Call this meeting of the city commission to order a couple of uh logistical points.

We are live on YouTube and not on Facebook, so sorry about that, but we are now four minutes out.

Um and we also do not unfortunately have an interpreter today.

Um having called us to order, I we like to start our meetings with a moment of silence.

And uh today I specifically want to note uh the passing of uh one of our long-serving uh public servants, uh Deputy Fire Chief Eric Freeman, who passed, and so if you can remember him in the moment of silence.

Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Um City Clerk, if you could call a roll.

Commissioner Belchak.

Here, Commissioner Purdue.

Present commissioner Hisasi.

Commissioner Kilgore, present commissioner knight, present.

Mayor LeGrand.

Yes.

Just go read it to the public.

Uh this moves us to our first opportunity to address the commission on items that are on the agenda.

So if there's anyone who wants to do that, um, please come up to the microphone, identify yourself, and you have three minutes to address us on agenda.

Mayor, before you do that, just for clarification, you said Facebook was down for this meeting also for public safety as well.

No, just so Facebook is down for this meeting because of the transition from public safety to this meeting.

Okay, thank you.

So then just YouTube is is live right now.

I thank you.

Hello, friends.

Mark from Grand Rapids.

Fiscal committee number six.

The resolution is authorized in the Grounds Police Department recruit class 2605 to attend Grandville State University for cost of a little over 102,000 bucks.

I could care less about the funding.

I want to know who these who would be these recruits.

Did they do any background checks for these set recruits?

That's the very that's the important thing to me.

I don't want to have I don't be having a situation like a couple of weeks ago down in Citadel, Mississippi, where one-year-old boy was unalived by police at a ledge shoplifting out of Walmart.

It's not good.

That's why I want these individuals to have these little these background checks.

Are they going to uh be part of this force?

So we have instance like this not happened here in Grand Rapids.

So you better think about this.

Because we know that bad culture tramples everything in law enforcement.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Seeing no one else, uh move us on to approval of last meeting's minutes.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

Support.

Uh all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

That brings us to positions and communications.

First one is a communication.

I'm timing myself.

Hold on.

Muscle memories off from a few weeks off.

All right.

Um first one, a communication received from Suzanne Schultz regarding the park school agreement.

See if and filed.

Communication received from Melissa Jekyll regarding a FOIA appeal.

Received and filed.

26 commission or 26 communication received regarding excessive noise from the Accuracy Amphitheater.

Received and filed.

Communication received requesting a pre-permit property tax assessment estimate policy.

Received and filed.

Communication received from Stacey McKinney expressing her concerns regarding the closure of Market Avenue to accommodate amphitheater events.

Communication received from Zachary McGraw regarding the Lake Eastbrook area.

Received and filed.

Communication received from Dr.

Jose A.

Flores expressing opposition to the Cesar e Chavez Avenue name erasure.

Received and filed.

Seven communications received urging the city commission to approve them to approve improvements to Kalmazou Avenue.

Communication received from Jessica Smith regarding a vacancy on the mobile GR Commission.

Communication received from Heather Rosema on behalf of the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association requesting that the City Commission consider restoring the name the street name to Granville Avenue from Caesar E.

Shabbos Avenue.

Communication received from Trinity McFadden urging the city commissioner to reject any contract or contracts or expansion of flock automated license plate reader surveillance in the city of Grand Rapids.

Petition received from the residents of Shawma Hills neighborhood objecting to the proposed townhouse development at 2450 7th Street Northwest.

Communication received from Bruce Falble expressing strong opposition to the city's continued partnership with Flock Safety and the Grand Rapids Police Department's use of automated license plate reader cameras.

Communication received from Bar Brock and Laura Painter expressing opposition to the proposed development at 2457th Street Northwest.

Received and filed.

Mayor, before you go on, we do have a city employee who's capable of interpreting.

Services known.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Lily Beth Hanau, and I'm the interpreter for this meeting.

If you need interpretation services in Spanish, please let us know.

Buenas tardes, my number is Lilibeth Hanau.

Yo ser el interprete del día de hoy.

Si necesita servicios de interpretación in Spaniol, por favor de Genosaber.

Gracias.

Thank you so much.

That brings us to report of city officers.

Mr.

Clerk.

A Controller's warrant report for the period of June 2, 2026 through June 30, 2026, and the amount of 75 million 304,785 and nine cents in the monthly travel and small claims report.

Received and filed.

Treasurer's report for the period of June 3, 2026 through July 7, 2026.

Received and filed.

And report from City Clerk on the first ward uh first ward city commission vacancy.

Yeah, so um my reg my um communication to you is that um gives you gives gives you a little background of the the power the process that had that we went through or that you went through when uh commissioner robbins resigned, um kind of gave a recap of the meetings that we had between the committee of appointments, the city commission meeting, the multiple votes that were held, um, and that um unless I hear from a majority of the um commission to bring this back, we're gonna leave it where it is.

Um, and then also you have some you have some options if if we stay in this pattern until November, um we can look at or you can look at who um was the top vote getter if you want to appoint that person early or have them wait till January.

That's your prerogative, but I serve at your pleasure.

So if when I hear from a majority of you, that there's another question that came up from the community about an abstention that happened in one of the votes.

Um the city attorney and I talked about it as well.

So the abstention was not an absence from the meeting.

So the vote, whether it was three three to two or three three, I mean still there was still need of four four votes in order for it to pass.

So um the abstention did not change the the quorum of the commission at that time.

Um if there is somebody somebody had left the room and that we had a different quorum, that would have been a different story, but that is not what happened.

So a four votes were needed for to um pass it on.

So I hope that clarifies some questions that we've been hearing from community, and um that's where we stand at this moment.

Thank you.

Received and filed.

Uh this brings us next to our consent uh consent agenda.

Uh these are items which either passed uh you well that passed unanimously and that uh didn't get removed from consent for any other reason by any commissioner for further discussion or deliberation.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

All in favor of passing the consent agenda say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Uh that brings us to items removed from consent.

And uh the first we have is a resolution for joint use facilities, maintenance and programming agreement between the city of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Public Schools.

Uh, can I have a motion?

So support.

Commissioner Purdue.

Thank you.

Um do you would you like me to go forward or didn't you add out the afterwards?

Sure.

Okay.

Sounds good.

Um so this is a resolution reproving the joint use of facilities maintenance and programming agreement between the city of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Public Schools.

This was originally on um up for our vote this morning at the community development committee.

However, uh the committee members had not seen the specific language and changes within the the contract agreement and did not feel comfortable uh voting, so we postponed it to Cal.

Uh since then, that language has been available to every commissioner.

I'm in the mayor, um, and we are ready to move forward and vote.

Uh a little bit about this, uh, that we've been in an agreement uh with the public school system uh since the 1950s um to really work together to manage uh both of our facilities that that in ways that benefit the public, including the shared use and maintenance of parks, fields, and buildings.

So this agreement that would be approved includes uh some key modifications in this iteration around clarifying purchase rights to specify that each party has a right of first offer over the property of the other covered by the agreement and includes more operational information about how to actually execute that right.

Other modifications include lengthening the timelines for certain actions to update current processes and operating practices, and thirdly to clarify certain terms around capital improvements made by one party on the other party's property.

And I'll add to that uh a couple things.

One is that this contemplates a couple of renewal options, these are three year periods with renewals.

Uh and the second is that uh as is the case with most documents like this, the there's language that contemplates that the uh our city manager cooperating with uh the school superintendent could make modifications to this on an ongoing basis as long as it didn't violate the overall intent of the document, which is a fairly standard thing, but it does mean that uh this is to some extent a living document.

But Ms.

Barons, I don't know if we can now add that the school board already approved this on their end.

Good point.

So this is pending our approval.

Um if we change any language here, we're we're playing a game of ping pong and sending it back to them so they can consider our changes.

But Ms.

Barns, I don't know if there's anything you want to add?

No, I think that covered it.

Happy to answer any questions that that anyone may have on the current agreement.

Yeah, and I was I was uh glad to see language.

I thought it was well drafted.

Um I didn't have any concerns.

But um any other comments, colleagues?

Uh Commissioner?

Um yeah, I just want to say thank you to our our committee really discussed us briefly.

I'm glad we got the wording in front of us.

And I just wanted to lift up here for all of us that um of particular note is the um point number 10 uh right of first offer on the properties and the discussion around that.

I do feel like this contract is much more um well worded and robust than the previous version.

So I want to say thanks for that.

And I would love to just have the city manager or as we go forward to discuss uh with us how that first right of refusal would be handled and which who's the final decision making on that.

Is that something that would come before the commission to because there's an intent of 30 days intent of notice that has to be given in writing if we do decide something down the road.

Yeah.

So um thank you for for the question.

So the first right of uh first right of offer is not refuse no longer refusal.

Uh I think first it would be an administrative level with some notice uh between the superintendent's office and my office, and if either one of us had interests of property that we knew that was going to be disposed of, we would let each other know and uh get either confirmation or support from the respective governing body.

But I do want to clarify it goes both ways.

So if there are property that we are considering uh disposing of, we too uh should also notice them to see if they have any interest in acquisition.

Um the only other thing I'll say in macro terms, and I I know that everyone in commission knows this, but um and probably m most folks in the community at this point.

The um schools have been very um open about their uh intention to dispose of a number of properties, and um while the school board uh of course has the has the you know the right to and and is engaged in their planning on how they do that.

Um unlike the schools, we have um uh an entire department that uh works on development and brings things to this body all the time.

And so um I think that uh the opportunity to uh do some um the real development work in the city is I think there's a real unique opportunity in the next near term.

Um but that also will probably uh involve us having the money to do it.

Um it's tough to do things without money, and um the our new um land bank is I think uh designed exactly to do this kind of work uh should it get funding from the Affordable Housing Fund.

Uh it'll then be in a position potentially to acquire some of these properties and then put the great minds on our staff at work on uh meeting all the objectives that we all share on really getting affordable housing in town, uh making sure that there's home ownership opportunities in town, um, you know, uh and I think frankly also addressing green space issues, um, you know, housing for families, which will help our school system, we hope.

Um, but all kinds there are all kinds of possibilities on the horizon.

Um and I think it's frankly kind of exciting that we have we've got we've done we've done the work to get ourselves ready to engage uh uh in this space.

So uh I think having this agreement in place is is critical to us moving to the next step, which is really partnering with the schools thoughtfully on how we can do development that'll make our community better.

Great.

Uh any further if seeing no further uh discussion, uh thank you for taking that off consent, whoever did, um, because I think that was certainly something that was worth elevating to the level of community hearing.

I mean, I assume there are more people watch this than watch our committee meetings.

Maybe I'm wrong, but uh thanks to whoever took that off consent.

Uh that being said, we now need to have a resolution.

So can I have a did I get a motion already?

Okay, then we need to vote.

All in favor of the resolution say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Uh that brings us into ordinances.

Um the first is an uh ordinance for uh motion first.

I need a motion for immediate consideration before I even do the okay.

So moved.

Uh motion for me.

Okay, great.

Uh motion for immediate consideration, move and supported.

Uh this is a water supply revenue bond uh request.

Uh Commissioner Knight.

Uh yes, thank you, Mayor.

So uh on May 12th, the city commission approved the publication of the second did we get a vote on the on immediate effect?

No, don't think we did.

Immediate consideration.

Did that vote first?

No, okay.

Does that need a voice voice or that can be just okay?

Uh okay.

All in favor of immediate consideration, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

No you know, no motion to approve the ordinance.

So moved.

Support.

Great.

Now to you, Commissioner Knight.

Okay.

Once again.

On May 12, 2026, the city commission approved the publication of a 45-day notice of intent regarding the potential issuance of one or more series of water system supply system improvement junior lien bonds in an amount not to exceed 21.5 million.

The notice of intent was published in the Grand Effice Press on Sunday, May 17, 2026.

The 45-day refer referendum period expired on July 1st, 2026, and no position for referendum was filed.

Um this uh includes system improvements and related components and public infrastructure directly affected by these improvements, which include replacement of various aging water main infrastructure under Oakwig Avenue, Valley Avenue, Berkshire Street, Wealthy Street, Jefferson Avenue, Butterworth Street, Buchanan Avenue, Millbang Street, and Plymouth Avenue within the city in accordance with regulatory requirements, the replacement of water services and comprised of leaded material and the restoration of streets, right-of-ways, and easements affected by the improvements.

In addition to funds for the improvements, proceeds from the bonds will be used to pay costs associated with the issuance of the bonds.

Thank you.

This is a roll call vote.

Uh seeing any discussion, colleagues?

Seeing none.

Commissioner Belchak.

Yes.

Commissioner Kilgore.

Yes.

Commissioner Asassi.

Yes.

Commissioner Purdue.

Commissioner Knight.

Yes.

Yes.

Can have a motion for immediate effect.

So moved.

Support.

Uh all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Uh brings us to our next item, uh, which is an uh budget amendment.

Um can have a motion.

So move.

Support.

Commissioner Sasi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, this is as you noted the ordinance amending section one of the budget ordinance.

Um there are seven items today.

First is the enhanced support for city commission.

So this is an appropriation of six uh sixty thousand dollars that was discussed during uh during our budget and after uh 61st district court is item number two, the domestic violence specialty court.

Um a little over 87,000 dollars to support that specialty court.

Item number three is the environmental services department.

This is um the Grand Valley Regional Biosolids Authority, operation and maintenance budget.

Um a little over um 10 million dollars on that, and then item number four is the police department.

Uh this we discussed this uh Commissioner Kilcore for the 3D laser scanner.

Um, and that is to uh accept that.

Item number five is a parks and recreations grant.

This is the Leonard to Ann Trail Street Project, which we're excited about in the second award.

Um a little over 67,000.

Uh parks in rec again is item number six.

This is for the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.

This is a grant award again for improvements um at um at the bike park uh to appropriate 300,000 dollars.

And then lastly, item number seven uh is for Sullivan Field Improvements, 200,000 uh received from friends of Valley Field for improvements at Sullivan Field.

So those are all the items um under that ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh this is again a roll call vote.

Any uh discussion, colleagues?

Otherwise, uh city clerk.

Commissioner Kilgore.

Yes.

Commissioner Asassi.

Yes, Commissioner Purdue, Commissioner Knight, yes, Commissioner Balchak.

Yes.

Yes.

Can I have a motion for immediate effect?

So move support.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

That brings us to uh number of public hearings.

Uh first public hearing today is on uh to consider brownfield plan amendment for 11 Bartlett Street, uh 834th and 838 Butterworth redevelopment.

Ms.

Rennero's coming up.

Uh the commission's heard about this before, but Ms.

Renero, please read in the public.

Yes, good afternoon.

Thank you.

Uh this is in fill uh residential redevelopment uh near downtown in the north quarter and west side.

Um I have Ricky Labra Labra.

Yeah, forgive me.

Uh and uh Jared Belka here on behalf of the project.

I want to just give you a quick overview and then invite them up to um talk a little bit more about the project.

Uh but this is for 24 rent residential townhomes across three different properties.

Uh 5.5 million in total project costs with um an anticipated uh inclusion plan aspirational goal of 30 percent, which is high, and we we typically strive for 20, so 30 percent is awesome.

Uh this is housing TIFF, so the majority of the eligible activity costs are related to the potential rent loss.

Um and the total eligible activity costs are 1.28 million.

Um, five of the 20 are going to be maintained for that affordability period of 15 years.

Um that spreads between the two beds and three beds.

So I know that was a question, I think, at our community development committee meeting.

Um so it's it's comprising of the two and three beds for those um restricted units.

And um I'd welcome Ricky and Jared to come on up and talk a little bit more.

Thanks.

Thanks, Jared.

Good afternoon.

Uh Jared Valka with Warner Norcross.

I'll I'll be brief because I know you want to hear the the the brain child, but um uh mayor commissioners appreciate the opportunity to be here today.

Um it's been been a long road, um, but we are finally here, and uh I know Ricky's uh really excited to hopefully kick this project off with your support.

Uh Ricky is uh a product of the emerging developers program uh through the Brownfield Authority.

Um Ricky's start in real estate uh began with remodeling, uh acquiring and remodeling uh single family homes and duplexes and renting those out.

Uh so this uh represents the next step into higher density, uh, some in-fill housing, new construction as opposed to to remodeling.

Uh he's working with a great team to bring this to fruition.

Um but with that support, he was able to put together the pre-development work that um you you see before you on the screen uh and and allow us to move forward to bring the request uh for the uh housing TIFF program.

Um so I Sarah did a great job.

Uh her and her team were uh instrumental in getting us here.

We appreciate that.

Uh so with that I will turn over to Ricky.

Uh he can tell you a little bit more about himself, but I appreciate the consideration.

Hi guys, um, super excited to share these projects with you.

I've been working on this for quite some time, and as Jared said, it's been a bit of a long road, and I'm super excited that we're finally here.

Um yeah, so the the overall development consists of three different parcels that we'll be building uh a six unit, another six unit, and then an eight unit on.

Um I'll start with the first one eight thirty fourth street will be uh a six-unit building.

Um we have ample um on-site parking as well, eleven spots on that site.

Uh the second one will consist of an eight-unit building at 111 Barnett Street.

Um we'll also have eight parking spaces on that site, and the last one will be 838 Butterworth.

It'll be a six-unit building, and that'll also have uh seven parking spaces on site.

So really tried hard to design these developments to have maximum density with also maximizing on-site parking.

That's always a concern of mine.

Also, all of the units are a little bit larger than your typical larger scale developments that we're seeing in the city.

Um 834 street will be four three-bedroom units and two five-bedroom units.

Uh 111 Barnett will consist of eight three-bedroom units, and 838 Butterworth will consist of six two-bedroom units.

So really excited for these developments.

And yeah, if you guys have any questions, please ask.

Well, yeah, uh, the size of the units really jumped out at me, and that's great to see because not only do we need uh housing at every price point, we need different size housing.

And so a lot of the stuff we see is one bedroom and pretty one bedroom and two bedroom and studio heavy.

Right.

Um, and maybe even studio and one bedroom heavy.

So this is exciting.

The other thing that I I'll I'll compliment you on is um if varieties the spice, I don't think oh, right, there are 85 other things in town that look just like this.

Um, you know, always design always goes in in you can see how old things are by when they were designed, everything goes in trends.

Um, but these look sort of interestingly historic to me for lack of a better way to put it, but they certainly have some architectural love in there, and that's great to see.

Um so thanks for that.

We've gotten a lot of compliments on the designs of these buildings, and uh yeah, grateful for the team that I'm working with on these projects.

They are clearly not cookie cutter, they clearly stand on their own as individual interesting buildings.

So it's great.

Uh Commissioner Belchak.

Thank you.

And um, yeah, I want to say thank you, piggyback a little bit.

I think you took some of the words out of my mouth, Mayor.

Um I two of these are in my neighborhood and in my ward, and um I was looking, and I'm I'm gonna I'm actually kind of impressed uh that you're gonna be able to pack that um 830 Fourth Street into that lot.

So you guys must have done a lot of it is a very deep lot.

Um can't really tell from the the street view, but yeah, definitely packed it full, and it's gonna be a great outcome.

Yeah, so I know, and I know like if you've ever done anyone's ever done anything with the planning department and the zoning and like measuring in the ruler and doing the experiment of like how how many things can you get in there?

So it is actually quite an accomplishment.

And but mostly I wanted to also add that um one of the things that I heard over and over again as a community member during the community master plan process, but also I continue to hear when I'm talking to neighbors even yesterday at my commissioner happy hour that you know the the way things feel and fit into the neighborhood, which often gets lumped under the character of the neighborhood, which can mean a lot of things, but oftentimes what you know, people are meaning and not planners, is um what does it look like?

Does it fit my neighborhood?

And you know, it is an old part of town, it is um these do feel more historic.

I really appreciate the thoughtful design in the peaks and not the flat roofs, not the you know, there's it's nice to have modern design, maybe in a corridor that's improving or something, you know, busy street, but to be in Phil and feeling like okay, it does match the neighborhood, it does match the people there, and um, and then the size, you know, having families.

Um so the compliment, and then also, you know, just out of curiosity, and I sometimes I tread lightly and get myself in hot water, but what does a three what do you intend to rent like a monthly rent for three-bedroom and five-bedroom?

Um three I I would have to defer to Jared here because he probably has the numbers that we yeah, just out of curiosity because I know there are properties in the like homes that are renting for 23, 2400, and you know, that's not out of the question.

Yeah, call it yeah, I wrote them down because I know that's typical questions.

So uh our rents were ranging between 2,000 to 2650 uh a month.

So all right, thank you, and and good work.

I will have to correct you on one thing on on my part.

Um now I don't want it to you just said you you love the architecture and and no flat roofs.

We did update the building plan for Barnett.

It is a flat roof, but I think it's still gonna look fantastic.

Um, another thing I wanted to say is, you know, I've been working with the planning department, and they have just been excellent to work with, like in the last uh couple years.

And so, you know, working closely with them, understanding what they're looking for.

Um all of these projects as well were by right, so we carefully designed the buildings to fit the neighborhood um for the zoning restrictions, but still maximized density um doing that.

So yeah, I just want to correct that because I don't I don't want to you know make it look like uh there's no flat roof buildings.

No, no, that's but I think your designs are interesting with the balconies and everything, and then um just the the attention and then I know how difficult it is.

We have a lot of people going through the emerging developer program.

There's some a lot of projects that are paused right now, and so um you you're in a lucky spot that you're able to make it to this point and get hopefully a shovel in the ground soon.

And I'm very grateful for the emerging developer um chance at it as well.

And you know, it really helped me, I guess push me through this process.

And uh yeah, super excited.

So thank you.

Great.

Commissioner Kilgar.

Yeah, thanks, Mayor.

Just a question for uh Miss Renero and and probably city manager of I really appreciate Commissioners Belchak's uh question for all developers and uh whoever who organizes uh these graphics for us is at your office, Miss Renero.

We let the developer okay.

I think uh you know, I just I I concur, I think it's something that continues to come up.

I think it is uh helping make our meetings more accessible to uh the folks who we serve to have real numbers.

That's how regular Degler folks talk, and when they're talking about housing, that's what they're looking for, is a dollar sign and a number.

So, you know, I would request that.

Um seems like Commissioner Belchak is in support of that, and I'm just wondering if my colleagues would support um that being uh or if that's a possibility to have that for developers when they present to us to be more accessible and realistic to the folks who we serve rather than uh uh uh percentages and acronyms like let's make this more accessible and uh realistic for folks who we serve.

So that's my hope.

Um, and just wondering if that's possible, city manager uh moving forward.

You want me to respond there?

Um sure, go ahead.

Yep.

Good.

We're happy to work with the applicants.

I feel like this is build um build by right.

Is that what the um is that the right terminology?

Uh yeah.

Okay.

Um by right, yes.

And so I think that um when you talk about accessibility, I think ADA.

Right.

And so what he means is he'd rather see uh how much the rent's gonna be than for people making 50, 95, 95 percent AMIs.

Like there's no dollar, so and some of our presentations have it, but we're at about 5050 on these.

It seems to me.

Yes, I we can just include it on the slide.

Uh we're talking yes.

Perfect.

Thank you very much, you all.

He meant demystify, maybe not uh accessibility.

There we go.

Okay, thank you.

It is disability pride month.

So yes, we'd also love them to be accessible.

Thank you for clarifying.

Commissioner Thank you.

Um thank you for raising that.

I I do want to note uh with that request that the AMI piece will change based on the the household size.

So I I imagine that you know it's not just one number, so there is a lot of like caveat and nuance with whatever we present.

So that is something to consider.

Um another question for you, Miss Ranero.

I think this is one of the first projects we've seen that that has been a scatter site development, and we talked a lot about that a few years ago.

So I was wondering if you could speak a little bit more about um kind of what did we utilize any different processes to be able to allow for this scatter site uh project to come together, or what else can you tell us about how this process uh supported a project like this?

Yeah, we I mean we've had one other coming through the pipeline right now, but I I I mean that opportunity really opened up when the act changed and allowed housing to be an eligible activity.

Um and so we're we're excited to activate more infill because of it.

But no, it's it's following the same process as uh typical Brownfield plan would.

So when the act changed, did it also speak to scatter site development?

It's it's allowing the property is qualifying as eligible property because of housing.

And so under traditional Brownfield TIFF, uh you have to be blighted, functionally obsolete, contaminated with a facility, uh, or adjacent and contiguous.

And so this just kind of carved out a whole new space for eligibility.

Yeah, I understand that.

So I'm I'm I'm more so speaking to um worse were scatter sites development possible.

Are they possible without the housing component?

We have not done it here, and they eligible, are they possible without the housing component?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

Please speak.

Uh yeah, Muskegan actually did a scattered site development with uh a lot of their city owned and land bank owned properties um several years ago.

So it was possible before.

Um however, I think what Sarah was getting to is from a traditional Brownfield standpoint, you need to be adjacent or contiguous to that.

If each property qualifies in and of itself, it could be included in a brownfield plan.

So for Muskegan, they had all land bank properties, and those are all considered blighted.

So they did a scattered site plan.

So that so it not needing to be contiguous is was part of the update.

Uh housing is the biggest piece.

Uh you know, it it wouldn't necessarily need to be owned by the the land bank.

And obviously these properties are owned uh privately, so it would require the housing component too.

Okay.

Great.

And you know, I I bring this up because one, I think it's a really really great opportunity for us to support more projects, uh, particularly multi-site in-field projects.

Um, and so happy to see this come through.

And so wanted just some clarity on what changed, or is it was it just kind of from the private side that it changed, but I'm hearing it's a both public policy change um as well as um uh kind of project type.

So thank you.

Um and then to the developer, congrats.

I mean, this is beautiful.

Um it's great to hear your uh growth from kind of two, I think one and two units they said to to this size.

So uh commend you, and I think a lot of people will be looking uh up to you to say how do I do that?

Um so if I tap you to say, come talk to some residents in the third war, uh no no pressure, it's not contingent upon your your except it's not contingent upon my boat, but um I just really admire, and I think that's that's a great example.

We want to see more of that.

We want to be a city where more folks can have that kind of story.

Well, thank you.

And and to comment on the scatter site uh opportunity around the housing TIFF for me as an upcoming you know developer with uh doing smaller scale projects to start.

It's uh it's very helpful for me.

So to jump in a six million dollar build on its own sounds a little more nerve-wracking to me than spreading it out to smaller builds.

Yeah, and you know, me having the opportunity to do these was pretty crucial on my end.

So I'm I'm very grateful for for that as well.

Did you use I know we had a program where we had um kind of the site plans for smaller unit buildings?

Did you happen to use that program at all?

I didn't know.

Okay, wonderful.

Well, thank you, and thank you for your shout-out for the planning department.

I also want to note to colleagues here.

Um I've been to several ribbon cuttings uh lately, um, including one for AYA Youth Collective, and they all just kind of are praising and thanking the planning department for working with them and just counting or shouted out that um our zoning package uh that we passed a few years ago allows project like this and AYA and others to go forward.

So it's always nice when you see your legislative changes actually kind of connect with folks in real life.

Uh so I'll comment on that too.

The the zoning changes that happened a couple years ago are a big reason why these developments can be um with this density on these sites.

So definitely shout out to them.

Using it.

And then we also went back and look at the item in the packet to Commissioner Kilgore's and Belshack's uh comments earlier.

The the maximum rent allowance is literally stated in the item, it just was not reflected on the PowerPoint.

Okay.

But I think Commissioner Cobra's point is he hopes that millions of people are watching this broadcast right now and seeing the slide.

And they're probably not looking at our packet.

Yeah, we'll we'll make sure that it's consistent with with that, but uh just wanted to make sure this you understood the staff had heard that before, just not highlighted on the slide.

Yep, great.

Okay, thank you.

Uh any members of the public want to uh comment on this project.

Russell Omstead Westside.

Um I just wanted to uh uh most of the time I come up to complain and be a jerk and all that.

Um I just I just wanted to um first of all say uh thank you, Commissioner Kilgore, thank you, Commissioner Milchak, thank you, Commissioner Purdue.

In bringing up these uh um and highlighting the the things uh some of which I brought up before as far as making sure that it um rather than just AMI that we have numbers and to uh city managers' point, yes, they are available in the packets.

Um not everybody knows how to get them because of where they're at, especially on the new website because it's uh a little bit different than how it used to be.

So having that information publicly available is uh in real time for people who come to the meetings and may not be able to watch all the time uh can give them an idea when they see that AMI number what they're actually talking about.

And to Commissioner Purdue's point, yes, it is more than just the one it will change as income change and it'll change as uh depending on the the um uh uh what unit it is, um, whether it's a single or full family, all of that comes into perspective.

But having that illustrated um would would really uh help people be able to understand what's being passed and what's being proposed and the overall benefit to everyone.

And to the developer, I'm a west side resident.

This is right down the road from me.

Love this area, love the density, love the design.

I come from a family of developers.

Well, my wife's family, which I claim, uh family of developers, and uh it's it's a beautiful project.

Good to see that seeing no one else.

Uh this hearing's closed, and we're for the community of the whole.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Uh that brings us to uh items two, three, and four, which we're gonna lump together since they all um concern the same property, which is 701 and uh and Ms.

Renero, if you want to set the context.

Yes, thank you.

Uh thank you.

Okay, so we have two different slides here.

Uh, one for the industrial facilities uh district and exemption, and then one for the Brownfield plan.

So this first one is addressing the industrial facilities exemption.

Uh this is um a property located at 701 and approximately nine acres on behalf of Profile Films, and we have Teddy and Steve here.

I'm gonna invite up to introduce themselves and talk a little bit more about why the project's important, but just to give you broad brush, uh they require additional production space and manufacturing capacity.

And so this project's been in the work for some time.

Uh is ultimately the new construction of approximately 97,000 square feet uh to the tune of 26.2 million in real and personal property improvements.

Um again, drawing some attention to the inclusion plan aspirational goals here at 27 percent.

Uh this is a full 12-year uh exemption and um is valued at approximately 2.6 million.

If we could flip to the brownfield plan, I can I do that and we just perfect.

Um there's also a brownfield plan component to this because of just uh traditional eligible activities.

So this is not housing related, um, but we've got uh site prep and public infrastructure eligible activities that are um being sought after.

Uh you can see the total project development costs of 53.7 million.

Again, this is the same new construction building, 97,000 square feet.

Uh the Brownfield TIFF eligible activities are uh specific to 5.1 million, and again, that's mainly comprised of site preparation, so thank clearing and grubbing, uh land balancing, and then public infrastructure improvements.

Um the inclusion plan percent looks a little different there because we're we're drawing different numbers to get that percentage, but it's still um it's still very impressive.

Um then 55 new jobs, and uh this TIFF will uh the timeline is over a 24 year uh tax capture period.

Um with that, I'd like to invite um Teddy and Steve and also Jared up on behalf of Warner North Crest and Judd to talk a little bit more about the project.

Great.

Yeah, thank you.

Hi, I'll I'll I'll just give a uh little bit of background on the site.

I think you probably all recognize it.

Um, and then uh I'll let uh Steve and Teddy talk about profile.

I know a lot of people don't know what they do, uh yours included when I first began working with them, but uh they've been working on this site for quite a while.

Uh their company is located in the Avastar uh parkway, uh which is in the city of Walker.

Um they are looking to expand um right on the border.

Obviously, we are now in in Grand Rapids.

Um Sarah gave a good overview of the the scope of the project to expand production capacity, and I'll let them talk about that.

But um the site obviously has a uh uh a storied history.

Uh the former Fuller and Rice Lumber Manufacturing, the Haskellite manufacturing, uh which then became a subsidiary of Evans, which made uh HVAC uh equipment for uh tractors, motor homes, etc.

The property is contaminated.

Um part of the struggle with this um when the development team acquired the property, it had a massive sprawling old manufacturing building.

Um it was obviously vacant, uh became attractive nuisance.

Um there's underlying contamination that were trying to determine what was gonna be required from an engineering standpoint, whether that was a vapor barrier or if they could dig and haul.

Uh the development team moved forward to get a better understanding of that and some of the geotechnical issues that they were dealing with.

So they demolished the building.

Um it was uh full of asbestos to uh the demo and abatement were about 2.3 million, um which are not included in this brownfield plan request.

Um so that kind of cleared the way.

Um their environmental consultant um was able to uh take a different approach with some additional testing and understanding that there can be some uh source removal um which actually saves some uh money.

There's still obviously some geotechnical issues, as you'll see in the brownfield plan.

The majority of those costs included are that uh there's about a projected 17-year reimbursement period.

Um they are seeking the IFT.

Um happy to answer any additional questions from there, but I will uh I will give the floor to Steve and Teddy to give you a little bit more about Profile itself.

Thanks for uh hearing our proposal today.

I'm Teddy Amen.

Uh Steve started Profile Films back in 1998.

Uh we've been operating on the border of Walker and Grand Rapids since 2015.

I guess we moved in January of 2016.

What we do is not films like TV or movies, we make uh plastic film and bags for food packaging mainly.

Uh so it's called blown film extrusion.

We're using polyethylene, whether it's high density or linear low, and we're we have a lot of applications in these days it's over 80 percent direct or indirect food contact.

Uh but we got our start back in the day serving the industrial uh you know industries that that are so prevalent in Michigan.

We did a lot of automotive protective packaging and things like that, and then serving a lot of the furniture industry as well.

Uh as we as we grew, we found a nice niche into uh food packaging because it's a big big need.

It's very stable business.

Uh and so today we ship to almost all 50 states, and uh you know, about 80 percent of our revenue comes from other states, so we're bringing a lot of income into Grand Rapids from the entire nation.

Um we've been in business, you know, like I said, since 1998, we were originally off of Porter Street, uh down on the uh southwest side of Grand Rapids.

But um, yeah, uh Steve, do you want to jump in and say anything else about the project or about our founding?

Um that was good, thank you.

I'm Steve Ayman.

I'm the founder of the company.

Steve, if you go right to the mic, yeah.

So all the people watching can hear you.

Yes.

Um I founded Profile in 1998 after a short stint with a similar company here in Grand Rapids.

Um we started in the old Reynolds aluminum building, with which you're probably quite familiar.

That building had some unique qualities about it, especially the ceiling height.

Our process requires that we have steel towers with which we run film up to cool, and then when the film comes back down, we can do a variety of things to it, like make it into bags.

So the fancy name for what we do is extruded polyethylene.

We basically make bags, but we don't make bags that end up in the hand of the consumer.

Our bags go to places like um blue diamond almonds and public supermarkets and a lot of shortening and ingredients and meat packing and things like that.

And so for us to have the ability to sell to these large food companies, we have to make a product that works on their machinery.

It has to be food safe and it has to be delivered on time.

So that's basically what we do.

And we've been growing uh steadily ever since we were founded in 1998.

Uh moving from Porter Street over to where we are now was an increase from 90,000 square feet to just over 200,000.

Uh it's about 190,000 square feet of operations and then some office space.

Uh this new building would be an additional 97,000, more pure manufacturing.

There is a sizable office included in the construction, uh, but the the main point is to add to our you know current manufacturing capacity.

We're not adding many new technologies or any new risky markets.

Uh we are just expanding our core business into you know what we've been doing uh in our 28 years in business.

Sorry, I always remember things when I sit back down.

But uh so we originally started working um with the economic development team in 2024, I think, uh, to advance the brown field and IFT request.

Um the unfortunate part was the original budget came back, um, and even with the support uh did make sense.

So the development team kind of paused.

Um that was the decision to remove the building, get a better understanding of what was underneath that.

Um they are since uh working with a different general contractor, still working through some of those budgets.

Um, but we were at a point that that we could get this uh actually in front of you uh for consideration.

So just want to kind of touch on some of the timing uh from the built building being demolished to to the application before you today.

So great.

Thank you.

Any questions, colleagues?

Commissioner Knight.

Uh thank you, gentlemen, for this presentation.

Um just something running through my head again as we are talking about you know, housing and housing costs and all of that.

So your average wage is 22 dollars an hour.

How does that equate to a living wage in this city?

Yes, uh, actually, so wages um are yep, a topic worth discussing here.

So I we actually had our average closer to 2345 uh per hour based on the the primary population in that plant will be the starting wage would be 22 dollars, but that is the that's the starting wage.

We do annual increases and merit increases.

Um, this does not account for benefits, which profile has extremely strong benefits, uh, you know, uh health insurance and and 401ks and things like that, and then also we offer basically unlimited overtime that most of our employees leverage, uh which is time and a half and two double time on holidays and things like that.

So uh we do have a really nice overtime policy, and we we don't ever do mandatory overtime, and we encourage overtime uh if our employees would like to.

So that that is like the starting rate, but it does not encapsulate uh a full living wage from our you know starting salary.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, I would add to that that we um we're unique in regards to how we take care of our people.

Uh Teddy mentioned that we don't we don't uh do mandatory overtime, we never have, and we've never laid anyone off in our 28 years.

Um and uh we're proud of that because we do have a genuine interest in taking care of people.

We're a unique shop, also in a way that we run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

So it's uh it's a grind.

It's the extrusion shifts are 12 hours long.

They start at five in the morning and end at five in the evening.

So we have two day shifts and two night shifts to get to 24-7.

It's it's a lot like a hospital where we're we're never closed.

And um this means it takes a lot of work to take care of our wood.

So we have uh when we moved into this location, we had a goal of adding 70 jobs, and we went from around 60 to 240 uh jobs now.

And we still have some capacity um uh left in our current facility, but we're in a business where you're working with big food companies, and you really can't say no when they offer you business.

So we have to stay ahead of the the game on our uh our machine capacity.

We're using all the hours of the day already.

Any other questions?

First of all, I just want to say thank you.

Like, wow, bringing jobs into the neighborhood, bringing people who would want to live here, your commitment to your workers, the question about what you're you're paying.

My my husband is in has been at um Amazon warehouse for since the pandemic in March of 2020, and he's only now making $22 an hour.

So I do think that that is comparive competitive.

Um, this is a little bit in the weed, so um, but I want to put it in context that you're developing a brownfield and there was contamination and um your process involves some chemicals, I'm sure.

And um, so one what's your your environmental plan?

Just like a 30 seconds on that, and then um do you use any recycled materials in your ethylene, polyethylene extrusion, or do you have to use raw materials?

So to be clear on the environmental plan, do you mean for the site or for our okay, Jared?

Do you mind?

Yeah, yeah.

For the um I I thought your question was speaking to their operation.

Well, the new site's gonna be doing manufacturing, and we've got contamination you've had to clean up from previous manufacturing, so it's always worth just highlighting briefly that, and then if any recycled materials are used in the process.

Sure.

Uh, as far as redevelopment of the site goes, the the they've been working closely with environmental consultant.

Uh as I mentioned, the building was demolished, uh, and they're anticipating some source removal as opposed to the need for uh a vapor intrusion or or vapor barrier for the entire building.

Um now if you I think you're we're yeah, I'm where I thought your question was going was to the use of the chemicals and stuff that they're gonna be able to do.

Yeah, that's like how we're gonna not have it be contaminated again in the future.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so we have a lot of programs, so all of our raw materials are either boxed uh boxed and trucked in, or we have rail cars that are pumped via silo, and we have a zero pellet loss program, so all of our raw materials come in pellet format uh when they arrive at profile.

And so you know, when we are getting the product into the facility, the raw materials, we we make sure that we have zero loss outside of the facility, and we do sweeps at least once a week, I think probably more.

Our our maintenance team that's part of their normal PM schedule.

Uh polyethylene, it's not a liquid, you know, there's all of our inks are water-based, and we use those very rarely.

Uh, we have very little water use as well.

So, in terms of you know uh how much water we're using up is as minimal, and so basically for keeping our process clean, it it's just making sure we keep track of the plastic we're producing, right?

And making sure most of it or all of it ships out the door, and the scrap that we produce does not end up in a landfill.

So all of our scrap does ship to a recycler where they're repeletizing that scrap into more polyethylene film.

It's called PIR post-industrial use because it's not consumer if it leaves our facility, it's industrial use.

So it is all repeletized, which is great, and then we do purchase some post-consumer resin.

So we do manufacture PCR uh polyethylene film in bags too, actually for some government programs and things like that.

So where another company has you know contracts from the government to supply trash bags to municipalities or you know uh military bases, things like that, and we sell them film, they make them into bags and so on and so forth.

So we are yep.

Um so uh at this point, any comments from the public?

It's okay.

Great.

Uh all in favor.

Uh oh, I'm sorry.

No, no, I'm just referring to the committee of the whole.

Uh no further discussion, uh refer this to committee of the whole.

Uh thank you.

And that brings us to our final public hearing, and that is for um uh city commission to hear appeals on the 2027 downtown improvement district special assessment assessment role number 8806, and to discuss that we have our assessor.

Thank you.

I uh so at the request of the downtown improvement district board, the assessor's office prepared the special assessment rule number 8806 in accordance with the district's plan and was adopted by the city commission on May 12th of 2026.

This is the first year of a three-year plan.

Property owners were sent notices on May 28th, 2026, and notified of the assessment amount and the appeal process.

The special assessment rule has been open for at least two weeks starting on June 15th through today.

Um a copy of the assessment rule has been posted to the city website and is also available in the assessor's office uh for review.

There have been zero appeals to this date.

Um today the commission convenes as the board of review to hear any appeals of the assessments, and today is the final opportunity of those appeals.

Um I'll be here and then after that, I'll be available till five o'clock in the assessor's office to accept any appeals if anyone should have any.

Um after we receive the appeals, we'll review those with the uh attorney's office and report to the commission on August 11th requesting confirmation of that special assessment roll.

And if everything is confirmed, it will be billed on September 1st.

Any questions seeing no one appealing?

Uh I'll close this hearing.

Thank you.

That brings us to public comment on any item you wish to have the com uh be heard by uh the commission.

Mark back.

On behalf of the United States of America, I would like to apologize for the behavior of the orange felon for his irresponsible comments on the wildfires that happen in Canada.

We send smoke all over the Midwest.

And is brazen attempt to raise tariffs.

It was their problem.

It was their fault.

Can't have no.

He needs to stop his brazen attempts to try to get money.

Apize to his behavior during the World Cup championship game.

In Spain, was awarded the trophy during the trophy presentation.

He didn't get off the stage in the middle of the field, it met life.

He wanted all he wanted all to be about himself.

Even the person of the FIFA was trying to yank him off, but he refused.

Well, I don't apologize for is the ones who put them there.

This is the reason why the midterms are critical.

And if individuals were not resident to vote, but to do so now.

Because time is running out.

The primaries are August the 4th.

And the general election is in early November.

So if you don't if you do not register, do so right now.

Because if you don't the same behavior is going to continue.

We want to control what he has what he's done.

We want to control what he could do.

This is going too far.

It's time to mobilize and organize, get registered and go vote.

Thank you.

Revenge 2026.

Hi, Kim Ward 3, and I appreciate you reminding everyone to register and vote.

I think it is our civic duty, and we should never miss it.

But unfortunately, whenever we go through an election, we witness that the biggest turnout is the non-voter.

So thank you for that, neighbor.

I appreciate it.

I came here today for a couple reasons.

Number one, to pay my property taxes on time like I do every year.

Number two, I just wanted to witness how many people could actually make it to a city commission meeting at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Maybe we need to rethink that.

It doesn't look like anyone can make it to a two o'clock city commission meeting at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Also, I would like for us to consider having a backup plan when someone decides to cancel a city commission meeting last minute.

It's our meeting, not yours.

And we came together as residents at Brewery Vivant that evening instead, had our own meeting.

I've got all the notes to share with you if you're interested on what my neighbors' concerns are and what they wanted to talk about and what they want you to focus on.

So paying my property taxes always reminds me, what is my money going to?

What what what is what am I giving this big check to my city for every year?

And I'm not against it.

I don't want anyone to misunderstand.

I believe in our tax system.

I believe in pulling our resources to make sure that we have better living conditions and a better city to live in for everyone.

But when I look around and I see our homeless population, our homeless pandemic in this city, our empty buildings sitting empty and vacant year after year after year, we're not doing anything to get creative with them, but we're building new buildings.

I'm happy when it's housing because we have a housing crisis.

But the problem is the people that are homeless and can't afford housing today are not gonna be able to afford new buildings.

So I wish that we would come together and focus on things like that as a taxpayer.

It's important to me.

Also, I just wanted to comment on the last meeting that I was able to attend, and I'm only here today because I own my own business.

I set my own schedule, but obviously when I'm not working, I'm not making money, so it's not advantageous for me to be here right now.

Ice is an issue in our city, and when my neighbors come to speak to you about it and what they're asking for, they feel like they're being ignored.

And then at the end of the last meeting, David, you disappointed me so deeply.

You mocked our neighbors that came here to talk about ICE activity and what they're living through and surviving through in the streets, and you mocked them.

They didn't want to sit through a meeting and hear our neighbor that comes and bashes people that go to Planned Parenthood.

That's why they walked out.

They didn't walk out because of you.

So please respect my neighbors and your neighbors better than what you did.

And please, if sanctuary policies are in place, show us where and who's enforcing them.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing no other public comment, I will move us along to comments, close comments from our from my colleagues.

Um Commissioner Yasasi.

One, I want to say congratulations.

Yesterday is celebrating 50 years this year, an icon.

Um, where second and third ward converge, and so there's a lot of celebrations.

There's something today, there's some things tomorrow, and then on Thursday, they're gonna have a ribbon cutting and they're gonna roll back hot dogs.

So, anyways, I just um appreciate our small businesses in our community and to be in business, and they're obviously as been sold um in the last year to new owners, but to be in business for 50 years is certainly an achievement worth celebrating.

So I wanted to say congratulations to them.

And then uh last week I wasn't able to be at the build but our our safe task force so um that mish late Miss Letitia Lipscomb um is a liaison for and a number of community members were able to support a build that was happening at Gerald R.

Ford um school uh working with the um Grand Rapids uh schools foundation and so that was really positive they were wearing masks and they were doing all the things appropriately and taking breaks but I'm glad that we're we were able to support that request um you know if see uh see a lot of things on social media and there was some things um in the last day too that were shared at one of our local community spaces and so making sure we have spaces where young people can connect is absolutely key um but also you know continuing to share with one another just that connectivity that one another have with each other whether it's knowing your children's friends or knowing who they're connecting with I you know can't imagine what that is like in that social media world but a lot of that is playing out as well and then um uh just uh you know as Mayor you had shared about uh deputy chief freeman's passing and I think it's just a reminder that life is fleeting and so thank you for saying that I've seen a lot of um comments on Facebook and also a lot of you know a lot of you who are um employees of the city who work directly with him for a number of years my you know our sincere condolences that was very hard to see and um just a reminder to connect with somebody today tell them you love them tell them you miss them and and just we have some really dedicated staff members and um yeah just appreciate you shouting that out thank you mayor that's it for today uh commissioner right uh thank you mayor thank you um commissioner sassi um um mr freeman was a good friend um i met him some years ago and he actually came to me and asked me uh for a recommendation for his um when he applied to be one of the first African American battalion chiefs uh in the city and I was happy to do that I helped work with him on starting the um youth internship um in the city uh when I was at the urban league and I was I was very proud of the work that they were doing trying to recruit young men my son uh being a firefighter uh was one that was inspired by Chief Freeman so um uh I will miss him dearly uh we were actually trying to schedule some lunch two weeks ago um so that that came as a really hard blow uh because I just saw him at Chief Fankhauser's retirement um and I was happy to see that so uh yes yes yes I know lots of things are going on in this world but uh we need to take that time and and really think about the things that are important um friendship family our neighbors our community and just love on one another um uh we had a great opportunity to support um one of our candidates for Senate this this past Sunday um that was a really um amazing opportunity uh to be there and to share our voices with with this community and in this city and across the state um uh yay Spain um uh was really excited to be a part of that um that event but also glad that they were able to open that up for the city as a whole for all of our community to be able to participate for free um and be able to watch that event and see people come together um so that was really good um to be a part of that and um I'm looking forward to the rest of the season there's a lot of things going on in the business world and development um with community we got night night out national nights out that are coming up the beginning of August uh that's gonna be a busy day and um we're happy to make our rounds across the city and just show us support and um that's all I got afternoon everyone um great day colleagues um was almost six hours of back to back meetings no eating um it's great uh um but no and serious seriously want to uh echo my condolences uh to Eric Freeman's family the entire uh fire department um and uh I just really been thinking about you all um um over the weekend it's must be hard the news so um um I'm thankful for the moment of silence today to honor him and all his work um and as a a reminder I think it was last month public safety the fire department summer academy students were here and my understanding he was uh a key part of uh uh starting that and so we we got to see his legacy in real time um right and we'll continue to do so so um the only other thing I want to speak to today just really briefly is um the first ward vacancy uh so city clerk thank you for um putting a more formal announcement in our meeting packet I understand uh we'll release that to media so that can get out to neighbors uh just want to reiterate that I I I I am not in support of having this vacancy on on this body um every single commission seat here was uh designed to be here to represent the different neighbors of our community to bring perspective to bring to bring work um to bring um how

So City Clerk, thank you for putting a more formal announcement in our meeting packet.

I understand uh we'll release that to media so that can get out to neighbors.

Uh just want to reiterate that I I am not in support of having this vacancy on this body.

Um every single commission seat here was uh designed to be here to represent the different neighbors of our community to bring perspective, to bring to bring work, um, to bring um help um and leadership and helping to move our work forward.

And so I think not having someone here for this extended amount of time, particularly folks who got nothing but praises from folks up here and who's more than qualified is just uh is a big disappointment.

And so though it's been several months since we've had a point of conversation about that, my feelings, my sentiment has not changed in the least.

And um, if other folks um are ready to vote, I am ready to vote again at any time uh to appoint this person.

Um but I know that the uh desire of this body uh as judged by our votes is that uh we just followed the election process um and not appoint someone.

And so uh there will be a primary for the first ward, and then there will be a November election, and then um from there I plan to allow the election, uh the typical election process to play out in that that person will be sworn in and then start on January 1st, just like they would with any other uh regular election uh process.

Um and so I just want to to express um my disappointment with that, um, but am looking forward to continuing to serve not just the residents of the third war, but the entire city um and support um commissioners and residents throughout um in the meantime.

Um so thank you all uh for joining and hope you're having a great summer.

Uh Commissioner Culver.

Thanks.

We're going word by word.

That's interesting.

Well, um I also am very thankful for a productive day.

Uh I'm thankful for the review of uh the K9 team policies by the GRPD.

Uh there was quite a sense of renewed commitment to striving for excellence uh in in terms of our work and service to community.

Uh it was great to have a presentation from the deputy chief, and I'm thankful to him and uh Chief Trig and the uh and OPA for their collaboration.

Uh they both said that they enjoyed working with one another um on looking into these policies, reviewing them, um, and once again serving our community.

So that was very um promising to hear, and I'm looking forward to the continued review of our continued reviews of our policies as community uh has requested that, such as uh our foot chase policy.

Uh the Canadian wildfires, I'm just we've talked about um our emergency response team certain and that earlier today.

I'm just continuing to uh let folks know to be safe, uh especially for third warders.

Uh you can log on to just air.app uh and find there's over a dozen air quality monitors scattered throughout the third ward.

So you can go even closer.

Um of course it's good to see your um AQI.

You can find that all over the state at airnow.gov.

But just air.app, I want to thank my colleagues and the city manager for supporting that.

So that was a $20,000 investment to get more um granular on our neighborhoods uh and what are what are our neighbors breathing in, and most of them are by school.

So uh we worked within community uh to make that happen along with the city and executive office, and that was something I worked on before being elected.

So I'm very proud to continue to see that.

And yes, we want people to be safe, and you know, in terms of a silver lining with the Canadian wildfires, it's showing us that our climate action adaptation plan is important.

There is climate change is clear, it is present.

Um I think uh folks can see that this is this is now becoming a more consistent thing, and that's from the extreme heat and dryness.

Um and so I'm very happy that we as a city are being proactive, whether it's supporting air quality monitors or passing that very um uh big plan that was the climate action adaptation plan.

So um encouraging folks to stay safe, uh check the AQI and um wear mask up if you can um and take care.

Thanks.

Commissioner Belchark.

Thank you.

Um I will just uh have three things.

The CAP, let's add on to that that um, you know, I um support what you know what we're doing and what and then yes, be safe out there, be healthy as much as you can.

Um but as we look forward today, we set our November 12th um fall retreat as a commission to talk about priorities, strategies, things like that.

I would like to just add that we have been accomplishing some things on the CAP, and so we would need to revisit having um how do we like re-up those 20 priorities that we had set, and so I'll just plant that seed here today.

Um I expect that might be when we do it, but we can have conversations before then.

Uh the other thing that came up today was and certainly from talking with constituents yesterday, um, specifically at my happy hour, the lead lines are being done, and we voted for some more additional funding to get those done.

Um there have been concerns from constituents that for some reason some people feel like parts of the neighborhood has been missing or being ignored, and I would like to just say like my own home got done this winter um for the from the street to the house, which had been not done 10 years ago.

So it is happening.

Our water folks talked about that today.

Um it is a winner project, and a third ward will be almost a hundred percent complete is what they would told us today.

But everything should be done within the city in the next three to five years, and I think I said that right.

So go yay us and um hang tight, be patient, work is happening.

And then lastly, and uh maybe the most contentious thing that I've been um paying attention to and want to do a shout-out for is actually our planning commission.

They are appointed body that makes a lot of dis decisions.

We've had the opportunity to talk about some projects today.

But um I think for clarity for everyone in the community who might come across this um and for us as a city to continue to communicate.

The planning commission is a its own authoritative body that makes decisions on planning approvals and variances.

What we as a city commission do is set the policy by which a lot of those decisions are made, so and specifically that's all in our zoning policy, which is in the pro process of being um upgraded, renewed, revisited, however you want to say it, to match our community master plan that was passed a few years ago.

So that we're setting the vision, the plan um for those things, and then individual projects get weighed against that by the people who are appointed on the planning commission.

And I bring this up because the July 9th meeting um was when a particularly contentious neighborhood um development, in fill development, um was discussed.

And I'm really appreciative of the process because many, many, many neighbors came out and actually had public comment during their meeting, and these are folks that I've been hearing from.

The planning commit department's been hearing from for months, even back to last summer, and they shared their concerns, and I felt like the planning commission spent extra time and due diligence in trying to be, and I think there's still a lot of technical jargon, so it maybe not be as transparent as um a lay public would like, but I do feel like they spent extra time on that particular plan to try to really weigh all the serious concerns that the neighbors brought up and that we you know, balancing the need for housing with the needs of the community in the neighborhood with the needs of like the particular site design and things like that.

I think it's a very hard position to be on.

Um, but I what one thing that one of the commissioner planning commissioners brought up, which I was grateful for was this kind of and we've been kind of using a lot today the word holistic.

There's a lot of like with our mobility plant blueprint discussion and things, a holistic approach, and I'm really happy to see more of that going forward so we're not just sticking to our own silos.

And so I think one of the things I've been asking for, and this planning commissioner asked for too, and I would like to lift up is when we have neighborhoods that have um are older and maybe don't have the city infrastructure that some of the more urban dense neighborhoods have had, but development is coming.

We really should be looking as a as a city in our planning process of how to reinvest in those communities and maybe rejuggle how the plans, money, and things are being produced so that you know neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks, curb gutters, um street infrastructure can get that um as we're getting more development coming in.

So I thought that the commission did a really good job trying to address the concerns and I don't think the outcome is one that the neighborhood's necessarily happy with.

I spoke with several of the neighbors, but uh I it's one of those things where you're you're looking at the trade-offs of what can we do, what should we do, what m you know, balancing it with the future of the needs with the current needs.

So I just want to commend the thoughtful, robust discussion, the community engagement, and all the things that are going on there.

And again, just to illustrate that that is something they alone have the authority to approve.

We as a city commission would do zoning policy or like the brown field and other things where money is involved.

So those that's all I have to today.

Mr.

Clerk.

Just a few things in the we're an impending elections.

But first of all, I want to give a shout out to my neighbor on the second floor, John Goblinski.

Um with uh GR Pay it is they're hitting their getting close to a billion dollars worth of uh use of using pay it.

So um great um success in the treasurer's office, so shout out to John and his team on the second floor.

Um, and as people are paying taxes, lots of different options in order to pay them.

Um I'd like to introduce uh Peter Smarjak.

He's uh in the audience out there.

He's my he's our intern in the clerk's office from the University of Michigan.

He's been with us for this summer.

Um they have a great program at U of M putting interns into different areas, so he's busy working on his L set and various others so uh thing endeavors, but it's been great to have him in our office um going through all kinds of different election um things.

Um we've mailed out 30,000 absentee ballots at the end of June.

We have about 10,000 return, so 20,000 of you still have your ballots in your hands.

So um you got two weeks to get those in.

Um if you still do have your absentee ballot, I highly suggest that you drop them off in one of our secure draw boxes, which we empty daily um rather than putting them in the mail at this time.

Um you can still get them in the mail that we'll probably get them, but it's better to put them in a drop box or bring them to the clerk's office, or you can bring them to an early voting site or put it through a tabular on election day.

So you have lots of options when you're absentee voting.

Um filing deadline for school board is in 34 minutes.

Um so if you're thinking about I think there's 10 candidates that have filed for five seats.

Um so, and that that's as of yesterday.

So I'd have no idea what the filing was today.

Um early voting starts this Saturday.

So we say soup um election day was the Super Bowl.

It is now the World Cup or World Series.

It's it's ext we're in extended time now.

So um, but even so early voting starts on on Saturday the 25th, goes through Sunday, August 2nd.

It's nine to five every day, except for the Tuesday and Thursday, which is love to seven, but you can find all that information on our GR votes uh website.

We have three locations.

It's at Ottawa Hills High School and the old cafeteria on on Rosewood there, and then also at St.

Peter and Paul School and GRPS University.

You can go to any of those sites.

So if you're some I think of like the um the Garfield Park neighborhood where you're kind of like bordering the third ward, go over to Ottawa Hills High School is probably a little closer for you.

So um, you can go to any of the any site.

Um you're not you're not beholden to your um precinct or your ward.

You can go to any of the three sites.

Um, and then also you know, talking about uh disability pride.

We're also um working with uh disability associates of of Kent County.

They asked if they could, you know, if I give them a tour of you know, polling locations.

I'm like, well, we're they're all open on the election day.

So they're I think they're gonna be going out to our polling locations to see um with through their lenses of what our um precincts would look like while the precincts are open.

So um some of the disability groups in Southeast Michigan have been going through Ingham County and Wayne County and some of the other counties.

So I'm I said come on, and they also came and presented to the Kent County Clerks Association a couple months ago, too.

So um those those conversations are happening.

So that's one good thing that's gonna come out of this.

I said, Yeah, come and take a look, let us know what how we can make things better.

Um, so they're they're gonna have a different because uh obviously those of us that are have are more able than others, um, sometimes take those things for granted.

So it'll be nice for for them to take a look at their process of um getting into buildings and into um polling locations.

And then finally, I do have there's information that's been hitting the city's website and Facebook and Instagram on election type things of different videos, different um carousels of of information.

But the the last thing if you really want to know before you go, go to Michigan.gov forward slash vote, and that's where you'll find all the information.

You can see if we if we've received your absentee ballot back, if you need to apply for an abct ballot, look at a sample ballot, um, check your polling location, your precinct number, all the you can find it all there in uh in one space.

So that's all I have.

Senator uh quick a quick couple of things.

Uh we recessed from closed session, but did not get to all the items.

So uh we'll ask you to uh reconvene down on the sixth floor for those two final items in closed session.

Um I think as a public employee, I certainly feel that it's election time.

I'm sure for those of you running in contested or uncontested elections, you feel that going on, but um occasionally there are intentional or or maybe unintentional efforts to mislead the public about certain things around elections or local government that for a public employee uh is really disheartening and um can be frustrating uh for those of us that come to work and just try to do a great job on behalf of the citizens every day.

And uh there's a lot of opportunities that the public can take to kind of find out the truth about elections or myths out there being spread uh to try to uh discredit local government and uh the city clerk put on a very excellent public accuracy test with the voting equipment that was better attended by public members than I've ever experienced.

I got to meet a new friend, Mr.

George from the assessor's office during that process, and we got to uh connect on a couple of different things, and so uh whenever I hear or see social media grumblings about security and safety and um accuracy of elections.

I know that uh in Grand Rapids for sure our elections are safe and secure and and the results are accurate, and I thank the city clerk for being so transparent and having the county uh clerk attend as well.

So that was really reassuring.

The other thing we've heard a lot of grumblings or maybe seen a couple headlines about websites, and uh I just encourage the public to look back to January 13th, 2026 when we had a public transparent presentation about website migration.

There was a very informative PowerPoint that accompanied that presentation about the different phases of website uh migration that it was going to be a go live and a uh refinement period and then innovation and that the communication department.

I think if you ask any department head, this has been such a collaborative process.

Uh if you look at the parks website, they have a fabulous fabulous website that's very interactive, and they're probably leading the way on what capabilities our current online presence can have.

Uh our city attorney's website is under consideration for how we can make more resources available.

And what has been reiterated to me as just one department head is we get to help the communication department get the accurate information up there, but that's up to us.

So if we want to see something changed or we want to get the right information up there, the department heads really should should own that and be proactive and communicate.

And the communications department in the city is very easy to work with, and I hope that you'll uh take my experience as a source of truth for how our websites are actually managed.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh Mayor and City Attorney and Commissioners for your work.

Welcome back.

It's uh certainly been time away from the dice, but there's been a lot of good staff work that's been going on uh in our community.

We've had a lot of events in the city, uh, special events, and uh we're effectively navigating both parking and I think uh from the latest reports that I've received uh many of the complaints around sound have also uh dissipated.

So I want to thank our partners for really being responsive to some of the feedback, making some improvements.

I also want to uh share my condolences to the Freeman family uh for their loss recently.

Uh he comes from a legacy of uh firefighters, and um it was my privilege to also be part of the history-making effort in appointing uh confirming the appointment rather of his uh position to uh deputy chief, and as been well noted, he's made a lot of impact.

I want to credit him on credit also Chief Layman and uh Chief Brown for both trusting him and having the courage to expand the recruiting efforts and the cadet program and the summer youth program, and uh we are seeing that payoff in in their academies.

Uh I will miss him dearly, miss his uh unforgettable laugh, and also his real can do positive attitude.

He's also a big supporter of uh NFBPA, so I want to uh share my condolences with the family and uh look forward to seeing you guys in a couple weeks and getting back in the groove.

Thank you.

That adjourns our meeting.