Council - Regular Meeting

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.

Roll call.

Council Member Abbott is absent. Council Member Cadoux is absent. Council Member Johnson? Here. Council Member Rogenbaugh?

Here.

Council Member Tapasti?

Here.

Council Member Van Leeuwen-Vega is absent, and President Powers.

Could I have a motion to excuse the absent members? Motion to excuse all of those absent members.

Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay at this time. Ayes have it. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented to you in the packet?

Motion to approve the agenda in the packet. Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay at this time. Ayes have it. Consent agenda item A, consideration of a motion approving the payment of the bills, checks numbered 64665, 264708 and electronic payments 734 to 743 in the total amount of $1,459,252.68. Consideration of a motion to approve the minutes for the July 13th, 2026 work session and the July 20th, 2026 regular council meeting. Consideration of a motion to approve resolution number 2026-11, authorizing execution of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources project agreement and designating a village manager as the authorized signatory. Item D, consideration of a motion to approve the progressive company's proposal for traffic calming improvements on Liberty Street and South Street in the amount not to exceed $8,200. Finally, item E, consideration of a motion to appoint Bill Myers to the Planning Commission for a term ending November 2028. Recommendation from our staff at this time is that we hold a roll call vote on this. If any particular item should be removed from the consent agenda and voted on separately, please identify that and we will discuss it during general business. Do I have a motion to approve as read into the record?

Motion to approve as read into the record the consent agenda items.

SECOND. ALL CALL VOTE.

COUNCIL MEMBER JOHNSON. YES. COUNCIL MEMBER ROGENBAUM. YES. COUNCIL MEMBER TAPASTI. YES. AND PRESIDENT POWERS.

603, BRADY. ALL RIGHT, GENERAL BUSINESS. NONE. DEPARTMENT REPORTS.

NOTHING FURTHER TO REPORT OUTSIDE OF WHAT'S IN MY MANAGER'S REPORT, UNLESS THERE'S QUESTIONS.

We have no assistant manager, so we're over to the clerk.

Nothing to add.

You guys saw the stuff from DPW and various reporting departments. Are there any items of old business or new business that any member of Village Council would like to bring up at this time?

Over to you, Bob. Nothing to add this evening.

Excellent. Statement of citizens. Council meetings are open to the public, and as such, the public is invited to speak at the end of each meeting. Any speaker wishing to discuss a matter with the council has up to three minutes. Please step forward to the podium and state your name and address within the town for the record. That will be included in the minutes, and then you got your three. Is there anybody who would like to step up to the podium at this time?

I have something to read so that I don't have to try and make a formal speech and botch that. If that's okay, I'll just read my statement. Go for it. My name is Lisa Russo, and my husband, Frank Russo, and I are slip owners at Village Cove Marina. The address is 910 West Savage. We're slip 53. We're the last slip in Village Cove Marina. So we have what's literally a bird's eye view of what's going on. We're asking that Spring Lake Village immediately begin coordinating with the needed agencies so that an actionable plan is ready when the nesting season begins. What we're talking about here is the Combrants who've decided to build a colony right at the edge of Village Cove Marina and that borders the wetlands and Heritage Park. This colony appeared beside the Village Cove Marina for the first time this year. There are approximately 50 plus birds in numerous nests. The number already qualifies as a large colony and in just one season we're already seeing tree death. It is very likely this colony will grow dramatically over the coming years if we don't take immediate action. We know what can happen because we've watched it happen along the Grand River. The island directly across from us developed a cormorant colony approximately four years ago. Started rather small, grew rather large, and that island is now full of dead trees. And the colony persists there and can be seen all season long. What makes this location different is that this colony is immediately adjacent to the Village Cove Marina and the extensive lily pad wetlands that leads to the Heritage Park. It's on the side where community is gathering. This habitat supports a variety of wildlife as well as recreational areas enjoyed by the community as I mentioned. Village COLD representatives have contacted USDA Wildlife Services about this very specific situation on July 28, and David Madrigal of USDA Wildlife Services, Michigan District Supervisor, responded in writing that they're very aware of the comrade situation. And based on our immediate area and the location and proximity to communities, people, and events, the best long-term strategy is to remove the trees that they are nesting in. Michigan has a history of authorized cormorant management, and the legislator continues to dedicate funding for it. State and federal agencies have conducted several cormorant management in multiple areas of Michigan, including Les Cheneaux Islands, Thunder Bay, Beaver Island, Bay of the Knox, and other locations. Michigan has already appropriated 1.6 million from the Game and Fish Protection Fund, specifically to protect state fisheries and wildlife habitats for cormorants. And on July 9, 2026, a one-time state comrade management appropriation was increased from an ask of $150,000 to $500,000. That happened very, very recently because it's recognized as a real growing problem. So federal protection does not mean that management cannot occur. It means that management needs to occur legally and in coordination with appropriate authorities. and this is why timing of this conversation matters as the nesting season is winding down we're asking that the village use this time now to bring together the appropriate stakeholders determine what permissions are required who is responsible and whether funding is available and then when deterrent measures can begin to ensure that the work is in place before the birds return next spring. They will double in size and they will potentially spread to other areas including Heritage Park. We respectfully ask the village to lead in that coordination right now and turn the upcoming DNR meeting into an actionable fall event so that there is a plan with responsibilities and a timeline. My understanding is the timeline we're asking for when we say now is we're talking about October is when the upcoming meeting is and taking that action when the birds migrate out. I understand that it's the issue of a federally protected species is that we cannot do anything right now BUT WHEN THEY LEAVE FOR THEIR MIGRATORY, THAT'S WHEN WE CAN TAKE MEASURES. AND WE WANT TO TAKE THOSE MEASURES BEFORE THEY COME BACK BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO COME BACK BIG. THANK YOU.

ANYBODY ELSE?

GOOD EVENING.

have had several slips at Village Cove since 1988. And the birds, the droppings, oh my gosh. I mean, when you can sit there with a drink in your hand, whether it be tea or alcohol or whatever, and you get droppings in your drink, it's very small because it atomizes as it falls. and just everything's covered with it. I mean, you'd have to go there. One of the fellows has got some really nice aerial views with a drone, and you can see really what's going on with those pictures, they're very nice. I'm also concerned about here, I don't know if you can catch bird flu from these guys, I don't know. But when you got the bird droppings all over equals poop, That's what you're going to get, I think. It's a good possibility. If you can get it from pigs that they just had at the fair, I don't see why you couldn't get it from the birds. There's a lot of boats over there that have dark colored canvas, mine being one. I'm right across from Frank. When the wind comes out of the east, southeast, oh my God, the smell is horrendous. It's very nauseating. But back to the bird flu thing, I don't know if you can get that from them. There'd be something to be checked into or thought about anyhow. But the canvas I was telling you about, the darker canvas, as you can see, like a pepper-like table pepper, little balls of that all over. I mean, it's not like 20. There's more in the thousands over one boat. And then the lights, like something black like this, now has a white coating on it. You get the dew, and they don't stop going. And they come and go like you can't believe. It's like a fine dust. And atomizes when it falls, and that's what you get. That's about all I have to say. It's pretty much much cruder than Lisa's but you got the point. Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it.

We have a third. We have a third. You'll go last, I promise.

Brian Tacoma, 910 Le Savage. I am slip 50, which is four down from the end. I would encourage you to drive out there. Come out to the end of the marina if you haven't already and look at what they're doing to the trees there. They are very... rapidly moving inland towards Savage Street. Everything on that point now is white with their poop and ripping all the leaves off the trees. They will destroy that whole area if we allow them to stay. So I don't know what the... What the solution is, I'd just as soon shoot them as anything, but I don't think we can do that. I'd not recommend it. But I would definitely encourage you to go out there and look at it, because it is bad. And if you've seen the island, that's what's going to happen to those trees. Thank you.

You can give it to Brady. He'll put it in for the next work session, where everybody can see it. I think you're up. Just you, no husband tonight?

No husband. I'm Darcy Dye at 114 North Fruitport Road. And next week, the Planning Commission will be discussing the change to the ordinance that would allow a single parking place in the condos in the village. And I'm here to encourage you to think long and hard about that. When we had our moratorium on short-term rentals, our village planner spent copious amounts of time researching and coming up with a configuration for parking that seems to have dealt with some of the problems that were part of that moratorium on short-term rentals. And my concern is if we, for a single owner at this point in time, change the ordinance, We transfer the same problem that we seem to have solved to the condo associations. The village will no longer have to be the ones to patrol that, but we transfer a problem that we seem to have solved to condo associations. So I'd really encourage you to think long and hard about changing that ordinance. Thank you.

Anybody else?

Hi, my name is Frank Russo. I'm Lisa's husband. I'm one of the guys that owns one of the slips over there. And I just wanted to say this because it's kind of spun on me a little bit here. And thanks, Brady, for responding to my emails in the past. I do appreciate it. Thank you. I KNOW IN THE PAST WE'VE BEEN AFTER THIS FOR A LONG TIME JUST TO GET THE TREES REMOVED. THERE'S NO SURPRISES THERE. THAT WAS MORE BECAUSE OF DESTRUCTION BECAUSE OF THE SEEDS FROM THE COTTON WOODS AND SO ON AND SO FORTH. BUT IT'S GOTTEN TO A POINT THAT IT'S NOT A WANT. IT'S GOING TO BE A NEED AT THIS POINT IN TIME. What we're experiencing is, I wouldn't wish this on anybody out there, especially, you know, we're worried about this is a family gathering place. We don't dare bring our kids out there right now because of the smell, and we don't know what's going to happen. Maybe we're naive and we're ignorant about what really goes on. I don't know. All I know is that it's someplace we used to really enjoy, but we won't be able to do that anymore until this is taken care of. So I hope that you guys do everything you can do to make this happen. We're going to do everything we can do to make this happen, and we appreciate your efforts, whatever that might be. Thank you.

The Comorant thing? Yeah, we were discussing it just this last Monday. Anybody else? Let me share with you an email that we got from Brian Gunderman, the Southern Lake Michigan Unit Manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division out of Plainwell, Michigan. And this is addressed to the local worthies of multiple jurisdictions around here, I anticipate, although I can't quite see who it is. Even my glasses can't help me get that small. Hello, everyone. The growing double-crested cormorant breeding colony in the Grand River, that's ours, has generated concerns regarding predation on stocked fish and property damage, that's you, from bird waste. I would like to schedule a meeting with the land managers and agency staff to discuss possible cormorant control activities. As the meeting participants are located throughout a broad geographic area, a virtual meeting using Microsoft Teams appears to be the best option. It can be challenging to find, et cetera, et cetera. Please respond to the poll. The meeting date is to be determined, I'm guessing, Brady. And he refers everybody to the United Fish and Wildlife Service's information about that. So I expect that sometime in September, we'll get the whistle from the state of Michigan telling us when to show up. I anticipate Brady will go to that. And the way it works under federal law, as I understand it, is those are the guys that run this show. And if I show up with my shotgun or even a noisemaker and start to address a cormorant issue via the auspices of the village of Spring Lake, I'm a federal criminal. And so I don't think we're gonna be doing a whole lot until we get the all clear from the guys in Washington and the guys in Lansing. And I anticipate that they've dealt with this plenty of times before and they will snap open their binder and explain to us what they do for situations like this. We are not unique in that we've got water in Michigan. And I know from my time in the UP that Spring Lake is not unique in having a cormorant invasion showing up unexpectedly and gulping down every fish that they can get their beak on. So I guess we're going to have to see what happens. But there's nothing that we're going to do about this now. So let me make that really clear. We're not going to allocate his time to run around and do things when we have absolutely no idea what Lansing is going to tell us what to do. That would be wasteful, I would expect. So come that meeting, we'll find out more and then we will reconvene and we'll figure it out. What I understand you guys to be saying to us is you want this to be a budget item and an action item of the Village of Spring Lake to the extent that the state of Michigan does not solve this problem. Well, we will have to find out the size of the budget issue and the allocation of resources necessary before we would even start to hazard an opinion as to what we would be willing to do. So there's no promise here that action is going to be forthcoming. We have no idea what to do because we don't want to go to jail. And I don't know if you guys expected a meeting like this would result in something, but it won't because the law. So feel free to come to our next work session. To the extent there's updates, they'll be in that meeting. We'll talk about it openly, and you guys can sit there and discuss it with us in kind of an open way. It's a little bit less formal than this, but that's usually where we get most of our work done. Does that make sense? Does that answer all the questions that could be answered this evening? Lay it on me. No, I get it. They're kind of unsightly trees, aren't they? They are kind of unsightly trees now, aren't they?

So the state has stepped in. We doff our caps and we wait.

You'd have to ask Brian Gunderson that, because Spring Lake Village is a little short on lab space these days. No idea. Anything else? Now, normally we don't do a back and forth during this time, but I know that you guys are feeling keenly on this issue, so I thought I'd break protocol and have a little bit of a conversation with you. I can't promise that it's going to be like this at every meeting.

I think that...

Under federal law, it is only the state or a tribal authority that can do anything. We take our orders from them. Now, as I understand it, you could, if you were the sophisticated enough organization, try to obtain a sub-permit status where you would take on the function of the state, but that's not us. Just to let you know kind of where our lives are, in a few weeks, maybe a week, HOME SCHOOL OVER HERE IS GOING TO OPEN UP. HUNDREDS OF KIDS ARE GOING TO SHOW UP. AND WE'VE GOT THE STREET TORN UP RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM, AND ALL THEIR DRINKING WATER GOES THROUGH THERE. AND SO RIGHT NOW, WHAT I STARE AT THE CEILING ABOUT IN THE EVENING IS WHETHER THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE CLEAN DRINKING WATER AND WORKING TOILETS WHEN THEY SHOW UP FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. NOW, YOU GUYS ARE KIND OF UPSET. I GET THAT. BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW FILLED THIS ROOM WILL BE IF THOSE CHILDREN FIND DIRTY WATER AND NONFUNCTIONING TOILETS? I can't imagine the rage of the people I grew up with when they find out their grandchildren are experiencing that. So between now and September, that guy there, that's what I'm grading him on. How's it going with the construction projects around that school? Are the kids gonna have clean drinking water? And although I understand your boats are important to you, I'm not gonna weigh it against that project. And there are a couple others like that around here. So you will get every courtesy, but I have to tell you, there are priorities that we've been working on for 10 years at this point that are right now in their midpoint stage. That's our focus. And that was even before we were down an assistant manager who was helping work all sorts of different projects, including yours. So we probably needed 2.5 people at Brady's level. We're now down to one. He's a little overworked, to be quite candid. So I didn't want to give you guys any sense that coming out of this meeting, he's going to suddenly break off, you know, 10 hours a week for you. That is just not going to happen right now. I get it, yeah. But we are at the sufferance of the state of Michigan at this point. So if you've got a call to action that you want to push forward, I think your next call is to Lansing.

Do I have a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Ayes have it.

Did I get a second?

What do you need? Oh, it's right there, Patrick. Did you hear me? He's so quiet.