manager greg robinson and immediately following that we will have the pledge of allegiance to our nation's flag community once more this nation is rocked by another sense of tragedy what can we do to halt what has now become a regular occurrence in our country and around the world help us lord to join together as people with a common purpose to bring peace to your creation you have also provided us with the resources to deal with issues facing our holland community whether these issues be hunger violence poverty homelessness hopelessness or mental and physical illnesses let us turn and recognize you in our neighbors who are struggling with these very challenges we thank you for the opportunity lord  serve this community and we ask for your blessings and every person in this room that we will live the servants of love and harmony to all we pray this in your holy name amen  now we have before us a rather lengthy agenda but as we always do many of these items that are on this agenda are considered to be routine and have been discussed and dealt with at previous council sessions so those are moved together under what we call the consent agenda and those items are marked on your agenda with an asterisk if you need to gender there are agendas in the rack at the back of the room those consent items are marked with an asterisk and all of those items will be dealt with collectively with a single motion and a single vote now it may be that somebody who has come tonight may not consider that to be a routine item and would like the opportunity to either speak or hear the hear the merits of what is behind that item so after the clerk has summarized what is on the consent agenda if you wish to have an item removed from th consent agenda we ask that you would approach the microphone and indicate which item you would like removed and council members will also have a similar opportunity if there are items that they would like removed but before we can proceed we need to have a summary of the consent agenda and if you would please item five to approve the minutes of the study session help august twenty eighth and regular meeting held september fourth two thousand and hearing for consideration to reverse the decision of suspending operations for economy in hotel at four o nine u s thirty one south and also to accept a letter requesting a hearing submitted by c patel owner of wouldn't  motel located at four sixty five u s highway thirty one and to refer the letter to staff or study and report item eleven c to accept a letter of concern in regards of the part time position recommended by the city manager and established by counsel for the human relations and coordinators position item eleven d to accept a p a one ninety eight tax abatement application submitted by buehler prince inc at six seventy when  study and report item fourteen a one to approve a contract with eighteen in the total amount of ninety six thousand seven hundred eighteen dollars of which includes a ten percent contingency for services to abandon sanita manhole covers in the area of sixty eight between college and so on trial in columbia between six and seven streets pending approval asked for and by the city attorney item fourteen a two to approve a contract with seven brothers painting inc in the total amount of forty four thousand three hundred ten dollars in which includes a five percent contingency to partially repaint the interior installing a cathartic protection system to perform other miscellaneous maintenance improvements at the am forty elevated storage tank pending approval last a form from the city attorney i don't fourteen a four to approve the six offers of just compensation for the purchase of several parcels of land located in the area of the proposed new power plant and to authorize the mayor and deputy clerk to sign each offer just compensation as prepared by the city attorney i don't fourteen eighty five to approve a construction contract with my kind in corporate incorporated  hudsonville to install the hiawatha water main extension in the total amount of one hundred twenty nine thousand four hundred fifty eight dollars of which it includes a ten percent contingency pending approval as to form by the city attorney item fourteen a six to approve the schedule of wholesale power purchase through the michigan public power agency for five megawatts in calendar year two thousand and fourteen and for fifteen megawatts in calendar year two thousand and fifteen at prices not to exceed forty three and forty four dollars per megawatt hour respectively and to authorize the board of public works general manager to sign all necessary documents item fourteen c one to approve the and him if occasion and release from liability agreements submitted by ale city police department to permit the hauen public safety police division for the use of the seat belt convincer and the trailer used to transport for recovery frost on september twenty one and race day on october eighteenth two thousand and thirteen item campaign from october two thousand and thirteen until april two thousand and fourteen and that this action be subject to the city's parks division approving the exact location and installation of the signed item fourteen need two point two two except the city manager report regarding the island gardens consultation team as information i don't eat five point two to approve the updated hip up privacy policy business agreement with christian or in company subject as to form by the city attorney and item fourteen five point three to approve a contract with lake shore advantage for fiscal year two thousand and fourteen in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for the economic development funding at the mayor and the deputy clerk reauthorized to sign the contract and that this amount be funded through the economic development assistance project subject to approval as to form the city attorney for having heard the summary you have said is there anyone in the audience who would like any of these items one of these items removed from the con or do we handle the removal that comes next completely after this you now with regard to item for teen e two point three there was some discussion and we have a report that will go along with her and myers the head of department is here as well and together we will answer your questions thank you yes thank you thank you for some time to council this evening regarding the parking operations and maintenance assessment of the packing operations and maintenance assessment was a stablished in the downtown so that off street parking could remain free for customers and employees costs and expenses covered by the assessment clude but are not limited to the following lease costs incurred for parking lots lease to the city of holland maintenance of public parking lots and docks and clipping snowplowing resurfacing striping repair and replacement lighting capitalized improvement costs for a lot construction reconstruction and repair and administrative costs related relating to the parking lots of for proper operation maintenance and improvement those parcels determined to have a direct or incremental benefit from the downtown parking system have been included the parking assessment district includes properties within four hundred feet of a public parking lot and generally within the area bounded by fifth street on the north columbia avenue on the east eleventh street on the south and pine avenue on the west the parking assessment policy has been amended in the past and in two thousand and eight changes to the base formula from a building excuse me changes were made to the base formula from a building's front footage to square footage five percent of the basis susman as then lot of the data for each upper level that is vacant or used for storage sixty percent for upper levels used for offices and one hundred percent for upper levels used for retail or restaurants and fifteen percent for upper levels used for overnight sleeping rooms and a hotel or in nonprofit uses are sussed at a rate that is fifty percent of the typical susman residential uses are exempt in the policy the policy provides one hundred dollars credit against the a sauce a bill amount for each private parking space provided up to seventy percent of the total assessment the amount to us during fiscal year two thousand and thirteen was one hundred and one hundred eighty one thousand dollars two  forty eight dollars and fifty one cents excuse me based floor square footage rate was zero point three two two a three percent increase over the previous year the assessment for fiscal year two thousand and fourteen begins with the base first floor square footage rate of point three three zero and the total assessment is one hundred ninety thousand one hundred ninety thousand dollars fifty five hundred ninety four dollars and sixty four sons the assessment will ply two hundred forty six properties the increase total amount is due to an approximate three percent adjustment to revenue and adjustments to property uses within the past year this percentage increase has been the practice over the recent past an order to avoid large periodic increases  we thank you for your time this this evening and i'm happy to answer any questions related to the parking assessment thank you if you have questions for dana dana we've got a discrepancy again in the report that we have in front of us and when you read our reporting showing that this year's assessment would be one hundred eighty six thousand three hundred sixty eight dollars and twenty nine cents yes following the last time before council there were a few changes within the assessment roll that were identified one was related to some square footage in one of the properties another was related to profit status being removed from one of the individual properties and the other was related to nine parking credits for spaces to new holland beurre they actually built their cafe over the spaces that they were previously receiving credit for so those credits  removed from their particular property so that resulted in that change i can read that dollar figure again if you'd like it's one hundred ninety thousand one hundred ninety five hundred eighty four thousand dollars and sixty four cents opportunity to raise that at the hearing of the assessment roll there that letter may have been directed for a couple reasons one is if you're going to challenge an assessment you have to think that would be appropriate for counts to do if they decide to do that after the hearing of necessity so i don't think any substantive action is to be taken by council on that tonight thank you so  this is the public hearing the necessity of the role if there is anybody here to address the necessity of the assessment this is your opportunity  to ask you to come forward to podium and speak into the microphone state your name and address for the record and limit your comments to five minutes please anybody wish to address the parking system seeing none i will declare the public hearing to be closed and ask for the will of council on  so you know relations campaigns developing corden aiding in conducting retail and institutional promotions and sponsoring special events and related activities since it has been established the p s t has been dedicated to enhancing downtown how and by actively promoting and marketing downtown events and activities and the general business district specific p s t efforts include the down town hall and dining guide downtown maps group coupon booklets street performer series sidewalk sales live man turning now to the particulars of the actual assessment role the p s t assessment policy is approved by city council is based on building square footage and the assessment rates for fiscal year two thousand and fourteen are proposed to be the same as fiscal year two thousand and thirteen the fiscal year two thousand and thirteen assessment generated one hundred eighty one thousand dollars and one hundred eighty one thousand and eighty dollars and one thousand cents and revenues and the fiscal year two thousand and fourteen assessment well generate one hundred seventy nine thousand seven hundred eighteen dollars and seventy seven cents this is us middle clued one hundred seventy eight properties i'm just going to run through the assessment per square foot the core first floor is twenty two cents the upper floor retail or restaurant is twenty two sons as well if the upper floor is not retail or restaurant is eight cents a square foot at the edge the first floor is fourteen cents and the upper floor for retail restaurant is fourteen cents and the upper floor for other uses is set at eight cents and be happy to answer any  any questions for dana principal shopping which thank you and this is the public hearing on the necessity of this role as possibly deal with that at the roll hearing but simply note that they have filed it to preserve their rights at this point so if there's  anyone who wishes to speak to the necessity of the principal shopping district assessment the hearing is now open and i would ask again but to come forward state your name and address for the record and limit your comments to five minutes wonder mr mayor pro tem if this is a good time to give a plug for the p s t life mannequin friday night i believe that is correct six thirty eight thirty is their right ok seventy thirty seven a thirty ok and the theme this year you know are you still there by or i can take take this one downtown snow melt system the policy has a formula based on properties adjacent to the actual snow melt several different formulas that are applied to a property depending on if there are adjacent to a portion of a street and sidewalk that has snow melt or only adjacent to a sidewalk that has snow melt actually there's a third one if there are adjacent to a street and a sidewalk in the front and also a sidewalk that snow melted in the back and the nerves one it applies to some public spaces where that's based on square footage otherwise the policy is based on front footage so the map is on your screen these are the only properties that are in the district again tonight's the hearing into sesame but as far as the assessment goes the recommendation is a five percent increase in the assessment amount over that that was applied in fiscal year thirteen the total assessed amount is one hundred nine thousand five hundred twenty five dollars and seventy nine cents and there are one hundred thirty five properties in this particular district so the recommendation is that you dop to resolution of the ceci for the downtown snow melt operations assessment thank you we have no letters of exception before us on this one so what's the pleasure of counsel i'm sorry public hearing there's anybody who wishes to address the necessity of the snow melt operation assessment this is your opportunity you've heard the rules before thank you here is close good even the mayor pro tem and city council for those in the audience and those at home watching on t v my name is joe di on the community development corner for the city of holland this evening city council be holding yet another public hearing but this time in regards to the submission of the city's consolidated annual performance and evaluation report otherwise known as the cape or the city of holland is recognized by the federal department of urban housing and urban development as an entitle in title meant status gives the city of holland an annual grant from hard for the city to spend on community development activities throughout its neighborhoods as a result of us getting that money on an annual basis we then have to report back to hud what we what we did with those funds and how we went about meeting or the hundred quieter moments well we'd like to do this evening before having the public hearing as we'd like to give you a quick summary of how we spend federal dollars for the year two thousand and twelve two thousand and thirteen for two thousand and twelve two thousand and thirteen the city spent three three hundred twenty six thousand five hundred twenty four dollars and twenty three cents of federal funds over eighty three percent of the funds were direct benefits to low and moderate income households has a requirement that at least seventy percent goes to low to moderate income so we surpassed that requirement specifically we spent two hundred fourteen thousand dollars and some change on sixty six home with her projects for a load of moderate income homeowners fifty six percent of those home repairs what you make the homes more energy efficient we spent forty three thousand five hundred dollars on three public service projects we funded three  we funded four neighborhood groups that included two west corps three sixty washington school neighbors and heights of hope we spent one thousand dollars to provide transitional housing to thirty homeless families through good samaritan ministries transitional housing program and then we spent seven thousand dollars to provide shelter and services to fifty five individual people who were victims of domestic violence to center for women in transition we spent fifteen thousand five hundred eighty seven dollars to improve dallas who implant ninety eight street trees and low income neighborhoods one third of the street trees were planted in the abbey in stratford neighborhoods over in holland heights and then we spent fifty two thousand dollars and some change for administration costs and fair housing activities again you will be holding a public hearing next and then any comments that are submitted during the public hearing i'll be able to respond to and then we'll be asking the council approve all right this is time for the public hearing the use of the c b d funds affairs anybody who wish to make a statement that this is your opportunity to public hearing is open was joe on the bus pool i know that you need a lot of movement can you inform us exactly what was done there so we have kind of a mental recorrect the total budget for the balance pool improvements was fifty three thousand what we've done so far we've replaced the water the hot water heater supply system that was completed before june thirtieth which is our fiscal year since june thirtieth we've also installed new fencing around the pool we removed that rusted out chain link fence with barbed wire around it and and put in some nice black vinyl coated fencing that we reported next year to hide because that occurred after july first and then we're going to go in and install a wheelchair left per state code required mit so people who are disabled can still access and utilize the pool and then we will be sandblasting the pool with the remaining funds so when it's all said and done about fifty three thousand dollars of federal funds will be going into the pool as of right now for this report about five thousand dollars going into the hot water supply system is over three point four million dollars in machinery and equipment and they're hoping to create over one hundred jobs over the next two years as a result of this project the recommendation from staff we've reviewed the application no objections have been noted and we're recommending that you adopt a resolution approving this industrial facilities tax exemption certificate for a period of twelve years from the state tax commission approval date and i know we have done dayton here and brian matley from ellen wu also christine powers from lake shore advantage and i can tell you you know as i noted here there's seventeen facilities or so that l and w has and this is really the leading team here that brought this project to holland so a lot of credit goes to those three right there thank you well this is the opportunity for the public hearing so if one of you from the company would like to address coun evening my name is john dayton and i'm the director of community relations for ellen w engineering and my colleague brian mcnamee is the plant manager here and holland we thank you for your consideration of this abatement ellen wu is celebrating forty years of same ownership same management this year first plant started in bellville we now have twelve facilities in michigan and the family is from and loves michigan so we prefer our growth in michigan but we can we are even in what we call the difficult years in the auto industry ellen w grew eight percent year over year as the auto industry is now rebounding quickly l and w is growing exponentially and we look forward to doing that in michigan specifically with this project in holland we are looking to add one hundred jobs in adding this machinery and equipment to accommodate our customers rapid growth in the auto industry and foresee that that will not cease anytime soon from locally good evening but i would just like to say that i've been here for eight years now i'm a resident here in holland and i have three hundred employees and this point here that my strangely proud of the work ethic of the people in this area is completely outstanding which is one of the main reasons why i'm pushed so hard whenever we saw the opportunity in that little bit of floor space  to put new machinery and be able to bring more jobs we've had good luck hiring in here and working through like short damage in michigan works and some of the other things that you've had to offer we've have an excellent skilled trade group and i look forward to hopefully being able to add these of the limited capacity if i strap a weight that taking probably the lower range of of wages here if one hundred jobs are created at that point there will be an infusion of about two point three million dollars into the region annually in wages and if we look at what the total abatement dollars in terms of lost revenue to the city for the duration of this abatement period it's about seventy one thousand dollars to the city one hundred sixty six thousand dollars total abatement so my point is here rather alon gaited point is just to say way to go up appreciate the fact that number one you're paying a livable wage and also for the commitment that you're making to the community those who sometimes question whether these abatements are you know a good thing to do or the return on investment from the city's point of view is good i think these numbers point out that least in this case it's it's really really good so thank you very much for your commitment well and i'll take the ask for thank you reshape your investment in our community i would ask for indulgence counsel to suspend the rules we do have representative ski with us and i know that he wants to bring a report and has other things to do yet tonight so with the permission of council suspend the rules and invite the representative to the podium figured you'd appreciate an opportunity to talk about how to do jobs in his district anyway thank you mr mayor pro tem i appreciate the opportunity very much bob jeanette's who is a legislative update from lansing as you are aware we are back in the swing in the fall calendar with some good news initially the nonpartisan center of political agency's recently released figures for the month of august and it appears that through august of this year revenues to the state are up by about five point five percent over last year and while it's  as coming before you saying that revenues were down so we will hope that that trend continues and and takes us through the end of the year we did just recently see the governor signed into law the medicaid expansion bill was one of the  more challenging in and divisive bills we've seen in lansing in a while as many of you are aware i voted no on that my my hope is that i'm wrong long term however nobody could tell me in a few years when the federal government's commitment to pay for one hundred percent of that is withdrawn no one could promise me that it wouldn't come from revenue sharing from public safety who are from even education without a secure guarantee that i was unable to to vote for medicaid expansion but it a very difficult vote for a lot of the members we do have some other on finish business this fall as you're aware when we broke in right around memorial weekend the hc attacks from mainz on answered keep in mind that they hit taxes one of the manners by where we currently fund the current medicaid population current medicaid population admissions about one point nine million dollars that's prior to it by one point nine million michiganders that's prior to the expansion  the one point nine million michiganders set or medicaid are funded through a one point nine billion dollar general fund allotment and then an awful lot of taxes and fees assessed most of them on health care  for the average michigan taxpayer several years ago one of the parts of that mix was a six percent tax on h m o s and the administration in d c told us that we could no longer fund the medica drawdown money with that and so they strongly encouraged us to switch to the hc a tax which is the health insurance claims assessment we thereby as a legislature remove the six percent tax on h m o's and implemented  tax which is a one percent claims tax on every health care transaction throughout the state we were of the belief that that would come up with about four hundred million dollars a year to help fund medicaid and thus far it has fallen short every year matter of fact we about one hundred thirty million dollars in the hole on that and so that's one of the issues that needs to be addressed this fall hopefully prior to the fiscal year beginning on october first in addition there is an auto no fault reform bill that is sitting on the floor it left committee some time ago many months ago and has since been held up by several different coalitions well i'll tell you one of the first calls that we get on a regular basis in the office is complaining about auto insurance on the rates that it costs a state wide can also tell you that this bill is not without controversy and that those who are currently in the m c c trying benefits from that pool are very nervous about any changes to that so if you have any opinions on the on the bill before us or the system and in general i'm hearing from you finally the common core state standards for education has been quite a hot button issue that also through such attention that a special subcommittee of the education committee has been formed just take a look at this as you may or may not be aware the common core state standards have come down from the national governors association which is a nonprofit institution with funds from the gates foundation which basically try and get all of the states throughout the the u s to adopt these standards i'm looking through the standards myself within the k twelve language arts standards i do have some concerns i don't disagree that it's a good idea to have uniformity from state to state and every one of us wants high standards but i'm not going to tell you that machine standards were low before the implementation the common still common core state standards with that i'll take any questions or concerns from coun l health care thing is it's tough we appreciate that but i think i lost all your predecessors press predecessors this question i want to ask you the same as part of your position as an elected official in lansing do they provide health care if you can you tell me roughly what your contribution is to that on a monthly basis yeah roughly seventy dollars a month my policy overall is about five thousand five hundred dollars which is a drastic change from what i was teaching public school when my policy was nineteen thousand dollars a year to the local school district i know and that's a whole nother issue and i don't ask these questions for any other it's just their piece so many people in lansing making decisions on health care and i give you credit for having the answers because your predecessors basically said i know we have insurance i'm sure it's good but i don't i don't know so when you talk about twenty dollars deduct when a dollar prescriptions co pays and those kinds of things there's an awful lot of people out there with either no insurance or the only affordable insurance is to pay for five or six hundred dollars a month and then have the privilege of paying the first five thousand dollars toward it and so if you have a hard time all the way around so you know i just i appreciate your thoughtfulness on the health care issue  there's a lot of people don't go to the dentist and they'll get their glasses fixed and they don't go to the doctor because they simply can't afford it and i don't know why all the answers are i'm glad you're there rather than me sitting there but i appreciate it i think the sensitivity in your in your voice when you were explaining that bill i appreciate that i will let you know that i'm a little more aware recently of the cost of our individual policies because two years ago we made some major changes and when the state legislature implemented the hard cap that public schools could pay for an individual policy or the or the twenty percent automatic personal assessment we moved ourselves to the exact same plan before we did it before we implemented on the public schools and so it brought a little more awareness to each individual as to what things were costing any other questions for coming item ten adoption ordinance mr mayor pro tem perhaps i can just summarize the two ordinances that council has before you tonight if members of council think that they saw this on a prior agenda they're absolutely correct because what we're doing tonight is just re adapting to ordinances that were adopted at your aug twenty one meeting this section is necessary  because the charter requires that we do either a publication of the ordinance story summary of the or events within the twenty one day period after its passage unfortunately administratively that was not done and item number one is a very important one especially for project development for the apple dohrn senior housing project very simply what we have is a  ordinance tonight this being recommended to be readopted by council as an emergency ordinance you have a resolution in your package tonight that would make appropriate findings why an emergency ordinance is necessary some administrative difficulties for the development of that project so we're recommending that item ten eight that the council readapt the pilot ordinance that was granted in conjunction with the apple during senior housing project under the item subsequently in your agenda and under three point one there is a resolution that would grant the  pilot treatment to the specific project that has been is being proposed to be constructed the second item the beekeeping ordinance council substantive discussion about that we're not recommending emergency adaption of that ordinance so under item ten a the recommendation is that council adopt the resolution that would adopt the pilot ordinance amendment for apple who are in senior housing project as an emergency ordinance thank you for the report of the city attorney what's closure coun readopt ordinance sixteen fourteen which is the key being ordinance with the traditional charter effective date of twenty one days after re adoption thank you again me for the report of the city attorney thank you i would simply say that to twenty two years of doing this i can't remember having this happen more than once or twice which i think is a pretty good record all right that brings us then to see were all written communications were on consent so we're down to i am twelve and cations from the audience is anybody who would like to address council on an item that is not on the agenda this evening your opportunity is now usual rules apply broach the podium state your name and address for the record and limit your comments to five minutes what you wish to address that we see the light at the end of the tunnel on this community discussion on the civic center it was forwarded by the input of the community in the survey last fall the council is had several discussions on in the there's been an ad hoc team that's been brought together and basically there's two options before the council that are ranged between seven and nine million dollars depending on a number of variables it does seem clear to expensive so refurbishment major renovation seems to be the direction that we're headed and tonight there's an opportunity to bring closure to those community conversations by way of focus groups and  data collection that is anticipated will support the outcome that we seem to be headed in a way that will inform the community and the city council for what we hope is conclusive decision making on on the financing for such a project come april during your budget sessions or august or november in terms of a vote of the community depending on your preference so i do want to just remind people how heavily the civic center is the survey last fall showed that seventy seven percent of the community believe that it should have major expenditures directed towards it in terms of renovation or replacement that's the red in the blue and this shows you the amount of time the amount of use it gets depending on a person's time in holland home ownership or ethnicity and the results there show how valuable it is especially to someone or community that maybe don't have the same resources to have a private gym membership or other things like that these are all the reasons that we need to do this code compliance general comfort proof performances the  good with the new curtain time events with the heating ventilation and air conditioning that would be installed at the festivals recreation of course i've mentioned and also indoor farmers market  some of the options were basic option of seven point three million one that involves access to the rooftop and planning for the future as well as some meeting rooms for eight point four million and in any case there's been lots of discussion about what i call a sub option connecting college park to downtown by way of streetscape improvements on a street has been something talked about in a lot of contacts as well  waterfront downtown contacts as well as it passes by the civic center there should be an opportune time to think through that the basic option is one that was supported by a majority of the ad hoc committee and the second option is one point six million more i think with some information that would be gleaned by this report that might be something that all need to reconsider depending on the outcomes of this research this is the view looking north west from the top of the civic center this is looking due east and that's a preliminary sketch of what the outcomes might be and at this point i'd like to introduce jason from name each group will give us more information as to what they will do the former council question was this one should be a track conferences market research we're looking at that to make sure that one of these actions makes sense come to the table as well with the idea of looking for smaller community conversations calm focus groups but really looking to solicit the various stakeholders well to make sure that people are heard to make sure that interests are well represented and that that information is translated back to you and to the general public to make an informed decision on what to do with civic center site part of what we bring to the table not being direct market research agency ourselves but working with partners and that is to be able to visualize affirmation and to show you that in a bit more approachable way than just a pile of data which i think is what gets difficult in these decisions is to see how to navigate through and to see what interests are being represented and to see which option rises as the right one moving forward so i would expect that this would be a relatively quick process  me do you anticipate i was trying to answer my own question on the information about to walk so i'll ask you even if it's not a direct reference or a point do you think that this study will give us some idea of what renovation scenario a bit stiff sighted how that would affect potential development in the area yeah that's a good that's a great good question and that would be my hope is that we would be able to see that pretty clearly as to you know you have a civic center that's been here for sixty years whatever we do next is going to impact the next fifty to sixty years so i would as a resident i would hope hope that we don't create a roadblock for any future development that it that it enhances whatever might come that we know about or we don't know about so we need to make sure that we're positioned it well for that so my hope is that through especially the focus group conversation called a shot where we can really make sure that we're bringing those things to the table that works listing all the various stakeholders in an appropriate and responsible way so that we can see that moving forward i do use the word linkages we have a lot of different pockets and things that are happening  let's make sure that those linkages are identified so that when we move forward whatever it might be whatever option or option c that doesn't yet exist that we're doing responsibly and that everybody's interests are represented  but well it's astounding to me how often the holland civic center is used if you look at calendar of what goes on there from january to december and the vast majority of that stuff are community type things like the rod and gun club and the fish and game club and the stamp club and the rock and mineral show was just there this right again the karate club the knife show  so i'd hate to see it get to a play and those are all really important things so i get to a point where we get to me they are the constituency right now to me the question is is there another constituency that we might be able to utilize if we spend a little bit more money without displacing the current and stitch you and see we have and what does that look like and so it just seems to me like in my gut  we don't need to spend thirty thousand dollars to figure out what the art of the possible is so i go at this pretty reluctantly but what i hope we do is well we're talking about the civic center there is the discussion about what's going to go on at the western tool works facility wh is right across the street essentially close to washington school which is a block in the other direction it is currently thinking about some very big kind of creative things about what's going to be one home public schools that need that building again in about eighteen months where i'm in a very large discussion about windmill island and getting all of those assets in pristine condition so that we can think outside the box with well now what are we going to do with that so there's just so much bubbling up here that i just want to make sure we don't displace what the civic center has become and the needs that it fills right now with some thought about outside the box you know i'm having a hard time getting my hands around the conference center kind of thing because it doesn't feel like the civic center to me now maybe there's some elements we could add to that that would create spurs some economic development for some of these other things that might come along but to me i hope that report if we spend that kind of money i hope and we've we it's a very large picture of what's the art of the possible ten years down the line with an extra investment of so we can get up on the roof right that i don't know i can't and should be nice but for what and for what purpose so i hope there's some real futuristic kind of thinking that that kind of ties those kinds of questions to you and i think that that's the hope when we when we look at where we started on this original proposal it was very much research it's still research but with i hesitate to use the word vision because it means a lot of different things a lot of different people and it's a soft word but it can be a hard word it can be a powerful word i want to make sure that we're looking at it as a site and take that as what you will but as a broader and that he there washington the lakefront north of there whatever it might be we're looking at the whole picture and making sure that that's captured somewhere for when the time right that it's a wise investment and if we're looking as a modular investment what are the next pieces right around on the road and so we have a good plan moving forward so that well stated a modular investment implying that that could up some other things but in we don't know that i mean right not so that's you know it's a broader longer term strategy and it's somehow if there's some good good good shot at that than that report i have to suggest how you know who to talk to and why would they suggest that and i know there are some key players in this thing so i would think you get your work cut out for you i mean a lot of people look at this right kind of comes back to about the same thing and so the fresh thinking and i think  real outside the box look at some of these other community projects we have going right now and how do they all kind of fit together what's it like you say the out of the possible that  side spent a couple hours by the civic center today and it was fantastic it was farmers market the parking lot was pretty full on some time inside the civic center there was a job fair there today and in talking to a number of the people that had exhibits there i mean there's no question about it needs you need ok the question i ask them is is there something here that you would need that you don't have and they had the life by they had the electrical sometimes extension cords around the floor etc but pretty much every vendor was pretty satisfied the only one person on the pipe on the perimeter be nice to have some kind of material covering it so you could hide your coats and stuff like that which might be a little bit but pretty much they were satisfied with what they had that was just a one group what is your feeling there seems to be many things that i have read that says government don't own it get private people who make the investment we've gotten out of the stadium business and i think that was the right decision for a win win win what you're thinking do we want to get back into the ownership of a large complex there or are we going to be better off making a smaller commitment having if it's a need to get some other private group or groups what you're feeling what's what's kind of the trend and what you've got yeah i think that's a good question i may not be the the right person to answer that i'll tell you what i think but i think that that is an option that should be looked at but by enlarge the civic center is holland it's part of this core fabric it's been used well an astounding amount really when i found that out too there's the amount of use that's happening some limitations that right reisa surface  of things like bathrooms and heating and cooling there's a vacancy in the summer because it's just not possible for certain events with the weather there's a whole issue of holon reckon how they fall into that and what this community really needs that entity to do and what facility they need to do that when all those sorts of things could start to come to the table it would seem to me that it might be wise to remain holland a city property there is probably a hybrid solution of how to the civic center is belongs to the people and i talked to one person this weekend and he's like yeah you know i just have so many good memories there i remember going there as a kid to different things i remember going there for basketball games i remember you know it's just it is like the family room of the community and you don't have to be some big fancy anything anything but everyone feels good about coming there but it is kind of like house that hasn't been tended tale and it's a little embarrassing to invite the community in there and i really think we value our community more than that it really doesn't live up to the level of what we want to see in holland and you know we've been standing on the cracking foundation now for a while and so we really do need to fill that in and i don't know how many of the past plans went to the roof to decide on how you can use that and i don't think we used roofs that much the last time we did a plan like this i don't think we were talking about waterfront development at that time washington like jay said the washington building wasn't going to be available we weren't thinking about rerouting traffic possibly through there we hadn't really emphasized that how we do public spaces in holland and i really do think it's a good time to stop and think and bring people into the conversation that it's not just a decision of nine people here or even a committee that you open up to the community because people have limited time and and all of that but i do think that organize she writes with expertise in facilitating conversation discussion generating ideas i think we get great things from the public as we think about this because i do think it has a place in the heart of holland so realizing that and shaping it and figuring out how to use it for the future and you mentioned the word vision i really do think we have to realize how close water is to her downtown and we have to connect that for the public and we need to grow down pound to the water and vice versa so the best way to do that is to see it and feel it and i don't think we use our vertical space enough either in how and you can go to city view restaurant and that's gorgeous and you go t tap the library at the seminary wonderful it's all great and i think the warm front probably has a good view too but the civic center is a huge amount of square footage it's just big huge and square and if we could put roof on there that sustainable would last twice as long as a regular roof i know the company that we have hired to help us with our water development is putting my roof top deck their own building because they want that they're a visionary company and they want that kind of thing although he said our rooftop view is going to be way better than they're just and that's good but anyway so i just think it's an important thing for us to grow the conversation to embrace the future in a really proactive way to use all the wonderful assets that we have naturally here and how everybody enjoy those we're at a crossroads it's really important when you get there to know which way to turn and to do it right so that those who come after us will look back and say you know that was thirty thousand well spent because those people figured out the best way to use it the best way to use that facility the best way to put it in the fabric of the whole community the best way to sell it to the public to understand the value and it really was the catalyst that got us over the hump of how the main argument against doing something like this is that we've done it already we have data and research that's been captured i think that's a valid statement but it's been a while since we've done that this is a different community right now that has different needs for there's a new things that are bubbling up that we need fraction of that line item that would  comments i i'm going to green it with what nancy said i don't think there's any question that something has to be done with this building the question before us right now is do we spend thirty thousand dollars and gave him some information to help us decide what that is it is true that we've had studies done in the past and that there's information there but i think your point is also very valid that those studies were done in the past yesterday is different than today and it is different than what what tomorrow is going to be and i guess for me this is a discussion is not as much about what we should do as much of it as it is what we should not do i'm not going to be around forty or sixty years from now so that make a lot of difference to me what happens back then but i don't want somebody saying what i done had hooks to white anything a little farther along and make a better decision maybe in ten or twenty years that whatever we do right now could be augmented with an addition our or some other sort of renovation to it to suit a need that arises then but i would hate to make a maintenance decision now that would position us in a detrimental situation i don't mind using the word visionary because i think that's why we're here so i want to make a visionary decision when i look to the future i want to know maybe not conclusively but have you know as good a chance at understanding what other uses might be available for the civic center that that are being used right now you know other things that could happen that are just being thwarted because of the condition are things that don't exist or whatever airconditioning obviously is one thing but if what we do also is the impetus and the catalyst for other development well it goes to the same sort of thing that we did earlier by giving an abatement we it's an investment in our community so and also the fact that bill johnson is potentially involved i mean it's worth thirty thousand bucks right there it's community and to serve the community needs better presently and as best we can anticipate them then i in my mind it's a good investment so i'm in support of this l earlier tonight the emergency ordinance was adopted that allowed the p mint in lieu of taxes ordinance to be amended that however did not allow that to be applied to this project specifically the ordinance also requires a resolution that allows this project for the eighty five year to facility for seniors to be able to be treated with a payment of taxes as opposed to the regular taxes as he might on another project so in front of you is a resolution requesting your action to that effect and along with this ordinance to be applied to this project specifically questions flapped percentage that has been applied against the annual shelter rounds this has an escalating scale to it going from four percent to sixteen percent or six percent surely just about her heart fluttered when i said sixteen after calendar year fifteen so as mr viability is syndicated this would be a site specific resolution that would grant the pilot treatment we have received long committee approval from the michigan state housing development authority and this project will be pres that night for final board a profile on the twenty fifth following that napery view and release of funds from hyde we hope to get this project started on or before november first and i think you might has any questions i'd be glad to answer th amount of four hundred fifteen dollars and forty two cents collected from the two thousand and thirteen or bloc and pancake breakfast held on september second two thousand and thirteen for the sopper a scholarship fund this is after the expense of nine hundred  seventy dollars and fifty eight cents were taken from the total amount that was for this event was one thousand three hundred eighty six any anonymous donor in the amount of thirty six dollars and from william and laurie note here in the amount of two hundred fifty dollars it is recommended that the said donations be accepted with appreciation and an expression of gratitude be forwarded to three part plan to reform the windmill as well as build a bridge to harvard charter township and pathways we will be talking about this more of our next study session but i did want to let you know there's some late breaking information involving the west michigan trails and greenways who has taken an interest in this project especially the trail work and has it connects to how a greenway eventually and as a connects to the holland charter township pathways they have recommended that we feedback that is encouraging the city to apply for funds to assist in the non motorized transportation elements of this entire project in a way that could produce additional grant dollars resources trust fund application i would like to have him and i work on this as well on a fast track and bring it to you on october second for your review because the deadline is october fourteenth to get into the funding plenary conversation today and i just wanted to share that with council and let you know it would be on an upcoming agenda unless there's any objection next i just want to thank you night way who has three teams coming here tomorrow as part of their day of caring project and on your screen is once again a notation of holland's accomplishments over the years being one of america's prettiest towns and we appreciate united way coming tomorrow to help make it continue that way it's a team effort and we appreciate their assistance in the volunteers who work with them on this last year herman miller was instrumental in cleaning up shoreline and that is one of our projects this year as well as to others all right communications from the mayor i guess would be high from detroit as he is representing us at the michigan miniscule league annual conference that is there but  on his behalf i would bring some appointments and also a resignation points would communications from council members you know one of the last weekend we had the civil war muster which i think was about the fourth year of that awesome activity educational fifth graders from all over came out of friday to learn about the civil war and the part that veterans from the royalties on family played in that it's a great way for kids to learn and it's not just on a flat surface they can actually go out in the woods and smell and feel what it is was like to live back then and the numbers of people that came for the muster and friday and saturday and sunday was higher than before it's a gradually growing number of people people came from further away the rian actors are telling more of their friends to be a part of this activity reenactment as a family activity is one of the fastest growing family vacations that people really enjoy coming as a family to do reenactment and that is a great thing for all of us because that means they've invested in all of those fancy well they're not fancy but they're expensive it costs about eleven hundred dollars to get the outfit for a civil civil war soldier and that's without your whatever their guns are called something thank you  yeah of course but so it's a big investment on the part of these families and they do that all themselves and they just love spending their time together and teaching their children and it's just such a great way to bring other people in and learn and the authenticity of that site and then royalty farm is so exciting to the rian actors and to the people that come they have we already have a woods we have a hill to watch the battles we had more horses that came for the cavalry deal this year they had a great dance with fiddle fire panning the family everybody was having a great time with that it is a really great event and we would love to expand that they're talking about adding maybe a quilting division to it next year and just gradually grow this whole whole event so that more and more people can enjoy coming to the fireman and discovering this whole region as a destination also as greg mentioned tomorrow night is going to be the  friday night of the live mannequins which is great there's also a car show that's going to be going through downtown out of friday which is which is great to see also and right now all the holland bloom committee people are in orlando florida waiting to find out what how how how and will do in the america in bloom competition this year they should have a banquet on saturday and they will open the envelope please and we'll find out about how and how we did in the american bloom competition hopefully will do as well as we have in the past in this past week we also had a vision casting meeting at the farm talking about the civil war muster and all that can be abo and what to do with the barns out there and how to keep everything up and expand the use of the farm with a good vision that is consistent with the message of then royalty and the development of highland  so that is an exciting effort that is just starting to percolate so if you're really interested in vendor all the farm please let us know because i'm sure there's going to be a place for you as we work on how to develop the farm and also when gardens we are going to get visitors soon and september thirty in october one they are going to come in and help us as consultants to figure out how to develop an interpretive plan for windmill i don't garden so that whatever we do out there can have more events and bring in people but it will all be authentic and consistent with the vision that we want to cast for when my island gardens so we are on the cusp of so many exciting things in how and with the properties that we have and the possible development that's coming and we really appreciate the ideas and the involvement of other people we have kind of come to a different point in government that we can't have the government do everything and with all the property taxes going down in the way things are funded with revenue sharing we as a council and as a group of people here that work for the city have had to say you know we can't pay for everything and the windmill is going to break and stuff is going to happen and we want to still have gorgeous parks and we want to have places that people can gather so in order to be able to continue to develop provide the quality that this era knows and loves we need to private investment and we do private involvement and all the ideas that come from the wonderful people that make up the community of holland in this greater region so this is the time to get involved and to help us in casting vision that's going to make this place so much better for future generations and we are really like i've said before at a crossroads and it's a different time this is a new normal and we're really glad that people are being so supportive and willing to come alongside in this fundraising campaign from women i gardens is just awesome the amount of people that have stepped forward the people that have come forward with their own money to encourage others to give with matching funds all of that creativity and dedication and commitment is so inspiring to everyone that works for the city and all those that are working to lead it and we just so appreciate all your involvement you know forbes said where the america's prettiest one of the americas prettiest towns but you know that is much more than a look these people all the people in holland our greatest resource and it is so exciting to have such diversity such dedication said hard working creative entrepreneurial people and so  for the snow melt this is a wonderful thing that our downtown merchants and people do to help this community and we need to support our downtown area whenever possible three tomorrow night at six thirty there will be a meeting at the col park fire department located right next to collin park concerning the safety of crossing the one royalty avenue cross walk and joel di will be there is one of the city reps and i i'm hoping maybe some of the city council people can be their number three the h r c has interviewed three great candidates this week for that part time position and hopefully within the next several days will be able to announce someone for that particular position and last of all probably have gotten a letter from the fair housing center there were a meeting at the midtown center on thursday october dr dennis preston from oklahoma state university will be there will speak on his research conduct concerning linguistic profiling that's really interesting i had never