I'm gonna call this meeting of the city commission to order.

Uh and our first item of business is presentation of a scholarship, which we give out or which is given out every year to a uh uh family member of one of our city employees, and this is the it's named after Dr.

Schnur and uh Mr.

James here to uh give us the presentation and name the winner envelope please drum roll.

Drum roll good morning, everyone.

Uh my name excuse me.

Uh my name is Ty James, and I am the training and organizational development manager for the city.

Uh this morning I am honored to present the Dr.

Skinnor Scholarship Award.

This scholarship award was established by Dr.

Elmer Sknor, former city physician in 1954 to make scholarships available to city employee dependents or high school seniors.

The award is in the amount of a thousand dollars.

The Dr.

Skinor Scholarship is awarded to a student with a good record of achievement in high school.

The scholarship is designated to apply toward the first year tuition at any college or university recognized by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges or the American Council of Education.

The Dr.

School Scholarship is awarded to a student who demonstrates a strong academic record, meaningful involvement in school and community activities, and clearly defined personal goals and aspirations.

The recipient is independently selected by a committee from Grand Rapids Public Schools, following a comprehensive review of each of the applicants' qualifications.

This year, the scholarship has been awarded to Grace Schae Sma.

Grace is the daughter of city employee Phil Schafsma.

Grace stood out through her outstanding academic achievements, dedication to community service, and significant volunteer hours, which truly set her apart from the other candidates.

So, with that, I ask all of you to please join me in congratulating Grace on receiving the Dr.

Skinner Scholarship Award.

And to congratulate Grace on an unbelievable uh achievement, graduating from the museum school, and uh has informed me earlier, that's why when you gavel talking to him, she plans to attend Loyolia Loyola University.

So congratulations to her and uh to both of her parents for this outstanding uh achievement.

All right, uh so if we could get everybody on the dais to come on down and take a photo with Grace and her family.

Okay.

Thank you.

So I'm gonna stay down here for the next item of business, which is our proclamation on disability pride month.

Um my daughter said that the last thing on earth she wanted to do was come down here and uh be here for this.

Um but some of you know that my daughter is uh blind and very active in the disability community, so I actually workshopped this presentation this uh uh this proclamation with her and uh another national advocate uh to make sure I got the language right.

Um but uh I want to make the proclamation then.

So uh whereas uh the city of Grand Rapids joins alongside other communities around our nation in recognizing July as Disability Pride Month, July represents an opportunity to celebrate the many ways in which people living with disabilities, whether visible or invisible mobility, cognitive vision, or hearing, learning, sensory, or otherwise, add to the strength of our community, and whereas Disability Pride Month marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA, a major civil rights milestone signed by President George H President George H.W.

Bush, brought into law in July 26, 1990.

The ADA has expanded opportunities for people with disabilities by reducing barriers, changing perceptions, and increasing full participation in community life.

Whereas it is essential to promote a society that embraces disability as an integral and valued part of the human experience, where all people are treated with dignity, respect, and equality, and where barriers to participation and inclusion are eliminated.

And whereas the city recognizes the barriers and challenges faced by individuals with disabilities, including societal misconceptions, built and architectural barriers, lack of accessibility, discrimination, and unequal opportunity.

We must unite against ableism and discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life.

And whereas the city appreciates the efforts of disability rights advocates, organizations, and activists who work to advance the rights, independence, and well-being of individuals with disabilities, and to create a more inclusive and accessible world for all.

Now, therefore, I, David LeGran, mayor of the City of Grand Rapids, declare July 2026 as Disability Pride Month in Grand Rapids, and call on all residents to recognize, honor, and celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of individuals with disabilities in numerous fields, including education, sports, science, and the humanities, as well as to promote inclusion, acceptance, and understanding of disability as a natural part of the human experience.

I don't see Mr.

Davis here, and uh I don't know.

Oh, there we go.

I am Mr.

Davis.

Thank you, sir.

Hey everyone.

Uh I'm Brandon today.

I'm Sierra Hatfield, the Equity Systems Manager.

Uh just want to say uh thank you, Commissioner, City Manager, staff, and community here today.

Uh as many of you know, the mission of the Office of Equity and Engagement is to foster liberation and belonging among all Grand Rapids communities, and that is a big reason of why we do uh why we support these proclamations, why we invite these community members in.

We really hope that this month will be a time to reflect on the unique challenges faced by those living with disabilities in our community.

We hope that this will inspire us to think how we show up in the practice of accessibility and the practice of inclusion for all.

And we also just hope that we can honor and uplift those stories and those perspectives as we move forward as public servants.

I would also like to take just a second to recognize a new employee resource group uh related to this month.

The Dan ERG or Diverse Abilities Network was founded by an alum of the 2025 cohort of equity champions.

This is our newest employee resource group.

It supports employees with disabilities, also their caregivers, allies, and advocates, and the mission is to advance accessibility, awareness, education, and belonging.

And we are so grateful to those staff that have stepped up to lead uh this important work and to create that space of inclusion for those staff.

Um at this time, we did invite the disability advocates of Kent County.

Would you like to come say some words?

Surprise.

Hi everyone, my name is Nicolette Drake's.

Um, I'm with Disability Advocates of Kent County.

Thank you so much for having us be a part of this and for recognizing the work that we are doing to advance accessibility within our community and the work that still needs to be done.

So thank you.

And picture can I get Dan?

Can I get OK?

You guys look so colorful to know.

You know.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for me here.

Can we take this?

So yeah, go ahead.

I was gonna say, City Manager, uh, just before we wrap this up, um, for all those out there in TV land.

Um, having lived in this space for 21 years now, particularly in my family.

I'll uh say the two things that um strike me when we're talking about employment and empowerment in general for uh folks in the disability community.

Um the first is um inviting those people into opportunities really involves imagination.

Um so I'll give you a very personal example.

I'm not gonna name names here, but I had uh an employee once who uh was facing complete loss of sight.

And since my daughter's blind, my first reaction was well, okay, there's all these technologies we can use, and a lot of the work involves answering the phone, and it's not that hard to get computers that uh can help people who are completely blind.

And I had all this stuff worked out, and I went to my partner at the time and talked about the diagnosis of the employee, and the first words out of their mouth were, well, they can't work here then.

Um so it's a lovely person, but that was their first reaction.

So uh it's really really important to be imaginative and figure out and and take this take the imaginative leap to engage with people who have barriers to employment.

Um the second thing is don't assume that people with disabilities want your help.

Um so be sensitive and be aware and don't be scared, but also don't overhelp.

Uh and that's a message from my daughter who I think uh who maybe that's her number one pet peeve is people helping her when she doesn't want help or need help.

So um so there's my disability uh Pride Month message.

Uh but City Manager, you want to say something?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor Well said.

I just wanted to uh on the earlier proclamation um a Dr.

Schooner scholarship award, acknowledge uh GRPS's support of this, and also uh Mr.

McMurphy McMurray is here today, and I didn't acknowledge him earlier, so thank you for being here, sir.

Great.

Uh this moves us on to our next item then, which is a resolution scheduling a special meeting of the city commission on November 12, and this is our annual workshop.

So move.

Um move support.

Uh Mr.

Clerk, you want to go into this in any more detail?

Uh I'll defer to the city manager if he wants to tee it off.

Yeah, sure.

Thank you, uh Mayor and Commissioners.

This is a special call meeting that will allow us to spend about four hours doing a strategic planning and prioritization that we do every fall in anticipation of um discussing future uh issues that we might consider in uh future budgets.

Great.

Uh any discussion?

All right.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Uh moving on to the next item.

Uh that is a resolution approving Commissioner Knight's request to travel to Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual legislative conference uh 2026.

Can I have a excuse myself?

Yeah, I don't think you have to leave the room.

Um support, all in favor.

Any discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay, next is a resolution approving various commissioner travel to the to the MML's convention uh uh in uh 2026.

Uh can I have motion?

So moved.

Support.

Uh any discussion?

I believe it looked like about half of us were going.

Um all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

Uh next is a resolution for a social district.

Um for Firebird GR L L C located at 526 stocking.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

Uh Mr.

Clerk.

Yeah, so this is in the location of the old turnstiles right there at stocking in the uh in 196.

I haven't been over there yet.

I kind of missed turnstyles.

I thought that was a great great facility, but um we'll see we'll see what um it's gonna happen at Firebird.

I I think they're gonna keep the stage and some of the open mic nights of I think I've seen other social media.

So um just another thing to part of that um social district um permit because they're in that stockbridge kind of uh um district.

Great.

Uh any discussion, colleagues?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

That brings us to another social district uh application, and this one is for 33 Sheldon Northeast.

Can I have a motion?

Somewhere.

This is the apartment lounge too.

Um, Mr.

Clerk.

Yep, same same thing.

Um I believe they're in the downtown um district.

I'm surprised they don't have one of these already, but um, so they'll allow them to so you can you'll be allowed to be you have that social permit to move between locations.

I think they actually had it when during the pandemic in that outer area, but then it was removed after all of that kind of left.

So um any discussion, colleagues?

Mayor.

Yes.

Just a cool fun fact.

The apartment lounge is the oldest gay bar in Michigan.

And you could almost argue in our region and the Midwest region.

So great history.

Okay, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Uh motion carries.

Uh resolution.

The next is a resolution for Brownfield plan and amendment for a project over on Indiana Northwest.

This is uh 335 and 343 uh Indiana Northwest, and I see Ms.

Renero coming up.

Can I move?

Support.

Okay, Ms.

Renero, take it away.

Good morning.

Yes, this is for uh Brownfield plan amendment, and also the next two items are related with the neighborhood enterprise zone.

Um just to jog the memory, this is Ross Bacon, uh new infill um over south um adjacent to Bridge Street uh with 29 new residential units and uh six of those being dedicated to 80 percent area median income.

Uh this is a 1.38 million dollars in eligible activities that mainly comprise of the rent loss uh associated to the housing.

Um the other thing that I would just want to call attention to is the uh neighborhood enterprise zone uh qualifying for the total 15 years because of the uh investment criteria related to housing.

And um they hope to start this summer.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

I know you guys have seen this great and um one question, one quick question.

Uh what's there now?

This um there is a old uh building, a blighted building.

Okay, that they're intending to tear down?

Yes, okay.

Um great.

Uh any other questions, colleagues?

All right.

I have one question.

Is would with the appropriate assuming it's approved today, how quickly would they be addressing that because it has become a safety issue with bricks falling out?

That's a good question.

I mean, uh what we're aware is construction starts summer twenty-sixth, so but we can get more specifics on the demo.

All right, thank you.

Okay.

Um all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Um, I'm not gonna ask for more discussion then.

The next is a resolution on the neighborhood enterprise zone for the same uh project.

So moved.

Support.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Next is a resolution motion carries.

Like next is a resolution approving neighborhood enterprise zone exemption for the same project.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

Support.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Uh that brings us to our next uh project for discussion.

This is a resolution for an industrial development district for Honey Crisp Ventures at 2210 Northridge Northwest in the Walker View Industrial Park, and this is a spec building, if I recall correctly.

Uh, can I have a motion?

So moved.

Support.

Is there now?

Yes, this request ultimately allows the speculative building designation uh to preserve the opportunity for a future qualified tenant uh to occupy the space.

And this was at um city commission where we had city um commission night out, and um Patty is here in the audience if there's any specific questions.

Great.

Any questions or comments, colleagues?

Great.

Um all in favor say aye.

Aye aye.

Uh and that brings us to the resolution on the speculative building designation for the same project.

Can I have a motion?

So moved.

Support.

Uh any discussion.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Uh and this brings us to uh resolution to our final uh item for resolutions, and that is a resolution to afford a 24-month contract to TY Lynn International Great Lakes, Inc.

for consulting services to develop a Grand Episode's mobility blueprint.

And this is something that uh has been in the offing for some time, and I know that um Ms.

Smith is going to be eager to share with us.

Um can I have a motion?

So great, Ms.

Smith.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Jessica Smith, the mobile GR director, and I have with me my uh mobile GR strategic initiatives manager, Max Gillis.

And Max will be managing this project, so he's gonna help me give you a brief overview of what's in front of you today.

There's a clicker in the board.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Here.

So first of all, what is the city's mobility blueprint?

A mobility blueprint is a comprehensive long-range transportation plan establishing a roadmap for advancing safe, equitable, and sustainable mobility citywide.

So, in other words, this is a long range plan that looks at about 20 years, and then we consider what we can do in the next five to ten years with the funding that we have available to us, and we look at that in different ways.

And we just want to map out what we're doing from an infrastructure perspective.

So we've done some previous engagements on to get to this point today to get to the scope that's um that's a part of this project.

And I want Max to walk through this because Max really oversees our engagement and our conversations and facilitates a lot of that, both with you and with some of our stakeholders in the community.

So, Max.

Thank you.

Um, yes, uh, I'll just kind of go over it briefly, but if there is any questions and anything want to go in more detail, happy to do that.

Um, this is a very important effort that involves a lot of different, not just uh city departments, but uh you know external stakeholders across the city and of course everyone in our community.

So we wanted to make sure that we were very intentional uh and comprehensive in our engagement efforts, even leading up to this point, and this is a really a starting point, so there's a lot more to go in the future, but just want to highlight a few things here.

Uh, one, we've been talking for over a year uh internally with other departments and a few external stakeholders, including uh DGRI and the Grand Valley Metro Council, um, which is our regional kind of transportation lead to coordinate not just um on many efforts related to this, but also to kind of bring us an alignment on what this uh would look like in this vision before we went to um excuse me, the RFP stage uh so that we could make sure that we had something uh you know, uh in our minds before we we did that um that uh recruitment process.

Um then in conjunction with that, we had multiple engagements uh with um our mobile GR Commission uh on this topic.

Um those started in 2025 uh September.

Um, and uh we since then we've had um mobile GR Commission workshop specifically with this as one of the major topics in November 2025.

There was also discussion around this at the City Commission workshop in November of 2025.

Um, there was a presentation by Deputy City Manager uh Kate Barons uh on this uh in February 10th of 2026 um overviewing uh this this project uh and then uh we also had some further conversation around all the feedback that we had seen throughout those conversations to kind of really help us uh finalize and prepare uh for uh the RFP process.

Um the next kind of it goes a little bit more detail into that.

So we did a uh request for proposals in March of 26.

It was distributed to 666 vendors with nine proposals uh received for the department to review.

Um we worked with um uh our purchasing department, of course, and and our internal teams to uh evaluate those written proposals.

Uh and then we uh incorporated um our own department purchasing planning department, economic development department, uh, downtown Grand Rapids Inc.

Uh, the engineering department, and two mobile GR commissioners, as well as a representative from Grand Valley Metro Council in the interview process for the top three ranked proposal teams.

Uh so feel very uh comfortable in saying that we we wanted to make sure we had a lot of input um going into this selection process uh based on that as well as um the written proposals and ranking the interviews and and the final proposals from uh the consultants, uh we selected TY Lynn International Great Lakes Incorporated and we felt that they provide the best of overall valuable uh excuse me, the best overall value based on experience, project approach, work plan, schedule, and cost.

Phew, so it took a lot to get here today, and so I just want to run over what that project scope looks like today.

So, first of all, one of the huge things that we heard was alignment with existing plans.

There's been a lot of transportation and mobility work done by the city and our regional partners over many years, and we don't want to leave that work behind.

And so the city goal alignment with existing plans, both here at the city, specifically with our community master plan, the bridge to our future, and the equitable economic development and mobility strategic plan.

Those two plans are really some foundational work done here at the city that we want to make sure are included and built on during this process.

We're also coordinating with current planning efforts, two big planning efforts going on in the city right now are this the GR forward plan and then also uh the Parks and Rec Master Plan update.

Those are two really important connection plans that are tied to mobility, and we want to make sure that we're in alignment and we are all working together.

The community engagement portion, mobile GR has partnered with the Office of Communications to make sure that we are leading the community engagement for this plan with significant support from the consultant team, with the city staff being first and being that first face that you see in any engagements that we have with the community.

And then finally, I really want to point out that a big outcome, a key outcome of this plan is to have a project prioritization methodology and that technical analysis that really digs in past the mobility section of the community master plan to help give us the information we need to prioritize projects and have a clear and transparent criteria for doing that in our mobility work.

A quick overview of the budget.

This is about a $500,000 project, and just right underneath that.

And so I wanted you to see how we're dedicating both ours and the funding of that $500,000 to the project.

There's a nice big portion of it, $86,000 and some change to community engagement.

And also that going down into those project priorities and initiatives, those are your two really huge pieces of the budget, trying to put that that resource where it it needs the most work.

All right.

And that's what we have for you all today, and I welcome any questions you have for us.

Mary, city manager.

Yeah, let me thank you for that briefing, and thank you, Commissioners, for your your work.

And I think this is uh intended to be really thoughtful about how we want to make investments regarding mobility and particularly uh pedestrian infrastructure, bike infrastructure, making sure there's intentionality around projects and not disconnection.

I think one of the things we talked about when we do the w we're we're planning this was to be intentional in Paul's and some of the um transformational projects that are not well connected to the corridors and be real intentional about where and how we uh put infrastructure in in the future.

And so there may be some exceptions, but I was visiting with Ms.

Behrs this morning, but for the most part, uh we will, unless there's some uh risk of losing federal or state funding, if there are projects that were planned, but again, where it was a short-term plan, but there was not real clear long-term outcomes regarding that portion of the project, we're gonna pause and hopefully we'll have a better uh understanding of our priorities and uh strategy moving forward after the study.

Great.

Um so since I'm on mobile GR, I I I've been following this um with some anticipation, and I think it's great.

I think um and I'm gonna just paraphrase something uh Ms.

Smith said earlier on, which is um this is I I hope an evolution from saying let's have a bike plan to let's talk about mobility broadly because there's a lot more going on in transportation and getting from point A to point B than bicycles.

Um I think I pointed out the other day, like everyone once they get out of their car is a pedestrian for a certain amount of time.

And so I really I'm glad I hope we're gonna really emphasize uh pedestrian dynamics however they fit into people's mobility.

But the other um the other thing that I again I just to echo your uh and thanks for the assurance city manager, and I'm glad the department's already talking about not having things go forward, which will get in the way of things that we might decide to do.

So for me, uh for example, one of the things that I'm I often question is when we have a big bulbout um that potentially eats into street space, and if we're gonna have longer term uh competing uses for street space or better ways to do things, um taking ball bots out costs money.

Um and if that's uh if that's what we're gonna do, we certainly don't want to be building any more that'll get in the way of future plans.

So I'm I think it's really great that we got the plan.

Um I know also since I said on DGRI board that DGRI is working on its plan, and so I think it's gonna be really key, particularly I've seen other cities and talk to you know some people in this space that they often think, well, you you start with really making sense in the core and you work outwards.

And so getting G DGRI involved in some of these decisions is gonna be really key, I think.

Um is we all know we got more road funding, so this is a great time to be talking about um how we're gonna spend that money, and I'm glad to see the emphasis on granular communication because everyone living in neighborhoods knows needs of their neighborhoods better than people who don't live in their neighborhoods.

Um and so getting granular information, neighborhood by neighborhood, but even block by block.

I mean, I've had so many constituents who tell me they want a specific thing done in this specific corner, and you look at it and you're like, yeah, that makes sense.

Um but uh coordinating those efforts and managing the budget so that we can really um try to pursue maximum of the best investment and the best planning.

So I I could not be happier that we're engaging in this process.

Um, but I also think I'm a let's do it yesterday kind of guy instinctively sometimes, but I think you're right, city manager, like at this point, paradoxically, pausing some stuff is probably the fastest way to get us to where we want to go and the best way to get us there.

Yep.

And maybe um Ms.

And maybe um Miss Smith or someone from engineering can clarify.

There are still going to be projects that are kind of going to get done.

We're still gonna resurface streets and there's still utility work that has to happen.

But that aspect that the mayor just called um pointed out, um the ball outs.

What what is the plan for ball outs doing this uh study?

So the mayor and I disagree about bulb outs.

So it's a safety and a pedestrian um shortening technique that we use in streets.

There are times when it's appropriate and there's times when it's not appropriate, and I would lean on our technical experts in um in in our traffic and transportation engineering to talk through those individually where it makes sense.

Okay.

So I mean part of the reason we're doing the study is there's a lot of disagreement about what the city is doing in some areas, but specifically with ball, is there a moratorium that we're gonna have during this process or how how how are we proceeding with with that?

I would not recommend making a mortori on individual um safety techniques, but instead to have broader conversations as we're going through those projects about why they're there.

What the mayor and I do agree on when we talk about bull bouts is that we could be designing them a little bit differently to help meet some of the challenges that bullbouts have in many, many transportation networks, specifically about how a bicycle um can traverse those so that you're serving all users, not just pedestrians, not just the ped the bicycles.

So that's kind of a nuanced discussion that I think um I would not recommend making at this juncture, like you know, putting some sort of moratorium on a specific tool or strategy, but instead looking project by project, like you mentioned.

Um what can what is at risk for losing grant funding, what can we um pause and what can we continue with in a broader um way that makes sense from a technical standpoint and just continue to make recommendations to all and I'll I'll I guess uh uh I'm not sure if we agree or disagree.

I certainly see um I mean there are bad there are ball bolts and and I think that you can sometimes get from my perspective, you can have be trying to accomplish too many things at the same time.

So there are ball bolts that, for example, have uh a bunch of plantings in them.

They're not helping a pedestrian cross the street, they're just there to um uh narrow the road.

But if you narrow the road and you're serious about cyclists, um that's an opportunity for a cyclist to really interact intimately with a car.

Um and if you uh actually want people to bike on specific corridors, um that's where I think that we've got to be very, very careful.

And um I have yet to see uh done in Grind Rapids what are done in cities all around the continent, which is um having bike-lane continuity behind a ball bout.

And uh so those are the kinds of conversations.

But if we build if we build the wrong kind of ball bout uh willy-nilly now, we're just gonna be um imposing costs on ourselves later.

So I think that um being careful we don't keep moving on old 90s plans is important.

Uh I saw Commissioner Belcher first, but then Commissioner Purdue.

Well, I first I would like to acknowledge that Commissioner Kilgore had his hand up before that.

So I would do that if I would recommend him first.

We are being so polite today.

I'm a bit thank you all.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Commissioner Belchak.

Um and I have some uh some just some good feedback here just to concur with a part of what the mayor said in terms of communicating this with the public.

Uh I just want to thank Ms.

Smith and her office, her team.

Uh you all have had uh quite the go-around with communicating effectively uh with community this year from the parking with uh the major projects with the amphitheater to now this plan.

And I'm very happy to see this.

In the third word, we have neighbors who are excited.

Uh they are uh really wanting to see change.

Uh and I believe that the city is on the same page with them.

And I think we uh constituents and our neighbors and the city have the same goal, which is transportation should be safe and efficient.

Um and I'm really happy to see that we are being intentional about investing in how we communicate with folks.

The landscape is different and it's sort of ever changing uh as a grad student.

I just learned from the big beautiful bill.

Uh, you know, there's different requirements for your credit hours.

So these things are changing weekly uh for folks for your federal funding.

So if any, check into that if you're in classes.

Twelve for undergrad, nine for grad.

But I digress.

I I think this is really important, and I'm hopeful I know that you all have met uh with some of the advocates in the third ward recently.

Thank you for that as well.

Trying to get us, it's a cliche, but it really is the truth.

This communication is key.

So I'm proud to support this, and I look forward to uh seeing the updates as it goes on.

Thank you again.

Okay.

No, Commissioner Baltrack.

All right, thank you.

Um thank you for those kind words, because um I feel like this is a very important topic, and I might I might be a little meaner.

Uh is that a thing?

Um I am happy to see that this is like a holistic approach.

I think I mentioned this earlier at another committee.

Like we as a city need to be doing better at not having everything stuck in silos and being able to do these cross communications and and holistic approaches.

But um this is a massive amount of money, and I just want to acknowledge that.

So it's also probably a massive amount of work.

Um I am I'm really curious to know what the city wide the citywide mobil mobility assessment, if that part of it includes these ideas around um some of our physical infrastructure like sidewalks with engineering and where where and how are we going to be looking at parts of our neighborhoods where there isn't infrastructure?

There isn't stormwater, there isn't curbs, there isn't sidewalks, and will this be part of that assessment and then the long-term planning and or the shorter term five five to ten year planning, and then um uh to I'll let you answer everything all at once.

Um are there alternate community opportunities rather than city funded things, you know, um alternate mobility around the amphitheater or other things um that might maybe uh community members want to do or private organizations want to do, is that going to be considered?

And if there's any ordinance changes that we need to do to make that possible, would that be a part of this conversation?

And then finally, how is the rapid involved?

Because that's a massive piece of our mobility that most people do not understand is a separate entity separate from the city.

So I'll hand it over.

So the answer is yes.

Um all of those things are being considered as part of this plan.

One of the things I want to point out is this plan is focused on infrastructure specifically, so mobility infrastructure.

And then um the the other um the other piece with a with a mobility plan, often what you look at is are there gaps in our current policies that we can control?

So at the city level, are there gaps in our policy that we need to address to help make the infrastructure possible, right?

So if we have um a challenge, for example, right now we do not have a common standard for a transit stop.

We um kind of design it based on every individual um uh corridor or project that's coming through, and we get together and we sort of invent it every time.

So one of the things a transportation plan might suggest is hey, it would be more efficient if you had a transit standard that has four different, I'm gonna call them typologies, four different styles, you know, depending on where it's appropriate, and you pop those in so that the engineering team has something to reference right away, and they don't have to redesign every time we come into we run into transit.

The way we deal with things like transit infrastructure is we work with the rapid and we say, hey, um what works for you?

Where are your stops located?

What's your long-term plan?

And for this plan specifically around transit is we work closely with the rapid to make sure that we are in line.

They sit on our mobile GR commission, and we have a really um a really excellent partnership with the Rapids leadership and for example the city manager and I meet with them once a month.

So those types of things will be coordinated in um with the greater, I haven't decided what we're calling at steering committee or you know, the committee that will work through this planning process together, and the rapid is definitely a part of that.

Great questions.

No, I think that's really important because um some of the feedback I get, and I'm always curious how do I get more feedback into the rapid.

So knowing the venues, the avenues to do that we I hear a lot about the community about wanting to use buses, but they're they're not able to.

Um they're not conveniently located, they don't run often enough or late enough, or different scenarios.

And um, I know there's always funding issues, but it would be helpful for us to be able to know how to direct those that feedback as well as we're building this plan.

But if Mary, if I could just to clarify, so um we're gonna have a great uh blueprint, similar to like we have with a lot of other plans as part of our master plan.

And um, but what it will evolve into is recommendations, and uh some of them will be specifically within the authority of the city of Grand Rapids, but other may others may be interagency in partnership, and we'll um require us to have policy discussion and dialogue.

So just because something's identified as a potential systems improvement in the rapid doesn't mean we're gonna have an ordinance to direct that work to be done.

Thank you good morning thank you both uh for the presentation and for your work to date uh Max did you have something you wanted to add I saw you trying to squeeze over to the mic.

Sorry I think just to add to one of the questions you had because I do, you know this is a lot of community resources and I we understand that I just want to add to a lot of the work done here that's gonna be assessing existing conditions and analyzing our transportation network and all the different modes that go into it.

This is focused as um as Director Smith mentioned this is focused heavily on infrastructure however that information is gonna be so valuable to our whole department and all the work that we do in our own assessments of mobility programs, parking analysis, community engagement so just because the kind of the result space for this project is focusing more on infrastructure doesn't mean all that data and analysis that's gonna be done initially can't be very helpful with when we talk with the rapid when we look at uh micromobility shared micromobility so just want to say all that data is not just gonna be used just for that one element it's gonna be really helpful for almost everything that we do at mobile GR so I think that's uh uh a lot more expansive in that in that sense thank you for adding that um again thank you for getting us to today I think um this represents you know more than just a contract it really represents your responsiveness um to community concerns neighborhood concerns even concerns from the day is of some of the decisions related to mobility particularly bike lanes um and other parts of our network um but I'm give uh give the example of bike lanes because we know that there are often competing priorities when we talk about design and infrastructure there is safety there's accessibility there's economic development so on and so forth and so um the thing that I have been most looking forward to in getting to this point is having a way of how those competing goals will be weighed as we make decisions throughout the city and through and even within our our business corridors.

That being said I do share some of the concerns that were brought up particularly around um you know the half a million dollar investment um and just wanting to make sure that that's money well spent right and so uh given that um I did see that in the proposal there's a huge emphasis on not reinventing the wheel on not um uh overlapping with competing work or doing repeated uh engagement and in work but when I look at this budget um on slide uh six um there's you know even though there's an effort to avoid engagement uh overlap and uh repetition I see over 500 hours dedicated to community engagement um and really a quarter of this budget being uh related to visioning and community engagement so that that gives me pause because I expected that this would be um well I would say that I know that we've done a lot of valuable engagement over the years through the many of the plans that you mentioned and in recent months as we've kind of come into these conflicts with different stakeholders on some of our infrastructure decisions.

So so that that's a bit um that's something that I I noticed the other thing is you know this plan and in your opening slide you talk about the goal of our transportation network really being safe reliable and affordable I think one thing that's been missing from our conversations and that I want to see better represented is also meeting the transportation needs of residents.

So mobility is more than just getting from place A to place B.

It's not just about connectivity but where are folks what do folks want to be connected to is it work is it bike lanes for recreation purposes is it um connecting our different neighborhoods so you don't have to use a car to go from Alger to Baxter to to MLK.

Is it connecting kids to their local schools?

And so I think that emphasis uh has been missing from a lot of our conversations I think I've said it in a way before that um I I don't agree with the approach of bike lanes or bust right like we need to balance competing priorities and we need to be really clear on who are our users and what are their what what purposes what's their their needed do needed their need apologies and their need for this infrastructure.

So let me look at my notes um so yeah so though so those are my concerns with with this existing um with this uh as proposed today uh colleagues just the the the the price tag and then missing some of what I think are those key elements that we want to see um I think that the repeated concern is how do we weigh how do we weigh competing priorities um how do we not reinvent the wheel and I think we have a lot of feedback on what's not working already both from your technical expertise as well as mayor to your point to what neighbors experience every single day one of my personal gripes is I think that you know we do need to slow down traffic in the city but I don't think we need to stop it.

Um how do we not reinvent the wheel?

And I think we have a lot of feedback on what's not working already, both from your technical expertise as well as Mayor, to your point to what neighbors experience every single day.

One of my personal gripes is I think that you know we do need to slow down traffic in the city, but I don't think we need to stop it.

And should it take six six lights to get through uh uh an intersection in the middle of the afternoon?

So um in that way, I would like to see this scoped a little bit differently.

Um I'm not ready to support this today as is without some of those things that I mentioned really clearly and explicitly being caught out.

And so um I'll open for you all to maybe respond to any of those concerns um that I've raised.

Uh I'll start with uh the costs.

And this was competitively bid, and we certainly can look at areas where there may be flexibility, but I just asked Ms.

Barnes to check relative pricing to what we've uh paid for the community master plan, and my recollection is that was it was significantly more than what we're paying uh here.

While you're waiting on that, so I've been doing long-range transportation plan for plans for 20 years, and um the last one I did about 10 years ago was at this price point.

So it I I understand the the pause, and I think it's a great question.

And I think that where your specific concerns are, I'd like to talk about those specifically.

So we've got 199 hours at visioning and uh 507 hours at community stakeholder engagement with the goal of not reinventing the wheel and knowing that we have heard a lot from the community in the past.

So I'd like to speak to those two specific things.

Before that, Kate, did you have a number from Kristen?

I don't know.

We don't need to look clear.

It's not just the the price tag alone, it's this price tag without kind of having some of those core components and concerns that we have really been talking at length about up until this point.

Yes, and so I want to uh if you don't mind, I would love to just give you a little bit more context.

I know that this is these are big titles, and so I'll give you a little bit more context in what those are.

So Max is managing this project and has really in-depth knowledge and worked with me on the scope.

So I'd like to ask Max to talk about those two specifically because I think that your questions are well founded, and we do have some context we want to share.

Okay.

Um so, yeah, specifically to visioning and community and stakeholder engagement.

So the a few elements um and uh you know, not uh just from our perspective, uh building on uh existing engagement and communications doesn't necessarily mean that it's gonna result in no engagement, it's gonna be hopefully less.

Um so there's a few elements to that.

One, this is going to be a city staff-led engagement session.

We felt that was really important.

So this number is actually a lot lower than initially because we said we're gonna have our staff that's gonna be doing the in-person engagement.

We felt that was important because of how uh important this is to community, that we wanted to say, hey, we're here for the long haul, you know, this is city staff.

Um, but uh two, and we've talked with community uh not just about mobility blueprint, but in general, that they have they feel this fatigue around doing uh engagement.

So uh this these num this is gonna be a very different type of engagement than I think than a lot of people may be used to when it comes to things like long-range plans, because this is us saying, and this is why the visioning element is important.

It's us saying, all right, we have heard from the the Rapids Um long range plan, the the Grand Valley Metro Council, the region the um the regional plan, the community master plan, area-specific plans.

I can go to Creston and they'll say we we tell you exactly how we want to see our transportation network.

Uh so taking that and then saying, all right, this is our interpretation of how we're going to prioritize that based on the technical analysis and and the work and and the community feedback we already have, and then saying to community, are we aligned throughout that process?

So it it is a bit more of a um uh if you will, in the weeds kind of engagement process where we're not asking for high-level vision anymore.

We feel like there's a very clear message across all of these plans that what community is looking for.

Uh but then as we heard from the mayor and Jessica and then all community members will say, well, in my mind, safe and even you, you're saying, you know, the the um the level of travel is important, the you know, the how much congestion, what's the wait time?

So going to community and saying, all right, what's your priority, and then talking about very specific things like I'll use bicycle lanes as an example.

Um people in some uh plans they'll say we want bicycle lanes, but when you go and talk community, they say, well, I didn't mean that in a business district, or I didn't mean that in my smaller neighborhood.

And and so having those sort of conversations makes this an effort that isn't, and I don't mean to mean the other ones are easy, they're not, they're difficult too, but it's not something like we can just go and say, How do you feel about this?

We have to be really intentional and specific about very specific parts of the city, very you know, like neighborhoods and corridors, and say, hey, we're interested in prioritizing uh what sort of infrastructure goes here, and uh we would like some more depth and interpretation of what you have given us in these other plans and make sure that we're very specific in how we implement that.

Um so and you know, the the title of the plan is mobility blueprint.

We want to go to community and draw blueprint for what our transportation future looks like.

Um so while that we don't want to dismiss the previous engagement, it just means now we're doing a very different type, one where we're very intentional.

And the visioning is so important because we um not only want to include those other plans, but we want to engage with them and make sure that we're aligned and interpreting them correctly.

So um for me, I think this is a very important element.

It's one where we're gonna be doing engagement very differently than even how we've done it at Mobile GR in the past.

Um so and then I apologize.

I know the second part of the question.

Yeah, th thank you for that.

Uh um the idea of both competing priorities, I think it was uh the purpose is to uh be really specific about that.

Yeah, so I think the competing priorities is is to me uh uh is uh and I know when when um Director Smith joined, she you know, there was a lot of intention for a lot of uh desire for this project.

For me, that's the number one reason uh to do this.

Uh prioritization methodology is key when we have limited resources, we have limited street space, right?

We have limited space in our right of way, um, and we have uh limited uh staff time.

So uh all of those things are going to r uh uh require us to have some sort of prioritization, and how we've been doing it in the past has not been one that we've had this collaborative decision with community on.

So to me, a prioritization methodology is is the main goal of this from a lot of perspectives, and again, that's just my personal uh one of the things I I think that's so important here.

Um so yes, uh addressing competing interests is a very intentional um priority for us in in this goal to have a very specific and one that we feel like community is aligned with prioritization methodology for our investment and infrastructure going forward.

Okay, um glad to hear that.

And I just want to make sure because you said your personal your your personal this not personally, but like this that objectively that is Yeah, sorry, I'm I just don't want to speak for the whole team and and other folks.

Uh that's what I've heard throughout that's that's we want you to speak for the team because this this is this is documenting what we want to get out of it.

So I'm sorry I'm being a little persnickety with the.

No, that's totally fair.

I I just sometimes a little too careful with my words.

This is the goal of the team.

This was the goal of the RFP.

This is what have been clear with the the consultant um in our interview process in our in our request for proposals that a prioritization methodology is an absolute must and top priority for the results of this.

And that's for everyone on the team.

Okay, thank you.

And then the last the last item I spoke to was just around adding um or addressing the different the different needs and uses of transportation at connectivity for connectivity's sake, and who are those users, what do they need, um, so on and so forth if you want to speak to that.

Yeah, so uh I'll just speak quickly to it.

So my background um SMU and O is in behavioral studies, it's in psychology, it's in studying humans and and what motivates them.

So that's a huge element that I'm uh hopefully bringing to this team, um, but also something that we've talked a lot with um the uh consultants uh uh through the interview process and one that we really felt was really strong with uh TY Lynn specifically.

Um, you know, there is of course a lot of technical elements to this, but ultimately the reason for all of this is is human beings, is our residents, our visitors, our commuters.

Uh so understanding why is so important, and and that really gets to part of that breaking down from that high-level vision to implementation because sometimes there's a disconnect there because of how it's using.

So saying we want safe streets, but then talking about well, what are we trying to your exact point?

Are we going to the grocery store?

Are we just going for a ride for fun?

Are we going for a walk for fun?

So all those things mean that the infrastructure is is has different elements to it.

So studying that and understanding that is an enormous part of this plan.

The the other piece is there's uh technology that exists with your uh uh your GIS or your geographic information systems, so all that mapping layer, we have a lot of demographic information and also what we call um uh um trip trip generation and and trip need and reason and those sorts of things.

A lot of that data already exists.

Putting it all in one place is um is looking at what those neighborhoods look like.

One of the things that we have in here is um a focus area, right?

So we'll look at like corridors specifically and what is in those corridors.

You look at land use, you look at who lives there and those different types of things.

Something that GIS has um embedded in it right now is something called tapestry data.

This was a specific technology that we asked for with this proposal, and that tapestry data does exactly what you're talking about.

It says these are the folks that live in this neighborhood and it's based on data.

And so using that and layering it over that demographic data, or also employment, uh okay.

It's it is all it is the the so I would call it demographic and socioeconomic data is kind of the the large category and how those folks tend to move based on what we know in tra and in kind of transportation patterns and network and system design.

And so that will be a big piece of helping us figure out what is this neighborhood, who is there, how are they moving, and what do they need to continue to live their life as they as they currently do, and then layering that in in our technical analysis.

So not to go on into into the weeds too much, but um that is something that very very specifically taken taken care of in this particular project.

So am I hearing from both of you that kind of those three concerns that I'm raising are actually core objectives of this and not uh it might not have been um as uh kind of presented that way initially, but but truly are behind the scenes um those three.

Yep, and and I think that you made a good point of saying, hey, it's called out like this, and what I know about visioning is it looks like this, and so just helping walk through that context of how visioning is a little bit different.

We're asking a little bit more in depth different questions specific to are we aligned with the community on these details.

So I think those were great questions to clarify.

Thank you.

Thanks for the time.

Thanks.

Uh Commissioner Sazi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you both for this presentation.

And it was kind of a throwback because I was thinking back to the equitable economic development and mobile GR plan.

That was something that I served on initially as a neighbor, and that was a really big group of people.

And I think this year we're seeing some of those things that were in that plan, which again, I think a reminder to us is that we may not be always the people who do it.

You said that a little bit, city manager, when you were talking about the rapid, we're gonna have you know, a new governor that's gonna, you know, be in place, so there'll be, you know, some thinking about this.

Will vital streets will have to renew in 2030, looking at you pass vice chair.

You tell me the date, am I right on that?

Correction chair.

Oh, sorry, Mr.

Chair.

We said we were being nice today.

No, I'm just kidding.

Um, and so right, so we start thinking about these things.

Uh, you know, we talked about the master plan, but then true, you know, all jokes aside, you know, but the vital streets, and then thinking about there's gonna be some new investment, you know, uh, mayor has a lot of experience in that legislative piece, and so to me, this is sort of how do you if if you if you stay ready, you never have to be ready.

Am I saying that correct, people?

Okay, all right.

Well, you stay ready to have to get okay, sorry, third ward.

But but it it's again joking aside, but that's really as I'm sitting here and listening to this, and quite honestly, if you all can uh put in the budget a clone for for Max, that'd be great too.

Um, you know, but I think we are entering this period of a lot of engagement is like these very specific questions.

And if I do a search in my email that has Max included, you show up a lot, Max, right?

Because you all have made that intentional effort to say, here's gonna be the person, how are we driving communications?

Like I see stuff the other day, I was on social media, and somebody was like, Why don't we have this in the city?

And I'm like, we do have this in the city.

I couldn't remember the specific details.

Shout out to Miss Claypool for giving me the deeds so that I could then share it.

But we are we're living in this period where people really want this one-to-one connection, and so I'm glad that you know, I know that had been talked about a little bit, but I was glad to see that.

There's something in this, the lean methodology of go and see.

It's one thing to hire consultant who's gonna go back to the hotel room, who's gonna go back to their spot in the next city.

It's very much another thing to say our internal staff will be guided by the individual stories, the things that they're thinking.

I also think into cons and the reality is community engagement is not what you ask for, is what you get.

And I think we have to consistently remind ourselves of what are those expectations, whether they're cost expectations.

I am not the safety person as it relates to traffic, but we are users.

So um I'm kind of sitting here, and I and I get it.

It's you know, large dollar amount, obviously went through the budgeting process.

We knew, you know, but seeing it on paper, I think, you know, with with everything else that we're talking about is is always that piece.

But then I start thinking about how do we connect to these other activities that are gonna happen in the five years, and we certainly want to be the most prepared that we could be on this.

Um, and then specifically saying, so I kind of have a question, but I have one question at the end.

But I do think it's important again, the dollar amount, what we're talking about, but you know, just this year we're seeing this transportation up here, right with uptown, and then I saw um midtown share that they're gonna do that, and that was something that came out of that economic development and mobile GR plan, right?

But it not necessarily is going to be the city budget, but how do we create the factors to understand you know how this all engages?

And now we see people in golf carts, right?

And then Phil's gotta figure out how to manage that.

But um, so this will continue.

So I wanted to put that as the frame for us of how do we think about this work, and then I always feel like resetting what are those what what are the realities of a community engagement and what does that mean?

plan right but it not necessarily is going to be the city budget but how do we create the factors to understand you know how this all engages and now we see people in golf carts right and then Phil's gotta figure out how to manage that but um so so this will continue so I wanted to put that as the frame for us of how do we think about this work and then I always feel like resetting what are those what what are the realities of a community engagement and what does that mean it's to me it's like information sharing the things that we don't know the things that we become aware of um we talked about the leadership changes that will be at that piece and to me you know I hope and I believe again with master plan and other pieces that we are part of those stakeholders as well and that there'll also be spaces for us to continue to have that conversation correct um so that's my little litany but my specific question is um you know there's been a lot of a lot of again chatter social media we receive emails as it relates to flat cameras and how are they utilized particularly in policing but we also know that in the past you all have utilized technology but we're not current you you're the department the mobile gr is not current currently using that technology is that correct or am I license plate reader technology tra for traffic monitoring no I I want to answer the right question.

Yeah so we we use a lot of different technology but we don't read license plates is that what you're asking LPRs license plate readers about flat cameras as the like the Kleenex of LPRs am I saying that right I look at DC Baker in the back and my he's giving me a head nod.

Yeah that's it that's a different that's a different thing but for parking enforcement we we do use license plate readers that that's how we okay we drive by and we we know whether you know we're kind of checking things like that.

So it depends on the specific instance activity.

Can you help me understand where we're going with this?

Yeah my question is again because this is the topic that is out there right there's uh I mean in some communities people are going and taking things down we have you know work to explain how this fits into the larger public safety piece but also I I think it I think maybe very initially mobile gr had purchased those and then maybe we weren't using them in specific ways but I I don't know I'm I'm trying to remember things from 2014 and 2015 city manager.

I think uh if what you're asking is uh does technology help us to become safer and the mayor and I were just having a conversation about a traffic safety issue and had we had more technology we we would have been able to maybe ensure more safety in the area and I think that's a question we can ask the consultants how are the communities are using technology to help with mobility planning and safety and you know again as we have these general statements about Grand Rapids does this or they go to fiscal and they say you have a agenda item that's to approve this I just want us to be really clear about you know we think about our surveillance policy as it relates with the police department and other public safety efforts but how does that tie into this because I think that is one of these is the right word seminal seminal issues that are coming out as it relates to this work where obviously technology can help guide us to you know receive um you know improve our efficiency improve like again not having to spend these different pieces but people want to know what it is at what cost where does it live who owns it so thank you.

Thank you for that context I understand what you're asking now.

So typically with transportation planning so remember that to sys system wide transportation planning is a policy level document.

And so what we do is when there are bigger picture questions that are not relating specifically to developing an infrastructure plan but impact how you make policy decisions it's really helpful with technology to have a whole section called emergence technology this is this is a really common thing that to do in these types of plans so with this plan we have begun to frame out what those sections look like to make sure that we're covering things like your question because these things will inevitably like you pointed out and it's commissioner Purdue and um commissioner Belchak were all what you were all kind of driving at the same thing what are we going to do when these questions come up from community we the it's very important to have that emerging technology policy gaps those types of pieces to your plan so it's not so much of a parking lot in the plan but to show that these things do impact your infrastructure decisions but they need perhaps a different approach and a strategy to get to a policy um decision or a a policy consensus which which comes from this from this body so I appreciate that question and thank you for guiding me to it a little it took me a minute there I was like I don't do the flock cameras um so this any sort of emerging technology or current technology that we don't have clear policy around or maybe we do have clear policy around but it hasn't been connected back to what does that mean for mobility it will have a place here to be um referenced if that makes sense city manager mayor I'm able to respond earlier to the the cost question at least the relative uh cost that I was trying to share so even um at 500,000 uh this commission authorized us to spend about 1.2 million on the consultant work for the comprehensive planning and that doesn't count uh the consultant work for the zoning which was another 400 thousand so to to Miss Smith's point the the price is relative I understand and I'm grateful for the cost concerns uh but just as a reminder this is not impacting the general fund it has been budgeted uh in the parking fund and we did stabilize rates for the most part in this uh past budget so we're trying to be as cost conscious as possible and if we can manage the project and under the hour

So to Miss Smith's point, the the price is relative.

I understand, and I'm grateful for the cost concerns.

Uh but just as a reminder, this is not impacting the general fund.

It has been budgeted uh in the parking fund, and we did stabilize rates for the most part in this uh past budget.

So we're trying to be as cost conscious as possible.

And if we can manage the project in under the hours that's budgeted, that will also save costs.

Great.

Uh Commissioner Knight.

Uh yeah, thank you for all the robust conversation around this.

It seems like this is a topic that has been at the top of people's minds for uh a few months now, especially just having a meeting with the River North Business District and thinking about the Dash right impacts and how we're getting people into neighborhoods and how they're being able to come in and support business, but then still be able to access downtown.

I also had some questions, and I'm just gonna throw this out there, you can answer it, mullet over whatever um from the uh food truck uh vendors about um accessing some of these spaces as well, and just wondering if if if their concerns are weaved into this conversation too, right?

When you're talking about economic development and um getting people from one place to another, you know, looking at the space even around the amphitheater.

I know there's been a lot of chatter about that, um, and just really seeing how we can continue to support our small businesses, right?

Because that's that's how our community grows and thrives.

Um and then also thinking about when we do community engagement, there always seems like there's these small pockets in our community that just aren't touched.

Like we're not really getting um all of the information that's needed in those spaces, and just wondering how deep, you know, you I know y'all said you're gonna go in a little bit deeper than normal, but just really getting into those specific communities.

I know especially on the on the southeast side and the third ward, there's there's areas and pockets of people that just we we don't get their information, we don't touch them, and it seemed like they're the ones that are missing in this larger conversation.

Um, and I'm reminded of a comment uh a post that a friend made the other day of a young man who was trying to get to work using a scooter.

Um he had no other transportation, he got hit by a car.

He got hit by the car and would not go to the hospital because he had to get to work, he's scared of losing his job, right?

So we think about how people are getting back and forth to work, the safety um of those spaces.

I watched on Saturday um a bunch of young men on motorbikes, the the smaller bikes down almond row, riding up and down the sidewalks and then the street, right?

And so how we're thinking about how we're um uh looking at our policies and stuff around that and who's supposed to be on the sidewalk and where they're supposed to be on the sidewalk and um just that broader context of of conversation, um, is there there's a lot of pieces I know to this, and and you guys are trying to pull it all together.

I'm grateful that the conversation was raised.

You guys answered the question, especially around the funding piece, because I was like, oof, that that that's a hefty price tag, and where is it coming from?

That's always gonna be my question.

Um, just just hoping that we can get a little bit deeper on the information, who we're getting the information from, and that we're we're touching everybody.

And I know that may seem impossible with the limited staff time, uh, but I think it's important because if those voices are not counted, then we're really kind of still doing the same thing that we've always done and not really creating any change.

That's kind of thank you.

I'm gonna I'm gonna leave the engagement and the strategies and how we keep that within a certain budget framework to Max to I know he's he really wants to talk about that here in a second, but one of the things I wanted to point out is what I am hearing in a lot of these questions are around larger policies around operations and um even maintenance.

Some of that has come up before operations, maintenance, engagement, enforcement, and these types of things are ongoing for your mobility policy conversations.

And just because we're working on a foundational infrastructure-driven plan for decision making and and specifically in how we build out a a physical transportation system, that doesn't mean that there aren't these ongoing conversations about how to solve things, especially some of the the things that you all have brought up, those are things that have been um popped into our work plans and are are are actively being worked on for for the most part.

I I haven't heard something yet today that we aren't already touching on.

Specifically, I was thinking about the food trucks.

That's one that had a number of challenges around it, not just with mobility or infrastructure space, but around at in we engaged with our fire department, with our fire marshal, and we engaged with um the clerk's office on business licenses and and economic development.

All of those pieces are coming together, and I think the city manager and deputy city manager work really hard to make sure that the directors are working across departments to help solve and make recommendations around some of these policy concerns so that you all can hear um what's being done to help address the concerns your citizens.

So I appreciate that that continues to be a thread.

One of the things I want to caution here is um when we put together a plan like this, scope drives the cost.

So as we're thinking about driving towards this cost and keeping that under that $500,000 approved amount from last year's budget, is that we think about what is the specific thing that the the most prioritized thing that we need to get done with this plan to be able to stay with that budget.

And that piece is making sure that we under we have a process created that says this is how we prioritize infrastructure projects and laying that out so that we when we come to you with a recommendation, it has already been discussed with the community what that criter criteria for priorities are.

How did that impact people and how are we weighing those competing priorities to come up with a a recommended um set of priorities with the funding that we have?

And then also um there there was some conversation around funding.

Where does this funding come from?

Is it just the city?

Are there other opportunities?

Absolutely.

So those are all pieces of this um of of an infrastructure plan like this is to look at how do you prioritize.

Here's a little prioritization, here's a start, and then also here's a funding plan.

Here's how you can look into what to do next based on both historical funding patterns but also what's coming down the pipe.

As um one of you had pointed out, the federal funding picture continues to change, it seems on a daily basis.

So um that's something also to just consider that there is a little bit of um uh variation in that right now.

But for the most part, it continues to kind of operate the way it's it's generally been operating over the last um dozens of years.

So so it's nothing quite new there, and just to continue to to keep to keep our our folks who focus on those things at Mobile GR focus on policy and funding, focus on transportation networks, focus on safety, and how to balance all of those things.

Um that's that's my small my small speech about this is a foundational plan, and it will not be able to do everything that we have policy concerns about.

But it is the first step towards making sure that we have a clear and transparent process to come up with connected, consistent and safe um transportation network.

Max, would you like to speak to the engagement piece?

Mayor Mayor I just want to make sure on timing we have short days.

Um does the commission have any other questions?

Um you did a good job.

Yep.

I'm sensing we're ready to vote on this.

Everyone okay with that?

All right.

Um all in favor of uh uh the resolution to award the contract, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

Great job.

Uh so a couple things I want to uh flag here.

First is uh just very briefly in um was it fiscal uh one of our other committees uh might have been community development.

We we talked about the um uh the uh agreement with the community development.

Yeah, with the uh the our joint resolution our joint agreement with the um schools and the update on that, uh which I I assume passed.

I I wasn't there, uh passed out unanimously.

Did not.

Postponed.

Okay, great.

Um would you like me to share more on that?

Uh yes, but let me flag also that I think that this is really important for our conversation about like whether and how we engage in uh development city generally, and so I'd love to have a presentation from staff on potential engagement long term because this is we we know the the schools have announced they're going to be disposing of a number of properties.

Um I'd like to maybe have some staff uh presentation on potential engagement and development on those properties.

But if you can uh speak to the postponement.

Yeah, so the committee had not seen the updated language that was in the contract or what was negotiated, so uh we didn't feel comfortable voting on it.

Uh so we postponed it so it will come in front of all of us at two o'clock.

Oh with the expectation that we would uh receive the language and or some sort of briefing between now and then.

Great.

Okay.

Um and and mayor just uh the language was posted at GRPS in a public document.

So we can happy to bring that forward.

So if we're gonna have we'll have it on the agenda at 2 o'clock, not a problem.

It wasn't in the meeting packet, city manager.

Yep.

Okay, thanks.

Uh okay, and uh I'm gonna need a motion for closed session.

Uh I think all of you got notification we got like four things to discuss.

Um one of them being uh litigation, some property stuff, sort of a grab bag.

Uh so we've got support all in favor of moving closed sessions.

Oh, right, sorry.

Commissioner Kilgore, yes.

Commissioner Knight.

Yes.

Commissioner Sasi.

Yes.

Commissioner Purdue.

Yes.

Commissioner Belchak.

Yes.

Mayor LeGrand.

Yes, and that will be in 601 uh after this meeting.

It's my understanding that we may might not get to all the items, so there are employee reviews that may have to come at the end of the two o'clock meeting.

We'll see how it goes.

Okay.

Yep.

Okay, uh, because we do have uh public safety at 1215.

So uh finally now we have a presentation from our fire department on um emergency response team work.

Uh good morning.

Good morning.

Good.

Uh I interviewed Ben Rance and Shear.

They're from the office of talk to you all today about the emergency response team.

Better?

All right.

I'll start over.

Chief Johnson, Chief Brown's on vacation this week and join some time with his family.

Uh I'm here to present uh OAM, uh Office of Emergency Management with uh emergency manager and Ingrid Shear to talk about the commer community emergency response team.

Take it away, Ben.

Awesome.

Thanks, sir.

How's everybody doing?

Good.

Thanks for having us today.

Uh Benjamin Rance, emergency management administrator.

Uh, we're just gonna talk about some of the community engagement that we're doing.

Um I appreciate all the discussion on community engagement where we're trying to meet people, you know, where they are and provide services in a kind of unique and different way.

Innovation is one of our goals, you know, here in the office.

So we're gonna go through, we're gonna talk about the community emergency response team, give an update on that.

They're gonna talk about general community engagement, uh, what some of our successes have been, what our strategy is moving forward.

I've been happy to answer any questions that anybody has.

So I'll turn it over to Ingrid Shear for to start.

Hello, I'm Ingrid Shear, uh, emergency management specialist, and also our CERT program manager for the City of Grand Rapids.

Uh just a reminder, so CERT stands for community emergency response team.

Hopefully, this isn't the first time you've heard of it, but it is a training that the City of Grand Rapids offers.

Uh we were established in fall of 2023.

It is a nationwide FEMA program.

Uh so there are cert teams in all 50 states throughout the United States and even uh across the ocean as well.

Um this slide just shows a little bit of the summary of what we've accomplished uh since we've uh established in 2023.

Um big thing to point out is it's typically the CERT program is a basic academy, like I mentioned through FEMA, and it's a seven-week program where you kind of talk about disaster preparedness and neighbors helping neighbors in an emergency.

Our program, we we uh we structured it a little bit different just so that we could have that accessibility to everybody.

So we have a level one course, which is just a three-hour training that really touches on the big three make a kit, uh, build a plan and be informed.

So again, we're offering this to anybody, it's a free training.

Um then they move on to level two if they're interested, and that's where they can become a cert volunteer.

So a cert volunteer for the city of Grand Rapids means that they could be called upon if an incident arises.

And we'll get to our activations in just a bit.

But for this year already in spring of 2026, we've offered three cert classes.

Our goal with all these level one classes is to go out in the community.

So we don't hold them all in one location, we go in each ward and offer a class.

Um and one uh is especially this uh in the spring was Spanish only.

So the whole class was taught in Spanish by Ben, um, which is the first time we were able to offer that since he is bilingual.

So that was awesome.

Um we did feel fill all seats for all our level one classes, so there is a high demand, and we do have a waiting list for this class as well.

Uh for spring of 26, uh the level two class.

So that's the six-week, it's a larger commitment, but that's when people actually become a cert volunteer.

And we did graduate 18 additional um volunteers this spring.

So we are up to about 95 active cert volunteers since fall of 2023.

Uh next on the slide just shows our level one trainings to date.

So as I mentioned, uh we try to hold multiple level one classes all across different wards.

Uh we held 12 classes total and over 200 people we've trained in that general preparedness.

For level two trainings, uh, we've done six classes to date.

Um, and like I mentioned, we have over 90 graduates that are cert volunteers and ready to help if we were to have an incident.

Uh as I mentioned for activations, we have activated our cert team one time so far on March of 2024 for a water distribution event.

There was a water main break on the northeast side, and our cert volunteers assisted with that.

Uh aside from our activations, which are the more formal incident emergency responses.

Uh we do engage um with community events.

So in 2025, our CERT volunteers participated in 19 different events and put in over 230 volunteer hours.

For this year total, we have done over a dozen events, and we have over 120 volunteer hours.

Examples of what we kind of do in those events and out in the community, you can see on this slide.

It's everything from local parades, assisting with crowd and traffic management to community events such as the 175th birthday party last year to art prize and then to um putting starter kits together for other emergency events that we put on.

Yeah, thanks, Ingrid.

And one of the things I want to mention, you know, we've had a number of people who graduated the course, and they say, you know, we ask why did you want to become a cert volunteer?

And a really great response that we get is well, I want to know what to do so I can help my family.

I can help my friends, I can support my community.

So, you know, we have almost a hundred cert volunteers, but all of those individuals are force multipliers.

They're out in the community and they're sharing the information and the skills and the knowledge that they have.

So that's really one of the great aspects of this community program that Ingrid runs.

Um, in addition to the CERT, you know, we're supporting residents and visitors where they are as well.

We have a number of different interactive preparedness sessions.

We're gonna go through and talk a little bit about those.

And then, as you probably mentioned, as we've had a somewhat active spring and summer so far, uh, we also manage the safety and preparedness messaging.

Um, so making sure that we're providing awareness to all of our residents and visitors just on things that are happening uh within the city.

So some of those things that we mentioned, you know, we've had numerous emergency preparedness nights.

We had one in January uh partnering with the Grand Rapids Griffins, and then we had one in March partnering uh with our Grand Rapids volleyball team as well.

So excited to get out there handing out um information, uh supplies, uh emergency preparedness backpacks.

Uh, we also meet the community members um in different areas.

So in the top right, you know, we give a presentation to Trinity United Methodist Church.

It was at basically at an aging workshop, right?

So we're trying to engage uh with our community groups.

I will say you we rarely say no to any of these requests, um, only if there's a scheduling uh conflict or an emergency happening, but we're always willing to say yes and meet people out there.

So in the bottom center picture, you can see we have story time in the park, that's in Garfield Park.

In the lower right, uh, we give a quick presentation for a clean air day that's actually at the new MLK community center facility, beautiful facility.

So it was great to see individuals out there as well and just kind of participate in those.

So always trying to get out, share information.

You can see our picture from the tabling event that we do, some of the typical information that we provide, some about cert, and then also just about general emergency preparedness.

And then talking about emergency alerts, you know, we have almost 16,000 total registrations for our emergency alert system.

It's an optional enrollment system that people can sign up for, and we can push out emergency alerts, whether it's for severe weather or any other incident that might happen uh within the city.

Um, just since January 1st, when we've really leaned into these emergency preparedness sites and trying to get people enrolled, we've had over 1,500 registrations, which is pretty impressive.

Um, so we're always um out there trying to kind of grow our numbers and just help people realize that being aware is one of the first steps that people can take uh toward preparing for an emergency.

We've also done a number of outreach campaigns.

We're always posting on social media.

I shouldn't say we because I really don't understand it.

Um, Ingrid is our social media guru for our office.

Uh producing videos, we uh communicate and we collaborate with our communications team on those continuing bus ads that you'll see on the rapid.

So really just trying to have a wide um area where we are impacting individuals and where we're out there, you know, letting people know that registering for alerts is pretty simple to do.

We've also gone through a little transition.

We've for our alert and warning system, we've actually transitioned over to Everbridge.

So that just allows users who sign up for this to have a little bit more customation, customization and um, I guess uh applicability for what they can sign up for, right?

So they can pick which alerts they want to receive, they can pick when they want to receive them.

Um, so it's just allows us to kind of better message the folks in uh our residents and our visitors who are in the city.

So here's some examples of the things we put out.

Um we provide reminders for outdoor warning sirens, obviously with the extreme heat we've had this summer, we always put those out as well.

We've had some flooding events in the spring, so making sure we provide that information.

And then also we're connecting individuals with external resources.

You know, we work really closely with 211 and the Red Cross, so making sure that we're directing people to those resources in the event that they need them.

And as we kind of look back at what we did, we want to you know focus on where we're going in the future, and we're always trying to align with the city strategic plan, right?

There are a couple of the values that we list there, really, you know, focusing on equity.

Really, you know, focusing on equity.

I think the Spanish cert level one course is a great example of that, something that hadn't been provided before, partnering with a local church, you know, providing it entirely in Spanish.

I think just helps us have more individuals in the city who are resilient and ready and prepared.

We also look at our the different safe community objectives.

You know, what we're doing aligns with three of them, right?

Making sure we're getting people enrolled in our emergency alert system and continuing our OEM engagements and then also continuing to promote our cert program, both level one and level two.

Uh kind of continuing to promote different ways to register for our emergency alerts, continuing to meet the community where they are, and then just our social media campaign, right?

We have a couple posts every week, and we typically try to tailor those to what is happening um either weather wise or just within the community.

So really excited about what we've done so far and happy to answer any questions that anybody might have.

Thanks.

Um couple things quickly.

One, uh, an idea.

Um I talked with another city and they have a voluntary registration program for people who say, please contact me if there's an emergency because I might need help.

So it's one thing to tell to have a you know, hey, to get on a warning system that says this is some thunderstorm coming, but it's not saying, do you need help?

Um and so they have hundreds of people, particularly people with disabilities on that list, uh, because you know, if there's a power outage and they can't get groceries or they the elevator stops working on their building because of power outage, and they need like so they they can it's all voluntarily driven, but people in the community can sign up.

If you've already got the cert volunteers, so you've got a a group of community-minded people who have had some training on this, but if you could start building not just a uh uh an alert model, but a these people want to be checked in on a check-in on these people like, hey, how are you doing?

Uh I know you're 85, that the power just went out.

Uh, do we have a heat problem in your apartment?

Do we need to get you somewhere?

Like someone who can be asking those questions.

And I know actually East Hills, I think basically sort of did a quasi-prototype of the sun snow shoveling.

They just found people in their neighborhood who needed their sidewalk shoveled.

So that's the first thing I'd love to see that developed.

I don't think I think it's totally doable, and it would be it would sort of shift the paradigm on this.

Second thing is um kind of, I mean, like it's great that we got this presentation and it's timely, but nothing in here about smoke.

Um, so the first time we had a smoke emergency, I remember going outside and thinking, huh, it's foggy, and then thinking, huh?

I wonder who's barbecuing, and then realizing, oh, it's the entire state is barbecuing.

Um so this last uh and when you have it happen once, you're like, that's never happened in my life.

Well, then a couple years later it happens again and it's worse.

You're like, all right, if this is the new normal, this probably isn't gonna be the last forest fire in northern Canada that's gonna impact Grand Rapids.

You know, I spent the last four days looking at all these studies and like, oh, today in Grand Appas, it's like everybody's smoking a pack of cigarettes.

Well, um it's I mean, there's layers to this, right?

First of all, kids are way, way more vulnerable.

So my son was freaking out about my grandkids.

Um so figuring out how we can actually get messaging out on keep your kids inside.

Um but also there are people who don't have an inside, people who are leaving who are you know have to leave a shelter.

And so actually, I mean, I've had people asking me, what are we doing for people who can't afford the two dollars for an N95?

Um I had an N95.

I wrote it yesterday when I mean I used it outside yesterday, but if you can't afford them, I think we really this is the new frontier, and we may just may as well admit like let's learn from this one and start building some real.

I mean, I think actually a smoke re a smoke thing affects me a whole lot more than uh potential flooding, because I live in Heritage Hill.

It's got the word hill in it.

Um, you know, I'm not gonna get major floods.

But I am an asthmatic and like I don't want to live in a world where we don't have, I know I start wondering like, do we have HEPA filters on all the all the stuff in this building?

Um so I think there's a a lot.

We better we better really really start thinking how do we let people know where masks are available, how do we get warnings out to people?

But then things like okay, what if you're a single mom and you got kids at home and you gotta go grocery shopping, you don't take your kids out in that smoke.

Um so do we have like there's there's a whole lot to talk about here, and I'm not I'm I just think that this is maybe the biggest thing in in that's affected my life in emergencies, and it's not even on our list right now.

It it is uh it is important and and and um I did like uh to your point, a lot of people have been expressing some of the public health concerns over the past week.

It it is uh it is important and and and um I did like uh to your point a lot of people have been expressing some of the public health concerns over the past week and uh if back on slide four I do believe we did a highlight air quality maybe not going into the depth of explanation of what we did but I this past week we had a lot of conversations we activated our emergency management operations center was closely working with EPA and uh w what what I do think um looking forward to having some follow-up discussions with the county health department on more countywide um response to something that affects us all statewide I mean it's the county and the state are are the are the most informed about these matters um but I do think that the messaging we were already prepared to talk about extreme heat particularly for those vulnerable uh populations and uh what immediately occurred was those who have to stay outside not only those who have homes and that's a transit but those who have nowhere to go and I think we can get better as a community in um now thinking about the circumstances right well it's not just a one time episode it is uh it is a concern I think we're gonna have to deal with in the future yeah I think that's a great comment and you know like you said this is something that was unprecedented you know just working with our our colleagues over at the National Weather Service and at Eagle with the state you know our previous record for you know air quality was around 340 or 350 and we hit I think 616 so this is something that we hadn't really seen before and so one of the things that I will speak you know to what the city manager said we were already in communications with commun with the communications department we had posts ready to go we adapted those really quickly to focus on air quality um one of the things is you know we had two incidents happening at the same time and this is what we expressed when we were asked to do some interviews as well we had an extreme heat event and an air quality event and I think people were focused on the air quality but the extreme heat was still present.

So providing information on like those cooling centers that we have can provide support for both of those but I mean you hit the nail on the head this is something that is going to be incorporated into our plans moving forward because it is likely to be more frequent um and I have the slide up you know participating at in the clear the air air quality awareness event over at MLK community center is something um that kind of goes right along with what you're saying I do think it's important for us to look at in the future what resources are we providing is this something where we would have N95 masks to provide for certain vulnerable populations or as certain locations that is something that maybe needs a little bit more planning you know uh because this is gonna happen again we just don't know when so I I think that is something that we should look into.

Right.

I mean I think one of the things if if even if we could just say to our to our constituents hey every fire station has N95 masks available for the public.

Well everybody knows where their local fire station is um and if you can get them on Amazon great I just ordered another hundred myself but if you don't have you know if you can't afford to buy a hundred of them on it on Amazon then knowing oh my gosh I don't have any in the house like I gave away my last hundred to the health department and then because I didn't think we're gonna have health uh any more need for an 95 after COVID and you know so all of a sudden here we are again needing N95.

So uh basically the uh as if we can all know like all right wherever else you can go you can go to a fire station that would for example I'm not committing you city manager but like that would be you know the nice thing about fire stations is they're full of nice firefighters um and people know where they are everybody loves the firefighters I could answer any other other questions or any other thoughts that people had I think Commissioner thank you uh great to meet you both in person thank you for your work um amazing reach amazing work um I I'm very interested in joining one of these workshops because I don't feel ready when something happens um but I've uh I've just just zoning in um or um and echoing the points around um the emergency alerts uh I actually signed up for that when I became a a commissioner and it's been such a great resource um and so you know we have two hundred thousand residents in the city a million in our metro area and sixteen thousand in the the text uh sign up so uh we'll love to get that number up and I think there's some really creative ways that that we might be able to do that um and uh just want to echo the mayor's sentiment around alerts but also uh especially because you mentioned this new uh Everbridge suite you know if there's an alert around um extreme heat do you need resources why or and yes all right here's here's the link to the list I think there's some really cool things to move from alert to um um to kind of more informational kind of actionable things um as we move forward so just kudos for the work thank you um I just want to also do a plug for um and again thinking cor collaboratively about what organizations are doing complimentary work I think about friends of Grand Rapids Parks and their focus on growing our tree canopy um and taking care of our trees and so um again thinking creatively we might be able to connect folks uh to their annual planting as well so folks can get more trees in their neighborhood um connected to concerns about heat um as well and air quality so just kudos thank you um oh and then there's one other thing I wanted to mention um you know as the office the office of emergency management you know part of your work obviously is how you respond and how you recover from emergencies and so we've been talking here about the

I'm thinking about friends of Grand Rapids Parks and their focus on growing our tree canopy and taking care of our trees, and so um again, thinking creatively, we might be able to connect folks uh to their annual planting as well, so folks can get more trees in their neighborhood connected to concerns about heat um as well and air quality.

So just kudos, thank you.

Um, and then there's one other thing I wanted to mention.

Um, you know, as the office office of emergency management, you know, part of your work obviously is how you respond and how you recover from emergencies.

And so we've been talking here about the uh um mental, emotional, psychological recovery that comes after uh these events.

I mean, I know you both are well versed that after an extreme event, whether tornado flooding, like there is some psychological distress that can really stay with residents, um, whether it's environmental weather or even kind of man-made, you know, events like community violence.

And so uh we'll like to see us begin to move in that direction of a really holistic approach to emergency response and recovery that includes not just the physical environment, but uh the care of the people to make sure they have the resources um to move forward um and recover.

And there's some really interesting resources like uh psychological first aid and things like that that might be able to um complement something like a cert program with volunteers.

But we've been talking about that.

We put some money aside uh in this budget process, and so um hopefully you all are uh cued into that conversation and how we might implement that.

Yeah, we'd be happy to lean into that.

And I it it's really a great point that you bring up, you know, part of the cert programming is the psychology of disasters.

That's one of the things we talk about in our level two course.

And so acknowledging that it's not just the physical structural damage, there's a huge emotional toll left on you know disaster survivors, and so we definitely leaning into it, and I love the idea of saying, okay, now what you have the information, we have you know the guidance, right?

The awareness.

So, what are the resources that we're bringing to bear?

And I think one of the things that you know eventually as we move down the road, things like community research resource hubs would be great, or resilience hubs, right?

Having those with you know, resources and you know, kind of uh support that we could provide in those different locations.

Obviously, you need to see what that looks like.

Um, but those are just kind of things that are kind of down the S path that you're for you've been here about not even a year, a year.

So yeah, well, good, thank you.

He's doing a great job.

It's uh especially has been recovery um previously.

But I just wanted to remind the commission as Commissioner Purdue said, we talked about these trauma informed resources, and it expands more than one incident, more than one department.

And so now that we have more certainty around the state funding, we're starting to roll that out along with the community engaged process for some of those resources, and so hopefully we will be able to come back and for and with an update uh in a month or so.

I just want to give you the opportunity since you have the moment.

What is the website?

How do you sign up for these alerts?

Do your little promo.

Little promo, all right.

Well, let me put my promo hat.

Um do you want to know more about what's happening in the city of Grant?

You know, sorry, I didn't know if you wanted the voice or not.

But uh on our uh on the Office of Emergency Management website, uh, we have uh where you can sign up and register for emergency.

I know Wayne loved that one.

You can sign up and register for emergency alerts.

You can also text Grand Rapids to 888-777.

It'll prompt you to create your profile in the Everbridge suite.

So really appreciate it.

We have QR codes and little kind of quarter sheet cards that we hand out with magnets.

People can put on their refrigerators at all of our different engagement events.

So really just having multiple ways for people to sign up.

Great.

Thanks.

Thanks for the presentation.

All right, on to closed session.

We're adjourned.