Call this meeting of the city commission to order.

Uh and as is our practice, we like to start these meetings with a moment of silence.

So please join us in a moment of silence.

Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

For which it stands.

One nation.

Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Mr.

Clerk, if you call the roll.

Commissioner Balzak.

Present.

Present.

Commissioner Sasi.

Present.

Commissioner Kilgar.

Present.

Commissioner Knight.

Present.

Commissioner Robins.

Present.

Present.

And if at this point we could have our interpreter come up and explain their function in England, actually in Spanish.

I can explain it in English.

We have a Spanish language interpreter here from in the audience who wishes to have public comment or needs help understanding what's going on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And that brings us to our first opportunity for public comment on agenda items.

So please uh anyone who wishes to speak, limit your comments to items that are on the agenda for commission action.

Thank you.

How y'all doing?

I'm D Jones.

I'm uh here to speak on uh community development committee action item 14, the resolution scheduled a public hearing November 18th for fiscal year 2026 to 2030 consolidated housing community development plan.

I hope that you guys put uh 3D planting, 3D printing houses into this plan and uh asking the state government and our uh legislators and uh other uh state governments and departments that has funding.

I feel like I can't hear myself, but uh all of the other state departments that have funding.

I would ask you guys uh to continuously advocate the 3D print houses here uh to also build tiny houses because we need housing here and uh we need a lot of units.

I know we probably don't need 34,000 all because we have you know the uh 100 home project and all of that other stuff, but we need continuous and affordable housing.

Uh as Annette Vandenberg from the West Grand Neighborhood uh organization, the executive director said we need uh housing under 30 percent AMI or 80 am something like that.

But I know she speaks a lot about that, and I wanted to uh continuously advocate for affordable housing and continuously advocate uh for my community because I'm sick of people struggling.

I'm sick of I actually drove here today because I went needed to be sure I got here on time because I was running around.

But usually I walk to City Hall and I'm seeing people, like I said, uh you walk into the inner city, uh you see that they don't have those gated uh bridges, and then you walk into where the uh a soccer stadium is going to be, and then you see those gated uh bridges.

And I don't think that's cool.

I don't think people should be sleeping outside just in general.

I think we should have affordable housing.

We have billionaires, we have people that are very rich here, and you know they continue to see bill, but it'd be good for them to pour into affordable housing and actually get people off the streets and get people out of poverty because I'm sick of my community struggling.

I'm sick of people choosing between to pay their light bill or different things that they need or medical bills, anything can happen, anything can happen at any time to anyone, and I'm just sick of my community struggling and not having that safety net the safety of a house.

I mean, that create I mean a lot of people are stressing and it caused a lot of stress and I have in the house, especially if you gotta stay with a relative and they talking bad about you and speaking bad and negative about you, or you gotta go to a shelter and people stink or something like that, and you know you want to just be able to just go home into an affordable house.

So I'm gonna continuously advocate to my community to David Le Grand to City Commission for affordable housing for 3D printing housing because I'm sick of people struggling and I'm sick of people not having houses.

And I'm sick of people when I'm getting up and I'm walking, and I'm looking at people wake up outside, and it's not cool.

And y'all need to do something about it.

I know y'all are doing something about it, but I'm gonna continuously push y'all to keep doing something about it.

Thank you.

That was Mr.

Jones from the first ward.

Anyone else?

Uh, if you could uh introduce yourself before you make comments.

Seeing no one else, um, I would uh ask for a motion to approve uh minutes from last meeting.

Support.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

That moves us on to petitions and communications.

First what the first one is communication received from Hannah Greening, Fancy Real Estate and Rise Urban Strategy requesting help in aligning division corridor revitalization with the city's strategic plan.

See you and filed.

Communication received from William E.

Brickie and Marie L.

Steigle from Plant Moran with information and overview of the audit process.

See you and filed.

Communication received from Phil Philip Balcamo regarding his resignation from the police and fire retirement systems um board of trustees.

For the committee on appointments.

And communication received regarding the resignation of Lawrence Williams from the City Planning Commission.

Served uh referred to committee on appointments.

Thank you.

Uh now report of city officers.

Mr.

Yeah, Controllers Warrant Report for the period of September 9, 2025 through September 2022, 2020 and the amount of 27 million seven hundred and forty-eight thousand and four hundred and eighty-two dollars and sixty-two cents and the monthly travel report.

See and filed.

And finally, the treasurer's report for the period of September 10, 2025 through September 23, 2025.

Received and filed.

This brings us to our content consent agenda, and uh just to refresh everyone's memory, these are items which passed unanimously out of committee and which were not uh pulled at the request of any commissioner uh for further discussion at this meeting.

Mayor, before you proceed, I just want to clarify what's before the commission, please.

On your consent agenda, I do think there is one item that unanimously pass in committee.

That was the bid list.

And I do believe that Commissioner Purdue has requested it to be removed, but that removal needs to occur during a public meeting.

So I think it would be appropriate to uh affirm that before we vote on the consent agenda because it it did pass this morning unanimously.

Well, we can certainly ask Commissioner Purdue.

Um do you want to make that request?

Commissioner Um I would like to request that the bid list comes off of consent.

Okay, thank you.

Um so that uh that will be there will be two items off consent, but otherwise uh the consent agenda is in front of us.

I'd ask for a motion to approve it.

Support all in favor say aye.

Aye.

That brings us to items uh removed from consent.

Uh first of those is the resolution on election day polling locations from November.

Uh and Commissioner, uh actually, I'd like a uh motion.

So moved.

Support.

Commissioner Saucy.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, this item was discussed today.

Uh a resolution approving our election day polling locations for no November 2025 special elections, as well as fixing an inspector pay for absentee voter, uh absent voter counting board and our election day inspectors.

Um state law a law allows the city to count uh to begin that counting board to process and tabulate those ballots beginning the second Monday before the election, and that is the city clerk's uh plan to be able to do that.

Um and those elections inspectors will be appointed by the election commission, which is made up of the city clerk, uh city attorney, and our city assessor.

And um additionally, the law stipulates that the abolishment or moving of any polling locations must be decided by a city commission by our city commission, no less than 60 days before the election.

And um, and also our section of the Grand Arpett City Charter states that city commissions will designate polling locations at least 20 days before the election.

And then the last section, it talks about the pay for those uh inspectors of election and those range.

I won't read every single one, uh, but there's a compensation for trading class at 25 dollars and then pay depending on uh what individuals do um could be anywhere from 120 dollars to 225 dollars.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And this is off consent for a dis because of a dissenting vote from Commissioner Purdue.

Commissioner uh Commissioner, do you wish to speak to this?

Sure.

So this is an extension of the conversation we had this spring about changes to our our polling locations.

And what became what came before this body was a recommendation to eliminate polling locations throughout the city where ple where people show up to vote on election day.

Um and it was my stance then, as my stance today that that is not the right decision for our city, particularly at this time.

Um and so I dissented uh then and I continue to dissent now and believe that this is the wrong choice for our city.

Okay, any other comments.

Otherwise, uh I'll ask for a vote.

Uh all those in favor of the resolution say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Aye.

So noted, uh resolution passes.

Uh and that brings us to our next item removed from consent.

Um, this is the bid list resolution.

Uh, and commissioner perdue.

This is off consent at your uh request uh shortly ago.

And so if you can introduce the issue in particular your part your uh uh point of that you wish for the discussion, but first we need a motion.

So moved.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Sure, I asked uh for this to be c to come off of consent.

Uh once we were briefed on um particularly item number two is a shared micro micro mobility services, really our contract with Lyme and the e-scooters.

Uh this time last year we talked about pedestrian and uh bike and mobility safety, and I brought up the issue of helmets and helmet availability for those choosing to take advantage and ride our e-scooters, particularly in the downtown area, but also our in our neighborhood districts.

Um, since then, um I asked last week, there had not been uh marked progress on that specific conversation.

And so um I I think we had a conversation though today during uh the committee of the whole where I made my concerns known.

Other folks chimed in on concerns around pedestrian and mobility safety.

Um, and uh we've kicked off or uh uh kicked a deeper conversation to this falls or this November, sorry, um commission workshop.

So I'm set on this item.

I will support this item, um, but just honoring the fact that I did ask it to come off of consent leading up to today.

Um is is kind of well, that was the thinking behind that.

Thank you.

Uh any further discussion.

Uh seeing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Great motion carries.

That brings us uh next to a number of city uh actually, what does it bring us to?

All the way to public comment.

Brings us all the way to the public comment.

Uh so those of you who are here and wish to comment on any item uh on the agenda or off the agenda, uh come up, please introduce yourself and uh give us your residence location and then speak to us.

I say my name.

Sorry, I'm D Jones, passionate entrepreneur and visionary.

And uh first off, I want to thank Dan DeVos as they unveiled the soccer team.

I was actually there, and he actually gave me the t shirt for the actual team.

He gave it to me from his hand, and I got the scarf too from the official team too.

So uh uh I actually spoke to them about the community hub too, because I wasn't gonna let the billionaires just go after the 10 year vision of actually just building the soccer team in the in a uh soccer stadium, but I also spoke to them about the same community hub that I was at the Progressives in the Park, David, in our campus, and I spoke to every single elected official that was running for office or in office and running for a higher position.

I spoke to every single person about the stock and community hub.

As the chair and as a visionary, as a bowl leader, as a person that's sick of good cute speeches, but no action.

I love I'm about action.

Everybody know I'm about that action.

I'm about the community, and I'm just sick of cute speeches.

I need to see real change.

And Dave was like, Oh, I hope it's gonna know, David, change is coming.

I'm going to be relentless.

Change is coming.

I'm sick of I'm sick of fake politicians.

I'm sick of fake people.

I'm a real genuine human being, and I've been the same person.

I'm the same person every single place I go, and I'm gonna keep that same energy.

And so it was cool to see all of the politicians and everything, but I'm actually change my community, and you're gonna help me, David, and I appreciate appreciate your advocacy.

We even got the uh GR Chambers helping us with our capital campaign.

That's huge.

You know, the billionaires is trying to pour footing into this too, and me and the net will be on ABC 13 on Thursday speaking about the community hub in person.

So I'm super excited to keep pioneering, to keep visionary, to keep being bold, to be confident.

This B D Jones, because that's all I've been doing.

Just focus on the vision, focused on the community, focus on the stock and community hub, get into the core root of the social issues that people just disregard.

But we ain't gonna keep doing that, and I'm gonna keep getting getting in these politicians' face.

I'm gonna keep getting in y'all's face.

I'm gonna keep getting in the federal government face and the people that's taking APAC fund and all of that stuff.

I'm gonna be bold and I'm gonna just be honest because I'm sick of fake people.

I'm sick of this fake politicians and this fake people in general.

I'm just sick of this stuff.

But I'm gonna change my community, and I'm never gonna sell out.

And I'm gonna get that funding from the billionaires to build this community up because that's what they should have been doing.

That's what they should have been doing.

That's what they should have been focused on.

But that's all I've been focused on for the last seven years since I've been coming to City Hall.

That's all I've been doing is this being D Jones, being consistent, being persistent, being passionate, and not giving up.

I'm not gonna give up on this vision.

And I can't wait for y'all to see me on TV.

And I already spoke to Matt at the Kent Dems, and as soon as we get that article, I'm gonna send it so we can blast it.

And we gonna take over this community.

I'm not playing.

We gonna find some bipartisan ship and some common ground.

I'm not a politician, I'm just a gym human being that's gonna change my community one day because I gotta be the change I like to see.

Thank you.

I'm Jennifer Franson, and I um am the founder and CEO of ICI Nation Connecting Cops and Community to Strengthen the City.

Um I'm here today.

First to thank you.

You guys are invested mentally, emotionally, physically in seeing a thriving city.

And I just want to let you know how we want to partner with you and how your community is partnering, even with their police to see a thriving city.

Um ICI Nation, what's unique about what we do is we build relationships and trust over the shared value of how we both protect and serve.

So some of the things we've done, even here just with the Grand Rapids Department is we helped facilitate and still do the clergy on patrol group.

We started a kids' closet at the Grand Rapids Police Department so that they have the needs for the kids in the moment when they encounter them.

And then also one of the latest things is we built a collaboration between juvenile services, the Grand Rapids Police, and the nonprofits so that they can work together to best collaborate and innovate for our youth.

So that is just some of the exciting things we've done.

But I'm here for really two other reasons.

One because you all are invited to our gala, which is coming up October 22nd, which is a celebration of these stories and the impact that we've had.

Um, and you're invited not just by me, but by Key Bank and Michael and Kristen Seitzma, who sponsored a whole table for Grand Rapids Commissioners, City Manager, Mayor, to come because they want you to hear the power of the bill of the relationships and trust we're building and the momentum that's growing.

The second reason I'm here is for the guys behind me.

I got to know them because they host some of the ICI events.

They host building relationships and trust.

And I think you guys ought to know what the amazing things these leaders are doing here in your city.

And they do some with police, you know, some with me, some they do completely on their own as they they run churches and they're doing things for the neighborhood.

They counsel, they feed, they do all kinds of things.

And I thought, I want you guys to know these guys are leading in your city and the good they're doing to help partner with you, our police, all of us who are invested in seeing a thriving city.

So thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Moses.

I pastor a church on the northwest side of Grand Rapids.

Uh, and I'm here just here to say to introduce myself and possibly get to know some of you guys.

But what we do is we we we we feed the the um the homeless.

We feed about 1,500 a month.

We've been doing that since um COVID.

We decided that something needs to be done that wasn't done, so we stepped in and we filled that gap.

We also do uh uh uh a luncheon for first responders, you know, police officers, uh, firefighters, EMTs, that whole group.

And I'm just here to say, hey, we we are uh partnering with, we want to see our city grow and develop, and whatever we can do, we will do.

But we want to get to know, I don't even know my northwest side uh uh person.

I think that's her right there.

Okay.

But you know, we want to get more involved with you guys.

Maybe you can help direct us to do more because we want to make sure that the city that we live in is represented uh through uh you guys and the community.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Excuse me, good afternoon.

My name is Pastor Gregory Amunga from Uptown Church over here off Lake Drive, 1470 Lake Drive.

I'm here because I want to introduce myself to each and every person that is up here on this panel.

I became senior pastor at Uptown Church uh 2019, and then COVID and then COVID and then COVID.

You know how that went.

But anyways, um, one of the things that I I found out when I came to Grand Rapids and became senior pastor of of Uptown Church was a disconnect.

The disconnect was between our community and our law enforcement.

One of the things I uh I really understood was that we had to build relationships.

We had to learn how to forgive.

And then and then the forgiveness had to have a purpose.

And so the purpose that I uh that I I came to understand was this that if we bought uh a law enforcement and our community together and change the narrative, not allow someone else to build the narrative, but we change the narrative.

And this is what we've done at Uptown.

Um we've won uh several awards, um, Michigan Crime Prevention Association.

Uh they uh gave us an award for two of our signature programs.

One of our signature programs is called the community celebration.

Uh this past year we uh gave out uh I want to say a hundred plus Nike tennis shoes.

We did over 500 backpack school supplies, we gave away more than 25 bicycles to kids and and the resource tables, uh free hot dogs, hamburgers.

But the whole purpose of this event is to bring our law enforcement and our community together.

So what what better way to see someone eating a hot dog and communicating all at the same time?

And and it works, it works.

The other uh um event that we have is called fishing with the popo.

And in fishing with the popo, the the whole idea is to get our law enforcement together with the kids in the community and have them a day of going out fishing.

So we did this at uh Petty Lake up in the Wago.

This year, the the vision is to bring it down here more closer in Grand Rapids to Reese Lake.

And and and the vision is if we uh uh bring these kids together, bring our law enforcement together, and have our our our children uh with with our law enforcement that they can bring their own boats and have the kids on their own boats out here fishing, catching fish, building building relationships with each other that's impactful because now these kids have an opportunity to see our law enforcement in a totally different light.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lionel Lagrone.

I reside in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

However, I was born and raised in War 3, and I serve as associate pastor at Uptown Church, also located in Ward 3.

I too want to talk to you briefly about the transformative power of the community celebration and fishing with the POPO.

Um when I was assigned uh to the post of associate pastor, I was placed in charge of community impact.

Um those of you that know me know that I did not like the police.

It is not a secret.

I didn't hide it.

Um I had issues with police, particularly with the black community.

But Pastor Greg told me you have to learn forgiveness, you have to all that flowery senior pastor stuff that they feed you.

So I said, okay, I'm gonna do this.

And I came to community celebration and fishing with the popo, kicking and screaming, but I have to tell you that there was real transformation that took place in those spaces.

I left with a greater understanding of our officers, a greater respect for our officers.

And I also saw that a lot of the young men in the community who came with the same attitude I did left with the same attitude.

So there's just something about um getting the officers and the community in spaces where everybody can be human and have real conversations and enjoy a magic show or the strength show that they were doing and have pizza and hot dogs and fishing that really broke down walls, and as we get ready to approach the fourth quarter, we will uh most likely try to solicit um partnership with you all for these events next summer.

So we wanted to bring them to your attention ahead of time.

Thank you.

Oh, the Unity Walk is this Saturday.

Uh, and it's gonna be at Rosa Park Circle.

Thank you.

Hello, uh, my name is Laura Sessa.

I live in the second ward.

Um, and I also am happy to serve on the mobile GR Commission for the past two years.

Um so I'm sure many of you have also been following the um state budget negotiation process that was happening in Lansing um earlier this year and has just been wrapped up.

Um I believe the governor finally signed it.

Um so uh what I want to talk about is the the road funding that is new in the budget this year, allocating um a substantial amount of money um to cities uh for road maintenance.

And I think that the city has an opportunity to do something um really uh transformational with this opportunity, which would be to invest in real um micromobility pedestrian transit uh cycling infrastructure, and not just to put the money toward continuing the status quo of filling potholes, maintaining um car dependent infrastructure, et cetera.

Um, because the status quo, quite frankly, is what has led us to um the highest traffic dust in the country in about 20 years, and also um increasing traffic dust in this country when every other major OECD nation has seen their traffic dust fall.

Um so I believe, and I would urge city leadership to really take a look at this opportunity to see what kind of investment we can make in our micromobility infrastructure to ensure that it is safe for all road users and really encourages um a mode shift, right?

Because this is better not only for safety, which is my number one overarching passion in advocating for all of this, but also for the climate.

Um transportation is one of the largest uh sources of uh greenhouse gas emissions for the city, and we really have an opportunity to sort of encourage alternative mode of transit that are better for the environment, do not um have any emissions, don't uh put place as much wear and tear on our roads, which is obviously how we got here in the first place of having the roads in such poor condition.

Um but beyond that, we also have um the city is fortunate to have passed the Vital Streets Millage, um, which has been very successful in keeping our um roads uh up to uh date and and um in good condition.

So I think that you know, this opportunity, the city I would really urge city leadership to look at this as an opportunity to do something new and not to do the same thing we've been doing for however many years in this country.

So thank you.

Afternoon.

My name is Mary Barr.

I'm in the second ward.

I'd like to hit a little uh information on the hauler single hauler program.

I think uh Ported should be ashamed of initiating the program, and I think you guys should be ashamed for doing it too, initiating this program for even attempting to back in the 70s.

Uh the haulers and the citizens we all grew up together and fought it then.

Now we're doing it again in 2025.

It's it's it's sad.

Uh the gist of the program, the the single hauler program in itself says discrimination, single says discrimination, and it also says government control.

What you guys are doing is taking our rights away.

We should have a right, a simple right to choose a hauler.

We should have that right.

And then you're taking and throwing a business, a bunch of businesses out of the city.

Our country was founded on the free enterprise system, which is a free enterprise system, means competition, and it means the competition makes the prices cheaper.

The city's not gonna do that.

If the city does something, if my private hauler does something wrong, I can fire them.

I can't fire the city, and they can do whatever they want, and they can use my tax dollars to do whatever they want to initiate this program, and and it's not fair, it's not fair for the citizens.

And then you play the environmental game.

Well, you can do all this building down there, and you don't talk about the gas emissions and all that crap down there, because you guys are gonna make money on that construction that's going on downtown.

All these planes going overhead, that's gas emission.

You don't worry about that.

Those planes are low enough, you can almost read the numbers on the on the darn planes.

The program is the the country was billed on this this competition.

You don't you don't monopolize the business, and that's what you guys are trying to do is monopolize the business.

It's very very sad.

Everybody deals with adversity, but I guess when you talk uh about a great man like Abraham Lincoln, he said that what you have to do is any anybody to know to know what character, what type of character you have, you give them power, and that'll really show you, and that's what it does.

That's a true statement.

So please vote no on the single hauler program.

Thank you.

My name's Rick Barr.

I'm second war to um also uh previous private hauler, well, son from years ago.

Um Mr.

Gorney, when he did his presentation, um, said he wasn't a politician, but he already was saying it was already a done deal.

It was like, well, it's not a monopoly till 27.

That's kind of like it's already a done deal, and it's already a yes, which is wrong.

Um, I think uh I should have a right to choose.

Everybody should, and you guys are gonna have to live your life to say we took that right away from people, and your family's gonna know everybody else, and I think that's wrong.

So I think we should have our choice at a private hauler or you.

And that's the way it should be.

So please don't allow this.

Or at least put it on the ballot and let people vote.

That would be a little more easier.

Thank you.

Hello, friends, Mark from Grand Rapids.

Here we go again.

These ICE agents who are basically not agents at all are rushing up their havoc, the supremacy, and their violence and their chaos.

Going after everybody, anybody who gets in their way.

How do you come up with these lies about finding some Venezuelan gang and apartment unit party complex in Chicago?

Only to come up with residents, handcuffing them, zip tying them, yanking naked children of those units, zip tying them, and throwing them in the U-Haul vehicles before releasing them.

I get if they want to find the violent illegal immigrants, fine.

Find them, get them, deport them.

That's not a problem.

But now they're gone too far.

Even as far as spraying Chicago police officers.

Well, he's orchestrating this in order to gain power, and to try not to have elections in 2028, so we can maintain that power.

And by the way, Halloween is coming.

You might see a lot of rogue individuals, just as ICE agents.

So I will be on the lookout for that.

It's going to happen.

Thank you.

Boycott Tesla.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

Uh, my name is Nathan Biller.

I'm a small infill developer working here in the city, but today I'm here to ask you to consider investing in experiments around bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Uh, last night I was canvassing the Belknap Lookout neighborhood for multifamily project that I'm working on up there.

Uh, most people were very supportive, but one woman stopped me cold.

Her concern wasn't the number of units, it was parking.

Where would everyone park?

This despite it being a 10-minute walk to medical mile or a four-minute bike ride.

Her question reveals how we've designed our city.

Car ownership has become the mandatory admission price to participate in community life.

Triple A estimates that owning and operating a car costs ten thousand dollars per year.

That's not just a regressive tax on a residence.

It's a ceiling on our city's growth.

As transit expert Jarrett Walker writes, the geometry of cars just doesn't scale.

If everyone drives, cities choke on traffic and parking demand.

Here's the reality.

In the Grand Rapids Metro, 94% of households have at least one vehicle.

In Paris, it's only 33%.

Now I know you're thinking Grand Rapids isn't Paris.

You're right.

Paris is 41 square miles.

We're 45.

But Paris houses two million people while we accommodate just 200,000.

The difference isn't land.

It's how we use it.

How much of our city is consumed by parking spaces for non-residents who drive in to enjoy our city amenities?

And how many more residents could we welcome into our community if we didn't require every household to store one or two cars?

The community master plan that you passed last winter allows quadplexes citywide.

That was very forward thinking.

Now let's prepare the infrastructure to support it so that instead of having angry residents at future meetings demanding parking, you can have an influx of new happy citizens who prefer biking to driving because of the smart investments that we can begin making now.

I'm a member of Strong Towns GR, and we advocate for a bottom-up approach.

Start with some small-scale experiments.

Safer bike lanes, expanded vital street support, improved dash service, pedestrian safety enhancements, then measure the results.

Reinvest wherever the returns are the strongest.

That is how you build a resilient city.

Not by maintaining everything equally, but by but by prioritizing high return infrastructure investments at the neighborhood scale.

Grand Rapids isn't Paris, but we could be a little bit more like it if we choose to invest that way.

Thank you for your consideration.

Hello.

My name is Jurely McAllister, and I believe I'm in Third War.

Okay.

Now I'm just kind of feeling my way around here because I'm I'm trying to get to know how you hold the meetings and where they are and be involved.

But I've got a little patchwork going here through everybody that I've listened to.

I'm concerned with, and I love it that you're here because you have something you're concerned with.

I'm gonna back up with pairs.

Okay, I'm gonna back up with Paris.

I'm interested in knowing what he does and how he does it and his work and everything else, but I never been to Paris.

Okay.

I never been to Paris.

I live in Grand Rapids.

I have problems being senior citizen, minority, transportation, and anything else you want to gather around financial, taxes, everything going up, but nothing maintaining.

Okay.

Now, my concern is getting people to work and listen and talk and communicate all the way around.

It doesn't, I've tried so hard for years to keep up with what's going on in the city information-wise.

I can't take part in everything, I know that.

And I'm gonna get my way with everything.

I know that.

But my thought is having more work inside this town to deal with our neighbors, deal with making a better community, that makes a better citizen, a city.

It starts with your homes, your next door neighbor, your your block mayor, your community sprays on out to the city.

You can't ignore and do what you want to do with your best interest and don't expect that what you want affects somebody else.

Take a time to see pros and cons.

If what I want is going to help the city, now I hear people talking about the city and whole.

They need all that.

So you everybody not gonna have everything their whole way.

But try to think of everybody on a different level.

You build sports arenas, that's nice for those who can afford it, but those of us that don't have rides or know that there or can't handle the crowd or can't do keep up with the rest of them.

Don't leave us behind.

Because you don't want his voting time, I get a letter.

Okay.

I mean, I know what the schools are doing, but when they need money, I realize they didn't change address and everything else been done, but nobody told me about what they were thinking.

The children need help, they always have.

We're the adults, we're responsible for the children, we're responsible for each other.

The children need good homes.

Parents need a place to live.

It all becomes has an order within itself.

And you can't leave that order thinking you're gonna control somebody else.

And that goes to the trash collection.

All right.

Yeah, I do believe in letting people have the jobs they want and picking their trash.

Now I'm gonna tell you, I'm a little disappointed in Grand Rapids because the city's not really that clean.

And you got trash cans, a decoration all over the yards and everything else.

Take a look at that before you try to decide who's gonna make the money and get everything else up.

So I I could go on and on, but I won't spare you.

Thank you.

Seeing no one else, that brings us to uh final closing from our my colleagues.

Uh Commissioner Saucy.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you for a full day colleagues.

Um I just had a couple of things that I wanted to share.

Uh one, it is still October, so that means it's still Hispanic Heritage Month, and there's so a lot of celebrations going on.

Our public library, other community organizations hosting, uh recognizing individuals.

Um one of the the first uh Latino elected to the GRPS school board just passed away this past Saturday or Sunday, Mr.

Luis Peña.

Um he's a trailblazer, and I actually worked with him at my first job at Cascade Engineering.

So I just wanted to highlight his achievement as the first Latino on our school board.

Um I also did want to just follow up.

Um I had the opportunity to meet with uh Cosecha, their group that advocate for different sanctuary policies, um, had a chance to go and listen to them, which I think was definitely a good sign because in the past um there's been a feeling that Cosetcha would not communicate directly with elected officials, so I appreciated that opportunity to go and speak with them and to share some of the policies that we've enacted in our city.

And I think uh not so much out of that day, but just this last week, I think Mayor, you asked the city manager as well.

Uh we'd heard some rumors that there were um ICE officials um in our GRPS schools, and I was able to confirm that that is absolutely that that was not true, that that did not occur last week per superintendent and talk directly to a school board member, but I think it's just important to remain vigilant to uh to communicate with each other.

I know GRPS, um obviously we don't have oversight over GRPS, but I know they're working and communicating.

It definitely is a very scary time in our community.

Um see it in messages to me and and hearing it across the board, and so I just wanted to highlight that.

Um it's it's not not to share information, but just taking a step back and just seeing how do we share the correct information.

So I wanted to highlight that.

And then lastly, I know today in our fiscal committee, which I'm uh I'm in community development, but we did talk about the fiscal disclosure item.

Um, and I know there was a split vote there, so I look forward to having further discussions.

I think this is an item where we have um our conflict of interest policy right now.

Uh we have some opportunities to make it more robust for lack of a better word.

And I think that uh more transparency is absolutely needed.

Uh, I would be very supportive of putting whatever we end up landing on if we do land on something on our commission pages, as well as a link to our campaign finance reports, because I think that's another important aspect, not only where are we receiving monies or maybe who we owe monies to, but also who has contributed to our individual campaigns, which might not not always be easy, although I think the county has a very good website.

Um, and so even though there was a split vote, I'll look forward to having further discussions.

I think this would be um an important item that we could all hopefully coalesce around and then identify what maybe doesn't feel right or what are some things that are you know different or um just as we move forward with this, because it's been I don't remember how many years, Mr.

Strom, but it's been a number of years since this has been updated.

So um I just wanted to highlight that.

I look forward to working on that.

And um, you know, I I don't know exactly I don't think it'll be at the next commission meeting.

I will be missed I will be gone from the next commission meeting, I will say.

Giving my no I've given my notice for six months, uh, have something I have to go to.

I'll be back in November.

So if we could um hope hope that uh keep that for November, I would appreciate it.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner Purdue.

Uh thank you.

Yes, I I am wondering when we will um talk again as a group around the financial disclosure documents.

I'm not in um on the finance committee.

I also have some concerns that I've shared, and I don't think as is is getting to the crux of what relationships people the public wants to know what relationships we have that might influence the way that we work up here and the way we vote.

And as is I as drafted, I don't think it really gets to that.

So I'm also curious of when it will come back to us for a full discussion before kind of in this new iteration before voting, as well as when the single hauler update will come before us.

Would you mind answering those questions, city manager, before I get my final comments?

Or did you want to save those for yourself?

Mayor.

If you could yeah, I why don't we let the city manager and this isn't really a question and answer time, Commissioner.

So if you want to if you want to wrap up your comments, that's great.

But um if you're telling me I can't ask the city manager a question.

Well, what I'm saying is the format is for closing comments.

If we turn into open-ended uh question and answer and asking for responses and asking for policy, it's really not the the format for this is the format for closing comments.

So if you want to.

City manager, may you respond?

Uh uh I will mayor uh I'm happy to address uh all of our questions in my remarks if that's okay.

We'll see.

That would be helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um so I did want to share um with everyone.

Um let me just take a second.

Sometimes a culture and the way that um interactions happen on this day is I think are very inappropriate.

They're disrespectful um towards me in particular.

Um I think that was just another example of it.

Um and someone came today, they said I'm tired.

I'm also tired.

I'm also tired.

Um that being said, uh, there is a lot to celebrate.

And this Saturday, um, I am doing the first um Let's Talk Third Ward in person of the year, and so we made a lot, we had a lot of great updates related to the Southeast Side and the Third War today, and I'm excited to go more in depth with those with folks who will join me this Saturday, um, as well as talk um about another a number of uh forming issues, projected issues, wins, and otherwise.

Usually these are 30 minutes online in and out.

We're going to do an hour in person so we can dig deeper.

So please RCP to get that information.

Mark it in your calendars is this Saturday, 10 a.m.

in person.

So RCP on any of my pages, you'll get the information, and we'll have a great conversation um this Saturday.

The last thing I want to mention is um related to some of the zoning pieces that that came up.

And I thank Mr.

Biller for being a consistent face here um in in City Hall, but even outside of City Hall.

Uh Mr.

Biller has invited me um to tour some of his properties to tour how he's looking to uh to implement our ADU laws, our quadruple uh quaplex laws, and pointing out to me if if if you all would change this little piece, I'm able to build this much more or able to build it this much more affordably.

And so I know that he is on the planning director's advisory committee, and so we're really thankful to have that kind of hands-on real world application expertise, and just just encouraging us to continue to collect those stories um and those realities so that we know the true impact of our decisions here and that we can continue to strengthen um our zoning uh laws and to make them more um more consistent and in alignment with what we're ultimately trying to achieve.

Thank you.

Commissioner Belchick.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Um thank you for those who shared today and for the discussions we've been having.

Um I want to say congratulations publicly to the St.

Luke AME Zion Church.

We said they celebrated 170th anniversary, and I had the honor of being at their gala.

Um, and it was really remarkable.

And I know we had some pastors here today talking during public comment, so I want to say say thank you to you as well.

Um the St.

Luke's was um the first African American black church in the county, and um therefore the city before the city existed or around the same time, and has a long history that has now been documented that includes the Underground Railroad and other interesting features of our community.

So um thank you for inviting me and allowing me to be a part of that.

And um today we were talking a bit about the progress we've made in the last year, our finishing our report on the progress of the city and the and where we're at.

And one of the things that I brought up, and it kind of was talked about a little bit here today with public comment is just this continual idea of equity in our city.

Equity in access to the public amenities, equity in affordability, equity in the ability to be able to move around.

We have to be thinking about people at different levels.

I know we have staff who are doing that, but I want to continue to have that conversation publicly and try in in this environment and in other places because we do need to be thinking that when we're building things, it's not going to be for everybody, right?

We have a target audience and a target market.

But the people who live here are all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of history, and the most important thing we can do is to be human with one another, even though that means we're not always perfect, and it means we will make mistakes, and it means that we're not going to always agree.

Um one of the things I got to do this last week, also as part of art prize was to be on a uh presentation discussion with Found Street Church on the art of democracy.

And this is also what it looks like to be in a democracy small D.

We have to talk to each other.

We have to be able to be human with one another in all of its ignominiousness, which means you know we're not perfect, and also all of our grace and glory that we can provide.

And by that I mean we have to do what is best in the moment with what we have.

So I just want to share that and invite everyone to continue to participate any way you can.

We do have appointments always needing to be filled.

And thank you so much for showing up for your community.

Uh Commissioner Kilgar.

Thanks, Mayor.

Uh, so it's been a nice uh these the shorter days still filled just this pack to me.

Um, you know, it's still my first year, but uh it's been fun uh working with you all today.

It feels very productive.

So uh I want to thank the uh good neighbors of Alder Heights and Garfield Park for hosting me at their recent uh get together at Sip Coffee and Cocktails.

I've been making it a point to uh have in-person convenings almost every other month.

Um I really enjoyed our event.

It was a great uh evening filled with meaningful conversations and uh connections.

We covered a range of important topics from the single hauler, uh trash program, the climate action uh plan, uh noise ordinance, government transparency, and the potential impact of a government shutdown.

Um I'm really looking forward to our upcoming party work session coming up in November.

I also share two key focus areas uh today that I hope uh to see more work on uh in the upcoming year.

So one was increasing green space in the third ward, dog parks, uh parks, pocket parks.

Uh we since we have fewer parks than um our uh fellow wards and adding protected bike lanes to enhance safety for all.

So I'm uh excited to continue to listen and connect on all of these issues and look forward to our work session next month.

Thank you.

Commissioner Knight.

Yes, thank you, uh Mayor.

I just want to uh ride on the back of some of the comments that have already been made uh this afternoon.

Uh also grateful for our financial update that we got earlier uh today on fiscal and the health of our city um in light of everything that's going on across the nation.

Um not to say that it won't change tomorrow, and I'm sorry that I don't have the exact date count for you all today because I wish that I did.

Um, however, know that tomorrow is a new day and more things are happening.

So um just really grateful that we have people that um are optimistic and have their eyes open on what's going on uh with our city and as well as the state.

I think we're having a fiscal update today on how some of the changes did I say that right, yeah.

Legislative legislative uh update on what's uh happening across the state and how it impacts our city.

So um just make sure that you uh keep your eyes and ears open to that.

Um and also um this weekend there's a number of things happening.

The uh annual meeting for the NFBPA is happening here in the city of Grand Rapids, and that's bringing uh black public administrators from across the country to our city um for um a number of conversations in their annual meeting.

So uh that is happening.

Uh I believe it's called Emerge at the um Grammar, the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives, who just uh solidified their new building down on Sheldon.

Um so it's a great way to highlight the work that they're doing uh not only with this particular event, but across the city as they're looking to uh do the third ward equity tour um and really uh the some of the revitalization and financing that's going on in the third ward to really help build up uh an area that has been disenfranchised for so many years.

Um, but the NFBPA will also have um some other events going on across the city, and then on Saturday, their African American Arts and Music Festival, along with the NFBPA, will be hosting a trail ride.

Now, for those of you who don't know, we're not riding no horses or bikes, we're not on bikes.

It is really it is a line dance kind of party for the whole city.

So everyone is invited.

It is a free event.

There is gonna be a mechanical bull.

I don't want to see you on it, but I'm just telling you it's there.

There are uh bounce houses and some food trucks available, just a family funny uh friendly event, so you can come bring your picnic baskets and blankets and uh have a good time just um enjoying community and enjoying each other.

It is a free event, it's from one to five over at Anabawan Park.

Um, so we hope to see our community out for that.

And that's all I have.

This is the yes, it is.

Thank you, Commissioner Purdue.

This is in um replacement of the uh festival that they would do every year that was in alignment with Art Prize.

Um our prize ended last week, and so we decided to put something together um outside of that, and that will again happen this weekend on Saturday from one to five at Anabahwan Park.

Hope to see you all there.

Have your boots on and uh get your fans.

Commissioner Robins.

Thanks, sir.

Well, first of all, anywhere there is a mechanical bowl, I will be.

So just there.

Um, I just had two quick uh items uh on the financial disclosure um initiative.

I I too appreciated the discussion.

Um this morning, I I think uh, at least from uh as a follow-up to discussions we had had at Cal, there's pretty broad support among amongst most of the body about you know um doing something to increase the transparency around um around financial disclosure items.

So what that looks like um in the end could you know change between now and and when it's uh if and when it's it's passed, but um ultimately the vote this morning while split was to advance it as we're in.

Um so if anyone has questions or people listening in from the public um want to go take a look at what those items are specifically um that is located in the the agenda pack, so just want to make sure that was noted and then um secondly, so I I know sometimes commission of appointments uh you know appointments or resignations sometimes go overlooked, but wanted to recognize um Mr.

Phil Balcamo who just resigned from our um our police and fire pensions fund board.

Um I believe Miss Bosker told us uh this morning that he has served on that for 50 years.

I'm looking at Mr.

Uh Mr.

City Clerk if I'm wrong, but um just I think it just shows you know a ton of commitment to the city.

I think that board in particular um often goes overlooked and and underappreciated with the amount of knowledge and um continuity, but just you know, technical expertise that it takes to be able to serve on that board um effectively.

So I just want to make sure that he was uh he was duly noted.

Thank you.

Um City Clerk.

Yes, we do have the election coming up um November 4 is the day that the polls will be opened.

But um, remember election day is not uh just election day anymore.

Absented ballots are available.

So you can go to Michigan.gov forward slash vote.

You can apply for an absentee ballot online.

We turn those around um within 24 hours.

So um you can and then if you want to make sure you want to verify your polling location, make sure you in your precinct go to Michigan.gov forward slash vote.

Another another note, um the 1500 scribbler pro um project is going along when we really haven't talked about it, but there's people in the building.

Um facilities, public works, and parks and recreation are um now operating at 1500 scribbler.

Um, our election stuff will be moving um following following the election.

So um it's so um if you're interested in seeing the parks and record department, um they are now located at 1500 scribner um and have moved once again.

So hopefully this is our last move for quite a while.

So um, so that's it for me.

Thank you.

Um city attorney.

Just a brief recognition of our city clerk.

Uh he agreed to present with me at the Michigan Law Conference in Lansing on October 16th.

We'll be doing a legal present presentation together with the city of Sterling Heights on local ballot initiatives in a reflection on uh a ballot initiative that was presented in both communities back in the 2024 election, kind of looking forward to 2026 and helping other communities maybe anticipate uh what their community might see and how to best be prepared for uh those things.

And uh Joel, you've been a great partner with that.

I've enjoyed working with you.

You've been very responsive, and that's that should be fun.

So uh thanks again for continuing to have me up here with you.

Uh please let me know if there's anything I can do better.

Thank you.

City manager.

Thank you, Mayor, and uh I'm gonna agree with Commissioner Kilgore.

It is not been a long time today, but it has certainly been a compact busy time on these short days.

Uh, but thank you all for your your work and the staff for the work on all the briefings, uh uh the standing committee meetings, and especially the year-end report.

And I think we had a very thorough uh EDPT meeting.

I do want to uh offer some thoughts on a couple of comments.

One relative to the state budget.

We are grateful the state did pass a budget, and uh for some uh reason there um seems to be a perception that the city has um an opportunity for a lot of transformational projects through a large amount of funding, and that that simply is not the case.

Uh this budget, there's a reduction in some of our revenue sharing.

There is a little increase uh for public safety.

Um, but uh le less than a couple of million dollars.

But uh in terms of road funding, what people thought might be significant in amount of funding is is it's just not that amount that that much funding.

And we'll talk more about that at the legislative committee.

But still we are grateful to um have received funding, continued funding from the state on the budget, and hopefully the federal uh government will uh also find a way to uh continue uh some of those vital services.

Relative to the private hauler or single hauler uh recommendation, uh I have not been presented with any formal recommendation, and I'm the one who is responsible for bringing the recommendation to the city commission.

And so uh I appreciate the comments.

Uh uh our objective is to get feedback from the residents similar to the thoughts that we've heard today, and uh there are no conclusions, and certainly there are opportunities to uh be inclusive of other providers.

The thought is how could we be more efficient and effective in what we're doing?

And so um I do out of respect for what I heard uh Commissioner Sassi say, I do think it's a full commission conversation, and and our next meeting we'll have two.

We'll we'll meet on the 13th for our workshop.

So there'll be a lot of dialogue with the formal presentation if we don't bring uh that recommendation this month or the first meeting in November, it will be on the 18th.

So we could the public can look forward to that discussion on the 18th.

Um the same um the scrivener ribbon cutting.

Did we I'm looking at my team here, do we know a date of when is the plan date for the facility cut?

There isn't a firm date yet, will be on the okay.

So we don't have a firm date.

December 2nd.

All right.

We do have a firm date.

Um December 2nd.

And so we'll invite the public and um all the commissioners to be there to open the news facility that uh Joel just talked about.

And certainly that that has been uh a large investment.

I want to thank uh the commission for their support on that.

Uh lastly, a couple of other things.

Legislative committee meeting.

Um we are I believe mayor, I talked to Ms.

Ferrari.

She did notice that we would either meet at that time to the committee or shortly after adjourned.

So it'll be at your call depending on what time you want to recess so we can have that important conversation that Commissioner Knight mentioned.

And uh for the public, we uh I I understand all of the concerns around affordability.

Thank you for your comments and certainly want to make sure that we continue to uh be concerned about the quality of life for everyone uh in our community.

And uh speaking of, there was a recent article from the New York Times that recently recognize Grand Rapids as one of the cities uh that are be that continues to be mindful and inclusive of improving the quality of life and affordability for everyone.

Now I know that's a perspective from those outside the city, and while some in the city may have different lived experiences, I think it's important to note uh I think uh DeAndre said that earlier that uh we are certainly not um perfect, and we're making a lot of effort, and and I think this commission is uh uh committed to moving uh forward and making sure that we are able to make it a lovable community for everyone.

So I just wanted to share that note.

And I think that's everything, Commissioner Purdue.

I did address your question on single hauler.

Was there anything else that you um the zoning piece?

Um when that might come back to us is that part of the next year.

The zoning piece on I'll talk to you off.

Okay, all right.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

So um thank you all for being here.

Um I guess the first thing I want to address is um it is in fact my job to run these meetings and um among those functions are to try to reasonably limit debate focused conversations and um keep us on the agenda.

Uh as I uh as has largely been observed in this uh process, our comments by commissioners are comments, and they're not uh interrogatories, and that's my that was my the reason I made the decision I made.

And so Commissioner, I certainly didn't intend it to be disrespectful, and I'm sorry if you perceived it that way.

Um my uh intent here is to uh move this uh body forward in an orally fashion.

And um I'm glad that the city manager could address your um your questions in his closing comments.

Um I um I would urge all of you who are watching or uh in the audience to go back and look at the update we got on um the second half of our update today.

So those of you who came to this meeting might want to look at that discussion because it was a very, I think, uh good uh presentation, and that'll be preserved uh by our communications folks.

Um and the last thing I will say is that I do think that um a more robust financial disclosure mechanism for the city is important.

And I think it's important uh primarily because I think that at this time in our history as a country, it's really important that uh governmental bodies do what they can to regain um lost trust from the community.

And why the trust is lost is not really as important as the fact that a lot of our community feels distrustful of government, disconnect them from government, and I think that one of the ways to build uh trust is to be transparent.

And so uh I think it's important that any body that uh awards contracts, spends money, uh uh taxpayer money, that the people elected to those positions um can answer for the public and not just on an ad hoc basis, but structurally answer the question of what their sources of income are and who might have financial influence over them.

Now, we all have webs of relationships, and I'm not sure that we can ever you know disclose who all of our friends are, um, but at least we can disclose to the public um what our sources of uh of income are and what our potential financial obligations are, because we all know in the real world um feeling financially obliged to somebody can bend how you act.

Um where your sources of income are can bend where you act.

And of course we have and we've and we maintain a conflict of interest policy, and that's important, and we all do our best on on this body to identify when we have a conflict and then uh address it appropriately.

But I think it's more I think it's also important.

I think that's necessary but not sufficient.

I think that it's also necessary to give the public the tools to be able to ask us the right questions.

And if we are hiding information or we're not fully disclosing information in a structured form, and I don't mean hiding in an intentional way, I just mean if the information is not available to the public about what our sources of income are, it can lead to distrust.

And distrust is a is a rot that can set into communities, and I think that we have to do our best to fight back against that.

So it's one of the reasons that for a long time I have disclosed my financial uh interests publicly.

I've done it on websites for years.

Uh it's a reason I worked really hard to make to finally have the state of Michigan uh require disclosure from elected officials at the state level.

But at the city level, we have a large budget.

We spend large amounts of money, we award contracts, and we do very, very similar work.

Um so I think that it's important that we lead by example uh and that we are as transparent with the people who put us in these positions as possible.

So I hope that that conversation can land us um in a in a position of greater transparency, and there's uh more conversations we had on that subject.

But thank you all for coming.

We're adjourned.

Oh, uh sorry, we're not adjourned.

We are recessing our meeting for the legislative committee to meet, and the city commission meeting will adjourn following that meeting.

Yes, and and what what I just said allows all of us to be at the legislative committee meeting without any concern about quorums or lack thereof because uh we're crafting the legislative committee that's meeting this after this essentially as an ongoing part of this meeting.

So it is uh a public meeting, but we are all able to be there.