Council Denies Starbucks Drive-Thru Hours Extension; Approval of Employee Retention Bonuses Tabled
The East Lansing City Council voted Tuesday, June 6, to deny an earlier opening time for a Starbucks with a drive-thru planned for Trowbridge Road and tabled a resolution to use federal funds to give retention bonuses to city employees.
Council also formally recognized June as Pride Month and Juneteenth as a holiday at the relatively short and sparsely attended Tuesday meeting.

Trowbridge Road Starbucks denied 5:30 a.m. opening time.
Council declined to grant a modification to a Special Use Permit (SUP) that would have allowed a Starbucks planned for Trowbridge Road to open at 5:30 a.m. instead of 6 a.m.
The site plan and SUP for the building that will hold the Starbucks store and drive-thru were approved by Council in 2017. At Tuesday’s meeting, Council was only voting on whether or not to allow the half-hour earlier start time. The topic was recently discussed at two Planning Commission meetings and that commission recommended approval of the request.
Jordan Jerore, Director of Real Estate for Boji Group, spoke on behalf of Starbucks at the meeting. She said the Starbucks stores in East Lansing share employees and the 5:30 a.m. start time would keep opening hours consistent. Additionally, she said the earlier start time would give the coffee shop a leg up on competitors.

Nearby residents spoke out against the extension, with concerns about traffic and early morning sleep disruptions. Sabrina Curley is a resident of the Arbor Forest apartment complex adjacent to the planned Starbucks. She said noise and shining headlights from people visiting other locations near her apartment are already a disturbance and the Starbucks will only add to that.
“Light and sound are not things that travel in a straight line,” she said. “By allowing a 5:30 a.m. start time, these nuisances would negatively affect residents for a longer time period very early in the morning.”
Curley also pointed out the 6 a.m. start time was already a compromise made when the project was initially approved and, she said, further extending it would be ignoring the voices of people who previously spoke out against the early opening time.

With Michigan State University nearby, Curley also voiced concerns about traffic congestion. She said residents exiting her apartment complex must turn right and those traveling eastbound must make a u-turn further west down the road. The area for drivers making the u-turn can only hold three cars and traffic can already make accessing the lane difficult.
Traffic congestion associated with another Starbucks drive-thru has been an issue in East Lansing. At the Jan. 17 meeting, Council discussed the popular coffee chain’s Stoddard Road location, which frequently backs traffic up to Grand River Avenue.

“I live very close to this Starbucks and there are periods of time where cars that are leaving the neighborhood can’t get onto Grand River or can’t turn off of Grand River because of the Starbucks drive-thru,” Councilmember Dana Watson said at that meeting.
Ultimately, Council voted unanimously against granting the Trowbridge hours extension. Prior to casting his vote, Councilmember George Brookover cited traffic concerns and a negative impact on nearby properties as reasons for his vote against.
Before the vote, Jerore said Council’s decision was “not a dealbreaker” for the Starbucks to open on Trowbridge Road.
Retention bonuses for City employees tabled, likely to be voted on at the June 13 meeting.
The ongoing problem of staff resignations has led city leaders to look at what could be done to retain more employees. But in a 3-2 vote, Council delayed approving retention-pay bonuses to city employees as council members asked to receive more details about the financial impact on the city.
The bonuses would be paid using federal funds awarded to East Lansing through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). If awarded as recommended in the June 6 agenda, the bonuses would be paid out to employees employed by the city from Jan. 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023, and July 1, 2023, through Jan. 1, 2024. Employees must have been working for the city for the entire six-month period to be eligible for the bonus payments.
The bonuses would pay $300/month for full-time employees, $150/month to part-time employees and $75/month to each regular contingent employee who worked at least 40 hours each month during the six-month period.
Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro said the bonuses would cost a maximum of $1,275,000. This is the estimated total cost if every employee were to meet requirements for the bonuses, which will not be the case. He said he did not ask for a more exact total because staff was busy working on the city’s budget when the resolution was drafted.

Talifarro said the resolution estimate was based on 283 full-time employees, 32 part-time employees and 199 contingent employees.
Brookover said he is in favor of retention bonuses, but doesn’t understand paying out the first round of bonuses so soon, when employees could leave shortly after they are paid.
“I guess I don’t quite understand why we’d be giving these retention bonuses at any time before January of 2024,” he said. “The reality is, so if you get a payment as of July 1, then you can walk as of July 2.”

Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg expressed a desire to reward employees who have stuck with the city through a “pretty rough time,” so she is in favor of the proposed timeline that provides a payment for the first-half of this year.
Despite knowing the resolution’s stated maximum cost, Brookover said he needs to know more about the financial impact before voting in support of the resolution.
“I’m in favor of retention bonuses, but I’m going to vote against this motion because I have no idea how much this is going to cost the city,” he said.
Gregg disagreed with Brookover, voting in favor of the bonuses.
“I wouldn’t want to table it because I think the intention is to reward people who have stuck with us through an unprecedentedly wild time,” she said. “It’s been heavily implied this Council is in favor of these retention bonuses and if we continue to kick it down the road, I think that kind of erodes our credibility a little bit.”
Talifarro said he can request more precise information but cautioned against assuming the resolution can be ultra-exact. He gave an example of an employee who is classified as part-time but works 35 hours each week and may warrant the higher bonus, which means the cost could be higher than it initially appears. The details will need to be worked out with employees and unions, he said.
Ultimately, the measure failed 3-2, with Councilmembers Dana Watson and Noel Garcia siding with Brookover. Mayor Ron Bacon and Gregg voted in favor of the bonuses.
However, multiple council members expressed a desire to vote again on the bonuses at the June 13 meeting after more refined numbers on the finances are provided. As Gregg said, even council members who voted against the measure at this meeting may be in favor of bonuses once they see a more complete picture of the impact on finances.
Talifarro said the bonuses are just one component of a larger plan to retain employees.
Other ideas include allowing more flexible scheduling, dress code changes, recognition and appreciation events, changes in the workplace environment, technology and software enhancements, training opportunities, team building, changes in personal time off, increases in leave time, tuition enhancements, a mentorship program, succession planning, paternity and maternity leave policy changes, and enhanced security in the workplace.
Talifarro said these ideas for potential solutions come from meetings with department directors and managers.
Garcia said he would like a culture survey done to get a more complete picture of employee desires.

“I think it’s important that we hear from every one of our employees and what their ideas are,” he said. “I think the intentions of department heads are wonderful, but without talking and hearing from their employees specifically, they might have a totally different idea.”
Pride month, Juneteenth will be recognized in the city.
On the consent agenda, Council approved two resolutions recognizing June as Pride Month and June 19 as the Juneteenth holiday, celebrating the day the last slaves were freed in the United States.
Wearing a t-shirt reading “Protect Trans Kids,” Gregg highlighted the importance of making members of the LGBTQ+ community feel safe.

“I think [Pride Month is] a happy occasion, but I always have to mention that it’s not just an excuse to have a party and a parade, that these prejudices are still very real,” she said. “I can tell you that I have three transgender kids that have moved their way through various sectors of our public school system and are definitely facing different kinds of bullying than their peers. Unfortunately, it’s not fully safe for everyone who would like to be out, to be out.”
The resolution for Juneteenth called June 19 “our nation’s second Independence Day.” At the May 23 Council meeting, street closures for a celebration march on June 18 to recognize Juneteenth were approved.