All right, good morning, everybody.

I think we got everyone ready.

Uh it's 8 30.

We'll go ahead and get our fiscal committee meeting here underway.

Number one, we've got a resolution authorizing 50,000 in support of the recommendations.

Uh the safe task force through a pitch and highlight night.

So support.

All right, move dance for we got Mr.

King here to tell us about this thing.

Thank you, Commissioners.

You guys all look beautiful today.

So I want to let you know that.

Thank you.

Uh so this is an annual event we've been doing for the last five or six years.

It's uh an opportunity for uh community organizations that are helping us uh limit gun violence in our community.

So this would be an opportunity for um five different organizations to get awarded up to ten thousand dollars to uh execute their programs.

Uh we have had programs such as recreational activities, uh mental health training, mental health support for families and individuals.

And I'm happy to say we've even done a movie with this uh with with this funding.

Uh a very good movie that I hope to be able to show at the public safety meeting in the near future.

Um so if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

Awesome.

I'll turn to my colleagues and see if they have any questions or comments.

All right, hearing seeing none, your flattery will take you far by the way.

All right, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, it carries.

I'm number two, we've got a resolution authorizing funding to the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the West Michigan Asian Association, uh, as well as the African American um art and music celebration in support of event promotion and cultural awareness with Art Prize 2025, and that's an amount of 15,000.

Thank you.

I we're trying to show excuse me.

Sorry.

So moved, and I need to recuse myself from this.

Okay.

Support.

All right, we've got uh hold on a minute.

Did you say you did you just say so move?

I'll I'll make the motion.

Okay, yes, take it away.

Yep, we're good.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Appreciate it.

All right, moved and supported.

I'll hand it back to you, Mr.

Kane.

Thank you.

Uh so this is uh something that we've done for probably five or six years also.

Uh this is an opportunity to work with uh cultural organizations in our community to help promote our prize, uh, to make sure that um people are represented, they see themselves, and um they also feel like it's an event for them, also.

So this would provide funding for the West Michigan Asian Association, the African American Art and Music Celebration, um, which I am the liaison to for the city, I should say that also on the liaison committee for the city.

That's why I'm bringing this item.

And then also for the um Hispanic uh Chamber of Commerce.

Um so each of those organizations would um get five thousand dollars uh to help promote our prize in various ways, including um supporting artists directly.

Awesome, thanks.

Uh Commissioner Kilgore, you got any questions or comments on this one?

Nope.

All right.

Um no, I'll just I'll make a comment.

I know we had a briefing on our prize um at our last meeting, and then it's always a question or a comment about you know how we can get um all you know the millions of people who come to our city to view uh you know the surrounding neighborhoods and things like that.

So I'm excited about this.

I think it'll be helpful to um engage you know various groups and and demographics within our city and then help everybody realize a lot of the benefits that an um an event like our prize can can bring.

So um with that I'll call the question.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, aye.

Those opposed, the motion carries.

Thank you.

Appreciate y'all.

Thanks so much.

Appreciate it.

All right, number uh three, we've got a resolution accepting uh a ten thousand dollar Americans with disabilities ADA infrastructure grant award from the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks.

So move support.

All right, move and supported.

I'll turn to Mr.

Hondorp here.

Yeah, so this this is an interesting grant.

So the state of Michigan through last year's budget um appropriated a million dollars for infrastructure grants to bring um polling locations up to up to compliance and and add other ADA features.

But they appropriated to the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, who's not a governing body, so it's up to the MAMC to run the grant program um which uh which Grand Rapids is uh is a member.

Um and so they said they were doing ten thousand dollar grants.

So for this grant, um I was approached even before this grant was coming out looking for other grant dollars from New Hope Baptist Church over on Delaware, and um which has been a great polling place over the years.

Um and um an impactful uh neighbor the precinct's a low turn out precinct.

So and they've they've hosted us for um souls to the polls in the past.

So they reached up about getting an ADA door to their their lower level gym door.

I'm like, well, I don't have any grants out right now, but we'll see what we have in this grant key.

So um was provided, so we're working through that process.

The ten thousand dollars doesn't cover their whole their whole project, but um they said they can they'll come up with with the other part of it.

So that's what we're going through that this is part of that process of how we do grants in the city of even from ten thousand to millions of dollars.

So I'm finally working my way through the proper process on a grant.

So love it.

Um so yeah, so this will be kind of through so it's with the is it is coming from the state through the Michigan Association Municipal Clerks.

Okay.

Um how I guess what are our opportunities uh frequency-wise or cadence-wise to seek these types of grants?

Is it just kind of once per election cycle, or what is it?

It's just when they they just some they just kind of appear because last year I got a hundred thousand dollars from the Institute for Responsive Government, and then if you remember back, um the the Center for Tech and Civil Civil Um Civic Life back in 2020, we got like 400,000.

So I I think is organizations and state appropriates, these just kind of these kind of prop up, and then we get security grants.

Um so it's kind of hard to plan long range for them because they're gonna pop up and then they go away.

And um, nope, that's understandable.

Thank you.

Um, colleagues, any questions or comments on this one?

Nope.

Alrighty.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, the motion carries.

That'll bring us to item number four.

We've got a resolution uh accepting a 720,000 dollar grant award and uh approving an agreement with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, MDHS for the fiscal year 2026, Michigan Medicaid Chip Led Hazard Control Community Development Grant Program.

So support.

All right, move down supported.

Good morning, Miss Bohach.

Good morning.

I'm sorry that's so long.

It's all right.

It's not our program.

We just run it.

Um, so this is actually our eighth grant award um with this program, and it really focuses on um children that are chip enrolled who have um very high elevated blood blood levels.

Um so it's a very narrow program.

Um, so we don't really advertise it, we get those um clients through um the health department who are our partners um in this work.

Um, and uh this particular um grant would run through October 1 of 2025 through September 30th of 2026.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any questions, colleagues?

Yes.

Um, so what is the uh Ms.

Bullhash?

The the the application of the grant, like what is it actually used for?

Is it helping with services for the families, helping them repair stuff in their homes?

Like so it's it's similar to our housing rehabilitation program, um, but it's very nearly focused to um those who the health department have identified as being poisoned.

So um our housing rehab staff um will actually bid out the projects and do all of that, and then the health department does the outreach.

Um they will also do um what's called the um Lyras and the clearances and things of uh that's required in terms of that completion of the project.

Does it matter if they own the home or not?

Yes, they do own the home.

In some cases, there are some rental, but it it's really focused on the child, right?

And the unit.

So they'll do it regardless if they own or don't own it.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, good question, Commissioner.

These are sort of extreme cases.

Yep, thank you.

All righty, hearing seeing no other questions.

I will call the question.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, it carries.

That'll bring us to item number six.

We've got a resolution approving uh grant agreement with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy in the amount of three oh no.

Did I skip one?

Yeah, oh so sorry.

Number five, we've got a resolution approving a community grants program grant agreement with the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency in the amount of 959,752 dollars.

Some support.

All right, moved and supported, and we'll uh we'll welcome our city staff here to tell us about this one.

Yeah, good morning, commissioners.

Uh my name is Mike Stahl.

I'm a project manager in the engineering department.

Uh in 2024, Congress uh appropriated funds for the Butterworth Street Stormwater Project.

Um, and so this funding is coming to us uh as a community grant program funding through the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency.

Uh so um the the item before you is just to uh approve the grant agreement with the EPA, which is a critical piece of funding to improve this stormwater drainage that along Butterworth Street from where it intersects with O'Brien Road out to the city limits line.

The project's currently in design, um, and I expect that that will wrap up shortly.

Bidding should be later this fall, and uh with hopes that we have a construction start in 26.

Great, thanks for the info.

Um, one quick question.

I I've very familiar with that route.

I've driven it many times, and I know uh especially when it rains, how how bad the the storm water can accumulate?

Is it just kind of addressing us a couple of those spots, or is it truly more of a reconstruction um kind of more comprehensively?

Yeah, so this funding is going to be uh combined with other funding that we we at the city have budgeted.

Um, and so that whole road is gonna get reconstructed, and this funding will be helped uh with the there's no ditches there out there currently.

Um there's a lot of semin sedimentation in the area, uh so there will be a water quality device that's installed.

Um so we are gonna completely reconstruct that road and then add in stormwater features with this funding.

Got it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Questions or comments?

Do you happen to know what the total amount of that full project is?

We're estimating it's at 3.3 million right now.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh seeing and hearing no other questions, I'll call the question.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, it carries.

And that'll bring us to uh item number six.

Now we've got a resolution approving a grant agreement with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

Uh, and this one's in the amount of three million dollars.

So move support.

All right, move and support it.

I'll kick it back to you.

All right, thank you.

So the item before you is to accept this grant agreement with the Michigan Department of Environment, Grey Lakes and Energy, uh, in the amount of three million dollars.

Uh this was appropriated by the state in 2024.

Uh this funding will be utilized to build the necessary infrastructure to connect in the proposed solar array at the Butterworth Landfill to the city's primary circuit line.

Uh this project's also currently in design.

Uh and we expect bidding to be also this fall.

With a con uh construction start to be uh anticipated in spring of twenty-six.

Awesome.

Thanks.

Just I guess in layman's terms, basically this uh amount will be prepping the site or kind of building out some of the initial infrastructure such that once we get funding down the road to build out the actual arrays itself, then there'll be uh kind of one step already in that direction.

Is that right?

Um sort of so this what we have our primary circuit right for our the city's electrical system, and in order to get the electricity from where that solar array is at the landfill, we actually have to run a circuit line out to that site.

So some of this funding is going to be to install that line uh and and uh it re reconstruct the road, wealthy street, that it's where that the project will be.

In addition to having switches and all the that fun electrical equipment that can connect in the solar array uh to the project.

Okay, got it.

Thanks for that info.

Um colleagues, any questions or comments on this one?

Alrighty.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, it carries.

Thanks, and nice to meet you.

Um number seven, we've got a resolution approving a change order to the contract between uh the city of Grand Rapids and High Street IT solutions LLC in the amount of six hundred ninety thousand five hundred dollars.

So move.

Support.

All right, move down support.

Miss Claren, I believe you're talking about this one.

Yes, uh good morning, Commissioners.

Uh this one is yes, a change order.

Um when we originally did our contract with High Street, uh, one of the South this sorry, South statements of work, um had to do with post go live support.

Um the statement of work anticipated a certain level of need.

Um since Go Live, we've we've seen that we need more help as far as stabilization, um, and then the further refining of reports as well as um extra help with the budget module.

So this this covers all those bases.

I did include because I anticipated the question where are we at with our high street contract?

Um with I catalog the um various change orders for you and we're up around nine million dollars with this change order.

Um and then we anticipate a um budget amendment um to accompany this.

We still have uh some ARP uh funds remaining that we can use this towards.

Okay, great.

Thanks for that.

Any questions or comments, colleagues?

So uh uh does this mean that do you think that there's gonna be any more amendments that are gonna be necessary or I'm hoping we can uh over the next six months refine what our monthly need as far as that support is.

It was extremely high in the summer as we were, you know, figuring out um revising configurations, things like that in the go live environment.

So we're seeing our service tickets go down.

Um so that's why this contract only goes through December.

I'm wondering if you know we're we're we have to assess if our original SAW where we have that monthly amount of service level, is that gonna be enough January?

Um and what that annual contract we we um talked about back when we originally adopted this contract in 2023.

Is that gonna be an adequate level?

Is this um are we seeing more um need for support just because in some cases we do have green staff or um you know we're also you know we had the you know project turnover, I guess on both sides with with key people leaving.

So that could be another driver of why why we need this extra support right now as well.

contract we we um talked about back when we originally adopted this contract in 2023 is that gonna be an adequate level is this um are we seeing more um need for support just because in some cases we do have green staff or um you know we're also you know we had the you know project turnover I guess on both sides with with key people leaving so so that could be another driver of why why we need this extra support right now as well so so it's really just hedging our bets as well as with the audit going on having that extra high street support as well um to to make sure we have the key people we like working with they know us um keeps them in plugged into the project as well so it's also paying to keep some people that were with us through implementation around so they don't hop to another project so that was part of our discussions as well so I'm hoping to follow up as far as like a debrief on the ERP Go Live um within the coming months and then I'll be able to you know let you know where we're at with that service now statement of work if if we're gonna be okay um after January without this extra support or if we want to invest more in high street support I'm also exploring uh getting an Oracle resource embedded with staff for extra training as well if it if it's more helpful going directly to Oracle at that point so um couple things in play to see which way we want to proceed.

Got it thanks good question uh commissioner so it I guess um so for example my my private job I do some of this work too we're actually about to cross the the one year mark since our go live day so is is high street gonna be kind of like the the consultant on retainer to help with the ongoing configuration needs that are are more or less above or more complex and what the staff's current knowledge is yeah so we do have two system administrators that take down kind of the the straightforward tickets that they're able to do.

Yep because of the issues we've had during go live one reason they're not able to catch as many right now is they didn't have the knowledge transfer during the project because we had a lot going on during the project as you know so which that's one thing that's gonna happen um but we do have high street on retainer I believe it was five year post go live support okay where they they are you know there to help us um Oracle one reason it's uh um one of the reasons actually we chose it is they do their updates quarterly um to the system where they apply patches things like that so having that extra extra line of you know triage is helpful for implementing those kind of things um and opposed to like a lot of software systems they'll go through a um patch every you know two years or so and it's a big lift for the community you know for the city or for whoever so okay that's helpful and I would say that's best practice too to have you know experts on retainer I think depending on the size of the organization and the the skill level of internal employees um that can look different whether it's like a you know monthly subscription type or build build by hour and help and whatnot so um yeah definitely curious to hear more about what that relationship will look like so absolutely so what was the the total budgeted amount for this project and how close are you to budget okay so original or are you saying amended because we did start out with all in if we're talking about the five year agreement um implementation as well as all the other statements of work so post go go life support um having ADP as a contract to help us do our tax compliance um and then we have things like simpro to help with cash management management that all in was 10 point three million dollars so as you can see from the change order we've added about three million more dollars onto that so we're up around 13.3 million right now for a five year all in okay yeah what is the so if we ended up at five years like what what is the projection of what that number's gonna be or does it we I'm hoping to hold hold I'm hoping I don't have to add on extra support um I'm hoping this is it uh but again I think I think just to do you know right now we're assessing where we're gonna be with this ongoing support I'm I'm hoping I can give you a presentation in a couple months to show you here's here's the ER here's our go live um you know lessons learned or and then gains as well what efficiencies we've picked up um and then what the ongoing outlook would be for it so so yeah I I can also provide you a breakdown by each vendor if you'd like to see where we're at in our spend and what the annual amount should be now going forward relative to our previous ERP system if that's helpful just to put it in context maybe okay yeah no I think it'd be great at some point just to get like a even just a five minute brief or you know absolutely email presentation on on sort of the how it's all gone and I think to your point too it's really important to call out the the efficiencies gained because I think I mean these projects have you know can sometimes have sticker shock for sure just given their nature but I think it's when you consider the the money you're saving on a lot of processes and automation and things like that um that can have a you know quick turnaround period um where you're you know net positive value overall after just a couple years so um definitely would be interested to see some of those pieces too so yeah and I and I would want to call out I don't see a lot of the staff in here right now some of them but uh you know I I credit the staff with hanging in there it wasn't an easy project our go live got pushed back many times and um and that's frustrated and they're still yeah grappling with this with this with this ERP implementation and um trying trying to get it trying we're trying to stay

Um that can have a you know quick turnaround period um where your you know net positive value overall after just a couple years, so um definitely would be interested to see some of those pieces too.

So yeah, and and I would want to call out I don't see a lot of the staffing here right now, some of them, but uh you know I I credit the staff with hanging in there.

It wasn't an easy project.

Our goal live got pushed back many times, and um and that's frustrating, and they're still yeah, grappling with this with this with this ERP implementation and um trying trying to get it trying to we're trying to stand.

So, you know, this this contract is gonna help us do that.

Yep, which I can assure is not uh unique to the city of Grand Rapids.

I think yes, those projects are very comprehensive and require a lot of change management.

So I fully understand.

Um, that question, I'll uh call the question here.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, it carries.

That'll bring us to item number eight.

We've got our bid list resolution for September 9th, 2025.

So support.

All right, moved and supported.

Um these are all fairly um routine.

I I don't think there's anything specific I would call out.

Um just yeah, if there are any questions myself or other departments are here to answer.

Yep, thank you.

And that starts on page 19 of the packet.

I always like to point that out for people who are curious.

Um those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, the motion carries.

Which will bring us to item number nine.

We've got our comp trollers won't report for the period of August 12th, 2025 through August 25th, 2025, and that's in the amount of uh 204 million dollars, 269,000 or 67,000, excuse me, 925 dollars and 75 cents.

And uh we'll turn that over to our city competroller, Mr.

Max France.

Good morning, commissioners.

For the period referenced there, cash payments were released uh totaling approximately 204.2 million dollars.

This amount includes approximately 5.6 million dollars for employee payroll expense and just over 286,000 dollars uh for income tax warrants during that period.

In terms of quantity, 1,000 uh 38 income tax refunds were issued and 990 uh accounts payable uh checks and electronic uh payments uh were issued.

Um as stated in the memo, these funds were issued for payment, uh not by any individual um in the city compontroller's office and not in accordance uh with the city charter.

There is a paragraph uh that has been added to this report that was uh not submitted by myself uh or my office.

Um it states something into regards to um all the applicable uh rules and laws and regulations uh are being followed.

Um I have requested a list of what regulations and laws that statement is referring to.

It has not been uh provided uh at this time.

Okay, thanks.

We'll go ahead and receive and file that, which brings us to um item number 10.

We've got our treasurer's report for the period of August 12th, 2025 uh through August 27th of 2025.

We'll turn it over to you.

Welcome back.

Thank you so much.

It was it was a lovely trip up to the peninsula.

Go ahead.

Um so good morning with our report today.

Um actually for our last two reports, uh, trying to add a little bit more flavor of the academic data that's out there.

Just to kind of show you some of the things where we're having why we'd say there should be a rate cut, why we think the Fed's holding the line.

Um as of this morning, there's over a 92% probability that we're gonna have a 25 basis point rate cut coming up here in the meeting next week.

Um, but again, there's still a lot of economic data that's gonna be churned out between now and then, and you're gonna have a lot of political rhetoric.

I think what I want to make sure that you see in this report is that we are focused on the stability of the city, the stability of our city investments and our funds.

We are keeping our eye out for this type of activity to see if it will have any type of negative impact on us and how we need to adjust to be flexible.

Our portfolio is extremely flexible.

It's it's quite a bit of money in our short-term environment right now where we're we're investing in US treasuries uh less than one year.

So as these types of events happen, we're gonna be able to adapt and change and reposition our portfolio to really uh perform very well in the future.

And when I say very well, I kind of set a target that I would I would like to see our portfolio earn between 2.75% and 3.25% over the long term.

Um and really this is to build this out so that we structure the portfolio in order to contain to continually have consistent in interest earnings and avoid what we went through between 2009 and 2018.

I mean that was um relying on hope that somebody's gonna raise an interest rate is not a good strategy, but we were not in a position with our city funds to actually start placing those monies.

We are in a much better position now, and from our investment officer Levi Bolt's work, my work and my team's work, we're able to then reset our guidelines, and you've been very helpful and supportive of us when we've come forward with our investment guideline changes to make and adapt to a changing environment to really build out a very successful program.

So with the with what we're seeing right now, um I really expect that there will be that rate cut.

But one of the things I I picked up yesterday from the Ecodot Club of Grand Rapids had a presentation from Miss Diane Swank.

She said expect that inflation is gonna get worse before it gets better.

She said 2026, her beliefs are and her feelings are that the economy will be in better off in 2026 than we are in 2025.

So they're seeing the tailwinds build in.

Um but again, she also highlights things like the terror impact of the tariffs.

Those tariffs sometimes take three to six months to even impact our economy.

Um as most businesses hear of a tariff, they're gonna go out and they're gonna forward purchase as much as they can to make sure that they can avoid that additional cost and keep their prices down where they're not having to pass it on to customers.

Um there's still a lot that has to be filtered out, but I really want to give you the confidence that we're doing everything we can to make sure that the city is protected and that we're positioning our portfolio for strength in the future.

Um with that, our portfolio is sitting at right now eight hundred and thirty-four million dollars, and we're earning three point six five percent on that portfolio.

Awesome, thanks so much.

Um colleagues, any questions or comments.

Commissioner look you like your uh thinking.

Yeah.

All right.

Um that's all right.

So uh I just had one quick question.

So with the assumption that um you know inflation could get worse before better, but uh the belief that maybe 2026 calendar year will be um overall better for the economy.

I guess what um when between now and then would like is there any idea or expectation as to when the inflation would get better before worse?

Like is it kind of Q4 of this year, Q one of next, or well we're still we're still waiting for those three to six months of tariff data to come through and those things aren't settled yet.

So we also have a very large lawsuit going on right now that might be us refunding tariff money.

So that's headed, I think it's past a number of courts right now.

Um that could be a detrimental to a couple different things really.

If we're having to write checks for hundreds of billions of dollars back to countries, that weighs on our economy, right?

That weighs on our positions.

So I I can't really project a quarter that it's gonna get better, but we're we're anticipating is that we're gonna continue to see uh Fed rate cuts as this continues on.

And really the Fed has a target of a two percent inflation.

And now they're I'm starting to hear rumblings that is that really a valid target because it's two per 2% has been the long standard of the Fed wanting to control that at 2%.

What's our new normal now?

Is our new normal gonna be 3%?

So I think they're starting to talk about what that looks like.

I see that there's gonna be continued uh Fed cuts as we've projected in our prior treasure report.

We showed up a timeline showing that Fed rate funds rate dropped down to around three, three point two percent to five percent, I think, by January of 2027.

So as those rate cuts happen, our economy is gonna adjust, our businesses are gonna adjust.

And hopefully what we're gonna be seeing is that the improvement will start taking shape in 2026.

Got it.

Awesome.

All righty.

Well, hearing seeing no other questions or comments, we'll go ahead and receive and file that one, and then uh that'll bring us to our last item number 11.

We've got our city manager's report on contract and purchase approvals, and this is for a period of January 2024 through August of this year.

So support.

All right.

Oh, well, yeah, this is just three part.

So uh yeah, exactly what it says, it's um examples of use of city manager's authority and purchasing.

So he has the authority up to a hundred thousand dollars to authorized purchases in the interest of transparency.

We um bring this report time to time just uh keep the commission apprised of what are those types of purchases that he is um using a lot of times it's because we it's we we get a we get a bid, the kind the vendor won't hold the price for long enough for us to go to a commission meeting.

So that's an example of when we would use it.

Um the city manager also has authorization for emergency purchases, which um is up to um I believe $500,000.

So uh just for your information, here's here's what we've done, and um if there are any questions, I'm happy to follow up.

Great.

Thanks.

I know too when uh in events when there has to be an emergency purchase too, city manager will often reach out to us or I know at least me as the chair of this committee um to keep us informed too so nothing ever comes to our surprise.

But always great to to see the transparency here.

So all right, colleagues, any questions or thoughts on this last item?

All right.

Hearing scene done, we'll go ahead and receive and file that.

Uh and that concludes our meeting today, so we'll go ahead and adjourn at nine o'clock.