Request

City council, please consider a Master Plan to consolidate all city services and facilities into one central campus.  The consolidation could take 5-10 yrs to complete.

Now is the right time.  Several important elements are available now that won’t be later.  Here are some of the pieces that fit together nicely.  They create the synergy for such a Master Plan.

1. The November ballot wants $20 million millage to update DPS.
2. Harbor Transit is moving out of its facilities at the corner of Jackson & Ferry.
3. DPW is already located at Jackson & Ferry next to the exiting Harbor Transit.
4. A new $700,000 DPS garage is planned at Columbus to replace their old one.
5. Sell Central Park Place to stop its $250-500,000 annual losses.
6. Sell 525 Washington and centralize all city government on a Jackson & Ferry campus.
7. Our growth South and East makes Washington Ave the wrong place for city government.

All this suggests a Master Plan for a central campus.  See the bigger picture.  Before we waste a new $20 million on an old model.  Put the city on a new path for the next 50-75 years.  Don’t put costly band-aids on our history.  Don’t waste new money on old money pits.  Think harder.  Plan wiser.  A long-range Master Plan would consolidate all city services and facilities at one central campus over the next 5-10 years.  It is a better path.  Such planning wisdom and fiscal responsibility by city council will help (not hinder) passage of the $20 million millage.  Voters will support forward thinking.  They won’t support short-sighted leadership.

The November ballot wants $20 million millage to refit DPS.  The city says 65% of the $20 million will go towards DPS facilities.  That’s $13 million.  Before we spend that on old buildings on Washington Ave (the wrong place), please explore spending it more wisely on a better location (Jackson & Ferry).  The city owes that to voters.  They pay the bill.

Harbor Transit is moving out of its facilities at the corner of Jackson & Ferry.  Harbor Transit is moving to Grand Haven Twp in 2026-27.  Its old Jackson & Ferry location is a perfect place for a new city government campus.  It’s next door to DPW’s existing office and garage.  It has ideal frontage on both Jackson and Ferry.  It’s a big space (over 2 acres).  It already has offices and garages easily refitted for our city admin and DPS needs.  Our DPS and DPW could share a motor pool, maintenance garage, mechanics, techs, offices, phones systems, lunchrooms, conference rooms, reception areas, admin support, etc.  It would avoid duplication.  It’s easy for fire trucks, EMS, and police vehicles to get in and out, and around the city.  And, best of all, THE CITY ALREADY OWNS THE HARBOR TRANSIT PROPERTY.  Imagine that!  We own a perfect piece of property, located in the ideal place, already built out, easily refitted for the DPS needs, and next door to our DPW.  It won’t cost the city a cent!  City council, please use common sense.  Don’t pour new money ($20 million) into a bad, old building, in the wrong location (Washington Ave).  Don’t waste taxpayer money to remain inefficient and duplicate costs in separate locations.  Please be wise, not foolish, with taxpayer money.  Show voters fiscal responsibility.  When it’s not your money, it’s easy to spend it unwisely.  Tell the taxpayers you won’t do that.

DPW is already at Jackson & Ferry right next to the exiting Harbor Transit.  The Harbor Transit and DPW sites are a perfect match.  Harbor Transit is moving south of town to Grand Haven Twp.  Its Jackson & Ferry site will be available for a new tenant by 2027.  It already has an office and garage just waiting to be used.  Same with the DPW next door to Harbor Transit.  City council, please use it as “ground zero” for a city government campus.  It’s waiting with open arms for city hall and DPS to move in.  Why spend $13 million at 525 Washington when we don’t have to?   Jackson & Ferry is a better location than Washington Ave.  Jackson & Ferr is more cost effective.  Jackson & Ferry is already built out.  Jackson & Ferry creates efficiencies.  Jackson & Ferry puts our city government on the right path for the next 100 years.  Jackson & Ferry does not have any downside.  Washington Ave has many downsides.

A new DPS garage is planned for Columbus after selling our old fire barn to Capstone.  In 2023, city leaders sold our old fire barn on the Washington Ave block to Capstone for $450,000.  It needed repairs but included a DPS motor pool garage.  Two years later, in 2025, city leaders decided the DPS needs a new motor pool garage.  This time on Columbus.  Guess what the price tag for the new DPS garage is?  $100,000; nope.  $250,000; nope.  Maybe $500,000; nope.  The cost is $700,000.  Yes, about twice the price of what we sold the old one to Capstone two years earlier!  And, this new $700,000 cost is not currently shown as a line item of how the $20 million millage money will be spent.  It appears to be additional.  City council said at the time the $450,000 from Capstone could be used to defray the $700,000 cost.  (Good luck finding that tucked under a city hall mattress somewhere!)  Regardless, city council, please don’t let the city sink $700,000 into a new motor pool garage on Columbus when there is already a garage and plenty of space at Jackson & Ferry.  Include it in the Master Plan to consolidate all city government services on a central campus.

Sell Central Park Place to stop its $250-500,000 annual losses.  Taxpayers subsidize Central Park Place (formerly the Community Center) to keep its lights on.  Losses are chronic.  It never makes money or even breaks even.  The annual losses are very high.  It’s nobody’s fault.  CPP just isn’t viable as an even center.  We should face facts.  Sell it.  Privatize it.  Stop dumping taxpayer money into it.  A private owner will make it profitable.  The city cannot.  Cut the losses.  Use the sale proceeds (and the saved losses) in the Master Plan to consolidate government services on a central campus at Jackson & Ferry.

Sell 525 Washington and use the proceeds for a new central campus at Jackson & Ferry.  Washington Ave is already carved up and landlocked.  Capstone now owns the old DPS fire barn.  The old Bell Telephone Building is now used for switching by AT&T.  The DPS building is severely functionally obsolete.  The city’s population growth has gone east and south.  City hall and the DPS building are money pits.  Washington Ave is not the right place to sink $20 million.  It’s throwing good money after bad.  The question city council and city leaders must answer:

If you were starting new from a blank sheet of paper, is Washington Ave where you would put our city hall and DPS building to meet our needs for the next 100 years?

Each person would say NO.  So, let’s step back.  Take time to find the right place.  If it’s not Jackson & Ferry; ok.  Then, where is it?  It certainly isn’t Washington Ave.  Everybody would agree.  So don’t force it there.  Please don’t dump $20 million into Washington Ave just to say we did something.  The taxpayers expect (deserve) better.

Here are only a few of the problems with the current 525 Washington building.

Lack of ADA Accessibility	Asbestos and Mold Remediation
Inadequate Ventilation in Key Areas	Mold and Contamination Concerns
Bunk Room Addition	Restroom and Locker Room Improvements
HVAC and Electrical Improvements	Training Room Expansion
Floor Plan Layout Improvements	Shooting Range Compliance Upgrades
Lower Level Addition (4,840 ft2)	Decontamination Room Addition
Main Level Addition (11,530 ft2)	Bay 5 Addition
Entrance Reconfiguration	Future Project Program Addition

This is a tremendous facelift to the current facility.  It’s the definition of a “money pit”.  Pouring good money after bad.  Over $13 million.  And what do we end up with?  The same old building, but with newer fixes and newer band-aids.  City council please don’t let this happen.

Our growth South and East makes Washington Ave the wrong place for city government.  Over the last 50 years our city growth has been to the south and East.  Washington Ave is hard for fire trucks and EMS vehicles to get in and out.  Downtown is congested with traffic.  Service calls take officers to the far reaches of our city limits.  Washington Ave might be the center of downtown.  But DPS needs to be at the center of population and service calls.  That’s not Washington Ave anymore.  Has city council studied where that is?  Is Jakson & Ferry more strategically central to DPS’s activity?  Where is the strategic center?  What are the metrics that determine it?  Where are the densities of emergency and public safety calls?  We must know that before investing $20 million in the wrong place.

Rolling out a Central Campus Master Plan

Nothing in the November ballot language precludes us from launching a Central Campus Master Plan.  The city attorney can confirm that.  We have plenty of time to roll one out.  The millage website can easily be updated to note the facilities portion of the dedicated millage funds will be used on facility upgrades consistent with our Central Campus Master Plan.  Even if Jackson & Ferry is in the running, Harbor Transit won’t move out until 2026-27.  Plenty of time for the city to evaluate locations.  Any millage funds will be used in the public’s best interest.

Proposed Ballot Language

Shall a new millage be levied by the City of Grand Haven, Ottawa County, Michigan, on all property assessed for taxes, at the amount of 2.0 mills ($2.00 per $1,000 of taxable value) for a period of 10 years (2026 through 2035, inclusive), for the purpose of funding police and fire services in the City’s Department of Public Safety?

If passed, the millage wouldn’t even start until the 2026 tax year.  The bidding process for architectural and structural planning would take many months.  Followed by many more months of design approval and groundbreaking.  All while a site study could be done.  Efficiencies between departments could be evaluated.  A Central Campus Master Plan could be adopted.  A 5–10-year implementation timetable could be laid out.  Etc.  This is a generational decision.  With $20 million at risk, taking time to get it right makes sense.

All staffing and equipment portions of the millage money could continue without delay or interruption.  Whether the ultimate location is Washington Ave, Jackson & Ferry, or someplace else, upgrading these two segments of the millage request is not affected.

Doing the Best Job for Voters

If a central campus is not feasible, so be it.  But voters want to see city council perform its due diligence, so they know the pros and cons, the cost-benefit.  Otherwise, city council is failing the public being asked to vote on a lot of new money.  Please have city council and city hall work through this and explain it all to the public.  Give them clear and specific answers.  It will make voters more comfortable at the voting booth in November.  Thank you.  Brent Clark