well good evening everyone apologies for the slight lateness with which we begin this meeting we actually went into our meeting upstairs to go into a closed session for the purposes of reviewing pending litigation so we've already called the roll that's the only thing we did up stairs and we will then and therefore begin with items two and three this evening here which is the pledge of allegiance and also a prayer tonight our prayer will be led by our colleague council member brian birch i would invite everyone in chambers to stand and join us in both of these items please us to work together to build communities sustain it enhance life awaken in us an awareness of how best to raise up the hopes and dreams of all of our members make our communities places where all can live fully and fully source of wisdom make those who have been selected as our leaders within our communities remain open to your wisdom remind us of the good sense in the worldly wisdom that we have been taught and in the discussions that take place tonight open our hearts and minds to sense the wisdom you have to share creative spirit we live and move and have our very being in you and in the world you have created and are creating and always say and all we do keep us aware of the need to ask how these effects the world around us keep us from get keep us from forgetting that your creative energy is alive and active in the world today bring life and hope that lies in the face of despair and de this time of discussion about the realities of today and the possibilities for tomorrow up us all the people of hope open to the promise that all will be well and all manner of things be will made this time of meaning be blessed by your thank you brian there are copies for those who are in chambers tonight copies of this evening's agenda in the rack in the rear of the room additionally if you have a device i pad or a laptop or something like that you can get a wife i signal in here and pick up a copy not only of tonight's agenda but also the background package of the background materials council's review in preparation for this evening's meeting additionally of course for watching at home on television or somewhere around the world on the internet you can do that as well the easiest way to do it city of holland dot com go to the calendar page today's date and you'll find that information quite easily what you will note as you look at the agenda is that there are certain items on it that have an asterisk next to them and these are the items that are presently on our consent agenda and the idea behind a consent agenda is we will handle all of these items with one motion and one vote regardless of where it shows up on the agenda and we think that these are items that are relatively routine or that they have previously been reviewed by council so  in some ways they perhaps have less importance on a particular note of having discussion but maybe you don't think so maybe we've missed the boat on having some of these items on consent that you think should be talked about specifically and individually so what we will do is we will have a friendly face who is sitting in this seat for her final time read for us this evening what is presently on the consent agenda that of course is jody scions who frankly is easier to describe what she has not done in this city than what she has done in this city she tonight is our acting clerk and she will read for us at this time what is presently on the consent agenda and then we'll go through a process to see if anybody wants something changed on it so  first of all welcome and please read for us what's the consent for the evening i didn't five would approve the minutes of the regular meeting held june five and the study session and special meeting held on june twelfth two thousand and thirteen number six would excuse the absence of council member whiteman number eleven would accept and file executed oaths of office fourteen a one would accept a grant of public utility easement between the holland board of public works and the john d arnold inc jane m arnold declaration of trust for the estates of old evergreen residential development pending approval as to form by the city attorney fourteen eight two would approve a resolution to authorize the issuance of water supply system revenue refunding bonds series twenty thirteen a in the amount of approximately three million five hundred fifty thousand dollars to provide for the refunding of outstanding water supply system revenue bond series two thousand and five and the costs of issuing the bonds and approve the bank of new york mellon trust company to service escrow and pain agent pending as to form from the city attorney fourteen b one would set a public hearing for the aug seventh two thousand and thirteen city council regular meeting on the vacating of a portion of ninth street right of way east of the eight one three transition area north of the device field house with a sixty six foot easement to be retained for utility purposes and to consider whether compensation should be sought from the one adjacent private property owner for the south one half of the right of way and the proper amount of such compensation or two and one thousand a would a proven place on first reading the proposed text amendments to section thirty nine dash one ninety eight of the zoning ordinance to add the corner lot infill review requirement to the list of items in section thirty nine dash one ninety eight that require an infill review with final consideration and adoption to be held in july ten twenty thirteen at the regular council meeting fourteen c one would approve the motorcycle lease agreement with the pair lee perry harley davidson incorporated as prepared by the city attorney's office to allow the department of public safety to lease motorcycles as may be required fourteen c two and one thousand b would accept and place on first reading of ordinances an amendment to chapter nineteen of the ordinance code which would amend the nuisance section of the ordinance code to provide consistency with state legislation regulating the district discharge of fireworks between the hours of one a m and eight a m and schedule the amendment for final adoption of ordinances as an emergency ordinance on june twenty six and thirteen fourteen d one would refer claims to the city attorney and the city's insurance carrier for consideration fourteen iii two point one would accept the firm of quality global logistics to arrange for the shipping customs clearance and delivery of the windmill repair parts and that the city manager be authorized to execute the document on behalf of the city fourteen e two point two would approve the two thousand and thirteen ticket sales contract with the tulip time festival q for the continuation of the air quality monitoring station at the former lakeview school site on the south side of thirty second street and authorized the mayor and deputy city clerk to sign the agreement fourteen e three point one would receive and file the may twenty thirteen monthly financial reports fourteen e three point two would approve the fiscal year two thousand and thirteen year in budget amendments as presented and authorize the finance director to make the necessary transfers and amendments fourteen eat three point three would approve the insurance program for fiscal year two thousand and thirteen fourteen as presented at a cost of one million four hundred ninety six thousand two hundred eighty dollars for both the general city and holland board of public works with the city's portion being four hundred fifteen thousand one hundred sixty two dollars fourteen five point two would adopt a resolution approving the mers service credit purchase request for police officer jason valence walen with the entire cost to be paid by the employee fourteen point three would approve the appointment of the city manager to the principal shopping district board as the city government representative with the term expire in december thirty one two thousand fourteen fourteen point five would approve the proposal submitted by e r m in the amount of ten thousand four hundred dollars for groundwater plume definition work on the hope college property with ten thousand dollars of this cost to be reimbursed to the city by hope college and the remaining four hundred be funded through the centralised vehicle and equipment fund fourteen point six would approve changes to the july meeting schedule with regular meetings to be held in july ten and seventeen one study session on july twenty four and no meetings on july three and july thirty one five point seven would adopt a resolution approving the mers service credit purchase request for how on board of public works coal handler david guess it's the fireworks one  right go hand in hand we will remove those items they would care to remove an item from consent i think we had a discussion potentially about removing we turn now to special presentations and recognitions and i'll start here and work my way more toward the podium in a second but i don't know how often in the life of any city you get to do what we're doing tonight or maybe look at it differently you have to do what we do tonight we are all witnessing tonight the final meeting final regularly scheduled meeting because it'll be a special meeting next week and that she'll still be here for but the final regular meeting that jodi scions will be employed by the city of holland and you know we have a lot of employees in this organization we have had a lot of employees over the years but jodi has been with this organization since one thousand nine hundred seventy three which is quite remarkable more than quite remarkable incredibly remarkable and jodi doesn't exactly know what we're doing tonight and i can tell she's a little nervous about it but nonetheless jodi tell you what you're on that side of the us i'm on this side when we meet at the podium sound fair there it was going to be an impromptu game of dodge ball for those who don't know jodi for the two people in this community who maybe don't know jodi this is jodi science and as i sort of alluded to earlier  it's probably easier to describe what jodi has not done in this organization than to list all of the things that she has done in this organization but counsel we we haven't officially officially approved this but i have strong suspicion we will we have prepared a resolution that's our two thousand and thirteen dash twenty nine and i will read it it is lengthy but you've earned it whereas jod served the residents and visitors to the city of holland and city government very honorably for a span of forty years and whereas no other person has held as many individual no other person has held as many individual posts in as many individual departments inclusive of every single cat classification category and every major position except the director of public safety as has jodi science and whereas jodi as science began her service in one thousand nine hundred seventy three under jacqueline house during her hope college summers as a work study financial aid student at two dollars and five cents per hour in the treasurer's office some things don't change and whereas jodi continued her service part time as an account clerk then and as administrative aid to the personnel officer assisting in the administration of the c e t a title six summer employment program for the economically disadvantaged before moving to the city manager's office to handle grants and the first in the state dial a ride program until pursuing her master's in public policy and administration at the university of wisconsin madison upon returning to holland jodi served as a senior administrator of aid in the city clerk's office until moving again to the city manager's office and her promotion to assistant city manager on june thirtieth one thousand nine hundred eighty jodie eventually served as interim city manager in one nine hundred eighty eight during which the innovation innovative snow melt project was completed and where as jodi's dedication and hard work for the citizens led her to being promoted to city clerk in one thousand nine hundred two assistant to the city manager in two thousand director of transportation services in two thousand and four inclusive of interim director of leisure and cultural services in two thousand and eleven and finally to the first ever director of the parks recreation and transportation department and where as jodie's in numerable accomplishments included operation of the city's cable television system in the early days unprecedented extension of the city sidewalk and by bike path system creation and expansion of the then tulip city airport construction of the transportation and public safety buildings implementation of storm water emergency mitigation and protection projects including handling the june one nine hundred twenty  storm the second largest in a century seven point one five inches dozens of street construction projects including the recent lincoln avenue improvement and the new windmill island strategic plan and whereas jodi served in dozens of additional capacities including labor negotiator city newsletter editor traffic committee chairperson sesquicentennial committee representative liaison to the parks and recreation committee and on a host of other special projects always being a very valuable advocate of the central mission with an emphasis on thoughtful learning thinking and action and whereas jodi gave of herself to this community as well inclusive of being president of the holland rotary club president of the holland orchestra parents association chairman of the tulip time board of directors service as pastoral care and sunday school teacher and also service to the wider region via the makah area area coordinating councils lake  retirement will be a huge loss to the city's leadership team where she was was a decades long contributor due to her knowledge resourcefulness competence conscientiousness and comprehensive insights as well as her constant friendship and companionship to many inside and outside of city hall and whereas jodi set the standard for dedicated service to the city and community above self never losing her sense of humor smile or balance in her family life now therefore be it resolved that the entire city council of the city of holland michigan and on behalf of the residents of the city does here by express its utmost respect thanks and appreciation to jodi signs for her fo decades of leadership to the city of holland and to be there for further resolve that the city council also expresses its heartfelt thanks to marvin and to rachel science for their countless moments of patience and support as they this resolution of appreciation be spread upon the permanent records of the city of holland signed this nineteenth day of june in the year two thousand and thirteen by six of eight of the nine members of council councilor whiteman will any discussion will get the discussion and then you all in favor of adopting this rebel resolution please say i i i pose the same it is unanimously adopted jody let me present this to you and then i will say more remarks actually our relation stems back from wisconsin we didn't really certainly didn't know you before getting involved in city government here in holland but what a remarkable pleasure it has been for me to  just speaking personally for me to be able to spend time with you watching you act watching you do your thing everything from being on the city manager search committee this last time to being incredibly involved in tulip time  to being incredibly involved and when mel island and really if there was a major project happening it was always we thought who can we have represent the city on that project jodi's name has always been at the top of the list and sometimes it was the only name on the list because you're just that good some of the reporters have asked me some comments about your tenure here with the city and in general i don't remember precisely what i said but it was trying to get this point across every organization hopefully if you're lucky if you have a few employees who you know will do excellent at whatever they do and there go to employees and that is it prude way of describing what we think of your work here at city hall and i don't think to be honest with you as much as we recognize all that you've done and we know you've been so involved in everything and we know that you have been an integral part of this organization for four decades i don't think we yet understand really what we're going to miss when you're not here and we think we know but i don't think we really do so jody you have been a remarkable employer remarkable leader in this organization a remarkable leader in this community and someone with whom i count personal friendship and i treasure it greatly so congratulations to you to mar may retirement go so well for you that you'll forget all about us shortly  congratulations and thank you very much opportunity every council i've worked with has been nothing but cooperative understanding willing to listen to each other it's so great that you don't have to run on a political party issues  because i see you always voting for the good of the community regardless of where you come from regardless of what your positions are and that makes it so much easier for all of us because we know that you're going to consider every issue carefully and however it turns out we know that that deliberation has taken place so that makes it so much easier you know i guess what i have said to greg when i talk to them i mean it's just extraordinary for an individual like me to be able to stay with an organization this long and the reason i could is that i continually took other jobs it was the best of both worlds i got a new job and i didn't have to move move anywhere and i didn't have to meet new people and  have to learn new rules i could stay in the same place so it's what helped keep me fresh and to help keep me going i don't think that happens to everyone but i was very fortunate to have it happen to me so this is a great great organization i i love it you will be an excellent hands and i'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the future so thank you very much we should note that one week from today there will be an open house reception here at city hall and the hours are escaping me at the moment but i know it ends at around three thirty to five three thirty five thirty and we certainly invite not just people who work here at city hall or somehow affiliated with city government but friends neighbors colleagues people who've interacted with jodi over the years please know that you are really strongly and not just invited but encouraged to be here  wish jodi well and her retirement and refreshments will be served as well so congratulations jodi our rachel mr and mrs chapman go good to have you here tonight as well so thank you mr mayor one comment i just wanted to make you know what thanks and i want to open this up i have been happened long enough so i apologize for not allowing you all the jump into pleas and on a humorous note i was awfully glad that jodi never got a law degree and i looked over a few masseur and i think he's glad she never became a sworn police officer because she probably would have also been city attorney and director of public safety at the same  time would anybody care to make any remarks at this time please nancy will stand with you thank you i'm going to try not to cry but sometimes my heart gets involved but jodi has such a gentle spirit  and whatever you do i know it's going to be done with deep accuracy and no matter what we need done you are measured and wise no matter what the issue is that we're talking to eat you know you're not going to overreact or under react i know there's going to be this stable calm approach to whatever the problem is and this end of it will be a wise solution and you are so dependable i jodi says we're going to do it it's going to be done and done well and i know one meeting you were asked recently i think had wanted something else checked out and you were sitting next to next to chief messer and you're  like this better get done i'm not going to be here but this is better and that's the way you approach everything so so dependably you are so loyal just committed one hundred percent to the organization that you work for that we can entrust anything in the city to you and know you're going to do do it with all of who you are you have been such an example of a woman in leadership and i know when you started here that probably wasn't a normal thing and there were that where the women that started working on the line to support men during world war two in the factories and not that much after that you came on line in the city and to  be promoted to levels of leadership as you were in your gender was a real statement to the whole community and you have done that with such grace and integrity it makes all of us so proud of your humility i would have no idea of the depth of your abilities by the way you conduct yourself in day to day activities and the way you treat citizens the way you treat us as council members your knowledge goes way beyond so many of us and you treat everyone with such respect and dignity i am always so proud to watch you at a committee meeting in leading the meeting and in talking with citizens or whatever i know that jodi is going to handle it right your heart your mind you have the soul of the city and we will really miss you in this position and as kurt said it will it will keep showing up how much we miss you so i hope you are not a stranger and i hope that we can see you around town and that you will find places to be involved that will be fulfilling maybe not quite as demanding as what you've been into but you have risen to what avar has been asked of  and i have learned so much from you jodi so thank you brian please there is a i don't know maybe it's a misplaced sentiment in our society that government employees don't do anything and in the case of jodie signs that  when she presented something always listen to what jodi had to say because it was insightful and it was important and she didn't research and just super smart in general so in defying her i think that major repercussions in the long term but the city is really going to be at a loss i think you're  leaving us with some good people behind because you've trained them very well and again respect just respect that like crazy because that's the best way to make an exit is to leave when you're on top and to have the right people on the bus so that the organization can keep going you're a do or you do things always done  things thirty seven years and again we're going to miss that quite a bit thank you to me i don't see any difference there's always been a level of respect there's always been a level of openness there's always been a level of listening to other opinions and that has made both jobs a whole lot easier remember back in my days in the board we served on in the city was looking at alternative fuels for the first time it seems like decades ago there was new technology but you took the bull by the horns and led the discussions and have an open mind about some of the alternatives and as brian said as nancy said i'm sure other people are going to say we respect what you have to say because you respect what we have to say  that trust level doesn't come easy and it's probably one of the things i respect and appreciate but appreciate about you the most so from two sides of the hundred eighty and i've been involved somehow in the city almost since that time and jodi signs name has always been right there been a lot of meetings with jodi and i just want to ask this question ryan maybe the city attorney anyone sitting up here maybe the chief phil you've been in a lot of meetings with jodi did you ever ever have a situation where she walked into a room threw everything on the table and said something just terrible case she's absolutely had it have you ever seen anything like that no just think if somebody said that the cool calm and collected nature of you know i've been in a few meetings where something has come up as like ok now what and usually you're the one of the first people to speak and it's like  comes to mind you know i thought everything was cool and then you have to deal with us and we're throwing ideas out my can we do this what about that and lots of other meetings and stuff and i too i can't remember a time where  ever been angry maybe you've got a different perspective on this but if you do but you know he's always been cool and you know it's been that kind of it hasn't been  flamboyant thing it's been a very calm and cool and humble confidence and demeanor that you go about things that i think instills confidence in the people that are around you i j said it's handled so  that's something i've always admired about you and and i'm going to miss hopefully will learn from your example and try to carry that to thank you yes when i've only been on council for a short time but i've really appreciated you jody for when you come to your meetings you she knows the details of what trucks have rusted floors and bobs and how much we've done this the knowledge base is just incredible and so i've ask questions she's always been very patient to answer those questions for me and i really appreciate that and it's always wonderful to see an employee going out on a high note and fortunately i was able to do that too and i my heart breaks when i hear people who leave their jobs sad on happy way because things haven't gone well so how fortunate you are with a big smile on your face and that you've done a great job so congratulations but always appreciated your attitude and your positive outlook on things i think i've agreed with you on just about everything except that little thing that you cling to but will set that aside don't go too far i'm sure we will want to call on you for if nothing great right jody i think you have a taste of some of our feelings for you and about you and it was as you remarked you made your remarks about how you had the opportunity to do different things here and it struck me that you know what this is obviously you excelled in whatever new task you had i think most recently or maybe not most recently but in the recent past of you taking over in transportation services and i hope you're not insulted by this but you're not an engineer you frankly that you know mechanics and those kinds of things probably aren't your strong suit but jodi has managed at the park and so incredibly well through some very challenging times and really reshuffled and brought a new focus and vision and excitement to what they do in that department and and you know these are these are guys who get up early in the morning by and large and drive big rigs plowing snow and you know she is able to just interact so well with them it's really remarkable to watch you have been to a couple retirement parties that at the building and just seeing your interactions with them you know it's a remarkable testament to your ability to do lots of different things the other point though is that you know i'm so pleased that we've had city leadership that has recognized your talents and and offered you opportunities to do that because my fear is that if we get too specialized we find people who are excellent but top out where they're at and they end up going somewhere else so my hope is that your example is not just one that we say thank you for appreciate and recognize tonight but it's also an example that we say you know let's try and find more jodie's let's try and find those people who are excellent managers excellent with people on task all the time do excellent work at all times and can do lots of different things and do them well so that i think could be your biggest legacy and it's it's a really large one because your other legacy is are so fantastic as well but the opportunity and the ability to say we have talent here let's not let's not waste it and let's not make it so that she feels she needs to go somewhere else because she's topped out at this location so thank you jody and now let's get back to work welcome phil meyer to the microphone to introduce of course this is a recommendation coming to you from the planning commission there's a recommendation  this property if i can just  here we go this is the property in question it's a four point six seven acre property it's at the south east corner of us thirty one and thirty second street is currently a vacant property that one time there was a hotel and a restaurant bar on this property this property has been vacant for the last several years the request has come from michigan holding l l c who is interested in purchasing the property and they have requested the rezoning from sea to highway commercial to i to industrial as you can see from this map the property to the south and east of of this parcel is all i to industrial there is also some i want industrial to the north across thirty second street as i said it's four point six seven acres used for full range of utilities are available to the site parcel we we don't know specific plans for the property there is some interest at least initially in cleaning up the property dressing up the property making it more visually attractive and then longer term believe there's some industrial development intended for this property with the promise of some jobs a significant number of jobs on this property but we haven't heard anything more specific than that at this point the current owners are kim and susan scrutiny of it in michigan existing land use i mentioned is vacant and it is a recommendation from the planning commission actually came on a five to vote and and my best take on the two votes against it were interest on the part of those two planning commission members that there wasn't a concern that there wasn't a plan a specific plan in front of them to review at the same time now that is not required as part of the part of a resigning request so this is before us a recommendation from the majority of planning commission thank you phil any questions for phil before we have the public hearing because i would just you know as i'm on the planning commission as wide concur with the idea that the two members who did not vote in favor of this were concerned about grass and truck traffic and those kinds of things and were hesitant to approve the rezone absent the site plan mike place so is this consistent with the master plan for this quarter or just it seems like we're hop scotching here we've got residential we've got industrial one industrial two and then we go back to commercial a little bit further north and i think we've got commercial all on the east side of highway correct yes we do we had answer that there are two different industrial zone districts i  think the general notion of industrial use the master plan calls for industrial use primarily on this side of the highway there is mention in the master plan about c two commercial uses adjacent to the highway and in the discussion from with the planning commission one of the issues particularly on this piece of property is you're limited to a very short window there to get a to get a driveway and for commercial uses and there was a concern about thirty one i think the planning commission felt comfortable enough that this was consistent with that plan but you've only got one thing standing in your way and that's the gas station true that's standing in the way you could get further away if that's what you're suggesting you could get further away in terms of access to this property i don't know if the applicant is here tonight or whether he may have something to add to this but he has indicated to us to the planning commission that he would not need access to this property for the development of this property of this parcel so there's an awful thirty second street would not need to come in off of thirty second to this property mean the questions for phil for the public hearing right seeing this is the time of the place for the public hearing on this item we invite anyone who is here to address this item including the applicant to represent a representative there of to come to the microphone introduce themselves nam residential address for the record and council rules permit up to five minutes to address counsel and we have now a little device that hopefully assists with that five minute rule the green light yellow light with one minute left in the red light when time is up so the microphone is open the public hearing is on here to come up and introduce the item for us at all sir with an invitation like that how could you turn how did you decline good evening and welcome my name's larry their name out of the newspaper for an hour for employee reasons the long term plan is to add about twenty to twenty five industrial to this property in the short term they will probably be cleaning up the property it to make it look nice and now they are ready to come to council with the site plan for what they want to do so it's going to be a big benefit i think to the city adding jobs it is a local company that has been here a number of years and that's all my loud to say on that understood thank you any questions for the representative of the applicant that all right thank you very much the microphone remains open for anyone else who would care to address council in this item seeing no one else we will close the public hearing and we have a recommendation from the real pattern to it often someone will come in with a specific plan and use the demonstration of why they need the reasoning by shock sharing the plan sometimes those approvals go hand in hand but it's not unusual to get rezoning request for a parcel or the city to initiate a reasoning on a particular parcel without a specific plan in hand to any other comments well i think this is a decent idea for a couple of reasons one if you look at what surrounds it it's all industrial so some were suggesting we do in our two district here i think that might be a different question altogether and the second thing as i said earlier is just because it's zoned properly doesn't mean a site plan gets approved so that the issues that were raised about potential concerns about grass you know those will be dealt with the site plan stage regardless of zoning so i think it's a fine idea and it's been nice to see something happen in this property please call the roll yes yes yes yes yes peter's yes  dash to family and willing units phil will you please introduce this one for us as well i will thank you thirty nine dash to the section of the zoning ordinance that deals with definitions there are two definitions that are recommended to be changed  with some added tax to both of those one is for family this really is intended to get at a concern that was raised to the planning commission about how we treat  kitchens kitchen facilities within residential units what the ordinance the sensually says now is that a sink in a micro fate microwave define or constitute a kitchen it's that simple a facility and a single family dwelling can only have one kitchen so the concern has has risen on a number of occasions with a number of properties where someone may have a full kitchen and wants to add a basically by definition an additional kitchen in the basement or an out outdoor cooking times have changed the way we do things outdoors today take different different equipment and  effect create a kitchen outdoors with a barbecue and that sort of a set up so it was an attempt to try to try to address that and yet recognize that we're still talking about a single family so the the text language  to the definition of family in three different places really adds it deletes language that refers to a single kitchen and adds language that says using common cooking facilities so the intent is not to open the door to multi in effect multifamily use in in residential units but to keep it constrained it has to be family cooking condition single family cooking conditions common cooking facilities  and that that appears three times in that definition the second second amendment deals with welling unit and this is an attempt to clarify there is free there are frequent times when our staff is is dealing with a request from a property owner and they are discussing how they plan to use a particular unit and in a single family zone you're allowed to have a single family unit and not multifamily multiple families occupying the unit or multiple households i keep buying the unit the change to do well in unit and i'll just read this to you a dwelling unit is defined as one room or a suite of two or more rooms designed for  occupied by not more than one family in the added language is more than one family with substantially all of the following characteristics one mailbox entrances and common living space full and equal access to all of the home no separate independent access to only part of the home single utility connections for water sewer and electric interconnected smoke detectors throughout the home on all floors and only one lease for the entire  unit and also occupants form a single housekeeping group all of that language is really intended to say this is to help define and help answer questions that people have when they start to describe something that really deviate from from the definition of a one family unit and we're trying to be clear about what those are because we get those questions quite regularly questions for staff on this right thank you this of course requires a public hearing as well so we open the microphone on this item anyone would care to address council on its please do so now right the public hearing is now closed then we have a recommendation from the planning commission to adopt these changes the appear on tonight's agenda we all we ask is that you come forward to the microphone so that everyone in chambers and outside of chambers can hear what you have to say state your name and residential address for the record and you have up to five minutes to address counsel the microphone  open seeing no one we will close that and move on then to page two which is the item related to fireworks so it is fourteen c to the proposed amendments related to fireworks and mr city attorney i suspect you'll be leading us through this discussion but that is correct actually thank you in april of this year the council adopted ordinances that were authorized under the michigan fireworks safety act those ordinances were a ten intended to really recognize the scheme th local units are in today in the state of michigan with the adoption of this statute and councils where the fact that what this statute did was it essentially preempted local units of government from regulating the discharge and use of fire fireworks on ten national holidays totaling a thirty because it regulated the day before the day and the day after a national holiday so what the state did was to essentially allow a higher level higher intensity of fireworks during those thirty days a year and preempted the regulation of them except as provided in the michigan fireworks safety act so the council adopted under chapter eleven various regulations that were permitted to be regulated under the act and they also evening to seven o'clock in the morning even than the thirty days a year that were preempted under state law now on june twelfth of this year the michigan legislature pass legislation that created new rights to municipalities to regulate the hours during which there were you could ignite discharge or use consumer fireworks those hours of operation are between ten am and a day that you can per head at those operations so tonight what we're really attempting to do is to amend chapter nineteen to be consistent with the state law provision that was adopted on june twelfth that legislation was signed today so it is in full force  so what we have done is we've amended our section under chapter nineteen to make it consistent with the hours of one and eighty it's the recommendation of our office that we should get this ordinance in effect before the july fourth holiday but before july three actually because the day before the july fourth holiday is also covered by the  act to do that we need to consider this as an emergency ordinance at the special council meeting of the council which will be next week wednesday june twenty sixth so the recommendation of the city attorney's office tonight is that the ordinance is draft to be placed on first reading and that it be considered as an emergency ordinance for adoption at the special meeting in june twenty second writing questions for the city attorney all right why don't we get a motion on the floor initially please this is for first reading motion moved by truth that we were supported by the mayor pro tem now this doesn't require a public hearing but certainly it was taken off consent so we want to opportunity to a resident to come up and address counsel if you'd like to on this item no requirement that you do so but if you'd like to we certainly want to give you the opportunity to do so good evening ok make sure you get to the mike first so i want to hear what you have to say thank you you're welcome i would like to speak on this issue my name is len pro as i think i live to eighty four fairbanks avenue in the city of holland michigan i would like to address the city fireworks ordinance as we've talked about tonight in the past i like to ask a couple questions and have some clarification tonight because i'm a few questions and i'd like to present it in a city fireworks ordinance on ours and the restriction rules were us passed was it legal at that time according to state law to do that the way we did it i need i need to know when we passed a day or six weeks ago or whatever it was was it legal at that time to do as we did in regards to the state law as it was in force then i would also like to know if it was illegal for us to do it at that time what are the reasons all the reasons that would make it illegal what we did and if it was legal what we did at the time what law said that we could do that six six weeks ago and also the last thing to refresh my memory i'd like to go through the steps the exact steps that led to the the restriction passage by the holland city council i'm talking possibly how the holland police recommendations were involved and the steps that led us to the vote that night so thank you for your light on this issue all right thank you i'm going to generally say that the the ordinance we passed a month or so ago was in fact legal and we're making some changes based on some recent changes to state law but i will certainly turn to our so it's ernie who can give the nuts and bolts answer yeah len what  was adopted in april was a provision under chapter nineteen that was specifically directed to the what we called the nuisance operation of fireworks in other words the the noise that is generated after a certain hours of the day the state law as it provided at that time did not have hours of operation in it but it indicated that we could not regulate the discharge firearms but it did not eliminate the ability to address nuisance conditions that were created so  ordinance that was adopted under chapter nineteen only addressed the creation of noise now what has been changed under state law is that a municipality can during the hours of one so we do not have a problem with what was adapted in april in terms of the nuisance conditions and what we're trying to tempting to do is to try to make the powers that are now going to be prohibited consistent with what the state adopted in june i think you also asked the question of you know what information the the home please department has chief mausers here tonight but much of their recommendation relating to these hours of operation were geared to the number of complaints that they had during certain periods of time and the vast preponderance of those complaints related to the hours that were incorporated into the ordinance at that particular time so there was a factual basis for the recommendation that we had from the hound police department and i don't know if the chief i think the chief has much of its da here but i think that was the reason for the recommendation and i would also add on that last point and perhaps picking on  particular we heard from a lot of residents last year that it was the phrase out of control is not an uncommon one so that was part of the data you know contact with constituents that also formed part of the reason why we looked at the the adoption of the the revised ordinance earlier this year i mean candidly last year i was we had a recommendation or something proposed to us to  put time restrictions and other sorts of things on our fireworks ordinances in the city and i was resistant to them i wanted to give it a year to see what we could discover and see whether there really was an issue based on that years worth of data and the amount of complaints and frustrations that people shared with that information plus the the stats that were provided provided by public safety i was convinced that we needed to make some make some changes and i think as i read the newspaper articles as i talk with state legislators i think their offices were somewhat inundated as well with similar kinds of concerns which then explains why the amendments to the statute that they passed last year were put in place and why the lieutenant governor signed them today so i don't know if mike or brian you have anything you want to add to that not to put you on the spot but you're on the spot dr yeah i guess it gets so bad as someone who takes pride in not having to contact the police department is contacting the police department on a problem or a concern then something is seriously that that matter and it comes from being someone who enjoys fireworks  ikes and respects it individual's ability to express themselves through exploding things but knowing that at any moment  other people who had additional concerns as well so that really fed by an advocacy we're pushing in this direction thank you any other cut we have a motion i guess anyone else care to address council on this issue saying no one ok we have a motion to put this on first reading is there any other discussion on a course and we will have it we should say that this was first reading a second reading scheduled for next week our special meeting that was the intent of the motion i trust so that way it can be if it passes it can be in effect by the fourth of july all right anything else then let's call the r thank you so next week wednesday council will take this up on final reading there will be a public hearing at that point on it as well for twenty two point one the item the other item that was taken off of consent which is that when will island gardens piece i believe we took this off for the purposes of tabling but we first need a motion to get on the to the next to the special meeting for this meeting on the twenty very good thank you supported by the mayor pro tem tabling motion cuts off debate all in favor of table into the special meeting of the twenty seven twenty whatever that next special meeting is  today please say i pose the same the matter is tabled thank you then that takes us down to fourteen fourteen a five point one  sizable number of gifts this week jodi we're going to make you work for this one today thank you for the city manager's office is pleased to report receipt of the following gifts first donations totally in one thousand and fifty dollars and sixty four cents have been received in support of repairs to the windmill island does one windmill from anonymous donors and from new holland brewing in the amount of one thousand dollars donations totaling five hundred eighty five dollars and forty cents have been received in support of the graphic nature center from kent morgan the vast school family margo o'connor sam roberts donald martin sally john ben and flatter  cottagers association a donation of six thousand dollars has been received from russ's of holland incorporated and the family in support of youth admissions to the bow school donations totaling twenty dollars ha been received in support of the south for a scholarship fund from lynn clark liz and veronica mult also arly and katherine norman it is recommended that these donations be accepted with appreciation credited to the appropriate accounts and an expression of gratitude be forwarded to the donors what is the pleasure of counsel motion to accept with appreciation and congratulations to jody to be evil see those names support removed by truth supported by de boer is there any discussion on these obviously a bunch of very fine fine donations and for which we are certainly appreciative all in favor please say i i pose the same that passes unanimously thank you takes us then down to communications from the city manager this evening  point by point for whoops sorry forty five point four were to stretch this out jody sorry we don't get forty five point four mr city thank you mr mayor members of the city council this item is something that greg robinson has worked on can conscientiously and thoroughly and i will make his report for him to see cannot be here tonight it has to do with the purchase agreement for the sale of property that is associated with what was known as the form around about area also formerly known as the i believe the transportation building at the location shown here on the map basically east of ninth street and south street adjacent to a parcel that was sold to hope college within the last year anyway due to the arrangements or details associated that so sale it was determined that i guess you cannot see my point here unless i do this thank you that parcel there has been determined to was not included and needed to be ideally as part of the original understandings with the city and hope college it was not detailed as such but i think it was a kind of understanding that if the roundabout did not occur then this would entire area here would be sold to hope college should they wish to purchase it  there was discussions associated with the whole college and others and this area of one street is needs to be vacated as part of that whole arrangement and that's something the council set a public hearing for earlier in tonight's agenda in summary there is a recommendation to follow through and sell this property to whole college with the understanding that the price would be two hundred ten thousand dollars which is a similar square foot price to the other area jason to it that there be no curb cuts permitted given traffic safety hazards associated with there were curb cuts permitted off of one thing that there be a restrictive environmental covenant that addresses the  former issues with the leaking underground storage tanks the way that is favorable to the city that there be reimbursement for additional environmental what we believe is final environmental work associated with that plume at expense of ten thousand four hundred  thousand of which which would be covered by hope college and that it be contingent on the ninth street cation as i referenced earlier and that closing be by being thirtieth two thousand and fourteen assuming favorable outcomes of all of those other prior requirements with that it is recommend to you for your approval all right questions for the city manager on this item yes now it's a member just right and this would be contingent i just like to point out from the sale of the roundabout land previous in this be in probably in contact with it now we're discussing the this piece of property i just like to make people aware that we've created a hazard there by selling the property on the roundabout property to hope college because they put up their beautiful sign there that said hope college but if you come from fairbanks ave and are going north to the dead end almost you would call it  a street there it was always a hard time turning left and that's why we considered a roundabout in the first place specially when the traffic was let's say at three thirty or when a sporting event got out it was almost impossible going north on fairbanks ave turn left there in a safe concern and now with no college put in there sign up there it's even harder to watch the thrill of traffic off a ninth street companies so they've created a traffic hazard and we've  and allowed that and now we're talking about any kind of safety problems that might evolved from this piece of property being sold to hope college i think we might want to table or maybe not i don't know what you can do but we have to take in safety concerns because we've created one there are no people up in the neighborhood are talking about maybe there needs to be a light there in even at the other end of fairbanks avenue on the south side because that's a hard left hand turn sometimes too on the sixteenth street so it's just something for you to consider i appreciate your time thank you thank you for your comments no question that is not a fun spot to turn left no question at all anyone else care to address council on it ok all right we have a motion on the floor  is there discussion about it i will indicate i will say that i was a bit concerned about the purchase price and had some discussions previous with with greg the the adoption of the restrictions on curb cuts along the way i can't really point but along the curvature of where ninth goes into eighth has in my mind significantly devalued the the price of the value of that land and in fact there will be no curb cuts along there which will mean that there will be no traffic entering or exiting ninth street as it bends around to go to eighth street which i think in the long run will be a safer situation than if we simply in essence sold it to someone else with the potential to have a curb cut there and have traffic entering in which i don't think we really want to have and also we got that recommendation from our transportation professional staff  you know at the end of the day i think that you know we will not be using this land i don't see us using this land and right now we're actually paying some taxes on this land because if we're not using it a little known fact is that just because a public entity owns property doesn't mean it goes off the tax rol it has to be used for that municipal purpose and since we're not using it for the minutes but purpose we're actually writing a check for a variety of school taxes and county taxes and those kinds of things so i think that ultimately this will continue to create a nice green open space  reduce the sightline issues make sure that we maintain sightline things and it brings some revenue in that city for for other capital projects which i think are more pressing so i'm of that mind please call the roll y all right thank you for that then takes us down to item fifteen communications from the city manager thank you mayor dr i want to remind the community first want to thank them for their patience on washington avenue and thirty second all the construction work going on there there's been a very very small minimum number of complaints that reached our office and i think that's partly testimonial to the patience of the community as well as the good transitioning that our engineering department is making as well as the contractors nevertheless things are about to get a little tougher and we ask you're considered additional patients and that is because the intersection will be entirely closed as of monday and that is for utility work so at thirty second in if washington avenue be completely closed due to underground utility work and that's work that trenches are open there's just no way around it having to close it so the intersection will remain closed until all the materials can be installed covered contacted new hard surface installed and that cured to the extent that involves that process until around july third so monday through to about july third second i want to say that due to a lot of good work on the part of the skate ministries and especially  resources director we have implemented the holland youth connections program yesterday six youth were put to work in the city of holland and six for the city of ho public schools people will see these t shirts on you i also want to thank andy kenyon who's in the audience who is our key leader on this and we look forward to more and we will be having opportunity for anyone who wants to get to know these youth over the course of the summer so i just want to thank once again chandan andy and i was sad to say member who got this ball rolling and escape ministries and everyone else that has made it possible including our very generous anonymous donor thank you very good thank you ryan in addition to the usual announcements that i have in my typical communications at these meetings that of course go to city hall and dot com you'll find lots of information about the city information about how to get ahold of us we try to put as much information as we possibly can onto the city's website and that is a good place to hopefully find the information you're looking for in clued in that or ways to get ahold of each of us i would encourage people to do that residents do that visitors to do that and ultimately we want to hear from  our constituents and people who live in this city i have something else that i want to talk about tonight which is no great joy whatsoever and i do so in very much seriousness and well let me just begin i want to say that i am very disappointed in and i vigorously disagree with today's two to one ruling by the michigan court of appeals concerning the city of holland's terminations of jennifer french at the time of her terminations ms french was the clerk of the city of holland as clerk she was the person responsible for ensuring the integrity of our elections that occur in the city from local school board in coun elections to the presidential elections she was a senior manager of our city government reporting directly to the city manager given these responsibilities and privileges she like all city of holland employees and especially city senior said senior city management had a significant obligation to uphold the public trust and maintain its confidence her actions which came to light in two thousand and six violated that public trust and that confidence and they warranted her terminations here is what is not in question first ms french improperly filed a principal residence exemption for a house that she and her husband owned on south shore drive even though their principal residence was in douglas as a result she improperly received a homestead exemption on a house that was not her principal residence underpaying by nearly eight thousand dollars the taxes she legally own and money that would have gone to our schools these facts are not in dispute the michigan tax tribunals rejected her appeal on that issue found that she did not reside at the south shore property was not entitled to the principle resident exemption on the south shore property and ordered her to repay eight thousand dollars in taxes second in support of her claim on the principal residence exam residence exemption ms french improperly registered to vote in the city of holland listing the south shore property as her home address again the michigan tax tribunals held that she did not reside at that south shore address so ms french the city employee charged with ensuring the integrity of the election process in the city of holland falsely registered to vote in the city of holland even though she was not a resident of the city of holland armed with this information of misconduct and violation of the public trust our former city manager  no choice but to terminate ms french from her employment with the city of holland former mayor elm again and the city council at that time of which i was a part ratified that decision and did so unanimously i believe today as i did in two thousand and six that it was the right decision incidentally shortly after her terminations the michigan employment security administration denied her request for unemployment benefits because it determined that she had engaged in misconduct and that finding was upheld by its board of review despite all of these facts and these legal decisions one lone arbitrator concluded that the city of holland did not have just cause to terminate ms french it was an absurd routing ruling when it came out and it has not improved with age twice twice the circuit court in ottawa county has looked at this terminations and twice it has sided with the city of holland a second arbitrator who reheard the case some years later also sided with the city of holland unfortunately in a two to one decision released today a majority of the michigan court of appeals concluded that the decision of that one lone arbitrator the one person of all the persons who have reviewed this matter from the michigan tax tribunals to the michigan employment security administration to the second arbitrator to the ottawa county circuit court that one lone arbitrator is the one to side with ms french in the court of appeals determined that his decision control the outcome of this case i would encourage discourage members of the public to read the court's opinion issued today read the majority read the dissent and decide for yourself what whether the city of holland should have terminated ms french for her actions this city the city of holland is very serious about maintaining the trust of the people of holland the city of holland is very serious about ensuring that our employees exhibit a high degree of integrity and ethics with her actions ms french violated that trust and brought discredit upon the city of holland and its employees i believe so in two thousand and six when i voted to ratify mr wulf decision to terminate and i believe so as i sit here tonight the city is evaluating its legal options including whether to appeal the case to the michigan supreme court are there any communications or motions resolutions from counsel right we have a couple of appointments to take care of before we adjourn tonight we have the appointment of jim souter currently an alternate to the vacant position of the board of appeals with a commission to expire on june thirt twenty fifteen and additionally to appoint matthew pinsent into the community pool authority with his commission to expire june thirtieth twenty seventeen i place those before you for your consideration and hopeful action so moved by the mayor pro tem supported by all in favor please say i oppose the same that passes and the other motions resolutions this evening we should also say you know the first reading was taken off of consent so we should do the first reading one thousand b which is the sections of the amended ordinances to be amended relating to fireworks is their motion to place on first reading please so we supported by peter's all in favor please say i oppose the same we stand adjourned thank you and good night