And I'll turn on my mic.

Call us uh meeting of committee of the whole to order, and our first item is welcoming week proclamation.

And uh Mr.

Davis, you're gonna join us in the dais and um do we have uh uh someone from the chamber here as well?

I don't know.

I will repeat it.

Well I think so uh this is uh exciting and important, I think, for Grand Rapids.

Um we are, as I say a lot, a city that people want to move to and want to be in.

And uh it's really really a value of ours, and we I don't think we could be clearer that we want to be welcoming and inclusive and empowering of everyone who lives in our city now, but we also are a city that is glad to have people join us.

Uh and that's been true historically.

Uh I hear people all the time uh tell me that they moved somewhere else and then they came back to Grand Rapids because Grand Rapids was a place that wanted them to be there.

Um and our ability to be a welcoming community uh is absolutely key to our success.

And whether that's welcoming people from other countries or other states uh or other cities, uh we want to be a city that that says there's room for everyone, and we want new talent, new ideas, uh new energy, and can't have enough of it.

So uh our proclamation, I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I'll read the high points.

Uh, whereas the success of Grand Rapids depends on ensuring that all Grand Rapidians are welcome, then new Grand Rapidians remain a vital part of our community, and alongside our longtime residents, they bring ideas, start businesses, serve in civic roles, and contribute to the vibrant diversity we value.

And there's a lot of other whereas, but uh whereas in the theme of the National Welcoming Week of 2025 is stories we share, and it's focused on celebrating differences, spotting commonalities, and building understanding through the stories we share.

Now, therefore, I David LeGrand, mayor of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, do hereby proclaim September 12 to 21, 2025 as welcoming week in Grand Rapids and call on residents and stakeholders in Grand Rapids to join together in building a stronger community in Grand Rapids and relationships with all our neighbors and to renew our commitment to our common values and to take actions in the spirit of welcoming.

So thank you all.

Yeah.

Thank you, Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, and appointed officials.

Uh we just want to welcome some of our guests who have come in today.

First of all, uh, we're grateful for our partnership uh with the uh West Michigan Welcome Plan and all the people that serve on that steering committee.

Uh see representatives joining us now, uh, including representatives from the chamber, Samaritas, uh, and also from our employee resource groups.

And I just want to take a minute again to celebrate the amazing work that's done by our our employees here at the City of Grand Rapids.

They uh really live this value and push to make sure that we are a welcoming community.

We're proud to be a welcoming community and proud of the work that's happening here.

We'd also like to take this point to just welcome you all or invite you all to the West Michigan 2025 global gathering, which will be held on September 13th at Garfield Park from 12 to 6 p.m.

There are flyers in the lobby.

Again, that's uh a global gathering, which will be September 13th at Garfield Park from 12 to 6 p.m.

There will be cultural presentation, the global market, fashion show, resource vendors, uh dance and family activities is gonna be a good time.

Uh so again, thank you all, and thank you all for your amazing work.

Yep, we'll hit up.

What's up date?

I don't think we met the topic.

I know.

I think it's my hearing.

All right, moving along.

Uh that brings us to uh the next, which is uh potential resolution to set a public hearing date for an application for issuance of economic development bonds submitted by the Michigan Christian home uh doing business as Beacon Hill at Eastgate.

Um and Ms.

Rennero, um take it away.

Yes, good morning, thank you.

Uh yes, this is to help schedule a public hearing for the 23rd.

The 23rd, yes, 23rd.

Uh for uh the EDC and its evaluation of issuance of bonds and the not to exceed amount of 190 million to help exp uh with the expansion and renovation of Beacon Hill retirement community.

Uh this project will include the expansion and revitalization of the western portion of the campus and the re uh the removal of a functionally obsolete building being the assistant living and memory care buildings.

Um the existing skilled nerve nursing building will be renovated to accommodate up to 29 new units, and the newly constructed uh building will house 101 new independent living apartments along with 48 new traditional assisted living unit residences.

So it's a little bit on the um the project itself.

This the public hearing is really to evaluate the project plan, uh which gets into more detail than I just described, and also will serve as the uh TEFRA hearing, which refers to federal tax equity and fiscal responsibility act of 1982, uh which is one of the many steps that we're uh clearing to uh help issuance of bonds through the economic development corporation.

Great.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

Support.

Uh any discussion, Commissioners.

Um the one thing that I guess it's worth maybe pointing out for the public, this is issuance of bonds by that entity, and they need our approval, but it doesn't impede it doesn't impair our uh credit rating or our put any obligations on the city per se.

And so it doesn't have any financial implications for the city.

Yes, correct.

Thank you.

Great.

Uh okay.

See no other discussion.

Um I would call for a vote.

All in favor of uh moving to uh public hearing, say aye.

Aye.

All posed, motion carries, and that takes us to the end of our committee and the whole discussion.

Um we are intending to move into closed session following this uh morning's uh committee the whole, so I would ask for a motion to move into public uh pardon me into uh closed session following uh the public portion.

So support.

Uh City Clerk, if you can call the role, and the purpose here is um for discussion of labor and also review of um employee.

Commissioner Knight?

Yes.

Commissioner Asassi, Commissioner Purdue?

Yes.

Commissioner Belchuk, yes.

Yes.

Uh that brings us to our briefings.

And uh the first is an update on fiscal disclosures and city commission policy one zero zero-06 and uh city attorney if you want to take it away.

All right.

Uh thank you, uh City Commission, and thank you, City Manager, for keeping this prioritized on the agenda.

I believe we were back uh we were in front of you in July to talk essentially about what is currently existing from a financial disclosure policy, and um we gauge the temperature of this city commission to see should we continue the conversation about improving our uh fiscal disclosure.

So this is not an action item today.

I wanted to give you some additional research and some consideration and get your thoughts.

I have a couple of different ideas for where to go from here.

Uh one would be keep what we have and be a little bit more diligent or a lot more diligent about how we fill those out annually and maybe set some parameters and accountability internally about how that's going to get managed.

Option two uh might be referred to the fiscal committee to do some more um ideating and come up with a better document or a fiscal disclosure form that we could utilize and incorporate into 100-06.

And option three is yeah, tell me something different.

Let's innovate together, and maybe there's something that's not option one or option two that I haven't thought about.

But either option one or option two would be great, and I welcome any other feedback or thoughts that you might have.

So if uh Joel, I don't know if you can scroll through this item or if you have it in front of you, Commission.

But what I did is uh in the memo posted uh what our current policy says and reiterated that our current policy is kind of a self-declaration, it's a self-governance by this city commission.

The penalty for anyone that doesn't um comply with the current policy is potential censorship or uh a public spanking, so to speak, by the city commission.

Um I think that that that sort of uh penalty is probably the appropriate one.

More importantly, I try to include a range of different options or ideas that other cities are doing, and also included uh copy and paste of what the state does.

So as you work through the attachments that follow this memo, you'll see the city of Detroit and many other municipalities are kind of like us.

Uh it's a little bit vague form.

There's more detail here on the city of Detroit.

But they have a board of ethics, and the Board of Ethics then does some additional scrutinizing of these potential uh disclosures.

The city of Lansing starts to look a little bit closer to what the state law is.

It's a relatively easy to navigate check box and then prompts for additional disclosures and uh some room as you see the following pages that provide some additional space for narrative answers on some of the particular disclosures.

Macomb County again appears to have an ethics board that collects and uh captures these for personal disclosures, and these look quite similar uh to the state uh disclosures that again are a good guide, but maybe are also imperfect for what the city commission uh might choose to do in the future.

The the last document is uh copy and paste out of the Michigan state law MCL 15.706.

I have uh synthesized a couple of the questions, like I took out the space for a home address and some things that maybe might not be necessary for disclosing finances.

There's been some conversation about uh what spouses should uh or could disclose in addition to the um public official.

Uh there was some conversation last time about liabilities in addition to assets being disclosed and potentially being helpful, and you'll see that included here after number 11.

And then I've highlighted on the next page an area that uh really applies more strictly to state legislative officials or state elected officials because lobbying is uh term of art that doesn't necessarily apply to the city.

Uh we do lobby as a city, and so we are uh I wouldn't suggest that 14, 15 or 16 be included in anything that were to move forward.

Um I don't have a personal stake in this.

I don't um think I don't have an opinion on what the next best move is for you all, but I'm happy to uh give context to the research that we've done in the law department.

I'm happy to hear thoughts and ideas, and if there is a desire to come up with a different form, maybe the fiscal committee might be a good place to start to uh draft something together.

Thanks.

Um I'll go first.

I think um referring to the fiscal committee is a good idea.

Um so we don't have to hash out all the details here.

I will highlight though.

I think the purpose of doing this as far as I'm concerned uh is two.

One is um to uh uh do our best to uh continue to make sure that we're very aware of the potential of conflicts of interests because that would actually be bad.

But I think the more important thing is we all know in the and in the country there is a real been a real uh decline in trust and government.

And I think that in order to be trusted, you have to act in a trustworthy manner.

And I think that uh this is an area where we can frankly up our level of acting trustworthy to the voters.

And so I think that um a good financial disclosure uh policy signals to the voters that we are working for them and not working for ourselves, and we don't have things to hide that they might want to know uh to test that proposition.

Now to getting into the weeds a little bit I think that um it is important to have uh spouses included and um I've used myself as an example before but I'll I'll do it again um substantially all of my assets are in LLCs.

Um I could at breakfast breakfast this morning have made m my wife Melissa the sole owner operator of all of those LLCs and then I wouldn't be saying look it's magic I don't have any I don't have any assets.

So if you have a spouse you can simply give all your assets to uh risk free then you can evade the intent of a form and so I think it's really important to have spouses included so that you're not so that there's not a loophole that makes the entire thing um not really work and I'm really I've said and I've said and I testified in Lansing that they're not including spouses uh I frankly thought was uh a vitiation of the entire uh state architecture on financial disclosure I think it was a huge mistake uh to not have spouses included in in the financial disclosure part so um I frankly hope that we can be a model for the state on how to do this better uh because they had an opportunity to do it right and they failed um so I'd like us to do it right um the other uh uh thing that's uh I guess worth pointing out is um and uh Mr.

Strom knows this and lawyers know this but with judges there's a standard we that's used that's not just impropriety but the appearance of impropriety and as elected officials we don't want only not do bad things we don't want to have there even be an appearance we've done something bad and so full and rigorous disclosure I think helps us avoid appearances that we have something to hide and so I think as elected officials we have be the people have the right to hold us to a very high bar of uh being really really certain that we are working for the voters and not working for ourselves and that's that's the heart of what financial disclosure is about.

So um I think referring this to fiscal is good but I do think we want to have a strong form and my brief perusal of uh a number of these forms they didn't look to me as though they were sufficient to cover all of the concerns that voters might have at the same time we want to make this something that's not impossible to comply with that's fairly user friendly because we don't want to trip people up include all any of us or any of our successors we don't want to trip them up with a form that's hard to comply with and get accidental errors because then you've got a you just created a new problem.

So having this having something that's fairly user friendly fairly and and not onerous is I think also important.

I talked a little more than I meant to but I think those are important issues.

So anyone else have any guidance for our city attorney at this point.

Great.

I just have a bias to that side mayor.

No I'm just kidding I am sort of left bias on that.

Thank you for this and thank you Mr Strom for putting this together.

I agree while transparency in government is over you know overall important I think the form of government that we have and what we have essentially access to or you know what does that look like from from how state state government or federal government operates is different.

I I myself have submitted the form when I've gotten a new job when my husband's gotten a new job those have probably been the most or are served on a different board.

I support going to the fiscal committee because I think as a body we do have committees who do different work and if they're um and and that makes sense there you know I still always think how does this play out in the larger scheme we also have our campaign finance reports that we're all subject to presuming that we're all have spent over a thousand dollars in our um in our uh elections and so we can people can go on our campaign finance reports and see who's contributed to us and see what those actions might have been as well.

And so I I would like to uh make the the form more dynamic.

I think answering questions versus listing is more affirmative.

You're you're actually having to respond versus well they're asking me to disclose and so it's easier to say well I didn't disclose because I didn't feel like it fit the need.

So I would be supportive of something that I think it was Lancy Mr Strom when I looked you said um something like that um you know spouses I think I I agree with your your the legal definition of that mayor I also think my husband didn't decide to run for office.

I did and I'm a separate person than my husband and I think that is also really important to me as a woman is like I'm not defined by my husband and so there's there's some nuance there but I could probably go either way.

Um and then just doing a regular review, just making it part, you know.

We are we're you we just talked about doing a review today.

Um we should have that review as well.

Did we do it?

You know, did we report on it?

We could link it to our bio, you know, um that we have on the website as well that you know in this year and this year, and so it's just easily available to our constituents.

So those would be my suggestions.

And um I appreciate the work that's been done so far.

Thanks.

Commissioner View.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um I appreciate the comments uh made thus far.

Um I agree with many of Commissioner Yasasi's uh points um regarding just the difference in our in our our form of government and um I also think because we're part-time and stipend base that we just want to be careful about um how much time we might be investing in an extremely onerous kind of over the top uh form.

But I don't think that's what you're asking for, but I want to explicitly state that.

Um I know part of your goal is to uh push and facilitate a culture of transparency with this body.

And so I I do think that a more uh regular uh check-in process to make sure those forms are updated, uh potentially adding some of those response questions, um, a farmer deny uh might be a better way to capture some of that.

Um and right now I don't know if any if we know who's responsible for holding these, um if it's more of a passive process or active process.

So I think that step alone might help p uh push and get us thinking more uh front forwardly around um other interests that we have, particularly business interests outside of um uh kind of what we're doing within our role as commissioner.

So um I supported going to fiscal committee, but I I don't see the form as needing a ton of change.

Um but I think uh revisiting the timeliness of it, the schedule, how often we're checking in will be marked improvement.

I I so just so everyone knows I'm I'm my target here is literally a form that would take less less than 10 minutes to fill out.

I think that um that's perfectly achievable and would give voters a whole lot of uh comfort.

Um I will say I and I told the city attorney this earlier today.

I asked him if he had ever looked at the congressional financial disclosure form.

Um I have, and you get if anybody wants to try, um you can pull it up and imagine filling out for yourself, and you get about a page in and you get really nervous because they ask you all these questions and they want you to value everything.

And you think like, is the do I have to disclose the carpet in my living room?

Like what's it worth?

Like I don't re like I don't remember how much we bought that carpet for.

Do I have to depreciate it?

Like it the it it asks you questions that start feeling very, very intrusive and um, you know, but but there's a lot of conversation at this at the federal level right now about like should congressional people flat out not be allowed to buy stock.

Now, I don't think that we are altering the course of NVIDIA's uh valuation at the city commission.

Um so you absolutely I don't think we need to be anything near the federal level of um of analysis and people who fill out that federal form usually hire an accountant.

So I am not envisioning a form that requires it puts a b that puts a burden on us.

Um I'm envisioning a form that's that's pretty easy to fill out, you take a good look at it.

I also think, and this is something we can talk about, but how often you have to refresh this, I think annually is a good target because if you, for example, forget you know, if you if you do something mid-year and we have a 10-day fuse on you having to update your form and you're like, oh man, you know, I changed I did X and I had to disclose that and you miss a 10-day filing deadline, then all of a sudden we've got I mean we all know how onerous campaign finance uh filings are, right?

There are hard deadlines, and if you miss a comma, all of a sudden you got a $25 fine and you gotta submit amended forms and like I'm again I'm not interested in in getting us to anything like that level of compliance um or that level of work.

I think we can simply up our game here provide the voters with uh some reassurance of what I'm absolutely confident of, which is everybody up in this day s is working for the people.

Um and it's simply a matter of sort of showing your work.

Um showing what I what I know is already the case and and uh you know if we build a culture of transparency, um I think it's just generally good.

So um any other comments or questions?

Otherwise, um I think that sounded like sentiment for referring this to fiscal.

So thank you, city attorney.

Uh moving us along to our final briefing then, and I have lost my little oh there we go.

Uh update on the MLK Community Center.

Um, and I assume this is anticipated uses and who's coming to the major.

Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners.

Uh I see Miss Bohatch is coming along with our interim parks director this morning.

As you know, uh we've had several transformational projects uh that we're fortunate to develop coming out of the pandemic, many assisted with state and federal funding.

And we spent a lot of time speaking about uh amphitheater and soccer stadium and the fire stations, but this is yet another great transformational project happening in our city uh at the Martin Luther King Community Center, one that has been long envisioned by residents and neighbors, and that is uh taking a lot of that same collaborative approach between local funding, uh state funding and uh other partnerships.

And so today the staff is uh prepared to give an update, and I think it's uh important reminder somehow as we talk about uh many of the the great things happening in our city.

Um this uh if you've not been by the King Martin Luther King Center lately, it is truly uh an impressive edifice that that's going up.

And so uh we wanted to make sure that we can visibly uh share it in the chamber and hopefully uh you we'll look forward to that great day of uh breaking uh cutting it open there.

So with that, Miss Bohatge is gonna kick us off.

Good morning.

So we are really excited to provide this briefing today as we prepare for the opening of the new community center at Martin Luther King Park, um which will occur in early early next year.

Um the project project started as a concept um as a major building renovation and it took into consideration community input.

Um and uh but it was being um designed from a resource constrained perspective.

Um so we listened to what the community wanted and what was needed, but was really looking more focused on trying to meet those needs with limited resources.

Um former city commissioners, Sunita Lanier and Nathaniel Moody really pushed us to flip that thinking and to use this as an opportunity to create what could be in the neighborhood and also to what could be a transformational project for the community in general.

So we went back to the drawing board and um when we saw the new design plans from the talented Isaac Norris, um, we just knew there was no going back.

We had to figure out how to make this investment um which would be very significant in our third ward.

And so we are here today um with a number of park staff that Ms.

Claypool will probably introduce when she speaks um to give you just an overview of um the facilities itself and um the operations plan.

Um but the project was really made possible through um quite a variety of resources that included our um parks and millage fund, the city's capital fund, the third world equity fund, city dedicated ARPA funds, um, and then thanks to our um Senate majority leader Winnie Brinks and Representative Christian Grant, we received an MEDC grant.

So it was a significant capital stack that took us from a small project to a very significant um nearly 20 million dollar investment.

So I'm gonna turn it over to Laura Claypool, who is our interim parks and recreation director, who's going to highlight for you the extensive community um engagement process that was used um to get here and walk you through the building amenities and then our operations plan.

Okay, and greetings.

Uh we are very excited to be here today.

And before I get started, um I just want to recognize what a pivotal point we are here.

This is a generational investment like we've haven't seen in decades and decades in the park system.

And it has been a long time coming conversations over 10 years.

Um the team that you see behind me, these are very passionate parks professionals that touch the project in lots of different ways from the planning and engagement and project management, capital construction, and now rolling into this new phase where we look to bring this facility online and offer it to the community.

We have our programming leads, our operational leads, our communication leads, and it's it is really one of those projects that reaches and touches every dimension of the parks department.

So I just want to acknowledge all of the work that this group has done to bring it to this point and the excitement um that we have to bring this forward.

Um so I think it's really important first to take a moment and reflect back on how we got to this point.

Ums Bohatch mentioned a little bit of how we arrived.

But the vision for the project was formally structured um around the quality of life study, which was in 2018 and 19.

Um, and it really was looking at a shared vision for improving the quality of life in the Martin Luther King Park neighborhood.

A portion of this vision was creating the long-term goals.

But what was delivered in 2019 were some recommendations and a very clear project vision that included the vibrancy of the neighborhood, a facility that was accessible to the entire community, that it could be year-round operational, had space for community events, that it was practically designed, and that was really reflective of the rich history of the neighborhood.

And so with all of those things in mind, we moved into this very long extensive five-year engagement process.

During that five years, we formed a stakeholder uh committee.

There were 45 separate touch points throughout the community.

6,500 community members were involved throughout the process.

Four rounds of postcards mailed to half mile radius, and then we also had a dedicated project page.

So I just want to um remind you what the lodge looked like.

This was the vision created.

And if you have not been by, um, City Manager did mention this picture was taken via drone in July, and it's been had significant process project um progress even since then.

Um so all of that, all of that engagement led us to this design.

This space was designed around community voice, around community need, around years and years of engagement and planning.

Um what you see is a full-size basketball court, a rentable um event space for 200, a fitness studio, two rentable classroom spaces that have roll-up doors to the pool that can be used for pool parties, and then we also have office space for the Department of Our Community's children, and also office space for the King Park Neighborhood Association.

Um I want to say the structure of the facility we ended up with was engagement focused, but so is the programming that I'm going to introduce to you.

Um we heard over and over again that there needed to be a it needed to be a community venue space that was open and invited, that there was youth focused programming, opportunities for inner intergenerational connection, and then overall increased um utilization of the park and the facility.

And so what I'm about to share with you is years and years of planning.

We intend to have um open gym basketball, which is free to residents.

Uh there will be a drop-in charge for non-residents.

We intend to have a free teen program during the school year from three to six o'clock every day with program leads intended to give teens coming out of school a safe place to go, structured activities.

We plan to have free open pickleball throughout the week for residents, drop-in rate for non-residents.

We would like to expand the summer day camp program that we currently have there.

We have about 75 youth that come into the facility throughout the summer.

We plan to expand that program.

And then we'll also do programming there through a regular registration process for both youth and adult fitness.

We will also have some free 50 plus programming offered throughout the week.

Um, with that as a framework, I just wanted to give you some ideation of what we're looking at as far as gym utilization.

We would like to have the facility open for for basketball open gym at some point seven days a week.

And that may shift in and um ebb and flow through the changes of the calendar.

Um, but our youth program would have designated space, use a space for pickleball, use the space for youth programming, dance classes, um, uh, instructional basketball, those types of things.

I want to I want to focus real quick on the event space because it was designed within a very elevated level of sophistication and charm that matches the vibrancy of the community.

And we can see up to 200.

We anticipate being having this available to the community for rent.

I I believe when we open the doors, we're gonna have a slow roll and we'll offer it three to five days a week um for rent for rent.

Um, and then we do also have those two classroom spaces that are both also available for rent.

Um so with that being said, um I want to talk real quick about our uh programming rates.

So the fees for the rentals were set through a detailed analysis of city existing fees, cost recovery, but also we did a pretty in-depth uh market analysis of what similar facilities and the rates that you see before you still set us at a very significant savings over what you would be able to find in a market.

Significant savings for residents, 150 dollars an hour for residents, 300 for non-residents with a three-year, three-hour um minimum, um less for the classroom spaces 50 and 100.

We are setting fees or we intend to set fees at this point in time for gym rental and fit fitness facility rental, um, but we don't anticipate um utilizing those spaces for rent at this point.

Again, we're we're gonna open the doors, we're gonna get good, really good at the programming that we have planned before we look um to expand.

Um so you may be asking yourself what sort of staffing structure will it take to run this uh level of programming.

Um we are seeking to hire one recreation program technical supervisor that will be the only full-time staff that will be permanently housed at the facility, and then there will be a number of part-time positions from customer support.

Um the visual that you see is when you walk in the front door to the left, there will be a welcome center.

We envision having a customer support person there 9 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

Um Monday through Sunday, as long as the facility is open and operational.

We'll have a leader on duty who will be kind of a uh a floating um manager, if you will, supporting our full-time position, uh assisting in event rentals.

Uh we will be hiring teen program teachers, team program leads.

Um the budget.

So we anticipate the budget for fiscal year 26 to be about 262,000, and that covers um personnel, supplies, contracts, utilities, maintenance spenses, um, and then first year investment in equipment.

Um the operation will be funded through a combination of user fees, park millage, and park uh maintenance of effort.

Uh walk you through our timeline.

Uh so I think we met Connie mentioned at the beginning that we are looking to open the doors in February, which means our feet are hitting the ground running fast uh with getting ready for this level of programming.

Um at this point in time, uh our timeline is staff recruitment and training, community notification, establishing things such as standard operating procedures, emergency action plans, creating marketing materials, and really developing a communication plan so that we can ensure that these programs that we're excited to be offering the community that we have the messaging right and we're hitting the right spaces for that.

And finally the doors opening.

Uh so uh my final slide is next steps.

Um we the city manager has the um administrative ability to set the fees.

Um so that would be step one.

We will be bringing forward a budget amendment at the September 23rd meeting um to appropriate for this level of programming.

Then we would move right into recruiting and hiring the supervisor and then um rolling with the other implementation um items that I mentioned on the last slide.

Uh so I shared a lot of information with you in a very short period of time, and um I'm very happy to take any questions that you may have.

Come here, Mayor and Commissioners.

Before you begin with questions again, I want to thank uh Ms.

Claypool and the staff for all the work and bringing forth this project to fruition and uh see Durbin there.

We spent a lot of time on site and Kerry and helping with the design, so thank you for for your work.

Um I do want to uh footnote the budget amendment.

This is just for fiscal year 26, and that's a partial partial cost.

So we'll plan for fiscal year 27 and that budget.

I can't remember the numbers, but it uh it may we anticipate may be at least two to three times that amount is it am I?

We're anticipating some place between 450 and 500,000 dollars a year, again supported through um our normal operations.

So the scale of the operation to run that and this women pool, half a million dollars a year plus the the investment.

Um this is almost a 20 million dollar project.

So I just want to underscore the significant amount of investment in the uh this project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, so and I guess to that point, City Manager, um how much of this is coming from the millage of that $500,000 and how much of it would come from.

Well, we haven't developed the fiscal year 27 budget yet, but for 26, the amendment is uh, you know, 90 percent of it is coming from the millage, more than 90 percent.

So 262,000, 250,000 is coming from the millage.

Okay, thank you.

Uh any other questions, uh Commissioner Robinson.

Yeah, thanks, but just um one quick question more logistically.

So the the resident versus non-resident rates, I guess what is the what is the policy or procedure gonna look like.

I'm just imagining if I'm a a kid, I don't know like you know how to prove my residency when I show up for a free activity.

So is that does that only apply to like adults, or I guess what is it?

You just show up with a driver's license or if someone doesn't have a driver's license, can they use like utility bill?

I guess yes and yes.

Okay.

Um, those are again the administrative things, those policies and procedures that would be putting into place, but something like a school ID.

Okay.

Um I I think we'll have a a pretty long laundry list too.

Uh just curious, thank you.

Yeah.

Commissioner Purdue.

Thank you.

Thank you for the update and the countdown to February.

I'm so excited.

Um, I'm really excited.

Um, so a few follow-up questions and comments.

Um I love the the outline and the plans around programming.

It seems really robust, engaging lots of different age groups, uh really uh very accessible and varied uh price point.

Um I'm curious, are those particularly the after the team program after school?

Are that are those programs around by the city?

Are they school partners?

Can you talk a little bit more about how that is intended to work?

Sure.

Um so we would be running a program that would kind of it would be run by the parks department um in conjunction and collaboration with um our community's children, and we would be running programming that would be um that would run parallel to existing programs that already exist in the community, not looking to take programming from other organizations but to walk around uh lock walk alongside and and find those gaps.

So when you say team programming, are you um referring to existing programs within OCC, like uh the Mayors Who Council, Growth 1000 and others, or is this student to no?

This would be a this would be a standalone program.

It would be a registration process.

Um it would be a uh you're registered, you can come if it works in your schedule, and essentially we're just opening the doors and giving an opportunity for um a safe space for after school um movement, so pick up basketball of programming in a space that would be designated for teens, having a space for um after school studies and that type of thing.

But we do envision it to be a program that's run and led um by our department.

Would there be a space where just anyone can drop in and have coffee and just chat?

Um structural activities.

We don't have that established at this point in time, but it doesn't mean that it's something that we can't look at down the road.

That's a great idea.

Just to clarify though, our community's children will be headquartered.

Where are we office there?

I should say, yes, yes.

At the center, so that will be a place people can drop in and have an opportunity to talk and talk about career opportunities.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Uh to your point around having a safe place to go um after school and on the weekends.

I do notice that some of the proposed programming or or hours really uh end at 8 p.m.

on a lot of nights.

Um so um I don't know how much of that is set in stone, but just asked to consider um what the needs for engagement are um around that time frame.

Six to eight still seems like folks are still out going to programming, wanting to hang out, wanting to do their homework, play basketball.

Um, so I'm thinking about how to make sure that it truly is serving that purpose.

So um would just encourage us to look at that to make sure that um we're taking full advantage of this this this major investment.

And then finally, just to plant a seed, uh, we've talked about this in relationship to uh trash typically, like bag tags, uh, but having community uh located spots to pick up things like that.

And I wonder about the possibility in addition to OC being headquartered there, uh, might there be some sort of space where um there's like sort of some sort of drop-in office, some city hall kind of connection, whether it's bag and tags or a really great point to meet your commissioner for a conversation.

Um so those those are some of my thoughts around considering um when we uh kind of figure out how to fully uh operationalize um the the space.

Um and then the last thing that I want to notice is no is just related to um the rental spaces.

Um I think that's slide rental rates, I'm sorry.

Um slide 13.

I'm I'm thinking about a birthday party, and I'm thinking about 450 dollars and to for a multi-purpose room for a kid's birthday party, and that feels extremely out of reach.

Uh, one of the things that I'm hearing a lot related to the community hub in Boston Square now is that the rental rates are just out of reach.

Uh they're out of reach for neighborhood associations, they're out of reach for many families who live adjacent in in the neighborhood to the community hub, and I think that'll be the same for MOK.

Um, so I know that we've designed programs and assistance in the past to help folks access uh special event planning, for example, through the city, and wonder how we might also provide relief or access in this way for folks who who can't afford 450 bucks for to take advantage of this community space.

Okay, appreciate that um city manager you want to.

Yeah, just it is important because we gotta make sure we're clear on the fees.

So um a couple of questions for clarification.

How different are these fees from the current fees or from what's charged in other facilities across the city?

One to clarify that.

And for an example, that that multi-purpose room is a is the big ballroom area, but for a party for a birthday party for a family, would these other rooms be usable and how many people would they account for?

30.

So the classroom spaces would accommodate 30 for a smaller birthday party type thing.

For A and B.

Correct.

And the multi-purpose room is seats of up to how many?

200.

200 people.

Okay, thank you.

Yep, I see that.

Thank you.

Uh my point still remains.

I mean, think looking at a classroom, it's it will still be a hundred dollars minimum for a birthday party to run out of the classroom to run out of gym.

Um, and I still see that being out of reach for many in our community.

Um, and that's based on feedback a lot of feedback from the paper associations with some of the new community spaces too.

So I think we have a way to to make sure this stays accessible.

And if you can clarify the first question I asked, how different are those fees from other uh community centers?

Um so uh well, I can I can tell you this the 200 person um rental space, even at 450 dollars for three hours is still significantly less than 95 percent of the other spaces we looked at.

Um so for a space like that, a brand new space for 200, it is still priced at a a rate that hopefully could be more affordable than some of the other things that are out there on the market.

I figure that that will be the answer and still challenge us to think about how we can make sure that this public space that is 95% paid for by uh our millage can make sure that it stays accessible to everyone.

Sure.

Um Commissioner Sassi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um thank you for this presentation.

I think um I don't know how many times I've heard this update, but to see those drone pictures and to reflect a little bit about it was just the time and circumstance, the hard work of the department, um, and not missing a beat.

You know, we've had a leadership transition, so the kudos to you as well, Mrs.

Clippool.

So um I'll echo the same sentiment um from Commissioner Purdue.

You know, I think we've and it's probably like a broader conversation, maybe we can bring this up when we we kind of can ennect in October.

We've talked about water assistance, we've talked about, you know, we had some things regarding um, you know, some of the differences in the odd even, although I didn't uh you know I voted in the uh I wasn't in the majority on that.

Um but looking at where you know is there an opportunity, kind of what we've done with some of the scooters and things like that, where people could um apply and qualify for maybe not a reduced, because I think the question is like how do we weigh what we're hearing from community?

And I would say I've I've heard the same things.

Obviously, we have a lot of different um assets throughout the community where people can you know rent out a park, and you know, there's different, you know, this is a new build, so essentially kind of like housing.

We've got to we've got to you know make the we've gotten the money, but there's also the maintenance of this, you know, for the life of this as well.

And so I think that's another um consideration for us to think about.

Um but I as somebody who we were talking last week as somebody who went to a gymnastics class there before this is just i all these things kind of came together.

So I I would be supportive of, you know, I don't think we're gonna solve this here today, but could we look at sort of how we've structured some other um assets in the community and made them more accessible to those who might meet certain thresholds or income guidelines, um, recognizing that I also think like you have to have skin in the game when you're renting a place because you want it to be left in a certain way.

And you know, Commissioner Lanier isn't here, but she owns a building, and I sit in that building and we talk a lot about what are those rental fees because it's getting used, and so the asset is you know, the wear and tear and all the different things.

So um, but I would be supportive of if you know we could have that conversation, particularly how we look at what we did for the the micro mobility, which I think was a good example of you know, um trying to get people in that last mile or even more than the last mile.

So thank you.

Appreciate the comments.

Thanks.

So uh seeing no one else, uh great project, exciting to see this come along.

Um I will say that um I I'm assuming that you that the city manager will think about um making sure that we don't have so many pool parties that we don't have general admission at that pool.

Um, because it certainly looks like a good place to have a party.

Um anyway, uh thank you so much for the briefing, and this is really exciting to see going on.

So thanks.

Uh and so before we go, so just to be clear on the so the next steps we would be coming back um next week.

For a budget amendment for a budget amendment, and um I will have the staff do some comparative analysis of fees before uh signing off on the final fees.

Great.

And that I will adjourn us and move us in a closed session.

Thank you.