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June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025

Michigan Infrastructure Council Q2 Meeting   

June 26, 2025   

Michigan Department of Treasury Operations Center   

7285 Parsons Dr, Dimondale, MI 48821     

Meeting Minutes

  1. Call to Order    
    1. Chairperson, Palencia Mobley, P.E. called the meeting to order at 1:08 PM
  2. Roll Call
    1. Let the record show that six (6) voting members and eight (8) non-voting members were present. A quorum was established.
  3. Public Comment   
    1. Prior to taking public comment the Chairperson introduced and welcomed the newest Council Member, Mandy Grewal.
    2. Jack Hoffman spoke during public comment. He asked to advise the governor, legislator, public, and MIC to address transportation damage as a result of heavy trucks.
  4. Approval of Agenda
    1. The chairperson solicited discussion or amendments to the proposed agenda and there were none.
    2. Motion to approve the agenda
      1. Motion made by Roger Blake
      2. Supported by Kathleen Lomako
    3. Motion carried without dissent, the agenda was approved
  5. Approval of Proposed Minutes from Q1 Meeting, March 6, 2025
    1. The chairperson solicited discussion or amendments to the proposed 2025 Q1 meeting minutes and there were none.
    2. Motion to approve 2025 Q1 MIC Meeting Minutes
      1. Motion made by Roger Blake
      2. Supported by Kathleen Lomako
    3. Motion carried without dissent, the 2025 Q1 Meeting Minutes were approved
  6. Guest Speaker
    1. The Chairperson introduced the guest speaker, Jessica Schisser, City Clerk of the City of Manton and AM Champion Graduate, to speak on their organization’s participation in the Michigan Infrastructure Council’s Asset Management Readiness Workshop.
      1. Nathan Hamilton gave background on the AMRS Workshop program that is being held in partnership with the Michigan Infrastructure Office.
      2. Jessica Schisser spoke on the City of Manton’s gratitude towards the program and how it has helped their city thus far.
    2. Discussion
      1. Council members expressed their gratitude for taking the time to speak with the council and share Manton’s story and testimonial of the program.
  7. MIC Committee Updates
    1. The chairperson directed members to see the meeting packet attachments #2-#6 for written committee updates and noted that Nominations, Climate Adaptation and Resilience, and Administration Committees did not provide written updates for this meeting. The chairperson also noted a full overview of committees involvement on the chart on attachment #2.
      1. Administration Committee – Palencia Mobley, P.E., Committee Chair
        1. No verbal updates at this time.
      2. Nominations Committee – Emilee Madison, Staff Liaison
        1. Emilee updated the committee on the updated timeline that was approved by the council in the amended bylaws passed earlier this year. The call for nominations will now be released to the public and representing agencies by August 1st and nominations are due by September 30th. The committee will meet in October and recommend candidates to the council to approve at the annual meeting.
        2. Emilee also noted that the committee’s membership has changed and welcomed Charles Marshall as the new chair of the committee.
        3. No discussion at this time.
      3. Communications Committee – Marco Bruzzano, Committee Chair & Nathan Hamilton, Staff Liaison
        1. Nathan and Ryan Laruwe discussed the new MIC one-pager and the legislative meetings it has been distributed at. Members were all provided with a copy of the one-pager.
        2. Nathan also mentioned the committee working on a re-introduction to the MIC video that is currently being created.
        3. Discussion
          1. Kathleen Lomako brought up the idea of having the RFF Committee collaborating with the Communications Committee to design further advocacy materials for the legislature.
          2. Mandy Grewal requested MIC staff provide some sort of briefing on MICs official stances on legislative activity.
          3. Kathleen stated that at this time the MIC is not to that point where they have made decisions on that and are working on the initial stages of research and education before they could take a stance.
          4. Kathleen expressed that the group should focus on advocating for an integrated approach to infrastructure policy rather than in the weeds of each infrastructure class.
      4. Asset Management Education (AM Ed) Committee – Nathan Hamilton, Staff Liaison
        1. Nathan updated the council on the RFP being finalized for the elected officials and AM Champions programs and expects the next cohort of AM Champions to be held in August 2025.
        2. Discussion
          1. Council members solicited questions about the new Elected Officials training question and Nathan provided clarity.
          2. Guest, Sue McCormick, suggested implementing a pre and post survey to collect data on the efficacy of the curriculum. Sue also recommended hosting elected officials training as additional workshops at conferences in the future that are attended by elected officials.
      5. Integrated Infrastructure Conference (IIC) Planning Subcommittee – Emilee Madison, Staff Liaison
        1. Emilee notified the council that the selected venue was Vistatech Center at the Schoolcraft College in Livonia, with the preferred dates of September 23rd and 24th of 2026. She asked council members to block off their calendars for this time and that once the contract is finalized, a formal save the date will be sent out.
        2. Emilee also updated the group on the RFQ for the event planner and expects that to be finalized soon.
        3. Lastly, Emilee solicited volunteers for the IIC26 Content Ad Hoc Group that will begin meeting the end of this summer and conclude once the 2026 program is finalized. If anyone is interested, they can reach out to Emilee.
        4. No discussion at this time.
      6. Rates, Funding, & Finance (RFF) Committee – Kathleen Lomako, Committee Chair
        1. Kathleen summarized the written updates from RFF to the council and discussed future plans for the committee in expanding their advocacy work and affordability.
        2. Discussion
          1. Council members discussed the importance of affordability and lessons learned from the energy sector and how these can be applied to the water sector.
          2. A few council members suggested having a session at the IIC26 dedicated to the topic of the complexities of affordability and ways we can work towards it in an integrated approach across agencies and community partners.
      7. Climate Adaptation & Resilience (CAR) Committee – Emilee Madison, Staff Liaison
        1. No verbal updates at this time.
      8. Asset Management Technology & Systems (AM Tech) Committee – Ryan Laruwe, Staff Liaison
        1. Ryan discussed the updates to MiDIG to meet ADA compliance and the work being done to integrate DTE into the portal.
        2. Ryan also updated the council on some of the GIS and Data work that MIC staff has been conducting as we work towards created the integrated infrastructure dashboard. Ryan thanked Charyl Kirkland at the MPSC for sharing reliability data with the MIC to begin this work.
        3. Discussion
          1. Council members solicited data that would be included in the dashboard and Ryan offered further information.
  8. MIC Staff Updates
    1. Ryan Laruwe, Executive Director referred members to view attachment #7 of the meeting packet for full staff updates and yielded to council questions on anything listed in the packet.
    2. Discussion
      1. Marc Bruzzano expressed his gratitude for the streamlining of the meetings and intention put into the meeting packets and presentation of information.
  9. Old Business  
    1. None at this time.
  10. New Business 
    1. Resolution on RICH Hubs Pilot Funding (2025-03)
      1. Chairperson referred members to see attachment #8 in the packet
      2. Motioned to consider Resolution 2025-03
        1. Motion made by Kathleen Lomako
        2. Motion supported by Mandy Grewal
      3. The chairperson asked Ryan Laruwe to speak on the resolution and field any questions.
        1. Ryan provided an overview of the pilot program.
      4. Discussion
        1. Council members asked about the phrase in the draft mentioning “contractor fees (with previous written approval)” and if that would deter participation
          1. Ryan stated that it is phrasing often used in State of Michigan contracting and would be needed to issue payments.
          2. Council members asked if there would be clear timelines and objectives that programs would need to adhere to and if the council could create templates for reporting to make it easier on communities.
          3. Ryan stated that as the pilot program is further negotiated and fleshed out, such items could be explored in order to meet state requirements.
        2. Council members stated that in order to ensure this program yields results that would be compelling to the legislature to fund statewide, the MIC should be strategic is the communities chosen, the data collected, and the KPIs chosen to illustrate the importance of AM software and how it improves communities.
        3. Kevin Smith commended the councils work promoting asset management at the local level, recognizing its importance in communities fiscal health and the states credit rating. 
      5. Motion to Approve Resolution 2025-03
        1. Motion made by Charles Marshall
        2. Motion supported by Kathleen Lomako
      6. Resolution 2025-03 voted on by a roll call vote
        1. Resolution 2025-03 was approved by the council without dissent.
  11. Agency Updates
    1. The chairperson explained the intent behind the new agenda item and invited the agency representatives to share any updates, discussion, or anything else they would like at this time.
      1. Michigan Public Service Commission - Charyl Kirkland reiterated her excitement for the work the MIC is doing on the SAIDI data.
      2. Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Angie Lake, Alternate Designee, did not have any updates at this time.
      3. Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy – Aaron Keatley did not have any updates at this time.
      4. Michigan Department of Natural Resources - Dan Lord shared a story map from the DNR about the historic ice storms impact on Northern Michigan and the DNRs work.
      5. Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget – Eric Swanson expanded upon Dan’s update and shared with the council that the public safety communication system was the only form of communication during the Ice storm in the northern lower peninsula when cellphone towers were not operating.
      6. Michigan Department of Transportation – Eric Mullen, Alternate Designee, did not have any updates at this time
      7. Michigan Department of Treasury - Kevin Smith did not have any updates at this time.
  12. Council Updates 
    1. Transportation Asset Management Council, Chair Ryan Buck 
      1. Ryan updated the council on TAMC’s approved 2026 budget being increased to 2.3 million total, with 1.3 million allocated for data collection, which will allow for more data collection.
      2. Ryan also expressed his gratitude to MDOT staff for helping TAMC better take control of their budget and reduce the number of dollars left on the table at the end of the year.
      3. Lastly, Ryan stated TAMC is looking for ways to better integrate TAMCs work with an aligned strategy for joint councils.
    2. Water Asset Management Council, Cameron Van Wyngarden
      1. Cameron updated the council that WAMC is wrapping up their strategic plan and it is currently available for public comment and feedback.
      2. Cameron also discussed the WAMC Coordinator allocation from the MIC and that they are looking forward to that coming to fruition.
  13. Member Updates
    1. No member updates at this time
  14. Roundtable Discussion  
    1. Review of the 2025 Legislative Report Outline & Discussion on the 2025 Annual Report
      1. Ryan Laruwe reminded the council that after reviewing legislative requirements last year, the council approved splitting the legislative report and annual report into separate documents, with the legislative report due at the end of every fiscal year and the annual report published to the public at the end of each calendar year. Ryan stated that with the thumbs up of the council, staff would proceed with the same model this year as well.
      2. Discussion
        1. Palencia Mobely, P.E., stated that since the council approved the new format last year there was no need to discuss the matter further unless council members have had changes of mind.
        2. Additional agenda items during the roundtable discussion were deferred for sake of time.
          1. The chairperson notified members that their opinions on the items not covered during the roundtable would be solicited via email following the meeting.
  15. Next Meeting Date
    1. September 4, 2025
  16. Adjournment
    1. Motion to adjourn the meeting
      1. Motion made by Roger Blake.
      2. Motion supported by Charles Marshall
    2. Meeting adjourned at 2:58 PM


Roll Call

 

Present

  • Chairperson, Palencia Mobley, P.E.
  • Co-Vice Chair, Kathleen Lomako
  • Roger Blake
  • Marco Bruzzano
  • Charles Marshall
  • Dr. Mandy Grewal
  • Ryan Buck
  • Cameron Van Wyngarden
  • Dan Lord
  • Eric Swanson
  • Aaron Keatley
  • Charyl Kirkland
  • Angie Lake - MDARD Alternate Designee
  • Eric Mullen - MDOT Alternate Designee

Absent

  • Doug Matthews
  • John Daly III
  • Erin Kuhn

In-Person Guests

  • Ryan Laruwe, MIC Executive Director
  • Nathan Hamilton, MIC Staff
  • Emilee Madison, MIC Staff
  • Chris Mayes, MIC Intern
  • Jack Hoffman
  • Sue McCormick

Virtual Guests

  • Jessica Schisser, Guest Speaker
  • Kevin Smith
  • Cynthia Creisher
  • Kevin Spence
  • Rowan Holyer

Resolution 2025-03 Roll Call Vote:

  • Palencia Mobley, P.E. - Yes
  • Kathleen Lomako - Yes
  • Marco Bruzzano - Yes
  • Mandy Grewal - Yes
  • Roger Blake -Yes
  • Charles Marshall - Yes