City Commission - Regular Meeting

The following program was produced by CTV Community Television.

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.

Welcome everyone, this is Monday, July 20th. If you have any questions, comments, business with us, come to that podium and address us. You've got to be done under number 11, public comment, questions, or any time before we take a vote, I'll always give you a chance to express your views. At this time, I do need to make two adjustments to the agenda. With council's consent, I would like to add closed session under, I guess we just put it under number, 12.5. And at the closed session, I would need a motion to this effect to discuss strategy connected with negotiation of collective bargaining agreement with the employees represented by the Police Officers Labor Council into community discussions. Moved. Any questions? Call the roll, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. I also need an adjustment under new business 9D. We'll call that 500 Fredmore Highway, attorney report. I don't need a motion for that too, please. So moved. Support. Questions? Roll call on that. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Are we taking B off or no?

We're gonna table that when we get to it. Okay. Based on what Jim tells us at that time. Okay. All right, let's do the roll call.

Mayor Cedar. Here. Council Member Gattler.

Here.

Council Member Kufa.

Here.

Council Member LaPorte.

Here.

Council Member Boll.

Yes.

Council Member Boll.

Here.

Council Member Westrick.

Here.

All present.

Thank you. We'll go to four-percent agenda A. City Councilments, on July 6th, 2027, regular and closed meetings. Recommendation approved. And the Assembly Board of Trustees, minutes of June 2nd, 2026, meeting recommendation received.

Motion to approve A and B as presented. Support.

Good question. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, let's go to number five, recognition. We have some groups here tonight that we're gonna give some thanks to, and we're gonna start with Therese with the St. Clair Cruisers.

Thank you. If I click this right, no, back this way, there we go. I put up on the TV our flyer for this year's event. So it was the 24th Annual River Classic Car Show. And we wanted to recognize the St. Clair Cruisers. It's a group of volunteers, and they run this event every Saturday in July for us. And let me get my notes here. So as you can see, we offered the event for 24 years. What the public may not know is all the proceeds from this event come back to the community. The Recreation Department receives the proceeds, and the Historical Museum receives the portion of the proceeds. I know for the Recreation Department, we have used the events to help host some of our other summer events. In the last couple of years, including this year, the funds have gone to the Cletcher Park project so we really appreciate that and I think that's important for the public to know that they really give back to the community and I have been fortunate to work all 24 years with two individuals that i'm gonna call the organizers for the event but it is the volunteer group but the burn and linda cummings i again i think i've worked with them every twenty four years on this event and they just go above and beyond uh... VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITY, SO I WANTED TO RECOGNIZE THEM THIS YEAR FOR THEIR SERVICE. AND BEFORE WE ASK THEM TO COME UP, I HAD THE PLEASURE OF WORKING WITH MARK THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, VAN KERBERK, IF I SAID YOUR NAME RIGHT, IT'S ONE OF THOSE. So he might be the next generation of volunteers up and coming, but this year he added on the swap meet to the car show. And again, I'm going to bring Vern and Linda up, but we had a record number of cars this year, so it was pretty exciting. So Vern and Linda, if you could come up. I believe the mayor has a... little recognition certificate for you.

Yeah, if you've never been to this event, you really are missing something else. Really special downtown and Verne and Linda are very instrumental in making that happen. We certainly appreciate that. I have a certificate of appreciation to Verne and Linda Cummings. This recognition is by St. Clair City Council appreciation for your community commitment and dedication to the excellence of the city of St. Clair that he has shown during your 20 plus years of generous service as a volunteer to St. Clair Cruisers for the St. Clair River Classic Car Show. So, Mr. and Mrs. Cummings, if I can tell you.

And we want everybody to get ready for the 25th annual River Classic Car Show next year. We're going to be bigger and better. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Next year will be the 25th, and hopefully it'll be bigger and better, and as long as we can keep doing it, and all these people back here, they collect the money. Keep the parking straight. Yeah, keep everybody parking in the right spots, and that's what we, we ran out of room this year. We had to close the door at 1025 in the morning. Wow.

We had a record 365 cars in the car this year.

365, wow. Yep, and I'm sure we turned away 50 to 100 cars. So next year we may have to make it bigger. But thank you so much. Thank you. We enjoyed doing it. Thank you very much. Thank you.

And I should add, we cannot do any of these special events without city council support and the police department and the parks and grounds and the DPW. They all make it possible. So, do you want me to go on to my next question? Okay. We want to recognize an Eagle Scout project. Unfortunately, the individual's not here. We will definitely invite him to a future city council meeting so that you can meet him in person. But it was a summer project, and we wanted to make sure that we recognized him for it. But his name is Ian Justa. He's a St. Clair High School student. I think he's in the band, too. Yes. So we met with him as the rec commission to come up with a project for clutch a park and We came up with the idea of providing children sized picnic tables for the park and Ian went around and received donations and he was able to purchase seven of these picnic tables and I'm going to recruit him for some of my future projects. We have two at the main pavilion. We have two at the shade pavilion by the splash pad, two by the ball field, and then one by the playground. And each of the picnic tables has a plaque that acknowledges his Eagle Scout project and donors that contributed to the project. Like I said, HOPEFULLY WE CAN HAVE IAN COME TO A FUTURE MEETING AND HE CAN TELL YOU MORE ABOUT THAT. HE ALSO RECRUITED A CREW THAT HELPED ASSEMBLE THE PICNIC TABLES THAT ARE IN THE MAIN PAVILION AT KLETCHER PARK AND HE ALSO HELPED WITH THE ARBOR DAY FREE TREE GIVEAWAY THAT WE COORDINATE WITH CARGILL. And we liked him so much that we offered him a summer seasonal position with our parks department. So he's been working for us for the summer. So he's just an all-around great person and a very good mentor and good representation for the Scouts of America. And this was a very successful Eagle Scout project. So... AGAIN, WE'LL GET A CHANCE TO HAVE YOU MEET HIM IN PERSON. THERE'S A PICTURE OF THE ACTUAL PLAQUE THAT HE PUT ON ALL OF THEM. THE OTHER THING IS, HE HAD THESE PICNIC TABLES READY FOR OUR CLUTCH OF PARK DAY THAT WAS MAY 16, BUT THEY WERE JUST DELIVERED DAYS BEFORE, SO HE SPENT ALL NIGHT GETTING THEM READY AND HE HAD THEM DELIVERED SO THAT WE HAD THEM FOR THAT EVENT. So that was pretty impressive. And then the next recognition that we have is for Women's Life Chapter 814. And they contacted us and said that they wanted to do a fundraiser for the pool, came up with the idea of doing a pool party. And part of their fundraising is they provide matching funds. So you come up with so much funds and then they'll match it. and i don't know if you recall but the date we picked for our pool party was june 14th and it was not a good weather day it was actually downpouring thunder lightning but we still had members of the women's life group come to support the project we had people from our community support the project they bought raffle tickets we had food trucks there The food trucks donated a portion back to the fundraising, and we were able to raise enough funds, and we received a check from the Women's Life Group for the amount of $1,900. So we wanted to recognize that, and I don't know if Ms. Annette wants to say anything, because she is a member of that organization.

I put her on the spot. Congratulations on a successful event, even though, as you said, the weather was not ideal. It was the hottest week of the summer up until that day. But again, the community rallied, and we were happy to be able to meet the match and present the funds, and we know it's going to a worthy cause. So congratulations and thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Therese.

All right, thank you.

Thank you to all those groups also.

Yes.

And because those groups are so important, they move out here a lot of their time. Before we move on to the rest of the agenda, if you'd like to leave right now, you don't have to listen anymore. But you're more than welcome to stay, but it's up to you. But thank you very much for what you do for us. Don't be shy, Vern. All right, let's go to number six, Orders and Resolutions. A, Orders Adopted 2026-2, Virtual Currency Machines. Mr. Duchene, is that you?

Mr. Mayor, members of council, having received no comments, concerns, or requests for additional information, we recommend the ordinance that was introduced be adopted by city council this evening.

We've talked about this quite a bit. I'm assuming this has taken any notes we've put in, and it's a final draft that Mr. Downey's comfortable with, and a step in the right direction for the future, I would say. Yes. I'll make a motion to approve.

Support. All right, the motion is made. Support or questions? All in the roll, please.

Kufa? Yes. Laporte? Yes. Paul?

Yes.

Bowles?

Yes.

Westrick? Yes. Gottler? Yes. Cedar?

Yes.

Ordinance adopted.

All right, thank you, let's go to B. President of 2620, fiscal year 26 budget amendments, Mr. Duchesne.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, myself and the finance director recommend the budget amendments as presented. Just in a summary of our report. The city continues to maintain a strong fiscal position. The consolidated gains across all of the funds are projected to be $1,450,187. The general fund specifically remains healthy with an amended budget gain of $592,453. Final set of budget amendments will be presented to council in September. As you know, our fiscal year ends September 30th. and we'll be addressing that, and then we'll be proposing the 26-27 budget on I think the first meeting in August, which is August 3rd. So with that, happy to answer any questions, but recommend the adoption of the amendment as presented.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Motion's made, support or questions? I guess my only question is, so what we're amending is that we're just accepting these numbers of the analysis.

Yes, they've all been updated. The finance director has gone through the claims and accounts, the progress of the budget in the accounts, both revenue and expenses. Been brought those up to date through the date of the proposed amendment, and that's the result in the resolution you have identifies and acknowledges those. Anybody else?

Call the roll, please.

The part yes, all yes, all yes, Western. Yes, who fun. Yes, Peter, yes, resolution adopted.

Thank you will see resolution 2621 of that for highway.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, in the insatiable appetite of MDOT to consume resolutions and redundancy, we recommend resolution 2621 be adopted. It is a heavily funded resolution I believe over $392,000 is from statewide funds and our portion would be about $197,000 for the portion of Fredmore Highway that was part of the grant program. So with that, we're glad to ask the council to authorize me to enter the agreement. So we'll support.

Motions be supported. Any questions? Okay, so we've been awarded 349.

349, sorry.

And the product is 441, so we've gotta come up with about 90?

Yes, and we've planned on doing so. Okay, anything else?

All right, call the roll, please.

Call.

Yes.

Rolls.

Yes.

Westrick.

Yes.

Butler.

Yes.

Buffa. Yes. Laporte. Yes. Seder. Yes. Resolution adapted.

Thank you. Go to reports administration number seven.

I haven't had much to say tonight, so I'll keep it lengthy. The only thing I'll mention is that we have a bid out for 6th Street, Water Main. And I just want to say this weekend, I was very proud and pleased with the entire response of all city officers and agents and how quickly we got help from DTE and others. uh reach out to them and say thank you and i'm very sorry for the people who were injured uh with the high whatever we're calling these things in michigan now they're not tornadoes they're high straight line winds and the damage that was done will be in constant cleanup for a while and i think we put out the forces to do so and at times i was talking to our chief foreman while he's running a front-end loader. So it certainly put everybody to use, and I appreciate Dan and Annette and everybody else driving around town, checking on things. I enjoyed my trip around town and talking to some of the council members while we were doing so. But sorry, it happened. We're in cleanup phase, and I only ask, again, people help us as much as possible with the brush, Try to put it into, you know, bundles if possible. Put it out by the curb. We're going to try to get to it. We do have race week. We have a lot of things to go on. But I think the community is coming together and going to look very good for the events that are coming up. And we'll do our best. If we miss something, let us know. We'll put you on the schedule. But there isn't going to be a date, I can guarantee you. We'll get the brush picked up. It's going to be...

a while in a process so but we are working at it each and every day any questions for mr duchy mr doughty anything nothing this evening your honor for that you had something uh yes early voting for the august primary the august primary is tuesday august 4th on election day polls will be open per usual 7 a.m to 8 p.m But early voting does start this Saturday, July 25th, and runs through Sunday, August 1st. And those hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. And early voting is held here at City Hall in this room, actually. So we do have a meeting the Monday prior on August 3rd. So it will be set up for Election Day the next day. We'll have some chairs out, but that's not unusual for this group with our meetings being on the first Monday and elections on the first Tuesday. But I just wanted to let you all know early voting starts this Saturday, which is vote race weekend. So we will be in the precinct for you all day on Saturday and Sunday.

Thank you. Good luck.

Thank you.

Any other departments?

Just to follow up with the boat race weekend, my initial memo to the council that we were going to shut the road down on Tuesday at 6 p.m., MDOT said we can't do that. They looked at their administrative rules, and they thought Tuesday was unreasonable because the boat race was supposed to be on the actual permit was supposed to be Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So they thought Tuesday was not reasonable with their administrative rules, so they said Wednesday at 6 p.m. now. So instead of Tuesday at 6 p.m., it's gonna be Wednesday at 6 p.m. So I'll talk to the vote-raise committee. Maybe next year we can put a little more teeth into our request and get Tuesday shut down. But as far as this year, it's gonna be Wednesday at 6 p.m. through Monday morning, 8, 9 a.m. Any questions? All right, thank you. Thank you, Chief.

Okay, we'll go to D authorities board commissioners committee chair local report August 1st boat harbors throwing a Mardi Gras party They're asking for donations for snap a cat food dog food supplies and all proceeds will be going to snap Thank you and Murphy's will be providing burgers and hot dogs free of charge and boobies and

We have gobies playing? Usually.

Yeah, I think the gobies are playing.

August 1st.

Yeah, the gobies, August 1st. Thank you. Thank you, Mitch. That's a good event. That's a great event.

I'll mention a couple things too. The bike parade last week was great and lots of kids participated in that and their involvement in the historical society and going through the museum and seeing that whole, it's just awesome. If you haven't been to the event, seeing our kids go through the historical museum is really a great addition to that event as well. The Library Commission is doing really well and I just wanted to mention they have a summer reading program that they, not just our branch but throughout the county, 3300 PARTICIPANTS ARE TAKING PART IN THE SUMMER READING CHALLENGE AND OUR BRANCH IN PARTICULAR HAS DONE A BUNCH OF OUTREACH, INCLUDING GETTING KINDERGARTENERS TO GET THEIR LIBRARY CARDS BEFORE THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR THIS YEAR, SO IT'S A REALLY NICE THING THAT THEY'VE GOT GOING ON. CHECK OUT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY, I GUESS. AND THEN LAST COMMENT I GUESS I'LL HAVE IS IT'S GREAT TO SEE COX ROAD HAVING A SIDEWALK GETTING DEVELOPED AND WE HAVEN'T SEEN PILES OF DEAD BATS ANYWHERE YET, SO I THINK THAT'S WONDERFUL. Anything else?

All right. Let's go to vote number eight. Anything there? Vote number nine, new business. A, approve BS&A cloud agreement.

Mr. McShane. Mr. Mayor, members of council, the basic financial system of the city, as well as components of inspections, utility billing, everything is tied into the BS&A. software system. Local governments use it wide in Michigan as well as it communicates to the county, et cetera. It is transitioning from BSNA.net as the primary system to BSNA Cloud. The long-term benefits certainly make it not only a benefit investment necessary, but really necessary to do business in the future. This is getting us ahead of the schedule. By approval tonight, we'll be able to get scheduled up and get this rolling ahead. And as you see, it's critical to all municipal operations. So I do recommend the treasurer's request be approved and the appropriate documents be authorized to sign for a BS&A customer order form.

Support. Questions? Call the roll, please.

Poles?

Yes.

Lester? Yes. Butler?

Yes.

Cufa?

Yes.

LaPorte?

Yes.

Hall?

Yes.

Cedar?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Go to B, approved purchase offer items. Mr. Dowdy has asked me to ask us to table this as upon his inspection of the purchase.

Well, two issues, Your Honor. One, first is I think some members of council discovered that there was not an accurate photograph or map of the parcel that I think was key to the discernment that many council members wanted to do in evaluating the offer. But secondly, the purchase agreement itself I THINK IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO MAKE SURE THAT THE SUBJECT PROPERTY HAD A TYPOGRAPHICAL TO MAKE SURE THAT THE SUBJECT PROPERTY HAD A TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR IN WHICH THE PARCEL ID not to consider this tonight until a signed agreement that accurately reflects the critical details of the agreement is sent to the city. And with that, our ability to be able to analyze the precise location of this parcel. I'll make a motion to table the purchase.

Okay, motion to be supported. Table, questions? All right, call the roll, please.

Westrick?

Yes.

Fowler?

Yes.

Buffa? Yes. LaCourte? Yes. Hall? Yes. Wolfe?

Yeah.

Cedar?

Yes.

Motion carries.

All right, so let's go to C, consider time change for August 17th meeting. So here's what's happening. As you may know, the fire authority for the last few years, they're trying to figure out where or how to build a new fire hall. What they've come to is a renovation of the current location. That night, August 17th, is the night that they are calling a meeting of the townships and the city because Lisa McClain's office will be there and Dan Lauer's office will be there. And what they're looking for is to get a grant to help build this $9.9 million renovation. And McClain's office had made it very clear to the fire authority that they went through this up north somewhere. I don't remember if it's Caseville or East Tawas. And they thought that all four entities were in agreement. And when they got to the actual meeting, two weren't. And they said, we're not throwing money at a program that you guys are not unanimously endorsing. So they want me, at least me and maybe Mr. Duchesne at this meeting on August 17th to show our unity, we'll call that, for this project. So I'm just asking, can we move our meeting that night to four o'clock or move it to Tuesday, either one, so I can go to that meeting?

What time is our meeting? Six.

What was the date, the fourth?

August 11th.

Oh, the second one, okay.

Yeah.

I'm okay with either.

Either one, four or move to the next day?

I would be better off the next day, that early is tough for me, but I'll listen to anybody else's comments and I'm flexible.

18th is fine, six o'clock.

You think Chris?

No, we're good.

Either way?

Bill? Either way? We need a motion.

Okay, so August 18th, is that what you were thinking, move to August 18th at 6 o'clock? To Tuesday, yeah. Tuesday.

Yep, I'll make that motion.

All right. Yep. Board. Okay, so the motion is made to move the August 17th meeting to August 18th at 6 o'clock. Any questions? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, thank you. All right, we'll see how that turns out. Okay, let's go to D. This is gonna be Mr. Downey. Give us a... Mr. Downs does some research on the 500 federal highway property. Is he going to share that with us at this time?

Some members of council might recall within the last decade there was a similar issue that came up with respect to, it was a proposed parking lot for the then owners of the St. Clair Inn. They sought to lease or purchase, I'm not sure which actually, AN ASPECT OF THE SAME PARCEL AND IN THE COURSE OF THE RESEARCH OF THAT PROPOSED TRANSACTION WAS DISCOVERED THE STATE OF MICHIGAN GRANTED THE CITY OF ST. CLAIR THAT PARCEL IN 1940 AND THE 1940 DEED CARRIED WITH IT A DEED RESTRICTION THAT THE property used for a public person uh purpose for a period of 10 years and there are two ways of analyzing the language uh the language that some people would prefer is to is to interpret it as uh the city used it for a public purpose for 10 years and that time frame expired in nineteen fifty and thereafter the city owns it without the deed restriction however because of the way the ten-year term is phrased I'm of the mind that it's an ongoing ten-year period So in other words, there might be times if the city wants to lease the property for a period of time, that's okay. But within every 10 years, it has to be maintained by the city of St. Clair. I think that if the city is contemplating a sale of 500 Fred Moore, we're likely going to encounter litigation. The city may well prevail. uh the city may not but i think there's a certainty given this uh language that is problematic i'll also note that in 1988 in the course of some development on this property the city received title insurance from uh here in title uh still a going concern in port huron they do a lot of the title work for the city and in 1988 the uh the people that reviewed uh the city's deed at the time took the view of the latter interpretation that is that the public purpose uh deed restriction is an ongoing 10-year uh look so in other words uh our own title insurer uh has the is of the opinion that the city could not sell the property without losing it back to the state of michigan so i just want uh... council to be aware of that and uh... i have authored uh... some correspondence to you gets a little a little bit more detail might be happy to take any questions that you have so they have a son they have a ten-year limit on it but the ten years never expires essentially every ten years I DON'T HAVE THE VERBAGE IN FRONT OF ME, BUT EVERY, IT MUST BE UNDER USED FOR A PUBLIC PURPOSE WITHIN A TEN-YEAR TIME FRAME. SO, YEAH, IT'S SORT OF A RESET.

AND WHO WOULD HAVE STANDING TO SUE US, THE STATE OF MICHIGAN?

THE STATE WOULD BE THE.

SOLD A PIECE OF PROPERTY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEEDED BACK TO THEM?

YES, THE CITY FORFEITED ITS RIGHT TO THE PROPERTY BY SELLING IT, NOT USING IT FOR A PUBLIC PURPOSE ANY LONGER.

CAN WE CLARIFY WHAT PARCEL THAT IS?

It's across the street from the golf course.

Gravel lot?

Gravel lot, and this 500, Fred Moore actually has a building on it. It's the former Special Police Post. It's by Beast Building.

So we're talking about the Special Police Building and the gravel lot?

That's all part of the deed from 1940.

Okay. All right. I'm assuming there's more than one deed then? Because isn't that split by a road?

It might be Francis Street in between. Yeah. And I think, actually, subsequently, there is a legal description for 500 Fred Moore, but it's all part of the same grant.

There's a public purchase, because we've been leasing it out. Is that considered a public purchase? Yes. well it reverts back to the city at the expiration of the lease and i think the lee as long as the lease term doesn't exceed 10 years okay the city would be fine all right so well this isn't really an action item it's just uh information well unless i think i i would like to try to see if we can get this thing tidied up tonight and if we can't sell it but we can lease it My opinion is just this, why don't we just pull the listing, direct administration to renegotiate the contract for that rent there, because it is too low, it's not market rate, and set up a lease that works within the parameters of this deed restriction. Let's move out from this property, let's get it out to where we're actually making a fair rent on it, and move forward from that.

I've got one comment. So if it comes back to we're going to lease it, can it be more than two years so it comes to council so we can approve it? One year, we don't have to. I think two years has got to come to us. A two-year lease?

I just want to get this thing cleaned up and get moving forward.

I just want market value.

Yeah, so I guess it would have been appropriate for me to make a motion to the effect of... Directing the administration to discontinue the sale of 500 Fenway Highway and direct the administration to negotiate a market rate rent for that property. And, Yes. I guess that's it right there.

Yes. Mr. Mayor, can I? Yeah. Can it be understood that I actually advertise that the lease is available, or do you want me just to negotiate with the current leasee that we're on a month-to-month now, so we're open?

Oh, we're gonna negotiate with the current leasee, and if they're not interested, then you would...

then go are we going to define a rate and it goes empty if it's not appropriate and then we wait for the appropriate runner at the appropriate rate so it doesn't have additional wear and tear like If he negotiates with the current tenant and they don't want it, we'll advertise it out. Well, when we say negotiate, like what they're willing to pay or we're going to dictate what it's worth. And if they move out or they stay, that's up to them. But I don't want to get into a negotiation and be leasing equipment just because a current renter or there's not an available renter for market rate that might come through in 30 days or 60 days or 90 days. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So market is market. Right. I think that's the question is, are we going to set market and they can take it at market or not?

That would be my thought and procedure was to find out what market value this property would have. I've heard some things to this point. and get that firmed up let you know what that rate would be i mean i've heard you know 900 a thousand a month plus property taxes etc um if that's the rate that's where we start and if property have taxes if we own it we just well because we want to make money we don't want to we can't I guess Mr. Downey can weigh in here, but when a public rents or leases something, that becomes a taxable event. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, so then we would put, because it's about $2,700 a year on the property taxes plus the base rent on that. i i would have to establish that base rent then then i would look for something that's like up to maybe three years in leases so we don't do this all the time and start commenting on counting on the money for public improvements is what this whole exercise would kind of be about we want to generate money for the public um so that would be my idea in identifying what it is what's what can we get for this building if we have to lease it, what the rate is then, and if you want, we'll start with the current tenant, and if they reject that, then I would ask that we put that out for notice that the property is available for lease.

Now, can we lease it in part, or would that lease have to include that parking lot?

It does have a separate address. Yes, at some point it was divided. So it is a discreet parcel.

So then part two of all this, can the city do anything with that without fixing the, like, would we be limited to only building our own building on that? Would that be even acceptable? Or it's just sitting there and every 10 years, it's like a perpetual.

Are you talking about the parking lot or the building though?

Well, everything for that matter, but the parking lots, you know, Would it just sit like it is and we would use it when we have row construction or the boat races come to town?

It's actually part of Pike George parking lot, I believe.

I don't know. It looks like it was a big dedication from the state of Michigan for public purposes. I guess I'm just shortchanging it for public parks and purposes, and then it got chunked off for different things. That lot is in noncompliance with our code of ordinances, so I had been making some plans to... resurface it or bring it up to standards at some point in time. And hearing what Mr. Downey said, it seems like that's been separated and I don't think that parking, now I'd have to ask though, I'd have to double check the zoning unless he particularly knows or they've asked before on this, Jim, whether does that have to go to make the use of that building compliant with our parking regulations?

I don't believe it does. I don't think that's the case under the current agreement.

Okay. Well, that solves a little bit of that.

I mean, it just brings up more questions for me. Does Francis and Sevens define that parcel or how many parcels going down that road that's just not the special police building but the building next to it? and then the buildings next to that. It's just a weird, without seeing the plot plan and understanding what was part of the original, we're only looking at a part of this information being asked to make a decision. I'd like to see the whole thing.

The building there was owned by Jeff, I can't think of his name, but that's a whole separate...

Yeah, but was it that way from 1940 or since 1940 have we been in default of selling off property?

The only thing that we have anything to do with is the old special police post and that parking lot that Steve's referencing. But they're separate.

Are you saying that perhaps there was a larger parcel between 1940 that was... Well, that's what I'm confused.

It's just a weird... Like, if it was just the corner, I get it. But now it's the corner and one building across, but not any of the other buildings. So I just... I'm being asked to make a decision on something I have very little information on of the entirety of the situation. I just... I would like more information.

Yeah, so I guess I'm just going to... Go out there and just say I'm gonna make a motion to direct the administration to discontinue the listing selling of 500 Federal Highway and to initiate a negotiation of a market rate rent for that property with the current holder and if that doesn't come to fruition then we move on and advertise the property and put it out there. That's my motion.

I'll support it.

All right, so the motion remains supported.

Do you have an idea?

Any questions? Yes, sir. I don't know what happened there.

I got a question about the parking lot.

You said the state give it to city for public use? Not the parking lot. The parking lot next to the... Did Steve say, was that part of the grant from the state department?

I don't believe so. I think it, yes. I believe it is.

So that's part of it. Yeah. So it's given by the city, by the state for public use. Is what I, if I understood it correct, right? Yes. So if that's being said, why did the city charge people in parking during the fireworks?

Thank you. Mr. Shane, I know I was looking into that.

I am at this time. Yep.

Any other questions? All right, so the motions may support, I think we better call a roll call on this.

Butler?

Yes.

Kufa?

Yes.

LaPorte?

Yes.

Powell?

No.

Wolfe?

No.

Westrick?

No.

Cedar?

Yes.

Motion carries.

All right, thank you. Let's go to claims and accounts for July 8, 16, 2026.

Hearing no questions, Your Honor, I make a motion to approve as presented.

Questions?

All in favor say aye.

Aye. Opposed? All right, let's go to 11, public questions and public comments. Anybody have anything? All right, let's go to number 12. I've got a couple things. First of all, everybody remember now, big election coming up for road millage. This is a renewal. It's not an additional or new tax. It's a renewal of the existing millage from the past ten years. Please get out and vote and support that if you could so we can continue our road program. I also did a lot of moving around Saturday after that storm, and one thing that I really noticed was I was pleasantly surprised how many neighbors were out helping each other just through that whole terrible situation. And of course, our DPW, our police department, our fire department, it was just a really good thing to see people coming together like that. Don't forget the boat races that come up this week. Classic Car Show, we recognize them, they did a great job. Marty Graw, August 1st. I think that's all I have. All right, we will go to, we need our motion for a closed session here.

I'll make a motion to go into closed session.

This is to discuss the strategy connected with the grocery and collective bargaining agreement with employees represented by police officers, labor, council, POLC.

Support.

Motion to make support questions. Call the roll to go in closed session please.

PUFA? Yes. LaPorte? Yes. Hall? Yes. Bull? Yes. Lester?

Yes.

Butler?

Yes.

Cedar?

Yes.

Motion carries.

You're welcome to wake up in the lobby. I don't believe we'll take action, but I can't say we won't for sure. But we'll come up and look and see if you're still there. Thank you, you guys. Thanks for everybody coming.

The preceding program was produced by CTV Community Television. CTV Community Television is supported by the cities of Marine City and St. Clair, East China Township, Cotterville Township, and the East China School District.