Board of Directors - IN-PERSON ONLY

The room is very small. This is the first in person meeting since COVID for this reporter. Chairs had to be brought in for members of the public who wanted to attend the meeting. A agenda has just been handed to this reporter. This reporter also had to enter the meeting....

via the kitchen at the Port Authority. This reporter tried to buzz in several times to no avail. It is 9:03 AM and the entire board is not here. No quorum yet.

A group of people were just ushered into another room due to the small size of the room. The table only has room for 9 chairs. It seems like the board is waiting for people who didn’t realize that this meeting was in person only. It has ben announced by board chair....

Jonathan C. Kinloch that the meeting is on hold until a quorum is attained to start the meeting. It’s 9:06 AM.

A Southwest Housing Solutions project handout has just been passed out to the only two members of the public in the meeting: the two documenters.

Donuts have been provided at the meeting.

The meeting is called to order at 9:09 AM. Three members are here, so there is a quorum. Public comment is first on the agenda. No members of the public are here, so no public comments. Housekeeping includes approving minutes.

Chairman Kinloch calls for a retreat for the board in his report. A vote is put up for a date for the retreat. Board members Bryan Powell. A vote is up for the retreat, and the vote is approved. It’s stated that the retreat is a open meeting.

One member of the board is in route to the meeting. Board members at the meeting are chair Kinloch, Bryan Bowell, who is the vice chair, and he has no report. Next up is the Southwest Housing Solutions Project report that was just handed to us.

This is about brownfield development funds that the board has that will be used for his project. The Southwest Housing Solutions project team enters the room and presents their project. They have renovated 29 historic buildings in Detroit.

There is no table or room to place a laptop in this meeting.

This is the projects first major project. They have bought property on Michigan Ave for the project. 55 thousand square foot building with four stories.

There is a problem with homeless children in the area, and this project will serve 40 homeless families in the neighborhood.

The ground floor will house nothing but children programs. A second building that is also 4 stories that is next to the homeless building will be used for senior citizens.

Kinloch says it’s a honor to have the Southwest Solutions folks at the table. Port Authority staff executive director Mark Schrupp talks about the funding for the project.

Kinloch says he’s fine with a grant being used to fund this project. With no nameplates to let attendees know who is at the table, it’s still hard to tell who is who in the meeting.

Kinloch says they are doing great work. Board member Andy S. Doctoroff has just entered the meeting. He is dressed like he jogged to the meeting.

The port authority has given loans to City Club apartments as well as other groups in the city for housing.

The board will meet with the EPA to discuss funding for projects.

The board is up to date on all of their loan payments. The board is voting on a brownfield grant for this project. This passes.

“Great work, very much needed” Vice Chair Bryan Powell to members of the Southwest project as they leave. Doctoroff thought this was a zoom meeting, which is his excuse for being late. Budget report is next.

There is a power point but no handout. Chief financial officer Travis Jackson runs through the numbers.

Jackson was the person who told the board that the port authority is all caught up on their loans.

It seems that board members have a handout of the budget. Jackson talks about the rent money the board is owed, but is not put in the budget since at any time the properties may not be available to rent.

Schrupp says they have a grant coming in that will help the board’s employee salaries.

Port Authority facilities manager, who greets everyone at the door, just passed out a handout to the board, but not to the only two members of the public in the room, the two documenters.

Jackson assures the board they will be under budget for the year.

A increase to the consultants budget is discussed, as well as security budget. And this is just for the public docks, not the building security.

Services provided for cruise ships is marked up, so the board won’t lose money. Small increases to marketing budgets and the water cost is up. They provide water to cruise ships.

They are looking for a grant for power on shore. Schrupp says they told the cruise ships they will make power available for all cruise ships as part of an agreement with cruise ships.

Accounting expenses are down. Jackson says they have not been affected by inflation, yet.

Covid saved the board money on utilities since no one was in the building. Jackson says he needs approval for budget adjustments.

500 thousand from MDOT. 250 thousand from the city of Detroit. Cruise ship and dock visits will be consistent. This year is the best year they have had for dock visits.

They are already getting bookings for 2024. Powell says that it is 1200 dollars per passenger day on the great lakes, which is more than for cruise in Hawaii. He is corrected and it’s said the number is more like 125 dollars.

1.3 million in revenues last year. They will hire a part time communications person next year. Building maintainence will be up. The HVAC is having problems. The camera system has been down for 4 years, and it needs to be replaced. DPD will ask to see their....

cameras and they can’t help since they are down. It’s stated that this must be a priority. The original system was a million dollar system.

It was funded with a port security grant, funded by the Department of Homeland Security.

So they are looking for more grant money to fix the security cameras.

Schrupp says if they can get it done for $15,000 then get it done now without the grant. Cars in the parking lots are being hit and there are no cameras to document the damage.

The board is looking at the budget numbers but this is not handed out to the members of the public at the meeting.

A homescreen of Google TV is now on the screen in the meeting.

Budget overview is finished. A vote is up to approve the adjusted budget and the new 2023 budget is on the table. Passed.

Next up is the executive directors report. Point B is first, which is a plan for the operations director position. Jackson and Doctoroff take a break. A slide detailing the operations director position is presented.

Schrupp says the operations director job is not a full time job. He says they are trying to develop new business. Cargo traffic is down.

Day to day operations of the cruise ship season goes down after the season is over. Schrupp wants to wait to hire since the season is down right now.

Day to day operations are easily absorbed by their normal staff. He says that between him and facilities manager Vanessa Baker they can take care of the cruise ships. It’s asked if Baker is ok with the extra work. Schrupp says no one on staff is maxed out on hours.

Kinloch disagrees and says that staff hours are maxed out. “We are not Hattie May’s cheese shop” says Kinloch. He says they need people to be available for these duties and ask if a talk about additional compensation for these duties has been brought up.

Powell wants to know what the extra work load is like for the staff? And Kinloch wants a job description for each position at the port authority. Schrupp says the staff is good. Kinloch and Powell say it’s fine to wait for the hire and it can be part time.

Schrupp runs through his past employment history and says that he can learn fast on this job. He wants people who have actually managed terminals, since he has met, as well as himself, people who have no experience working at ports working at ports.

Jackson says the last cruise ship will dock in the middle of next month, then it’s down. He says that the beginning of next year is a good time to look for a operations director.

Schrupp will look at coastal areas to find a pool of diverse candidates with port experience.

Point A of the executive directors report is the strategic goals and feedback. Schrupp fumbles over the power point presentation and apologizes.

He is talking though the presentation. They are in talks to move cars on the river and they are waiting on word from GM on how many cars they will move. They are meeting with Stellantis to see if they can move 600 cars a year. They are also talking with other ports, like…

Milwaukee, to see how much river cargo they can move for profit.

Schrupp says they are waiting for GLWA for word on use of a cargo dock for shipments. Grant seeking and funding are a big part of the goals of the authority.

He says that State Rep Stephanie Chang got them a million in funding for a decarbonization plant.

They are looking for a 16 million dollar grant to service ships on the river.

190 planning grants. Only 5 approved. The city is not helping with Port Authority grants cause they think the Port Authority is competition for grants.

Their racial justice numbers for grants was down, and Schrupp says that they are holding folks in the authority accountable for hiring minority contractors.

Challenge is that there is a lot of money available but since they don’t own their own port, they lose out.

Planning grants are not favored. Construction grants are favored. Cleveland got a planning grant. The Detroit PA grant got shot down.

Schrupp says they need to blend water, rail and road together as ports for grants.

Schrupp says the mayor shot down PA plans cause there were no jobs in the plans. The mayor does not want giving the PA land to look like the land giveaway to the Maroon family.

Doctoroff says that he is hearing that the Maroon’s have lost favor with the city, or worn out their welcome due to all the land deals.

The Maroon’s are at the table getting ready to sign a deal that will give the PA they’re freedom.

“This is our fight.” Mark Schrupp says about getting business into the PA.

They have a bill pending that will give the PA more room to issue bonds. Right now they cannot issue bonds on projects they do not own. They are looking for tax exempt bonds. They are limited to projects that relate to movement of goods on the water. They cannot…

build Hard Rock Cafe’s on the water, only buildings that deal with the movement of goods.

The PA has a lobbiest they use to talk to the governor.