explanation about the, these are temporary easements, not permanent easements?

That's correct. We don't expect any permanent takes to be necessary. However, the TAP grant program is federal funds. So along with that comes the federal highway process for compensating homeowners even for temporary grading permits. So basically you can picture you have a square corner. The sidewalk that's out there now sweeps around that corner in a curve and it clips the corner of that private property. So, in order to even remove the existing sidewalk that's there, you need a temporary grading permit. And again, the process for that is very well defined will be engaging with Commonwealth associates as a sub consultant who's an expert in this. The tap grants, but it's federal money was administered through and so they have experienced with several projects doing this exact thing. There's a very prescribed order when you can talk to people, how you talk to them, how you document those conversations just to make sure that there's no essentially. Do not take advantage of anyone and there's no back room deal type of thing. So it is a big amount of that. But in order to leverage the tap grant to actually do the, to put the corners in properly to meet the current ADA standards. We need to touch their property temporarily and that's the process required to do that. Okay.

That's what I was trying to understand.

Cause didn't read. I didn't remember that was a little bit different. It's possible. I guess we, as we go through that, we, the design, we could. Potentially find one that a permanent take might be desirable, but I don't expect that. Okay.

I just want to make sure that because we know they dedicated to us publicly when they built put this subdivision in almost 30 years ago. So I want to make sure that why were we trying to take land that was already dedicated to us? So, thank you additional questions.

I know this is very early as you're just doing the engineering scope of this, but have we reached out, and this is probably for the city manager or your DPW director, to the Northview Neighborhood Homeowners Association and started a conversation about the fact that next summer there will be, and even this summer potentially with the ADA ramps, there will be lots of construction through their neighborhood.

Absolutely. We started to put out that public information, obviously, with presentations like this. So the GIS on the website now that people can take a look at that. But I think a direct outreach to the Homar Association as we get closer is appropriate. And we can host a meeting here to answer any questions they may have. Actually, it's two HOAs. It would be Colony Estates and Northview.

Correct. Yeah, I forgot they're in there too. Yeah, I just think that'd be great because as these conversations start to happen with homeowners about easement rights, things like that, then the whole neighborhood starts talking. And it's just easier to have that initial conversation, just a super simple, this is the project over the next couple years, and then maybe follow-ups with more detailed engineering specs.

Once we have sequencing as well as the definite areas that we're going to impact, then that would be appropriate time to host that meeting.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Uh, additional questions comes from Dylan.

Thank you. Um. As we talk about sidewalks, the 1 thing I wanted to ask is, will there be sidewalk replacement happening during this project? Um, there was there was some miscommunication last year when the other projects were being done about which sidewalk squares are being done, why they were being done. Some were missed. So, I guess I just, I don't want to repeat of that. I think we, there were some great lessons learned from that. And I guess I just want to understand if we are going to be doing that. There were also some issues with grading of gutters and things like that. Like I said, there were some very. Good lessons learned from the other experiences. And so, um, and have we also, and I coordinated with the utility companies, because they put in a beautiful ramp last year and then came in 3 days later and tore it out. Um, and then they put in a new one, which was put in incorrectly. So they had to tear that out again. And it's, it's, it's quite an inconvenience for those that need the actual ramps. And it's very difficult when you're taking out all the ramps in the neighborhood at the same time and making sure that they're done and done correctly. And that there's a means for those people to traverse their neighborhood that need to with road projects.

to bid out that at the same time, just because we could get an economy scale with that contractor, but not necessarily guaranteed. We haven't made a final decision for this one to pursue that, but we are working on it right now and actually plan to come to you with kind of an updated sidewalk replacement program policy that for council to consider. This is an area we will be definitely looking at for next, This is 2728, so we've got a little bit of time to figure that out in terms of coordinating with utilities. Obviously, they're all notified of these types of projects, but they also have their own schedule for gas line replacements things like that that we can't always predict. So, but they will definitely be notified.

Thank you additional questions.

For the bridge on Monroe street, would you have to close down the whole street by the bridge? Or would it be again? We don't have a contiguous sidewalk.

So you're on to future agenda items. Yeah, we're on. Yeah, you just jumped ahead. It's no, no big deal. Hang tight with that question. We'll get it when you will entertain that when we get to agenda. I'm 26126. No, you're okay. It happens. Any additional questions pertaining to this agenda item is quick.

It says potentially that we may be some other streets that we could add to this. Do we have any idea what those streets maybe at this time?

Obviously, we take a look at the current PESA ratings and the Transformation Asset Management Plan, but obviously what we want to do is get a unit price so that if we have extra funding, we can immediately go with that contractor and not have to remobilize and rebid.

Yeah, I mean, there's a couple of stub streets that are completely, just completely failed that I think would be potentially for this if we're not having to do any kind of sewer work underneath them or whatever.

We've gotten some good pricing on, you know, obviously with Beach Court in particular, so it's a potential that we may have some additional funds for Additional street, you know, additional footage of streets. It'd be helpful to understand what that could be in the future too. So thank you. I would definitely prioritize that.

I think that's a great opportunity.

Can I throw in a question for the applicable agenda item? Could we send out a Q&A to the public to say what they could expect during these type of repairs and activities? Should we put something on the website concerning it?

There is some information already out there as to this coming up as a capital improvement project, but I think until we know a little bit more about the details of the project, it's probably a little premature.

When we have specific confirms, I think a direct outreach to the HOA or property owners in those respective subdivisions would be the most appropriate. Definitely. Is there any discussion on the motion? Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Uh, we have motion on the form move by right. 2nd, by a dealer to acknowledge and to approve all those in favor. Say aye. Aye. Say nay. I just have a motion carries unanimously moving on to agenda item 26 dash 125. Celine main street agreement. This is a motion to acknowledge receipt and to approve or not to approve this main street agreement for fiscal year 27 as submitted. Move by Dylan simply to acknowledge. Is there a 2nd, 2nd by gearbox. City Manager Swallow, would you like to begin? And then I did notice in the audience, we have the Executive Director of Sleen Main Street, Mary Dentling here. Mary, thank you for your attendance this evening. We'll probably call on you momentarily to provide some perspective as well.

Great. We are looking for a one-year renewal of our current arrangement with Sleen Main Street. So with that, we support at a level of $35,000. $30,000 goes towards the economic community development activities of Sleen Main Street, and then $5,000 for the Bee Blumen. Which is, of course, the flower baskets downtown. So this is an ongoing, ongoing partnership with the main street covering obviously the activities that they perform with working with individual small businesses with coordinating activities and events downtown. And I think overall, it's been a success with with a great partnership with the. Whistling mainstream and looking to continue that very good miss Mary.

Is there anything you'd like to add.

No, other than I think that, well, I guess 1 thing I would like to ask is that for after this fiscal year, I would like to put together another working group to make sure that we're continuing to meet the needs of the downtown.

Very good. I think that's a wise idea. Maybe do that. Maybe initiate something after the 1st, the calendar year as things change.

It's been a few years.

So just revisit questions for either the city manager or main street director. I'll start with Mary.

Yeah, so I thought the request for an additional 500 dollars this year for our 250th anniversary was 1 of those perfect examples of. This is our baseline, but please come to us if there's something else, a special project or something that you need. So, I'm really glad that the city manager can approve that to you. So I hope that built your confidence in the fact that we will, you know. Help with additional things if needed, but I just want the community to know that, you know, again, we, we support Celine main street and this is just for that, that economic downtown work that you're doing. And then for special stuff, you know, if the city has funds available, you know, my perspective is, you know, as a council member, always more than willing to provide a little extra something, something towards fun stuff. Thank you for that. It was a very successful evening. Good.

And then did you have your hand up?

Go ahead. So, 1 of the things is, I was looking at, like, particularly the outcomes report and it may be I see that it was from 2023, but it says, you know, main street will provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses within the entire city jurisdiction. And so. I guess what I would have a question of is how... We just did the agreement with Ann Arbor Spark. We just renewed that. And that's supposed to be economic development. Sometimes I feel like economic development in this city is like this thing, and there's one group that wants to pull it this way or is pulling it this way, and then there's another group pulling in the opposite direction, and then it just kind of sits. And so... It like understanding that relationship of of what in our spark and is in our spark providing support to the work that you're doing on main street or is are those just 2 separate relationships?

So for, I guess for how I would describe it is ultimately yes, two separate relationships. So in 2023, we had access to training that was free through the state of Michigan, through MEDC, and through other grant programs actually that some of their main streets had received, especially through Google and whatnot. And that was something that we wanted to bring to the entire city, so to businesses throughout the city. And we did so. We opened that up for that year. Now we tend to focus more on the downtown specifically and supporting that and trying to bring in traffic to the downtown. 1 of the, we don't have the same opportunities currently to provide the training and the technical assistance throughout the city. But when we do have that, when it does arise, we have no problem in sharing that with the entire city and businesses throughout.

If you look on the Saline Main Street website, they have a lot of resources for small businesses. They have a connection, obviously, with the larger Michigan Main Street organization to provide your resources to small businesses. I know I've been present at some of your meetings where it's not necessarily downtown businesses that attend. I know you also coordinate the business property. The owners associate our group, and so some of those are not necessarily in the media downtown as well.

So there are a lot of resources that are shared city wide, but I would, I would add to that council member Hall raises a legitimate concern and that was the primary Genesis for. more than 10 years ago, starting what was then the recruitment and retention team, which has now been transitioned into Saline Connected, to get all of those folks who do work in the economic development field together once a month to coordinate and to assist one another and not work in opposition to the other entities. And again, that includes representatives from the city, staff, elected officials, Mary or her designee from Saline Main Street, representatives from the chamber, and then representatives from Saline Area Schools, along with special guests on occasion.

Correct. And I would also like to say that we do have somewhat of a relationship with Ann Arbor Spark. They have come to our business and property owner meetings to help train on some products that they have available. So I would love to cultivate more of that and see where we can kind of mesh efforts, if that makes sense. Yeah.

I think alignment in that space is pretty needed, because I bet if you asked all of us on the day it's here, what does like for you, we're going to get different answers. And the other part of that, and I think I just have to say that Workforce development is a portion of economic development that I think we have an opportunity to do a lot better with. There are far more citizens in this city who could be up skilled, who could gain new skills than there are going to be businesses that want to move to Celine. And so I think that. we are missing an opportunity there, I believe, to start creating a talented workforce within our city. When I think about economic development, I also think about economic viability for the citizens. And so I hope that as that relationship is built and there's alignment, that we do start to look at ways

in which our workforce within the city can be developed as well i would love to talk to you more further about that talent um acquisition and improvement has not been one of our like strategic plan points yet but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be so yeah thank you mary

Additional questions. Council member Dillon.

Thank you.

I'm sorry. I offered it to Harmon first. My apologies. Get you next.

I think that my comment on this agenda item is going to be similar to my comment on agenda item 127. IS THAT I THINK I LOVE WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND I LOVE THE ENERGY THAT IT'S BEEN BRINGING AND ALL THE DIFFERENT PROJECTS THAT WE'VE HAD THAT WE'VE ENDOVERED. I THINK THERE'S STILL SOME OPPORTUNITY TO TYING IN METRICS FOR PERFORMANCE AND SAYING, OKAY, THIS IS WHAT WE'RE GOING INTO. THIS IS OUR OBJECTIVE. AND THEN REFLECTING AT THE END OF THE SEASON, DID WE MEET OUR OBJECTIVES? DO WE LIKE TYING IN THE DOLLARS TO THE OUTCOME AND THE BENEFITS? YES.

Just I know I've attended the board meeting. So firstly, Main Street, where they do go through their annual objectives, their annual work plan. And then there is obviously reflection on kind of how we did on that item and where we need to improve. So the board definitely works on that. And I know you can share that via the end report and things of that nature.

Yes, absolutely. But there is always room to improve on that and finding metrics. I have a lot of data. It just needs to be kind of brought together. So, yeah.

The previous community manager, I just want to follow up on this one. The previous community manager used to provide that data to us like weekly, like what they were meeting about and all the attachments. I think he just forwarded your email just so we could see what was going on. Like the agenda?

Yeah, the agenda and all your attachments and stuff. Yeah, like just even for the events and stuff that we're putting on, like this is what our objective was. We were going to bring in X, you know, what's a measurable number of people. Number of revenue, you know, whatever it is. And then did we meet that? And then if it didn't meet that, then what do we need to do next time in order to meet that? Or was that the right objective to set? So I kind of want to see that setting the goals and then reflecting to see if we see. Meet the goals and having that reported out to city council.

I'm assuming you have no objection. If that information is forwarded via the same managers weekly communicate, we'll make that happen. My apologies. Council member.

Thank you. Thank you for the conversation that we've had from council members right now. I had asked that we move this to a discussion item versus just consent just to have a better understanding of it. The attachments were a little. Wanky to me, um, because the.

They're missing the exhibits.

That's what I wanted the exhibit, um, the, the outcome report. I remember when we, we had a big meeting, we talked it through this and then mainstream kind of developed it. And as Mr Hall mentioned, it dates back to 2023. what I'd love to see is sort of. Where where have you where have you progressed on it? Where have things fallen off and kind of understand that? And I really would love to understand. And I think this goes back to what Miss had mentioned of where you see the value. In the dollars, and what is, you know, should there be different programming? Is there something more? Do you need more money? And not that I'm offering, but do you need more money to do X, Y, Z or is there some other way in which something could be done? Um, so I think if there's an opportunity to revisit that outcomes reports and update it, I think that would be very beneficial. Um, the other thing too, is the contract excuse me? The budget that's provided doesn't actually check the box of what the contract requires. It actually requires some very specific things in it. So I think that at some point we really need to look at.

Where the 30,000, the be blooming dollars are, it's very, it's very self, I think that we had that a couple of years ago and then we didn't have it last year because the, we pretty much repurposed last year's. Exhibits to move to move forward with this this year, because we're not making any changes in our ask this year, but I 100% agree with you that 1 of the things that I haven't done this year, and I know that this has been kind of just a year in transition, so to speak, but I haven't come forth and given you some of the data that we've got that we've collected and the objectives that we've. Achieved so far, and usually we do that a couple of times a year. So I would, I would love to be able to do that again later this year.

Perhaps we'd love to host you again. So I appreciate that. And then we all know that you're doing great things there. And I would be remiss if I didn't say that you did acquire another funding source this year through Oracle. And how does that financial, where is that piece going? Does it sort of piggyback onto the cities thing? Is it a different use?

We've received two funding sources from Oracle. One is as a sponsor of Salty Summer Sounds. That is a nominal amount. We did receive, however, and I've been talking about this, but I haven't publicly announced it yet because we're still working on the foundation of it. and the infrastructure of it. But we received $50,000 from Oracle in order to create a revolving loan fund for the downtown businesses in case of emergency or in case of necessary upgrades. And we are working on creating, like I said, the infrastructure for that, the guidelines for that, and the policies behind that right now before we fully release it to our businesses. But hopefully that should be soon. So we've had... We have both Shelly Rankin and Tom Mikula on the committee, so they are both bankers. We have, obviously, Jill Dernan, who is our board president, and Jenny Preston, who is our board treasurer, and she's also a CPA. So I've reached out to, and also Chris. He's also representing the city on that as well, so that we can try to create something that could help with building build outs for new businesses. Or if 1 of our businesses had an immediate need of a dishwasher to be replaced, and as long as they meet certain requirements that are less stringent than a normal loan might be. through a bank, but still, you know, still within reason and common sense that we might be able to help them a little bit quicker and with less red tape than the banks might. So I look forward to telling you more about that soon. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

That's a great initiative. My only complaint is we've talked about in the past is long term. I'd like to see more than 50,000 in that account. I think a larger dollar amount in excess of or in the six figures would make more of an impact, but you got to start somewhere. So I think it's a positive development. Thank you for sharing that. Are there any additional questions? Council Member Gearbaugh?

Uh, just a couple, um, this is for the city manager. Uh, we, we, will we be receiving the exhibits there?

They're blank pages on the agenda was included as attachment as well as the outcomes was kind of the, uh, identify the key, um, recommendation key activities that they would be working on. So we can convert that into exhibit.

So I just wanted to make sure because that didn't appear on that. And then the other thing is a 1Million dollars still sufficient for liability coverage.

absolutely hasn't been changed in many years that's why i'm wondering and just didn't know if we assess that from a perspective of our own insurance requirements we're not directly involved in the other than you know represent working with the board on you know various events things like that and you know for for some things then there is additional insurance required for certain events as well if there's a risk for you know an outsized risk but again this is just our relationship with slink main street so i think million dollars is sufficient for

And then do we still continue to track the in kind services that we provide in association with the activities that occur uptown?

We do track kind of the cost for support with that. The does provide an estimate for that. So so, yes, it's a short answer.

And banners and anything else that's requested of our as part of it, just that we were starting to get a very large dollar amount and concerns were a lot of the work that was being done took away from what was doing. I just want to make sure that we continue to follow that. Um. And then lastly, one thing I would like to see Main Street, and as we talk about this, one of the ideas of downtown is having it to grow. And so as we look to expand the downtown and actually redevelop it from perspectives which initiatives we started maybe two years ago, and whoever will take these going forward, is to look at expanding Main Street to go further down all the way to Mills, potentially, as you know, Town to Bennett and hopefully at some point, maybe all the way to Maple as we incorporate all that. I would look forward to the budget, to the board and your group becoming part of that and really help pushing it because I think the success of downtown is based upon its expansion and its density being increased. And at this point, until that starts to really be championed by another group besides the city, we are not going to be successful in the future, and we need it to happen. So however you all can help us to achieve that, I would really greatly appreciate that.

Absolutely. I know that, I think I've said it before, but I'm interested in seeing what happens, especially with the Davenport Curtis Mansion, as it goes into the future, because that should eventually the Main Street program, I think, eventually. That's my opinion, not necessarily my board opinion, but I think that I could be persuasive for them.

And as we look at McKay Street and some of those other areas where that is prime for redevelopment, I know there's historical aspects there, but there's some areas that definitely need to be growing that way. And without a champion to help us push for that, especially with our planning and everything, we need that leadership from you all. So looking forward to it.

And that too, when working with director Atkins on the redevelopment communities aspect and so there's some funding through the state to do some kind of what I'll call scenario planning, if you will, or, you know, redevelopment work. So that take a look deep look at a certain parcels property that have redeveloped potential and get some engineering work and some preliminary development. So I think that's another area we need to pursue.

Excellent. Per that email I forwarded to you from Nahid Haque from SEMCOG, I think we've got until like September, October to submit those documents to qualify for some additional funding.

I think that was the housing readiness initiative.

Excuse me. Okay. Conflating two different things. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We're going to proceed to vote, but the motion is simply to acknowledge receipt. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have the motion carried unanimously. Is there a motion now to approve or not to approve? Move to approve. Move bike you're about to approve is there a second seconded by harm out. Is there any additional discussion?

Thank you again Mary appreciate your leadership and time tonight I know we just mentioned having the economic director Position in our budget. Is that something that we foresee? I guess do we foresee the creation of that position? overlapping within the length of this agreement? And if so, will hiring that person change anything about this agreement? I don't think so. Anyone take that?

To your point, I think there's plenty of work We've done in this field, and so I don't see, you know, I see that a collaborative position in my previous communities where there wasn't economic development director staff at the city. They worked very closely with DDA or in this case, obviously main street and it was really more of a collaboration. And so there's plenty of work to go around and I wouldn't. I wouldn't see it causing any issue with this particular agreement.

Awesome. Thank you. I think the creation of that position, while more broader and focused than just Saline Main Street, can only serve to assist and elevate the activities, operations, and programs of Saline Main Street in the years ahead. So I think it will be... Very beneficial. Motion on the floor by Gearbaugh, seconded by Harmont to approve. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. Moving on to new business item 26-126, Selene Bridge, Bridges, excuse me, Monroe and Woodland West, MDOT Local Bridge Program, Spicer Design Engineering. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt. To approve or not to approve the Selene Bridge, Monroe and Woodland West, MDOT Local Bridge Program, Spicer Design Engineering in an amount not to exceed $43,000.

Move to acknowledge and approve.

Moved by Gearbot to acknowledge and approve. Is there a second? Seconded by Del Arco. City Manager Swallow, are you taking the lead on this, or do you want me to defer to...

I'm going to turn it over to Director McNeil, but this is some good news. The city has received...

I know, I'm going way back.

...MDOT funding for local bridge programs, so a lot of this... Design work, but ultimately the, the construction work will be grant funded through the state of Michigan. So that's the positive. But we need to obviously start with the design and evaluation of the bridges. So, 2 bridges identified in this particular proposal and. Turn it over to director if he has anything more detail relative to the specific proposal specifically director McNeil.

I won't confuse you with former directors, Charles, etc. Yeah, the floor is yours. If you want to expand on the comments of the city manager.

Yeah, as he said, C applied for funding through MDOT, through the local bridge program. 95% of it will be covered for the maintenance aspect of it. To get a little bit more detail about the maintenance aspect, there's a membrane that sits on top of the concrete structure of the bridge. of the bridge, oh boy, of the bridge. So they gotta remove the asphalt, the top layer, get down to that membrane, they gotta replace the membrane, and then they're gonna rebuild the road structure back up and replace the asphalt. So that's a quick synapse of what kind of work will be done on those bridges. It's gonna go a long way to prevent water and salt reaching down to the concrete deck and rusting out any of the reinforcement steel or getting into the concrete and creating an issue with the concrete deck. So that's why it's important to do the preventative maintenance. And again, it's kind of a no-brainer job that we need to take care of, especially when it's 95% funded, so we don't have to worry about it for a long future. And so that is kind of the breakdown.

Of what the the spice will be doing the design engineering to make sure that we get that done appropriately very good Councilman Harmon, I believe you had a question pertaining to this agenda item I would like to understand how we're going to be diverting traffic and and how it's going to impact people that live in the connecting communities like hunting for Monroe Street and how are we going to direct the traffic and communicate the changes?

Generally speaking, they'll be able to keep one lane open, so it'll be flagman on either end, you know, allowing traffic through. But obviously there may be periods of time where that needs to be altered. So any other thoughts on how they...

I mean, part of the plan will be figuring out exactly how we need to administer the road traffic. So that will be talked about during, you know, once we get closer to the actual construction phase. But as Dan said, all effort will be made in order to keep a lane open. If not, there will be detours or adequate flagging to advise the local community on how to detour around.

We should get in front of it with the communication to not just the folks in the impacted surrounding subdivisions or whatever, but also the community in general so that they have to travel that path. They can accommodate for their time accordingly. Absolutely.

I don't want to skip over the fact that the city applied for and received $436,000 in funding from MDOT for this. So I just want to thank previous city engineer Humphress and whomever else worked on that application because that's the kind of stuff when we receive outside funding, that's the kind of stuff that frees up funding for the other things that the community has been asking for. So just can't thank you all enough for working hard to get that money.

Uh, council member Dylan, thank you.

Um. Mr Neil, just a quick question for you as we receive this, this letter is dated November 3rd of 2025 and it had said that we had program applications. Have those been submitted already? Program applications, it says that we need to please complete program application for bridge projects and submit with the preliminary plans. I'm just concerned that this later letters dated 7, 8 months ago. Has this been done? And are we still hopefully we do not forego.

At this point, the work is complete.

Okay. Thank you. Additional questions, the only other question I have is, can you remind me do we and you may not know the answer? I'm not sure somebody up here must do we have other bridges and what other bridges do we have? And what are their conditions?

Well, for example, Woodland, we're going to replace the color. Well, that yes, that's a big 1 water works.

And then there's 1 in Arbor, North and Arbor, the giant color. I don't know if that's considered a bridge or not.

Similar in the vicinity of Steiner court and woodland. Yeah. Yep.

And so do we do inspections and it was determined that these were gross of the top is that required by him not to do inspections of our local bridges.

And so obviously, as identified needs went after funding for this does have local bridge funding. So. the top priority bridges.

Yeah, we have three bridges that are due for inspection this year that will be performed by Spicer sometime in September.

Thank you very much.

Any additional questions or discussion on the motion? Go ahead. Is this a, like, renewable funding source or is this just a one-time?

The state continues to fund it, but you have to apply each time. It's statewide, so it is a very competitive program. So, yes, to possibly... able to obtain this money.

Awesome. If there's nothing further, there's a motion on the floor moved by Gearbaugh, seconded by DeLauroco to acknowledge and to approve. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Again, the motion carries unanimously. Moving on to new business item 26-127, farmer's market manager contract. This will be a motion to acknowledge receipt, to approve or not to approve the contract for farmer's market manager to Daisy Lupa, and to authorize the city manager to execute the contract.

Move to acknowledge and to approve.

Move by Gearbot to acknowledge and approve. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Rice. City Manager Swallow.

Thank you Mayor and Council. As I think some of you are aware, our longer term manager, Dana Queen, has decided to not extend her contract. She has other things she wants to pursue career-wise. So with that, we started to look for a new replacement for the farmer's market manager. We advertised that on the city website as well as social media. And we had six applications. One of the applications rose to the top, Ms. Lupa. She is basically... She has a lot of experience with local food networks, as well as in her high school years participated in Future Farmers America. She's also involved in Farmers Market Association and other entities. So she brings a lot of experience with that. Believe it or not, she also has a degree in political science, as well as pursuing her master's in global environmental policy. So she has a real passion for this area of work. So in negotiations with her, we worked out we'd like to pursue A 75 week contract, or about basically 18 months a little bit longer than we typically have done 1 year. But 1 of the comments from his Queen was that it's obviously easier transition market in the winter versus in the summer. So, if we can extend that, that may make a fair amount of sense. So, with that, this is basically an hourly contract. So each. Each week or each month, Ms. Lupo would submit her hours for that period of time, and the city would pay her based on a $25 an hour rate. There's also some additional funding for supplies, miscellaneous supplies that she may need to operate the market, some marketing materials, things of that nature. So with that, we're proposing a total contract of $46,000. Of that, the amount for wages would be $37,500 with the balance of being available for market materials and other things that the market may need. So, take any questions that you may have.

Very good. Well, I want to congratulate and thank Ms. Queen for her many years of service. I can't remember if the farmers market was conceived under the leadership of then mayor driscoll and others in 2001 or 2002 but it's either in its 25th or 24th year and assuming the motion passes this evening miss lupa will be our fifth manager so we've been blessed with some very gifted talented and committed managers over the years and hopefully she'll be able to take it to the next level and i fully support the recommendation we'll be voting in the affirmative in just a moment are there questions for the city manager regarding the process or this particular application counselor dylan

Thank you. I had asked a question earlier and just to clarify and put it out for the public. There's a statement in the contract that talks about a contracted assistant manager. Does the manager hire somebody to assist?

And is that like a temporary position or what has happened in the past is they basically have a subcontractor if you will. So an individual that they may need to, they can't make it certain Saturdays, things of that nature that they are allowed to basically obtain their own assistant manager if needed.

Okay, and they do, do they, because they're handling cash from the city, are they going through the same city process? So they would have to be pre approved by the city.

There's not a specific procedure for that in the contract, but certainly we can talk to about how that would function. So, okay.

And as a contractor is the just understanding, because they're handling. Sizable petty cash every week and they're moving cash from one location to another and such just so understanding that they've met all the benchmarks. They've had the same background checks as others have that participate within the city.

And there's obviously key tracking for this are required to provide regular reports. And we actually check that against the amount of vendors as well as the other expenses. So reporting is key as part of the as part of the contract. I would suggest yes, if they're in the cash, we would do a background check on the system manager as well.

Okay. Thank you for that. Um, and then my only other question was that, um. In the past, we did actually get report out from the markets and, um. I think we actually had asked for those because there was a sizable jump in the cost a few years back and it was like, trying to sort of find that. Whether or not, this was something that we were going to continue doing and keep funding in the same manner. And I think that's when they were able to find some alternative funding sources to offset some of the city ones. But I would like to go back. Like, we had just said with silly mainstream. I'd like to go back to them providing some sort of reporting to understand. I know that they do. Client counts, they do vendor accounts, things like that and sort of understanding if they're getting feedback, whether positive or negative, just so that we know. You know, if there's areas in which we need to improve on, or what what the feel is for the market.

So, absolutely as noted in the job description, or the list of services, if you will, that is included as exhibit a, they are required to track that information in terms of vendors as well as, as you mentioned clients. So there's no, we can't provide.

Thank you. Any additional questions. Councilman Rice, Mayor for Tim Rice.

I just want to also say that Ms. Queen has done an amazing job over the last few years. I think the excitement downtown on Saturday mornings has been great. And I think we are just so lucky that we got an applicant with such fine background and experience and wanting to do a position like this to benefit the community. I think it's really cool. So I think it's a testament to who we are as Saline. So appreciate all the work they're all doing.

Very good. Any additional discussion? Motion on the floor, moved by Gearbaugh, seconded by Rice, to acknowledge and to approve. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, say nay. Aye, seven. The motion carries unanimously. New business item 26-129, fiscal year 2027, blanket purchase order for DuBose Chemical. This will be a motion to acknowledge and to approve or not to approve the FY27 blanket purchase order for DuBose Chemicals.

Move to acknowledge.

Moved by Dillon, simply to acknowledge. Is there a second? Seconded by Del Arco in the absence of the wastewater treatment superintendent, city manager swallow.

Are you taking the lead on this? Thank you. Mayor counsel obviously the wastewater treatment plan as well as the plan has a number of suppliers that are required for chemicals and other. by those plants. So Dubois Chemical is one of our largest suppliers for our wastewater treatment plant in particular. They provide a lot of the chemicals called Delpac chemicals that are required for treatment of our wastewater. So basically to help take out solids and contaminants in the wastewater stream. This is, again, one of the major expenses. It's what they call flocculant. and other potential items in the wastewater stream and help settle those out. So this is a blanket purchase order request because often we do go to the $25,000 limit that I have authority to approve. So requesting approval from council on that. Just to give you an idea, I know I emailed out earlier some of the annual spending with Dubois Chemical is about $400,000 roughly annual is what we spend with them.

Very good questions customer Dylan.

Thank you again. I had asked that this be pulled just to have a conversation regarding it because I wasn't comfortable with the phrase blanket purchase order. I think it should have a not to exceed amount to it. And so either I know you had given us that you thought about 400. what is in the budget?

So. Not only includes the law, but there's other supplies that are for the waste of our treatment plan. So I don't know that.

Okay. So it doesn't have its own line item then. Okay. I would be based on the information you gave us. I would like to put in and not to exceed amount of 400,000.

If you want to offer that when we entertain the subsequent motion, that would be acceptable. Additional questions? Mayor Patem Rice.

Are any of our new procedures at the wastewater treatment plant going to potentially lower some of these costs? Or is this, you know, I'm trying to figure out what the procedures are here, but I don't need to get into the weeds on that. Any chance we can lower these costs when we get everything up and running?

Potentially at the new basically aeration for the, for the activated sludge, if you will does have more benefit in terms of treatment. So it is possible that some of those. Some of those phosphorus particular may be able to be removed prior to prior to reaching the stage where the. Thanks additional questions. Mr.

Can you just clarify that $400,000, is that number sufficient or that the council member Dylan's proposing?

I believe so, based on our previous expenditures this last fiscal year.

Okay. There's no additional questions or discussion. Let's proceed to vote. We have a motion on the floor simply to acknowledge receipt. That was moved by Dylan, second by Dillard. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. I say I have a motion to carry unanimously. Is there a motion to approve or not to approve or is there amended language that an individual would like to offer?

I'll move to approve with amended language. Okay, please proceed, including, uh, as written and then including in an amount not to exceed 400,000. Okay.

Well, you're clear on that. Okay. Is there a 2nd to that motion? 2nd, by gearbox? Is there any additional discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Aye. The motion carries unanimously. Moving on to the last enumerated action item 26-131, Davenport Curtis Working Group Subcommittees. This will be a motion to acknowledge the scene to establish and approve the creation of eight subcommittees requested by the Davenport Curtis House Working Group.

Move to acknowledge.

Moved and by Dillon simply to acknowledge. Is there a second? Seconded by Gearbaugh. Councilmember Gearbaugh, and I would defer to Councilmember DeLarco as the official council liaisons to this body. Do you want to provide some comment on this proposal and the fact that some subsequent action will need to be considered by council probably in the next 30 to 60 days?

Sure, um, these 8 subcommittees, I think I say, um, were determined by our members working committee. There were approximately 12 to 13 that were initially identified, which we all agreed was too many. Basically, we're attempting to try and focus on some of the areas that we believe oversight needed in subgroups could be able to work upon. The intent is that 1 of the members of the of the working group will be the chair. And then hopefully either additional members of the committee, or what we're hoping is that members of the public will be able to apply and serve on these different committees. A lot of them are focusing on policy and procedure finance preservation. The goal of the 1 group is to look at the property in its entirety to do the preservation set up its zoning use. Looking at those aspects and the other ones are just advancement and administration and so forth. Although we know there's a bigger project to move forward in terms of the overall use and planning of it. It was felt that these subcommittees would be able to address some of the needs in terms of things that will. hopefully be part of the activation of the mansion and its grounds over the next couple of years and then we may be reevaluating these as we move forward in terms of whether compiling them or creating other ones but we felt that these were probably the most utilized ones that would be basically needed at this point in time especially if we're looking at creating a 501c3 and some of the other things in order to make those things move move quickly we need to sign to people that want to do those those particular activities

Very good. Councilor DeLarco, anything you'd like to add as a second council liaison to the Davenport Curtis House Working Group?

I would only add that one of the meet another impetus for establishing these subcommittees as discussed at our last working group was to mobilize a campaign to recruit some volunteers to serve on these subcommittees as the members of the group that we currently have are currently very taxed with all their responsibilities and all the things that we're participating in now to establish The future direction for that worker is mentioned, and we're going to need more members of the community to participate in this process. And this will enable us to recruit those members of the members of the community to serve on these subcommittees. It was also important as council member mentioned that we wanted very much for the core members of the working group to serve as the chairs of these subcommittees. some point we're also going to need to figure out how to establish professional services in areas where we lack the expertise to move certain things for real estate deed restrictions so on so forth so in order for us to Uh, meet the timelines and the tight restrictions that we're faced with with a 3 year. Um, and date we, we need to bring in more people.

Very good, uh, questions from the days, uh, customer Dylan and then I'm here for Tim rice.

Thank you. Um, so. I, I understand what they're doing here. I want to make sure that we're also not losing sight of. The big issues here, which is making sure that the 501 is set up so that the use of another 501 from another entity is a very short term. Use and not turn into a solution because it's not the right 1. the other thing that I feel like we have not talked about, and I'm hoping it's going to circle around soon is a big part of the purchase of this was the historic preservation of this property. And I want to make sure that that is still in the forefront of what's being done. For it, um, understanding our historic districts being set up. What is that going to look like? And so I want to make sure that these are the big things, because all I hear right now in the public side of things is party planning events. And I want to understand. That the purpose of the property is what we're using it for and what we, what we want to use it for in the future and understand that I do want to also ensure that before we set up more subcommittees that the city has firmly established what the guidelines are for those committees for committees and subcommittees, whether there will be notes taken, whether those people. What the process will look like of of putting people on removing people from committees and ensuring that there is always a current work group member, a part of the subcommittee. I think that's that's going to be a key aspect of it. And the other thing before we start bringing more people into the fold, I'd like to ensure that that property has been fully secured and everything cataloged. To make sure that we are not having more people going into that property and not understanding, you know, whether things are happening, whether things disappear, whether things break, whatever the case may be and just understanding that.

And we can make sure that most of those points are addressed as you'll recall the committee specifically the chair is required to give a mid year update on the progress of the working group, which will occur, I believe, at the 1st meeting in August. So it's coming coming up in less than a month. Mr did you want to provide any additional comments to those?

Yeah, that is our main point. I mean, we will be in September being re, engaging our facilitator to help work with the community in terms of activating the property or what we will do with in the future. That's the reason why we created these specific groups. Namely, preservation, protection and land use are designed. That's the committee is to look in work with the historical district commission, which is already, I guess, through our staff liaison with that. is looking at helping to create a study group to address the historic district aspect of it. We're reassigning these because we need to have people responsible for these things. We know that aspects are already kind of slipping through the cracks, so we're looking at these individuals to manage things such as facility and grounds, specifically. The other piece of it, as you mentioned, historical resource and collections. We've worked with Eastern Michigan to catalog as much as we can, but the same thing that I have as a concern is that We need to make sure all those things are properly managed and collected and track so that things don't disappear or things by chance are lost. So we are working on that. So this is the reason why we're creating these groups to make sure that we accomplish those specific issues and have people assigned to it. I believe that we will basically. move the level of our bylaws down to these subcommittees requiring the specific approach that is required of them to be addressed by these specific subcommittees so that that concern will be addressed. But if there's other concerns or issues that you feel that would be needed to be addressed, I'd appreciate that kind of input to both myself or to Rebecca Schneider as the chair of the committee. Or workforce. Work group. We keep doing it. Working group. Sorry, we have three different descriptions.

And I would add, too, that, yes, all the subcommittees will be chaired by a working group member, and at least two, I think sometimes three other subcommittee members will be present, and I don't think there would be any objection or concern about having them take copious notes to document the progress and work that they're pursuing. Mayor Portem, Rice, and then Councilmember Harmon.

I think these topics are spot on and I think dividing things and having someone who's already on the working group lead these things. Where I hesitate is volunteer fatigue and adding more people to this and taking people's energy away from other projects across the city, Saline Main Street, parks, things like that. I understand the need of wanting some expertise on these committees, but I would just encourage folks to find maybe one or two people, not entire subcommittees, simply because, again, Volunteer fatigue focused on 1 aspect of the city, I think is going to harm eventually harm other aspects of the city. So just think about as and I think council member Dylan as being a lifelong volunteer can attest to this. Like, the more you volunteer, the more you want to volunteer, but then you get real tired. So I don't want people to, like, lose energy in the work that they're doing here for the community.

Fair enough points. We'll take it.

I one of the discussion items that was brought up about the security of the items and the property and I just I was thinking do we does everybody on the committee and subcommittees have access to the inside of the house at any time or is it limited to specific individuals and I'm hoping that we have ring cameras set up around the house and We've secured it so that we don't. And I also agree with the idea of making sure that everything's been secured and accounted for before.

The house is secure. It has an alarm system. It has protection from fire and theft. It has cameras placed on both. All the buildings are preserved and being monitored. So anybody gets into that place, they're going to.

We're going to tell me access is limited to very much. So just a few individuals who individuals that have access to have just a few individuals have kept keys in the code to get into the home. All right. Thanks. Let me jump to council member and then I'll get you. I'll yield the floor to you. Council member dollar on the event that you have some comments to share before we vote on the motion. You're on your seat.

I guess my question is, it's kind of similar to some of the discussions that we think about with the rec center in particular on, you know, what is, what does it look like closing it? I remember when we initially approved the purchase of the house, one of the things that we talked about is getting to that three-year point of, and if necessary, having an off-ramp. And so as I'm looking at this, to me, it seems that we've kind of closed that exit ramp. And so with that being in mind, will there be more, I guess, details released as to More details released as to kind of why we see a path of viability and then kind of wondering what happens if we don't meet those benchmarks and we do have to divest because, you know, we get to year three and we realize that this isn't going to be something financially sustainable.

Yeah, I mean, Mr Del Arco or excuse me council member Del Arco or council member gear bar welcome to chime in here. I don't think that the working group has has eliminated that as an option. I think that we're keenly aware that we might not be able to make this work and put it on a sustainable trajectory in the. final recommendation may be to sell the property with certain restrictions. I hope that's not the case, and I feel pretty optimistic and confident that we will be able to activate it. I do want to preface this evening and in the ensuing weeks and months that we are in the very earliest stages of this process. And so while a lot of great work has been done by some really dedicated volunteers, we're just at this juncture scratching the surface. So to your point, absolutely, there will be a lot more of information shared in the ensuing months and years. And I would actually look for quite a bit of substance by the time this group reports out via their annual report, which will be required in the first quarter of 2027. Mr. Gearbaugh, Mr. Dillard, anything you'd like to add?

I'd just like to say we just got on the entrance ramp. We're barely even halfway down it. I meant even halfway down it. We have 3 years to make a decision as I would like to say you compared to the rec center. We've been 13 years on the entrance ramp to the rec center. We're still not even on the freeway with that 1. so. I think we have a dedicated group that's looking at doing this. We're identifying it, but we've only we're only 3 months into it. And I think we need to give us a little more time in order to get this to be determined. So that's my statement.

Mr. and with respect to. The exit ramp issue. Yeah, we were a handful of months into this process and it's an enormous undertaking. So I just asked for a little bit of patients there. I want to clarify some of the mission of the of the Devon for Curtis mentioned working group. And while I'm certainly appreciative of some of the concerns and some of the criticisms. Um, I, I want to step back and just kind of justify some of the reasons for the, the perception of the group being mostly about party planning that that may be an impression and that may be a valid impression. But the reason for the parties is, is to engage the public and to get some early wins for public support. To help mobilize our efforts, and I think, including the public as part of that process will be instrumental and helping to us to achieve that goal with respect to volunteer fatigue. I want to take advantage of the fact that we had a number of a great deal of folks from the community interested in serving on this working group and we had to turn them away. those applications are sitting there and if we can reach back out to those folks in a timely manner we may be able to secure their interest and investment in serving on the working group I'm sensitive to the reality that we ask a lot of our citizens there's a lot of boards and commissions to go around for whatever reason people are very passionate about this project and they want to get involved so we're hoping to take advantage of that with respect to security subcommittees I'm not convinced that we need to use the house as a place to meet with our subcommittees we can probably use other venues for that purpose we do need to be mindful of security and being thorough about which members of the community we choose and I suspect they'll be submitted to the same background checks as anyone else that serves on any other boards and commissions Um, I don't know if it's a historic precedent that we have bylaws created for every subcommittee that serves on every board and commission. But if that's something this council wants to entertain, I'm not opposed to making sure that the people we select have integrity and are of the right mind and body to do this job. But we do need help. We are going to need professional expertise. And I don't think we can rely on the, however, 11, 12 members of the board of the working group to get all this work done if this is going to be a realistic goal.

A customer doing before we vote on the motion.

Thank you. I do want to follow up because there were a couple of comments that were made about. Oh, we're just entering the highway. We don't have a plan yet. But then there's also statements of we're fundraising for an ramp. These are statements that are being actively made that we're putting in an ramp to allow access to the house. and i feel like that is the cart isn't just before the horse it's down the road and council has not chosen to go in that direction and i just i'm getting very concerned about this whole aspect of of the public entering that property at this point um without we've just said we're at the very early stages of it why are we rushing to have an entrance into this property and to have the public into it at this point when we're not sure exactly how it's going to be activated. So I want to make sure that there are not decisions being made at a committee level that don't come through this body.

They can't be made at the committee level. The committee is simply an advisory panel like most of our boards, committees, and commissions, so it can only make recommendations to this body. I don't think there's anybody that's in a particular rush to put in an ADA ramp. An external fund or benefactor has been secured, but that will need to be designed and engineered, and any proposal to approve will need to be presented to city council and ultimately approved by city council before we proceed.

But again, that's the cart before the horse you've found a benefactor for an item that we don't even know if we need at this point. And so, well, it doesn't matter. It's just I'm saying that again, but that conversation has not even come to this body that there was a benefactor. And so kind of understanding who is who's driving this this motion here of this is the way in which we're going to go. I just want to make sure that. With creating these subcommittees, we're saying we need more time to explore a lot of different things. And in creating this, okay, we're going to put in an ADA ramp and have people in this house, you've committed to a certain direction.

Yeah, I understand the concern, and I hear your characterization. I don't agree with it. Again, I don't think they're putting the cart before the horse, and like I just articulated, any proposal to actually install or earmark or allocate funding would have to come to this body for approval.

I mean, if it's a city-owned property, we need an ADA ramp. If we wanted a service provider who was handicapped and needed accessibility, if one of our subcommittee members needed accessibility, you know, regardless of whether or not we sell this house in three years, I would be fully in support of putting an ADA ramp on it for just those reasons. I never want to tell anyone We're sorry, we don't have the ability to get you in the home. Like I said, a service provider, someone doing the HVAC, someone working on the toilets, something like that. I would never want to deny their contract simply because we can't get them into the house. So as a city-owned entity, it would be very irresponsible if we weren't thinking about that during the three years that we own it, from my perspective.

Okay, we're going to proceed to vote. We have a motion on the floor to simply acknowledge receipt of the memorandum pertaining to the establishment of subcommittees. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. I say I have a motion to carry unanimously. Is there a motion now to establish and approve or not to establish and approve?

Move to establish and approve.

Moved by GearBuzz. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Del Arco. Is there any additional discussion? There appear to be none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. On to reports and other announcements. And see me as a swallow, put the conversation that Councilmember Halsh and I had with you on last Wednesday. I think an update on the dam was inadvertently omitted here. Do you want to give a very brief update? Or I guess I ask a question of Council first. Well, I'm actually, sorry, I'm going to ask a question of the city manager first. Is it still your intent to have a mill race proposal on the July 20th agenda?

That is the intent we're still waiting back from additional information from O'Neill's contracting that had made the initial proposal in review of that. Basically, there was some provisions for set of removal that they had not incorporated into their contract and based on conversations, the department public services that we're not capable of doing that in house. So we asked them to provide that. in addition to that portion of the contract. So we have not received that yet, but the goal is to have that for next week.

Okay. In addition to that matter, as Council will recall, when this issue was last discussed, I think it was either in March. No, I know it was in March. There appeared at that time to be consensus, I think it was maybe 5-2 or 4-3, in favor of putting this issue on the November ballot and allowing the electorate, the broader community, to decide the fate of the dam. either removal or restoration. I wanted to see if that's still the consensus. I don't really personally care. If you think that that's premature or ill-advised at this juncture, please say so. But if the desire is to still put this on the ballot, more specifically put it on the November ballot, we're going to need to be able to review language at our next council meeting, which the attorneys have already been tipped off on and are working on some sample language. So if I may start at the end, again, speak freely, but if you'd like to... pursue this as a ballot initiative, say so, and we'll have material for you to consider on July the 20th. Council Member Harmon? Yes. Okay. Council Member Rice?

Yes, but I would also be amenable should we not need to make a decision this year to putting it on the next ballot.

Okay, fair enough. Council Member Gearbaugh?

Without any kind of funding, no.

No, okay. Council Member Dillon?

Agreed. Without funding, there's no point putting something on.

Okay. Councilmember Delarco? I'd like to see it moved to the public as a ballot initiative. Okay. Councilmember Halsh? Yeah, definitely on the ballot. Okay. So we'll have some sample language for you to review on the 20th. That's not committing any of you to voting in favor of it. If you review the language or if you have conversations between now and the 20th or new information comes to light and you feel that that's not prudent, you are not obligated to vote in the affirmative. But that will be an issue for consideration on July the 20th.

Mayor, can you confirm when does the language have to be turned in?

August 12th has to go to the county.

So we are going to have 2 weeks to get something put in. When is our, our August meeting? We would August 10th. So you'd have to approve it at the August 10th meeting for it to go to the county by the 12th or you could prove it next next Monday on the 20th.

Okay, was there additional question? Oh, yeah, it has, I guess clerk Royal would know another part of it is the potential for there to be a citizen led initiative and citizen led ballot language. Do we know if that has taken place?

I do not believe so.

Okay. So it would just be ultimately us. Okay.

All right, let's transition to reports and announcements. I'm going to begin with, I think I began the last couple times with Council Member Harmout, so I'll begin with Council Member Halsh. Council Member Halsh, do you have any reports, announcements, or updates from committees, commissions, or task forces?

Yes. The biggest being we will be having our last Arts and Culture Committee meeting before Jazz at the Mansion now. Jazz at the Mansion will be... the 18th. Someone lost their phone. I use it all the time. But January, or January, July 18th from 4 to 8, we will be having jazz at the mansion. We're really excited to kind of be that first big event at the mansion. There'll be vendors, art vendors, there'll be food trucks. We have a pretty impressive lineup of performers. So we definitely, it's my favorite event that Kind of happens in the city because I think it really does bring a very diverse crowd and like a different crowd than some of the other events that we have. And so I would encourage everyone to come just if you're curious to see what the mansion is like to that event this Saturday.

Thank you. Councilman Del Arco reports, announcements, updates from any boards, commission committee or task forces.

Just to piggyback on that. We're preparing for jazz at the mansion with the Davenport Curtis working groups of the working group. I want to take a special moment to thank Rebecca Schneider, Dean and Brian gear Bob, Mary for their participation and meeting at the house on Saturday morning to clear away a lot of the vessels and weeds and Ivy growing up the walls. And it was a lot of work. We got to clean up quite a bit. And I know the will be out there this week doing more work on that aspect. Um, uh, the risk mitigation group had a productive meeting last week. We started working through the last version of the finalized document and taking inventory of where things are the scoring process. And if there are things that can be moved to different categories and different probability ratings, we didn't get all the way through the document, but we really got a significant start on that. So I'm happy about that. and our asset management subcommittee met as well. Engineer Humphress did a fantastic job providing us with a project list of things we need to be focused in prioritizing over the next fiscal year in terms of capital management, new development, asset management, traffic studies, roads, administration. It really helped focus our attention on Um, handing the torch and what we need to be focused on moving forward with our, our asset management plan. So thank you. Thank you. Council member.

Thank you. Most of my committees are on hiatus in July. I did want to add at the asset management meeting. We do have this extensive list and with engineer Humphrey's departure. I think that it's going to be key that we ensure that. We reprioritize things and understand what needs to rise to the top immediately and make sure that it has. It has a successful leadership and plan in place so that it can move forward and things are going to have to fall away at least temporarily. And we'll just have to kind of look at that and see. Um, and then I do have 1 other discussion item. Do you want me to mention that now? Or do you want to go just through reports and then?

No, you can do it now.

Okay. 1 of the things that I'd like to ask this body to consider is putting in portage ons in the parking lot behind Benny's. We utilize that for the farmers market. We utilize that for Thursday night music. It is. Very difficult to ask people businesses don't want them coming in using their bathrooms and to traverse across the street. Especially if you need to go to a crosswalk to go across the street to the basement of a building to use bathrooms is really not convenient by any means. And it's actually a detriment to anybody with mobility issues. I believe that we do have extra funding left in our community events. Budget and I would like to see us prioritize putting bathrooms in there for the foreseeable season. There will obviously be ones put in for summer fest, October fest, but just on a regular basis, having something there that can be used. Well, I noticed that the farmers market, their job on Saturday is to unlock that building. There's been several instances where it is not open and. So there is no access to a public restroom downtown without going into a business.

Yeah, if I may, I think that's a good idea. I'm not going to commit to an emphatic. Yes, but I would be interested in staff looking into it further and coming back with a price. And also to council member Dylan's point, excuse me, determining specifically how much we have left in our community events fund. So I would be amenable for staff pursuing it further and then coming back at either our next meeting or our first meeting in August. Let me start again at the center of the desk, any objection to having staff look into this and bring back a proposal customer. No customer rice.

No, but I would I would ask since our main street directors here, if the main street restrooms are available during summer music.

And whether or not we can utilize already established handicapped appropriate.

You don't have to run.

Don't hurt yourself, Mary.

Actually, this is the first year. That question has been asked a lot already this year about where the public bathrooms are, and I encourage people to go purchase something from one of the local businesses and do it. So the 109 has bathrooms, and we definitely let people use them if it's an emergency or if it's definitely the members of the band, things like that. But just like every other... of historic building our plumbing is fragile and will often back up if overused and we have seen that unfortunately at some of our larger events when it's just our volunteers using it so so that's something that I actually think would be a great idea so good yeah yeah I would prefer I would prefer invest I mean for this year port-a-potties would be fine but maybe we maybe we investigate next year

Doing more of an establishment where, like, the city helps upgrade those facilities. Maybe that way the 109 is becoming more of an asset to the community. But then I also with Mr. Kenley's updates to his properties.

Hopefully that will start to be utilized more as well. Basically have a rental agreements, if you will, with specific owners and business owners and provided them a stipend to for supplies and repairs. Yeah.

Yeah, I like that. I mean, just aesthetically.

Is there a sign at the front door that said this is available for public use?

Yeah, that would just be my 1st instinct, but I do agree. Like, just let's just nip it in the bud this year and I'd be amenable to your ball.

I think it's fine if you want to place a handicapped accessible. Um, or whatever, probably in a parking space next to the, um, we normally put them during summer fest, whatever, trying to keep them as far away from whatever businesses or impact of that nature. And, um, but that makes sense to have 1 in that parking lot at this point budget, more location. Yeah, location is going to be really the issue and concern from the property owners.

Mr. Del Arco? I support it. Okay. Council Member Halsh? I support it. Okay. All right. So staff is empowered to look into that further and report back. Anything else, Council Member Dillon? No, thank you. Council Member Gierbaugh?

It's been a busy week, so just kind of as Council Member Delorco mentioned, asset management, risk. One of the things we looked at risk, we were able to actually identify and move down some risks from the 5-5s, 5-4s where we had the cities worked hard in trying to address some of the things, especially related to safety and concerns that have happened, not only in the DPW, but in the wastewater treatment plant. And then also the things that we've looked at from policies and procedures, and especially things from establishing engineering standards and looking at what we put in place in our planning commission and so forth related to site plan reviews and such so that was helpful there will be probably a proposal lori champion and myself have been looking at how to better handle this because of the demands and requests and needs that will happen as a result of trying to implement this related to strategic planning and actually even doing it there may be a better way to approach it and bring it to council in terms of how they want to have it handled and managed and not placing so much ownership on all the staff and everything regarding everything that they need to accomplish in trying to address those issues. Also, planning met last week. The topics were basically regarding the requirements of a site plan review related to the green space. to comply with the Michigan Zoning Act. Also, we looked at addressing how we will be able to review site plans in general in terms of the aspects of what is required, what can be done administratively, and reviewing the entire ordinance to try and maybe streamline it, make it a better approach. And in addition, we looked at the sign ordinance. We put on a second reading on it. There'll probably be a third. And then that will come to council to be reviewed. For the most part, What we're really attempting to try and do in the sign ordinance is to make sure we're in compliance with freedom of speech and not trying to prevent any kind of thing that would trigger a potential discrimination in the suit or some kind of that nature. But also looking at addressing a lot of the things that have come up related to temporary signs, banners, feather banners, a lot of those things. So that will be coming to us also. I was on fire board, had a special meeting last week to vote upon the fire... fire personnel contract which was passed unanimously. We also adopted the strategic plan although it has somewhat of a budget in it and some things it is a living document just like ours is and hopefully that will help kind of give some direction related to how we will move forward. I encourage you all to look it should be attached to the agenda on the Selene fire department's website, so you can look at that and if you want to see kind of what's being proposed and how that will approach as the authority moves forward, we will be hopefully accomplishing that last thing I would like to say. Appreciate everyone that showed up for our June celebration for the senior historical study at the Depot. We had probably about 25 to 50 people show up. People were able to ride in the velocity with such a beautiful day. It wasn't super hot. And we appreciate being able to celebrate our 200th anniversary of being settled as a slings community. And then also 250 years as a, as a nation and celebrating the declaration of independence. Very good. Councilman rice.

My only update, I guess, is a request to Mr. Atkin and Mr. Swallow to set up policy committee meeting ASAP to address some of the things that I emailed about previously, but also looking at bylaws to boards and commissions and other issues that have popped up over the last couple of weeks. So if you all could maybe put out some sort of a survey for Mr. Halsh, Councilmember Halsh, Councilmember Dillon and I to get something going. Otherwise, my meetings are next week. I do have a question for Mr. Halsh, however, and I've been out of town so I could have missed it. Do you have any sort of a map or layout for Jazz at the Mansion where people should park, where they should enter, things like that that I can point people to so that people aren't just circling the block trying to figure out what the heck to do?

Um... I do not have. I know we included a lot of that on the initial special event application. We'll meet this Thursday. I know we're planning on having signage and like actual people sort of directing the flow at various sort of bottlenecks, for lack of a better word, within the venue. But I can know more and email out after the meeting Thursday.

Yeah, I think that would be great. Just as someone who has sat on the Summerfest committee for a while, having a map that people can just be like, oh, I am supposed to park here. I am supposed to walk in this entrance is really helpful. I don't know if you guys can whip that up in time, but just something to think about.

If I may, Mr. Swallow, obviously people can park here at the City Hall lot. They're free to park at the Assemblies of God Church on Old Creek. What other locations were secured for public parking for the event?

So, also, we are able to utilize the CBS a lot for those, especially trying to limit that hopefully to those, you know, they need to be closer. There's also a handicap parking on looking at, excuse me. Just the South of the property there.

Um, so, um, the grass or the, um, yeah, the grass just around Derek Queen.

Yep. Yeah, I think a map something quick you can I mean it doesn't have to have a lot of labels just the streets and we can do that I would also like strongly recommend for people like myself if you're anywhere within the core of the community it probably best to walk I Was gonna say I also wanted to confirm that the event is outside so there will be no access to there won't be any tours in the mansion and that sort of thing and the carriage carriage house will not be open will not be open right but there will be more to john yeah the committee will will be there talking about our efforts correct yeah but we won't yeah you're not gonna be able to get in the home okay um thank you councilmember rice uh customer harmount uh so upcoming we have on um we have our um

I'm sorry, Environmental Commission meeting next week. And then for this last Thursday, I was not able to attend the Historic District Commission meeting. Maybe Director Atkins can fill us in on that. But I believe that we approved for the Historic District. So, and then just one other item, I was not sure when the deadline was to submit signatures to run for city council, but maybe... 4 p.m. next Tuesday.

Okay.

So just for community members that we have a couple positions open for city council as well as, you know, there's elections for mayor. So if you are feeling like you want to put your name in the hat, there's still time to get your signatures in. So that's all I have to say.

Thanks. I have one real quick item, and then Mr. Swell, I believe you have a statement you'd like to read. Is that correct? That's correct. So I had a conversation today with the city attorney, and the main thrust of that conversation I'll address in just a moment. But he made me aware of a statute that was approved by the legislature, signed into law by the governor this past June, which will likely supersede language in our city charter that now requires elected officials— In village township and city to take office on December 1 So I asked him to clarify an issue a formal opinion that would be disseminated through the city manager's office But if that if his interpretation is indeed correct that would supersede supersede our long-standing Standard and require council members to be sworn in and begin serving December 1 as opposed to January 1 Mr. Swell the floor is yours

Also, just before I read my statement, I'd also like to look at, is there any discussion you want to have on the social district expansion?

Can we get to the social district space first? So do you have, there's been obviously some talk about trying to expand, and I think you have some experience and history of working with larger social districts in terms of scope and topography than what we have here in Saline. I think there was a desire specifically to include Dan's. Do you have any insights that you'd like to provide and maybe there could be a proposal forthcoming at one of our upcoming meetings?

The agenda packet would include the three required items for if the city wanted to expand or change the social district. There's the cover resolution as required showing formal action by City Council. I also included a map, and I guess I'm gonna ask Council to take a close look at that to see what areas that you may agree with or maybe disagree with before we bring that back so that we can adopt that hopefully as one item. And then finally, there's a maintenance, excuse me, management and maintenance plan that's required as part of any social district, so just updates to that that have occurred over the last several years as well as how to deal with the proposed expansion area. Encourage any comments you may have now, or the future date so that when we bring this back, it's we don't have a lot of discussion.

Yeah, this will be enumerated at our subsequent meeting, but it will provide an opportunity for each of you to offer some initial feedback council member harm out any initial reaction to the proposal or the various options.

I just wanted to make sure that we had our Council legal Council review what we have proposed for expansion.

So, I think the 1 concern there was the previous change of whether it could cross the state highway or not. So, basically, the legal counsel has received documents, but also have talked to the Michigan liquor control commission, a specific staff persons there that deals with social districts. And they've indicated that yes, it can cross at the rules. There's no consumption of alcohol and a state highway.

It sounds like we have a lot of rules and regulations and rights for local business owners that they don't want to allow the alcohol into their businesses. They have a right to deny that. Right? Right. Council member rice.

I'm a static customer give up now that our city managers clarified that the state saying. Consumption and not possession is loud. We just need to worry about people drinking as they walk across the street. But at this point, I'm glad that's finally been determined. And as long as we have an individual from Laura that identified that and willing to testify to that, I'm good for it. Okay.

Thank you. Yeah, I'd like to see something in writing from from both the attorneys and from Laura. So we've got sort of a cover our backside on this just because if you recall, we were sternly told not to do it and that there were some issues with it. It would be easier to understand if you could provide. The management maintenance plan has anything changed to that document.

Yes, I was dealing with the expansion area. There are different rules for that for those areas.

Okay, can you provide a red line as to what we had before? And then the other thing is, when I look at the map, just trying to understand right now, the common area expansion of. It again, it's encompassing the potential green space. Which I would not feel comfortable including at this time until that space is actually fully built out and understand its use. And it still shows the entrance to Max. As a special events only. That alleyway entrance to Mac, so I'm not sure how you go out of a social district to get a drink to come back in. It's a weird technicality, but we talked about that for some reason that little alleyway was not included.

So, 1 of the things that I have to take a look at is the, uh, the sidewalk cafe permit that Max has with the state. Um, so that that is an area that may be included in as part of their liquor license. So we can't overlap. So we have to explore that. Determine that.

Okay, and then just for clarification, so what you're not showing on this map is crossing Michigan Avenue is so, because you're still showing boundaries. So how.

Are we doing that common areas where it's authorized to consume alcohol? Obviously, and so they cannot consume alcohol in the Michigan Avenue right away.

Right? But it's saying that that's a boundary social district. So, I mean, you're allowed to, it seems awkward. Like, how do you cross the road? And can you only cross at 1 point?

So, to be honest, we do need to social district in commons area 2 different definitions within the, uh, within the rules. And so we do actually have to revise that boundary. The boundary would actually encompass the entire area, right?

That's what I guess I'm trying to understand. Not in line.

So clear a lot of commons area would not have that dotted line.

Right. Okay.

I wonder if you could do, like, encompass that area, but across Michigan Avenue designate, like, no drinking. Somehow within the map, like, it's still blue, but it's got slash marks that they're at or something or definitions for those. Yeah.

Anything else?

No, at this point. No, I'm looking forward to making this happen. I just want to make sure that we cross all the tees dot all the eyes and make sure we don't have an issue once we get it established.

Great council member dollar.

Go any thoughts. I'm glad that we can now include Dan's Downtown Tavern as part of our social district. Part of it, and this now legal review allows us to do that and parity parity that I was looking for.

Very good customer. I'm also super excited. The thing that I would just stress is making sure we have adequate signage and obviously enforcement is a little bit easier doing some of the special events for, you know, making sure we don't. Consume or I would love for us to just not even cross but I get it So yeah, my suggestion would be making sure that the signage is clear easy to see and that people really have no excuse to consume while crossing

Okay, thank you. Mr.

Swallow, would you like to proceed? Yeah, thank you, Mayor, Council, as well as the Slink community. I have some difficult news I need to deliver tonight, but after long consideration and difficult deliberation, I've decided to resign my position as City Manager effective August 21st, 2026. This decision has not come lightly. The primary factor is my need to address several significant family responsibilities. I've recently assumed a greater role in the care of my mother, as well as the need to relocate to help coordinate her care. In addition, following the passing of my father, my family has asked me to assist with settling his estate, including management and sale of assets. Together, these responsibilities require substantial time, travel, and attention, and make it increasingly difficult for me to maintain the level of commitment and availability that the city manager position demands. I'm also pursuing other opportunities that more clearly align with my long-standing passion for community planning and economic development in these areas, which I have found great success and professional fulfillment. I look forward to dedicating more of my time and energy to those pursuits in the future. Despite my short tenure, I am proud of the progress we've made together. We've advanced several important initiatives, including, as we mentioned, the Downtown Square project moving forward, near completion of the wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation, organizational focus on infrastructure investment, and asset management, which we talked about a lot this evening. Additionally, with the implementation of updated budget structure and stronger alignment with long-term capital and planning needs, we've established a solid framework, which I think will serve the city for years to come. So I sincerely am grateful to the City Council for the opportunity to serve the Saline community and its residents. While I'm disappointed that the circumstances will not allow me to continue my service for a longer period, I remain confident in the future of the community and direction which it is which is headed. So thank you very much, Council.

Thank you. I know it was a difficult decision, and we do greatly appreciate your tenure and leadership. It's almost been a year since early September 2025. And we, of course, look forward to working with you over this next month and a half to close out projects between now and when you depart on the 21st. We'll have a more focused discussion on this issue at our subsequent meeting on the 20th. However, in the interim, I did have a brief conversation with the city attorney and with Councilmember Dillon. Let me start with Councilmember Dillon. As Council is aware and as the community is hopefully aware, she is our liaison and has taken an active leadership role in the Michigan Municipal League. As most of you are aware, the Michigan Municipal League does offer and maintains a list of of individuals who can serve as interim city managers. So unless there's objection from the DAIS in her capacity as our liaison to MML, I'm hoping that you agree to empower her this week to reach out, to develop or to obtain a list of names and some additional background information and share that in our subsequent meeting on July the 20th. Is there any objection to that? No? Okay. And then, per the recommendation of our city attorney, Mr. Clark, he would suggest and believes it would be very advantageous to set up a transition team, albeit smaller than what we've done in the past, consisting of himself and two council members to meet weekly with Mr. Swallow to make sure that... things are progressing, and that projects and assignments are passed off to the appropriate staff members, and that his colleagues are debriefed on the important initiatives that we are pursuing. I'm happy to do that, although I have a lot on my plate. I would recommend, because of our previous service in this capacity, Councilmember Dillon for that position, but if there's anybody else on the dais who feels like they have a skill set and the time to do that, I would welcome a volunteer, noting, of course, that most of those meetings will likely transpire during the normal workday.

That counts me out.

Yeah, that's fine.

Can I offer if nobody else wants to do it, then I think a formal motion here would be appropriate. I would like to offer that emotion to from the floor to establish a small transition team effective immediately to meet weekly with the city manager to manage the transition and the handoff of important projects and initiatives and to have that team consist of myself council member Dylan and the city attorney John Clark.

Small second, though.

Okay. Is there any discussion? Gianna, thank you for volunteering.

Yeah.

Yeah. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. The motion carries unanimously. Okay. Is there any other questions or comments this evening? Again, we'll have a more focused discussion on this matter in one week's time on July the 20th. Mayor Pro Tem Rice.

I just want to say. A moment to to thank Mr swallow for his transparency and for for working and doing your due diligence in this community. I think as a member of this council that I'm going to encourage the rest of my council colleagues to support decisions like this and understand that our city staff, especially the directors, especially the city manager. do also have personal lives and it takes a lot of energy to be in any of those positions. So let's make sure we have kindness and grace over the next Month and a half that we have with Mr swallow, but also at least the next 6 months or so while we have an interim city manager and understanding, we have a lot of change in the city. We have lost a wonderful city engineer. We have a brand new director who came in guns blazing. So you're doing great. So I appreciate that. But let's, let's be sure that we're mindful of our priorities. Our duties as city counselors. what our focus areas should be and do all of that with kindness and grace.

Thank you. Okay, if there's nothing further, we are going to transition to the final public comment period. 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, City Council will not answer questions during this final public comment period. Are there any citizen comments? Would defer to the city clerk. Were there any written comments provided in advance of tonight's meeting in which the individual wanted their remarks shared at this time? Yes, sir. Easy enough. Then the chair would be delighted. That clock is very different than my phone. I've got that clock is two minutes fast. So I'm going to go with my phone. Is there a motion to adjourn at 9.37 p.m.? So moved. Moved by Dillon. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Del Orco. All those in favor of adjourning, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you all. See you next week.