What Happened at Council This Week?
East Lansing’s City Council meeting of Tuesday, Feb. 21, marked the first for Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro. Familiar with key aspects of the city’s operations because he served as East Lansing’s fire chief before retiring in June 2021, Talifarro actively participated in the meeting, asking questions during the budget forecast presentation, using his designated comment period to praise first responders to last week’s shooting, and thanking the staff for persevering during this time of critical staffing shortages.
Councilmember George Brookover was absent. No reason was given, but the remaining four council members voted to excuse the absence.
At the meeting, which lasted a little over two hours, Talifarro and Council spoke about the shooting, recognized a talented wrestler and voted through a long consent agenda.
Here’s a rundown of what happened:
Members of council spoke about the shooting on Michigan State University’s campus last Monday.
Mayor Ron Bacon called on new Councilmember Noel Garcia first. Reading from a prepared statement, Garcia said he wanted to “take this time to recognize our police force who, when it really counted, exposed who they really are.” A former police officer himself, Garcia said they “led from their heart, running towards the danger with bravery.”
Officers flooded in from a wide surrounding area, and Garcia said “that show of force saved lives” by “disrupting” the gunman’s actions.

Garcia noted only four officers, including one supervisor, were on shift that night. But 35 ELPD officers ended up on the scene out of ELPD’s force of 43 sworn officers. The 35, as named by Garcia, included Chief Kim Johnson, Deputy Chief Chad Connelly and Captain Chad Pride; Lieutenants Adrian Ojerio, Adam Park and Scot Sexton; Sergeants Jayson Young, Chad Stemen, Tony Fuller and Nicole Mitchell; Chaplain Jermaine Gayle; Officers Jose Viera, Yutaka Benson, Jacey Kingsbury, Katey Harrison, Kirsten Wright, Kenyon Smith, Chris Shadduck, Beck Martin, Jeremy Hamilton, Austin Nelson, Jacob Jones, Steve Whelan, Kalya BeVier, James Menser and Jordan Woodruff; K9 Officers Tyler Cassidy and Jeff Horn; Detectives Jason Cotton, Justan Horst and Ben Mommersteeg; PACE Officers Alex Barber and Kobe Rochester; Cadets Caitrin Martin and Colin Lemere; and Jail Service Officer Merisa Softic.
Choking up, Garcia noted that Captain Pride was in the meeting room and conveyed his thanks on behalf of all of the citizens of the city “to our brave officers.”
Councilmember Dana Watson also read from a prepared statement. She called for “serious gun reform” by the Michigan legislature in the near future.

“We didn’t have mass shootings when I was growing up,” Watson said.
She recalled that earlier generations had been taught duck-and-cover for nuclear war, but political progress ended those drills in the 1980s. She called for similar political progress with gun control nationwide.
Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg said she wished she had had the presence of mind to prepare a written statement, but hadn’t. She broke down weeping and said that, while she thought she was “past this part of my grieving,” that wasn’t the case and asked Bacon to move on.

Bacon echoed the remarks of his colleagues saying this was the hardest experience he had gone through except for losing his parents. He said he was with the police administration during the manhunt and felt “rather helpless.” He expressed appreciation for their leadership and praised the first responders along with the rest of city staff. Bacon called the loss of the three families whose members died “indescribable” but said “we will find a path forward, we will reclaim the space.”
The agenda called for a report from the city manager next, and Talifarro read from a prepared statement, naming the three students who died: Arielle Anderson, Alexandria Verne and Brian Fraser.

“No words can express our genuine sorrow for their loss,” Talifarro said.
Talifarro called the police officers and firefighter-paramedics who responded “true selfless heroes.” He also thanked their families, saying he appreciates the sacrifices they make. Talifarro noted that Captain Pride worked through the event despite having lost his father that morning.
“When you talk about dedication, there is no better example of it than that,” he said. He spoke of “the tremendous amount of cooperation and courage exemplified that night.”
Talifarro said the son of one of the firefighter-paramedics who responded was in a very serious car accident the next day. He said he “didn’t want to lose sight” of the public service provided despite facing personal tragedy. He also thanked the rest of city staff for “extraordinary work” during the aftermath, including by the Parks & Recreation staff at Hannah Community Center, the library staff and the communications team.
Thanking Council for granting him the position of interim city manager, Talifarro said he planned to meet with each council member to catch up with them.
City Attorney Tony Chub had no report other than to “echo the sentiments of all that has been said tonight. It has been really amazing to watch the city employees and how they have helped the community In the aftermath.”

The consent agenda included Albert EL Fresco, multiple contracts and more.
The consent agenda is voted through as a block without discussion, although Bacon did seek brief discussion of one item passed on the consent agenda: the approval of plans to close Albert Avenue from M.A.C. Avenue to Abbot Road for the Albert EL Fresco outdoor social space between May 1 and Sept. 17.
He said there was a request from “hospitality” (presumably meaning the bar and restaurant managers) to have a discussion about how public safety is going to be handled around this. He said that discussion would happen in coming days.

Voting through the consent agenda, Council also appointed Joshua Hewitt, Kayla Gomez and Tina Farhat to the Human Rights Commission, approved a letter supporting American Airlines’ and the Lansing airport’s request “for extension of the exemption authorizing nonstop daily service between Lansing and Washington, D.C.”
In the Bailey Neighborhood, Council approved a conditional Class III rental license for 630 Lexington Ave., “allowing up to two unrelated persons or a family to occupy the property.” The property is currently owner-occupied but the owner has been “seeking a rental license in preparation for the likelihood he will be moving away for his work at some point in time.” Read more.
On the north side of town, development is increasing, and the consent agenda reflected that this week. Council set two public hearings for March 7: one, to hear a request by developers to construct four, three-unit dwellings at Falcon Point; the second, to consider a site plan application to construct a 23,000-square-foot industrial building at 3400 West Road. Both properties are on the north side of town.
Council also approved an increase of about $58,000 to a contract with Leavitt & Starck for sidewalk repair in the Chesterfield Hills Neighborhood. The improvements are being funded with federal COVID relief funds known as ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act). The contract price increase is due to “additional work added to the contract for water service replacements and unforeseen field conditions.”
And Council approved another contract increase, this one with Tetra Tech “to prepare a five year Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Project Plan.” The original contract, approved in February 2021, was for $112,255. A year later, the contract went up another $43,700. Now it’s gone up another $29,300. Read more here.
For accounting support software, Council agreed to pay $28,000 for two years of the service. Read more here.
A river-monitoring program was also on the consent agenda.

Two river gauges on the Red Cedar River help with monitoring flood potential. Federal and state funding for this monitoring has been reduced over the years, “leading to the need for local funding to sustain this valuable service,” according to a memo from Public Works Deputy Director Nicole McPherson. So, Council was asked this week to renew a joint-funding agreement between the City and the United States Geological Survey.
The gages are located near Farm Lane and in Williamston and, according to the memo, “the information from these gages is used to monitor the river flow conditions, which is then used by a number of agencies to determine pollutant loading, river health, and provide flood warning.” The information is necessary for East Lansing’s Water Resource Recovery Facility’s compliance with its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit.
USGS will put in $42,500 towards the costs over the five-year period. East Lansing, MSU and Meridian Township will each pay $7,800 per year, as the three entities share the costs of East Lansing’s Water Resource Recovery Facility.
An extraordinary young wrestler was recognized.
Referring to the “great story” in ELi about the growing wrestling program at East Lansing High School, Garcia reviewed the burgeoning success of the program under coach Tom Woodward and specifically honored freshman Mya Terranova. Terranova is the first ELHS female state qualifier and will be competing at the state competition on the weekend of March 3-4 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Mya and her family were in attendance at the meeting for the honor, and she was recognized with a round of applause. Other council members also congratulated her, with Bacon saying that wrestling is “the only sport where you can taste your organs.”
Council voted unanimously to change how the city will handle requests for poverty exemptions to property taxes.
The change came in response to changes in state law. We’ll be bringing a separate report on what Council decided.
Staff from the Finance Department presented a five-year forecast on the city’s general fund.
Acting Finance Director Audrey Kincade told Council she is presenting the “most positive forecast I’ve seen in my time at the city.” The city is seeing growth of revenue from property taxes as well as more revenue-sharing by the state plus increasing revenues from East Lansing’s income tax. But the city’s general fund revenue growth has still not kept up with inflation since 2007.

We have a separate report on the financial forecast; find that here.
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