Gladstone City Council Meeting (September 28th, 2026): Environmental Assessent, Election Inspection, Wast Water, DDA Grant Program, Union Contract, MERS and Data Board

 

September 28th, 2026 Gladstone City Council Meeting Agenda

• Call to Order & Roll Call: Mayor Thompson called the meeting to order, followed by an invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance, and roll call.

• Agenda Addition: An item was added to the agenda regarding a letter of support for Delta County Parks (Item 21).

• Consent Agenda: Approved meeting minutes (DDA August 18/September 15, City Commission September 14) and vendor invoices (Chem Trade Chemicals and PK Contracting).

• Tabled Business: The Environmental Assessment Determinations and Compliance Findings (24 CFR 58) were tabled to October 12 while awaiting legal review.

• Gladstone Housing Commission Appointment: Paula Waggy was reappointed to the Housing Commission for a term expiring in October 2031.

• Election Workers Authorization: Authorized the City Clerk to appoint necessary election inspectors for early voting, election day, and absent voter counting for the November general election.

• Wastewater Infrastructure:

  • Change Order #2: Approved a $87,739.28 contract increase for wastewater collection system improvements due to poor soil conditions requiring additional fill and stone bedding.

  • Disbursement #4: Approved disbursement request #4 totaling $330,015.97.

  • Draw #39: Approved plant upgrades disbursement draw #39 totaling $46,650.

• DDA Facade Grant Program Revisions: Approved updated guidelines, effective October 1, 2026, scaling back award caps to $5,000 (75% DDA / 25% applicant match), eliminating property liens, transitioning to a reimbursement model, and offering year-round availability.

• Gladstone Marina Renovation (Phase 2):

  • Awarded the flotation docking systems contract to Flotation Dockage, Inc. for $231,200.

  • Awarded the electrical scope contract to Master Electric for $97,495.

• Union Contract Approval: Approved the collective bargaining agreement with IBEW 876 for electrical linemen, including competitive wage adjustments and incentives to attract/retain experienced linemen.

• MERS Defined Contribution Addendum: Approved the retirement plan adoption agreement addendum for the city manager position to align with other employee contracts.

• DATA Board Reappointment: Reappointed Eric Buckman as the Gladstone representative on the DATA Board of Directors.

• Letter of Support for Delta County Parks: Authorized the City Manager to sign a letter of support for a $3,000 grant application to install Purple Martin birdhouses at OB Fuller and Pioneer Trail parks.

• City Manager Report: Updates provided on completed summer DPW road prep, paving, and sealing projects, as well as ongoing water line repairs.

World Premier Stag Light Play from Players de Noc

I'm not in this play but I do support and am a member of Players De Noc so it is something that should shared. You can support the organization by buying tickets, sharing information, volunteering, or donating. You can contact them directly or if you need assistance send me a message to the right. 

Illustrative Only

Stag Light

October 8, 9 & 10 at 7:30 p.m. | October 11 at 1:30 p.m.
Bay College Besse Theater

The season opens with the world premiere of Stag Light! This heartfelt new play brings the story of the Frenell family to the Upper Peninsula and our stage as they navigate love, grief, and family with plenty of heart and quick wit.

https://playersdenoc.org/

A Stag Light World Premiere Celebration
There are opening nights…and then there are WORLD PREMIERE opening nights.
On Thursday, October 8, make a night of the world premiere of Stag Light with Players de Noc and Freshwater Tavern! Come early for dinner and drinks, meet the playwright, snap a photo with the station wagon, and then head to the Besse Theatre to be among the very first audiences ever to see Stag Light onstage.

YOUR OPENING NIGHT ITINERARY
4–7 PM | FRESHWATER TAVERN
Dinner, apps & Stag Light-inspired drinks available for purchase
5–6:30 PM | Meet playwright Emily Turner + program signing
Get your picture with the Stag Light station wagon
Wear your best nautical-inspired attire
7:30 PM | BESSE THEATRE AT BAY COLLEGE
Take your seat for the WORLD PREMIERE of Stag Light

Swim Coaching: One Stroke at a Time

Last night, I did some swim coaching, and I think we're getting better at it.

One of the biggest changes lately is that the head coach has given me more latitude to work with the athletes and try different drills and exercises. Originally, I was mostly following the patterns and workouts she had established. We still share videos of different techniques, talk about them through chat, and then practice some of those ideas during our sessions. But lately, she's essentially told me, "You know what you're doing. Just get them conditioned and prepared."

That's a pretty nice vote of confidence.

Last night, we worked on breathing, including three- and five-stroke breathing patterns. For anyone who doesn't swim, that basically means breathing during freestyle every third or every fifth stroke, alternating sides. It takes practice to establish a breathing rhythm that works for you, especially as you start swimming faster.

Breathing is a huge part of swimming. You have to make sure you're getting enough oxygen to keep your body working efficiently. If you don't, eventually you're going to run out of steam. Swimming is very much about endurance, and breathing is a big part of developing that endurance and speed.

The same principle shows up in other forms of exercise, including yoga and Pilates. Strength, muscle tone, and cardiovascular fitness are important, but so is learning how to control your breathing and use oxygen efficiently. Swimmers tend to develop pretty good lung capacity because they're constantly challenging themselves to breathe efficiently while exercising.

We also worked on diving off the starting block, which was pretty cool to watch.

There are several things that have to come together to make a good racing dive. You want to keep your head down, your hands together, and your feet together as you enter the water. A lot of people naturally separate their feet when they dive, which creates a pretty impressive splash—but that's not what you want in a race.

The goal is to create a small, streamlined footprint as you enter the water so you can move through it with as little resistance as possible. The farther you can travel underwater efficiently before coming up, the more of an advantage you can gain.

One of the athletes made a noticeable improvement with this. They started putting their feet together, and while their entry angle still needs some work, they had figured out the key points. You could tell they were happy once it clicked. They had been struggling with the dive for a while, but once they understood what they needed to do, they became particularly good at it.

Those are the moments that make coaching rewarding. Sometimes it's not about making a huge change. It's about finding one or two things that finally make the skill make sense to the athlete.

We also had a fellow lifeguard show us how to do cannonballs—which, apparently, is a legitimate skill worth developing.

In this particular version of the cannonball, the goal was to hit at least three beams of water on the ceiling. He managed to do it on his first attempt. Then one of the athletes tried it and immediately hit two beams on their first attempt. They couldn't quite repeat the feat, but they were clearly pretty happy with their new cannonball skills.

Not every lesson has to be serious.

Another interesting part of this team is that we have a state champion. One of the swimmers is essentially at the top of their age group and category in backstroke. That's pretty impressive to have on the team, and it gives me another useful coaching tool.

When you're working with developing swimmers, it's one thing to explain what good technique looks like. It's another thing to be able to point to someone in the lane and say, "Look at what they're doing."

We can watch that swimmer's technique, body position, timing, and stroke and then use it as a reference for the other athletes. They can try to match what they're seeing and then work on improving it for themselves.

That's one of the things I'm enjoying most about coaching. I'm learning to look at swimming differently. I'm not just watching to see whether someone completes a drill. I'm starting to notice why something works, what small adjustment might make a difference, and how to communicate that adjustment to someone else.

And apparently, I'm also learning how to judge cannonballs.

It's all part of the job.

A Burn Barrel, a Piece of Catfish, and a Little Outdoor Ingenuity

Sometimes the best ideas in outdoor cooking come from simply looking at what you have on hand and thinking, Why not?

The other day, I was clearing out a pile of random boards, brush, and other odds and ends when a friend from the local fire department—where I volunteer part-time—gave me a burn barrel.

(Illustrative only)

I modified the barrel to allow plenty of air to get in and placed it where I normally have my campfire. Once I had some wood burning, the smoke coming out of the barrel was exactly what you would expect: plenty of it.

Then I realized it was time to figure out supper.

I had some frozen catfish on hand. I'm not necessarily a big fan of catfish. I'm not opposed to it, either, but with catfish, a lot depends on how it's cooked. I figured I had nothing to lose. If the catfish didn't turn out, I wasn't going to lose much sleep over it.

So I decided to experiment.

I had already made a mesh cover for the top of the burn barrel. The idea was to keep hot embers and burning debris from escaping and floating off somewhere they shouldn't. A brick or two on top helps hold the mesh securely in place.

I placed a piece of catfish on the aluminum foil and layed it right on top of the mesh.

The flames couldn't reach it, but the smoke certainly could.

I left it there for roughly 20 to 30 minutes. When I checked it, the fish was about halfway cooked. I took it inside, put it in a pan, and finished cooking it the rest of the way. If I would have left it longer it would have cooked the whole way.

Then came the important part: the taste test.

Wow.

That may have been the best smoked catfish I've ever eaten.

The smoke had worked its way into the fish, giving it a deep, rich smoky flavor. You could actually taste the smoke—not just a hint of it, but a genuine wood-smoked flavor that completely changed the character of the catfish.

That's when I started thinking about what else I could do with the same idea.

Chicken, for starters. Maybe other meats. There are probably all kinds of possibilities.

And that's one of the things I enjoy about cooking outdoors. You don't always have a fancy smoker, an expensive grill, or a cookbook telling you exactly what to do. Sometimes you've got a fire, a piece of foil, a little bit of food, and whatever happens to be sitting around the yard.

You experiment.

Outdoor cooking has always been that way for me. Whether you're cooking at camp, cooking on a boat, or simply trying to make supper outside, you sometimes have to come up with your own way of doing things.

In this case, I was already burning wood and clearing away material that needed to go. Instead of looking at the smoke as nothing more than a byproduct of the fire, I started looking at it as an ingredient.

And that turned an ordinary burn barrel into an impromptu smoker.

Sometimes, a little outdoor ingenuity is all it takes to turn something you weren't particularly excited about eating into something you can't wait to try again.

Self-Resilience in the UP-Rugged Individualism and Small Business

Independent self resilience has allowed people, since the beginning of our country, to produce many of their own goods. People living in the countryside often had to make many of the things they needed themselves and, over the years, traded or purchase to acquire the things they could not produce.

As a world, we have become increasingly dependent on mass-produced goods. There is inherently nothing wrong with that. We have access to far more materials, products, and conveniences than people had a couple hundred years ago. But there is also a cost: we no longer develop some of the practical skills we might otherwise have learned.

(Illustrative Only)
Making his way
to Ludington Street
for a meeting
about his homespun
products. 

It is worth thinking about what is truly important to us when it comes to material possessions. What actually adds value to our lives, and what is simply clutter? We can also consider making some of the things we enjoy, even if we do it purely for fun or as a hobby.

For example, someone might learn how to make soap from ash and lard just for the experience. Someone else might make wood products in their garage, sew clothing or other items, or develop another hands-on craft. I think it is important for people to have hobbies as an outlet in their lives—a form of creativity and personal expression.

And if you can turn a hobby into something that generates a little income or profit, that can provide an additional incentive to keep doing it. Ultimately, we should consider the value that hobbies, creativity, and self-reliance can bring to our lives.

In the United States, we have a long history of self-reliance and rugged individualism. It is part of our collective psychology and has shaped the way many of us think about work, independence, and the ability to provide for ourselves.

Interesting,

The Superior State? 50 years ago, the UP tried to break from Michigan

US Trade Deficit Increases August 2026 (Raymond Thinks Clusters and Hubs For His Business)

The United States should continue to focus on strengthening trade by producing more goods domestically and increasing exports, while recognizing that imports will remain an important part of the economy. The country will still need supplies and products that are more efficiently produced elsewhere, which can be exchanged for American goods and services. The balance would be better if the value of what we produce is worth more than what we import 

(Illustrative Only)
Rayond is 
thining about how if
he partners with
a few other businesses
for basic supplies and
coordinate on skills
they can make 
a wood product cluster.
The Economic Hub

For mental exercise...
Would something
like this work in 
Delta County?

At the same time, U.S. manufacturers must remain competitive. Advances in technology provide significant opportunities to improve productivity and expand domestic production, although they may also create new challenges that will become clearer over time.

For the most part, the goal should be to encourage manufacturing, improve efficiency and strengthen regional industry clusters. By investing in the fundamentals that allow businesses to work together more effectively, communities can increase production, create stronger supply chains and build a more competitive manufacturing base.

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, August 2026

• The U.S. trade deficit increased to $105.6 billion in August 2026, up $12.7 billion from the revised July deficit of $92.8 billion.
• Exports increased by $4.5 billion to $315.2 billion, while imports increased by $17.2 billion to $420.8 billion.
• The goods deficit increased by $12.8 billion to $136.6 billion, while the services surplus was $31.0 billion.

  

  (source)

• Exports increased in areas such as industrial supplies and materials, nonmonetary gold, crude oil, and semiconductors.
• The year-to-date goods and services deficit was $138.2 billion, or 19.9%, lower than the same period in 2025, with exports up 11.8% and imports up 4.4%.

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2026, October 6). U.S. international trade in goods and services, August 2026. https://www.bea.gov/news/2026/us-international-trade-goods-and-services-august-2026

The Hypothetical Feather Party: Encouraging Maximum Participation

The Hypothetical Feather Party is a philosophical experiment: What would a truly independent third party look like, and what values would it stand for?

At its core, the Feather Party would bring together people who believe in independent thinking, shared basic principles, and a thoughtful approach to decision-making. Its ultimate goal would be to reduce the extreme partisanship that has increasingly divided our political system and undermines the rights of a significant portion of society.

Today, the political extremes often have disproportionate influence, while the rest of us—people who must live with the decisions being made—can feel increasingly powerless. The enormous amount of money involved in elections has made this problem worse. The average person does not have the same influence they once had.

A healthier democracy must recognize that people come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, races, religions, and life experiences. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate fully in society and to make their opinions known to their elected leaders.

The Feather Party would encourage people to speak up about the issues that matter to them. Healthy representation depends on hearing from as many members of society as possible—not just those with wealth, connections, or political influence.

The longer we fail to enact meaningful reforms that limit the influence of big money and foreign interests in elections, the more likely we are to see large portions of society marginalized for the benefit of a small number of people. The Allegory of the Clan helps us formalize and understanding on how that happens.

We have a responsibility to encourage maximum participation in our democracy. When more people participate, the entire system becomes healthier and more representative.

The Feather Party would not tell you to vote for one party or another. It would encourage you to think independently about your own values and then vote accordingly.

There should be no blind loyalty to a political party. It is antithetical to free thought and decision making. A sign of moral weakness for the advocates of strict adherence. It reduces adaptability when a small portion of society does what is in their interest.

Political parties become dangerous when they demand that people stop thinking for themselves—especially when their positions are shaped by wealthy donors, powerful interests, or rigid ideological boundaries. Democracy works best from the bottom up, not the top down.

Many of society's problems can be transformed into strengths if we have the right people willing and able to address them. That requires voters to look beyond party labels and connections and choose people based on their character, competence, judgment, and ability to serve the public.

The goal should be simple:

Choose the best people for the job—not the most connected, the wealthiest, or the most politically entrenched.

That is the spirit of the Hypothetical Feather Party. As a thought experiment we can learn much.

Materialists Perceive Their High Socioeconomic Status as Justice

The study examined socioeconomic status and political participation.

Higher perceived socioeconomic status was linked to greater political participation.

Perceived social justice partly explained this relationship.

Materialism strengthened the connection between socioeconomic status and perceived justice.

The findings suggest that social status, beliefs about fairness, and materialism influence political engagement.

Zhao, Z., Zhao, Q., Tao, S., & Du, W. (2025). Materialists perceive their high socioeconomic status as justice: Associations with increased political participation. PLOS ONE, 20(5), e0324680. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324680