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Downtown Muskegon Business Improvement District
Meeting Minutes
May 28, 2019
380 Western Ave., Suite 202 Muskegon, MI at 4 PM
1) Call to Order: 4:01 PM
Attendance: Bob Tarrant, Gary Post (Vice Chairman), John Riegler, Bruce Lindstrom and
Frank Peterson
Excused Absent(s): Doug Pollock (Chairman), Phyllis Watson-Laudermill, and Mike
Hennessy.
Guests: Dave Alexander, Downtown Muskegon Now director, Muskegon DPW director Leo
Evans, and Dennis Lohman.
2) Consent Agenda
Approval of Agenda; Minutes from the meeting Nov. 27, 2018; acceptance of financial
statements as of April 30, 2019 and review financial position; formal vote on 2019 landscaping
LOU with city DPW from March 26; and formal vote on 2019 planter agreement with Barry’s
Flowers from March 26.
Motion: Frank Peterson
Support: Bruce Lindstrom
Vote: All voted in favor
3) Public Comment (on an agenda item) – The board chose to leave the floor open for the
whole meeting allowing attendees to participate as they like.
4) New Business
a) With the new streetscape plans for Midtown – Third Street from Muskegon to Merrill –
the city DPW has asked to put that work into the BID summer landscaping agreement
with DPW for 2020. The cost would be estimated at $2,000 more than the BID is
currently paying (not to exceed $21,000) the city for summer landscape services.
Motion to approve the additional landscaping costs of $2,000 for Midtown in 2020:
Frank Peterson
Support: John Riegler
Vote: All voted in favor
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b) With DMN going out of business and merging with the Downtown Development
Authority as of July 1, the board agreed a new Letter of Understanding with the
DDA on staffing through the end of 2020 was needed. The $25,000 annual
administrative fee would go to the DDA. Dave Alexander will bring that to the DMN
board at a future meeting. Bob Tarrant emphasized it was important in the merger
for the BID assessment payers to continue to get their money’s worth in services.
Communications are important going forward, he said.
c) With the move to staffing through city staff and the DDA, the board agreed to move its
meetings in the future to Muskegon City Hall, 933 Terrace, Muskegon, MI 49440.
d) The BID board discussed potential replacements of Clyde Whitehouse for the
remainder of his term.
e) A discussion of the future of the BID beyond 2020 brought out the division of opinion
on that subject. John Riegler said the BID has served its purpose and should go away
as it was opposed by several from day one. The DDA should continue doing the BID’s
work. Frank Peterson argued that the BID brings a significant amount of value to
downtown, just consider the look of downtown in the summer and snow removal in the
winter. Gary Post said that there are too many organizations downtown and there
should be a consolidation into one, the DDA. If the BID were to be extended beyond
2020, the boundaries and special assessment rates need to reflect “benefit” as the BID
found out in a handful of Michigan Tax Tribunal appeals that did not go the BID’s way.
5) Other Business
a) Dave Alexander gave an update on downtown projects.
6) Adjournment
4:40 PM
No Objection
Minutes produced and submitted by Dave Alexander, executive director of Downtown
Muskegon Now.
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