Midland City Council Regular Meeting – January 26, 2026

The Midland City Council met at 7 p.m. on 2026-01-26 in council chambers. All five council members were present, and no conflicts of interest were declared. The consent agenda passed 5-0 without any requests to remove items. A scheduled presentation from Trune Golf was postponed because of weather and rescheduled for the next council meeting. Public hearings were held for street renaming, two CDBG disaster recovery actions, two industrial facilities tax exemption requests, the Plymouth Pool starting-block purchase, and recreation fees.

Consent Calendar

• Adopted 5-0 by one motion; no council member or member of the public requested removal of any starred item.

Public Comments & Testimony

• General public comment periods had no speakers.
• No public comments were offered at the street-renaming, CDBG-DR budget/contract, stormwater planning, or Plymouth Pool hearings.
• At the APTAR IFT hearing, Tony Stomas of the Midland Business Alliance voiced support for the exemption. APTAR operations director Nick Richard described the Midland facility’s need for added manufacturing space.
• At the Rankin & Associates/Zeris IFT hearing, Tony Stomas again voiced support, and John Tolfa of Saran Performance Fluids/Rankin & Associates described the expansion and said the applicant was committed to Midland, acknowledging that the late filing was his fault.

Street Renaming – South Midland

• Staff presented the Chapter 22 street-name change process. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended consolidating street names south of the rivers to improve wayfinding to destinations such as Poseyville Preserve and the Chippewa Nature Center and to simplify emergency response.
• The approved change renames the Whitman Drive/Atwell Street/St. Charles Street corridor east of the existing Pine River Road as Pine River Road, and renames the St. Charles Street segment north of Whitman Drive as Benson Street. The short Atwell Street segment serving one home remains Atwell Street.
• Only three homes remain in the affected area, none with a required address change. Sign costs were estimated at $640. The resolution passed 5-0.

CDBG-DR Budget and Contract Awards

• A $5.5 million HUD CDBG disaster recovery allocation from the 2020 dam failure and flooding must be spent by September 2026. After the Riverside Place flood-resilience project finished at $382,146 against $1 million set aside, about $617,000 was reallocated.
• Following Housing Commission priorities, $565,000 was added to Washington Woods senior-living improvements and the balance was directed to the Habitat for Humanity Home Repair Program. The allocation met the HUD requirement that at least 70% of the funds benefit low/moderate-income persons.
• The council also awarded a $717,911 contract to First Contracting LLC of Ovid, Michigan, for the Washington Woods East window and patio door replacement project, including asbestos abatement, with up to $20,000 in approved change orders. Both resolutions passed 5-0 after a 30-day public comment period with no comments.
• In a separate state MEDC CDBG-DR planning grant action, the city recognized the full $300,000 award for two planning projects: updating the stormwater management ordinance (Chapter 29, adopted 1985 and last revised in 2001) and identifying/prioritizing future footing-drain disconnection areas. A $56,400 contract with Fishback of Saginaw for the ordinance assessment was authorized. Both resolutions passed 5-0; the public hearing had no comments.

APTAR Group Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption

• Staff presented APTAR Group’s IFT request in the Eagle Ridge Research Park No. 1 Industrial Development District, established May 20, 2002. APTAR proposes an 8,600-square-foot addition to its 34,900-square-foot manufacturing, office, and lab facility at 2202 Ridgewood Drive, with $1.2 million in improvement costs, retention of 27 current full-time jobs, and creation of nine full-time jobs within two years.
• The requested 12-year exemption term was estimated to create about $141,500 in benefit to the company and about $41,756 in city tax revenue not received over 12 years. The State Tax Commission would have final approval.
• Council discussion noted effects on other taxing entities and the city budget. The motion to approve the 12-year exemption passed 5-0.

Rankin & Associates/Zeris Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption

• A second IFT request was considered for Rankin & Associates LLC, identified in the transcript as Zeris/Zaris, in the Eastwick Industrial Park Industrial Development District, established December 18, 1989. The project is a 14,800-square-foot addition at 2825 Shuty Road with $1.7 million in improvement costs, stated retention of 32 jobs, and creation of 10 jobs.
• Construction began in October 2025, which was within the state’s six-month filing window but after the city policy’s requirement that the application be submitted before construction. Council consensus was to waive that policy for this application.
• Public testimony included support from the Midland Business Alliance and applicant statements that current employment is 38, with 10 new jobs originally pledged in the earlier IFT and 8–10 additional expected from this phase. This created uncertainty about the job numbers in the application.
• The city attorney recommended denying the current application so the applicant could reapply with corrected information through the full notice and public hearing process, estimated at about six weeks. The motion to approve the 12-year exemption did not pass, so the application was denied.

Plymouth Pool Starting Blocks

• Staff said new starting blocks were not included in the prior pool renovation and that existing blocks are incompatible with the new pool deck. The Midland Dolphins swim club, which uses Plymouth Pool for about 25 hours per week over 10 weeks with roughly 300 children, offered to contribute.
• Baruzzini Construction Company’s bid of $49,639 was accepted. The Dolphins Swim Club contribution was $28,115, and the city’s remaining Plymouth Pool renovation funds provided $21,524. The budget amendment and contract resolutions passed 5-0 after a public hearing with no comments.

Recreation Fee Ordinances

• The council gave second reading and adopted the Parks Commission’s recreation fee changes. Changes include moving youth and adult softball fees to the current softball rental rate, raising beach volleyball team fees to $80/$160/$230 for two-, four-, and six-person teams, raising spring league baseball fees from $50 to $55 and fall league fees from $25 to $30, increasing Pooch at the Pool fees to $15 per dog plus $5 for each additional dog, and adding a $200 per-event fee for for-profit events using park spaces. Scholarships remain available. The ordinance passed 5-0 and took effect the next day.

New Business and Closed Session

• Council discussed the IFT program and asked staff to review the city’s IFT policy against state law, consider options such as shorter terms or job-creation deadlines, review best practices from other municipalities, and provide annual compliance summaries to council.
• The council then voted to enter closed session under the Open Meetings Act exception for attorney-client privileged communication. No action or resolution was taken in closed session.

Key Outcomes

• Consent agenda adopted 5-0.
• Street renaming resolution adopted 5-0.
• CDBG-DR budget amendment and First Contracting LLC contract adopted 5-0.
• CDBG-DR stormwater budget amendment and Fishback contract adopted 5-0.
• APTAR 12-year IFT exemption approved 5-0.
• Rankin & Associates/Zeris IFT motion failed; application denied and expected to be resubmitted through a new process.
• Plymouth Pool starting-block budget and contract adopted 5-0.
• Recreation fee ordinance adopted 5-0.
• Council entered closed session for attorney-client privileged communication.