Commission - Regular Meeting

Great. We'll get started in a minute. We just got done with an ad hoc, so we're going to collect ourselves. Screens are probably kind of I don't know. How big? Delicious. I didn't even know they were. Yeah. Like at one point that was up to four ounces, but that's just normal chocolate.

This Friday. This Friday. Yeah. I'm ready. That was good. My birthday was last month.

Yes, of course. I had co That's right. I remember this now. I had a We had What a birthday. Yeah. Okay, everyone. Thank you for your patience as we transitioned over here for our ad hoc team. So, I'll call to order this regular city commission meeting of Monday, March 2nd. All please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I alian 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.

We begin as always by acknowledging the land on which we gather as the territory of the Ottawa and Chipua peoples who have stewarded this land through the generations. Thank you for your strength and resilience in protecting this land and inspiring us to uphold our responsibilities to do the same. And so with that, we will go ahead and get started. Oops, mine's a little off here. Oh, sorry. I opened my wrong meeting. I opened my I had my uh interview one. So, I believe with that we'll I'll take it. Thank you. I was going to say we'll start with Sarah. Thank you. Commissioner Bmer here. And Commissioner Funk here. Commissioner Shaw here. Commissioner Anderson here. Commissioner Shrewell here. Mayor here. Okay. And then with that, we'll go on to city manager. Correct.

Yes. Thank you. It's still loading here.

Absolutely. Uh good evening. I have some announcements to wait make for this week, the week of March 2nd, 2026. Uh and I'm I'm sharing this one because it's the first time since we had a televised city commission meeting uh since our strategy in motion event. And I want to thank everyone who was able to attend the city's first strategy in motion event which was held February 19th at the opera house. And that was the first time that we hosted such an event. And we plan on building upon it uh extensively for the future to reflect on our accomplishments and celebrate what is to come. And we're going to um really promote that event and provide even more uh notice so a lot more people can be there with us. Uh and as a reminder, the city's 2025 performance, which is our annual report, is now available and can be found on the city's website. Uh and then Hickory Hills hosted the Nordic State High School Championship this past weekend. Thank you to those who were able to attend and cheer on the athletes and we thank uh our partner Vasa Ski Club for helping bring this uh great event to Hickory. And also Hickory Hills is scheduled their last day of the Alpine season and the annual slush cup event on March 15th. The city is seeking several nominations right now. First is for the Coast Guard committee. They're seeking nominations for their annual guardian award uh nominating a Coast Guard member who has gone above and beyond. And second, the Human Rights Commission is seeking nominations for humanitarian efforts from a business and or an organization and their annual Sarah Hardy humanitarian award for individual humanitarian efforts. And those nomination forms can be found on the city's website under appointed boards, Coastg Guard Committee as the guardian award and human rights commission as the humanitarian award. And then lastly, uh the city's create uh seeking creative ideas that are low cost but provide high impact from community members to help support our strategic action plan. And a link to provide input and ideas can be

found on the city's website under news. And that's all that I've got. Thank you. Uh I was going to later on in the agenda. Fantastic. Under affairs.

All right. Oh yeah. Perfect. All right. And we'll let Sarah go ahead with updates from the city clerks, please. Meetings scheduled for this week are the planning commission will meet on Tuesday, March 3rd at 6 PM here in the commission chambers. Uh city commission ad hoc interview for election commission will meet on Wednesday, March 4th at noon at the second floor conference room. The downtown development authority tiff subcommittee will meet on Wednesday, March 4th at 4 p.m. in the commission chambers. The wreck authority meeting will be on Wednesday, March 4th at 7 p.m. in the chambers. And the Coast Guard committee will meet on Thursday, March 5th at noon at the air station. And I would just like to remind commissioners, staff, and members of the public to speak into the microphones for those watching at home in the recording of this meeting can be easily heard. Thank you.

Thank you. And we'll let you continue on with the consent calendar, please.

The consent calendar, the purpose of the consent calendar is to expedite business by grouping non-controversial items to be together to be dealt with by one commission motion without discussion. Any member of the commission, staff, or the public may ask that any item on the consent calendar be removed there from and placed elsewhere on the agenda for individual consideration by the commission and such requests will be automatically respected. If an item is not removed from the consent calendar, the action noted in parentheses on the agenda is approved by a single commission action adopting the consent calendar. One, consideration of approving the minutes of the February 17th, 2026 and February 23rd, 2026 meetingings of the city commission. Approval recommended. Two, consideration of authorizing a confirming purchase order for unled and diesel fuel for city operational use. Approval recommended. Three, consideration of authorizing an amended purchase order for snow plowing and hauling services in downtown for the 2025 2026 winter season to increase the total amount as a result of increased snowfall. Approval recommended. Four, consideration of authorizing an agreement for professional legal services associated with negotiating a cable franchise agreement with charter communications with the cost of such services to be shared among the consortium of jurisdictions negotiating collectively with the city to serve as a paying agent. Approval recommended. Five, consideration of authorizing agreements to provide for collaboration between the arts commission and old mission culture in support of the Trevor City edition of the Fresh Coast Film Festival through the Pay It Forward program. Approval recommended. Six, consideration of authorizing agreements to provide for collaboration between the Arts Commission and the Northwest Michigan Arts and Culture Network in support of the creation of a community art project through Paint It Forward program. Approval recommended. Seven, a consideration of authorizing amendment to the agreement for engineering services, including traffic engineering and construction inspection and as and other as needed general civil engineering tasks and to authorize the city manager to extend the agreement

yearly if pricing remains the same. Approval recommended. Eight, consideration of releasing interest in abandoned underground elements at Fish Pass and Central United Methodist Church. Approval recommended. Nine, consideration of introducing and schedule for possible enactment on March 16th, 2026 an amendment to the Trevor City Code of Ordinances which would establish a rightaway ordinance. Introduction is scheduled for possible enactment on March 16th, 2026. And we will be doing a few edits to add some clarifying things in between now and when it's enactment. And we'll highlight those in the next meeting packet redlinined. So you'll be able to see those and they're not substantive. They're not substantive.

There's some language changing uh changes that were requested. 11. Consideration of adoption of the resolution deficit elimination plan adoption recommended. I think I skip 10. Consideration of introducing and scheduling possible enactment on March 16th, 2026. An amendment to the Traverse City code of ordinances which amends the parking related enforcement of rightaway introduction and schedule for possible enactment on March 16th, 2026. Recommended. Thank you, Sarah. Any commissioner would like any item removed from the consent calendar. Eight. Eight. Okay. I think that's eight. The fish pass. Yes. Fish pass one. Yep. Jackie number three and number 11, please. Okay. 10.

10. 10. Okay. Anyone else from the public like to remove anything from the consent calendar other than 8 3 11 and 10? Okay, bringing it back. I take a motion. Just got a quick comment on two that I Okay, that I can be glad that despite the international happenings, we were able to get in a fuel pushes order at this timely juncture at a very reasonable rate. That's a good point. All right, I'll take a motion then for our consent calendar. So moved. No, I I move to approve as amended. Perfect. Thank you, Commissioner. And I'll give you that second. Commissioner Bulmer, all in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes. We'll start with number eight. And how you had that one removed?

Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to stop this, but um it's because all the parties have agreed to it. But I'm sure that the back 150 years ago, they thought burying the trains out in front of the Indigo was a really good idea because nobody was ever going to need to dig there ever again. Um, my family used to push cars over the bluff because ever think that that was going to be a problem. And you know, you've got how many? 25 20 25 foot long 6 in steel bars that are going to be five feet under the ground. And I I I feel like you just you always need to clean up your mess. Clean up your mess. That's all I have to say.

Okay, Jackie.

Um my question on the same item had to do with um the agreement itself. I know that it indicates that Central United Methodist Church may in the future at their convenience remove these abandoned supports. Does it also specify that that would be at their expense? Right. So, it would be that it it basically just says that they can remove them if they redo their parking lot later. They're they belong to them going forward. Um, and the reason they're not being removed is it would require that parking lot to be ripped up, and that's not what anybody wants. So, um, they're not doing anything structurally anymore. They were just used to hold up, um, the wall while it was being constructed. I'm not an engineer, but they're not needed anymore. Um, and it would be uh, more work than it's worth to get them out. And Central United is aware of that, and they've agreed to that. and they know that if they ever want or need to to get them out of there for any reason, they can go ahead and do so

at their expense. Yep. Okay. Thank you. That's explicit. Do we have any more questions or a motion? Go ahead, Lance. Let me make sure I'm doing the right one. Yes. Okay. Uh move that staff recommends the city the very top sheet. Excellent. I move that the mayor and city clerk execute the necessary agreements to release and terminate any interest in the abandoned underground construction supports as presented in the packet materials for March 2nd, 2026 city commission meeting. Such documents subject to approval as to substance by the city manager and to formed by the city attorney. Second.

Thank you for that. Commissioners Treble and Boomer. Any other comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you for that and the good point about leaving our stuff around. Um, number three was an excellent poll. That was Sorry, Jackie.

Yay. I had a clarifying question, please. Um, do I understand correctly, this is only for additional snow plowing in the downtown district. And my question is whether we expect any additional funds to be needed for plowing the rest of the city in light of our extraordinary snowfalls this year. Sure. Uh, Mr. Weber is going to come to the podium. Thank you, sir. I'll just answer the first question. This is specifically to downtown, this particular purchase order. And then the second question is for Chris Weber, our street superintendent. I I'm sorry I missed the second question. Could you please repeat it?

The second question had to do with whether you expect additional snow snow plowing funds to be necessary for the rest of the city given our extraordinary snowfalls this season. Uh no, not for the rest of the city. It's just for the downtown. May I ask a follow-up question? Why why did it affect downtown differently than the rest of the city? It's just we had a set contract amount um based on historical data and snowfall amounts. The typical amount that we had budgeted and had in the contract for previous years which was sufficient due to the increased snowfall frequency. Uh we had surpassed that contracted amount. So yes,

so snow plowing budgets for the rest of the city are set very differently than than snow plowing budgets for the downtown. This is a contract just with a contractor. Um, all of our other operational funds are budgeted and that we're all still within budget for that. Um, because it's all handled by staff employees. So, Mulan doesn't, right? Versus a contractor. So, there may be at the end of the fiscal year some budget reconciliations or potentially if overtime is such uh that we do run over, but that would be yeah end of fiscal year movement or item for your action. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Go ahead. I just have a clarification. It's not just plowing. It's hauling.

Plowing and hauling. Yes. And if you've noticed around town, the plowing is done, but there's piles of snow everywhere. So, thank you. Go ahead. I guess I got a question on that. If it is in the downtown area, does the DDA contribute at all to the snow removal to the plowing

to that Molan contract? So it's my understanding that there is a service agreement with the DDA uh where they have a set amount that they pay back to the city for these services that we have negotiated or agreed upon. Um so in in you know in they do pay that back to the city for these services. Um and that's through a service agreement that they have. Okay. So this

is is there any kind of contingency to that? Like there was a forecasted budgeted amount for snow removal and then we exceeded that because of the extraordinary weather conditions. Is there anything that says that if the same thing happens like what happened to us that we're now paying $150,000 extra? Is it is there a mechanism for the DDA to contribute like a compensary amount?

Uh yes. Uh right now there is an agreed Well, let me just start over. There is an agreed upon service standard uh that we've agreed to keep it at uh 2 in within the downtown area and that's because there is a service agreement in place. Um I want to be though very candid uh and clear in my answer and say that we are continuing to iron out how that service agreement works uh because there's some ambiguity uh in there in terms of the how things are quantified. Uh so um to say it more specifically uh there it could be uh depending on how things shape out on all the things that are covered under that service agreement where there's some some times where they come out ahead sometimes they come out behind. Same thing for the city. It is not 100% a dollar fordollar uh situation

and I just want to be very clear about that. Yeah. Thank you. And that's very fair and understandable. So, I just was curious if if that did exist and if that was a mechanism that was going to get utilized in this as far as like a percentage sharing. So, that's that was just my question to to be clear though, this $150,000 will be paid back by the DA. No, we're it will come from streets and parking funds.

Okay. Then we'll have to get it back from them. Okay. That's what I was trying to clarify. The money trail. Okay. Uh do we have more questions or do we want a motion? I move that the city manager be authorized to issue an amended purchase order to Mullen Excavating of Traverse City, Michigan for additional not to for an additional not to exceed amount of $150,000 to the existing purchase order for downtown snowplowing and hauling with funds available in streets and parking funds and further to approve approve a budget amendment for use of fund balance to cover the authorized expenditures from the streets and parking funds. Thank you.

Second. Okay, Commissioner Shaw and Commissioner Bmer, any further comments on this item fast. Okay, seeing none, any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the commission. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you for that. And then let me update here. The next item is item 11, the resolution for deficit elimination plan. And Jackie, you wanted this bold. Go ahead.

Yes. Thank you. A quick question. Um, I realize this is the prior prior season of skiing, not the current season, but um, I wondered if the the negative component um to the fund balance was a shortfall in revenue last year or an excess of expense. Uh, so there's always uh the Hickory Hills fund is not self- sustaining. There's always a general fund uh contribution every year. Um and it was just an oversight when we did our yearend transfer in to cover. We always want to make sure we have enough operating cash and cash flow. Um but with the state calculation, it we had to reduce the um liabilities. So it was just that small variation when we did the transfer.

Thank you very much. I didn't understand. That's a good question. Uh do we have other questions or would somebody like to make a motion? I move that the resolution deficit elimination plan be adopted and further that the required budget adjustment for an additional general fund appropriation to the Hickory Hills fund as identified in the deficit elimination plan be approved.

Second. Thank you for that. Any further discussion? Any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the commission. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Okay. And lastly, item number 10. And was that you, Ken, who pulled that? Yeah. Sorry, I have a very short-term memory tonight. So, go ahead. Sorry.

Yeah, I requested number 10. And um my question to it was, do we currently have a problem with park with parked trailers in metered parking areas? Um, I'll ask Nicole Vaness, our uh, parking and mobility director to uh, speak to that because she has boots on the ground experience with that question.

Good evening, Nicole Vaness turns our parking and mobility director. Um, yeah. So, the purpose of changing this ordinance is that we often get called um to address complaints in residential areas uh, because we don't just enforce in downtown, we enforce all over the city. And currently the way that the ordinance is structured is that we have to chalk a unhitched vehicle, mobile home, trailer, boat, um, uh, rolloff dumpster, any of those items before we can take any action or we have to call in another agency. And so, uh, this would allow us to take action at the time that we're called out versus chalking or marking and then following up.

And the other agencies that would do the enforcement, such as the police department, don't have that 48 hour chalking uh, requirement. So, this doesn't reduce anybody's rights or anything. It just provides more um more swift enforcement and more capacity. But directly though, can you answer if it's a is it a big issue? Like what's been the frequency, if you will, just generally speaking?

Yeah, so most time we get called about um campers with extension cords coming from homes out to the street. They've got the bumpouts or uh whatever that extension is called on a camper trailer. Um and and sometimes they're there for a weekend, sometimes they're there for a week. Um you know, and we're reliant on staff being able to chalk and then come back to again to the situation. Um and we also get called sometimes about uh boats that don't move that will be stored for two weeks on street. Um technically it's it's not allowed. Um but right now it's happening just because um you know we either have to call out another agency to assist us or um or we have to try to get back over there once staff is available.

I I kind of had a couple like a leadin to this. So this doesn't this doesn't only affect metered parking areas. This is going to affect streets and alleys. Um there So right now when PD can come and do it as they're available to do it, they can issue citations right away. And is it is it like a a fine citation or is it just a move it now like a fix it ticket kind of situation? Uh no, there is a fine associated and that is a part of the requested change is to up as is to um it's right now it's a storage of 48 to remove that uh from the violation.

Okay. I I kind of I kind of thought that it might go this direction just because when PD writes a ticket where does the money that we don't get the revenue for our police department writing tickets. Correct. So right now any parking violations go into the parking fun PD though PD is issuing citations for parking enforcement. and it does go back into the parking fund.

And that's in a roundabout way. This was something that we used to track revenue by each agency issuing parking citations. And then at one point, Bill Tweet Meer um the former uh city treasurer did a deep dive along with staff at the time and what they were actually issuing that revenue and what was going back into the city fee and everything kind of balanced out. So, uh that whole process of actually tracking down to who's doing what, um was eliminated. Um, and it's it's it balances itself out. Now, have a question. Go ahead.

So, with a revision to um looks like uh for a prohibited purpose storage um are we referring to like those storage boxes for moving? Um yeah. So, this is um in conjunction with the rightway ordinance that was I believe item the one right above this item number nine

also on the consent. Um, so right now, you know, if if somebody's doing work on their home and they um contract out for a dumpster that gets pulled off by a hitch um and it gets parked in the street and then the neighbor complains, we usually call just to see if they have a rideway permit on file. U most time that's when we also refer them to the engineering department to obtain a rideway permit. Um but they still don't have um access currently to store stuff in the street or in the city right away. And so by obtaining a permit, they could. Um but anyone who's not doing so or if they go past the time um like right now engineering will not allow you to do a rolloff dumpster or unhitched dumpster past the um winter time frame. So past November 15th. This winter we've had um numerous calls to complain about um construction that's being done and dumpsters that have been snowplowed in. Um but we cannot take action because we have to chalk and then go back and oftentimes we end up calling the construction agency to have them try to pick them up. um to see if that's a fast resolution, but it's just a lot of administrative time um versus taking action.

Okay, that answers my second question which was around do we have a process where if somebody is doing moving for example into the neighborhood and they want to have a you know the those movable boxes uh on the street for a number of days while they make that transition that we actually enable them to do that restricting. Yes, we do. Yep. They have to get a permit. A rightaway permit. Permit. Yes. Okay. Okay. So, I I look at this as kind of like an opportunity to close an enforcement loop with a penalty

um and an enforcement loop that's already available. This just makes it more efficient because then parking staff can take care of the issue and our police department has other things that are more pressing for their their their role in my opinion. Yeah. So yeah, this obviously this I wondered if this would affect metered parking or all parking across the city, anyone anywhere, all alleys, the street in front of their house to the public rightway. Correct.

Do we have other questions right now or a motion? I move that the amendments to the Traverse City Code of Ordinances to chapter 1025, rightway, which establishes the rightway ordinance be introduced and scheduled for possible enactment on March 16th, 2026. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Anderson. Um, any further comment or questions on this? This isn't going into effect tonight. This is getting moved forward to the 16th,

right? Okay. And I think um Commissioner Funk I think you raised a really good point and Lance and you did it as well is there is a permit you can get for the right of way if you are doing construction or have a project going on. We're not outlawing it completely. It's just a heads up notice and getting the permit. Um our permitting because of state law even isn't that much when you have to even if you have to pay for it. Um and so just reminding people that this isn't going to now stop you from doing a renovation on your home or anything like that. Correct. And it's the same rule that we've had, it's just more people can enforce it. It's quicker enforcement, right? I mean, yeah, quicker enforcement. It's the opportunity to instead of there being a warning, it's the tickets there. And I mean, you don't get a warning when your meters out of change,

right? You know, it's tickets coming. So, um, can we get the the fee schedule for this? Yes, I believe it's in there. Yeah, it's in the ordinance. Yeah. And sorry, real quick modification. The motion say should say chapter 4 traffic code, not chapter 1025 right ofway. Uh Shaw and Anderson, do you agree with that? No, you read it right. No, you got it right. It was a typo in the propriion as amended. Yeah, perfect. Thank you. Thank you ladies for agreeing to that. Second. Did it second? Yeah. Heather and Jackie took it.

Other questions or comments from the commissioners right now? Any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Okay, moving on to our old business. We're have consideration of authorizing a contract for the painting and striping of sidewalks. Commissioner Shaw, it's your it's your favorite topic that we're going to finally have Benjamin comment on it.

All right. Uh so yes, at the October 20th uh meeting of the city commission, uh Chris Weber, our street superintendent, outlined a number of options that I asked him to explore regarding painting and striping. Uh and the aim was to uh come back with options that would allow that work to be completed by July 1st rather than sometimes well past Labor Day. And I am really pleased and grateful uh for the work that our streets department and engineering departments did together. Uh and the uh bid that we got uh is within our parameters that we had established and would be with um PK contracting. Uh and this would again allow the work to be completed and would require the work to be completed by July 1st. And while I um anticipate that the the vendor is going to, like our vendors typically do, perform as they promise, there are provisions in there to protect the city's interest should they not meet that deadline. And there there is essentially a daily penalty for each day uh after July 1st that the work's not complete. And so, thank you, Mr. Weber, and to the engineering department. I'm happy to answer any questions or I'm sure Mr. Weber can. Also,

we have questions, sorry. Go ahead, Heather. Um no, this is terrific. the the price is reasonable and getting everything done in June is just I'm so happy. But I would would like to see a like a 10y year or the life of equipment breakdown for what if we had the the equipment to do the um the legends and how what what would be the breakdown of cost? Absolutely. And hiring people. Sure. 10 years or the life of equipment maybe that's longer than 10 years and and Mr. Weber and I talked about that a couple of weeks ago to put together that sort of plan because we don't want to box ourselves in, right? So, um, it's for the legends.

And I think all the work essentially because um, we could be in a situation where next year there this is the only contractor and they're like now the price is $700,000 or they're not available to do the work and now we have a new service standard in our community that people are going to hope stays the same. It may or may not depending on resources in the future, but we're at least going to return to the commission with options so you can make that decision. Thank you very much. Yes, that's great. Other questions right now or motion Go ahead, Lance. I was going to make a motion. Thank you. Um, let me get to it.

Uh, move that the mayor and city clerk be author I'm read the right one. Yeah. be authorized to execute an agreement with PK contracting in the amount not to exceed $298,92755 which includes a 10% contingency for the painting and striping of various parking areas, crosswalks, and legends with such contract subject as to its substance by the city manager and it's formed by the city attorney with funds outlined in the street superintendent memo dated on February 19th, 2026. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Shaw. Okay. Go ahead. Uh then I'm sorry, Lance and then Ken and then I think Yep. Jackie, sorry.

So, we only got one bid on this uh which is always concerning uh when we get one bid. So, you know, echoing uh Commissioner Shaw's uh sentiment about the striping in-house or what does that look like or I guess what I would just challenge the team to do is think, you know, how can we think three, four, five years out beyond this commission uh of how we can get more people to bid. So we don't get stuck in a situation where we get one bid and it is 700k or something unreasonable but it's our only option. Um so just would challenge you to think diversely on that one. But I appreciate this coming so quickly. So Jackie first. Sorry Jackie, there's a head so I didn't catch you. Go ahead.

Yes. Thank you. Um I just wanted to extend a huge thank you to Mr. Weber and his team for making this happen. Um, we I anticipate we're going to have safer streets for Traverse City residents and visitors throughout our heaviest traffic season. So, thank you. Okay. Um, I just want to clarify this is road lines and bike lane lines as well because it it just said parking areas, crosswalks, and legends. It was just kind of maybe that was a broad term and includes all road markings.

Uh, there's actually two separate contracts. We have this contract which is parking, crosswalks and legends. And then we also have a separate contract for long lines which are the center lines and edge lines. Um so those are painted the bike lane lines are painted on a separate contract. There probably will be some of those markings but all of the uh actual bike symbols and whatnot will be painted on this contract. Gotcha.

Um how soon do we think we're going to get that lines one too? Um, this is something we've spoke about recently. Um, because of the way that it's currently contracted, um, we don't really have a requirement in that either for a timeline, but we were going to reach out to the vendor and see, uh, if they could accommodate an accelerated timeline as well under the current contract and then we would have to do a budget amendment um, to get it done prior to the end of this fiscal year. Okay. So that they would all be aligned.

And then when it's time for a new contract, of course, we're going to be very specific. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Um I I feel like this is an opportunity. Um it definitely requires further discussion in regard to what what are our intentions. Um maybe this is something that we could offer in house. Um that's that was one of that's one of the discussions that was held last year prior to this new commission going in. But I think this is one of those working with our regional partner opportunities that we could look look to because I mean other places very close to us need these kinds of things in their community as well and it could be a service that that we could offer and it's just a conversation. We're looking at a cost to this. Are you interested potentially? So I I love this. Thank you.

And really quick question before you sit down. Um, going back to the question that Lance had, I thought during your presentation when you gave it to us, um, are and just over time, we're down to only like two or three companies in the whole state that do this, right? And bid on it. So, it's not that we're scaring everybody off, it's just that they've kind of all been eaten up by each other. And the contractor who held our current contract actually was just purchased by PK. There we go. So, there's one less. Okay. So, so that's a little bit of the problem, too. And more to the point of everybody talking about more in house is we just don't have that much out there competing against each other for our bids,

right? And then for the scale of the city, we do have a lot of pavement markings uh with the crosswalks and bikes and everything. Um PK is probably one of the few contractors that's big enough to uh tackle this within that 60-day timeline as outlined in the contract. So um that also will narrow our uh our options as well as far as availability of contractors. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. Other questions? Go ahead, L. Just one more question. Um, how do you prioritize, you know, the kind of the highest amount of traffic uh street crossings when it comes to this? Are you are you prioritizing that with PK? um or is it just giving them a list of things to do and they

so it's not specifically outlined in the contract but that's something that when we do meet with the contra our our precon or pre-construction meeting we will outline probably the priority areas which will be the major thoroughare uh the places with the most vehicular and pedestrian traffics first and then they can branch out into the neighborhoods to tackle the local crosswalks on the local streets. Okay, thanks. Yeah, I would just ask that parks be considered even in the local neighborhoods as high impact. Good point. All right. Other questions or comments right now? All right. Seeing none, I'll go open this for public comment then. Any public comment on this item? Read the rules real quick. We ask that you state your name and address indicated if you're a city resident, non- city resident, and or city business owner. We have a threeminut time allotment per speaker. When your time is elapsed, the timer will beep. And finally, we request that all language be respectful to all parties.

Thank you. Yeah. Rick Vinner. I'm a resident of Traverse City and I just want to express on behalf of the Grand Traverse Safe Streets Alliance a big thank you for moving this forward and keeping the u minds and the safety of all road users from disabled to vehicle traffic to pedestrians and cyclists. So, thank you very much for your work on this.

Thanks, Eric. Justin Reeds, um, city resident. Um, I know it was some talk about the about how there's only one bidder and that there's a the market right now is not um there's not too many other um vendors are out there. Um, two things. One is probably because liability insurance. Um so when if the state ever does think about doing the um paying themselves um one thing is liability. Um that is pretty much the biggest thing out of the budgets um with doing it yourself. Um and also the fact that if you have a if um since there's a monopoly on um striping and there's no kind of um sort of guard rails to go ahead and um you know to help businesses go ahead and to you know to get them um in the pathway of being that competitive with other vendors. Um that's reason you know right there too. Um so it's very unfortunate but you know I guess that's what we have. So thank you.

Thank you Justin. Any other public comment on this item? Seeing none I'll bring it back to the commission. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you for that and exciting to have that update now. So, um, now we'll move on to the 2026 Monroe Street, Cast Street, Ramsdale, etc. And I'll let you kick that off, Benjamin.

Thank you. Yes. Uh, this is a big suite of projects uh that were bid together uh to make them more appealing and uh to obtain a better price for the city. So, the the contract in front of you uh accomplishes work that was discussed rather extensively at your December 8th study session. So, I I know it's familiar to the the commission and this is the contract for the 2026 Monroe Street, uh, Cast Street, Midblock Crossing, and Ramsdale storm storm sewer repair projects. And, um, this is on not on the consent calendar because of the the dollar volume of the contract, but otherwise, uh, it is in line with what's been discussed previously. And if there's any questions, uh, we have the employee team here that can answer those. otherwise uh hoping for your approval of of this item and this this great work.

Heather and then Jackie. Um yeah, I I I'm not very smart today and I poured over those plans looking for something that indicated where the swailes were and I couldn't find anything. Um so how I how many swailes are there? And I guess I don't you don't need to show me where they are but maybe there's something that I couldn't find them. You mean the bio swells, right, for water quality? Zach knows how many there are. More than 10. I think it's 12, but we can certainly get back to you on the exact number. Okay. And are they actually indicated in there or was I just like

they'll be Yeah, this they're on the plans. We can definitely clarify that for you. Um, so my my question, who maintains those? because I I've been I've talked to some business owners on 8th Street about they're not bioailes but they're you know those plantings that are and they were when those were put in they were told specifically don't touch them and then nobody touched them and they got all overgrown so like when the mural festival came along they were they felt like they needed to clean them up so who is respon I mean you've got some nice plants going in there who's responsible for cleaning

thanks I'm glad you brought that up we actually had a brief conversation about this in December that uh we don't have staff that is an expert in deciding like which are the weeds and which are the right um plants to keep in the bioales. So we actually put in the budget for this coming fiscal year a budget line item to hire like a landscaping company to come in and clean up the bios. Awesome. Yeah, great question. Go ahead, Jackie. I just had to comment. Um, I went back and looked at the original estimates of all of this bundle of projects in December and it

I may be wrong, but it looks to me like you saved the city almost a million dollars by bundling these together. I wanted to be sure everybody saw that and kudos. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it definitely worked to put them all together. So, thank you for acknowledging that. Yeah, thank you, Jackie. Go ahead, Lance.

Yeah. Um, so the the Cast Street midblock crossing and bumpouts I think is a a great example of what complete streets look like in practice. Um, can you walk us through kind of just real quickly how the design uh improve safety for people while they're walking uh in town um or using transit um and whether you know the question is does this become a model that we can replicate um because I well I was noting the cost savings as well and I was like this is great. Can we replicate it if we need to in the future?

So, it um shortens the distance that the pedestrian is walking across the street, so there's, you know, less space that they have to cross. They'll be raised up, so they'll be easier to see from the driver's perspective. Uh and it also will uh bring it up to ADA accessibility. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's great. Is this exactly Is this very similar to what's on Ninth Street? Because when Ninth Street in between Cass and Union was uh reconstructed last summer and the the bumpouts that came up that were as part of that of the intersections, you know what I'm talking I'm just wondering if that those is really nice and I just wonder if we put bumpouts there I believe. Yeah. So it should will be very similar to that. Yes.

And like on Front Street too, right? Yep. Exactly. How about Monroe? Yeah. And Monroe. Yeah. So next and I'm in search of some reassurance as far as durability of the the brick um crosswalk. I think there had previously been some issues with longevity at um ethan and eighth at Union and I wondered can you reassure us about about durability and I I believe we're just using the best specification that we can right now. Uh we've installed some of these recently and they soon be holding up very well as opposed to stamped concrete or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Way better. Way better. Yes. Yeah. Go ahead, Mitch. You had your hand up.

Yes. Uh kind of hearkening back to an item from our consent calendar with snow removal. I uh can really appreciate from a pedestrian standpoint that uh narrowing road widths and having bumpouts on in this case two separate projects uh can improve pedestrian safety and uh reduce driver speed. But I'm curious if there's anything that we can do proactively while it's getting built to then also make it uh so that we can plow as close to the curb as possible and not grinding down the curb through repeatedly hitting it with plows.

I think I have to work with DPS on that. Uh this is just a standard uh specification for the geometry, but I'm not aware that we're having any plowing issues at the bumpouts. I'm speaking more to the issue as we've seen in this past warm-up and the one before where you've got a lot of ice in the two feet right next to the curb that is then impeding drainage and creating large puddles. So the way it's designed is to improve the drainage. So, we we don't expect there to be any uh ponding there. Okay. Do we have more questions or a motion? Go ahead, Lance.

I'll move um that the I move that the mayor and the city clerk be authorized to execute a contract with Elmer's Crane and Dozer, Inc. in the amount not to exceed 3,245,51430 plus a 10% contingency of $324,55143 for a total of 3,57065.73 for the construction of the 2026 Monroe Street Cast Street midblock crossing and Ramdale storm sewer repair projects. Such contract subject to its substance by the city manager and its form by the city attorney with funds available in capital street fund, water fund, sewer fund, capital fund and DDA tiff 97 and further that the mayor and city clerk execute a funding agreement with the city of the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority articulating that it will provide $179,439.13 in funding for the Cass Street midblock crossing with such agreement subject to approval as to its substance by the city manager and its form by the city attorney.

Thank you for that support. Okay, I'll give that to you Jackie. Thank you for that. You too. Any other comments now on this or more questions? Great work in bundling this. Yeah. What a as Jackie pointed out, great savings. Thank you for that. All right, then I will open it up. Is there any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. All right. And now we'll move on to our discussion of objectives and key results. And I'll hand it over to you, Ben.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. Uh as mentioned at the February 17th city commission meeting uh the development of the uh OKR work plan uh uh was reviewed prior to this meeting. We uh worked to ensure alignment across departments and the cover memo says that we had a uh a cross departmental uh survey uh and we asked uh employees and department leadership to identify different projects that would help advance uh the strategic action plan and the OKRs that are driven by that assign anticipated timelines identify required resources funding staffing capacity and so forth. Uh and so the um OKRs have been organized or the projects have been organized by OKR category I should say. Um and the um main item I really wanted to emphasize not main item but an item I wanted to emphasize to manage expectations is uh that the OKR work plan at this moment in time represents possible paths forward uh as well as the related cadence. Um most if not all of the projects do not yet have a funding strategy. We're working on that. Uh and so what we will be doing uh is establishing a cadence this year. We intend to have a quarterly report to the city commission on the progress of the OKRs so that we can continue to ensure alignment and that we're uh keeping the um the topic fresh and we're holding ourselves accountable. Uh, and so one thing I want to share that's very exciting to me and you see that Colleen Pavllio is up here and I shared this at the strategy in motion event, but a couple of weeks ago I signed an administrative order uh elevating the department, the communications department to the department of communications and strategic initiatives. Colleen Pavllio has been elevated to serve as Traverse City's director of communications and

strategic initiatives. Colleen uh a lot of people have seen her work firsthand. Uh she brought great leadership to the development and adoption of Trevor City's first ever strategic action plan. She and her team will ensure that our strategic priorities continue to move forward in a coordinated, transparent, measurable way. Uh and so uh this new expanded department will support alignment and accountability across departments related to our OKRs, maintain public facing dashboards, uh and internal tracking tools to help us monitor projects, provide organizationwide reporting on key initiatives, and help coordinate major strategic and organizational initiatives. And I'm very thrilled that Colleen is serving in this role. She has a lot of experience in uh community development, in project management, in communications and marketing, and uh organizational transparency. And so uh I'm thrilled that Colleen's sitting up here and she's got a fairly brief presentation for the commission. And I'll turn it over to Miss Pavllio. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much. Um I don't have slides for a presentation, but we're going to have we're going to have a dialogue. um some some repeat of what Benjamin said, but thank you for having me this evening. I want to extend a congratulations to you all as well as the employee team and also the community. Um we are actively moving this plan to implementation and um sometimes we are criticized otherwise but we are we are doing it together. So um thank you for your participation in that too and you'll see that um you of course have a very active role in this as well as a commission. So um as Benjamin mentioned um the work plan was developed through a comprehensive inventory of programs, projects and initiatives um that are to align with the adopted OKRs and we conducted a organizationwide survey from the departments that resulted in um about 1,500 data points that we had to distill down into this work plan. So I do want to thank the employee team. They took a lot of time on the survey. I think it was about 94 questions. So, they really had to put a lot of time into that as well. So, thank you for their big work in that. Um, important to know the work plan does focus on those strategic investments beyond our core service delivery. And in some cases, you're going to see a natural overlap where um there will be infrastructure and utility projects that um may align with some of for example like those corridor improvement projects um that may dictate those timelines. So as the city manager mentioned uh we have organized each one of the pillars and the objectives as well as the programs and the policies within there by scope sequence timeline. This was really important where we will we were able to talk about near-term, midterm, long-term. So near-term, those are items that we're working on now that we hope to accomplish a lot of those in

2026. And then those midterm are items that still fall within those 1 to threeyear um time initiatives. And then really the long-term were items that we that the staff didn't feel we could do within the one to three years. And a lot of that is due to funding and capacity. Um it is also organized by funding funding requirements, potential sources, staffing, operational constraints, uh the primary staff that will be involved in implementing those initiatives and where you all come in is uh commission direction needed. So you'll see where that's outlined kind of by each by each item. uh as the city manager mentioned the funding realities that uh before we dive in deeper I just want to be transparent about grounding this p plan in fiscal reality um that we will be relying a lot on the general fund to accomplish these items and that means future conversations about strategic prioritization financial feasibility capacity impacts and then what are those trade-offs um something that we want to point out when we speak in in the plan about consultant support. Uh while that may look as you know an option to move a project forward that that still requires 25% uh of the employee team to work on that project. And then also keeping in mind always please about asset management and the life cycle cost. Um long-term operation and maintenance can represent 15 to 20% of project cost. Um, the work plan outlines the staffing and organizational capacity. And then lastly, as the city manager mentioned, transparency and tracking. While this is an extremely detailed document, um, I know I provided an executive summary for you, but we did link to the full plan.

Um, each one of those pillars, I think, is sometimes 20 plus pages. So, it was a lot of data to distill. So, we do want to do that. Um, our goal is to have a more public facing uh tracking platform, but we want to move this plan forward. So, we didn't want to wait for that to be put in place. We want to we want to talk now and continue to work. So, um, with that public facing dashboard, we want improved organization. So, think about again, you're going to see I'm sure you saw a lot of overlap of plans within each pillar. So, we'll have it more by project and then where it aligns and um enhanced transparency and then the great thing about it is we'll be able to have real time progress updates within that dashboard. And if I can jump in real quick, I just want to share too that this platform will also have the per it also will serve the purpose of uh establishing uh and providing uh clarity at the department level, division level and employee level so that there's clarity on uh where everyone is at with respect to their progress and it will also serve as the catalyst for uh department directory evaluations and department level work plans. Thank you. So yes, we are exploring softwares starting to look at that now and so our targeted goal is uh Q3 of 2026 to implement the new software and then just clarifying the scope that uh what the plan represents and what it does not is that it doesn't capture every activity that we're doing. Um again we have core services. So think public safety, utilities, streets, parks maintenance, daily operations. You may see some overlap within the plan, but this is not comprehensive of everything that the city does. Um, we did ask staff to think creatively and boldly. So you'll see some items that

are a little more bold. Um, we want to be even more bold. Um, but it was a lot to put in just what we had in at that time. So again, living document. There's still room for growth. Um but uh those bold items may look may look more forward to like the three plus years. You'll see and we'll kind of we'll talk a little more about that as we dive into this. But for example, um we proposed the development of a vibes council. Um and that's kind of just um really fun ideas that are low cost but big impact. The city manager mentioned that we're doing a little community survey on that. Um, I attended nearly all of the strategic action plan engagement sessions and um, one thing that rose to the surface and is very near and dear to my heart as a city resident as well is that our community wants to preserve our authenticity. Um, and so these initiatives, you know, like through the Vibes Council and the the survey that we're doing right now, we're trying to seek initiatives that are created by us and for us. So, um, really wanting to have this be a living document that, um, that theme is woven in to this work plan kind of in every sense. So, um, again, when we went through this plan with staff, it was about six hours. So, we're not going to do that tonight. We're not going to go through nowhere near

Yeah, we're not going to go through every page. But what I thought I would do is just highlight some of the items that pertain to the themes like corridor planning and complete streets that um really rose high not only with all of you but as well as the community um because you are here representing the community. So um corridor planning and complete streets. So a very near-term item is the implementation of the complete streets policy. We know it's been adopted, but that um that committee is to meet hopefully soon, spring, I think April or May, we're targeting

and um just creating some real targets uh that can be very clear for staff for implementation. Seventh and 14th streets, so looking at millfills, but beyond the three years would be like full reconstruction and that's when we can really talk about incorporating more of those complete street items into those projects. Um, an item that was uh really important uh for mobility is the Bryant Park crossing and that really was something that was came very high on the Brown Bridge trust fund survey is something that the community really wants to see clearly will be beyond three years unfortunately because we do have to collaborate regionally with MDOT on that but it is now in the CIP. we have, you know, we've identified funding for for the Brown Bridge trust fund and um it is within this work plan. So, moving on um housing and how we approach land use, we've done a lot of different um zoning ordinance changes to allow for a little more density, but um the planning commission has set as one of their goals this year is to rewrite potentially the zoning ordinance. And so having that uh facilitated session with all of you and the planning commission to talk about how we align the master plan with the strategic action plan and vice versa. there's um an element within the master master plan where there were neighborhood centers that were identified and I sat on that um leadership team for the master plan and I think this came out really strong with the strategic action plan as well is that the community wants those neighborhood centers to have more of an easy transition into our neighborhood. So how do we look at our zoning ordinance and accomplish that and what is your appetite to accomplish that? So, um, more to come. Um, with that and more density, we may be coming to you to

review parking ordinances, whether we want to allow overnight parking, um, as we increase density. uh reviewing the ADU ordinance. If we want to do a some kind of pattern book, there are restrictions within that ordinance that the um ADU must match the like the look and feel of of the home. So, we would want to look at those types of um restrictions and see if there's an appetite to loosen those up. And then um just really overall the appetite for increased density and how that will look with housing child care. I mean we we almost can put a check on one of these. Um so child care at Hickory Hills we're targeting a summer 2026 launch a partnership with the conservation district. Right now it is in um we still are in the licensing phase. So but we are crossing our fingers and hoping that that happens. That should be on your agenda for March 16th.

Yay. All right. Great. Look at us.

Um, and then just broader child care care policy conversations. Uh, I believe that we have an ordinance right now that you can't have a child care facility within 100 ft of one another. So, just reviewing those restrictions and if that's causing a burden to create more child care within the community, then let's have that dialogue. Um, social gathering spaces and community placemaking. There's all the Brown Bridge Trust Fund projects and um while perhaps all of those aren't identified exactly um I know Heather you sat on that that ad hoc um there was a lot of talk about spaces for children to play and um and we want places for all ages to play. But when we talk about like playground equipment, maybe it's not just playground equipment. Maybe it's fun things like interactive music and things like that. So, um again, there's a lot of room for us to be bold and creative and authentic. Um the East Side Placemaking Project, we did just receive a $100,000 placemaking grant uh for that project at Garfield and East 8. So, we do intend to have a public engagement component to that and then we will be coming back to you um about this vibes council and putting a little bit of funding in the next fiscal year budget to launch that. Um and then lastly, environmental sustainability and waterfront stewardship. The lakeshore restoration project, which is also uh identified as a Brownbridge trust fund project that will need um additional capital funding to to support that project. Um a really bold project that was discussed was property acquisition at the end of 20 M22 and 72. Um, again, very bold, but we would have to seek some kind of grant funding for that, but

then we could control that and be better stewards of that waterfront. And then, um, other bold and exciting things were the exploration of the industrial symbiosis and I know that Benjamin and um, Ian have met with some somewhere in Washington, Vancouver, Washington.

Yes. Yes. Um, to discuss uh, the possibility of that. So um those were just some highlights but uh what we are seeking from you today is really adoption of the plan clarification of programs and initiatives. I'll try to clarify as much as I can, but I do have a great team behind me. And then um just confirmation of those quarterly updates, knowing that we will be coming to you quite a bit as we implement various initiatives as well to kind of have those dialogues about ordinances and things like that. Fantastic. Yeah. Yes. Your work will never be done. I hope you're enjoying that job security. Thank you.

So, with that, do we have some questions for Colleen or anything? Go ahead, uh Lance. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, first of all, it's a solid piece of work. Uh, and I appreciate how fast you guys pulled this off. Um, thank you. In the last couple months. Um, most of the initiatives, as you mentioned, don't have a funding strategy yet. Um, and which is understandable, I guess, at this stage for sure. You did this in like two months. Um so when you come back quarterly uh how will you uh flag for us where we need to make you know kind of these hard choices um about what gets funded, what gets pushed uh and then maybe what even in the work plan is competing for the same dollars.

Yeah, I think we're we're developing that framework but it'll be clear, right? So it'll be the questions and the prompts to the commission will be clear so you um so we can get that uh direction from you uh without delay and so uh uh expect that to come here shortly. Thank you Jackie. Um first off thank you for um Miss Pelio's uh engagement in this. I can't think of anyone who would be better um qualified and more dedicated to the process of strategic planning. So, thank you for your expanded contributions to the city. Thanks.

Um, thank you also for mentioning authenticity because I I am afraid that um sometimes we overlook that in the excitement of moving forward and I I I think that authenticity has to be at the heart of all the change that we make. Um just as a strategic planner myself um that is that is a a key accomplishment. If if we can hold on to our authenticity and yet see it evolve and grow and change, I I I think everyone would be very pleased.

Now, um I am not quite clear on what is the most efficient way to transmit to you information about priorities on what what's involved in in what's proposed already. So, um, you know, I went through every page. Yeah, it's a lot, right? It's a lot. And, and I do have thoughts about priorities and resource allocation and timing, but I want to transmit that to you in a in a transparent way so that the public is aware of what my opinions are, but also in a way that it can be helpful rather than just slow down the process. So, suggestions, please.

And I'll hop in if I may. uh uh um for for now I mean really if you could present those uh your thoughts to me uh directly um and feel free to copy Colleen but that's a direction that I would give to the employee team of course so if you can present that to me and then uh we will we're we're we're establishing this new thing right so we'll we'll figure out the framework and Colleen will be very much at the table but I want to make sure that that uh direction from the commission comes directly to me and not to our employee team. Thank you. Thank you. And in in writing and then how does how does that get open and visible to to our community? Let me give some thought to that.

Okay. Yes, I will. Y Well, and that's but in writing to begin with and then how it gets visible to the community, we'll give some thought too. Thanks. Great. Go ahead, Ken. And then Heather. I just I just didn't want to move it along without everybody. I think everybody wanted to have a little say, but um Colleen,

amazing. I mean, I I wondered how we were going to take the last presentation from David and kind of turn it into something that was actionable. And I mean that that really is what this whole couple hundred 100 pages that you created that was lengthy and took a a long time to go through. I'm just thinking about the implications that some of the some of the proposed ideas are going to have and approval of this and moving forward. I just don't know kind of kind of what Jackie said. How do we get to the prioritization element of it so that's it's in line with what the community is has an appetite for

because I mean one of the things I looked at in there was some of this stuff we're already doing we've already approved we I mean I'm I'm looking I'm like this is a goal I thought this was already going to be happening soon. Mhm. So, um I guess you said bold a few time. You said bold. I I actually put bold in my notes, too. Like when I read it, I was like, "This is bold." So, I I think that we we all kind of understood that, too. We looked at it. We're like, "Yes, this is everything that we wanted to see." Like, and this this encompassed everyone's comments from all those data points. And that's why you're the CSI. You took all that stuff and put it communications and strategic initiatives. CSI is what we're saying. That's right. I love that.

Yeah. But I mean, you took all those things and you put them into actionable items and that's great. How do we get to the prioritization of because I don't because when we start talking about things and when staff starts studying it, it gives it life and there's the expectation that when it comes here, it's going to happen unless there is some sort of um tumultuous event like we're we're at odds and that that's not the case at all. Well, we all want great things for Traverse City. So, I I'm curious about this prioritization element and if we approve this without have I mean, we've looked at this for three days even though we've had the strategic pillars and and and initiatives. We've been talking about OKRs and those things for months, but this was good. Good job. Good on you. You I think you actually turned this into something that's going to

There's things that are going to happen from this. Yeah. And I just I'm I'm still digesting a little bit. Well, I appreciate you reading it all. Yeah, the the if I may, the prioritization piece, and I'm jumping in here because it's of course my uh role to give direction to the employee team and and Colleen's going to be

uh front and center partner with me on that. Uh uh and what really I see happening next is for us to return uh to the employee team and start talking about what really seems viable. uh and then returning to the commission with sort of that prioritization and making sure that you agree because the commission always has a prerogative to say, but there's this thing that might be a big heavy lift, but we we will give you the resources to do that big heavy lift. Uh and so, uh just as you said, you've had this for just a few days. We've also just had it for just a touch more than that. Uh and Colleen did a great job distilling it down, but there's even more distilling and more distilling and more distilling to do. And I don't want that to sound like it's going to take a long time. This is meant to have you seeing progress uh routinely. That's why we'll have those quarterly updates. And I think we're going to um evolve together. Uh and and you know, Colleen and I really want to co-create this process with the commission and the employee team. And so we just need a little bit of time to figure out exactly how that looks.

Okay. Heather, you had your hand up. Um I want to first of all thank staff for because there was a later uh document that came out during the strategic plan that asked staff to weigh in. Each department was weighing in on on the pillars themselves and the different projects and it was pessimistic. It was it was not a happy document. And now

something's happened. Uh, I feel like it really looks like staff has taken ownership of this and and has like, wow, you know, maybe we can do something bold here and we can call it our own. And thank you very much. And then, Colleen, you you you're the mastermind in all of this to to make to make it all readable, even though it does overlap all over the place, but it's still a readable document. And thank you very much. And I'm really glad that we have this new department of communications. I think it's something that is going to be helpful both to us and and to staff and to the community. I think it's a great step forward. And I I my question is about what do I do with this thing? I think it's been answered. I will write something to Ben and then hopefully you figure out how to make that transparent to the public so that it's not just uh just I don't know that it has to say Heather said this and Jackie said that but it's yeah

we will figure it out. Yeah, absolutely. And I want to say too, thank you for acknowledging the employee team and their embracing of this. And I want to say that part of why uh a big part of why you've seen this shift because we have a great employee team is that they were invited in now uh to have the conversation. And that's obviously very important and uh um and is part of the reason why we're at where we are.

Um I thank you for that other two. I I wanted to say too, um I think that in all the years I've served, I've seen a lot of frustration with commissioners, but I've seen a lot of frustration with staff, too, where I think they've always I feel like staff has always wanted to be like bold and move forward, but it's always been kind of a mishmash of what's the commission saying, what do we have to do, what do And so the strategic plan is doing exactly what it was intended to, and I'm so excited to see all of it here in this giant but really cool document. Um, one of the things that I was thinking about as we were just talking is, you know, I think we do hit on the point of what is we want to have input from each commissioner of what our priorities are. Um, we've done a lot with forms and things like that. Maybe we could do that. Um, it isn't just about any one of us though. It's ultimately about the collective of us and you all having the joy of bringing it up to us and having us talk about it up here and sorting through the comments that we might give you to figure that out. But also, I'd also say and it's not pessimistic, it's realistic. And I think Colleen hit on it is in the 10 years also that I've served, money is what ultimately gets things done or doesn't get things done. And so as we move forward for this, I personally want us to be bold. I want us to think and I want us to share our priorities. I also want staff to be really brutally honest with us of that money doesn't exist right now and we're going to try and find it. We've had great suggestions from partner groups of hey here's some people that you can employ. here's some funding that might be available if you do this and this that might help us get more for walkable bikable city or other things. We've got great partners out there helping. So, I'm not saying that I don't think a lot of this will get accomplished. I really just need want staff to be honest with us of what we have, what we could have, and what we can do to facilitate it, too. There have been times that grants and things have come up to us and it's a combination where the line wasn't drawn clearly enough or it wasn't expressed a way that connected with other commission with the commissioners at the time where we didn't even apply for certain grants

that might have been right along with what we needed but it just there was that missing connection. I feel like with this strategic plan and what we have here, that connection, I don't think will be missed as often. And I think it'll be easier for staff to understand where we're coming from on things and for us to understand where staff's coming from when they're trying to tell us, "Yeah, let's do this because this is going to actually help with it might sound like it doesn't apply, but it's going to help with redoing the sidewalk here or heating these sidewalks or something." Um, so I'm very excited about this process and I just would love to see us maybe have a little bit of a guided form or something maybe as you guys are thinking about how to collect from us that helps you all too and then it's transparent. I mean anything we write or type or fill out is foyable so that's always available to the public. There's no hidden part there but obviously we don't publish every single email we write either just because that would be really really slow reading. Um but but maybe figuring out something like that that makes it easy for like the dashboard for people to have access to to see those comments to see

attributed or unattributed where everybody's coming from at as we get our quarterly updates. We will find the way.

Great. Other thoughts, questions? Right now we do have a motion to it's on the second page. Just just before you get there, uh one thing on this vibes council, if I may, is uh when I attended the international city managers conference in Tampa last October, I was deeply impressed uh at a presentation um from a gentleman uh who talked about a lot of little things that you can do to make a place feel really special and uh unique for your residents that live here year round. And that's uh from there is where the Vibes Council idea came. Uh and we will we do intend on having a 5050,000 uh allocation this next budget to fund initiatives of this Vibes Council. Uh and I just we wanted to share a video. Uh I'm sorry.

Go ahead. Sorry. Very quick. Uh this is just one idea. My name is Peragan Church. I make things that make the world a more interesting place, like a rainwork. Rainworks are pieces of street art that only appear when they're wet. And they're messages or images designed to make people's rainy day a little bit better. Seattle is associated with rain, it's fair to say. And rain works just all it needs to be is wet. So, it's sort of the ideal Seattle art.

So, the stuff that makes Rainworks is biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and completely non-toxic. The essential ingredient when making Rainworks is a super hydrophobic coating. Okay, let's see how it works on the never wetted pants shirt. So, you want me to start on the shirt? All right. That is a chemical that when you put it on a surface will prevent that surface from getting wet.

WHAT? WHAT? I was just browsing the internet one day and stumbled across viral video and the video showed like these really vivid images of like red wine pouring off a white shirt and chocolate syrup pouring off white shoes and people getting buckets of water thrown on them and they're like totally fine. And I'm like wa that's super cool. What can I do with this? It's a spray-on substance. So it made sense like what if you sprayed it through a stencil? So if you put it on concrete, well, ideally it' be invisible. Instead of the concrete getting dark, the water will just roll right off it and it'll stay light colored. The contrast can be used to create an image. The very first one I did said stay dry out there and had a bunch of raindrops falling it. It was on a bus stop. And now there's about 25 to 30 rainworks out there. There's a lily pad and pond with frogs hopping between them. in Ballard. There's IHeart Rain in Udub. At fourth and Bell, it says worry is a misuse of the imagination. There's Today's Weather Rain in Fremont. There's Proud to be Rainy in Capitol Hill. There is hopscotch at the junction in West Seattle, and we want to make way more. I mean, it's going to rain no matter what, so why not do something cool with it? How do we do that with snow?

Right. You've got your hopscotch. My thoughts. Yes. I really want a hopscotch going throughout our neighborhoods. I'm going to just say it publicly right now. Heather, you put your hand up.

Very cool. Yeah. So when we started talking about uh setting up complete streets, I thought that some of uh that we could have an initiative like this at complete streets too where people could write in and say, "Look, if you added a planter here or if you put a bolard here or if you added some lines here, really cheap, easy things to do that would make uh make it easier for to walk around or to bike around or wheel around or whatever you wanted to do around town. I I really hope that there would be an an initiative for complete streets as well. And we have a budget there. Um so maybe there's a way to also provide a a portal like for the Vibes Council

to for people to write in. Yeah. Cool. Great idea. Lance, make a motion. Great. Thank you. All right. I move that the city commission approves the city manager's work plan of for objectives and key results which will drive the implementation of the strategic action plan with the city manager to return to the city commission on a quarterly basis for calendar year 2026 to report on the status. Second. Thank you, Lance. Thank you, Heather. Further comments from anybody?

Go ahead, Jackie. It is it possible to um include a friendly amendment into that that would um address this idea of input from commissioners on prioritization of the plan as it exists now before we get to that first quarterly touch point or is that part of the plan? My intention was um just thinking with you out loud is to have at the quarterly updates and potentially sooner but committing to at least quarterly uh where there would be input from the commission. Uh so I don't know if you're proposing or thinking of a amendment that mentions that specifically or

you're saying that would be part of your plan for when you present quarterly is is obtaining that city commission as part of this. Right. Okay. I don't know if we I would want to formalize a methodology of that within the within this figure we're kind of ironing out the details. Yeah. Y and that could always be something down the line after the first quarterly report. If you're have concerns about how it's been done, we can always add to the process at that point too as the process keeps being brought to us. So just to clarify timing um the first quarterly report might happen Juneish. Yes.

So we would we would really um sort of go on hiatus in terms of input until then potentially. Uh I mean there might be an opportunity uh between now and then uh to return to the commission with some level of prioritization. Um, but I'm I'm not sure that it would happen before then with everything else in the pipeline. Oh, and the PI Oh, go ahead. I understood that. I was going to like rattle something off. Yeah, you can send input. Yes, absolutely. But I thought you meant formally at a city commission meeting.

And in terms of integration with budget, you know, we're going to be picking up the budget and having some very in-depth conversations very soon, I hope. Mhm. Um and and how can how can we um add our two cents to priorities in a way that would be helpful as I said, not interruptive. Yeah. But um but we I think I think we would like a voice.

Yeah. I think that the in my mind at this point in time the best way to do that would be emailing me and uh as I see common themes from commission or a need to come to the commission at a formal meeting under an agenda item to get clarity that's exactly what we would do and that's going to help inform uh the budget that I would propose to the commission in May and recognize too that um budget amendments can of course be made throughout the fiscal year. Other questions or comments as as we have our discussion here.

All right, I think everybody's pretty excited about all of this. Any public comment on this item? Please feel free to approach the podium.

Just me resident um just that this is a great step. Um it's a great step to identifying um a flowchart to go ahead and have those priorities. Um but some of those priorities might have restrictions on them. Um you know, one thing was identified with Brown Bridge funding for a crossing at Baron Park. um you know that's great and everything else and the city wants to do something but then it becomes well that is a M37 that is a state highway and it's M DOT. So, unfortunately, until MDOT says, "Okay, yeah, we we want to join the city on try and find a um a crossing there, or if MD do says, well, we're going to go ahead and not have we're not going to have M37 as a highway through there anymore and turn it over to the city." Um, you know, that is a example of a priority that would had restrictions on it. Um, so thank you. Thank you. Any other comments on this?

Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the commission. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. All right. Thank you all. We're very excited to keep these conversations going at least quarterly, but as was mentioned by Colleen, stuff will be coming to us as it progresses as well.

Uh so the next item is the evaluation for the city manager and city attorney. Um we we had some discussion about this at a retreat last week and so the um process was slightly amended to um basically invite the commission to give some feedback on themes to the facilitator. Um we had talked about this before but to reiterate that um the facilitator this year will again be Becky Ewing who has also been working with us on our retreat and some of the work that we've been doing. Um, so she's very intimately uh acquainted with the the work we've been doing as a commission, but both um as a commission with ourselves, but also with our new staff member, Benjamin. Funny to think of you as new um but new in this spot.

New in this spot and as we're rolling along here. So um that was reflected in some of the steps here of looking for consensus of any themes and the facilitator and this might have not been outlined as well is always the one who writes the questions and proposes them at the end of the day so that we're not just waiting for things to go back and forth at commission meetings. It does fall to the mayor mayor prom who ultimately approve them but it's usually by a prof it's I shouldn't say usually it is by a professional facilitator who creates the questions. we basically approve them. There's some contract things that are part of the um especially with Benjamin's contract looking for feedback and and key points to look at. So those are all factored in and then everybody is uh does take part in the interviews too. So every commissioner is interviewed, department heads are interviewed and so that is the um kind of how the process works here. The inviting um commissioners to give feedback on themes was kind of the amendment that we did um after that discussion. So, I'll take any questions if anybody has any or if there's a motion or whatever. Um, wherever you all need to be. Go ahead, Lance. And then Jackie.

Um, so I'm I'm very supportive of a thorough and thorough evaluation process. Um, so I I like where we're going with this. Um, adding the rotating feedback from TCLP uh and the DDA executive directors. um can you walk us through how that feedback kind of gets weighed um in alongside with the commissioners and the department head input as well?

Sure. And so where that started was years ago neither one were ever interviewed um and what we found over time was sometimes those relationships were at odds or just disintegrating a little and the commission wasn't aware of it all the time. So, this is being done suggested being alternative years instead of every year for both of them just to kind of do check-ins for the commission to kind of get some feedback and hear what's going on. Um, it's not I mean the number one priorities are department heads and the commissioners themselves were their you know in our case of the commission were their employers. The department heads are who they work with directly. But it's just to kind of get that um additional feedback in case just as a check-in. So, um I would say as far as weighing it. It's up to the commission ultimately when we get all the information, but I don't and the facilitator themselves knows that that isn't a high priority relationship. Um so I think it's just factored in. Um but not heavily weighted at all.

Okay. One one other question. Um so we just adopted the OKR work plan. Um it makes sense to me that that evaluation criteria should connect to the strategic action plan outcomes. Um, are we building that alignment in I guess I didn't see kind of it's part of Benjamin's contract if you want to speak. My employment agreement requires that. Okay. It's it's within your agreement. Okay. Thank you. So, and Jackie, go ahead.

Um, I I'd just like to re reiterate sorry some um feedback that I had given almost a month ago I think now. Um uh number one, I I really think that including feedback from both Light and Power and DDA every year is is extremely worthwhile. Those relationships are are critical to what happens in in our community. And um I I I would like to be reassured that they are strong and productive every year. Um, I was also puzzled. You know, we, as you said, we only have two employees that we need to have performance reviews for, and they have vastly different responsibilities. One has a staff of 150 plus, one has a staff of one or two. Um, their their their day-to-day responsibilities are so different. And I find it puzzling that with that um discrepancy that we are using the same set of questions and the same process and it just seems um disconnected from their actual uh job responsibilities. So I would be very much in favor of having separate um performance review documentation and process for our two employees because they do such vastly different things. And then um finally I I would echo what Lance had to say in terms of um being sure that we have feedback from both of them appropriately in terms of how they're supporting the strategic plan and and the OKRs. So if that is baked into their um employment contracts, great. Uh but if it isn't, I'd like to see it as part of the review process. That's where we do have the opportunity for um the themes to be presented and asked for from the facilitator. As far

as your question though about the process not being the same for both employees, both employees work with all the department heads at different points. All the employees are our employees as far as who gets interviewed. So what about the process that part of the process would you see differently? Well, I think primarily as I mentioned the supervisory issue. I I I think that in terms of u number of direct reports, I know that our city manager has been looking at possibilities for reorganization of of reporting relationships and that's not an issue that applies to our city attorney at all.

Well, the questions have tended to be and this would be considered through here and um questions about relationship and direction and things of that sort. So what tends to happen with those questions is they're not specifically how often do you report into the city manager, how often do you meet with they are more on the themes of communication, accomplishing tasks on those themes and that's what allows the the um interviewees to open up and have those they're more open-ended. We don't ask, you know, 30 direct questions about everybody's specific job performance. We keep them a little bit more broad. They don't have to be exactly the same unless that's in somebody's contract, nor I've had it in different years where they're not exactly the same. Um, I think it's but they're definitely purposely left broader on the themes, which is why we use that phrase in the request so that it would help to elicit responses that give us some insight into the relationships that our employees have with the department heads as well as ourselves. And I'll just add I do know that Miss Euing is intending on um adjusting a bit with that feedback in mind that um the difference in the role between the city manager and the city attorney. There's some some things that you'd want to know the same, you know, similar type themes and there'd be some that would be very different because of our very different scope. Uh, and I know that that's her intention and as commissioners submit the themes that you'd like to see, that's her obligation to incorporate that into the process.

Yeah, she sees those themes like common requests for those themes or highlights. Go ahead, Heather. So, would it be appropriate, for example, for um Lauren to answer questions like, "How many cases did you cover this year? What were the outcomes of those cases?" Um, I mean, not getting specific, uh, did you what did you learn? Uh, how how could the commission be more helpful? I mean, to be like a little more specific about what actually happens in the city attorney's office because there's not a lot in the performance evaluations that I've seen in the last two years that had anything like that.

So, that could go to the themes to your point about when we have the personal statements is what's your workload? it can get into that um a lot of those questions that you you know the information you're looking for that can be part of the um one page we all get the report from them every year becomes a part of the public record

right exactly and so that can be covered in that as well I think the goal of the the interview portion that uh the facilitator does in this case Becky Euing is to kind of dig in a little bit more on those relationships and how they're communicating and how we're feeling about that feedback uh to have us ask how many cases did Lauren have and have them have the facilitator answer for us. This isn't because it's not back and forth. So that's where the themes would get integrated into the um questions that are asked and the one sheets and the statements that we get from them is prep part of the prep work. Guess we'll see how it goes.

Okay. Well, let's let me ask this as you guys both have participated last year. um you know the questions that were asked as the broader ended what what would you have change what would you like to have seen changed about those I can't even remember the full list of questions from last year but in my experience with performance reviews the more closely you can align the review process and the areas of evaluation with the specific job performance expectations the more we're going to learn on both the employee and the employer side. It's just a more productive um process than it is to stick to the generics and what they have in common and communication and leadership and all those good nice to have characteristics that that I I want to know that. I also want to know how did your job go? That's how did your job go is what we discuss with our employee not what the facilitator discusses with us. And so Benjamin again I would refer to you and your your agreement. A lot of that is outlined in there that we then have that gets incorporated into the questions we ask that gets incorporated into what we talk about in our closed sessions. It gets incorporated with the goals and objectives that we all lay out as employer employee team. Um but that's not all just from the questions that come from the facilitator to us. It's all informs those conversations. So,

yeah. And I I did just just if this is helpful, I'm pulling up my employment agreement which um states that um give me one second. Uh almost there. Okay. It says that um uh performance reevaluation based upon mutually agreed upon criteria established by the commission and that criteria shall be established by the commission based on the strategic action plan and subject to mutual agreement by the city manager and that's for my um employment agreement specifically.

Thank you for that. Does it address um you know being reviewed in terms of specific responsibilities within your job description also? No, but I mean that's something that I would absolutely agree to. It makes total sense to me.

Right. And that goes into some of the periodic periodic reviews we had before we hired Benjamin full out. And all of those have been informing the other um convers questions, the conversations, what's in the contract and where the facilitator is moving us to as well based on our feedback in those sessions as well as Benjamin's conversations, what he's asked us for and what we're looking for, as well as now the specific strategic plan and other items that have been more solidified since the the contract. And I do have a point of clarification. Um, so what we're, it looks like we're approving tonight is the evaluation process, not the actual evaluation, right?

It hasn't been done yet. And I was reading through this several times. Um, it also includes uh copies of both employment agreements. Um, so I would hope that the commission would read that, align that on our own uh as well. Um, so even if a question might not get asked, doesn't mean we can't ask it uh in the public forum uh when it comes time. Um, just a thought there as well. And and the facilitator also has those documents too to go ahead, Heather. Um, I just want to uh support Jackie's um item number one about keeping the DDA and the TLCP um TCP. We can do that every year.

Okay, we can definitely change that. That's no problem. I think that it's it's a valid concern. Uh it's only two departments, you know, but they're we talk about them all the time, particularly the GA, and so I think that getting them in every year is important. Is is that a I mean, yeah, that's agreeable to us. So, we would do this as amended and include that. That's absolutely fine.

Um I'll do kind of Lance. Well, I'm just curious about so I wasn't here for the evaluation process previously and now with this new process, we've changed these things as far as the light and power and and DDA directors being involved in the process and then the removal of anyone that might be subject to disciplinary process.

And I'm just I just kind of jotted down some thoughts on that. And are we excluding department heads under disciplinary action for both the city manager and the city attorney or just one or the other? Um what is the duration of the action time that they will not be providing feedback? So if a head is late for meeting or work and I don't know what I don't I don't know about discipline p for everybody in this building and how they receive it and what that looks like but if something's in someone's file is that you are subject to discipline for a period of 12 24 36 months. Um I'm sure department heads are a little bit different than like line like like entry level employees but I'm I'm just curious because it's it seems kind of vague. um and discipline is private. How does that play into the effect of this process as far as the evaluator knows we're going to see these evaluations and you know I'm just just curious about what went into that decision like one canon that came up during agenda review so I'll have yeah Benjamin speak

I um for the employees all employees with the exception of the city attorney ultimately report to me the department directors themselves I am working on reorganization where some of them will report to the deputy city manager. Um, but it it strikes me as well, first to answer your question directly, a couple of them. It depends the length of time that someone's under discipline depends on the employee. there's a lot of nuance uh and um as far as the uh privacy of the employees, the packet, the report that the commission ultimately gets wouldn't have the names of all the employees because then someone could just deduce

uh oh well this department head isn't on there. They're clearly subject to disciplinary action. So the report will state that all department directors uh and it will list them except those uh who are subject to current disciplinary action were included in this uh process. It will list the titles of who is eligible but won't list the titles of who was determined ineligible because of disciplinary action and it will be because that there is documentation in their file uh that they are uh um not in good standing essentially uh at the time. So, uh, and I believe the city attorney and I chatted with her just now. Um, do you want to share your thoughts on

I mean that doesn't I don't think that really has much to do with me. So, because employees don't report to me. Um, I advise them, but not if they're under disciplinary action. Um, so, uh, you know, that's really more of a consideration for the city manager's um, process than it would be for the city attorney's process. And to clarify though, from the examples that Ken gave, somebody who has gotten written up a couple times for being late, that's not going to usually fall within the exclusionary, we're talking people who might be on severe performance improvement plans or suspensions or things like that. Correct.

I would not like to get into black and whites. Uh to me it's if they have uh documentation in their file uh over the course of the last calendar year uh where they're um there have been performance issues and and it could be attendance uh it could be something much more severe. Um but if if they are uh if they're if if their job is potentially in jeopardy and it's determined by me whether or not they keep that job. uh it doesn't seem equitable to have them included in the evaluation process. And to clarify by that, my point was more was a punitive, like they were late on Tuesday morning, so now they're not going to be interviewed. It was it's a much

I mean, I wouldn't put anything in anybody's file that was punitive and petty, right? Go ahead, Mitch. Yes, I can I can understand how that makes the system a little more equitable in your words, but I can um see in the abstract the potential for abuse of that in the um if people are then uh removed from the process that could have uh negative feedback that is unrelated to their um prefer perceived uh performance issues.

It is a very unique thing to serve in a role uh like city manager where you have uh department heads whose uh performance can be made aware um to anyone because it's it can be foyed uh that you uh that uh that those employees can also give uh feedback. I mean, I just I really didn't want to get into this level of debate, honestly, uh on the process. Um I I'd be more comfortable having that conversation more offline. uh it it isn't the natural I mean it is it comes with the territory but I am trying to have a process that allows me to run this organization with accountability and without um uh necessarily me being penalized because I have maybe some employees that are not in good standing. We have an amazing employee team. I don't want this to sound negative. uh but like any organization course corrections need to happen sometimes results in separation of employment that is the nature of employment these are just more public-f facing roles and uh I'm I'm hoping for a process that sets me up for success uh while maintaining accountability throughout the organization and I am sure uh that if uh something ever progressed to a point where I was being punitive you would hear about it this is a small And I would say too, I think

there's a process for that, right? Well, we do have through the ethics policy and other things, we have the pol we have processes too.

The other thing I would say as well is, and I think this is a shift over the last year or so, and I think it's reflected in what we've talked about in our conversations at our retreat. I think it's what we've talked about in our um strategic plan and other things and even how Benjamin approached his initial contract with us as interim and now now and now as the permanent is these are all seeking to communicate better between the commission and our employees to improve their performance not to be punitive on our parts either to continue to strive for our strategic planning goals and the goals of the commission and the community to be met and that's why I mean we never met quarterly either. We never had periodic reviews. They were annual and nothing ever happened in between. We've already been changing that. And so I don't want to dismiss the concerns that like Commissioner Treadwell mentioned, but also I think that this isn't meant to be seen as a looming um review that's going to be, you know, sort of damicles over people. We want it to be part of our continuous improvement which is why we have built into contracts quarterly meetings to check in and not and other things that are meant to improve and continually improve and correct if courses go off if things go off course. Um so that is a little bit different than what we've done in the past.

Thank you. I agree with that completely. Lance, go ahead. I move that the 2026 and 2027 performance evaluation process for the city manager and city attorney as recommended by mayor Amy Shamro and mayor prom Laura Nus and as submitted with the official meeting materials for the March 2nd 2026 meeting of the city commission be approved. I would just say I would um suggest as amended for TCL and DDA to be a part of the process uh yearly. Yes. Second. Thank you Commissioner Shaw. Thank you Lance. And one quick thing if I may for those who serve on the boards of Light and Power andor DDA I hope that uh their your director's evaluation process includes something similar and it's not just for the city manager.

I agree with that completely. Um we will work towards that as will the DDA. Um other comments or questions right now? Seeing none, any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the commission. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. All right. Continuing our fresh air moving forward. Okay. Now we'll move on to our membrane replacement.

Yes. Uh at the December 8th study session, uh this project was reviewed with the commission and it's a project to replace over the course of eight years uh all eight membranes uh that are critical to the filtration of the wastewater at our wastewater treatment plant. Um, I'm recommending that uh you authorize the first uh section of this item, which is the purchase of the membranes themselves uh for $5.9 million. It's important that we get that order placed to keep things on track for um uh replacement. And uh we need to do some additional work on the out of scope agreement. And so I'm asking that the commission not authorize the uh related out of scope agreement at this time. So, it would just be the first paragraph of that recommended motion, which is for the purchase of the membranes themselves.

Do we have other questions? Go ahead, Ken. The autoscope things, why did why are we removing that? Uh there's some additional detail that I want to iron out with uh the vendor and Jacobs and our employee team. Okay. So, the second paragraph is something that we do not want read if someone were to make a motion. Exactly. Thank you. Clear. Clear as mud. Clear spot. Exactly. Go ahead, Heather. Um, I know it wasn't a very good day here at the city. It was not a good day for me either. I came up with a bunch of questions. I don't know if they got passed on to Art and Mark. Maybe since we're they did get passed on. Yes. Um, we can invite them to answer those questions,

please. Thank you. I I totally support this project, but this is a really this is one of the most expensive things that we are doing. Um and uh and and so so much depends on this critical infrastructure. You know, our our lakes depend on it uh as well as our public health. And in the January um review, I did notice that the um the weekly cleaning and the there was persistent fouling because of the cold weather. So, you know, this is really significant what we're doing here and we do need those membranes bec exactly because of what was happening with the cold weather. So, I came up with some a few questions um just it's it's like being responsible for how we're spending our money. And the first one was um

the membrane expense uh life expectancy there. This is this is a new generation. It's projected to last 10 to 15 or 15 to 20 years. What happens if it falls short? Um, and how is that risk managed? Hi. Hi, Art Kger, director of utilities. And I'm sorry, I should have done this back in December, but I just didn't. So, here we are now.

I'm uh pulling up your questions initially in my email and then uh, of course, I reached out to Mark to help. And let's see. He's here to to help me if I'm not uh finding it right. But so I guess the best thing I could do is maybe read his response and then if we have more questions coming

here he is talking. So due to the uh your question about life expectancy um we're doing a staggered replacement structure. So like one per year so we can get the maximum life out of each train as it gets older. So year one would be replacing the first I'm sorry the oldest membrane which is about 12 years old right now. But I think what your question is more geared toward is if something changes along this process within the next eight years um

well if they don't last for

would would we have an opportunity to to change it up or something and I believe we we have and it's pending Lauren's final review of this contract but we'd have an out I believe in the contract to switch things up or if if it's not performing the way it's meant to. We could, you know, do something different. But, you know, we've vetted through this process. We're continuing with the same brand, if you will. Xenon, Violia is the company that we need to work with to get those. So, we're we're continuing on the next generation, so to speak, and maybe several gen steps in the technology, you know, since we first installed them, but they've been replaced once. So, here we are looking at round two of replacements. So, you know, we would we would commit to this ma mainly for pricing structure is is the advantage up front. We can lock in pricing from year one through year eight. Did I miss anything, Mark? So, if we approve tonight purchasing the membranes, is the document that's uh that goes along with that purchase, does it have that out in it? Like or I don't know if it's an out, but a guarantee of some kind

almost like a warranty you're thinking. Yeah. Protections or Yeah. Yeah. I would have to It's subject to approval as to form and substance by Benjamin and myself. So, we will make sure that that's in there and we won't approve it if it's not. Okay. Um the the sec my second question was about the eight-year viola violia agreement. Um technology changes and uh regulatory requirements shift around. So again what happens over this I mean we're locked into this eight-year agreement. What happens if performance doesn't meet expectations? Is there also a guarantee and an out there? Sure. Um I think

and Mark, can you introduce yourself really quick just for a moment? Yeah, it's okay. Mark Huggard with Jacobs, the project manager of the wastewater facility. Is it? Yeah, you're good. All right. I speak very softly anyhow. All right. Um,

yeah, thank you. Um, so the questions on the second, the 8-year uh vi agreement. What flexibility do we retain if technology evolves regulatory requirement shift or performance does not meet expectations? Um, so looking over the contract, Viia can uh I think could could best answer this and and be reviewed um later, but my understanding is that the agreement allows for equivalent or improved designs based on availability and mutual agreement. Um, this next generation of membranes is the the latest and greatest is Sorry, can you speak up just a louder for the actually the people in the audience? No, it's probably your version of yelling.

Is it me? You're pretty soft spoken, Mark. Here we go. I have no problem with my kids. It's just up here. I don't think it's actually Treat us like your kids. Treat us like your kids. Um, all right. So, the the membranes um Oh, I got to get back to where I was here. This generation.

Yeah. So, this is the latest generation of membranes that we're in. So, they still make the generation that we have now, but they're phasing those out. They're going to this new the new Leap Air MBR. So eventually the facility is going to have to transform to that down the road. Anyhow, even if they were to stay with what what they have now, the the actual cost of the membrane itself for the existing uh membranes is is more for the membrane than it is for the new ones. Uh the the the big cost adder to this project is converting the system to this leap leap technology. That's the scour air blower.

That's the scour air. Yes. Now, is this part of the out of scope thing that we're not going to be vote approving tonight or is this the the We're just talking about the membranes. Just the membranes. So, okay.

The uh so the membranes have we've had a lot of history with the membranes that it's still the same kind of the same makeup. They have more surface area than they than the previous versions. So, you can do a little more with less uh membranes. Um, but we have a long history with these membranes and we've our last membrane replacement, our longest membrane was in for 16 years. It was due, it was shot, but we got 16 years out of it. And that was one one of the benefits of how we staggered this last when we first did this. The first membranes were installed all as one all together in 2004. So, we run into they're all the same age at the same time. Mhm.

And that's when we came uh I think the second year we did one train and then we saw we really need to do more than one train. We had to do three in one year. And with this new strategy we're we're staging that and doing one a year. And this agreement, the Violia agreement also allows you to stagger that so you can get more life out of it. So if we want to skip a year, maybe that there's financial reasons the city needs to skip a year or if if everything looks all right with the performance of existing membranes, we can just extend the life of them and get the most out of them. And I think that's up to three years past the last year, the eighth year.

Well, that's really smart to stagger. It's like building a subdivision and then 30 years later all your roofs are bad. All your bad, all your Hbacks are bad. Um, and I hope we don't have to leave a membrane in there until it's like totally shot anymore. That would be good so that we're not getting the problems that we have. Yeah. Like this winter.

Um, now you've got the LEAP investment which is has to do with energy costs and you know are are you how are you measuring the savings in this measuring? we measure. So we look at uh kilowatt hours per million gallons and that's a good way to measure performance of a wastewater treatment facility. It's specific to that facility. So you can't take the kilowatt hours per million gallons for our plant and compare it to another one because there's just too many different variables and size, capacity, type of treatment, all that. But but but comparing that year-over-year for one specific facility such as ours is is how we can we can see that over time and how we're doing. And that's what we we have that that data for the last, you know, however 10 20 20 years. Uh and we'll continue to monitor that.

Okay. So, it's it's not you're not really relying on a bunch of assumptions. You actually have a bunch of history to look at. Oh, definitely. Can I add comment? What could I add comment to that question? Um I I was literally going to ask the exact same question. Uh how are we set up to are we set up to actually track those savings over time? Um, and then one thought that I had was um, you know, seeing something like that added to maybe our sustainability dashboard uh, that our OKRs now outline, right? Um, so that we could maybe reference that and we could say like, hey, like this is how much money we've actually saved um, in or how much energy we've saved or money and energy we've saved.

Great. Uh, one last question and it's it's probably not really for Art or Mark. Our township partners are covering 50% of under the master plan agreement um master sewer plan agreement. And I just want to make sure that that cost allocation is actually reflecting the how much loading is going on. And I I'd appreciate some clarity on whether this program will require sewer rate increase increases in the near future um or even you know in a year or two. Sure.

And you know do we need to to reallocate something uh because of because of the difference between what the city is requiring and what uh our partners are requiring. Okay. I can answer your questions. The 50% is a calculated shared based on flow. So each year the flows from the townships are all added up the cities is what's left from the total. And so that percentage is a calculated amount based on flow. So it's not always 50%. No, it'll

slide around from year to year. And then so we we go by like this current year we're going by last year's number but then at the end of the year there's a true up or a reconciliation invoice I didn't understand with a new number that was calculated for that year. So it is pretty much it is very based on how much they're bringing to our point. Okay. Great. All right. Thank you very much. That's all I've got. Again I'm very supportive. I think Jacobs is doing a great job and so are you, Mr. Krueger. Well, thank you very much. I say the same about Jacobs as well. Thanks for the the vote of confidence. Um, I will say too, just the

the idea of advertising this in a way over eight years is much more amunable to the rate structure than trying to hit it all in one year. It's the same with a house. If you pay cash, you're out, you know, thousand, hundreds of thousands if you have that kind of cash. We we're planning to pay for this over eight years, which is um generally I was crunching a few numbers with that 50/50 split. Um if everything went ahead, even with the out of scope, it was looking to be about 650,000 per the city per year and the townships per year,

sharing it 50/50. And that's an average cost for the whole eight-year project of around $10 million. So if you break that down into eight years, we're looking at like 650 a piece per township group in the city. Do you think we're going to have to raise sewer rates for here?

Not directly because of this expense, but we have to also incorporate into the rate study that's coming. Heidi and her team at Treasury has put out an RFP and they just got a bunch of um I think six responses on that came in by last Friday. And so part of that is taking all the projects that we need to do looking out into the future. And this is just going to be one component of it. But this by itself directly wouldn't be like a reason to have to crank the rates up. Yeah. Thank you very much.

Oh, I thought you go ahead. Yeah, we are in an inflationary period, so costs continue to increase and uh rates eventually will have to catch up with that. U do we have other questions right now or would somebody like to make a motion? Go ahead.

I'll move. I move that the mayor and city clerk be authorized to execute a contract with Violia for the purchase of eight membrane units and related equipment in an amount not to exceed 5,924,200 $740,525,000 annually plus a 5% contingency of $296,000 with such contract subject to the to approval. approval as to it substance by the city manager and its form by the city attorney with funds available in the sewer fund fund 590 subject to the approval by Grand Traverse County Board of Public Works.

Motion go. Perfect. Okay. Um any any other comments or questions? Great. I think you had some you had so many good ones that you you took some of Lance's too. So, we appreciate that. She took all my questions. Sorry. You know, it's okay. It's always good. Any public comment on this item? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Okay. And thank you very much. Thank you guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for yelling at us, Mark. Um,

and on to our one item of new business, which is the calling it the Copy Central Project. Um, thank you. I will say up at the top to um Sean and Ble of Compy Central who wanted this to become housing and now we are having it come to us from the Trevor City Housing Commission. So, I'll let you kick that off, Benjamin. Thank you. Actually, I'd like to turn it over to the city attorney. Oh, there we go. Thank you.

Okay. So, this uh actually um project came before the city commission last year and uh and was approved. Um, and the only thing that changed is in the due diligence period, uh, we realized that if you look at the third page of the PDF in the packet, there is, uh, a hash mark portion that was already approved. There's a yellow triangle that was approved. And there's a teeny teeny tiny little red sliver along the rightway. That one we missed. We didn't realize that was that was separate from the yellow triangle. And so it wasn't called out specifically in the motion that was already approved. So really what this actually should probably have been old business, but um we just need the city commission, if you still want to move forward with this project, to approve uh the motion that's in the packet would um reconfirm what was already approved and then also approve this teeny little red sliver um to make this project work for the um the housing commission and the the land bank. So it's a very small clerical area era but a error but a large one we need to take care of. So

well that's what due diligence exactly 100%. So Jackie go ahead. Um could you please refresh my memory from the the last time we saw this? How many total units workforce units permanent supportive housing units are in the project and what's the AMI target? Yep. I'm going to invite um we've got representation from the county and the housing commission um if they can maybe Carl and Chris come on up speak to the specifics of what we expect to see there. Thanks. Thank you.

Hello, I'm Carl Fulmer with the housing commission. Uh we've already done a site plan for the property. We're projecting 42 to 45 units. It will be workforce housing. Uh at least 10% of the units will be 0 to 30% of median income which could potentially be used for permanent supportive housing. We're also looking into section 811 housing which is uh those are vouchers specifically for folks with permanent disabilities. So uh some of the units could go up to 120% of median. Uh we're working through the financials and our financing package right now, but we intend to make an application to MISTA for financing and on October 1st of this year.

Okay. Go ahead, Heather. Oh, go ahead. Just just to follow up. Um I I was curious to see what had happened to Traverse City AMI and I checked it today and it's almost almost at $75,000 annually. So 120% roughly $90,000 annual income. Is there any way that we can push that further down the percentage scale?

Well, we're talking about two or three units and it's really we're trying to close our funding gap. Right now we have a gap of about $1.2 million. Um and so if we can increase some cash flow, we can support a little bit more debt, which brings that gap down somewhat. We're not talking about more than uh 3 to 5% of the total units. And we would not set the prices on those units. We've had discussion with our de development team. We'd set those well below the 120% uh rent level. Um because those are pretty much market rate rents. We don't want to see any market rate rents in the in the property. But to boost the rents up a little bit, it allows us to carry a little bit more long-term debt, which lowers our gap because we're trying to put together the funding package. And the gap money is obviously what we spend a lot of our time figuring out right now.

Thank you, Heather. Um, as an indication of how confused and bad my day was, I spent the whole day thinking this you were talking about the coffee shop. I looked at the map. I saw the copy shop. I'm like, why did the why did the staff turn down giving Rickard his little piece of Oh my gosh. Yeah. To be fair, I did that when it came to us originally. So, I don't hear you. Everybody does that. Something like one of them gets the name copy in. I think we should have called it something different. Referred to as the copy shop somewhere in there. Oh, it is. I think it did accidentally. I think you're right. Um, we actually call it city view. We've stopped referring to it as clear central.

Okay, we'll we'll try to we'll try.

I just have a couple of You say you've got a site plan there. We have so many problems, so many complaints about Lake Street. There's no sidewalk. We have cars speeding down there. It's a dusty mess. Um I'd just like to make sure that you're really thinking about that. You're thinking about where hopefully you're not sending any parking in off Lake Street that is coming in on eight. uh you have some plan for like not making lefthand turns out of there and um those those are my big concerns or or there maybe you're getting you're giving an easement for at least we have a little bit of sidewalk there so maybe if McGoff transitions someplace else we can complete the sidewalk it that's a tough street

well if I had my brothers we'd master plan the whole strip of old railroad right away but um no we're working with the planning department and planning staff with the city to figure out what would be best. Um, right now we have a loop drive that goes from 8th over to Lake. Uh, our big concern is to make sure we park the lot enough for the residents. We're having trouble right now with our Park View Apartments, which we just opened last fall that has 26 parking spaces for 46 units. and it's uh proving to be a little bit of an issue that there it's under parked. So

that's one of the things we're looking at at this site too is to not create a problem. Certainly we we don't want our residents uh parking elsewhere offsite and to add to the problem that already exists on Lake Street with traffic. Correct. Yeah. Um Mitch, do you have your hand? Yeah. Though one Confounding issue is that there is McGuffs between uh the prop part of the property and 8th Street and Lake Street and McGuff's the physical building does overhang their property line on both sides.

That's somebody else's problem we're dealing with. So, um, really quick, I wanted to say because I think often when we get, um, items like this before us for affordable housing, lately, a lot of it has been city property that we've been relinquishing or talking about how much we're going to relinquish it for. You purchased this property from Copy Central um, to Yeah, it's Well, sorry, but it's it's not a like $1 exchange with the city. That is correct. So, if you can explain that a little because that's where some of those numbers come in too, right, of what you're trying to make up for and how you're to develop it and costs. We we're paying market value for the Copy Central parcel. Uh,

and the reason we were drawn to Copy Central is because of public properties that surround it

and to compile a larger lot that we could really you can't fund through MISTA. the 9% tax credits, it's very difficult to fund less than 35 units. And so to get to a large enough parcel where we could provide the parking, put in the number of units that we thought was necessary to pay full market value for a site in downtown Trevor City, it's cost restrictive for the u workforce housing and to provide the zero to 30% units just can't be done. So, this parcel is very attractive obviously to the housing commission because we can roll land that we don't have to pay market value for into the market rate purchase that we've we're making. So,

thanks. I just wanted to refresh. Did that explain what you asked? I don't Yeah, I was just trying I just wanted to refresh because it's we had it's been a while even for me I have to sat up here for a while since we've had something that had a actual purchase involved in it. Usually, it's been a kind of a you know dollar for this or exchange for that. So, go ahead. I have a question. I I looked at the February meeting from last year and it looked like you were looking at trying to get some property to the south to cover your to to add to your parking.

Yeah, I think in that meeting we talked about potentially coming a little further south 25 to 50 ft. That still may be necessary to put in the We'd like to see one space per unit and not underpark the site. Okay. And so that might be necessary. Yeah. Do we have more questions? Go ahead, Lance. Or a motion. Just a motion. Oh, you have a question. Yeah, I did. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Um, the sale agreement that we're looking at right here has both properties listed. Did the obviously the first one didn't go through yet, right? So, we we didn't finish a purchase agreement at that time. We were doing our due diligence and then when we went to Okay.

put it together. So, that's why both properties are in one agreement. Yep. I had I had some questions and and we did kind of address those um because I I was going to say what's the bottom limit for the AMI requirements because it only spoke to the upper and that was the 120 but we know that there's going to be 10 units at zero to 30% AMI. Um no I didn't say 10 units. Well that's 10% of the units. So four units. Okay. I think I think generally it's between 10 and 15% that we go through for because you have to score a certain amount of points with MISTA to get your funding award. And so generally those are the 0 to 30% units.

Gotcha. I think I said we'd make our best effort uh to accommodate PSH units. It could be section 811 units too which are for people with permanent disabilities. Um, so my other question was, um, so this is what the copy center central project is. I wanted to know more like what's what was going to go on here. Um, in that original memo from last February, it had mentioned that the Trevor City Housing Commission was pursuing the LITC financing for this project. Is that still going or was it

Yes, that's Well, there is one complicating factor to the site and that's consumer's energy. There's some high-owered lines that you can kind of see on the site plan that was or this map that yes, they run like this and so right now we're waiting for consumers. We did a site plan

and the boundary survey and the topo. We provided that to consumers. So now they're reconfiguring coming up with a plan to reconfigure those lines to accommodate the building footprint and the drives and the parking and we expect a response from them March 15th. Their initial response was they could do it but it was going to be expensive. So that's another part of our capital stack is looking for funding. We think we know we have good resources to pay for the relocation of the p the power lines. That has to be all ironed out before we make the LITC application, the tax credit application to MISTA, which will be October 1st of this year.

So, you're pursuing LITC's part of it, but there's always that you guys are always exploring the whole host of options for funding that are out there. That's correct. Yeah. and that includes home funds through the state, CDBG monies, brownfield funds through the county brownfield authority, things like that. Um, on that February memo from last year, it also mentioned that there would be a request for to the city for a pilot for the housing development. And is that still do you still anticipate that? Yes, I do.

Numbers and thoughts on what that's going to look like? Uh we've plugged a 4% pilot into our proforma and still needing a $1.2 million funding gap. That is correct. I I don't disagree that housing in town is expensive to build at all. I don't I don't disagree with that one bit. That's the only questions I got. Thank you. Okay. Lance, you had your hand up. Yeah, my my questions have been answered. Um they were around those percentage levels. I was just curious. I didn't see the note. And so thank you for uh answering that. Sure. Um

I think I think this is what we need. It's good workforce housing. Uh it's what Traverse City needs. So with that, uh I move that the mayor and city clerk execute a purchase and sale agreement with the Grand Traverse County Land Bank Authority for the transfer of parcel number 2851-68200420. and that the motion approving transfer of parcel number 2851-682000430 and relinquishment of the city's property interest in the portion of the land bank property subject to the 2010 agreement be confirmed such agreement subject to approval as to its substance by the city manager and as to form by city attorney

support. Thank you for that Lance Mitch. Any other questions or comments right now? Go ahead. Um, in lie of potentially still needing the pilot in still needing a $1.2 million funding gap, we don't know how much it's going to cost for consumers to maybe move the power lines and then the granting of maybe the MISTA or the LITC grant fundings. If some of those pieces don't come together, like what what is the plan for this? Are is this a $1 sale that's done now or if this project can't go through as prom as promoted? Do are we is this $1 sale committed?

There's there's no $1 sale. I use that as an example of what we've been seeing. It says $1 $1 for our sorry for our tiny portion for our little triangles. Our two triangles. Yeah. But there's a much bigger partial that's part of it too. Yeah. Don't discourage that at all. And the sale of our property has that contingency. Yeah. Right. So, if they can't meet it, uh I mean, and that's the thing, this is a contingent purchase on this development. If the development is going to happen, then being comfortable with the sale for a dollar is okay. But if if this development doesn't happen, are we out that property that we sold for a dollar? That's kind of where I'm at with that.

We can make sure that there's a contingency in there uh about that. Um, we'll have to look at the um at the timing of that along with uh all the other things that um the parties have got going on to to move this toward um a successful uh development which is I think what everybody's sort of looking at. Carl or Chris, you just approached the mic. Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you for the record. Chris Foresight, deputy county administrator. We did we did build it in a contingency. It's part of the additional consideration that

the county land bank would would hold the property together with the the the land bank property and if for whatever reason this transaction fell through, we could still pursue it independently from the housing commission maybe admittedly difficult, but I mean that is the purpose of the land bank to to hold property and look for redevelopment opportunities and and the the cover memo does mention that uh the proposed purchase agreement contains that provision requiring that it be used for affordable housing for a period of at least 30 years and it defines affordable housing as for individuals who earn up to 120% of AMI.

Yeah, that's why I was confused. Go ahead, Mitch. And then Jackie.

Yeah. And from a practical standpoint, as we see with this item on our agenda tonight, uh there are unnecessary complication and hurdles caused by the city portion being two small wedges, one being exceedingly small. And yes, this we as um elected representatives of the city and this being city property do have a stake in this. But functionally there is very little purpose served by that being comprised of two separate small wedges that we aren't doing anything with when with this project. Yes, they are being combined, but even without that, combining them with the much more significant land bank property allows an actual um parcel of land that can be developed for housing, but could also go for a future park or other use. If uh this doesn't work out, that would be encumbered by then being separate parcels under separate administration, though being all public. And that's I think that's a good thing. And I'm just I'm just thinking about this. We just went through the L O situation where we had a potentially a piece of property regardless of where it was at, but we were willing to sell it. We didn't. It was contingent on that development and that development didn't happen. It was kind of a we're trying again. We're trying again. We're trying again. And I'm just if we're going to do it, I want it to be successful and I'm feel good about putting support behind stuff even though we're looking at spending money on a lot of different things, big capital in infrastructure projects, but you know, there's a lot of partners participating in this and I I'm I'm happy about that. So, particularly the the county land bank and the housing commission, but I just I'm just like thinking about our due diligence on

this. if I don't want to just give this away for a dollar and then we can't get it back if this doesn't happen. That's all I'm thinking about. It has that 120 that affordable housing component to that requires that. So that has it has the affordable housing component that's required for it to actually be completed too. So Jackie, you had your hand up. I did. I just thought as long as we're talking about the city's skin in the game, I might mention, please tell me if I'm wrong, but there's a $24,600 value on the um the MOT easement that we are forgiving the cost of. Did I get that right? Yes. And that's in exchange for that deed restriction, right? Yes. Thank you.

Good reminder, Jackie. Other questions right now or comments? Okay, seeing none, um, opening up any public comment on this item. Okay, seeing none, I'll bring it back. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Okay, so that completes our agenda. We have no appointment, so I'll move down. Does anybody have any reports or correspondence from their respective boards?

Not tonight. Okay, I'll just from DDA, unfortunately, I had to miss the last meeting because I was at a funeral, but um we do have that ad hoc on Wednesday for the um TIFF involve or plan. I know there's a lot of people who think a lot about it, so I hope people will show up and give feedback. Um so with that, last public comment, final public comment. Anybody have any can be anything under the sun?

As long as you keep it to three minutes. Justin Reed, um resident. Um my public comment has to deal with the um parks and Rex joint planning commission. Well, joint joint both of them actually. Um both joint planning and Rex. Um there's been some talk about the red drive about the um by North and Greenspire. There's a trail head over there that the township um bright wreck wants to go ahead and redevelop and everything. And one conversation did come up about um a portion of the private road between where the umat and the north ed parking lot is at. there is a dirt road between those um two places and there's been an argument about how to proceed on trying to rectify um that that road is a dirt road and improving it would cost extra amount of dollars because it's in through a swamp land area. And um I've got to say is that um I've said this a couple of times and this has been a couple years ago is I asked the township at one point in time what was the response boy and the township said well we're not interested in roads and that's fine. That's why we've got the county road commission and you know the county road commission is not going to take care of it. And let's say you go down that dirt road and you hit a pothole and you bust your tire, is a township going to pay to get your vehicle fixed. Um, instead of it being burdensome, um, there was a suggestion maybe make that into a non-motorized trail between

the two and that way the road would be closed and there wouldn't be a maintenance upkeep um, from the um, joint rack authority to grade it and everything. Um there was a road that was Elmwood between 11th and down to Silver Lake Road and that was kind of road commission. The kind of road commission closed that portion because it was sinking through the swamp and the kind commission did not have funding for it to keep it maintained. And so I'm hoping that because if anything goes through the joint through the joint wreck um is that that has come back to the township and also to the city about any kind of um approvals. Thank you.

Thank you, Justin. Any other public comment at this time? Seeing none, I'll bring it back. Any final comments from commissioners? Seeing none, meeting adjourned. Thank you all for the tonight. And I see a couple people waiting for signatures. So, please come get them from us. You guys were champs. Botanical Garden. No, this is starts up on M72.