City Commission Approves Transitional Bed Funding, Road Salt Purchase

Traverse City commissioners voted 5-2 Monday to allocate $100,000 to Addiction Treatment Services for two transitional beds and spend nearly $39,000 on road salt to get through the rest of the winter season, with Commissioners Tim Werner and Jackie Anderson opposed to both motions.

Commissioners voted to execute an agreement with Addiction Treatment Services to support two transitional beds at the P.I.E.R. (Promoting Integrated & Engaged Recovery) location on East Eighth Street. The beds, which will be covered by the city’s cannabis revenues, will serve as a “temporary placement” for individuals “transitioning to their next level of care and/or permanent placement into treatment or housing,” according to TCPD Chief Matt Richmond. Individuals using the transitional beds must be active participants in the TCPD's Quick Response Team (QRT) program or referred by law enforcement. Werner said he wasn't convinced the allocation was the "best use of the $100,000" without hearing alternate funding proposals. Other commissioners, however, expressed satisfaction with the work of the QRT and Addiction Treatment Services and were supportive of the proposal.

Commissioners had extensive debate about purchasing 500 tons of road salt for nearly $39,000 before ultimately approving the expenditure. City Director of Public Services Frank Dituri said in a memo that due to “significant snowfall and freeze-thaw cycles this winter,” the city anticipates depleting its current road salt inventory within the next few weeks. The city has used over 600 tons of salt since January 1 alone, Dituri wrote, with an inventory now dipping below 500 tons. Staff sought approval to buy another 500 tons, “which we estimate to be the minimum amount sufficient for the rest of the winter and spring season,” Dituri wrote.

Commissioners Werner, Anderson, and Heather Shaw expressed frustration that staff in their view hadn't taken enough action to reduce the city's salt usage after commissioners asked them to do so in prior seasons. They expressed concerns about the environmental and infrastructure impacts of heavy salt usage and wanted to see the city take a more scientific approach to its application. Other commissioners said they trusted the expertise of staff and felt it was unacceptable to block an order as a protest vote and risk the city running out of salt. Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wilson said such an action would be "shameful" and disregard the safety of residents. Since the purchase needed five votes to pass, Shaw ultimately agreed to support the motion on the condition that staff present a plan to commissioners before the city's next salt purchase on reducing the city's salt usage.

Finally, commissioners voted 6-1 Monday – with Commissioner Mitch Treadwell opposed – to submit a request to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) asking the state to consider changing its design for the upcoming Grandview Parkway reconstruction to have medians no wider than six feet between Division Street and M-22. The current design calls for maintaining 12-foot-wide medians in the corridor. Because of that width – and because trailway is being widened along the water on the north side of Grandview Parkway – the road is shifting closer to Bay Street, narrowing a strip of land on the corridor’s south side. Werner has been critical of that shift and previously sought to narrow or eliminate the medians to provide more green space on either side of the road, citing concerns from neighbors.

The medians are within MDOT’s right-of-way, so their width is ultimately up to the state barring some type of legal challenge from the city. Prior to Monday's meeting, MDOT told The Ticker it intends to proceed with the project as designed, with construction already contracted and set to start in April. City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht said Monday she wasn't optimistic MDOT would change its mind on the design based on conversations to date, but would submit the request on behalf of the city. Mutiple commissioners said they were willing to take a shot and ask, though noted they were not willing to pursue further legal action if MDOT turns down the request.