OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Midland City Council Meeting - October 30, 2025

City Council — Thursday, October 30, 2025
BodyMidland, Michigan
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, October 30, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 30:48

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

The following presentation of the Midland City Council will begin in a moment.

0:05

The Midland City Council is the city's legislative body that sets policies, approves budgets, determines tax rates, and adopts ordinances and resolutions to govern the city.

0:15

It is made up of five elected officials that represent the wards in which they reside.

0:20

And councilmen are elected to two year terms.

0:23

The mayor is elected from among the council members by vote of the city council.

0:27

City council meetings are held at 7 p.m.

0:29

two Mondays per month in council chambers at City Hall.

0:33

This presentation is provided by the MCTV Network, a service of the City of Midland.

0:38

Replays of this meeting can be found on MGTV Channel 188 on Charter Spectrum through Channel 99 on ATTUverse or on demand at WWW.city of MidlandMI.gov.

0:50

Select meetings are available on MC TV Network's Government Affairs Podcast Channel.

1:00

Good evening and welcome to our November 10th, 2025 meeting of City Council.

1:05

Please stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:09

I Pledge Allegiance.

1:16

One nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

1:28

Honorable Mayor Donker.

1:29

Here, Councilman Solder.

1:31

Here.

1:31

Councilman Wazbinski.

1:32

Here.

1:33

Councilman Brown Wilhelm.

1:34

Here.

1:35

Councilman Passick.

1:38

Thank you.

1:39

Does anyone in council have a conflict of interest with anything on this evening's agenda?

1:43

No, Mayor Mayor.

1:44

Okay.

1:45

And we'll move on to the consent agenda.

1:47

All resolutions marked with an asterisk are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion.

1:52

There'll be no separate consideration of these items unless a council member or citizen so request during the discussion stage of the motion to adopt the consent agenda is indicated.

2:01

If there's even a single request, the item will be removed from the consent agenda without further motion and considered in its listed sequence and regular fashion.

2:09

Can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

2:11

So move second.

2:12

Okay, any discussion on this?

2:14

Anyone want to item remove?

2:16

See none.

2:16

Anyone from the public want an item removed from the consent agenda?

2:20

Right.

2:21

Seeing none, then all in favor, please say aye.

2:24

Opposed.

2:26

All right.

2:26

That passes 4-0.

2:29

All right, that takes us down now to item number three.

2:31

And this evening, we're always very excited when we have the committee on infrastructure to give us an update.

2:37

And so they're here to tell us what's new, and I'll turn it over to them or ask Mr.

2:42

Stomas are you presenting?

2:44

All right, great.

2:46

Tony Stomas is with the MDA, and we're very pleased, you know, as always to have you all here.

2:50

Thank you, Madam Mayor, uh, City Council members, uh, uh the city team.

2:54

I'm always always thrilled to be here with you, and uh really appreciate an opportunity to just take a few moments and uh provide an update on our advisory committee and infrastructure.

3:03

You know, it's uh hard to believe that it's uh since night 2021 that we've been working on this, and as you all know, the goal is to reduce the severity, uh, the frequency of flooding to improve resiliency.

3:14

There's no magic key, but we want to make sure that we're doing that to help our city, our community, our region.

3:20

Um, and and first just have to start out with thanks to all of you.

3:24

Um, this is really not possible without our partnership with the city, uh, with the county, our citizens, community leaders, local, state, and federal leader, legislators on a bipartisan basis, really.

3:35

They have worked with us uh across the spectrum.

3:38

Um, business and technical experts.

3:40

Um, there's a level of detail on some of these things that we really need people who uh live in this space and they do an amazing job, and certainly local donors.

3:48

That's uh helped us support uh many of our efforts and uh our initiatives and um I think I got a slide here.

3:56

So our thanks.

3:58

Um return on investment, and we want to give you an update update on that.

4:02

To date, the MBA advisory committee on infrastructure has raised almost 1.9 million in seed money.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Flood Management█████████████████████████████████████████████48%
Zoning And Land Use█████████████████████22%
Procedural████████████████████21%
Technology and Innovation████████9%
Summary of Proceedings

Midland City Council Meeting - October 30, 2025

Note: The meeting transcript indicates the date as November 10, 2025, but the provided instructions specify the date as October 30, 2025. This discrepancy is noted here.

The Midland City Council held a regular meeting covering routine approvals, an infrastructure update from the MBA Advisory Committee, a public hearing on a homeland security grant, and the second reading adoption of the recodified code of ordinances. All votes were unanimous (4-0).

Consent Calendar

  • Approved the consent agenda (4-0) without any items removed or discussion.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were made on non-agenda items during the public comments portion.
  • No public comments were made during the public hearing for the homeland security grant.
  • No public comments were made on the recodification of ordinances.

Discussion Items

  • Infrastructure Advisory Committee Update (Agenda Item 3): Tony Stomas (MBA), JW Fisher, and Bill Shute presented an update. They reported that the committee has raised nearly $1.9 million in seed money, leveraging over $68 million in state and federal funding (a 37-to-1 return on investment). Short-term projects include $2 million for MyMichigan boiler plant, $5 million state appropriation, $1 million for a city pump station/detention basin, and $85,000 for floodplain reconnection. Mid-term projects are highlighted by $40 million in city projects ($25 million ARPA, $15 million MEDC). Long-term projects involve the Army Corps of Engineers general investigation (GI) study, with a 50% local cost share (the city designated $1.5 million). An additional $10 million was secured in the state budget for flood reduction. The speakers emphasized the three Rs: resourceful, relentless, and resolute. Council expressed appreciation for community engagement.
  • Public Hearing – Homeland Security Grant (Agenda Item 4): Laura Stolwell presented a grant from the Michigan State Police Homeland Security for $85,500 under the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP). Funds will be used for cybersecurity assessments, migration to a .gov domain, and EDR SIEM threat monitoring. A budget amendment was required with zero net effect on fund balance. Councilmember noted the importance of addressing cybersecurity. The grant was accepted, and the resolution passed 4-0.
  • Second Reading – Recodification of Code of Ordinances (Agenda Item 5): City Attorney Comaro explained that the current code was adopted in 1970, amended 10-20 times per year. The recodification process involved non-material changes (reorganization, fee indexing) and material changes (removing obsolete language, aligning with state law). The new code will have 58 chapters (previously 35) with reserved chapters for future regulation. Council held a workshop on October 9, first reading on October 27, and tonight’s second reading. The recodified code will take effect July 1, 2026. Council thanked staff for the extensive work. The resolution passed 4-0.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent agenda approved 4-0.
  • Homeland security grant (SLCGP) accepted and budget amended, 4-0.
  • Recodification of code of ordinances adopted on second reading, effective July 1, 2026, 4-0.
  • No new business was introduced.

All votes were recorded as 4-0, indicating one council member was absent.

Meeting Transcript

The following presentation of the Midland City Council will begin in a moment. The Midland City Council is the city's legislative body that sets policies, approves budgets, determines tax rates, and adopts ordinances and resolutions to govern the city. It is made up of five elected officials that represent the wards in which they reside. And councilmen are elected to two year terms. The mayor is elected from among the council members by vote of the city council. City council meetings are held at 7 p.m. two Mondays per month in council chambers at City Hall. This presentation is provided by the MCTV Network, a service of the City of Midland. Replays of this meeting can be found on MGTV Channel 188 on Charter Spectrum through Channel 99 on ATTUverse or on demand at WWW.city of MidlandMI.gov. Select meetings are available on MC TV Network's Government Affairs Podcast Channel. Good evening and welcome to our November 10th, 2025 meeting of City Council. Please stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. I Pledge Allegiance. One nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Honorable Mayor Donker. Here, Councilman Solder. Here. Councilman Wazbinski. Here. Councilman Brown Wilhelm. Here. Councilman Passick. Thank you. Does anyone in council have a conflict of interest with anything on this evening's agenda? No, Mayor Mayor. Okay. And we'll move on to the consent agenda. All resolutions marked with an asterisk are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion. There'll be no separate consideration of these items unless a council member or citizen so request during the discussion stage of the motion to adopt the consent agenda is indicated. If there's even a single request, the item will be removed from the consent agenda without further motion and considered in its listed sequence and regular fashion. Can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move second. Okay, any discussion on this? Anyone want to item remove? See none. Anyone from the public want an item removed from the consent agenda? Right. Seeing none, then all in favor, please say aye. Opposed. All right. That passes 4-0. All right, that takes us down now to item number three. And this evening, we're always very excited when we have the committee on infrastructure to give us an update. And so they're here to tell us what's new, and I'll turn it over to them or ask Mr. Stomas are you presenting? All right, great. Tony Stomas is with the MDA, and we're very pleased, you know, as always to have you all here. Thank you, Madam Mayor, uh, City Council members, uh, uh the city team. I'm always always thrilled to be here with you, and uh really appreciate an opportunity to just take a few moments and uh provide an update on our advisory committee and infrastructure. You know, it's uh hard to believe that it's uh since night 2021 that we've been working on this, and as you all know, the goal is to reduce the severity, uh, the frequency of flooding to improve resiliency.

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