Lowell City Council met for 70 minutes on Monday night to discuss three pieces of business: a water plant expansion proposal, “decency at the Riverwalk Stage” and the sale of a police cruiser. All councilmembers were present for the meeting.
Citizen Comments: Editorial and Speed Bumps
During the citizen comments portion of the meeting, resident Perry Beachum noted the city website had not been updated to reflect the fact that city hall is now closed on Fridays.
Beachum also referenced a recent editorial published by Lowell’s First Look about the Planning Commission. He thought it was worth reading and hoped councilmembers would take it under consideration.
At the end of the meeting, during council comments, Councilmember Marty Chambers said he had read the editorial and took great offense to it. As the council’s representative on the Planning Commission, he said he receives training on planning issues. He felt the Planning Commission does an exemplary job and that the editorial was poorly written and insulting. Chambers added that he spoke to Planning Commission Chair Bruce Barker who had the same opinion.
Bruce Matthews also spoke during the citizen comments portion of the meeting. As a resident of Riverside Drive, he said he was concerned about speeding on the street and suggested the possibility of adding speed bumps when roadwork is completed next year.
Estimate for New Water Pumps
City Manager Mike Burns presented an estimate from Williams & Works for the cost to replace pumps, add a ground storage tank and make other upgrades to the city’s water treatment plant. They estimate the project will cost $7.082 million plus $496,000 for design engineering. Burns said he also received a quote from Wolverine Building Group for $7.9 million.
According to Williams & Works, 75% of the project is required as a result of growth in the township while 25% of the upgrades would be needed regardless of township demand.
City water customers – both those within the city limits and in the township – have been on outdoor irrigation restrictions for the past two summers while officials determine how to expand the plant’s capacity. Most recently, it had been suggested that adding higher capacity pumps could alleviate the problem.
The current pumps have a 600 gallons-per-minute capacity, according to Nathan Breese, a representative of Williams & Works who was at the meeting. He noted that if the city wanted to add a well, it would have to pump at the same capacity as the current equipment rather than at the higher capacity 1000 gallons-per-minute rate.
Burns noted the pumps on Well #1 would need to be replaced in the next 2-3 years. These pumps are original to the well and were installed in the 1970s.
Councilmember Jim Salzwedel asked if the current infrastructure could accommodate higher capacity pumps and was told that the oldest well had only a 10-inch pipe. That would need to be expanded to handle more capacity.
“The township seems to think that we’re going to benefit from a plant expansion, but I don’t see how,” Chambers said. He is chair of a joint committee that is working to find a solution to the water plant capacity issues.
Eric Bartkus, a resident who is running for Lowell City Council, approached the podium to say that he has heard from many people who are concerned about the cost of water in Lowell. While he understands that Lowell water is of a very high quality, the city’s rates are among the highest in the area.
According to figures compiled by Bartkus, based on the same usage, three-month water and sewer costs range from $205 in Kentwood to $347 in Lowell. Only one other municipality exceeds $300, according to his research, and that is Cascade at $336. Bartkus was concerned about ratepayers having to absorb the cost of a multi-million dollar expansion.
“As long as I’m sitting here, the ratepayers aren’t going to pay for it,” Chambers replied. Instead, it is expected that the township will cover the majority of the cost.
It was decided to send the estimates to Lowell Charter Township and ask them to respond by early December with how they would like to proceed.
Discussion About Profanity and the Showboat Stage
Next on the agenda was a proposal to create a task force that would develop decency guidelines for those using the Showboat Stage on the Riverwalk. This was prompted by concerns that were first raised during a May meeting. At that time, Lowell Pride was on the agenda to request use of a section of city property for their annual event.
Several councilmembers and residents expressed concern that profanity was used on the stage during the 2022 Lowell Pride event. It was noted that the amplification system resulted in sound traveling across the river and through the neighborhood, meaning even those who weren’t at the event could hear the words spoken.
During that meeting, Nicole Lintemuth, who was then the board president for Lowell Pride, appeared reluctant to say that the organization would ask those on stage to refrain from using profanity. At the end of that meeting, it was decided that Burns and City Attorney Jessica Wood would look into creating guidelines for those using the Showboat Stage.
The issue resurfaced after the 2023 Lowell Pride event when members of the Bible Believers Church attended a June meeting and played a recording of a profanity-laced statement that they said was spoken from the stage.
At this week’s meeting, Burns said he and Wood had spent a great deal of time discussing the matter internally. It was thought, at one point, that the city could simply adopt FCC standards, but Wood discouraged that idea since it didn’t equate to the use of a public space such as the Riverwalk. Burns also noted that most communities don’t have any sort of guidelines for fear of running afoul of the First Amendment.
“We thought maybe the best thing to do would be to create a task force,” Burns said. This group could include a mix of community members and city representatives who would study this issue and make recommendations.
Mayor Mike DeVore wasn’t in favor of creating a task force since he didn’t see it as a widespread problem and most complaints were from people unhappy about a specific event.
Chambers was in favor of the task force, noting that events held at the Riverwalk are on city property and use city equipment. “We are protecting people within earshot.”
“It becomes a very gray matter,” according to Councilmember Leah Groves.
Councilmember Cliff Yankovich noted that he was the person who originally raised concerns about the issue. “I was shocked when I heard that language from the stage,” he said. Yankovich added that his business is a Lowell Pride sponsor and that he himself uses profanity in his personal life, but he didn’t think it was appropriate when someone was speaking from the stage.
Yankovich noted that acceptable language has changed over time and shared that a hit song from his youth used the word f*ggot. “Things have changed; my language has changed,” he said, but he expressed frustration that others weren’t willing to modify their language when told it was offensive. “Apparently, that respect ends at a certain point.”
“I think we need to be very particular about what our end goal is,” Groves said. “Are we just trying to save people from hearing the f-bomb? Is that the end goal?”
Yankovich added that he also didn’t think people should go up to children and tell them they are going to hell, as was reported to be said by some protestors from the Bible Believers Church during the Lowell Pride event.
Beachum said he didn’t appreciate the language recorded at this year’s event but also acknowledged that it was a difficult matter for Lowell City Council to navigate. He thought there should be some sort of guidelines created for the city’s expectations for open-air events.
Yankovich said Holland has been holding a Pride event for 20 years, and he thought part of their success was that their drag events were held off public property at a different venue.
Dave Simmonds, who is a musician residing in Lowell Charter Township, thought that Yankovich’s idea was a good solution. He added that if the city had clear guidelines and told a performer that if they violated them they would never be invited back to the stage, that too might solve the problem.
City resident Parker Liu asked Burns what precedent there was for creating guidelines. Burns said there really wasn’t any precedent since “communities aren’t touching this.” Liu did not think there would be a way to restrict what someone says without violating First Amendment rights.
There was then some discussion about whether to have different agreements for family-friendly and adult events. DeVore and Yankovich noted that many of the complaints about Lowell Pride have revolved around the fact that the event has been billed as kid-friendly. Yankovich reiterated his suggestion about moving events intended for adults off the Riverwalk.
“As an ally, I have a hard time being like, oh, you want to be like this? You have to go behind the door,” Groves said. “That’s kinda the whole point of Pride, right? That these people are allowed to exist as themselves as they want to be.”
“What does saying ‘I want to f your chosen deity’ have to do with expressing your gayness?” Yankovich replied.
Resident Beryl Bartkus said freedom of speech is important but hate speech should not be allowed. She noted that the comment referenced by Yankovich was one example of hate speech as were some of the statements made by protestors. “Hate speech cannot be acceptable on a public stage,” she said.
Lintemuth, who noted she had stepped down as the Lowell Pride president and was speaking for herself, shared that the Supreme Court had already ruled that profanity was protected speech. She also pushed back on the assertion that the evening drag show was marketed as family-friendly and said that flyers noted it was for an adult audience and would have a more “spicy content.”
Salzwedel said that what he found particularly offensive was a flyer passed out during the event that apparently showed vulgar content and Christian imagery. Groves said that was not passed out by Lowell Pride, but Salzwedel said he didn’t think it would have been distributed if not for the event. Still, he did not think it was appropriate to try to police people’s language.
With Salzwedel, DeVore and Groves opposed to the idea, it was decided by consensus not to create a task force.
Sale of Police Cruiser
The final agenda item was the sale of a retired 2015 police cruiser. The Lowell Police Department would like to sell the vehicle for $6,500 to One Way Auto in Grand Rapids and use the proceeds toward a radar speed display trailer. The Carfax wholesale value of the vehicle is $6,250.
Lowell City Council voted unanimously to approve the sale.
The meeting adjourned at 8:10pm, and the next regular meeting of Lowell City Council will be held on Monday, November 6, at 7pm in Lowell City Hall.
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