GLADSTONE — The Gladstone City Commission took steps to ensure there is a consistent interface between itself and the Downtown Development Authority recently by expanding upon who can represent the city on the board.

Prior to the commissions’ regular meeting Monday, the DDA bylaws laid out that “the DDA shall consist of the mayor and 10 members selected by the mayor, who shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to approval by a majority vote of the members elect of the city commission.” While this wording was consistent with Public Act 57 of 2018 — the Recodified Tax Increment Financing Act, which dictates much of the DDA’s operations because DDA’s in Michigan are funded using tax incremental financing — the Act allows for the mayor to appoint a designee to serve in his place on the DDA.

“The mayor and I talked about this after the last meeting, and we thought it would be a good idea to put this caveat in there because right now the DDA meetings are held ever third Tuesday of the month at 8 a.m., and unfortunately that is a time which has had some conflicts,” said Gladstone DDA Coordinator Ron Miaso, who noted there have also been discussions about changing the meeting time, but any changes would have to take place at the beginning of a new period for the authority.

The DDA approved language for the bylaw change at its last meeting, held Oct. 20, that allows for the designation of another city commissioner to serve on the DDA. However, the authority board felt it was necessary to specify that the designee must serve for a period of at least a year.

“The reason we put that in there is the DDA board felt strongly that they would like some continuity in the meetings. We certainly would not want to have people rotating in and out every meeting because we really want to have that interface between the DDA board and the city commission,” said Miaso.

The commission, which has the final say in DDA bylaw changes, approved the change unanimously.

Later in Monday’s meeting, Miaso gave a presentation on the DDA’s operations, the first of two required annually by law. The entirety of the presentation is included in the agenda packet for Monday’s meeting, which can be found at www.gladstonemi.org under “Agendas & Minutes.” The presentation can also be watched as recorded during the meeting by clicking on the “CC Meetings on YouTube” link.

During the meeting, the commission also

– approved appointing Former Mayor Joe Maki to the Gladstone Housing Commission.

– Made amendments to the 2020-2021 fiscal year budget to account for losses. The budget indicated a $338,857 loss, however a significant portion of the loss is the result of substation repairs that were completed last year but missed in the budgeting process due to scheduling issues. More accurately, the city is down about $58,000 as a result of actual operational costs for the fiscal year.

“Looking at everything with how screwy this year has been, less than $60,000 is pretty close. It’s pretty good,” said Commissioner Brad Mantela of the numbers.

– Approved a change order for work on the city’s half-million gallon water storage tank. The change order was needed because the condition of the tank was poorer than anticipated.