Fiscal Committee Meeting - March 17, 2026
Fiscal Committee Meeting - March 17, 2026
The Fiscal Committee met on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, from 8:30 AM to 8:55 AM. The committee reviewed and approved several resolutions and contracts, and received financial reports. All votes were unanimous.
Recognition of Meltrotter Ministries as a Local Civic Organization
Pam Liggett, Director of Philanthropy, presented on behalf of Meltrotter Ministries, the largest homeless shelter in Grand Rapids. She noted that on a typical night they serve 550 people, expanding to 650-675 during cold weather (Cold Blue). Annually, they serve 5,000 unique individuals, provide 222,000 meals, and helped 225 children remain in their homes through prevention and diversion programs. The organization also operates a new tiny home community welcoming its first residents in March 2026. The resolution was approved unanimously.
Contract with Side Strategies for Violence Prevention Capacity Building
The committee approved a $23,380 contract with Side Strategies to provide capacity building services to emerging violence prevention nonprofits. The City Manager’s office noted that many small organizations lack infrastructure to pursue larger grants, and this contract aims to support their innovation and collaboration. Approved unanimously.
Acceptance of $775,000 MEDC Grant for Revitalization and Placemaking
The committee accepted a $775,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) under the Revitalization and Placemaking (WRAP) 3.0 program. The funds will support two historic preservation facade projects in Ward 1 and Ward 3 that are shovel-ready and follow the city’s Corridor Improvement Authority facade program. This is the final iteration of the WRAP program. Approved unanimously.
Agreement with ParkMobile for Parking Reservation Software
The committee approved a one-year pilot agreement with ParkMobile to provide parking reservation software for city-owned parking facilities. The contract is zero-dollar to the city; ParkMobile will charge users a 15% service fee plus $0.20 per transaction. The system will allow customers to reserve spaces for special events, helping to manage demand and provide certainty. The pilot will be evaluated over the year. Commissioners discussed balancing reserved spots with daily parking for non-event visitors. Approved unanimously.
Bid Resolution for March 17, 2026
Eight routine bid items were approved, including a lawn mower and greens roller for the Parks Department (leased rather than purchased) and a contract with RSM for technology services (Microsoft Copilot implementation). RSM was selected over a lower bid due to their specific experience with similar implementations. Approved unanimously.
Comptroller’s Warrant Report
The comptroller reported cash payments of $55,740,619.02 for the period February 10 - March 2, 2026, including $11.7 million in payroll and $1.6 million in income tax refunds. The year-to-date travel report showed 45% of the $2.3 million budget spent. Reports were accepted.
Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer reported the city’s investment portfolio at $712 million with a 3.25% return, heavily weighted in U.S. Treasuries, agencies, and municipal bonds. He highlighted economic risks including persistent inflation, Fed policy uncertainty, energy volatility, commercial real estate stress, and global trade tensions. The portfolio remains liquid and highly rated. Report accepted.
Key Outcomes
- All resolutions and contracts were approved unanimously.
- The city’s financial reports for the period were accepted.
- The ParkMobile agreement is a one-year pilot with evaluation.
- The next meeting was scheduled for 9:15 AM (Community Development).
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The time is now 8 30, and we're gonna go ahead and call the fiscal committee meeting to order. Happy St. Patrick's Day, happy Tuesday. Nice to see you all. Um we have a number of items today, so we'll go ahead and get started. First is a resolution recognizing Meltrotter Ministries as a local civic organization. Do you have a motion? So moved. Support. Moved and supported. Mr. Straum, I see your name here, but I don't know if there's also a representative from Meltroner. Sure, I believe they're here. Uh we did attach the letter. We I invite them to the podium. It's always a nice opportunity if you want to say anything about your charitable organization. Uh we're recommending uh there's a podium right here if you'd like to come up. You don't have to, but I think the commission and the committee would be happy to hear from you. Uh we have done the due diligence on this to determine that they meet all the statutory requirements for a charitable organization. Uh they've applied for a lottery uh license. And uh if you want to hit the button and introduce yourself to our fiscal committee, uh we're recommending approval of this item. Great, thank you so much. Thanks for letting us be here. I'm Pam Liggett. I'm the director of philanthropy at Meltrotter Ministries. This is Kim Snyder, she's our community engagement manager. We are, as you know, the largest homeless shelter in Grand Rapids. We serve men and we serve families. And any given night, we have about 550 people that sleep in our building. Last night, because it was so cold, we expand shelter under those conditions, calling it cold blue. So probably last night we had about 650 to 675 people. We do very robust programs in prevention and diversion in an effort to keep families stable and in their home and out of our building. Although we think that we do a really great job taking care of people, we'd like to have them stay in their homes. And we do a lot of work in the area of workforce development and housing. You may have heard of our tiny home community, which is the first one in the area that's um welcoming the first residents this month. Super exciting. We also have many programs that help people get soft skilled job training, job coaching, and a lot of technical skills training. So on average, we serve about 5,000 different unique individuals every year. Uh we serve about 222,000 meals. Um and last year, excuse me, last year we helped 225 children stay in their homes through our prevention and diversion efforts. So we have a very um large and broad um menu of services, and um happy to be in Grand Rapids for 126 years. Thank you so much. Thanks for being here. Um colleagues, any other questions? This is a pretty typical item. So I will go ahead and call the question. All those in favor, aye. Any opposed, the item carries. Thank you.
openpublica.com