welcome to our regularly scheduled meeting of the home to be counsel we're glad that you are either here in person or watching somewhere on the screen of some sort we did begin our meeting we call the roll up stairs we went into a closed session as part of the  council meeting the only thing we did was go into closed session and just i suppose since we have the cameras on if we could just reiterate the purposes of that closed session upstairs for the the record down here it will force me in the minutes but the motion that was made to go into closed session reference a review of two legal opinions for the city attorney and pending litigation involving the city of holland blue cross blue shield thank you mr city attorney  this point i'd ask you to kindly rise and join us in both of these  items please pray with me heavenly father we come before you as a humble people asking for your wisdom and guidance for all the issues that are set before us tonight maybe be patient courteous and respectful of each other our opinions as though they may differ from each other even those that are less fortunate the ill in the downtrodden we also ask please be with those that protect us the brave souls that put their lives on the line for us every day please be with all our city employees keep keeping them safe in their daily duties also be with the citizens of this home and community and lord we ask it's an extra prayer for a little rain to come our way to what the ground that you have given us in this beautiful city and the flowers that grow in the grass and the food that we eat we pray that's all in your name amen i p thank you mike there are copies of this evening's agenda located in the rack in the rear of the room if you are either watching this on a computer or a television screen you can also find copies of not only the agenda but the background information that council has reviewed in preparation for this evening's meeting at city of holland dot com go to the calendar page you can look to today's date and download everything that we've looked at in preparation for tonight if you happen to bring along a laptop or an i pad or something with you tonight we also have wireless in the room and you can do likewise if you need to password someone around here get that for you you'll note on the agenda that there are a variety of items that have an asterisk next to them these are items that are currently placed on our consent agenda and the plan is to handle all of the items together right now one motion one vote no matter where they show up on the agenda just because we think they are relatively routine might not mean you think that they're relatively routine and in fact you might be here to talk about one of them tonight so what we will do is have our clerk read for us tonight's concert agenda and then if anyone from the audience would care to remove an item you can step forward to the podium and let us know which one that will be or members of council can remove items as well before we get to that little process though let's turn to and to see what is currently on consent item five to approve the study session meeting minutes held june twenty seventh and close russian minutes held to a live in two thousand and twelve to excuse the absence of council member clump or item eleven eight to accept and file executed oaths of office item fourteen a one to approve the participation of the how important public work in the amount of five hundred sixty one thousand six hundred  sign contracts approved by the board of public works board of directors within budget i don't fourteen eighty three to approve the bill of sale and accept a grant of utility easement for the installation of a water main extension at seventy eight country club road subject approval less to by the city attorney i had in fourteen a four to approve a purchase order with the young persons and associates in the amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars for management consulting services to develop and implement a board of directors evaluation process item fourteen eighty five to accept the bid submitted by interstate power care service and solutions and approve a contract for a total amount of fifty five thousand nine hundred twenty seven dollars which includes a ten percent contingency amount to replace sixty station power batteries for the unit for at the young generating station item fourteen eighty six to approve a dark fiber lease agreement with mirah network to provide telecommunications services to the how an area i am fourteen four point one to authorize the middle of the federal assistance to firefighters grant for firefighting training equipment and fire station modifications item fourteen five point three to approve a thirty six month contract with comcast for internet services upgrade at a cost of four hundred forty six dollars an hour and eighty five cents per month item fourteen point four two accept the lowest bid submitted for a happier for the principal shopping district from canon business solutions in the amount of ten thousand two hundred twenty nine dollars and to pay this cost through the principal shopping district fun right that's currently what design concerns would anybody from the audience care to remove an i we have a very unique and swell to presentations one exceptionally unique one just you know unique for most communities and if you'll excuse me when i walk to a different microphone for a second tim would you mind stepping up here for a second and or a judge would you mind stepping up here as well the first is an award or a presentation that not too many committee communities receive and tim can tell us a bit about that i should first of all course i'll let you guys introduce yourself but it is the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting and we in the city have received this this certificate this recognition for many consecutive years now and again tim can tell us a bit more about what that record what the recognition recognizes but essentially it has to do with our budgeting and financial documents and the transparency with which we present that information and the disclosure with which we give out that sorts of that sort of information the reason i asked him up here of course is because he is the head of that particular department and laura is up here for a two fold purpose and at the moment she's here because though it takes a department to put a financial report together it really falls in large measure in laura's lap and she has been doing this excellent work for a good good number of years and we want to make sure that she receives the accolades that that she is doing this profit organization that's been structured to assist in the training the development of finance professionals and to make special words like this to help set apart certain level of competence in financial reports and as you also alluded to perhaps is the fact we've also won the distinguished budget award for a number of years the work in accomplishing this is largely due to laura's efforts in this we've won this award since one nine hundred ninety two that's a of years of this and it's something we've taken for granted i think and certainly laura is the person that is largely responsible for doing that i want to just acknowledge as other members of the finance team here tonight as well and they should also well that perhaps is routine for us though it would not be for many communities we have a very unique and bittersweet in many ways presentation to make next and that is to this person we've been talking about a bit more a judge laura is she found the nerve somehow to retire at the end of the month we're not quite sure how that happened but we're holding you responsible for that but let me just read some of the the words from this proclamation which is signed by the gentleman to my left who looks good to be back in city hall and well for a long time retired recently retired city manager brian cotton our current city manager and myself and it says as follows whereas laura judge has served the citizens and staff of the city of holland during a thirty three year career which will end with her retirement on august one thousand and twelve and where as laura judge began her service in the city with the holland board of public works on september fourth one nine hundred seventy nine and subsequently joined the city finance office on july sixth one thousand nine hundred one serving first as an account clerk then as an accountant and since july one thousand nine hundred eighty six holding the position of assistant finance director and whereas city elected officials and staff have benefited from laura judge's extensive knowledge attention to detail and tireless advice and willingness to answer questions regarding any and all financial matters pertaining to the various city departments and operations and whereas laura judge has played a pivotal role in the preparation and completion of the annual city of holland budget for which the city has received the distinguished budget award from the government finance officers association since one thousand or so i'm sorry since two thousand and three two thousand and four  and whereas laura judge has participated in and coordinated the preparation of the city's annual independent audit and comprehensive annual financial report which we were just discussing for which the city has been awarded the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the government finance officers association each year since the ninety one ninety two fiscal year and whereas laura judge has directed the efforts on behalf of the city with regard to financial software conversions on three separate occasions now therefore be it resolved that the city council on the city of holland recognizes the services of laura judge to the city and to our community over the past thirty three years and be it further resolved that the city council extends heartfelt gratitude to laura judge for her diligent and unwavering commitment to a high standard of financial excellence and customer service on behalf of the city of holland signed this eighteenth day of july twenty eighth well and i'll add a maybe not even pencil if they don't have one and where as we wish you all the best in your retirement and let me just personally express tremendous appreciate for you thank you  and i'm sure he would so i quite frankly did not anticipate coming in from the city council after i retired but one day i received an email from greg and he said you won't believe who is retiring and believer that in the recommendations i made to the city council so many of them have financial implications that we gave the council we tried to given the very best information that we could and we may not always made the right decision but i can assure you that it was not because we didn't have the right financial information whether it was historical whether it was about our current situation or whether it's projecting our financial situation into the future and  know this lady probably almost as well as her husband does i have spent countless hours with laura and i know her well enough that she's hating every minute standing up here is she does not like to be recognized  but i will tell you that i've been in this profession for well no longer but forty years and i was extremely fortunate to work with a lot of outstanding employees  but i will just tell you right now she would be right up at the top at the top and she's extremely dedicated no one works longer and harder than more and on top of that she's extremely smart a whole lot smarter than than i am and i hope mayor and city council that you know you have appreciated what all he's done to tell you a quick story i when  larry sandy left as finance director how many years ago six years ago i offered the finance directors top two more and laura said no and i i was crushed i might have been mean or whatever but that's just not morris she doesn't like really to be up front and center but i think tim will be the first one to tell you that she's the backbone for a very fine finance department and i hope u s citizens appreciate what people like laura has done for this communities it's it's outstanding so or i wish you the absolute best i think it's your daughters and you have quite the mother i'll just tell you i apologize for all the time that we took her away from you but one of the best people i'm unable to top that speech soren thank you well well today i just got a few words get in mind i'm not going to spend a lot of time with this the first word that came to mind was competent laura's is as competent as any employee have ever worked with  secondly i came up with a list of cs she's very co operative she works with all folks from old crossed all the different departments she's caring is a very kind and loving person as is gentle in spirit she's creative has done some amazing things many financial types aren't very creative lors just done some wonderful and amazing things with her skills she's cheerful she's pleasant to be around she is a champion for integrity and for accuracy she just fights for that she's careful always make sure that things are done exactly right and will find the smallest errors or her corrections that should be corrected fixes them for others and their last report here's a commandeering a lawyer will commandeer a project and take it through to conclusion the fact that she won through not one not two but three financial software conversions is something that is just intimidating to any finance person has ever gone through that exercise and i appreciate it laura and i'm going to miss you dearly and the c word for me is crying thank you one wonderful organization thank you all very much you know it's a this you almost take we have at least taken it for granted that when we have to make decisions at least the numbers are right so we know how to make sure we know that the accurate consequences of our financial decisions as one stories from across the state and across the country the things that we've taken for granted frankly are things you simply can't take for granted in a great many places and that's due to a fantastic department but you know in large measure due to laura's continuity and confidence and all the c words that tim mentioned and frankly she just works really really hard so we will definitely miss her and wish her well ok that takes us then to item eight which is a special order of the day a public hearing for two items first the a ventura manufacturing at twelve sixty one waverly road greg servant tour of manufacturing manufacture semi automated assembler motor vehicle and office furniture parts they have submitted a tax abatement new jobs as a result of this project so the recommendation staff is reviewed just no objections recommending that you approve this tax abatement certificate for a twelve year period from the state tax commission approval date right othe questions for staff seeing none this requires a public hearing and this is the time and place for it if you are here to speak to this item we would ask you to step forward of the podium state your name and residential address for the record and i will declare the public hearing open at this point i'll be your personal life adventure on this one day one please ok up facilities within shanghai all the again to support automotive and office furniture we've got over fifty thousand square feet of manufacturing space saw globally people full time in zealand we carry about ninety five full time individual also have a number of part time folks that in put on here but forty full timers down in mexico and then again our industries within the automotive industry make a lot of wire harnesses grab handles overhead consuls pretty much anything that you would see on modules those types of those types of products kind of a smattering and then i won't i won't go through it here within within this meeting but our vision values we are a christian or christian organization i have  believe in biblical principles and running organization that way treating our customers suppliers people that work for us and work with us treating them that way so i did invite you to take a look at your leisure but it's a good rea so the second page just a real quick detail of current customers that we work with a lot of them you recognize as being familiar from the area the big three office furniture guys in the area and then within the automotive industry johnson controls group so this is an early prototype that i have in front of you guys here the manufacturer the the part that we're looking to manufacture is actually what we call an a light engine its size it's an l e v based technology but it's different from what you currently see with  the what we've done is we've actually extruded that layer that goes on top of that dye and made a volume out of that and what that does that actually more evenly distributes that blue light and so you don't get some of the greening effect some of the  yeah like i said just a more even distribution of that light a lot of times with solutions you'll notice that there's actually a more green or more blue light that comes out of the bottom of the d n a gets it gets whiter near the top and so this actually tries it eliminates that condition because it's reflecting it back and forth through that through that loss for i guess what makes it that's part of what makes it special versus other one some of the other things that it does it's a more efficient conversion because we're actually running that blue light back and forth through this through this volume versus just letting it pass once through it actually emits more white light than a typical of the solution would and then it just one of the really cool things that we found is if you think of an  closely resembling like an incandescent light bulb that you would have within your holes and soul it opens up different options different limitations that aren't really the solutions have so you can see some of the some of the products at this conte we go into street lamps high be lighting those are some of the very easy targets for all the lighting solutions right now they have a high cost of replacement which i'm sure you guys actually know about replacing replacing street lamps maybe we should talk think and then incandescent light bulb replacements within your house you know because it does provide a better light pattern that is differentiated from currently these solutions if you've ever ever seen the really nice philips light bulbs they have a  but this is actually in comparison to what it actually will generate this is probably about fifty percent of what we'll actually see out of the whole life but i'll plug it in for you guys when i want to stay directly at it yeah at all so that's that's it right there and it's again this is only given off about fifty percent of what the total solution will be of eventually but still keep it on for one second and if folks want to turn around we've got to monitor what's going on on t v you can see how it sort of creates the glow on the screen as well so it's  two rolling out that we're targeting this will go into a full high be lighting module right now we are targeting customers over in asia for this product and the reason being the product has to go through a qualification certifications within the u s and european european governments and that takes time or we're actually about two weeks away from submit all of those parts for that long longevity testing on a couple different task called l m a t and that essentially leads to energy star certifications in order to get these products into those types of applications we need to be able to have those types of certificates so the time to market in the u s is a little bit this is more drawn out pending the results of those tests asia they i agree other questions thanks for being here tonight appreciate it the microphone remains open for anyone else who would care to address council on this particular application saying none will close the public hearing and the recommendation sale it was michigan would tell it that you granted the original tax abatement for back in two thousand and six so this is a transfer of that particular abatement to the new owners as the mayor mentioned michigan would fuels l l c you can see the value is less than what of course what you considered back in two thousand and six and they plan to add eight additional positions so we are recommending that you approve this tax of even transfer to the new company any questions for staff all right this too requires a public hearing and this is the time for it if you're here to address this particular item again name and address for the record please and microphone is open good evening  thirty five federal wyoming michigan i'm here on behalf of michigan would fuel's just to field any questions you might have about the tax abatements any questions for applicant saying not perfect great thank you very much if anyone else care to address this item seeing none i will close the public hearing and look for a motion or two to move by to through the point supported by de boer is there any dear dexter yes most impassive all right thank you thank you that takes us to item twelve which is communications from the audience this is the opportunity for members of the audience to address council on any topic that is not otherwise located on the  agenda if specifically you're interested in talking about the community energy plan and those issues will hold off on those to fourteen e file point two if anyone would care to address the council on something that's not on the agenda here's your chance to do so council rules of the same name ok we will close the microphone then and move to our first which is a fourteen or a first board report which is from fourteen  three point one right from the finance department sure what we're asking is that you approve or drop a resolution authorizing the prepayment of a one nine hundred ninety nine special susman bond this was for some sewer work down in the southern correction in your report we do have over three hundred thousand dollars in reserves that we used to pay off this plus we would take some money from the revolving cash fund not the centralized vehicle maintenance equipment fund but the revolving cash fun to make up the difference so the recommendation is you do adopt that resolution authorizing the people the prepayment of that nineteen ninety nine special assessment bond and the questions for step seeing not emotion please  point one some g the city managers office is pleased to report the following gifts to the city donations have been received on behalf of the parks recreation and transportation department we read it ok we have parks recreation transportation donations totaling fifty five dollars in support of repairs to the windmill this one carpenter fifty dollars an anonymous gift in the mouth of five dollars it's recommended that these any discussion all in favor please say i pose the same that passes fourteen a five point two the community energy plan resolution on energy efficiency and conservation strategy greg will you introduce this one and they will have some discussion i'm sure sure you know what it was just thinking that a staff we've been so caught up lately at least i have in what we can do to move this energy plan along and get the implementation together as i think about tonight what we're asking you to do this is really i think an exciting exciting evening from the standpoint in that you know we're asking for your authorization to begin moving forward with implementing the various elements of that plan evaluating them involving others and in moving forward and we have presented to you just a mechanism for doing that we have six action plans that we've discussed at the previous study session and it was last week  as our recommendation for moving forward they established leaders need one of those six areas so there's those you can hold accountable for for progress in those areas and they get us moving on addressing various elements that were recommended in the guard for study that was completed last fall and endorsed by the sustainability committee and you know there's been additional we've been waiting on additional information from the board of public works what they've been working on for a number of months and i think they're getting near ready to unveil that to the community so a lot of things are coming together i think this is a great opportunity for us as a community to make a difference in this community in this regard and so i think it is an exciting time and i and i hope that we have laid this out for you in a fashion that you feel it targets us focus us within a framework for actually moving forward with that i'd like dave koester the general manager of the b just to summarize us a little more detail for  you thank you greg and thank you to council as greg mentioned there are six plants six action plans that are identified in considered within the framework of this resolution very excited tonight as well to be able to start the ball rolling so to speak on implementation evaluation for these various goals within the community energy plan the action pages and essentially the associated task forces that would go along with those action pages are summarized in the packet and propose really the documents that are in close in the packet be seen as a framework for an approach to additional study implementation of the recommendations within the community argy plan and is greg mentioned in each of those action plans there is a lead entity step identified whether that's the how board public works or whether that's a city hall and moving forward in a lead fashion but certainly support from the other entity in all of those areas the idea behind this is that this is just a framework this is a concept document there's a lot more flesh that has to go on the bone for each of these  items and what we're proposing is that we would take these and start working on them and come back to board and city council in october to kind of present where we are on the progress program that would deal with home renovation to make homes more energy efficient we have this concept of existing citywide district heating system and so looking at using both waste heat from electric generation resources but also underutilized heat sources within the community that could be integrated into a solution for heating throughout the community we have a concept of an energy services  full service utility bundle being able to locate generation resources in such a way that we could provide more than just electric but also steam compressed air vacuum maybe other services inside industrial parks to really give a full service opportunity to industry here in the community we have a concept within this program of building energy labeling to try to promote  as the energy efficiency of buildings as part of the looking at the value of the home or value of the building commercial building you know using programs have been established in other areas  europe but also kind of building off from lead or energy star certifications on buildings here but coming up with a system inside our community where we might start with perhaps governmental buildings and and grow out from there  we also have the big topic is greg alluded to of energy generation it is a very important topic but it's not these others are not necessarily dependent upon that electric generation program but as you know and as the community knows there's been a lot of study on what is going to be the next resource for the holland border public works what are we going to do with existing resources at the holland border public works and we are completing a sustainable return on investment  osas we have targeting the week of august six for the first presentation of that information to the group that was involved in helping our consultant formulate the structure to the solution or the problem analysis on that and that was called a wrap panel we would also invite counsel and board to that to that session as well and then it will build off from that session into a series of presentations throughout the community that is not a decision making session that the city in the the council or the board or the community should not take that first public unveiling as being a time when decisions are being made we have a long process probably a good three weeks  of additional public presentations on that that we've identified even before we start getting to a consensus building exercise so we have a lot of data that's coming out at this point but we have a lot of work to do and in presenting it in actually getting through the evaluation that's there and that's what item number five is and then of course this also another important item not necessarily a building item or a program in terms of a specific outcome but more of a continual process of education and outreach on the elements of the community energy plan and on the issues of energy optimization and energy efficiency and so certainly there have been a number of groups inside the community has started to lead that effort and one thing that to mention about all of these programs is that we're looking at and i think the resolution talks to the fact that while these task forces would be led by either the b p w or the city that these are programs that are going to be involved and have a lot of community involvement public private partnerships and other interested parties within the community to help move this each of these programs forward and that's what's contemplated by these action plans tonight questions for staff at this point we're well on our way to our sustainability plan by turning down our air conditioning tonight just to warm in here so i hope you don't mind we we got rid of the coats for the evening rocko crazy and keep ties on but ya know got all right any other questions for staff then we would like you question ok all right i know there are folks in it should have a motion first of them an opportunity to address counsel at this time again name and residential address for the record in five minutes is the council rule greg ordinarily would say here but at least you are part of the thing on this so we'd turn to you thank you for the opportunity just want to make a few comments probably more from the perspective of the community energy advisory group that i've been a part of over the last two and a half to three years we have been particularly focused in building on what they've just said on the education and outreach opportunities within the c e p we've tried to share the plan summarize the plan to the public and have headed in the you've heard me say this to you before privately you know uniformly positive response to the ideas  the plan and to the action plans that you're contemplating in your resolution tonight we've met with hundreds of people in dozens of meetings neighborhood meetings other organizational meetings and you know it has been uniformly positive and enthusiastic so from those many people that have heard about the plan referred about your efforts to move it forward we just want you to know that there is great encouragement they want you to see this is a as a queue jumpers opportunity really to i would say further distinguish how and in the how to greater home community through these innovative energy efforts so thank you for the work at sus com sustainability committee within the b w within city staff in we are really looking forward to moving this forward as dave said we believe there are you know dozens maybe hundreds but certainly dozens of people that want to serve in these acts and teams and try to move the ball forward so thank you all for your effort i mean thank you greg any questions for greg since he was part of the drafting just as always when greg holcomb is involved in a project it's done well and with a lot of thought so thank you greg all right the microphone remains available for anyone who would like to very tired slash disabled united methodist thirty person have over twenty years of his friends and positive change i think what they've integrated others have done has been a very positive solution to a very fantastic problem that you have here i like what they've done i like good air i'm a ruptured air a survivor and for show survivor so like good air they clean air bypass i like the walk i like to play i like this plan because i think that prices for a bus a possible scene energy future and one more thing i'd like to say is that i think all the this in ten months it's a great plan it's a good plan you are elected leaders i urge you to move forward with this thank you i thank you ntation we ask that you include citizens on the energy task force and the steering committee as the plan is implemented week has opposed construction of any new coal power plants due to concerns about climate change which we've seen in evidence this summer concerns about air pollution and the health risks of coal which according to the american lung association hundred physicians for social responsibility these health plants we supported state clean renewable energy like solar and wind energy efficiency and conservation we were disappointed that the investment in the allegan wind farm did not continue and we do herds the d p w in the city to include wind energy is a source of power and increase renewable energy sources beyond the state's ten percent renewable requirement league looks forward to their continued public participation in meetings on the energy plan and inclusion of citizens on task forces and steering committees and this decision as you know will affect all of us far into the future and hollande does have the opportunity to become a leader and a model of energy efficiency conservation and clean renewable energy which will be good for the economy the environment and the public health and in closing i just would like  read a couple of comments one has the huge potential for local jobs that wind energy will supply companies like energetics already are involved in the wind business so i heard just to really consider that very strongly and then finally a quote from the union of concerned scientists whose state burning coal is burning chaos quote the cost of importing coal is a major drain on  the economies of many states that rely heavily on coal fired power but these states can reap economic and environmental benefits by reducing their use of imported coal michigan spends about one and a half billion a year on importing co as i'm sure you know and by instead investing in energy efficiency and local renewable energy sources so thank you for your hard work and your efforts to move forward and we can turn you to support any mean welcome if you think you know my name is susan harley i'm the michigan policy director for clean water action representing our several thousand clean water action members here in the holland area and i do have a petition here just a minute to the children that are calling on you to stand for clean energy but we had children with us this afternoon at a press conference and sometime you know park and due to the hour between supper and bad time we're having some stand ins for those for those youth but the message is still there we really need to take action for the next generation so i would submit the i'll have them keep holding one hundred give my remarks so basically we do see the community energy plan as providing a vision and a goal it's a guiding plan for a clean energy future but we can do more and in fact we'd like to see the city meet the goal that stated in the play on a ten metric ton per capita greenhouse gas footprint while we're getting through the plan is not quite there so we definitely know there's improvements that can be made we know that we need to do that we have seen record he in drought conditions which is proving that climate change is real and we do appreciate the work of the sustainability committee of the city council in the board is far is putting together the plan that will guide our work moving forward and we do want this vote tonight to be more than ceremonial we want this to be seen as beginning in the real work of implementation of the community energy plan that task force idea is good it's a way to began to put the road the rubber to the road and begin that implementation however as it's been set up these are creating silos of decision making and not really allowing in some generation a sound decisions that are key to the work of the other task forces to be made first such as just asians regarding generation but before we can make those decisions on electric generation we need to first have a real analysis of energy efficiency and how we can maximize those opportunities a focus on home retrofit and building labeling will not get us there we are missing the element of commercial projects today at our press conference we had a national expert on energy efficiency speak to that topic and i have a copy of his read in statement that i will pass so after i'm done here but the point is that there is a much more that can be done is far as with charting a forty year course for the city and in fact the plan itself reversed the energy efficiency savings outlined as merely modest but helen deserves better we need decreased bills we need increased jobs and we need to increase the value of our homes and our businesses so perhaps the best way to look at this would be a staged implementation task force where first we would have a task force that looks at the full picture of energy efficiency and how we can reduce our energy demand through that means then second move to the electric generation decision and that point them and all the risks are you know that h d r analysis is looking at some of that info but how up to date is that information for example are they looking at the cost of fracking regulations coming around natural gas extraction these are coming both at the federal air at the state level so how are those costs being accounted for you've got about thirty seconds left ok great well we believe that michigan holland can't afford to get this wrong we need a true vision of clean energy future and we look forward to working with you on the implementation of the community energy plan thank you and i thank you if you want to have submitted into the record evening monica halla see fifteen birch try and as a lifelong resident in new mom i believe holland's forty year community energy plan and ultimate generation decision is one of the most important  community can make something i've personally been following since two thousand and eight and it's something i believe it should be a true community decision and i'm very pleased and excited to see the city of holland is looking to implement this energy plan would cities around us like grand rapids aggressively pursuing renewables allen should join in and help lead west michigan toward a clean energy future we shouldn't be satisfied getting four percent of our generation from renewables while grand rapids is already at twenty two percent and looking to reach one hundred percent by two thousand and twenty clean renewable energy projects as well as energy efficiency initiatives are creating thousands of jobs across michigan generating millions of dollars in investment and securing a healthier brighter and more prosperous future for people of michigan well there are a lot of exciting elements in the how and the energy plan is still suggest a heavy reliance on fossil fuels and little emphasis on efficiency and renewables as a mom i'd like to see a cleaner healthier path for holland's future generations and as a whole and resident i'd like to see a plan that doesn't tie us to burning fossil fuels on our lake front for the next forty years the city has an opportunity to take the lead and to begin cleaning up our downtown waterfront by actively pursuing energy efficiency and conservation holland can reduce its generation needs and clean renewable alternatives can become a reality with the price of renewable continue to drop fossil fuels are actually on the rise and while natural gas is being touted as the next great fuel there are major concerns with this dangerous fracking practices finite resources unstable prices and health risks there's got to be a better way helen needs affordable reliable energy for our future and reliance on fossil fuels like coal or gas certainly raise substantially more questions than solutions rather than looking to the past for energy helen needs to pa the way with more jobs more savings and a stronger future by a vesting in clean and renewable energy we have a world class downtown in holland deserves a truly world class energy plan that can meet the needs of holland's residential and business communities while not burning fossil fuels on our late front officials see and renewables can get us there while i applaud council for moving forward on this complex issue i caution that we look accurately at demand listen to the community and not move forward too quickly on right then we have a motion on the floor and is there discussion on it plan and i believe it's been nearly two years since our first efforts at accomplishing that the sustainability committee brought to us last fall their recommendation we looked at it and it was december and accepted it as information at that point since then we've been waiting for additional information to augment that report first of all want to thank everyone who's been involved in getting us to this point getting us that community energy plan as we referred to it to staff and others involved in providing the information tonight in the resolution that's  us and we're at a point of taking steps forward which i frankly a times seemed questionable whether we would really be doing that and what i'm about to speak to may seem kind of trivial and maybe a foregone conclusion the fact that we're proposing to take certain steps by forming different focus groups to look at several of the proposals of the plan which are going to involve many many people from the community many many hours of discussion and discernment and recommendation i think as a mayor has indicated upstairs it is indication that as a leadership group we're prepared or preparing to move forward with a plan for holland's future  it may well be that it's just a matter of my desire for simple explanations and simple views on things i think is t results says to believe you can do it and you're halfway there i see a difference between adoption and implementation at this point as a leadership group we haven't s officially that we are adopting what we're referring to as a community plan we're looking at it we're taking steps to address issues in that we're looking at more information by inference one could say that yes we are we have adopted it we are doing it but we haven't really come out and said this is the vision that we as a leadership group after the city of holland in response too many concerns that citizens a prop forward as well as our own concern for the the welfare of our community in the short and the long term so what i'm asking for i guess is a slight change of wording in the resolution that we have a force that night but does put us in i guess on the record if you will saying that we that this is the vision we hold is right for hollow that this is the direction in which we believe as leaders of this community is the right direction for this unity to go forward not to say that you know as we go forward things might change we could implement different things we might drop things that's the very nature of the plan itself but what i would suggest and what i'm going to make a motion for right now is that the seventh paragraph resolution where it begins by saying now therefore is were there for a start after the whereas i would propose and move that that paragraph read as follows now therefore beer resolved that the holland city council exception adopts the community energy plan as a road map for future energy efficiency and conservation and it is its intent just so we don't have a gnashing of teeth and trying to define things down the road and my understanding you to say that you're proposing that we adopt  what was the b of the guard for study or are you talking something different no i lost my understanding is very flawed the committee energy plan laid out several options and you're speaking directly to energy production right now no i'm not i'm talking to the old energy program because this this draft proposal right off the bat says holland community energy efficiency and conservation implement a implementation strategy of which a small part semantics is the power production right one of six items that we're looking at yes that's what i mean by the small of understating your question correctly i'm not proposing that one energy production method over another is adopted at this point that all options remain open and i understand your question correctly i guess dave wh i'm i'm asking is as we had the discussion upstairs my concern about the potential myopic view that we may be placing on this not allowing the out of the box thinking i do and i'm sorry for my ignorance i'm not exactly understanding where you're coming from with your language let me attempt to address that because that's a very very very good point my understanding of the community and your energy plan as proposed is a strategy that puts holland in a place proximately forty years from now in a much better condition environmentally and  study used greenhouse gas emissions as a measurement of how well we progress toward that improvement there could have been a number of different measurement used to gauge that progress but they d decided to use that one because they're in their experience that measurement seems to be the most accurate way of judging whether or not a community is improving its its footprint so to speak so what i'm proposing by adopting this plan is that we are saying in principle that we as a community pledge and commit ourselves to going down the path of reducing our carbon footprint if you will to reducing the amount that we rely on energy by perhaps making our homes more efficient by making our community more economically  e if you will by maybe by using benchmarks on our buildings to tell people how energy efficient they are all of the different things that are mentioned in the plan are our steps to achieving the final end and that's really what i'm talking about i'm not focusing on whether or not we should burn coal or use wind or whatever i'm not focusing on whether you know we should rather invest in  insulating our homes why not focusing on one element or another element what i'm saying is that we have the courage enough to commit ourselves to a long range goal what we do to accomplish our long range goal you know is between now and forty years from now so you know i'm assuming a flexibility in the implementation of this plan that allows us to change course or if we can generate energy from birth from fermenting tulip bulbs or something you know farther down the line great let's do that i'm not focusing on a specific implementation method what i'm focusing on is a commitment to an end i don't know if that address is no it certainly definitely does and i guess i just have one of the question if i may the title in it of itself doesn't do that for you with we're supporting documentation just the sustainability committee has received a review the strategy majority vote recommended the strategy fulfill the request so on and so forth and the fact that we're taking this resolution right now and moving forward you still feel unfulfilled you know mike i'm from iowa if you're going to do it so you're going to be playing that we get pretty close to the question i have been and we kind of glanced on this last week in our perception or at least last time we discussed this the question i have and maybe i'm misunderstanding the amendment before us and so i'll see clarity here that the strategy doesn't fact bring the recommendation it recommends option and so if i'm understanding what you're putting for us you are sane i doubt that stress therefore as i view that that's adopting that recommendation if you will for me at least without all the data that i need to have confidence in the the yes or no i would throw behind that is that in fact what you're suggesting is that we adopted its entirety are you saying let's carve out the goal if you will of ten metric tonnes per capita and lay that thing out there and do we have the courage to do that i guess i'm i'm just seeking clarity because mike's question goes there but i thought i said you heard you say no that's not what you asked you're correct in that the recommendation does recommend option b but it's a recommendation and by at least in my mind i adopt the plan we are not locking ourselves into that option and i'm not necessarily implying that we should lock ourselves so i guess trying to answer your question no and then i guess i would just add my own thoughts on a comment you made as far as an augmentation to a recommendation has brought us as a council to consider a long range plan because as we saw on our horizon that we might have to make a decision about generally that's the way i understand it i may have even he regards when in fact it's that there are two important parts to a much larger process and that is that this council this community making a decision about that next step generation so  for what it's worth and obviously there's times where i'm stickler for the order of things and whatnot i don't necessarily think that's our all out was a process meant to validate of stated plainly and it's one of triple bottom line think two other things to consider and we haven't done that just yet and so likely no surprise i'm not necessarily in support of this amendment rather i would prefer to see us continue in what is right now what seems to be a slow process although it's a process that we have invested in as a group we've got all levels of resources engaged in that process community council b etc educational groups as well i think we're on our way if it's not happening at the speed that some of us might like but nonetheless i was comfortable with what was the presented before us and i and remain comfortable with that other comments on the david with great respect and in all seriousness you probably know that i won't support your amendment and we've stated reasons before and you know would just have to agree to disagree on this one my own my concern about the amendment is that it does a couple of things one it doesn't recognize that what we're talking about doing the efforts that are going to be underway and the efforts that are put forth in the in the draft resolution in the packet clearly indicate that those six items come out of the community energy plan and i don't know why we have any question as to whether or not we're actually living with this document the second thing is that i view the plan as kind of a guide book that sits along the next step of work to be done and i dare say if for those who are engaged in the process if not already your copy of the c e p t will soon be kind of tattered and marked up and have plenty of post it notes all over the place because it becomes the working document from which further and more detailed study is done and the plan the framework does talk about some things that you know that the big one in the room is the option b and i don't think we i mean if if if put before us right now would we say let's move forward an option b standing alone i don't think most if any of us would agree that that's a good idea so you know we're have to agree to disagree on this  and as far as speed on this overall process it's a little bit like goldilocks too hot too cold just right you know i mean some folks say we're moving too slowly on this heard tonight perhaps moving too fast on certain  things so i think you know even if what is proposed before us tonight is adopted it is a long term process for a good number of these things the district heating for a second that system  forward ultimately does not get designed financed structured get the necessary parties in place get optimized in a year let alone a few months so by the time any of the the major aspects of the six task forces really gain some serious serious traction some of our more major decisions related to generation i think will have been made one way or the other and then that will spill over into a bunch of other options or a bunch bunch of other facets of the plan so a final comments on the amendment on the hoekstra amendment right this is a run through one more time sure the amendment is to add the language that david read and david just perhaps if you wouldn't mind saying it one more time so we're questions i want to get multi a one time ok i get a lot of questions about of the six things we're talking about hitting residential  energy savings hard when a good eighty roughly eighty percent of the energy we use is is on the commercial side in the industrial side i'm just wondering just address that i'm sure there's a reason i want to hear another question i have is i so many people say to me why don't we just just don't invest you now even there's a question of i've always had  on the idea that natural gas seemed to make a lot of sense but as time evolves now there's a lot bigger push for just go right into solar wind and other renewables and i'm just wondering from your perspective and the research we've done is that really a viable option from your perspective and the third question i would have is i know that most people when this conversation comes up you guys know bill copeland what are we going to do and i know we don't know that yet and i know we don't have the metrics yet but i'm just wondering if in your best judgment you could let the community know in your mind and your well thought through process when might that when might we have a meeting where we push a button and say here's generation here's how it goes we got you get those three yeah i think so ok thank you well i'm glad that and sal yours is here tonight too because as as i was talking about things earlier i thought you know it i'd be remiss in not mentioning the the program at the b p w is doing an ans work and not just residential already but also our commercial industrial and in developing energy optimization programs that are incentives for customers to use energy more efficiently and we've had great response to that ok and we've been doing that now and those programs in its third full year of deployment  now we have a goal this year of what percent of our our load up to the one percent ring into a one percent annual savings in energy efficiency and can we continue to have great response from our commercial and industrial customers and you're right that's eighty percent eighty two percent of our revenue but even with that and the community plan talks about our energy opposition program it mentions good things about it talks about some suggestions in terms of enhancements to that and didn't identify that as one of the six here but i think i also indicated there's a blank page in here because there's going to be a lot of other things you know that come out of that as well but even with that i mean you look at  yesterday we've had this program underway now for three years we're within five megawatts of our all time peak energy demand yesterday and so there still is a demand out there that has to be met even with the aggressive efforts that we've done and you know there are things that we continue to try to do to enhance that program and look at it is a long term strategy to continue to try to get our businesses even more energy efficient which helps also their bottom line as well so you know why is residential energy talked about because buildings i think are talked about significantly and that's why you see residential homes and you see business labeling as a key factor in there because buildings themselves are one of the most inefficient things in our you know in our system whether it's from a gas demand or a district heating demand or whether it's from electric demand buildings tend to be one of the bigger users and more inefficient things that are out there so i think that's why that gets a lot of emphasis in the program your question about don't invest in anything other than renewables you know is that feasible well i think depends on how you frame the question you know is it are are those elements feasible as part of the solution they can be ok given the right application in the right place in our portfolio those things can play a part in that we already are using renewables we're exceeding our targets for our public act to ninety five obligations we anticipate on even what we have today being compliant past the twenty fifteen date by a matter of three four years we're not resting on that we continue to invest large sums of money looking at wind generation even though we've had a couple disappointing outcomes on that we're not giving up on that we have i think some potentially very attractive things to bring forward in the very near future on that item that are going renewables beyond that amount but it can't meet all of our needs there aren't energy storage technologies that are in place to really take advantage of the intermittent nature of those resources nor of the are those cost effective yet and compared to other types of generation for all applications so that they can play a part but they can't be the only part they can't be the only solution to the picture in a question are you going to build a coal plant frankly we're never going to build a coal plant we're going to build a multi fuel solid fuel plant that had also biomass and sewage sludge as part of the solution a lot along with other regional fuels that would be other waste fuels as is part of the process but it has been characterized as a coal plant only i will say that the data that's coming out we've got a lot of work to do to wrestle through that i'm not going to sit here and say what the decision is going to be at this point but we are very aware of changes that have happened in terms of natural gas pricing  in change in terms of capital pricing on these units and they will play a factor you know in the decision that we have in front of us and so you know we're going to rest with the totality of the information the sustainable return on investment as you are well aware is more than just the financial aspect of power generation there's a lot of other extreme allergies that are brought into the picture as well and we've got a lot of work to do to wrestle through that in terms a date for a decision that you know as i mentioned we're looking at unveiling that this week of august six you know my x my estimation is going to take time to wrestle with that information throughout the public we're going to be seeking the public dialogue on this seeking public input you know the board's going to want to have that i'm sure counsel going to want to have that you know we have some port decisions to make in a fairly timely manner though because of this demand that's out there and because of our existing fleet and what we might have to do to make sure that that's ready for new regulations that are coming so you know this decision is a very in the very near future i don't want to put a date certain on it but i'm talking about fall kind of timeframe that we need to come to consensus thank you one more comment if i could nothing happen in government nothing happens as fast as it should and we've done i think a good job of educating the community and the document that's put in front of us has taken a long time to get here but i do think i think greg started out with a comment that this is a pretty important  decision point for us today in this community and i agree with that i also don't want to let this opportunity go by to thank a guy down trees and because you know for the last two years they got off to a bit of a rocky start because they were so he surrounded himself with people who cared so much about this community and how we're going to go about figuring out our energy needs in doing the right thing for the planet early on that i think they were considered a bit hostile at first but i think it is it turns out they've been a very benign approach to educating to community and so many times we've had comments about when any time there's a there's a discussion about the environment it's you know it's the same seven people coming to the microphone while i tell you something thanks to the efforts of those folks over the last two and a half years it's that's been a very well structured thoughtful strategic approach to educating this community on the discussion we're having right now and it isn't the same seven anymore and i don't think as many people in the community are as formed as they should be over the next several i think they're going to get educated in a hurry here over the next several months but thanks to their good work and i want to single out down trees and berg individual i think much of the education process that is going to be very important in the next when this decision these decisions are ultimately ultimately made we owe them a debt of gratitude for doing that great ground work so thank ok just to reiterate a key point you said dave so that it doesn't get lost in the you know broader discussion look for information about a beginning a rollout on the long awaited strategic return on investment or sustainable return on investment sorry wrong asked to come sometime during the week of august six for the first kind of public meeting to happen that's right and i know it's part of the reconstitution of a group of leaders called the wrap session group but the process of this public presentation you know with the plan is to take the results and you know go on the road with it so to speak around the community and make sure that we have enough chances to present it in public forums to give people a chance to digest it you know our intent would be to try to hold some sort of public hearing process as well to be able to get public comment process rather to get an opportunity for people to come forward and give comment ultimately we're trying to build towards a consensus exercise called a charette were we really wrestle with all of the information and the feedback that's been gathered on that information and really try to build a consensus that will ultimately take the form of you know some sort of board action recommending the city council direction but you know that the community in the council on the board and staff they are all involved in the process through all the way going right and i think jade also answered one of the questions about you know why the focus on the residential i think it's the lower hanging fruit you know maybe peter has suggested that it's right mike and peter suggested that you know a lot of them especially major industrial customers are light years ahead of where any resident virtually in a residential customer is and focusing on the pilot project in the historic district  focus in a relatively large number of single family homes built many years ago to very inefficient standards so you know doing investing money to move the needle as best you can i think is is part of the idea but that's what i was just going to say is that there's been a couple of comments on the commercial industrial more toward the commercial side but let's bring in the industrial side i happen to be part of that sector and kurt's right that in most cases because it does affect the bottom line industrial is far ahead we've been using high efficiency motors and frequency drives for ten fifteen years already we have been meeting as a group probably the top twenty is a  users group through the b p w knocking ideas off each other's heads what are you doing over here what kind of lighting you using you know incentives at the b p w s had with changing out the i pressure so tim's and mercury vapors to  the more efficient fluorescents and l e d s as they're becoming available industry has been using those for a long time and we've got some room to improve absolutely or we stop and absolutely not  as the car fourth report said the in the residential unit of itself is probably not going to make a major but it's going to be a good start  and i agree with the low hanging fruit think we're probably going to get a bigger bang potentially a bigger bang for our buck in that area to go with right now especially with what's already been done so i'm you know and there's greater ramifications i think as we have talked about last week with the from the commercial industrial side with the like they're doing over in europe what's your energy rating on this building oh same thing to be done with houses and homes what's the energy rating here and that's going to be the selling point people don't ask you know what's the cost which are taxes there which are energy rate so i hope we get to that point  that's about all your trees please one of the trees again we got a tease of a bit of rain today but not much to do anything substantial it wasn't even a tease there compared to the past month dad right ok you know any motions or i'm sorry communications from members of council mike just we're probably going to have one more public meeting prior to this but mark your calendars for august seventh national night out come park it's been moved from the first monday of the month to the traditional national lined out in conjunction with the american legion band at college park for the seventh which is the first tuesday in august but then on your calendars and also a little precursor labor day if you're around let's help celebrate the industries that are around this town with the annual truck parade from zealand to holland to see everybody out  excellent and the other nancy and we also want to mention the labor day boardwalk which starts at nine o'clock the far end of heinz and goes along the boardwalk along collin park and all the way to windmill island gardens and then you c have a pancake breakfast in the pavilion there it's a wonderful time with family and friends and strollers and whatever however fast you'd like to take the walk it's about four miles three point nine and it's just a wonderful time to enjoy nature and room had an invitation to a couple of block parties in the sixth ward the last few weeks and i appreciate those imitations of they were great times and i would encourage any neighborhood in any ward if you want to have an activity that helps you get to know your neighbors a block parties a great great thing if you'd like some help the city has some resources you can contact the department of labor and services i believe and they can help you all some resources to do this so i encourage you to get to know your neighbors with a block