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CITY OF MUSKEGON
CITY COMMISSION MEETING
JULY 26, 2022 @ 5:30 P.M.
MUSKEGON CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS
933 TERRACE STREET, MUSKEGON, MI 49440
MINUTES
The Regular Commission Meeting of the City of Muskegon was held at City Hall,
933 Terrace Street, Muskegon, Michigan at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 26, 2022,
Vice Mayor, Willie German, Jr., opened the meeting with prayer, after which the
Commission and public recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Present: Mayor Ken Johnson, Vice Mayor Willie German, Jr., Commissioners,
Teresa Emory, Rachel Gorman, Rebecca St.Clair, and Michael Ramsey, Interim
City Manager LeighAnn Mikesell, City Attorney John Schrier, and City Clerk Ann
Meisch.
Absent: Commissioner Eric Hood
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: Public comments received.
2022-70 CONSENT AGENDA:
A. Approval of Minutes City Clerk
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: To approve the minutes of the June 15, 2022 Special
Meeting and the June 28, 2022 Regular Meeting.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve the minutes.
B. 2022 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Public Safety
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Public Safety is seeking approval to enter into an MOU
(Memorandum of Understanding) with the County of Muskegon and Muskegon
Heights and to apply for the allocated 2022 JAG (Justice Assistance Grant)
grant funds.
Public Safety is seeking approval to enter into an MOU with the County of
Muskegon and Muskegon Heights and to apply for the allocated 2022 Edward
Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program funds. This year’s local
JAG allocations to disparate jurisdictions in our county totals $41,661. The City of
Muskegon will continue to act as the fiduciary and receive $22,790, the City of
Muskegon Heights would be a subawardee and receive $18,871 and the
County of Muskegon would not receive funding. The County will be reviewing
the agreement for approval at their July meeting. There is no match
requirement for this grant. Similar to past years, the City of Muskegon’s portion of
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this grant will be used for the prosecution of city ordinance cases dealing
primarily with neighborhood issues.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve the 2022 JAG Program Award
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), authorize the Mayor to sign, and
authorize staff to apply for the 2022 JAG grant funds.
C. Uncollectible Accounts Finance
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Write off CMI- Site Assessment $22,195.21 and
Hendrickson Brownfield load $18,554.93 as bad debt. The Hendrickson
Brownfield is from March of 2017 and the CMI Assessment is from 2004.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Write off CMI-Site Assessment $22,195.21 and
Hendrickson Brownfield loan $18,554.93 as bad debt.
D. Certification of MERS Representatives Finance
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Assigning Delegates for MERS Conference.
The MERS plan document provides that “the governing body for each
municipality shall certify the names of (2) delegates to the Annual Meeting. One
delegate shall be a member who is an officer of the municipality appointed by
the governing body of the municipality. The other delegate shall be a member
who is not an officer of the municipality, elected by the member
officer/employees of the municipality.”
The City’s employee units previously agreed to a rotating system (based on date
of joining MERS) to select one official employee representative. This year the
official employee representative attending the MERS conference will be
Michael Hewartson from the Fire Unit.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve Hayden Nickell (Finance
Management Assistant) as designated delegate to MERS Conference and to
make Michael Hewartson employee representative.
E. Haunted Fields Cannabis Event DPW
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: 420 Harvey Events LLC would like to hast a small
cannabis event on their property located at 420 Harvey Street on Friday,
October 28, 2022.
This will be a Halloween themed cannabis event on private property located in
the marihuana overlay district. They expect to host 200 guests from 7-11 pm.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve the cannabis event to be held at 420
Harvey Street on October 28, 2022.
H. Sherman Boulevard Scrap Tire Grant DPW/Engineering
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Staff is requesting permission to approve two contracts.
The City was awarded a market development grant to use scrap tires in the
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concrete on the reconstruction of Sherman. One contract is with EGLE, to
receive and administer the grant funds. The other contract is with Michigan
Technological University (MTU). MTU has agreed to do all of the research and
development for the project, including on site testing and lab analysis. Legal
counsel is still reviewing the contracts for legal conformity.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To authorize staff to approve contracts with EGLE
and MTU, pending legal review.
I. Concession Agreement – Baby Suga’s DPW
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Staff is seeking permission to enter into a contractual
agreement with Joseph Lopez of “Baby Suga’s Cheesesteak Shack” at various
locations including Pere Marquette Park for 2022. Fees to the City of $1,000 plus
5% of Gross Receipts are proposed in accordance with the policy being
adopted.
Mr. Lopez’s proposal states: “My name is Joseph Lopez, owner/operator of Baby
Suga’s Cheesesteak Shack, we are a fairly new, local food tent building a truck
to serve out of. We would ask for consideration to sell our products in the parks
of Muskegon!” and offers cheesesteak sandwiches and other handheld items.
Mr. Lopez plans to locate the concession daily depending on weather and
traffic in an attempt to maximize sales. Staff will work with Mr. Lopez to ensure
specific locations are safe and accessible.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To authorize staff to enter into a Concession
Agreement with Joseph Lopez of “Baby Suga’s Cheesesteak Shack” at various
locations including Pere Marquette park for 2022.
L. Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance - Critical Dunes Planning
2nd READING
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Staff initiated request to revoke Section 12310 (Critical
Dunes) of the zoning ordinance.
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended in favor of revoking the
ordinance.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve the request to revoke Section 2310 of
the zoning ordinance.
Motion by Vice Mayor German, second by Commissioner Ramsey, to accept
the consent agenda as presented, minus items F, G, J and K.
ROLL VOTE: Ayes: Emory, St.Clair, Johnson, Ramsey, German, and Gorman
Nays: None
MOTION PASSES
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2022-71 REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA:
F. MDNR Conversion Assistance RFQ DPW/Parks
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: DPW is requesting permission to solicit proposals from
interested firms to provide the city assistance in working through the MDNR
(Michigan Department of Natural Resources) conversion process.
The Adelaide Pointe and Hartshorn Village projects are going to impact MDNR
encumbered properties in the form of Hartshorn Marina and the Lakeshore Trail.
As those development projects progress into future stages the city will need to
work with MDNR and the National Park Service (NPS) to ensure that the impacts
to the encumbered properties are properly mitigated.
MDNR allows for multiple conversions to be resolved concurrently, as such, we
are also including assistance for other potential conversions in this proposal so
those can all be resolved.
MDNR manages this process on the state level and terms this as a “conversion”
wherein an area that is encumbered for public outdoor recreation is converted
into another use. The encumbered area that is converted into a space that is
not for public outdoor recreation must be replaced by an equal or greater
value area that is dedicated for public outdoor recreation.
No one on city staff has experience working through the multi-stop process so
we are requesting to solicit proposals from interested firms to provide us
technical assistance and experience in navigating the complex process. A draft
of the RFG along with the proposed attachments have been provided for
review.
A few things of note:
• A budget will need to be established for the conversion assistance as it
was not included in the original 22/23 budget proposal. Significant staff
time is also anticipated to be required for the effort.
• Entering into a conversion process will functionally eliminate the City from
consideration for most MDNR grants until such time that the conversion is
satisfactorily resolved. Being involved in an active conversion carries an
automatic 50-point deduction (400-point scale) on any grant applications
until it is resolved.
• The conversion process is expected to take less than one year to
complete as some of the impacted properties are encumbered through
the NPS (National Park Service) and require federal concurrence.
At this time staff is only asking for permission to solicit proposals with the
expectation that the proposal will require future approval and consideration by
this commission. As such, there is zero cost implication at this time, however the
future consideration will require a cost allocation.
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STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To authorize staff to solicit proposals for
professional assistance in the MDNR conversion process.
Motion by Commissioner St.Clair, second by Commissioner Ramsey, to authorize
staff to solicit proposals for professional assistance in the MDNR conversion
process.
ROLL VOTE: Ayes: St.Clair, Johnson, Ramsey, German, Gorman, and Emory
Nays: None
MOTION PASSES
G. Parks Concession Policy DPW/Parks
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: DPW is requesting approval of the enclosed policy to
guide the application and approval of concession operations within the city
park system.
The policy was previously discussed at the July 11, 2022 Worksession meeting
and includes a number of edits to that original document per those discussions
and as follows:
• Various formatting and grammatical errors
• Revised approval path to require Commission approval of all applications
• Revised brick and mortar to allow one renewal term before reverting to
RFP process
• Added 5% gross receipts requirement to concessions operating outside of
westside parks
• Added earmark for revenue to General Fund for park purposes
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve the Park Concession Policy.
Motion by Commissioner Ramsey, second by Commissioner St.Clair, to approve
the Park Concession Policy.
ROLL VOTE: Ayes: St.Clair, Johnson, Ramsey, German, Gorman, and Emory
Nays: None
MOTION PASSES
J. Beachwood Park Fitness Equipment DPW
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Staff is seeking approval to contract with Sinclair
Recreation for anew fitness structure in Beachwood Park using funds donated by
the Beachwood-Bluffton Neighborhood Association.
Members of the Beachwood-Bluffton Neighborhood Association (BBNA), with
the support of City staff, engaged in a fundraising campaign, including a dollar-
for-dollar matching Patronicity grant through the Michigan Economic
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Development Corporation (MEDC), securing funds to purchase a Thrive 450
fitness structure from Sinclair Recreation in the amount of $34,017.07 as detailed
on the attached documents. The Public Works Department has worked with the
group to identify a location in Beachwood Park for the equipment and has
committed to various minor tasks to help with installation.
The BBNA has worked with Sinclair Recreation, DPW, and other partners to
develop a “fitness trail” concept that will eventually include this structure, a
similar structure at the other end of the path leading north from Beachwood
Park, and additional fitness “stations” along the route. Users will be able to
perform exercises at each structure and station while running or walking along
the trail. This structure is Phase 1 of the overall plan.
Due to the City’s competitive bidding arrangement with Sinclair Recreation and
our tax-exempt status, the BBNA requested that the City purchase the Thrive 450
equipment with full reimbursement from the fundraising campaign. The
campaign dollars are housed at the City, so a simple fund transfer is all that is
required.
AMOUNT REQUESTED: $34,017.07 AMOUNT BUDGETED: N/A
FUND OR ACCOUNT: Donations
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To authorize staff to contract with Sinclair
Recreation in the amount of $34,017.07 using donated funds for the purchase of
a Thrive 450 structure from Sinclair Recreation, including installation in
Beachwood Park.
Motion by Commissioner Gorman, second by Commissioner Emory, to authorize
staff to contract with Sinclair Recreation in the amount of $34,017.07 using
donated funds for the purchase of a Thrive 450 structure from Sinclair Recreation,
including installation in Beachwood Park.
ROLL VOTE: Ayes: Ramsey, German, Gorman, Emory, St.Clair, and Johnson
Nays: None
MOTION PASSES
K. LAF Grant City Clerk
SUMMARY OF REQUEST: The City of Muskegon is in the process of pursuing a
mini-grant from the Michigan Arts and Cultural Council int eh amount of $2,000
to support the 2023 Lakeshore Art Festival. Grant funds will support artists’ fees
(performers and artists), art supplies for the interactive art activities, and
marketing efforts to attract a diverse audience. Per the grant requirements, the
fund will be matched 1:1 from the Festival budget.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: To approve the submission of the grant
application to MCACA.
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Motion by Commissioner Ramsey, second by Commissioner Gorman, to
approve the submission of the grant application to MCACA.
ROLL VOTE: Ayes: Ramsey, German, Gorman, Emory, St.Clair, and Johnson
Nays: None
MOTION PASSES
ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
Interim City Manager, LeighAnn Mikesell provided an update on the recruitment
of a new Public Safety Director, a meet & greet event open to the public will be
held Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 5:30 p.m.
City Clerk, Ann Meisch, provided an update on the August 2, 2022 Primary and
the Clerk’s efforts to increase visibility and accessibility.
Andy Rush, Interim Public Safety Director, provided an update on the recent
drowning at Pere Marquette Park and the efforts to provide information to
beach goers regarding the conditions as well as the use of signal devices.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS: Public comments received.
ADJOURNMENT: The City Commission meeting adjourned at 6:12 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ann Marie Meisch, MMC - City Clerk
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